Luke Poling is a documentary filmmaker and podcaster. His film Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself played nationwide theatrically and aired on PBS’ American Masters. He co- directed the short film Spearhunter (SXSW, 2015). He co-hosts and produces the podcasts, “Rock n’ Roll Grad School,” “Why?” and “Famous Last Words.”
He is currently in production on his next film, a feature documentary about legendary New York DJ Nicky Siano. He is also prepping a website analyzing all of Bob Dylan’s onstage banter.
1980s pop icon and ageless meme Rick Astley is back in the news—not with yet another a performance of “Never Gonna Give You Up,” but his take on one of the big hits of the past few years. Astley took to YouTube to cover Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” Captioning the performance with, “feeling in the pink today. I love this tune,” Astley performs an understated version, accompanying himself on guitar. (And then throwing on a pink cowboy hat for the finale.) Astley’s acoustic version doesn’t cover the same ground that the original does, but it does highlight the quality songwriting and storytelling contained therein.
Roan’s original version of the song was released two years ago and currently is at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, its highest rank yet.
Chappell Roan took the stage at Elton John‘s 2025 Oscar viewing party, and, if performing there wasn’t scary enough, tackled one of John’s best-known hits. Roan covered John’s 1970 hit, “Your Song.” John’s original version of the song, released in October, 1970, was his first international hit record.
She introduced the song by saying it was the greatest song ever, and dedicated it to her parents, who were in attendance. Roan’s cover was part of a 45-minute set she performed at the party, which was a fundraiser for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.Continue reading »
The Goo Goo Dolls rose to the mainstream with their album A Boy Named Goo in 1995. A new 30th anniversary version of the record is scheduled for release and includes a cover originally recorded in 1996. On top of the remastered album, the two disc set includes a full concert from Las Vegas, recorded March 10th, 1996, 4 B-sides and six songs recorded for the radio show “Modern Rock Live,” also recorded in 1996.Continue reading »
When Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy hit Athens, Georgia last year with their tour playing REM‘s debut album, Murmur in full, the four members of REM appeared on stage and sat in on various songs, but never performing all together. Continue reading »
The Christian pop duo For King & Country have released a cover of a U2 classic in advance of a new TV series based of the life of King David. The group, made up of brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone, cover “40”, which originally appeared on U2’s 1983 album War. It was released in advance of the first three episodes of House of David, which is premiering on Amazon Prime on February 27th. That’s the same day the soundtrack is being released, which will also feature songs by Christian and gospel artists including Anne Wilson, Chris Tomlin and Tasha Cobbs Leonard.Continue reading »
When it was announced last week that Fountains of Wayne were performing again and that Max Collins would filling in for the late, great Adam Schlesinger, fans of Collins’ band, Eve 6, would be forgiven for wondering where it left them. No need to worry as Eve 6 have released two separate covers for two separate projects.
The first cover is of Len’s 1999 hit, “Steal My Sunshine,” which features fictional character L1ZY from the group Big Data. And, in case you think all of this is kinda silly—don’t worry, the band does too. The track features two of the children of the band, cutting them down before listeners get a chance to. In fact, it opens with one child saying, “how come our dad is so old and he still plays alternative rock?” And then, once they hit the break, the voices emerge again. “Oohhh rock n’ roll, man,” one child intones. “Yeah, rock n’ roll, bro,” responds the other with giggles clearly highlighting the ridiculousness of the whole thing.
That said, it’s kinda fun. This isn’t a song that will change your life, but, the original wasn’t really looking to change minds, either.
The second song is a collaboration with Suzy True and their take on Wreckless Eric’s 1977 song, “Whole Wide World.” This song appears on the new compilation by Get Better Records to raise money Los Angeles fire relief. (You have to buy the record to hear that song, but the Len cover is below.)
Eve 6 is playing a few East Coast shows this month, and this summer are doing the festival thing, and working around Collins’ shows with Fountains of Wayne.
