The Case For Lady Gaga

The Case For Lady Gaga

I think it was in November that I last wrote about Lady Gaga and how I thought she was one of the best artist in this current sea of pop star whores. Yes, I do believe that and I'm not being sarcastic. Some of you called me mad. Some of you who actually liked her thought I was foolish in comparing her to David Bowie. HA! I laugh at you some more! To you nay sayers I have another blog to post on the subject of Lady Gaga! Yes. It's Gaga talk 2.0 and you aren't gonna stop me cause this sort of wackiness is perfect for this time of year. Yes, that's right, it's time for the Grammy's.



She's one of the most elusive and complex artist of this generation. Lady Gaga represents not only the hedonistic, existential despair of the modern age, but also a glimmer of hope and a deep-seated, wistful longing for traditional values. Her hit single "Just Dance" is not only a revival of modern pop, but also a stunning narative of an innocent, confused girl thrust into the midst of a world of hedonism. It is the first step toward her inevitable corruption, fall, and ultimately, catharsis and transfiguration. Yup, I'm going deep here.



Still though, Lady Gaga is a true Artist and one of the few truly postmodern, avant-garde figures in music today. But let's face it.. she is not limited to music but over on one of her most important aspects is her fashion. With Lady Gaga, it's not just a matter of aurally-attractive pop'n'lock back broken beats, or lissome-kissed labial lyrics. No, as an artist who embraces the idea of the "total package persona" it's worth noting her more radical embrasure of style not be left aside. Just to make sure that we're all on the same page, here's some of her outfits;









We see this trope continued in her application of the "mirrordress" -a piece which I'm afraid this sallow picture does little justice. Here, the sexualized body, transmogrified from collection of soft and showed curves into stark and geometric edges, is further distorted by collecting and returning the gaze which it demands with its colloquially outlandish form.

I of course am reminded here of one of her seminal inspirations, David Bowie:





The ideogram of the face-graven lightning strike has been overdone, outplayed, one might say ruined, by its repeated and constantly re-appropriated use. However, I believe that in the hands (and highlighted cheeks) of Lady Gaga, the symbol takes on a transformed significance. It's hard to put into the right words, but for me I fel as if her application of the beloved faciocranial sigil of Ziggy Stardust stands not just as a direct visual reference to the "glam" style and vibrantly Brechtian verremdungseffekt that Bowie's ego cultivated..



. .but perhaps, as I would like to posit, a reference towards his self-perpetuated androgyny and ambigenous sexual force? Lady Gaga has gone on record as saying that the sense of transsexualism that she seems to generate in the popular press is welcomed, specifically in regards to Christina Aguilera's now-infamous statement that ". . .this person [Lady Gaga] was just brought to my attention not too long ago. I’m not quite sure who this person is, to be honest. I don’t know if it is a man or a woman." - a state of affairs which Lady Gaga is more than thrilled to perpetuate as long as it continues to raise her public profile.

I'd like to conclude with one of the pieces which, in this vein, has also been raising Lady Gaga's public profile, instituting a new awareness of her art - both musically and sartorially:



I'll allow this to speak mostly for itself, adding only Lady Gaga's own statement that her approach to fashion sense is meant as "a commentary on what it means to be a lady" In conclusion, I would love to take her to the mall and I wont complain about doing some clothing shopping.

It's simple, the symbolism surrounding Lady Gaga is so blatant that one might wonder if it's all a sick joke. Illuminati symbolism is becoming so clear that analysis like this one becomes a simple exercise of pointing out the obvious. Her whole persona (whether it's an act or not) is a tribute to mind control, where being vacuous, incoherent and absent minded becomes a fashionable thing. On top of that, she also does a pretty good rendition of Viva La Vida;



Well, minus the fuck up in the middle there. But still, you try to do karaoke and you'll come up with some drunken mistakes.. Still, I like Lady Gaga because even though she's a pop artist, she at least tries to push people's buttons by being weird. I like weird. I'm not afraid to admit it, you shouldn't be either.

There's several steps to Gaga conversion, also known as "being bitten by the Fame Monster". First, you may be initially repulsed by what you're experiencing. "This is trashy pop music," maybe. Or "Dude, she's totally a man, this is some Crying Game shit right here, you can see her dick right here!"



But she gets your hooks into you. Somehow "LoveGame" slips into your playlist "accidentally," or you watch that Christopher Walken clip or that South Park clip a strange number of times.

"I like Lady Gaga ironically," you start to tell yourself. Or maybe you're a little braver and admit that you do love her -- but you're scared to let anyone else know.

It's only a few steps from there until you're contemplating how much you're willing to spend on a lock of her hair, get a Gagatar, and are having your first gay experience

She's basically a darker Cyndi Lauper and I'm perfectly okay with that.



On The Fame, it's as if Gaga took two parts dance-pop, one part electro-pop, and one part rock with a splash of disco and burlesque and generously poured it into the figurative martini glasses of the world in an effort to get everyone drunk with her fame. "The Fame is about how anyone can feel famous," she explains. "Pop culture is art. It doesn't make you cool to hate pop culture, so I embraced it and you hear it all over The Fame. But, it's a sharable fame. I want to invite you all to the party I want people to feel a part of this lifestyle."

Says Lady Gaga, "I spent a lot of nights in Eastern Europe, and this album is a pop experimentation with industrial/Goth beats, 90's dance melodies, an obsession with the lyrical genius of 80's melancholic pop, and the runaway. I wrote while watching muted fashion shows and I am compelled to say my music was scored for them. I also composed a ballad for the album, 'speechless,' a song for my father, and it's my favorite work of all. I wrote every piece on the road - no songs about money, no songs about fame. I wrote it for my fans, so I wrote everything in between.



This leads us to The Fame Monster



Her latest album and one that she is up for a Grammy tonight for. Not to say that music can really be compared as better or worse than other sounds. I mean, music is, much like any art form, a subject that will vary depending on the observers/listeners. But hey, we find out who are the winners and the losers of tonight's grammys later.. right?

Win or lose, I'm going to still, without any shame, say I liked songs like Bad Romance.



I'm not even going to try to fake it, I like the song. I dig it like no other.

Je veux ton amour
Et je veux ton revanche
Je veux ton amour
I don't wanna be friends

Which is pretty much dead on. Who wants to be friends with their ex's? All or nothing, right? Here's a video a friend linked me to made a lot of sense in this situation;

Ah yes, Art is art. Gotta love it.

Glee - In Real Life

Glee - In Real Life

Glee is one of those Fox shows that, even if you have Time Warner Cable, you'll still be able to watch since Time Warner and Fox settled their dispute. Besides that, it's one of those shows that has that soap opera feel but has the musical element that will make you feel not-so-gay if you happen to watch it with your girlfriend.

It seems that it has received such popularity that MTV is already trying to cash in on the fame, especially with the Real Life Glee


And if you're reading this, chances are you enjoyed or at least one episode of Glee. And as much as the show is entertaining with catchy music and characters you can cheer for, the problem seems to be, at least in MTV's mind, that it's not authentic. It's all an act, meant to entertain the viewer, of course.

So this MTV show is a prime example on how they saw the idea behind Glee, and decided to take it, and find the real story. The result: A TV show featuring real high school students, really performing and truly living to perform... And this will air on January 2nd at 6pm on MTV... and since they have no music videos to show, I'm pretty sure they'll show it at least a hundred times more during the week.

I guess the real appeal to this MTV show is that now with Glee on a winter break, they're trying to sucker in the viewers to watching this to get their Choir fix some place, because that's all Glee really is. This show aims to display the choir aspect of Glee without the scripting. But let's be real, I'm one to never trust MTV when it comes to "reality" shows.



An interesting aspect of the show is that it's part of MTV's "Made" program. It documents the lives of the members of the central sound, a show choir group based in Indianapolis. It includes scenes of rehearsals, performances, and what show choir members do in the time they're not with the choir.

I'm just wondering which one is the would-be-hot-except-for-the-huge-jew-nose character. because without that star talent on te show, you have nothing. So maybe if you're interested in hearing high schooler's sing Lady Gaga when they're not in the shower and out in public, this show may be for you.

We Want The Funk

We Want The Funk

So why am I getting down with the funk? Well, funk is the music of the proletariat. You may think that the Blues is the music of the proletariat. Sorry blues, but Funk is when Blues reaches empowerment and becomes self aware.

James Mofo Brown


But come on, you gotta Give up that funk. Ow! We neeeeeeed the funk.



Just put a glide in your stride. A dip in your hip and come onto the mothership. OOOooowwww!



Cause we got a real type of thing goin' down. There's a whole lot of rhythm goin' round.



I wonder if Dave Chappelle ever feels bad that he accidentally diverted Rick Jame's legacy from being known as a successful and talented funk and soul singer and writer ofr 30 years to a drunk white fratboy screaming "I'm rick james, Bitch!" and "Fuck yo couch, nigger!" catch phrase?

Give it to me baby!


Dude chat time, Do you ever listen to a super funky jam and get depressed because of your own personal lack of funk? Man, that's a harsh thing to get over.



Rare funk music makes me feel great and also depressed. On one hand, It's the funk. On the other, these dudes are super fuckin' funky and they cut these dope ass records but a few years later nobody has ever heard of the golden toadstools. That's another harsh vibe, man.



When I went to the experience music project in Seattle, there was this funk section that was pretty cool. There was a giant fiberglass shoe, yo. But what you should take away from the music is that funk is black self-empowerment in a time of black oppression.

Bad Mamma Jamma!


I have to say, I saw George Clinton and Parliament funkadelic live and I say god damn, that was one of the best shows I've ever been to. They played for like 5 hours and I got to hi five bootsy. It was amazing.

Hit it and Quit it


Forget about Barry White or Marvin Gaye. If you really want to drive the ladies wild, you need to make love like an Al Green song; Slow and passionate, with lots of improvisation.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiit


Can I get one (1) tall glass of funk over here, please.



Those pants need to come back in style in a bad way. I want to be a 10 foot tall funkadelic master.

Boogie Up


I know it's called the White House, but that's just a temporary condition, ya dig. It's gotta be called Chocolate city. Not for any other reason but I know my man Obama got down with the get down.

Boogie Down


I just ran out of things to say. So let's just get down to some funk, yo.

Daaaaamn, keepin' it fresh Yo


Let's take this Blog post that leads to the question, can god create a funk that is so psychedelic that he, himself, couldn't handle the funk? The answer is yes..

It's The Beatles!

It's The Beatles!

After every news outlet on Earth has been salivating over the impending release of the Beatles Rock Band, it's easy to overlook that there's an even bigger Beatles release on this 9-9-09 that shouldn't be overlooked because it's finally remastered perfectly. But first, a little back story.

The Beatles go back to my upbringing as when I was only a young lad my uncle would have a garage full of old records and I would hang out there learning about computers while he played record after record of Beatles albums. The influence was there from the get going and really, I haven't looked back since enjoying the sounds of the music in the original Mono as well as various Stereo quality releases, but it has never been this good before.



Back in April, on my birthday, the news was released that there was going to be a remastered edition of The Beatles catalogue.

We are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (09-09-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.

Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.

Can anyone believe that the Beatles CDs that you can buy in the stores now are the exact same ones that people were buying in 1987? Seriously, If anyone deserved the remastered treatment the most, it was the Beatles.

I think this is what everyone was waiting for after the release of "Love", high quality remasters without any of the song Mash Up stuff, that was involved in the Vegas show. I loved the LOVE album because it sounded so good for that very reason. Then you have the remastered mono versions... Wow, can you get me anymore excited?


Christ almighty, just how high were these guys? To answer that, they were so stoned they let Ringo sing!

The mono versions of the albums are the ones that the band was involved with the mixing of, and are quite different sounding than the stereo versions. I may sound like a snob here but if you listen to the mono version of Sgt. Pepper, it'll be so much better than the Stereo version.

Since we live in 2009, It's assumed that stereo is always the way to go. I mean, you have at least two car speakers while driving, right? But in this case you really should get over it and realize that "Drums in the left speaker" thing, is in fact, a separation that is very uncomfortable to listen to as well as ruins a lot of the mixing involved in the song resulting in a lot of lost sound.



This is going to sound like a nerd debate, but stay with me here. When talking about mono vs stereo, let's put it this way. When The Beatles recorded most of these, the popularity of stereo recordings was almost entirely a US phenomenon til about the late 60s. In most parts of the world, having big two-speaker stereo rigs was a rare indulgence, not a common sight. As a result, most non-US recordings tended to be mono first, stereo second, meaning that the bands and engineers would carefully mix a mono recording that they knew would be played on record players, radio stations, etc, to sound as good as possible. Then, as an afterthought, they made a nice, clean little stereo mix for audiophiles and record nerds.

In the US, the reverse was true by the early 60's a stereo mix was prepared that was then combined and remixed to work in mono. The only exceptions to this were pop singles, which had to stand out on tinny radio speakers to move product, and cheaper, fly-by-night teen sensation recordings meant to hit the market, make money, then get out (ie, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Surfaris, Bobby Vee, etc).



The biggest tale tell sign of this was shown in the mixing for Sgt. Pepper. The mixing for the mono session for the album ran over about three full days. The stereo mix was done in an afternoon. You can hear the difference. Plus, some of the effects Martin and the band were using didn't translate well to stereo - Lucy in the Sky suffers from this the most as it benefits in mono from thick psychedelic effects that are totally lost in the stereo version. You can also tell byt the fucked up stereo panning of "Eleanor Rigby," or the "Two guys n one speaker, the other two in the other" stuff that shows up in Rubber Soul. The stereo mixes were an afterthought right up until the White Album.

For a while I was enjoying the Mono and Stereo remastered editions from Bootlegger Dr.Ebbetts that were floating around. These were really amazing in the quality and from what I hear and to give you an idea on how great in quality these are, Dr Ebbetts has decided to hang up his needle and cease doing anymore work on The Beatles calaogue. He sent out an email saying he's heard the new masters and they're far superior to what he put out. That to me was the best thing to ever hear as his were damn great.



The best way to describe all this with regards to what works and what doesn't in stereo release is Balance. You don't have anything getting drowned out with the remasteres, and you start to hear things you didn't notice before. Some things jump out at you, others don't. I think the album that benefits the least from this remastering is The White Album. Then again, it sounded pretty good to begin with. Others that really pop to mind after listening to them are:

Please Please Me - is absolutely perfect in mono. You could barely even hear Paul in the old mixes or the stereo remaster but on the mono disc it's like you're standing directly between John and Paul competing for the lead.
Revolver in mono is delicious I want to eat it up for seconds and then have some more of it. If you're on the fence for the mono stuff, it's so worth it for the Revolver-era stuff. Sending the drums entirely to one channel was probably mind-blowing in its day, but it sure didn't stand the test of time, so I'm glad that they finally fixed that.



Though if you think they're done taking your money, just you wait. Apparently they're waiting until the 50th anniversary in 2012 to do the Deluxe Editions with the remixes, bonus tracks and high-def 5.1 stuff. Especially the tracks that were remixed for The Beatles Anthology and the 5.1 remixes of Help! and Yellow Submarine.

I'm still amazed by how well they could write and construct these great songs on such a consistent basis. Honestly, I can't wrap my head around it. Yesterday on a fucking napkin
and all in 7 years! Insane. Don't think it's because they weren't touring as often. Back then they would pack in more gigs and The Beatles were working seven nights a week in clubs doing twenty minute solos. So it's utterly amazing that nowadays two albums in a year is unheard of, let alone twelve in seven years.



Especially when you factor in that these guys were making films and TV appearances all the time. They were real busy and could still churn brilliant songs out so regularly. I gues Let It Be was when it all boiled over for them, although even that album has some pretty amazing songs on it. Then they cap off their career with Abbey Road. An album that I consider to be up there... then again, I consider all their albums to be pretty damn special.

The Beatles are awesome, stereo or mono, just go out and buy the god damn thing because it's utterly an amazing collection of work by four very talented men.

U2 Loves Money

U2 Loves Money

I saw a new ad for the Blackberry the other day and I was pretty much shocked.. Ok, maybe not shocked. I mean, I should be used to this sort of shit, right? Well. It's U2 going after the mighty dollar once again. The ad goes on with U2 singing in the dark about how each generation gets a new chance to blah blah blah and all that. What bothers me about all this is that it's an ad for a god damn cell phone.



You see that shit? Blackberry Loves U2. It's only a shame that U2 doesn't love Blackberry. How could you be in love with something when your heart already belongs to something else. You may be thinking the environment or changing the world, right? Nope. Money. U2 LOVES MONEY.

Yeah yeah, they bring so much awareness to conditions and situations in Africa and other such tragedies.. but how many times can you beg people to donate money while you're out there sleeping in beds and beds of money. Hey U2, you have a lot of cash. I bet if you just donated half of the album earnings to a foundation, it would be 10x's more than all the money you were able to squeeze out of others donating.



They also have this case of caring about the environment. Well, at least they say they do. Did you see that stage they had in the ad. That huge one that looked like a giant claw? Well, that's the new stage set up for this tour. Take note that the environmentalist, humanitarian and pop deity Bono is on tour right now using that monstrosity. And I say monstrosity because if there was a carbon footprint attached to it, the thing would be the size of Texas. Which I'm sure they will stop and tour in sometime during the tour.

Let me just emphasize the fact that it takes 120 trucks to transport this thing. 120 semis in a convoy would stretch over a mile of road. Ok, maybe I should dumb that down some for most Americans that can't really visualize things via miles so I'll use a more standardized unit, like foot fields. It's exactly .88 football fields worth of truck cargo. If you parked 120 of those trailers on a football field, packed solid with the sides touching and neglecting the tractors, they would fill it from the back of one end zone to the opposite 3-yard.



I don't get why anyone would even go to a U2 concert these days. They fucking suck. Yeah, sure. They did some more-or-less innovative stuff with rock music 25 years ago, but who the fuck gives a shit about them now other than your parents? All they do now a days is play bland boring middle age white guy rock and it's beyond hypocritcal to even talk about the 3rd world of the environmental changed when you're lugging around a stage that takes 120 trucks to haul.

So the next time you see Bono out there giving you a lecture on saving the world, just remember how they're doing a bang up job of making sure they negate all their effort.

Y KANT TORI AMOS PHANS B SANE?

Y KANT TORI AMOS PHANS B SANE?

Tonight at the Greek Theater nestled in the Griffith Park hills Tori Amos is going to be playing her piano and singing songs. Though you wont be able to hear any of that because she'll be around her fans. By fans I mean crazed ass bitches who have been fucked over one time too many by people with dicks (guys) and can't take it anymore. Either that or they're lesbians and really really have been fucked over by girls who are cunts. Pardon my harsh language here, but I can say that Tori Amos fans are batshit insane. I should know, I'm one of them.

But I'm not one of those fucking screaming harpies that have ruined my last few times I've gone to see her. One of those times the girl sitting in front of me was screaming so loud through most of the set about how much she loved Tori, as if she could be heard. Then after a couple of songs she just fell down and started crying. Clearly something about Cornflake Girl hit her like a ton of two scoops of raisins.


Ah, the good ol' days.

You see the problem with Tori Amos fans is that they not only use the word "fairy" as adults, but they also spell it "Faerie." That alone makes me want them all to die in a little Earthquake. They can select an out-of-context Tori lyric to justify melodramatic overreactions to any imaginable situation.

Have you've seen the way they respond to Youtube comments? Filled with sentences like "The sexist, misogynist specimens will ALWAYS feel threatened in the presence of the invoked Goddess." Delusional fantasy-kingdom inhabitants given to histrionics and wordy, self-impressed defenses of their deified heroine: Yeah, I'm sure these are the sort of people who can take criticism well. So maybe it would be smarter for me to just end this now, right?Wrong!


Tori grinds against a fake plastic tree and wears see through clothes because
1.) She's an ageless plastic nymph or
2. She's fucking weird

I can't let this go unsaid. Though, if you've ever met someone who was a Tori Amos fan you need not be told this sort of things. You'll already realize they were bat shit insane. There's a fan site called Undented that collects hundreds of stories... Many of which similar from people who share how they embarrassed themselves trying to express thanks to Tori only to be thwarted by even more humiliation when they end up crying, hyperventilating and more than likely pissing themselves. It's like a largely female premature-ejaculation support group. In all the anecdotes, Amos seem to be a remarkably good sport, but it's little wonder why she spends so m uch time in the studio, writing needlessly long records as a way to avoid uncomfortable interactions with drooling fanaticism.

Which brings us to the newest spawn of the recording process. ABNORMALLY ATTRACTED TO SIN is Tori Amos' fourth straight over 70 minute adventure into flabbergasting overkill. Previous attempts include a concept album about beekeeping and Gnostic mysticism, and even fruitier concept album called American Doll Posse, in which Amos took on the roles of five female personae based on Greek mythology. That concert was one that I nearly almost killed the fat cunt in the row in front of me.


Even with multiple personalities, not a single one isn't crazy

I suppose that before talking about her new album, I should point out the best things about Tori Amos' career thus far. This isn't for the benefit of you fans, who moret han likely committed all this stuff to memory above knowing when their own birthday is and committ this to memory among the other strange Tori details no one besides her OBGYN should know. Besides, those fans are currently busy writing me hate mail and calling me a pig. But instead this info is for you regular folks. Who more than likely never thought of Tori as anything more than that 90's red head who sang a song about some girl who likes corn flakes.

• In 1988, Amos' first band Y Kant Tori Read released an unlistenable synth-rock album, which deservedly tanked. After Amos became popular, Tori fans paid thousands of dollars for it, and even now copies go for $30-$300 in various formats. The best part about these transactions is that everyone who pursues and purchases this record knows it's shitty. Also, they understand that buying an out-of-print album from used stores and auction sites in no way supports their beloved artist. Still, they feel compelled to own this abomination out of sheer psychotic obsessiveness.

• Tori supplied guest vocals to Tess Makes Good's "Distant Storm," a sappy tune that appears during the unassailable vigilante film China O'Brien ("she's out to stop crime -- cold," *China slams some redneck asshole's head with the freezer drawer*). Because of the aforementioned compulsiveness of Amos fans, this film has been sought and coveted by many people outside the martial-arts realm, thus raising recognition for a much cooler redhead, Cynthia Rothrock.

• Amos covered Slayer's "Raining Blood," recasting the best song ever as an ode to menstrual flow.
• In this video, Amos performs "Precious Things," a perfectly tenable ballad. However, I draw your attention to the 4:06 mark, when Amos starts grunting like the Other Sister, her tongue lolling violently as though she's receiving an unanaesthetized tonsillectomy. Then skip ahead to 6:16, when she's suddenly possessed by Rebecca De Mornay's Hand That Rocks The Cradle psycho. Normal people might perceive these spasms as bizarre blemishes in the performance, but Amos fans actually cite them as highlights, because to them freakish outbursts are synonymous with creative passion.

On to Abnormally Attracted.. It starts off with GIVE, a decent Portishead-style melody. The album ends with a quality instrumental coda after Amos has stopped singing. Maybe California does a nice job with Tori's old piano-and-flittering-butterfly-vocals formula. That leaves 14 tracksand 60 minutes of mostly filler material.


I wish I was that mic.. then on second thought.. I'm glad I'm not that mic.

On the whole, the only songs that really annoy on the album were "Not Dying Today", which was filled with spoken jive vocals "Ani DiFranco-esque," and "Police Me," all which are boring as all hell and filled with guitar sounds as if Y KANT TORI READ was making a come back. The rest of the album is pretty boring with a slight easy-listening 97.1 the wave version of electronica. The only real opinion that I have on a whole with this album is that it took up my time.

Amos enjoys a reputation for obtuseness, but she occasionally writes the most obvious shit possible. Once I watched some anonymous loser on amature night perform the lines "what if wrong was right, and right was left?" I concluded he was the worst lyricist I'd ever heard. But Amos comes close to echoing his idiocy with "I left the right man" and "I wronged the right man." She stoops to "Ophelia/I feel you" wordplay, and writes a song called "Mary Jane" about marijuana. Unlike previous "Mary Jane" songs, this one contains the phrase "Tetrahydrocannabinol Pure Isomer Dronabinol." This is not a positive development.


Tori Amos as she masturbates on stage

Tonight Tori plays the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. While I did go to her last tour in L.A. at the Nokia Theater, I'm not going tonight but hey, if you're all up for seeing Tori perform, here's hoping that she doesn't do too much of the new stuff. I heard she did some funky stuff up in Northern California. Here's hoping that she goes back to writing stark piano songs about her personal tragedies so those crazy as shit followers can glean unearned emotional depth from feeling vicariously harrowed

Stop, Collaborate and Listen

Stop, Collaborate and Listen

Whenever artist come together, it's always a risk. It's like the best of all worlds, right? Especially if you like the music of all who is coming together. Well, for those of you still reading get a load of this. Dylan, McCartney and Ringo Starr are going to collaborate.

Legendary musicians Sir Paul McCartney ,his fellow ex-Beatle Ringo Starr and Bob Dylan are to team up in California over the summer, where they are expected to work on new songs it has emerged.

All the three in 60’s have shared the stage together before but have never created music together and its naturally expected that the union of three veteran musicians will create new musical sensation !

The news comes after Dylan declared earlier that he found the idea of working with the former Beatle “exciting”.

McCartney’s spokesman then declared their man would be “very interested” in a collaboration.

This could be one of the most amazing musical moments in recent memory. Then again, we should weigh in the pros and cons

Arguments For
Dylan and McCartney are amazing song-writers
Dylan is on top-form lately
It's a great moment in musical history anyway for them all to work together

Arguments Against
High profile musicians collaborating with other high profile musicians often ends in mediocre product
Dylan's singing seems to be nothing more than gas escaping at this point
McCartney is not on top-form lately
McCartney is a massive asshole
Ringo Starr

Don't get me wrong with the Ringo Starr hate. We can all admit that he was never the greatest drummer. But the universe is a weird place where Ringo Starr is considered a bad drummer and Meg White still performs live. That's the real example of weak drumming held up by overcompensating guitar work. if I were starting a rock band tomorrow I'd much rather have Ringo Starr in it than someone like Neil Pert or Carter Beuford. Ringo had the taste not to make the drums front-and-center, and I respect that. Add in that he was consistent for every take when the Beatles would go 100+ takes in studio. With that said, the best work Ringo has ever done is narrate Thomas The Tank Engine.


I do hope that it's Beatles-era McCartney and not the one who wrote "Somebody's Knocking at the Door". As for Dylan.. Dylan Colaborations are always a gamble. The Traveling Wilburys? Awesome. Dylan and The Dead? sheeeeeesh...

You know what, forget this whole post. This is going to suck. These guys haven't produced consistantly good music for decades. Had this happened in the 70's or certainly the 60's this would have been big news. Buy Paul McCartney's 'All My Best' album and move along. That's all he's done for the past 35 years.

I suppose it would be nice if all the musicians I didn't like formed one gigantic super group, then I'd have to only avoid one band. Here's hoping that they just give them all drugs and they make completely amazing music. If they let them stay sober, it'll probably be garbage.

I'd Rather Die Than Give You Control

I'd Rather Die Than Give You Control

Today had a not so cryptic message from Trent Reznor on Nin.com

Towards the beginning of my career in Nine Inch Nails, our biggest break came in the form of an invitation to perform a series of shows with Jane's Addiction. These performances essentially created and defined the term "alternative" rock in the US, created an ongoing festival franchise that is still thriving (Lollapalooza), set the stage for Nirvana to shift popular taste a few months later, and were really fucking FUN to play and attend - truly the best times I've had. The shows were epic. So epic, they propelled NIN to the "next level" (whatever that means), but caused Jane's to implode. The band broke up at the end of that tour.

Fast forward to the present. Corporate rock STILL sucks. A friend tells me they saw the original Jane's lineup play a tiny show in LA that was unbelievable. I break out my Jane's records and am amazed by how vital they sound. These guys were the real deal and in this current climate mostly dominated by poseurs and pussies it was refreshing to hear something that sounded dangerous, volatile, beautiful and SINCERE.
Emails were sent, phone calls were made, dinner was arranged, ideas were discussed and the next thing I know we're in the studio experimenting. We laugh, we get to know each other, we cry, we yell, we almost quit, we record LOTS of guitar solos, we discuss, we actually begin to all communicate, we yell some more, we become FRIENDS, we laugh again and we do some great things. I get to see first hand why they broke up all those years ago but I also get the chance to see four distinct personalities that become an INCREDIBLE band when they're in the same room.

In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's "Lights in the Sky" tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year. The approach to these shows is quite different from last year - much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted. Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye. I reached out to Jane's to see if they'd want to join us across the US and we all felt it could be a great thing. Will it work? Will it resonate in the marketplace? Who knows. Is there big record label marketing dollars to convince you to attend? Nope.
Does it feel right to us and does it seem like it will be fun for us and you? Yes it does.
Look for tour dates soon and I hope to see you out there.

Trent

The writing is on the wall here. No need for any AIG game to decrypt this, Nine Inch Nails will at the least take a long time off and at the extreme, be done with and finished after this tour run that sounds like it will be very low key. And I'm alright with that.



Don't get me wrong. The Tour of Lights was amazing. Sure it was in Inglewood (up to no good!) and while it provided some much needed bacon wrapped hot dogs after the show and hearing some classic Nine Inch Nails songs perform on the floor, I don't think it was as good as when I saw them in a small concert setting back in the late 90's.

If this is the final run of NIN, then I'll be pretty happy to see them go out not with a huge bang of a mega concert event but with the way they started. It's like how they started. Small venue, intimate setting. If they want to go out this way, I'm all for it. I'll be there to hear them like I usually am. I remember getting my Quake PC demo cd and listening to the music the whole way through. Sure, they don't have many lyrics. But the sound scape of noise that Trent has come up with changed the way I listen to ambient noise forever.

Am I sad to see this as the potential end? Not really. It has been 20 years. And while I see across the room that Street Fighter is turning 20 and I'm still going strong in playing that, creativity and the change that Trent and NIN has gone through in that time is completely different. While still sounding great, I have no qualms in letting it go and enjoying the music that I once enjoyed as an angst filled youth.