Smashing Pumpkins to play final two concerts

CHICAGO (November 27, 2000 8:53 a.m. EST) - Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan says he is uncertain what his future holds after the band plays its final two concerts this week in Chicago.

"I haven't been this unstable in seven, eight years," he told the Chicago Tribune in Sunday's editions. "The band coming to an end is a very stressful idea to me. I know it's the right thing, but I'm wondering what it means."

The band is calling it quits 13 years after debuting in a Chicago bar.

Corgan said he will take at least a year off to "create a little bit of space between me and what people think of me."

"I want to be sure if I play music again that I'm really confident about what I'm doing," he said.

The sold-out final shows Wednesday and Saturday are among the hottest tickets on the Internet; one posting on the band's fan-club site sought as much as $1,000 a ticket.

The group's half-dozen albums have sold more than 22 million copies worldwide.

Billy moving out of the states?

BILLY CORGAN has said following the split of the SMASHING PUMPKINS, he wants to be "a musician - not a figurehead", and is considering leaving the US altogether, to live in ITALY.

Speaking in an interview with the Irish Times, out in Ireland tomorrow (November 14), Corgan said he was so "concerned" with the "corrupt " and "disengaging US political system" that he is "seriously considering" emigrating.

Speaking about the recent election chaos in the US, he said: "(Pearl Jam's) Eddie Vedder did gigs for (Green Party candidate) Ralph Nader but people were saying that a vote for Nader might have been a vote against Gore, which meant a vote for Bush so I was concerned about that. It's so disengaging the US political system, it's so corrupt. I'm worried that Bush will change the social focus of the country - bring us back to the days of a 'strong military' and promote some 'American vision' idea which was never real in the first place. I don't want to live in the US anymore, I'm seriously considering leaving to live somewhere else - maybe Italy.''

Elsewhere, Corgan talks about the "cultural erosion in the US" which has "taken the feet out of underneath music". He also accuses Napster of having "sold out" over their strategic alliance with music giant BMG. He said: "I think Napster teaming up with BMG is a counter-productive gesture. That free flag they were waving wasn't real and now they've joined the ranks. They've become a business, they've sold out."

Finally, Corgan hinted he plans to remove himself from the public eye on the release of his solo album. He added: " I'll return, but not on such a public level, more of a musical level. I believe I need to re-invent the paradigm by which I operate. I'm still living a paradigm I entered into at the age of 23 when I was confrontational, both in person and on stage. I'm 33 now and I've got a wider view. Now I primarily want to be a musician - not a figurehead."

Pumpkins Offer Essay Challenge to Fans

"Machina" essay could win fans VIP tix for final Pumpkins show

Anyone looking to get tickets to the two final dates the Smashing Pumpkins will play in their hometown of Chicago better pull out all their old Lit Crit papers from college and get to work. The Pumpkins have announced an essay contest on their official Web site www.smashingpumpkins.com with a grand prize of two tickets and two VIP passes to their final show on Dec. 2 in Chicago at the club where the band got its start, the Metro.

The essay contest requires the would-be-winner to delve into the concept behind the band's last CD release Machina/the Machines of God. In approximately 1,500 words, the essay should explain the story and/or the concepts of the album.

In a message posted on the band's site, Billy Corgan announced the contest saying, "I purposely chose not to reveal the story when Machina was released so that everyone would be given a chance to peer deep in between the cracks . . . but alas, as the band comes to an end, so does this twisted concept." Corgan does offer one hint on unraveling Machina: "June is a girl. Not a man."

Some additional Smashing Pumpkins Cliff Notes may come in the form of their episode of VH1 "Storytellers," which airs Nov. 4. But that doesn't give fans much time. The assignment is due Nov. 5. Fans can submit entries online to machina@futuresamurai.com.