Music News

Credit where it’s due: this morning, Gordon Smart gets The Libertines story right while the NME comes across all print the legend.

Smart boils yesterday’s press conference to the big idea behind the reunion:

PETE DOHERTY admitted yesterday he has been persuaded to reform THE LIBERTINES because the £1.2million fee will pay off his tax bill.
[...]
Pete said at the press conference: “What’s appealing about the money is what’s left after tax obviously. Which turns out is just enough to pay last year’s bill.”

The NME seems to have left that bit out in its extensive coverage of the reunion. But then if their reunion special edition had gone ‘why get back together?’ ‘it’s the cash’ it might have taken a bit of the shine off the event.

Credit where it’s due: this morning, Gordon Smart gets The Libertines story right while the NME comes across all print the legend.

Smart boils yesterday’s press conference to the big idea behind the reunion:

PETE DOHERTY admitted yesterday he has been persuaded to reform THE LIBERTINES because the £1.2million fee will pay off his tax bill.
[...]
Pete said at the press conference: “What’s appealing about the money is what’s left after tax obviously. Which turns out is just enough to pay last year’s bill.”

The NME seems to have left that bit out in its extensive coverage of the reunion. But then if their reunion special edition had gone ‘why get back together?’ ‘it’s the cash’ it might have taken a bit of the shine off the event.

This had the air of something that might have been an April Fool, but it appears to be genuine – rather than actually interview people for her Fox News Show, Sarah Palin is merely lobbing in old versions of other people’s interviews.

Not in a Wogan Now And Then way. Simply using old stuff, and pretending it’s new.

Toby Keith’s in it, for example:

Elaine Schock, his publicist, said a radio reporter contacted her seeking details about the programme.

“I said, ‘You’re wrong. There is no Sarah Palin special with Toby Keith on it on Fox,”‘ she said.

She said the reporter then e-mailed her the press release issued by Fox News, which said Keith would “explain the inspiration behind his song ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”‘ Ms Schock said she believed the interview was conducted in January 2009 in Las Vegas but she had received no e-mail or phone call from Fox News informing her it would air on Mrs Palin’s show this week.

LL Cool J is also suprised to find himself in it:

The LL Cool J interview was from 2008, his spokesman said.

“Contrary to what was reported, LL Cool J was never scheduled to be a guest on ‘Real American Stories’ with Sarah Palin this week,” spokesman Rhett Usry said.. “The show had planned to use an interview from 2008 that was being repurposed without LL’s permission.

“This statement is not a reflection of any feelings LL has toward Fox News or Ms. Palin, whom he has never met, rather a clarification of what we have seen published in the media.”

There’s no problem with making a programme up out of old interviews. Trying to pass old stuff as if it was all-new and specially made, though: that’s dodgy.

Could there be a final irony?

Oh, yes. The programme is called Real American Stories.

[via @culturalsnow]

This had the air of something that might have been an April Fool, but it appears to be genuine – rather than actually interview people for her Fox News Show, Sarah Palin is merely lobbing in old versions of other people’s interviews.

Not in a Wogan Now And Then way. Simply using old stuff, and pretending it’s new.

Toby Keith’s in it, for example:

Elaine Schock, his publicist, said a radio reporter contacted her seeking details about the programme.

“I said, ‘You’re wrong. There is no Sarah Palin special with Toby Keith on it on Fox,”‘ she said.

She said the reporter then e-mailed her the press release issued by Fox News, which said Keith would “explain the inspiration behind his song ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.”‘ Ms Schock said she believed the interview was conducted in January 2009 in Las Vegas but she had received no e-mail or phone call from Fox News informing her it would air on Mrs Palin’s show this week.

LL Cool J is also suprised to find himself in it:

The LL Cool J interview was from 2008, his spokesman said.

“Contrary to what was reported, LL Cool J was never scheduled to be a guest on ‘Real American Stories’ with Sarah Palin this week,” spokesman Rhett Usry said.. “The show had planned to use an interview from 2008 that was being repurposed without LL’s permission.

“This statement is not a reflection of any feelings LL has toward Fox News or Ms. Palin, whom he has never met, rather a clarification of what we have seen published in the media.”

There’s no problem with making a programme up out of old interviews. Trying to pass old stuff as if it was all-new and specially made, though: that’s dodgy.

Could there be a final irony?

Oh, yes. The programme is called Real American Stories.

[via @culturalsnow]

…

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Somehow, though they’ve amassed a huge catalog that would be enviable amongst even the most prolific contenders, every time Pocahaunted unleash another record on the world we’re always a bit rapt with attention. The records themselves have always been a poor substitute for the live show, but it seems that with Make It Real the band have finally made the studio environment work for them. This may be in large part due to the fact that the lineup for this recording includes heavy input from Cameron Stallones; he of Sun Araw, and no stranger to using the studio as an instrument. Stallones had been playing live with the band for the months preceding the album as well as on the previous album, Passage, and these songs bear the full mark of his fluid and absorbing guitar style. Its a pity that this will be his last record with the band but we’ll all sleep a bit more lucid knowing that this album exists to soundtrack the swampy pre-dawn moments of our most confusing dreams.

Download:
[MP3] Pocahaunted – All Of Is Of

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Somehow, though they’ve amassed a huge catalog that would be enviable amongst even the most prolific contenders, every time Pocahaunted unleash another record on the world we’re always a bit rapt with attention. The records themselves have always been a poor substitute for the live show, but it seems that with Make It Real the band have finally made the studio environment work for them. This may be in large part due to the fact that the lineup for this recording includes heavy input from Cameron Stallones; he of Sun Araw, and no stranger to using the studio as an instrument. Stallones had been playing live with the band for the months preceding the album as well as on the previous album, Passage, and these songs bear the full mark of his fluid and absorbing guitar style. Its a pity that this will be his last record with the band but we’ll all sleep a bit more lucid knowing that this album exists to soundtrack the swampy pre-dawn moments of our most confusing dreams.

Download:
[MP3] Pocahaunted – All Of Is Of

Support the artist. Buy it: HERE

Today’s Grofe photo is courtesy of Kevin R. Tam (thanks, Kevin!). He sent me a gorgeous photo of Grofe and his kids, but Blogger won’t let it upload. Size, title, type are all fine, but it won’t go.

We start with my latest rip of Grofe’s stirring March for Americans, as recorded in 1941 by Meredith (Music Man) Willson. This recording is a proud MY(P)WHAE regular, and there’s nothing like getting a clunky 12-inch Decca 78 to sound smooth. I recently came across a radio recording of the work, but it isn’t nearly as effective. And we have two other concert works–Blue Nocturne (from a radio broadcast) and the fabulous Trylon and Perisphere, as performed at Paul Whiteman’s Christmas, 1938 Caregie Hall concert. The rest are first-rate arrangements for Paul Whiteman, including two versions of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Hymn to the Sun–the first from the 1925 studio recording and the second from a 1936 radio broadcast. Grofe’s To a Wild Rose treatment, featuring (from 1929) Paul Whiteman’s Chester Hazlett on saxophone and sub-tone clarinet, isn’t exactly edgy, but it’s a mood music milestone. The man could arrange.

To the Grofe: http://www.box.net/shared/3yk6i10krx Grofe’s Birthday, Part 5

PLAYLIST

MARCH FOR AMERICANS (Grofe)–Meredith Willson and His Concert O., 1941.
BY THE WATERS OF MINNETONKA (Lieurance-Grofe)–Paul Whiteman, 1924.
MEDITATION FROM THAIS (Massenet-Grofe)–Same.
HYMN TO THE SUN (Rimsky-Korsakov)–Paul Whiteman Orch., 1925.
TO A WILD ROSE (MacDowell; Arr. by Grofe)–Chester Hazlett, saxophone and sub-tone clarinet, 1929.
DEEP NOCTURE–Radio broadcast, possibly 1947.
HYMN TO THE SUN– Paul Whiteman O., radio broadcast (NBC, 1936).
TRYLON AND PERISPHERE–Paul Whiteman O., Caregie Hall, 1938.

Lee

Two bands who played classic style metal, but perhaps neither ever got the recognition that they deserved.

Armored Saint

vs.

Grim Reaper

***Which band do you prefer?

Ten years after Barbara Walters asked, Ricky Martin has finally answered:

According to the Associated Press, Ricky Martin, who’s 38, decided he didn’t want to keep any secrets in the closet. But what closet? Frankly this blogger was surprised to learn Ricky Martin was straight.

If Martin’s coming out was late in timing, it was dull as hell in form. It was almost as if he hoped he could bore people away from the announcement before he got to the announcement:

A few months ago I decided to write my memoirs, a project I knew was going to bring me closer to an amazing turning point in my life. From the moment I wrote the first phrase I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time. Things that were too heavy for me to keep inside. Writing this account of my life, I got very close to my truth. And thisis something worth celebrating.

For many years, there has been only one place where I am in touch with my emotions fearlessly and that’s the stage. Being on stage fills my soul in many ways, almost completely. It’s my vice. The music, the lights and the roar of the audience are elements that make me feel capable of anything. This rush of adrenaline is incredibly addictive. I don’t ever want to stop feeling these emotions. But it is serenity that brings me to where I’m at right now. An amazing emotional place of comprehension, reflection and enlightenment. At this moment I’m feeling the same freedom I usually feel only on stage, without a doubt, I need to share.

Many people told me: “Ricky it’s not important”, “it’s not worth it”, “all the years you’ve worked and everything you’ve built will collapse”, “many people in the world are not ready to accept your truth, your reality, your nature”. Because all this advice came from people who I love dearly, I decided to move on with my life not sharing with the world my entire truth. Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.

If someone asked me today, “Ricky, what are you afraid of?” I would answer “the blood that runs through the streets of countries at war…child slavery, terrorism…the cynicism of some people in positions of power, the misinterpretation of faith.” But fear of my truth? Not at all! On the contrary, It fills me with strength and courage. This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment.

These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.

What will happen from now on? It doesn’t matter. I can only focus on what’s happening to me in this moment. The word “happiness” takes on a new meaning for me as of today. It has been a very intense process. Every word that I write in this letter is born out of love, acceptance, detachment and real contentment. Writing this is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution.

I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.

“Righto, Mr. Martin. So I’m putting down as ‘man looking for men’, then.”

It’s great that Martin has decided to come out, but there’s always something a little queasy about a man pushing his was to the front of the Gay Pride floats after he’s spent the last two decades firmly at the head of the “Heh! That’s a personal question – let’s just say I’m sexual and mention that I have so many female fans” Pride march.