Music

Listen for the Music, Look for the Muscles

2006-11-25T12:18:00.000+08:00

By GINIA BELLAFANTE
Published: November 24, 2006

Will Madonna ever get old? She may acquire more gravitas, continue to mature emotionally and find greater meaning in her work with kabbalah, but will she ever come to look arthritic, puffy, menopausal? This increasingly seems doubtful. Madonna no longer reinvents, she maintains.

It is the sheer spectacularity of her physical form, the near menacing force of it, and largely that alone, that sustains your attention in “Madonna: The Confessions Tour, Live From London,” the two-hour film of a concert she gave at the Wembley Arena in London this past summer, which was broadcast on NBC Wednesday night and will be shown on Bravo next week.

With each tour Madonna has embarked on in recent years, her deltoids appear to have grown more regally expansive, robust and winglike. Toward the end of the Wembley show, part of a worldwide tour pegged to her album “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” Madonna sings one of the hits from it, “Hung Up,” a song about a woman who migrates between boredom and agony as she waits for a man to call. But who could this man possibly be? Unless Madonna is expecting a call from Wladimir Klitschko about meeting him in the ring, the sight of her singing a song like this, in a leotard no less, leaves you feeling as you might if you were forced to watch Ethel Merman trying to impersonate Chet Baker.

The show pays tribute to Madonna’s current and former selves and does so with dizzying jump cuts and all the spectacle — the acrobatics, playground sets, endless costume changes — that have become the hallmark of her concerts.

Today, Madonna, who is 48, is a concerned citizen of the world. She has made African AIDS orphans one of her causes and wants to adopt a child from Malawi, causing some controversy. At one point in the concert, she sings “Live to Tell” against the backdrop of images of children in Africa and a speeding tally of the number who have been left parentless. But here again, her perfect musculature produces a kind of dissonance. Madonna doesn’t have an altruist’s body, she has a denier’s. What you’re tallying in your head when you watch her dance with the strength and agility of a 19-year-old are the number of hours she spends each day practicing Ashtanga yoga, running hills and bench-pressing the weight of a Regency table. You are tallying all the calories that Madonna is not eating.

In addition to keeping up her legendary physical regimen, Madonna now also rides horses on her country estate in England. Some critics have seen this as another aspect of her Anglophilic pretensions, but what is really surprising is that it took her so long to cotton to a sport so steeped in the dynamic of submission and control. Madonna the equestrian seems the most inevitable Madonna of all. Perhaps realizing that on some level, she opened her Wembley show looking as if she were about to ride in a reimagining of Ascot. She danced around, directing men on all fours before she rode an apparatus meant to look like an electric horse.

Madonna travels backward in the show to the beginning of her career, the time before she was encumbered with the need to do good. The documentary “I’m Going to Tell You a Secret,” which follows her on her 2004 world tour, reveals a Madonna who wants to learn all the time, who hugs her assistant and dancers, who wishes she’d been nicer to people when she was young. Perhaps she knows that many in her audience miss the Madonna of so many Madonnas ago, the one who refused refinement and probably thought Oxford was just an insurance company.

“The Confessions Tour” gets deeper and deeper into her early disco years as it progresses, with Madonna getting in and out of a “Saturday Night Fever” tuxedo and Jane Fonda-esque aerobics gear before it’s all over, as if to tell us that sometimes, yes, she misses herself too.

Filipinos' hip-hop anthem

2006-11-23T23:41:00.000+08:00

Allan Pineda of the Black Eyed Peas honored his homeland with a rap in Tagalog. 'Bebot' has become a surprise phenomenon.
By David Pierson, Times Staff Writer
November 22, 2006

Hey, man, all of you listen

to me

Here comes the real Filipino

Came from the barrio — Sapang Bato

Went to L.A. and labored

In order to help my mother

Because life is so hard

But the disposition's still bright.

---

SO begins the story of Allan Pineda, a member of the hip-hop band the Black Eyed Peas, who two years ago wrote a song about his journey from a poverty-stricken district in the Philippines to Los Angeles' Atwater Village.

The lyrics were personal, written entirely in Tagalog, the dominant language of the Philippines. Pineda wanted to recount his experience as a Filipino American but wasn't sure how much the song would resonate with others — especially the Black Eyed Peas' teenage fan base.

The song, "Bebot" (Tagalog slang for "hot chick"), appeared on the Black Eyed Peas' multiplatinum-selling album, "Monkey Business," released in June 2005. The album contained several chart-toppers, but "Bebot" — as Pineda expected — wasn't one of them.

But over the last year, "Bebot" has become a phenomenon in ways Pineda, 31, said he could never have imagined.

The musical story of his immigrant experience has become an unlikely rallying cry in California's Filipino American community.

With its choppy beat and shouting chorus of "Filipino! Filipino!," the song became a showstopper at weddings and birthday parties. Teenagers — many of whom don't even speak Tagalog — choreographed dance routines to it.

But it was the lyrics, not the beat, that had lasting resonance.

The Filipino American community is famous for putting its cultural identity behind assimilation. Though they're the second-largest Asian group in California behind the Chinese, they have never established set "Filipino" neighborhoods — the equivalent of Monterey Park for Chinese Americans or Little Saigon for Vietnamese Americans. There is a historic Filipinotown west of downtown L.A., but the U.S. census found that less than 15% of its residents are actually Filipino.

Many Filipinos arrive in the United States speaking English, immediately making assimilation easier.

"Part of the problem is we blend in so well," said Winston Emano, an executive at an L.A.-based public relations firm and a community activist. "We have a rapid rate of assimilation. Put a Filipino in Antarctica, and in one month they'll be one with the penguins."

For Emano and others, "Bebot" is a vibrant reminder of their cultural past, an easy-to-digest history of their shared experience.

It's a cultural bridge," Emano said. "Kids say, 'Hey, he's talking in my parents' language.' "

Pineda was surprised by the passions "Bebot" stirred. So, early this year, he financed two music videos for the song.

The first paid homage to Stockton's Little Manila, which was the largest Filipino community outside the Philippines in the 1930s and '40s. It showed how migrant workers toiled to provide money for their families back home and offered a glimpse of the racism early immigrants encountered.

The second video showed Pineda's early days hanging out in L.A. with his bandmates and mostly Filipino American friends.

The videos were big hits among Filipinos, who plastered Web links to them on MySpace and YouTube.

But Pineda now had a bigger goal. Though his record label felt the videos had limited prospects because they were sung in Tagalog, he hoped to prove the label wrong. He wanted the videos to air on MTV and VH1.

"There's still a struggle," Pineda said. "We just got to keep trying."

When eating, we use our hands

What we eat, chicken adobo

The balut being sold at the

corner

Share the glass already

My friend, let's start drinking.

PINEDA grew up in a slum outside Angeles City on the island of Luzon. His mother was Filipino. He never met his father, who was an American in the U.S. Air Force, Pineda said.

His first connection to the U.S. came when a charity group found him an American sponsor, who started sending him the equivalent of 7 cents a day to help pay for food. Pineda had problems with his eyes, so his sponsor — a lawyer named Joe Ben Hudgens — wanted to adopt him so he could receive better medical care in the U.S.

His mother agreed, and after seven years of waiting, he arrived to live with Hudgens, a deputy Los Angeles County counsel. It was 1989; Pineda was 14.

Hudgens was living in the Wilshire district at the time but decided to look for a neighborhood where there were mostly Filipinos. The best he could find was a block in Atwater Village, a diverse section of northeast L.A. that included some Filipinos.

"I didn't want him to be lonely. I suppose I was thinking, 'Let the neighborhood help raise him like they do in the Philippines,' " said Hudgens, now 69.

Hudgens, a single parent who spent long hours at work, encouraged Pineda to have friends over any time. Soon, they were practicing rap and dancing.

"I still don't quite know how all this happened," Hudgens said of Pineda's fame. "He has a performer's instinct. He loves to entertain."

UNTIL the song was released last year, the word "bebot" was something of a relic, even in the Filipino American community. Both the modern and the historic videos are filled with beautiful Filipino women dancing.

But as the song became a community touchstone, it also set off a backlash.

More Video Alternative version of 'Bebot'
Some Filipino women objected to the portrayal of women in the modern video — both the sexy dancing "bebots" and the nagging mother.

Pineda said the portrayal of women in the video is a loving one, based on his memories of growing up.

"That's the trait right there," he said. "Go to a Filipino household and the mom is always trying to feed you. They're always trying to advise you."

Liza Marie S. Erpelo, 33, a language arts professor in Northern California, said it felt stereotypical to her.

"The mother was doing all this screaming," Erpelo said. "I giggled at first; then I thought, 'Why am I laughing?' "

One of Erpelo's classes at Skyline College in San Bruno deals with Filipino stereotypes and the cultural isolation many Filipinos feel here. She is now using "Bebot" in her class, prompting heated discussions about the value of Pineda's song as a rallying cry for the Filipino community.

"What merit does that song have, saying, 'Hot chick, hot chick'?" she asked.

Whatever the effect, the videos' sexy look definitely had an MTV flavor. And Pineda and director Ginelsa felt the videos had a shot at both MTV and VH1 despite the fact they were sung in Tagalog.

The "Bebot" team got excited when MTV sent a correspondent to do a segment on the making of the videos.

But the report ran only on MTV Chi, a year-old niche channel aimed at Chinese Americans.

By the fall, Pineda was more sanguine. He was pleased the song was a hit in Asia. He also was touched by the way "Bebot" was embraced by the Filipino community.

"I hoped it would be played in the States, but it is more popular in Asia, which I appreciate," he said. "The main purpose was to get this out to the Filipino community. People don't realize there's a huge one in America."

You're Filipino — shout it out

— c'mon

If you're beautiful — shout it out

— c'mon

If your life is valuable — c'mon

Thank you for your support.

ON a recent Saturday night at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A., Pineda accepted the Role Model Award from the Filipino American Library during a formal gala attended by hundreds who dined on chicken adobo made specially by the hotel kitchen.

Pineda was introduced by fellow Filipino entertainer Tia Carrere, who said, "His story is the American dream."

"Bebot" began blaring from the P.A. system and the guests jumped to their feet to cheer as the famously fashionable Pineda bounced to the stage in a navy blue suit, pink tie and glossy white sneakers.

After a few words of thanks in Tagalog, Pineda dedicated the award to his Filipino mother and adoptive father, both of whom beamed from the audience.

"I want to thank the Filipino community for embracing me as a Filipino artist in this game," he said. "I represent Filipinos every day, every second. I'm a proud Filipino."

Pineda shimmied and leaped offstage as once again "Bebot" filled the room.

Pineda attended John Marshall High School, which, like the surrounding neighborhood, was a mix of cultures. Despite the cultural shift, he was thrilled to be in America. By 16, he was immersing himself in the local hip-hop scene. He went to parties at homes and nightclubs across Southern California, where he made connections that led to the formation of the Black Eyed Peas. The group rose to prominence in the late 1990s with an upbeat brand of rap and stunning dance moves. Their multiculturalism — Filipino, Latino and black members — set them apart.

But Pineda said that despite the success, he still felt a yearning to write and sing about his culture.

More Video Alternative version of 'Bebot'
He wanted to pen a song about his roots that people could dance to. It took him about two days in the band's sound studio in Atwater Village. Bandmate Will.I.Am, the group's producer, came up with the beats and started Pineda on his way by chanting "bebot, bebot, bebot" in the cadence familiar to fans today.

He struggled with the right words, so he called a friend's mother for translations.

"It was a hard task," Pineda said. "I'd never written a rap in Tagalog before. It's hard to rhyme."

The song is filled with cultural references central to Filipino American life: They celebrate by sharing beer, using their hands to eat the nation's signature dish (chicken adobo) and swallowing balut, fermented duck eggs still in their shell.

"Every Filipino can relate," Pineda said.

In the modern video, the band arrives at a party riding a Jeepney, the ubiquitous mini-bus seen in the Philippines. An opening scene shows a doting Filipino mother asking one of Pineda's bandmates if he wants chicken adobo.

The historic video resonated in other ways. Set in 1936, it begins with Pineda working in a Stockton asparagus field. Pineda said he wasn't aware of Stockton's history until he learned about it from the videos' director, Patricio Ginelsa.

"I was overwhelmed," Pineda said. "I could relate. They were farmers doing the same thing they do in the Philippines. And their main objective was sending money back home too."

The Little Manila Foundation has been trying for years to generate interest in preserving the Rizal Social Club and other structures on the decaying Stockton street that once was filled with Filipino farmworkers.

Dillion Delvo, the group's president, credits the video for a recent surge of interest in his district and efforts to preserve it.

"It's very powerful for kids to see images of people who look like us from the past," added Emano. "It opens up an entirely new world to them, one that they certainly can't find in their history books in school. And it's come from arguably one of the world's most successful pop bands."

Observe all the beautiful girls

Your beauty really drives me

crazy

The sweetness that is never

tiresome

You're the only one I want to be

with.

UNTIL the song was released last year, the word "bebot" was something of a relic, even in the Filipino American community. Both the modern and the historic videos are filled with beautiful Filipino women dancing.

But as the song became a community touchstone, it also set off a backlash.

Some Filipino women objected to the portrayal of women in the modern video — both the sexy dancing "bebots" and the nagging mother.

Pineda said the portrayal of women in the video is a loving one, based on his memories of growing up.

"That's the trait right there," he said. "Go to a Filipino household and the mom is always trying to feed you. They're always trying to advise you."

Liza Marie S. Erpelo, 33, a language arts professor in Northern California, said it felt stereotypical to her.

"The mother was doing all this screaming," Erpelo said. "I giggled at first; then I thought, 'Why am I laughing?' "

One of Erpelo's classes at Skyline College in San Bruno deals with Filipino stereotypes and the cultural isolation many Filipinos feel here. She is now using "Bebot" in her class, prompting heated discussions about the value of Pineda's song as a rallying cry for the Filipino community.

"What merit does that song have, saying, 'Hot chick, hot chick'?" she asked.

Whatever the effect, the videos' sexy look definitely had an MTV flavor. And Pineda and director Ginelsa felt the videos had a shot at both MTV and VH1 despite the fact they were sung in Tagalog.

The "Bebot" team got excited when MTV sent a correspondent to do a segment on the making of the videos.

But the report ran only on MTV Chi, a year-old niche channel aimed at Chinese Americans.

By the fall, Pineda was more sanguine. He was pleased the song was a hit in Asia. He also was touched by the way "Bebot" was embraced by the Filipino community.

"I hoped it would be played in the States, but it is more popular in Asia, which I appreciate," he said. "The main purpose was to get this out to the Filipino community. People don't realize there's a huge one in America."

You're Filipino — shout it out

— c'mon

If you're beautiful — shout it out

— c'mon

If your life is valuable — c'mon

Thank you for your support.

ON a recent Saturday night at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown L.A., Pineda accepted the Role Model Award from the Filipino American Library during a formal gala attended by hundreds who dined on chicken adobo made specially by the hotel kitchen.

Pineda was introduced by fellow Filipino entertainer Tia Carrere, who said, "His story is the American dream."

"Bebot" began blaring from the P.A. system and the guests jumped to their feet to cheer as the famously fashionable Pineda bounced to the stage in a navy blue suit, pink tie and glossy white sneakers.

After a few words of thanks in Tagalog, Pineda dedicated the award to his Filipino mother and adoptive father, both of whom beamed from the audience.

"I want to thank the Filipino community for embracing me as a Filipino artist in this game," he said. "I represent Filipinos every day, every second. I'm a proud Filipino."

Pineda shimmied and leaped offstage as once again "Bebot" filled the room.

Frontman With a Punk Pedigree Shows His Gift for the Practical

2006-11-14T11:36:00.000+08:00

By BEN RATLIFF

Published: August 23, 2006

“The nicest guy in rock” is what the common rock journalist says about Dave Grohl. It’s probably the dumbest thought in rock. Niceness, from a total stranger who is also a rock star, is usually just the star’s way of closing his transaction with you more quickly. Let’s settle for something more measurable: Dave Grohl is one of the more practical guys in rock.

Judith Levitt for The New York Times

Dave Grohl, center, and Foo Fighters in their concert Monday at the Beacon Theater, featuring songs from the acoustic half of the band’s 2005 double disc, “In Your Honor.”

Judith Levitt for The New York Times

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, with Taylor Hawkins on drums, in concert on Monday.

As the singer and bandleader of Foo Fighters, Mr. Grohl seems like a paperboy doing his rounds, doing his work assuredly, almost plainly. Even when he’s screaming his head off, he’s adhering to his craft, with a confidence that anyone can admire. His is a shapely scream, empty of terror. (Before he works up to it, his voice is strangely anonymous, in the Dave Matthews, regular-dude-with-feelings ballpark.) Mr. Grohl came from punk — he was the drummer in Nirvana, of course, and before that the Washington bands Scream and Dain Bramage — but he isn’t hobbled by credibility issues; he’s not doing what the Clash called “turning rebellion into money.”

His paper route is recording hit rock songs about personal feelings, and he seems to live happily in the middle ground between punk probity and song hooks good enough for an iPod hit. (And don’t forget the obvious fact: he was an incredibly good rock drummer who let go of drumming to stand in front of his band with a guitar.) He has figured out his game to an exhilarating degree. Practicality is his charisma.

Foo Fighters celebrated their 10th anniversary last year with a gesture that indicates how rock stars live large now. They built a new studio and recorded a two-disc set, “In Your Honor,” with rock songs on the first disc, acoustic songs on the second. And after a rock-show tour last year, the band is now performing the acoustic songs in theaters more appropriate to nuance. These songs are sweet, not great. And the acoustic Foo Fighters show at the Beacon Theater on Monday night didn’t come off as pompous, just as gold-plated common sense. “It’s all about the catalog, dude,” Mr. Grohl joked in between songs. Of course he’s right, and maybe it’s even kind of punk to cop to it. But is that all there is?

Mr. Grohl fronted an eight-member version of the band at the Beacon, and true to the ethos of “MTV Unplugged,” all the musicians were sitting down as they played. Their set was most of the acoustic songs from “In Your Honor,” with three guitars, violin, keyboards, bass, drums and percussion; one song by the group’s violinist, Petra Haden; and some old Foo Fighters songs — “Times Like These,” “Everlong,” “My Hero” — that were easily enough adapted to acoustic sounds. They weren’t stripped down at all; the opposite, in fact. They were just pop songs with acoustic guitars and no screaming, and they often showed Mr. Grohl as a student of other practical guys, like Tom Petty and Paul McCartney.

Shows like this, no matter who’s doing them, are opportunities for the star to sit in one place and talk directly to the audience. Mr. Grohl has no problem in that department: he’s almost too good at it, too ingratiating. His raps were fatuous — guffaws about members of the band or why he wrote a certain song — but his timing is good, and in delivering them he channeled many overwrought comic gestures from his friend Jack Black.

It wasn’t until one of the encores, the uneasy, dirt-simple “Friend of a Friend,” that he seemed to unwind. He described the circumstances under which it was written: not long after he had joined Nirvana and moved into a house in Olympia, Wash., with Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic. He took his time telling the story, didn’t turn it all into an absurd joke and then just played the song, alone onstage. What a relief.

Frank Black, who opened the show, is Mr. Grohl’s character opposite: he didn’t say a single word to the audience, just appeared alone with an acoustic guitar and bashed through a little under an hour of his own songs, with a rougher guitar tone and a more alienated view of human nature. “Sing for joy,” he sang, unsmiling, in a kind of kaleidoscopic murder ballad with that title. “If nothing else, sing for joy.”

Let’s Rock ... If That’s O.K.

2006-11-14T11:27:00.000+08:00

A Night Out With The Kooks

Rahav Segev for The New York Times

LADS ON THE LOOSE: Luke Pritchard, left, and Paul Garred.

By LIZA GHORBANI

Published: November 12, 2006

LUKE PRITCHARD is an unlikely rock star. A self-proclaimed “awkward guy” with a trained voice and contempt for the trappings of stardom, he is not exactly textbook cool, yet it works.

The Kooks, the band he started in England with three friends from music school, have sold over a million copies of their debut album, “Inside In/Inside Out,” going triple platinum in Britain, and have opened for the Rolling Stones. Mr. Pritchard, 21, often finds himself trailed by schoolgirls too shy to actually approach him.

Yet while the rest of his band spent a recent day off in New York embracing rock history with a visit to CBGB hours before its demolition, their lead singer could be found ice-skating in Central Park.

Later that evening, Mr. Pritchard joked about how silly he must have looked. “I was ice-skating in my skinny jeans,” he said while dining at the seafood restaurant Lure Fishbar in SoHo with his drummer Paul Garred, who wore a pristine CB’s shirt. The band’s teenage guitarist, Hugh Harris, was hanging out at the Hudson Hotel with Pete Denton, who is filling in for the founding bassist, Max Rafferty, while he is on hiatus due to exhaustion.

Mr. Pritchard looked the part of a newly anointed British rock star with his Chelsea boots and thick mop of curls — until he removed his leather jacket and pointed out the duct tape over the brand label. “I’m embarrassed because it’s D&G, but I like the jacket a lot,” he said.

It’s this dichotomy of cool and uncool that makes his music so accessible. With songs about anxiety and impotence, Mr. Pritchard’s lyrical content tends to veer toward the paranoid, but when paired with lively melodies and catchy choruses in the vein of the Kinks, gloom and glee intermingle in a way that would make the Smiths proud.

“We’re like punks with morals,” Mr. Pritchard said. “Pacifist punks.”

“We cause destruction and then apologize immediately,” Mr. Garred continued with a laugh.

“Exactly,” Mr. Pritchard said. “We’re the kind of people who would trash a hotel room and clean it up afterward.”

The Kooks reside in Brighton, a southern seaside city known as London-by-the-Sea, and have no plans to make the expected move to the capital city. “Everyone in London thinks they’re wicked,” Mr. Pritchard said.

While sipping on hot sake, the men debated what to drink next. When Mr. Garred requested a Sapporo, the waitress asked Mr. Pritchard if he would like one, too.

“No, I’m not that hungry.”

“It’s a beer,” she said. “Sapporo.”

“Oh, is that a beer?” he replied, breaking into hysterics with Mr. Garred. “I thought you said tempura!” The laughter continued when moments later, Mr. Pritchard reached for what he thought was vinegar and doused a bowl of potato chips in soy sauce.

After dinner, they strolled over to Bleecker Street. “New York is cinematic; it’s like being in a movie,” said Mr. Pritchard, who was recognized six times on his first day in New York, not bad considering that the band’s album was just recently released in the United States.

The men met their bandmates and friends at the blues bar Terra Blues. Once inside, the Englishmen were awestruck by the seasoned American blues musicians in Moe Holmes and the Pioneers, and before long Mr. Pritchard was summoned to the stage. After proving himself with an acoustic version of one of his own tunes, he was backed by the band on the old blues song “Nobody’s Fault but Mine.”

His performance met with wild applause, prompting Mr. Holmes, who has played with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Ike and Tina Turner, to announce to the crowd, “Just remember you saw Luke here first.”

Iron Maiden manager talks Sanctuary split

2006-11-09T14:12:00.000+08:00

from Metal Hammer

It was announced on Friday (Nov. 3) that both IRON MAIDEN and manager Rod Smallwood are no longer affiliated with Sanctuary Artist Management. Rod has set up a new company, Phantom Music Management, to continue represeting the band and has been joined by his key MAIDEN players Val and Dave. This new management arrangement will have no effect whatsoever on current and future plans for MAIDEN, the fan clubs or anything else MAIDEN-related. Rod comments: "I formed Sanctuary in 1979 and named it after the MAIDEN song, so it's a bit of a wrench leaving after all these years.
However, in the latter stages of my career, I want to be able to fully concentrate on and enjoy managing MAIDEN without being distracted by other areas of the business. As you all know, we have an awful lot going on and we have many exciting plans for the future. The forthcoming European tour will be incredible and l want to be at as many of the concerts as possible to enjoy the feeling l think you can only really get at a MAIDEN show! My new company is called Phantom and no prizes for guessing where that came from. Don't worry Â— it's MAIDEN business as usual!!"

According to Reuters, Sanctuary has struggled since mid-2005 due to delays at loss-making Urban Records, which it bought in 2003 from Mathew Knowles, father of RandB diva Beyonce.

Last month the company shunned a bid approach from MAMA Group, which manages the KAISER CHIEFS and FRANZ FERDINAND, and said it still had a strong independent future.

Smallwood, who was born in the north England town of Huddersfield, started working with Andy Taylor in 1969 in arranging May Balls while studying together at Cambridge University.

In 1979 they took on IRON MAIDEN to start a relationship that led to over 180 platinum and gold awards from some 50 million album sales.

Balance

2006-11-08T12:24:00.000+08:00

i have trouble making a balanced use of the electronic with real instruments.

R n B, Soul

2006-10-28T11:06:00.000+08:00

i have never been a fan of contemporary Rhythm and Blues/ Soul/Hip Hop singers. i must admit though, i have a soft spot for Babyface. nevertheless, nowadays i have dismissed him (as a singer) has been. well maybe not as a has been but he doesnt have the same appeal to me as when he did in 'For the Cool in You' Album.

however, with that said, i greatly admire the musicians. i'd gawked at them when they perform. i look in amazement everytime they put the groove to a simple rhythm. their fingers, hands, limbs, midasly turns Sideshow Bob to Chef.

that, my dear friends, i can only dream of. unbelievable as it may sound, but something so special must be from some innate location, undiscovered and remote. a galaxy still unchartered by my emotional rhythm box.

discovering it is perhaps next to finding god.

2006-10-15T18:30:00.000+08:00

too many music videos have damaged the music...the music in its essence.

it is evolving as an entity.

gone are the days where all it took for a song to be a hit is just by giving it an ear.

not enough with the ear it now craves for and wants the eyes.

Iron Maiden's A Matter of Life and Death

2006-08-20T21:12:00.000+08:00

Iron Maiden is releasing an album in a few days time. Below is the official press release from their website ironmaiden.com.:

Following the announcement of the forthcoming early September release of their new studio album A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, Iron Maiden reveal their front cover artwork!

Also announced is the news that THE REINCARNATION OF BENJAMIN BREEG will be released as a very special single on 14th August.

Says Steve Harris, “This is a very intense album in many ways and we really wanted to go with a lead track that demonstrated that in the best way, rather than going for a shorter track on the album just to please the chart rules. Benjamin Breeg is a great example of the feel of the album in it’s really heavy riff and lyrically it’s a very dark, atmospheric and powerful song which really epitomizes what the album is all about for us. So it made a natural choice for us.”

In true Maiden style, the single will be released in two special Limited Edition formats, which by content will not be eligible for the UK singles chart. Manager Rod Smallwood explained, “There are various chart rules compliant to number of tracks, the maximum running time, price structure and all the rest of it. As for the new Maiden single - its simple - we’re putting out a two track CD - THE REINCARNATION OF BENJAMIN BREEG and HALLOWED BE THY NAME (Legends Session) and if it’s too long to qualify for the charts, then so be it. We have no problem with it being non-chart eligible.

EMI will also release a special 7” coloured vinyl in picture sleeve with collectable sticker of the ‘Crossed Guns’ Logo. B sides to both formats are from last years amazing ‘Radio 1 legends session recorded especially for the Zane Lowe show.

Limited Edition 2 track CD
The reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
Hallowed be thy Name (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)

Limited Edition 7” coloured vinyl in picture bag
(To include ‘Crossed Guns Logo’ sticker)
The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
c/w Run To The Hills (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)
The Trooper (Radio 1 ‘Legends’ Session)

THE REINCARNATION OF BENJAMIN BREEG is taken from the forthcoming album, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH full track listing as below.

1. Different World - Smith/Harris - 4.17
2. These Colours Don't Run - Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 6.52
3. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns - Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 8.44
4. The Pilgrim - Gers/Harris - 5.07
5. The Longest Day - Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 7.48
6. Out Of the Shadows - Dickinson/Harris 5.36
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg - Murray/Harris - 7.21
8. For The Greater Good of God - Harris - 9.24
9. Lord Of Light - Smith/Harris/Dickinson - 7.23
10. The Legacy - Gers/Harris - 9.20

Iron Maiden undertake a massive Winter European Tour that opens in Denmark on 9th November, culminating in eight UK arena dates at the end of December (including two nights at Earls Court Arena). They will play to nearly 100,000 people in the UK alone! The majority of these shows are already sold out. Please check for details on www.ironmaiden.com for the latest information on ticket availability and for details of tickets just released from Production holds.

The Next 5 Most Depressing Song...

2006-08-18T23:07:00.000+08:00

perhaps the running theme for this week is music... or rather precisely, as it seems, depressing music...

for a couple of days, i have been spacing out ( you know, when u someone stares or gaze into the empty space)... Felicia has often caught me doing that, but those were for different reasons... ok, before i ramble on here they are...

Next 5 most depressing Songs

Send in the Clowns - Frank Sinatra (written by Stephen Sondheim)

of cos, in this instance, big blue eye didnt write the songs nor the lyrics... but i cant imagine who else would be able to blanket that piece of music with such sadness and melancholy. i think only his voice could.

when all is lost, only laughter can save the day... so ... send in the clowns...

how depressing is that!

Something - the Beatles

eversince the beatles departed from their rather cheery ourlook of the world through the album Revolver, their songs have been more ponderous and talk about questions rather than giving answers... a more philosophical outlook...

You're asking me love will grow,
i dont know, i dont know,
you stick around now, it may show
i dont know, i dont know...

complimented by a haunting melody...

compare this with their earlier work...

and when i get home to you,
and see all the things that you do,
you know it will be alright... (A Hard Day's Night)

any objections?

The Wild Ones - Suede

in the 80s, the British pop movement were led by conservative Thatcherism, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, New World Order... though they may write sad love songs, it isnt the same as depressing songs... well writing sad love songs actually shows that the other part of your life is so good that you can waste so much time on love... however, the 90s featured bands like Oasis, Radiohead, Suede, Blur... who took the energy of 70s punk into pop music...

their music didnt deal with comfortable issues... but issues of death, dying, and departure... and there is not turning back!

its a shame the plane's leaving on this sunny day...
my tattoo will be bleeding and the name will stain...

doesnt sound like you are my sunshine .... you make me happy... doesnt it??

A Thousand Years - Sting

During his recent concert in Singapore, this song played last... let me just say, if not for kleenex, the Singapore Indoor Stadium would have surely been flooded...

Steve Lukather's Guitar Solo in Wont Hold You Back - Toto

alright, not many people might understand this. so i will try my best to explain.

let me ask you a question. have you heard the wailing of a mother who had just lost her baby... well to say the very least, this guitar solo sounds like it... it wails so hauntingly, that it is beautiful...

iwan enters the botanic garden looking for a yellowgerberas...

if only the world is as lovely as thee...

Top 5 Depressing Songs

2006-08-17T12:12:00.000+08:00

as i scour the insides of my body and soul, i have found that i have a large amount of depressing songs in my Itunes. not that i am connected to my computer but my collection of songs in Itunes definitely reflects my personality. which brings to mind a very important question?

am i a depressing, cynical, pessimistic person?

i am not going to answer those questions in this blog.

Okri mentioned that there are many riddles in this world that only the dead can answer...

however, what i am going to do is to list down my top ten most depressing songs... and (another) however, another question arises... how do these selected songs qualify as the most depressing? is it based on the amount of tears one shed while listening to the songs? or is it based of the pain it sticks to one's heart emotion... if so, again, how is it valued? the difficulty in valuing these pieces of artwork is enormous because we are dealing with something intangible... the human heart...

i also cant be biased towards once artist and ignore the other...which means i have a preference for something and unashamedly biased towards another... this i will attempt not to indulge in cos... it would be grossly unfair... or wouldnt it... then how about the songs that i havent heard of before... or how about songs in other languages apart from English....

and then, upon further ponder and wonder, no matter what i come up with, i will not be able to conclude this pointless exercise without being biased in one form or another... so to my readers out there, what the heck!! i shall do it, because i feel it is right...

in any case, i shall put my intelligence on the line... i shall risk being stupid, looking stupid, appearing moronic... nevertheless, i shall gain the satisfaction of exorcising the ghost of depressing songs...

anyways here they are....

Top Five Most Depressing Songs
not in order of merit

Say Hello to Heaven - Temple of the Dog... the album and band is called Temple of the Dog... most of the songs were written by Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden and Audioslave fame). it is a tribute to a late friend, Andrew Wood... true, the lyrics were sad and depressing...

eg.
The star was your playground
and the ground was your bed....

nevertheless, this song got my vote because it was the first song that brought me to tears after listening to it for the first time... this happened way back in 1992...

Fake Plastic Trees - RadioHead .... Radiohead has been known to churn out an enormous number of depressing songs... Creep was a loserish song... o god, i luvd that song... High and Dry was perhaps, after queensryche's Silent Lucidity was the alienation song.... but Fake Plastic's melody did it for me... how more sad can it get...

You will always be the same - David Gray ...first and foremost, everytime i try to play this song (that means sing and play on my acoustic) i could not cause i wud not be able to get by the second line without shedding a tear... (o yes i am a crybaby though i am not emo bitch) .... with that i rest my case....

Redemption Song - Bob Marley ... wat kind of music would a lowly educated, ganja smoking man would ever possibly weave... people always suspect that he writes party songs ( yes they do!!!) ... i mean the whole raggae concept definitely is a get high and dance and lots of romping later kind of culture but lest not be forgotten that it also turned the tables against Mental Oppression... this song summarises the Oppression the colonised have felt since the Europeans decided to civilised the rest of the world... (ya rite!)

... these songs of freedom
is all i ever have... redemption song...

Bob Marley is a ganja smoking genius...

In My Darkest Hour - Megadeth ... Dave Mustaine (of Megadeth fame, a heavy metal band) was a close friend of Cliff Burton (Metallica's dead bassist) ... he died in a car crash when their tour bus got into an accident... this song has more anger than anything... but for a metal head, Dave Mustaine sure is a sensitive dude... tsk tsk...