Sex, News & Violins 10.11.07
Posted by Jamie Buttineau on 10.11.2007
Cat Power has a new covers album and Ghostface Killah goes head to head with his homies. Aaaaand it's a column.
What has two thumbs and is writing a quickie column this week? This guy.
Viewer Mail
Huh, I don't remember the last time I got this much feedback. Hmm, that means that some people may actually read this thing….Freaky.
This first one comes from Shawn Lear:
Hi, Jamie.
I just wanted to let you know how much Daft Punk rules. I've literally been to hundreds of shows and that the leg of the Daft Punk tour that I saw (Greek Theater in Berekely CA) was in my top 5 concerts of all time. That clip doesn't really display all the cool shit they did, but I had more fun at that show than almost any other I've been to. Seriously, only my first time see Gwar and They Might Be Giants was better.
Also, Afrika Bammbattaa are awesome. Super old school electro. I just saw them the other day with a Jungle DJ and they rocked it right.
All the best,
Shawn R. Lear
Ah, so Afrika Bammbattaa are an electro group. Judging by the name I had envisioned them as some kind of rock and roll version of Ladysmith Black Mambozzo. Man I suck at guessing what bands sound like going only by their names.
And yes, Daft Punk is hella cool. All hail them and their pyramid of joy.
This next letter is from Nicholas Jackson, who gives me some more backstory on some of the more obscure Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees:
Hi,
Just FYI, Afrika Bambaataa (sp) was one of the first hip hop dj's, the Ventures were an instrumental surf rock group that played the theme song to Hawaii Five 0 (you'll know it when you hear it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=507vsWgvPzU) and Chic was a funk group from the late 70's their biggest hit was Le Freak. You'd know that song too.
Nick Jackson
Oh I knew who The Ventures were. Well, I at least knew they were the ones who did the Hawaii Five-O theme at least. Seems like a weird reason for induction. If writing catchy TV theme songs is reason enough for induction, where's the nomination for the guy who did the theme song for WKRP In Cincinnati?
And now that I've heard Chic, I can see while they got the induction. I mean come on, this song is badass.
Normally for me just having one good song wouldn't be enough reason to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but I make exceptions when that one song is freakin' awesome. Although if Chic can make it in, then there's no reason why Right Said Fred can't now. But then, he may be too sexy for the nomination….Nah, actually I think his sexiness is at the approximate level for nomination.
This next email comes from Alex Taylor, who politely tries to justify one of the dumbest decisions Canada has ever made:
For what its worth I think it was an excellent choice. Having seem almost all the acts nominated, Patrick Watson gigs have been the best out of any of them (yes even better than Arcade Fire if that was possible). Go and see him/them live if you get a chance. The album is nice, but live it so good it almost hurts at time. More raw etc.
Anyway compared to the UK Mercury Prize I think the Polaris award is miles better. I mean the Klaxons…. Urgh.
Just my 2 cents from the UK
Cheers
Alex
Well I'm sure his music must be at the very least decent if it not only got nominated but won. But seriously, come on, better than The Arcade Fire and Feist? Really? If that was the case this guy should be one of the biggest stars around. He should be bigger than the entire Broken Social Scene combined.
Perhaps that was the plan though, give a complete nobody the award in order to give him some recognition and maybe help his career. But Neon Bible and The Reminder are friggin' masterpieces, and it feels wrong that neither get the award over someone who was maybe working in a Tim Horton's prior to winning. Eh, maybe once I listen to him I'll think otherwise.
Granted though, you are right about it being better than the Mercury Prize this year. You know it's slim pickings when the bloody Klaxons take the prize. Yeesh.
Hey look, another one of these. And look, it's a hate mail too I think! Joy! It's from Kerri-Ann Lopez:
While I may agree that Bam Margera's opinion may not mean much, you are
a
complete moron if you can't, won't or don't appreciate the brilliance
of
Ville Valo and his band. HIM. You see, a person must have brains to
understand the depth of Valo's darkly romantic poetry, and a heart that
enables you to feel the emotion that is poured from his soul through
his
words and his voice. Try listening to their music for more than 5
seconds
and maybe, just maybe, you may be enlightened.
Then again, you apparently like Spingsteen - that explains a lot. The
man
mumbles a nd grumbles through his own lyrics and can rarely even pen a
chorus that consists of more than one phrase (i.e.: "I'm going down,
down,
down, I'm going down down down, I'm going down down down down down, I'm
going down.." etc..). I may be a "Jersey Girl", but I could never
comprehend the fascination with Bruce. I would most certainly take
BonJovi's over Bruce's any day.
Bon Jovi over Bruce?! For reals?! Wow, well madam, I certainly don't agree with what you say but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. But seriously, you think Bon Jovi writes better songs than Springsteen? He wrote a song called "Have A Nice Day"! Meanwhile Bruce writes songs about sleeping with whores in dusty hotel rooms. There's a reason why he is The Boss.
Granted he does mumble and grumble his lyrics. I mean, how can a guy without a perfect singing voice be a good musician? When has that happened before?...You know, besides Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Isaac Brock, David Byrne and many many others. I'd rather have a guy whose emotions shine through his mumbling and grumbling than some feathered hair douche telling me to have a nice day. Just sayin' is all.
Oh, and I do like that cover of "I Want To Fall In Love" that HIM did. That was pretty good...So yeah there's that.
And finally, here's one from a few weeks ago that I completely missed for some reason. Plus it's from a guy named Red Ledge, which, is just an odd name:
Right. Hall & Oates are "cheesy"... That's why they're in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, right?
RL
And yet no love for Right Said Fred or the guy who wrote the theme song for WKRP In Cincinnati. Where's the justice?
Coincidentally enough, I seriously thought Red Ledge was the name of a company that makes cheese. Weird how that works.
Headlines!!
Cat Covers
Chan Marshall, better known as the badass Cat Power, will release her second album of covers entitled Jukebox. I haven't heard her first covers album, but I've heard good things so I may check it out someday. No word on a tracklist, but we do know the album will hit stores on Jaunary 22. So, there's something.
And if you wanted to see Chan Marshall live, here are some dates! Just don't expect her to throw a Ryan Adams style breakdown at these shows. She don't do that anymore….I think:
10-13 Fairburn, GA - Bouckaert Farm (The Echo Project)
10-14 Norfolk, VA - The NorVa
10-15 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club (DAM! Festival)
10-16 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
10-18 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon at Florida State University
10-19 Savannah, GA - Trustee's Theatre
10-20 Orlando, FL - The Club at Firestone
10-21 St. Petersburg, FL - State Theatre
10-22 Miami, FL - Studio A
10-25 São Paulo, Brazil - Auditório Ibirapuera (TIM Festival) #
10-26 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Marina da Glória (TIM Festival) (with Dirty Delta Blues) $
11-04 Austin, TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest
# with Antony and the Johnsons, Toni Platão
$ with Feist
Hippity Hop
Some interesting rap news this week. The Wu-Tang Clan's new album 8 Diagrams will hit stores on December 4. This we knew, what we didn't know was that December 4 was also the release date for Ghostface Killah's new album. That's right, Ghostface, who is himself a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, will drop his followup to Fishscale which will be entitled The Big Dough Rehab.
Seems odd that he would release his album the same day as his original band's newest, but maybe he's aiming for some friendly competition. I just hope no one gets shot.
Ghostface also has some tour dates, quite a few in fact. Let us rejoice in their datey goodness.
BOO!:
10-14 Norman, OK - University of Oklahoma *
10-16 Los Angeles, CA - UCLA *
10-17 Tucson, AZ - University of Arizona *
10-19 Albuquerque, NM - University of New Mexico *
10-28 Las Vegas, NV - Vegoose Festival
10-29 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues Sunset Strip ^
10-30 San Diego, CA - 4th & B ^
10-31 Long Beach, CA - The Vault ^
11-01 Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst ^
11-02 San Francisco, CA - The Mezzanine ^
11-03 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater ^
11-04 Seattle, WA - Showbox ^
11-05 Bellingham, WA - Nightlight %
11-07 Park City, UT - Harry O's ^
11-08 Denver, CO - Ogden Theater ^
11-09 Aspen, CO - Belly Up ^
11-10 Kansas City, MO - The Beaumont Theatre ^
11-11 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue ^
11-12 Chicago, IL - House of Blues ^
11-13 Bloomington, IN - Bluebird Theater ^
11-15 New Haven, CT - Toad's Place ^
11-16 New York, NY - Nokia Theater ^
11-17 Baltimore, MD - Sonar ^
11-18 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club ^
11-21 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero ^
* with Witchdoctor
^ with Rakim, Brother Ali, Rhythm Roots Allstars
% with Little Brother
Billboard Top 20
Skipping over the Rapidfire this week folks. I know, I feel your pain. I'll make up for it next week.
1.Rascal Flatts, Still Feels Good – Oh shit, I didn't realize this was coming out until I saw it on posters at Walmart. And you knoooow it must be good if it's plastered on posters in Walmart. Oy.
2. Keyshia Cole, Just Like You – You mean you're a sex machine with burning red hair, a deep baritone voice, and an addiction to scented stamps too?! Finally, a soul mate!
3. Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace – All things that are Courtney Love is incapable of producing…Well I guess she can make echoes. But with a voice like that she probably alters physics enough to prevent that.
4. Jill Scott, The Real Thing: Words And Sounds Vol. 3 – I think this chick was on Lupe Fiasco's debut. So maybe she's slightly cool.
5. Kanye West, Graduation – Seriously, it's a really fucking good album. Buy the fuck out of it.
6. Reba McEntire, Reba Duets – Is it just me or is Reba like an amusing cartoon caricature of a country singer?
7. Various Artists, High School Musical 2 – It's an evil fucking CD man.
8. Jagged Edge, Baby Makin' Project – If you make a baby to this CD you're probably a tool.
9. 50 Cent, Curtis – You lost, retire, then die in a fire. See, I can rap too jackass.
10. Kenny Chesney, Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates – If pirates ever find out that you sullied their good name by associating themselves with you, well, let's say that just who you will be will be nothing but a torso. A many times defiled torso.
11. Queen Latifah, Trav'lin' Light – Except for all those Covergirl freebies. You delightful makeup whore you.
12. James Blunt, All The Lost Souls – Oh look at the charming talentless British man. Douche.
13. Melissa Etheridge, The Awakening – If it's about global warming then I'm tuning out.
14. Joni Mitchell, Shine – What is it? Talented if boring female songwriter week? Bah I say!
15. Chaka Khan, Funk This – Chaka Khan?!! Really?! Huh, I didn't see that coming. Neat I spose.
16. Tony Bennett, Tony Bennett Sings The Ultimate American Songbook Vol. 1 - Wow, this actually sounds painfully boring. Seriously, this one hurts my spine.
17. Barry Manilow, The Greatest Songs Of The Seventies – It's nice to see the two men who stole Emmys from Stephen Colbert grouped so close together. Bastards.
18. Gorilla Zoe, Welcome To The Zoo - ….Nooooooo.
19. Miley Cyrus, Hanna Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus – Demon spawn.
20. Nickelback, All The Right Reasons – Die in a fire.
Sorry, It Be Over
I'm so incredibly short on time this week that it's amazing I churned this much out. Hopefully next week will be more substantial. Hey, you get what you pay for. Adios amigos.
