thus spake drake: n.e.r.d.

Touring as the opening act for Kanye West is a big opportunity for Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo and Sheldon 'Shay' Haley, collectively known as the hip-hop group N.E.R.D., and with their third and latest album Seeing Sounds set for release next week, you'd think the band show a united front. So it was surprising to see Hugo, without any warning, was a no-show for their Letterman appearance a couple weeks back. There was a lot of hand-wringing and sweating behind the scenes, but the LA Times conducted an interview in Letterman's green room and noted that Shay and Williams shrugged it off like it ain't no thang.

Given the minor flack that occurred, it should be expected that Hugo will show up for their appearance on Leno Wednesday night, but even if he flakes out again, expect the show to go on. You may not even notice, given how many folks they had jumping around at their recent Letterman appearance (video,) performing their advance single "Everybody Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line For the Bathroom)," which aims it's critical eye at the empty celebrity set (BritBrit/Lilo/Paris/et.al).

Elsewhere, if you're at all curious as to the use of music in film, on Ovation TV is the documentary series Music Behind the Scenes, which is a fascinating look at sound in cinema, from score to the placement of original songs. They're replaying four of the six segments this week, with the rest the following week. In particular, "The Independents" segment is worth checking out as it features interviews with David Lynch, Spike Lee and Jim Jarmusch talking about the juxtaposition of conventional music in an unconventional setting. Lynch certainly made a habit of using that, especially in Blue Velvet: