Pitchfork

Um, hey, extremely rich people? Many of you may, in fact, be crazy. It's the only way I can get my head around the very existence of the Jagger Dagger, an icepick designed by Jade Jagger (spawn of Mick'n'Bianca) that retails in the neighborhood of a quarter million dollars.

But the Jagger Dagger ain't for any old frozen-water-stabbin', no way: the Dagger-- "a sword boasting an 18-carat white gold hilt studded with 12 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds, 42 pale sapphires, and inlaid with a central blue lapis lazuli square"-- was conceived for the sole purpose of chilling Belvedere vodka, either in the comfort of your own incredibly large home, or in those shitty clubs with "bottle service".

And why, you might ask, would a person need to drop $250,000 on such a pointless thing? Well, duh: "The irregular surfaces of hand-cracked ice melt down more slowly than traditional evenly-shaped ice cubes, keeping vodka cold without diluting its taste and potency." I mean, if this not-so-liquid sword ain't worth that kinda money, I don't know what is. [from Fashion Week Daily, via Lola y Maria]

OK, so, why are we talking about this thing? Well, tonight at New York City's Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, Wu-Tang Clan rapper/producer extraordinaire RZA will perform at an event celebrating the Jagger Dagger. Why? Well, because RZA recently collaborated on a Belvedere ad with Vincent Gallo. And probably because he's getting paid handsomely. Perhaps in Jagger Daggers?

Moving on...

In significantly less wacky RZA news, over the weekend at a chess tournament in Menlo Park, California, he announced the launch of the online chess community WuChess.com. It's RZA's first online venture, co-created with Chesspark to help bring chess players of all ages together to play and chat. A portion of the site's revenues will go to the Hip Hop Chess Federation's scholarship fund. A fine idea for a noted chess nut such as he, though one imagines elaborate scenarios in which RZA and some 11-year-old from Dayton are pitted head-to-head, unbeknownst to each other. "Nice move!" "BONG BONG." Etc.

And because his myriad musical projects just weren't enough, RZA had to go and add another one to the pile: Achozen, his new project with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian. The group also features rapper Kinetic 9 from Wu-Tang associates Killarmy and RZA collaborator Reverend William Burke, and their forthcoming debut albums includes cameos from GZA, George Clinton, Killah Priest, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, and others. That album will be released this summer on Odadjian's label urSESSION, with the first track, "Deuces", set to debut on urSESSION's website on April 22. A tour is expected to follow.

RZA's next nice move is a mess of UK/North American tour dates in the coming months, as well as the July 1 Koch release of his latest Bobby Digital LP, now called Digi Snacks. There's also a handful of Wu-Tang Clan dates on the way, though I wouldn't necessarily count on RZA's presence at any of 'em.

For a lot more RZA, stay tuned for Pitchfork's interview with the man himself, coming soon to a website near you!

RZA:

04-16 New York, NY - Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts
04-25 Edinburgh, Scotland - Triptych Festival
04-26 Glasgow, Scotland - Triptych Festival
04-27 Aberdeen, Scotland - Triptych Festival
04-28 London, England - IndigO2
05-01 Manchester, England - Academy 1 (Futuresonic Festival)
05-02 Brighton, England - TBA
05-04 Nottingham, England - TBA
06-10 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
06-11 Austin, TX - Emo's
06-12 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
06-14 Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
06-15 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
06-17 Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theater
06-18 Phoenix, AZ - The Brickhouse Theater
06-20 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
06-21 San Francisco, CA - 1015
06-23 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
06-24 Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market
06-25 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
06-27 Calgary, Alberta - Sled Island Music Festival
06-30 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
07-01 Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
07-02 Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom
07-04 Ottawa, Ontario - New Capital Music Hall
07-05 New York, NY - Webster Hall
07-07 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
07-08 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

Wu-Tang Clan:

04-16 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
04-18 Cambridge, MA - Tercentenary Theater
04-21 Montreal, Quebec - Le National
04-24 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
04-25 Washington, DC - Love
07-11-13 Zurich, Switzerland - Openair Frauenfeld