Corporate Tool

Some might say that Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz has sold out from his punk roots, so what a relief it was to hear him take a stand against corporate greed last night from the stage of the Time Warner Cable Amphitheater (NYSE:TWC) in Cleveland, the band's lastest stop on their tour presented by Live Nation, Inc. (NYSE:LYV). 

"We feel stupid being given a stage this big and not speaking out," Wentz noted between songs.

I really enjoyed Fall Out Boy's latest CD (on Decaydance/Island), which I picked up at Target (NYSE:TGT) thanks to the distribution services of Warner Music Group's (NYSE:WMG) Alternative Distribution Alliance.

So I went ahead and shelled out $80 for a pair of tickets for their show. I would have liked to have had the chance to discuss corporate greed with Mr. Wentz personally, but I didn't have the $300 for the pair of VIP tickets to the band's pre-show meet-and-greet. (I believe opening act All Time Low were available for a free meet-and-greet, thanks to AT&T Signing Stage sponsor AT&T,  Inc. (NYSE:T)). 

Live Nation stocks were off 6.31% on volume of 629,951 shares the day following Wentz' anticorporate broadside, but Live Nation still expects to meet 2009 earnings projections due to the company's strategy "to increase relationships with larger corporate sponsors [including JTI, Anheuser-Busch and Comcast]" and a 45% reduction in capital expenditures in the first quarter "in line with our current plan to reduce overall capital expenditures to less than $55 million for 2009, down from $187 million in 2008."

Ears, boxed

This is my aural color scheme, according to BBC Radio 1.

Question, Answer Thyself

The top two headlines today on gaming site 1up.com:

Spamming Heads

I downloaded (for free) the new David Byrne/Brian Eno single a couple months ago and got spammed today, Election Day, for my trouble:

Pardon the bulk mailing. [Editor's Note: No.] I Can't Vote. I am an immigrant with a Green Card and, therefore, I am not eligible to vote in a federal election...

But most of you can vote. What can I say? The Republicans have made us less safe than before 9/11, bankrupted this economy, started an illegal war they can't - and don't intend to - finish, removed what sympathy (after 9/11) and respect the world had for the US, and have robbed US citizens of many of their basic rights. Global warming? What's that? Science and education? Investment in our future? No, thanks - we'll stick with a good 'ole hockey mom. Ignorant, and f***ing proud of it, as is always the case.

Although it looks like a shoo-in, it ain't over 'til Florida. And there are plenty of racists in this country who will vote against their own best interests....

David Byrne
NYC

Well, jeez, Dave, you've lived in the US of Ignoramuses and Racists for more than 50 years and made quite the nice living tolerating us lesser beings outside of NYC, but you've never bothered to become a citizen, and now you're gonna bitch about whom we elect?

Blow me.

Saint Kansas, Cleveland

It's Only Snarky 'til Someone Gets Shot

"Insert this [bulletproof panel] in your child’s notebook or binder, and it will stop up to a .44 Magnum bullet. As for irrational fears, well, nothing can stop those." – John Campanelli, Plain Dealer, September 1, 2008.

"Willoughby South High School was on lockdown this morning after a student fired a gun inside the building and threatened to kill himself." – Plain Dealer, September 2, 2008.

"The Shaker Heights man who shot two people in Beachwood and Cleveland Heights in 2002 and was found innocent due to insanity is fit to re-enter society a mental health team said today…. He was paranoid schizophrenic and psychotic in 2002 when he rode his bicycle through Cleveland Heights and Beachwood randomly shooting at white people, striking two." – Plain Dealer, September 3, 2008

Annoying Kansas

Seeing as Forgetting Sarah Marshall opens today, I might as well repost the mighty Blanking Blank list of "gerund + proper noun" movie titles. We're up to 54* now:

Americanizing Shelley
Becoming Jane
Being John Malkovich
Being Julia
Being Ron Jeremy
Bleeding Iowa
Boxing Helena
Capturing the Friedmans
Chasing Amy
Chasing Holden
Copying Beethoven
Deconstructing Harry
Dreaming Lhasa
Driving Miss Daisy
Drowning Mona
Eating Raoul
Educating Rita
Feeling Minnesota
Fighting Tommy Riley
Finding Forrester
Finding Nemo
Finding Neverland
Finding North
Finding Preet
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgiving Dr. Mengele
Forgiving the Franklins
Guarding Tess
Introducing the Dwights
Killing Emmett Young
Killing Zoe
Kissing Jessica Stein
Knowing Richard Black
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Metropolis
Outing Riley
Raising Arizona
Raising Flagg
Raising Helen
Raising Victor Vargas
Regarding Henry
Robbing Peter
Saving Grace
Saving Private Ryan
Saving Silverman
Seducing Dr. Lewis
Serving Sara
Stealing Harvard
Surviving Christmas
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Undertaking Betty
Waking Ned Devine
Winning London
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

*There are about 50 Finding... entries alone at IMDB.com, but most are either shorts or so limited in their release that no one can prove they exist.

Strung Out

Sorry for the seven-month break between posts: Wal-Mart had a closeout on musical accessories, and I've been restringing every guitar in the house.