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« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Rest In Peace, Michael Jackson…
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 25, 2009 by admin in Music
Thursday, June 25th, 2009…there was none left for you here on Earth
Although for most of us Michael Jackson’s death won’t have the “what were you doing when” impact of JFK’s assassination or 9/11, I for one will never forget, because a friend of mine called and asked, out of the blue, “Is Michael Jackson dead?”, to which I replied with something like “I almost hope so, for his sake”, thinking at first that my friend was being flip. Since I don’t have TV, I spent the next few minutes on the web watching the news unfold, switching between cnn.com, bbc.com, yahoo news, and Wikipedia. What I’ll never forget is that Wikipedia listed him as dead before any of the news sites had committed. I personally felt an odd sense of relief rather than anything like remorse upon finding out; I mean, what kind of life could the man possibly have left to live? My first experience with caring much about Michael Jackson as an artist was when his song “Beat It” – which strongly resembled my band’s song “No Soul” – was released, much to our irritation, because record labels on several occasions used the comparison to say we weren’t original though our song was written well before his. Although over the years one couldn’t argue his undeniable talent, the fact that his most meaningful relationships seemed to be with children, aging glam queens, and monkeys named “Bubbles” tended to diminish his credibility. My personal feelings about him vacillated quite a bit over time; although I was definitely in the camp that would gleefully make fun of his quirks for many years, a friend pointed out something to me in the late 80′s that gave me pause, which was the fact that on top of any stories of his father’s abusive behavior, his child stardom had put him some pretty strange situations with adult women, and his insular lifestyle simply made it impossible for him to mature in anything like a normal fashion. This left me feeling a bit sympathetic toward him for a long time, That is, until it turned out that he ultimately was a 40-ish child molesting multimillionaire who refused to give up fairyland, and whose best friend remained a monkey. Thanks for your music, and rest in peace, Michael Jackson. I’m sure you had no peace left here on Earth.
Support Corporate Fascism – Buy A CD
[ 5 Comments ]Posted on June 19, 2009 by admin in Music
Friday, June 19th, 2009Shared any music with your friends lately? You may owe the RIAA $80,000 per song.
If you’ve shared any music with your friends in a digital format recently, you might want to wipe your hard drive. That rascally RIAA is at it again, winning an absolutely psychotic copyright infringement case against a single consumer, to the tune of $1.92 million. Who knows how they expect Jammie Thomas to pay the nearly two million dollars she owes for the 24 songs she “pirated”….wait. Did I just say 24 songs for $1.92 million dollars? Yes. I did. That’s why I’m reviving the CopyReich Shop I created a while back. If this isn’t fascist behavior on the part of the recording industry, I don’t know what is. The stupid consumer won’t buy your crappy overpriced products? Destroy their life by suing the f*ck out of them! We just talked about the CopyFight last week; frankly I thought it was kind of a dead movement. Maybe it’s time we revitalized it. If you find the Nazi-esque images of the CopyReich Shop offensive, we also have the Copyfight Shop, which pokes fun at the Creative Commons license. And which is also perhaps due for a revival; it seems Instructables.com may be perverting it’s purpose to screw their content creators. By the way, here’s a nice flowchart if you’ve ever wondered how the RIAA decides to pursue these cases.
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on June 13, 2009 by admin in Music
Saturday, June 13th, 2009They’re not Grizzly, and they’re not bears. Patrick Daughters’ new video for the Grizzly Bear song Two Weeks is pretty clever though.
If Godley & Creme – whom you would probably only know from their tear-jerking 1985 hit Cry – got together with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and consulted with Depeche Mode and the Decemberists about how to be intellectual and moody, you might end up with something like Grizzly Bear’s latest release “Veckatimest”
Iggy Pop’s New Release – Préliminaires
[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 3, 2009 by admin in Music
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009You’ll want to put on Iggy Pop’s new CD Préliminaires almost as much as you’ll want HIM to put on a shirt.
 I think it’s finally time for Iggy to put on a shirt. How about you? |
When you’re Iggy Pop, you have to go to great lengths to surprise people. I mean, after being one of the first to pull your penis out on stage (I think Jim Morrison beat him to “the draw”), being credited with inventing the “stage dive”, and acquiring the moniker “Godfather of Punk”, what’s left? Well, Iggy came up with something. Just enter your Serge Gainsbourg-slash-Leonard Cohen phase at the age of 62 with a release like his new CD Préliminaires
Why I’m Moving To Vienna And Forming A Balkan Funk Band
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on May 26, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture, Music
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009The Internet is dangerous. One day you’re watching an American film about suicide, the next day you’re moving to Vienna and starting a Balkan Funk Band.
The Internet is dangerous. It’s because of the Internet that I’m moving to either Barcelona or Vienna and starting a Balkan Funk Band. Let me explain. The other day, I finally saw Wrist Cutters – A Love Story (and wrote about it). I loved bits of the soundtrack
