HOT: The Ultimate Wedding Gift?
If you have friends or relatives getting married soon and you want to make all of the other guests feel horrible about their wedding gifts, there is a present now available that is unbeatable. How about giving the new couple the original manuscript for Richard Wagner’s “Wedding March”/”Bridal Chrous” (cribbed from the German composer’s opera, Lohengrin, and also commonly called “Here Comes the Bride”)? It’ll reportedly cost you just $3.6 million. Or, you know, just go with those monogrammed napkin rings you had your eye on.
WARM: Beef is Ageless
A great way to get a little extra publicity these days is to talk smack about other artists. And it’s not just people like Drake and Meek Mill doing it. Old-schoolers Merle Haggard (promoting a concert) and Keith Richards (promoting a solo album) each took shots at some of their peers in recent interviews. In North Dakota’s InForum, Haggard bemoaned the state of modern Country music, calling it all “crap,” and adding, “They’re talking about screwing on a pickup tailgate and things of that nature. I don’t find no substance.” Meanwhile, Richards continued his recent attacks on fellow artists and discounted multiple genres in a New York Daily News interview, particularly Metal and Hard Rock (“a dull thud”) and Rap, which he called “impressive,” because it shows “there are so many tone-deaf people out there.” Also, he would really appreciate it if you kids would GET OFF OF HIS DAMN LAWN!
COLD: An Unlikely Victim-Blamer
Rock legend/activist Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders has been getting major backlash for statements she made about rape in a late August interview with a British newspaper. Recounting her kidnapping and rape when she was 21 and under the influence, Hynde said the ordeal was her fault because she got drunk and was dressed provocatively. “If you’re wearing something that says, ‘Come and fuck me,’ you’d better be good on your feet,” she said. “I don’t think I’m saying anything controversial, am I?” Even given the chance to clarify her comments recently during a Washington Post interview, Hynde didn’t back down, saying it “sounds like common sense.”
This article appears in Sep 9-15, 2015.