I’ve often said coincidence does not exist, but I'll save that diatribe for another time. However, a couple of days ago, and for the first time, not one but two Paul Jones 45’s -- he’s the former lead singer for the 1960’s British invasion band Manfred Mann -- wandered into Amoeba from separate collections. Both of these singles are from the same soundtrack, Privilege, a film released in 1967 starring Paul Jones, who was making his big screen acting debut. Now, two days later, I find out that for the first time ever, Privilege will be released on DVD today. Coincidence or plot? I just don't know. Well, anyway...

The film was directed by Peter Watkins, whose highly controversial anti-nuclear drama The War Game won the 1966 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (and was soon to be banned in Great Britain). Watkins once again doesn’t stray far from controversy in Privilege. Taking place in a totalitarian English State of the near future, specifically 1970, the dark comic vision of Privilege criticizes the media and its media manipulation, corporate culture and its corporate manipulation. It portrays a time where most everything seems to bounce off the absurd and neurotic teen pop-dom dominating the age and the happily tranquilized population is content with fluffy distractions. The main character, Steven Shorter, played by Paul Jones, is a rock god. His popularity and career have been meticulously engineered by a vast music corporation, reaching dizzying Beatlesque heights. But all this begins to crack when an artist, played by the original supermodel Jean Shrimpton, is hired to paint Steven Shorter’s portrait, and finds an unstable, empty shell of a man, lost in a lonely world, a puppet trapped by the demands of a music business out of control, and a simple singer victimized by all the excess, process, and success. Of course, the artist tries to rescue and prop up Steven Shorter before he becomes yet another statistic in the eternally doomed scenario of recyclable pop stars. But as can only happen in real life and/or rock melodramas, fortunes take a Machiavellian twist when rebellion is only a pop song away. Now that’s entertainment!

Iif you go on YouTube and do a search under the David Letterman Late Show odds are that within the first few results netted in your seach will be a clip of the Letterman show posted by active YouTube member MangoFace247.   One of several YouTube members who religiously post Letterman clips, MangoFace247 has been a member since last July when he began posting clips, with the Letterman show being his specialty.  Since then he has posted over 220 clips, an average of one a day, selectively choosing Letterman monologue, interview, and live performance clips to post on YouTube, which he will usually do within hours or by the following day of the actual TV broadcast. 

But it was one particular Letterman posting of his that catapulted MangoFace247 to fame (in YouTube land)  when on September 28th, 2007 he uploaded the Paris HIlton interview in which Letterman grilled the pouting heiress on her jail stint (which she clearly did not wish to discuss). This clip (below),  which he had posted  on YouTube even before CBS who broadcast the show and are also an active YouTube member took time to post  (they posted the clip 3 days later and clocked a mere 20,000 hits to date),  created a buzz and ended up getting well over four million hits: even more than the original broadcast itself.  (Note: that on average the Letterman TV broadcasts get 3.6 million viewers nightly)

It also made MangoFace247 an instant YouTube celebrity. His name was linked to Paris Hilton's and he was mentioned  in gossip columns in papers like the New York Post.  I recently caught up with the anonymous "Mango" (who likes to remain incognito but did say that he lives in LA and works in the music business, and also that he sells T-shirts online)  via YouTube messages and Email to interview him for the AMOEBLOG.

If you want to watch the fun-looking Flavor Flav Roast on Comedy Central tomorrow (Sunday 8/12 @ 10PM)) best to plan on catching it live on TV and not on YouTube in clips at a later time since the media giant that owns the cable station, Viacom,  is doing everything in its power stop clips like it been broadcast on YouTube. And Viacom is not alone in their war on the Google owned YouTube.  Earlier this week they were joined by several other TV broadcasters and publishing companies in  a major  copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular video file sharing website.  These proceedings ultimately mean that we should most likely now begin the countdown to the final days of YouTube .   One of those involved in the legal proceedings  The National Muisc Publishers'  Association said it is joining the lawsuit "out of concern that many songwriters aren't receiving proper compensation when their music appears on YouTube videos."  Additionally Viacom Inc. (which besides Comedy Central also owns MTV and other stations) and the Football Association Premier League are also part of the lawsuit against YouTube/Google.    And while this lawsuit seems crazy for many reasons including that most artists make no money off of past videos played on TV anyways - never mind crumby quality dubs on YouTube which most people only view and don't  download (unlike with Napster in its famous lawsuit some years back) - it certainly looks like it signals the final days of YouTube - as least as  it exists today.  So my advice: enjoy YouTube while you can. 

#    TITLE                                  VIEWS:            Date Posted:

1) The Mountain Goats (Pt 1)                   388,617                      Sept 5, 2006
2) Rodrigo Y Gabriela plays...                     14,381                     Jan 27, 2007
3) Feist at Amoeba Mushaboom               14,127                      Jan 22, 2006
4) Jamie Lidell "A little bit more"                13,281                      Feb 23, 2007
5) Against Me!   acoustic                             12,321                      Aug 2, 2006
6) The Blood Brothers                                   9,579                       Oct 10, 2006
7) DJ Cheb I Sabbah @ Berkeley               7,882                       Nov 4, 2006
8) And You Will Know Us.....Dead               6,343                       Sept 2, 2006            
9) The Mountain Goats (Part 3)                    5,993                       Sept 19, 2006
10) The Mountain Goats (Part 2)                  5,691                      Sept 12, 2006          

It's a long time since her last big hit. Six weeks or even more - a long time in this digital age - when Obama Girl arrived via YouTube with her sexy video "I've Got A Crush On Obama" that, while not endorsed by Sentor Barack Obama's office, it wasn't unappreciated by any means. The sexy pro-Obama video got 2.3 million YouTube hits. That's way more than any Billboard hit single sells these days. It's also some of the cheapest publicity a presidential candidate can get. The new video, which debuted on YouTube just yesterday has, as of noon today (7/17), received about 160,000 hits, and looks well set to gain as many viewers as its predecessor - or likely even more. Especially since the new vid ups the ante both in content and controversy: this time taking on rival Rudy Giuliani. The new video, seen below, is entitled "Debate '08: Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl"  and features model Adelna Kristina playing  Giuliani Girl part opposite Amber Lee Ettinger and her crew representing Obama.