Slow Dancing in a Burning Room...

I haven't heard a better metaphor for the human race in a long, long time. And that one's thanks to John Mayer who wrote it for his new record, Continuum. The record is outstanding. It's an essay in incredible guitar playing and a 50 minute documentary on good songwriting. Recently he's received a lot of criticism for 'shooting off his big mouth' and speaking his mind. Perfect. He's doing his goddamned job. Artists are paid to say the things everyone else is afraid to say. We're in business because we tackle the ideas that are 'hands off'. Provocation is one of the foundations of good, emotional, intelligent art. One of the tunes, called 'Belief', discusses religion. Mayer said it was the hardest fight he'd ever had, getting that tune on the record. I'm so glad he won, because it's incredible.

Belief is a beautiful armor
It makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you're trying for
Some need the exhibition
Some have to know they've tried
It's the chemical weapon
For the war that's raging on inside

Apparently the VP of Columbia called John at home after listening to the record and said, "There's not a single on this album." I guess there is a substantial disparity between great songs and 'singles', but that guy ought to resign his job to someone who isn't a crackhead because the album has been on the Billboard Top 10 for a month now. This gives me hope. If you write a good record, play a lot of shows and make enough noise, people will listen to you. Maybe an album full of great songs is better than a couple of 'singles.'

Antichrist Superstar

I have to admit that I was prejudiced against Marilyn Manson. I heard his music, saw his image and - I didn't care for either - made my assumptions. All that changed when I saw Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine. In a movie that presumes to be intelligent and liberal and eye-opening, Marilyn Manson made the only sensible and remarkable comment of the film. When asked what he'd say if he could talk directly to the people involved in the Columbine massacre, he replied,

"I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say. And that's what no one did."

It was an eye opener for me. Because you always think that you're better than caring about colour or race or sexual orientation or religion, but every once in a while you make a decision about a person - someone you may never have met - based on very trivial and superficial information. I allowed the media - still images, music, quick clips - to 'inform' me about Marilyn Manson and I couldn't have been more wrong about my conclusions. I still don't like his music, but he is a remarkably intelligent, incredibly well-spoken and thoughtful man with a fantastic sense of humour. He's all about stirring up the shit, speaking his mind and asking questions when everybody else is content to do what their told - regardless of its logic. I can get behind someone with that kind of attitude.

In fact, I was reading about him in Rolling Stone magazine this month and I wanted to share with you 3 reasons to love Marilyn Manson.

1. Sense of humour. When asked about his new song 'This is Halloween" for the upcoming DVD release of Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas, he said, "It will be the vampire national anthem. Black panties all across the world will moisten at the sound of my voice."

2. Honesty. One of the tunes on his forthcoming disc is called, "Rebels Without Applause", and it addresses Manson's notion that young bands suck these days. "I'm not the bitter guy that's jealous of these other bands that are coming up and stealing my thunder," he says. "I invented thunder and rain. I am the black. And I'm here to vacuum the red carpet."

3. Balls. This guy has always had stones. He's about to release his own line of Absinthe and is quoted as saying, "We hope to have it out in time for parents to give it to their children for christmas." For those of you who don't know, Absinthe is a green, aromatic liqueur that is 68 percent alcohol. In the United States, it's not a controlled substance but its sale in bars and liquor stores is banned. It has inspired some of the greatest creative geniuses of the 18th and 19th century. Such notables include Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh, and the ever infamous, Oscar Wilde.