Prince vs. Radiohead

By now the world knows that Prince covered Radiohead’s Creep at this year’s Coachella. I think I heard about it within six minutes of happening. The beauty of Text Message!

I, among with thousands of similarly slobbering fans, raced to Youtube to see it for themselves. What we found was that every single video of it on the web was removed.

I did a pretty good search at the time and gave up, although, I’m sure a more resilient websurfer probably found it. Needless to say, Prince’s label did a good job censoring the video from the public. Why?

What is Prince’s big beef with having his image out there uncontrolled? Doesn’t he realize a video like that would go viral and be one of the biggest promoters of his music he could have? For free?

Is Prince that clueless about the modern media landscape?

Or is he just, as the song says, a creep?

But now along comes Thom Yorke and his ragtag band, ever heard of them? Radiohead; the copyright holders, creators, and overall owners of the song.

They disagree with the purple one.

Even Thom York couldn’t find a video of this historic cover.

In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince’s performance from a text message and thought it was “hilarious.” Yorke laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O’Brien, said the blocking had prevented him from seeing Prince’s version of their song.

“Really? He’s blocked it?” asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. “Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment.”

Yorke added: “Well, tell him to unblock it. It’s our … song.”

It’s a very interesting matchup. Prince is a legend, but Radiohead has been one of the biggest bands on the planet for the last 10+ years. Remember, Radiohead headlined Coachella four years ago. They’re both top musicians in their genres.

Radiohead: Alt. Rock.
Prince: Well, he’s Prince.

Their types of music couldn’t be more different. Radiohead is gloomy, introverted, white-boy rock from a craggy island in the Atlantic. Prince’s funk and soul-driven pop comes from the cold tundra of Minnesota. I know, I know, Prince can rock out too, but it’s not really what he’s known for. 

That’s why Prince’s cover was so ironic, so talked-about.

It also marks a collision between two opposing views when it comes to the Internet and music distribution.

Radiohead famously released their most recent album, “In Rainbows,” as a digital download with optional pricing. They also have a channel on YouTube.

When Prince performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 26, he prohibited the standard arrangement of allowing photographers to shoot near the stage during the first three songs of his set. Instead, he had a camera crew filming his performance.

Is he planning on releasing a documentary and wants to keep the footage under wraps so consumers have a reason to pay for the DVD? If so, I can sympathize, a little, but if he has no monetary reason for preventing the world from enjoying his version of the song, well, then he’s just a dick.

So… who’s going to prevail?

From a law standpoint it seems Radiohead should have a right to release covers of their songs; then again, Prince sang it, it’s Prince up on stage, you’d think he should have some right to its distribution status too. Is there even a precedent for this type of thing?

It’s a complicated issue, that’s for sure. Internet law is in an animotic stage and it’s a tough egg to crack. Ha! Jokes aside, I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. 

My hearts with Radiohead on this one.

Plus, I want to see the fricken video.

In its place, here’s a shitty video of Radiohead singing Creep at Coachella.

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is a beast to hike and even more of a beast to photograph.

The problem is everything is up in the air!

Zion Park is basically Zion Canyon, which means most of the hikes feature gnarly elevation gains. This is all right for one or two hikes but after three or four your calves start to complain and dreams of the hot tub back at the lodge start to overtake your thoughts. Yes, I wasn’t really roughing it on this trip.

To try to capture the imposing cliff faces a thousand feet in the air with the rushing water at your feet, and with a sliver of blue sky too for contrast; well, that’s way too much for my camera and my poor camera skills. I did the best I could. Enjoy.

Zion Canyon.

The weather was perfectly pleasant. Highs in the mid-70’s, nothing but sun.

We took it easy on the first day, taking a tour of the park and setting out on mostly small, flat hikes. We got a firsthand look at the Virgin River, grayish-green and roiling with spring runoff. We perused the weeping rock, where water that is a thousand years-old seeps through the rock and dribbles down the cliff, causing a verdant chasm of life to thrive in its misty shadow.

Zion is a fascinating blend of desert and alpine environments. A river carves its way through the sandstone. The cliffs are tall and craggy so there’s always an interesting play of light. It’s a land of opposites working in concert to mesmerize and enchant.

We were fortunate to be visiting the park in May because there was still the presence of colorful wildflowers on display that gave me lovely photographic opportunities: micro-manageable ones.

That night we went into town, indulging in pizza and beers.

The next day would feature the most thrilling hike of my life: Angel’s Landing.

The Angels Landing Trail is one of the most famous and thrilling hikes in the national park system. Zion’s pride and joy runs along a narrow rock fin with dizzying drop-offs on both sides. The trail culminates at a lofty perch, boasting magnificent views in every direction. Rarely is such an intimidating path so frequented by hikers. One would think that this narrow ridge with deep chasms on each of its flanks would allure only the most intrepid of hikers. Climbers scale its big wall; hikers pull themselves up by chains and sightseers stand in awe at its stunning nobility. The towering monolith is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Southwest.

It starts off tame enough, a slow gradual climb up from the valley floor into refirgerator canyon, a hanging canyon that is kept cool and shaded all year round. Then there’s something called Walter’s Wiggles, a series of switchbacks built into the mountain. You reach Scout’s Lookout first, which is impressive and stunning in itself.

This is where my wife told me to take care and that she would be staying right where she was. She has a small fear of heights and didn’t think torturing herself was a good way to spend a vacation.

Beyond Scout’s Lookout was nothing but chain and precipice.

Looking at Angel’s Landing from Scout’s Lookout – notice the ridge you climb up.

It took quite a bit of Jedi mind-over-matter to get through it. It wasn’t that challenging on a physical level, although at times I was a bit winded, it was looking down at the meandering river down below, so far away and tiny, that caused a bit of vertigo and, what I call, oh shitness!

Once you reach the end of the ridge, you’ve made it!

Congratulations.

Angel’s Landing affords great views of the canyon and surrounding cliffs, the Virgin River, and birds flying around below. Up there there are chipmunks that have taken to scampering through hiker’s bags for food and people have been known to be bit. I wonder if any chipmunks have ever been kicked off the cliff after biting a less-than-understanding hiker.

Here’s the view from Angel’s Landing.

Those are my feet, of course.

These are my thoughts: “Life is beautiful.”

The climb back down the ridge was easier. I passed other hikers trembling up the mountain, skipped around them with aplomb causing some to look at me in awe, others to probably question my sanity. I was showing off a little bit at this point. Years of Joshua Tree made me a expert boulder swimmer. That and the rocks at Leo Carrillo.

This is the way going back. Notice the tiny head of the hiker on his way up.

Once I reached my wife, I looked back at the ridge I just traversed with gratitude. I was safe and so it was okay to admit it finally, that shit was scary!

That night I went up on the hilltop at the lodge we were staying at and took some night pictures.

They had Native American prayer flags attached to the limbs of a dead tree. It made for some interesting photos.

Observe.

They also had a labyrinth up there. Circles make great photos!

This was earlier in the day.

If you love camping and hiking and live in Los Angeles, Zion is only six and a half hours away. Take some time from the grind, from traffic, and from this modern world so hectic and demanding, and immerse yourself in nature. Just watch out for the chipmunks.

Trust me, you’ll be a happy camper.

Zion at Night

The night sky in Springdale, outside Zion National Park.

Native American Prayer Flags

Hilltop Labyrinth.

Myspace Holiday

Hillary Clinton’s Gas tax holiday has inspired me to take a “make-believe” holiday of my own. For the next week I’m not going to check my Myspace page.

Yes… not once.

Not even to view pictures or send a message.

If I have to, I’ll use old-fashion email. (gasp!!!)

This holiday isn’t going to save me any money. I’m not going to get extra rest out of it.

Like the gas tax holiday, it’s really just for show. I just want to see if I can survive a whole week without reading someone’s blog or posting a bulletin to my own.

There are people who aren’t on myspace, or even facebook, and they do just fine.

If they can do it, I can do it.

Think of all that time I will have at my disposal now, how focused I’ll be.

I think I’ll go out and clean the L.A River. Or write that novel I’ve been planning. Or plant a forest. Or donate my free time at a retirement home now. Maybe, I’ll try to get Bush impeached now.

I think everything is going to work out just fine…

Global Warming, I’m coming after you.

DISCLAIMER: This is bullshit. I can’t quit Myspace for a day, much less a week.

Carry on.

Small Bits of Our Lives are Lost in Traffic

Another Sunday, another week asunder…

L.A is sleepily rising from Saturday night.

The breeze blows gently on the palm fronds outside, the smog stirs.

The roads are less busy. It’s Sunday. People are taking it easy.

I wish every day people took it easy.

Three stories down on Moorpark St. a young couple in cargoes and polo shirts cross the street, holding hands, their eyes softly shielded from the sun by aviators. The man’s shirt is meringue color. They’re not too much younger than me, I’m guessing ten years, so chances are good that at least one of them will live longer than me. My money’s on the girl.

It starts me thinking about the dilemmas we face. The threats to our existence.

My main concern is the environment.

Cars…

I live in L.A. I’m obsessed with cars. Traffic. The Ego Clash. The effect on the culture, on the psyche.

Watching the city from above you get the odd feeling we live in an ant farm.

The movements of cars are absorbed into their drivers and influence their mental states. When cars are unable to go anywhere, stuck in traffic, or stopped at long lights, their drivers become backed up emotionally, frustrated, we feel like caged wild animals — and in a way we are. When the cars do a lot of stop and go, with a bunch of lights and stop signs every couple of blocks, their drivers are antsy, craving to move freer. When cars are on open roads, where their movements are unimpeded, their drivers are happy.

The roads are sorta like your colon. They need to be open to function well.

Small bits of our lives are lost in traffic.

Lately I’ve been obsessed with traffic rotaries — you know, roundabouts — and the fact that L.A. doesn’t have many of them. I like rotaries and hate stop signs. Stop signs are bad on your engine and bad on your gas mileage. L.A is plagued with stop signs. It says something about this country that we chose the fascist stop sign over the more egalitarian rotary.

Everything is connected.

The whole Buddhist thing.

Maybe if our traffic grids weren’t infested with such movement restricting stop signs our driving moods and habits would ease. Rotaries require trust and awareness between drivers, a sense of working together. While stop signs suggest two people couldn’t figure out who goes first without the government stepping in. It’s a subtle thing, but I think it’s partly why humans are socially aggressive in L.A. We’re isolated from contact with our fellow beings. We don’t rub shoulders on the train. We don’t pass on the street. We don’t even smile in elevators anymore.

But everyone waves on boats!?

Water is a social lubricant. I know. I used to cater weddings on boats. I used to catch people making out in in rooms they weren’t supposed to be in. A co-worker interrupted a couple mid-blow job in the galley one time.

It’s not the same on the freeways. Some drivers would curse out their grandmother if she happened to be rolling a rental.

Europe uses the roundabout. They have Amsterdam. I’m sure the two things aren’t unconnected.

Remember Buddha?

There’s something very Zen about driving on the freeways: finding your lane, having patience, giving other driver’s space. We’re always in a rush, zipping through life. There’s nothing wrong with slowing down, letting someone in your lane. You might even get Karma points for it.

If everyone smiled and spread grace through small gestures, life here and now would feel kinder. We are the culture we create.

When someone cuts you off, or speeds up to prevent you from changing lanes, you feel anger, frustration, misanthropic.

Do your fellow drivers a solid out there. You can help ease unnecessary suffering.

Nirvana is a carpool lane.

Rotaries are circles, the shape of life, interconnectedness. The shape of the planet. Nature.

Intersections with stop signs are square shaped. The shape of man. His brutal logic.

I’d like to see a study at how effective roundabouts would be in improving gas mileage and commute times. Two reasons alone to adopt them. Psychobabble aside — and I’m a proud Psychobabbler — they’re a saner way of dealing with intersections in my book. Both driver and car prefer forward propulsion.

A lot of pollution is caused from having to accelerate from a dead stop. Ever see a school bus belch out a huge cloud of dirty exhaust when the light turns green and it starts to move?

Rotaries are also safer than traditional intersections because all the cars are generally headed in the same direction, thus cutting down on head-on collisions, the kinds of accidents that really causes problems on a person’s exoskeleton.

I’m not saying their implementation would solve global warming or clear up the smog or eliminate road rage or slash the price of gas, but at least it’s a start. It’s something we can change about our habits, our civic infrastructure, to help deal with our 21st century problems.

Any thoughts?

Agree? Disagree?

Or is it just more rambling from Art of Starving?

[cross-posted at dailykos.com]