The Legend of Lennon Lives On...

Yesterday was the 28th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. To mark this occasion, Rolling Stone has done something credible and respectful, words not typically associated with the magazine this day and age. They have posted the complete interview Editor in Chief and Founder of the magazine Jann Wenner had with John Lennon accompanied by Yoko Ono spanning 2 of their 1971 issues. The interview is quite a lengthy read, but undoubtedly contains more insight and just as much relevance as anything you may currently read anyway.

Looking back at the former Beatle, he has a unique outlook on life many today can still envy and admire. Having been a fan of, and sought out information of the Beatles over the years, reading this interview shed light on some things I had not previously known. It also reaffirmed my belief that following the Fab Four's breakup, Paul McCartney's next band Wings might as well have been called Beatles 2.0. Ringo is portrayed as lovable but stupid, George as a loopy Hare Krishna with a catchy radio tune, and Paul as a power hungry puppet. He didn't think George Martin did much producing for them after "A Hard Day's Night," also an interesting revelation considering their abstract later period. Lennon also reveals his love for Creedence Clearwater Revival, disdain for Ike and Tina Turner's Beatles covers, and sheds light on the fact that anything the Beatles innovated, the Rolling Stones just copied 2 months later.

Even nearly 30 years after his death, my opinions have changed from some of his insight. This interview made me gain more respect for Yoko Ono, and should show people she can't be looked at as the reason the Beatles broke up. I also realized in reading it that it was a good thing the Beatles ended when they did. There was no room in the bloated scene of 1970's arena rock that saw such acts as Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Queen rise to prominence. The Beatles were above all that, and they were here just long enough and not too long at the same time. I respect his decision to get out of a situation where he felt there was no more musical growth and suffocation on his evolution as an artist.

"Gimme Some Truth" was an iconic tune of his, and this is what he gave the readers in this look into his private life, career with the Beatles, and his solo work. Seeing the recent documentary, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" gives more insight to his steadfastness in America throughout the 1970's that shines through in this vivid picture of the man who doesn't believe in Beatles, but just himself. Every year around this time we continue to hear on the radio what is still, in my opinion, the greatest Christmas song ever recorded, "Happy X-Mas (War is Over)." Times like these that are so enjoyable are also saddened by the fact that this great artist was taken much before his time. With all the great music he recorded with and without the Beatles, we will never know what would come later in his middle age that never was.

Of all the musicians taken before their time, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Tupac Shakur, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Notorious B.I.G., Marvin Gaye, Jeff Buckley, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Duane Allman, and Brian Jones to name only a few, while Lennon had a larger body of work than most of them, I still feel today like some of his best work was still ahead of him. Where those artists were gone too soon, they had the candle in the wind mythos to their musical bodies of work. Each were best suited for the time they had here, did the most with it, and may have just wilted away musically and never had as full a legacy. John Lennon, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He had been to the mountain with the Beatles, chopped it down with solo songs like "Instant Karma," and "God," then solidified his own legacy with iconic songs like "Imagine" and "Working Class Hero" which spoke to generations past, present, and now future.

In 1975 following the birth of his son, he took a 5 year hiatus from music, returning with the comeback album "Double Fantasy" in 1980, only to be killed 3 weeks after its release. This new musical outpouring was the next chapter in his story that we will never see the end to. You can hear glimpses of this in the incomplete demos the surviving Beatles completed in the mid-1990's, "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love." Wondering what the 1980's music of John Lennon would have been like is like wondering what the 1970's music of the Beatles would have been like. We will never know, but luckily, the music can still be heard of what he did in his time here. Let it be a lesson to us all.

Part 1 of the Interview (From the January 21, 1971 Issue): http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24937978

Part 2 of the Interview (From the February 4, 1971 Issue):
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24946866

Paul McCartney's tribute to Lennon, "Here Today." Probably the most moving song Paul McCartney has ever written, with or without the Beatles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY09Wa7z_38

The Lennon demos as completed by the surviving Beatles in 1994/95:

"Free As A Bird" great video, it actually won a Grammy that year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D196-oXw2k

"Real Love": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZjCGF57v4Q

Viva La Ripoffs???

Guitar legend Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for allegedly ripping off the melody from his 2004 guitar instrumental "If I Could Fly." Rolling Stone broke the story, and also has the videos posted side by side comparing the two. The similarities are definitely there, and if Satriani's lawyers can prove Coldplay heard the song before recording "Viva" they've got a case. However, proving someone listened to a song doesn't seem as easy as it looks, so he might end up on the short end of the stick with this one.

Last summer, Coldplay faced similar accusations from a Brooklyn indie group, Creaky Boards, whose ironically titled, "The Songs I Didn't Write" also sounds all too similar to "Viva La Vida." The band started a campaign via YouTube, supplemented by a conspiracy theorist-like claim that a man resembling Chris Martin was in the audience while they played the song during the CMJ Festival in New York and seemed to really enjoy the tune. Their case is a bit more feasible, but the conspiracy theory thing only hinders their cause in my opinion. Rolling Stone covered this occurrence as well.

I'm trying to be objective about this, and will give Coldplay the benefit of the doubt since I'm a big fan of their music. Also, I think this an argument that goes back a ways.

Creaky Boards' "The Songs I Didn't Write" (from 2007) vs. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUhFLiw6h6s

Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly" (from 2004) vs. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I&feature=related

Rolling Stone Article that broke the story.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/12/05/joe-satriani-sues-coldplay-for-viva-la-vida-plagiarism/

Rolling Stone Article that broke the story of the Creaky Boards comparison last June. Take notice of the comments section below the article. Several people make mention of the Satriani similarities as far back as September. Perhaps Joe's people took a hint from them before filing legal action.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/06/16/new-york-band-claims-coldplay-stole-viva-la-vida-melody/

Here's a look at an older case of the ripped off song with Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters Theme" having ripped off Huey Lewis's "I Want a New Drug." I'm sure this had Huey singing "I want a new royalty check!"

Huey Lewis and the News "I Want a New Drug"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMSFX1Vb3xQ

Vs.

Ray Parker, Jr. "Ghostbusters Theme"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4uxIo4t7xM&feature=related

AND...an even older case of Beatle George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" which riffed off of The Chiffons' "He's So Fine." Harrison actually ended up having to pay up after the case went to trial in the 1970's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzlRMhtXaD0&feature=related

AND... Led Zeppelin have so frequently done this, there's a whole compilation of it up on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjPAEPFaxoM In later years, Zeppelin went on to credit the older songs they "borrowed" from, but I think they were forced to. I don't care though, I still happily listen to them on a weekly basis.

AND...probably the most talent-less hacks in this article, The Offspring, possibly one of the worst bands I've ever heard in my life. They are one of the only bands I immediately switch the radio station on if I hear them come on. I can't even say this about the Beastie Boys as even though I hate their music, I still listen to "Sabotage" or "Intergalactic" if I hear them come on.

The Offspring, mercilessly ripped off the old Beatles classic "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" with their song, "Get A Job." Adding a steel drum to the song doesn't constitute a non-ripoff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duyAHixppcM

In the words of Cleveland from "Family Guy" in his response to why he stabbed Skeet Ulrich, the same can be said of this band: "There is nothing good about who you are or what you do."

Chinese Democracy??? More like American Crap.

So, after waiting since my 11th birthday or so for a new Guns N' Roses album, it seems that day is soon approaching. And I have to say, this is a bitter sweet feeling. I've heard most of the songs on Chinese Democracy in earlier forms, and I have to say it wasn't worth the wait. Granted this new branded "Guns N' Roses" only consists of one original member (resident lead singer nut job extraordinaire W. Axl Rose) so there has always been an immediate rip-off cloud hanging over this album since the mid 1990's when work began on it.

Chinese Democracy has the makings of the closest thing we'll see to a real life Spinal Tap in our lifetimes. The album has cost reportedly upwards of $13 million to produce, far greater than any other record in history (and probably more than the Beatles and Led Zeppelin's entire album catalogs combined), and is doused with multiple members who have come and gone out of Axl's dysfunctional band of merry men since 1995. It truly is like Spinal Tap, except everyone in the band is the drummer, constantly being recycled with a replacement.

I've been laughing since the turn of the millennium when we were promised a new GNR album which showed some promise after Axl turned up to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards to close out the show in 2002. Axl, wearing an Oakland Raiders Jerry Rice jersey that looked like a Canal Street knockoff, sporting cornrow extensions, and some fresh botox on his face looked like a sad shell of his former self. On top of this, he proceeded to run around the stage like he did back in 1993, only this time, he was overweight and his voice sounded like an old woman screaming for help while being mugged in an alley in St. Louis.
I guess a debacle like that could send him and his album people stopped waiting for back into recluse mode for another half decade. Soon after, some of the Chinese Democracy songs leaked, most sounding like an industrial doody. This wasn't anything near the hard rock classic sound of "Appetite for Destruction" and even made the altered direction of the "Use Your Illusion" albums sound like a 3 piece in a garage (These are not compliments Axl, you hack.)

I am interested to hear the final version of Chinese Democracy, but am not expecting much. In fact, what I expect is something that will probably sound like it should have come out around 1997 or '98 and has been so blown out of proportion to this point that it is destined for failure.

Rolling Stone has given the album 4 stars, while they've recently given the Jonas Brothers 4 stars (which you know if you've read my previous posts), so that doesn't really hold much weight.

Maybe next time a Guns N' Roses album is announced to come out, they'll keep a lid on it until they've got the CD's on the trucks getting ready to ship out to stores. Depending on how this train wreck in the GNR saga goes, we most likely won't see bupkus from them until China actually has a democracy or the Berlin Wall goes back up. About the same time, Pink Floyd gets back together to record "The Wall Part 2" and Mick Jagger lets Keith Richards take over all lead vocal duties on the next Rolling Stones album. When, you ask, will this be? I'll tell you...two weeks from never.

When I do get to hear the album, expect about as nice a review as one could expect from a lifelong fan who has been sitting on hopes of a new album for 15 years, only to be told the entire band except for the singer have bounced, our biggest influence is now Rammstein. If you held your breath for this, you'd be in an iron lunch 10 years ago.

Ok, I know I've been slacking off as of late, but it is for good reason, which will come in a formal announcement soon. But not bad news at all, rather a new direction, and a huge undertaking I'm working on in the near future.
However, this bit of news is a drop everything and do a backflip in your cubicle news. My new favourite (notice my British spelling of "favorite") music news website, England's NME.com, has broken a story originating from British newspaper The Sun. Apparently the Led Zeppelin reunion tour is on like Donkey Kong, as Peyton Manning would say, for next summer. The lone member to be holding back this monumental tour, lead singer Robert Plant, seemingly couldn't take not being part of the reunion plans. The story reports Plant finally told other band members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and new drummer Jason Bonham (replacing his father John) that he was ready, and they will soon set rehearsals with next summer in mind for their re-emergence.

Needless to say, I'm beside myself with excitement about this and can't believe it at the same time. I am skeptical to some degree, as the band has aged and their hard rocking songs aren't as easy to pull of as say, Paul McCartney still nicely managing shows showered with his old Beatles numbers. However, I'll be the first one in line for a ticket to this thing, and can't wait to see what they have in store, I'm sure they'll have some sort of wacky visual thing going on to make up with whatever they might be lacking or aged in sonically. As I listen to "The Rain Song" on this miserable day, I'll know that a Led Zeppelin reunion is "What Is and..." definitely not "What Should Never Be," and "That's the Way," it should be. I could go for a swim in "The Ocean" right now, even though I'd just look like a "Fool In the Rain," as they are showing their longtime fans a "Whole Lotta Love," with this reunion. Hopefully "Poor Tom" can make the gig if he's not busy still fighting "The Battle of Evermore"

Here's a link to NME's article: http://www.nme.com/news/led-zeppelin/40014

PS: I beat Rolling Stone to the news again.

After a Fun Filled/Death Defying Labor Day Weekend...A Coldplay New EP/LP Update!

After a Labor Day Weekend that included seeing a bat in Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan Friday night (following a great live show I'll be blogging about later in the week), and almost plummeting to my death in an elevator at the Taj Majal in Atlantic City in the wee small hours of the morning on Saturday night, I've stumbled upon some interesting updates about Coldplay and the recent new album I broke news on last week.

The band is releasing left over material from their Viva La Vida sessions as an EP titled "Prospekt's March" at the end of this year, December 26th. The EP will include the song "Luna," which was a collaboration with Kylie Minogue. Wondering what Prospekt is? This was the name of the person posting on Coldplay's website throughout last fall, winter, and spring while the band was recording their album. The posts included updates on the status of the new album, song titles, and other news, many being led to believe Prospekt would be the title of the album that eventually released as "Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends."

While the EP's songs are already recorded and ready for release, the band's previously mentioned upcoming album in 2009 has not been cut yet. Lead singer Chris Martin told the BBC, "We're going to release an album next December to end the decade." So, there you have it, Coldplay's 5th album will be out before we ring in 2010.

Both Rolling Stone and NME reported on this story, but NME's article had further details and specifics from the BBC interview. Both links to the respective articles are below:

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/09/02/coldplay-confirm-december-08-ep-new-full-length-for-2009/

http://www.nme.com/news/coldplay/39403

Editorial: "It's One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Johnny Be."

Yesterday, the first significant accomplishment was made with my blog since it started a couple weeks back. In fact, you could go as far as saying history has been made. Earlier today, at around 9:45AM Eastern Time, I broke a story about a new album by Coldplay that is due to be released sometime in 2009. The source of my story was British music magazine NME's website. This sounds pretty ordinary, save for the fact that America's version of NME, Rolling Stone Magazine, reported it on their website nearly 4 HOURS after I did at 1:50PM Eastern Time. Measly 24 year old Johnny Be Blogging broke the news of this big story before the genuine article did.

I don't know what is to be said of that, but I view it as an accomplishment for a no-name, up and coming one man show run on a shoestring (zero) budget. I'm glad if you are reading this, that this is a moment I could share with you, my loyal readers. I continue to bring it day after day knowing one or two, or who knows how many people are reading my random thoughts/news, and moments like this help me strive to keep bringing it, and achieve more.

To show my excitement and gratitude, below is a picture of me jumping up and down on a bed in my hotel suite at the Hilton in Las Vegas from this past December. To put that moment in historical context and perspective, it was one day before my 24th birthday, and also one day before Roger Clemens was exposed in the Mitchell Report. It was also one day before I was able to see the most ridiculously amazing show on the planet, the Beatles Cirque Du Soleil show "Love" at the Mirage; one of the best birthday gifts I've ever gotten thanks to my wonderful girlfriend Nicole, who is one of my few or many loyal readers .

"I get up, 'cause nothing gets me down. You got it tough, I seen the toughest around."
-David Lee Roth, "Jump"

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend.

"On the Cover of the Rolling Stone...while it's gathering moss."

(Here are my thoughts on what has become a pop culture/musical crisis over the past few years.)

From this...

To This???

I am a regular visitor to Rolling Stone magazine's website in my constant search of music news and seeing what some of my favorite artists are up to. However, some recent things have come to light that make me question the motives of this once uncompromising and free-living publication:

They recently devoted a cover story (as in this was on the cover, to be followed by what should be a lengthy, useful, engaging multi-page article within the pages of the magazine) to the MTV show "The Hills." The fact that MTV is even mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine anymore is problematic enough considering they haven't played a music video in its entirety over nearly half a decade. What really irks me is that the same magazine that has covered Presidential elections with credibility and candor, as well as events like Woodstock, the Concert for Bangladesh, and interviewed icons such as Bob Dylan, Hunter S. Thompson, John Lennon, and Jack Nicholson, is now filling its pages with inconsistencies helping to blend it in with any other supermarket rack magazine.

When great writers like Thompson, Cameron Crowe, Joe Esztherhas, and Lester Bangs wrote for Rolling Stone during its peak in the 1960's and 70's, they probably would have never even set foot in the building in the first place if they knew this is what it would lead to. Artists like the Jonas Brothers, the whatever you would call them from "The Hills," and that Clay Aiken stunt double Zach Ephron gracing the cover in a time span of less than 6 months puts Rolling Stone in Seventeen and Tiger Beat territory. I'll give credit where credit is due, such as their recent great cover stories on RDJ (Robert Downey, Jr.) and their New Guitar Gods issue a year or two back that featured John Frusciante, Derek Trucks, and John Mayer on the cover, but they can't have it both ways.

It is expected that people take the magazine seriously when they produced an informative cover story on Barack Obama about a month ago. Then, they publish a 4 star review of the Jonas Brothers new album a week after the Brothers Jonas (BJ's) are on the cover tearing each other's shirts off. If Rolling Stone expects its readers not to figure out the propaganda there, then they truly have abandoned their original audience, which is a sad moment in popular culture's history of the past 50 years. And for that reason, their cover stories on the election, or why ethanol fuel is hurting our economy, or stories from the war in Iraq, become as relevant and credible as the same stories if they were to appear in this week's issue of OK Weekly. More and more they are relinquishing themselves to the same media conglomerate, Fox News-one-sided way of conveying news stories that they once vowed to fight against.

I have found some examples of their recent blunders, with the Jonas Brothers spectacular 4 Star review included. Now, I am not completely arguing the accuracy of the reviews I have disdain for, but I am showing other reviews Rolling Stone has given historically next to the reviews in question. When looking at the numbers side by side, it's ludicrous to think that Lil' Wayne's incoherent, irrelevant lyrical and musical offerings are better than Ready to Die, All Eyez on Me, and Enter the Wu Tang. These are 3 hip hop classics that shaped the genre for all those after them. I know there are a lot of Lil' Wayne fans out there, but if you honestly think this, you should have your brain checked for termites.

This would be like saying, "The Beatles 'Rubber Soul' is a 4 star album, but Creed's 'Human Clay,' now there's a 4 and 1/2 star album right there. They are definitely half a star better than The Beatles. Forty years from now, when people are wondering who John, Paul, George, and Ringo were, they'll still remember Scott, Mark, Scott, and Brian and they'll still be singing, 'With Arms Wide Open' at the top of their lungs, lighters waving." Yes, that would be certifiably insane.

All of these reviews come directly from Rolling Stone's website. It is surprising that they have kept these up there not realizing their journalistic integrity is going into as much of a recession as our economy. And, speaking of which, it does appear the magazine is feeling the pinch as much as any other troubled businesses in our struggling economy. They recently announced the changing of their format from the usual big print pages they utilize which will be scaled down to the size of typical magazines, in efforts to save on their production costs. Another sign that this former pop culture beacon will now literally and figuratively blend in with everything else on the magazine rack.

Rolling Stone Reviews:
Jonas Brothers, "A Little Bit Longer"- 4 stars,
Coldplay, "Viva La Vida"- 3 and 1/2 stars
Pearl Jam, "Vitalogy"- 4 stars
Radiohead, "OK Computer"- 4 stars
U2's "War"/"All That You Can't Leave Behind"/"How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb"- 4 stars
The Raconteurs, "Consolers of the Lonely"- 3 and 1/2 stars

Lil' Wayne, "Tha Carter III"- 4 and 1/2 stars
Tupac Shakur, "All Eyez on Me"- 3 Stars
Notorious B.I.G., "Ready to Die"- 4 stars
Wu Tang Clan, "Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers)"- 4 stars

I suggest you stick to more reliable sources when questioning Rolling Stone's credibility going forward. While they do have access to everything that is music, beware of some of the questionable "news" they spew from time to time. NME.com is a great website; it is from the United Kingdom's premier music magazine (pretty much Britain's Rolling Stone). They have album/song reviews, great articles, breaking news, and they have excellent live coverage, though most of it is Europe-based. Another worthy music magazine is Blender, which is put out by the same company that publishes Maxim magazine. They put a funny Maxim-like spin on music (with less bikinis) and they have great all time best and worst lists in their magazine which they archive on their website.

It would be ridiculously and intergalactically cool to work for any of these publications, but right now I don't. So, you can rest assured that my integrity is as of this moment, intact. Rock on!

My Very Hetero-Man Crush of the Week: RDJ

I've been a big fan of Robert Downey, Jr. for years. Before this summer, he was widely known for his drugged up antics more than his great performances, in particular his Oscar nominated role in "Chaplin." He's made some other great films like "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "Natural Born Killers," and "Zodiac," and even guest starred on "Family Guy" as Lois Griffin's long lost brother Patrick Pewterschmidt. In particular, he was hilarious in "Soapdish," which has to be one of the most underrated comedies of the early 1990's. This summer in his turn as Tony Stark in "Iron Man," he's blasted into the stratosphere and is more than just the creepy mugshot guy who's getting arrested on drug charges every week. "Iron Man" has done for him what "Pirates of the Carribbean" has done for Johnny Depp; it's made the rest of the world take notice of what a lot of us already knew. He's now rumored to be Hugh Hefner's top choice to play him in a biopic on the Playboy mogul's life and times, and with "Iron Man" sure to be headed to the sequel factory soon for more installments, he seems to be getting better with age.

In a lot of his films he does this thing, not many other actors have it, but few get away with it without coming off as playing the same character in every movie they're in. It's that same thing Vince Vaughn has, where he seems like the same guy from film to film in most cases ("Old School," "Dodgeball," "Wedding Crashers") but is still great on screen. He's like Vince Vaughn with slightly better acting chops (see "Chaplin" and "Zodiac") and now, at 43 years old, he's finally getting recognized for what he's been flying under the radar with for all these years. I started watching "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," a recent film he was in pre-Iron Man that I hear is very good, I'm sure it will only increase my respect for this great actor of the past 20 years. His role as an Australian actor who plays a black man in a Vietnam movie within a movie within a movie in "Tropic Thunder," which comes out next week is sure to bring more accolades and comedic acclaim.

Now that his winning "Iron Man" lottery ticket has come to light, he's set to star in some more upcoming high profile films. Guy Ritchie, the director of one of my all time favorite films "Snatch" and of the upcoming "Rocknrolla" (which looks ridiculously amazing) has signed Downey Jr. on to star in an upcoming Sherlock Holmes film. This is not to be confused with the Sherlock Holmes comedy Judd Apatow is devloping with Sasha Baron Cohen as Holmes and Will Ferrell as Watson, though that sounds just as interesting. Another high profile project he's recently been signed for is an adaptation of the graphic novel "Cowboys Vs. Aliens." Judging by the title, I don't think much explanation is needed.

This month, Rolling Stone has a great cover story on RDJ (I'm hoping this acronym catches on like lighters at a Journey concert while they play "Faithfully") that shows just how cool this mofo really is. Though, "The Dark Knight" is still my top choice of the summer, I'm just as glad to see RDJ get his due because it's been a long time coming since he came up in "Weird Science" back in the 80's. To read the Rolling Stone article, click here: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/22210961

For your viewing pleasure, I've included the previously mentioned creepy mugshot here:

And another mugshot...

...and another mugshot...

...And Patrick Pewterschmidt, the "Fat Guy Strangler," before what is sure to be another potential RDJ mugshot.

Cheers to you RDJ! Keep on rocking in the sober world! Keep ping pongin'!