May 31, 2007
he's at it again
Pete Townshend (Who he?) is the blog. Comments disabled.
The profile is the best:
The excerpts of his autobiography are over at www.petetownshendwhohe.blogspot.com, to make things more confusing. Comments on here.
What's the Vegas line as to how long these will last, before some egomaniacal freak ruins the party?
January 08, 2006
the muscle shoals sound
Given that last night I started pruning the iPod to take off things I am not sure I need to have with me 24/7 (even if I once did feel that way about it) (and this is a whole other train of thought that should be written about at some other time) right about the time I was desperately needing to hear Otis Redding and realizing I have a shamefully small amount of Otis Redding on my iPod, and that while it is all well and good that I consider Sam Cooke Live At The Harlem Square Club the greatest live album of all time and therefore it should be on the iPod, there is zero excuse for not having a far deeper representation of Mr. Cooke's repertoire...this link (to a blog whose existence I was previously unaware of, but now delightfully so) is welcome and deserving of large amounts of traffic.
Espec. given the fact that I am well aware things are quiet around here, but jg.com is not supposed to be a "blog" per se, just using the blogging software to have my writing online, I sort of apologize for the lack of updates but not really. Kind of stuck in the fictional world right now. And writing my EMP proposal. But more anon, I swear.
March 18, 2005
joel's 10 favorite songs by ex-beatles
When I was in the 10-13 age range, I was such an obsessive Beatles fan that I used to carry around a pink spiral notebook which contained a calendar in which I'd written every significant Beatle event, ever.
My friend Joel (who scoured the Los Angeles area to find a garden gnome to put onstage at a show two days after George Harrison left this earth) beats me, hands down...as evidenced by his recent great contribution at Pitchfork.
Personally, I would have put something from Venus & Mars on there, and probably would have had a hard time figuring out what to pick from Band On The Run (there is no album in the entire history of music that is more of a time machine for me that that one).
No matter what, though, the presence of "It Don't Come Easy" on there validates the whole thing (and ensures we will not engage in endless argument over this subject in future).
Joel plays guitar and bass and keyboards and egg shakers in Earlimart, who are going to play some more shows in your backyard soon (May 6 at Bowery Ballroom in NYC).
January 30, 2005
obligatory bright eyes entry
I didn't go see Bright Eyes when they were in NYC this week because I was in a temporary but brand new kind of b-r-o-k-e (which of course resolved itself the day after the show). But, I did write a review of the new album for Blogcritics, and my interview with Conor will appear in the next issue of Backstreets, which is out as of next week.
But the real reason for this post is the new song he's been doing (which of course isn't on any record) called "When The President Talks To God." And in a stroke of absolute, utter genius, you can
download it for free at iTunes. It's a great, biting, eloquent talking blues, in the spirit of Woody and Arlo and Steve Earle. Writing a song like this is tough to do, it's not just the lyrics that are important, it's the tune and the performance and the delivery, and it's freaking masterful.
Conor Oberst has gone so far past his original image that it amazes me that people can't see it, and can't let go of their vitriol and preconceived notions. I touch on this in my review, but he's pretty much allowed himself to grow up, both personally and artistically, in public. To me there was always a visible progression evident, and I guess I'm the rare bird who never expects (or wants) an artist to remain static and in the same place making the same kind of record or music for their entire career. I thought he carried himself extremely well on the Vote For Change tour, and have been thoroughly in love with I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning since I got the advance back in October (when I interviewed Conor).
When The President Talks To God
when the president talks to god
are the conversations brief or long?
does he ask to rape our womens' rights
or to send poor farm kids off to die?
will the president reccomend an oil hike
when the president talks to god?
when the president talks to god
are the words he chooses hard or soft?
does he resolute all down the line?
is every issue black or white?
does what god say ever change his mind
when the president talks to god?
when the president talks to god
does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
agree which convicts should be killed?
where the prison's built and filled?
which voter fraud must be concealed
when the president talks to god?
when the president talks to god
I wonder which one plays the better cop
we should find some jobs. the ghetto's broke
no, they're lazy, George, I say we don't
just give 'em more liquor stores and dirty coke
that's what god reccomends
when the president talks to god
do they drink beer and go play golf
when they pick which country should we invade
and which heathen souls still can be saved?
yeah I guess god just calls a spade a spade
when the president talks to god
when the president talks to god
does he ever think that maybe he's not?
that that voice is just inside his head
when he kneels down in the presidential bed
does he ever smell his own bullshit
when the president talks to god?
January 26, 2005
"have you ever had the feeling that you've been cheated?"
UPDATE, 1/31:: U2.com has announced that they will be providing refunds to anyone who hasn't used their membership code to buy tickets. Nice egomaniacal spin to the press release, but I don't care; all I care is that I can get my money back and use it for something else. It's still the biggest ripoff ever.
First, I guess I have to apologize for being so non-trendy and unhip that I care about seeing U2. I had gotten worn out with the hype, but then I went to Brooklyn, for old times' sake, and it was actually brilliant. They could still play, just the four of them rocked it out hard.
Yes, I am such a fangirl that I will pay $40 for a fan club membership. I had a Propaganda membership years and years ago, didn't keep it up. But for priority ticketing, yes, I would pay $40. This isn't the Rolling Stones fan club, they are going to do this right. I expect the Rolling Stones to take as much money from me as they can. I don't expect this from U2.
Or so I thought.
At least 90,000 people joined the new Propaganda (this according to several reports of people who talked to Fanfire, the merchandising arm of Sony Entertainment, that handled the fulfillment of memberships). There was no way they could accomodate 90,000 memberships, but yet, when they sent out the tour date announcements, they made sure to mention that members as of the night before the presale would be eligible for tickets. That should have been my first clue that something was very, very wrong.
Or maybe my first clue should have been what a trainwreck the official web site, U2.com, ended up being. I don't have much faith in any band's official web site, but somehow, stupidly, I thought this band might actually do things differently. The fact that it was buggy and crashed constantly when it went online - why test it? it's only music fans. who cares if they have a bad experience? it's not like they are valued customers or anything like that - and that you couldn't sign up for a membership if you wanted to, and then when people did, they got charged double - no, none of that mattered.
I had hopes that there would actually be exclusive content that I cared about, that maybe a lesson was learned from other band web sites, that U2 would embrace the web and be pioneers, that their site wouldn't be an embarassment, like most official musician web sites are. But instead, there's one bad screensaver and some photos. The promised web mail doesn't work. Fans put together better video compilations - which, again, doesn't surprise me, but I paid $40 for a membership. $40 x 90,000 is a lot of fucking money.
Now we move to the presale. I can get tickets to pretty much anything I want, not because I'm a journalist that can get on a guest list, but because I've been playing the game so fucking long that I know how to play it. As a recent example, while most of the world bitched about Springsteen playing a club in Asbury Park, or didn't even try to get tickets, I managed to get tickets to both shows. I am not a child. I am not a newbie. I know how to do this.
By 9:59 a.m., the Ticketmaster (why TM? Why not Musictoday?) server was swamped, and not only were there no GA's, there were no tickets to speak of within 9 minutes, 10:09, when the error message said that there were no tickets left.
From the U2.com FAQ:
Q: What are the benefits I receive when I become a U2.com Member?
A: A special introductory gift - a U2.com members card metal key chain. Priority ticketing for the 2005 tour. You will be able to buy two tickets for any indoor U2 show or four tickets for any outdoor U2 show during your membership term.
Not "a chance for tickets," not "the opportunity to purchase tickets," but You will be able to buy two tickets for any indoor U2 show. Bad language on their part. Very bad.
This should be a scandal, it should hit the media, but it won't. Because it's "just" fans and it's "just" a fan club and they're such a big band, we should know better. If this were a sporting team, this treatment would never be tolerated, but music fans let themselves get walked over time and time again.
I am done being a U2 fan. I will not buy tickets, I will not go, and I took all their music off my iPod earlier today. I know, it's childish, but I can't stand listening to them now, and I don't know when I will. I feel utterly jaded, and stupid, and foolish. My faith has been tested, and tested hard. I still *had* faith in this big crazy thing called rock and roll. I am a big proponent of artists being able to make money, tons of it, even, from their art. But this is just a ripoff. And from the depth of the response all over the world (see the links at the bottom), many people feel the same way, and are sending many faxes to Principle Management (212-765-2372, if you care).
"Have you ever had the feeling that you've been cheated?" Johnny Rotten asked the audience at the end of the Sex Pistols US tour, almost thirty years ago.
Yes.
Other links:
U2 Page.com: An Open Letter To U2
U2log.com: How to Dismantle a U2 Fan
@U2.com: Money Changes Everything
@U2.com: An Open Letter To U2
December 03, 2004
i could not think of anything more excruciating
There is someone out there willing to pay over $1k for this agony? After all those years of avoiding talking to him at the JAMPAC pool tournaments?
Okay, honestly, I shouldn't give him such a hard time, and I know that I take for granted the ability to view An Actual Member Of Nirvana In The Flesh after living in Seattle for 9+ years. And yes it's for a good cause. Krist should have and could have done a lot more than he has done, he's a smart guy who has a lot of people willing to listen to what he has to say.
Funny story revolves around him busting me and a friend, years ago, for videotaping his band at a show at the First Avenue Theater. We were actually wanting to tape Satchel and Hovercraft, had tape left over, and just ran it. He sent a flunky over to take the tape away from us - keep in mind that this was an all-ages punk rock DIY type venue, and not exactly the Kingdome, where one should shuttle out the sole member of your crew to take a tape of your band (that, I'll point out, no one cared about then and no one does now).
(While we're here: Is there a reason I need to buy the Nirvana box set? Anyone?)
April 28, 2004
truth is stranger than fiction
Or, the musicologists that hang out on ryanadams.org (otherwise known as "the dot-org," to distinguish it from the steaming pile of useless officialness that is ryan-adams.com [hyphenated because of course some geek owns ryanadams.com and feels so tied to it they'd rather have a link at the top of their page sending everyone to ryan's official site than have to abdicate their domain name]) discuss the history of music:
ORIGINAL POST:
"RYAN STEALING FROM NIRVANA
The guitar part in I'M COMING OVER--"hey, wait, I gotta new complaint" from Nirvana in HEART-SHAPED BOX. try to deny it "
Response #1: "Oh please... *rolls eyes*"
OP: "listen to it"
#2: "...and of course Nirvana never nicked anything from The Pixies, Killing Joke, Black Sabbath, etc."
OP: "that's not the point. listen to it and quit hedging"
#3: "I'm not doubting you, I just don't see the point of bringing it up..."
OP: "I think it's COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RYAN stealing from the greatest rock band evah!"
#4: "Greatest rock band ever? I guess you are entitled to your opinion, but......
ummmm.... The Stones?"
#5: "and nirvana made a pretty good replacements album when they came out with nevermind..."
OP: "the stones can suck it. nirvana rocks"
#6: "aaawwww... struck a chord..."
OP: "i'm sorry, i really didn't mean that. :(
they dont suck but are no nirvana"