This Bizarro world stuff is gettin’ a little out of hand.  Remember when I told you about that goofy promotion that Taco Bell cooked up this summer in which they asked Curtis to change his name, for a day, to 79 cent Jackson in honor of their (effin delicious) value meal?  Well, the lawsuit that Fiddy claimed would result has been leveled, and Taco Bell’s lawyers have come back hard at Curtis, claiming that he is using his public voice to completely distort a good faith offer that would have greatly benefited both parties and charity.
 Whoever let Taco Bell’s private offer letter leak to the public really screwed them over on this one, but at the end of the day, it’s lookin like they could counter sue for defamation and take 50 worse than that Angolan chain snatcher.
Anyway, what’s more interesting about this situation is that, after all these years, hip hop beefs really are bigger than hip hop.  First Jay-Z vs. Oasis, now this?  Damn.
 I still contend that this is, at heart, another battle in the cola wars, being that The Bell is a Pepsi property, and 50 is still heavily involved in the marketing of Vitamin Water (which Coke now owns).  This ain’t beef, it’s war! 
 

…ain’t gonna be possible.  Really, seriously.  Mr. & Mrs. Jay-Z have reportedly earned a combined 162 million dollars this year.  One hundred and sixty two MILLION dollars.  Now they can totally afford designer sunglasses and stuff.  
 

I know, I know.  Most of you don’t make your own music, but it is getting sooooo easy.
 Only a few years ago cassette four track recorders cost hundreds of dollars and usually sounded kinda whacktastical.  Now, you can buy a palm sized digital 24 track with built in rack fx and nice little matched stereo mics for like 700 bones.  And, if you aren’t serious enough to drop that kind of coin, the iphone now has a 4 track recorder app!  This may be the coolest thing ever!  a 4 track in your freakin PHONE!  And homies, it costs ten dollars.  TEN DOLLARS!
 If you have an iphone and you don’t buy this app, I will fight you.I know this is chielfy an industry/artist based blog, but seriously, for ten bucks, you should all be playing around with making some music.  It’ll help you better understand and enjoy the music in your life.  And it’s fun.
  

Yeah, that was my reaction to this: 
I heard a rumor today that Sublime may be reuniting (with a new frontman, obviously) to play some festival dates this season.  I am definitely a monster Sublime fan, and I wanna see these guys play again.  I only have one request: don’t bill them as Sublime, dammit!
 I really liked what Bud and Eric did in Long Beach Dub All Stars.  They pulled off some sweet covers, and played the Sublime songs, but they were smart enough to not market themselves as Sublime, because as we all know, without Brad, Sublime just plain isn’t.
Replacing a band member is always difficult, but replacing the deceased frontman/sole songwriter/founder/leader in a three piece falls somewhere between damn near impossible and silly notion…then again, it is good marketing…oh art and commerce, you make such a whackass couple.
Anyway, there is also a good chance that we’ll see Blink-182 at all these summer festivals.  What up 90s three piece!  Welcome back, brah!  You wanna shotgun a beer?  I stole a few from the pops.
 

Last night, I checked out the Chinese Democracy listening party at The Roxy.  I was pretty damn stoked to hear the album in proper track order, on the house PA and most importantly: on the strip.  When I arrived, The venue was pretty full (especially for a listening party) and I was happy to see a number of people close to the production in house along with some staunch superfans…also, it was at The Roxy, one of the Strip’s most historic clubs…one of those spots where the ghosts of rock’s heyday are always floating around…the perfect place to gauge the response to Axl’s 17 year, 30 million dollar opus production.
So what did I get out of the experience?  Honestly, it was really hard to read.  For a lot of people in the room, this wasn’t a first listen to Chinese Democracy, so I didn’t see a lot of that initial “wow, this rules” or “wow, this blows” sort of reaction.  I guess what was most striking though, was that I didn’t see much response at all.  It was really strange to see see some of Gn’R’s biggest fans greet the most fabled, mysterious album of our time with a resounding “meh”.
 Maybe the lack of a solid band with a public persona has detracted from the excitement…maybe the lack of live shows halted any groundswell…maybe the album hasn’t seen enough P2P promotion at street level…maybe Gn’R fans outgrew the band…maybe Axl outgrew the fans…maybe the music isn’t as heavy as people expected…hell, maybe it just took so goddamn long to come out that people expected too much…or didn’t know what to expect…or forgot.  Regardless, if the fan the reception for Chinese Democracy can be described as lukewarm, the general public might not pay much attention to this one at all.
As for my opinion of the record; I never expect lightning to strike, so I’m not disappointed.  At the same time, I have a lot of good things to say about it (in another post).  Mostly I don’t really put much emphasis on the record…. what I (and likely most of you) am really, REALLY hoping for is a high energy, original member reunion tour that helps me remember what “Appetite” did to the world and what that time felt like and helps us to strategize the magic that could make something like that happen again in music.  I keep telling myself it’s possible. Also, I totally just wrote “strategize the magic” Wow, Seth.  Right up there with “bottle the lightning”. Tool.  

A Vampire movie featuring appearances by Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins and Moby!?!?!
Oh. Em. Effin. Jee.  That’s like 3 of my childhood heroes…and Moby…who I have nothing against.
 Variety reported today that a comedy vampire film entitled “Suck”,  which is currently in pre-production, will feature appearances from all of the above.  The film is reportedly about a rock band with an undying ambition (no pun intended).  I’d like to go on record and state that I could NOT be more stoked.  Just Iggy and Alice are responsible for some of the greatest rock star cameos in cinematic history…Wayne’s World?  Snow Day?  I rest my case.
    

 This may be the funniest early album review in history.  Curtis recently told MTV that he doesn’t think the public will “forgive” Kanye West for making his new, non-hiphop album.  Check out THIS VIDEO for more of 50 goin’ HARD at Kanye and decide for yourself if there isn’t still some healthy competition between the two.
50 Pretty much leveled Kanye’s record in this interview.  What could make these statements blow up in Curtis’ face, however is that all of this unfolded the day after I heard that 50’s own upcoming album was being pushed back to 2009…possibly for lacking a marketable single.  Honestly, I think that Kanye’s record will do well, but not with his original fans…this one is more of a caucasian cougar at the end of the bar/sorority girl who finds FORMER rappers safe enough to listen to sort of thing. 

Oh, man.
 I was gonna entitle this post either:
CARSON DALY THINKS ALL BLACK PEOPLE LOOK ALIKE
or:
CARSON DALY: “ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE RELATED” 
But then I figured that was a little harsh, cuz this really was just a funny honest mistake.  I still have to clown him for introducing Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks as “Tony Banks” at the big TRL sendoff last week, though.  Check out this backstage clip from WSHH…even better than Carson’s slip up is Kid Rock telegraphing that N-bomb at the end and not getting slugged.
When did Kid Rock get a pass?  Was it the high top fade he rocked back before he went country?  Damn…by that logic, Vanilla Ice gets the same…I call shenanigans.