The Further Disintegration of Billy Corgan

So I'm coming out of blogger hibernation because it's time once again for me to castigate my former hero, Billy Corgan. I don't *enjoy* calling him out constantly, but he makes it impossible not to do so!

In fact, I was actually feeling somewhat sympathetic to him after he posted a rambling explanation as to why he was going to continue working as a Smashing Pumpkin after even his right-hand man Jimmy Chamberlain jumped ship.

Well, this is the part I found kind of touching anyway, if you ignore the normal Billy pretentiousness:

"I appreciate that for many fans, the public part of my musical journey has often been quite confusing. I've tried to explain many times in both public and private venues that it's really not so different than a character on tv who embodies the role they are in. I don't think there is anything inauthentic about my play-acting within those created personas (zero, the whyte spider, the sad guy, the vampyre, etc) and acting them out on the grand stage in front of the glare of whoever cares. That to me IS what rock and roll is about. But many lack the sophistication to appreciate that just because I play a baby-faced killa upon the darkened stage that it doesn't come close to who I really am. I would point very gently to the diversity and complexity of my artistic work to give you some sense of who Billy Corgan really is (that is a joking 3rd person by the way). Part-alien, part-human, part-robot, part-star-crossed lover and part-mercury filled apparently if one was to read the songs in that way. I am a sensitive soul and I make no apologies for that. As Popeye said, 'I yam who I yam'. Or in my case maybe it's 'I am who I ain't.'"

And I mean, maybe this is all just more of Billy and his persecution complex, but as someone who has been criticizing him steadily since like, oh, 2006 or so, I can understand his frustration when people mistake the public image for the real person. If this frustration stems from his recently bitching at his audience during the Smashing Pumpkins anniversary shows, well, that's a problem all of his own making. Sure, that could be part of a "character" or "onstage persona," but it's just fucking stupid to start yelling at your biggest fans. In fact, in the same rambling blog post, he has this groundbreaking revelation:

"My wish is that from this day forward this group will represent nothing but love and light. If you see BC out there griping, it is only because I have failed to set the proper conditions to be in the love and light with you. The fan is NOT responsible in any way, shape, or form for my happiness or the my ability to do my job. (Nor have they ever been) If I have given that impression to any of you through the years I am sorry about that. That was an error on my part. When a fan comes to an SP show we owe it to you to put on the best show possible, rain or shine. I believe the days of standing on a stage somewhere in the world feeling torn about why I am up there are over. SP will be about peace from this day forward as well. The music WILL also reflect this shift in devotion and humble gratitude. You shall see!"

Well, gee, thanks Billy...that's quite a load off of my shoulders, as a fan. Okay, so my sympathy for him only goes so far. But I will say this: obviously, my criticism of Billy is criticism of the Rock Star and the Public Image and the Businessman and not the real, personal Billy who probably likes puppies and ice cream and who may just do nice things for strangers when no one is looking. That's how it is with anyone we write about on this site, even when it almost feels like we know that person. Because we don't.

But it's not like I don't have enough material with Billy The Rock Star and Public Image. In fact, he seems to be doing all he can to trash his own public image. I'm not even angry about it anymore, as a fan. I guess now I'm more curious...like, what is going on with Billy these days? Does he have a gambling addiction? An expensive blow habit? Why is he making everything about money, to the detriment of his own dignity and at risk of screwing over his biggest fans?

(Oh, and if you check out the Stereogum link above, you'll see a classic picture of Billy with Tila Tequila. Classy!)

To wit:

So after scorning bands who sell their best songs to advertising agencies, Billy has recently done just that, and I'm sure we've all seen the Visa commerical featuring "Today." Actually, I'm not all that riled up about this. Sure, sure, he explained his decision to refuse to sell "Today" for a commercial in this way:

"The record company's literally begging me: go ahead and take these commercials. At this point in my life, I don't feel comfortable. Those songs are the reason I'm alive. If your music is not sacred to the point where it's a really, really, really heavy decision about whether or not you would allow somebody else to exploit it, then what's not for sale?"

But, really, this is what every single rock star says before every single rock star winds up selling his/her songs for a commerical.

So, honestly, I could care less about that, but when you examine the Visa commercial in conjunction with every other terrible decision he's made recently, it all seems to be part of a disturbing pattern.

What terrible decisions, you may ask? Well, this one, for example:



Sure, Billy, we all liked The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke. That does NOT mean you need to start shilling for the WWE looking like Eminem with spoken-word renditions of your former hits. "You're still just a rat in a six-sided steel cage!"

And last night, I received this email from The Smashing Pumpkin, wherein he announced a subscription service. Now, I think subscription services are fine for the hardcore fans who want exclusive content, ticket presale opportunities, memorabilia, whatever. But of course, Billy has to announce a subscription service that would screw over the ones who love him most. Check out his plans, dependent of course on the interest he generates:

All of the details on this project are not concrete yet, but some information has all ready been provided.

$40 for 12 weeks. A minimum of 5 updates from the studio per week, so that's 60 updates for $40.
Updates would be posted in a less-than-24-hour consistency. For instance, if something happened on Monday, it would be posted no later than Tuesday
Each update would be a minimum of 5 minutes in length. That would mean subscribers would receive at least 25 minutes of unique audio/video material per week, and at least 5 hours over the course of the 12 weeks.
There is a possibility of live streaming video content in addition to what has been presented above.

Wait a minute...$40 for 12 weeks?! Meaning that if you had the inclination to sign up for another 12 weeks, that's another $40? Meaning that if you really loved Billy THAT much, you'd be paying him around $160 a year? We are in a recession! Is he mad? I don't even see that you get a t-shirt out of the deal!

It is certainly not my place to tell Billy Corgan that he has enough money. But I don't understand why he is allowing himself to flame out like this, when he has a large enough fanbase to comfortably pay his bills for the foreseeable future as long as he refrains from abusing us and gives us a fair shake.

Whew. Glad I got that off my chest. I'm going to try to put together another post before the husband and I leave for Hawaii on Saturday, but no promises!

Aloha!

Checking in with Places Parallel...

Well it's been another couple of weeks and a whole lotta nothing is still going on but I thought I'd drop back in to share what's been entertaining me thus far this weekend.

Trent's Digg Dialog interview
You can watch it as a whole here:

Or they've convienently split it up into the individual sections by question. Several questions were pertaining to the NIN business model / distribution methods, which I would normally be all over because the "how do they do that" facinates me, but I've got an attention span of a gnat these days and this interview is 40 minutes long. He gives good arms though. For those of you who would rather just skip to the good parts I recommend checking out "most embarrassing song on your ipod" and "is there tension between Rob and JMJ on Scientology". Oh and the "what are your favorite video games" just because Mr. Iris has turned me into a bit of a gamer.


Josh Freese's $20,000 solo album
So on March 24th, Josh Freese released his solo album called "Since 1972" along with a crazy pricing scheme. What's even crazier though is that one fan with too much disposable income / allowance bought the $20,000 version which included such things as "Maynard James Keenan, Mark Mothersbaugh from DEVO and I take you miniature golfing," "I write 2 songs about you," and "Drum lesson OR foot and back massage". No doubt it would be a pretty awesome experience but doesn't this kid know there's a recession going on? I contemplated the $50 version which included a personal phone call from Josh but decided to settle for the sensible $15 copy.  What would I really have to say to Josh Fucking Freese anyway?  Don't be weird about it?  I do have a Twitter friend who opted for the $250 copy and had lunch with the man and his girlfriend. I'm trying to get here to share her experience here with us.

Indigneous: "Broken Lands"

I bought the latest album from one of my very favorite blues-rock bands, Indigneous, and have had it on non-stop repeat all. day. long.  If you're not listening to this, you should be.  I've followed this band for several years but I'm always hesitant to buy new albums from them.  I have three and I've loved each individual one so intensely that I'm always afraid that their next one will hit that sour note or that their sound will change just enough that it won't move me.  So far, thank God, my fears have been unfounded.  Mato Nanji's voice is just so smooth and it absolutely slays me along with his guitar-playing.  Here's a live recording of "Come On Home" from their previous album, "Chasing the Sun".  The quality is a little rough but still... *swoon*

If things work out I just might be seeing them here in a few months. Fingers crossed!

That about wraps things up for me.  What has everyone else been up to?

Checking in with Trent...

Thanks for the tip off Isabel. I've been immersed in the Twilight series these past two days and haven't really come up for air yet (or sleep for that matter). Two books in two days...I'm tempted to use the ole toothpick to eyelids trick today so I don't take a nap at my desk. And there are still two to go. *ack*

Don't judge me. They're additively bad, good, and hilarious from an adult point of view. Oh Bella, Bella, Bella. *shakes head*

Anyhow, check this out. It seems like a pretty cool thing for Trent to do. Anything that ups fan interaction is usually something I'm on board with. The first couple of questions seem reasonable enough. I'm too wiped to think of anything to add this morning.

3.30.09: Submit your questions for Trent to Digg Dialogg

Trent will be interviewed by Kevin Rose for Digg Dialogg, where questions are submitted by fans and voted on here. The most popular questions will be asked in the interview. Submissions and voting are open until April 4th at 12pm PDT.

Just A Quickie

So I'm back from a whirlwind weekend trip to Chicago, and frankly still trying to recover from walking like 75 miles a day sight-seeing, but I just had to stop by for a minute because this is too good to not share.

Twitter + Trent Reznor = possibly the greatest thing ever.

"Have CNN on in the background and realize I'm humming the 'Jitterbug' commercial. If you've heard it - you know there's pain involved."
from TweetDeck

And the jingle he's referring to:

Sweet Jeebus. The mental image I have of him humming this little tune while dorking out with his favorite synth made me laugh so hard I snorted.

Trent, you're goddamned killing me here. When can we expect the remix?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the extended absence. You know how it goes at an office, even for ghost dogs: you take a vacation, and they make your life miserable immediately before you leave and after you return. So mainly I've been catching up this past week, but the husband and I had a wonderful time in lovely Ireland!



Pretty, isn't it? If you go to Ireland any time soon, I really recommend heading up north to Antrim. That was my favorite part of our Irish travels.

Meanwhile, on St. Paddy's day proper, I am decidely NOT enjoying the luck o' the Irish. This morning I leisurely checked my work email before showering and walking the dogs to find that the head honcho had sent out one of those group scolding emails re: timeliness that I'm sure was only meant to be addressed to like me and a couple of other people, but this company is very passive-aggressive like that. So really, I have no one to blame for myself with regard to my chronic tardiness, but it's still a bummer on St. Patrick's Day, and really, I pay this company back tenfold with unpaid overtime.

Then when I was making my morning tea, I spilled some boiling water on my fingers...ouch!

Good thing that tonight is a much-anticipated Flogging Molly concert! This L.A.-based "celtic punk" band is one of my husband's discoveries...he checked them out while Iris and Ro and I were rocking out to Saul Williams at last year's Lolla. He became an instant fan and bought a bunch of their albums, and listening to them in the car with him, I was converted as well. So although I'm not super-familar with song titles and such, I know that I will definitely enjoy this concert experience. Provided I don't get hit by a bus or some such beforehand. And I will do my best to bring you a full review sometime in the next...oh, year or so.
Unfortunately, in my rush to get out the door this morning, I forgot the camera, so no A/V goodies, but I'll do my best to steal some off of YouTube so that you get the general idea.



In other news, Trent wrote a huge anti-scalping rant, which I think is meant to deflect anger that if you see the whole NINJA package (if the whole "NINJA" name thing is not due to the pernicious and super-gay influence of Rob Sheridan, I will eat my metaphorical hat), you may be paying up to $150 for the best seats/general admission. Panic ensuing here.

Luckily for us in the Windy City, NIN will be unaccompanied by either JA or Street Sweeper, and I suspect that this is because those other two bands will be playing Lollapalooza, and there's a whole contractual thing re: when bands are allowed to play Chicago before or after the show. So our ticket prices (according to the presale, which sold out in a millisecond before Ro and I could score tickets) will be around $45. Normal Trent prices.

I must say I'm disappointed that tickets in other cities are going so high. I know, thanks to JR, that there are a LOT of factors that go into pricing, but we are in a recession, folks! I also know that there are a lot of people who would be willing to travel to multiple shows, given that it's being billed as The. Last. NIN. Show. Maybe. Not. For. Forever. But. Definitely. For. A. While. But these ticket prices are too prohibitive for those diehard fans. And...whatever, I guess. No one is forcing anyone to buy tickets or not buy tickets. If you're that diehard and poor, maybe you should settle for nosebleeds rather than not go to the show. Maybe you're pissed and want to say, fuck it, and not go at all, and I think that's a valid reaction.

I think what I'm most annoyed about are the strange venues and cities on the tour. I guess maybe it's a Live Nation thing. But I was hoping for maybe a Milwaukee or Madison show...you know, something easy to get to from Chicago, so that I could hit an extra show. But the closest they're getting is Noblesville, IN, north of Indianapolis, and eh...forget it.

So expect a lot of wailing and [gnashing _of_teeth] on NIN boards, and expect some defensive blow-up from Trent any day now over it.



(It's okay, Trent, we still love you!)

It's kind of funny because although it's cool to have NIN and Jane's Addiction on the same bill, were the two fan groups THAT interrelated that they each wanted to see ticket prices shoot up like 150% to see both acts at the same time?

Anyhoo, it's back to the proverbial grindstone for me...I'll be back soon to tell you all about the reasonably priced and festive Flogging Molly!

Fields of Gaffney

guest post by Places Parallel reader, JR

Hey there.

So Maise and Iris are out of ideas, and they're dying to hear all about my holy-grail-that-is-Eric-Gaffney-performing-at-my-feet story, so I decided to set five minutes aside and whip a little something up to help them out. I'm nice like that.

If you've been paying attention, then you realize that I am a big fan of Eric Gaffney, the vastly more talented co-founder of Sebadoh - the other being the wildly overrated Lou Barlow, who is still pretty good, but not all that and a bag of chips...and who was kicked out of Dinosaur Jr by one J Mascis, who is totally dreamy and a living legend, and...where was I? Oh, right, Gaffney.

I won't drill down into the minutiae, but suffice to say that for nearly a year, Eric Gaffney and I went back and forth about him playing in my venue as a part of a new audience development initiative. I would pitch the idea, he would say no, they were no draw, no one knew who they were. I would write it off, only to hear from Gaffney two months later saying that his email address had been hijacked and that he was thinking now that it would be a good idea. Then he got into a drunken bicycle accident and had fractured like ten bones in his upper body and wasn't doing much but recuperating. When I had written him off completely, though, I suddenly received an email from him totally out of the blue, wondering about setting up a date. After all of the back and forth for more than six months, I was unsure about whether to make him a formal offer, but in the end I did and he accepted, and we had a show (it was a double bill with Edie Sedgwick).

There were some things about the show I would do differently if I had a chance for a do over, but really - that moment when Eric FUCKING Gaffney walked through the front doors of my theatre with his guitar case and asked my staff member "Where do I put this?", well...I really can't have asked for more than that. I had PMS and was pretty emotional and spent a large portion of the evening crying. Really. I was even walking around with a camera in one hand, a Kleenex in the other. JR is not afraid to show JR's emotions.

Now, for the real confession - I'm terrible at writing show reviews. When I'm there, I'm just there in the moment, and I tend to forget a lot of the details, and when it's a show at work, I'm paying a lot more attention to pretty much everything else happening. But through the magic of being JR, however, I was fortunate enough to get a recording of the entire event from the soundboard, and it's great. I promised not to share or swap it, though, so instead of songs, I give you the second best thing - stories! The FoG show was heavily punctuated by Eric's stories, and it was impossible to tell whether they were true or not, but that didn't diminish their amusing nature. (They also served to confirm the backstory that I had given him in my mind, that he is the indie rock version of Kramer. It's so totally true.) I've uploaded maybe half of them for your edification.

Before we get to the stories, though, let's take a peek at a few pictures, right?

The marquee outside my theatre; I caught Gaffney taking a picture of it on his cell phone (theatre name removed to protect the innocent).

Some staff (obscured so they won't steal the spotlight!), setting up the stage on the stage. This was a small event that took place entirely on the stage, as you'll see. We didn't use all those pesky theatre seats that you see...they were just a cool backdrop.

Eric Gaffney, looking up at the stage lights, perhaps wondering what would happen if one fell on his head during the performance. Did I mention that he was 45 minutes early for sound check?

Eric "Fields of" Gaffney on my stage within a stage. I know next to nothing about playing guitar, but he had something on this acoustic (a pickup?), that would allow him to switch it from acoustic to electric. He was actually getting some (intentional) feedback out of it, which was great. Overall, though, the performance was largely acoustic, with foot percussion (the drum in this pic is Edie Sedgwick's).

Eric Gaffney, telling one of the stories. The performance was lengthy, and as full of stories as it was of music. Most of his stories were amusing non-sequitirs. I bet you wish you were there.

This is sort of, visually, Eric Gaffney in a nutshell to me. There is something special about him; if I could read auras, I would probably see something good in his, and in this picture it's almost as if you CAN see his aura...he's just vibrating at a different frequency than other people.

Foot percussion. Yes, it's a tambourine, and he forgot his at home so we had to buy him one for the night. Since we bought it, it belonged to US not HIM, which meant that I totally swiped it after the show. I was going to take the set list, but went with the tambourine instead. I ended up with the set list, too, which came back with the recording of the night. Awww, yeah.

You might be asking, "JR, how come there is no picture of you and Eric Gaffney, both giving a thumbs up to the camera, or shaking hands like Elvis and Richard Nixon?" Well, kids, the reason for that is that it's not the nature of my relationship with him...yeah, I'm a total fan, but I wasn't in the role of fan that night, I was in work mode. We talked at the end of his set about the whole thing (and specifically about the size of the audience, how I wished it was more), and he was extremely supportive, wacky and totally cool. Exactly what you'd expect.

So, yeah, now you want to hear the stories? Enjoy.

John Cougar Mellencamp



Fields of Gaffney

Did you know that Gaffney's ex-wife is Peaches' manager?


Catharsis of Phlegm

How Kramer-like was this story? A friend named "MDR"? Remember Kramer's friend FDR, with the birthday wish?


Open D Is Tricky

Isn't it?


Or Whatever

Trucking songs!


Supposet-ly?

This one might be my favorite.


Dr. Gene Scott

Pretty sure he's talking about a televangelist (look it up on Wikipedia). This is particularly nuts out of context.


I Was Eating A Lot of Captain Crunch



Acoustic Shows

Again, Kramer..?


Lucky To Be Alive

He breaks it down right about here. (And seriously, he didn't remember it? Whoa.)


Ink Spots



Paper or Plastic

This is at the top of the show, when he whipped out the merch.


The Wolf

I like when he howls in this.


Okay, okay, I caved, and I'll include a tasting of the music that was a part of the night.

Locket Love clip (Ramones cover)


So, that's it. My dream came true.

Wave Goodbye to What You Were

If you've checked in to NIN.com lately (and who are you kidding, you know you obsessively F5 like the rest of us) there's news from the Big Giant Head.

2.16.09: A note from Trent and a wave goodbye

[edited for length, click above link for full update]

In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's "Lights in the Sky" tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year. The approach to these shows is quite different from last year - much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted. Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye. I reached out to Jane's [Addiction] to see if they'd want to join us across the US and we all felt it could be a great thing. Will it work? Will it resonate in the marketplace? Who knows. Are there big record label marketing dollars to convince you to attend? Nope. Does it feel right to us and does it seem like it will be fun for us and you? Yes it does. Look for tour dates soon and I hope to see you out there.

Trent

Shhh...hear that? It's the sound of thousands of fangirls and boys alternately crying and bitching about this announcement. But you're not going to hear any of that from these Places Parallel girls, or at least not from me.

I am a little sad to know the end is coming, but not surprised. Trent's been hinting at this for awhile now and, really, let's add it up: ten band members have made up and/or been cycled through the band (although I'm not sure Rich Frownes [aka Jeordie 2.0] should count since he never played live with them), five years of pretty much non-stop touring, four albums released, three sites launched (The Spiral, Remix.nin.com, and a massively overhauled NIN.com), two Grammys lost, and a Saul Williams album in a pear tree. Dude's earned the right to some extended vacation time. And this might be just the kind of down time he needs to finish up some other loose-end projects **cough, cough, Ghosts Film Festival, cough, Year Zero: THE MOVIE, cough, cough** Damn...got something in my throat. My point being, TR is seldom doing nothing for long and I'm certain there will be other goodies fans can appreciate/worship/piss & moan about.

I am definitely planning on seeing NIN again before their final farewell and I'm even contemplating attending the very last show of the tour wherever that lands. Hubby is trying to talk me into Bonnaroo this year since there are a few other acts playing the festival he'd like to see. I'm not exactly sold on that idea yet. Maise and I are wondering since NIN is currently touring with Jane's Addiction if that in anyway guarantees another Lollapalooza appearance. I suppose we can only wait to see what's revealed. I've never seen Jane's Addiction live so this ought to be a treat seeing the original lineup together. Dave Navarro slightly skeeves me out but Perry Farrell is just too much fun to miss. In the dream concert I've made up in my mind Perry comes out between each NIN song to tell a fun little segue.

"Oh all my little pigs...you've been such a beautiful, beautiful audience...but I've been a baaaad boy ...oh yes, yes my little piggies...ha ha ha...YEAH...and right now...I need your DISCIPLINE"

********

"You know, I love to color . Yeah. Coloring. Little coloring books, big coloring books, I love them all. But I can never stay in the lines. No matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I focus...I just can't do it. And the more I stare it down, well, the more the lines begin to blur."

Okay, so maybe you have to be in my head to see just how goddamn funny that would be.