ON - He’s the Starr

Ringo Starr is known for being friendly, obliging, and non-confrontational. Of all the Beatles, Ringo was probably the most personal so we were shocked when he walked off Live! With Regis and Kelly the other day. Not that we could blame him.

According to reports, Ringo was scheduled to perform a song with Eurythemics rocker Dave Steward live on Regis and Kelly but a “miscommunication” between producer Michael Gelman and Ringo’s people left the legendary rocker in the dark about a request to cut his 4-minute, 15-second song down to 2 1/2 minutes. Ringo’s people offered to cut into talk time with the two over-animated hosts or to allow Ringo to play the song in its entirety and have the show fade out or go to commercial. The idiots are Live! With Regis and Kelly were unwilling to do that and so following his chat with Regis and Kelly, he left saying ‘God bless and goodbye. We still love Regis.”

Seeing as how Ringo is one of the most well-known and legendary drummers in the history of rock and roll we’re appalled by his treatment by the Regis and Kelly producers. It should be an honor for this shitty day-time talk show to book the likes of Ringo for their program. Having Ringo perform “Liverpool 8″ would have certainly helped their ratings more than anything. No matter, the legendary “Rings” was able to play “Liverpool 8″ in its entirety for cookinng diva Rachael Ray later that afternoon.

We applaud Ringo for walking out. It’s about time someone put Regis, Kelly, and Gelman in the small, small box they deserve to be in.

OFF - Diva Director

Madonna has done everything. She’s recorded hit songs, performed in front of thousands of fans, acted in numerous motion pictures, written children’s books, and has embodied every meaning of the word “pop star.” And while she has done all of these things, everyone knows she excelled at only a few: recording hit songs, dancing, and being a tough as nails business woman. Everyone knows what she’s not good at too – acting.

So when Madge announced that her directorial debut of “Filth and Wisdom” would premiere at the Berlin Film Festival we had to groan – loudly. The film is reportedly a low-budget, music-based comedy but we’re not excited to see this flick.

Apparently if you bomb in nearly every movie you’ve appeared in, you MUST be qualified to direct. We beg you, Madonna, return to the recording studio and the dance floor where you belong.

STANDBY - Winter NAMM 2008

It’s that time of year again. The NAMM show ihas wrapped up and all sorts of new musical goodies were unveiled for a industry-only event. Us mere mortals on the outside of the industry are still waiting for all the gear to be unveiled to us but from what we’ve seen so far from Web sites like Musician’s Friend some of the new gear is pretty damn exciting. We’re particularly excited about the new Epiphones sporting EMG Dirty Fingers pickups.

Summer NAMM is only 5 short months away in Nashville, but we’re still waiting to see all the goods from this last event. So, far so good.