Sugar Pitch Cortini

I’ve been checking my stats and it would appear that a lot of people hitting up the blog have found their way here by searching for the term ‘Sugar Pitch Cortini’ (ending up at this post, of course). If you don’t know what that is, it’s a video from Josh Freese’s YouTube channel which documents a variety of hilarious moments backstage at a Nine Inch Nails show and in Josh’s hotel room. The name itself comes from a sequence in which Alessandro Cortini lobs a bunch of sugar packets at Trent Reznor’s assistant, Brett.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I know why you guys have been searching for this particular phrase—you want to know what all the arguing is about at the end of the video. Well, a couple of people bought Josh’s $50 package and asked him about it as they were curious too. The general consensus around the time of the video’s appearance on YouTube was that the two arguing parties were Aaron North and Jeordie White. Apparently we were wrong! So far I’ve read two similar accounts of phone calls with Josh regarding the video with only minor differences, so I will post both. Only read on if you really want to know (it’s not that exciting)…

The following was posted by mdl70 on the nin.com forum:

It was staged.

The two people “arguing” are Trent’s and Josh’s assistants. During the tour they started doing that to mess with people and goof around. First time Josh heard it he was walking past a closed door hearing the two of them screaming at each other. He went in to see what was up and they filled him in on what they were doing: Arguing for shits and grins just to see where it goes.

Josh wanted to get that on film and told them about it. So he set up his laptop in a “Blair Witch” shot facing the corner so it looks like the camera was left running and picked up the audio from a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear. He started the recording and sat there waiting for them to start arguing — and that’s what the fake argument is about: Not knowing when Josh turned on the recorder and telling them to start arguing.

If you listen to the argument at the end of the video again, it starts “It’s been going” and “How would I know it’s going and he hasn’t said a word about it”. The rest just falls into place.

Aaron North is the guy at the end “breaking up” the argument/fight.

Josh mentioned he loved reading the comments on YouTube where people guess who was arguing and how most people thought it was Trent coming in to break it up.

So there it is…one huge joke.

I’ll include sdmart’s post here, too, as it’s slightly different:

He said it was a big joke and that the people arguing are originally Brett and Sully. Towards the middle/end, it’s Aaron that yells the loud “BULLSHIT!!”. Josh is the one at the end that yells the “Hey! Hey! Hey!” He said they put the camera in the corner like the Blair Witch Project, shot the argument like it could be real, then turned off the camera and busted up laughing.

Make of it what you will, but one thing we know for certain (if Josh is to be believed…) is that it was all fake! Kind of disappointing after all that, eh?

Also, if you’ve not bought Josh’s new album yet, I suggest you do it now! It might not be a masterpiece, but it’s fun and it’s obvious that Josh put a lot of energy and love into making it. My favourites so far are I Don’t Think That’s OK, 2002 and Because. I’m still mulling it over but I like it more with each listen.

-Rowan

~ by Rowan on 2 April, 2009.