After all the hoo-ha, huff, hysteria and hot air, here, finally, are The Rolling Stones doing what they do even better than raising the collective temperature with impertinent ticket prices, something they seem to have been doing at least since their 1969 American tour, nothing new in the Stones being accused of commercial banditry and the cynical exploitation of their fans, on whose behalf so many complaints have been indignantly voiced since the 50 And Counting dates in London and New York were announced. Why don’t they celebrate their half-centenary with, say, a free concert, the cry went up in some quarters, and let more people have a chance to see them, and for nothing too? Well, when they tried that in 1969, look where it got them: Altamont.
Jailed Russian punk collective Pussy Riot have spoken out about their time in prison and claimed they had been spending their time reading the Bible.
Nadia Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich received two-year prison sentences on August 17 after being found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred – and in an interview with GQ, Tolokonnikova revealed that the only text she had been able to read to stave off boredom was the Christian tome.
The Queen Of Versailles introduces us to David and Jackie Siegel, an American family struggling to cope in the aftermath of the global recession. David, 73, is the founder, CEO and president of Westgate Resorts – “the largest privately owned timeshare company in the world”.
Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic joined Scottish indie stalwarts The Vaselines onstage to perform "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam" on Monday (September 3).
The performance, which you can watch above, took place at Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival and saw the reclusive grunge icon play accordion on the track.
A good week, in that I wrote a couple of new blogs about the Allah-Las and Dan Deacon albums, finally tracked down a copy of “Meet “Mississippi” Charles Bevel”, and heard the Baird Sisters’ beautiful record (one of them is Meg Baird from Espers) and Four Tet’s “Pink” comp.
A couple of notable absences here, I guess, since there remains no sign of Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s “Psychedelic Pill” (as we’re currently assuming it’s called), and only the editor has heard Bob Dylan’s “Tempest”, in some kind of fortified panic room at the Sony offices.
