August 14, 2006

a few blogs from well-known musicians

I only know of a few "famous" musicians that blog:

David Byrne, solo artist and Talking Heads
Adam Duritz, Counting Crows
Robert Fripp, King Crimson
Jorma Kaukonen, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane
Brian May, Queen
Jill Sobule, folk artist (she did that quirky "I Kissed a Girl" thing a long while back, she is quite talented and funny).

You would think there would be more. Am I looking in the wrong places?

Update 2006-08-16: Since my amigo Dwight over at Ideoplex linked here and posted on Jill Sobule, let me take the opportunity to point you to a very funny thing on Jill's blog. It's the post titled "The Story Behind the Song - 10/24/04".

I was at SXSW (a music industry showcase in Austin). I had just been signed to Atlantic Records and was about to play one of those horrible shows for chatty catty record company posers -- I did not have this attitude fully developed back then. Anyway, it was a double bill with an unknown female singer/songwriter also debuting on Atlantic named… Jewel.

Jewel, at that time, was this cute, slightly chubby hippie girl who sang folk songs and lived in a van (that was the story). She performed before me, as I had put out a CD on another label earlier and had more of a name (which was not saying much). As she got on stage, the jaded audience maybe looked up once, and then talked through her entire set. After her 5th song, she left in tears.

I felt so bad for her, and knew exactly how she felt. I went backstage, gave her a hug, and gave her some big sisterly advice: "It wasn’t you. You were great, and they are just big assholes." I thought to myself, this poor girl is going to be so eaten up by this world of broken promises and heartache (something like that).

As bad as I felt for her, I was determined to kick some ass. I opened up with my "when it’s a hostile crowd" opening number, Don’t Fuck With Me. It has worked opening up Paul Weller’s lager-swilling fans, Don Henley’s ex hippie now Republican crowd, and even did magic with the semi-goth frat boy Godsmack show. And yes, this cheap trick worked in Austin. They shut up. I knew right then and there that I was going to be Atlantic Record’s new diva. "I was gonna be a star" (said in a kind of 1930’s NY Broadway manager way).

Read the rest, it's just high-larious and conveys her sense of humor perfectly ;-)

Posted by Gene at August 14, 2006 7:39 PM | TrackBack