Just Couldn't Wait

Ok, I was planning on saving this blog until the new season of Gene Simmons Family Jewels started, but I can't wait.
If you haven't seen the show, it airs on A&E on Monday nights. (I think it's very postmodern that a show about the KISS frontman is on A&E!)

As you can assume, the show focuses on Gene Simmons and his life with former Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed, and their two (very normal) kids. In fact, the whole family is oddly normal. The kids are disciplined. Shannon does the house chores. Gene pays the bills and complains about the noise when his son rehearses with his rock band! The only catch is that Gene and Shannon are not married. He doesn't believe in marriage because that would force fidelity, but the pair have been together for more than two decades.

The series started with slow ratings, and quickly grew to one of the network's highest rated shows. More than a typical reality series about a famous family, the series is really an experiment in modern American life. Gene Simmons is classic rock legend, glammed to the hilt. This is the same man who swears to have slept with more than four thousand women, but refuses to drink or do drugs. He says America needs moral values. Insert your own comments here.

As a sidebar, Season 1 of Gene Simmons Family Jewels is out on store shelves. Gene likes his money, and he'll market anything with the KISS logo including a casket that helps you rock into the afterlife.

Just this morning, the bands official website, www.kissonline.com, launched a campaign for a new KISS Visa card. 

What fans really want is a new KISS album. Oh well.  

Strange Bedfellows

Metal music is making a lot of bizarre headlines today. I was prepared to write about Stephen Pearcy's new deal with an L.A. management company which is promising  help developing a record label. The ex-RATT frontman started Top Fuel Records a short time ago and also plans on releasing a box set of his classic material.

Now to the headlines:

First, isn't music supposed to bring us closer together? A man was killed after an argument over Metallica! The man was fighting with a group of teens while riding on a Canadian bus and things got heated. As the motley group continued to fight, the teens got more and more agitated and allegedly beat the man to death. The three teens now face charges of manslaughter.

And this morning, a Washington Post report finds that detainees at Guantanamo Bay were forced to listen to metal music. First, is this punishment? Second, why is this considered punishment? And is it wrong that I take offense to this? The article goes on to explain some actual torture techniques that our fine government paid for and instituted. Actually, I'm too disgusted now to continue. Just plain disgusted.

Check out the entire article on www.washingtonpost.com 
You'll be disgusted too.

This people, is NOT glam.

Friends in High Places

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, Lonn Friend was a big time music player. He started at Hustler magazine and worked his way up to editor of RIP magazine , largely lauded as the heaviest magazine in rock. After the magazine went out of publication, Friend became an A&R rep for Arista records, and later a consultant for several major rock acts.

Friend was on the outside looking in, looking back out. He had privilege and access few only dream of (myself included). After a near mental breakdown, failed marriage, and money problems, Friend returned to the fold to write a book about his life in music, aptly called Life on Planet Rock. The book is a music biography like no other, filled with behind the scenes details and testimony to Friend's power in the very fickle industry. Left with only his pen and memories, Friend is able to transport his readers backstage at the Monsters of Rock Festival or to the dinner table with heavy hitters like record executive David Geffen.

What also makes this book a great read is that Friend is first and foremost a journalist. As a member of the press, it's nice to know that not every celebrity hates the journalists that make them famous and keep them in the public eye.

As the rock scene changed in the late 1980s, Friend's demeanor and authorial voice also changes. From 80s decadence to 90s self-awareness, Friend reflects on his life and his (sometimes) failed career moves. As someone who dreams of working for a music magazine, this book proves an invaluable resource.

Happy New Year

Here's looking to a bright 2007 filled with much more glam than 2006.
As you nurse hangovers and lament heading back to work after the holidays, consider this: concert announcements, reunion tours and album releases all proliferate during the long, cold winter doldrums. This thought alone may help you make it through the day.

Now,  the song obsession of the week:

"Hole Hearted" by Extreme. I love this song because it has perhaps the most glam lyric of all time:

"Rivers flow into the sea
Yet even the sea is not so full of me
If I'm not blind why cant I see
That a circle cant fit
Where a square should be"

Extreme formed in the early 80s like all good glam bands (but in Boston, not on the Sunset Strip). Members cite Queen and Van Halen as major influences. Bostonians Gary Cherone (vocals), Paul Geary (drums), Nuno Bettencourt (guitar), and Pat Badger (bassist) were signed to A&M Records in 1988.

The group disbanded in 1996 and Cherone joined Van Halen, performed on Van Halen 3, leaving the legendary rockers in 1999. Extreme reunited for a brief tour in 2004.

--Song lyrics by Nuno Bettencourt, featured on the 1990 release Extreme II: Pornograffitti