November 19th, 2008
Photos: Robyn Hitchcock
Wed., World Cafe Live. All photos Michael Alan Goldberg.
November 19th, 2008
Something You Might Not Know About Rich People
If, like MMM, you are terminally broke, there may be a couple things you don’t know about how the upper crust lives. We uncovered something Monday at AC/DC that we wanted to share. First, there’s a high-end white table cloth restaurant called Cadillac Grille located on the Club level of Wachovia. (We had no idea!) The Grille is supplied by Aramark, and somehow doesn’t suck. It’s good, in fact, and rich people, when they buy tickets to different shows, can choose the option of that ticket’s price including a decadent three course meal at the Grille for an additional $55. At least we think that’s how it works.
Anyway, the above menu, as you can see, was specially chosen by the members of AC/DC—which makes total sense because, as we all know, Angus Young is straight addicted to carrot cake.* A different menu will be provided for the well-to-do at tomorrow’s Madonna show. So on, so forth.
Must be nice.
We also got an inside tip regarding tomorrow night’s Madonna: Sticky and Sweet tour. She’s requested the air conditioning be turned off so the crowd can get sticky with sweat. No word about how she intends to pull off the “sweet” side of the coin. (Cinnabons under every chair?)
*None of what’s before the asterisk in this paragraph is true.
November 19th, 2008
Dept. Of What A Wonderful World: Snoop Dogg On Martha Stewart
More surreal: Snoop on Martha Stewart’s Living or Snoop appearing in Chrysler commercials with Lee Iacocca from back in the day? Discuss.
November 19th, 2008
Prince: The World’s Most Unlikely Homophobe
Have you heard? Prince is a homophobe! That’s right. Prince. The pop star you thought may have been gay all along because he is—as Atlantic blogger supreme Andrew Sullivan called him when this story broke—a “dandy, feminized midget.” But no. Turns out he no lik-ah the gays.
This news, along with the passage of Prop 8 in California, has found many in the media openly talking about something Kanye got the ball rolling on a bit ago, homophobia run rampant in the black community. Dan Savage wrote about it the day after Prop 8 passed, and Andrew Sullivan explores it further in the link above now that news of Prince’s own homophobia has surfaced.
And, oh, that homophobia was gleaned from this bit, taken from Prince’s profile in next week’s New Yorker:
He pointed to a Bible. “But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.” When asked about his perspective on social issues—gay marriage, abortion—Prince tapped his Bible and said, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’ ”
After the jump, some of the erotic love scenes from Purple Rain and an mp3 of “Pussy Control”—both of which God was positively thrilled with.*
*Not really.
November 18th, 2008
Show Review: AC/DC At Wachovia Center
No photo pass granted. Instead: this perfectly drawn picture of Angus Young’s Gibson SG.
Yesterday I asked a friend if he’d like to go see AC/DC. His response—“I actually don’t like AC/DC at all”—was surprising.
Here’s a quick list of things he could’ve said that would’ve been less shocking:
1. “Email is a hassle. I much prefer writing letters.”
2. “I wish I had fewer taste buds. They make food taste too good.”
3. “You know one thing I really, really despise? Vacation.”
4. “I’m more a fan of Hall and Oates as solo artists.”
5. “According to Jim—such a great fucking show.”
Not liking AC/DC is positively un-American (no small feat considering the band is from Australia via Scotland). They are rock rawk defined—primal, guttural, raw—the power of music boiled down to its essence. And last night that power was fully charged-high voltage, no less—at Wachovia Center in South Philly, where fans threw more fist pumps than Floyd Mayweather in 100 rounds and played air guitar like it was a trade that might help repair our struggling economy.
It’s a wonder the crowd even showed. Many people have been crowing about the high, high ticket prices that accompanied this Black Ice tour, the band’s first in seven years. Some even called for an out and out boycott. But the prices didn’t keep fans away. The show was at (or very near) capacity.
And we got our moneys worth. Even before the first note was struck a memorable moment was made. The brand AC/DC—every bit as powerful as the band—sold devil horns at the merch booth, much like the ones Angus wears on the cover of Highway To Hell. Only the horns last night blinked red. When the house lights were turned off, a sea of red, blinky horns covered Wachovia’s interior, a sea of faux-evil.
The band started with the first single off Black Ice, their new album, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Train,” and followed it with another toss away before cranking “Back In Black” three songs in. Brian Johnson pranced around the stage looking like Popeye and dancing like your dad, punctuating Phil Rudd’s steady rhythm by drumming the air with his microphone. Malcolm Young hovered in the back by his wall of majestic Marshall stacks, looking like a rock ‘n’ roll Gollum. Angus duck walked across stage like, well, an enthusiastic school boy. (As the night wore on, he stripped off his shirt, morphing before our eyes into Mr. Burns.) Bassist Cliff Williams is a bassist, and, therefore, does not warrant comment.
Of course, none of this is surprising. This is what AC/DC does. It’s what they’ve always done. Everything you think you’ll see walking into an AC/DC show is what you’ll be smiling about as you walk out. Oddly, that’s part of what makes it so great. Especially now. (Read: END TIMES.)
Oh, they’re still coming to me:
6. “Segways are totally cool.”
Alexis Petridis of the Guardian UK just wrote an article theorizing if AC/DC is doing well, you know the economy is in the shitter.
Petridis’ dead-on point:
“AC/DC’s appeal in unpredictable times is straightforward. People crave something uncomplicated and dependable in a time of uncertainty, and rock music has never produced a band so uncomplicated and dependable as AC/DC.
“For 35 years, they have done exactly the same thing—which in guitarist Angus Young’s case involves dressing like a naughty schoolboy—unaffected by changes in fashion or band personnel.”
He continues:
“Small wonder that people turn to AC/DC in their millions when the world appears on the brink of chaos. Here is escapism into a world untroubled by sub-prime mortgages, record public finance deficits and the baleful state of the FTSE 100, but escapism of the most comfortingly consistent kind.
“Western capitalism might collapse but at least Young can be relied on to perform a song about either rock and roll or testicles while wearing shorts, blazer and cap. Alas, what he can’t be relied on to do is support those who delve into the sociological implications of AC/DC’s appeal.”
The same argument could be made for hair metal in the ’80s, of course, and the inverse of the theory could go a way in explaining why Nirvana and other “serious minded” musicians rose to great heights in the ’90s when Clinton gave the country its first budget surplus in quite some time. Many brilliant men have given this argument a go in the past.
7. “I met Amy Winehouse at an industry event. Smart, smart girl. Really down to earth.”
Song four, another off the new album: “Big Jack.” It’s followed by “Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap” and “Thunderstruck,” a potent one-two punch that sends the crowd into overdrive, throwing hands shaped like devil horns in the air and singing every word.
8. “So the New England Patriots cheated—what’s the big deal?”
AC/DC blazed through the title track of the new album before gut-punching the audience again: first with “She’s Got the Jack,” and then again with “Hell’s Bells,” complete with a giant bell hovering from over the stage that Johnson swung from like a monkey. The former is a virtual AC/DC songwriting clinic, melding perfectly black blues and the bone rattling chords that make up much of metal.
AC/DC = Rock ‘n’ Roll Obama.
The band blazed through “Shoot To Thrill” (”TOO MANY WOMEN, TOO MANY PILLS, C’MON!”) and another new one, “War Machine,” before busting into a couple Big Hits—”You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Let There Be Rock”—and heading off stage.
Encore: “Highway To Hell,” “For Those About To Rock” (complete with cannon fire!).
9. “Palin 2012.”
From last night:
“Hell’s Bells”
“Let There Be Rock”
November 18th, 2008
Emynd And Bo Bliz Want To Party Like It’s 1993
From the guys:
WOOO HOOOOO…. NIRVANA, SNOOP DOGG, JANET JACKSON, SMASHING PUMPKINS, WU-TANG, 2PAC, BLACK MOON, TONI BRAXTON, RADIOHEAD WTF!?????????!?!?!??!
THE BEST GIMMICKY PARTY OUT THERE. WE WILL BE GIVING AWAY 50 FREE “CHAMPION” SWEATS KNOCK-OFF T-SHIRTS. YES, YOU WORE THOSE BACK IN THE DAY.
WE HIT CAPACITY FOR THE 1996 PARTY AROUND 12:30 SO PLEASE ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO COME EARLY.
OK. I’M DONE SCREAMING.
Yes! Our advice? Listen to this one Digable Planets track “It’s Good To Be Here” starting now and don’t stop until doors open at JBs next Wednesday!
