All we hear is Lady Gaga Lady Goo Goo

Lady Gaga appeared at the Grammy awards red carpet in an egg...yawn. What would have been good is if someone cracked open the egg and scrambled the fucker. It was cool when Mork turned up at Mindy's house in an egg but this was just so contrived.

When Bowie was in full flight donning his various personalities I thought "Bowie is an artist. Even though it is Ziggy Stardust it is still an incarnation of Bowie (probably on a shit load of drugs)". When Elton John played Dodger stadium in a Donald Duck outfit I thought "There is an example of a sexually confused man who is an artist trying to express himself in the mad world he is in (probably on a shit load of drugs)." When Grace Jones lit up the stage I thought "There is one whack-a-doodle chick who is a scary mutha."

I feel like Gaga has a little playbook at home of Bowie, Elton and Grace (among others) that she studies consistently to create her image. It just doesn't feel organic to me. It appears very studied and applied. She says in interviews that she was always a freak and dressed this way but I have seen her pictures (and videos) when she was Stephanie and she is just a very ordinary looking girl.

If you are truly weird (which she keeps telling the press) you don't have to say it. People will know it. Did Michael Jackson go around saying he was weird? No. But you know that he was nuttier than a snickers bar.

I often wonder who actually falls for this and realise that she has quite a legion of fans (or her little monsters as she calls them). Perhaps they are so young that they don't know about Bowie and think that it is original.

Below is a piece from this week's Popbitch which makes some very interesting points. I thoroughly concur.

>> Just dance <<

Get off the soapbox, get on the floor

Lady Gaga's over-hyped release of her Madonna rip-off, Born This Way, seems to be backfiring. Acolytes and mainstream media may have lapped it up but many fans are complaining that it feels more like a cynical marketing tool rather than genuine piece of pop. It should never be up to the artist to anoint their own work as a gay anthem - that's for listeners to decide (and if there's one thing that The Gays should inarguably be allowed to adopt, it's their own anthems).

The problem Gaga has created for herself is that by making gay fans feel like they've been used as a promotional weapon, everything she does is coming under scrutiny. Her S&M video stylings, closely linking the concept of "being gay" with being a freak, or an outcast, for example. Even her previously well-received attempt to support the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is being questioned, particularly her use of the line"We are not asking you to agree with or approve the moral implications of homosexuality". What moral implications? No doubt she started out with good intention- she's possibly just a victim of her own hype -but Gaga might be advised to stop focusing on politics and start focusing on pop again.

Man in the mirror

 I am currently watching MJ Live in Bucharest on TV.

This is what I call a performance..sheer brilliance.

It is truly the end of an era.

The day the music died

I am writing this still in shock that Michael Jackson is dead. I was seriously hoping that it was one of his publicity stunts. It started to sink in when Jermaine released the statement.

It was only recently I featured on this blog the book about his trial and the "lost" duet with Freddie Mercury. I always had this optimism that he would rock our socks off at the O2 Arena and make the public remember what his life was truly about.

I was very fortunate to see Michael perform for both the "Bad" and "History" tours in Australia.
For someone who has seen him perform live I can honestly say that no one came close to the type of excitement he generated on stage.

I remember during the Dangerous tour seeing footage from Bangkok where for the first number (Jam) he enters the stage literally flying from underneath the stage through a door.
He stood still on stage for 15 mins only moving slightly while the crowd went completely nuts.
After seeing him live for the first time I was instantly a life long fan. I am just sad that we will never see his brilliance again.

I have had such a hard time trying to think of an appropriate song for today. Do I choose "Gone too soon" which he dedicated to Aids victim Ryan White? Do I choose "Childhood" his most autobiographical (and heartbreaking) song. Do I choose the most popular tracks like "Billie Jean" and "Thriller"? Do I link to my fav MJ song "Human Nature" even though there isn't an official clip?

Actually I am not going to show any of those rather a performance that not many people would have seen. He wrote this song for Sammy Davis Jr who was a friend of his and performed it at Sammy's tribute. Sammy died from cancer not too long after this.

If you ever want to read a book about MJ that is what I consider an accurate portrayal get your hands on a copy of J Randy Taraborrelli's "The Magic and the Madness".

Michael, Rest In Peace. Heaven is going to have one heck of a dancer.

Michael Jackson Conspiracy

My last post was about Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury so I thought this would be a good intro for the latest book I read called "Michael Jackson Conspiracy".

To my surprise this was a very interesting read based on the court transcripts during Michael Jackson's trial. In fact the book is written by a journalist who covered the trial for US network television. Since reading this book I have seen a few interviews with the author. She was amongst the throng of media covering the case and admits that no media outlet wanted to hear a report that was "pro Jackson". I think this is still the case.

If you at all interested in this trial and haven't already made up your mind about the case then this is a must read.

Freddie Mercury & Michael Jackson

One thing I didn't know about until relatively recently was that Freddie Mercury was asked by Michael Jackson to duet with him on the song "State of Shock".
This song later appeared on the Jackson's "Victory" album as a duet with Mick Jagger.

In fact MJ and Freddie were working on a few tracks together.
"I was going to be on Thriller," confirmed Freddie, before his death from an AIDS-related illness in November 1991. "We had three songs in the can but, unfortunately, they were never finished."

One of the songs that MJ and Freddie worked on was "There must be more to life than this." I found a rare recording of it on You tube. Take a listen to it. It is very catchy in that "We are the world" type of way. Speaking of "We are the world" Freddie was a big fan of the song.



MJ and Freddie did a demo for "State of Shock". During the demo process apparently (as the rumours go) Michael was none to pleased with Freddy's drug use in the studio and Freddy was swiftly replaced by Mick Jagger.
This recording is very rough but it gives you a glipse into what State of Shock may have been like with Freddie.



It kind of disappoints me that Freddy was given the boot. After all he is an infinitely better singer & performer than Mick Jagger (IMO).

Here is "State of shock" with Mick Jagger. It is an extended version because all the other versions on Youtube disable embedding.
Can I just have a rant and say if you don't want people to use your video just don't put it on You tube at all. If people want the video there are plenty of free converters out there. It just makes no sense to me.