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Music News and Commentary.
September 04, 2010
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Music News and Commentary.
September 04, 2010
David Letterman's production company recently announced the formation of a record label named Clear Entertainment. They're scheduled to release their first record from Californian pop-punk band Runner Runner this summer.
Here are the top 10 reasons I'm not excited for Letterman's label.
10. Many Celebrities have started record labels and most of them lose interest pretty early on. I am good friends with a power pop band named Broke City that was one of the first bands signed to Madonna's record label Maverick. As soon as she lost interest in running the label, management started shifting around, and a lot of bands were left in lousy label limbo.
9. Clear Entertainment? It's disappointing that the man who brought America, Worldwide Pants Inc. couldn't come up with a more creative name than Clear Entertainment. If I were a band tied to David Letterman and didn't have Worldwide Pants on my cd art, I'd feel robbed.
8. There's already a Clear Entertainment. Letterman's new label shares the same name as a self proclaimed 'edgy and sophisticated' production company in Toronto.
7. Celebrity Record labels are like sooo 2008. Just ask Paris Hilton about Heiress Records.
6. Not a sound investment. These days more and more recording artists are self releasing, or working with for-hire management companies instead of large corporate labels.
5. I fear that Clear Entertainment's business model will be based on leveraging Letterman's name to boost band awareness. If this is the case then Letterman becomes the public face of the label and not the creative force, which he should be.
4. Clear Entertainment's "flagship" release isn't even their own. Runner Runner's album is being joint released by EMI's Capitol Records and Merovingian Music.
3. Runner Runner is okay. They're being marketed as another great band out of Huntington Beach, original home of Avenged Sevenfold, The Offspring, The Aquabats and The Vandals, but their single 'So Obvious' is a little too obvious, (read generic). For being the flagship release, this album won't set too high of a bar for the burgeoning label.
2. We all know Paul Shaffer was the musical one.
1. If Letterman thought staffers were easy, wait till he meets groupies.
I wrote a couple of days ago that Bret Michaels went to a private hospital complaining of excruciating headaches, which of course turned out to be bleeding in his brain stem. The hemorrhage has caused a side effect called hyponatremia to surface. This is a lack of sodium in the body, which leads to seizures.
Michaels, a lifelong Type 1 diabetic, suffered from a hemorrhage that causes bleeding in the fluid-filled spaces around the base of the brain. This condition is fatal if not detected in time for treatment.
He has been able to speak, but it's slurred and slow right now, which is a result of the stroke-like nature of this particular brain hemorrhage. His father spoke to him today and reported that he pretty much sounded good, just slow of speech.
Godspeed, Bret Michaels. 47 years old is hardly time to be checking out.
46-year-old Bret Michaels is in critical condition after complaining about excruciating headaches. He was diagnosed at an undisclosed hospital as suffering from bleeding into his brain stem.
Bret Michaels, front man for Poison, star of reality show Rock of Love, and Celebrity Apprentice, has suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage in his brain stem. This, after just enduring an emergency appendectomy last week at a private-care facility for diabetics. Michaels had complained of stomach pains just before he was due to appear at Sea World in San Antonio, Texas.
Michaels had regained consciousness by Sunday night, but he is suffering from blurred vision and speech, and dizziness. His publicist says they're confident that these are temporary medical conditions that will be remedied quickly enough, and that all his functions will return to normal.
I've always liked Bret Michaels and to some extent grew up on the music of Poison and other hair bands of the 1980's. I wish him the best of luck on genuinely hope this is a temporary condition and that he'll be back to his normal ruckus self in no time.
I’ve been reluctant to write about the death of Peter Steele, founder of the hugely popular NYC goth band, Type O Negative, primarily because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t another faked death.
As I write this, I’m listening to Type O Negative. I’ve got probably every song they ever recorded and published in my iTunes, and threw it on shuffle just to get a good mix of the new and the old. See, they’re one of my favorite bands of all time, and now that it’s official that Peter Steele is dead, I’m going to play them – and mourn him – until I’ve had my fill, which might not be for a good long while.
Peter Steele, born Petrus T. Ratajczyk on January 4, 1962, was a troubled man who dealt with serious bouts of depression by turning to drugs and alcohol. At his healthiest, however, he was the lead singer, bassist, and chief songwriter for the unique Type O Negative. His pain, sorrow, and misery came out in many of their original songs, including "Bloody Kisses", "Everything Dies", "Christian Woman", and "September Sun".
The New York City goth band also arranged some very memorable covers of some well know songs, including “Cinnamon Girl” by Neil Young, “Hit Me Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, and the most satanic and gothic version of “Black Sabbath” (by Black Sabbath) ever to hit the airwaves.
There were unconfirmed rumors at one point of Steele's death after the band website posted an image of a tombstone bearing his name and the dates 1962-2005. However, it was just a publicity stunt to commemorate the signing with SPV Records. This go around, however, his death has been confirmed by family members and appears to be quite genuine.
Rest in peace, Peter Steele. You brought a lot of great music into this world, and my life, and I will sorely miss your special talent and the awesome imprint you made on the world of rock and roll.
The Smashing Pumpkins, at least in their current iteration, have a new EP coming out on May 25th, so they decided to promote like any mega rock band would: by performing at a tiny record store in Los Angeles, for 75 minutes no less!
Billy Corgan and his current lineup played at a tiny LA record store on Saturday afternoon. Attending were mostly friends and family and about 250 fans who pre-ordered the new EP, Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, Vol. 1: Songs for a Sailor.
The EP contains the first four songs of a 44-track Smashing Pumpkins recording project, Teargarden By Kaleidyscope. Each song from the new collection is being released online, and through several limited edition EPs. The first three tracks are online now for free, and you can get them at my Facebook page anytime!