Spooky Halloween Music Special

Today's Halloween and I like to introduce you to the SPOOKY and FRIGHTENING side of Rock'n'Roll music...

Here we have Alice Cooper. The 'shock rocker' from the early 70s became a famous representative of the dark rock scene, because of his concerts. During his shows he performed his own execution (decollation on stage) and - most remembered scene of 'shock rock' - he bite off the head of a bat - or was is Ozzy? Well, some of those 'dark' guys...
Besides his music, Cooper appeared in different movies. Spooky but true, he only appeared in horror movies!
For example in the LAFP former worker John Carpenter's movie "Prince Of Darkness" and the sixth part of the Freddy Kruger movies "A Nightmare On Elmstreet". Alice Cooper plays the father of the supernatural serial killer.

Alice Cooper had a performance on the "Muppet Show", where he satirically played his "Elm Street" character again:




Another 'Halloween classic' is Marilyn Manson. The band's name is the name of the singer, too, and is composed of Marilyn Monroe, the beautiful pop ikone and Charles Manson, the serial killer. The band wants to represent the 'Good' and the 'Bad' with this name.
Marilyn Manson's face is always rouged with white make-up. His eyes are painted black and he wears blood-red lipstick. Another 'trademark' are the contacts in his eyes, one black, the other white - like a blind eye.
But not only his appearance is scary. His music can be found between Industrial Rock, Alternative and Dark Metal. His voice sounds like a hissing snake and can be easily adopted to a horror movie.
His most famous releases are "I don't like the drugs (but the drugs like me)", "mOBSCENE" and "Eat Me, Drink Me".
Marilyn Manson shows are bizarre and shocking. Typical poses on stage are copied from Alice Cooper. For example the execution scenery was used several times during the last "Rape The World Tour".

Connections to the satanistic scene cannot be denied, but a connection between the 'Columbine Killers' and the Marilyn Manson music, however, were proved unjustified.
The songs of the band are used for several different horror and thriller movies. "Matrix", "Blair Witch", "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Max Payne".

The cover songs of the Soft Cell classic "Tainted Love" and Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" let Marilyn Manson be played in the radios and he became well known to people outside of the dark rock scene and besides Halloween.

"mOBSCENE" - Marilyn Manson

Beastie Boys: "Get out and vote"

The Beastie Boys, a famous American hip hop group from New York City, have added three shows to their swing state tour in support of the presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"We are going to do a few shows in hopes that we can remind people to vote," the Beastie Boys said in a joint statement, adding that they are endorsing Barack Obama. "This election is too important, too much is at stake to stay at home. We hope that you can come out, have a nice night, dance, sing, get your freak on, and then wake up the next morning and get everyone that you possibly can to get out and vote."

The 'get out the vote' tour began on October 27th in Charlotte, N.C., together with Sheryl Crow and Santogold.
Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper and Norah Jones supported the tour two nights later in Youngstown, Ohio, while Crow and Harper will play tonight in Dayton, Ohio.
Jack Johnson, Tenacious D and David Crosby and Graham Nash are on board to play shows November 1 in St. Paul, Minn., and November 2 in Milwaukee.

Beastie Boys - Live

GHOST MICE (Bloomington / USA) / / Acoustic Folk

During and after our shows with my band, I Met Violet, we get to know a lot of great musicians and bands - and often become friends.
A band we know, since four years ago, and we're in close contact with - maybe because our first show as I Met Violet had been together with them - is Ghost Mice. Since our first show we played two more gigs with them. Keep in mind that they are from Indiana, we're from Germany.
It's always a great pleasure to support them on their world-wide tours - but we didn't make it out of Bielefeld, yet.

Let me introduce them to you:

In 2002, Chris Johnston (aka Chris Clavin) and Hannah Jones decided to leave their old punk bands behind, to play 100% acoustically - they founded Ghost Mice.

The shortage of space became a concept: Amplifiers and drums presented an obstacle while touring - transporting a violin, a guitar, a harmonica and a tambourine is much easier and uncomplicated.

Combine these instruments with the singing duet (Chris and Hannah) and you will get wonderful, hearty, acoustic country-folk-punk, which the singers scream to their audience - unplugged.

Their songs are about life on the road, painful love or politics. Their sound combines the best elements of punk and folk - it mixes fun with rebellion and makes it appear, as it is all the same.

And according to their anarchist attitude, they want to play everywhere: on the streets, in the backyards, in the living rooms, in the rain, in the clubs - even if the electricity fails - or at the lost and found at the railway station - where the noise of the trains complete the sound...

Instrumentation:
HANNAH JONES plays the violin and lives in Bloomington, IN.
CHRIS JOHNSTON plays guitar, lives in Gainesville, FL.
PASCALOO plays ukulele and concertina, lives in Paris.

more info on Ghost Mice:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Mice
http://www.plan-it-x.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ghostmice

Ghost Mice - Hang On Kids

Fall Out Boy against Prop. 8

Isabel wrote about it in her political blog: Proposition 8 in California – the initiative to overturn the legalization of same-sex-marriage in California.

One of my favourite bands, Fall Out Boy, is supporting the "NO" campaign. While some bands like U2 are known for their philanthropic efforts, some simply aren't. Fall Out Boy is one of those bands. However, they're doing everything they can to change that.

They donated $50,000 Dollars to the efforts to defeat Prop. 8, which will be appear on the state's ballots on Election Day (11/4/2008).

Bassist Pete Wentz said: "There are a lot of causes out there — a lot of 'good' fights to be fought. I think Proposition 8 is pretty lame — as many others do, too. It's fucking lame."

Another statement of the band to the Proposition and their donation is kept simple and short:
"We believe government shouldn’t legislate love. Vote 'no' on Proposition Eight."

Concert review: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

Six talented people on one stage, a Mexican feeling and a lot of good music can describe this evening. No, I'm not doing a concert review about Calexico again. Like I mentioned in my last blog entry, Isabel and I have gone to a concert of Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band.

They played their show at the Warfield in San Francisco. This music venue had been renovated a few weeks ago and is now again open to the public. The interior room reminded me some of the Sistine Chapel: mural paintings on the ceiling, baroque walls and a lot of candelabra.

It's a fact that this show is not a Bright Eyes concert, it's Conor Oberst's solo project. This fact irritated some members of the audience. But all in all you can hardly hear the difference between the Mystic Valley Band and Bright Eyes - the sound's almost the same. But the "false labeling"-band was more down-to-earth. More guitars, no "extraordinary" instruments like violins or xylophones - like Conor Oberst used during Bright Eyes shows.

A mixed audience of younger and older people created a great atmosphere. The concert was sold out. The security measures were exaggerated - I felt like I was taking part in a military drill. Security lines and incompetent doormen spoiled some parts of the evening.

The Mystic Valley Band played almost all the songs of their new album "Conor Oberst" which has a Mexican touch and creates some kind of an "on the road"-feeling. But maybe it's because Isabel and I listen to this album when we're driving in our car.
People who expected some Bright Eyes songs got disappointed - they played not a single song of Conor's "former band". Who would have known that?

All in all it was a great, two hour show with a refreshed and well-rehearsed Conor Oberst and some his Saddle Creek family members. Conor once again showed that the music is the best way to express himself - either as Bright Eyes or as the Mystic Valley Band.

Listen to their songs at http://www.myspace.com/conoroberst

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

“Conor and a tight-knit group of fellow musicians, who aptly call themselves The Mystic Valley Band, crafted a lush and beautiful record that evokes the deep sense of harmony in which they lived and worked during that month of recording at Tepoztlán, Morales, Mexico.” (conoroberst.com)

This quote from Conor Oberst' website is formulated very accurately.
The singer of the Bright Eyes, a Folk-Rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, has just started a new project to express himself: Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band.
Oberst wanted to start a solo project apart from the brand "Bright Eyes".
Only Nate Walcott plays with Conor Oberst in the Mystic Valley Band and Bright Eyes. The trumpet and piano player supported Oberst to "cast" other musicians for the project.
Nik Freitag joined the band. He's a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Visalia, California. He met Conor Oberst through one of those chance encounters on one of his many nationwide tours. Their meeting resulted in Oberst releasing Nik’s fourth album “Sun Down” on his Team Love Records imprint and supporting Bright Eyes on the “Cassadaga” tour.

Macey Taylor was asked to record the album because Oberst knows him from different projects and jam sessions with musicians of the Saddle Creek label.

Jason Boesel, born in Hawaii, was cast as the MVB drummer. During the last 15 years he played with Saddle Creek bands like Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes.
Last but not least, Taylor Hollingsworth joined the band, who is a great guitar player and was picked by Conor Oberst after he played a short session with him after a show.

The album "Conor Oberst" was recorded in a studio in Mexico where the band rented a house, where they lived together and could record the record within a month.
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band started touring in June 2008 and has played in South America, North America and Europe.
Tonight we will see their show at the Warfield in San Francisco. We are very excited.
You can read my concert review on Monday.

Censored record covers - No. 3

To finish my little report about censored record covers, this entry is again about album covers of actual bands that had been pulled before they could be released or after they had hit the market.

Here is an example of a macabre coincidence that forced the record company and the band to replace the picture of the cover:
The hip-hop band The Coup wanted to release a new record with a cover depicted the World Trade Center exploding.
Two months after finishing the artwork for the cover (the record wasn’t released, yet), the terroristic attacks on the World Trade Center’s twin towers let the picture become a terrible reality.

"We changed the artwork as soon as we saw what had happened," said Daria Kelly, director of sales for 75 Ark, the band's label.
Hours after two hijacked airliners actually smashed in to the WTC, the picture was taken off from the company’s website.

Jane's Addiction - "Ritual De Lo Habitual"

The American band Jane’s Addiction tried to release their album “Ritual De Lo Habitual” with a cover which shows three naked people barely covered with a red blanket. Too much for the American public found the guardian of the public morals, and directed the band and their management to replace the album cover immediately.

The band expressed their protests against this repression with a white cover and a reprint of the First Amendment to the US constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech. Nevertheless, the original cover found its way to the huge public through the internet and caught much more attention than it might had if it had not been recalled.

A ride with Alan Jackson

When Isabel and I drove through Arizona, down the U.S. Highway 93, along the endless streets in a wide open space, we wanted to listen to suitable music.

We saw Joshua trees at the roadside, small bars full of people - workers who enjoyed their leisure-time. We noticed this feeling of freedom and independence everywhere in the Grand Canyon State.

We knew that we could not listen to our "standard" Rock CDs - they did not seem appropriate in this laid-back state.

For this moment on the street we wanted to listen to something special, something that describes the feeling of driving to a beautiful, undisturbed nature - America's wild west.

I bought a cowboy hat and some toothpicks at the next gas station and turned on the radio in the car. And there it was, the music for this special road trip: Alan Jackson - over and over again.

I couldn't even imagine that we got some kind of radio frequency in the middle of the desert.

Alan Jackson was one of the most popular country singers of the 1990s - and besides Johnny Cash, my favorite country singer. So I was happy to listen to his music - he was a friendly and constant companion during our time in Arizona and Nevada's Death Valley.

Thanks for the ride, Alan.

Alan Jackson Where I Come From

"Willin" by Little Feat - references to Tonopah

We are now in a small town, called Tonopah, in Nevada.
It is a little town, which was founded by a silver seeker around 1900. A music scene in Tonopah? No. But there is one band that refers to the town in one of their famous songs. It's Little Feat's song "Willin", which was recorded in 1971. "Willin" was written by Lowell George, the guitarist and singer of Little Feat, during the time he played with Frank Zappa's band Mothers of Invention.

"And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah.
I've driven every kind of rig that's ever been made;
driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed."

The song "Willin" was also a reason why Lowell George was kicked out of Mothers of Invention. One explanation why "Willin" caused troubles are the many references to the use of drugs in the lyrics ("weed, whites, wine") - Zappa was anti-drugs.

Another version about George's leaving is that Zappa fired him for playing a 15 minute guitar solo - with his amplifier off.

Never mind, "Willin" brings Tonopah's current fame - even if a little town in Arizona called Tonopah claims that this songs refers to their town...

Little Feat - Willin'

Censored record covers of the 60s - No. 2

I found two more interesting censored record covers of the 60s - according to my last blog entry.

"Yesterday and Today" The Beatles

June 1966: The Beatles album "Yesterday and Today" had been released on the U.S. market. It was a compilation of various Beatles titles - the record company tried to promote the less successful songs. The mushroom heads from Liverpool felt cannibalized and presented themselves as butchers - on the cover from "Yesterday and Today".

But the record company was afraid that there won't be any success with this cover on the U.S. market. A new cover photo was produced and stuck on the offensive photo - today those over-stickered covers achieve astronomical prices.

"Blind Faith" Blind Faith

In 1969, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Ric Grech founded a new group to record an album. The new band had no name until a young photographer got the job to design the record cover. He made photos with a young girl and called the picture "Blind Faith". Eric Clapton was pleased by both the photo and the album title - "Blind Faith" became the name of the band.

But the topless picture of the young girl caused troubles in the USA. The record had been taken off the market and the cover was replaced by a picture of the band.

Censored record covers of the 60s - No. 1

After I had written about the way of censoring music in the USA, I found some examples of famous musicians of the 60s whose album covers were censored before they could be released.

“Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins” John Lennon and Yoko Ono

In 1968, John Lennon and Yoko Ono caused big troubles with their album "Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins". The music was extraordinary – a mixture of tones, recorded in one night, generated from electronic sounds and Yoko’s high voice.
Rather, it was the cover that caused a stir. The cover shows the couple standing, arm in arm, looking into the camera – totally naked.

Only after long discussions with the record company did the album finally come on the market - completely wrapped in brown paper.

“Electric Ladyland” Jimi Hendrix

Shortly after the release of Jimi Henrix’ album "Electric Ladyland", the record was again taken off the market.
American women’s associations had started critizing Hendrix for using too much “naked femininity” – the result of this arguement was that Jimi Hendrix changed the cover of “Ladyland”.
The total defused cover version only showed Hendrix and his two fellows Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.

“If you can believe your eyes and ears” The Mamas and the Papas

In 1966, it was even too much for the shy buyer to see a toilet on a record cover. The statement of the record company forced the band, the Mamas and the Papas, to take their album off the market again.
The bathroom with toilet caused a public nuisance. Even after the toilet was covered with a label there were protests.
Only the completely toilet-free version of the cover version, on which neither a bathtub nor toilet are visible, was accepted by custom and decency of this time.

The Warfield – A venue with history in San Francisco

It’s time to introduce a concert venue in San Francisco: The Warfield.
When we’d been in San Francisco for the first days after our arrival, we searched for the Warfield, which is placed at the Market Street, because we wanted to buy tickets for a concert of one of my favourite artists: Conor Oberst.

The Warfield is a very dark looking building, hidden behind some trees so, that you can hardly read the letters above the doors.
But the Warfield has got an interesting history and I’d like to write about it, before we will visit the concert on Friday next week.

Built in the 1920s to be a theatre, the floor seats were removed in the early 1980s to create a music venue for rock concerts.

Joe Strummer of The Clash refused to play at the Warfield, when he saw, that the seats had not been removed – he wanted his audience to dance!

The Warfield became a “home” for the famous band Grateful Dead, when they played concerts for their 15th anniversary there. They played 15 sold-out shows at the Warfield! Grateful Dead recorded their two live double-albums during the shows.

Bob Dylan played 14 shows in 1979 during his first Gospel Tour, and again, in 1980, 12 shows of his “A Musical Retrospective Tour”.

The Warfield’s musical variety is very popular in the music scene. In 2001, the trash-metal band Slayer recorded a home-video and released it under the title “War at the Warfield”.

Other famous bands, who played at the Warfield since 2001 are The Petshop Boys, Nine Inch Nails and Guns N’ Roses, who played two shows in 2006, which were sold-out.

In 2008, the management of the Warfield changed. The last show with “Bill Graham Presents” performances took place at May, 19th.
The venue was closed and renovated.

The Warfield reopened in September 2008 – we will see, if the historical atmosphere is still feelable in the music venue at the Market Street.

Censored music in America

During our time on the road I noticed a lot of censored songs on the American radio. Certain words are, for example, replaced by animal sounds or completely cut out. Most of the "modern" songs are affected by this censorship. This method is, rather, uncommon in Germany.

I searched on the internet about the music censorship in America and found the following interesting facts:

In 2003, several radio stations in America banned the group Jethro Tull from its program because singer Ian Anderson had said that he had enough from the U.S. flags in front of every house - they annoyed him.
The New York Police refused the security service for Bruce Springsteen after one of his concerts. The reason: He had played "American Sky" - a song about an African immigrant being shot by New York policemen.
The Dixie Chicks caused for a bigger stir: One of the group had expressed that she's ashamed that George W. Bush comes from Texas. Within a few days the music of the Dixie Chicks disappeared from the radio landscape. Band member Emily Robison received death threats, her estate was devastated. In Bossier City, Louisiana, CDs of the band were mowed down by a tractor.

In July 2004, singer Linda Ronstadt was expelled from a casino in Las Vegas after her concert. She had dedicated an encore to Michael Moore.
In August of that year, the Minister of Justice of Kansas confiscated 1,600 CDs including songs by Lou Reed and Rage Against the Machine.

Most affected of the censorship are musicians, whose lyrics are about sex. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), responsible for monitoring of the radio and television market, relies on the Radio Act of 1927: The broadcasting of obscene and indecent content has to be banned. Until 2001, the FCC defined the depiction of sexual activities as indecency. Then they expanded the definition to sexual innuendo. The punishment for violations was raised from $27,500 dollars to $500,000 dollars.

Life's not easy for musicians nowadays. What about their right to express their own opinion? Is it lost like the missing words in the song - replaced by animal sounds?

From Las Vegas to the world: The Killers

Today is our last day in Las Vegas and because of this, I want to introduce you to one of my favorite bands from this city. ’The Killers’ are an American rock band that was formed in Las Vegas over 5 years ago. The name derives from a fictional band from the music video for the "New Order" song "Crystal".

The Killers’ consists of Brandon Flowers (vocals, keyboards), Dave Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass guitar, vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr., (percussion, drums).

To this day, they’ve sold almost 12 million copies of their two albums "Hot Fuss" and "Sam's Town" (side note: the album was recorded at the Palms Casino recording studio) and the compilation album "Sawdust" containing rarities and a B-Side collection. What's interesting: The name "Sam's Town" refers to Sam's Town Hotel and Gambling Hall, a hotel with a casino in Las Vegas - their home town.

The band was founded because of a newspaper ad that Keuning had placed in The Sun newspaper. Keuning searched for new band members in 2002. Brandon Flowers saw this ad and decided to leave his former band "Blush Response" to start something new. Flowers and Keuning are both fans of the band "Oasis" - that's what connected them. Ronnie Vanucci and Mark Stoermer got the offer to join the band. They did.

After a few years of playing the local clubs in Las Vegas, The Killers got a break, signed a record label and the rest is history. The Killers are now a very successful indie band in America and Europe - they are signed at Island Records.
They celebrated big successes by singles such as "Somebody Told Me" or "When You Were Young".

What I really like about them is the mixture of alternative rock and a little disco-like music and, of course, Brandon’s extraordinary voice, which is outstanding in the alternate music scene.

Lend them an ear. Or two. Check their homepage at http://www.thekillersmusic.com/

The Killers - When You Were Young

Grateful Dead members reunited for Barack Obama

As some of you maybe don't know - I wasn't aware of it, too - The Grateful Dead had their first concert after four years in 2008. So while browsing various net news sites this evening, I was pretty taken back when I found this story.

The American rock legend The Grateful Dead played at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco on February 4th, 2008. The members of the Grateful Dead Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir, joined by Jackie Greene, John Molo, and Steve Molitz, played the show together in support of the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh says the band is reuniting for a "one-time-only event in order to lend support to Senator Obama leading into the crucial 'Super-Tuesday' series of primaries."

The show, themed "Deadheads for Obama", was their first concert since 2004 - Lesh, Weir and Hart had not played together for four years.

But this wasn’t the Dead members’ first foray into electoral politics; they played a benefit for Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 1999. Gore’s wife, Tipper, sat in on the drums. Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Hart also played a John Kerry fundraiser in 2004.

If you missed the show at the Warfield Theater, here's a clip of their concert:

McCain: No hero for the artists

"There goes my hero, watch him as he goes.", Dave Grohl sings in the Foo Fighter's famous rock song "My Hero".
Now his song is discovered by the Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain. He uses the song during his campaign: It was played after speeches during the Republican conventions and for other public events.
Of course, the image of being a hero is what McCain wants to create: The hero, who can rescue the American nation from the financial crisis and from terrorism.
The song, that is really strong in lyrics and in his guitar play, reveals this attitude.

But the use of this song has not been permitted by the band. McCain's campaign, again, disregarded the intellectual property rights of artists.

You can read a statement of the Foo Fighters, which says:
"It’s frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property."

The Foo Fighters claim that the song "My Hero" was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential. To have it appropriated without their knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song.

What can be the punishment for the McCain campaign? Are there any laws, which will touch McCain's behavior?

Of course, the election campaign team of the candidate must had bought the authorization, sold by the Foo Fighter's record company, to play the song in the public.
But there is another right, which is called "intellectual property" - the artist's freedom to forbid the use of his songs, if the use is not compatible to its original meaning or the artist's point of view.

You may think that because their song is played at his events, that the Foo Fighters are great supporters of John McCain. But they are not. And that's why they ask McCain to stop playing "My Hero" on his election campaign.

Let's see if the Republican candidate will comply to that wish. But with this constant violation of the artists’ intellectual property and the continous showing of the disrespect, he might have gambled away the consent of the musicians, of the music scene - a scene, that has a wide public influence. The bands and artists can reveal their political opinion through their songs and through statements, which reache many people.It will be interesting to see if this has an impact on the presidential election in a few weeks.

"My Hero" - The Foo Fighters

Election campaign song for Angela Merkel - "Angie"

Last week I wrote about the election campaign songs of the US history.
In Germany, the candidates and parties do not use these songs, normally. And there are no bands or musicians who write songs especially for or about a certain candidate.
But in 2005, our present chancellor, Angela Merkel and her party started to play a song on the conventions and after her speeches during the campaigns.
It was "Angie" by The Rolling Stones. What first sounds a little ridiculous, turned out to be the highlight of the elections in 2005.
The song became her brand - the nickname for Mrs. Merkel suddenly was "Angie".

The conflict between "Angie" Merkel and The Rolling Stones began soon.
Merkel's party, of course, bought the rights to use the songs legally at the public events, but the management of The Rolling Stones directly appealed to Mrs. Merkel to stop playing the song after her speeches. The permission to use the song had not been taken away - but it was a great story for the "yellow press" in Germany.

When Mrs. Merkel finally became the Chancellor of Germany, the "anthem" was played again. This was the first campaign song a German politician used and which stayed in the voter's mind. And maybe this was the final thrill that made her become the head of the German government.

Angela + Rolling Stones = "Angie"

Tracing steps: How's Las Vegas?

The city is famous for "The King Of Rock’n’Roll", Britney Spears was briefly married, Robbie Williams has sung about the view - Las Vegas plays the main role in so many films and songs. In days gone by as well as today...

Robbie Williams is right: This view is unlike anything you've ever seen. There's New York with the Empire State and Chrysler Building on the left side. Take a short look on the right and there you'll see the Eiffel Tower and its petite peak reaching to the sky into the gray clouds.

The Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino at the southern end of the Las Vegas Boulevard (better known as "The Strip"), it is one of the penultimate dreams of Las Vegas. It was opened five years ago. The Venetian, Paris and the Palms followed. But Robbie Williams has never been there. But he spent some nights in Mandalay Bay, even though the hotel staff does not remember him. Robbie Williams, in any case, has written two songs about the famous hotel and casino: "Road to Mandalay" and "Me and My Monkey". "Me and My Monkey" is a kind of allegorical road pop song in which the first-person narrator visits Las Vegas and its neon signs - together with a pistol and a stoned monkey. The first place they visit is their hotel room on the 33rd Floor of the Mandalay Bay.

Robbie Williams - Me and My Monkey

To visit Las Vegas it's best to start at the northern end of the "Strip". For the sake of the shock. In the north there's the run-down Las Vegas.
At Circus Circus it actually looks pretty similar as it is described by Hunter S. Thompson in his journalistic novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" in 1971: "The Circus-Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the sixth Reich. The ground floor is full of gambling tables, like all the other casinos . . . but the place is about four stories high, in the style of a circus tent, and all manner of strange County-Fair/Polish Carnival madness is going on up in this space." Okay, maybe a bit exaggerated: The Circus Circus, opened in 1968, is merely the run-down family hell of Las Vegas. I got dizzy looking at the psychedelic carpet pattern - and look at the guests: Their clothes come from "A-Team" (men) and "Dallas" (women), their stomachs from McDonald's.
But the Circus Circus is one of the most profitable houses in Las Vegas. A cathedral of the White Trash. With an indoor roller coaster.

Diagonally opposite, the Sahara is even worse: In "Ocean's Eleven", the original film from 1960, the Sahara is (besides the Riviera, Flamingo, Desert Inn and Sands) one of five casinos that had been mugged by the "master thieves" Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. in only one night.

The Hilton International is right behind the Sahara. Elvis destroyed his own myth for years by singing every night at the Hilton and showing his irresistible ruin to a huge public who was addicted to the endless and, in this case, tragic entertainment of Las Vegas.
Now the Hilton has its own Elvis impersonator. His name is Trent Carlini - and his performance sounds just like his name. Ridiculous.
The only leftover of "the King", which remembers the visitors of his former presence, is a kitschy statue in the entrance area of the casino. Las Vegas has no time for nostalgia. And no money. What is profitable will still exist or be expanded in the future. If the business is broke down - the blaster will be called.
Rien ne vas plus.

German music in the '60s and '70s

I thought it's about time to tell you something about the 60s and 70s music culture in Germany.

Here is another history lesson. Attention, please.

In the first years after the Second World War, the German public had little time for music entertainment. That's why they listened to the radio, the music of which mainly came from the U.S. or England (sometimes also from France). But when the American phenomenon of rock music spilled over to Germany, the German citizens got into the enthusiastic excitement.
New styles such as rockabilly, R'n'B, Doo-wop, soul and folk rock were integrated into the German culture. A lot of cover versions of famous American hits have been sung in the German language. Also popular during that time: new international dance styles like bossa nova, tango, etc. Other European countries such as Greece and Hungary also sent out successful singers and styles. But, mainly, the original American and British singers topped the charts in Germany; German musicians were hardly higher ranked than in the Top 5.

By the early British Invasion (Beatles, the Rolling Stones, etc.) almost all the German bands disappeared from the German charts. Strangely, there was hardly a German musician after 1965 who still made real "rock". Instead, the German singer-songwriters sang ballads, novelties and so-called "Schlager" (German folk music) - not only successful among young people, but also among the older generations.
"Schlager" is not politically influenced - it's a kind of "easy listening" music. The bands and artists sing about love and how beautiful the world is. No deep thoughts, no messages - "Schlager" wanted to entertain the audience, especially after the war.

Even today, this attitude is not changed. The music scene is as unpolitical as it can be. More important than to reveal a political view or issue is having a good time together, singing along with the songs and listening to the melodies. Also important to mention about the German "Schlager" music scene: The style of the music hasn't been changed, either. The melodies are very much the same today as they were in the 70s.

This "Schlager" retained its exclusive place in the German music scene through the 70s: almost all German hits from this time are not rock songs, but are "Schlager". The exceptions are only those individuals who made avantgard or unusual music, just like the new electronic bands (e.g. Kraftwerk) and the (very few) German country singers. And it must also be mentioned that a handful of German songwriters like Udo Jürgens and Marius Mueller-Westernhagen from the'70s are still very successful.

This is the German theme song of the world-famous Tom and Jerry cartoons - by the German musician Udo Jürgens:

Sarah Palin scares rapper P. Diddy

Here's a funny video, which is discussed on the internet a lot. The rapper P. Diddy has a video blog on YouTube, where he comments on actual issues. Often his videos are annoying and not funny at all, but his video concerning the vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin is interesting and really fun.

P. Diddy is so scared that he hides under his sheets - this scene reminds me of one in the "Blair Witch Project", a nice hint on his opinion about Mrs. Palin. He integrates parts of Palin's interview in his video.

Just have a look and see how politics are discussed in the music scene besides the use of campaign songs (as I discussed in my blog of yesterday).
Almost 2,500 comments below P. Diddy's video on YouTube that show that the public, in this case obviously younger people, participate, too.

Political Campaign Songs

If you want to become the President of the United States, you need your own song. A song that goes into the ear. A song that is connected with you. A song that supports you on your rallies and travels. One’s own campaign song is a requirement.

You have several choices: You can use a well-known pop song, you can use familiar melodies and steal them, you can change the lyrics of a well-known song and put your name in it, or simply: Write your own song.

If you are lucky - because you're such a popular Presidential candidate - at least one song will be dedicated to you.

It's all been done before.

You can see several examples by clicking through my blog entries. There you will find campaign songs for Barack Obama and John McCain, but also for Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney and other Presidential candidates. These blog entries deal with all of the kinds of campaign songs, as I mentioned above: Dedicated Songs, stolen melodies and changed lyrics.


But what about the history? What campaign songs were used in the past? Did a Bruce Springsteen of the day write a song for Thomas Jefferson? Let’s have a look on the most interesting campaign songs of history:

Many musicians of the time of George Washington dedicated their own songs to him. An example is "God Save Great Washington" - based on the British national anthem "God Save the King". The song was written in 1786, three years before Washington became the president.

William Henry Harrison led his campaign, with songs, to a whole new level. During the 1840 election (between Harrison and Martin Van Buren) parades, floats, banners and concerts were organized for the first time in history.
"Tippecanoe and Tyler too" was a very popular and influential campaign song during the election in 1840 - it referred to Harrison's battle between his Indiana militia and Native Americans in 1811. Its lyrics sung the praises of Whig Party candidates Harrison (the "hero of Tippecanoe") and John Tyler, his vice president.

Franklin D. Roosevelt selected "Happy Days Are Here Again" - debuted at the Democratic Convention in 1932. It was a song from the 1930 musical "Chasing Rainbows". Roosevelt became the first President using a pre-existing song for his campaign.

Frank Sinatra changed the lyrics of his 1959 hit single "High Hopes" to cheer on the 1960 Democratic candidate John F. "Jack" Kennedy: "Everyone is voting for Jack/Cause he's got what all the rest lack/Everyone wants to be back/Jack/Jack is on the right track/Cause he's got high hopes."
Sinatra wanted to express the importance of John F. Kennedy as a president. That's why he dedicated this song to JFK.

Clinton led his campaign under the slogan "Putting people first" and chose the song "Don't stop" by the group Fleetwood Mac - this was his campaign anthem. The lyrics of the song underlined his visions to build bridges between people that will last into the next millennium.

Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

George W. Bush used Tom Petty's 1989 single, "I Won't Back Down", during his 2000 campaign. Tom Petty asked Bush to stop playing his song during his rallies - just like John Mellencamp and Sting, whose songs were played without permission, too. Bush played their music without permission.


The history of political campaign songs will continue - it's always important to have music which belongs to a candidate and which can express the political programs on a poetic way.

Green music video for Cynthia McKinney

I just saw this video from "Some of All Parts", an underground hip-hop group from the Bay Area.

Some of All Part's debut song, "Run" was inspired by Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, two women of color currently running for President for the Green Party.

This group wants to deliver a message: "Vote the Green Party 2008. Cynthia McKinney for President! Run Cynthia Run."
This song is performed by Danny Velarde (producer, sound engineer), Carlos Bryant (piano, vocals, co-producer) and 5 Fifths/Joe Truss (rapper/emcee).
It also features voice samples from Rosa Clemente and Cynthia McKinney. This song reminds me a little bit of "Yes We Can" (see my blog of 09/17/08). It's nearly the same approach like the song from "Will.I.Am" (from "The Black Eyed Peas").

I really like this song, although I'm not much interested in hip-hop music. This song circulates as an insider tip on the internet.


"They tried to kick her out
She came right back,
America blacked out,
But she brought the light back.

You're the one - run cynthia run,
Shining like the sun - run cynthia run,
Your the one - run cynthia run,
The movement has begun - so run, run, run, run!"

"Run (historical moment)"

Listen to more songs of "Some of All Parts" at www.myspace.com/thesomeofallparts

Ani DiFranco - singer and political activist

"How can one talk on the role of politics in art
When art is activism and anyway
Both are just a lifelong light
Shining through a swinging prism"
-Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco is one of the hard-working, outspoken, true musicians out there.
She was born in Buffalo (New York) in 1970. At the age of 18 she founded her own record label - Righteous Babe Records. DiFranco published her self-titled debut album Ani DiFranco in 1990.
She became a progressive singer, guitarist, and songwriter and a figurehead of the American new-folk movement.
Her music can be settled between Folk, Punk and Independent. During her career she integrated various other styles into her music, for example a lot of funky elements
in the late 90s.

Ani DiFranco’s lyrics are very ambitious: She works with alliteration, puns and metaphors and with a more or less clear irony.
Much of DiFranco’s material is autobiographical. Her songs are implicitly or explicitly politically and deal with social issues such as racism, sexism, sexual abuse, homophobia, abortion rights, poverty and war.

Besides the music for performance, DiFranco makes musical statements in support of to political issuescandidates. During the U.S. presidential campaign in 2000, DiFranco supported Ralph Nader outside the so-called Swing States, e.g. at Madison Square Garden on October, the 13th, 2000 (see the video below.

During the election campaign in 2004, she supported the Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich. For the upcoming election, DiFranco is threowing her support behind 2008 Presidential Candidate and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich until he dropped from the raceaga Tin. See the video below , where she shows her support for the himcandidate in Boston on Nov 12, 2007.

In an interview with Spinner.com, DiFranco comments on her support for Kucinich:

"Yeah, he's still as cool as he ever was. I can't tell you how many times I hear, over and over, "Well, he was the coolest. I watched the debate and he made the most sense but he's unelectable." Again, that disillusionment. People just don't even believe anymore that you can vote for a guy and he can be president. It's all about the money and the power. You have to believe something before you can make it so. I hate to see us progressives in this country shooting ourselves in the foot, just accepting the media celebrity game that they play with the supposedly electable people."

Read the full interview at http://www.spinner.com/2007/10/19/ani-difranco-loads-her-canon-with-politics-and-love/

Ani DiFranco at Nader Rally 10-13-2000



Dennis Kucinich and Ani DiFranco in Boston

My own band: 'I Met Violet'

After about one month of writing this blog, I thought it would be about time, to present you my own band. It's name is 'I Met Violet'. Wondering about the name? I will come back to this in detail at a later point.

Three years ago, there was just Simon and me. First we met at a forest near our home town, Bielefeld - also present: a blanket, a six pack of beer and, of course, our two acoustic guitars. We met nearly every day - it was almost like a nine-to-five job. We played our two guitars as if there was no tomorrow. We met at noon and left at sunset. But most of the melodies we played were not interrupted by the night-time. They were still in our heads. We worked on them. We had a lot of good melodies, which we tried to put together. After hours and hours sitting in the sun, after a huge waste of paper, with thousands of melodies on it, there was it: our first song. "But wait -- something is missing! What is it? Oh yeah...the lyrics."

It was not a hard decision to nominate the singer. Simon has a very British accent when he sings. That's what I really like (and I think he likes it, too) and it fits to our songs perfectly. We decided to write the songs in English, because it was much more interesting for us not to write the songs in our mother-tongue - we hear the German language every day. Our favourite bands sing in English - and so we do. We tried to get more familiar with the English language - "The language of Rock'n'Roll".

After our first completely finished songs, we already had our first guest singer. Her name is Jenny and she has an amazing voice. So now there were two guys and one girl sitting on logs in the forest and playing music together. We played a lot of our own songs but also some cover versions like "It Ain't Me, Babe" by Johnny Cash and June Carter - songs to perform as a duet.

Now it was about time to find a name for our "new musical project". We are two men. Men are masculine. Men are assertive and strong. Red is a strong color. Red is strong. Red is men. Simon and me represent the color red. Jenny is a woman. She is sensitive and thoughtful - just like the color blue. Jenny represents the color blue. Put those colors together and you get the color violet. We put the "I Met" before the "Violet" to create some kind of rhyme - no deep thoughts behind this. We never met someone called Violet - but we'd love to. We could tell her a good story - and she would feel honored.

We took the next step: we looked for a rehearsal room. And we found it - just a five minute walk from our first "wooden rehearsal room" in the forest. The Community Center just around the corner became our new field of activity. The amplifiers and guitars were already there and we could use this room for around $50 a month. But after a short time, we gambled it away with the owner of the Community Center by putting candles on the amplifiers and messing up the room. We were much faster kicked out of the rehearsal room, than we could say "I Met Vio...".

But there was this old room in my grandma's house that needed to be renovated. We renovated it. As a thank-you we were allowed to practice there. We were not playing loud music, so it was fine with her. But we wanted to get a little louder. We needed a bass player and a drummer. We forced my best friend Johannes to play the bass guitar - he had to learn it and he does a great job.
We met the man with the sticks at a school concert. We already knew Gregor but what we didn't know: he's a really great drummer. No great persuasion. He was in. Our "musical project" became a band.

Unfortunately, Jenny had to leave the band and now there were just four guys. But, on this basis, we never planned to start a "real boy band" where everyone is singing in different pitches.
We recorded our first Demo-EP in the new renovated rehearsal room - four songs in a poor quality. But good enough to be booked for some shows in our home town. Today we try to hide these old songs from the public.

In 2007 we drove to an old friend in Cologne. He has his own recording studio together with his best friend. We recorded three great mixed songs there (e.g. "Asleep", which you can watch as a video in this blog entry).

A few months later, we met Henning. I found him and his music on MySpace and his solo stuff is impressive. I asked him to join us. No great persuasion. He was in.

Photo: From left to right: Georg, Simon, Gregor, Henning, Johannes

With Henning, we finally found our "own" music style. It's not the two-guys-with-guitars project anymore. We have extra-ordinary influences with Henning's accordion and trumpet. Our music can be defined as loveable, relaxed Pop plus rock parts (my electric guitar). Most of the times we are quite relaxed - but "I Met Violet" can be loud, too! Just listen to our songs - they are about life, love and Simon's philosophical thoughts. There is simply the joy and fun we have making music together. It's all about friendship and having a wonderful band. Hopefully, this can be heard in our songs.

We played more than two dozen shows since 2006. By the way: we played our first show with the band "Ghost Mice" from Bloomington (Indiana) in a town near Bielefeld in 2006. And after that show we had two other performances with them.

In April 2008 we drove back to Cologne to record three new songs, that we found worthwhile. They are not mixed, yet. Stay tuned - hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to post them on this blog.

Enjoy our music at www.myspace.com/imetviolet
Be prepared - maybe we will play in your town tomorrow!

I Met Violet - Asleep