Luther Vandross is gone. The great R&B balladeer died today, apparently due to complications from a stroke he suffered two years ago. Believers in an afterlife can hope he's enjoying a dance with his father. After all, he did believe in the "Power of Love". RIP.
posted by trip and a half on Jul 1, 2005 - 45 comments

Babies Who Rock! (and here's Part Two)
Somehow I don't think Tommy Lee shows these photos off very often...
posted by miss lynnster on Jan 7, 2005 - 42 comments

Pop Culture vs. War!! (avert eyes) So Madonna pulls her anti-war video at the last minute, "never to be seen again". Have to say, it sounds just as finely-wrought a piece of art as G.Micheal's Shoot the Dog. Meanwhile, Lil' Kim attempts some bridge-building between the cultures with this subtle intervention. In times of peace, we expect pop musicians to shoot their mouths off about anything - that's what we pay them for. But I haven't been impressed by anything from rock'n'pop yet in this war. (Micheal Moore's press conference at the Oscars rocked harder than any of them). Is it straight forward fear of career death (see Dixie Chicks)? Or is it just that nobody can do this (dylan) or this (Starr) anymore?
posted by theplayethic on Apr 2, 2003 - 29 comments

Diary for a New America: Because a toilet seat is a terrible thing to waste. Poison drummer Rikki Rockett says the "days of useless acts of hotel destruction are over." Now he's leaving his artistic mark in hotel loos nationwide. See for yourself in the gallery.
posted by acornface on Aug 1, 2002 - 12 comments

When Rock bands leave their irony at home (or potentially never had any). An outrageously hilarious collection of musicians taking incredibly self-concious photographs of themselves. All of my fellow musicians on metafilter, you will find this particularly hilarious (and cringe-worthy, as you wait to see if the next pic will be...you!)
posted by glenwood on Jul 25, 2002 - 53 comments

Musicians are really smart. They have larger and more sensitive brains than non-musicians, and their collective IQ is much higher. They have 130% more grey matter in one area of their auditory cortexes. The question of how this explains Ozzy Osbourne nonwithstanding, I'll bet if you're really, really smart, you could be one of the new members of Men Without Hats. Must be very knowledgeable in midi, sequences, and sampling.
posted by iconomy on Jun 25, 2002 - 18 comments

Russian Musicians brawl during mid-Atlantic Flight In the second incident in a week, a group of drunken musicians create havoc in the air. Earlier in the week, another group of musicians were kicked off a plane stopped at Dulles Airport. They were later allowed to resume their flight only after proving their sobriety
posted by Lanternjmk on Feb 21, 2002 - 2 comments

Famous Name Changes What a turn off when you find out Paul David Hewson, Vincent Damon Furnier, William Michael Albert Broad are your favorite rockers (inside)
posted by Voyageman on Dec 20, 2001 - 18 comments

Why can't you people keep an eye on your instruments? Vintage violin left in a cab. A different, rare, $40,000 violin left in cab. A $4 million, 1673 Stradivarius cello left in a cab. A $35,000 violin bow left in a cab. And of course, Yo-Yo Ma's $2.5 million, 266-year-old cello, left in a cab.
posted by Mo Nickels on Aug 25, 2001 - 11 comments

Death in threes? Jonno pointed it out about six weeks ago, and I thought to myself that he was right. But man, the deaths are coming thick and fast now. The score, for those of us playing along at home, is: Musicians' deaths, 3 (John Lee Hooker, Chet Atkins and Joe Henderson), actors' deaths: 2 (Carroll O'Connor, Jack Lemmon) and Net folks' deaths, 2 (Jim Ellis and Michael Hauben. (Boozoo Chavis' passing, noted by fooljay, could be totted up in the musicians' column as well. Anthony Quinn and Joan Sims could go in the actors' column, if (like harrycaul and wackybrit, you were so inclined.)
posted by allaboutgeorge on Jul 1, 2001 - 5 comments

"If I don't do this, who can?" Courtney Love, a unionist? She may be the only one to put the Music Industry to task, and challenge practices that enslave struggling artists, turning shining stars into short-lived comets. That is, provided she doesn't just settle out of court. D'ya think she can do it? Or is this just more smoke & mirrors?
posted by ZachsMind on Jun 8, 2001 - 22 comments

Pat Methany accuses Kenny G of "lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing." And more! One of the best rants I have ever read.
posted by glish on Jun 14, 2000 - 16 comments

After reading the great discussion following mathowie's post on Dr. Dre, I was reminded of an article, "A Musician's Manifesto," from a while back found at http://www.musicisum.com/manifesto.shtml, but apparently musicisum.com no longer exists. The original NY Times Articles (1, 2) where I first read about the manifesto are down, but one of them is available here and here:

[A] more ambitious alternative: to devise an entirely new way of doing business. That is exactly what Lanier is doing. Recently, he drew up a five-point strategy, formed a musicians' collective called Musicisum with Kristen Stavola and signed up more than 45 artists to begin a noble experiment that involves the Internet, subscription fees and music filling stations.

Here is Jaron Lanier's home page, and he links to all those dead links above also. A mystery. I emailed Jaron; but did not hear back from him, anybody have some insight as to what happended to Musicisum?
posted by ericost on Apr 19, 2000 - 1 comment