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One To Watch: Video Director Jaron Albertin

Best "Take Your Kid To Work" Photo... Ever

How can you not love this photo of  Syd Butler, the bassist for the band Les Savy Fav, taking his child to work. It was taken by TomVu back in July and posted on his Flickr page.

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Lessons From Thurston Moore: Breaking Up Would Have Been A Better Career Move

Terrific quote from Thurston Moore about how breaking up could have been a better career move for Sonic Youth:

"The Pixies reunion was a real success, and Dinosaur Jr. seems like a big success, and both those bands play as good as they ever did. Mission Of Burma blew my mind when they came back. But a band like us never did break up. Which was to our own detriment. What would have happened if we did break up after Daydream Nation - or even after Dirty - and had gotten back together two years ago? You'd be interviewing me at the Chateau Marmont as I'm waiting for my limousine. We probably would have made so much money. "This was our biggest career faux-pas - not breaking up."

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(Image from Stig Nygaard's Flickr photostream)

Three Upcoming Rock Films That I Can't Wait To See

Julian Temple's The Future Is Unwritten

Anton Corbijn's CONTROL

Martin Scorsese's  Shine A Light

If I Was An Art Director at Virgin Records, I'd...

 

It occurred to me as soon as I came across this photo on Flickr that it would make for a fantastic CD cover. The tattoo, still fresh with the skin red and raw, conveys passion, commitment, and energy.  The woman's bare back and underwear conveys the sex, while the studded belt conveys the rock of sex,drugs, and rock-and-roll.

(photo via Flickr)

Connecting Through Honesty

The more I learn and read about Kelly Clarkson, the more I like and admire her. The following quotes are from an interview that she gave in the new issue of Reader's Digest. 

On making her albums:
“There’ve been a lot of cooks in the kitchen on all three of my albums. Everybody wants a success, so that’s great. On the other hand, the kitchen gets real crowded.”

On the RCA Records haters:
“They hated Miss Independent on my first album. It was No. 1 for six weeks, then they got behind it. They hated Breakaway. The song I wrote that they hated the most was Because of You. I fought and fought for it, it became successful and they finally got behind it. I’m not complaining, I’ll just say no until I get my way, and I did.”

On rumors that Clive Davis didn’t like her new album, My December:
“I just want people to hear it, instead of 100-year old executives making decisions on what’s good for pop radio. It’s people my age who listen to it. My gut hasn’t been wrong yet, so why wouldn’t I continue to follow it?”

On American Idol:
“I did my own hair and makeup for the first half of the shows. What you saw us wearing was our stuff from home. We’d be in a magazine under the heading ‘What Was She Thinking?’ I was like, I’m thinking I ain’t got no money.”

On money:
“I have saved and saved, and I don’t have to work another day. When I won Idol and started working with a business manager, she asked, ‘What do you want?’ I was like, I don’t ever want to have to make a decision because I need money. So we accomplished that two years ago, and I’m set.”

Fosse vs. UNK

If you're a regular reader of my blog then you know I'm a huge fan of video mash-ups.  One of my current favorites is Gwen Verdon (choreographed by the legendary Bob Fosse in the '60's) set against UNK's "Walk it Out"

Daft Hands

Arcade Fire vs. Sergio Leone

One of the best mash-ups I've yet to come across - Arcade Fire's "My Body Is A Cage" set against edited clips from Sergio Leone's ""Once Upon a Time in the West"

David La Chapelle's Music Video For Amy Winehouse

For the last few months Amy Winehouse's fantastic record, Back To Black, has not only been the CD most played in the Schiller household, but seemingly the only CD played in the Schiller household.  I'd call it an obsession, but then I might have to go to rehab.

I must have listened to this record over 100 times by now, and each and every time I listen to it, it sounds just as fresh as the first time.

Amy Winehouse's latest music video - for the song "Tears Dry on Their Own" - was shot in a single day, May 22nd, on Hollywood Boulevard.

The director?

You guessed it - David La Chapelle. 

(The quality on YouTube is complete crap, but it's worth watching none-the-less)