Editorial
Man of Merch #7: Catching Up Part 1/2
I’ve been on and off the road working for many different artists for the last ten years, and when work allows, I like to document my travels.
I’ve been on and off the road working for many different artists for the last ten years, and when work allows, I like to document my travels.
The sophomore slump. Second-year blues. The “difficult” second album. None of these phrases are in Alex Turner’s vocabulary. As frontman for the Arctic Monkeys, one of Britain’s most successful and important bands of the decade, Turner is unfazed by the pitfalls of following up a zeitgeist-shaping debut. “Was it a difficult album to record? No,” Turner says from Milan, in the midst of a promotional tour, “because ever since we finished the first album (in September 2005), we’ve been writing songs for this one. So it wasn’t like a rush at the last minute.” Nonetheless, things have changed in Monkeyworld.… Read more »
In just eight months’ time, Justin Timberlake’s feelings toward former love Britney Spears have gone from hurt to hate. At least that’s what Us Weekly alleges in its current cover story, “Britney Vs. Justin: The War Is On.” The article, which surfaced on New York newsstands Wednesday and will be available nationwide Friday, suggests that pop music’s hottest couple are feuding like the Hatfields and the McCoys, singling out Timberlake’s video for “Cry Me a River” as the latest, and loudest, bomb dropped. The video, which premiered November 25, features 18-year-old model/actress Lauren Hastings playing what could only be construed… Read more »
Stunned fans of The Who’s John Entwistle left flowers and consoled each other outside a casino concert hall where the bass player who helped make the band one of the biggest in rock history had been expected to perform Friday. Entwistle was found dead Thursday in his Hard Rock Hotel room of an apparent heart attack. He was 57. “The Ox has left the building – we’ve lost another great friend,” bandmates Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey wrote on Townshend’s Web site. The Who’s celebrated drummer, Keith Moon, died in 1978. Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman described Entwistle as… Read more »
Madonna is set to make her debut on a West End stage in London this May in Up for Grabs. The play, a comedy by David Williamson, will preview on May 9 and open on May 23 at Wyndham’s Theatre with Laurence Boswell directing. Up for Grabs, which debuted in February 2001 in Sydney, Australia, is a satire on the world of art. Madonna’s theater experience includes a stint on Broadway in David Mamet’s Speed the Plow and a limited run of David Raab’s Goose and Tom Tom at the Lincoln Center in New York. Among her films are The… Read more »