StarbuckWILD...

Sometimes I feel like Starbucks has a personal vendetta against me. I'm not as paranoid as this crazy motherfucker, but I feel as though that they are attacking me on all sides lately. First, my wallet. In London, a Frappucino is the price of a decent lunch (and c'mon now, who can afford lunch at the end of the month in this unfeasible city?). Second, my tastebuds. The lushness of a Starbucks coffee makes it so easy to justify financing their globalized takeover. One foamy caramel macchiato doesn't really hurt anyone, right? Thinking about their aggressive "cancerous"expansion techniques (hyperactive growth of chains; they're happy to crush one of their own branches as long as they take someone else down in the process) always makes my Chai tea latte a little hard to swallow...but damn, it still goes down so smoothly. Third, my eyes: that fucking logo is everywhere. There are FOUR Starbucks within a 2-block radius of my office in central London - say what?

And now, most recently and most offensively, the 'bucks has even hit my ears. Starbucks' record label has been paining me for obvious soul-destroying reasons, the further degradation of the music world and what not. But, to add insult to injury, Starbucks keeps picking musicians I once held so morally high - artists that have nothing to prove, that already have more money than they could spend in one lifetime. In the words of AniDiFranco, "everyone is a fucking Napoleon." Paul McCartney came as no surprise, that man and his fugly ex-wife will do anything to get noticed...but Joni Mitchell? That's where this shit gets personal. Her albums are pretty much the soundtrack to my formative years; I still have yet to find anything quite as heartbreakingly beautiful as 'Blue.'

Flashback to 6 months ago, when Joni talked about how 'ashamed' she was of the music industry: "I just think it's a cesspool. I would never take another deal in the record business, which means I may not record again, or I have to figure out a way to sell over the internet or do something else...It's tragic what MTV has done to the world."

Hypocritical sell-out or not, she's still the shit.
Joni Mitchell - Woodstock

There's also rumors of Prince (the artist formerly known as credible) and James Taylor being signed up. And then today I read about Dave Matthews and Starbucks teaming up on some sort of yawnworthy live release - how's about that for a corporate wet dream? Whatever, I gotta go...my latte's getting cold.