September 11, 2007

Tuesday: Confusing Music News Day

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Coldplay

  • Coldplay have announced some song titles and a, uh, length limit on their upcoming fourth studio album. Yes, this is the “Hispanic” one. Songs being considered include “Lost!” and “Yes!,” (shouldn’t that be “¡Lost!” and “¡Yes!”?) as well as “Poppy Fields,” “Leftrightleftrightleft,” and “Cemeteries of London.” The band, posting on their website, wrote that the album will last no longer than 42 minutes: “Expect a short, concise record with no fat and at least two top-division songs.” No fat? But that’s where the flavor is!

  • The White Stripes have canceled their appearance at Austin City Limits on Friday, citing a “nervous breakdown” on the part of drummer Meg White. Aren’t publicists just supposed to call this “exhaustion”?

  • Rapper Ja Rule reacts to the upcoming congressional hearings on offensive lyrics in hip-hop by encouraging everyone to look at the real problem: gays on MTV. He tells Complex.com “let’s talk about all these f***ing shows that they have on MTV that is promoting homosexuality, that my kids can’t watch this s***. Dating shows that’s showing two guys or two girls in mid afternoon. If that’s not f***ing up America, I don’t know what is.”

  • Keyboardist Joe Zawinul, who played with Miles Davis and in his own band Weather Report, died today in his hometown of Vienna. Zawinul was voted “best keyboardist” 30 times by Down Beat magazine. He was 75.
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    At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

    It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

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    So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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