I got an e-mail from my brother today. Apparently he finally noticed the absence of a box of guitar strings which he hadn't touched in three years. Silly me, I had foolhardily assumed that he wasn't using them, and being in desperate need of strings, brought them back with me.

At the top of the e-mail, however was a URL linking to a story at E! Online.

Dream Theater, one of my (our) favorite bands, released a 3-CD live set last Tuesday. I wasn't planning on buying it - there's no new material (it being a live album), and I already own two of their live albums. This particular album was recorded in New York City, at the last show of their most recent tour.

The album cover featured a variant of the "flaming heart" logo from their first live album. Since the concert had been in NY, and the album's name is "Live Scenes from New York", the heart is replaced by an apple, topped with the NYC skyline. And it's on fire. (That's where the "flaming" part comes from.)

This was released last Tuesday.

Faced with this terrible coincidence, the band and its management have opted to pull the album from store shelves and slap a new cover on it. I think that's in good taste, even though the imagery was only slightly related to the whole situation.

The article also describes some rap group I've never heard of, who have also been forced to modify an upcoming album cover.

What was on the original cover?

A picture of the group blowing up the World Trade Center.