WOW... Ed actually IS selling coffee Options

[PillarOfDavidson]

Damn... I was certain people were being facetious about that shit. I'm poking around his website... and BAM, there the shit is staring me in the face:







TGF





This post has been edited by pho3nixtar: Dec 19 2009, 4:01 am

[OutToDry]

Hey, Ed can sell stuff. He's taking a page from Gene Simmons. If he really wants to make a lot of cash he'll need to get more products and varieties. Perhaps the coffee is a test
marketing of this concept. We know the pendant is surely phase 2 in the EK brand crush

Not sure he's going to have the same type of success

[Sakhmet2]

Hey, Ed can sell stuff. He's taking a page from Gene Simmons. If he really wants to make a lot of cash he'll need to get more products and varieties. Perhaps the coffee is a test
marketing of this concept. We know the pendant is surely phase 2 in the EK brand crush

Not sure he's going to have the same type of success

Yeah, Gene for sure, but is it his own stuff or a sub-category of KISS merchandise? And KISS does sell coffee -- and jalapeno ketchup?!
http://www.kisscoffeehouse.com/coffee.htm#coffees
and Paul McCartney sells coffee - in a way. He signed with Starbucks' label. (Doesn't get any coffee-er than that IMO)

I think people are just making asses of themselves complaining about Ed selling stuff - although the prices he's charging are another matter entirely - because Live sold merchandise. Every freaking band and artist with a website sells merchandise off their official website.
Check out the massive U2 store at u2.com, or Rage Against the Machine at ratm.com and see. Or basically google the name of any band or artist and the word "merchandise". The difference is that for most of other artists the merchandise is stuff like tshirts, hats, posters. (Rage Against the Machine sells holiday ornaments, though. I did not expect *that*)

The problem I have is Ed's prices.

[thefunkyredcaboose]

I think people are just making asses of themselves complaining about Ed selling stuff - although the prices he's charging are another matter entirely - because Live sold merchandise. Every freaking band and artist with a website sells merchandise off their official website.
Check out the massive U2 store at u2.com, or Rage Against the Machine at ratm.com and see. Or basically google the name of any band or artist and the word "merchandise". The difference is that for most of other artists the merchandise is stuff like tshirts, hats, posters. (Rage Against the Machine sells holiday ornaments, though. I did not expect *that*)

The problem I have is Ed's prices.

It is true that musicians make a lot of their money from merchandise. It isn't the merchandise, it is the kind of merchandise he is selling. Music, shirts, etc., great! Coffee and pendants is just moving into a whole other realm of selling out.

Maybe I've always misunderstood Ed's lyrics, but what is frustrating to me is that he used to write lyrics that were counter-cultural and often anti-materialistic. That is a message I always related to, but it seems he'd become the guy he used to sing against. I can deal with the religion thing, but his "Christianity" seems to have more to do with selling shit than anything else.

[Senghe]

Maybe I've always misunderstood Ed's lyrics, but what is frustrating to me is that he used to write lyrics that were counter-cultural and often anti-materialistic. That is a message I always related to, but it seems he'd become the guy he used to sing against. I can deal with the religion thing, but his "Christianity" seems to have more to do with selling shit than anything else.

I doubt you did, not at the beginning anyway. But people change and often turn into the person they most hated or dreaded becoming. if he's a good dad, his daughters will be the centre of his universe now and providing for them will be more important than his former beliefs either spiritual or political.

But the preachy aspect of his Christianity thing does stick in the craw somewhat, I agree.

[thefunkyredcaboose]

I doubt you did, not at the beginning anyway. But people change and often turn into the person they most hated or dreaded becoming. if he's a good dad, his daughters will be the centre of his universe now and providing for them will be more important than his former beliefs either spiritual or political.

So it is okay for someone to dismiss their previously held values just because they have kids? Sorry, I just don't buy it.

Obviously people change, but Ed's lyrics were never just the teenage angst of the grunge era. I always thought they had a lot to say about religion and society that wasn't just about "being young and angry."

I've not always agreed with his stances on those issues, mind you, but it can't be denied that the current Ed just seems shallow in comparison. The coffee and pendants are a reflection of that.

[Senghe]

So it is okay for someone to dismiss their previously held values just because they have kids? Sorry, I just don't buy it.

Obviously people change, but Ed's lyrics were never just the teenage angst of the grunge era. I always thought they had a lot to say about religion and society that wasn't just about "being young and angry."

I've not always agreed with his stances on those issues, mind you, but it can't be denied that the current Ed just seems shallow in comparison. The coffee and pendants are a reflection of that.

But it's not just happened, it's been a slow slide for the last 3 albums/10 years. At least for me. I do know where you're coming from as I've found it increasingly more difficult to connect with Live's new songs. The new, improved Eddie K's Zion just makes me go meh. Live, musically, became more of a mild treading on the toes than a punch in the heart. But hey ho, that's life. I didn't mean to suggest Live's early stuff was navel gazing Nirvanaesque angst (sorry to the Cobain fans). You're right, it had more layers to it and intelligence than that. But the angry Ed full of questions and opnions seemed to have found what he was looking for (you only have to listen to Heaven) and slipped into feeling content with his lot in life. Or disappeared up his own ego. Or a bit of both. I don't think he woke up one morning after the birth of his first daughter and thought "Fuck all that stuff I've been singing about for the last 10 years, I'm a dad now and what matters is making moolah". As you experience life more, it kind of shapes bits of you into someone your younger you wouldn't recognise.

And it doesn't matter if it's okay or not, it's happened and you're just going to have to face the fact that someone you once had faith in has fell off his pedestal.

This post has been edited by Senghe: Dec 19 2009, 3:28 pm

[thefunkyredcaboose]

But it's not just happened, it's been a slow slide for the last 3 albums/10 years. At least for me. I do know where you're coming from as I've found it increasingly more difficult to connect with Live's new songs. The new, improved Eddie K's Zion just makes me go meh. Live, musically, became more of a mild treading on the toes than a punch in the heart. But hey ho, that's life. I didn't mean to suggest Live's early stuff was navel gazing Nirvanaesque angst (sorry to the Cobain fans). You're right, it had more layers to it and intelligence than that. But the angry Ed full of questions and opnions seemed to have found what he was looking for (you only have to listen to Heaven) and slipped into feeling content with his lot in life. Or disappeared up his own ego. Or a bit of both. I don't think he woke up one morning after the birth of his first daughter and thought "Fuck all that stuff I've been singing about for the last 10 years, I'm a dad now and what matters is making moolah". As you experience life more, it kind of shapes bits of you into someone your younger you wouldn't recognise.

And it doesn't matter if it's okay or not, it's happened and you're just going to have to face the fact that someone you once had faith in has fell off his pedestal.

I would never describe what I had as any sort of "faith," just the enjoyment of listening to someone who shared the same viewpoint.

In the end it is always disappointing to see someone change their values and their musical style (the two do go hand in hand). I've seen it first hand more than once.

[Senghe]

I would never describe what I had as any sort of "faith," just the enjoyment of listening to someone who shared the same viewpoint.

In the end it is always disappointing to see someone change their values and their musical style (the two do go hand in hand). I've seen it first hand more than once.

I meant faith in him being honest and from the heart in what he was singing about rather than any other connotation. Actually, he may still be making music from the heart, but it's not what's connecting to ours like it used to do.

Yes, it almost inevitably happens when a band stay together for such a long period of time. Obviously, bands have to change to stay relevant and interesting, even to their core fans. As much as I lament not feeling absolutely blown away by the last three albums as I did by the previous three, I would rather have heard them than Throwing Copper clones 2,3 an 4. That would have disappointed me far more than how it's actually played out. Sadly, most bands don't know when to bow out on a high and with dignity and hence what we've seen with Live is usually the rule rather than the exception.