Aidin Vaziri | Interviews, Reviews and More: August 2005

29 August 2005

Pop Quiz: Jem

Aidin Vaziri | If it seems as if singer-songwriter Jem is everywhere these days, that's because she is. Her debut album, "Finally Woken," released last year on Dave Matthews' ATO label, has quietly sold nearly 300,000 copies, while her Dido-ish songs have infiltrated TV shows as diverse as "The O.C." and "Six Feet Under." Born Jemma Griffiths in Cardiff, Wales, the 28-year-old got her start by hand-delivering her demos to KCRW, the influential Los Angeles radio station that broke Coldplay. Since then, she's written a song for Madonna, toured stadiums with Matthews and gotten the endorsement of nearly every major music magazine. Now if only Eminem would call her back.

Jem
Q: You have a bit of a reputation for, um ...
A: What? Don't pause.
Q: I don't know if "harassing famous people" is the right way to put it.
A: I thought you were going to say "difficult." There is definitely that side of me. If I want something, I will go all out to get it.
Q: You once wrote Stevie Wonder a letter in Braille asking him to work with you.
A: I did.
Q: Where exactly did you pick up Braille?
A: Actually, I didn't. It was a bit of fate because I (had) thought about sending him a letter in Braille -- it was in the back of my mind -- and then I was on this snowboarding holiday years ago and it just happened the people who owned the apartment had a Braille typewriter. Isn't that amazing? It's quite random.
Q: You also sent a naked video to Eminem.
A: Yeah, I sent him some nudie shots. No, actually I didn't.
Q: Well, not a naked video, but the video for "They," in which you are naked. In space.
A: Well, I was going to because I wanted him in one of my videos, and I thought that would be a good start. Now the concept has changed and there's no way we have the money to do what I wanted to do.
Q: That's too bad.

Review: Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock 'Possibilities': Aidin Vaziri | Herbie Hancock is through being cool; now he wants a nice car. How else to explain this brazen Santana-esque marketing move, in which he enlists a set of seemingly random collaborators with an intent to crash the charts? Scene- stealing spots from guests like John Mayer, Christina Aguilera and Joss Stone may rope in young record buyers, but few of them will walk away with any kind of impression of Hancock, who is pushed further back on each track. Meanwhile, veterans like Paul Simon, Sting and Annie Lennox are respectful enough to let the piano player get the spotlight, but end up dragging things down by the very virtue of being Paul Simon, Sting and Annie Lennox. Fortunately, ex-Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, who knows a thing or two about jam etiquette, makes up for most of the missteps with a truly beatific collaboration on "Gelo No Montana."

22 August 2005

Pop Quiz: Ben Folds

Aidin Vaziri | It's not easy being Ben Folds. After naming his last band Ben Folds Five even though there were clearly only three members, having the misfortune of releasing his solo album "Rockin' the Suburbs," on Sept. 11, 2001, and having "Weird Al" Yankovic sing backing vocals on his latest, "Songs for Silverman," now the disheveled singer has to share the stage every night with the exquisitely handsome Rufus Wainwright on the Odd Men Out tour, which reaches Davies Symphony Hall on Tuesday. He's like Garfield and every day is like Monday.

Ben Folds
Q: Do you worry that by calling it the Odd Men Out people are going to get the wrong impression about your sexual orientation?
A: Nah, I actually don't care. It doesn't make any difference to me. Tell them all I'm gay.
Q: So you got the "Odd" part covered and Rufus gets "Out."
A: I thought I got the "Men" part.
Q: No, Rufus gets that as well. The advantage to touring with him is that he has a dog's name, which makes you look better.
A: Right.
Q: But the disadvantage is he's really good looking, dresses well and takes regular showers, which I'm guessing you don't.
A: No. I'm not good looking and I don't dress well. He sings better too. Actually, he writes better songs, come to think of it. It's not really good for me all around.
Q: How are the audiences even willing to put up with you until he comes on?

Reviews: Natasha Bedingfield

Natasha Bedingfield 'Unwritten': Aidin Vaziri | With Pink out of commission and Lauryn Hill in deep contemplation, the time is right for Natasha Bedingfield. The New Zealand native is a brassy R&B singer with a big voice and an adventurous streak that guides her impulsively through a fantastic set of tear-jerking ballads ("I Bruise Easily"), pop shout- alongs ("These Words") and computerized slow jams ("One That Got Away"). If she didn't have all that confidence, it would be an all-out disaster. The only drawback is the copy-protection software embedded on the disc, which prevents it from loading onto iTunes -- last time we checked, it was 2005. Anyway, Joss Stone should be looking over her shoulder"

Seventeen Evergreen on MySpace

There's room for everyone on MySpace, from indie rockers to Rupert Murdoch: Aidin Vaziri | Seventeen Evergreen is one of the most popular bands in the Bay Area. But the San Francisco psychedelic rock trio doesn't have a major label record deal, typically plays shows at smallish venues like the Make-Out Room and won't even release its debut CD, "Life Embarrasses Me on Planet Earth," until next week. Unlike predecessors such as Green Day, which paid its dues by touring in vans and selling tapes out of the back before getting any national exposure, Seventeen Evergreen has achieved its success in a thoroughly postmodern way. Earlier this year, the band members put up a page on the social-networking site MySpace.com. In just a few weeks, songs from the forthcoming album were streamed on users' computers more than 6,000 times, while nearly 400 people added them to their list of friends. In the music industry, getting an emerging band that much exposure before an album launch takes millions of promotional dollars. All Seventeen Evergreen did was spend half a day uploading some songs and pictures on a personal computer. "It's become the new paradigm," says Seventeen Evergreen singer Caleb Pate. "At first I thought, 'Why would people randomly go to our site?' But that's the way it works. People are actively searching out new bands on MySpace. It's an experimental marketing tool right now. I don't know if it translates to record sales or getting heads to a show, but it's exceeded my expectations as far as getting us exposure."

Pop Quiz: Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds

Aidin Vaziri | Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds' list of production clients reads like a typical Billboard Top 10: Mariah Carey, Madonna, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. His solo albums, meanwhile, have made him one of the last torchbearers for classic R&B, turning out hits like "When Will I See You" and "Change the World." After a brief misstep with 2001's trying-too-hard "Face 2 Face," which included collaborations with Snoop and the Neptunes, Babyface is once again acting his age with the aptly named "Grown & Sexy."

Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds
Q: You've worked with Madonna, Snoop, Eric Clapton. Who's the most random person that's wanted to work with Babyface?
A: I went to a Barry Manilow show because I'm a big fan. I'm not ashamed to say it. I have been for years. He has a great show, by the way. So I went to see him and I ran into Wayne Newton and he said, "I would love to get into the studio with you." That's about as random as it can get.
Q: Did you give him your phone number with like one number smudged?
A: We didn't do any number exchanges. It was an honor for him to say it, for him to actually even know who I was. The truth is, I would probably do it, too.
Q: So there's hope for Wayne.

Reviews: The Click Five, Hilary Duff

The Click Five 'Greetings From The Imrie House': Aidin Vaziri | The Click Five are a boy band with a difference. They play their own instruments, write their own songs and grew up listening to Kiss instead of the Jackson 5. They wear their hair like the Byrds, not like a flock of birds just went whooshing by. And rather than collaborating with Swedish androids for their debut album, the graduates of Boston's Berklee College of Music enlisted producer Mike Deneen, whose previous clients include the entirely credible Fountains of Wayne and Aimee Mann. Despite the fact that the Five served as opening act for both Ashlee Simpson and the Backstreet Boys, their "Greetings From the Imrie House" seems a little smarter than the average teen- pop disc, making sure that when its bubblegum blows, it goes, "Bang!"

Hilary Duff 'Most Wanted': Aidin Vaziri | Neil Young had to wait a decade before he got his. David Bowie's came after reinventing his sound and persona nine times. And it took Aretha Franklin about 12 years to get one. That must make Hilary Duff -- who has released just two studio albums and is not even old enough to vote -- better than all of them combined. Her first greatest-hits set arrives this week, and if the saccharine-and-synth rush of tracks like "Fly," "The Getaway" and her spin on the Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed" seems particularly fresh, well, that's because it is -- most of these songs came out less than a year ago on the singer's self-titled sophomore release. Fortunately, the former "Lizzie McGuire" star's boyfriend, Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, steps in with three new tracks, including the let's-get-the-party-started single "Wake Up," that help alleviate the feeling that this is a total cash grab.

07 August 2005

Pop Quiz: Avril Lavigne

Aidin Vaziri | While the tabloids keep going on about how Avril Lavigne is a drunken mess, the 20-year-old Canadian pop singer sounds remarkably, disappointingly sober when we catch up with her over the phone in Rome. Still out on tour behind her sophomore album, last year's double-platinum "Under My Skin," the "My Happy Ending" hitmaker plays Wednesday at the Chronicle Pavilion before taking some time off to start thinking about her next project.

Avril Lavigne
Q: Have you seen the headlines today? "Avril Lavigne Drinks Too Much."
A: I don't even drink.
Q: Here's another one: "Avril Lavigne the Party Girl?"
A: That's funny.
Q: Apparently there are some photographs of you and a bottle.
A: That was a long time ago. Yeah, I know Star magazine had this huge two- page spread about how I drink all the time and I'm an alcoholic. But the funny thing is I was on tour for 10 weeks straight in Asia and I went to L.A. to visit my girlfriends. I drank like once on my whole tour. We went out for the weekend and everyone was like, "Avril is an alcoholic!"
Q: Here's the first sentence of one story: "Rock chick Avril Lavigne's booze-fueled antics are becoming so common and so public that friends are worrying that she is out of control. 'She's turning into a nightmare,' says a source close to the singer."
A: I mean, really, it should make me look a rock star.
Q: And in the picture they ran with it, you have a cigarette, cell phone and burn marks on your wrist.
A: Really?
Q: It looks really cool, actually.
A: I don't have burn marks on my arm.
Q: Well, you should get some.

03 August 2005

Pop Quiz: Michael Buble

Aidin Vaziri | Before becoming a Starbucks pitchman in that inescapable commercial in which he serenades a girl with "Come Fly With Me," Vancouver singer Michael Buble was doing just fine as a debonair pop crooner in his own right. Buble's self-titled 2003 debut sold 3 million copies, while his latest, "It's Time," shot up to the No. 1 position on the Billboard jazz charts. Now, just like Elvis was sidelined by cheeseburgers, Buble is at risk of getting tripped up by Venti Frappuccinos.

Michael Buble
Q: Should I kill you now or after the interview for making that Starbucks commercial?
A: Oh, no! Would you please kill me during the interview?
Q: Let me just strangle you a little bit.
A: Is it driving you crazy? Are you seeing it a lot?
Q: Maybe you can ask them to play it just 250 times a day instead of a thousand?
A: Oh, my God. Are they playing it lots? I keep wondering why people go, "Are you the Starbucks guy?" Um, no, I'm a singer.
Q: Besides, when you first got signed, your record company ordered you to stop eating at McDonald's. Don't you know each of those Frappuccinos is like putting 10 Big Macs in a blender?
A: Are they? Well, you're coming to the show. You can tell me if I look fat.