HOT
Mondays, Hold the Meat?
Unless he likes his lasagna vegetarian and wants to make his Mondays even worse, Garfield isn’t going to like Paul McCartney’s new campaign very much. The former Beatle (and longtime vegetarian and animal rights activist) is asking meat enjoyers to give up chowing down on animals one day a week. McCartney says “Meat Free Monday” will help the environment by reducing carbon footprints (the campaign is timed to the global Climate Summit in New York). The singer even wrote a jingle for the cause, though don’t expect “Meat Free Monday” to appear on any future McCartney greatest hits albums. How long before climate change deniers launch “Triple Meat Tuesday” in an effort to combat McCartney’s freedom-threatening actions? You can pledge to go meat-free one day a week here.
WARM
Can U2 Save the Music Industry?
As the jokes about and misplaced fury over U2 and Apple giving away the band’s new album died down, news came out that the group and the computer company are working on a “secret project” to create a new digital music format they hope will entice people into paying for music (particularly full albums) again. Details are still vague, but in a Time magazine cover story on the band, Bono said that it would be “an audiovisual interactive format for music that can’t be pirated and will bring back album artwork in the most powerful way, where you can play with the lyrics and get behind the songs.” Giving away music to kick off a project designed to stop people from obtaining free music seems like bombing a country the day before peace talks are scheduled to begin. While the stunt did get a discussion going (which Bono says was the intention), it was less “free music is devaluing” and more “Bono invaded my personal space!”
COLD
R.I.P. GBV (Take Two)
Dayton, Ohio Indie Rock giants Guided By Voices broke up again. The prolific and influential band announced on its website that it has “come to an end” (and canceled all scheduled shows) four years after reuniting its mid-’90s “classic” lineup. The group deserves credit for not just churning out the hits on the road for a quick cash-in, putting out six recordings during its relatively brief comeback run. Considering GBV previously “ended” in 2004 and 99 percent of broken-up bands inevitably reunite these days, most fans likely aren’t too worried about never seeing the group in concert again. If they’re following in the footsteps of their idols The Who, there should be many more GBV reunions and breakups in the future. And Pollard probably recorded four new albums by the time you’ve finished reading this.
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2014.