The only thing that could make this plush better would be if David Bowie serenaded you when it was delivered. This ugly little thing is up for pre-order at everyone’s favorite on-line toy store, Big Bad Toy Store. He’s scheduled for an October release. He’s also pretty big at 13 inches so he’s not exactly to scale but he still looks great. And because we all know David Bowie is too busy to serenade you here he is serenading Ricky Gervais:
I’ve been sitting on this one for awhile now but as the release gets closer I figured a write up is overdue especially now that an in-depth interview has found it’s way onto the web. Let me start off by stating my absolute love for Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor. When I was in my early teens in the nineties I was first introduced to the raucous sounds of Trent Reznor by way of the second NIN album, The Downward Spiral. Closer was all over the airwaves on MTV and the radio and it’s harsh sound and lyrics were a punch in my then 14-year-old gut. The album as a whole was amazing and I was soon on the path to track down more of this music. I moved on to NIN’s first album, Pretty Hate Machine which was released a whole five years earlier in 1989. This album was a shock as it was much more melodic and had songs that were seemingly more radio friendly. I was thrown for a loop yet completely amped for this new yet familiar sound. Through the years I got any of the singles I could get my hands on and the studio releases were a pleasure. In all this time I had never actually been to show though. I guess lack of motivation was to blame as well as not really having many friends who would have gone to shows with me. I guess there was that early stigma of emo rumblings attached to the rough sound of NIN and also the fact that I looked like a wayward frat boy that kept me from going to their shows as I felt I wouldn’t fit in. Fast forward 16 years later and a friend of mine had informed me that he was getting tickets to a NIN show at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. My fascination with NIN had waned at this point though I still did have them in heavy rotation on my iPod. I somewhat reluctantly agreed to go as I still had feelings of non-inclusion about attending this show. The tickets were fairly cheap at about $69 so I wasn’t expecting much. What follows is one of the best concert experiences I’ve had in my life. The show was delayed due to Trent Reznor getting sick and it in fact was the last show of the small tour he had been on. We arrived at the theater and the line was around the block. We went to will call and amazingly because my friend Bryan had ordered these tickets so early we were told we could be in the pit if we wanted. Now here we were showing up late to the show and yet we were still going to get amazing seats. Here I was an almost 30-year-old hefty man child about to go into a mosh pit at a Nine Inch Nails show. And let me say it was just plain fucking awesome. Besides the numerous stars that were at the show, such as Rick Rubin, Penn Gillette and Tony Hawk, the small crowd of 2,000 were legitimate fans and the place was a madhouse. Special guests like Dave Navarro, Dillinger Escape Plan and Gary Numan joined Trent and NIN up on stage and a whole 4 hour set was played. Every song I could have asked for was played except Closer but that somehow seemed appropriate. To cap it off Trent announced that he was done with Nine Inch Nails. It somewhat made sense as the line-up on stage was not the original band (though it didn’t much matter as Trent was always NIN) and he was taking a long hiatus from the road and the studio. I walked out of that show on fire and thanking my lucky stars I was able to be a part of what was a historic event for any Nine Inch Nails fan. One of the things I learned after a few days was that a few dozen of the biggest fans had recorded the entire concert. I guess Trent looks kindly upon fans bootlegging his shows which makes sense as he had recently released some of the newer NIN albums for free on the internet. One of these fans, a Mr. Sasan Behnood, decided to collect this footage and put together a fan made concert experience. All of this culminated in the offering of special blu-rays that would only be sold at cost by the fan community putting it together. Information has been somewhat scarce though a kick ass trailer was released:
Now, an interview with the project lead has been posted on Reflecting In The Chrome. It goes into great detail about the project, After All Is Said And Done, and is quite an interesting read into the world of a dedicated fan who wants to bring the concert experience to the fans who couldn’t make it. I can;t wait for this release and I hope you will check it out. Thanks for reading.
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Cee-Lo though I do get his amazing talent and voice. If you don’t know who I’m talking about he is one half of the amazing duo Gnarls Barkley with Danger Mouse. They have had some amazing hits including Crazy and Gone Daddy Gone. Now Cee-Lo hs released perhaps the greatest radio hit that is not remotely radio friendly. It’s titled, “F**K YOU”, and it’s too bad songs like this are unable to be played on the airwaves cuz this song would fucking blow all of that other shit out of the water. It’s got a great old Motown sound with some modern and aggressive lyrics. The video is also an amazingly simple concoction that gets the vibe of the song across perfectly as the lyrics need to be seen to be believed. I’m an immediate fan of Cee-Lo now and will most definitely be checking out some of his other work. Check out the video and if you like it don’t feel bad cuz that’s some catchy shit no matter the content. (Via Boing Boing)
I have a deep love for John Lennon and his music and art. He was an amazingly flawed artist who saw the good in many people but sometimes had a hard time reconciling issues in his personal life. He was also a part of the most important musical event in this century and the last. His life ended tragically as seems to happen far too often to amazing musicians. The strawberries above were planted in Strawberry Fields in Central Park, NYC. What’s great about these is that they are actually invites to opening of the John Lennon, The NYC Years exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex. When these are picked you can turn them over and see the invite info on the back.
I would love to acquire one of these, so if anyone has a lead on how I can get one please give me heads up. A reward may be involved. I f you’re in New York and are a fan of John Lennon I would think this show is a can’t miss event. I saw a Hofner Bass signed by all four of them once and almost fell over with excitement. True Story. (Via Super Punch)
Gary Numan is a hero of the New Wave movement of the 70′s and 80′s. I recently saw him perform some songs at the last Nine Inch Nails show at the Wiltern and his sound melded perfectly with Trent’s style of electronica. Arguably his greatest hit was the song “Cars” and still maintains a level of pop culture awareness to this day. That’s why this commercial for Die Hard batteries is so perfectly executed. I will say Gary Numan kind of looks goofy and serious at the same time which is hard to pull off but the use of the horns as the instrument is great. Here’s a video of Gary and Trent mashing it up with “Down in the Park” at the aforementioned show. Soon I will have a post about the show, as some very dedicated fans have compiled about 10 terabytes of footage from it and are putting together a fan released copy of the show on blu ray. Enjoy!!!! (Via)
I came across this cool print as I was perusing my favorite craft site Etsy. I liked the look of the prints but then I looked closer and saw the words…
That quote is from the singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch. I’ve gotta say that when I saw these I was pretty impressed at the use of the quotes with the images. Here’s the song that goes along with the Link print…
I first heard Alexi Murdoch through a car commercial which is pretty funny as he is a wholly independent artist. He in fact turned down major record label deals with his first album because he felt they would water down his sound. He sounds a ton like Nick Drake who has a sublime voice and tragic music style and history:
Here’s the other prints that he did… I’ll let you explore the other songs they represent:
