Fan Fare

There’s mud at Glastonbury, and it ain’t glorious

Mud, mud, glorious mud. Or so goes the popular English song.

It’s a phrase often applied to the Glastonbury music festival, where the combination of some 180,000 people, rain and 900 acres of grassy fields in an English valley can produce an awful lot of the stuff.

At only my second Glastonbury after last year’s sun-baked edition, the rain and mud has come as a bit of a shock. Of course I’m careful who I complain to at the festival – veterans merely shrug their shoulders and say something like “nothing compared to …” and name a year when the conditions were particularly unpleasant.

Getting from one venue to the next is not easy at the best of times in Glastonbury, with crowds and a poor sense of direction often getting in my way. Now it takes at least twice as long as I trudge through sticky, squelchy mud and try to avoid the kind of messy belly flops I’ve seen performed – mostly accidentally – by fellow festival goers.

Keeping the tent from turning into a mud bath is another challenge, and taking notes in the rain a further frustration.

But then again, I’m not complaining. I’ve decided that if you haven’t done Glastonbury in less clement climes than 2010, then you haven’t really done Glastonbury at all. That said, I do catch myself thinking back to last year and how easy it all was.

At least the Met Office has some good news. They predict that after today’s rain, things will improve on Saturday and Sunday. Probably not in time to dry the mud, however.

Grammy downsizing tunes out musicians in niche categories

Grammy organizers are turning the clock back more than two decades by deciding to slash the number of categories at next year’s awards ceremony to 78 from 102. It marks the smallest field since 1990, when music industry voters infamously named pioneering lip-synching duo Milli Vanilli best new artist.

In a logical move, many vaguely similar categories are being combined — traditional blues and contemporary blues (the latter won this year by Buddy Guy, pictured at left); traditional folk and contemporary folk; hard rock and metal; banda and norteno; children’s musical and spoken word.

Even with the explosive growth in categories — from 28 at the first ceremony in 1959, to 41 in 1969, to 76 in 1989 — some categories have fallen by the wayside over the years. The Grammys have never felt the same since polka was dropped after the 2009 ceremony.

The latest downsizing certainly makes journalists’ live easier. All but 10 or so awards are given out during a fast-paced two-hour ceremony immediately preceding the live telecast, making it very difficult to keep track of winners and trends. Grammy officials never provide individual tallies or historical data, turning the whole event into a vast mathematical exercise for frazzled scribes paranoid about miscalculations.

Still, the cuts will rob some hard-working musicians of their place in the spotlight. Where else do artists in niche categories such as Native American Music Album and Zydeco or Cajun Music Album get to bask in such mainstream glory? The former category was launched with great hubbub in 2001, and the winner unveiled during the live telecast that year. Contenders in those two discontinued categories will still get a shot next year, in a brand new omnibus category dubbed Regional Roots Music Album. It will also include the Hawaiian Music Album category, dropped after just six years.

The winner in two of those years was a Hollywood actress few might associate with the genre. But Tia Carrere, perhaps best known for her roles in “Wayne’s World” and “True Lies,” is a bona fide musical superstar in her native Aloha State. She now has the historic honor of being the final winner of the Hawaiian Music Grammy, taking home the prize in February for “Huana Ke Aloha.” 

A philosophical Carrere reacted via email while maintaining a busy travel schedule. “While I am sorry that some beautiful and, more importantly, distinctly different indigenous music appears to have been marginalized by (The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), I understand that the sheer number of categories had become cumbersome. I twice hosted the pre-telecast where most of the awards are handed out and know this first-hand. 

Accidental superstar Kenny Rogers roasts himself

Kenny Rogers is either the most self-deprecating star in showbiz, or he’s a much better actor than he lets on his multitude of “Gambler” TV movies.

Despite a hugely successful career spanning more than 50 years, Rogers says he’s largely an untalented, unmotivated guy who just got lucky. Over and over again, during a hilariously revealing Q&A at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles on Monday, the bearded storyteller did his very best to shoot gaping holes in his legend. To wit:

* “When I look back on my life I go, How did this happen? I’ve never been really driven, for lack of a better term. I’ve just been lucky.” * “I don’t take it seriously.” * “I just stumbled into all of this stuff. God forbid I don’t get up one morning. How am I gonna stumble if I don’t at least get up?” * “I have to tell you, I’m impressed. Not with me, but with what I’ve been able to do with very little talent … You know what? I’ve made a lot of money with a bad throat.” * “I make it a point not to write hits.”

Rogers did give himself some credit. For one, he picks hit songs as well as anyone. His secret for success? When it comes to ballads — such as “Lady” and “She Believes In Me” — “It should be a song that says everything a man would like to say and every woman would like to hear,” he said.

His story songs — such as “The Gambler” and “Coward of the County” — also follow a formula. They set a location, for example “On a train bound for nowhere” in “The Gambler,” relate a narrative, and then drop the listener off at the end.

By his own admission, some of his songs are decidedly weird. “Ruby” is narrated by a guy about to shoot his wife, “Coward of the County” is about a gang rape. “People fall in love with the song and they go, Oh my God! It’s about a rape!,” he said.

Rogers is on the promotional trail for a new album of inspirational tunes titled “The Love of God,” although he said he’s more spiritual than religious. The album combines classics such as “In the Sweet By and By” with new tunes written by the likes of Vince Gill and Michael W. Smith. It recently debuted at No. 27 on the U.S. pop album charts.

Teen girl’s pop video mercilessly dissected by Internet masses

If you have trouble remembering the days of the week, a teen pop starlet named Rebecca Black has come to your rescue with an annoyingly catchy song that has quickly made her the hottest — and most lampooned — phenomenon on the Web. Black was a top-trending topic on Twitter on Tuesday, while her video for “Friday” racked up almost eight million page views in a matter of days.

The comments have been savage, ruthless dissections of the girl herself, her bubblegum pop song and the cheesy video. “Not joking. Worst lyrics I have ever heard. Ever. Yet so addictive,” was one of the kinder critiques.

The fresh-faced youngster sings over and over in a nasally twang, “It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday. Everybody’s looking forward to the weekend … Fun, fun, fun, fun. Looking forward to the weekend.”

The lyrics were so powerful that Bob Dylan rushed out a cover version. Well, not Dylan, but somebody who sounds like him. Black evidently took diction lessons from the tireless troubadour, though, turning “Friday” into “fry-eee-day” or possibly just “fried eggs.”

She goes educational, if grammatically awry, in the breakdown: “Yesterday was Thursday. Today it is Friday … We, we, we so excited .. we’re gonna have a ball today. Tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards.”

The video provoked much mirth. Why are underage kids riding in a convertible? Where are the seat belts? Why is a considerably older male African-American rapping about the excitement he feels when he drives past a school bus?

More to the point, who is Rebecca Black? According to her label, Los Angeles-based Ark Music Factory, she’s a 13-year-old girl who loves to perform. Her credits include a patriotic performing group, a Puzzlecraft commercial and the lead role in her school’s production of “Oklahoma!” She is clearly a Justin Bieber fan.

Meg may be gone, but Jack White rocks on

Rough-and-tumble rockers The White Stripes called it quits earlier this week, much to the dismay of garage rock fans everywhere. But it’s not as if this news comes as a huge surprise. For the past several years, frontman Jack White has been getting busy with almost everyone but his red-and-white-clad Stripes bandmate, Meg.

For starters, White has played in his other two bands,  The Ranconteurs and The Dead Weather. He also starred alongside U2 guitarist The Edge and Led Zeppelin’s legendary axeman Jimmy Page in 2008′s critically acclaimed music film, “It Might Get Loud”, and collaborated with comedian Conan O’Brien on a spoken-word comedy record during the latter’s temporary stint last year as a late-night refugee. As if that’s not enough, White continues to run his own record label, Third Man.

But as The Guardian noted recently, some of White’s most compelling collaborations over the years have been with female musicians. Perhaps most notably, White helped breath new life into country legend Loretta Lynn’s music career back in 2004 when he produced and performed on her much-loved album, “Van Lear Rose”.

He’s done the same for infamous rockabilly goddess Wanda Jackson, whose recently released album “The Party Ain’t Over” features 11 cover songs chosen, produced and arranged by White. Jackson’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Thunder on the Mountain” alone is almost enough to ease the pain of knowing the White Stripes are no more. Watch the video for the song below, along with some clips of White’s other collaborations with women musicians.

Wanda Jackson featuring Jack White – “Thunder on the Mountain”

Loretta Lynn and Jack White – “Portland, Oregon”

Laden in Red – Chris de Burgh sells fine wines

“The Lady in Red” singer Chris de Burgh has decided to cash in on surging prices for fine wines, offering 320 bottles and 84 magnums of mainly red varieties at Christie’s in March which are expected to fetch in the region of 200,000 pounds ($320,000).

“Looking at the economics of the wine trade and how the business of selling wine fluctuates, I decided now was the right time,” he said in a statement. Not surprising — Asian buyers, particularly from China, have piled into the wine market in the last two years sending prices soaring. Christie’s sold wine worth $71.2 million in 2010, a whopping 70 percent increase over 2009, and fellow musician Andrew Lloyd Webber made a cool 3.5 million pounds from a much larger wine sale in Hong Kong last month.

De Burgh, his wife and daughter now prefer drinking white, so parting with some of the world’s finest clarets may be easier to bear.

Among the highlights from de Burgh’s temperature-controlled wine room at his home in Ireland is a 12 bottle case of Château Lafite-Rothschild, vintage 1945, estimated to fetch 12-16,000 pounds. (How much that works out per sip I’m not sure, but per glass it’s around 220 pounds). The bottles are still in the original straw which protected them since the end of World War Two. “Considering the dramatic events that were unfolding across Europe and particularly in France at that time, it’s extraordinary that one of the finest wines of the century was made then,” de Burgh said.

The highest value lot is a vertical collection of 62 magnums of Château Mouton-Rothschild, vintages 1945-2005, expected to sell for 70-90,000 pounds.

Can Tempah turn BRIT nods into awards?

He’s leader of the pack in terms of BRIT nominations tonight, but can London rapper Tinie Tempah convert them into prizes when the awards ceremony is held on Feb. 15? Bookmakers would have us believe that British pop’s biggest night could be one of disappointment, not delirium, with Ladbrokes backing the 22-year-old to scoop just one of his four nods, and arguably the least prestigious of them all — Best Breakthrough Act.

Not that the category is unimportant — a BRIT is a BRIT after all, and, after a Grammy, perhaps music’s most coveted statuette. But when you think that Tempah is in the running for best male solo, best British single and, most important of all, best British album, a Breakthrough prize alone may not be enough to keep him happy.

Elsewhere, the highlight of the nominations has to be Robert Plant, 40 years Tempah’s senior but a giant of rock as Led Zeppelin lead singer and, shockingly, a first-time BRIT nominee, according to the organisers. Given the huge success of his solo career after Led Zeppelin ceased to be, it seems almost scandalous. Not a whole lot of love for the singer among voting members, obviously, and the possibility of a heartbreaker if he doesn’t win. Or could it be celebration day? Enough bad Led Zeppelin puns.

Prog Rock Redux

It has been around 35 years since Punk burst onto the rock scene and drove the complex, shoe-staring indulgence that is prog rock into seeming oblivion with no more than three, probably untuned chords.  Signs are, though, that prog may be on the way back.

First, mainstream media has started to get all retrospective about it — a sure sign of resurgence.  The BBC  ”celebrated” prog — or progressive rock, to give it its proper name — with a nostalgic documentary at the end of 2008.  It has been repeated and triggered coverage of the genre elsewhere.  The Guardian recently pointed to prog’s  new, growing fan base.

Second, some of the old prog kings are out and about. Emerson, Lake and Palmer, a kind of prog super-group, got together again for a reunion concert earlier in summer. Roger Waters, of the original Pink Floyd, is playing The Wall, a prog rock masterpiece, on tour. Rick Wakeman (left), once the be-caped keyboard wizard of Yes, has never stopped and is planning to present his 1974 classic “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” in Australia and South America next year.

But the main driver for a return of prog rock probably comes from contemporary music. Groups such as Iceland’s Sigur Ros, France’s Air, Britain’s Radiohead and perhaps even the highly popular Muse all have strong elements of the old, discredited music in them.

Chatting to Reuters before a recent gig, Wakeman said a lot of groups like these break the rules of rock music, which by his definition is one of the core elements of prog.

“There are a lot of bands around that have taken a bit of prog rock,” he said. “Radiohead always said they had nothing to do with prog, but they have.”

Does Glastonbury live up to hype?

As a first-time Glastonbury-goer, I travelled to this year’s event with some trepidation. After all, I had to pitch my own tent, find my way around a massive site with hundreds of bands playing on dozens of stages, get enough food and water to live, and face the infamous portable toilet facilities that have a habit of overflowing as 150,000-plus revellers relieve themselves.

As the event reaches its conclusion tonight, with Stevie Wonder the headline act, I can safely say I would do it all again. Joining 100,000 or so people jumping up and down to the likes of Shakira, Scissor Sisters and Muse at the main Pyramid stage is something to remember, as is the infectious feel-good vibe that seems to fill the air despite the concentration of so many people in relatively small spaces. Of course, the smiling faces may have as much to do with alcohol and illegal substances as good music, but it doesn’t seem to matter as people enter an alternative universe for four days.

I have to own up to the fact that, with a media pass, I have access to quieter areas of the festival and so-called “hospitality” camping. That means slightly more room in the corner of a field, and, more crucially, a greater toilet-to-punter ratio. The second factor that has made 2010 easier than most for a first-timer has been the weather. I’m complaining about the intense heat, particularly in the media tent which is effectively a giant sauna, but everyone I speak to would take hot over wet, because that’s when Glastonbury turns into a giant mudbath, making getting around and staying clean nigh impossible.

I still have a lot to discover, and would like to get to more of the smaller stages to see less established acts strut their stuff. With any luck, I’ll have a chance to try next time around.

Glastonbury’s new fad? Shade

Music, beer and wellington boots tend to top Glastonbury revellers’ must-have list. This year they have added another essential commodity — shade. Baking hot temperatures in the high 20s Celsius are reducing many of the 150,000 revellers in the southwest of England to a lethargic crawl as they struggle to cope with the heat, not to mention the hangover.

Walk around the sprawling rural site and you will see unusually large empty spaces and then hundreds of people seemingly randomly crammed in odd places — against walls, around trees in the middle of dusty tracks and under benches. Then it becomes clear why — they have found shade from the sun, which has been beating down on the site virtually uninterrupted for the last two days.

Medical services have attended to 2,100 incidents so far this year, way up on 2009, and most of them are heat-related. Meanwhile the fans don hats, shades, shorts and bikinis in the warmest Glastonbury that people can remember. And this, at a festival where rainfall, and hence shin-high mud, is what festivalgoers have come to expect. To make matters worse, on the main Pyramid stage on Saturday night are two of the hottest acts in pop — Shakira and Kylie Minogue. Oh, and the weather forecasts predict Sunday is going to be even hotter.