http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/getback/123828/rocks-short-list-5-8-and-under/
Rock's Short List (5' 8" and Under)
Fri May 22, 2009
Shawn Amos in GetBack
The world's a cruel place for a short dude. Barred from basketball, left off firefighter shortlists, and unable to ride Space Mountain, his life is a never-ending "you must be this tall to ride" sign.
Music is the only place a short dude can go for salvation. While most athletic teams, branches of the armed forces, and theme parks have height requirements, bands do not. A 5-foot-tall dude may never be starting guard for the Lakers, but there's nothing preventing him from shredding a solo at Madison Square Garden. He may get overlooked at the McDonald's counter trying to order a Happy Meal, but he's always 10 feet tall on the JumboTron.
Some say short dudes compensate for their lack of height by becoming overachievers or hostile. Or both. It's not my job to psychoanalyze just to lay out some selectively chosen facts that make my case the way I want.
So I present you with Rock's Short List. Randy Newman was wrong. Short people DO have reason to live. It's rock 'n' roll.
Prince (5' 2")
One of the most diminutive musicians around, Prince makes up for his height by wearing high heels, playing every instrument on his recordings, and making sure none of his women are taller than him - and wear flats.
John Mellencamp (5' 7")
The former Johnny Cougar fits the profile of an angry short dude. He was arrested at age eight for breaking and entering, started his first band at 14, and lost a college job for using profanity. To complicate the theory, though, his wife is supermodel Elaine Irwin, who stands at 5 feet 11 inches.
Bono (5' 7 1/2")
Bono is the classic overachiever. He's determined to be in the biggest rock band in the world, save said world, and receive all of its accolades (he's the only person to be nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy, and Nobel Peace Prize). If the dude was 6 feet 1 inches tall, we wouldn't know who he is.
Thom Yorke (5' 5 1/4")
The Radiohead singer's height is overshadowed by another physical trait: his left eye, which was closed shut at birth. Yorke underwent five operations by the time he was six to correct it. He was left with a drooping eyelid.
Angus Young (5' 2")
The 54-year-old AC/DC guitarist has played the instrument since he was five. And he's dressed in a schoolboy uniform the whole time. It's the perfect way to get people to ignore your adolescent height: just dress like a kid.
Roger Daltrey (5' 7")
Within The Who, Daltrey had a reputation for quickly punching anyone who disagreed with him, including the 6-foot-tall Pete Townshend. He also gets around the height issue by swinging his microphone around his head onstage. It adds a couple feet at least.
Ronnie James Dio (5' 4")
Dio sings so loudly and looks so satanic that no one would notice his elfin height. That is, unless you paid attention to some of those early band names, like Electric Elves and Elf. Those were unfortunate.
Iggy Pop (5' 7 1/2")
Iggy's bare-chested stage antics distract from any height issues his fans may possess. Between the self-mutilation, stage-diving, and self-exposure, who's counting inches (no pun intended)?
Paul Simon (5' 3")
Simon and his duo partner, Art Garfunkel, have famously feuded for more than 40 years. Some say the tension was caused by Garfunkel's acting career. Others say it was Art's jealousy of Simon's solo success. I say it's Simon being overshadowed by a dude who's 6 feet tall - 6 feet 5 inches with the Jewfro.
Bob Marley (5' 7")
The Rastaman was proof that big things come in small packages. Marley is as close to a musical deity as you can get. He had a sound and a message that transcended mere mortals. And with his lion's mane of dreadlocks, you'd think you were standing in front of a giant.
Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prince. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Radiohead Creeped Out by Prince
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b140067_radiohead_creeped_by_prince.html Radiohead Creeped Out by Prince
Fri., May. 30, 2008
by Josh Grossberg
Hail to the Thief suddenly has all kinds of new meaning.
Radiohead has a burgeoning beef with Prince over the Purple One's refusal to allow fan video recordings of his cover of the alt-rockers' seminal 1992 hit, "Creep," to be shown on YouTube.
Radiohead's frontman Thom Yorke tells the Associated Press that he has no problems with Prince's label, NPG Records, taking down clips of the artist performing his own tunes because of copyright concerns.
But when it comes to Prince's version of "Creep," Yorke says he and his mates are ticked not only because they didn't get to see the acclaimed rendition but also because it's their song.
"Really? He's blocked it?" asked a surprised Yorke. "Surely, we should block it. Hang on a moment...well, tell him to unblock it. It's our...song."
Prince unleashed his retooled take on "Creep" while headlining last month's Coachella festival.
Fan-recorded cell phone videos soon flooded YouTube but were quickly yanked after NPG unleashed cease-and-desist letters. The Minneapolis-based Prince is known to be extremely protective of how his image and music are disseminated online.
Radiohead, on the other hand, takes a less restrictive approach.
The band offered a digital version of its latest album, In Rainbows, for whatever listeners chose to pay for it, even if it was nothing.
And Radiohead often encourages devotees to become more interactive with the band's music, for instance releasing the single "Nude" in a format that allowed amateur and professional mixers to create their own mash-ups. No surprises either that Radiohead also has its own popular YouTube channel.
While Prince was one of the first artists to embrace digital distribution, offering his 1997 four-CD set, Crystal Ball, for sale online, he is adamant about keeping control of his content.
After announcing earlier this year that he planned to sue YouTube, eBay and fansites for posting music and videos without permission, he faced a huge backlash.
In a bid to placate peeved fans, Prince's camp has since eased off the legal threats and attempted to work out a compromise.
There was no immediate comment from Prince on Radiohead's remarks.
Meanwhile, we can sit back and wait for the band to cover "Let's Go Crazy" for YouTube.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Prince, Roger Waters make Coachella a success
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h03x5RicOOiW8ASPzb9gQ_E7QezwD90AMBO81
Prince, Roger Waters help make Coachella a success in year 9
By JAKE COYLE
4-28-8
INDIO, Calif. (AP) — By the end of Coachella, over 100 bands had fanned out across five stages, more than 150,000 people had sweltered through the desert heat and at least as many bottles of water had been guzzled.
But there was one who rose above all others.
Prince, in his Saturday evening headlining performance, firmly established himself in Coachella lore among famous concerts from years past, including the Pixies and Rage Against the Machine. Prince, for certain, didn't plan to share the mantle.
"From now on, this is Prince's house!" he declared at the end of his set, which went well beyond midnight.
Few seemed inclined to argue after Prince put on a funky, rollicking show that featured passionate performances of classics like "Let's Go Crazy" and "Purple Rain," as well as unexpected and creative covers of Radiohead ("Creep") and the Beatles ("Come Together").
But it was also hard to forget Rogers Waters' performance as the headliner Sunday. In contrast to Prince's celebratory concert, Waters presented the festival's biggest political statement — literally.
At the conclusion of Waters' first set, a giant inflatable pig was led above the crowd from strings to the ground. It was painted with graffiti on one side with the words "Don't be led to the slaughter" and a cartoon of Uncle Sam wielding two bloody cleavers. The other side read "Fear builds walls."
The underside of the pig simply read "Obama" with a checked ballot box alongside.
On the stage, Waters and his band played one of the versions of "Pigs" from Pink Floyd's 1977 album "Animals," a concept disc that criticizes capitalism.
As Waters drew to a loud close, flame bursts were exploded on the sides of the stage and the swine was released into the night sky. Waters said sadly and comically, "That's my pig."
He then took a break, having played a set of both Pink Floyd classics and new material. He later returned to play "Dark Side of the Moon" in full.
Earlier in the day, Sean Penn also made a political statement, albeit without the aid of a giant inflatable farm animal. He stopped by to speak twice, urging the mostly young crowd to be more politically active and join him on a cross-country bus trip leaving Monday for New Orleans.
Wearing a T-shirt and jeans and smoking a cigarette while he sat on a stool, Penn said he unfortunately couldn't perform his "a cappella Celine Dion cover act" since he had "compromised his upper register."
Altogether, this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Fesival — the ninth annual — was as varied as any before it. As usual, it featured several reunited bands, and none more anticipated than Portishead.
On Saturday night, the band filled the night air with steely, cool trip-hop and gritty, fierce new songs such as "Machine Gun." Singer Beth Gibbons, who tightly clutched the microphone with both hands throughout, broke from her focus at the end of the set to hop off stage and gleefully run along the crowd, shaking hands.
Walking off stage, Geoff Barrow, the band's soundscapist, referred to Portishead's decade of dormancy: "Thanks for waiting," he told the crowd.
Friday night's headliner, surfer singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, appeared too mellow for the plum gig, as many left the festival grounds as he played. He followed a performance by the Verve, another reunited British outfit. Their psychedelic Brit Pop sounded of another era but was still impressively powerful and self-assured
Coachella, which is put on by concert promoter Goldenvoice, is a hugely diverse mix of sights and sounds — and there were many over the weekend. The uber-cool MC M.I.A packed them into the Sahara Tent on Saturday night, where even the backstage area was teaming with at least a hundred clamoring for her.
I'm From Barcelona, which, alas, is from Sweden, made perhaps the festival's best entrance, taking the stage Sunday 17 strong and bearing dozens of giant red balloons. As the balloons circulated and confetti rained down, it launched into "Treehouse," and lead singer Emanuel Lundgren jumped into the crowd.
The Denver-based gypsy band DeVotchKa also displayed theatrics. As the four-piece group thumped away on upright bass and tuba, the Amazing Slavic Sisters acrobatically ascended 30 feet up hanging tapestries flanking the stage.
Many more played, as well, among them the Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Kraftwerk, Vampire Weekend, Fatboy Slim, MGMT and Aphex Twin.
Located in the Southern California desert a few hours' drive from Los Angeles, Coachella has emerged as one of the country's biggest music events and the unofficial kickoff to the summer festival season.
Drawing electronic music, indie rock and pop acts, it's fostered a cool identity of sun-drenched dancing. The crowd was largely composed of fashionable hipsters showing plenty of skin in dry, hot weather that at times cracked 100 degrees.
"Festivals usually smell a lot worse than this one," National lead singer Matt Berninger told the crowd while playing Friday. "You guys smell really nice."
Battalion Chief Bart Chambers of the Indio Fire Department said about 25 people had been hospitalized by late Sunday afternoon, many of them because of heat-related injuries.
Coachella is a well-run festival where five stages are laid out in an expansive U-shape, behind which a veritable racecourse of golf carts runs, shuttling musicians and VIPs to the stages. Hundreds of fans camped on the festival grounds, and a few dozen took more posh digs in $4,000 tents, complete with air conditioning and candles.
In the middle of the grounds are giant sculptures, typically brought from the Burning Man festival. At night, many of them glow, and the surrounding mountain ranges and palm trees create a memorable environment. Corporate advertising is largely absent.
Coachella's proximity to Los Angeles also has traditionally meant a visible celebrity contingent. Though Paris Hilton and Alicia Silverstone were among those in attendance, the festival didn't appear to have the same celeb buzz as it has in years past — like when Madonna played in 2006.
On the Net:
Coachella festival: http://www.coachella.com
Prince, Roger Waters help make Coachella a success in year 9
By JAKE COYLE
4-28-8
INDIO, Calif. (AP) — By the end of Coachella, over 100 bands had fanned out across five stages, more than 150,000 people had sweltered through the desert heat and at least as many bottles of water had been guzzled.
But there was one who rose above all others.
Prince, in his Saturday evening headlining performance, firmly established himself in Coachella lore among famous concerts from years past, including the Pixies and Rage Against the Machine. Prince, for certain, didn't plan to share the mantle.
"From now on, this is Prince's house!" he declared at the end of his set, which went well beyond midnight.
Few seemed inclined to argue after Prince put on a funky, rollicking show that featured passionate performances of classics like "Let's Go Crazy" and "Purple Rain," as well as unexpected and creative covers of Radiohead ("Creep") and the Beatles ("Come Together").
But it was also hard to forget Rogers Waters' performance as the headliner Sunday. In contrast to Prince's celebratory concert, Waters presented the festival's biggest political statement — literally.
At the conclusion of Waters' first set, a giant inflatable pig was led above the crowd from strings to the ground. It was painted with graffiti on one side with the words "Don't be led to the slaughter" and a cartoon of Uncle Sam wielding two bloody cleavers. The other side read "Fear builds walls."
The underside of the pig simply read "Obama" with a checked ballot box alongside.
On the stage, Waters and his band played one of the versions of "Pigs" from Pink Floyd's 1977 album "Animals," a concept disc that criticizes capitalism.
As Waters drew to a loud close, flame bursts were exploded on the sides of the stage and the swine was released into the night sky. Waters said sadly and comically, "That's my pig."
He then took a break, having played a set of both Pink Floyd classics and new material. He later returned to play "Dark Side of the Moon" in full.
Earlier in the day, Sean Penn also made a political statement, albeit without the aid of a giant inflatable farm animal. He stopped by to speak twice, urging the mostly young crowd to be more politically active and join him on a cross-country bus trip leaving Monday for New Orleans.
Wearing a T-shirt and jeans and smoking a cigarette while he sat on a stool, Penn said he unfortunately couldn't perform his "a cappella Celine Dion cover act" since he had "compromised his upper register."
Altogether, this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Fesival — the ninth annual — was as varied as any before it. As usual, it featured several reunited bands, and none more anticipated than Portishead.
On Saturday night, the band filled the night air with steely, cool trip-hop and gritty, fierce new songs such as "Machine Gun." Singer Beth Gibbons, who tightly clutched the microphone with both hands throughout, broke from her focus at the end of the set to hop off stage and gleefully run along the crowd, shaking hands.
Walking off stage, Geoff Barrow, the band's soundscapist, referred to Portishead's decade of dormancy: "Thanks for waiting," he told the crowd.
Friday night's headliner, surfer singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, appeared too mellow for the plum gig, as many left the festival grounds as he played. He followed a performance by the Verve, another reunited British outfit. Their psychedelic Brit Pop sounded of another era but was still impressively powerful and self-assured
Coachella, which is put on by concert promoter Goldenvoice, is a hugely diverse mix of sights and sounds — and there were many over the weekend. The uber-cool MC M.I.A packed them into the Sahara Tent on Saturday night, where even the backstage area was teaming with at least a hundred clamoring for her.
I'm From Barcelona, which, alas, is from Sweden, made perhaps the festival's best entrance, taking the stage Sunday 17 strong and bearing dozens of giant red balloons. As the balloons circulated and confetti rained down, it launched into "Treehouse," and lead singer Emanuel Lundgren jumped into the crowd.
The Denver-based gypsy band DeVotchKa also displayed theatrics. As the four-piece group thumped away on upright bass and tuba, the Amazing Slavic Sisters acrobatically ascended 30 feet up hanging tapestries flanking the stage.
Many more played, as well, among them the Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Kraftwerk, Vampire Weekend, Fatboy Slim, MGMT and Aphex Twin.
Located in the Southern California desert a few hours' drive from Los Angeles, Coachella has emerged as one of the country's biggest music events and the unofficial kickoff to the summer festival season.
Drawing electronic music, indie rock and pop acts, it's fostered a cool identity of sun-drenched dancing. The crowd was largely composed of fashionable hipsters showing plenty of skin in dry, hot weather that at times cracked 100 degrees.
"Festivals usually smell a lot worse than this one," National lead singer Matt Berninger told the crowd while playing Friday. "You guys smell really nice."
Battalion Chief Bart Chambers of the Indio Fire Department said about 25 people had been hospitalized by late Sunday afternoon, many of them because of heat-related injuries.
Coachella is a well-run festival where five stages are laid out in an expansive U-shape, behind which a veritable racecourse of golf carts runs, shuttling musicians and VIPs to the stages. Hundreds of fans camped on the festival grounds, and a few dozen took more posh digs in $4,000 tents, complete with air conditioning and candles.
In the middle of the grounds are giant sculptures, typically brought from the Burning Man festival. At night, many of them glow, and the surrounding mountain ranges and palm trees create a memorable environment. Corporate advertising is largely absent.
Coachella's proximity to Los Angeles also has traditionally meant a visible celebrity contingent. Though Paris Hilton and Alicia Silverstone were among those in attendance, the festival didn't appear to have the same celeb buzz as it has in years past — like when Madonna played in 2006.
On the Net:
Coachella festival: http://www.coachella.com
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