:: mike errico diary ::

:: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 ::

Excerpted from an email, but did my heart good, as a closet Seger fan...

Top Catalog chart sales for the week

#5. Bob Seger "Greatest Hits"
Sales this week: 11,473
Cume: 7,985,324

This number would put Seger at number 94 on the MAIN chart. Which would make him bigger than...

Madonna, whose stiff "Confessions Tour" album only moved 10,882.

And Diddy, whose "Press Play" only sold 10,797.

Bigger than the Pussycat Dolls, who only sold 10,648.

Bigger than the Decemberists, who only sold 6,029.

As for Madonna, you'd have to slide all the way down to number 136 on the catalog chart to find her "Immaculate Collection", which moved 2,529 copies this week, for a cume of 5,519,776. But it's she that gets all the press. Isn't Bob Seger that has-been from burned-out Detroit?

... go get 'em Bob. I loved the show, bought the baseball jersey, yelled through "Hollywood Nights," and felt like a dork. At least I have company.
:: mike 12:57 PM [+] ::

:: mike 2:49 PM [+] ::

Attack of the Retro Rock T-Shirts!


Erica Easley, T-shirt collector and coauthor of Rock Tease: The Golden Years of Rock T-Shirts, divines the history of rock by deciphering clues left at the merch table.

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM

:: mike 2:40 PM [+] ::

:: mike 2:36 PM [+] ::

ACE RESPONDS TO RUMORS OF HIS DEMISE
 
New York, NY (February 23, 2007) –“ Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated” - Ace Frehley
 
Contrary to published reports, Ace Frehley, formerly of KISS, is alive
and well and working on his highly anticipated solo album.
 
It has been erroneously reported on various websites and wire services
that the legendary guitarist had committed suicide.
 
Not so!
 
“I don’t know how this ridiculous rumor got started,” smiles Ace, as he
eats his daily allotment of wheat germ, preparing to jump back on his
treadmill.
 
                                                #       #        #
:: mike 8:35 AM [+] ::

Country Music's Biggest Badasses



L.A. is an ungodly shrine to trash and excess. Dozens of great talents have gone to New York to die. But Nashville is the place where all the really bad stuff happens. Welcome to the Hee-Haw Babylon...

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM

:: mike 7:40 AM [+] ::

Incubus: Exclusive Video Interview


The core of the band discusses the new record, beating friends with a 2 x 4.

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM

:: mike 9:05 AM [+] ::

First review of the record...

Turns out the printers have been fans for a while:

The record is fantastic. It showcases your writing range, does justice to the gems that we fans have wanted on a fully produced disc (Ever Since, You Could Be Anywhere), and tracks like Something New provide some serious bait for new fans - the way that Grace did for me when I heard it on WXPN. I can't wait until you release it and I can let my fiancee hear it!

I'm positive that you're going to love the discs too - that image is a great one, and nobody in the business prints better looking CDs than we do.





.
:: mike 1:13 PM [+] ::

My Music: Lisa Lampanelli



The Queen of Insult Comedy rifles through her record collection and calls us fags.
Now we're smitten.



By Mike Errico

CLICK ON THE PIC




FROM BLENDER.COM
:: mike 9:08 AM [+] ::

A good time, in 2 parts:


Part One: CLICK HERE

Watch it for a minute.

Part Two: CLICK HERE



yay.
:: mike 2:30 PM [+] ::

Just more insanity from a fan of "Happy": CLICK HERE

You just never know what's going to stick to the wall in this world. I'll tell you.
:: mike 6:22 AM [+] ::

Sometimes, even Static X can't keep you awake. But I'm trying it. It's the sound of angry insects.

This post will have to be bullet-pointed:

- Bob Seger is a genius. Total genius. I've been weeping to the guitar line in "Main Street" my whole life. The sweeping epic of "Night Moves," his McCartney gem "We've Got Tonight," and the harrowing tale of life off the rails in "Hollywood Nights" - I mean, it's too much to handle. Sure, he's older, frail, unable to lift his body off the ground when cueing the band... but the songs are tanks, indestructible, bulletproof arena rockers. Everyone knew every word. Why he's not spoken of in the same breath as Bruce Springsteen is beyond me. They are easily on par, in my mind. Next up: another date with Willie Nelson, at Radio City. I hope you are doing what you can to see the older artists. They are geniuses. Let your friends laugh at you all they want. I'm telling you.

- I wrote the Blender.com Valentine's Day Gift Guide. I've been sent robots, vibrating toothbrushes, infused tequilas. With a little creativity, I can make a pretty good time out of those ingredients.



Blender.com Valentine's Day Gift Guide


If you don't know what they listen to, you shouldn't be swapping spit with them. If you do, give them these awesome gifts!

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM

- I've been doing a lot of radio interviews for various pieces, and to provide kooky opinions and sound bites. While on the air on Sirius last week, there was a thumping on the studio door, and Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling burst in, fresh from Howard, I guess. He was wearing a tight gray belly shirt with his belly literally stretching it beyond the capability of the fabric. His belly button looked like a distended inny which was now, against its will, popped into an outie. He walked up to me, smiled, punched me in the shoulder, grabbed my mic and began a series of "How fat was she?" jokes.

"Ask me how fat she was," he cackled.
"Uh...how fat was she?"
"She was so fat, when she goes to the movies, she gets two seats, and doesn't even notice the armrest in between!"

... like that. For about five minutes. Then he punched me again, and split.

- More pithy opinions, from AM New York yesterday:

http://www.amny.com/entertainment/am-dating0205,0,7990777.story?coll=am-homepromo-briefs
Dating Life

Going for the best Valentine's Day EVER

Special to amNewYork

February 5, 2007

No holiday so polarizes the American public quite like Valentine's Day. Arousing both derision and delight (sometimes simultaneously), we can't quite figure out whether we love or hate it. Is it a sweet chance to celebrate romance or yet another occasion designed to pressure anxious men, bolstering Hallmark's bottom line?

"It's pointless," says Sean, 25, "because there's an inherent need to be the best at gift giving. Either you're trying to beat what the last dude gave her, or you're trying to top yourself from last year."

Not to mention, he adds, "it's always an uphill battle. You can't give her a diamond ring one year and a teddy bear from Duane Reade the next. You have to top the diamond ring!"

Hmm. Beating, topping, being better at -- why is it men always make everything into a competition? Or maybe that¹s the right way to look at it. In the wake of the Super Bowl, perhaps men would enjoy Valentine's Day more if they made it into a competitive sport.

To that end, men, listen up: think of this year as the First Annual Best Valentine's Day EVER Contest.

Need some suggestions? I asked a few hundred readers about their 'best ever' Valentine's Day gifts, and here's what they said:

"The best gift ever? Being driven to an airport and you don't know where you're going, packing the bare essentials with just one hint of where you¹re headed," says Mike Errico, editor in chief of Blender.com. I second Mike on this one ­-- and I promise she won't care where she's going, as long as it's warm, sunny, and paid for.

Other Best Gifts Ever? One guy gave his girlfriend a pair of love birds ('obviously with the cage!'). Other men cited slightly more unconventional gifts as their favorites. "Stacks of 85% cocoa chocolate," "ice cream," "a plastic cricket in an applesauce jar," "home baked gingerbread man," "a subscription to Maxim," and "Tweety Bird balloon and a basket of sugar cookies." And yes, I got the inevitable male favorite response: "sex" (and various permutations on it), but to counter that, at least one fellow answered that the best gift he had ever given or received was "love."

Aww. See? It doesn't take that much to make a woman swoon.

...etc.


Actually, that's a lot. Let's leave it at that for now.
:: mike 12:03 PM [+] ::