The mysterious case of Soula Coaster's disappearance

This isn't a surprising development, but it's an unfortunate one. There seems to be some unexplained drama with the R. Kelly life-changer Soula Coaster: Diary of Me, the cover of which made the rounds this morning. Online bookseller Indigo has the title listed for pre-sale, along with the release date of next Tuesday, November 15. But Soula Coaster has been pulled off Amazon with the ominous "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock" disclaimer. And the project's co-author David Ritz, a celebrity biographer who not only released books with Grandmaster Flash, Ray Charles, and Tavis Smiley (plus Snoop from The Wire!), but famously co-wrote "Sexual Healing" with Marvin Gaye, confirmed via email that the title wouldn't be released next week.

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Thus it began

The most painful thing about the breakup letter the White Stripes just sent to an already distraught Internet is the red, white, and black border -- yet another example of the painstaking dedication and attention to detail that made Jack and Meg White megastars in the first place. The quick note, leading off with the declaration that the band "has officially ended and will make no further recordings or perform live," tries to cut off any immediate follow-up questions: no creative differences, no health issues, just a desire "to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way." The band had been dormant for years as Jack indulged side project after side project; the 2009 documentary Under Great White Northern Lights freely alluded to what was clearly a fraught situation, "cataloging," as our own Zach Baron put it, "all the different ways two people can be lonely." They have been sorely missed for years, and will now be actively, emphatically mourned, as they'd be if the only song they'd ever released was "Ball and Biscuit," which is the raddest shit ever.

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Michael Becker/ FOX

Fans of the first contestant to be called "indie" by an American Idol judge--as a compliment--were shocked last night by the elimination of Lilly Scott. When she received the news from Ryan Seacrest, the Colorado native did nothing to hide her genuine disappointment with the audience at home. "I don't know what America wants to hear," she said.

Today on a conference call, Scott elaborated on that sentiment, saying she felt like her fans just weren't there for her. "My voting demographic is underground," she said. "They probably don't even own a TV, or were doing something more productive than voting, like riding a bike." The "underground market" was exactly who Scott said she was targeting with her performances, saying she would have liked to do numbers by Radiohead and Bjork, but was urged by producers to instead cover Sam Cooke and Patsy Cline, as she did in her
final week with "I Fall to Pieces." That advice wasn't enough to help her win over the mainstream. "Maybe it was time to go out with a bang, so I could keep my indie cred."

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Shut up, people.com. Straight up, the 11th commandment should be "Leave the Fucking Muppets Out of It." The people have spoken.

(The video above is the one exception to the 11th commandment.)

Those aren't [cough] "hipsters" in your picture. That's a pregnant lady and five of her friends, who're down for the weekend from Boston for her baby shower. Walking behind them? A Dominican family who runs a bodega on the South Side. The dude on the far right? Okay, you got one: he's the guy Will Ferrell has made a career out of parodying and, yes, he's in some "Am Appy" gear. Our mistake--one out of 12 ain't bad.

Loathe as we are to get pulled into retirement announcements on Twitter, for which someone will someday, maybe even today, make an excellent and Diggable list, this particular turn of events cannot happen, The-Dream having made what is easily the best album of the year, and a really good one before that one, and is a man who is titling his farewell effort Love King, which is as elegant a description of the man as anyone could come up with, and that is why, among many many many other reasons, The-Dream cannot quit. STOP TRYING TO KILL THE DREAM, THIS MEANS YOU TOO, THE-DREAM. [The-Dream, via Prefix]