By Hans Fink
Avant-garde rock pioneer and visual artist Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART, passed away at the age of 69. He expired due to complications from multiple sclerosis. Van Vliet’s musical body of work spans from the ’60s to the early ’80s and is regarded as incalculably influential on many genres of rock. Known for his bizarre and genre-defying works, the Captain’s career started with collaborations with FRANK ZAPPA, included random abuses of his rotating roster of musicians (go ahead and Google the back story behind “Trout Mask Replica”) and ended with pieces of art that sold in the tens of thousands of dollars. The planet is now short another ingenious eccentric.
REM has threatened to release a new album in March entitled Collapse into Now. As a favor to the music-loving public, REM has promised that this forthcoming album won’t be full of bleeding heart political rhetoric like its predecessors, but rather will be more of a “personal” record. Thank you, REM.
Alt-country band WILCO formed its own festival last year called “Solid Sound.” This year they intend to bring it back in June but this news actually bores me, so I m going to write about something else.
Speaking of country music and boring news, SHANIA TWAIN is engaged to a business executive named Frederick Thiebaud. Yawn. Apparently, Twain’s ex cheated on her with Thiebaud’s wife. It’s always nice when romance and irony intersect. Actually, no it isn’t.
Two of the founding members of multi-platinum pop-punk group PARAMORE have announced they are leaving the band. Tired of dealing with the success afforded them by their contributions to Paramore, guitarist Josh Farro and drummer Zac Farro (I think they are related) are perusing greener pastures. Because, you know, there are greener pastures than being in a band that can actually sell records in the digital age. Way to cut your losses, fellas. Most fans don’t care, so long as red-headed singer what’s-her-face remains in the band.
Police raided the Atlanta home of a rapper named WAKA FLOCKA FLAME. Really? I mean, really? I think rap names are kind of like superhero names: all the good ones are taken and now we either just take random words out of the dictionary and build a theme about them or resort to the old Reverend Jesse Jackson method and just start making words up. I forget which Dr. Seuss book inspired the MC’s moniker, but yeah, apparently his home was raided. Another rapper, GUCCI MANE, was also arrested in the raid as well as Sam I Am, Thing #1 and Sylvester McMonkey McBean.
Punk rock band THE VANDALS are still embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit with Daily Variety and its parent company, Reed Elsevier. This has been ongoing for pretty much all of 2010, but had its roots in a question of Fair Use in 2004. The Vandals made a parody logo based off the Variety logo, and as I’m sure you are all astutely aware from your years of diligent study of copyright law, parody is protected under the Fair Use act. However, The Vandals, being a punk band, could not afford litigation in 2004, and so signed a settlement in which they agreed to remove all instances of said logo. Earlier this year, a sleazy law firm with ties to the Dark Side of the Force filed litigation against the punk rockers for supposed breach of settlement. Suit has been filed in Delaware, of all places. For a more in-depth understanding of why, go to vandals.com and read more. In true DIY fashion, the band is selling merch in an effort to raise money for their legal fund and exhorting people to boycott Variety. I choose to boycott Variety because they won’t run my column. I’m just kidding. Please don’t sue me.
