In 1971, Funkadelic released an album entitled Maggot Brain. Sadly, until yesterday, I’d never heard the title track and couldn’t have identified Eddie Hazel on a guitar legends poster. Today, I’m certain that Maggot Brain, put to tape in a single take, contains one of the greatest, most emotional guitar solos ever recorded.
Two weeks ago, rapper Kanye West was booed at Bonnaroo before and after his show began nearly two hours late. Since then, many have criticized West for being an egomaniac who didn’t give his all in the 4:26am performance. Yesterday, West responded in a blog on his web site.
“Never say I didn’t give my all! This shows no matter how hard you try to be good at something there will be people there to lie about you and bring you down … I’m fucking hurt by this one. Bonnaroo should have released a statement in my defense … [Note: I've removed the ALL CAPS from West's original post.]
For full disclosure purposes, aside from one or two tracks, I’m not a big Kanye West fan. Despite my preference for other hip-hop artists, however, I can honestly say that West appeared to give his all in his Bonnaroo performance. But the problem was not so much the quality of or effort behind his performance. It was that he never addressed what was clearly a major issue.
What does that mean? I’m not suggesting that West should have apologized for events that may or may not have been entirely his fault (Pearl Jam went long and West’s stage took an inordinate amount of time to construct). What I am suggesting, however, is that he would have done well to acknowledge the fans who stuck around to see him.
Bonnaroo is a four-day music festival where performances begin around noon. The ‘day’ West performed, many people, including myself, had been watching shows for more than 12 hours. During each performance, from Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and Gogol Bordello to Ozomatli and Lupe Fiasco, each artist addressed the crowd and the sheer awesomeness of the entire festival. (Anyone who’s been to Bonnaroo knows that someone can merely yell Bonnaroo and nearly everyone within shouting distance will respond with a hearty “woo!” signifying the beauty of the event.)
Despite all this and despite knowing that the audience had waited for him for nearly two hours, Kanye decided not to break the theatrical wall of his crashed spaceship. While he may have given his all in the performance, he failed to demonstrate, as he wrote in his blog, that he does this all for the fans. Had he said, “Thank you for staying up with me, Bonnaroo” or something similar, the boo birds would have likely stopped, the glow sticks would have ceased flying on stage, and the audience would have been able to focus on a relatively dynamic, one-person performance.
Unfortunately, West did nothing to dissuade people’s frustration with being made to wait for nearly two hours. Maybe the delay wasn’t his fault and maybe everyone had a choice to stay or leave, but the failure to recognize the situation as such meant that people didn’t leave the show saying, “Jesus Walks brought the house down.” Instead, they walked back to their tents at dawn saying, “I can’t believe I waited two hours for that”, “That spaceship thing was wack”, and “He really is an egomaniac”; all of which had nothing to do with his effort and everything to do with his brand.
I’m just recovering from four days at Bonnaroo, which included a day of sweltering heat, an evening of pouring rain, and staying up until 5:30 a.m. to watch Kanye West perform (more on that later).
In my second visit to the Manchester farm, I witnessed a ton of incredible performances, including M.I.A. (an incredibly exciting show that turned into a massive rave), Metallica (who despite my dislike of their apparent disdain for the Internet, rocked a huge Friday night crowd), Tegan and Sara (who made me wonder how I’d never heard any of their songs), and Lupe Fiasco (who used a full band, DJ, and three singers to deliver an inspiring performance).
Bonnaroooooooooooo!
Simply, the best guitar music I’ve ever heard. All acoustic.
Get to iTunes and check it out. You’ll thank me.
Infinity Broadcasting has just announced/confirmed who will be replacing Howard Stern when he moves off to Sirius. Evidently Howard has some big shoes because he’s being replaced by four people.
Former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth
WXRK-FM in New York
WBCN-FM in Boston
KLLI-FM in Dallas
WYSP-FM in Philadelphia
WRKZ-FM in Pittsburgh
The Amazingly NOT funny Adam Carolla
KLSX-FM in Los Angeles
KIFR-FM in San Francisco
KPLN-FM in San Diego
KZON-FM in Phoenix
KUFO-FM in Portland, Ore
KXTE-FM in Las Vegas
Rover
WXTM-FM in Cleveland
WAZU-FM in Columbus
WCKG-FM in Chicago
WKRK-FM in Detroit
WAQZ-FM in Cincinnati
WMFS-FM in Memphis
WZNE-FM in Rochester
The Junkies
WJFK-FM in Washington, D.C.
WHFS-FM in Baltimore
I’ve heard Rover, as it’s on here in Columbus. Rover is a decent host, but his co-hosts are as annoying as a bad rash on your genitals.
Moral of the story: listen to Bob and Tom. They bring the funny.
Like any new technology offering, there seem to be a plethora of companies offering legally licensed music downloads. But what’s the best?
Is it iTunes because of the way it seems to work seamlessly with the iTunes player? Or is it something else since that service limits the number of times I can burn what I buy?
Is it Walmart because they undercut the competition and charge .88 cents instead of the fairly standard .99?
How about Napster because they have such a humongous selection? Or MSN because … okay, forget I said that. Anyone have any thoughts?
Robert Blake today proved what we learned from O.J. so long ago. When it comes to beating a murder rap, Puffy was right. It really is all about the Benjamins. (By the way, that headline comes from a line in the song. But if you were a down-ass, hardcore gangsta ballin’ fool like me, you’d already know that. Holla!)
I thought some of you might need a little pick me up on Friday. Something to get your blood flowing and your spirits in a jive fashion. If this little music video doesn’t make you bob your head like a chicken, then check your pulse.