Ghostly

It occurs to me that as this blog continues to develop, coming up with titles that I haven’t used before gets harder and harder. It’s a disheartening revelation that makes me feel predictable. I’m not sure how many times I’ve almost used “Whew,” “Back with a Vengeance,” “Wehehelll,” “Hello,” “And so it begins,” and “Aha!” but it’s been a lot. I’ve got to get some new material.

Yesterday was the first day of class, and since USC likes to break you in easy, it was only about 15 hours long. The expression “Lord have mercy” springs to mind. There is a distance of less than two weeks from the start of 508 to the first director’s shoot dates, a grave fact I discovered by helping out on one last semester. It’s a ridiculously short amount of prep time, but I’m quite happy to be going first for several reasons: first, and this is obvious, just getting it out of the way is good. Also, I’m not positive that I’m a selfless enough person to be totally committed on someone else’s shoot when mine is still looming overhead. I breathe easier knowing I can knock mine out and then focus on someone else’s.

Blegh. There you go, Dear Reader, there are your “updates.” My disdain for writing about “my day” only increases every time I do it. Who is interested in this crap?

Now, onto something really interesting!

-Chris Brown got off with probation, Pirate Bay has to go to jail for a year.

Thank you, Justice System. Thank you so bloody much. A guy who beats the crap out of his girlfriend in a parked Lamborghini is going to volunteer at a freaking soup kitchen, while some dudes who run a website hit the big house (two different countries handed down these decisions, but still). Lovely. It’s not that I don’t take piracy seriously, it’s not that I approve of what they were doing (full disclosure: I have used the site four times), but come on man. Hit them with a fine, do something that scares the other guys, but this is too much. You (the RIAA, etc) have to face the reality that technology itself is the biggest conspirator against you, that our legal system is not yet prepared to deal with the situation at hand. You can stomp them out all day, but it’s wasted money, more will spring up, and the trenches will only get deeper. You aren’t losing this battle, you’ve already lost, and anyone you annihilate in the process is just unnecessary collateral.

-Michael Jackson’s death is now a homicide?

It did seem a little weird, didn’t it? A point worth making: “homicide” can still technically be involuntary manslaughter. You probably knew that, Dear Reader, you’re on top of the ball, but I had kind of forgotten. I guess it’s kind of disrespectful to say “the plot thickens,” but…well…it does.

-Ted Kennedy has died.

Uh…I’m not sure what to say about that one. It’s a kind of strange thing about me that while I find Jack and Bobby fascinating, I’ve never established much of a connection with Ted (or Jack’s kids, come to think of it). I hear he went peacefully at Hiyannis Port. God willing we’re all so lucky.

-Holy crap, Alice in Chains’ new singer is incredible

Ten-second catch up for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about: Alice in Chains is a very important grunge band that emerged in the same pack with Nirvana and Soundgarden in the early 90s. They were known for dark but anthemic rock and roll, complex harmonizing, and the trouble lifestyle of lead singer Layne Staley. A literal poster boy for the anti-drug movement, Staley’s rock-and-roll substance abuse problems evolved into drugs literally owning the man for the better part of a decade. Beginning around 1999, even his family rarely saw him, and there are freakish reports of his skin turning gangrene and his fingernails falling out. This obviously caused rampant tour cancellations for the band, which was eventually forced to go on semi-permanent hiatus. After what may be the most sickening downward spiral in rock and roll history, Staley overdosed in his apartment in 2002. When his body was discovered, his teeth had begun falling out and he weighed 86 pounds (he was 6’1). It just does not get any worse.

Flash forward, and the band has maintained a cult following thanks to its enormously talented guitarist and co-writer Jerry Cantrell, who was also responsible for harmonizing with Layne (a band trademark). Out of nowhere (unless you were paying attention, and plenty of us weren’t), the band released a couple of singles this year. One of them, “Check My Brain,” is terrific, but the reason they’re getting so much attention is simple: whoever they’ve got singing sounds exactly like Layne Staley. I mean exactly. I’ve been hearing radio DJs shake their heads in disbelief for the past month, repeating ad nauseum, “It’s like a ghost.”

And it is. But in the best possible way.

When you lose your lead singer and you want to keep pushing, you have two options: go in a completely new direction or mimic like crazy. Both are risky for obvious reasons, but most times you fail it’s because you’re too much in between the two without really being either (I’m looking at you, Queen). You might pull off some kind of Audioslave-esque revival, grabbing a whole new audience while keeping a foot in the door of your old one. But how far is too far? Does anyone think reviving Nirvana wouldn’t be a disaster, no matter what you did? Or Sublime? Cantrell and company must have worried that putting a sound-alike on the mic would be salt in the wound, insult to injury. This isn’t the lead singer of Drowning Pool we’re talking about here (no offense, man), this is a no-joke minor legend who’s getting an understudy.

I’m sure plenty of singers were interested in taking the job, and I’m sure many of them told the band what Cornell told Morrello and co: I’m not here to imitate anybody. More than reasonable, and on the surface it seems like the classier move, but AIC went the other way. They found an enormously talented musician whom they had worked with many times, who just happened to sound so freaking much like Layne Staley that I had to go check Wikipedia to make sure the son of a gun really was dead. I don’t know if I would have had the balls to tell them to do it beforehand, but now that they’ve done it, I can see that their decision was perfect. All of the following are reasons why:

1. They’re Alice in Chains. The band is still using the same name, and that comes with some responsibility. Remember that Audioslave is a separate band in name, goal, and style. I admire that AIC chose fidelity to the kind of music that made them, especially since they’re making it in a time where it’s not necessarily hip anymore. I’m sure there’s plenty of money involved, but the grunge trend is over, and a reverent comeback can’t be seen as anything other than classy. These guys want to make the music they love, and they’re doing it the right way.

2. AC/DC. An absolute landmark case study for the band deprived of its vocalist. Bon Scott was and is irreplaceable, but when Robert Johnson stepped in the band hit a stride. Is anyone other than Zach (you remain wrong sir!) going to tell me that “Back in Black” isn’t the band’s masterpiece? And “We Who Are About to Rock…” is damned good too. It wasn’t the way they wanted it, but they rolled with the punches and kept going. The transition was so smooth, so respectful, that most people have forgotten it even happened.

3. The New Guy is That Good. It’s not just the sound he gets right, he gets the soul. Thematically, his timbre just slips right in, not even a missed step. It never comes off as an imitation because there’s simply too much raw skill involved.

4. Harmonizing. If you’re Alice in Chains, you’ve got to hit some classics. If you do the classics, you have to harmonize. If you harmonize, you need someone very much like Lanye Staley, or it’s just going to sound bizarre. This music needs a certain kind of musician, there isn’t a whole lot of wiggle room.