New York - June 10, 2003

Sim Shady

Rock Manager Video Game

Some people are just born sleazy. They grow up to be rock managers.

The rest of us have to work at it. Which is why the PC game Rock Manager is such a vital addition to your life. In it you manage your very own band, taking them from Tuesday-open-mic-night obscurity to TRL superstardom (hopefully). You start by finding a group (making sure they can work together). Then comes the fun: recording and mixing, designing album art, touring, getting radio play (one word: payola), and publicity.

Along the way, you grease plenty of palms and maybe even enlist the help of your friend Sergei to “disappear” a nemesis or two. All the satisfaction of contributing useless noise and immorality to the world without quitting your day job.

Because it may indeed be better to burn out than fade away, but the rewards of true rock managerdom belong only to that lucky bottom one percent of the population.

The rest of us can only, er, dream.

Available online at amazon.com.