Wednesday, July 11, 2001

ARGH. Why is it that whenever I promise to do something, Blogger decides to die on me? Am I cursed or something? Okay, let me stop whining and get to the meat:

An interesting case of spin: Apparently, the Backstreet Boys are canceling a month's worth of concerts to allow Nick's hand to heal and allow A.J. to pull himself together. Contrast the MTV.com story (Pathos! Angst! A.J.'s an alcoholic! Will he survive? Nick blubbers while Howie plots Machiavellian takeover!) with the NME.com story (A.J.'s depressed. Tour resumes in September.). Now check out the Rolling Stone story (A.J.'s in rehab: ROCK AND ROLL!). Three different spins on the same event; something to keep in mind when perusing your news sources, folks; everyone's got an angle. (I must say that I'm amused at how the Rolling Stone story intimates that the band's candor is due less to "respect for the fans" and more because the non-depressed members don't want the fans to blame them for canceling eight weeks worth of concerts.)

With A.J. out of commission, now would be the PERFECT time for the Backstreets to give me a call. (Yes, I would sell out in a heartbeat and join the Backstreet Boys. I'd be singing professionally with a highly visible and popular group and get paid MAD LOOT. I'd have to be an idiot not to want that.)

Tuesday, July 10, 2001

Ruminations on a post-Wimbledon world: First, let me get this out of the way; would you like some pork faggots?

I've been very happy for the past couple of days. Venus WIlliams and Mad Goran Ivanisevic won WImbledon. Tomorrow, I go out to western Massachucetts for my first concert series out at Tanglewood (to my total surprise, I've managed to memorize 80% of Carmina Burana in a week, so I'm no longer in terror of this concert). My wife Joei has left her job and is studying music theory, which is making her almost as happy as she was on our wedding day. I picked up the Squarepusher album and it's BUMPIN'. All of these things have been distracting me from writing to the blog and for those of you still following, I apologize. The thing is, what with this trip out to Tanglewood, there's going to be another several day hiatus, as I don't see myself being able to find a terminal where I can log in and update remotely. *sigh* To make up for this, I'll drop a couple of pieces up here today.