James is announcing some spring 2010 shows and it appears they have some new music around the corner as well. You can also download a new track for free, "Not So Strong" at the official home page in exchange for a email address. Go here.
Full press release below...
The Mirrorball Tour
The latest James news flash, from Larry Gott:
Hello you lovely lot. The nice people at SJM concerts have put together a rather eclectic series of concerts for us all to enjoy together in the spring of 2010. We are getting to re-visit some venues for the first time in ages, most notably The Royal Albert Hall, last visited on the 'Meat is Murder' tour supporting fellow Manc mukkers Moz/Marr etc, back in '85.
Fan pre-sale 2nd Dec.
The tour will be announced on Monday the 30th November, and the tickets go on general sale the following Thursday 3rd December at 9:30am.
However, because we like you lot so much you get first shout on the good seats by ordering the day before, on Wednesday 2nd December via a special pre-sale link on wearejames.com.
New (mini) album – 'The Night Before'
All of us are working hard on the batch of songs that will become the first of two mini-albums released next year and they are sounding great! We even have a title (gasp!) "THE NIGHT BEFORE".
It will be out in April 2010 and you will have the chance to pre-order it exclusively through wearejames.com when you order your tickets, by clicking here: wearejames.com/tickets.
See you all in April.
Larry x
The Mirrorball Tour, April 2010
Monday 5th - Edinburgh Corn Exchange (0844 4999 990) Tuesday 6th - Newcastle Academy (0844 477 2000) Thursday 8th - Sheffield Academy (0844 477 2000) Friday 9th - Preston Guildhall (01772 258 858) Saturday 10th - Cambridge Corn Exchange (01223 357 851) Monday 12th - Southend Cliffs Pavilion (01702 351 135) Tuesday 13th - Bournemouth Academy (0844 477 2000) Thursday 15th - Bristol Colston Hall (0117 922 3686) Friday 16th - London Royal Albert Hall (020 7589 8212) Saturday 17th - Liverpool University (0151 256 5555)
Ticketing
Pre-sale tickets will be available from wearejames.com/tickets from 9:30am on Wednesday 2nd December, and go on general sale at 9:30am on Thursday 3rd December, at which time they will be available from wearejames.com, gigsandtours.com, seetickets.com, and via 24-hour credit card hotline on 0844 826 2826.
Last week, BonJovi claimed their fourth number-one album on the Billboard Top 200 with The Circle. This week, they make history…with a stunning 70% drop in sales (from 163,000 copies to 50,153) and dropping from #1 all the way to #19. This is the third largest decline from the #1 spot ever in the history of the Billboard 200 (only Incubus and Marilyn Manson had more devastating declines). Somehow, I don't think that they will be mentioning this in their next press release.
So what does this mean?
It’s typical for established acts to have huge debuts and then drop, but considering BonJovi has tallied up three platinum records this decade alone, one would imagine they would have more staying power. Lost Highway debuted in 2007 with 292,000 copies sold. The drop from the LHsales to The Circle was 33% in a little over two-years, a dramatic downturn. Back in 2007, all pre-sale tickets for all ten shows at their New Jersey Prudential Center shows included a download that counted towards first week sales. This time around, if you wanted to buy a pre-sale ticket, you had to buy the digital download ahead of time. One would think with an entire tour going on-sale versus ten shows that sales would have been up, but they weren’t. What makes the drop more significant is that the album was $3.99 for the entire first week on Amazon. Not just the first day, but an entire week and it still couldn’t crack the 200,000 mark.
So what happened?
#1 Overexposure BonJovi has never been a group to shy away from promotion and while normally this proves to be beneficial, I believe it hurt them this time around. The band has been on a record-tour schedule this entire decade not really allowing anyone to miss them. As a result, aside from the most fanatical fans, seeing the band all over NBC isn’t a good thing. Sometimes it’s good to leave your fans wanting more.
#2 Airing Your Documentary on Showtime This was an odd combination, BonJovi and Showtime. I ordered Showtime to see the documentary and realized very quickly why I don’t subscribe to Showtime, it sucks. Yes, it has wonderful shows like Weeds, Californication and Dexter, but I’m floored at the amount of crap on this channel. I’m a film buff and watch all types of movies and most of the ones on Showtime, I never knew existed. I am sure BonJovi went with Showtime because they got their money they invested in the documentary back. This was a mistake. It may not have been as sexy, but they should have sold it for a discounted price to VH-1. Here’s why; the type of people who are going to tune into a documentary on BonJovi are already fans. In a day and age with hundreds of channels at people’s fingertips, is someone like my mother, aunt or casual fan going to sit through this? No. If Showtime (or HBO for that matter) had a documentary on T.I. or Little Wayne, I’d flip the channel. But when VH-1 shows one of these documentaries (or a Behind the Music), I find myself not changing the channel and being rather entranced. If you are watching VH-1, there is an interest of music to begin with, a connection a casual Showtime viewer doesn't have. As a result of my interest in music, I have a new appreciation for T.I. and Little Wayne because of their Behind the Music documentaries, something I wouldn’t have paid attention to it in the first place.
If the band really wanted to come across edgy or cool, they would have given it to Sundance, IFC or HBO free of charge. Yet, none of this happened, and as a result, no one tuned in and even worse, no one cared.
#3 A Lead Single That Connected With No One Let’s be honest shall we? No one really likes the lead single “We Weren’t Born To Follow” aside from die-hard BonJovi fans. It’s a song that connects with no one and ultimately, feel manipulative. It's lack of connection should have cued the band to tap another song for single release around the time of the album with a video in tow. Instead, they're performing this song (not very well I may add) at almost every promotional stop. It's not giving the casual fan (or a loyal one) a reason to buy the record.
#4 The Limiting “NBC Artist In Residence” This was a bad idea. A. Very. Bad. Idea. “Hey’ why don’t you limit yourself to doing interviews on a network that is consistently in 4th place?”. It would be akin to Michael Jordan retiring from the Chicago Bulls only to return a few years later to play for a team like the Washington Wizards. Wait? Well, you see my point. Now, as much as I would like to shoot holes through the idea, the band needs to take some responsibility as well. Just because they have shown up and done the numerous shows, from my perspective, they haven’t delivered. Their interviews on the Today show, Ellen, Inside the Actor’s Studio haven’t really shed that much new light. On top of it, because the band has done all of these shows (in some form or another) before, it comes off as not being new to casual fans well. Then there’s the continually insipid performances of “We Weren’t Born To Follow”. I’m not a fan of the song, but BonJovi is a great band and great bands take mediocre material and heighten it live. Every performance of the new songs I have seen has been weak at best. Not to mention the continual repeat performances of “It’s My Life” and “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”. Are they promoting The Circle or their catalog? Plus, not to mention that the band has played the aforementioned songs ad nauseammaking even the most fervent follower moan with disappointment. Let me tell you, if someone hasn’t bought a concert ticket or cd the first 17,200 performances of “It’s My Life”, these recent ones won’t change their minds either.
The band had an extraordinary opportunity with the “Artist In Residence” feature. What they should have done is play the album in its entirety over the course of the two month residency. They should have made a point of never repeating a single song. This way you could showcase not just new songs but some forgotten classics as well. By repeating themselves time and time again, they showed the world they don’t have the right stuff and essentially screwed the pooch.
#5 Ill Will Back in 2001, I was sick and tired of housing all of my BonJovi related imports, cd’s and extras so I decided to compile them all to compilation cd’s. The end result was a 25-disc collection of assorted soundtrack, b-side, live tracks and demos the band has released worldwide over their entire career. On average, I owned three copies of every BonJovi release (the domestic release, the Japan release for bonus tracks and a reissue release from the UK or Japan). In some instances, I owned upwards of a dozen copies of the albums. Do you want to know how many copies of the The Circle I own…and better yet, how many I plan to own? Zero.
Back in 2002, I bought a total of 21 tickets to their 2003 world tour (tickets for me, friends, people I thought would enjoy the show, etc.). I owned three copies of the Bounce album and bought every import cd single I could. Do you want to know how many tickets I plan on purchasing for their upcoming world tour? Zero. Do you want to know how many imports I plan on buying? Zero.
Before I wrote this article, I sent an email to fifteen fans I have known for over a decade, asking them a few questions. All of these people bought multiple copies of albums in the past and saw anywhere from five to fifteen shows per tour, not to mention, like me, they would often pay for friends to witness the magic. Of the twelve that responded, I discovered only three of them bought The Circle and between the twelve people combined, they have bought a combined total of five (5) concert tickets for the 2010 tour. This should be seen as a problem by the BonJovi organization, but it’s not. In their yearning desire to conquer the world and “sell out the desert…more than once”, they forgot their core audience. In a desire to move tickets in stadiums, they are trying to be everything to everyone…and in this day and age, you can’t be everything to everyone. There are numerous reasons for me not attending any shows on this upcoming tour, but a large part has to do with price. I just haven’t seen anything really extraordinary from the band in a while (I will admit to having been witness to at least two choice shows in the last 5 years), but at this stage in the game, I’m tired of giving money to a group who has been more about product than soul in recent years. Whenever you have someone as devout as I once was not throwing a single dime the band’s way, which is an issue that should keep them up at night. I doubt it does, but I was the type of person who would spread the word, expose people to the concerts and try to sway the legions of people who despise BonJovi to look at them in a different light. The campaign for The Circle finds them falling into the trap that the legions of disbelievers want them to fall into, the same way Brett Favre did when he couldn’t take the Jets to the Super Bowl. He became the fallguy, as has BonJovi. They have had so much success, they pepper their press releases with mindless and pointless facts and numbers that sadly, people are at a point in time where they want to see them fail…and get some sort of glee from it. I wish them no ill will, and their 2010 tour will be in the top-five for grosses next year without question, but The Circle may very well be the first BonJovi record to fail to move 500,000 copies.
One argument people want to make that I won’t listen to is piracy. I understand piracy is rampant, but AC/DC last year moved 800,000 copies in one week, despite having the album leak ten days before it hit store shelves. Ditto with Metallica who moved 490,000 copies in a mere three days of Death Magnetic. The Dave Matthews Band this past June moved 424,000 copies. Why is it these acts can move double, triple and quadruple the opening week numbers of BonJovi? They were all stronger albums than The Circle, but ultimately I chalk it up to each of these aforementioned bands always being true to themselves, playing to their core fans and ensuring that those fans are taken care of (with creativedeluxe editions, etc.). BonJovi did none of this and instead of trying to build on the core audience they have built, they instead shoot for the stars which isn’t going to work every time. If you go to bat and try to hit a home run at every at-bat, you will strike out more than you connect, which is why it’s always a safer move to build a grass roots movement amidst the biggest fans and let the word spread from there.
Where Do They Go From Here? BonJovi has a solid month of performances on NBC before the end of December. My suggestion would be to engage those most loyal fans. Have polls on their website, interacts with the fans on Twitter and have them vote for what will be played on Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live, etc. Do an unexpected cover song no none would think of. Play a forgotten cut from New Jersey or Slippery When Wet, get playful and remind people of why you deserve to be taken seriously. Get Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to do another skit, make people laugh at you and then you will win their hearts. Only when the band doesn't play by the numbers will they create true buzz and engage those who haven't bought the album.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
The Dave Matthews Band lost LeRoi Moore, their horn player a little over a year ago. It was amidst a tragic series of events, but in the wake of his death, it forced the band to create their best record to date.
On SNL last night, the band delivered two great performances ("Shake Me Like A Monkey" & "You & Me"), but what impressed me was the band photo that appears when the show returns from commercials. It was a picture of everyone performing with the band. Not just the core members, but everyone including Tim Reynolds, Jeff Coffin and Rashawn Ross. None of these people are official members, but it was refreshing to see them acknowledged. I know this doesn't seem like a big deal to many people, but some acts pretend that certain musicians who are integral to the band, don't exist.
Here's to hoping that when this certain band appears on SNL in December they show everyone who performs with them in the band shot.
Mötley Crüe: A Visual History, 1983-2005 Book Review By Anthony Kuzminski Buy the book here Visit Neil Zlozower here Mötley Crüe is a band who will almost certainly be better known for their overall history than anything else. More than their music, their videos, their look or their personal lives, their collective legend will reign above everything else. There is a reason for this. For a band that hasn’t really made any career defining music in nearly two-decades, their legacy has only grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. Part of this is due to their return to the concert circuit, the emergence of their music on classic radio, their vintage videos being aired daily on VH-1 Classic but most of it stems from a series of events beginning with the publication of The Dirt in 2001. The book’s greatness stems from its honesty more than its debauchery. Don’t get me wrong, the stories are unheralded in the realm of rock n’ roll but the real reason the book resonates is because when people read it they didn’t feel as if the covers were being lifted over their head. There was a sincere and authentic voice present throughout the entire book. Nikki Sixx’s The Heroin Diaries furthered the myth and now photographer Neil Zlozower’s Motley Crue: A Visual History, 1983-2005 (Chronicle Books) helps cement the legacy. Neil Zlozower has been a staple of the LA music scene for over three decades. Besides capturing many of the biggest 80’s rock stars of the Sunset Strip, he also has some of the most legendary pictures of Van Halen during their prime, for which he compiled into a book, something he has done once again for Mötley Crüe. Something missing from rock journalism these days is trust. Acts should confide in certain journalists and photographers because one never knows how they will help form and shape their history. Look at Sacha Gervasi, who went to a metal show in the early 80’s, the band Anvil befriended him and two decades later he makes a film about them. When Mötley began its rise to fame, they were fortunate to forge relationships with many people and one of them was photographer Neil Zlozower. Zlozower managed to capture the band at their most innocent yet also managed to capture them at their most decadent. The pictures within the book could not have been captured by just anyone. There was a level of trust between Zlozower and the Crüe. Between club shows from 1983 and their arena comeback in 2005, Zlozower caught it all. There are the album sleeves from Theatre of Pain, the “Girls, Girls, Girls” video shoot, early press pictures from the Dr. Feelgood era, numerous full page spreads from their live shows and arguably the most famous of all their pictures, the “blood” session from 1984. The pictures are gigantic and often full page spreads that jump out at you. They are a reminder of what a grand and gratuitous band Mötley Crüe was at their prime.
Another band recently culled a coffee table book for publication and what is missing from it is a coherent history. Instead of choosing one photographer, it’s a culmination of several and it’s a disservice to the book and more importantly, the artist. As artists let people into their inner sanctum, they let their guard down and that’s when enduring moments are born. The notorious “blood” session wouldn’t have happened with just anyone sent to shoot the band, there had to be a realm of trust. The up-close and on-stage shots of the band in their prime also differentiate from newspaper photographer’s who have to shoot bands from either a pit or a mile away. Zlozower takes the reader into the inner sanctum of the Crüe. The hardcover book is immense with in all of its 232-pages. Covering most of the band’s history (sadly there is virtually nothing from the 1990’s); Zlozower helps put the band’s visceral image into perspective. In many ways, the book lives up to its title as a visual history of the band and what a history it is. Featuring insight and recollections in text format from Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx (who does the introduction), former managers, roadies and producers, this book is an easy recommendation; especially considering it’s going for less than $25 over at Amazon.com. If The Dirt was the definitive story of their legacy, then Mötley Crüe: A Visual History, 1983-2005 is the visual companion piece.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
Bruce Springsteen: 'The Light in Darkness' Book Review Published By Lawrence Kirsh Communications Buy the book here By Anthony KuzminskiArtists are defined by two central fundamentals; their songs and concerts. For years, concerts were used as promotional tools to sell records, bring awareness to the act and hopefully sell a few t-shirts. Little money was made and it was more or less a brief glimpse at their favorite artists in the flesh. When the Beatles played Shea Stadium in 1965, they played a mere 29-minutes. As the sixties progressed, the Grateful Dead appeared and within a few years, Led Zeppelin took concerts to new heights with festival grooviness and flashing arena-rock presence. For bands like the Dead and Zeppelin, the records weren’t enough. The concert became an extension of the record and in many ways, a more vital experience. Tapes were shared, stories told and myths were born. In the entire rock era, no other artist has a greater and more extensive legend than Bruce Springsteen. From stories of intimate in-your-face clubs shows early in his career to the misquoted myth of the five-hour show, the adoration and fervent followings Springsteen has amassed over the decades is almost unparalleled and on full display in a new book chronicling the 1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town tour, The Light in Darkness.
To this day, I can’t go to a Springsteen show without someone telling me a tall tale about how they saw Springsteen “play an eight-hour show…and then he took out a broom and swept the floor of the club”. It’s almost laughable, but understandable. In 1978, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band embarked on their most discussed and legendary tour of their career in support of Darkness on the Edge of Town. Now, to fully understand the importance of this tour, a brief history needs to be given. After having a small cult following, Springsteen broke into the mainstream with Born To Run in late 1975 and a lawsuit by Springsteen to dissolve his contract with manager Mike Appel. This led to a countersuit where Appel kept Springsteen from recording a follow-up to Born To Run until it the legal proceedings were resolved. Once both parties came to an agreement in the spring of 1977, Springsteen and the E Street Band took to the studio recording upwards of thirty songs which were finally released in May of 1978. While the 1977 tour is viewed by many as some of the most staggering the band would ever do, it set the template for the 1978 tour. Springsteen’s Born in the USA trek may have been more epic and his jaunt in support of The River more exhausting and epic, none of them would have been possible without the ’78 tour. Springsteen decided to blend his new material with his older material which led to show times around the three-hour mark. To this day, three-hour shows are largely unprecedented, but in 1978 it was virtually unheard of. It’s one thing to do a lengthy show and another to keep the audience’s attention, which Springsteen and the E Street Band did with ease. This was also the last tour where the band played theaters as arenas were necessary come 1980 in places other than the Northeast. The Light in Darkness is a document of the 1978 tour and in all honesty, it’s surprising that Springsteen and his management team hasn’t done something similar before now. In their need to always do things on specific anniversaries, they often miss the boat and low and behold, a group of fans beat them to the punch. What provides The Light in Darkness with an authentic voice is the first hand reports and stories it provides. These aren’t so much embellished accounts, but earnest and brutally expressive stories of how music became something more than a distraction but a life force. I’ll admit, some of the stories feel repetitive and a little too much emphasis is given to the Darkness album in the text. Yet, to the credit of the writer’s, they were trying to give the 1978 tour context and it’s impossible to do so without a look at the Darkness record. However, as you page through the book, it’s impossible to deny the sincerity of the entries. These are truly revealing stories no one can deny and the intensity of some of them match Springsteen’s music and concert performances. The book very easily could have turned into a messiah-like worship of Springsteen, but by revealing the stories of where everyone was at a certain point in their lives, gives the book a lift up from your standard fan publication. The real treasures of the book are the hundreds of pictures and memorabilia that fill the pages in between the stories. Newspaper ads for the shows, flyers for on-sale dates, pins from the Madison Square Garden stand, concert tickets, specially made posters, backstage passes and special promotional items not seen for years. Aside from a time machine, this is the closest anyone can get to truly placing themselves in the thick of the action from over three-decades back. Up until now, the closest anyone could get to reliving this tour was through bootleg recordings, but now The Light in Darkness puts the tour into perspective in a little over two-hundred pages. The soft cover book is full of many revealing pictures, stories and loads of insight into the tour that truly defined the Springsteen legend. For anyone who was unable to attend the 1978 tour, The Light in Darkness is an essential buy as it places you in the thick of the action. For those who were lucky enough to be there, then it’s the greatest souvenir they ever could have.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com
This post is a sequel of sorts to previous entries earlier this month, you can read them here and here.
Well it appears that plastering your face everywhere imaginable helps. BonJovi will be debuting at #1 on the Billboard chart, according to Hits Daily Double, with sales of 166,000 copies of The Circle. It's still a 40+% decline from the sales of Lost Highway 2-years ago.
They pulled out all the stops including having the fans buy a digital download for an early crack at advance tickets and also a $3.99 offer for the whole week over at Amazon for a digital download.
How will it hold up over time? Only time will tell.
Keith Urban-Full Circle Joe’s – Chicago, IL November 14, 2009 By Anthony Kuzminski Pictures courtesy of Rob Grabowski Corporate sponsorship has its perks as evidenced by Keith Urban’s intimate acoustic performance this past weekend in Chicago. Verizon Wireless and Samsung Mobile sponsored part of Keith Urban’s recently completed tour and back in March, Urban kicked it all off with an intimate full band performance for a few hundred fans at Joe’s on Weed Street in Chicago. He brought the tour full circle with a one-off acoustic/ Q&A performance for a mere 300-fans once again at Joe’s. The crowd, which consisted of radio station and Verizon store winners proved to be brief, but perfectly poised. Keith Urban took to the stage in boots, jeans and a short-sleeved collared shirt with a disarming smile. As he sat on a stool with nothing other than an acoustic guitar, a fan called out for “Days Go By” and Urban graciously obliged with a concentrated and dynamic performance. Despite the bare bones performance, Urban wields his magnetism. “Days Go By” was as enlivening as it was in the summer of ’08 in Soldier Field. Up next was “I’m In”, the penultimate track from his latest album, Defying Gravity, a record with more misses than hits, but in its bare bones arrangement, it revealed layers not on the studio track. In fact, I will be revisiting the album as a result of this performance. This is a case where the layered production led the song down the wrong path. Urban’s vocal was unadorned and as the crowd sung along. In between songs, Urban took questions from the largely female crowd with a charming smile and he graciously even offered autographs. He is in the midst of beginning to write for his next studio record which he informed the crowd he hopes to move into full gear in 2010. He did not offer a time table for completion, but considering he just finished a tour, it is good to hear he has begun the writing process already.
For the remainder of the performance, Urban blew any preconceived notions out of the water. As he performed “Kiss the Girl” with a sea of voices in support, he let his talent come to the forefront. There was pure joy in his performance. One of the better questions came when he was asked about the biggest surprise on the tour and he referenced when Taylor Swift and three members of her band dressed in full KISS regalia and came on-stage to surprise him during “Kiss the Girl”, Urban admitted “I thought it really was KISS because the make-up was spot on”. A fan called out for “Jeans On” and Urban once again immediately surged into the Golden Road album cut in a fun off-the-cuff performance. The afternoon’s final performance, “Stupid Boy” closed the all too brief acoustic set with a pulverizing performance. Despite not having written the song, you can hear the vulnerability in Urban’s vocal performance. You feel ache in his third-person brooding delivery. As he closed his eyes, he transported himself and all 300 fans in attendance for the most affecting performance of the day. Every American Idol performer could learn from this performance. Nothing about it was over-the-top, yet with an impassioned vocal and an acoustic guitar, he left a overwhelming impression no one will soon forget. It’s almost impossible to believe he didn’t write it. Most people think singing is about technique, but Urban proved it’s all about pulling from your inner emotions. Despite being an invitation only performance, it didn’t feel that way. It was a enjoyable afternoon where fans were able to see one of the great live performers of our time do a rare and revealing acoustic set. Urban transcended the event by not merely performing, but by going the extra mile and sharing a part of himself in his performances (specifically on “Stupid Boy”). Not every musician can balance performing to tens of thousands of people and be able to make that same connection in a club. Urban has proven himself in the last eighteen-months to have the good to challenge a stadium, connect with an arena and provide the intimacy needed for a club. As always, Urban delivers in any live environment. Keith Urban the celebrity took a back-seat to Keith Urban the musician proving there is more than meets the eye.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com Special thanks to: VERIZON WIRELESS AND SAMSUNG MOBILE TEAM WITH KEITH URBAN FOR AN INTIMATE ACCOUSTIC PERFORMANCE IN CHICAGO.
The band’s new Island album will be next week’s top debut, with a total hovering in the 140-150k range, based on one-day sales reports from those retailers able to tear themselves away from watching Wanda Sykes’ new talk show.
That will set up a four-way race for the top spot next Tuesday among the Jersey boys, this week’s #1 finisher, CMA host Carrie Underwood, dark horse Andrea Bocelli and Michael Jackson.
It should be noted, that if the set sells in the 140,000-150,000 range, it will be a 50% drop from the first week sales of Lost Highway. In this day and age where it took U2 six months to pass the platinum mark, one has to wonder where the totals for The Circle will be come early January? They have their NBC deal which will grant them exposure through all of December, but considering how much press they have done to date, I'm a bit surprised by the early numbers. I figured the band would be somewhere in the 230,000 range. We'll have to wait and see how it shakes out next week.
AMERICAN EXPRESS PROVIDES CARDMEMBERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE JON BON JOVI UNPLUGGED FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY TO BENEFIT THE JON BON JOVI SOUL FOUNDATION AND CITY HARVEST
NEW YORK, November 09, 2009 -- American Express is giving its Cardmembers exclusive access to one of the world's most celebrated musicians, Jon Bon Jovi. The first and only link to purchase tickets for $50 will be posted exclusively on the @AmericanExpress Twitter feed the morning of Wednesday, November 11, 2009 and all proceeds will be donated to City Harvest via the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation.
Follow @AmericanExpress to be the first to access the link for your chance to grab the tickets before they sell out for this intimate show! The night includes an acoustic set from Jon Bon Jovi & Friends, a screening of the trailer from the Bon Jovi documentary, “When We Were Beautiful” followed by Q&A with Jon and the documentary's director Phil Griffin. All attendees will receive a copy of the documentary, Bon Jovi's new album “The Circle” and book “When We Were Beautiful.”
KISS: Alive & United November 6, 2009 Chicago, IL-United Center By Anthony Kuzminski {Pics courtesy of Heather Marin} Over the last decade, many fans have made a sport out of dogging KISS. After a magnificent “Farewell” tour in 2000, KISS did everything but take a final bow. While everyone likes to chastise them for not retiring, the truth is, the 2000 tour proved to be the final time fans would see Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss together on stage, performing in their classic make-up. Since then, KISS has been on a roller coaster ride. While the KISS brand has flourished, their artistic merit has floundered. Dozens of compilations have been issued in that time frame while no original music had been created by the band since their much debated 1998 record Psycho Circus record, until now. KISS had a huge up-hill battle ahead of them. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are once again left as being the sole original members. Paul Stanley took charge and led the group back into the studio as he once again took control of producing duties. For most of the 1980’s and 1990’s, KISS was paired with producers who couldn’t see the KISS vision. This is why Stanley is back in the producer’s chair. The resulting album, Sonic Boom heralds a sonic architecture that feels more in line with the Lick It Up and Animalize period of KISS, yet it feels as if KISS is embodying their inner strengths. The same could be said of the tour in support of Sonic Boom, the continuation of their Alive 35 tour which started a few years ago overseas. Arriving in Chicago for their first show in a half decade, and the band’s first performance at the United Center, it was like a entering a time machine back to the 1970’s where KISS ruled arenas. Some of the one-off performances in recent years I witnessed by KISS left me in the cold. I felt disengaged and the performances were distant reminders of what I felt this band was capable of. However, as ironic as it sounds, there is warmth to an arena versus festivals and sheds. KISS looked more at ease, more in control and more ready to fight for their legacy than at any time since the first reunion tour completed in 1997. For over two hours, KISS brought out every trick imaginable. From Gene’s blood spitting and flying on “I Love It Loud” to Paul flying to the back of the arena during “Love Gun”, to Thayer’s gun slinging guitar solo to Singer’s svelte spinning drum solo, one can never deny that the band gives their all to entertain. I won’t lie, I wrote KISS off years ago, but about fifteen minutes into their recent Chicago show, I felt like a kid again. As the immense KISS drape dropped, the band surged into “Deuce” and “Stutter” which spiraled masterfully into a set high on nostalgia and performances rooted in their past glories. The band roamed and ruled the stage like it was 1977 and while Ace and Peter were missing, their replacements, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer embodied their spirits and in many ways, outperformed their predecessors. They prove to be the back bone of the current incarnation of KISS and push Stanley and Simmons to up their game. The truth is Thayer and Singer may be the two best overall musicians to ever grace the face paint. By adding them to the KISS chemistry, the songs have grown stronger and become more potent. KISS played to their strengths. While it is unlikely they swayed anyone who wasn’t a fan previously, they may have converted a few doubters back into their corner. Their raging two hour concert was high on adrenaline and pizzazz. Maybe it was nothing more than a nostalgia ride, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t exhilarating. It’s hard to balance one’s legacy with keeping your feet planted in the future. These days, the amount of money fans fork over for tickets is staggering and if acts want the money, they need to deliver. The current KISS show in many ways is similar to the current tour Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Both rose to fame in the 1970’s and were heralded and known for their live shows while their record sales were solid yet not through the roof. While KISS was about excess, Springsteen was about personal intimacy. However, as far apart as these two acts appear to be musically, in the end, they both believed in delivering a show so killing and gripping, it would never leave your memory bank. Record sales paled compared to the magic and the myth of their live performances. In 2009, both KISS and Springsteen are playing to their strengths with set lists heavy on previous glories. Yet what differentiates the two is their need to not just win over an audience, but leave them wanting more. Simmons, Stanley and Springsteen are as fluid and free on the concert stage as they have ever been in their entire careers. Whenever they perform, they wrangle with their own legacy. Amazingly, KISS appears to have found the fountain of youth. Both acts bow at the altar of their fans because they keep them in business. The brilliance of the make-up is that one would never know that KISS has been doing this for nearly four decades. Like an old friend you had a falling out with, you reconnect with years later almost as if no time has passed. In many instances, you often wonder why you lost touch in the first place. They enlarge their own myth by delivering note for note recreations than in many instances, surpass the ones we fell in love with. Does this make it better than the original? No, but it makes for a unique viewpoint and alternate history.
The evening was full of memorable ringers; “Calling Dr. Love”, “(Let Me Go) Rock & Roll”, “Rock and Roll All Nite”, “Shout It Out Loud”, “Cold Gin” and even one new song, “Modern Day Delilah”. Every performance was cut from the same fabric of the vintage KISS with some minor improvements. The only questionable performance was that of “Shock Me” with Tommy Thayer on lead vocals. It was like watching your best friend date your first love and while I’m not sure I am entirely comfortable watching it go down, it delivered the desired effect. This was the only song I wrestled with, as KISS found a way to triumph over adversity. “Hotter Than Hell” was boisterous as it was brash, while the opening riff to “Parasite” was forceful and fierce in a fist-pumping progressiveness. KISS has never been one to preach impending doom to its audience, yet the brazenly bracing grandiosity of their live shows embodies the true spirit of rock n’ roll. As my eyes veered to the upper regions of the arena, I couldn’t help but notice the absolute liveliness of the sold-out crowd. Beneath everything one can write about music and its guiding light in our lives or its growth, in the end it really all boils down to a bond, and KISS has it with their audience. Dollar for dollar, guitar pick for guitar pick, pyrotechnic for pyrotechnic, the KISS Alive 35 show is one of the best on the road and provides the audience with a profound bang for their buck. While some tickets were as high as $129, the band also reserved a significant amount of tickets for $18 (and less in other markets). Only Green Day and Metallica are currently offering better deals for a first tier concert production. Anyone who has ever dismissed KISS for a lack of vision, purpose or mere musical ability would have eaten crow after this performance, specifically the incendiary rendition of “Lick It Up”, which proved to be spellbinding as the band demonstrated mastery of their instruments and a need for a nostalgic eruption. As Thayer and Stanley assaulted their six-string guitars, they stripped away the excess as they broke the song down to the basic primordial chords of the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” before a cathedral collapsing reprise of “Lick It Up”. In an alternate universe where sci-fi meets sex, KISS is to 1970’s rock n’ roll as the Who is to the 1960’s. While both groups are missing half of their original members, it’s hard to deny their interminable vehemence of wanting to battle with their past nightly. While one can never recapture the same chemical compounds that the original four transport, you can genetically alter them to produce a more lean sound that in some ways is more precise and spot-on than the originals. In the case of KISS, I walked away longing for the original incarnation but defending the new incarnation because of the passion and purpose with which they delivered their catalog. Beneath the surplus of gadgetry KISS preposterously exceeded all expectations. They unleashed the riotous spirit of rock n’ roll while simultaneously paying homage to their legacy by delivering show stopping anthems as KISS pledges allegiance to the very core values of rock n’ roll. It may not have invigorated your mind or dispatched poetic prose, but it did provide a demonic jolt of merriment. In the end, while I greatly admire the perceptive singer-songwriters who have made me look upon the world in a different light, in the end, above all, it should be infused with pleasure. KISS may not have all of their original members and this may be an impasse some will never be able to see through, yet the Alive 35 tour is about as much fun as anyone could have with their clothes on and sometimes, that’s all rock n’ roll needs to live up to. KISS has proven to be larger than any one member and as they confirmed over two turbocharged hours in Chicago, on any given night, you’ll see a band that is every bit as good as they have ever been, and that is not just their lasting legacy, but their sweetest revenge as well.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
Pearl Jam – ‘Vs.’ Album Review & Reflection (5-Stars) By Anthony Kuzminski The time between Pearl Jam’s first ever gig (October 22, 1990) and the release of their debut record Ten (August 27, 1991) was a mere ten months. Despite the eclectic and seriousness of their first record, it was recorded and released in such a whirlwind that the songs in essence came before Pearl Jam were really a band. Between the release of Ten and their second record Vs. in October 1993, their world changed more than any of them could have ever imagined. Almost overnight they became a band who was deemed the voice of their generation, the ones people looked to for answers and a money making juggernaut for promoters, radio programmers, their record company and MTV. Everyone wanted a piece of them. These types of strains are what break up bands. Pearl Jam could have suffocated under this weight, but they did the opposite. They held the power, they knew it and they flexed it. They refused to make music videos, gave scattered interviews, didn’t play into the hands of corporate behemoths and somehow amidst all of this chaos, made their masterpiece with Vs..
Originally titled Five Against One, Vs. is a collection where the five members indeed reverberate like a band ready to take on the world. While the songs are still intimate and personal, their scope went from full screen to widescreen with a rage reserved for the darkest of metal bands. Because of the way the Ten album, the live performances on the Lollapalooza tour and the “Jeremy” video took off, everyone was in the band’s ear offering advice. The band wanted none of it. The polished studio essence on Ten was absent replaced with a much more potent and acerbic sonic force. If Ten was a heavy weight boxing match, Vs. was Fight Club on speed. On the previous record, the music felt almost classical in its composition, on Vs. it felt like the Ramones meet the Clash meet U2 (circa 1983). The band was taking no prisoners and when I tuned into the MTV VMA’s in 1993 and heard the band tear through “Animal”, I knew changes would be abound on the newest record. Their ire flew off that stage in a way I’m not sure if I have ever seen before or since. Some felt it was an act, I knew it was anything but. The stakes were higher, the rules had changed and more importantly, Pearl Jam was a band. With two years of gigs underneath their belts the band was more brazen and brash in their follow-up to Ten. Rare is an artist who can sell as many records as Pearl Jam did and then to create a record that isn’t just as good but in many ways, superior to Ten. Right from the prayer-like opening punch of “Go”, the band proves to be unyielding in its need to leave their previous album in the dust. The classic rock stimulus of Ten was pushed to the side with the band embracing more of a punk rock mind-set as featured on “Animal”, “Blood” and “Leash”. The tribal ecstasy of “W.M.A.” makes up for what some see as one-dimensional lyrics and yet it’s impossible to deny the way the song seeps into your psyche because of the zeal with which they were executed. The band took to the recording studio ready for a fight and with bloody knuckles fought their way through twelve compositions ranging from simple storytelling to rage to a heightened understanding of the world around them. They didn’t merely compose about divisive topics, they let their rage vent up from within them shouted it from the top of their lungs and instruments. “Glorified G” has a beat and enlivening riff made for the radio, but it’s a stinging declaration against guns. “Daughter” and “Leash” give voice to the misunderstood hearkening back to “Jeremy” and “Why Go” from the debut. "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" is a perfect mid-tempo ballad of a woman trapped in a small town who comes eye to eye with an old flame who doesn’t even remember her. It’s the misfortune and ache that I could relate to when I heard the record. It’s dressed up for FM dials and evokes a sing-a-long every night in concert, yet beneath the picturesque melody is pain. These universal themes are ever so simplistic, but it’s not the songwriting that made this record a source of salvation for me, but the fever within it. Pearl Jam was writing at a higher level of consciousness with Vs. and when you’re lost and in need of direction, a compilation of songs that feel as if they were written to resuscitate your life prove to be not just fortifying and invigorating, but resurrecting for your soul as well. No song better epitomizes the emancipation than “Rearviewmirror”. Delivered in a breakneck speed, the song takes the listener on a fervent getaway and may be one of the utmost driving songs ever laid to tape. Hitting the road, leaving your past in the dust and seeing the future with a clear head is something too many of us fail to do, but if anything the song inspires. I learned that sometimes it’s best to confront my demons and at other times, to look away from situations that couldn’t be resolved and to never look back. There’s middle ground between reconciling your past with your present and leaving a bad situation in the dust. Pearl Jam may have been on top of the musical heap at this moment in their career, but they were equally protective of what they had built. They weren’t looking for an easy buck or unnecessary celebrity and even if they had recorded these same songs with a tenth of the passion, it wouldn’t hold up today. Fortunately for us, the music reigned supreme and Pearl Jam proved their worth with Vs..
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
I bought Ten without hearing a track on the record; a rarity for me. However, I strongly recall Rip Magazine doing coverage on the band, having full page ads and because I never ventured out to hear or buy Mother Love Bone, I felt obligated to buy this one. What I heard crushed me. At the time, I saw Pearl Jam as a member of the hard rock family who was writing from a higher conscious level not seen since U2. On the album’s opener “Once” Vedder empathizes in a way where he doesn’t sing so much as bark at you making the listener an integral part of the experience. I barely understood the lyrics, but he was pissed off and so was I. This wasn’t music that was being sung to me, but felt as if it was coming from me. I love it when people condemn the grunge movement as the nail in the coffin of hard rock, but the truth is that many of the acts had either self imploded recently or they were creating music that their fans could not relate to. So when the brutal directness of Ten invaded your speakers, it was as if seeing light after an intolerable darkness. When the riff to “Even Flow” lashed across my headphones, I immediately thought, “what the hell is this and why it isn’t on the radio”. It was an all encompassing anthem for the masses. This wasn’t made to be played in clubs, but arenas and stadiums. “Even Flow” to this day is the one staple that appears at every Pearl Jam show no matter what. While I’d give anything for them to retire it for one tour, it’s difficult to deny its power. Ament’s bass grooves like a biker on a highway, weaving in and out of lanes when necessary but always with his focus on the road ahead. However, especially on the new remixed edition of Ten, Aments’ bass curls around your ribs reverberating itself. Stone Gossard’s finger flexing cements the songs vigorous stomps. In 1991, it had been a while to find sonic and lyrical candor this authentic, alluring and palatable. Over the course of eleven near perfect songs, the band takes the listener on an emotional roller coaster comforting, scaring and redefining what an album could do. One of the reasons this record sold north of eight figures (thirteen-million in the US to date) is because of the bevy of top-tier songs. People discovered that this was a record that contained more than MTV hits, but a multitude of cuts that serenaded not just one’s ears but their inner psyche as well. From the misunderstood and misdiagnosed narrator of “Why Go”, to the existential anthem “Alive”, to the harrowing heartbreak of “Black” to the outward aggression of “Porch”, there was no holding back of emotions and for a short time, wearing your emotions on your sleeve were more than just a passing fad but proved to be a release needed by much of the world. One has to wonder if there is a higher power playing chess allowing certain lives to intersect and weave together for a band like Pearl Jam to stay together. Even if Ten was not a landmark record, it would still be a wildly important one because of the impact it gave and its everlasting legacy. Every tour I see by Pearl Jam features a significantly younger audience that was not at the previous tour. There’s something universal about the battles we face in life and how Pearl Jam found a way to triumph through the sheer will of the fight. struggles and despair evoked out of these songs. Even when my love and admiration fell to the wayside a few years later, I would return to this record time and time again always discovering something about myself in the process. There was an unspoken instinctive trust between band and fan. These songs weren’t just songs on the radio but the listener felt as if they were reading out of someone’s diary and as a result, it was all that more real to them. It wasn’t a sound or image that took the wind out of the sails of polished music, it was the sincerity. Ten<>Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
Kelly Clarkson-Our Lives Would Suck Without Her Rosemont Theatre-Rosemont, IL October 27, 2009 By Anthony Kuzminski {Photo Credits} “Lies, lies, lies, ohh lies”…these are the words that escape delicately from Kelly Clarkson amidst a dimly lit stage with only a guitarist and piano. This is a long way from in-your-face pop stardom, but it’s where Clarkson is most at home. The Black Keys song (“Lies”) is pouring out of Clarkson like a tear-inducing confessional as she is ripping out a piece of her soul and sharing it with the audience. Her voice swells like a fifty piece orchestra as she seems to bring the emotions of the song to the forefront for everyone to connect to. One can’t help but be struck by what an unlikely pop star Kelly Clarkson truly is. For over ninety-minutes at the Rosemont Theatre (just outside of Chicago), Clarkson with her dreamlike voice evoked epic emotions. If you think you know who Kelly Clarkson is from television and what you hear on the radio, you are seeing a mere fraction of her essence. On her latest concert tour, her sprawling talents are on full display as she shifts between her pop hits, forgotten hymns and some choice cover versions that leave you in astonishment. Besides having one of the greatest singing voices ever to grace popular music, she has an acute admiration for music in general. Covering songs by artists as eclectic as Patsy Cline, the Black Keys and the Kings of Leon, Clarkson attempted shine a light on lesser known artists who deserve their moment in the spotlight. The tip of the hat she gave these acts was more than mere exuberance, she took each of these songs to heights the originators may not have been even aware they could reach, proving that a song doesn’t need to be on the radio to be great. Clarkson has been blessed with a gift so compelling, she could part a sea with it. She is a remarkable talent and like Sinatra, when she sings a song, whether she wrote it or not, she completely and utterly owns it. Opening the concert with “All I Ever Wanted”, the title-track from her latest LP, it was followed immediately by “Miss Independent” from her debut record. What I initially thought would be merely an evening of fun, turned into something much more profound. Clarkson’s crowd welcomed her with open arms and when the band launched into “I Do Not Hook Up”, the crowd vociferously reacted and sung at the top of their lungs. Supporting her was an eclectic eleven-piece band that was succinct and precise but never icy. The band congealed into a wall of sound. More than mere hired musicians, there appeared to be an unspoken bond between them, a rarity for a group of musicians supporting a solo artist. The entire set list was meticulously paced sprinkled with new songs (“If I Can’t Have You”), covers (an acoustic rendering of Patsy Cline’s “Walking After Midnight”) and megahits (“Because of You”). The Alanis Morissette/Kings of Leon mash-up “That I Would Be Good/ Use Somebody” was serendipitous as it was ingenious. The combination of these two songs clicked in a way that only Clarkson could make possible. It was a signal of the deep veneration Clarkson has for all styles of music. She doesn’t want her audience to live in a sheltered world of radio hits; she encourages them to look beyond the radio dial. “Breakaway” soared as she wrapped the audience around her finger in the process. As she sung “I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky”, you feel a sense of warmth overtake you and fill you with purpose. As I watched her luminous and radiant face sing “Breakaway”, I felt I was watching something more than a routine, but someone sharing a deep conversation with me. There was a level of intimacy to the evening that is rare these days. Clarkson has been graced by God above with a talent so staggering that it’s mouth gaping. Listening to her voice is enough to make you feel as if the clouds have dissipated and the sun is gleaming down on you. Every song was performed by Clarkson as if it was a part of her own journey and was completely at home on the concert stage, even forgoing shoes as she pranced across the stage barefoot. She did more than show up and sing her songs; she created a bond between herself and the audience by oozing sincerity. As she chatted with the audience in-between songs, she came off as someone you have known your whole life and not someone who is unapproachable. Most of the world fell in love with her on American Idol in 2002 and while I was aware of her, I didn’t pay attention to the show or even her career. However, as time has progressed, she continued to astound me. Seven years and four albums later, Clarkson has established a rapport with her audience and they’re not going anywhere any time soon based on the fervent reactions of the Chicago crowd.
Kelly Clarkson comes off as an artist who is restless, takes chances and will not force feed her audience. She could play it easy and appease the suits at her record company, but she is motivating not just herself but her audience as well with every performance. She opens her audience to new (and possibly difficult) music and most importantly, she challenges everyone who comes to see her to seek out other artists and music. “Behind Those Hazel Eyes”, a tear down the walls rocker was done acoustically bringing the intimacy of the lyric to the forefront signifying her songs don’t need layers of sheen, because her voice compliments the songs in even the starkest arrangements. “Never Again”, began with a Euro synch beat before the band tore through it like a bat out of hell .While watching Clarkson, I knew that she was not a pop star, but an artists with layers of complexity beneath her. “I Want You”, from her latest record All I Ever Wanted has a Phil Spector quality to it. It’s pure bubblegum pop while being simultaneously auspicious. “Already Gone”, her latest single, was delivered in a laid back arrangement without the studio flash and pizzazz. She turns the song on its head, not something most people would be willing to do with their current single. If that wasn’t enough, “Walk Away” featured her horn section up front and center. Even on her most celebrated hits, Clarkson was rearranging and presenting them in novel, innovative and enlivening arrangements that are every bit as endearing as the ones we fell in love with. The end of the show provided a potent jolt of turbocharged harmony. “Since You Been Gone” shook the theater like a classic AC/DC anthem. It’s as thunderous as any stadium anthem, demonstrated best by the Chicago newspaper reporter two seats down from me who threw her notebook and pen on the ground and threw her arms to the air as her hair covered her face from the quake of the crowd while screaming the lyrics on the top of her lungs. Opening the encore was the impassioned soul-styled testimonial, “Sober”. An argument can be made this is her greatest accomplishment as a songwriter. The pained ballad brought a windfall of perseverance. This song should have been something more than a lost track, but her record company didn’t give it the push it deserved. Requested by a fan at a meet and greet earlier in the day, Clarkson dusted this one off and based on the intensity with which she delivered this pining ballad, it should be a nightly staple. Just when you feel as if there couldn’t be any further revelations, the band ripped into “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes. In a full-band rave up, the song exploded off the stage as all eleven members of the band breathed life into this unanticipated cover. Highlighting the song was a three-piece horn section giving the song righteous sonic weight that would make even Jack White smile with glee. If that wasn’t enough, the evening’s finale, “My Life Would Suck Without You” proved to be potently irresistible in its superbly unsubtle delivery. Flexing a range of musical styles and perfect pacing, Kelly Clarkson did everything right. She is someone who through her enthusiasm and fortitude has become more than a television star, but someone who is without question, a truly significant artist. Her name elicits a barrage of misconceptions, but in the end, Kelly Clarkson will have the last laugh at her critics, as she will undoubtedly have a career while those who try and derail her will be on the sidelines watching. This is a young woman whose true beauty is unleashed every time a harmonious note escapes from her lips. It’s as if she’s sharing a piece of her soul with us and purging a demon simultaneously every time she sings. There are performers who do this for celebrity and ego, Kelly Clarkson does it because she has no other choice. That is what differentiates artists from celebrities. If Clarkson wasn’t singing to sold-out crowds, she would be somewhere in Texas singing her ass off because it soothes her soul. In Clarkson’s incandescent voice, we see the past, the present and most importantly the future. Music puts a time stamp on our emotions and the stakes are high, because we invest ourselves in these songs and the artists who create this music. Clarkson’s music is far more than mere product or distraction but something we all attach ourselves to and invest in; a penicillin for our troubles if you will. Music isn’t a vehicle for fame and fortune for Kelly Clarkson, it’s a lifeline for her to express herself and hopefully in the process she shares something with those willing to listen. If you haven’t been listening up to now, it’s time you start, you’ll be surprised at what you discover.
Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.
