On the drive to campus this morning, I listened to half of the second volume of
Forty Licks. Much more enjoyable, and more representative of the type of music I typically associate with The Rolling Stones. 'Start Me Up', 'Brown Sugar'...aces.
After campus, made my way (with Maggie and Fitri along for the ride) to the Hard Rock Cafe for a press conference: the launch of Sheila On 7's soundtrack to the movie
30 Hari Mencari Cinta in conjunction with this new-fangled mobile phone gizmo that sponsored the album (and probably the movie, too; I haven't seen it). To be honest, the only reason I was there was to enhance relations with Sony Music's reps, so I can drop by their offices and pick up some freebies. And the (excellent) free food and drink, of course. And maybe get a glimpse of the movie's lovely leading ladies. Who didn't show up. Drats.
But guess who did show up? As I was signing in at the press table and making small talk with the label reps, I suddenly heard a rather squeaky male voice exclaiming, "What the hell are you doing here?" and a miniscule, male frame trying to shove me over (before you get your mind in the gutter, I came to the male frame conclusion because of the voice. Perverts.). It was Yoga, and as it turns out, he was one of the guys behind the mobile phone thingy. You can read his take on things
here. Ooh, crossover!
As for me, the tech talk just flew over my head, so I can just ask Yoga to explain things to me in dummy terms. When Sheila On 7 came down to talk about the album, I wasn't that eager to ask, as I didn't really have any good questions that nobody else would've thought up. But given the usual idiocy of the media when it comes to decent music journalism, I ended up asking anyway. And then there was the quiz part, where the prize was a starter pack for the mobile thingy. I decided to give it a shot and won, which wasn't too hard for anyone paying even a miniscule shred of attention to proceedings. Finished things off with getting their autographs. Well I had the CD in hand, so I might as well...
From there, me and Maggie went on to djakarta, making the usual pit stop at Duta Suara. A day or two earlier, me and Yoga had been talking about
Ryan Adams. Turn back time a bit earlier. Cue Yoga asking me if Adams' latest album,
Rock N Roll, was going to be released here. If it wasn't, he was keen on getting the import. I said I had no idea, and started to consider buying it myself, having seen the album a while back. I'd read the hype and interviews, but hadn't yet been moved into purchasing. Eventually I just bought it, since I had the dough and didn't have anything better to spend it on. I don't know if Yoga ended up buying it too. Cue to last Saturday, and Yoga sent a text, saying that the album had just been released locally on CD and cassette. One of those "D'oh!" moments. (Incidentally, if you go to
Adams' website now, there's a cute little mention of this release.) Anyway, Yoga mentioned something about getting drawn into the hype for
Love Is Hell, Adams' album which was held back by the record company for being "too depressing". I didn't give much thought about it, but when I saw
Love Is Hell Part 2 at Duta Suara...let's just say I got sucked in, too. Another one of those "Geez, maybe I'd better snap that up while I'm here and have money" purchases. Gonna look for
Part 1 soon...
