作譜

One interview. Three different edits.

George Michael must have one hell of a financial advisor if he can offer up music for free. “I’ve been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don’t need any more of the public’s money,” he says.

Pretty good especially since his career has made a lot of stumbles in the last decade. A lawsuit with the label putting out his next album, getting arrested for public indecency, raising the ire of Bush-Blair supporters — had he spent the money he earned in the 80s already, he’d be hurting good.

“Believe me, I’ll be of very little interest to the press in a certain number of years,” Michael continues. Honey, that’s the reality now.

I’m pretty sure only the geekiest of music geeks would find how DJ Danger Mouse made The Grey Album remotely interesting.

I’ll give 50 Cent this much — at least he’s honest.

I could probably be righteously indignant about his language and the fallacy of his, ahem, “logic”, but he’s right — he doesn’t have anything in common with gay men.

Gay men like dick. Lesbians like pussy. 50 Cent likes pussy. End of story.

On a totally unrelated note, I’m just glad police survelience of hip-hop artists isn’t being cast in terms of the war against terror.

Lord knows we have to watch out for those damn teachers — how awful if we were to add hip-hop artists to the list.

This article was posted to the pure-japanese-rock mailing list, and it gives a nice glimpse into the workings of the Japanese music industry in Japan. Shigeo Maruyama quit his job as head of Epic Records to launch his own independet label, 247 Music. The article has a few interesting tidbits.

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One of these days, I’ll write about why I like SXSW far more than the ACL Fest. Granted, most of the enmity toward the latter stems from having worked at the very first festival, which, to put it in the mildest terms, fucking sucked.

For now, I’ll be content just to comb through this year’s showcases to find some clever band names.

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Rather than subject you to all the useless Flash — useless Flash, how redundant — let’s just cut to the chase.

One woman. 14 bachelors. A million dollars. The trick? If the person she ends up with is straight, she splits the million. If he’s gay, he takes it all.

Makes Straight Plan for the Gay Man look tolerant by comparrison.

Shit … maybe I should audition for this show …

(Found this link while reading a rather useless story about the next Law & Order incarnation.)

Actress Minnie Driver has a showcase at SXSW. Yup. Her quest for a label deal continues in our very own city. I would go to this showcase if only I weren’t already occupied with Japan Girls Nite on Saturday.

She’s not the only Hollywood-type pursuing the rock star dream. Los Angeles Latin band Fredabla sports as its lead singer one Eric Balfour, whose notable guest appearances include Xander’s vamped friend Jesse in the first few episodes of Buffy, the guy who harrasses Zoe Bartlett in Georgetown bar in an episode of The West Wing, and most infamously, Gabriel Dimas, the guy on the receiving end of a decapitated foot delivered by Claire Fischer in Six Feet Under.

The only reason I know this much about Balfour is the fact he strikes me as being a mini-Ben Affleck.

I know I shouldn’t read too much into it, but Quruli, the one band I want to see more than anything this year at SXSW, is scheduled as part of the Barsuk Records showcase.

Of course, John Vanderslice, a Barsuk artist, is signed to Quruli’s indie label Noise McCartney Records in Japan, so this could very well be a case of reciprocity.

But it would be very, very cool if Barsuk issued Quruli albums here in the States.

OK. So, Nick Oliveri takes a shot at Josh Homme, but Josh proclaims his undying love.

Dude, forget gay — these guys sound like they need marriage counseling. I have no idea why I’m fascinated enough about this split — it’s not like they’re my favorite band.

In other news, this tidbit from the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll seemed somewhat topical for this post:

Best Marriage-on-the-Rocks: OutKast. Big Boi is all, “Don’t listen to all those rumors! Me and my man are gonna last forever!” And we’re all, “Damn, girl! He’s cheatin’ on you!”

Los Angeles, California

When I first read about Billy Corgan saying James Iha split up the Smashing Pumpkins, I of course took James’ side. Corgan still strikes me as taking himself way too seriously.

But then I read Corgan’s statement myself, and I have to say I give him credit for staying mum about Iha, and even for coming clean about it.

Thing is, Number Girl follows a parallel history with Smashing Pumpkins, and that break-up was spun entirely differently.

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