Happy Birthday, Peter Gabriel

Peter turns 61 today and is currently getting the final mixes done for his album "New Blood", projected to be released this spring (translation from Gabrielese: before the end of this year, hopefully.)

This photo was a Photoshopped image done for PG's 53rd birthday by SolsburyHill.com, perhaps the oldest surviving PG fansite on the web.

If you forgot to send PG a prezzie, don't worry. On September of 2010, PG pleaded with his fans to stop sending him gifts because he no longer has anyplace to store them.

But if I was able to send PG a gift, it would be this:

Peter, may you never need anything in order to be happy. Just be happy.

Why I've Gotten a Little Nastier Lately

“There’s more beauty in the truth even if it is dreadful beauty.” John Steinbeck

I lost a few Facebook friends recently because they claimed my writings about Peter Gabriel were getting too nasty. One even went so far as to accuse me of “rage against the machine that is Peter Gabriel.” No -- don’t try and figure that one out. When anyone’s rantings are weirder than mine, that’s when I hit the BLOCK function on Facebook.

Don’t get me wrong – I’d still take a bullet for Peter Gabriel. But I’ll be damned if I’ll curb my tongue just to humor the more PC of his fans. A long time ago I figured this out: PG is going to do whatever PG wants, so you may as well write what you really feel rather than what you think he wants to hear.

Peter Gabriel is rich and famous. Peter Gabriel is rich and famous. Yes, I know I’ve repeated myself, but that’s only to emphasize this fact’s importance. At this point in his life with nothing left to prove, you think he’s going to give a tinker’s damn what anyone thinks of him, his charity work or his taste in extra-curricular activities – especially if you aren’t rich?

Besides, have you read what fans write on PG forums and his FB page? Here are some gems from Jan 19, 2011, none of which were from me, I’m happy to report:

• “CAN I MAKE A WISH ON THE FULL MOON? THAT WOULD, I COULD SEE YOUR EYES CLOSE ENOUGH TO PERCEIVE THE WORLD THROUGH THEM”
• “I fucking love you.”
• “I fucking love you more.”
• “Awww I love you PG you are like the boyfriend that never left my mind and my heart you are in my soul since I was 15 years old. If you would've married me I would still feel the same as I feel web I see your changing face and your ever lasting Eyes.~IN YOUR EYES I FEEL COMPLETE~”
• “Hi Peter i am an admirer of yor work .Hope yor new album came soon.”
• “car scratch birdy melt jill”
• “aaaa—ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooargh”

Blood-curling, aren’t they? Now imagine if YOU were the recipient of such messages. You’d never go online again, would you? You’d probably never get out of the freakin’ bed. And PG’s been getting this crap for over forty years. Quite frankly, I’m really wary about going to a PG concert again just because I’ll being in the same building as these freaks.

Reading these appalling mini-love letters (and whatever the hell the last two posts were supposed to be about) I blush in shame to think I once sent love poetry to this man. I’m surprised he didn’t he have me arrested for that. At least now I see what an idiot I was and can now make amends – to myself. I gotta be me -- because who else can I be?

Peter Gabriel Gets Cornered at Davos, 29 Jan, 2011

Short post this time, since the last one went on for ages. Here's a recent clip of Peter talking to YouTube's World View. Enjoy: