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| Thursday, September 02 | | · | The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things - Toronto International Film Festival |
| · | Billy at Neuqua Valley High |
| Wednesday, September 01 | | · | David Pajo Interview - Punk Planet |
| Thursday, August 19 | | · | Jimmy's studio photos. |
| Saturday, August 14 | | · | Journal Post From Jimmy 8/14 |
| Wednesday, August 11 | | · | James News - Remix of Blue released |
| Thursday, August 05 | | · | Jimmy C. News |
| Wednesday, August 04 | | · | 08.03.04 - Billy Journal Post |
| Monday, August 02 | | · | BC Live show. |
| Friday, July 23 | | · | More Breaking Benjamin News |
| Sunday, July 18 | | · | Jimmy Chamberlin's self-maintained homepage |
| Saturday, July 17 | | · | Pumpkins on GTA: San Andreas Soundtrack |
| · | 07.15.04 - Billy Journal Post |
| Thursday, July 08 | | · | This song so many have covered |
| Wednesday, June 30 | | · | IGN's Breaking Benjamin CD Review |
| Tuesday, June 29 | | · | Corgan's analysis a smashing success |
| Monday, June 28 | | · | The Wrigleyville Report with Billy Corgan |
| · | Billy Corgan: Blinking with Fists |
| Sunday, June 27 | | · | ''Rock's Graduate Student'' |
| · | Looking For A Break |
Older Articles
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| Corgan brings Neuqua's Grammy home - Daily Herald |
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 By Beth Sneller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Neuqua Valley High School students have been used to adults who try to put the best construction on everything.
For once, they said, they wanted to meet someone who wasn't afraid to call a spade a spade.
Billy Corgan aims to please. (More...)
The former Smashing Pumpkins lead singer visited the Naperville school Tuesday. He was there to present the prestigious Grammy Foundation Signature School Gold Award to the music department at a band concert.
But before the concert, he spent an hour chatting with about 500 music students during a private question-and-answer session.
It wasn't exactly a happy-happy, G-rated event.
Corgan, a Glenbard North High School graduate, spoke extensively about thoughts of suicide and unhappiness, ridiculed a few students for asking dumb questions and made sexual innuendoes about "American Idol" contestant William Hung.
A few of his comments made some administrators squirm.
The teenagers, however, loved it.
"He didn't spew a lot of (stuff) at us," sophomore Laura Friedman said. "He didn't use crowd-pleasing tactics like you'd expect."
Instead, he gave students exactly what they wanted - pure, unadulterated Billy.
Wearing a black hat (which he refused to remove), a striped shirt and dark pants, the 37-year-old fielded questions ranging from what his musical influences have been to which rock stars he would put in his dream band.
(The answer to the dream-band question, by the way, was: Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar, Smashing Pumpkins' Jimmy Chamberlin on drums, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones on bass, Stevie Nicks on tambourine and Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes on keyboards.)
Though he hadn't intended on playing any songs, Corgan gave in to the students' begging and played a song called "Illinois" on the piano.
He spent most of the hour, however, talking to the kids.
One student wanted to know whether Corgan had asked to be a character on "The Simpsons," or whether the show's creators had come to him.
Corgan stared at him.
"Are you kidding?" he asked. "Have you even seen the episode?"
On the episode in question, Corgan explained, Homer was invited to be part of Lollapalooza, so it made sense to include Corgan as part of the all-day concert. He obviously was not the initiator.
The student was taken aback by Corgan's indignant response, but his classmates were undaunted.
"If you had a dumb comment, he had a dumb comment for you right back," junior Brooke Taylor said.
When the kids asked about his past, Corgan explained he had scored extraordinarily high on an Illinois music test as a young kid, but his parents had said it would be too expensive to enroll him in the school music program.
So he taught himself how to play the guitar at age 15 and practiced four hours each day thereafter.
Not that he's recommending that as the best path to excellence in music, he said.
"I think people really do need a music education," he told the students, "and that's partly why I'm here today."
He repeated that sentiment to their parents Tuesday night, when he presented the Grammy award - and accompanying $5,000 check - to school administrators and music teachers.
Neuqua was one of only seven schools in the nation to receive a Gold Award. Thirty-three other schools - including Neuqua's sister school, Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora - were named Grammy Signature Schools.
Though the Signature Schools received $1,000 grants, only the Gold Schools were given their checks during special presentations.
Charles Staley, Neuqua's music department chairman, said the school will use the money to commission a piece of music next year that will include choir, orchestra and band.
Grammy: Singer gives in, plays a tune
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Posted on Thursday, May 27 @ 09:45:43 MST by anova |
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