Smoking Section: Justin Timberlake?s Upcoming Plans, My Chemical Romance and More
 

Bury the rag deep in your face: The FutureSex/LoveSounds era is about to come to a close. At the end of November, after eighteen months of sold-out gigs, Justin Timberlake is taking a break. “It’s like, I’m over myself,” he tells the Smoking Section. “I’m sure a lot of other people are too.” JT is looking forward to puffing on the sweet Mary Jane and hitting the slopes. In ‘08, he plans to work as the hands-on CEO of his fledgling label, Tennman Records. “After I get all the hotboxing and snowboarding out of the way,” he says, “I’ve got four artists to be in the studio with.” That would be Internet sensation Esmee Denters, a rap group from Memphis called Free Sol, R&B singer Brenda Radney and his old pal, songwriter Matt Morris. Says JT, “Until I get that urge to make my own record, this is what’s exciting to me.”
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My Chemical Romance’s October 7th gig at the Palacio de Los Deportes, in Mexico City, was a milestone for the band. For the last time, the quintet engaged in the macabre processional known as the Black Parade — based, of course, on their album of the same name. Luckily, they caught the perform ance on tape. “To finally see it executed on film is going to be really amazing,” singer Gerard Way tells the S.S. After dates in Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia, the band will take a nice little break, which couldn’t come at a better time for the singer, who got married in a backstage ceremony in September — during the Projekt Revolution Tour — to Lyn Z, the bassist from Mindless Self Indulgence. “Married life is ****in’ amazing,” says Way. “Especially being in a relationship that I only thought could be a fictional thing. It’s like knowing that there’s always somebody out there, and that’s something I’ve never known.” Aw!
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In the past fortnight, the S.S. got a heavy dose of real country music. In New York, we caught three of Lucinda Williams’ intimate gigs — performing her albums Essence, World Without Tears and Car Wheels on a Gravel Road — then jetted to San Francisco for the seventh annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. An estimated 500,000 were lured to Golden Gate Park by acts such as John Prine, Gillian Welch, Jeff Tweedy, Charlie Louvin and Del McCoury. Best of all, the festival is absolutely free, thanks to low-key Bay Area billionaire Warren Hellman, who pours out millions to indulge his love for traditional tunes. On Saturday night, a slew of performers gathered at Slim’s, where the pickin’ was so fi erce and the alcohol so fl owing that we saw smoke coming off banjo strings. Our hero Jimmie Dale Gilmore summed it up perfectly: “Warren Hellman for president!”


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