My Most Prized Record (as told to Alternative Tentacles Records)
A couple of months back, Alternative Tentacles Records held a contest where they invited their customers/followers to send in a story about the most prized vinyl record in their collection. Top prize for the contest was a set of Alternative Tentacles’ latest vinyl releases. Alternative Tentacles said that they would print every story they had received after the contest.
Apparently, they got a whole shitload of entries, as it took awhile for their small staff to read through every entry and decide on the winner of the contest, but they kept to their word and posted every entry they could – including mine. It’s up on Alternative Tentacles’ website at this link, but I’ve also reposted it here at TGML, behind the jump: Continue reading
Neil Young called it…
Back in 2006, when he wrote, composed, recorded, and released in rapid fashion the songs that compromised his Living with War album, he saw fit to drop two names in the lyrics of “Looking for a Leader”: Barack Obama and Gen. Colin Powell.
In the wake of Colin Powell’s appearance on Meet The Press yesterday, it’s safe enough to suggest that Mr. Young must at least be in the running for, if not qualify entirely for, Nostradamus status.
(The above video with Gen. Powell “right(ing) what he’s done wrong” comes from the DailyKos blog. Check them out.)
Elder Club: Binge and Purge
For a Sunday, I was up a bit early already – you can thank the anticipation of Colin Powell endorsing Barack Obama on Meet The Press this morning for that.
After watching Gen. Powell give his endorsement, I grabbed my laptop and started hitting up my usual news and political haunts to see the initial reactions, then started going to my usual other haunts to see what else was going on, to discover this statement from Tsunku:
I have important news to share.
All members of H!P Elder Club, namely Morning Musume OG (Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Tsuji Nozomi, Konno Asami, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki), Inaba Atsuko, Satoda Mai(Country Musume), Melon Kinenbi, Maeda Yuki, Matsuura Aya, Miyoshi Erika, Okada Yui and Ongaku Gatas, will be graduating from Hello!Project on 31.3.2009.
Most of these girls have already graduated from Morning Musume and other groups. They have been appearing on stage since their teenage years.
After the 10th year anniversary had passed, they have realized that it is necessary to smash through the stereotypes they have built by now, and find courage to begin a new trip towards their future careers.
Personally, I have big expectations to see their future efforts, and I would like to announce my support for these girls.
I also hope you will keep supporting both current Hello!Project members and the members who are going to graduate.
(Translation from Hello! Online, grammar-nazied here by yours truly)
While there is some initial shock at reading of what seems like a mass purge, with the shock and bits of sadness comes the realization that this had to happen.
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REVIEW: MESHIBE (MEGUMI) OHORI (AKB48) “Amai Kokansetsu” single
MESHIBE OHORI (Megumi Ohori of AKB48)
“Amai Kokansetsu” single
(VAP)
Available on CD
Rating: 
According to legend (well, actually the news as reported here), AKB48′s oldest member, Megumi Ohori, was alleged to be “struggling” to be a popular idol within the band. Her age, 25, is being used as an excuse as to why. AKB48′s creator and lyricist, Yasushi Akimoto, reportedly put forth the challenge: sell 10,000 copies of a CD single under an assumed name, or be next to graduate from AKB48. The reason for an assumed name is said to be insurance for the rest of the band in case the single flops. The single is also released on a label other than AKB48′s new label, King or their previous label, DefSTAR/Sony Japan. Talk about covering your ass! Members of the band seem to be behind her, given that a reproduction of a note of support for Meetan-hime is being given to buyers of the single. Will she get those 10,000 sales (well, 9,999 more, since a copy sits on my desk)?
If she doesn’t get those sales, there’s something wrong. The song, a Latin-infused number a la Sexy Otanajan’s “Onna, Kanashii, Otona” (only several beats faster in tempo, very sexy-sounding, and not so bossa-nova’ed), is very well written and played by an all-live band, and Megumi/Meshime’s voice reminds me a lot of Kaori Iida’s.
The only caveat? No coupling track. I would have liked to have heard a B-side that complimented “Amai Kokansetsu”, because I was left wanting more than just the A-side and an instrumental version.
Hopefully Megumi/Meshime will still be a part of AKB48 after this single reaches its sales target, because I want to hear more.
Five stars.
ETA: When I got home from work, I had a chance to see the PV on the single’s bonus DVD. Let’s just say that it’s been a long time since I had difficulty picking my jaw up off of the floor…
When in Doubt, Spin the Black Circle
Some time ago, another blog covered by IW (I tried to find the link through IW itself but couldn’t locate it – if anyone knows what entry I’m talking about, let me know and I’ll replace this part of the text with that link) asked about the buying habits of fellow bloggers. Given that over a year ago I wrote an entry on Stuck In A Pagoda v2.0 that pretty much lambasted people who rely primarily on pirated mp3’s for their music, and that I practice what I preach, I started to calculate how my buying habits went for new music this past year.
Obviously, my intake of Japanese CD’s has continued at a steady rate this year – loyal grabbings of Morning Musume/Hello! Project releases, Koda Kumi’s most recent album and singles, EPs by The Husky and SCANDAL, the best-of anthology from The Possible, Mai Kuraki’s newest effort, and some initial forays into the world of AKB48 (which is going to be an article in and of itself soon) all come to mind. My interest in enka has also taken a turn towards mostly digital works (both CD and legal downloads – another reason to keep the account balance up on my Japanese iTunes account), which is a good thing.
Then I tried to think back to what non-Japanese CDs I’d bought this year. That was harder, as I tried to recall what was the last non-J-Pop CD I bought.
I kept trying to think it was Metallica’s Death Magnetic, given their having Rick Rubin replace Bob Rock and do some music that harkened, if not to their Ride The Lightning/Master of Puppets days, then at least to …And Justice for All. And kept thinking that I was wrong. It’s on my iPod – that much is sure as I went right to AmazonMP3.com for that one. Why am I thinking that the last American CD I bought was Hawthorne Heights’ new release?
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The Only Thing Rotten About This Is His Adopted Surname.
Some self-proclaimed “pure” punks probably screamed “sell-out” when they heard Johnny Rotten was going to to a butter commercial in his native England. Well, this 41-year-old punk rocker says that it’s too bad they didn’t wait until the ad in question (seen below) ended up on British television and worldwide YouTube before making their snap judgments. A very, very entertaining advert, indeed.
This had to be a British ad producer’s dream. When you’re doing a commercial and you get a certifiable legend whose mere presence can command every camera in a 100-yard radius to star in it, you’ve already scored major points before you shoot a single frame of film or DV tape. The fact that the butter company the ad represents openly supports its country’s farmers doesn’t hurt either.
