Rolling Stone posted an article which explained a deal made between John Mellencamp and his son, Speck. According to RS, if Speck can get at least 1,000,000 people to join the group John Cougar will quit his habit. Apparently, the man has already cut his habit down a bit from 4 packs a day to an unspecified number less. As of now, about 300,000 people have joined the fight against John Mellencamp’s freedom to get cancer.
I’m not sure why, but this whole thing makes me laugh. I thought there were far too many Facebook groups as it is, now there’s one for the well-being of John Mellencamp’s throat. To me it’s a bit ridiculous. At fist I thought, “People need to be free to do what they want. It’s legal, so why can’t he smoke in peace without all of Facebook hassling him and giving their two cents.” But then I thought, “This guy agreed to it, he’s asking for it. Hell, he could have even planned it all with his publicist.”
And what happens if they do get a million people to join and John reneges on his promise to quit lighting up? It’s very possible. In fact, 80% of people that use stop smoking aids to quit will start smoking again in the next year. Think of the disappointment his child might feel for a father that can’t even quit smoking for him, let alone one million fans. Will all these “so-called” supporters turn their backs on him once he lets them down?
So what do you think, is it just a publicity stunt? a young boys cry for help? a waste of server space? or is that the beauty of social networking sites that YOU can have a say as to what happens to John Mellencamp’s lungs?
• Ashley Simpson's lip syncing on Saturday Night Live and avoiding an awkward moment by doing a jig
• Madonna adopts an orphan that wasn't really orphaned
• A bald Britney Spears attacks a papa-paparazzi car with an umbrella-ella-ella
• Brett Michaels gets nailed by part of the stage set during a performance at the Tonys. I'm wondering why he'd be so upset and embarrassed by that after Rock of Love one AND two.
• Metallica sues Napster
• Mariah Carey pops in on TRL and goes a little nuts with an ice cream truck.
• Madonna and Brittney girl-on-girl and Adam Lambert's boy-on-boy award show performances
• And of course, the Kanye vs. Taylor incident. He appeared on the Jay Leno Show afterward, where Leno asks him what his mother would think if she were with us - a little harsh, even for Kanye.
Speaking of trippy videos, check out the new music video by Islands for the song "No You Don't" featuring Michael Cera. They start the video off by text labeling it as a "zero tolerance production" for a "high school academic anti-drug supplementary." Then, we get to follow Cera as he pops some pills and wanders around tripping out for a bit. Smart move on their part, recruiting Cera for the project, which will likely bring a lot more buzz to the Canadian group's video, as well as more attention to their music.
To segue from my last post, "Who needs to buy a guitar?"
After several months of being pommeled by the advertising industry telling me what I "need" this past holiday season, I seriously contemplated becoming more of a Luddite than I already am, until I came across this little set-up that transported me back to the techno-fantasy world that often prevails.
These are speakers that fit into any standard light sockets. Not only will they play music remotely from your PC, stereo or iPod, they are equipped with 5 and 6-inch light fixtures that you can even dim for a little ambiance to match the musical mood. Do I need these?...uh, ya...about as much as I need this significantly less tangible, but ever the more magical music making machine...
This is a far cry from trying to take apart my old "Speak & Spell" or is it?
All too often people, whether serious about making music or just want to have some fun with sound, are deterred by the price tags on equipment or the idea that they lack the talent to play. One of my favorite musical memories came from just that- play. A friend and I were wasting away the early morning hours eating pancakes at some suburbia hole-in-the wall, when he whipped out a pocket knife and started carving holes into and beveling the end of a straw: "Straw flute!" he declares. A few notes and we were decisively extricated from our seats. So, away we went to the nearest 24/7 convenient store, purchased a box of 100 drinking straws and proceeded until daylight with every permutation of hole configuration, length and bevel angle we could conjure. Were we making music? That's debatable. Playing? Definitely! If you've never watched a toddler get down with a set of pans and plastic bowls, do yourself a favor...or just do it yourself. You can bet there's some great, greasy grooves amidst all that clatter. Is musical success dependent on the recipe, whether or not you care that anyone likes the flavor, or with what kind of pots you're cooking...or playing, as it were?
Some of the most sublime sound has come from manipulating or simply reinventing for what a thing is "supposed" to be used. A recent "iPhone Symphony" post is a perfect illustration of how something that has become part of our everyday experience can transport us into an entirely different atmosphere of sound if we allow ourselves the creative license to transpose the thing. I have also had the joy of witnessing some of Minneapolis' finest talent brandish everything from screwdrivers to toilet-bowl scrubbers and successfully pass them off as instrumental accoutrement. I caught one of my favorite local jazz drummers, Jay Epstein (Firebell, The Dan Musselman Quartet) at a gig this summer; cooler than cool, without missing a beat, he pulled out a pair of plastic handled, nylon bristled toilet-bowl scrubbers. I was astounded! The sound was a little heavier than traditional "brushes" and perfect for the piece. Similarly simple in presence and just as innovative in thought, was guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker's (Alpha Consumer, Andrew Bird) performance at the Modern Guitar Fest, held a few weeks ago. He began by precisely finessing a screwdriver behind his strings, then after looping and building upon this beautifully humble beginning and filtering through layers of distortion, he arrived at the simple static of an out of tune radio held up to an amp.
Ylvisaker's radio became a quite echo of his masterful guitar work and a reminder that what we have may not be as important as what we do with what we have. Actually, the performance, with it's use of simple artifacts juxtaposing a modern instrument, seemed to bring full circle the ideological conflict between manual and technological manipulation, which may not be a conflict at all, but a question of how do we find harmony within that space. As for me, I don't yet have an iPhone and I'm still waiting for my "Reactable" to come in the mail, but until then I'll just keep delighting in repeatedly pressing the "on" and "say-it" buttons on my "Speak & Spell".
Maybe/Maybe not; but the new video for “Brother Sport” off of the Merriweather Post Pavillion album is a trip in itself. The video features crazy psychedelic visuals that seem to complement most of the band's work. The video, which appeared this morning on the My Animal Home Website, features strange children, eggs, hypnotizing Pink Floyd-esque artwork, and one of the weirdest finger-painting sessions ever. “Brother Sport” is the 3rd single off the band’s latest album following “My Girls” and “Summertime Clothes.” Check it out.
Unless you've been hiding in a hermit hole during the last few weeks, you've been inundated by "best of" lists touting opinions that may or may not be agreeable. Generally, I find myself in disagreement with the idea of such lists since opinion, particularly in the arts, is often relative. I tend to disregard the categorical aspect of these lists, but from them make my own list of work I have never seen/heard of before and try to remedy that disparity. This year however, I would like to give a nod to Jack White, who is well deserving of an “Artist of the Decade” title.
The beginning of the decade was marked with several White Stripes releases, including their breakthrough album White Blood Cells and the acclaimed Elephant album... and yes, Meg, (although painful to watch) is entitled to her props as well. White has often said that her drumming style is unique in its simplicity. Meg does seem to know just when not to play and anything more would crowd the lyrics and complexity of White's guitar work.
After contributing 5 songs to the Cold Mountain soundtrack, White produced and performed on Loretta Lynn's “rebirth” album Van Lear Rose. Then, in between The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan and Icky Thump albums, Jack formed The Raconteurs, releasing Broken Boy Soldiers in 2006 and Consolers of the Lonely in 2008.
In 2009, as a result of Jack losing his voice during a Raconteurs tour and apparently not having enough to do already, The Dead Weather was formed. As The Kills were warming up for their turn on stage, White's voice began to fade, so Alison Mosshart stepped in. Shorty after the show and a recording that was supposed to be just 7”, White, Mosshart, Raconteurs bassist Jack Lawrence and Queen's of the Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita, recorded their debut album Horehound. From this album also came one of my favorite videos of the year for the song “Treat Me Like Your Mother” (below). According to Jack, “The song is algebraic” and the short film by director Johnathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) equals a brilliant balance between the searing and the subtle.
Last year also saw the premier of the film Under Great White Northern Lights. The story of The White Stripes gallivanting across the great white north opened to stellar reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and is slated to release as an epic box set this March. It will supposedly include: A DVD of the film itself, a DVD of White Stripes 10th anniversary show -"The White Stripes Under Nova Scotian Lights", a 16-track White Stripes live album recorded during the Canadian tour on both vinyl and CD, a live 7" (featuring "Icky Thump" and "The Wheels on the Bus"), a 208-page book with photos, AND a silk screen print...I think I just wet myself...
Finally, as if his solid, prolific and profoundly outstanding career needed the volume cranked any further, Jack White starred in the documentary It Might Get Loud, along side the Edge and Jimmy Page, for which he released the track “Fly Farm Blues” under his own name.
Jack says he doesn't trust anyone that doesn't like Led Zeppelin...I don't trust anyone that doesn't like (or at the very least can't appreciate) Jack White. White is not only prolific, but revolutionary in inventing and reinventing how sound is processed as music. He distorts the concepts of that which is tangible, raw and real, while simultaneously maintaining a quality untouchable brilliance.
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Rolling Stone posted an article which explained a deal made between John Mellencamp and his son, Speck. According to RS, if Speck can get at least 1,000,000 people to join the group John Cougar will quit his habit. Apparently, the man has already cut his habit down a bit from 4 packs a day to an unspecified number less. As of now, about 300,000 people have joined the fight against John Mellencamp’s freedom to get cancer.
And what happens if they do get a million people to join and John reneges on his promise to quit lighting up? It’s very possible. In fact, 80% of people that use stop smoking aids to quit will start smoking again in the next year. Think of the disappointment his child might feel for a father that can’t even quit smoking for him, let alone one million fans. Will all these “so-called” supporters turn their backs on him once he lets them down?
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