As we mentioned last fall, Chris Martin and his Coldplay bandmates are lending their voices and likenesses to an upcoming episode of The Simpsons, which will air on Sunday night (Jan 31).

So how will it compare to My Morning Jacket’s cameo on American Dad or the many other notable Simpsons musical moments? Well, we have some behind-the-scenes footage of Martin voice acting with Dan Castellaneta, aka Homer Simpson, embedded below and though the scene looks pretty funny, the “Yellow” singer should probably keep his day job.

I must admit that a Simpsons voice acting gig looks pretty nerve-racking, but—love him or hate him—it’s kind of endearing to see a bona fide rock star shaking in his boots a bit. Watch Martin flex his voice thespian chops below:

Whereas Trent Reznor’s eBay-powered, Nine Inch Nails yard sale came with little fanfare (aside from a tweet that they’re “just clearing out some storage spaces for a new beginning”), Coldplay have one-upped the T-Rez by breaking out their autograph-ready Sharpies and turning the idea into a charity event.

In a news post on their official site, Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, and Will Champion (who are all apparently involved in a beard growing contest) announced the “Coldplay End of Decade Clearout Sale,” which consists of the band auctioning off guitars, keyboards, amps, posters, platinum discs, and other random items they’ve “accumulated” throughout the aughts. Seriously, if you’re looking for a pastel leather jacket with epaulettes, act now!

As previously reported, The Simpsons are celebrating their 20th anniversary next year with a special episode guest starring the voices and likenesses of Coldplay. Well, Chris Martin and company aren’t the only musicians lending a hyping hand to the January 14 episode. LimeWire reports (via Rock it Out! Blog) that Andrew WK has teamed up with hip hop duo People Under the Stairs for a new recording of Danny Elfman’s classic Simpsons theme song.

While People Under the Stairs’ Thes One and Double K have added “turntable scratches and other effects” to the new, presumably one-off, theme song, Andrew WK plays his go-to instrument, the piano, and—ensuring that his trademark WTFery is still intact—he “scats on the track,” as well.

Meanwhile, remember that contest for anyone to create a character to appear alongside Chris Martin (hilariously mocked by Craig Ferguson at the 1:59 mark here) on a later episode? Ladies’ man Ricardo Bomba is the winner.

**Update: Here is a video with clips of the intro (we’ll post the full Andrew WK theme when available)…

Now that we’ve had a piece of Lil Wayne cake, grieved over his imminent prison sentence, and jammed out to the No Ceilings mixtape, I thought Weezy would perhaps take a day off from headlines, but it’s mo’ money mo’ problems for Mr. Carter this morning: BBC reports that Wayne and Birdman are being sued by Thomas Marasciullo over the alleged use of his “Italian-style spoken word recordings” without permission. Stugots! In a funny twist, Marasciullo claims he discovered the alleged copyright infringement after overhearing a ringtone of “Respect” that his daughter was trying to buy. For more details go here.

Rivers Cuomo’s blog bait machine has been running on all cylinders of late: a Lil Wayne collaboration, Rainn Wilson bromance, writing songs with Katy Perry, just to name a few. Well, here are today’s Weezer bits:

The writers of “The Simpsons” claim they are “tired, and frankly, too rich to care anymore” about making up new characters for the show, so they’re offering a chance for anyone to design a new character to appear on an episode featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

“Come up with a great name and catchphrase, plus a brief description,” reads the official contest entry page, “and if you’re selected as the winner, we’ll bring you to Los Angeles to meet with an actual artist from The Simpsons who will bring your character to life in the episode currently planned for January 31.”

Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan recently described her stint opening for Radiohead last year as “very inspiring,” but also “really scary,” due to it being her first time performing for such large audiences. Well, that experience will certainly come in handy early next year when Bat For Lashes joins Coldplay for seven huge stadium concerts in Mexico and South America.

As an announcement on Coldplay’s site says, the 7-show run will mark the end of the band’s Viva La Vida world tour (159 shows in 25 countries). Damn. Check out the dates below:

FEBRUARY
26 - River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires, Argentina
28 - Apoteose Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

MARCH
2 - Morumbi Stadium, Sao Paulo, Brazil
4 - Parque Simon Bolivar, Bogota, Colombia
6 - Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico
9 - Estadio Tres de Marzo, Guadalajara, Mexico
11 - Estadio Universitario, Monterrey, Mexico

Just when a somewhat sketchy story about a musician piling on the “Coldplay plagiarized” bandwagon was starting to gain traction, Shynola, the team behind the awesome “Strawberry Swing” video in question have released probably the coolest plagiarism rebuttal I’ve ever seen.

Here’s a recap of what happened previously: Andy J. Gallagher, a UK-based musician, released a statement implying that Coldplay’s team had borrowed from his “Something Else” video and were receiving undue acclaim for their work. “I think it’s unfair that ‘Strawberry Swing’ will probably be nominated for numerous awards and is being universally-acclaimed as groundbreaking, when (director) Owen Trevor had virtually the same idea at least a year before,” Gallagher said, adding, “while I can’t say they copied me, there are an awful lot of similarities…”

Well, Shynola have now posted a .pdf file in response to the controversy, which details all the actual influences behind their work and insists that they have never even seen Gallagher’s video.

Click here to read their rebuttal, complete with scans from the works they actually drew from: The Simpsons, Felix the Cat, Superman, Donkey Kong, Windsor McCay, Looney Tunes, and more. They also found another YouTube that predates both videos and has a lot of striking “similarities” to Gallagher’s video as well.

Basically, he got pwned. Seriously, check it out.

Like it or not, Coldplay will convince you that they’re “good guys.” As we reported in May, the band have already made big strides in the rock-meets-charity department with their patronage to Upbeat, a group supplying musicians who have mental health issues with equipment, rehearsal space, music workshops, lessons, promotional services, and more. Now Chris Martin and company are taking it up a notch.

Coldplay have donated £1 million (nearly 1.7 million U.S. dollars) to Kids Company, a charity for underprivileged children, The Sun reports. “They were moved by the tough stories they heard,” founder Camila Batmanghelidjh said, “and want to be genuine participants.”

In a profile piece earlier last year on Batmanghelidh, The Independent reported that Kids Company helps 12,000 children by offering “an evening meal, shelter from the street, leisure activities and psychotherapy.”

Say what you will, but it’s nice to hear Coldplay aren’t blowing all their money on The Satch.

While Coldplay may still need to take up Cat Stevens’ offer to settle their “Viva La Vida” spat over tea, they can finally put Joe Satriani’s embarrassing plagiarism accusation behind them. Legally, at least. According to court docket reports by Justia News, the Satch’s lawsuit was dismissed “upon Stipulation” by Judge Dean D. Pregerson, and “each party bears [their] own cost.”

That word “Stipulation” is the key here, as it basically suggests there was an undisclosed agreement made between the two parties.

I’m glad to hear that things were settled before it got too messy, but Chris Martin’s going to a need a new source of inspiration nowadays. Ugh… as are we.

When a famous rock band gets a chance to share the stage with the Flaming Lips, they best alert their crew and all group members to be on their top behavior ‘cause Wayne Coyne can, and will, call you out, take it back, and then call you out again. After all, as one of our readers once pointed out, Okies don’t lie. In an interview posted on Coldplay.com, Coyne discussed his long-running friendship with Coldplay and whereas he previously asserted that Arcade Fire and the “dudes running their stages” treated people “like shit,” he has nothing but praise for the good vibes in the Coldplay camp.

“Of all the giant groups out there in the world, they probably are the coolest as far as people and the way they treat their audience and their crew,” Coyne said on his reasons for joining Coldplay’s European stadium tour. “So we kind of knew going into it that we’d have a good time, even if the audience didn’t understand us.”

Not only have the Lips shared the stage with Coldplay many times, been covered by Chris Martin, and shared a love for balloon drops, Coyne also catches his BFFs whenever they play his home state. “The previous time I went down there in my truck and Chris and Jonny [Buckland] jumped in the back and I gave them a tour around Oklahoma and some of the significant places that are important to Flaming Lips folklore, like the first place we played and where we filmed Christmas On Mars.”

Aww. It’s so nice to see rock stars getting along for a change. For more of Coyne’s gushing over their musical bromance go thataway.