all-encompassingly

greg graffin's ph.d

there have been rumors for about the last 10 years that he was working on something like this. greg graffin, the frontman for one of my top-five favorite bands of all-time (bad religion) was recently awarded a ph.d from cornell. you can get a pretty good idea of his work here. there is a version of the actual questionnaire he sent out to scientists here. i also recommend the video interview with graffin. i will withhold judgment on the study, since i haven't read it.

a petition won't stop ashlee, but it's fun

a petition won't stop ashlee if there are enough 13 year olds still watching her show and buying her CDs to make the ashlee simpson juggernaut profitable. however, signing the petition may show the snake oil salesmen (geffen records execs and simpson's father) that they need to stop forcing her upon us elsewhere--like SNL and the orange bowl.

the site, stopashlee.com has become quite popular; i added my signature to the petition a few minutes ago and mine was signature number 120,195. i wrote:

"your shameless promotion of ashlee simpson is an insult to every artist that has to earn his or her own success."

other notable comments include, "burn her", "please think of the children", and "There should be a petition to sterilize Joe Simpson."

view the signatures, or sign the petition.

if you are not up to speed on the ashlee fiasco, watch the SNL lip-sinc video and the orange bowl live vocals video.

video: simpson booed off stage for crime against humanity

a brief, but damning clip of the former lip-synchers atrocious performance at the orange bowl halftime show is here: [Ashlee Simpson Booed Off Stage]. many thanks to lipsinc.us for hosting the video. [listen really close between the 20 & 22 second mark on the clip. you'll hear someone shout, "YOU SUCK!"]. after the show, ashlee was consoled by the water-bearing lady.

if her career isn't over now, it will never die. she will be known as the indestructable woman; nations will fear her and jungle animals will flee from her presence. for the love of all that is holy, let her career be over. she sucks. sorry to be so harsh; if she's sad, she can go spend some of her millions of dollars she got by duping consumers.

for our coverage of ashlee's past problems and professional failures, see the following posts:

ashlee simpson: manufactured by MTV, deconstructed by SNL
simp-sinc saga continues

for better, (but cruder) descriptions of ashlee and her latest issues i recommend:

tony pierce on how the music execs are to blame
anthony russell on how virtuous girls should not follow ashlee's example

you mean, "what's the frequency, dan?"

in celebration of dan rather's recently announced retirement, we'd like to take a look back at one weird moment in his life.

One night in October 1986, Rather was walking down a Manhattan street when he was punched from behind and thrown to the ground. His assailant kicked and beat him while repeating, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?"
- - - - -
The attack inspired the 1994 R.E.M. hit "What's the Frequency, Kenneth." Being a good sport, Dan Rather even accompanied the band when they performed the song on a Late Show with David Letterman appearance.

In 1997, based on a tip from a psychiatrist, Rather's attacker was identified as William Tager. According to the psychiatrist, Tager, who was currently serving time for killing an NBC stagehand, blamed news media for beaming signals into his head, and thought if he could just find out the correct frequency, he could block those signals that were constantly assailing him. Hence the enigmatic inquiry. [link]

ratherbiased.com has great stuff on the life of the CBS anchor here.

atheist marxist cash fans cry foul

a story being reported by the BBC notes some criticism of the republican national convention's planned tribute of recently deceased country singer, johnny cash. apparently, the deeply religious and moral cash, who wrote several songs about jesus christ, and who covered nine inch nails' song, "hurt" with the phrases "crown of sh*t" and "empire of sh*t" changed to "crown of thorns" and "empire of dirt" suddenly became an icon to millions of leftists who love immorality and hate religion.

in response, republicans have vowed a similar protest if the democrats ever hold a marilyn manson memorial at their presidential convention.

mixing music and politics

via lgf

In the eyes of Alice Cooper, all the rock stars campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry are guilty of one thing: treason. The shock-rock legend, a staunch Republican who attends NBA games in Phoenix with Arizona Senator John McCain, was disgusted when he learned of plans by Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, R.E.M. and other bands to hold a series of concerts aimed at unseating U.S. President George W. Bush.

“To me, that’s treason. I call it treason against rock ‘n’ roll because rock is the antithesis of politics. Rock should never be in bed with politics,” says the 56-year-old Cooper, who begins a 15-city Canadian tour on Aug. 20 in Thunder Bay, Ont.

“When I was a kid and my parents started talking about politics, I’d run to my room and put on the Rolling Stones as loud as I could. So when I see all these rock stars up there talking politics, it makes me sick.

”If you’re listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you’re a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we’re morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal." [link]

heh. see also laura ingraham's superb hollywood expose, shut up and sing and our recent post on the ramones.

the idiotic canadian (ah, but i'm being redundant!) writer of the article then adds,

"Despite his strong insistence that rock has no place in politics, Cooper is one of just a handful of high-profile musicians who've proclaimed support for Bush." [link]

what in the crap is that supposed to mean, you moron?! cooper is railing against musicians who've made politics a part of their act, such as artists on fat wreck chords' "rock against bush" vols. I & II, linda ronstadt, the dixie chicks, and others who taint their performances with remarks and opinions that offend a large portion of the audience. as far as i can tell, cooper has committed no such treason against rock and roll. a lexis-nexis search of "alice cooper" and "john kerry" turned up only one semi-relevant result. it is an article from early this month which reports that part of cooper's show satirized both the kerry and bush campaigns, undoubtedly to the delight of all in attendance:

The grand finale saw a top-hat and tails Cooper crowing "I Wanna Be Elected," as a faux John Kerry and George Bush rocked along hilariously. "Bush" ripped off "Kerry's" suitcoat and shirt - a la Janet Jackson - to reveal a tassle on his nipple, while "Bush" lost his pants on the way out, revealing yellow boxers with cartoon figures." [The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA) August 3, 2004, by Jay N. Miller]

see...that's humor, not politics. and when cooper states (in a private interview) that he supports bush, he is not engaging in the same disgusting behavior as NOFX, bruce springsteen, john cougar mellencamp, dave matthews, and others who have dedicated entire albums, songs, and shows to the "anybody but bush" campaign.

ramones documentaries: choose wisely

the ramones are one of the greatest bands of all time and a group whose sound and style influenced a generation. they're also the subject of two documentaries coming out this fall. one, 'End Of The Century: The Story Of The Ramones' is described by one ramone thus:

"It left me disturbed as I was watching it. I'm basically portrayed as a tyrannical monster, Dee Dee is on drugs, and Joey is an alcoholic and a drug addict at various times." --johnny ramone (note that he also calls it 'accurate') [link]

and another review says:

"End of the Century...tracks the Ramones’ career arc - freefall might be a better word." [link]

why would anyone want to watch this documentary? drug addictions, infighting, once-bright careers careening out of control...we already have the NBA for that!

instead, pick up the rockumentary that the ramones themselves are releasing. it promises to be more in-depth and upbeat (if you like that sort of thing).

The DVD's main feature plays like a lighthearted scrapbook of the Ramones, with highlights of the band's 20-year career. More than 20 songs, television and concert clips and videos are interspersed with footage of the band members enduring life on the road.

While the Ramones were as well known for their infighting as for their short blasts of rock fury, Marky's footage belies that aspect of the band's notoriety.

"You know, in order to fight and argue, you've got to be close," Marky says.

"All bands have their problems and conflicts, and there's no denying that the Ramones had their share," Cafiero adds. "But the raw footage, no pun intended, did not lie at all. There was no doubt about it that the band genuinely enjoyed themselves and had a good time."

In all, more than five hours of Ramones material populates the disc, on which Marky and Johnny Ramone offer a running audio commentary on the main feature.

Other bonuses include television appearances, including several on the low-budget New Jersey-based "Uncle Floyd Show," the band's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, receipt of an MTV lifetime achievement award, 18 scenes deleted from the feature and a dozen hidden "Easter eggs" that fans will have to hunt through the disc's menus to find.

But the prize bonus is "I Ramone," a half-hour of concert footage captured in Rome in 1980, just after the release of the band's Phil Spector-produced album, "End of the Century." Shot on film, it laid forgotten in the vaults of an Italian television station for two decades after its one-time broadcast. [12 aug 2004, toronto star]

clearly, this documentary is going to kick the arse of that lame-sounding "end of the century" documentary. both of the movies are featured at the ramones' website [link] but i'm serious--get "raw", available september 28. if anybody wants to get it for me, it'll be on my amazon wishlist.

by the way, johnny ramone is an unabashed conservative. in punk rock, that's pretty rare. seriously, the only ones of which i know are michael graves of the misfits, some dude from the vandals, and johnny ramone, who, "is perhaps the only Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame inductee to accept with the words "God bless America and God bless President Bush". [link]

other bands that rock [follow the links for free music and vids]:
bouncing souls
bad religion
green day [go to 'video' for free media]
ben kweller [go to 'songs' then 'mp3']
dressy bessy [no free stuff]

no 'stairway'! denied!

if you thought chernobyl was scary, check out led zeppelin's "stairway to heaven" backwards.

FCC in the spotlight again

the guardian headline tells the tale: Singers' boob sparks outrage in US

but that's what you get when you put MTV in charge of a 'family' event. as i said before, i have trouble enjoying the superbowl because of the hype, specifically the halftime show.

the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was inundated with complaints about the incident and about some male singers grabbing their groin.

Timberlake blamed a "wardrobe malfunction", but the FCC chairman, Michael Powell, branded it "a classless, crass and deplorable stunt".

well put. but the FCC is still on my bad side about something else. [read]

UPDATE 1: wapo's sally jenkins treats the issue well:

Maybe now we'll finally grasp the fact that the league is just another mass entertainment company, the Viacom of sports.

For years NFL marketers have preyed on the sensibilities of the nation to sell their sponsors' products. They have appropriated sex, patriotism, war and even the tragedy of Sept. 11 as commercial vehicles, and used them all to peddle more Coors and cars. You can always count on the NFL, during any legitimate national outpouring of sincerity, to seize on the topic of the day and bend it as a selling tool, along with breasty cheerleaders, Britney Spears, and faux-militarism, in search of higher ratings and ad revenues. A 30-second Super Bowl spot now costs $2.3 million. So for the league to be suddenly shocked and indignant at the behavior of a bunch of MTV entertainers it hired in partnership with CBS to boost its cool points and halftime ratings is utterly disingenuous, and craven. Exactly what did the league expect when it rented the MTV culture?

[read the whole thing] or for a more humorous take, there's this: [Super Bowl: sex, lies, marketing]

UPDATE 2: for more thoughts, i respond to pam's comment at this post: [flag desecration]

pam: I am just amazed that I hear all the hoop-la over Janet Jackson at the superbowl halftime because she showed a little skin, and Kid Rock cuts a hole in the American Flag and throws it over his head like a pancho and parties in front of 60,000 americans...noone seemed to care! I was most offended and wish he had been arrested right off the stage! I wonder how the men fighting for our country over in Iraq watching the game felt about that! That is what the country should be all out of sorts about!

me: pam, i agree with you in that people should be outraged over kid rock's lack of flag etiquette. if i had watched the 6-hour long commercial people like to call the superbowl, i might, too, have been offended. [flag etiquette site]

as it stands, public nudity is illegal, as far as i can tell, whereas flag desecration is not. perhaps that's one reason for the lack of outrage? i don't condone either, but that's my explanation.

the problem with these entertainer types is that they're so out of touch with america. on sunday, justin, janet, and kid (do you think he goes by kid?) all showed us how out of touch they are with reality. then look at michael jackson...scary. look at the dixie chicks, when they made their now infamous GWB comments. all of these people have alienated their audiences, which often are made up of plain 'ol american families, christians, NASCAR fans, patriotic, non-PC people, who just want to have a good time without having their values and beliefs threatened. [dixie chicks/john norris]

Posted by travis at 07:43 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

ben kweller

i can't get enough of ben kweller. the band produces poppy rock that has moments of soft folkiness and moments of exhilarating loudness--the latter bringing in sweet-sounding, crunchy guitar parts. kweller's voice is very ben folds-esque, and the lyrics are often unexpected and interesting. overall, the band produces a unique and gratifying music experience. check out some songs gratis.

smooth jazz

if you sprung for the high-speed internet, go ahead and turn on your speakers. this is your reward.

sorry there are no buttons, by the way. if you don't like it, turn off your volume.

the red hot valentines

the red hot valentines are a band from champaign, illinois. i vigorously recommend the tune, "bring back the good times" which you may download for free from MP3.com:

its a good one, about how much fun it is to party and how you'll really come to miss the craziness of it when its over. a reminder to enjoy it while it lasts. of course, for people like my buddy, jared oscarson, partying will never end. that's why he's going to end up in a trailer park (or maybe a prison). so, here's to nostalgia! you can sing along once you learn the words; they're easy to pick out.

harmless rebellion

my roommate, adam, and i, along with some chicks, went to see the bouncing souls put on a free show a couple of days ago. it was pure bliss. i can't believe i almost didn't go because of a "paper" i had to write.

my favorite moment from the show, aside from the rockin' tunes, had to be looking behind me to see a guy with a bloody mouth get lifted off the ground, narrowly missing being trampled, then gratefully hug his rescuer amidst a mass of suicidal moshers.

punk love, baby. when the world ends, i want these guys on my side.



BTW FYI, upcoming shows in salt lake city and orem (tickets might be availabe at 24tix.com):