Mike generously invited me to post links here to my recent appearances on WNYC's Soundcheck with John Schaefer. I was interviewed on the show this past Friday, 5 December, for a recurring segment they call "Who's on Top, and Who Should Be" -- a rundown of current Billboard chart activity along with other music picks. (As you can imagine, this sort of geekery is right up my alley.)
The Friday segment (heard via streaming audio here, or download it via iTunes) was my third appearance on the show and my longest yet (about 23 minutes), and we covered a lot of ground: from record sales on Black Friday, including the underperformance by Kanye West and Guns n' Roses, to how iTunes is upending the old methods for releasing pop singles and promoting albums.
One of the nice things about WNYC is they keep old shows up on their website seemingly forever. Since Ishbadiddle was inactive when I appeared on Soundcheck over the summer, here are links to my appearances back in August and September.
Those were fun: In August, the first time I went on the show, I was on vacation in Croatia, and they reached me by e-mail; I did the show live by phone from a soba in an Istrian hill town. (Surreal!) They invited me on to talk about an Idolator column I posted just before leaving on the trip, about the 50th anniversary of Billboard's Hot 100. A month later, they invited me back to talk about another column I'd done about the music industry's attempts to kill singles and force consumers to buy albums.
For a laugh: note that in the August and December appearances, the hosts keep pronouncing my name moh-LAHN-fee (with the "a" sounding like "Evian"), rather than the correct, more pedestrian muh-LAN-fee (with the "a" like "can"). I love how these public-radio folks keep wanting to make my name sound more highfalutin than it is!
posted this | this entry's link | speak your mind
| WNYC
If you're an Apple acolyte and enjoy seeing a certain Redmond, Wash. company squirm as much as I do, you've gotta read this Wired article about the dominance of the iPod among Bill Gates's employees: "Hide Your iPod, Here Comes Bill."
Some choice quotes that positively fill me with glee:
"These guys are really quite scared," said the source.... "Even though it's Microsoft, no one is interested in what we have to offer, even our own employees."
As for hiding his own iPod use, the manager said he flaunts his iPod.... "I don't really care if it pisses them off," he said....If you want me to stop using it, give me a product that works and is as easy to use."
A note to folks who attended yesterday's beautiful nuptial event for Andrea and Jay: a Canon Digital Elph camera belonging to my sister was lost in the hubbub at the end of the night. Catherine thinks she left it on one of the tables under the tent as the BSfEC staff started cleaning up. Can anyone help us? Many thanks.
My full-length analysis of this year's contest - for those who actually enjoy reading my prattlings - is also online.
Last year, I went 4 for 5. I'm feeling pretty shaky about my last three picks this year. But then, I always feel unsure about something.
Your turn: gimme your picks. Where are the flaws in my logic? Is Seabiscuit better-loved than I thought? Is American Splendor a bigger deal than I guessed? Is my Lost in Translation pick wishful thinking? Feedback, please.
Someday, we'll do this for money.
It may be rather parochial news when two Ishbadiddlers announce a link-up; but since this is the prime industry journal for all things NYC-blogger-related...
I thought I would let y'all know that yesterday I asked Emily to marry me. Despite being, as you all know, a very sensible woman, she impulsively decided to say yes.
Molanphy and Owens decline to comment on the prospect of launching a joint blog.
A good week for music-related effluvia on the net. First, anyone with even a passing interest in popular music simply must read this witty, dead-on New York Times article from Sunday's Arts section. (Hurry, free viewings will expire in a week and a half.) It's about melismata, the singing phenomenon that, in its overuse, is destroying modern pop singing. This has been a pet theory of mine for years, and while other critics have shared my disdain for the tendency of modern singers to egotistically overemote, until now no one has pinpointed the problem as expertly as Brooklyn-based critic Jody Rosen does here.
My one criticism of Rosen's superb article is that she does not fully explore who is to blame for this phenomenon, though she does hint at it. The usual, and rightful, suspects, Whitney and Mariah, are repeatedly invoked, but to me Rosen hits it on the head in this brief aside: "Stevie Wonder impersonations gone terribly wrong." My long-held theory is that the line in the sand between the old Soul Era of Brother Ray and Queen Aretha and the modern Melismata Era is Stevie, whose '70s work is without peer but who unfortunately taught an entire generation to oversing. Wonder got away with it because his material was so good (until "I Just Called to Say I Love You," of course) and because he wrote it all, which allowed him to understand innately how his heavy-handed singing could serve the songs. But as wave after wave of modern pop and R&B singers invoke Wonder and Songs in the Key of Life as their models of great music, I have decided that Stevie was to singing what Sgt. Pepper was to albums: an innovator of great artistic merit and dubious artistic influence. Like Pepper, Stevie taught everyone who came afterward all the wrong lessons.
The second article I stumbled across this week that I had to share was this BBC piece, "Sesame Street breaks Iraqi POWs," which is definitely a spit-out-your-Froot-Loops headline. Basically, the word from Iraq is that U.S. interrogators are using repeated plays of the themes from Sesame Street and Barney and Friends, along with heavy-metal songs like Metallica's "Enter Sandman," to compel testimony from their captives. And Amnesty International has declared that this may qualify as Geneva-violating torture!
Rightfully, the debate is centering on the question of repetition and cultural interpretation, not the merits of the chosen songs, which are frankly all over the map. "Enter Sandman" is at this point a rock/metal classic, no matter how you feel about Metallica -- it's played at baseball games, fer chrissakes. But metal is poorly received not just by aging parents and classical fans, but also by certain non-American populations, for whom the sound of thundering rock is akin to punishment, both cruel and unusual. As for Barney's "I Love You, You Love Me," I doubt anyone would argue that even two plays of this song amount to anything less than torture. But Sesame Street? Obviously I'm biased, because my memories of that theme date to just after the womb, but it's a pretty happy-sounding song that could only resemble agony after endless repetition; that chunka-chunka melody, those high-pitched kids' vocals - sure, it's grating, but not at first listen. Even John Lennon's "Imagine" would sound like torture after several dozen replays. (More torturous would be the version of "Imagine" sung last night by American Idol's lovable but melismata-addicted Ruben Studdard. Sorry, I'm digressing back to article #1.)
Finally, The Onion offers a sly bit of pop-culture satire this week: "'90s Punk Decries Punks Of Today." This is one of those Onion bits that's not laugh-out-loud funny but gets the tone so wonderfully right. It manages to lampoon punk snobbery, generational arrogance and the KROQ Weenie Roast all in one go. Of course, I shouldn't talk -- I bought the bulk of my punk records...um, CDs in the mid-'90s, and I think Sum 41 are lame, too.
| Melismata | Punk | Torture
Mike recently encouraged me to cross-post my blog content if I was so inclined, and I thought my current post might interest the music-loving/tech-loving Ish community: a review of Apple's iTunes Music Store. Actually, it's a rundown of the negatives on the new service – a "to do" list of improvements I'd like to see Steve Jobs implement. For more of an entry-level primer on the new iTunes, try this Walt Mossberg column.
You can also get to my blog via Molanphy.com; other recent posts include the latest installment of my CD-review series Rotations, plus some comments on Madonna and music video. Thank you and have a lovely day. Oh, and let me know if I should continue cross-posting here on Ish, or if you can find my blog yer own damn self, thankyouverymuch.
| MP3 | Reviews | Web Tools
A friend sent me this MSNBC story about the little-remarked bardlike qualities of our Secretary of Defense. "The Situation," in particular, strikes me as an eloquent ode to zen-like, pre-war ennui.
| Poetry
I'm posting most of this Variety story because you need a subscription to read it. Here's a link, if you're a subscriber.
I'm most intrigued that Mel Gibson's production company is backing this, given Mel's well-established rep as one of Hollywood's quiet but staunch conservatives. Then again, Gibson also loves a good Conspiracy Theory.
| Conspiracy Theories | Michael Moore
For those who don't read the Times regularly, this article confirms what we Gothamites have been feeling for a while. Yes, things are worse off here. If New Yorkers seem particularly incredulous when we get word from the national news that the recession is ending/ended, there's a good reason.
As someone in a pure service business, I was...um, gratified to see the article confirm the timetable I've felt instinctively - that things didn't get really bad until after 9/11, that even that disaster's economic effects were long delayed, and that 2002 was a much worse year than 2001.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I had a meeting with someone visiting from Seattle, and she said she was surprised that New York didn't seem to be in more of a funk. (She was also still shocked by what her host's apartment cost.) I explained to her that we've been in a kind of suspended animation mode for a while, waiting for the inevitable malaise Bloomberg et al. keep talking about to hit us with gale force: services are just starting to get cut; real estate is just starting to devalue; the real-estate tax hike is just kicking in and the subway fare isn't hiked yet; etc. Amazingly, this article managed to make our prospects sound even worse.
Final sad thought I had reading this: I guess we can forget about the creator of this blog and his lovely family sticking around this declining 'hood for much longer.
From this WSJ article on University dining -- evidently Yale took top honors in their taste test. Go Berkeley!
Yale University Rating: ****After punching our meal ticket across the country, we found our winner in a baronial hall in New Haven, Conn. At Berkeley College, one of Yale's 12 residential colleges, we settled into huge red-leather chairs beneath chandeliers for some gourmet offerings. No food-service specials like mashed potato flakes here -- the spuds were fancy fingerlings, three times the price of ordinary russets. Likewise, the roasted portobello and tofu salad was subtly spiced, and crusty French loaves were accompanied by a roasted garlic spread, plus olive oil for dipping. "If I were a kid, I wouldn't ever leave this place," said our expert, Glenn Harris from New York's Jane restaurant.
The school says things will only get better: Next year, Berkeley plans a 100% organic "sustainable-foods initiative" that, with the help of celebrity chef Alice Waters, will bring in local produce and antibiotic-free meat. "I don't think anything on this scale has ever been attempted in the annals of institutional food service," says Berkeley co-master John Rogers. Uh, what time's dinner?
| New Haven | Yale
Ishbadiddle's guide to occasional music.
Each week one of our guests selects a music-listening occasion, gives his or her top music list (singles, albums, box sets, EPs, whatever) and suggests a new category.
This week's guest: Chris Molanphy
Music occasion: Music for listening to after the breakup.
Billy Bragg, "Valentine's Day Is Over"
The Beatles, "Yer Blues"
The Police, "So Lonely"
Violent Femmes, "Kiss Off"
Fine Young Cannibals, "I'm Not the Man I Used to Be"
Beta Band, "Dry the Rain"
Liz Phair, "Divorce Song"
Marvin Gaye, Here, My Dear
(he was forced to record this album and give its royalties to his ex-wife as part of their divorce settlement)
...and of course:
J. Geils Band, "Love Stinks"
Chris' new category: Music for playing after making love. (Do I sense a thematic progression here?)
Other categories:
Music for Road Trips
Music for Practicing Your Dance Moves In Front of the Mirror
Music for Giving To Someone Who Knows Nothing About Jazz
Music You Haven't Heard But Should
If you'd like to be a guest LISTener, or suggest a category, email me or leave a comment.
| Lists
this is just out...
* The Stinkers
Two days before the Oscars, this site will announce its own movie awards -- for the worst of last year's cinema. While you wait for this "winners" (if you can call them that), browse the lists of past honorees. Make sure you also check out "100 Years, 100 Stinkers: The Worst Films of the 20th Century."
I just checked this morning, and the big "winner," in a near-sweep, is Tom Green's opus 'Freddy Got Fingered' for Worst Film, Worst Sense of Direction, etc. Mariah Carey also took "top" prize for 'Glitter.'
The other, and better-known, bad-movie awards are the Golden Raspberries, or "Razzies." They don't announce their "winners" till tomorrow (Saturday).
-- CMM
And if you haven't yet, take our Oscar Trivia Challenge!
For those who wonder what Zagat *doesn't* publish, they put together a small webpage with some of the discarded one-liners. Enjoy.
Ouch!
CMM
| New York City | Reviews
Salon ran a pretty good commentary on what's good about Friends, following the announcement that the show has only one season left. I like the piece mainly because it makes a point I've been making for a while now -- that the show succeeded in spite of the craven Gen-X marketing effort that inspired it in 1994.
The other thing I like about it is that it addresses the longtime gripe of Seinfeld fans, that Friends is just a pale carbon copy of the much-praised Show About Nothing. A representative quote:
If "Seinfeld" was a show about nothing, "Friends" is a show about anything. It was also, surprisingly, a show in which people hung out with other people their own age. If anything about "Friends" is realistic, in fact, it's that. When characters of different ages have appeared on the show, their ages have been major issues. (Monica's relationship with the much older Richard, for example, ultimately failed for that reason.) In fact, from the nondescript title (the network had originally wanted to call it "Friends Like These") to the equal weight given to the collect-them-all personalities -- Flaky, Jappy, Controlly, Smarmy, Mopey and Dopey -- everything about "Friends" that was considered narrow or unworkable became one of its most important assets....Of course, "Friends" couldn't have existed without "Seinfeld." Although the latter was arguably a funnier show, "Friends" will probably age better in syndication. We loved the "Seinfeld" characters because they were loathsome, because they represented the opposite of what we were supposed to like and because they made us feel better about a future in which nothing was expected to happen....
We may have been 25 at the time the show began, but some of us -- like Monica, Chandler, Rachel, Ross, Joey and Phoebe -- would remain 25 for a few more years. But then we all grew up. If Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine hadn't landed in jail, they would have remained -- So here we are, forever. Forever and ever and ever -- in their own cozy hell, where no red-hot pokers were needed.
The "Friends," on the other hand, will probably end up living somewhere among us.
Nobody, including this Salon columnist, seems to remember this anymore, but about a year after Friends debuted (to astounding ratings), a very snippy Jerry Seinfeld -- then at the height of his show's popularity -- appeared on The Tonight Show and made some unsubtle references to the fellow NBC hit show and its similarity to his show. To be fair, he only made the comments in response to a question from Leno about the then-suffocating preponderance of urban/single/20-30-something sitcoms on TV, which Leno posited as Seinfeld's legacy; to which Jerry replied, "Oh you mean all these shows about friends sitting around talking? Yes, there are a lot of shows about friends right now, aren't there?" I agree that Seinfeld's show is the more groundbreaking one, but I thought then and still think now that not only was Jerry being an unconscionable, ungrateful bitch on national television, he was pretty inaccurate. This Salon story does a pretty good job of carving out Friends' legacy -- and keeping me from feeling too sheepish about admitting to my own friends (who all think the show is so five-years-ago) that I still watch it.
The Village Voice has put out its annual Pazz and Jop critics' poll -- available in this week's newspaper and on their website. The web version is superior on a number of levels -- not only because it says up for longer than a week, but because the Voice people have seen fit to include all of the respondents' polls; pre-web, only some of the polls would be represented in the paper.
The winners were predictable. On the album list, Dylan's Love and Theft topped the poll by the largest margin in P&J's nearly 30-year history. The Strokes' much-debated Is This It was #2, but it wasn't even close; Love and Theft all but doubled its points. Equally predictable, on the singles list, Missy Elliott's innovative, much-praised hit "Get Ur Freak On" topped the poll handily.
Whatever its faults -- don't get Jay Smith started on this topic -- P&J is probably the most useful music poll/award produced annually, because its slant -- i.e., the things rock critics drool over (usually a mix of acclaimed geezers, anointed indie-rockers and Important rappers) -- is not quite as craven as the slant of the other honoraria: the Grammys, the American Music Awards, the polls done by specific magazines, etc. In other words, rock critics might all talk to each other and breathe the same stale air, but it's likely that they listen to more music than the average Grammy voter; and it's quite unlikely that Robert Christgau, P&J's poll manager and elder statesman, calls respondents and pressures them to vote for his favorites. (There's one simple reason why Mick Jagger's latest album, loved by no one except Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, made the top five of Rolling Stone's 2001 music awards, for example.)
As someone who is a sometime-published music critic, always compiles year-end music top 10s, but does not contribute to Pazz and Jop, I like to compare my annual tallies with the critics' consensus. This year, nine of my 13 album-of-the-year picks made the P&J top 40 (exceptions were my #2 pick, Dismemberment Plan; #6, the Beta Band; #10, Craig David; and -- natch -- #12, Ben Folds). I'm happy to see that my number-one pick, the Avalanches' Since I Left You, nearly made P&J's top 10, a strong showing for a debut album. All but three of my single-of-the-year picks made the P&J list.
Apparently, I'm not the only one who obsesses over this sort of thing -- Douglas Wolk, my friend and former CMJ editor, clued me in to a P&J number-crunching site where someone named Glenn McDonald has actually figured out which poll participants match the overall results most closely and ranked them based on some formula. This is sorta fun, if you care even a little bit about rock criticism and spot a name or two you are familiar with (Rolling Stone's heavily published Rob Sheffield, for example, or sometime MTV and VH1 personalities Allison Stewart and Anthony DeCurtis) -- are they total shills for the rock-crit party line, or do they march to their own drum, as it were? (FYI, Sheffield is apparently way into the critical faves, making the top 10.)
Anyway, I shouldn't talk -- I often match the P&J results pretty closely -- and in fact, my friend Jay took the liberty of running the numbers for me. Here's what he found:
From: Jay Smith To: Douglas Wolk, Chris Molanphy Subject: Re: Pazz and Jop Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:13:31"Now I have the perfect way to know which of my
friends and acquaintances is the PazzAndJoppiest! Ted's just a little bit
PazzAndJoppier than Gavin. Douglas is PnJier than Robin, but not so
PnJ as Windy. And somehow Ivan's become more PnJ than any of them --
what's up with that?Chris, I've run the numbers, and I'm giving you an honorary 60.7. Oooh,
not quite as PazzAndJoppy as Joe Levy! Sorry, Chris. Just ditch that
Beta Band crap and learn to love the Dylan, and you're top ten material.
Oh, and then you'd be pushing Sheffield out of the top ten. Grudge Match!
I guess I kind of deserved that. CMM
The Oscar nominees were announced this morning, as scheduled, in Los Angeles. Most-nominated this year was 'Lord of the Rings,' thanks to its wealth of technical nods. But the favorite for most major awards is still (ecch) 'A Beautiful Mind,' which tied 'Moulin Rouge' with eight nominations. Biggest head-scratcher: no Best Director nomination for Baz Luhrmann, despite the predicted Best Picture nod for 'Moulin Rouge' -- fans of that movie, prepare yourselves for disappointment on Oscar night. Other semi-surprises were a near-sweep of acting nominations by 'Iris,' no nod for Gene Hackman in 'The Royal Tenenbaums,' and -- holy s#@?, what is Ethan Hawke doing in the Best Supporting Actor category?!
Now, the real news. ;) For the first time since 1997, I went five for five on my Best Picture predictions. I'm pleased but as stunned as anyone, given the wide-open race this year and my stated expectation that I could possibly do *worse* than in previous years. Go figure.
So now my annual Oscar nominees "essay" has a bit more shelf life than normal. It's still up at molanphy.com (and will be until further notice), if you're curious to know what made me pick those five movies. Don't worry; I won't my luck go to my head.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in with comments yesterday and offered their own picks (and sorry to you 'Black Hawk Down' fans).
Best,
Chris Molanphy
Hope y'all are enjoying the music top 10s. While I'm on a roll, now up at my website are my annual, totally unscientific predictions of the five films that'll be nominated for Best Picture at this year's Academy Awards. For those too busy to surf, the nominees (not my favorite movies -- just the ones I think will get the nominations) are:
1. A Beautiful Mind
2. Moulin Rouge
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
4. In the Bedroom
5. Gosford Park
Nominees are to be announced tomorrow (Tues, 13 Feb). Sorry about the short window. Last year, I went 4 for 5 on my predictions. This year is a much tougher call -- we'll find out soon enough how close I came.
Feel free to write back with your own picks. Thanks for reading...
Best,
Chris Molanphy
In response to the report that Elton John was attending the WEF, Emily wrote:
The NYT was reporting this morning that a musician known as "Peter B. Gabriel" was in attendance. Is there some secondary agenda that we don't know about? And where on earth is Bono?
To which Chris replied:
Notice that in the Times article, "Mr. Gabriel" is referred to in a rather non-committal fashion. His liberal politics aside, he's probably checked into the Waldorf as an attendee, not lined up alongside the protesters outside. (I'm less suprised by Elton's attendance; whatever his politics -- and given all the AIDS and pro-gay work, it's probably unimpeachable -- he generally doesn't give a shit anymore; cf. playing with gay-basher Eminem at last year's Grammys.)
Anyway, to answer the rhetorical question, that's probably why Bono's not attending this thing, on either side. Or very many older, respectable left-leaning celebrity types, for that matter (Springsteen, Sting, David Crosby, etc.). Unless they've based their identities around anti-corporate protest, like Rage Against the Machine (those Sony-recording hypocrites), there's little upside for them in protesting, and not much upside in attending. Gabriel, who hasn't released an album in 10 years and is therefore in a publicity vacuum, will probably receive some unwanted attention by attending the WEF as a guest, even if his intention is to whisper in some leaders' ears about hunger relief or some-such.
The fact is, most musicians/celebrities, even formerly very lefty ones, are getting pretty pragmatic about their causes nowadays. Bono hobnobbed with none other than Jesse Helms in 2000 when stumping for his global debt-relief project, and not only didn't it hurt his cause, it actually seemed to get him some positive press from a normally cynical media. But anyway, that whole debt-rleif thing is another can of worms -- don't get my consulting manager's office-mate (who I think is fairly progressive, politically) started on how badly Bono fucked up the economies of the debt-forgiven countries by making it unlikely anyone will ever lend them money again.
-- CMM
| Debt Relief | Peter Gabriel | WEF
A short/interesting article below. For those who wonder how I do what I do (i.e., corporate communications) without yakking on a daily basis, well, this won't clear up that mystery any...
Full op-ed from the NYT is here; excerpts below:
January 19, 2002
Enron's Vision (and Values) Thing
By JAMES S. KUNEN
Well, at least Enron's leaders thought it important to produce a statement of values. Imagine what they might have done had they found themselves without this moral compass.
Then again, maybe adherence to ethical conduct really should go without saying. Every company's statement ends up rehashing the same things, anyway: We will maintain the highest ethical standards, treat our employees with respect, encourage teamwork, make quality products, respect the environment. . . . As opposed to what? We will maintain fair- to-middling ethical standards? Treat our employees like old shoes, foment backstabbing, make shoddy products and lay waste the environment?
I know one writer who, while struggling to draft one of these corporate credos, threw up her hands in despair and observed: "Why not just come right out and say it? 'We will strive to make as much money as we can without going to prison.' "
She was joking, of course. But had Enron's leaders adopted her statement and lived by it, their employees and shareholders might be a lot better off today.
