Confidential to rock critics: It is no longer necessary to discuss any new recording project from Sir Paul or King Mick. Neither are able to succeed or fail, regardless of what they do, so really, what’s the point?

That said, I hereby declare Axl Rose to be the greatest living rocker still attempting to make music. To back up my declaration I present to you Chinese Democracy. Holy crap, what the hell is this? A goddamn disaster is what it is. Out now for a year, I’m finally getting around to listening to it and hey, what can I say, he made me wait 15 years, and I’m sure the world’s been fine for 12 months without my opinion on the record. Or if not fine, since it kind of seems like it stinks, then at least my lack of review has not been a part of the problem.

Now, the truth be told I guess I really only liked Appetite for Destruction. It’s not that G N’ R Lies didn’t have its moments, but you can’t go home again, so they say, and for supremely great rock moments it’s true.

Chinese Democracy doesn’t so much try to go home, rather than build something new and better. It reminds me of Ford and Dodge trying to remake the Mustang and Charger. The new versions are reminiscent of the old muscles, yes, but ultimately they just kind of suck.

That’s a bit unfair to the album though, because it doesn’t just kind of suck, it sucks really bad. I won’t quote Homer Simpson and say it’s the suckiest suck suck that ever sucked,” but at least it tried and damn if that ain’t something. I’m in awe of its terribleness. It makes me weak and trembly. It is absolutely impossible for most of our beloved rock icons to have created this (maybe Neil Young or Lou Reed – keep your chins up boys!)  Nothing like this could have been phoned in from a hillside house outside of Palo Alto. This is as real as a television exploding out of a 7th story hotel window. 15 years and this is what we get. Songs about the I.R.S. and Catcher in the Rye? Moments of rock and disco? Messy, infantile, without a moment of cohesion. Maybe after 15 years he was just done with it all. Clearly Chinese Democracy is a giant white whale, but why I love Axl, if not his latest album, is that I believe he thinks he totally slayed it. Rock is dead. Long live rock.

Post Scriptus ~I am thoroughly unqualified to review anything Guns N’ Roses. I was reading a hilarious piece on the band by James Parker and truly thought he was writing for the sake of absurdity during the section about guitarist Buckethead. How could I have been so wrong? Rock is dead. Long live rock.

The Buckethead

U.S. President Barack Obama led a town hall meeting with 400 students in Shanghai, China earlier today. Obama chose his words carefully to avoid controversy but he did criticize China for restricting internet access, Christian Science Monitor.

4 civilians were killed today in Afghanistan after militants fired 2 rockets into a crowded marketplace northeast of Kabul. The target of the attack was a meeting with the head of French forces in Afghanistan and local civilian leaders but the rockets missed their mark, Associated Press.

Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia, apologized to the 150,000 children who were shipped to Australia from 1930 to 1970 where they were mistreated.

The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center has set up a special hotline for women who was victims of the violent rapist Anthony Sowell who lived on Imperial Avenue. 11 bodies have already been found on Sowell’s property and several women has reported that they were abused by Sowell but escaped, Cleveland Plain Dealer.

It would seem that me calling Adelaide Kane an ignorant Australian Bitch has had an effect as I am now banned from following her Twitter account

U.S. President Barack Obama is 2 days into a 10 day trip to Asia. President Obama held a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whitehouse.org. Full coverage of the trip, whitehouse.gov.

President Obama will meet with leaders of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the Prime Minister of Myanmar, in Singapore today. Obama called for Myanmar to release its political prisoners, including pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, Reuters.

President Obama will be in China from November 15-18 where he will hold a town hall meeting with Chinese students. Chinese news agency Xinhua has been soliciting questions for President Obama online, Xinhua.

NASA confirms that it has found a significant quantity of water on the moon, CNN.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has called for a world hunger strike today to highlight the issue, FAO. Follow on Twitter: @faonews. Sign a petition to stop world hunger, 1 billion hungry.

As you are all aware, for the past few weeks, I have been trying to convince the Monster Zero people that my apologies are sincere and that I no longer say the things that got me exiled from MZP, in the hopes that they will forgive me and allow me back onto their forums. So my question is to any Monster Zero people who might be reading this: Will you REALLY let me back onto your forums? I ask this as two messages I recvived after banning makes me think otherwise

This is a test-post using my new tags

RE: RE: RE: Dear: SA FM

Well good for you! You took some of my advice on board and played a Pearl Jam song that wasn’t ‘Better Man’ or ‘Daughter’. ‘Last Kiss’ is a good song, still a commercial release but hey baby steps. However I am not sure if I can take the credit for it as they will be playing a concert here in 2 weeks time which means we are going to be hearing a lot more of them on the radio. I’ve been around the block a few times to know how it works, dare I say we might have a Pink situation going on here? Know this: If you do a Pearl Jam megamix and/or play the dance remix of ‘Better Man’ I will sue you for duty of care to my soul.

Let’s talk websites. Now I know people make the choice to go there, it is not something that occurs against their will like when their stereo breaks at work and employees are forced to listen to the only station that gets picked up by their broke-ass antenna. No it’s not like that. However you might want to look at removing the “What We’re Playing Next” feature on your website. Quick hypothetical: If I told you that you were going to get herpes in 3 minutes and you knew there was nothing you could do to stop it, would you want to know? Probably not. Ergo remove this useless function.

Feel free to write back to me. Or perhaps we can chat late at night on mIRC, do a bit of a\s\l? Conference call? Carrier pigeon? What method of communication suits you? If I get no response then I will assume the current method is fine, which is me emailing and you sending through your thoughts telepathically. You were right about the Black Eyed Peas album being shit (personally I have not heard it) but way off on the release of ‘Chinese Democracy’ – It was released a year ago, keep up with the times brother!

http://www.safm.com.au/contact Sent 06/11/09

W3C

Reorientación en el sector

La publicidad está encaminada a los medios digitales

El debate que tanto esperábamos desde el año pasado acaba de llegar. La crisis, según las noticias que hemos recibido, podría tocar fondo en el ejercicio 2010, lo cual, según los medios, supondría una recuperación para el año 2011, aunque son previsiones. De momento, las noticias del desempleo, las deudas de la población (hipotecas, finalización de las prestaciones por desempleo, embargos) y el miedo a la inversión en nuevos negocios está complicando el panorama. En ese sentido, Internet no escapa a la coyuntura económica. Pero, al margen de otros sectores, la publicidad se ha fijado en una plataforma menos costosa, rentable y selectiva, ya que la red de redes ha permitido otras reglas del juego para un sector que se ha reconvertido en los dos últimos años. Os dejamos un comunicado que es muy interesante, porque se hablan de las tendencias del futuro de un sector marcado por la reorganización de sus formatos, mensaje y equipo de trabajo. En el punto de mira están los teléfonos móviles, y no hablamos de acabar sólo en los mensajes SMS.

A pesar de los malos augurios para la inversión publicitaria en medio, Internet vuelve a ser otra vez una tabla de salvación en este sector. Los anunciantes creen que “la pendiente de caída” de la inversión publicitaria ha “comenzado a atenuarse” en los últimos meses, tras el segundo trimestre, que fue “el peor de toda la historia de la publicidad española”, aunque advierten de que, a pesar de esta mejoría, en todo 2009 se invertirá alrededor de un 17 por ciento menos que en 2008.

Así, según la última ola del panel Zenthinela, que recoge las opiniones de treinta y tres anunciantes (un 12,5% de la inversión total del mercado), el sector ve “ligeros síntomas de mejoría” en el mercado, aunque advierte de que para cumplir con el pronóstico de un 17 por ciento de caída en la inversión el último trimestre del año “debería ser bastante mejor que los anteriores”.

Por medios de comunicación, sólo los medios digitales podrían crecer este año. Concretamente, los encuestados opinan que el sector del Marketing Móvil crecerá un 9,4 por ciento e Internet un 8,2 por ciento, con mejores resultados para buscadores y enlaces patrocinados que para publicidad gráfica y vídeo. Mientras, la inversión publicitaria en cine caería un 33,3 por ciento; en diarios de pago, un 25,8 por ciento; en diarios gratuitos, un 24,7 por ciento; y en las revistas, un 20,5 por ciento.

Asimismo, los suplementos perderán en 2000 un 22,1 por ciento de ingresos por publicidad; la radio, hasta ahora uno de los medios que mejor aguantaba la crisis, un 17,4 por ciento; la televisión generalista, un 16,4 por ciento; los medios para inmigrantes, un 10,3 por ciento y la publicidad exterior se reducirá un 17,6 por ciento este año.

Los anunciantes tampoco se muestran muy optimistas respecto al año que viene, cuando prevén una nueva caída del 6,5 por ciento, y apuntan que, en contra de lo ocurrido en crisis anteriores, la reacción del mercado publicitario podría ser posterior a la reactivación de la economía. Por su parte, directivos de medios de comunicación encuestados para Zenith Vigía, calculan que la inversión publicitaria caerá en 2010 alrededor del 2,9 por ciento.

Los canales temáticos también subirán

En el año 2010 podrían crecer además de los medios digitales, los canales de televisión temática en abierto, que se van a ver favorecidos por la ampliación de cobertura real de la TDT. Mientras, las mayores caídas prevista vuelven a corresponder al cine, un 18,1 por ciento y a los medios impresos.

Así, los diarios de pago podrían caer un 14,4 por ciento en 2010; los diarios gratuitos, un 14,9 por ciento; las revistas, un 13,8 por ciento, y los suplementos, un 14,7 por ciento. Además, la publicidad exterior caería, según estas previsiones, un 9,2 por ciento; la radio, un 5,5 por ciento; la televisión generalista, un 5,1 por ciento; y los medios para inmigrantes, un nuevo 7 por ciento.

El último trimestre de 2010 se perfila como la fecha más probable para la salida de la crisis. Las opiniones se distribuyen a lo largo de una curva que tiene su media en ese trimestre y se extiende, con una forma casi simétrica por el tercer trimestre de 2010, y el primer semestre de 2011.

Los presupuestos que se han retirado de la publicidad a raíz de la crisis se han dedicado a ofertas basadas en el precio y a promociones en el punto de venta en mayor medida que a cualquier otra opción. En cambio también se ha retirado presupuesto de los capítulos de ferias y exposiciones, patrocinios y catálogos u publicaciones

Fuente: Internet.

Fuente (2): Agencia de Noticias Europa Press.

Imagen: Teléfonos móviles. 

Imagen (2): http://www.w3c.es/Presentaciones/2007/1220-COIIPA-MA/img/mobilechristmas2004.jpg (JPG).

Fecha: 05 de noviembre de 2009.

Jorge Hierro Álvarez

Consultoría de Nuevas Tecnologías e Internet

http://www.jorgehierro.es

http://www.jorgehierro.com

http://www.jorgehierro.wordpress.com

http://www.jorgehierro.blogspot.com

Concierto de NYC (2006).

El debate de la música en Internet

Cambio de rumbo y hábitos

Las actuaciones son el negocio para un grupo de música que ya cuenta con una experiencia discográfica y éxito, el cual ha sido cosechado por la venta de sus cd´s. En estos momentos, se han reducido en general debido a la llegada de Internet, la aparición de otros soportes y el intercambio de archivos por medio de las plataformas P2P, aunque también gracias a la opción de comprar sólo aquellos temas que realmente deseas guardar. Es una modalidad más selectiva. Por otro lado, la distribución en grandes almacenes ha caído unos cuantos enteros. La necesidad de los usuarios ha cambiado, ya que el nacimiento de las redes sociales, radios en la red, las propias páginas Web de los grupos y los foros de debate han creado un modelo basado en la inmediatez, donde escuchas el single de forma directa sin la necesidad de que éste sea descargado. Por ejemplo, la llegada de Chinese Democracy, el último álbum de Guns and Roses, propició la posibilidad, sin ser descargado, de escuchar de forma integra todos los temas en noviembre de 2008. Ha pasado un año, pero muchos han aprendido, como es el caso de Radiohead, ha utilizar Internet en su beneficio, que se traduce en la búsqueda de nuevas herramientas para orientar su propio marketing. La legislación, dependiendo del país, no es igual. Otro aspecto a tener en cuenta son los juicios iniciados debido a la descarga de archivos. El último de la serie ha sido el iniciado contra los creadores de The Pirate Bay, que ya tiene su propio merchandaising a la venta en su Web.

¿Quién no se ha descargado algo en la red sin el permiso de un artista, entidad o institución pública? Difícil saberlo. También es difícil comprobarlo. Pero hemos pasado de un Internet sólo para las descargas a una red donde prima el trabajo, la selección de contenidos, las lecturas de información o publicaciones de interés, o bien, divertimento en red con otros internautas cuando compartes en tiempo real un videojuego.

También las empresas han cambiado sus hábitos. Y la industria discográfica, que ha ido de víctima, ha puesto en los tribunales a todo aquél que ha buscado poner al servicio de la comunidad los temas y canciones de los artistas que sacaban al mercado nuevo material.

Y es lógico, que nadie lo duda. Ahora bien, en su momento, todo el mundo habló de pérdidas, tanto para las empresas como para el propio conjunto u artista. Sin embargo, se abrió otra forma de recuperar el dinero. Las actuaciones y conciertos, cada vez más caros debido a múltiples factores, han abierto la posibilidad de ver a tu banda favorita cada vez de forma más actual.

Por otro lado, las plataformas creadas en las redes sociales han sido un Boom. El ejemplo más evidente de relativo éxito fue cuando Guns and Roses, en noviembre de 2008, decidió sacar su esperado “Chinese Democracy”, el cual utilizó MySpace para llegar a todos los rincones del planeta vía Internet.

Nadie se descargó las canciones, pero éstas fueron escuchadas con antelación a la salida del álbum, por lo que tenías una idea previa de lo que te ibas a encontrar en la tienda de discos.

Pero las preguntas son necesarias: ¿A quién le ha beneficiado el nuevo modelo? ¿Es más rentable? ¿Se obtendrá un mayor beneficio reduciendo las ventas de discos en las tiendas especializadas a favor de vender las canciones en MP3 por medio de Internet? ¿Y en cuánto a la promoción? Está claro que las guerras sólo se pueden ganar cuerpo a cuerpo por mucha tecnología que una empresa maneje. A día de hoy, estamos ante un cambio en el uso y disfrute de la música, como en otros aspectos de la vida.

Antes, la compra de un disco, contaba con un ritual. Ibas a la tienda, comprabas el álbum, te sentabas en casa, seguías las letras de los temas y te bebías tu bebida preferida. Ahora, delante de un ordenador, es diferente. Quizás las generaciones más jóvenes acostumbradas a esta modificación se lo están pasando en grande. Ya veremos.

Fuente: Internet.

Imagen: Guns and Roses (Axl Rose and Sebastian Bach).

Imagen (2): http://www.sebastianbach.com/archives/axlbaz06.jpg (JPG). 

Fecha: 04 de noviembre de 2009.

-Para más información:

-FICOD 2009:

http://www.ficod2009.es/ficod/

http://jorgehierro.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/ficod-2009-salta-a-escena/

-Guns and Roses:

http://web.gunsnroses.com/index.jsp

http://www.chinesedemocracy.com/

-The Pirate Bay:

http://thepiratebay.org/

Jorge Hierro Álvarez

Consultoría de Nuevas Tecnologías e Internet

http://www.jorgehierro.es

http://www.jorgehierro.com

http://www.jorgehierro.wordpress.com

http://www.jorgehierro.blogspot.com

After a slight delay, the Fancy Plans Guide to Rock and Roll has returned (slightly) with a handful of bands hot off the request line, which is located in your comment threads and ignored for long periods of time right here on this blog.

They say “All good things come to those who wait.” I really wish “they” would stop saying that. Enjoy.

Calexico spy an under-tipping diner.

Calexico
As Americans channeling Mexicans and distributed by Germans, Calexico are the “domestic” auto of indie rock. While probably (perhaps even fiercely) American, Calexico are the sum of their foreign-made “domestic” parts, often raising the ire of Lou Dobbs, who normally shows no interest in recorded music, domestic or otherwise.

Following a twisted path through Giant Sand and Friends of Dean Martinez (neé Martin), Calexico gathered up its mariachi leanings and headed for the welcoming climes of Germany, where they recorded their debut album. Due to a translation error and general German good-natured obtuseness, they were listed as “Spoke.”

Having had enough of this foreign bullshit (except for the mariachi stuff), Calexico returned home and re-issued their debut under the correct name. They continued to build their reputation as an “unavoidable” live band by annoying diners throughout Arizona with their flashmob mariachi-ing, often in support of other confrontational groups like Pavement and Lambchop (the latter of which often broke building capacity codes as soon as they entered the restaurant).

They further cemented their pristine indie rep (and swelled their tip jars) by performing with such alt.rock luminaries as Lisa Germano(!), Naim Amor(?) and Nancy Sinatra(!)(indie?).

Having conquered the all-important “street cafe” scene, Calexico went on to conquer NPR’s tastemakers with their multi-cultural blend of interstitial music, which meshed well with the give-and-take of various left-wing pundits. While definitely critical successes in the US, their popularity grows exponentially overseas, which would seem to indicate it is time for Calexico to haul their big-brimmed and sequined asses across the drink and return to the glory of being “big in Germany,” which has worked for so many “fringe” artists over the years.

3rd Place - Donnie Darko Lookalike Contest

Bright Eyes
The brainchild of indie wünderkind Conor Oberst (whose parents mysteriously shorted him an “n”), Bright Eyes burst out of the Omaha scene much the way that anyone bursts out of Omaha: by stumbling badly right out of the gates.

Critics responded to his debut album (the redundantly titled A Collection of Songs Written, Recorded and then Burned onto Round “Compact Discs” and Perhaps Recorded to the Occasional Cassette to be Listened to By Listeners with Stereos and Walkmans and Whatnot, Maybe in Their Car, But This is 1998 So Possibly a Cassette: 1995-1997) with everything from abuse (allmusic.com: “…unintelligible babblings of a child”) to confusion (Omaha Star: “Supposedly music, but I’ll take the remaining members of Journey at the State Fair any day of the week, even without their original singer…”).

Two years down the road Bright Eyes release Fever and Mirrors which is heralded by Pitchfork as “an instant classic, which nobody but us have ever heard of.” Metacritic hails them as “Pending. Still waiting on 5 reviews.” Their “improved” sound is chalked up to a more mature sound due to the addition of instruments such as flute, accordion, clavichord, sousaphone and Ouija board.

Pretension now safely on board and loaded with multi-instrumentalists, Bright Eyes break into the mainstream as a much-heralded “new” artist, despite being in existence for nearly seven years (sort of like adopting a “starter” child). With this celebrated status (and sudden change in tense two paragraphs ago), Oberst and co. begin to reap the perkiest fruit of their labor. Called upon to provide support for a Springsteen tour, Bright Eyes were afforded the opportunity to play to a much larger indifferent crowd when not carrying luggage for the “Boss.”

Soldiering on, periodically releasing an EP or actual album every six weeks or so, Bright Eyes continued to refine their twin powers: bedroom electronica (as displayed on Digital Stems and Seeds on an Electric Ladyland Dust Jacket) and their slightly creepier bedroom acoustical work, which features Oberst sitting on the edge of your bed for hours at a time, alternating between chugging PBR, strumming softly on his guitar and quietly watching you sleep.

Hull's mobsters ranged from "pasty" to "nerdy."

Housemartins
Straight outta Hull, the Housemartins were an English pop group with an infectious sound and a cheery outlook that combined Christianity with Karl Marx, thus ensuring complete rejection by both of their target audiences.

Formed by Paul Heaton and Stan Cullimore who originally performed as a busking duo, (Ed. – Oh. My. God.) the two friends went on to add a few more members in an effort to attract an audience that preferred its musical ambushes came from the hi-fi rather than Tube platforms or duck ponds. Their most notable addition was superstar DJ Fatboy Slim, who agreed to put down the records and cocaine and play some unobtrusive bass under his given name, Beats Int’l Mighy Dub Katz Pizzaman Freakpower Quentin Cook the BPA Norman Cook.

Having ensured their place in history with the addition of their most famous member (added bonus: free remixes for life!), the Housemartins released their biggest (and only) single to date: Happy Hour. The single shot to the top of the charts, aided by a popular claymation promo video featuring the British counterpart to the California Raisins: the Hull Prunes, who spent the entirety of the video doing very British things like “trainspotting” and “bitching about the dole.”

Their next single, Caravan of Love, enjoyed exactly one week at the number 1 spot before being shoved rudely aside by Jackie Wilson’s Reet Petite, which shows exactly what is both very right and very wrong with British musical tastes.

The single’s a cappella styling drew the ire of their biggest fans, prompting shouts of “Judas” during their completely unplugged gig at the Newport Folk Festival. Heaton was in turn prompted to stop the show and say, “Oh, so you’ve heard of him? Let me just take a moment of your time to give you the good news about Jesus H. Marx, who will free us from the twin oppressions of capitalism and rational thought. I would also like to address our growing trade deficit.”

The band split in 1988 but the members have remained friendly, often joining each other’s bowling/busking teams and dropping by while on holiday.

Axl often announced band firings through cleverly trimmed photos.

Guns N Roses
Formed by the common-law marriage of W. Axl Rose (born W. Oral Sex) and Tracii Guns (born Tracy Gunns), Guns N Roses tore apart the hard rock scene with their hard-charging riffs and dangerous behavior, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the Rolling Stones still had their original guitarists and hips.

Perhaps one of the most important bands of ever (and your can drop “perhaps” if you throw “self” in front of “important”), GNR hit the fucking ground running with their debut full-length Appetite for Destruction. While the album itself was a hard-rock revelation, the album cover itself was much more memorable.

The original controversial cover, which featured the band members hanging around a stream in some sharp suits was met with complaints from record store owners, who refused to stock the “weak-ass nature bullshit” in the appropriate “Hard Rock” section.

After a hasty redesign, GNR presented Plan B, an album cover featuring them holding various doll parts whilst standing around in a butcher’s shoppe. Again resistance from record shop (or shoppe) owners was high, leading to threats of “brown bagging” the album due to its general “WTF-ness.” Various iterations were tried and rejected (naked prepubescent girl playing with a model, Slash surrounded by naked electric chicks, a naked 15-year-old hanging out at the park, someone smelling a glove, a robot rapist) before settling on the cover we all ended up with: a heavily stylized depiction of the band as a tattoo template.

As Appetite for Destruction took off, GNR toured tirelessly, inciting riots, destroying hotel rooms and, very occasionally, playing an entire set without storming off. As the band headed back into the studio for their followup, Axl decided GNR needed a new look. He issued a kilt to himself, a top hat to Slash and whiskey bottles and pink slips to the rest of the band. (Thus began the revolving door of GNR musicians, each of which Rose would herald as the band’s savior, until finally refining the group down to its only essential member: W. Axl Rose.)

In 1991, GNR released Use Your Illusion I and II, which was described as “bloated” (as double albums often are) and “mercenary” (as double albums packaged and sold as two distinct single albums often are). Both albums were chart toppers and featured several outstanding tracks, none of which I can think of off the top of my head other than November Rain, which clocked in a 8 hours and 56 seconds, often being the only video MTV had time to play between The Real World, Real World retrospectives and The Grind.

A rare shot from Rose's ill-fated foray into "faith healing."

After the release of the now-prerequisite covers album The Spaghetti Incident?, which featured a rundown of their purported influences, none of which they sounded like, W. Axl Rose headed back into the studio with the remaining band member(s) for the next 15 years.

Although Rose appeared sporadically to announce that the album was “just around the corner” and “fucking awesome,” the LP was not released until November of 2008. Problems began when it became apparent that there were few musicians willing to work with Rose, whom the press had affectionately dubbed “an egotistical maniac.” Holing up in L.A.’s Up My Own Ass studios, Rose issued the honorable threat that he would not release any more music until there was “democracy in China.”

After a decade or so of dicking around, Chinese officials (in conjunction with the independent bottlers of Dr. Pepper) began to call his bluff, beginning with a series of trade embargoes targeted at various takeout joints and dry cleaners in the Hollywood area. As the lack of pepper steak and freshly pressed shirts began to erode Rose’s willpower, China stepped up the pressure, stating that while W. Axl Rose had a “proven track record in the music industry,” they had the “willpower of over a billion oppressed people, most of whom have been forbidden to listen to your music,” adding “not to mention a fuckload of tanks.”

To save face (and the independent bottlers of Dr. Pepper), Rose released the poorly titled Chinese Democracy to rave reviews such as “That’s hard rock, alright…” (Spin, Nov. 2008), “Sounds like Rose’s trademark vocal stylings…” (Bill’s Record Blawg, Dec. 2008) and “We’ve had this album for years…” (thepiratebay.org).

Rose announced through personal assistant Sebastian Bach that Chinese Democracy was the first in a planned trilogy, with the follow ups due to be released in 2023 (“weather permitting”) and 2038 (“…at which point I will likely be dead”).

The Pirate Bay (piratebay.org) invites you to “beat the rush” and check out these two fine albums today.

-CLT

A turnê Chinese Democracy World Tour da banda Guns N’ Roses vem para o Canadá em Janeiro de 2010. O Winnipeg, Manitoba concerto no centro MTS em 13 de janeiro é o primeiro dos treze shows canadenses desta turnê mundial do GNR, que começa na Ásia em 11 de dezembro com novidades previstas durante todo o ano de 2010.

O Guns N’ Roses formado por Axl Rose, Frank Ferrer, Tommy Stinson, Richard Fortus, Ron Bumblefoot Thal, Dizzy Reed e Chris Pitman receberam o novo guitarrista Dj Ashba para a banda no início deste ano e estão programadas para começar os ensaios em Los Angeles em breve.

A turnê mundial promove o album mais recente da banda, Chinese Democracy, que estreou em primeiro lugar nas paradas em treze países, incluindo Brasil, Canadá, Colômbia, Finlândia, Hong King, Japão, México, Nova Zelândia, Polônia, Singapura,Suíça, Taiwan , Tailândia, bem como entre os Top 100 albuns da europa.

Fonte: You Tube
Tradução: Dilberto Rosa

Axl Rose és zenekara első alkalommal koncertezik a ‘Chinese Democracy’ megjelenése óta. A Guns ‘N Roses tizenhárom kanadai dátumot abszolvál jövő januárban és februárban. Meg nem erősített információk szerint egy nagyobb koncertsorozat bemelegítő szakaszáról van szó – a hírek szerint a leendő turné ázsiai állomásait is hamarosan bejelentik. A Rolling Stone információ szerint Axlék az elkövetkező hetekben kezdik meg a próbákat egy Los Angeles-i stúdióban.

引き続き「Needle in a Slunk Stack」収録曲感想、8曲目「Alpha Sea」、9曲目「Wormwood’s Workshop Part 1」です。いやあ、どうしましょうね。特に感想がございません。困りました。とりあえず69 Bucket再入荷の販売状況について、3,300円で販売されている作品は「Albino Slug」「Slaughterhouse on the Prairie」「A Real Diamond in the Rough」「Forensic Follies」「Needle in a Slunk Stack」の5作品。いずれも2008～2009年に発売された最新5作品となっているようです。だから何だという感じです、これらを所有したい方は来年3,900円のぼったくりを受ける前に購入するのが良いかもしれません（3,300円ってのも充分ぼったくりの気もしますが）

ところでBucketheadの今後のツアーの予定は…。今のところあがってきていませんね。というかやっと先月終わったツアーデータを消したって感じでしょうか。今年ってよく考えてみたら残り2カ月くらいだけど、さすがにもうツアーは組まないのかな？ いや、でもちょっとだけガンズのツアーメンバーになるんじゃないかと今でも密やかに期待している自分があるんだけど（例の事件もあったし）。というかChinese Democracyのツアーなんだから、BucketとRobinが居ないと辛いんじゃないかと思ったり。今Bucketがどんな仕事してるのか知らないけど（まあ、何かしら絶対やってるんだろうけど）それによるのかな、なーんか…声が掛かってる気がするんだよなあ。妄想だけど。

Axl has finally announced some tour dates…in Canadia of all places, there’s also rumors of an Asian tour in December.

January 13 – Winnipeg, MB – MTS Centre
January 16 – Calgary, AB – Pengrowth Saddledome
January 17 – Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place
January 19 – Saskatoon, SK – Credit Union Centre
January 20 – Regina, SK – Brandt Centre
January 24 – Hamilton, ON – Copps Coliseum
January 25 – London, ON – John Labatt Centre
January 27 – Montreal, PQ – Bell Centre
January 28 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
January 31 – Ottawa, ON – Scotiabank Place
February 1 – Quebec City, PQ – Colisee Pepsi
February 3 – Moncton, NB – Moncton Coliseum
February 4 – Halifax, NS – Metro Centre

yazının yayın tarihi: 06.12.2008

http://www.birgun.net/culture_index.php?news_code=1228521101&year=2008&month=12&day=06

Ben daha küçücükken, yazı yazmayı daha yeni öğrenmiş, müzik zevki televizyonda çalan pop şarkılarından ibaret olan bir çocukken bile “Chinese Democracy” denilen albüm muamması çıktı çıkacaktı. Tabii o yaşta benim Guns N’ Roses’la alakam bile yoktu, ben de bunları sonradan öğrendim ama o başka bir yazının konusu. Sonraları büyüdük, müzik zevkimiz değişti ve Guns N’ Roses bir şekilde hayatımıza giriverdi. İşte o büyük özlemi, belki de hiç gelmeyecek olanı beklemeyi sevgiliden bile önce bize bu grup öğretti. Elimizde kendilerinin yalnızca 5 albümü vardı, en son albümleri ‘The Spaghetti Incident?’ı 93 yılında yayınlamışlardı ve her geçen gün yapılan açıklamalarla albümün çıkış tarihinin belirsiz bir tarihe ertelenmesinden yorulmuştuk. Artık tam ümidi kesiyorduk ki, büyük bir kitle hali hazırda kesmişti zaten, grubun orijinal kadrosundan geriye kalan tek eleman Axl Rose’un diğerlerine benzeyen, ama bu sefer inanılması güç bir şekilde doğru çıkan, albümün 23 Kasım’da yayınlanacağıyla ilgili olan açıklaması geldi.

Bu açıklamanın yurdumuza yansıması 28 Kasım’ı buldu ama hiç yayınlanmayan albümleri düşündüğümüzde bütün dünyayla aynı anda yayınlandığını varsayabiliriz bu uzunçaların. Zaten bir önceki albümden bu yana 15 yıl olmuş, dünya internet denen şahikayla tanışmış ve siber âleme sızan parçalarla az da olsa bir fikir sahibi olmuştuk. Bir jenerasyonun ömür törpüsü işlevini layıkıyla yerine getiren bu albümü Guns N’ Roses fanları bir çocuğun oyuncağını beklemesi gibi beklemişti, araya yıllar boyunca farklı oyuncaklar girse de hayallerde hep o vardı. 15 yıl sonra hiç beklenmedik anda gelmesi bile bu beklentileri düşürmedi; şunu rahatlıkla söyleyebiliriz ki elimizdeki oyuncak hayal ettiğimize pek benzemiyor ama uzun zamandır sahip olduğumuz en güzel oyuncak. Ne kadrosuyla ne de müzikal dokusuyla Guns N’ Roses 93 yılında bıraktığımız grup değil; geçirdikleri evrimin ardından geldikleri nokta eskiye göre yeni, yeniye göreyse biraz eski.

Daha önce de belirttiğim gibi, albümdeki çoğu şarkı, hatta hepsi diyebiliriz, albüm raflardaki yerini almadan internette bulunabiliyordu. Bu yüzden albüm hakkında resmi çıkışının hemen ardından yorum yapabilmek bir nebze daha kolay oluyor; tabii bununda yeni alınan albümü ilk defa dinlerken duyulan heyecanı öldürdüğünü belirtmek doğru olur. Albümdeki parçalara dönmek gerekirse, Guns N’ Roses’ın eski tarzından biraz uzaklaştığını fakat gittiği yerlerinde hiç fena olmadığını 14 şarkının her birinde iliklerinize kadar hissedeceksiniz. 15 yıl gibi uzunca bir süre bizi beklettiği için kızmakta sonuna kadar haklı olduğumuz Axl Rose’a hakkını da vermemiz gereken belli noktalar var. Özellikle prodüksiyon sürecinde ince elemiş sık dokumuş solistimiz, ayrıca vokalini de bayağı bir geliştirdiğini söylemeliyiz. Tek tek çalıştığı isimleri buraya yazsam kabarık bir liste oluşturacak sanatçıları bir araya getirme konusunda da iyi bir iş çıkarmış Rose. Bütün bu olumlu özelliklerle birlikte Guns N’ Roses’ı önceden dinlemiş güruhun kulaklarının eski gitarist Slash’in gitar tonunu ve sololarını aradığını belirtmeliyiz. İlk etapta yadırgansa dahi bir rock albümü için çok iyi bir iş kotarıldığı gayet açık, gerçi ortamlarda konuşulan 15 milyon $ civarı rakamlarla ne kadar kötü bir iş çıkarılır o da tartışılır. ‘There was a time’ ve özellikle albümün favorisi ‘Madagascar’ Rose’un geçmişe saygı duruşu niteliğinde. ‘Street of dreams’, ‘This I love’ ve ‘Better’ gibi şarkılar ise barındırdıkları gitar sololarıyla dikkatimizi cezp ediyor. ‘Sorry’, ‘Catcher in the rye’ ve ‘I.R.S.’de albümde göze çarpan diğer şarkılar. Amerikalı firma Dr. Pepper, albüm 2008 içerisinde çıkarsa herkese bir kutu kola vereceğini açıklamıştı. “Chinese Democracy” bizleri çok bekletti, Çinlileri daha da çok bekletecek; ama sonunda geldi ya, kolayla dahi olsa kutlanmalı!

Guns N’ Roses / Chinese Democracy / Universal Müzik

Guns N’ Roses face lawsuit
LiveDaily.com – Oct 7, 2009‎

ガンズの盗作問題ですか。よく知りませんがアクセルを筆頭にバンドメンバー、アルバムに関わった人すべてを訴えているようですね、その中にBucketheadとかロビンの名前も。これは可哀想（微笑） ガンズ側も色々主張があるようだから最終的には和解になるんだと思うんだけどどこらへんが妥協点なのかな。しかしこれもそうだけどロイターとかで普通に「Brian “Buckethead” Carroll」とか「Bucketheadの名で知られるBrian Carroll」とか、中の人の名前出すぎ。ブライアン・パトリック・キャロルだっけ、中の人。ミドルネームまで知れてるのは何故なのか知らないですが中の人の顔は如何にもブライアン・パトリック・キャロルって顔してるよね。

Bucketがガンズのメンバーになった時の契約内容、アルバム「Chinese Democracy」に名前をクレジットする時の契約書の内容を知らないので何とも云えないけど、なんかこういうのは良くも悪くも新鮮だよね。どっかでちらっと見たけどBucketは以前ソニーとあれこれやっていたようだからちゃんと弁護士とかいるんだろうなと想像すると「ああ、彼もなんだかんだで人間よ」と思ったり。和解金支払いの為にガンズのツアーメンバーになってあげなよと勝手なことを云ってみます。もしくは自分のところに和解金支払いカンパが来るのなら尚更参加してみるのも美味しいですよ。

まあそれはそれとして、中の人の名前が書かれまくるのはちょっと気の毒。私生活をパパラッチされてないだけマシだけど、もし彼がメジャーシーンに居たら必ずやられてるんだろうなと思う。上手く云えないけどメディアは隠されているのものを引っ張り出そうとするのが基本姿勢だけど、そういう姿勢が過度になることは如何に危険なのかMJの一件で彼らも判ってはいると思うんだけどね…。まあ私が中の人に興味を持ちたくないというか、正直中の人の顔を想像すると強烈に萎えるタイプなので、彼がマスクをしている限りはBucketheadと呼んであげなよと思う今日この頃です。