Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Archives for April 2009

Addicted to Twitter: Intro

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They say you can make or break a habit in just 21 days. If that’s true, today is the official confirmation of my Twitter addiction.

I had no plans of getting into Twitter when I made my first regular post on April 6. I was merely checking out the network for a project at work. Yet here we are three weeks later and I’m hooked.

Those three weeks happened to overlap with Twitter hijacking the news cycle, from Ashton’s joust with CNN to outrage about overhyped swine flu. Suddenly everyone was on Twitter … Oprah! My mother!

As with any phenomenon, the hype obscures the hit. My next few blogs offer a personal peek at my 21-days of forming a new habit. If I can get addicted, you can too. Start by following me.

The Life, It Is Good

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Last week I spent an evening writing about Tori Amos (which will surface here next week). In doing background research I came across the following quote:

A lot of people think darkness is making somebody emotionally defecate on themselves. That’s baby demon stuff. … These baby demons can be wonderful in some ways. Wonderful in some ways, highly conscious in some ways, but until they’ve done their work on their shadow, they are more concerned with the power of seduction and the control over another Being than anything else.” (Lucifer, per Tori, Piece by Piece)

I’ve been conscious of that lately – about the difference between having a negative opinion and trying to make someone doubt themselves. I’m a critic by nature, but I don’t want to be that baby demon. I don’t need anyone to feel bad to make me feel better. I’d rather give light than emanate darkness – especially not impotent baby-demon darkness.

Think about it that way – that everything you do either provides lightness or darkness. Every encounter – writing a record review; bumping into someone on the bus; being disappointed by a family member – in each instant you have a binary choice to make. Will you try to shed some light on the situation? Or, make it blacker – make it pejorative and hateful?

We all know that I don’t like warm weather, but I have to say that I appreciated our high-degree days this weekend. I sweat out all the toxicity I was fostering. The sky sucked it out of me like venom from a snake bite, and it oozed off me like tar.

I feel like I’m back.

Lambert Crosses the Gay Rubicon?

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A strongly-worded NYT Style Article about my American Idol obsession Adam Lambert, whose “is he or isn’t he” gay controversy is DOA.

Interesting, though, that the article is ostensibly about the recent Neil Patrick Harris effect – wherein “He crossed the Rubicon. He did the ‘sudden death’ play. Supposedly you come out and your career is over. He came out and his career is in better shape than it ever was” – and yet carries a sidebar pairing Lambert with Bowie, Liberace, and Prince – two flamboyant straight men who managed to plausibly deny any actual homosexual tendencies and a gay man in deep denial who was finally outed by his own lifestyle.

Essentially, NPH is the only example to date of the mythological Rubicon-crossing that Lambert is currently forging through.

And, not every hot, talented, triple-threat gay guy was Doogie Howser.

(from my stalkee J. Clifton on Twitter, who may have just hinted at having a farcical virtual Tori Amos listening party with me next month, the mere thought of which slays me. Oh, the list of bloggers in this country I could get into trouble with (Jett, I am looking at you).)

Lefsetz publishes Amanda Palmer, lashes the Billboard Top 100

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I am suddenly a fan of savvy music blog Lefsetz Letter, who provided me with the link that inspired my previous post.

I found him via Amanda (fucking) Palmer, who sent him an email about the power of twitter and why she wants to get dropped from her label – the intersection of which is that she had to explain Twitter to the VP of Media at her OZ label, who dished it, and she proceeded to put together a TwitMob event in under 24 hours.

Between this and not liking her video because she looked “fat” RoadRunner records are looking like total asses. No wonder she wrote this charming song about them, to the tune of “Moon River.” Stick with it ’til the end, it’s hilarious.

Meanwhile, back @ Lefsetz, he apparently does a weekly analysis of debuts and big climbs and drops on the Billboard 100 album chart. This week he was pretty harsh, laying out the reasons why a dozen albums aren’t going to make back their production costs, let alone go platinum.

The one he singles out for praise? Lady Gaga. Not because she is fucking ubiquitous in dance clubs (I know this because I just went to one, so there), but because she has gangbusters viral marketing and can sit alone on a stage and do this. Which, honestly, so can I. This one is a bit better.

So, basically, if Amanda would produce a matching album of bangin’ club versions of all of her songs she would rule the charts.

And, scene.

(ps: check out a bonus Amanda interview I was kindly asked to blog a few months ago and got lost in the honeymoon morass.)

Worth seeing/hearing: Digg Dialogg with Trent Reznor

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Ten super-perceptive questions with Trent Reznor, courtesy of Digg users.

The interview is incredible. Trent is articulate and honest, laying out his opinion on the shifting models of the music business.

His answer to the first question is lengthy and fantastic – talking us through how he manages the NIN brand, about generating income to do R&D for his website, and into the world of digital business models.

Radiohead’s little experiment aside, Trent is at the very forefront of interacting with fans in the digital domain – plugging in to their opinions and offering a variety of models to obtain his music. It shows through in the interview – right down to letting fans remix his songs and edit his concert videos to the development of NIN’s own somewhat ground-breaking iPhone app.

Later in the first question, he touches on digital subscription models, and how if the labels go that route they could put the whammy on independent artists doing their own experiments in the digital domain. And, that he tried to “pay if you will” approach with one of his artists, and only netted 18%.

Also, in question three he gives advice to aspiring pop stars versus bubbling-under indie bands. Note the respect and relevance he affords to American Idol and Christina Aguilera. And, realistically says there is a no profit in iTunes, and to try TopSpin instead.

Finally, in the second question he confesses a love for AND ALSO SINGS Ce Ce Peniston’s “Finally.” Seriously. I died.

I wish Tori was still speaking with him, because she needs to learn how to do this shit. If ever there was an artist whose fan base is ready to mobilize and tune in to every possible content- and revenue-stream, its Tori.

PS: At the moment Juliana Hatfield is doing an honor system sale of rare and demo tracks. Her approach is a little misguided, as her site is suggesting paying the standard $.99 a song. I’m pretty sure they’re not going to recoup that much (or anything), but I will certainly donate once I’ve had a chance to listen.