We get all kinds of stuff in the mail from publicists – from cool to weird to downright dirty. Last week, the Gambit Weekly mailbox turned up something that was kind of all three (but mostly the latter two): the latest solo effort from Tool’s Maynard James Keenan (see above.)
If it looks like the demonic cartoon flight attendant on the cover is flipping you the bird, U.K.-style, it’s because the distributor placed that parental advisory sticker over the word “vagina.” Yes, the album title is “V Is For Vagina” – and the satanic stewardess isn’t rude, she’s just pro-cooch.
The word is obscured, according to Keenan’s publicist Monica Seide, “because more than half of the retailers refused to carry the cd unless the word Vagina was blocked out. Even with the sticker Target pulled the album at the last minute.” (Oh, Target. Home of hip yet affordable design – why do you have to disappoint me just in time for Isaac Mizrahi sweater dresses?) Read the rest of this entry »