During the closing song of Depeche Mode’s show on Tuesday in Lima, Peru, concertgoers who had been having a fine time up to that point were sent into a tizzy when they thought they heard DM lead singer Dave Gahan bid farewell to the people of neighboring Chile—after all, as the AP helpfully notes, “The South American neighbors are historic rivals who fought a 19th century war and still argue over everything from their border to which country is the originator of pisco, a potent grape brandy.” A clip of the offending moment is above, with Gahan yelling out two sign-offs at around 1:03 and 1:43; in the latter farewell, he’s clearly saying “Thank you very much, good night,” but I have no idea what he’s saying at the earlier point. Listen and tell me this: What is he saying at the minute-and-three mark? Because really, the distortion and crowd noise are terrible. [YouTube / AP] MORE »
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International Relations
Dave Gahan Nearly Causes International Incident By Just Saying Goodbye
International Relations
Fred Durst Wants To Show The Chinese President The Red-Baseball-Capped Side Of America
Chinese President Hu Jintao thought he was going to Zagreb for a little bit of back-slapping action with his buddies who rule Croatia. Little did he know that thanks to his travel planners picking the hotel that they did, he might have to interrupt his diplomatic plans for some serious (and possibly drunken) Gears Of War 2… or at least a little “Nookie.” [China View / Twitter] MORE »
International Relations
Department Of Homeland Security Getting Into The CD Business
In order to discourage people from crossing into the United States outside of the accepted channels, the Department Of Homeland Security has decided to enter into the side business of making and promoting its own records. Migra Corridos is a DHS-masterminded, ad-company-executed EP of ranchero music that tells the tales of “tragic border crossings,” presumably to dissuade listeners from trying to beat the songs’ protagonists’ odds. The disc–which DHS has distributed to radio stations throughout Latin America for the past two years–is streaming here; feel free to listen in as you read on. MORE »
International Relations
Barack Obama Gives Queen Elizabeth The Gift Of Jerry Orbach
The late Law & Order star’s version of “Try To Remember” from The Fantasticks was one of 40 songs from American musicals that were pre-loaded onto the iPod given to Queen Elizabeth by President Barack Obama on the occasion of his visit to Buckingham Palace yesterday. The playlist also included Ethel Merman’s “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “One” from A Chorus Line, and Judy Collins’ performance of “Send In The Clowns.” I have to say, though, that putting that song about 525,600 minutes being in a year from Rent instead of something from Bye Bye Birdie? A very major gaffe. Full playlist after the jump. MORE »
International Relations
Vladimir Putin Gets Bjorn Again At A Really Private Show
Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus has said in the past that he and his former bandmates don’t need reunion cash, and a recent concert arranged by the Kremlin would seem to bear that out: Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin had to fly in the British tribute band Bjorn Again in order to quell his Abba jones at a recent private concert. How private? How about eight guests? MORE »
International Relations
South Korea Is Bailing Out Their Music Biz, Karaoke Bars
If you ever wanted to own a karaoke bar that doesn’t sell alcohol in Daegu, today is your lucky day: The South Korean government feels the threat of piracy is worth giving the country’s music business a $91 million bailout that will fund the construction of multiple concert halls and a K-Pop Hall of Fame, the establishment of some local music charts, an annual awards ceremony, and a mass giveaway of equipment to the private karaoke rooms known as noraebangs. And no legal action! MORE »
International Relations
Gene Simmons Will Not Let Me Rock And Roll All Night (Or Party Every Day) With Him
Kiss bassist/serial entrepreneur Gene Simmons got wind of yesterday’s post about his all new Canadian-artists-only record label, and he is not pleased! He took to the blog of his recently relaunched Simmons Records and went off, calling the person who penned it (a.k.a. me) “an amateur who’s achieved nothing in his [sic!] life” and saying that soon enough, I and my ilk would soon be sent “back to [the] fish wrapping factory they escaped from.” (NB: I am writing this from my parents’ house, so maybe he has a point.) But then, in a frenzy of whipping up Canadian nationalism and not linking to our site (ahem), his threats got even worse! MORE »
the biz
Why Can’t People Recognize That There Are Different Kinds Of Piracy?
One of the odder impulses in this whole endless debate about digital music is the lionization of the pirate. In some cases, this is understandable: Certainly most of the poor souls who have seen their lives turned upside down by RIAA lawsuits deserve sympathy, and you can even understand how misbegotten youths might admire the particular outlaw swagger of some of the more brazen torrenters, even as we’re left to wonder how being a bad-ass on the Internet became cool. But copyfighters’ rush to rationalize and legitimize piracy has brought us to some strange places. Take the argument, put forth on Artists House Music, that tries to argue that piracy is not the result of things that formerly cost money being available for free, but of uneven release dates. The unfortunate example used to illustrate this theory is… Russia. MORE »
International Relations
Our Neighbors To The North Want To Gift Barack Obama With Some Canadian Content
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s radio division is so excited about the imminent Presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, they’ve decided to make him a 49-song mix of Canadian music divided into categories. And in the spirit of democracy, listeners are being asked to vote on the mix’s contents: there are 100 finalists, divided into categories of English-language pop, Francophone, classical, and whatever you’d call a category that unites Diana Krall, Michael Bublé, and a version of “Surrey With The Fringe On Top.” MORE »
International Relations
Morrissey To Play Tel Aviv, More Middle East Dates To Come?
Morrissey will perform at the Heatwave Festival in Tel Aviv on July 29. Last January, Morrissey was rumored to be planning a tour throughout the Middle East, including stops in Tehran and Beirut, but this is the only date in the region to be announced so far. After the jump is a lovely clip of Morrissey announcing the engagement and blowing kisses with “Israel” written in Hebrew on his arm. MORE »
