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Mash-ups breathe new life into familiar tunes LOS ANGELES - You flip the radio dial and hear a blurry wash of rock guitars. Ah, it’s one of the season’s signature rock songs, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day. No, wait - isn’t that Liam Gallagher’s wavering, nasal voice? The song must be the Brit-pop classic “Wonderwall” by Oasis. Hold on - now it sounds like Travis and, uh, can that really be Aerosmith? Don’t adjust your radio or bother trying to sing along. You’re caught in a mash-up. We live in a culture of reruns, recycling and “re-imaginings” and the example of the moment is the song described above, one of several “mash-ups” that are being played on progressive radio stations in Los Angeles. Crafted with the help of the latest music software, mash-ups might be considered an application of Reese’s theory of synergistic yield: two great tastes that taste great together. “They are ear-catching,” said Indie’s program director, Michael Steele. “They can be amazing.” They are also catching the attention of MTV (in a big way, with a key series devoted to mash-ups) and the world’s largest record company, Universal Music Group (in a small way, with the first commercially released single of a mash-up song). The mash-up in some form or another has been around for a decade, but the scene crystallized for outsiders last year when Danger Mouse, a record producer, completed his aptly named “The Grey Album” - a mashing of the Beatles’ so-called “White Album” and Jay-Z’s “Black Album.” It was an underground sensation and a legal sore spot - the custodians of Beatles music quashed its widespread release as a CD, a very public reminder to mashers that although their hobby isn’t illegal, attempting to profit from others’ music without permission will put lawyers into billable-hours mode. So “Grey” never made it to stores, but it percolated far enough into the mainstream that Entertainment Weekly named it the best album of 2004. The term “mash-up” first caught on in England and it no longer seems to strictly refer to a track made from vocals from one song put over the instrumentation from another. Now mash-ups can be a handful of songs and voices and music getting all, well, mashed up. The blending, blurring, banging or stitching together of two or more songs has been a core move for hip-hop and electronic dance DJs since they first put together two turntables and a microphone. What’s changed is that now the urge to merge is catching on in a big way in the rock scene. There are bazaars of mash-ups on the Internet, where file sharing gives a wealth of source material and the blog culture dovetails with the mash-up tenets of digesting, personalizing and posting that source material. There’s plenty of intrigue too in browsing the vast folk library that has sprung up. Who wouldn’t want to check out John Lennon wailing with the White Stripes, Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” trading time with Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick,” or the morals-code meltdown suggested by the partnering of Madonna and the Sex Pistols? Tom Calderone, executive vice president of MTV’s music and talent programming, said the allure is why MTV banked on mash-up magic last year with “Collision Course,” which left the mashing not to a DJ but to the artists. The music station brought New York rap sultan Jay-Z to L.A. to meld his hits with the wail of Linkin Park. There is no debating the commercial appeal; the resulting live CD debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. pop charts and MTV is now in discussions to follow up with shows this year that include proposals that would pair Green Day and Ludacris, Missy Elliott and Maroon 5, and Coldplay and Justin Timberlake. The station is also in talks with 50 Cent to see which artist he might see as a meld candidate. However, Jay Coffey, the program director for an L.A. oldies station, reminded today’s mashers not to presume that their new technology means they are pioneering a new idea. “The first mash-up might have been ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,’ ” he said of the melancholy 1970s hit. “A DJ took the version by Neil Diamond and put it together with the Barbra Streisand version and it took off. It’s a lot easier to do now, but that was really big. It was a platinum hit. What’s going on now is just taking an old idea and putting it together in a new way.” Radio is happy with the mash-ups whether they are novelty or fertile new ground. But what about record companies? It’s been a mixed bag, which is fairly apt for a DJ creation. This month, officials at Universal’s Interscope Records proudly noted that their distribution of “Frontin’ on Debra” marks the first time a major label has commercially released a single that is a DJ-crafted mash-up. The single integrates the quirky 1999 Beck mash-note of a song called “Debra” and the bouncier “Frontin’,” the 2003 track from Pharrell Williams with Jay-Z. That type of release seemed very unlikely last year when EMI Music, the Beatles’ publisher, fired off a cease-and-desist letter to the interested parties looking to release a CD of Danger Mouse’s “The Grey Album.” The Mouse himself, who is a record producer named Brian Burton, has been hailed for the ingenuity of “Grey” and defended his genre by noting that he and others in the experimental field do not seek profit or intend trademark harm. Why all the “Grey” work, then? “It sounds cheesy, but it’s for the love,” he
told The Times. “That’s why I did it. It was so gratifying.
When I was finished, it was the biggest sense of accomplishment
I’ve had over anything.”
Golden Globe Terror For Drea De Matteo DE MATTEO'S GLOBES NIGHT TERROR TURNED INTO FUN Actress DREA DE MATTEO has mixed feelings about the GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS because she spent the night praying she wouldn't win a prize - and then partied at PRINCE's home. The former THE SOPRANOS star was nominated for a Best Supporting
Actress prize for her role in the hit mob show and she spent the
ceremony terrified that her name was going to be called. "I get way too shy; I can't use my own language very well. I like it when people write it for me." But the night took a turn for the better once the Globes ended - she took her parents to Prince's mansion. She adds, "We ended up at Prince's house and my parents
were dancing until like four in the morning. It was my favourite
part of the night. They were dancing with JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE."
Guns N' Roses Guitarist Quits, Joins NINE INCH NAILS? According to The NIN Hotline, guitarist Richard Fortus has quit GUNS N' ROSES and has joined NINE INCH NAILS. "Given that former NINE INCH NAILS' guitarist Robin Finck was working with GUNS N' ROSES, this, of course, only makes sense," reads a posting on the web site. If true, Fortus' departure will be the second time a GUNS N' ROSES guitarist has left the group in a little over a year. Back in late 2003, guitarist Buckethead became fed up with GUNS' inability to complete an album or tour and stopped working the band, his manager said last March. A former member of LOVE SPIT LOVE and PSYCHEDELIC FURS, Fortus joined GUNS N' ROSES in July 2002 as the replacement for Paul Huge (a.k.a. Paul Tobias). In addition to LOVE SPIT LOVE and PSYCHEDELIC FURS, Fortus has
done extensive session work with acts like BT, GRAVITY KILLS,
'N SYNC and ENRIQUE IGLESIAS.
'Java Joel' admits joke 'crossed the line' On Jan. 11, "Java Joel" Murphy told a joke on the air about adopting "three black kids" and "taking them to the zoo to see where they came from." The next day, he was fired from WKSC-FM (103.5). While those facts are indisputable, questions linger about why the 30-year-old "Kiss FM" nighttime personality would jeopardize a promising radio career by uttering such insensitive remarks and whether his Clear Channel Radio bosses would have taken action if not for the complaint of one -- and apparently only one -- listener. One thing's for sure: Ratings couldn't have been a consideration in dismissing Murphy, who delivered consistently high numbers during his three years as host of "The Rubber Room." He'd been drawing a crowd to the contemporary-hit station since he arrived in November 2001 from WPXY-FM in his native Rochester, N.Y. On the same day Murphy's firing became public, Arbitron released its fall ratings survey showing him solidly in sixth place at night with a 4.2 percent share and a cumulative weekly audience of 398,300. One week after his downfall, Murphy shared his thoughts about what went wrong:
A. I crossed the line, a listener heard it, she called my boss, and I was fired. There was no public outcry, no boycott, no protest. It looked a lot worse on paper than it sounded on the air. I realize that's no excuse, but . . .
A. I was thinking: "Boy, the phones are sure going to light up on this one!" And you know what? I got a grand total of two calls -- and the two ladies who called me were related! Anybody who knows me or knows my show knows I'm not a hateful person. Our show poked fun at white suburban females just as much as male Hispanics and gay Asians. I had just as many black listeners call me up and say, "Don't listen to them, Java, we know you're just joking around."
A. Not at all. I was surprised that it only took a few phone calls to get me fired. I think they wanted to do damage control before any damage was done. In this day and age, I can't say I blame them.
A. Yes. If I could take it back, I would. I'm sorry. Believe me when I say my intention was not to hurt.
A. When I interviewed Justin Timberlake and made him cry like a little girl, my boss suspended me to appease the record label. And this past October, I was suspended for a bit that management deemed "morally offensive." Thing is, if I wasn't a loose cannon, I would've never had the opportunity to come to Chicago. That's how this dumb business works.
A. Perception is everything, intention means nothing, and white liberals have bigger hangups with race than African Americans.
A. Stay at home, drink coffee, make my next move, spend time with my wife and cat, and finally get to listen to "Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg."
A. Didn't my friends Eddie & Jobo [Ed Volkman and Joe Bohannon, the WBBM-FM (96.3) morning team] make a huge on-air boo-boo a few years back? They got fired, had to leave Chicago, and came back lame and jaded a few years later. Isn't that right, Eddie & Jobo? I heard they bashed me on their show last week. How quickly we forget. . . . I don't know what's going to happen, Robert. The future's wide open.
A. I got to meet Fred Winston, Herb Kent and Dick Biondi. I was
a call-in on Steve Dahl's show with Bob Sirott and John Landecker.
I worked down the hall from Tommy Edwards and Ramsey Lewis. I
broadcast on the same frequency once occupied by Larry Lujack!
I lived the dream. If this is my curtain call, I can go out happy.
Celebrity birthdays for Jan. 23-29 Jan. 28: Actor Nicholas Pryor ("Risky Business") is
70. Actor Alan Alda is 69. Actress Susan Howard ("Dallas")
is 63. Marthe Keller ("Marathon Man") is 60. Actress
Barbi Benton is 55. Guitarist Dave Sharp of The Alarm is 46. Singer
Sam Phillips is 43. Country bassist Greg Cook of Ricochet is 40.
Singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan is 37. Rap artist DJ Muggs with
Cypress Hill is 37. Rapper Rakim is 37. Actress Kathryn Morris
("Cold Case") is 36. Singer Joey Fatone of 'N Sync
is 28. Singer Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys is 25. Actor
Elijah Wood ("The Lord of the Rings") is 24.
Shark Tale DVD release in the UK DreamWorks Home Entertainment has announced the release of Shark Tale, which features the voice of Will Smith among others. Set to arrive with an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, the package will retail for around £22.99 when it hits shelves on the 11th of February. Check out the full list of features and the artwork below. The Music of Shark Tale: Released: 11th February 2005
Saturday Night Live - Best of Jimmy Fallon The Best Of Jimmy Fallon DVD is loaded with his most memorable moments and sketches on the show and includes Jimmy with Mick Jagger, Jarret's Room, Sully and Denise, Jeopardy with Jimmy impersonating Adam Sandler, Impressions, Montage and Weekend Update Montage. Celebrity guests include Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton, Mick Jagger, Robert De Niro, Janet Jackson, Ben Affleck, Ben Stiller and Ian McKellen. Release Date: 1/25/2005
MAKING THE CUT
Alcorn said an acquaintance approached him, saying the group needed someone to take it to the next level. So the music novice formed Domus Inc. to act as managers, a record label and production company. "I enjoyed it very much," he said. "I liked the show business aspect and the business challenge using my management skills to try to take a company forward. The venture opened his eyes. "Real estate is simple and straightforward," Alcorn said. "Music is luck, marketing and connections." Like Chapin, Alcorn said the music business tends to be cutthroat, not to mention expensive. "I was surprised by how much money it takes to get ready and move an artist forward," he said. "It takes money to record, go on the road, hire a publicist and a music attorney." And it does not end there. There were times, Alcorn said, when he arrived at a show where everything is supposed to be taken care of and everyone -- like the lighting technician and the sound man -- showed up with their hands out. That expense and the fact NSB2 never seemed to catch on, even with the exposure of being associated with the hit-generating 'N Sync, caused Alcorn to move on. He still does some consulting with new artists, but now on a pro-bono basis just to keep his hand in. He believes he brings an integrity and "brutal" honesty to the table. "I go into my teacher mode, telling them what the reality is and bring them down to that reality," Alcorn said. However, he concedes if the opportunity arose to take another dip into the world of music, he might give it a chance if the conditions were right. "It would have to be an extremely talented group or individual,"
he said.
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