Borderline squall
Only a month in regularity and Hit Singles already gets to print its first retraction! Last week’s column misreported an important detail of Cass Records, the label headed up by Detroit’s favorite nephew, Ben Blackwell. Blackwell fired off a steamed e-mail offering to buy us a handy-dandy map of Detroit boundaries after our boo-boo that erroneously referred to the upstart label headquarters as “suburban-based.”
Well, when we manned Mapquest and punched in the Cass Records addy, we found that we were off by one whole block. We’re sure we can all sleep better at night knowing that Cass Records’ Detroit cred has been wrongly questioned by supposing the label was based in the suburbs. We would like to offer a sincere apology for the misinformation, ’cause, after all, it’s common knowledge that Blackwell’s label is about the hippest thing in town. Now, on to our future retractions. ...
Partial to Marshall
According to our pals at Popbitch, Eminem has been boffing countless chicks on his Anger Management European tour. Well, sorta. Seems Euro groupies have indeed been getting the schtup, but only by a mock Marshall Mathers. Rather than shagging the real Shady, they’re actually bipping his lookalike, the on-the-payroll double Partial, of course.
All this pales to Em’s recent overseas stunts, one of which saw the diminutive and propitious one bestow upon a fluky UK concert-goer a jewel-rife crucifix reportedly worth $450,000. (It was really a fake worth, at most, a few hundred bucks.) According to the BBC, the soon-to-be-billionaire dispensed the jewel to a stunned blonde at the bow of the stage in the city of Milton Keynes. Em’s other international headlines saw him pulling a Jacko and tossing a baby doll from a balcony window in his Glasgow hotel room as doe-eyed fans below looked on.
Speaking of Em, Obie Trice has been added to the lineup of the Roc The Mic tour, which features his Shady Records label mate 50 Cent and Roc-A-Fella CEO, Jay-Z. Trice joins the arena tour in anticipation his Em-produced debut, Cheers, which hits stores late summer. “I’m the opening act for the whole tour,” Trice says. “I look at it as lovely. It’s a big tour. I don’t have an album out yet and it’s good exposure.” Missy, Sean Paul, Fabolous, Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg will also perform on select dates.
Turntablist turn
Detroit-born documentarian Barclay Crenshaw spent his formative years soaking in local techno from its primordial ooze. As an adolescent he says he listened to Electrifying Mojo and The Wizard imbue FM airwaves with techno pioneers Juan Atkins and Derrick May. Good thing too, ’cause it turns out that Crenshaw has just wrapped up a documentary called Intellect — Techno House Progressive, which he produced and directed. And if you’ve never heard of the guy, he’s got cred: His major film and commercial production credits include The Truman Show, Batman and Robin, Polish Wedding, The Relic, The Jackal and Private Parts among others.
The heady, two-disc DVD DJ documentary will hit retail July 22. The dense set runs nearly six hours with music and career insight from much-yakked-about DJs and producers including Paul Van Dyke, Deep Dish, Derrick Carter, Timo Mass, Orbital, Steve Lawler, May, Atkins, Sandra Collins, Hybrid, Doc Martin, DJ Collette, Sander Kleinenberg, Miguel Migs, Christopher Lawrence and others. Crenshaw says one of his main objectives with Intellect was to “avoid making yet another fluffy film about the rave scene.” Good man.
To celebrate the release, Intellect and Remix magazine are teaming up for a series of events across the country, which will include a screening of the documentary, a gear clinic presented by Remix and various manufacturers, and a DJ performance from one of the artists on the DVD. The Detroit date for said event is still in the planning stages.
Sub-wolfer
It’s anyone’s guess just how the hell a three-pack of feral misfits who hotwire obsolete sound-making gee-gaws to produce some of the most ball-bustingly bassy-harsh white noize to hit the stage since Suicide fucked Merzbow in the ass ends up recording a record for the same label that gave us Nirvana, Mudhoney and Hot Hot Heat. But if the rumors are true, that’s what’s likely to happen to Ann Arbor’s Wolf Eyes if they get a one-off record deal done with indie giant Sub Pop. Don’t hold your breath for a Wolf Eyes crossover hit, though, as radio might have a tough time selling feedback, throb and squall to the Staind masses. But stranger things have happened. Proof, you say?
Wolf Eyes’ label mate, occasional collaborator and sonic brethren Andrew WK is set to release his new album Sept. 9 on Island. Guess what it’s called? Wolf. Seriously.
Sez WK (aka Andrew Wilkes-Krier) on mtv.com: “My main goal here is to satisfy people. ... It’s not to shock or scare. It wasn’t to be provocative — it was to be enjoyable and satisfying. And I really want to please people with this album and make them as happy as I can.”
What’s going postal?
The LA chapter of the Motown Alumni Association is officially initiating a crusade to obtain a million signatures in favor of a U.S. postage stamp for Marvin Gaye. Fans can write to Dr. Virginia Noelke, Chair of the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service (475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 5670, Washington, DC 20260-2437) so Gaye can get the stamp on what would have been his 65th birthday on April 2, 2004.
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