Live reviews of music tend to incite unnecessary fury from artists’ fans when they feel that their heroes have been slighted. Los Angeles Times critic Ann Powers opened up her mailbox and showed us some of the letters she received in response to a not-completely-glowing review of a recent Tina Turner performance at LA’s Staples Center. Here’s one of the nicer notes Powers got: “This woman is an inspiration to us all… For you to criticize her in any way is a lack of respect for her talent and professionalism. Wait until you turn 68 (almost 69) and see if you can get out and do half of what she does. Shame on you.” Not all of them were that polite, however. MORE »
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they get letters
What’s Fandom Got To Do With It?
they get letters
Ted Nugent And Sarah Palin Are Blood Brothers
Never one to let a good media opportunity pass him by, Ted Nugent has decided to send an autographed advance copy of his forthcoming book Ted, White, & Blue: The Nugent Manifesto–which arrives in bookstores and other places that just happen to have large numbers of right-wing screeds on their shelves Oct. 6–to Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin*, since they possess a shared love of hunting, killing, and all that other red-meat “(wo)man’s (wo)man” bullshit that so-called conservatives eat up. Ted’s missive, complete with awkward Declaration Of Independence allusions, after the jump. MORE »
they get letters
Memories Of Zings Past With The U.K. Music Press
As its name suggests, the blog Archived Music Press is a collection of scanned pages from the British weeklies NME and Melody Maker from 1987-1996. The scans up the nostalgia factor of reading this stuff again (Simon Reynolds has been doing the same thing on his archive blog, ReynoldsRetro), but the main reason I’m posting is a recent addition: “Dear Backlash,” David Stubbs’s omnibus response to Melody Maker reader letters, and one of the flat-out funniest things I’ve read in an age. MORE »
they get letters
Jonas Brothers Fans Take Their Campaign Of Terrorizing Critics To Chicago
On Sunday, Jim DeRogatis penned an overview of the Jonas Brothers’ rise to stardom that not only called the Disney-peddled pop trio “goobers,” it claimed that the lyrics on “BB Good” “could just as well be dialog from a date rape as the prelude to an innocent teen make-out session” and said that the Nickelodeon boy band the Naked Brothers “beat [the JoBros] any day.” You probably know what happened next: a 43-comment freakout and many, many e-mails, some of which DeRogatis was helpful enough to repost today. MORE »
they get letters
Jonas Brothers Fans Launch Intimidation Campaign Against “Washington Post” Critic
In the vast, weird universe of Jonas Brothers fandom, there are certain rules. Right up at the top of the list with “Scream ’til your lungs bleed” and “Never trust a Tokio Hotel fan,” there’s “Never let a music critic suggest one Jonas is inferior, as all Jonases are created equal.” Washington Post music critic J. Freedom du Lac found this out the hard way when he angered the J.Bros fanbeast by describing Kevin Jonas as “the other one” in a recent profile of the band. The response was apparently so great that the Post decided to publish a few select e-mails as a sort of peace offering to the shrieking masses. MORE »
they get letters
Dave Navarro’s Knock-Off Guitar Strap (Unsurprisingly) Draws Ire Of Louis Vuitton
You may notice that the above photo shows Jane’s Addiction guitarist/alt-rock gadabout Dave Navarro “rocking” a guitar strap emblazoned with the logo of conspicuous-consumer fave Louis Vuitton, a bit of infringey homage that Navarro has engaged in for the past eight years because, as he writes on his Web site, “I have enjoyed the LV brand for years and years. I own many items such as luggage, belts, wallets, boots and clothing that bear the LV name. Hell, my gym bag is even a LV bag. So they make great stuff. No Doubt.” Well, if this note Navarro received from the company’s law firm yesterday is any indication, they think they make great stuff as well, and they get a little hinky when not-as-great stuff uses their logo without permission: MORE »
they get letters
Dave Grohl To Metallica: “Please Don’t Make Another Shitty Record. Also, I’m Available!”
Self-proclaimed “guy that’s been listening to your band faithfully since 1983″ Dave Grohl has apparently sent an open letter to Metallica pleading with them to not release their new album until they’re sure it’s good, a rule that they haven’t really been following for the past 10 years or so. MORE »
they get letters
Music Journalist Throws Herself From The Free-CD Train
Attention aspiring publicists hoping to get your up-and-coming bands name-checked in the new issue of Vanity Fair: Lisa Robinson of Vanity Fair has had it with your unsolicited promo CDs, according to an e-mail she allegedly sent out to publicists today. Why? Because looking around at piles and piles of unlistened-to CDs fills her with an existential dread about the seemingly insurmountable tidal wave of music simply in existence as of the present second? Nah, that’s boring. Instead, she’s going green like the magazine that employs her and asking promo companies to stop clogging her inbox in the name of the environment! MORE »
