well hello there, tumblr

My blog is now on Tumblr. Byah.

say anything

New DOUBLE Album - In Defense of the Genre - 10/23.

First Single: "Baby Girl: I'm a Blur"

sighting

Sarah Jessica Parker and the rest of the Sex and the City cast shooting a scene at Tiffany's 5th Avenue.

for holly

Gavin's new record drops this year.

sighting

Lance Armstrong, Julia Stiles, and Gina Gershon at a Foo Fighters concert at Irving Plaza.

holy crap

This could easily jump Jay Z's Fade to Black and U2's Rattle and Hum to become my favorite music documentary ever. Wow.

#41

This has always been my favorite DMB Song. Apparently the 7.5 hour show last night at Virginia Tech was absolutely amazing.



I am very curious as to how a collaboration like this goes down; since I'm a fan of both of these artists, I'll speculate:

Matthews: "Hey John, what's going on man? I was hoping you would come do a tune with us tonight...what do you think?"

Mayer: "Hey Dave. Dude, that sounds phenomenal. I would love to!"

Matthews: "Well, which of our tunes do you like? It would be cool if we could jam on something that you really feel."

Mayer: "#41 is far and away my favorite song you've ever written."

Matthews: "Perfect. See you out there."

da charts/rap wars

The projected Top 5 for next week's Chart:

1. High School Musical 2 (Fourth Week at #1)
2. Casting Crowns
3. Hannah Montana 2
4. Fergie
5. Hairspray

and 6-10:

6. Now 25
7. Nickelback (Met Chad Kroeger this week...I'll go into detail later)
8. Chiodos (Only Debut in the Top 10)
9. Jonas Brothers
10. Amy Winehouse

This is obviously subject to change throughout the week.

The Bad: not much has changed since the last time I posted a projected chart.

The Good: only one debut in the top ten means that the heat is coming...just in time for the Holidays.

NOTE: Although Kanye might be perceived as more famous to the public, the science of the record business says that Kanye DOESN'T STAND A CHANCE to beat 50 in the "Battle of 9/11".

NOTE 2: If I had the balls, I would make this BOLD PREDICTION for the result of the rap war:

bk's Projected Chart w/e 9/16

1. Kenny Chesney
2. 50 Cent
3. Kanye West

50 beating Kanye is guaranteed. But if Kenny wins, do they both quit the game?

you and your crew against me and the revolution?

"After Prince stopped playing, the two of us had brunch together. I was sitting so close to the diminutive legend that, as he ate, flecks of his omelette fell into my mouth."

Best Seats in the House from the New Yorker.

what's wrong with this picture?

Tomorrow's Billboard Top 200:

1. High School Musical 2
2. Talib Kweli
3. Hannah Montana 2
4. Hairspray
5. Now 25

#3 and #4 are too close to call. If we're not at rock bottom right now, I want to see what rock bottom looks like. Maybe Nicole Richie releasing a country album produced by the girls from Flavor of Love? I'm not sure...

bob lefsetz is a sissy

Recently, Bob Lefsetz wrote one of his normal letters to his distribution list of basically everyone in the music industry. He was raging about the setup of the new Eagles record, which is being released exclusively to Wal*Mart. In his letter, he said:

"The most famous Eagles cut is not "Take It Easy", but "Desperado"

I disagreed, so I responded to him:

Hey Bob -

Love your letter.

I found it interesting that you said "Desperado" is the most famous Eagles cut. I wholeheartedly disagree. "Hotel California" is the most famous Eagles cut; below you will find my argument:

In iTunes, the most popular Eagles track is "Hotel California" with "Take It Easy" and "Desperado" coming in at #2 and #3 respectively. In Soundscan, "Desperado" comes in at #2 (barely beating "Take it Easy" by 2,103 tracks). The tracks sales for "Desperado" and "Take it Easy" don't even reach 400k when they are combined!

And radio: "Desperado" is lucky to get a third of the spins that "Hotel California" gets each week.

Please don't publish this response, but I'm curious: what made you think "Desperado" is the most famous Eagles cut?

bk

AND HE RESPONDED!

"bk,

I could argue with you here, but I hear your point!
"Desperado"... Get older, it's got an internal meaning to many in the audience more than HC, which is seen as more of a great record..."

HE DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION...AND HE TOLD ME TO GET OLDER!

I'm writing him back...

the truth via a sage

For an example of this theory, please refer to any comments thread on YouTube.

via Jake Lodwick co-founder of Vimeo

(under $20)

I've been sitting here trying to think of something witty enough to introduce this find. I don't think there is anything in the world that I could say that is worthy of setting up the following:

lvl 8 ogre mage seeks moon queen or druid

"Please send preferred adventure type and spell lists."

Incredible.

via Pound

god only knows

Email I received this morning:

Subject Line: bark meow squak purr yip tweet

Body:

As I sat in Bryant Park this morning listening to the Beach Boys play an innocuous lilt from their “later years” the following thought was formulated and I don’t feel badly about it:

It would have been so much better if the Beach Boys (or at least Brian Wilson) had died already.

I don’t even take it back…its true…they deserved to go out on top, in their prime, with dignity…not sharing a stage with Diane Sawyer. Their Woody’s have been replaced with Honda Elements and good luck finding a floral print buttondown in PacSun amidst the how-to-bang-hookers-like-a-rockstar T-shirts.

It was sad…I was legitimately bummed out for them, for America, for pop culture. You gotta do something…

Till her daddy takes the Scion away,

(name withheld)
Loan Administrator
Bank of Scotland USA

disney records

If I hear one more person say the follwing to me, I'm going to lose it:

"What the hell are the labels doing? Don't they know that nobody buys CDs anymore?"

Well you limewire-sharing non-Billboard Magazine-reading dolt, Disney's High School Musical is projected to sell over 700k units this week.

Measuring stick: Justin Timberlake's worldwide smash FutureSex/LoveSounds sold 684k in its first week. A 700k unit debut would be absolutely massive, and would only solidify the argument that TV is the REAL music business driver these days.

My opinion: HSM will be lucky to reach 680k. It's all about the TV this weekend. Stay tuned.

soulja boy

I can't explain it. Then again, I don't feel the need to explain it. This video made me really happy today.

starstruck

I've met quite a few famous musicians and music biz types through my current job, but I've never gotten that giddy starstruck school girl feeling. Although Usher was a complete and utter dick on the two occasions that I interacted with him, his presence didn't make me nervous.

Today I was 100% starstruck; but I feel nerdy about it. Today I met Rich Costey.

I'm a huge MUSE fan, but that's irrelevant. I was starstruck because the elite of the music biz consider Rich to be the best mix guy in the entire game.

More important than THAT: Billy Corgan wanted Rich to help orchestrate the return of the Pumpkins. Rich passed. He told Billy to his face.

THAT. IS. GANGSTA.

the #1 song in america

Just wait. We'll take over.

let it play, that's my song turn it up

BK's Hit Predictor - "A Bay Bay"



UPDATE: #2* on the Rap Chart and primed for a run at the Top 10 at Hot 100. This just in kids: "A Bay Bay" is a SMASH

I was just introduced to Hurricane Chris in our offices. He referred to me as "[his] new best friend"


Disclaimer: I work for the head of Sales.

thanks for the memories

You'll always be my coach Skip...


Skip Prosser - November 3, 1950 - July 26, 2007

is imus really the problem?

via SF

backstreet's back

Alright!

Backstreet Boys Comeback Record

Oh please, N*Sync...just one more album.

Note: I'm not kidding. I really do want to hear a new N*Sync record.

hov in bed with the devil

Good or bad for the music biz?

Jay-Z in talks with Apple?

arctic 9/5

Just picked up a ticket to see The Arctic Monkeys live in Central Park on 9.5.07.

It was only $40.

Anybody else want to go?

innocent until proven guilty

I couldn't believe it when Virginia Tech let Marcus Vick back on the football team. I was stunned.

The wheels of justice will move slowly in this case, but when all is said and done, I think we'll all face the same reality:

The Vicks are bad people.

Michael Vick's Twisted Dogfighting Ring

success

UPDATE: I'm going to see the dentist at 2:00pm today. Yeaaaa cancellations list.

the quest for a dentist appointment

I never thought it would be difficult to get a dentist appointment. You know, you call the dentist, say you want to pay him/her to clean your teeth, and then they put you on their schedule, right? Wrong.

First you have to enroll with the insurance provider and select a dentist. Did that. Then the dentist has to be accepting new patients and they have to APPROVE you as a patient. Interesting, but I did that too. The woman at the insurance company said that my enrollment should be approved by the dentist by 7/1 and at that point, I could call for an appointment. After three weeks of hearing "The insurance company has not sent over the new roster yet, call back next week", I finally got an appointment with the dentist today. Here's a snippet from that conversation:

Her (Bitch): Would you like to be put on the cancellations list?
Me: What's that?
Her: We'll call you if somebody cancels and you can come in at an earlier date.
Me: OK that sounds good.
Her: When was your last cleaning?
Me: I'm a new patient with this dentist.
Her: You've never had a cleaning before?

Silence.

Me: January 2007.

i'm back to save the universe

Radiohead's OK Computer was released 523 weeks ago. The ten year anniversary of this record was celebrated (at least by me) on July 6, 2007.

Two years ago, Spin Magazine listed OKC as the best album of the last twenty years. Since OKC's debut in America, there have only been two weeks in which it sold less than 1,000 copies.

Week Ending 02.04.07 - 923 Copies - 2007 vs. 2006 Overall Music Business: -16%
Week Ending 06.17.07 - 987 Copies - 2007 vs. 2006 Overall Music Business: -22%

Absolutely phenomenal. For anybody looking for a way to celebrate one of the timeless records of our generation, check this out: Stereogum's OK Computer Tribute

Or just wait until the boys from Oxford find some distribution that they can be happy with: Radiohead's Blog

i wear my sunglasses at night

These guys work in an office with some people I know: www.jakeandamir.com

This one is my favorite:



Sunglasses from Jake Hurwitz and Vimeo.

gonna come right out and say it

I like Making the Band 4. I think I'll watch the whole season.

first nelly...now vanessa?

Remember how confused you felt when you found out that Nelly Furtado, writer of the beautiful and timeless "Like a Bird", was making a record with Timbaland?

This one just doesn't make sense to me...yet.

Vanessa Carlton wrote "A Thousand Miles" with the help of Ron Fair. It was, without question, one of the most memorable pop records of the last five years.

Carlton made a new record with Stephen Jenkins (frontman of Third Eye Blind) that is due on 10/9.

Irv Gotti's label is releasing it. I feel like Britney in this video:



HUH?

how long must we spin this web?

Last night, I was having a conversation with my friend Sergio about movies being adapted for Broadway.

After a heated debate and much speculation about the reason Moulin Rouge hasn't been adapted for the stage, we began to discuss the forthcoming Spiderman Musical -- written/arranged by Bono and The Edge.

Sergio was so excited and inspired, that he wrote the opening number ON THE SPOT:

"SPIDEYYYYYYYY BLOODY SPIDEYYYYYYYYYYY"

why i love amy winehouse

I think Amy Winehouse is cool. I checked out her feature in SPIN and finally gave her record a complete listen.

Mark Ronson is a DJ/Producer from London. In the past year, he's done work for Rhymefest, Christina Aguilera, and Amy Winehouse...just to name a few.

Recently, Ronson released a 'solo' record in the UK called Version.

The record is a compilation of some of Ronson's favourite :) songs (from the Smiths to Radiohead) rethought and remade with his signature drums n' horns production style, with one added ingredient: each song, save one, features a guest vocal from a current star (e.g. Lily Allen, Robbie Williams, Amy, etc.) The record is due in the US in July.

In an effort to pay Ronson back for his contributions to Back to Black, Amy provided the vocal for Ronson's 'cover' of The Zutons' "Valerie". (If you haven't heard the song, listen to the original first...)

This morning, driving down Route 1 in Deleware, I decided I love Amy Winehouse, and this is why:

Before the track begins, if the volume is pretty high, one can hear Ronson telling Amy that "it's rolling..."

Amy's response: "I'm sorry Charlie Murphy...I was having too much fun."

Awesome.

gooood times in cbs land

Les Moonves, responding to Dan Rather's cutting remarks about Katie Couric and the evening news:

"She's been on the air for nine months," Moonves said. "Let's give her a break."

Reality:

Couric started strong but has settled into a distant third in the evening news ratings race. Last month her "CBS Evening News" set a record for its least-watched broadcast for at least two decades, then broke it the very next week.

OUCH.

shorty snappin'

In a week full of new records, T-Pain squeaked past Rihanna to take the #1 spot on the Billboard Top 200...

...Sir Paul McCartney finished third with his new record on the Starbucks Label.

Sir Paul,

Please accept my sympathy for your pathetic debut week sales number. I know what will cheer you up: Can I buy you a White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino® Light Blended Coffee?

I'ma take you home with me.

Best,
bk

song of the summer

Everyone keeps debating about what will be the song of the summer. I have two comments for the topic:

A. Song of the summer will NOT be "Easy" by Timbaland/Paula DeAnda/Bow Wow. Period.

and

B. Kanye killed it on "Stronger"...watch out for that one.

bk's essential twelve: volume one

Recently, I reached TWO pretty neat milestones in my life:

First, I officially survived my first year as a professional and as a New Yorker. They say the first year is the toughest, so it's nice to be out of the woods. Just for fun, I compiled a list of the twelve records that have been the most influential for me during this incredibly tumultuous and invaluably rewarding year. Hopefully I'll see you next year at this time for a similar list. Here we go (in no particular order):

John Mayer - Continuum
Foo Fighters - Skin and Bones
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Jupiter
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children (via AK)
Ray Lamontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
Sigur Ros - ( ) (via TF)
Test Your Reflex - The Burning Hour
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times

Please leave your comments about any/all of these records - it's nice to know that somebody actually reads this thing.

Oh, and my second milestone: I have 1,000 Facebook Friends...sweet.

hurricane chris

Remember how "This Is Why I'm Hot" sort of came out of nowhere?

Regardless of how you feel about the aforementioned record, you should check out: Hurricane Chris - "A Bay Bay"

Like it or not, folks, this one's here to stay...

choose the rarer of these

Witnessing last night's panel of roasters at the Mandarin Oriental: Jason Flom, Les Moonves, Tom Freston, Allen Grubman (the roasted), David Geffen, Clive Davis, John Mellencamp, and Bryant Gumbel.

or

This morning walking up the stairs from the subway: Al Roker, walking down to catch his train?

the king of real estate

I can't believe this video had been viewed only 992 times at the time of this posting.

r kelly honors vtech

R Kelly has written a tribute song for the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy. A sample of the chorus can be found here:
R Kelly VTech Tribute

way of the future...way of the future

Sometimes it's just too hot for words:

Mark Ronson

OK, I'll use one word: absurd.

Everyone should listen to #3: "Toxic"

For the ladies: a very respectful cover of Brit Brit's finest.

For the gents: Big Baby Jesus will never go out of style.

when i say 'hey' thou shalt not say 'ho'

I know it's been up for over a month, but it's still awesome:



Enjoy.

kings of spring

Welcome to Spring folks!

Hope you enjoyed the Holiday weekend and the premiere of Entourage.

To anyone who knows me and lives in New York City: If you have not listened to the Kings of Leon and their three LPs (Youth and Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak, and Because of the Times), I definitely recommend you give these guys a listen.

Please, let me know what you think, and if you like the music, ask me about June 5th.

seven days

eight days

ron fair's new baby

Question: can this record beat out Mr. JT for song of the summer? I know I have my opinion.

nine days

talk about your ultimate backfires

All -

I regret to inform you that my previous post contained a false statistic.

Please see the comments section of said post for a correction.

Also, please enjoy the mockery that is made of my original informant.

Best,
bk

the madness of march

Fun fact: the seedings of the final four teams in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament have never added up to a number less than 7.

Looks like it could be a new low this year.

Sidebar: if you took Maryland or Notre Dame past the first round in any of your pools this year, you are an idiot. Don't worry; I picked Notre Dame. I'm an idiot.

Good weekend kids...see you next weekend for Atlanta.

true reflexions

My boys and I went to see Test Your Reflex last night at Bowery Ballroom.

They get better every single time.

www.myspace.com/testyourreflex

Anybody else hear The Edge in "I'm Not Sorry"?

the remedy...for now

Jason Mraz is a brilliant singer. He just is.

Go here: http://music.aol.com/artist/jason-mraz/543198/video

Watch all three of the in-studio videos from Sessions@AOL.

"The Remedy", friends, is the realness. Still don't think he's one of the best white singers in the game?

Come see me.

rip brad delp

When I was a kid, I remember waking up on Saturdays to the sound of my father's vinyl. The Beatles. The Eagles. Mike and the Mechanics. Savoy Brown. Robin Trower. Supertramp...

...and Boston. Powerful lyrics, tight harmonies, 'incendiary' guitar licks, and Brad Delp's unbelievable range.

Listen to "Peace of Mind" today.

RIP Brad. I hope you found what you sang about in that song...

top 200?

This list is a complete joke. I know music is all about one's personal opinion, but wow. I don't even know where to start with this one:

http://www.definitive200.com/200_list.php

good flick

Last night, my friend Justin and I watched the film Brick:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0393109/

It was my second time seeing it. I liked it even more the second time, and since Justin also enjoyed it, I now feel comfortable recommending it to other friends.

Go check it out.

engineering at its finest

This guy must have gotten so much ass:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/445498/robotic_beer_launching_refrigerator/

via JK

genius prank

Why didn't I think of this?



Neck agility.

via RH

cool new music

Young Love - Too Young to Fight It

Check Out:
"Discotech"
"Find a New Way"
"Underneath the Night Sky"

listen up page six

I bumped into Joe Simpson tonight at Madison Square Garden...at the John Mayer concert.

He had his name written on his shoes. I kid you not.

team lachey

After a nasty divorce, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey both released solo records and it was widely reported that Nick's debut week sales (171k) beat Jessica's (100k).

UPDATE: Nick's album has sold just under 600k to date, while Jessica has moved a PATHETIC 286k.

Ouch.

i am dee bee

American Idol Films

1. Bald Guy Gets Robbed II starring Phil Stacey (2008) (filming)
2. Bald Guy Gets Robbed starring Chris Daughtry (2007) (post-production)
3. From Justin to Kelly (2003)

NEXT.

jobs on women

Although his statistics may be misleading, I can't knock him for his fashion sense...

...or his taste in women. Respek, Steve.

via JB

jobs on music

Steve Jobs recently stirred the DRM pot:

"Some have argued that once a consumer purchases a body of music from one of the proprietary music stores, they are forever locked into only using music players from that one company. Or, if they buy a specific player, they are locked into buying music only from that company’s music store. Is this true? Let’s look at the data for iPods and the iTunes store – they are the industry’s most popular products and we have accurate data for them. Through the end of 2006, customers purchased a total of 90 million iPods and 2 billion songs from the iTunes store. On average, that’s 22 songs purchased from the iTunes store for each iPod ever sold."

Ok let's regroup. 90 million people have bought iPods. Check. And each of those people bought exactly one iPod. Got it.

"Today’s most popular iPod holds 1000 songs, and research tells us that the average iPod is nearly full. This means that only 22 out of 1000 songs, or under 3% of the music on the average iPod, is purchased from the iTunes store and protected with a DRM. The remaining 97% of the music is unprotected and playable on any player that can play the open formats. It’s hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music."

Right, Steve.

bob lefsetz

First real post: my inspirado. Bob Lefsetz has some interesting things to say about the music business - and the people I work with. I hope my blog can be kind of like his, minus the verbosity and coarse language. Ok. Maybe just the verbosity.

http://lefsetz.com

mama i made it

Hi. My name is Brian, and this is my blog. I like music and life in New York City. I'll probably write a lot about those two things. Feel free to leave your comments.