06 March 2011

Oh, Michael. :)

By: Ivana

Hello friends! Lots of news today! First up, here’s Michael Stipe on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon – he was there to promote R.E.M.’s new album Collapse Into Now and to announce the Tibet House Benefit concert. Wow, he’s hilarious!

Part 1

Part 2

Also, here’s Michael performing beautiful intimate versions of two R.E.M. songs at the Tibet House Benefit concert in NYC. He chose “Saturn Return” from Reveal (the first time this song has been performed live – and it sounds fantastic!) and “Every Day Is Yours To Win” from the new record Collapse Into Now (well since they’re not touring, this is the only time we’ll get to hear this song performed live, at least for a while). crying Btw a friend attended this concert, so we’ll have a full review up shortly! winking

Saturn Return

Every Day Is Yours To Win

Next, here’s the now complete interview from the latest issue of German Rolling Stone. A huuuge round of applause for Kirsten who has invested a lot of time and effort into translating this feature for us. Read it here.

Finally, our lovely friend Linda has reviewed the videos for “Uberlin” and “It Happened Today” for us. Unlike some grumbling fans (myself included), Linda has a very good knowledge and appreciation of the various video formats, and she has tried to explain Stipe’s motivation for doing these short films instead of standard commercial music videos. Read her wonderful review here. Thanks, Linda!


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9 Responses to “Oh, Michael. :)”

  1. Ivana Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 10:02 am

    Oh Michael… love struck I can’t decide whether I want to hug him, or to beat him up because he’s not in the mood to tour…

  2. Mike Mills Tribute » Blog Archive » Oh, Michael. :) | Great REM Tales Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 11:15 am

    [...] &#1110nt&#959 th&#1077 first: Mike Mills Tribute » Blog Archive » Oh, Michael. Related Posts:Mike Mills Tribute » Blog Archive » All The Best! As y'all know, R.E.M. 's [...]

  3. Auctioneer Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 11:28 am

    I’ll go for the latter, Ivana! tongue

    “Every Day is Yours to Win” sounds great with a string section to back it up. It would be great if they ever toured with an orchestral section – think about what “It Happened Today” would be like! big grin

    Excellent analysis, Linda. You’ve really opened our eyes to Stipe’s motives in these videos. The only thing I’m standing by my guns with is I still would have liked to see the band in these vids, if only making a cameo appearance – just to make it feel more like R.E.M. happy

    Yours truly,
    Auctioneer

  4. Linda Says:
    March 7th, 2011 at 7:53 am

    Thanks very much Auctioneer. I just wanted to present a different point of viewwinkingI commented after the reviews on the other page, that I would LOVE to hear what others’ ideas for a video for Uberlin would look like. I’d love to hear all ideas big grin

  5. Auctioneer Says:
    March 7th, 2011 at 11:04 am

    OMG OMG OMG My pre-order has just come through on iTunes! Collapse Into Now is downloading as I write! big grin

  6. Dol Says:
    March 8th, 2011 at 2:57 am

    Oh Mike. happy

    Here’s a great interview from Huffington Post:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/emcollapse-into-nowem-a-c_b_832712.html

    This is the best part:

    MR: Are there any Mike Mills projects in the future?

    MM: Oh, I’m sure there are. Again, we’re not planning much of anything. We’re just really relaxing and enjoying what we’ve done. But yes, I’m sure the Mike Mills solo project will see the light of day at some point.

  7. Auctioneer Says:
    March 8th, 2011 at 9:40 am

    Thanks for the info Dol – that sounds like a good sign! A Mike Mills solo album would make everybody’s day, I’m sure. happy

    I wonder what could be in store for us when the time comes? Original? Covers? An all-star band? Ooh, this’ll be fun! big grin

    On a similar note… if Mike was to make an album of covers (which he might not do, he seems to be more of an “originals” guy), what would you like to see on it?

  8. Dol Says:
    March 8th, 2011 at 10:22 am

    My pleasure Auctioneer!
    Good questions… mmm well, of course he can put inside his album “Gift of the fathers”.
    If he want make an album of covers my dream is a Simon and Garfunkel’s song. I don’t have any preference, the songs are all beautiful. But it’s just a dream, just a dream…
    For the rest, Mike you can surprise me!
    Uh and about the album’s cover, he can finally use his own photo! No strange monster or something cloudy…

  9. Auctioneer Says:
    March 8th, 2011 at 11:45 am

    Ooh, the video for “Oh My Heart” is out!

    http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/03/premiere-rem-oh-my-heart.php

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