Morning Music Notes – I’m 69, I Really Should Give Up Pot

You’re Never TOO Old To Quit, Sir Paul

Beatles legend (and the “cute one”, apparently) Sir Paul McCartney has decided to quit smoking pot, at the ripe age of 69 (via Gigwise). I had no idea he still smoked up, perhaps because he doesn’t tweet about it every time he smokes – I’m looking at you, Snoop Dog. So why did Macca decide to stop smoking marijuana? Because he has an 8 year old daughter, another strange thing for a 69 year old to have in his life.

Paul tells Rolling Stone, “I did a lot, and it was enough. I smoked my share. When you’re bringing up a youngster, your sense of responsibility does kick in. Enough’s enough.”

So he favours new daughter, Beatrice, and not the other kids he brought up, is that what we are to read from this?

Kraftwerk to Take On Residency at Museum of Modern Art

Kraftwerk have a series of shows lined up with a novel concept – naked people ONLY in attendance 8 nights, one of their 8 albums each night, and 3D projections (via Rolling Stone). The electronic wizards will take up the 8 night residency in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Their shows will feature a mix of them playing music plus other original compositions, as well as 3D projections, so bust out those 3D glasses and nerd it up!

The first show will take place on April 10, with the band playing the album Autobahn. I saw Kraftwerk open for Radiohead in Santiago, Chile, and they had a pretty great visual set up then, so I anticipate the MoMA shows to be even more stunning.

Whitney Houston’s Funeral to Be Broadcast on the Internet

Can’t say I saw this one coming – Whitney Houston’s private funeral will be broadcast live on the Internet, since there will be no public memorial (via Telegraph). Not sure if this is a first, but it sounds a bit bizarre to me, but maybe because I’m not into funerals. The news was announced by Whitney Houston’s publicist Kristen Foster. The funeral will be shown on livestream.com/aplive on Saturday as well as being available on some satellite services, and I for one will not be watching.

Whitney Houston was also the benefactor (if you can call it that) of increased sales due to her death. For charts closing on Sunday night, Houston’s album Whitney: The Greatest Hits came in the Billboard 200 at #6, with sales of 64,000 (via Billboard, of course). The increase was a mere 10,419%. It only took 3 hours for her album to top the iTunes chart, however (via Hollywood Reporter). Whitney Houston also has 12 songs in the iTunes Top 100, and 26 songs in the iTunes Top 200.

UK Music Site, RnBXclusive.com, Shut Down by Police

RnBXclusive.com, a site I NEVER visited (you hear that, police?!), has been shut down by UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) (via BBC). Users surely aren’t playing the song “I Love Soca” after the recent bust (*groan). Also, does this mean there is a “non-serious” crimes unit?

Visitors have been warned that if you’ve used the site to download music, they could face up to 10 years in jail, as well as an unlimited fine (perhaps equivalent to a billion quadrillion zillion dollars).

“Soca targets organised criminal enterprises profiting from the exploitation of the UK public and legitimate businesses,” the agency said in a statement. “Much of the music offered for download by the RnBXclusive.com website was illegally obtained from artists, leading the industry to attribute losses of approximately £15m per year to the site’s activity.”

This news comes shortly after download site, Mega Upload, was shut down last month. Does this mean people are going to – gasp – start paying for music?