Apr/102
Alex Chilton: Dead due to no health insurance?
Alex Chilton: Dead due to no health insurance?
Go directly to your grave. Do not pass go. Do not collect reimbursement due to a pre-existing condition.
Last month, I – along with at least one writer for every other music-oriented blog out there – reported on the death of indie darling Alex Chilton. The Big Star frontman passed away on March 17 due to a heart attack shortly after complaining of health problems. But, as the blokes at Consequence of Sound recently discovered, there’s a more chilling undertone to this story.
At least twice in the week before his untimely death, Chilton experienced inexplicable chills and shortness of breath while engaged in moderate physical activity. Despite these disturbing symptoms, however, he chose not to seek out a doctor. And why? Because, despite being a modestly successful rock star, he did not have any health insurance.
With Congress’ recent passage of sweeping health care reform, we can at least say that some of the problems with the United States’ broken health insurance system have been fixed. But for Alex Chilton and the millions of others whom the morally bankrupt insurance lobby have left dead or destitute, it’s too little, too late. Remember that the next time you visit your doctor, and be thankful that you weren’t one of the unlucky ones.
Apr/100
China walls off Bob Dylan
China walls off Bob Dylan
人步行必须下來，在您称多少條路他一個人之前?
The People’s Republic of China’s Draconian censorship policies have recently drawn much ire from the Western world, causing Google – among others – to pull out of the country completely. Now, as of yesterday, these policies have alienated one more soul: legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
After tentatively scheduling concert dates in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong for the spring, Dylan was subsequently denied access to the country by China’s propaganda-peddling Ministry of Culture. The denial comes isn’t all that surprising, however, as Dylan is known for his politically-charged protest songs and strong Western-liberal opinions. Surely he and his ilk can’t be very well liked among the Party oligarchy that runs the country.
Too bad, too, since there’s undoubtedly a huge number of people there who could use exposure to something other than Party-approved culture. Would it be too much to ask for Chinese democracy in Dylan’s lifetime?
Apr/100
Fast food kills… any hope of Violent Femmes reunion
Fast food kills… any hope of Violent Femmes reunion
I won't even mention what the song is actually about.
It makes your gut stick out. It can give you everything from hypertension to diabetes to e. coli poisoning. It doesn’t taste very good in the first place. But now, fats food has gone one step too far: It’s killed any hope of a Violent Femmes reunion for the foreseeable future.
Back in 2007, Violent Femmes frontman Gordon Gano sold the rights to use the Femmes’ hit “Blister in the Sun” in a commercial for Wendy’s hamburgers. Gano’s perceived sellout angered a lot of fans of the band, as well as former Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie. (Ritchie even sued Gano over the use of the song, claiming – rightfully so – that it damaged the band’s reputation.) Three years later, tempers apparently haven’t cooled.
“There’s no will to do anything creative there,” stated Ritchie in a recent interview with Spinner regarding a possible reunion of the influential folk-punk trio. And regarding the Wendy’s debacle, he had this to say: “I don’t like having my sound misappropriated to sell harmful products, such as fast food.”
Good for him for taking a stand. Too bad I’d almost – but not quite – prefer it if he just accepted a check from Wendy’s and got on with a reunion tour instead.
Mar/102
Pink Floyd kick off new digital distribution lawsuit
Pink Floyd kick off new digital distribution lawsuit
By the way, which one's Pink?
Though they didn’t invent the concept, prog-rock alumni Pink Floyd have released some of the most loved concept albums ever. Starting with 1973’s classic Dark Side of the Moon and its exploration of mental illness, the band released a stellar string of such albums: Wish You Were Here’s lament for Syd Barrett; Animals‘ division of people into dogs, pigs, and sheep; The Wall’s tale of a rock star driven to madness and isolation by his less-than-charmed life. Because of that, it should come as no surprise that the band would prefer that listeners experience these albums as a whole, rather than as a series of disjointed songs.
However, sometimes a band’s desire to protect its art can go a bit too far. Such seems to be the case with Pink Floyd’s recent lawsuit against record label EMI. In it, the band has asked the court to rule on whether or not the label can sell tracks unbundled from the rest of the album. While EMI has made individual Floyd tracks available online, the band claims that it has a contract with the label stating that they cannot sell those tracks divorced from the album as a whole. EMI, however, claims that this contract only applies to physical copies, and not to digital distributors such as iTunes.
While a representative for the band claims that the problem is merely a royalty issue, I remain unconvinced. Instead, this seems to me to be classic Roger Waters drama-mongering, especially since the original contract seems to have no point other than to prevent the band’s art from being separated into component pieces and parted out by the label. And frankly, anything that further restricts online music buyers’ options is a Very Bad Thing in my book. So what do you think? Is the band justified in wanting to prevent online retailers from selling individual tracks?
Mar/100
Hackers to Ticketmaster, “We’ve never seen those 1.5 million tickets before!”
Hackers to Ticketmaster, “We’ve never seen those 1.5 million tickets before!”
Earlier this week, we told you about Wiseguy Tickets, a bunch of San Fransisco boiler room dwellers that got themselves indicted for illegally purchasing and reselling over one million tickets. Well, the kicker here is that these kids actually had the cojones to plead not guilty to charges of fraud. One of their attorneys, Mark Rush, even claims that his clients haven’t broken any laws. Rush stated that “Congress has not yet legislated that ticket brokering is illegal,” and that selling tickets over face value is legal in 47 states.
Now, as far as we’re concerned, there’s a special circle of Hell reserved for these guys, but it will be interesting to see if any new ticketing laws pop up after this. On the other hand, if people would just stop buying Miley Cyrus tickets en masse, then we might not have this problem, would we?
There’s a bit of advice for you, Wiseguy. When in doubt, blame Miley. You’d be surprised at how many life situations that actually fits.
Mar/100
$25 Million online ticket scamming ring = Busted.
$25 Million online ticket scamming ring = Busted.
Gimme dat money.
Have you ever thought about becoming a ticket scalper to get a little extra dough? How about a cool $25 million’s worth of extra dough? Well, you might want to think twice, you dirty criminal-minded scum.
Wired is reporting on a ring of San Francisco-based ticket resellers who have recently been indicted on charges of fraud. The company indicted, Wiseguy Tickets, allegedly used sophisticated “bots” – or automated applications – to illegally purchase and resell over one million tickets. The bots were coded with help from former employees of online ticket vendors and illegally obtained source code. The events/artists that yielded the most profit included Bruce Springsteen ($1.3 million), Miley Cyrus ($916,000), and the 2007 MLB Playoffs ($159,000). That’s all according to the 43-count indictment filed against the Wiseguys, which can be read in full here.
Well, good luck defending yourselves, Wiseguys. In the meantime, I’ll try to grab up all of the good seats for your trial.
Feb/100
Black Francis: Pixies reunion shows all about the dough
Black Francis: Pixies reunion shows all about the dough
Hi, I'm Black Francis, and I need more cash to feed my three-Big-Mac-a-day habit.
It’s always startling when a respectable artist comes out and says that he’s just in the biz to make a quick buck. So when Pixies frontman Black Francis comes out and says just that, I’m understandably startled. Check out these bites from an interview over at NME:
“We’re interested in anything that’s going to earn us a fair wage. [...] It’s not to say that it’s not about art, but we made the art f****** 20 years ago. So forget the f****** g****mn art. This ain’t about the art anymore. I did the arty farty part. Now it’s time to talk about the money.”
Well, Blacky, here’s one (former) fan whose money you won’t be getting in the future. I mean, nobody’s saying that you need to be a starving artist, but when you directly admit that you have no respect for your fans beyond milking them for cash, then it’s time for you to retire.
Oct/090
Thursday Newsmix: Oasis dries up, plus new Animal Collective and more
Thursday Newsmix: Oasis dries up, plus new Animal Collective and more
We're so British, we invented the Jaffa Cake.
After Noel Gallagher left the band over a month ago, the fate of Britpop superstars Oasis has been, for the most part, up in the air. Today, in an interview with The Times UK, estranged brother Liam Gallagher laid all rumors and speculation to rest: Oasis is no more.
In that interview, Liam spelled out the fate of the band in no uncertain terms: “Oasis is no longer. I think we all know that. So that’s done.” Instead, the younger Gallagher will be entering into the fashion business with a new line of clothing, with any further projects involving the remaining band members to be decided. Meanwhile, Noel is most likely going it solo, though details on any such venture are slim to nil at the moment.
While the demise of such a prolific band does tug a bit at my heartstrings – Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? having been, for better or worse, a major part of the soundtrack to my teenage years – the band has been mostly retreading well-worn ground for the past decade. The time was well past due to call it quits.
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My admiration for Animal Collective’s January release, Merriweather Post Pavillion, should be no secret by now. Hipster echo-chamber aside, MPP is a dynamic, exciting album packed to the brim not only with good musical ideas, but also a sense of melody and accessibility that the band’s earlier material lacked. So when the announcement of another album – slated for this year, too – comes out of nowhere, you must excuse me if I’m a little, er, excited.
Okay, that’s an understatement. This is going to be effing awesome.
The new album, to be titled Fall Be Kind, is slated to be released December 8 on Domino Records. We don’t really have any more info as of yet, but be sure to stay tuned as this exciting story develops.
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Are you the owner of some treasured piece of autographed Joy Division memorabilia? If so, you may want to check that certificate of authenticity. Ex-Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook has admitted to forging the signature of the late Ian Curtis on various JD-related items, thus calling into question the value (both monetary and otherwise) of pretty much every such piece. I think I just heard Curtis roll over in his grave.
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The Beastie Boys‘ Adam “MCA” Yausch is apparently really into Eastern medicine. After having been diagnosed with cancer, Yausch stated in an update released via Rolling Stone, he traveled to Tibet on a retreat, converted (temporarily) to veganism, and attended a seminar by the Dalai Lama. Whatever helps him feel better, I suppose.
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So it looks like Radiohead might be cutting a new album after all. Jeez, make your mind up already, will you guys?
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After initially snubbing an offer to have the band immortalized in a Rock Band game, arena-rockers U2 have stated that they would “definitely… like to be” involved with such a project. Too bad it won’t be nearly as good as The Beatles’ iteration.
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In other music-game news, view the entire tracklist for the upcoming DJ Hero video game here.
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Preview The Flaming Lips’ upcoming album, Embryonic, over at NPR.