M.I.A. really knows how to piss people off these days. 

Most recently, the Sri Lankan rapper has managed to target both Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga — two powerful ladies who you probably shouldn’t be hating on; unless of course she’s just looking for some publicity. 

Speaking of Lady Gaga, M.I.A. said, “Is it about numbers?  About how much you’re selling?  Is it truly the journey?  Because Lady Gaga’s journey isn’t that difficult: to go from the fucking Upper East Side to a fucking performing arts school and onto a stage at the museum of fucking whatever.  That journey’s about four miles.” 

Yeah, it’s Lady Gaga’s journey that is making your album plummet 25 spots on the Billboard 200. 

And then speaking of her encounter with Oprah, “Oprah seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder.  She was dancing with Imaa.  Imaa was always dancing with me, hugging and kissing me.  Oprah seemed really pissed off with me.”

But hey, at least M.I.A. apologized for the fucking disaster of a show in New York City the other week.  As a sign of her apology, she’ll come back to New York, after her tour, and perform a free concert. 

Sorry for the language; it just seemed all too necessary.

This comes from Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill, in reference to the band’s recent show in St. Louis:

“So sorry St. Louis. We had to bail, pigeons shitting in [bassist] Jared [Followill]’s mouth. Too unsanitary to continue….Don’t take it out on Jared, it’s the fucking venue’s fault. You may enjoy being shit on but we don’t. Sorry for all who traveled many miles.”

Yummy!

That really sucks for both the band and the fans.  It’s too bad there weren’t any umbrella hats on hand that the guys could have strapped on to protect them from the fecal showers.  I wonder if, in the future, the venue will consider doing what the Cincinnati Bengals considered when they had a similar problem a few years back.

-Sam

Whatever your thoughts are about Lady Gaga, I can’t see any rational human being siding against her in this particular instance.

You see, according to Rolling Stone, this past weekend Gaga had a show in St. Louis which was protested by the Westboro Baptist Church.  If you don’t know who the WBC is, they are the people who picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard (with signs that said things like “AIDS Cures Fags”) along with multiple funerals of soldiers killed in action.  They’ve picketed the funerals of Michael Jackson and Dio.  They’ve protested outside the Holocaust Museum, calling the Holocaust “minuscule” and saying “Jews are the real Nazis.”  A few years ago, after the Sichuan earthquake in China, they released a press release praying “for many more earthquakes to kill many more thousands of impudent and ungrateful Chinese Communists.”  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The Anti-Defamation League has classified this “church” as a hate group.  And it’s sad to say that this group actually is a church because in reality it’s nothing more than the giant inbred family of Pastor Fred Phelps.  And yet it still receives the tax exemption from our government.

Anyways, according to these worthless abominations, everything tragic that happens in the world is directly attributable to homosexuality.  And Lady Gaga is well known for  having a devout following of LGBT fans.  So naturally, as the attention-starved whores that they are, the WBC showed up to her concert to call Gaga a “false prophetess” and warn that she and her “gender-confused, self loathing, tone deaf” fans are headed to hell.

Gaga handled the situation brilliantly, in my opinion.  If attention is what these people want, then you simply have to deny them it, no matter how hard it may be to turn the other cheek.

Preempting the group’s protest, Lady Gaga tweeted a lengthy multi-part message to fans to warn them of potential clashes with the “hateful organization.” She urged concert-goers to ignore the protestors writing, “Do not interact with them, or try to fight. Do not respond to any of their provocation. Don’t waste your words or feelings, no matter what you hear or see.” She encouraged her fans to “Be inspired to ignore their ignorant message, and feel gratitude in your heart that you are not burdened or addicted to hate, as they are.”

Thankfully, the show went off without incident.  Curiously enough, however, this was not the WBC’s first attempt at undermining Gaga.  They’ve actually made a couple “parody” songs of their own hate messages set to Gaga’s hits (warning: these songs are terrible):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

-Sam

It’s that time of year again.  I’m talking, of course, about the annual Gathering Of The Juggalos, now in its 11th year, which is both mindblowing and deeply depressing.

If you are unfamiliar with the Gathering, then you should consider yourself lucky (although, granted, it is a tremendous source of derisive laughter at the expense of morons).

You can watch the infomercial for this year’s event below, but here are just a few of the acts you can see if you decide to slap on some clown paint and head into the fields and forests of Illinois to contemplate the miracles of magnets (how do they work?) and the joys of a Faygo shower: Naughty by Nature, Gallagher (and don’t worry, it’s “not that fake ass Gilligan motherfucker either”), Ron Jeremy (he’ll be “telling jokes about slangin’ dick”), Warren G, Tila Tequila, Afroman, Coolio, Tone Loc, Vanilla Ice, and Method Man and Redman (honestly, guys?).

And speaking of Coolio, here’s what happened the last time he toured with ICP.

But the Gathering is never about just the “music.”  Oh no, this year you’ve got midget wrestling, a bubble-foam party with naked chicks, regular non-midget wrestling featuring Viscera (what, couldn’t get Mideon?) and the Road Dogg among others, as well as flashlight wrestling where the only lights are from the flashlights that the crowd brings at 4 am (”and some of these legends are drunk as hell.”)

This year’s infomercial definitely isn’t as good as last year’s (or SNL’s awesome parody of it and ICP), but it will still make you laugh and feel better about yourself as a human being.  And the announcer sums it up best I think, calling it “the greatest time you motherfucker (yes, singular) will ever have.  I put that on my nuts, bitch.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

-Sam

But it’s absolutely beautiful — lush greenery and huge waterfalls, with the occasional “HOLY SHIT I’M DRIVING ON THE VERY EDGE OF A CLIFF OVERLOOKING THE OCEAN” feeling. 

I got to take the trip during my honeymoon last year.  Due to the location and the drive, radio was not available and we were left with our own playlists and music.  However cliche it may have been, we decided to to play Jack Johnson the entire way there; all three hours along this road.  And his music was essentially a soundtrack to everything we saw and witnessed. 

We had the fortunate opportunity to see Jack Johnson the other night in Camden, New Jersey.  I can proudly say that this, perhaps, was the best live show I’ve ever attended.  His stage presence is nothing; Jack and band on stage with a modest screen behind him.  Instead, his music does everything that elloborate sets and firewords try to accomplish at other artists’ shows and events.  His live music is genious and there were moments when I acctually lost my breath. 

Leaving the event, I said to my wife that we should head to Madison Square Garden tomorrow night to see him perform again.  Sadly, I think she thought I was joking. 

I could go on and on about the concert, but I won’t — I’ll simply let his music do it’s own speaking.  If you ever get the opportunity to see Jack Johnson live, just do it. 

On a side note, Camden went nuts for G Love (he opened for Jack Johnson).  This is the second time I’ve seen G Love and I really don’t get what the deal is with him.  I’m always bored through his sets and can’t wait for him to leave the stage.  End rant.

Anyways, this concert is pretty good and if nothing else, it’s a reminder that Korn can still rip it up live.  I haven’t seen Korn in person since Head left the band (and it turns out that crazy Jesus-freak was the riff-genius behind this band’s success; seriously just ask an incredibly liquored up Munky, he’ll tell you), but when I did see them they were absolutely amazing.  This concert seems to suggest that they haven’t turned to shit as a live band, which is nice.  Hearing the opening riff of “Here To Stay” still gets me going.

Stay tuned this week for my review of Korn III, and in the meantime enjoy the free concert:

Click here to view the embedded video.

-Sam

Yeah, that was pretty low.

But if anyone could top (drop?) that, it’s Courtney Love.

I’m just going to step aside and let Rolling Stone explain what went down during a recent Hole concert in Washington D.C.:

“Do you really like rock music?” Love asked one young woman earnestly during the show. “Because you’re African American. That would be like me being into Lil Wayne.”

“Hole performed roughly 30 songs…but the songs were mainly just fragments and only a handful were actually completed.”

“She also stumbled through several other songs, admitting that she had forgotten how to play them — yet still played them regardless.”

“Later, one of her handlers announced that in order to coax Love back for an encore, the crowd would have to cheer loudly because, the Post reports, “there was someone who was waiting to have sex with Love and it would take lots of applause to get her to delay that appointment.”"

And from the Washington Post:

“Three-quarters-filled at the start, the club was no more than a quarter packed by the excruciating end.”

“She also introduced an assistant, Lisa, who was onstage for the entire show filming Love on an iPhone. Not on the side of the stage. Not filming a few songs. The entire show, onstage, often directly in front of Love.”

“She played a new song, “Pretty Your Whole Life.” It was bad. Half an hour later, she played it again. It was worse.”

Oh yeah, and during the set’s closer, she decided it would be a good idea to go topless.  Here’s the video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And here’s a smattering of the fans’ opinions of the show afterwards:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I think the girl sitting against the wall says it best: “Courtney Love needs to stop taking fucking opiates.”

Ho-lee-shit, that was a train wreck.

-Sam

I’m a huge fan of Scrubs (minus the unnecessary and derivative ninth and final season) so it was with much delight when I was walking around Annapolis, MD that I saw a poster on the window of a restaurant/small concert venue announcing that The Blanks would be playing a Sunday matinee show this weekend!  Count me in.

If you aren’t familiar with The Blanks, just imagine your dad and three of his nerdy friends getting together to sing TV theme songs (real and original), classic rock tunes, and lighthearted jokey comedic songs.  Toss in some humorous between-song sketches and you’ve got The Blanks.

The one question that always arises when someone is trying to reproduce what they did on television in front of a live audience is, how much help did they get from the editing room?  I’m happy to report that The Blanks are in no such need of any technical wizardry to hide behind.  They’ve all got great, clear voices that filled the room and worked well together within the different arrangements.

They covered most of the songs that appeared on Scrubs, including a rather beautiful rendition of “Over the Rainbow” (which you’ll remember came from the great Wizard of Oz-themed episode).  But most of those songs were the short theme songs.  The Blanks really shined when they stretched out a little and put together longer (relatively) arrangements like with the original song “A Little Polish” (as in shoe polish, not someone from Poland).

Apart from being really good singers, The Blanks are showmen and comedians at heart.  They had a running “story line” which tied the whole show together and their between-song comedy routines were great for adding variety to the show.  Also adding variety were the “guest singers,” otherwise known as plastic toys and dolls like Mr. Pumpkin Head and Captain Commando who come equipped with programmed sound snippets that the guys creatively wove into songs.

The highlights of the show were the classic rock montage featuring “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Carry on My Wayward Son,” the Solid Gold oldies bit, and the absolutely hilarious show closer “Maniac” featuring a dancing Mrs. Claus figure.  That’s all I’ll say about that, but if you are interested in checking these guys out, they have some upcoming dates in the northeast later this summer.  They are a perfect group to bring your parents to because they keep everything clean, but you’ll still laugh a lot and have a good time.

(My only gripe?  I was hoping they’d bring out the Gooch as a special guest.)

-Sam

But at least we know they are currently at work on a new one.  When can we expect it to hit shelves?  “When it’s ready,” Maynard James Keenan told Rolling Stone.

But the enigmatic frontman said those who go see the band in concert this summer (dates here) may get to hear them test out new material – provided the band is ready, of course.  “If it comes together, yeah, you’ll hear some new stuff. If it’s not ready, you won’t.”  Reasonable enough, I suppose.

Keenan also said that A Perfect Circle, a supergroup of sorts that includes Keenan, Billy Howerdel, and Josh Freese and has in the past included James Iha, Jeordie White, and Danny Lohner, is working on its fourth album.  No word on when that might see the light of day, but it’s good news nonetheless.

-Sam

It’s a chance for him to keep him comedy timing sharp as well as to stretch out and dabble in other areas that he only hinted at during his time hosting – namely playing the guitar and singing.

He’s been playing his own tweaked versions of “I Will Survive” and “On The Road Again,” which you can see after the jump.  But I wanted to highlight a great rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” that Conan tried out during a sound check early on in the tour.  It’s comes complete with his hilarious Mary Poppins Cockney accent and lyrics about being punched in the throat by British celebrities.  Check it out:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The remaining tour dates can be seen here.  More videos after the jump:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

-Sam