My Night With Morrissey: Seoul 05.06.12 by Deena Roth   After 26 years of waiting to see Morrissey, I finally found myself in the right place at the right time — oddly enough, this was in Seoul, Korea. A few weeks ago, I finally got to see a performance by the enigmatic icon who helped shape my youth… and it was worth the wait. To say that I was once obsessed with The Smiths would be an understatement. I started listening to them in 1986, which is sad, really, because they broke up in 1987. [...]

When the announcement was made that Guns n’ Roses would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, fans were wetting themselves with excitement over the possibility of a long-awaited G n’R reunion. Of course, those dreams were crushed when singer Axl Rose stated in a public letter that he would be completely declining the induction altogether. But this didn’t stop bassist Duff McKagan, who put on his big-boy panties and attended the ceremony in Cleveland where he gracefully accepted the award and jammed with former bandmates Slash, Matt Sorum, Steven Adler and [...]

Video Analysis: New Moon on Monday by Morgan Richter   Vive la Révolution! It’s time to discuss Duran Duran’s “New Moon on Monday” video!   This is a great song, and maybe half of a great video. The video, which was directed by Brian Grant and released in 1984, has a fun premise and a cool look… but, yeesh, it’s riddled with mortifying, cringe-inducing, cheeseball moments that almost bring the whole production — nay, the whole Duran Duran empire — to its knees.     The video is set in some indeterminate European country in [...]

If I Could Talk to the Animals: a message from fans to musicians by Rhonda Rivera   One of my favorite daydreams revolves around the day I sit down with members from a particular band and have a real discussion about what it’s like to be a fan. Sometimes, I think they may have forgotten what it’s like. That overwhelming feeling of love, devotion, respect and even disappointment seems to get lost in the shuffle somewhere once you become a rock star. But if I really could sit down with an idol, what would I [...]

Video Analysis: Union of the Snake by Morgan Richter   Watching the video for Duran Duran’s “Union of the Snake” is like coming into the middle of some obscure science-fiction film, where you have no earthly idea who the characters are or what they’re supposed to be doing, or even whether the film is any damn good. Still, you keep watching, because the images are intriguing enough to hold your attention, even as the cogs in your brain spin in vain, trying to make coherent sense of it all and coming up with… I don’t [...]

The Rock and Soul of My 70’s by Rebecca Holmes Apart from the year I tortured my parents with the alto saxophone lessons, I will go on record to say that I am clearly not a musician… but I love the living hell out of music – and that counts for something. I had a brief stint as an American DJ in Flemish speaking Belgium, worked in a now defunct recording studio in Atlanta, and through my lifetime of travels as a Delta flight attendant have met and befriended my share of musicians, record producers, [...]

VIDEO ANALYSIS: IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD KNOW? by Morgan Richter   Let’s put this video into the proper historical context: “Is There Something I Should Know?” was a stand-alone single, not part of an album. It hit airwaves in 1983, after the release of Rio but before Seven and the Ragged Tiger, and became the band’s first number one hit in the UK. The video, which was directed by their frequent collaborator Russell Mulcahy, was crafted with no shortage of effort. It’s stylish, it’s slick, it’s attractive, it’s witty, and so help me, it [...]

VIDEO ANALYSIS: RIO by Morgan Richter Oh, Rio, Rio, hear them shout across the land…   The video for Duran Duran’s 1982 hit “Rio” is a dazzling, much-loved spectacle that cemented the band’s (hard-earned and richly-deserved) reputation as a bunch of worldly, decadent, hilariously excessive playboys. My film-school training prohibits me from counting “gorgeous nitwits cavort on a yacht” as a legitimate plot, so I have to dock the video points for the absence of a cohesive narrative. Still, what it lacks in plot, it makes up for in witty vignettes and vibrant images. It’s [...]

Fast Machine: Turning Facebook Likes Into True Fans by Rhonda Rivera Adam Bernard recently posted a blog in which he makes the point that although the internet generates interest, it is actually failing to create fans — therefore, it is failing artists. It seems that the trouble lies with the fact that internet presence plus passive interest does not necessarily result in sales. There are many moving parts to this engine, and to complicate things further, there’s more than one way to put those parts together to make it fire. So how does a band [...]

SXSW: an outsider on the inside by Shelly Corbett, KEXP videographer I went to Austin for the SXSW Music conference and believe it or not, I did not eat any barbeque, stand in long lines, drink any free beer, attend any big shows or stay out until 3 am. If you asked me to point the way to Stubbs BBQ I wouldn’t be able to, and I barely know where the Fader Fort is. What the hell did I do there, you ask? Why would I even bother going to this amazing musical clusterfuck? I’ll [...]