Posted with tags
Tom Waits,
Johnny Rotten,
Rotten TV on 9/17/2008 6:01:49 AM by Rob Barnett
Tom Waits. Lesser world without him.
Click on his head and enjoy a music video you'd never see on the MTV. In the last century, we were shooting the pilot for ROTTEN TV. One of the early ideas was to get Johnny Rotten to 'review' music videos for his new teleee-vision show. We debated war strategies late one night and stumbled onto the idea that everyone would expect John to HATE every video. Too simple. John decided it was a good idea to actually LIKE at least ONE music video. Tom Waits was the winner.
http://www.lyricstime.com/tom-waits-i-don-t-wanna-grow-up-lyrics.html
http://tomwaits.com/
If you experience a lack of inspiration, writer's block, anxiety about the boss, wars, lies, lost freedom, corruption, rejection, repression, fear and loathing...then write yourself a prescription and take it to the closest movie theatre showing "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," the new film directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney. Here's the trailer.
Gibney puts accuracy above glory in his retelling of the life of the man once able to conjure up enough powerful wordplay to push millions to reconsider a sense of ourselves, our government, and our freedom.
Here's Thompson documenting the last great wave of freedom - from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream:
"Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era — the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run . . . but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant. . . .
History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of “history” it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time — and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.
My central memory of that time seems to hang on one or five or maybe forty nights — or very early mornings — when I left the Fillmore half-crazy and, instead of going home, aimed the big 650 Lightning across the Bay Bridge at a hundred miles an hour wearing L. L. Bean shorts and a Butte sheepherder's jacket . . . booming through the Treasure Island tunnel at the lights of Oakland and Berkeley and Richmond, not quite sure which turn-off to take when I got to the other end (always stalling at the toll-gate, too twisted to find neutral while I fumbled for change) . . . but being absolutely certain that no matter which way I went I would come to a place where people were just as high and wild as I was: No doubt at all about that. . . .
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda. . . . You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . .
And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn’t need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting — on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . .
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark — that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."
We built My Damn Channel with a few of patron saints in mind. Johnny Rotten is usually painted by critics with such a simple brush. Most miss the point. John may often be brutal - but he's alway honest.
During the "Rotten TV" run, we walked the red carpet, as a goof on the way into that year's VH1 Fashion Awards. Out of the corner of his eye, John spotted four important looking humans standing a few feet away from all the action, surveying the scene.
"Who are they!?" - he challenged.... I looked over my shoulder to see Sumner Redstone, flanked by Tom Freston, Judy McGrath & John Sykes. "Don't - just don't," was my hapless request, knowing full well I was screwed. Rotten headed straight for Sumner. He grabbed his hand first. Then he shook the rest & asked the group one simple question: "How much money are you lot all making on this tonight?"
As we turned to walk on, Freston grabbed my arm and offered, "I love that show." It was one of the moments that was supposed to go horribly wrong, and somehow went surprisingly well. Probably just luck.
As we head to Vegas to try to haplessly explain why My Damn Channel trusts our talent - here are a few of our gold-plated rules - we'll think of a few more before tomorrow's event - Wed 4/16 - 2pm - here:
Never lie
Don't hold back bad news
Don't use 'creative input' as an excuse for 'J J" (Job Justification)
Make decisive decisions
Never bait & switch
Communicate constantly
Avoid the 'handlers' - go direct
Be specific
Move fast - no waiting
Work the press
Pay on time - every time
Pick up the check - almost every time
Posted in
Johnny Rotten with tags
Johnny Rotten,
Rotten TV on 4/13/2008 8:46:00 AM by Rob Barnett
A ROTTEN photo symphony
Posted in
Johnny Rotten,
Sex Pistols with tags
John Lydon,
Johnny Rotten,
Sex Pistols on 3/27/2008 9:43:00 AM by Rob Barnett
Sex Pistols coming back for more this summer. Enjoy!
