Westsidewill – Wild Off The Air

Truth time…I don’t really watch American Idol – however I did watch the finale (ok…I didn’t really watch it as much as I flipped back and forth between that and the Cubs game).

Here are some quick thoughts:

Lee DeWyze is a good/great singer. The only problem here is that he’s not any different than any 100 artists you can hear right now. What he does have going for him is that he had American Idol as his jump off so he has a built in fan base when his album releases. Ask Ruben Studdard how that worked out for him. (In case you couldn’t guess the answer is not well…the man had to apologize for a whole year of sucking!!!!)

Lee DeWyze does have one thing to put me in his corner, the guy is from the same state that I am (Illinois What what?) That said…I’ve found that I can turn on Illinois artists if they douche it up (see: Kanye West OR Fallout Boy) I kind of get the vibe that Lee isn’t going to douche it up, but I’ve been wrong before (see: Godfather II the video game.)

As for the other chick, Crystal Bowersox, she’s talented for sure but in mainstream music she’s going to run into one MAJOR issue – she doesn’t have the “look”. Ask Taylor Hicks how not having the “look” has worked out for him. Not great.

In Bowersox’s case it’s not her fault. She’s super talented, but in the mainstream music world talent really doesn’t count as much as the “look”. It’s kind of a shame really because she’s insanely talented.

My parting thoughts, these 2 “Idols” probably aren’t going to be talked about in 24 months…most likely you’ll be saying, “who?” And I don’t think it’s going to be due to any fault of their own.

The big business news of the day was that Apple passed Microsoft in market capitalization.

What is market capitalization you ask? Simple it’s an estimation of the value of a business that is obtained by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the current price of a share.

So why does this matter? I mean I do just write in a kind of music blog – but this relates trust me.

What this means is that the general public, more importantly the business/investor world, has finally jumped on board with something that we all knew for awhile – MEDIA is going to drive technology not business. Forms of media like videos, pictures, and music have done more to drive technology and growth than spreadsheets have ever done.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Windows/PC guy most of the time, but Apple proved something to everyone recently – music is driving business, not vice versa.

And I think that’s something important every unsigned artist/musician should keep in mind.

For those of you who are fans of “Guitar Hero” and “Rap Music” there is now a game for you!

That’s right the secret love child of guitar hero and rap is called DJ Hero! Here’s a clip of the game:

It looks…fun? I don’t know, it doesn’t look great but the music sounds pretty cool.

But here is what the blog is about, DJ Hero has a special edition that you can pre order on DJHero.com! This special edition is DJ Hero: Renegade Edition

DJ Hero Renegade Edition includes:

•DJ Hero game
•Renegade turntable controller featuring premium metal controls and finish
•Hardshell turntable carrying case that converts to performance-ready DJ stand
•Exclusive JAY-Z and EMINEM 2-CD pack featuring unreleased tracks and collectible case designed by artist Shepard Fairey

Source: DJHero.com

So what is this “Renegade” is it a new song that was made just for DJ Hero? Nope. It’s actually an older track that originally featured Eminem and Royce da 5’9″…I’m guessing when Royce’s career was on fire with that track he did with Will Ford…but Royce was later replaced by Jay Z…

Original:

With Jay Z:

*You may notice some of Royce’s lyrics were later used on different songs.

Weird right? I personally like the Royce version better, Eminem pretty much is the feature of this track anyway.

Here is what the controller looks like:

The game comes out towards the end of October.

It’s funny, but living in Chicago the Sh** hit the fan this week as far as “internet radio” goes. See there was this thing called Chicago Sports Webio (catchy name) and it was run by a crook. Not just because he ended up taking a bunch of money from his companies so he could pay for his lifestyle, but because this dude was literally a convicted felon. Yep – that’s the type of man you want to run your internet radio empire right? I mean convicted felons pretty much have proven that they make good decisions in life, why not let them make good decisions with your business?

Anywhoo, let’s pretend that this guy wasn’t a total moron and that he ran his business the right way, you kind of have to ask what they were doing with the money that was earmarked for the business. Well I present to you exhibit A April Rose, Commercial Talent and Associate Director of Charitable Activities. Let’s take a look at the resume of April – I mean the associate director of something has to have a pretty strong background…and I’d say she has a much stronger foreground (you’ll get the joke in a second.)

April Rose...this IS her resume

What fun fact, talent, or mutant superpower of yours should guys know about?: I’m really good at riding horses. I’ll jump on the back of any horse and tame ‘em quick.

Ok…let’s pretend that this wasn’t a terrible hire. I don’t really know that she couldn’t do the job for which she was hired, I’m just sayin she’s good at riding horses so yeah…well she was pretty hot in that Vehix commercial and they didn’t go belly up. So yeah, fuck it, she earned her spot.

Internet Radio is actually a powerful tool if used and run correctly – I mean look at us here at WestSideWill Radio. We didn’t go crazy and start hiring models to positions that would require that they have some sort of power. We didn’t start spending like crazy to bring in “big names” that aren’t really “big names” on the internet. We built WestSideWill Radio the right way. We did it nice and slow – and look we are just weeks away from WestSideWill 2.0 launching and we are more popular than ever (hence the reason we had to build WestSideWill 2.0.)

The theory behind Chicago Sports Webio was strong, in 5 or so years all of the new cars out there will be connected to the internet, where you can have your choice of what you listen to (like WestSideWill Radio) without having to worry about what city you are in or any of that crap. The problem is if you don’t have a web presence you can’t just buy one, you can try your best to buy one, but if you are a LOCAL internet radio network what exactly do you expect? If you just focused on being local you cut out one of the main reasons to be on internet radio, it can be heard anywhere, anytime.

So if we ignore bad leadership, questionable hires, a poor business model and overall poor programming I’m shocked Chicago Sports Webio failed! But if we don’t ignore all that stuff I think it’s fairly obvious why that site/station failed – it isn’t an indictment of internet radio, but an indictment of a bad company that was living in fantasy land.

So I ask all of our Chicago/Illinois listeners to not group everyone in with those idiots who were living in make-believe-fantasy-ride-a-horse-to-work-and-be-a-director-of-something-in-a-company-because-you’re-hot land.

WestSideWill is going to be adding programming in the coming months, programming that will last and of course continue our explosion on the internet radio scene. The thing that everyone should keep in mind is that we are here to stay, and feel free to get comfortable with us, because we aren’t just going to up and leave you like our friends at Chicago Sports Webio.

Lil’ Mama…fairly talented rap artists…attention wanting judge on ABDC…and now the latest woman to really stand up for a guy who clearly beat the hell out of a woman.

Lil’ Mama sat down and gave an interview to MTV recently, and they posted it on their site here: Lil Mama Chris Brown Supporter

Basically what she says is that she would work with Chris Brown again AND

“I haven’t spoken to Chris Brown in a while,” she said. “Was I surprised [about what happened]? [I was] very surprised to hear how people went about speaking on what happened.”

So…she’s surprised to hear that people went on to speak about what happened…but…she feels the need to speak about what happened and it’s cool?

“[I was] very surprised because there were allegations of Chris Brown and Rihanna having a fight and everyone just went crazy — the media, his fans, her fans. I mean, everybody just lost their minds,” she said. “Nobody knows what happens still to this day, but everybody’s talking. I don’t understand that.”

Yeah…no one knows what happened, I mean Rihanna clearly beat the hell out of herself.

But I’m not mad at Lil’ Mama, I’m pretty sure she isn’t in the running for any sort of Detective of the year awards or anything, I think what I’m trying to point out with this blog is that if you give celebrities a gun 8/10 are going to shoot themselves in the foot. The gun in this case is giving them a forum to speak about the Chris Brown thing – if they are really dumb enough to think that the things they say aren’t losing them fans then…well…they are dumb.

Lil Mama: Scholar...Detective...Icon

I think the problem with Lil Mama is that she is admittedly confused:

“I have not heard from Rihanna,” she continued. “I see her in the media, taking pictures, going to events and living her life as she does normally, so I’m still confused. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Yeah…this is one of those cases that is super hard to figure out…If Lil Mama can’t figure it out, who can?

I don’t think there is going to be any sort of backlash at Lil Mama for being the 100th person to dive into the shallow end of the pool here, but I just find it interesting that celebrities, no matter how small, are really that oblivious to the things they say. Read the MTV article, it’s interesting…

So as a bunch of you probably know Britney Spears launched her new “Circus” tour yesterday – fans say “She is definatly back” and critics say, “It’s crap.”

Wow...she used to be super hot

What’s the truth? I have no idea, and to be honest I don’t care, but let me tell you something awesome – Britney is taking her tour to the MAX!

What do I mean? For those of you who used to be awesome like I was when I was super young and watched Saved by The Bell you’ll remember in the early years the guy who owned “The Max”, the restaurant/hang out for everyone was “max”. Turns out that guy was a real magician! And what does that have to do with anything? I’ll tell you what – He’s on tour with Britney! Fact. And another fact is his name is Ed Alonzo…

Takin' it to the max...for Britney

I’m not telling you to go see the show, goodness knows Britney isn’t super hot anymore like she was…Remember that?

Britney spears....what the damn?!?!

…yeah…that was awesome. The good news is that the guy from the Max has a job! Good for him…

Here’s the thing about Pittsburgh Slim, he’s just your average dude who happens to make music.

And now that he’s a famous musician he get’s chicks to do all sorts of crazy stuff, it started of with ‘Girls Kiss Girls’ when he had 2 super hot chicks make out in his video.

Does anyone think Mr. Slim could pull that off without his music...I don't think so.

I’d be willing to bet a whopping $10 that there is no way in hell he was able to ever pull that off before he became a semi-popular musician, and damnit that’s what I like about him. He is riding this train for all it’s worth and I think we can all agree we would be doing the exact same thing.

And now for his new video “My Bitch is Crazy” – a video where he is doing all sorts of random stuff with a pretty good looking girl AND then at the end he is in bed with like a million chicks…Well played mr. Slim, well played.

Check out the Video:

(Note to self: If I ever become a famous musician…after I learn some sort of musical skill of course…I’m going to have like 100 hot chicks in every music video with me)

It has a catchy beat, but it’s one of those tracks that’s probably going to end up staying in the clubs – and Europe, not a whole lot of mainstream spins, but it’s still a good track.

Poor Rick Ross, first the world finds out that he was a correctional officer via The Smoking Gun website (which is something that blew up on him, but the guy was taking a job to support his family…not really that big a deal if you ask me), then he denies it, AND NOW he managed to piss 50 cent off. Here is the thing about pissing 50 Cent off, it would seem to me at least, that it really isn’t something that you’d want to do. 50 is a fairly funny dude, and then when you egg him on he seems to use that talent for bad rather than good.

Let’s use Ja Rule for example. Yeah, I know, some of you are saying ‘Who is Ja Rule?’ Well for those of us who remember Ja Rule we would remember him as a fairly popular rapper who happened to get into a beef with 50. In this “beef” 50 cent just destroyed him, and managed to get everyone else into this beef as well. It was like a war on Ja Rule, and Ja is what 5′ tall? Little fella didn’t stand a chance. My point here about Ja Rule is that if he would have just let 50 Cent alone Ja would still be making fairly popular music, and enjoying some pretty sweet coin.

Back to Rick Ross, Mr. Ross decided to say some things about 50, and 50 made a diss track about him. The track follows:

Rick Ross didn’t feel that it was that great of a diss track and gave 50 48 hours to come up with something better than that. Whoops. Should not have done that. Like I said you don’t really want to push 50 Cent to do anything more than he already does, I thought the Officer Ricky track was kinda funny and if I was Ross I would have stopped it right there. I would have stopped and let 50 continue on to lil’ wayne like he is saying in the track…But nope. Ross had to say that was “Gawbage”. And here is what 50 came out with! An interview with the mother of one of Rick Ross’s kids – and a picture of one of ross’s other baby mama’s. The following is a video that 50 posted interviewing Tia Ford, the afore mentioned mother of one of Rick Ross’s kids.

What did we learn today? You don’t really want to push 50 any further than you have to. He’ll fight you until he ruins someone’s career.

Let’s talk music…on our site that happens to be about music, yeah it feels weird.

Anyway here are some news headlines that caught my eye:

Joaquin Phoenix Rep Insists Actor’s Hip-Hop Career Is Serious
Article: http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1603702/20090128/story.jhtml

Joaquin Phoenix says he’s going to keep on rapping, and having a really really bad beard. I haven’t seen facial hair that bad since…

Dave has a bad Mustache

Notice Dave’s facial hair, it’s super. I don’t think Hot Joel can grow any facial hair, he’s smooth…kinda like a dolphin…so we can’t really say anything about that.

Danity Kane broke up!!! Wait…I forgot which one was Danity Kane
Article: Heartbreak for 10′s of fans…

You know…I’m going to be honest, they probably had the most talent out of all the “girl bands” out there. It’s not like they had a lot of competition unless, of course, we are talking about Stupid Sh*t by Girlicious

Yep…that’s the hit I’m talking about. Magic. Damn Magic.

Michael Jackson Sued again…
Article: MJ doesn’t have money you can sue him all you want

Here is the quick version, Director John Landis, of the “Thriller” music video, is suing MJ because he refused to pay him the amount he was owed on the net profits from the video. Mr. Landis claims 50% is due to him…The Video was made in 1983. What has he been doing these past 26 years? Do you think he was calling Mike and and Mike was saying, “John listen, my tree phone gets terrible reception, but I can tell you one thing your check is in the mail. I gotta go you are breaking up….” And John Landis had to be buying that for 26 years. Awesome.

That’s all the news that is awesome for today! And what did we learn? If Michael Jackson owes you money don’t take his BS excuses for the next 26 years.

While some may point out that both Dave and R. Kelly are from the Chicagoland area, and both have a penchant for underage girls, the difference is that R. Kelly is most likely going to prison for his dirty deeds. This story has been on the back burner for a long time, as everyone knows. Heck, I remember being a wide-eyed 18-year-old college kid who had never witnessed a grown man pee on a woman before. Of course, this was before the Dutch porn invasion of the early 2000′s.
But to be quite honest, I’m curious as to why it has taken this long for everything to come to fruition. The man videotaped himself having sex with a girl who was 13 at the time, did he not? Let’s look past the fact the he used the girl’s face as a toilet seat, and that she appeared to enjoy it if not at least a little bit. R. Kelly is a sick man, and I think I speak for all level-headed people when I say he should spend some quality time in the pen. I guess if they really wanted to wrap up the court proceedings quickly, they should just set up a sting a la “To Catch a Predator.” The guys that get caught on that show have come up with some doosies as to what they were doing, so what could R. Kelly possibly say to clear his name? Nothing, thats what. So here’s to hoping he goes the route of Tupac and releases his next album from behind bars.

murder was the case that they gave me,

Matt