February 8, 2008

Music News: Winehouse Sings Via Satellite, Neil Young Gives Up, Timbaland’s On the Phone, Beck Admits to Nonsense

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News - Feb 8

  • Amy Winehouse, denied a visa to come to the States for the Grammys on Sunday, will appear on the broadcast via satellite from London. Winehouse actually used the phrase “raring to go” in a statement.

  • Neil Young either got up on the wrong side of the bed, or has given up all hope for the future of mankind. Introducing a film in Berlin on Friday, he told the audience that “the time when music could change the world is past.” Some of us are so cynical we’d make a joke about that time not existing ever, but we got up on the wrong side of the bed, so we don’t really care.

  • Hello, Timbaland calling: the super-producer has announced a deal with Verizon Wireless to create a “mobile album,” available only on the carrier’s service. And you thought mp3s sounded bad! A Verizon spokesman managed to keep a straight face while calling the deal “a marriage of promotional opportunity and a large distribution platform,” but I bet he was doing something funny with his fingers behind his back.

  • Beck has confirmed that some of the lyrics on his seminal 1995 album Odelay were “scratch” lyrics, i.e., nonsense meant as a placeholder during the recording process. “We just grew attached to them,” said the singer. So you’re telling me those years I spent on my dissertation trying to parse “mouthwash jukebox gasoline” were a waste?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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