Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Epic Records has cooked up a new promotional gimmick for the rock band Cartel, which has agreed to spend three weeks sealed inside a huge plastic bubble on New York's Pier 54 while writing and recording an album. (It's working already, as evidenced by this blog entry about a group which otherwise wouldn't grace these web pages.) The Atlanta five-piece and their two producers will enter the bubble, which has been outfitted with a state-of-the-art recording studio, on May 24 and stay there until the bubble "bursts" on June 12 with the band performing the new music in concert. Yes, it's going to be a reality show on MTV. No, there isn't a shred of doubt that "Band in a Bubble" will be a totally authentic and completely organic chronicle of the creative process.