Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan released his first solo album today, titled The Future Embrace (or, "TheFutureEmbrace").  You can supposedly listen to the whole thing on his website, billycorgan.com, but it seems to just play 2 or 3 songs over and over; however the whole album does play properly from his myspace page.

Also on his website, under "confessions," he is writing his autobiography.  There are 32 chapters done so far, and I’ve enjoyed it immensely.  You might have to be a Corgan or Smashing Pumpkins fan to appreciate it though; I’ve lived through each album since the early 90s and they were my favorite band for a long time (and still are one of my favorites), so to get such a deep and personal look into his life and what went on recording Pumpkins albums (and the Zwan album) is fascinating to me.  But I do think his writing is also funny and his story is generally interesting anyway, so maybe you don’t have to be into him or the Pumpkins to enjoy reading his memoirs.

The Wikipedia has a wealth of information about him too, in a short summarized form.

Billy also put out a full-page ad/memo in today’s edition of his hometown paper, the Chicago Tribune, in which he announced that he wants to bring the Pumpkins back together.  Given the way that guitarist James Iha broke the band up five years ago, and the fact that bassist D’Arcy Wretzky has been characterized as a "mean-spirited drug addict" by Corgan, I wonder if that’s really possible.  On the other hand, Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin (who is one of the best drummers I’ve ever heard, particularly evidenced on the SP box set "The Aeroplane Flies High") have always been 95% of the band, and they have remained good friends through everything, so it could technically work without James and D’Arcy.  The amazing Zwan album is evidence of that.

Here’s part of what Billy said in the ad:

Quoting Billy Corgan:

For a year now I have walked around with a secret, a secret I chose to keep.  But now I want you [his hometown fans] to be among the first to know that I have made plans to renew and revive The Smashing Pumpkins.  I want my band back, and my songs, and my dreams.  In this desire I feel I have come home again.

The part that I bolded captures and conveys some of the magic that is in the Smashing Pumpkins, and in everything that Billy Corgan writes.  He is jaded with the music industry, but he has none of the "look how cool I am because I’m so jaded" attitude that many rock stars (wannabe or otherwise) seem to have.  He puts his heart and soul into his music, bringing that dream to life in a contagious way on every recording.