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The Red Hot Chili Peppers Super Bowl Uproar

So apparently, the RHCP went “unplugged” for their Superbowl performance. The Internets noticed all their guitars unplugged and went mad! Mad I tell you! How is it NOT ok for a singer to lip sync but ok for a guitarist to “air guitar” they say! They have photo evidence and all! Bring out the pitch forks!

Anthony Kiedis, the RHCP lead, still sang live however, so no pitch forks on him.

Well, the great Flea (RHCP bassist) has responded. According to the official Red Hot Chili Peppers site:

[quote cite=”Flea” url=”http://redhotchilipeppers.com/news/454-a-message-from-flea”]Dear everybody,

When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song Give It Away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live, but the bass, drums, and guitar would be pre-recorded. I understand the NFL’s stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the t.v. viewers. There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers stance on any sort of miming has been that we will absolutely not do it. The last time we did it (or tried to) was in the late 80’s, we were thrown off of ‘The Top Of the Pops’ television program in the U.K. during rehearsals because we refused to mime properly, I played bass with my shoe, John played guitar atop Anthony’s shoulders, and we basically had a wrestling match onstage, making a mockery of the idea that it was a real live performance.

We mimed on one or two weird MTV shows before that and it always was a drag. We take our music playing seriously, it is a sacred thing for us, and anyone who has ever seen us in concert (like the night before the Super Bowl at the Barclays Center), knows that we play from our heart, we improvise spontaneously, take musical risks, and sweat blood at every show. We have been on the road for 31 years doing it.

So, when this Super Bowl gig concept came up, there was a lot of confusion amongst us as whether or not we should do it, but we eventually decided, it was a surreal-like, once in a life time crazy thing to do and we would just have fun and do it. We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it, and besides many a long conversation amongst ourselves, I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect, and they all said they would do it if asked, that it was a wild trippy thing to do, what the hell. Plus, we the RHCP all love football too and that played a big part in our decision. We decided that, with Anthony singing live, that we could still bring the spirit and freedom of what we do into the performance, and of course we played every note in the recording specially for the gig. I met and spoke with Bruno, who was a beautiful dude, a real talented musician, and we worked out something that seemed like it would be fun.

We recorded a track for the day, just banged one out from our hearts that was very like in spirit to the versions we have been playing live the last few years with our beloved Josh on guitar.

For the actual performance, Josh, Chad, and I were playing along with the pre recorded track so there was no need to plug in our guitars, so we did not. Could we have plugged them in and avoided bumming people out who have expressed disappointment that the instrumental track was pre recorded? Of course easily we could have and this would be a non-issue. We thought it better to not pretend. It seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance. It was like making a music video in front of a gazillion people, except with live vocals, and only one chance to rock it. Our only thought was to bring the spirit of who we are to the people.

I am grateful to the NFL for having us. And I am grateful to Bruno, who is a super talented young man for inviting us to be a part of his gig. I would do it all the same way again.

We, as a band, aspire to grow as musicians and songwriters, and to continue to play our guts out live onstage for anyone who wants to get their brains blown out. Sincerely, Flea [/quote]

What do you think? Should there be an uproar or are haters gonna hate? Let us know in the comments below.

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Report: Bruno Mars To Headline Super Bowl Halftime Show

BrunoMarsThe NFL season has barely gotten underway as the Denver Broncos hosted the reigning champions Baltimore Ravens, but the NFL is already planning the next Super Bowl. While the 32 NFL teams will fight it out over the next several weeks, the NFL is working on the half time entertainer that will follow Beyonce and last season’s Destiny’s Child reunion. A source close to the NFL told the Associated Press that eyes are on Bruno Mars. The official announcement is expected to come Sunday, September 8 at an event in Times Square with the official kick off of the NFL season’s first full Sunday.

The upcoming championship game will be February 2 from East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium. The 27 year old, Mars, is one of music’s biggest stars today. His second album, released last year, includes hits “Locked Out of Heaven,” “When I Was Your Man,” and his latest single, “Treasure.”

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Tech Tuesday! Totes, Candy, Worms and Coinage!

Welcome to another edition of Tech Tuesday! Here is your recap of all the tech stories of the last week that could be affecting you now, or tomorrow, or soon. Yes, we try to keep you as informed as we can!

Amazon is Doing What?

Are you just sick and tired of the constant running back and forth to the grocery store? Well, Amazon hopes you are!

Called “AmazonTote”, which is currently only available for internal testing in the Seattle area, Amazon is about to roll out it’s own grocery delivery service. As of now, the service offers fresh produce, meats, dry goods, pet supplies, beauty products, and Amazon products delivered weekly to your home in re-usable tote bags, all shipping free of charge.

Yes, the convenience is a bit pricey, like $2.50 for one piece of fruit, but who knows, for many, the time and energy saved may be worth it.

Amazon has been known to put pressure on other companies, such as Barnes and Noble, so what will this do to our local markets and big grocery stores? Well, maybe we will see more home delivery available from our stores, including Walmart and Target. Maybe prices will lower. All in all, it seems like a win-win for us consumers.

Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me, Think I’ll Eat Some…

Twitter Worms!  Yep, apparantely there is another Twitter Worm on the loose! Actually, this is the same worm that plagued Twitter Users early last month, but has been unleashed yet again. Basically, if you click on a shortened URL “Goo.Gl” (similar to Google) you will be taken to a malicious site that will download a virus (malware) and then ask you for money to remove it. Aren’t they original?

Twitter recommends if you see the goo.Gl link to change your password immediately, although I can’t imagine just seeing the link in your feed would be cause for alarm. It’s if you click on it, or you see that YOU have been sending out messages. If either of those are the case, then yes, you have some cleaning up to do.

Sean Parker Calls ‘The Social Network’ a work of “Fiction”

Sean Parker apparently did not think the way he was portrayed in the movie, by actor Justin Timberlake, accurate.

He said that “the part of the movie that frustrated me is actually the scene at the end where the character basically writes a check to Eduardo, and throws it in his face and has security escort him out of the building. And I mean, that’s just rude. This guy in the movie is a morally reprehensible human being.”

He also states that there are no “Victoria Secret” models in Silicon Valley, calling that another inaccuracy.

Well, I’m not too sure I believe him… I think he may be trying to save his image a bit here. I mean come on, THE guy who developed Napster, young kid from Los Angeles, throwing money around, can’t get a hot girl? I think he’s pushing it.

Here is the video: (To hear him speak about the movie, you have to move up to about the 5:00 minute mark.)

Wanna Port Your Number to Google Voice?

Another hit to phone industry, Google Voice now has number portability. For a mere $20 (with no phone fees thereafter) you can port your number over to Google.

For current Google Voice users, this means you’ll no longer have to remember and use two separate numbers. It will still include all of GV features, such as visual voicemail, conference calling, call screening and more.

Last week, number porting was announced as “coming soon” and it was giving only a limited number away in beta. This week, it is available to all current Google Voice users. Will you port over? Maybe this will help curb the rising costs in the phone industry.

The process of porting is kind of a pain in the behind, which takes 3 days and you may miss a few texts or messages, but the money saved could be worth it. Port your home number that you rarely use anymore, and have it ring to your cell, if you want that is.

I have included a quick video from Google on how the porting process will work. Check it out!

‘Daily Candy for Indie Music’

That is what new start-up MySpoonful is aiming for. They will send you a newsletter, 3 times a week, with a highlighted new artist or band, a bio, and a free MP3 to download.

Sounds like a great way to stay up on new and upcoming artists! Definitely a place to check out.

Facebook to Roll Out Yet MORE Ads

Now, you too can purchase that ‘what.ever.it.is’ your friend was interested in! Called “Sponsored Stories” Facebook will turn your friends actions on the site into promoted content streaming down the right side of your News Feed.

Facebook is really turning into something it wasn’t supposed to be, and eventually, users will get fed up. Today doesn’t appear to be that day however. Privacy concerns, Ads… What’s next?

Facebook Makes Credits Mandatory for all Games

That’s what’s next. Facebook ‘virtual currency’, Facebook Credits, will become the official coinage beginning July 1, 2011. All Social game developers, starting on that day, will be required to process all payments through Facebook Credits. Basically, in order to purchase anything in any of the games you play, you will now have to go through Facebook.

Mind you, many of the games have already made the switch. In fact, 22 of the top 25 games played on Facebook already have converted.

Financially, this is a great decision for FB. The company already takes a 30% cut from all revenue. Basically, if you wanted to buy that special item in Farmville for $2.00, Facebook gets $.60 of your money. Credits are already on sale at the big box stores, like Target, Walmart and Best Buy, who I’m sure also gets a cut.

So you ask, what happened to the old days of free games? What happened to old days of a free social network? Oh that’s right… it’s still here, at YakkityYaks! *evil grin*

DO NOT TRACK ME!

Google and Mozilla (Chrome and Firefox) have announced that they will add the ability to opt out of having users activities tracked online, partially in response to the “Do Not Track” lists proposed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

Both companies plan to tackle this feat in two very different ways.

With Firefox, it was announced that it will be added in future versions of the browser. There will be an icon or “tool” to turn on the feature located in the header of webpage. They believe this is the better way to do this, because it is a cleaner and more universal approach, rather than cookies or blacklists.

Chrome on the other hand has already released a new extension called “Keep My Opt-Outs.” The extension describes itself as a way to “permanently opt your browser out of online ad personalization via cookies. The extension works with ads from companies that have signed up with AboutAds, and with Google served ads.

The Internet is Running Out of Space!

Oh no! What will we do! Run to the market (or AmazonTote) and stock up on those canned goods! Ok… not really. Basically on February 2nd, around 4am or so, the internet will run out of it’s current version of IP addresses, at least that is the prediction by one internet provider, basing it on a rate of about 1 million addresses every 4 hours.

Fortunately for us, there were some awesome geeks out there that saw this coming. They invented what is called IPv6 which is basically a system that uses letters and numbers. This new system will be able to handle 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 addresses. Got that number?

The doomsday campaign, launched by Hurricane Electric (and even has Twitter and Facebook accounts the count down to what they call the “IPcalypse” encourage other ISPs to transition into the new system.

Twitter Trends!

Last but certainly not least, for our Twitter Fans, a recap of the top Twitter trends in the last week. What were the most tweeted about this last week?

1. Golden Globe Awards. Top mentions, Johnny Depp and Jim Parsons. Ricky Gervais, who received a lot of press, really wasn’t tweeted about too much.

2. Martin Luther King Jr. – It was his birthday last week after all.

3. NFL – Well duh. Top mentions were Bart Scott and Joe Buck.

4. Justin Bieber. Apparently, fans of the Jonas Brothers renamed him to Justina Bieber, and fans of his retaliated by calling the Jonas Brothers the Jonas Sisters. Wow… such drama online!

5. Soccer/Football. Top mentions were Darren Brent, Jamie Carragher and Eric Cantona.

6. LMAOTwitpics. Tons of retweets scattered the Twitter landscape. Top honors went to photos of a Justin Bieber tattoo and a shirtless Lil’ Wayne.

7. Astrology. Yep, that 13th zodiac sign really had Twitter users up in arms.

8. Jonas Brothers. See number 4.

9. Justin Bieber Hoax. Yep, another death hoax. Tweeted, retweeted, and retweeted some more. Sigh.

10. Batman: Dark Night Rises. With the addition of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Batman was tweeted a lot.

And there you have it, another edition of Tech Tuesday in the can. What do you think about these stories? Will you buy from Amazon Tote? Will you sign on to get some new Indie Music? Is Facebook the evil overlord, or is Justin Bieber going to take over the world? Let us know below or in the FORUM! We have been waiting for you forever! Ok well, maybe not forever, but you know what I mean. Join us today! It’s free, and we promise not to take over anything, at least for the next two weeks.