Ozzy Takes a Dump After American Idol

…in the form of Osbournes: Reloaded.

Ozzy music: very good. Ozzy Family Variety Show: BAD, VERY VERY BAD.

Not even into the first five minutes of the “show” there is a kissing contest that could be staged in any small town fair. This time it’s on a larger scale (complete with catcalls from a sidelined Ozzy: “Do it, Do it, Do it!” or “Go, go, go!) and 10x cornier. There was even a mini-game show segment that turned into a requested marriage proposal, making the average daytime television fare seem like Must See TV.

Sonny & Cher, The Osmonds, it was all bad t.v. and now the Osbourne family joins the ranks.

Brutal.

Ozzy has truly gone off the rails of the crazy train.

Interview with Sacred Oath Vocalist Rob Thorne on Powerline A.D. Site

Part one of a two-part interview with vocalist/guitarist Rob Thorne (above, far left)on the site at www.powerlinead.com. Rob talks about the new self-titled album and some of the standout tracks on it. Enjoy.

Back Home In The UK, PJ Harvey And John Parish Continue Their Media Blitz With Appearances On BBC 6 Music’s Hub Sessions And XFM London’s Xposure

Returning home to the UK after several appearances in America to promote their A Woman A Man Walked By album, PJ Harvey and John Parish made two more media appearances yesterday.

First up was the BBC 6 Music Hub Session. Harvey and Parish performed “Black Hearted Love” and “Leaving California.” They were also interviewed by the program’s host, George Lamb. To hear the BBC 6 Music session with Harvey and Parish, click here and then click the “Listen” link. When the BBCi Radio Player opens, scroll forward to 02:11.49 into the program. The appearance by Harvey and Parish in the Hub Session was about 16 minutes in length. There are six days left from today to hear it.

Viewers in the UK only can watch the BBC 6 Music Hub Session with Harvey and Parish by clicking here. (It would not surprise me, though, if the video clips of the Hub Session make their way to You Tube for all to see. I hope so, anyway.)

Following the Hub Session appearance, Harvey and Parish then headed over to the Leicester Square studios of XFM London, where they were interviewed by DJ John Kennedy for the Xposure program. To hear the interview clips from the Xposure program featuring Harvey and Parish, click here and then click the individual audio links.

On a personal note, I should publicly thank John Kennedy for mentioning my name to Harvey during the interview. I had e-mailed Kennedy the link to the video of the appearance by Harvey and Parish on Los Angeles radio station KCRW-FM during SXSW. When Kennedy was talking to Harvey about the video, he mentioned that I had sent him the link. That portion of the interview can be heard by clicking here. I’m mentioned about 28 seconds in.

In addition to interviewing Harvey and Parish on the XFM London Xposure program, Kennedy also played some tracks from the new album as well as a cut from an album that the duo recorded in the early 1990s as part of a band they used to belong to. To hear the full appearance by Harvey and Parish on Xposure with the music, click here and then scroll down to “Last 7 Days – Xposure with John Kennedy.” Select the “Xposure with John Kennedy (31/03/2009)” program. The segment with Harvey and Parish starts at 01:02.47 into the program and lasts for approximately an hour. There is no scroll forward function on the XFM Media Player, so you can’t move forward to that point. The full program will be available for six days from today.

Next week, Harvey and Parish will perform a live session for XFM London’s Xposure program. More details on that to come.

Fuse Embraces Facebook Some More

Tired of playing Mafia Wars or Demon Wars or any of those other life-sucking games on Facebook?

Well, your friends at Fuse are throwing up ads up all over Facebook to promote their Rock Madness. That’s right, Rock Madness.

Here’s Fuse’s pitch:

The Beatles? Metallica? Eminem? You decide the greatest music artist of all time.

We took 32 legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artists and paired them up against 32 potential future inductees. Who do you think deserves to take home the title of Ultimate Artist? Get started now!

Every great artist has a kick-ass band behind them. Connect and Play with your friends on Facebook! See their picks, leave comments, and more.

Oh, Joy!  Sorry, if I had the time, I’d continue to play Mafia Wars.

And, for my “friends” on Facebook — please don’t send me any invites to play this.

btw, Eminem?!

MTV Adds Music In The Morning

This morning, MTV added a six-hour block of music programming to its schedule. The network will be airing the six-hour morning block of music from 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday to Thursday. The morning music block will be known as AMTV. And MTV also announced that it is bringing back the Unplugged series.

Younger viewers of MTV may not even realize that the “M” in MTV stands for “Music,” since the network has mostly been known for reality shows over the past few years.

Given the numerous outlets that exist today for music video on both TV and the Web, MTV’s move might not make a difference in their ratings. And I wonder what type of music will be played in the AMTV music block. Will MTV be a bit adventurous in their playlist? Or will they air yawn-inducing, over-exposed clips by artists such as Kanye West and Britney Spears?

When MTV first began broadcasting in August 1981, I can remember watching it quite a bit, both to see videos of bands that I already liked as well as to expand my musical tastes by being exposed to bands that weren’t getting airplay on the rock radio stations in the New York City area. I first heard Split Enz and quite a few other bands on MTV.

But can MTV in 2009 afford to be that adventurous? I doubt it. Most of their viewers that want to see the latest music videos can find them very easily on You Tube.

I’d love to see an MTV channel like the original MTV, which would feature VJs presenting videos by new bands as well as interviewing bands and artists in the studio. I can’t be the only one who would welcome such an addition to the MTV Networks stable.

For more on the return of music and the Unplugged program to MTV, see the article from the Sunday, March 29th edition of The New York Times.

Roger Daltrey Seeks Successor To Organize The Teenage Cancer Trust Concert

The Who’s Roger Daltrey, who celebrated his 65th birthday on March 1st, is seeking someone to succeed him as the organizer of the annual (and very successful) Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall. According to BBC 6 Music, Daltrey has approached both Kelly Jones of Stereophonics and Noel Gallagher of Oasis with the idea. Jones and Gallagher have both appeared on the bill of several of the Teenage Cancer Trust concerts.

Daltrey told BBC 6 Music:

“I would love to find someone from a younger generation now who’s ready to start to take over from me.

“I would like to take the model of what we’ve done here and concentrate on getting it started in other countries now.”

Daltrey added that organizing the concerts can be very tiring, telling BBC 6 Music, “It does take an awful lot of energy. I call it my ‘yearly break down’.”

Jones admitted hat Daltrey had broached the subject with him and Gallagher, and said to BBC 6 Music:

“He’s asked me and Noel a couple of times to our faces. It’s a big job that and we’re like, ‘Come on Roger, you’d do it a lot better than us,’ and he carries on doing it. He has asked us a few times in rehearsals and stuff like that.”

And Jones revealed admiration for Daltrey when he told BBC 6 Music:

“I think he [Daltrey] does get a bit embarrassed – that might not be the right word – but I think he does know that he’s pestering people all the time to do it, but good on him. I think somebody does need to pester people to do stuff like this, and if he’s the one doing it then good on him.”

For more on this story, see the article from BBC 6 Music.

The 2009 edition of the Teenage Cancer Trust Concerts began last Tuesday with a show headlined by Antony and the Johnsons. Other artists who have appeared in the concerts this week include Stereophonics, Kasabian, and Bullet For My Valentine. The week of concerts at the beautiful Royal Albert Hall concludes tonight with an evening of comedy headlined by Mathew Horne and James Corden of the BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey.

Five years ago tonight, I had the very good fortune to see The Who perform in a Teenage Cancer Trust show at Royal Albert Hall. The Coral were the support band. Later that week, I saw another Teenage Cancer Trust show, this one headlined by Jools Holland and featuring such guests as Chrissie Hynde, Ron Wood, Solomon Burke, David Gilmour, and Tom Jones. What a great night of music that was!

The Teenage Cancer Trust has raised millions of pounds to fund the construction of special wards for teenage cancer patients in hospitals around the UK. And bravo to them for doing so! Hopefully, America will one day have a similar initiative for teenage cancer patients here.

To read more about the Teenage Cancer Trust, click here.

For information about this year’s concerts and to watch a video about the Teenage Cancer Trust, click here.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Release Video For Latest Single, “Zero”

New York City’s own Yeah Yeah Yeahs (pictured above in a Josh Wildman photo) have released the video for their latest single, “Zero.” The video is pretty cool, and it features Karen O dancing around in the street and in a grocery store. The single is currently getting quite a bit of airplay on some of the UK music stations, like XFM London. “Zero” is the lead single from the album It’s Blitz.

To watch the video for “Zero” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, click below:

For additional information on Yeah Yeah Yeahs, go to:
http://www.yeahyeahyeahs.com
http://www.myspace.com/yeahyeahyeahs

VIDEO: Ben Harper & Relentless7 – “Shimmer and Shine”

Just love the beginning of this new song.

Ben Harper & Relentless7 – Shimmer and Shine

Blender Magazine Ceases Publication

Yesterday, Alpha Media Group announced that Blender magazine will cease publication. The April 2009 issue, with Kelly Clarkson on the cover, will be its last. The Web site Brooklyn Vegan quoted a memo by Alpha Media’s CEO, Stephan Duggan, which stated:

“Since 2001, Blender has provided unmatched music coverage and entertainment news in its unique voice to a profoundly dedicated audience of music enthusiasts. We are particularly grateful to the sales team and to the tremendously talented editorial staff for their hard work and commitment to Blender.”

“Unmatched music coverage”? Ummmm . . . I don’t think so! A lot of Blender was nothing but fluff. It was very light on meaty features, the very thing that should be the lifeblood of any good music magazine. (See the UK music publications Q, Mojo, and Uncut, and you’ll know what I mean.) Given the paucity of paid advertisements in recent issues of Blender, I’m surprised that it lasted as long as it did.

The Blender Web site makes no mention of the demise of the print magazine, though the “Subscribe” link now takes you to the subscription page for Blender‘s sister publication, the beer-and-tits magazine Maxim.

Blender.com will continue. And Alpha Media will combine the editorial operations of Maxim and Maxim.com.  Joe Levy, the editor of Blender, was named editor-in-chief.

Blender‘s ad pages dropped 30.6 percent last year. That fact led to the inevitable closing of the print magazine. Thirty staffers will lose their jobs as a result.

With the shuttering of Blender, I wonder about the fate of some of the other music publications, such as Spin and Paste. Even Rolling Stone looks pretty thin these days.

For more on this story, see the articles from the Folio Magazine Web site and Brooklyn Vegan.

Rock’s Latest War Of Words Pits Wayne Coyne Of The Flaming Lips Against Arcade Fire

The April 2nd issue of Rolling Stone (the one with the two chicks from Gossip Girl on the cover, chowing down on an ice cream cone) features some interesting quotes from Wayne Coyne (pictured above, top) of The Flaming Lips in reference to the Canadian band Arcade Fire (pictured above, bottom). Coyne told Rolling Stone‘s Andy Greene, “We’ve played some shows with them, and they treated everyone in their vicinity like shit.” Coyne went on to say that Arcade Fire were assholes to their fans and crew. If that weren’t enough, Coyne added, “They have good tunes, but they’re pricks, so fuck ‘em.”

Arcade Fire didn’t comment to Rolling Stone about Coyne’s assertions, but Win Butler from the band wrote on the Web:

“The only time we have ever shared a stage with the Flaming Lips was . . . over three years ago. We arrived the morning of the show from Brazil, slept all day, and awoke into some surreal Vegas jet-lag dream in which we were playing after [them].”

Butler added:

“Unless I was way more jet-lagged then [sic] I remember, I hope I was less of a ‘prick’ then [sic] telling Rolling Stone that a bunch of people I don’t know at all are all really assholes.”

It’s kind of heart warming to see two bands from North America sniping at each other like this. These types of war of words usually go on between British acts. Bravo to Wayne Coyne for calling Arcade Fire out on their boorish behavior.

I can’t understand why any band would act like jerks to their fans and/or crew. I remember reading stories about how well bands like The Clash and The Jam treated their fans back in the day. And it’s probably not a coincidence that scores of fans still look back on The Clash and The Jam with great fondness. A lesson for Arcade Fire to learn, perhaps?