News

Legendary avant-garde composer Philip Glass has another busy year ahead, including a number of live performances scheduled in the coming months.

Glass will appear with the Qatsi Project for two three-night residencies – in Paris December 16-18, and in San Francisco in February. The Philip Glass Ensemble will perform Glass’ original scores for Godfrey Reggio’s trilogy of films – “Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance,” “Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation,” and “Naqoyqatsi: Life as War.” The films will be shown in order, one per night.

Glass also has a number of solo piano performances lined up. February’s schedule includes concerts in Colorado, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta.

In March, Glass will collaborate with New York-based composer/violinist/bandleader Daniel Bernard Roumain at Newark, N.J.’s Victoria Theatre.

Three full albums of Glass material surfaced in 2005, in addition to a disc featuring remixes of his work by drum and bass, house, techno and ambient producers. He also composed the soundtrack to “NeverWas,” a film by Joshua Michael Stern scheduled for release in 2006.

Source pollstar.com.

The New York Guitar Festival 2006 is honoring Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 Nebraska album with a free gala concert under the glass atrium of the World Financial Center Winter Garden, 220 Vesey Street, Saturday, January 14, at 8:00pm.

Entitled The Nebraska Project, this 25th anniversary celebration of the classic Bruce Springsteen album features on one stage a distinctive roster of singer-songwriters, bands and instrumentalists. The Nebraska Project opens this year’s New York Guitar Festival.

Performing their own arrangements of one of the ten Nebraska songs are Laura Cantrell, Dan Zanes, Vernon Reid, Mark Eitzel, Michelle Shocked, Meshell Ndegeocello, The National, Chocolate Genius, Marc Ribot, Martha Wainwright, Jesse Harris, Kevn Kinney, Lenny Kaye, Gary Lucas and Harry Manx.

“Sometimes a recording artist’s demo versions of songs are more brilliant than the final studio product. Nebraska is one of those moments in music history,” said David Spelman, Artistic Director of the New York Guitar Festival. In 1982, Springsteen chose to release the demo versions of his newest songs, recorded with only acoustic or electric guitar, harmonica, and vocals, as his sixth album, Nebraska. The rest is history. www.brucespringsteen.net

The song and artist run down for The Nebraska Project:
Nebraska – Michelle Shocked
Atlantic City – Jesse Harris
Mansion on the Hill – The National
Johnny 99 – Chocolate Genius
Highway Patrolman – Martha Wainright w/ Marc Ribot
State Trooper – Dan Zanes w/Vernon Reid
Used Cars – Laura Cantrel
Open All Night – Meshell Ndegeocello
My Father’s House – Mark Eitzel
Reason to Believe – Kevn Kinney w/ Lenny Kaye

Plus instrumental interludes by Gary Lucas, Harry Manx and Marc Ribot

Visit newyorkguitarfestival.org for complete line-up and details.

David Gilmour has confirmed a two-week, five-city tour of North America this spring in support of his upcoming solo album, “On an Island.” Dates will get underway with an April 4-5 stand at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and run through April 19-20 at Los Angeles’ Kodak and Gibson Theatres, respectively.

“On an Island” will arrive March 6 via Columbia in the United Kingdom and a day later in North America. The former Pink Floyd vocalist/guitarist will begin roadwork March 10 in Dortmund, Germany, backed by a band whose members have yet to be announced.

Gilmour promises to blend new songs with Pink Floyd classics on the trek. “I’m rather hoping that with this tour announcement people will believe me when I say, honestly, this is the only band I plan to tour with!,” he says.

The artist will bring along lightning technician Marc Brickman, a longtime part of Pink Floyd’s live production. Pre-sale tickets for the North American shows begin tomorrow (Dec. 19) via Gilmour’s Web site and will go on sale to the general public the second weekend in January.

Here are David Gilmour’s North American tour dates:

April 4-5: New York (Radio City Music Hall)
April 9-10: Toronto (Massey Hall)
April 12-13: Chicago (Paramount Theatre)
April 16-17: Oakland, Calif. (Paramount Theatre)
April 19: Los Angeles (Kodak Theatre)
April 20: Los Angeles (Gibson Theatre)

Source billboard.com.

he Times They Are A-Changin’, a new musical based on the songs of Bob Dylan, will premiere at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater on January 25th.
Directed and choreographed by Broadway vet Twyla Tharp, the plot chronicles a low-rent traveling circus run by Captain Arab (Paul Kandel), and his son Coyote’s (Michael Arden) longings for a world outside of the family business. The story also details Coyote’s love for a young animal trainer, Cleo (Jenn Colella), who is exploited by Arab. The musical references such Dylan tunes as “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream,” in which Arab is a character, and “Ballad of Hollis Brown,” which features the lyrics: “Way out in the wilderness/A cold coyote calls.”

The Times They Are A-Changin’, which plans to move to Broadway, follows a series of musicals built around rock music, including the Elvis Presley-inspired All Shook Up, the John Lennon-inspired Lennon, the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations and the Billy Joel-inspired Movin’ Out — Tharp’s previous concept musical.

Tickets for the show, which is scheduled to run through March 5th, are on sale at oldglobe.org.

Source rollingstone.com.

The 16th Annual HIGH SIERRA MUSIC FESTIVAL will be held on Thursday, June 29 – Sunday, July 2, 2006 at the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds, Quincy, CA.

Confirmed acts so far are:

Bela Fleck and The Flecktones
Nickel Creek
Umphrey’s McGee
Robert Walter’s Super Heavy Organ
Tea Leaf Green
ALO
Drew Emmitt Band [formerly of Leftover Salmon]
Lotus
New Mastersounds
Apollo Sunshine
Adrienne Young and Little Sadie
Shady Deal
Dubconscious
Chuch
Plus many, many more TBA

The High Sierra Music Festival is a unique four-day music and camping festival that features an eclectic and boldly creative span of music from acoustic singer-songwriters and down-home bluegrass to high-energy funk and skillfully improvised jazz, rock and live electronica.

Festival pass price includes a $1 donation to the High Sierra Foundation, which has established a special fund for direct aid to New Orleans musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina.

highsierramusic.com

Although Rush released a new live DVD, “R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour,” just last month, the veteran Canadian rock trio is planning on reissuing several classic live performances in 2006. To the delight of long time fans, their well-worn VHS copies of “Exit…Stage Left,” “Grace Under Pressure Tour” and “A Show of Hands” will soon be replaced with DVD reissues.

“Everything’s been remixed to 5.1, and that was the intention — to keep it all intact, except for the remix,” guitarist Alex Lifeson tells Billboard.com. “So it’s available in surround.” It remains to be decided if the releases will be made available individually or packaged together. “I’m guessing a box set — that would make more sense,” Lifeson says.

Lifeson says he enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane while refurbishing the material. “It was interesting to see the development in the arrangements, and how our sound changed over the course of a decade,” he says. “I definitely found it fascinating, looking at that. And how the stage show changed over the years — of course, [in] 10 years a lot of stuff changes. But it was a little fascinating to watch that, actually.”

Asked if he was planning to follow-up his lone solo release, 1996’s “Victor,” the artists offers, “‘Victor’ was really, really rewarding for me, and I felt that I really needed to do something like that at the time. I don’t feel like that so much anymore. Not that I would discount it, it’s great to work with other people, it’s great to work on your own music — especially in my case, when I have a studio.”

“But at the same time, we’re thinking about starting a new [Rush] record in the next month,” he continues. “We’ve been celebrating the last 30 years, and it’s time to kind of move forward now. So, I’m really looking forward to a new Rush studio album. And then afterwards, we’ll see.”

Source billboard.com.

When you’re home this holiday season drinking Bailey’s with the family, now there’s one more Christmas disc to add to the seasonal shuffle.

As noted by The Slip’s brother duo of Brad and Andrew Barr, “Our family only really attended church services on christmas eve and as far as we were concerned that was more than enough. The only thing that made that little wool uniform less than unbearable was the sacred music that ensued outside around the manger. Over the years we have both developed a real soft spot for some of these melodies and last December we invited the elves over to help us track some yule tide favorites. These cuts were intended to be for the family only, but The Slip’s friend and co-manager Jon Bahr convinced us that there might be others out there who need some ammo to help pry their families from the illimitable amount of garish tinsel time muzak.

Enjoy with eggnog.
-Andrew and Brad

1.White Christmas
2.Silent Night
3.Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
4.Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
5.Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

all instruments played by The Barr Brothers

Click Here to purchase

After skipping over NYC on his recent fall tour, as promised, Phil Lesh and Friends will more than make up for lost time in the Big Apple. In addition to expected dates at the Beacon Theatre February 10-12 and 14-15, the band has also announced a run at the Hammerstein Ballroom February 17-19. The tour, entitled

Trey Anastasio will join old friends the Black Crowes and the North Mississippi Allstars for a special New Year’s Eve performance at Madison Square Garden. My Morning Jacket, who was originally scheduled to perform has cancelled due to health reasons. Tickets are $45-65 and still available at Ticketmaster.

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival, scheduled to take place Wednesday, March 15 – 19, 2006 in Austin, Texas is pleased to announce their initial list of showcasing acts. From the 7500 bands that applied, a partial list of acts scheduled to perform at the five night festival will include:

The Adored (Los Angeles CA), Annie (Bergen NORWAY), Arctic Monkeys, Belle and Sebastian (Glasgow UK), The BellRays (Los Angeles CA), Be Your Own PET (Nashville TN), Blockhead (New York NY), The Boy Least Likely To (Wendover UK), The Brokedown (Los Angeles CA), Calexico (Tucson AZ), Neko Case (Tacoma WA), Cat Power (Atlanta GA), clap your hands say yeah (Brooklyn NY), Clor (London UK), Jason Collett (Toronto ON), The Cribs (Wakefield UK), Cuff the Duke (Toronto ON), Jamie Cullum (London UK), Dashboard Confessional (Boca Raton, FL), Death In Vegas (London UK), Death Vessel (Brooklyn NY), Dengue Fever (Los Angeles CA), Destroyer (Vancouver BC), Die! Die! Die! (Auckland NEW ZEALAND), Dirty Pretty Things (London UK), Jorge Drexler (Madrid SPAIN), Dr. Spock (Reykjavik ICELAND), The Duke Spirit (London UK), The Earlies (Manchester UK), Echo & The Bunnymen (Liverpool UK), Editors (Birmingham UK), The Eighteenth Day Of May (London UK), Elbow (Manchester UK), Empire Dogs (Stockholm SWEDEN), Erase Errata (San Francisco CA), Faker (Sydney AUSTRALIA), Flogging Molly (Los Angeles CA), Forward Russia (Leeds UK), Giant Sand (Tucson AZ), Gogol Bordello (New York NY), Jose Gonzalez (Gothenburg SWEDEN), The Go! Team (Brighton UK), Headphones (Seattle WA), The Hellacopters (Stockholm SWEDEN), Clarence Frogman Henry (New Orleans LA), The Juan Maclean (Dover NH), Kaki King (New York NY), Kalas (Oakland CA), k-os (Whitby ON), Sharron Kraus & Christian Kiefer (London UK), Lady Sovereign, The Like (Los Angeles CA), Los De Abajo (Mexico City MEXICO), Luminous Orange (Yokohama JAPAN), Barbara Lynn (Beaumont TX), The Magic Numbers (London UK), Magnolia Electric Company (Chicago IL), Serena Maneesh (Oslo NORWAY), Mates of State (East Haven CT), The Morning After Girls (Sydney AUSTRALIA), The Most Serene Republic (Toronto ON), Mystery Jets (London UK), My Summer as a Salvation Soldier (Reykjavik ICELAND), Neon Blonde (Seattle WA), Nickel Creek (Carlsbad CA), n0 things (Brooklyn NY), Of Montreal (Athens GA), Beth Orton (London UK), Peaches (Berlin GERMANY), The Plimsouls (Los Angeles CA), Robert Pollard (Dayton OH), Ramblin’ Jack Elliot (New York NY), Saves the Day (Princeton NJ), The Secret Machines (New York NY), Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives (Hendersonville TN), Tarantula A D (New York NY), Susan Tedeschi (Jacksonville FL), Towers of London (London UK), KT Tunstall (London UK), Two Gallants (San Francisco CA), Tom Verlaine (New York NY), Vetiver (San Francisco CA), The Whigs (Athens GA), Witch (Brattleboro VT), and Wolfmother (Sydney AUSTRALIA). This list is subject to change. Please keep in mind this is only a portion of the showcasing acts that will be playing at the SXSW Music Festival.