The Witzard

It almost seems wrong to [mis]label an artist as blatantly prolific and broad-spanning as Shawn "Jay Z" Carter as a mere rapper; Since he's arguably a powerful entrepreneur, businessman, record exec, sports agent, club owner, and 1/2 of a dynamic power-couple. After releasing his Samsung -backed Magna Carta... Holy Grail album on July 4th, he's once again teamed up with iconic "99 Problems" music video director Mark Romanek to create a 10-minute "Picasso Baby" performance art film. Recorded last month at Chelsea 's own Pace Gallery , Romanek's team managed to capture 40+ hours worth of film over a 6-hour period with 8 meticulously-placed cameras. Loosely inspired by a similarly-minded Marina Abramović performance-art piece, The Artist Is Present , Jay Z & Mark Romanek packed the room full of creative types, eager super-fans, and journalists including: Judd Apatow , Alan Cummings, George Condo , Rosie Perez, Fab 5 Freddy , Taraj...

It's a comedy match made in heaven that I'm surprised Judd Apatow or Todd Phillips haven't thought of pairing up before: The Lonely Island, James Franco , and Zach Galifianakis . Former SNL alum Andy Samberg and comedy partners Akiva Schaffer & Jorma Taccone announced their third upcoming Comedy-Rap masterpiece, The Wack Album earlier this week, which Republic will release on June 11th. It's rumored to feature appearances from the likes of Justin Timberlake , Kendrick Lamar, Solange , Lady GaGa, Pharrell , Billie Joe Armstrong, Adam Levine , and T-Pain; and I'm guessing The Wack Album will most likely re-use previously released Digital Shorts /non-album singles like "3-Way (The Golden Rule)" and "YOLO." The Lonely Island will release new material every Wednesday from now until June 11th in an effort that the self-proclaimed Frappers lament, " Wack Wednesdays , it's like #GOODFRIDAYS ... But way wacker." "Spr...

This Is The End , the movie formerly known as The End of The World/The Apocalypse , is quickly nearing it's June 12th nation-wide release. First time directors, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg just unveiled it's second Red Band trailer this past Monday, which follows one that was released on "the dawn of the apocalypse" (just in case). Thinly veiled behind a Pineapple Express 2 / Sony -backed April Fool's prank, This Is The End 's new trailer naturally reveals a lot more of the film's plot than it's predecessor; Mishka Bloglin laments that "the movie plays out an end of the world scenario at a party hosted by James Franco -- including everyone who's ever been in a Judd Apatow comedy," plus Rihanna , Emma Watson, Mindy Kaling , Martin Starr (Bill) from Freaks & Geeks , and maybe even a semi-misplaced Backstreet Boys cameo ha. Franco's RAGER is soon interrupted by the impending apocalypse, pesky Earth quakes, etc... as soo...

While Alec Baldwin 's first major post- 30 Rock endeavor, "Here's The Thing" only has about 4,000+ Facebook Likes , Baldwin's still been able to book some pretty A-List-worthy celebrity talent for his bi-monthly podcast series: Brian Williams , Lena Dunham (Girls), Billy Joel , Judd Apatow, Andrew McCarthy , Fred Armisen, and most recently, Thom Yorke . Randomly littered with mid-conversation Capitol One drops, Baldwin's latest podcast is a rare sit-down with a mysterious an who really doesn't give a lot of interviews; Alec Baldwin & Thom Yorke 's nearly hour-long conversation covers everything from getting impromptu singing lessons from Björk and Micahel Stipe (R.E.M.), computer-based recording techniques, just being able to email guys like Flea to join a band, etc. Here's a choice quote pulled from their "Here's The Thing" interview: "I got Ed [O'Brien] because he was dressed like Morrissey and he had some ...

It all started when my older cuz Josh burned me a stack of CD-R's full of pirated music; I couldn't really tell you what was in there... But probably some Beastie Boys , mid-90's Ska, Dave Matthews Band , Phish, mash-ups, and Ryan Adams - "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)." It's a self-loathing Alt. Country romper pulled from Adam's solo debut, Heartbreaker (2000), which was later featured in Accepted and Old School . Ryan Adams' abridged discography includes about 13 albums and he's recorded [and vaulted] records-full of everything from Death Metal to Hip-Hop and unreleased Vampire Weekend/The Strokes covers CD-R's. Judd Apatow 's latest film, This Is 40 showcases a specially-formed Ryan Adams Band along with keyboardist Ian McLagan (The Faces) who performed during it's final scenes. Ryan Adams even contributed re-recorded live tracks for inclusion on it's soundtrack, "Lucky Now" and "Shin...