• does fallout boy really sound that bad live? wow! thank god for mixing boards.
• who is this chris brown fellow, besides by far the most talented person performing at the 07 VMA’s?
• why is everybody wasted? (is that a stupid question)
• how come i never noticed that shia labeouf looks like a miniature version of russel crowe w/a miniature version of a mustache, and that megan fox totally has no boobs?
• reading a tele-prompter is clearly not a required skill for miss teen usa contestants. did you catch miss sc? wow!

pam + tommy + kid rock = the trailer trashiest love triangle ever! how did the entire camera crew miss the most exciting moment of the night?! apparently even tho tommy instigated, kid landed a backhand slap. now that’s entertaining!

• mary j blige is actually white. she must be, because even i know it’s pronounced “fiddy-cent”, not “Fifty Cents.”
• poor jennifer garner – it sucks to be the only sober person at the party (i bet she called, and possibly fired, her agent today.)
• what the hell happened to dave grohl?? dude, we let keannu get away with the “derilique” look, but you’re not good-lookin’ to start with, so take a shower and a shave!

• is that a wig paris is wearing or her new pet? oh man, i think that’s actually her REAL hair.. yikes! she might wanna go back to the nasty weave.
• best speech of the night = my boyfriend, justin timberlake! he “challenged” mtv to citfo with the reality shows and play more videos (or any). of course they edited that out like immediately.

• and finally, of course, there was britney bitch.. what can i say that hasn’t been said? the nasty weave, the fish-nets, the sleep-walking thru the whole number, the out of sync lip-syncing, the gimmee, gimmee, gimmee… seriously???

so, in closing, what i observed is that the vma’s, much like britney’s career, are dead. one more question.. who the hell was responsible for this train wreck and where are they going to work now?

An Open Letter from Billy Corgan

July 10, 2007

My Dear Friends,

Today is the greatest day you’ve ever known.

Seven years, seven months, and ten days ago, the clock struck midnight, 2000, and the world began turning faster. Back then, I disbanded the Smashing Pumpkins because the new millennium demanded it. A new age needed a new start—cleanliness and unity, not the confused, confusing wreck I let the band become.

We were once the most important band in the world, and everyone—me, you, Courtney Love—knew it. The Smashing Pumpkins drew the line between Black Sabbath, the Bee Gees, and the Cure, and that line caught a generation like a leash around a wayward puppy. We founded Alternative Nation, and the kids and advertisers flocked around. But because the band had become bloated, overbearing, headstrong, because it grew beyond my control, it had to die. I killed it before it killed me.

And now, after all those years of self-imposed obscurity, of forced poetry, of side projects mired in mediocrity and too many guitarists, I bring us, together, here, to the corner of Future Avenue and Now Street. This is our moment! This is our day! This is Zeitgeist! (That’s “Spirit of the Age” in German. Trust me: I’ve read Hegel.)

This band has always been the headlight on the barreling locomotive of modern youth; with a title like Zeitgeist, nobody can argue. I brought back original Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlain—recovered and reverent of yours truly, he’s the epitome of a new leaf turned over—plus another chick bassist and some new guitar guy. Zeitgeist (Say it! It feels good!) arrives this week, in four different forms: The Best Buy version is different from the Target version is different from the iTunes version, which is different from everyone else’s version. Most zeits would’ve settled for a single geist, but ours demands more marketing strategies, so I offer it four.

As for the music, the critics won’t get it. They never have. My old fans—the ones whose lives were changed by Gish and Siamese Dream—won’t get it. They will complain that the sound is too dense, too severe, too, yes, overbearing. But the New Generation is the one I’m speaking to, the one that needs to know that My Chemical Romance and Panic! At the Disco couldn’t exist without me. Whether they want to know doesn’t matter. This Zeitgeist is not consensual—it’s here, whether you understand it or not.

Several weeks ago, I released “Tarantula” to prime the public for the coming onslaught. The song is the sound of one ego exploding (mine), the sound of an entire album in just one song. You’ll like it because it has the same skyrocketing guitar riff as “Cherub Rock,” and you liked “Cherub Rock” back in 1993. You still like it, because it is one of the best songs ever recorded. But now, instead of one guitar playing one riff, there are more—way more—guitars. And more riffs. It’s awesome, in the original sense of the word. It might scare you.

[then he prattles on about each individual song on the release a bit..]

Here is what you must understand: Nothing has changed since 1999, except my budget. And Pro Tools. I am still the same alt-rock messiah I was. You are still my teenage flock.

Trust me.

Your zero,
Billy Corgan

—————

here’s what i have to say about it.. DUDE, YOU’RE 40 !!!

and i’ll also say this.. in the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson, “i’ll miss ya pumpkins.” because that’s right, you guessed it, the pumpkins are now Dead To Me. i mean i totally get the whole rock-star christ complex thing, and it’s not even always unattractive (see also; bono, dave gahan, etc.). but billy, you just need to get your big, fat, bald, swelled head out of your ass!

ps: i do appreciate you taking the stab at courtney love – that part was cool!

speaking of new order, they’re making a movie about “joy division” & lead singer Ian Curtis. that oughta be nice & cheery! but of course i’ll see it because my taste in music does lean a bit towards the depressive (understatement alert). for example:

• my favorite relatively current, new cd’s are: “plans” by death cab for cutie which is all about death & dying, either literally or about the death & dying of love & relationships (good stuff!); and “eyes open” by snow patrol, which actually sounds rather upbeat, but is a collection of nothing but break-up songs. and i heard part of an interview with lead singer/songwriter , irish dude named Gary, where he said that every song on that album was written for one girl as their relationship came undone, and now they are not together, and he said he can only assume that now that they get a lot of air play she just changes the station when those songs come on the radio.
• recently i heard a new song i liked by “incubus,” so i go and look up the lyrics to “oil and water,” and (a) it struck a little too close to home and (b) there wasn’t a happy ending. geesh, i sure can pick ‘em!
• my music (legitimate) purchases over the last year include the aforementioned, death cab, and snow patrol, plus nine inch nails, and to top it off glen phillips. and i couldn’t help but think at some point that this may explain the need for therapy & zoloft (i’m off both now, btw, so look out)!
• j & i once had a debate over whose favorite music was more depressing, his = the cure; or mine = toad the wet sprocket and the subsequent solo releases of glen phillips. i won, or lost depending on how you look at it, hands down. i saw glen phillips for about the 10th time in a small, intimate venue this past winter and had a conversation with him for about the 4th time (to my relief he never remembers having talked to me before), and i told him about this debate. but before i could tell him the outcome he said, “well The Cure actually mixes it up and throws some happy music in there once in awhile. i don’t really do that.” i’m paraphrasing but that was the gist and i thought it was funny that he knows he writes some really depressing shit.

anywhoozer, you’re probably bored or bailed out already because you don’t know who half of these people / bands are, and i’m ok with that, i preferred it when the music i liked was considered “alternative,” but the point of this post is some very exciting news….

I GOT TICKETS TO SEE THE CURE AT RED ROCKS !!!

i heard a very brief concert announcement on friday and was so excited that i got up half an hour before my alarm was set to buy tickets on saturday morning ’cause i couldn’t sleep because i was afraid i would miss it and it would sell out! but at 10:07 i had secured two seats in the center of row 27, which is almost dead center of all the seating at red rocks which should be ideal sound-wise and pretty damn good viewing-wise too! yes i’ve seen the cure before, two or three times, but this is the cure @ red rocks! that is sooo awesome!

when we moved here i started watching the schedule at red rocks because it’s just one of those things you have to do. actually the day we arrived in denver “tool” was playing, which would have no doubt been really interesting but we were dealing with some altitude adjustment issues and it was like 110 degrees (like it is today) and i don’t think you see a lot of scalpers outside the amphitheater. anyway, eventually we saw r.e.m. under the stars which was amazing, but will likely pale in comparison. the show isn’t until oct. 2nd and omg, i can’t wait!

ps: speaking of big 80′s bands i tivo’d the concert for diana last night just to see duran duran. and while i thought “rio” was a crappy choice of songs, it’s always great to see the boys – and simon, nick, and roger actually looked great. then there’s john… he looked like the frickin’ crypt keeper only less animated! dude! you’re killing me! you’re tainting the memories of my hormone-induced teenage fantasies! do something! i am not usually a proponent of surgical enhancement, but maybe just some botox or something. of course quitting smoking about 2 decades ago wouldn’t have hurt, but since we can’t go back in time, how about you stay off the pipe or the pills or the powder or whatever you’re doing now because it has taken it’s toll and it is not a good look!

Then there’s Gwen singing the quitessential Talk Talk number “It’s My Life.” {technically i suppose the quintessential Talk Talk song would be “Talk Talk,” but i think “It’s My Life” was more popular} Surprisingly, this one doesn’t bother me. It’s a good song, I always loved that song, I even own ‘The Best of Talk Talk’ and she did it justice.

But now.. I never thought I’d live to see the day, or at least I hoped I wouldn’t..
311 has released a remake of “Love Song” by The Cure. And in all fairness, it doesn’t sound bad.
But that is not the point! I have already had to accept HP using “Pictures of You,” in a damn commercial.. some things you just shouldn’t mess with. And “Love Song” comes as close as any song could to perfection. At least they didn’t butcher it, which is a major concellation.

I think I’d feel a lot better about all of it if they were required by law, or at least common decency, to acknowledge everytime a remake is aired, a disclaimer.. “the proceeding song is a remake. it’s a good song because some much better group recorded it a long time ago, and the band you should really be listening to is ____”

GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DAMN IT!