Mick v. Keef, Round Two

I finished Keith Richards' autobiography a couple of weeks ago with a mixture of wonder and mild nausea. The man is a musical giant and also an icon of rock and roll debauchery, a kind of crown prince of chemical misadventure. It turns out his memories of his travels through addictions to tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, loose women and who knows what else are remarkably clear. What's equally clear is that this is a man who regrets nothing, least of all his own regrettable attitudes toward women ("bitches"), gays ("poofters"), parenting (he made his young son his on-tour houseboy as he traversed the depths of heroin addiction), and even his musical other half and longtime frenemy Mick Jagger. Jagger, to his credit, has not responded publicly to the many jibes Richards throws his way in Life -- so a veteran rock journalist by the serendipitous name of Bill Wyman has done it for him, penning an absolutely brilliant imagined response by Sir Mick. This should really be required reading for anyone who completes Keef's winding, entertaining-when-not-horrifying, largely amoral and deeply self-serving tome.

Oh Madonna...

...will you ever tire of being an attention whore?

I mean, first you call your latest album Hard Candy, then you call the accompanying tour "Sticky & Sweet"... And you just turned 50? A extremely fit 50, and after all it is the new 40 and everything, but really... you have kids. They have friends. And you're still prancing around like a pole dancer and making shock-value-only videos?

I mean, it's almost as cringe-worthy as a bunch of sixty-somethings prancing around under a giant lips-and-tongue-logo...

Oh, wait.

Never mind.

Rolling Stones get what they want from Universal

Big news in the world of corporate labeldom today as erstwhile world's biggest band The Rolling Stones announced they have left EMI and moved over to Universal. This is an unwelcome development for both EMI -- which recently lost both Radiohead and Paul McCartney -- and Live Nation, which had been lobbying hard to sign the Stones. In an industry in the midst of a wrenching transition in both business model and product delivery systems, it's a sign that there is still money to be made making and selling music.