NOTE: All timestamps are in the future because WE are in the future. The care takers of Midnight Ridazz.com reserves the right to remove, edit, move or delete anything for any reason. None of the opinions expressed on these boards represent the Midnight Ridazz nor can anyone purport to speak on behalf of Midnight Ridazz.
In between enjoying some Freak Bike Fall, The Oregon Manifest, and battling a fever I decided to read the good old MR forum for some good ol' LA bs.
After reading all of the drama and still being relatively undecided I actually listened to 30 Seconds to Mars.
Listened to 30 Seconds to Mars. I want to you ruminate on that for a minute, did any of you subject yourself to this?
Why? Why, would you do this to yourselves. Where is the art? Where in this bland Hollywood pop emo concoction is something that represents you, and perhaps more importantly is it something you want to represent? 30 Seconds to Mars is not an artistic endeavor it is a vehicle. No, not like a bicycle, perhaps a freight train would be a good analogy, and I'm gonna go 19th century with it just to add a little flavor.
30 seconds to Mars is a box car on the Virgin Records freight train. This Freight train is in turn owned by the Capitol Music Group Freight Co. which is in turn owned by the EMI transportation conglomerate which is then itself owned by the Terra Firma Capital Partners Robber Baron.
Jared Leto is a commodity. In this case (since I'm so clever) we'll call him a cow. Jared however is a special cow, Jared is a cow that shits money and produces overly acidic milk. This in turn provides the corporate freight train with another source of income to fuel their ever growing expansion westward. Warner Bros. fertilizer has already figured out a way to harvest Jared the Cows shit money. Capitol Music Freight Co. sees this sits down and discusses,
"We need Jared the Cow, He poops money!"
"Interesting, What else does he do?"
"Well if you squeeze this thing here long enough a sourish, yet soothing, warm white cream comes out"
"Disgusting!"
"Agreed, but Teenage girls Love it."
"Sold, bring me Jared the Cow."
This is how I imagine the conversation went although there probably would have been more cum jokes in an actual boardroom. Of course when Robber Baron Terra Firma Capital Partners hears about this they realize they need to get all of the Jared the Cow action and start planning a EMI Warner Bros. marriage so the they get all of the benefits of the milk and the poop.
Where does this place you? Well it seems to me after all this has finished up if you worked for and got paid a PBJ and Redbull, you were a little upset at not getting exactly what was agreed upon, but what were you expecting your expendable you're the Chinese immigrant worker get back to work. If you got paid a hundred bucks you seem pretty happy and wonder why everyone around you is so angry, and you're kind of indignant that people are treating the boss so bad. That makes you the infamously pleasant work foreman in this little metaphor. If you got paid an untold amount to wrangle up all this talent well you're pretty silent since you made off pretty well. Hopefully the people who were paid off will smooth things over and if not what the hell they're just Chinaman anyway what do they know. That makes you worker bees at the Virgin MegaTrain.
Where does that leave us? Well I'm sure you probably didn't expect to get called a dim hearted railroad foreman and you certainly didn't expect Chinaman. If you were a worker bee you probably want to be one so keep going, it's the only way to middle managment.
The point off this allegory, working for the railroad sucked unless you owned the damn railroad. The cool job of the time was riding around on those badass lamplighter tall bikes all night and perhaps indulging in a few libations. Railroads, what were you thinking?
Just to head off a few questions or concerns.
A. I don't care how many threads there are on the topic.This place is filled with crap anyway.
B. Yes I know they filmed a bike themed music video last month here in PDX. They were naked, having fun, and was for a much better band. It sounded awesome.
I felt bad about making a long, pretentious post about this topic...until I saw this. Thank you, Franz. Even in retirement, you are the glue that holds Midnight Ridazz together.
And with your hair like that? It hurts to look at you.
well, at least they are being called "fans" and not Midnight Riders....
the thing is, the conversation is no longer about "selling out" being that now adays so many have that most people would, it's about how much are you selling out for.
Marino. it's one thing to shoot a photo of a celebrity for a lot of money. it's another thing to lend your "brand" of culture to a celebrity and associate your brand of culture with the celebrity's "brand" of culture.
WOW .... That was awesome Franz. No I didn't listen to that 30 seconds mars band and I won't . I'll know who Jared Leto is, I'll know who Kevin Federline and Nick (Jessica's Husband) I don't his last name tho, but I won't go that far. I won't listen to the music.
aahhha I just might go and listen to it. no I don't think I want to waste my time. I'm actually more interested in reading these fourms then taking a chance to listen to some new music I might like.
Ok I did it. I went to youtube and listened and watched a video from 30 seconds to mars.
"The Kill" to be exact.
The music is something that I wouldn't choose to listen to again, but the video was incredible. Great story line, great production valve, the location choice was very pleasing to the eye, and the guys do look like 1st rate actors. I could see how these guys could make a company money. I'll be interested to see how this video they are working on now is going to look.
--Can i be the guy sitting on a rocking chair, on the dock of the Railroad station, sipping whiskey, saying "that train right ova hur is a bad idea... im guessin someone shouduv gone ahead and tol dem boys sumptin that there machine is gonna wreck dis town here... but eh, what the hell... did you see ol' suzie in that new dress...mmmm, mmm, mmmm".
and hey, look at it this way, by being in the video you are directly contributing to the death of the fixie/hipster/whateverthefuck bike trend. it's at it's peak and maybe this bit of nonsense will be enough to push it over the edge.
major labels don't decide what's cool, they suck the last bit of life out of what's cool and watch it die. we'll all be back to our quiet lives of f.u.n. and b.u.i.'s soon enough.
re: point b - the flaming lips are on warner bros. how does the fact that they were "naked, having fun, and was for a much better band" make it any different?
Had to listen because of all this hubbub. Yes, terrible. Sounds like everything else like this. How do they all sound the same and yet still shit money?
haha...i was there for a few hours on sunday to hang out, but wasn't one of the people that stayed all night/got paid, so i have nothing to justify.
if i had gone to that shoot with the intentions of getting paid, it would actually rank near the bottom of the list of ways i sell my soul to corporate music in the average week, but that's life.
but that's because you're from canada, where dignity is socialized.
and actually, $100 and some food for riding a bike helped keep a roof over several people's heads this month and their stomach filled for the day.
i'm completely against the exploitation of our culture for a shitty music video, but i completely support those that went, had a good time, and were able to make some money that they desperately needed.
and thank you to those (lauren especially) that saw it as a way to help their friends and did what they could to make sure that happened.
So where do people draw the line? I am looking for talented actors to be in a bike related porn. Must show skin and will pay $100 for full day plus free Kogi BBQ and if your good some pinkberry to boot.
If interested contact me at fluffersellout@Isoldmyassfor$100.com
Whatever... I think if we looked into the matter... we would start off feeling for your version of the story... until we see whats really in your pockets:
Just say why you wanted to do the video... we dont care... we already know
md2 responding to a comment by slowrighthand
10.13.09 - 12:29 pm
---
Into the night
Desperate and broke
The sound of a ride
Leto has spoken
You were the Ridazz and Extras of promise
You were the victims of our sales
Maybe the exploits of a lesser purpose
Between Downtown and a Pier
Downtown and a Pier
Onto your streets
The hopeless and taken
We stole your new culture
Through dollars and dreams
In defense of our scheme
In defense of our scheme
You were the Ridazz and Extras of promise
You were the victims of our sales
Maybe the exploits of a lesser purpose
Between Downtown and a Pier
Downtown and a Pier
The age of ride on is over
A darkness comes and all
These lessons that we learned here
Have only just begun
You were the Ridazz and Extras of promise
You were the victims of our sales
Maybe the exploits of a lesser purpose
Between Downtown and a Pier
Downtown and a Pier
We are the Rehashed
We are the Forgettable
We are the Fraud
We are the Victims, actually
md2 responding to a comment by coldcut
10.13.09 - 4:29 pm
just to stay on the current topic, here's a video:
And I would have gone... just to get a first hand look at how they make these videos and to hang out with friends... and fuck it... for the PBJ (keep the redbull bs) And had they offered to pay me I would have told them to "shove it... I'm here for my friends."
i rode in that video, i got paid, i ate sammiges, drank red bull, and had an awesome time with my friends dancing in the middle of the night.
and OMG, Jared Leto is soooo dreamy...
anyone who wants to toss around words like sell out, corporate whore, or dignity can suck mai balls while i tune in to MTV wearing my Nikes and eating McDonalds. if you suck it good, i might let you have a french fry or two.
its understandable to question ones motivation for this, but what purpose does casting judgments serve? So judge not lest ye be judged - it's so great one can point fingers and link a chain of capitalism. yipee for Econ 101!
i agree that they should have approached us differently and used our people for production and art dept. stuff, but im sure it would have been a huge cluster fuck to coordinate that, and im guessing they wanted to pay their own people... just a guess...
on the other side, lauren and courage both did awesome jobs with getting riders to represent, and give them ideas for wardrobing this shitty band. and richie with the tall tall bike and feather duster helmet?! pure awesomeness
yes, this shitty, sour milk producing cow. im not a fan, and you will never hear me listening to their music, but i like connecting with new people, and putting myself within interesting experiences across the board (i've backpacked Europe, been to Burning Man multipile times, snowshoed into the wildnerness to build an igloo, hopped a train up north and hitchhiked through numerous states. I don't own TV or microwave, don't drive a car and i don't eat meat just to give you perspective).
that being said, everyone who was in the video should have been paid, and paid well more than $100 - im pretty sure they paid the extras (who you could clearly tell were the hired help with their ripped shirts, beach cruisers, and "grunged" makeup)
at the end of the day, you just have to look within yourself and do whats right for you.
So, I wasn't aware of ANY of this (I really should read MR more often) but apparently (and this is news to me too) my girlfriend (Liz, many of you have met her) reads a lot of celebrity gossip blogs.
So, she read something about Jared Leto hosting a bike ride in Los Angeles, and asked me if it had something to do with Midnight Ridazz. She sent me the link:
Sorry for stirring the shit this much more, but in light of what I've been reading in this thread, these quotes from someone who is well outside of the bike scene are just too funny:
"I kinda love Jared Leto’s white bike … and I really love that 30StM invited their fans to come out and be a part of their new music video. I can’t say that I even know any of the bands songs but I am well aware that they are very committed to their very loyal fans and do their best to include them whenever possible."
Talk about terrible taste mixed with blatant misinformation.
-->
Ridazz Roulette!
tl;dr
I give up, when?
utter nonsense! get real. nobody is that dumb.
Obligatory.