Author Archives: robert duffy

I just found this article when it came out, but Slate ran a pretty good piece about how to read Kurt Cobain’s journals.

#1. Don’t picture the author as a rock star. His peak journal-writing period was 1989-90, when he was unemployed, living off his maternal girlfriend Tracy Marander (who inspired “About a Girl”), and jotting lyrics and delusional plans that came true: “Nirvana No. 1 on billbored top 100 .. 2 times on the cover of Bowling Stoned.” Picture him as only a few years removed from an 8 Mile-like upbringing: He was an ambitious outsider musician with a blond kid sis and a gorgeous divorced mom who drank, dated a guy barely older than her son, and refused to press charges against a lover with money coming in who sent her to the hospital. (But unlike Eminem, Kurt only lived in a trailer when he stayed with his dad.) (full story)

I miss Kurt.

If I’m lyin’ then I’m dyin’.

Fuckedcompany.com reporting:

Rumor has it Best Buy is about to close about 150 of its Sam Goody record stores. Shitty pop music (bad) and file-sharing (good) have helped to kill the new music business.

Over the past few weeks, rappers 50 Cent and DMX were arrested. So was Death Row Records owner Suge Knight.

What came to mind when you heard about this? Another no-good rapper getting into trouble?

So what did you think when you heard Pete Townshend was arrested? Did you think he is a sick guy who downloads kiddie porn under the guise of research, or did you think that it’s all a simple misunderstanding.

Because classic rock gods can do no wrong, right?

It’s too easy to make Creed jokes. Way way too easy. Apparantly they put on a really bad show in Chicago, and the band’s management wrote a letter to all the sad Creed fans.

“The band has heard that you are unhappy with the quality of the recent Creed show in Chicago,” reads the letter sent to fans from Jeff Hanson Management. “We apologize if you don’t feel that the show was up to the very high standards set by our previous shows in Chicago. We also understand and appreciate the fact that there has been much concern about Scott’s health and we want to assure everyone that he is doing very well and is taking a much needed break at home in Orlando after a very long and rigorous touring year.”

Of the gig, which reportedly saw Stapp leave the stage for 10 minutes, forget the words to songs, and fall down several times, the band’s management says, “For now we hope that you can take some solace in the fact that you definitely experienced the most unique of all Creed shows and may have become part of the unusual world of rock’n’roll history! Again, we apologize if you didn’t enjoy the show but remember, ‘It’s only rock’n’roll but we like it!'” (full story)

Sooner or later I will see a show that will be part of the unusual world of rock’n’roll history. Soon. Soon.

Get the goods.

Launch has the new music video for Love Boat Captain. Great song, good video.

If I’m writing a mystery novel, can I murder someone for the sake of research?

Townshend, 57, was arrested at his London home on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, suspicion of making indecent images of children and suspicion of incitement to distribute indecent images of children, Scotland Yard said. (full story)

Village Voice ran a pretty interesting article about Eminem the father, not the rapper.

But at the center of his universe, there’s his little girl, who likes watching The Powerpuff Girls with her dad and jumping on the trampoline. She started making friends in town not too long ago, thus reportedly squelching any plans the family might have had to move to California. Pretty much every afternoon when Marshall’s not on tour, he heads over to the school where Hailie attends first grade, and brings her back home. (Word is that Marshall’s leasing a Benz, but foreign cars in Metro Detroit are ill-advised, of course. Around town, he opts for Fords.) Though Hailie’s dad could no doubt afford to send her to Cranbrook, he makes fun of the famous Bloomfield Hills private school toward the end of his movie; no hypocrite, he sends her to a public elementary?albeit one located at the end of a quiet, secure, secluded little street, where paparazzi or stalkers or anyone else out of the ordinary would stick out. (full story)

Well, I never thought I’d go googling around for Dawson’s Creek’s official website, but I just did it. But it was in the interests of my website, so don’t go laughing at me.

Sony Pictures Television and Mixonic Custom Media, a CD duplication company, on Tuesday launched a Web site enabling fans of the TV show “Dawson’s Creek” to create customized CDs of songs from the program. (full story)

Here is where you go to make your CD. The cool thing about this site is that in the description of each song (and there is a lot of songs), it lists out exactly where the song was played. For example, who could forget when Vanessa Daou’s “Show Me” was played in episode 418, when “Dawson and Gretchen by the fire, Dawson tells Gretchen he loves her.” So Romantic.

If only they’d do this for “The Sopranos,” just so I can know the names of all the great songs they play.