:: mike errico diary ::

:: Tuesday, June 5, 2007 ::

FIRST SINGLE, "RUN," FEATURED
ALT-ROCK TRACK ON ARTIST DIRECT 

"Run" has been chosen alongside the White Stripes, Ryan Adams and Yellowcard as a featured alternative rock track on major music directory Artist Direct.


NEW RECORD, ALL IN releases JUNE 11:


Photography by Kelly Stuart || Design by Christian Bowers



1 Something New
2 How it Ends
3 OK to Go
4 Girlfriend Weather
5 Packing My Bags
6 Run
7 Ever Since
8 Whatever You Say
9 Sweet Anesthesia
10 Please Stop Leaving
11 You Could Be Anywhere
12 Better Here

Download the demo version of "Ever Since" from the official MySpace page.
Follow along with the progress by checking out the diary.

:: mike 5:49 PM [+] ::

An interesting video treatment idea came in. Whattya think?:


"Ever Since".....thats the one!
I had a vision of the video.

Check this out!

Village subway station.
You are an out of work artist, drawing people in the subway for money.
When you are not working you spend your time drawing your dream girl.
One day you hold the picture to the subway headlight and....Viola... she walks off the train.
You chase her, but lose her. You rush back to your studio to look at all the other pics of her,
hoping to find a clue as to where she goes. You wait everyday in the same place for
her...drawing her....she never returns.

(Scene change) Second verse

Your dream girl is on the train with a an artists pad she is an artist as well, drawing her
dream guy, the pic is you. Her train stops at your station. You are both too involved with
drawing that you don't look up. The door closes. Suddenly you notice each other as the train
pulls away. Its too late

(second bridge/ chorus)

She holds her picture up against the window...its a picture you and and her.
You do the same. You had both been drawing yourself into the pictures. That day.

(Musical interlude)

(Slow motion)
Subway wind blows your pictures down the tracks....you watch as they fade into the distance
being pulled away by the subway wind.

( Last bridge/ chorus)
She gets off the next stop...
She i looking down the tracks. The wind catches her hair, she see the pictures blowing
toward her. She starts gathering them....as she is picking up the pictures, the next train
comes in.
There you are on the train holding a picture of you and her against the window.

Its a hit bro! You should push that tune. I like it more each time i hear it.

I am never wrong. Im just always a day late and a dollar short.
:: mike 11:23 AM [+] ::

Here's a solo version of “Ever Since,” shot live at the 2006 Holiday Show at Joe’s Pub, NYC.
The new record, ALL IN will be released on June 11, 2007.



CLICK ON THE PIC









YouTube URL: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nAxSl9PSzDU
:: mike 10:57 AM [+] ::

Beware the Monsters of (Soft) Rock!

Let us whisk you away on a deep-piled shag carpet ride through rock & roll's biggest oxymoron.

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM




Songs You Didn't Know Were Covers

Most covers of classic modern-era songs practically announce themselves — you know, like when Diddy erases Sting's "Every Breath You Take" vocal and grafts his own rap atop the existing track. Some artists, happily, are a bit more subtle about it. Hence our list of songs you didn't know were covers — hope we're not spoiling any secrets here.

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM
:: mike 11:43 AM [+] ::

I interviewed Gallows after their fourth-ever Stateside gig. They are insane, and so are the two videos we made (extra points if you can find me in one of them)

SXSW 2007: Gallows Interview
U.K.'s Gallows are like a punch in the face. A good punch in the face. CLICK HERE

SXSW 2007: Gallows
UK punk phenoms tear up Austin, Texas in their fourth-ever Stateside gig. CLICK HERE

...and SO much more, on the site, and on the way.
:: mike 10:47 AM [+] ::

A piece I’ve waited all winter to assign and edit:



Closing Pitchers' Most Memorable Entrance Music


To close major league ball games, you need cojones — and a killer theme song. We've compiled some of the best curtain callers in recent MLB history.

CLICK ON THE PIC

Labels: Blender

:: mike 10:43 AM [+] ::

Loads more stuff from my SXSW trip still coming in and going up on Blender.com:


SXSW 2007: Cold War Kids


Cali indie rockers go to Austin, visit awesome old houses, rock out.

CLICK ON THE PIC




:: mike 10:37 AM [+] ::

My Music: Larry the Cable Guy


The "Git-'Er-Done" guy gives us his surefire karaoke selection,
and a very new way to look at Whitney Houston.

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM

Labels: Blender

:: mike 10:27 AM [+] ::

Jury Duty: I'm beginning to like it here. All the busy anonymity of an airport, except the only place anyone's going to is jail.
:: mike 10:08 AM [+] ::

VIDEO: Mike Errico and Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne at South By Southwest



Wayne makes the connection between SXSW and herpes. Finally.



CLICK ON THE PIC









FROM BLENDER.COM
:: mike 4:59 PM [+] ::

Lunacy.

I realize I never even said that I went to Mardi Gras, and here I am going to South By Southwest tomorrow at 6 AM. OK, then. Well, those things are happening. Now you know.

Mardi Gras Noise Parade Video with the friends I met while volunteering at the New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund: http://www.blender.com/video/963/MardiGrasNoiseParade2007.video

Bourbon Street craziness on Maxim, featuring our new friend, Jessica: http://www.maximonline.com/MardiGras/video/405.aspx

NOLA is hurting, but struggling to rebound from an unbelievable situation.

South by Southwest should be interesting.

OK. Time to pack.

m
:: mike 4:41 PM [+] ::

R.I.P Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston.


:: mike 7:54 AM [+] ::

"(Not so) Sad" makes the Maxim homepage today under a lingerie shoot for Brooke Burns. Nice. Just don't listen to the words, Brooke...

CLICK HERE
:: mike 12:14 PM [+] ::

FIRST LOOK: ALL IN


Photography by Kelly Stuart || Design by Christian Bowers



1 Something New
2 How it Ends
3 OK to Go
4 Girlfriend Weather
5 Packing My Bags
6 Run
7 Ever Since
8 Whatever You Say
9 Sweet Anesthesia
10 Please Stop Leaving
11 You Could Be Anywhere
12 Better Here


Download the demo version of “Ever Since” from the official MySpace page.

:: mike 3:56 PM [+] ::

Check out a these new videos on Blender.com:



Notorious B.I.G.: UNRELEASED LIVE CLIP
"Warning," featuring rare footage of the big man in action.


Grizzly Bear: Knife
Seriously. We have no idea what is going on here. But it's cool.


Albert Hammond, Jr.: 101
The Strokes frontman steps out, gets on his bike, crashes, loses limbs.


Grant Lee Phillips: Live at South By Southwest
A solo acoustic version of "Mighty Joe Moon".


Meet: The Trucks
Bellingham, Washington's guitar- (and dude-) free quartet declare their mission statement: rock!


Weird Band Alert! Beret
Hardcore mayhem and slaughter on the crosstown bus: clearly the work of the French.


Weird Band Alert! Hockey Dad
Proof that somewhere in this world, someone has a more embarrassing parent than you do.

:: mike 3:52 PM [+] ::

Video: Slayer Visits the Troops!

The thrash veterans visit a military base for the first time, and the troops gave them a close-up look at some very dangerous—and very awesome—toys.

By Mike Errico and Brian Berkowitzh

CLICK ON THE PIC


FROM BLENDER.COM
:: mike 12:02 PM [+] ::

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 [+] ::

So, yes, I'm going to see Bob Seger tonight. I didn't think it merited national news. But ABC seems to disagree.

Link: CLICK HERE

[NOTE: All misspellings, including the egregious "Zepplin" are theirs.

Sympathy for the Devil: Dead Rock Stars Sell Their Souls

Jimi Hendrix's Image Will Adorn A New Energy Drink, But Some Profits Go to Charity

By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/print?id=2820718

Jan. 24, 2007 ­ - In the booming energy drink business, one newcomer promises to help clear the purple haze around your brain: "Liquid Experience" will carry the iconic image of Jimi Hendrix, who died of a drug overdose after a short-lived, rock-studded career.

The non-alcoholic drink -- produced by New-Zealand based Beverage Concepts and due to hit the market in April -- is just one of many products from cars to baby clothing that are capitalizing on the star power of aging or dead rockers.

Celebrity and estate sales accounted for $3.5 billion in licensing ventures in the U.S. and Canada this year, according to Licensing Letter, a tip sheet that provides industry data for executives. "Celebrities and estates are getting stronger -- it's not just dead rock stars," said publisher Ira Mayer, a baby boomer who says he watched Hendrix's last performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" in 1970. "We all have our own audiences and emotional connections." Though Hendrix doesn't make Forbes magazine's Top-Earning Dead Celebrities, Hendrix's estate still made $6 million in 2004. The richest dead rock star is Kurt Cobain, with an annual income of $50 million, followed by Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, George Harrison and Bob Marley.

Healthy Drink, Unhealthy Lifestyle

To some rock aficionados, the message of "Liquid Experience" is paradoxical -- an ostensibly healthy vitamin-imbued drink tied to a raucous guitar player who suffocated to death from a barbituate overdose at the age of 27. And many who hold Jimi Hendrix in musical god-like status say his image as been poisoned. Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, told the Associated Press that the greatest guitar player of all time had been "cheapened" by commercial venture. But the Hendrix family defends the Liquid Experience deal. Janie Hendrix, Jimi's sister, who is CEO of the family's Seattle-based company, said Beverage Concepts agreed to give back a percentage of sales to education and music-related charities and to drug rehabilitation programs. They also hope to sponsor a guitar competition for young people. "Jimi was a huge inspiration to people," said Hendrix of her brother, who wrote 110 songs durings his tragically short career.

In the 1990s, after a series of lawsuits, the family gained control of his music. "He transcended generation, color, sex and race, and that legacy continues to last." Bob Merlis, publicist for the Hendrix Experience says the drink deal is not out of bounds."I don't think it's egregious," he says, "Its a standard grocery product, not arsenic. The market for his music is growing younger and younger."

Rock Still Rocks

Jimi Hendrix and other celebrity rock stars are effective advertising tools in a new era of cross-generational marketing, when age means less than lifestyle. In television commercials, Led Zeppelin is background music for a Cadillac commercial. The Who, The Rolling Stones, Bono and John Mellencamp shill for cars, insurance companies, iPods and trucks. Target's latest ad campaign features the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye."This kind of advertising appeals to both young and old and is a new shift in marketing, according to Matt Thornhill of The Boomer Market, a company that advises the marketing industry on how to reach the 77 million consumers born between 1948 and 1960. "This is the generation that has been the traditional target of product marketing: the 18 to 34-year-old group. But half of those consumers have now aged out of that demographic -- yet refuse to believe they are getting old," he said.

As a result, companies redefined their strategies. Age doesn't matter in today's marketing -- its life styles. "I don't know why they would affix an energy drink to a dead rock and roll guy," joked Thornhill. Still, Thornhill sees the genius in the Liquid Experience marketing campaign: expanding a product's reach by appealing to 20-somethings, but designing it for the boomers."It's a perfect marketing tool and has the best potential to straddle two generations," Thornhill said. "Using an aging rocker is the best way to interest the baby boomers."

Good for a Gag Gift

But some in Generation Y are more skeptical about the appeal of "Liquid Experience.""When I see these ads, I think, 'Please don't ruin the image for me,'" said Amanda Schupak, 25 and a youth scene reporter for Forbes magazine. She listens to both the Rolling Stones and the new indie rock band Cursive. "The classic artists have idol status," she says. Still, she understands the power of marketing. "It's hard to argue when some stars are able to make more money from the grave than many are making while they're alive."Would she buy Liquid Experience? "I might just once and give it away as a gag gift," Schupak said.

[Blender.com] Editor Mike Errico's online music magazine caters to 26-35 year olds with a "snarky attitude." He says he is excited that he will be attending a concert with Bob Seger -- a 1980s rock star whose song "Like a Rock" is featured in Chevrolet commercials. Blender readers are still in awe of classic rock. Errico says, "It was a much different music industry then, with fewer choices, and these rock stars were able to make a deeper impression. Hendrix was pre-Internet, pre-MTV and pre FM radio in some cases...you didn't have an iPod, you had a record collection, and in terms of number of songs, it was vastly smaller."

The grand-scale living of the legendary rock stars was elevated to cult status and new bands have continually tried to emulate the sheer power of the 1970s rock culture. "It's like evolutionary biology," said Errico. "Smaller, more evolved and business savvy music makers are in awe of the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Today's bands make music in their apartments and garages. None have the gigantic studios of Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd, where they were blowing drugs and money out of the air vents." The danger, said Errico, is that the star is remembered for all eternity by the product he endorses. Does anyone care that George Forman, who now sells cooking grills, had a boxing career?

Neal Ferrassani, a 28-year-old web developer from Los Angeles, who used to work as a major-label recording engineer, has listened to early classic rock all his life. But he sees hypocrisy in marketing to his generation."Those are my musical heroes," said Ferrassani,. "I'm not sick of hearing the bands, but I'm sick of seeing them on TV. The day I hear Nirvana when Courtney Love is hard up for cash, it's going to kill me."

Hearing today's indie band Postal Service hawking for UPS doesn't offend him. But when he heard Led Zepplin on a Cadillac ad, he turned off the channel. "My heart sunk," he said."The sixties generation was anti-establishment and they gave us a lot," said Ferrassani. "We grew up with their music and thought they were a pretty cool generation. But now they chew themselves up and spit themselves out. They have lost their souls in the process."
:: mike 7:25 AM [+] ::

While wandering through galleries in Chelsea last weekend, I discovered a genius photographer named Henry Wessel. I just love it. Check it out.
:: mike 4:43 PM [+] ::

WTF:

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2007/01/unpossible_1.html

:: mike 1:28 PM [+] ::

Holiday Show 2006 images are up in the photo gallery of the site.

:: mike 1:30 PM [+] ::

Funny:

Hey Mike,

I was talking to my friend the other day and she started singing a line from
"Daylight"...and she sings, "...pull the panties off my eyes"...and I said,
"I think it's 'pennies'" and she says, "I've been singing 'panties' since I
first heard the song"...

I guess it kind of works both ways.
-T
:: mike 9:29 AM [+] ::

Witness the proliferation: now they're running with my expert Britney commentary. CLICK

:: mike 12:19 PM [+] ::

It's a brave new world when ABC starts asking me to comment on the fate of Britney Spears... and yet, it has finally happened. CLICK HERE.

Now that I'm an expert, I think it's time to start auditioning dancers. Changing things up. Wearing knee pads. Posing with a giant albino boa constrictor. Making out with Paula Abdul. Talking about, you know, the club or something.

But mainly just auditioning dancers.

I mean, everyone knows it's important to have a strong corps behind me so our moves crackle all the way to the Payless at the back of the mall.

Hot.
:: mike 2:33 PM [+] ::

The Best Bling Ever!

Reggie Ossé and Gabriel Tolliver, authors of Bling: The Hip-Hop Jewelry Book, pick 10 watershed moments in the history of bling.

CLICK ON THE PIC
FROM BLENDER.COM

:: mike 2:22 PM [+] ::