Super fast effort today. Just call me Cankaya.
Stuff that no one wants to hear
Yoko Ono announced that she will be releasing a Dance Version of a (I think) previously unreleased Lennon/Ono track entitled Walking on Thin Ice. It will be premeired in New York City’s Arc Club the night of her seventieth birthday.
This coming from the woman who gave McCartney a hard time about putting his name before Lennon’s in songs that Lennon had 90% nothing to do with. Now, she’s releasing a song as a dance version… something I’ll almost guarantee will make John roll over in his grave.
The track was remixed by DJ Danny Tenaglia and features the Pet Shop Boys.
Beatles’ fans were last seen making an exodus to Manhattan to throw themselves off the Empire State Building. Some were tempted to blow away Ono.
More Festival News
On the heels of the resurrected Lollapalooza, the headliners of this year’s Ozzfest were announced this past Monday. Korn, Marilyn Manson, and Disturbed have been tapped to headline the 8th annual Ozzfest, scheduled to start in June.
Ozzy is, apparently, not performing on this year’s Ozzfest.
The last Ozzfest I went to was two years ago, with Pantera and Ozzy headlining. I almost died that day by falling on my back during Pantera’s set. I haven’t been to a festival yet. I think I’m getting too old for the all-day things… especially since SPAC (the joint where most festival’s come locally) doesn’t allow coolers anymore.
It is shaping up to be a decent spring/summer concert season. So far we got Pearl Jam, Sanatarium, Ozzfest, and Lollapalooza announced. Rumors also have Audioslave touring… and Godsmack and Live almost always tour in support of new albums. Should be a fun summer.
The MTV TRL awards
As a service to the loyal readers, I tried… I really tried to watch the TRL awards so I could report on them… but I couldn’t. I got to the point where they showed the sad, pathetic souls who stand outside the MTV studios in a desperate attempt to see someone famous. Like, I look at them, and I think about the sad state that our world is in… that they’ll stand outside, in the snow, with the hopes to see someone famous in the window. Assfaces.
Anyway, I watched for about fifteen minutes or so… long enough to see Britney Spears win the “The Evolution Award†for biggest TRL transformation over time… and Blink 182 win “The Ultimate Hookup†where they allowed a group who won a TRL contest to open for them on the road. I also watched it long enough to watch an amusing exchange between Carson Daly and Brittney Spears… where Brit basically said that Fred Durst was a frightening little troll who she worked with for three days. And now he thinks there’s something going on.
I don’t know which half of that is sadder. I’m more willing to believe Brittney than Fred… because I think Fred is desperately, desperately trying to hold on to press after selling out beyond fan repair.
Anyway, I unfortunately tuned out of the TRL awards, missing such acclaimed awards such as “The Wet Your Pants Award†and “Carson’s Most Uncomfortable Moment Award†and instead watched an episode of the X-Files that I’ve seen five hundred times before.
The Musician that died in 2003… no not Left-Eye, the OTHER one
For the few people that notice or care, there will be a biography released of Layne Staley’s life. Penned by Adriana Rubio, the book chronicles Staley’s painful life. The project began with Staley’s family’s blessing, but his mother has since rescinded that saying the book lacked “basic human dignity.â€
For information about the project Visit the Website. The book is entitled Angry Chair.
I was a fan of Alice in Chains after the Unplugged album came out. I hadn’t followed them very much, other than to listen to their radio tracks and think “damn, they’re pretty good.†It took the Unplugged show and album to get me to realize how good I thought they were, and they were pretty much the only Seattle band I never gave a fair shake… just for no other reason as they weren’t overexposed like Pearl Jam and Nirvana. For some reason, MTV dubbed Nirvana the band of Seattle, even though Layne and Jerry were possibly five thousand times more talented than Kurt… and the music? The musical talent of Alice in Chains left Nirvana in the dust. However, in fairness, the depth of sound you can get with five guys is much more three dimensional than you can get with three.
I had been hoping to see AIC at some point before I died… and they are now officially the only band on the “see before I die†list that will never come to pass. I still hold out hope for Pink Floyd and some good assembly of Van Halen. Yeah, AIC songs were 99% of the time about drugs… but you write what you know, I guess. And Layne’s lyrics were just part of the experience. Jerry’s guitar’s and Mike’s bass were just amazing most of the time. You could feel Layne when he sung… the emotion was just in the voice. You could feel his struggle. Listening back on the Dirt album, as I did quite a bit right after his death, you could almost feel the same problems that he must have been going through right before he died, as he was when he wrote the song. Heaven Beside You for example, was one I listened to quite a few times… and Would? was another one.
Which is why it kills me to see all the news outlets just pass off Layne’s death as nothing while f*cking Left-eye is treated like some kind of martyr who died for music. She was a f*cking criminal who kept herself in the news by torching her husband/boyfriend/whatever’s house. Somehow, MTV has deemed her “more important†to music, so you get T-Boz and Chilli on there every few weeks saying how “they’re moving on for Left-eye†and they’re “doing this for Left-eye.†THEY FUCKING HATED EACH OTHER 99% OF THE TIME. I’ve read articles over the years on how Alice in Chains kept up with Layne and tried to get him through his problems. So who do you pimp? The pop-musician who was partially insane and burned down houses and hated her bandmates… or the innovative rock musician who sang about his demons, tried to keep his demons out of the media, and was brought down by those self same demons?
Well, OBVIOUSLY, MTV picked the African American pop-star, because OBVIOUSLY TLC contributed far more to music than AIC ever could have. You know, TLC innovated something new… er no, wait, that wasn’t them… They were great role models for…. Err, no that wasn’t them either. Oh wait… they sung POP and made VIDEOS.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Fuck MTV and everything they stand for. Fuck them for putting Old Dirty Bastard on TV and show him cashing his welfare check like it’s something to laugh at. Fuck them for this barrage of shit music that invades the airwaves today. Fuck them for giving Eminem and 50 Cent (the ex-crack dealer) and Ja Rule air time and making them out to be role models, when the world should see them for the criminals they are. Fuck them for making Left-Eye out to be something more than the unstable trash she was. AND FUCK THEM FOR NOT RELEASING A DVD OF “THE STATE.â€
If you want real music news… come to this site. It’s the only place you’re going to see news without an agenda. Remember that. You know what? Aaron Cameron likes Rap, but he’ll give you a straight up review. Jones digs on rock… but someone isn’t paying him to say something is good. Cody and Evocator and Cankaya will tell you how it is… now how they think you should think it is.
The moral: 411 is god… all others want to be.
Tuesday’s Releases
Ministry with a new release, Animositisomina, which surprises me because I thought Jourgensen had moved on to other things…. Like Skinny Puppy. Ah well, I loved the Filth Pig, so this one might be worth a spin or two. It’d be nice if I could hear some of this on the radio.
Oh wait, I have XM radio… I CAN hear something different.
A new release from Styx… which is kinda funny.
Also, Chocolate Factory from R. Kelly. MTV will probably tell you to go out and buy this. R Kelly isn’t a bad guy, he’s just misunderstood. Chocolate Factory might have a whole new, different meaning though.
In other reading
Biscuiti gets top billing this week cuz he reads the Wrestling Column. You should Read Him. Appease the Gods.
Claire checks in with a random Monday column. She has an Exclusive Interview. Click to check it out.
Cody shows us the letter that launched the invasion. He also lays into Claire. He also has a pic of Courtney Love in a Donald Duck outfit taking a dump onstage… If any of these things appeal to you, and god know they do me… Click Here.
New review by Modzelewski. He reviews Superfastgo, a CD by a former member of The Dave Matthews Band. He also interviewed this guy for the site… and surprisingly the guy didn’t say he wanted to swallow a shotgun for leaving the biggest freakin band on the planet before they took off. I would. I would link the interview too, but if you want to read it, you’ll have to click to the review. SEE JEFF, THIS IS LIKE A DOUBLE PIMP!
Michael Blaszkowski (fer f*ck’s sake widro, can we hire some more people with complicated, Polish last names… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!) reviews Theory of a Deadman.
In Closing
Short four pager this week… hopefully be back with a full length column next week. Between the snow and everything else… plus the massive organization of Magic cards undeway… It’s been a busy day.
Tell then, I’m Daniels and this was the News Release.
