Idolator: Memories

Clothing designer John Varvatos, whose new ...

Maura Johnston — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:15:00 EDT

Clothing designer John Varvatos, whose new shop on the Bowery replaced CBGB, is still trying to play up his punk rock bona fides, telling the New York Post that his first concert was an Iggy and the Stooges show in 1970. "Even back then, he performed shirtless. Fast-forward 35 years and I put him in a three-piece suit in my ad campaign. He said it was the first time ever that anyone wanted to photograph him with clothes on." Ahh, isn't the realization of the punk-rock dream a beautiful thing? [NYP / Photo via BlackBook]

"He was just hanging out at the barber shop, ...

Maura Johnston — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:15:00 EDT

"He was just hanging out at the barber shop, used to party over there up on St. James Place. He used to come down to the store and say, 'Birdell, I want you to help me get beats, tracks, 'cause I know you know them old blues and the good music.' I said: 'Aw, Biggie, I don't have time for that. I'll tell you what I'll do. Get you a record player and I'll let you go downstairs in the basement.' So he and his partner would come every day three or four months straight, every day but Saturdays, and he would say, 'I'm going to be big one day, Birdell.' I said, 'Aw, you ain't going to be nothing.' " — Brooklyn record-store owner Joe Long on the crate-digging ways of former customer Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace. [NYT]

Bon Scott's Letters To Be Displayed In Late AC/DC's Singer's Hometown

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Fremantle, Australia will put on "The Bon Scott Project," a multimedia homage to the legendary AC/DC singer who had been raised in the town. Along with putting up 19 artists' tributes to the man, hosting panels, and a few musical performances, the project will display a few personal letters from Bon Scott that show his "bawdy and humorous side but also offer an insight never before seen into the personality of the man." A blog has been set up for fans to contribute their own feelings and memories to, and its already full of musical appreciation, rumors of love children and quotes from his many letters.

• On the women in Sweden: "THAT SHIT ABOUT THEM BEING PROMISCUOUS IS A LOAD OF SHIT! I HAD TO PULL MYSELF TWICE!"

• On the state of opening acts in Australia: "THE BEST SUPPORT BAND IN THE COUNTRY IS US OR I SHOULD SAY WAS US. WE SUPPORTED SKY HOOKS THE OTHER WEEK AT FESTIVAL HALL & A COUPLE OF NEWS PAPERS GAVE US FULL MARKS & NOT THEM. THEY'RE A PAIN IN THE ARSE. WE'D LIKE TO USE THEM FOR SUPPORT BUT THERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. MAYBE WE COULD BEAT 'EM UP ON STAGE & WITH A BIT OF LUCK GET AN ENCORE (DOWN BOY)."

• On divorce, to his soon-to-be ex-wife: "HEY HAS OUR D.I.V.O.R.C.E. HAPPENED YET. DO I GET A BIT OF PAPER OR WHAT. I DON'T CARE IF I NEVER GET A D. CAUSE I'M NOT PLANNING ON MARRYING AGAIN UNLESS SHE'S A MILLIONAIRE + I THINK MY CHANCES OF FINDING ONE ARE SCARCE. BUT WHEN I PULL OUT MY PHOTY ALBUM I LIKE SAYIN "& THIS IS MY WIFE." THEY ALL FANCY YOU AND TELL ME WHAT TASTE IN SPUNK I'VE GOT."

• On catching "The Jack," also sent to his ex-wife: "A NOD MEANS YEP, A SHAKE MEANS NOT. IF SHE'D SHOOK A BIT MORE, I MIGHTN'T AVE GOT WOT I GOT."

RIP, dude.

Bon Scott Blog
Fremantle Launches The Bon Scott Project [Undercover, Via Blabbermouth]
AC/DC - TNT (Countdown 1976) ABCTV [YouTube]
[Photo: The Age]

Ray J: Despite Blunted Adolescence With Biggie, Pac, He's Not A "Disrespectful Pedophile"

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:45:00 EDT

Ray J, the 27-year-old brother of Brandy celebrating his first top ten hit, "Sexy Can I (feat. Yung Berg)," wants you to know that despite the attention he's received for knocking boots with Whitney Houston and Kim Kardashian, he (somehow) still loves women. "A lot of people think of me as being an attention whore or a slut. And I'm not really that. I love being in front of the camera and entertaining. But I do respect women. I'm not disrespectful to anybody that I'm cool with. I just want people to know that I'm not a disrespectful pedophile." Earlier in the same interview, J described the love and chronic Biggie and Tupac showed the then-underage singer immediately before their respective murders.

I always just hung out with Pac and smoked and chilled. He always used to give young n*gg*s advice to just work hard and never give up on your dreams...I seen Pac the day before they left. Suge bought Snoop, Pac, and Dr. Dre Rolls Royces. I think they all caravanned. The last thing Pac said was, "Aright, little homey, we out." A day later I found out he got shot.

...I was with Big two days before he died. I smoked two or three blunts with Big. We watched a Lil Kim video. He talked to me about some real sh*t.

Ray J was somehow able to keep this Switzerland-like status between the feuding coasts despite witnessing the very infidelity than intensified the beef between the two legends. "We walked in one day and Faith was sitting on Pac's lap while Pac was writing a verse...I was like, 'What the f*ck? I know I'm not? Is that? It can't?' Three weeks later, 'Hit 'Em Up' came out."

How did the young J get the chance to roll these cats? "They know I didn't grow up in the suburbs. Brandy and myself stayed in Carson. That's two minutes away from Compton. Everybody on the West Coast — from Suge to Snoop to Michael Conception — know my movement. They know how I lived. That's why we can all bond like that. We didn't become successful until [Brandy] was 16 or 17."

Which would have made him 14 or 15.

Exclusive: Ray J Q&A [Rhapsody]