Posted by The G on May 15, 2013 under Encounters with G | 
Photo by G.
Ms. Lauryn Hill and Geoffrey Dicker
Ms. Lauryn Hill is amazing! She’s only released a few albums in her career but they are genius. She is sometimes as noted for her outbursts in the press and her reclusive nature as much as her music and she may be serving prison time for tax problems. With that kind of reputation and an amazing career, you’d think she might not be the friendliest person around, but I am here to tell you, Ms. Lauryn Hill was absolutely delightful in person. She gladly signed autographs and took photos with a couple of fans who waited quite a while to meet her. As she signed album covers, she told us some of the behind the scenes stories about the photo shoots and was not rushed at all. I was so pleasantly surprised by how cool she was and we returned the love because a talent like hers does not come around very often. Thanks so much Ms. Hill! I really hope she avoids serving a prison term because we all know that paying taxes is the equivalent of taking a torch to your hard earned money, but that’s a conversation for a different day. As I said to Ms. Hill, I hope to see her again very soon and no matter how long it takes or what happens before she comes around again, myself and her legion of fans be waiting for her! Thanks again Lauryn! Love you sister!
Posted by The G on May 14, 2013 under Encounters with G |
Photos by G.
Samuel Thomas Fryer (vocals and guitar) of Palma Violets and Geoffrey Dicker
Last week I saw British post-punk rockers Palma Violets perform a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom in New York. I was less than pleased with my concert shots, but I enjoyed the show a lot. It’s obvious why the foreign press are loving them – because they ROCK! After the show, I met the guys and they were all super cool. We shared a laugh, a photo, a signature on my “180″ cd and in some cases a drink.
Alexander Chilli Jesson (vocals, bass) of Palma Violets and Geoffrey Dicker
Jeffrey Peter Mayhew (Keyboards) of Palma Violets and Geoffrey Dicker
William Martin Doyle (Drums) of Palma Violets and Geoffrey Dicker
Thanks again Palma Violets and I am really looking forward to hearing more great things from you!
Tags: 2013, Alexander Chilli Jesson, Band, Bowery Ballroom, Geoffrey Dicker, Jeffrey Peter Mayhew, Members, New York, Palma Violets, Photo, Samuel Thomas Fryer, William Martin Doyle
Posted by The G on under GNN |
Photo by G.
Tom Petty Beacon Ad
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are playing the iconic Beacon Theatre at the end of May 2013. May 20, 21, 23, 25 and 26th to be exact. Are you going? I am and I am excited!!!
Posted by The G on under The G Spot |
Photo by G.
Daft Punk’d
When the 90′s house music French duo Daft Punk announced a new album, the blog-o-sphere was tilted on its side. Releasing teaser posters, commercials featuring 30 seconds or less of new music and a sound-byte a day to the music press, you realize that whoever does Daft Punk’s publicity should give up their day job and run for political office. They took a non-event and turned it into a media blitz. The press as well as the fans seemingly could not get enough and for over 3 months, very thin news with hardly any meat about Daft Punk clogged up everyone’s news feeds. The funny thing is, I actually like Daft Punk, but as the weeks rolled on, I got so fed up about hearing about them, I started rooting for them to fail just so the press and all the fans would once and for all shut the fuck up about them! The daily news on this band made me realize that while I’ve bought their albums consistently over the years (and there aren’t many), I like very few of their songs. Sure their debut track “Da Funk” made me shake my ass on a dance floor many times, but upon further inspection, it’s really a song featuring one minute of different music looped together over and over for 6 minutes! They pulled off the same trick for their next big single “Around The World” too. Take a serious listen if you think I am hating for the sake of hatred.
The music industry has changed a lot since Daft Punk first came on the scene and in 2013 the record labels leak the album in full and then are forced to “stream it” ahead of its release date. This gives the label the perfect excuse to account for dubious sales numbers by blaming the bootleggers on an album’s failure instead of the fact that many times, the biggest failure of the record is the record itself! Also, don’t these labels wonder that if an album is under lock and key and somehow it gets out, why don’t they question the hiring managers of these departments. There’s seemingly no accountability when you can loudly shout out in the press “we’ve been robbed!” Why nobody speaks about this very obvious fact is beyond my comprehension, so if you think of the last few years of blockbuster albums and how they’ve all followed this pattern, you can thank me later for being the true voice of a generation. You certainly can’t rely on press release regurgitating blogs because they are never going to jeopardize losing their perks by speaking the truth. Since I do things renegade style and 99 times out of 100 get better access on my own than going through the “proper channels,” the time has come to break the silence! So spread the word!!!!
Back to Daft Punk. I’ve given their new album “Random Access Memories” a couple of spins and I could not be any more underwhelmed with the record. However, I’ve noted that it follows the same pattern as their other albums – 2 or 3 decent tracks with a whole lot of filler. Obviously the best tracks are the ones that feature Nile Rodgers producing. The man knows how to craft a hook and has done so successfully for over 30 years. The tracks he is featured on should actually be called Nile Rodgers tracks featuring Daft Punk and not the other way around, but we can save that for another time. The vocoder is ever present in many of the songs ruining great cameo appearances by Julian Casablancas of The Strokes and the majority of the album features completely forgettable songs. The album hasn’t even seen the official release date and I am already at the point where if I never hear any of the album again, you will not see one tear fall from my eye.
The hype machine has already labeled this album a “game changer,” and for those who really believe that, I urge you to get a better education in dance music because if you do, you will find yourself (probably to your dissatisfaction) agreeing with me 100%. I didn’t come here to make you hate the Daft Punk record. I hope that you like it. I want you to stop allowing the media to force feed you what you “should” like because I am starting to find that with so many big time releases, people only like them because they read somewhere that they should. 6 months, or hell, in the one second attention span generation we live in, 2 weeks from now, I am quite sure once the buzz has died down from this record, your enjoyment of it will have as well. Think for yourself!!!
If you believe the hype, you’ve been Daft Punk’d!
Tags: 2013, A Commentary on the Hype Machine, Commentary, Daft Punk, Daft Punk'd, Photo, Review, Teaser Poster, The Hype Machine, Why Do Albums Leak, You Got (Daft) Punk'd
Posted by The G on May 13, 2013 under Celebrities, Encounters with G |
Photo by G.
Lena Dunham and Geoffrey Dicker
Actress/Producer/Writer/Director/Executive Producer Lena Dunham is celebrating her solar return on May 13 and we wish her a happy birthday. I met the multi-talented Lena recently and she was very nice. My encounter with her inspired me to start watching her show “Girls,” and I am really enjoying it. It lives up to all the hype and is definitely pushing the envelope forward in the same way “Sex and the City” did. The world needs more of that! More power to you Lena and I hope you have a great day!
