THE NIN HOTLINE

It recently came to our attention that the Wave Goodbye Tour messenger bag that was being sold for $55 on the NINJA tour and going for about 60€ on the Euro tour recently sold on eBay for $1,025, which spawned a follow-up auction by someone else listing it as buy-it-now for $1,000.

Nine Inch Nails is still touring - and they are still selling the bag, it's not as rare as these auctions are making them out to be. In fact, there's a good chance it'll be up on NIN's merch site after the tour, or (if we're lucky) offered to other retailers such as Goodrock. Be patient and save your scrilla.

Wretchi wrote in to tell us about a recent radio interview from Berlin.


Today there was a about nin and the "wave goodbye"-tour at a radiostation in berlin. it contained a 15 min.-phone-interview with reznor which took place on the 23rd of june.
the uncut orginial file (without any translations) is now available at the website of the radio station
also you can listen to this file there or here where you can find a download of a summary of the show, including german translations, as well.

He talks about the current tour, his New Orleans home, and what he's doing next.


Note: Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have been in Europe for the past two weeks. It is therefore unlikely that he died in Denver last week.

While it's not nearly as comprehensive as NINtourHistory.com, and it was never fully completed, back in 2000, the four arguably largest NIN fan sites on the internet collaborated to put together a spot where folks could share their experiences, photographs and scans from the Fragility tour.

Originally hosted on the now defunct TheFragile.com, The fragility v2.0 Tour Journal is back online again, unmolested from it's last updated status. The credits include the folks behind this site, smashedupsanity.com, thefragile.com, and SeemsLikeSalvation. John, Keith, Yves, Evan, and Kraw have all found better things to do with their spare time, hehe.

At some point, I think I had planned to move the tour journal to the Hotline, but I don't think I got much farther than a redesign. You can check that out too, for grins.

More old crap coming soon!

nin.com had been online for a few days, and every night it was updating at midnight with new images and sounds, but there wasn't anywhere keeping track of that kind of thing. I was sitting in IRC channel #nin99 on DALnet trying to keep up with everything, and at some point asked Paul LaBarbera and John Sampson if they'd help me to maintain a news site tracking all this information down. Not long afterward, I asked a guy named meathead if he'd do a biweekly humor column to keep things interesting. As the cliche goes, the rest is history.

If I weren't so busy putting things together for The Gonzales Cantata, I'd probably have cooler stuff to throw online tonight, but I'm missing a spindle of CDRs with my older archives, so I did some outsourcing to make up for it.

Wallpapers

Malechite (whom you may know from NINwiki.com put together a package of wallpapers for iPhones and computers - some based off original NIN Hotline designs by j. sampson, and some wholly original designs.

Music inspired by Know the Score

Back in 2005, we ran a contest revolving around Know the Score, a site we host where mormolyke has posted transcriptions of various NIN songs into proper sheet music. The contest required that entries be acoustic performances -- and while we got a handful of entries, there were only a few that really stood out. I notified
Rebecca Roth that her harp renditions of Adrift and At Peace and Gone, Still took the cake, but for one reason or another, she never did get her prizes - though I did get in touch with her last week, and there's a package of goodies from Goodrock coming her way - better late than never I hope!

Coming in a very close second was Jul DuCamp's minimalistic piano performance of A Warm Place, inspired by Philip Glass, which Jul was awesome enough to send the score in for.

One of the earlier pieces written and posted on Know the Score was A Warm Place arranged for a string quartet - and ever since that page went live, the last bullet point read "Studio Recording (MP3) [coming soon]" - well, Melissa recorded that years ago, using her viola, violin, and then pitch-shifting a viola to emulate the cello. We never posted it, hoping to instead get a real quartet to play, but it's always been one of my favorite tracks in my collection - and now you can listen to it too (please, right-click to save). I'll post the multitracks later in the week.

More to come (if I find it)

I'll be posting more as I dig it up throughout the week. Specifically, I've got a copy of the Fragility 2.0 Tour Journal that was created as a collaboration between the Hotline, TheFragile.com, and SmashedUpSanity.com.

If you follow our twitter, you may have already heard about this, but for any nin live/statistcs fiends out there that haven't, a new website archiving every live Nine Inch Nails performance has recently been set up at www.nintourhistory.com. Find out how often every song has been played, where the most frequented venues are , and compile a list of the shows you've been to for personalised stats.

It's a really comprehensive website, and I've just spent my entire Saturday morning flicking through it!

I know I do! That's why the current batch of #Eric auctions includes a signed pair of boots worn by Alessandro Cortini and Danny Lohner (as mentioned below) and a Limited / Numbered Year Zero lithograph signed by the entire current NIN lineup. Remember: #Eric needs a heart, so have a heart of your own and bid, bid, bid!

In other news, Michael Jackson, otherwise known as the guy who wrote the drum line to Capital G, is dead at age 50.

Keeping in line with my previous update about re-listing Ally's boots on eBay - which is aimed at collectors - Devon over on ETS has launched an amazing cataloging site, aptly named "NINCatalog.com". Those who can say that one of their favorite hobbies is collecting rare NIN items will find this site indispensible. Here's what Devon has to say about the site:


If you wish to contribute scans of your items to the new site, be sure to contact Devon via email.

Pearls to Pigs, the latest album from Modwheelmood (Alessandro Cortini & Pelle Hillstrom), a band and album that we've talked about a lot lately (and for good reason) is now available for download from the usual sources: Amazon (for $8.99) & iTunes (for $9.99 + digital booklet).

Of course, if you'd like to own a physical version of the album, you can check out the MWM Webstore, which has also added two classic t-shirts from years past.

There's an article at Paul Lamere's Music Machinery blog, Paul muses over all the data collected by sites like Last.fm, and what sorts of metrics you can derive from that information. A quick and dirty stat he came up with is "the passion index":

The results are interesting... run against a very large pool of artists, the ones who rank highest on the passion index are ridiculously obscure. When the scope is limited to the 1,000 most popular artists, Nine Inch Nails ranks #8, just above Opeth and right below Porcupine tree. Limiting the scope to the 100 most popular artists, the 5 groups with the most passionate listeners are (in order) The Beatles, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and Pink Floyd. Interesting stuff.

Two weeks ago, I was alternating between kayaking down the Schuylkill River and spending the night in a little pop-up tent, when my addiction got the best of me and I turned on my iPhone to check my mail - finding an email from Mike Caplice that went a little like this:


This was before iPhone 3.0 came out though, so without copy and paste, posting that to the Hotline would have probably used up what little battery life I had left on my phone. I've been home a little over a week now, and Mike's gotten back to me with footage of Trent's receiving of all these proclamations.

You can check up on Eric's status through his sister Veronica's Twitter account, or via WeLoveEric.com - and sign up to be an organ donor, if you haven't already. I've had "organ donor" on my driver's license for as long as I've had a license.

This Friday, Trent Reznor is set to talk to Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot on their NPR syndicated show, Sound Opinions. If your local NPR station doesn't carry Sound Opinions, don't worry - by being on the internet, you're already way ahead of radio and newspapers as it is, so you can look forward to an MP3 podcast of the show appearing at this link next Monday. now. (Reminder: This is the Monday after the show airs. That link won't work until then) No word on whether or not they'll discuss the Cleveland Indians*. Thanks to Russ and Snettles for the heads up.

* If it's on the internet, it must be true

Download Street Sweeper Social Club in DRM-free MP3 format from Amazon for $3.99 - today only. If you still like plastic discs, the physical version of the album also went on sale today, but that will run you $9.99 + shipping.

If you're a visitor to this page, you probably already know who SSSC are, given that they opened the NINJA tour, but briefly - it's Boots from the Coup, plus Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine & the Nightwatchman.

Ally's boots are back up on eBay to help raise money for #Eric. Only this time - they have been signed and dated this afternoon by Alessandro Cortini himself. Be sure to check them out before someone snatches up these one-of-a-kind items using the "Buy-It-Now" option.

Also, if any other collectors are still interested in donating their items to help #Eric, please be sure to email me at the link below this news update.

I had the pleasure of once again chatting with now former-NIN gizmo guru Alessandro Cortini about blindoldfreak, modwheelmood, and other projects that he's currently working on. Alessandro also talks about life during last year's Lights In The Sky tour and if he'd ever rejoin NIN for another project in the future.

You can read the interview here and make sure to DIGG IT!

Also, the modwheelmood webstore has gone LIVE! Here you can purchase t-shirts, CDs for their last two EPs and first full-length album, Pearls to Pigs, and get your hands on the vinyl edition of PtP, which comes with a download card for the album and is also signed and numbered by Alessandro and Pelle.

One more thing - Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for our next #Eric auctions as we'll be featuring a test pressing of the Pearls to Pigs vinyl and something... "unique" from Alessandro's time in NIN.

At the Bonnaroo Festival, Trent said, "It just dawned on me that this is our last show ever in the United States, but I'll keep going."

Read about it here, here, here, here, and here.

Thanks to everyone who sent in this story.

Just a reminder that most of our Help #Eric Auctions are ending today. Make sure to get in your bids, as you don't want some of these gems slipping away.

Also to note: I know I said I'd get up more auctions for Thursday, but hopefully you can all forgive my tardiness - they will be going up tonight and tomorrow (I promise!) A lot of signed stuff, CDs, lithographs, and even some donations from ex-NIN gadgetry-master Alessandro Cortini and Trent himself will be going up for auction to help raise even more money for #Eric's heart transplant. As of today, these auctions have raised over $1,600.

Big thanks to all our donors who have emailed me with their pictures and item descriptions. Your selflessness is much appreciated.

Just an FYI: the outpouring of support for our Help #Eric Auctions has been amazing over the past couple days. I've had a ton of people emailing me, and selflessly donating parts of their collection in order to raise money for #Eric's heart transplant. Keep your eyes peeled for these auctions to go live on Thursday afternoon. They'd have gone up earlier, but I'll be out of town tomorrow at ... guess what ... the NIN show! As a preview, the auctions are set to include merchandise, vinyls, CDs, signed stuff, clothing and lithos.

Speaking of #Eric, Veronica De La Cruz appeared on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet this morning to talk about her brother's fight to live. Its a great interview that reveals some updates on #Eric's condition, and covers the (sad) reality of the American health care and health insurance system.

Trent was honoured with a Special Achievement Webby for Artist of the Year last night, and the Webbys's official youtube has a couple of clips from the show: his extensive acceptance speech, and a red carpet interview. The Observer also has a pre-Webbys interview

In addition to yesterday's auctions - which are found in the news update below - I've managed to put up the rest of my Nine Inch Nails vinyl collection for sale. Much like the below auctions, all proceeds are going to help Eric De La Cruz in his battle to get a heart transplant.

Also, fellow NIN Hotline staffer Icklekitty has donated a rare Nothing Records babydoll t-shirt signed by Trent, and a bonus UK tour flyer. Check it out, and the other vinyl auctions, below.

As a reminder, I'm still taking donations from the greater NIN community. Please be sure to contact me at swindley [at] theninhotline [dot] net if you can offer anything. Be sure to watch the Hotline in the coming days for more auctions.

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1. THE SLIP -- 12" vinyl record
2. YEAR ZERO -- 12" vinyl record
3. YEAR ZERO: REMIXED -- 12" vinyl record
4. THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL -- 12" vinyl record
5. HEAD LIKE A HOLE -- 12" and 7" vinyl record
6. THE HAND THAT FEEDS and ONLY -- 9" vinyl records
7. SURVIVALISM and CAPITAL G -- 9" vinyl records
8. SIN -- 7" vinyl record
9. SIGNED BABYDOLL T-SHIRT -- White; Nothing Records; Medium

As you may or may not know by now, NIN.com and the greater NIN online community has actively been involved in helping to raise funds for Eric De La Cruz so that he can receive a life-saving heart transplant. In addition to Trent taking in donations on NIN.com, we at the Hotline have decided to help raise money for Eric by taking donations as well.

If you recall, Hotline staffer ItsJustDave underwent surgery in 2007 to remove a cancerous mass from his abdomen. During that time, the Hotline sought to take in cash donations to support Dave. In addition, several long-time NIN collectors donated parts of their collection to be placed up for eBay auction, in order to raise more cash.

With this in mind, we're hoping to call upon the NIN collector community once again to donate some gems in their collections to raise money for a good cause. All proceeds of the auctions will go directly to Eric's fund. If interested, please contact me via email at swindley [at] theninhotline [dot] net, or via my linked name below.

The first auctions will go up today, and will include a Ghosts Ultra-Limited $300 set, and a ton of rare vinyl - all out of my own personal collection.

I hope all you collectors out there will rush to give back to someone and something that has given you so much over the years.

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Auction #1 -- GHOSTS I-IV ULTRA-DELUXE LIMITED EDITION $300 SET

Auction #2 -- THE FRAGILE 3-LP VINYL RECORD SET SOLD!!!

Auction #3 -- CLOSER TO GOD 2-LP VINYL RECORD UK SET

Auction #4 -- FIXED EP VINYL RECORD UK RELEASE

Auction #5 -- WITH TEETH 2xLP US VINYL RECORD SET

Auction #6 -- THINGS FALLING APART: 2xLP US SET and BONUS POLISH CASSETTE

Auction #7 -- MARCH OF THE PIGS 7" LIMITED/NUMBERED/PROMO UK VINYL RELEASE SOLD!!!

Just as I thought July couldn't get any more exciting, Alec Empire has just announced that he is to support the last handful of NIN dates in Europe this July, from Malta to Madrid. Go here for more details.