Live Review of Michael Schenker in NYC

… on www.powerlinead.com

In the meantime, here is some video footage from the show. The guitar solo in “Rock Bottom.” Good stuff.

Kid British Rework Madness’ 1980s Hit “Our House”

UK hip-hop quartet Kid British will be releasing an update of Madness’ 1983 hit “Our House” on July 6th in the UK. Titled “Our House Is Dadless,” the reworking by Kid British mixes the Madness original with hip-hop vocals provided by the members of Kid British. It’s actually pretty good, and it has received quite a bit of airplay on XFM London.

To watch the video for “Our House Is Dadless” by Kid British, click below:

For more on Kid British, go to:
http://www.iamkidbritish.com
http://www.myspace.com/kidbritishmusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/KiDBRiTiSHMUSiC

Gene Simmons to Adam Lambert: Shut Up and Sing

Has the inundation of Adam Lambert media coverage killed the singer’s future? KISS’ Gene Simmons has his own take on it:

” … He’s enormously talented, best talent “American Idol” has had, but I think he killed his career because now the conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference. He’s done. You’re forcing people to deal with issues they may not be interested in. Life is unfair, and the masses don’t all live in L.A. They live in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and you’re on crack if you think the same rules apply there. My advice is still the same, shut the fuck up, just sing and let people say whatever they want. But I do wish him the best because he’s got all the talent in the world. If only the world was not homophobic, but it is. I would be the first one to vote for equal rights for gay women and men, and get the church and the state to stop telling everybody how to lead their lives, but do I think he’s killed his career? Oh, in an instant. I hope I’m completely wrong. I hope he becomes the next BEATLES and proves me wrong.”

I only know I can care less about Lambert’s personal life and I’m sick of the everyone’s preoccupation with it. And as far as his “talent” — I’m realy not impressed. Yet.

Discuss Amongst Yourselves: Micheal Jackson “Bloodsuckers”

I like reading Mike Lupica (right) of the New York Daily News. But sometimes his editorials should stick to his strength: sports.

Today he goes on a soapbox about how bloodsuckers will be capitalizing off of Michael Jackson’s death. Sure, he’s right about that. What he fails to tell you is that this probably should include the publication he writes for. The Daily News is the better of the two main tabloids in NY. However, it is also just as vicious and tenacious when it comes to celebrity reporting and gossip. They are surely capitalizing by selling newspapers with the hype of Jackson and his death. But Lupica pontificates:

Everywhere else the real show is watching the bloodsuckers from Jackson’s life looking for ways to keep scoring off him in death the way they did in life.

Like I said: True. But take some advice from MJ’s lyrics. Before you criticize others, take a look at the man in the mirror.

VINTAGE VIDEO: “I Know There’s Something Going On” By Frida Lyngstad

“I Know There’s Something Going On” by Frida Lyngstad (who was known as Anni-Frid Lyngstad during her days as a member of the Swedish superstar quartet ABBA) is simply a great, rocking single. It’s certainly harder than the material that Lyngstad recorded with ABBA. The single reached number 13 in the Billboard charts in America after its release in 1982, and it received quite a bit of airplay on MTV.

“I Know There’s Something Going On” was the lead single from Lyngstad’s album Something’s Going On. (The album’s cover is pictured above.) The album was produced by Phil Collins, and Collins’ signature drumming can be heard on “I Know There’s Something Going On.”

I love Lyngstad’s vocal on the track. It never fails to knock me out every time I hear the song.

The video for the song is pretty cool as well. To watch it, click below:

Did Michael Jackson’s Own Fans Hasten His Demise?

The Times of London columnist Janice Turner wrote a fantastic opinion piece for the Saturday, June 27th edition of The Times in which she opined that the intense idolatry of Michael Jackson’s fans played a role in his death. She opened the column as follows:

Outside UCLA hospital they gather with their candles and their teddies, spooky lookalikes in full Thriller garb, wan teenagers wearing a single lace glove. They sway and sing I’ll Be There with sad faces to disguise the serotonin buzz from their frenzied collective mourn-in. Fans cry now for Michael Jackson, but they killed him. They always do.

Turner also discussed the price that fame exacted on 1970s teen idol David Cassidy:

The most troubled person I ever met was David Cassidy, the teen idol of Jackson’s era, unhinged long ago by his fans. For five years girls slept outside his house, followed him everywhere, ripped his clothing, forced him into isolation, made his life empty and lonely. And then, abruptly, when he was no longer the pretty boy du jour they deserted him. Now, two divorces later, he loathes meeting old fans, because they will say, with no regard for his feelings, how old he looks — though they are mostly portly matrons themselves — or get drunk and take a grab at him. To them, he isn’t a man, just an odd manifestation of their teenage years: they own him and they let him know it.

Turner’s piece was the best thing I’ve ever read about the dark side of fame. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in pop culture. To read Turner’s piece, which is titled “The fans killed their idol. They always do,” from the Saturday June 27th edition of The Times of London, click here.

After reading Turner’s piece, I started to think about my own fandom and how it affects my life. I am quite a fan of music. I wouldn’t be writing for Powerline A.D. if that weren’t the case. I like the art of music, but that’s as far as it goes. I will never understand those super-obsessive fans that latch on to one artist. Michael Jackson, to his great misfortune, seemed to be saddled with many of those types of fans.

Since Jackson’s death on Thursday, video from Jackson’s March press conference in London to announce the 50 concerts there has been played many times on various TV news programs. Watching the video is quite disturbing. And I’m not talking about Jackson’s gaunt appearance in the video. When the camera panned to the fans present for the press conference, they looked absolutely rabid. I don’t know if they were playing up to the cameras or what was going on there, but the looks on their faces were downright scary. They appeared to be in absolute ecstasy just to be in the same room as Jackson. Let’s not forget that fan is short for fanatic, and those present at the press conference were the living embodiment of the word.

Looking back on my limited interactions with some of my favorite musicians, I believe that I treated them respectfully. I’ve been a big fan of The Who for nearly 30 years, and I met the late John Entwistle once, in November 1987, after a solo show that he did at the now-defunct club The Bottom Line in New York City’s Greenwich Village. There were only a few of us out on the sidewalk in front of the club when Entwistle suddenly walked out of the club’s front door. I wasn’t waiting for him; I was just having a conversation with several of the fans who had also been at the show. Entwistle was gracious and spoke to us for about ten minutes before hailing a cab and heading off into the New York night. Everyone was respectful to Entwistle, and he came off to us as a regular guy, a working musician who enjoyed playing live.

Michael Jackson was one of the music personalities that I’ve been aware of since I first understood what music was. The Jackson 5 broke through when I was three years old and Jackson was the 10-year-old lead singer of his band of brothers. With the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson played a role in creating some great pop singles. Hell, the Jackson 5′s “ABC” is probably one of the most perfect pop singles ever released. I still remember a great appearance that the Jackson 5 made on a children’s program called Wonderama that aired on Sunday mornings on New York City’s Channel 5 in the early 1970s. The thing that I remember most about that appearance is the way the girls in the audience screamed for Michael. They loved him.

The Jackson 5 appealed to me at the time because I was a kid and they were a band that was led by a kid. By the mid 70s, I was discovering other music and left the Jackson 5 behind as I did many other of my childhood things. When Michael Jackson released his multiplatinum Off The Wall album in 1979, I couldn’t have cared less. I was listening to Cheap Trick and Gary Numan by that time.

After Jackson’s landmark Thriller album, there seemed to be a change in the way he was perceived by the public. It became more about image and less about the music. Eventually, after all the plastic surgeries and embarrassing public spectacles, it appeared as if that incredibly talented little kid who burst onto the music scene in the late 1960s was nowhere to be found in the fortysomething Michael Jackson. 

Watching the spectacle being made over Jackson’s passing reminds me of the scenes made after the deaths of Elvis Presley and John Lennon, in which it became more about the fans and their reactions to the death and less about the legacy and talent of those artists who had passed on. Since I haven’t really been interested in Michael Jackson’s music since the mid 1970s, I can’t really claim to be a fan. The Michael Jackson whose music I admired went away a long time ago.

The saddest part of this whole thing is not that millions of fans have lost somebody who they worshipped to the point where they drove him insane and into isolation. No.

The saddest part of this story is that there are three children who have lost the only father that they have ever known. Whatever you think of Jackson, whether you thought him to be the King of Pop or a sad and lonely freak, consider those three kids. Wherever they end up, I hope that they are able to have a normal life and do not emulate the life that their father led. If Jackson was the King of Pop in life, it appears that, at the end, his crown was one made of thorns.

Ray Davies To Host XFM London’s Residency Program On Sunday Nights In July

Ray Davies, the legendary frontman of The Kinks, will be hosting XFM London’s Residency program every Sunday night in July. The shows will air from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. BST (4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern) and will be available for on-demand listening for seven days on the XFM London Web site via the “listen again” function following the original broadcast.

On the subject of hosting the Residency programs, Davies told XFM Manchester’s Clint Boon:

“It’s the first steady job I’ve had. It’s been difficult to pick stuff to cover just four hours, but I’ve mixed it up a bit. I’ve picked some soundtracks, garage songs… people that have inspired me. It was a pretty rapid process – a first draft.”

Davies also revealed in his interview with Boon that his younger brother Dave, The Kinks’ lead guitarist, is the lone holdout against a reunion of the original lineup of The Kinks. I hope that Dave Davies changes his mind. I’d love to see The Kinks’ original lineup perform together again.

For more information on this story and for an audio link to Ray Davies’ interview with XFM Manchester DJ Clint Boon, see the article from XFM London.

Promoter Of Michael Jackson’s Scheduled London Concerts Now Faces Huge Liability

AEG Live, the promoter of Michael Jackson’s scheduled 50 concerts at London’s O2 Arena slated to begin next month, now faces hundreds of millions of dollars in liability as well as an empty arena for the next nine months. Jackson, pictured above in a PA Photo by Yui Mok at the March 5th press conference in London to announce the residency at the O2 Arena, died on Thursday in Los Angeles at the age of 50 after being rushed to the hospital in cardiac arrest.

There were rumors that Jackson’s health would not permit him to complete the run of 50 shows. The first few scheduled shows had been postponed. Ten concerts were originally scheduled but soon mushroomed into 50. Jackson was not pleased about that development and said, “I don’t know how I’m going to do 50 shows. I’m really angry.” The first concert in the series was to have taken place on July 13th.

For more on this story, see the article from The Times of London.

The Enemy’s Tom Clarke Talks To XFM London About His Alleged “Feud” With Liam Gallagher

Tom Clarke (pictured above) of the Coventry, England-based trio The Enemy recently stopped by the Leicester Square studios of XFM London to be interviewed by XFM London DJ Steve Harris. Several topics were discussed, including The Enemy’s new album, the tour with Oasis, Clarke’s indifference over a possible reunion of The Libertines, and Clarke’s support of the up-and-coming UK band Twisted Wheel.

Clarke also discussed his alleged “feud” with Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher. Last month, Clarke was reported to have said that Oasis were “past it.” Liam Gallagher responded by calling Clarke a “little fucker.” Clarke told Harris about meeting with Liam Gallagher at the start of The Enemy’s tour with Oasis:

“Liam came up straight away. As soon as I got there and got over my little illness, he made sure I knew the score. He’s a proper gent and Noel [Gallagher] is the most normal bloke in the world, who happens to have written some of the best songs ever.”

Clarke also talked about what it is like to watch Oasis from the side of the stage:

“I’ve watched them from the side of the stage, but to be honest it’s better watching them out the front. The fans have the best seats. You’ve got to be out there, steaming, singing the songs.”

For more on this story, including audio links for XFM’s full interview with Tom Clarke, see the article from XFM London.

Oxford Collapse … Collapse

After a solid history, Oxford Collapse have announced they will call it quits.

It’s too bad. They were a good (at times esoteric) indie rock band.

According to the band:

“After eight years, 450 shows, and four albums, we’ve decided that we’ve reached the end of the line. To paraphrase The Grateful Dead, “what a long, strange, eye-opening, stomach-bursting, heart-breaking, bittersweet, educational, enlightening, mind-numbing, ‘why-are-we-doing-this-shit?’ / ‘who-gets-to-do-this-shit?,’ absurd, amazing trip it’s been.” To paraphrase another sage poet, “you gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.”

They will play their last shows in the tri-state area.