Daniel Jones seems quite lovely

news.com.au has caught up with Daniel Jones, the half of Savage Garden who didn't pursue a solo career. And he seems lovely:

Lucratively and uncommonly, the pair own the rights to their own music, which they haven’t put on streaming sites, and have remastered their albums and released a new singles compilation.

That has got Jones doing his first interview in many years, but he’s politely declined to send updated photos of himself, still happy to live off the radar.

Thankfully, the website resists the temptation to try and do one of those computer-aged photos which police use to try and track down missing people years later, allowing him to enjoy both his anonymity and what being in Savage Garden did for him financially:

I remind myself of the guy in that Hugh Grant movie Music and Lyrics where he inherited royalties from some old songs. Sometimes I feel like that character in that I’m still getting paid for something I did nearly 20 years ago. That in itself is quite amazing. But it’s how the beast works, it’s how residuals and royalties happen. I’m so appreciative of the fact I’m still getting paid today for something I did so long ago. I did it not to get paid, I did it because I loved doing it. It was that innocent. For someone today to still be putting their hands in their pocket and buying our music, I’m so honoured by that.

(About A Boy rather than Music And Lyrics, surely?)

So, what is he up to these days?

I still enjoy [music], I still write and record and play around with it purely for fun, the same way I did 20 years ago with Darren. But I don’t take it as seriously any more as far as the dream I dreamt. Which I realised wasn’t really my ideal dream. The dream I’m dreaming now is another one I’ve dreamt but I’m happy and that is a family.

I'm sorry, I think I stopped following that around the sixth or seventh dream. I think he's saying he's trapped in an Inception-like nightmare. (Actually, he's working in real estate.)

Although bands still working twenty, thirty, even fifty years in to a career is fairly inspiring, I think there's something a lot more impressive about musicians who have gone on to do something away from the glare of publicity and are quite happy about that.

Simon LeBon has sympathy for One Direction

Simon LeBon looks at One Direction. He know what they're going through. That was him, once. (Except Duran had to come up with ideas and make records and play instruments, but... you know what I mean).

Simon feels for them:

"They are a cash cow for so many people," he said. "There's a huge pressure to never take a break."

I'm not sure they're cash cows, are they? They're more golden-egg laying geese, which will be worked to death. And not slowly. Maybe battery hens.

Maroon 5 no longer heading for China

Maroon 5's planned dates in China aren't going to happen now. There's speculation as to why:

No official explanation has been given with a statement from Live Nation, the band’s promoter, alluding only to an unspecified “reason”.

The cancellations sparked speculation that a tweet sent by Jesse Carmichael, the group’s keyboard player, was responsible.

In the message, posted on July 4, Carmichael sent birthday wishes to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The musician reportedly attended a party celebrating the Buddhist leader’s 80th birthday in the United States.

The tweet, since deleted, linked to a photograph on Instagram that was also later removed.

It could be the tweet was the reason. What I suspect happened is someone in power actually heard Maroon 5 and started combing the social media output of the band looking for an excuse.

The Times used to be a serious newspaper

The horrible death of a child in an accident can be difficult. What's the correct way to react? How do treat the parents.

Here's a clue: you don't treat the parents the way The Times has just treated Nick Cave following the death of his son.

The Times runs a second load of baseless, pointless, insinuating shit about Nick Cave. Well done, you fucking creeps pic.twitter.com/o8THd3RDo1

— Alexis Petridis (@alexispetridis) July 17, 2015

50 Cent? He WISHES he had 50 Cent

50 Cent has declared himself to be bankrupt:

In papers filed with the US bankruptcy court in Hartford, Connecticut, on Monday, 50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, reported assets and debts in the $10m to $50m range. According to the petition, 50 Cent holds primarily consumer debts, which are debts “incurred by an individual primarily for a personal, family or household purpose”.

If you'd like a full Ozymandias moment, might I suggest you turn your attention to 2009's Business Insider piece, 50 Cent's Massive Business Empire. There's a parade of the piles of cash which, it turns out, 50 Cent has managed to lose:

50 Cent, you'll recall, is the raised-from-the-dead, shot-9-times rapper, produced by Dr. Dre and Eminem.

But fame did not make him the big bucks, smart business moves did (Just ask Gary Coleman).

Once you're it, says 50 Cent, there is no time to rest on laurels. It's time to market the hell out of yourself – thus, getting more exposure.

Most importantly, you have monetize your popularity. From book deals to vitamin water to moisturizers, 50 Cent is dabbling in almost everything.

It's probably all that vitamin water which accounts for how he's pissed it all away.

Although is this bankruptcy quite all it seems?

The bankruptcy report arrives three days after a jury ordered the rapper to pay $5m to Lastonia Leviston, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, for buying her sex tape, editing it with his own narration and posting it online without her permission.

Nah, 50 Cent wouldn't file a bankruptcy claim just to avoid having to pay the money he owes to a woman who he humiliated "for a laugh", would he? Because that would be even harder to swallow than his foul-tasting Street King energy drink.

Who says boyband members aren't bright?

Faced with a demand for a £45 baggage fee when he tried to get on Easyjet with too much hand luggage, Rewind's James McElvar did what any sensible person would do.

He paid the £45 fee and got on board, deciding to take more care packing next time
He put all his clothes on.

Ha! That'll show Easyjet and their not-actually-unreasonable attempts to stop people cluttering up overhead bins with bags that don't fit, right?

How did it work out for him?

Not well, actually:

The Sun reports that McElvar wore 12 layers of clothing after facing an additional charge of £45 for having too many bags.

The newspaper states that McElvar "became violently ill and suffered a fit" with "an off-duty paramedic treat[ing] him as passengers looked on".

"I thought I was a goner and that I was having a heart attack," the singer told The Sun.

"The woman said either one bag went in the hold or we weren't getting on. The rest of the band had gone through so I couldn't give them any of the clothes. I was told I’d either have to pay a £45 fee to get it on the plane, get the flight the next morning, bin the clothes or wear them."

God help us if he ever gets let lose at an All You Can Eat Pizza Hut buffet.

This week just gone

Flashback: What people were reading on No Rock tenfive years ago today:

1. R Kelly video to be shown to jury
2. RIP: Daniel Cho
3. McFly take their clothes off
4. Torry from The Donnas has to retire
5. RIP: Sugar Minott
6. Rush unable to play in a storm; "fans" launch lawsuit
7. Ryan Adams gooses John Mayer
8. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling turn The Prisoner into a concept album
9. Won't someone think of the children?
10. Music versus porn

This week's releases were these, and they appear to be pulling double-duty with the shift to Friday:


Veruca Salt - Ghost Notes

Download Ghost Notes



Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People

Download Perpetual Motion People



Lucy Rose - Work It Out

Download Work It Out



Four Tet - Morning/Evening

Download Morning/Evening



Little Boots - Working Girl

Download Working Girl