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Picture: On the Breaking Blog: Jack’s Mannequin

Metallica Pound SXSW With 90-Minute Greatest-Hits Set at “Surprise” Show

“Surprise, surprise — you’re all surprised, right?” singer-guitarist James Hetfield cracked in his sea-captain’s growl, leering at the heaving crowd two songs into Metallica’s poorly-kept-secret SXSW show, March 20th at Stubb’s. “Thank you for letting us come to your party.” Then his voice changed. “We are an unsigned band from Norway,” he said in a terrible Scandanavian accent and Andy Kaufman-like chirp. “Maybe we get signed.” Any unsigned Norwegian band that could write and play anything as smart and brutal as Metallica’s next song, “Harvester of Sorrow,” would have been signed before it left the building. (For more photos of Metallica and other SXSW performers, check out our gallery.) So you ask: Why Metallica at SXSW? The answer: Why the hell not? SXSW stopped being only about alternative rock and regional baby bands when superstars started giving the keynote speeches and the acts playing corporate-sponsor day parties outnumbered the evening showcases. Metallica were at SXSW to sell their imminent edition of the interactive video game Guitar Hero. But they ended up proving something else: You don’t get anywhere in this world, with a guitar, in a band, until you get off the couch. The promotion was in full effect — Metallica played in front of a giant Guitar Hero banner, and one of the opening acts was a trio of local Guitar Hero contest winners, who “played” a version of “Fuel” on Guitar Hero “instruments.” But the real deal came to perform, opening with “Creeping Death” and, except for two Death Magnetic numbers, giving the audience 90 minutes of greatest hits, including “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “One,” “Sad But True” and a scorched-earth tear through “Master of Puppets.” There was, surprisingly, no “Enter Sandman.” Instead, Metallica ended the set with a rare “Blackened” from … And Justice for All and started the three-song encore with their Garage Days-EP roasting of Budgie’s “Breadfan.” The primary lesson of this show: You can learn how to play like Metal

Published: 2009-03-21
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News, SXSW

Picture: The Glass Passenger by Jack's Mannequin

Picture: No Doubt Return to the Studio, Trent Reznor Disses Smashing Pumpkins Reunion, AC/DC Plan Live DVD

Picture: Disneyfied Subway Station Objectionable, Adorable

Picture: Human Rights Guy to State Dept. [Hooray]

Picture: Two Gawker Editors Decide Not to Be Douche Bags

Picture: Jossip Juxtaposition: Diamonds are Russell Simmons' Best Friend

200 Years of Prison Hardly Seems Like Enough for Producer of 'Total Recall 2070' [Crime And Punishment]

As if being the "Emmy-winning producer" responsible for Earthquake in New York and Total Recall 2070 wasn't enough cosmic punishment for a lifetime, mover and shaker Drew Levin now faces prison for charges he inflated his publicly traded company's value in a stock fraud scheme. And despite a corporate bio clean enough to serve a last meal off of, the president of Team Communications was indicted Wednesday on 13 counts that could send him away for 200 years:Prosecutors said Levin orchestrated a scheme to overstate Team Communications' annual and quarterly revenue to make the company appear profitable, when it was actually losing money. As a result, they said, customers ended up paying inflated distribution fees and Levin profited from the scheme. Levin received a $335,000 bonus based on the company's reportedly profitable 1999 performance, and he pledged more than 500,000 shares as collateral for a loan to buy a $1.5 million ranch in Big Sky, Mont., prosecutors said. We imagine a balance sheet that stated a $1.7 million profit in 1999 as a $4.25 million loss two years later -- then crashed $42 million deeper in 2002 -- was the kind of red flag you can't sneak past most federal investigators. Nevertheless, it's just as likely that a high-powered defense team is hammering out ironclad conspiracy theories as we speak, something along the lines of a concerted government effort to put away the producer of record for landmark dross including Hollywood's Stuntmakers, FX Masters, Superstars of Action, Mysterious Forces Beyond, World's Most Mysterious Places and Laurie Cooks Light and Easy. Indeed, Defamer sympathizes, and in the unfortunate instance of Mr. Levin's conviction or plea deal, we hope his sentence will be reduced to time already served. TV producer charged with stock fraud [AP]

Published: 2008-03-20
Provider: Defamer
Keywords: celeb juriprudence, crime and punishment, Drew Levin

Blogging For Credit: Bravo's Interns Not Likely To Bitch About Inhuman Working Conditions On Corporate Blog

Our visits to BravoTV.com are usually spent reading about the latest in over-the-counter European pharmaceutical trends from executive raconteur and confidante to the stars, Andy Cohen. Today, however, Andy redirected us to a bold new initiative undertaken by the cable network's online presence: There, nestled between a Padma Lakshmi post about what foods go best with dumping your fatwa'd spouse, and a terrifying slideshow tour of Paula Abdul's subconscious, is the Bravo Interns' Blog. Finally, the hard-working, fresh-faced kids who spend their summers thanklessly tracking down Xanadu: On Broadway house seats for a sock-eschewing overlord have a voice. Let's check in with intern Rich, who is still grappling with the sometimes awkward mechanics of workplace culture: The other day I walked past a fellow Bravo employee early in the morning. We did the usual, "Good Morning", "How was the weekend?"...etc. I walked in the offices, and went about my business. But about 15 minutes later, I had to go to the bathroom, which is at the other end of the building near the SNL studios. As I am walking down the hallway yet again, I see the same Bravo employee. Now I feel a little nervous. As we were the only two people in the hallway, I felt obligated to say something. What am I supposed to say this time around? We've already said our "Good Morning" to each other.So, scared by silence, I spoke up. "Oh, long time no see!" I said. I figured, let's take the humor approach so it loosens things up a little. The response, "ha ha...I know!" Ok great. The employee played along with my intern banter. About two hours later, I had already seen her 3 more times! I honestly didn't know what to do. After several clumsy attempts at addressing the awkward situation (including a "Hey...you," an "It's deja-vu all over again!" and the poorly received, "OK, now I'm pretty sure you're stalking me,") young Rich eventually learned that ignoring one's co-worker after the initial morning greeting isn't con

Published: 2007-07-27
Provider: Defamer
Keywords: andy cohen, blogging for credit, Bravo

Google's censors really sorry about violating freedom of speech [Censorship]

If a YouTube video gets yanked, if a Blogger blog gets deleted, if a website disappears from Google's search results, chances are Google lawyer Nicole Wong had something to do with it. Wong has kept a low profile, aside from the occasional post on Google's official blog, but after a profile in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, it's likely she'll be hearing more pleas than ever from frustrated users whose works have vanished from Google's sprawling Web empire. Google's corporate motto is "don't be evil." It's increasingly a burden, as Google expands its reach into more countries and more industries. Years ago, Google cofounder Sergey Brin used to walk the don't-be-evil beat personally. "Evil is what Sergey says is evil," CEO Eric Schmidt told Wired in 2003. Evil, then, did not include bowing to China's regime of Internet censorship, a decision Brin made after reading a half-dozen books on Chinese politics and history he ordered on Amazon.com. Evil at Google is more nuanced today, and requires three lawyers. But the same justification for kowtowing to China's Communists generally rules today: The world is better off with a bowdlerized Google than no Google at all. Wong, a deputy general counsel, works with lawyer Andrew McLaughlin and general counsel Kent Walker, touts her free-speech credentials. Wong and Walker pursued journalism in college; McLaughlin fought against a U.S. Internet-censorship law, the Communications Decency Act. The acquisition of YouTube has complicated matters for Wong. Though Google lawyers like to talk about its online-video site as if it were just hosting a bring-your-own-clips party, in the eyes of most governments, YouTube is acting like a TV network — and they're quite accustomed to censoring broadcasters. That keeps Wong busy deciding whether a video deemed offensive to Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turksih state, can be displayed in that country, or whether a protest clip breaks Thailand's lèse-majesté law. It's a job she'd jus

Published: 2008-12-03
Provider: ValleyWag
Keywords: Censorship