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NEWS FROM THE FRONT: THE BRIT AWARDS

As most of you lurkers know by now, our very own DJ Sammy Jo (aka Nancy Isla, aka DJ Pickles, aka DJ Smelly Ho etc. etc. etc.) is the official DJ/Opening act for The Scissor Sisters. He went to The Brit Awards (like our "Grammys") with his... "whatever we're calling it these days", Justin Bond (aka Kiki of "Kiki & Herb"). They were Jason's (aka Jake Shear) and Ana's (aka Ana Matronic) dates. (Not who I would pick but hey...) They are pictured above.
Sammy sent in these pics to make us jealous.

"Fake Dates" Justin and Jason

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  • Brits-2005---25
i meet jake shears about 7 or 8 years ago i think. at a fairie gathering in tennessee,where i was doing hair.
well a year or so ago , i was waiting outside his tour bus in chicago, he was performing at double door,and he came of his bus and was like JO_JO, are you still doing hair ? i just thought it was nice that he remembered me...kisses
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Madison:
New single out on import now, and album available soon as import; drops Feb 2 in the UK. If you've been under a rock for the past year and haven't seen them everywhere from Cheeze Whiz to High Life to the Bowery Ballroom -- you've heard them played by the finest DJs all over town. You know, the pink floyd cover with the beegeesesque vocals and funky nouveaudisco vibe? Run out and smack down 6 bucks and pick up their Comfortably Numb single. This band is defo the next big thing, and so deserve your support.
Read the feature in the Voice this week where the story is an excuse for the writer's expense account party trip to London.

The sisters have become the epitome of the 'underappreciated' on the US market, being a global brand name everywhere but the US oweing mostly to their party band status and the kitschy stage presence both of which are a tip off to American consumers of a marketing scam.

The Voice article comes off as a description of hapless musicians who do not control their own destiny and are imprisoned in celebrity. The article is a puff piece with a sour cachet.

Are the sisters miffed at having their stateside megastardom potential shrugged off by the market? Or are they fulfilled with otherwise world-wide fame and all the excess economic windfall? Its not clear from the article except that, thankfully, they all seem to have retained their NYC cult-band insouciance. House-sitting for Elton John can make up for lack of bona-fide superstardom at home, it appears.

At least Daddy's girl, Sammy Jo, is mentioned as being a benefactress of the whole booty capitalist twist.
Last edited by seven
Hey seven, just wanted to respond to your post from the previous page. All the press for the second album loves to focus on how successful the band are everywhere except in the US (I think the UK is actually quite smug that they discovered the band he he he) but really the band aren't that concerned with stateside success at this point. They are not even surprised by it judging from the US charts. What's shocking to me is that no record company person has realized the gold mine waiting to be discovered. All over the world SS have the most broad appeal- transgenerational if that's a word which I suspect it is not but Mr Bush you are welcome to use it. The record industry has focused so long on the 18-24 generation they haven't realized that anyone outside that market has virtually been ignored and as has been proven by the SS success in the UK, that is a very strong market dying to have something to get excited about. People in the UK want to slag off the band for having housewives for fans but who the fuck wants a bunch of "hipsters" to be your fanbase when they have the attention span of a 2 year old. That's all for now.
Good point Isla. I was in Minneapolis over Labor Day last year, staying with some 40-something friends, whose late 40-something suburbanite friends were *too* excited to have tix to see SS sometime in the fall. The gig was canceled, sadly for them. They were crushed - really crushed! How amazing it was dancing around their rec room with them--and their 10- and 12-year-old daughters--to Take Your Mama Out! Missed transgenerational opportunity indeed.
Nice points to make Nancy. I think the band should just concentrate on surviving stardom at this point. They seem to have the survivable attitude. I hope they don't end up dead from OD's or too warped mentally to ever get along with other people, especially the ones that are close to them.

The main point with the industry is that to harvest any demographic market takes two things, a fat fat marketing budget and lining up the twelve people in the US who virtually control all the what used to be called 'Top 40' radio stations' air time. The SS's label probably couldn't care less right now that the US market hasn't been plumbed to its depth since the revenue from all the other international markets gots to be through the roof at this point. I read an interview with one of the band members back when they were just hitting and he said outright that they discovered the trick was to "go for the grandmothers." The US market has been segmented into age niches and all the niches have been massively mis-educated about music. The industry doesn't know how to market to anyone over 40, there aren't any media outlets for music that target them accept a very few 'easy listening' radio waves. The industry would have to buy commercial time on daytime soap operas and magazines like AARP -not something a PR person for the music biz is going to find appealing to do. But it should be a no-brainer to get the CD's in to Walmart, K-mart, etc. if they already aren't.

The US kind of invented the teenager and 'youth junk culture' and commodities like recordings and performances were totally geared to exploiting the creation of the needs. People over 40 have existed forever but nobody has ever really made pop music just for them, even people like the Osmonds wanted a youth market but settled for less, so maybe the SS's are kind of new in that sense. Probably the only entertainment organization in the US familiar with marketing to the SS's demography is Disney.
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I was playing at The Four seasons tonight at a high fallutin' fashion party. I played "The Sisters" and the crowd went crazy. All these Europeans and Austrailians came up and thanked me for playing them.
"We never hear them in the States".
It'a lot like the Pink Martini situation.
Huge in Europe, "Pink What?" in New York.
I think that the SS will make it as big here as in Europe but it might take one more CD. It's not a new story. Blondie made it here after 3 Albums. The B-52's never really 'made it' until "Love Shack" on what was their like 5th album? I don't think it's the 'gay' thing either. They will have that one song that EVERYONE will love here and then the U.S. will be like "I love that NEW band". Duh, typical America.
But I don't think bands make hits. The people or organizations that control where and how often the band gets promoted make the hits. Daddy's post just says that right out loud. I'm not saying that if Beyonce was given awful music to do she'd still be a superstar. But know that there are a bajillion hits in the world no one ever hears or don't hear enough. But if the band had a Coke commercial or did an endless college tour or a tour of 3,500 seat theaters in the second and third tier, you know, Boston, Cleveland, Lansing, Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Atlanta, Charlotte -and had a sales and marketing budget to pump it you'd have a hit and Pollstar would tell you why. The public is generally willing and waiting to be an audience to whatever is promoted large. (Look at the not so distant past of the Rolling Stones -they took off from Van Courtland Park in a hot air balloon, they did a 'spontaneous' gig on the plaza at Linclon Center, you think anyone was really there because of what tune they were playing). Boy George was just a hipster's choice here until he did tours that included regions like the deep south. And instead of late night chat show appearances maybe the band should do morning shows if they want the grandmothers. Have US promotion really put the band to work and you wouldn't have sour articles from the Voice. Let's not pretend appreciation of a band means we know something more than people in the backward places of the US,as self-gratifying as that may be, we've just had more access and more proximity to it for longer.
Last edited by seven
how's this for a half-time show:
Scissor Sisters at the Brits

and MM: i just went to minneapolis
to dj a scissor sisters after party.
they rocked, natch! and the venue
was GORGEOUS! it helped that my
"patron" had rented out two VIP suites
complete with bottles of vodka, plates
of sushi and 4 dozen magic brownies.
the more's of san francisco were
also flown in: GLAMAMORE and JUANITA MORE.
the glitter flies in from all directions
when the scissor sisters come to town!!!

p.s. a new addition to their shows...
ana fires a wig cannon into the audience.
i gagged!!

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