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Led Zeppelin, Jerry Lee Lewis and the late Janis Joplin are among those slated to be honored with the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys on February 13th at Los Angeles’ Staples Center.

The other recipients are jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton, country pioneers the Carter Family, soul hitmakers the Staples Singers, country star Eddy Arnold, jazz drummer Art Blakey, composer Morton Gould and blues pianist Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins.

Songwriter extraordinaire Hoagy Carmichael, Soul Train creator Don Cornelius, Blue Note Records founder Alfred Lion and recording artist and radio personality Dr. Billy Taylor will receive the Trustees Award, presented to important figures in music who contribute in a non-performing capacity. Producer Phil Ramone (Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel) will be honored with a technical Grammy.

“The Lifetime Achievement, Trustees and Technical Grammy Awards recognize music people who have made a lasting contribution to culture around the world,” Recording Academy president Neil Portnow said in a statement. “These profoundly inspiring figures are being honored as legendary performers and archetypal musicians, cultural ambassadors and technical visionaries. Their outstanding accomplishments and passion for their craft have created a timeless legacy that has positively affected multiple generations, and will continue to influence generations to come.”

Source rollingstone.com.

The owner of the studio where hip-hop megastar Eminem recorded the multimillion-selling CD, “The Slim Shady LP,” was found shot to death Tuesday inside the facility, police said.

Investigators had not determined a motive in the slaying of Amjed A. (A.J.) Abdallah, said Detective Lt. Norman Raymond.

A business associate of Abdallah found the 36-year-old native of Jordan on the floor of Studio 8, Raymond said. He said police recovered three bullet casings from a .357-caliber revolver and determined that Abdallah had been shot twice.

Abdallah had likely been dead at least two days, Raymond said.

“There’s a possibility of robbery,” Raymond said. “People who use the studio told us to look for some fairly pricey equipment and it was missing.”

Abdallah lived in a two-bedroom apartment over the two-story building on Eight Mile Road, which divides Ferndale and Detroit and inspired the title of Eminem’s semi-autobiographical 2002 movie, “8 Mile.”

Abdallah had not reported any threats or problems at Studio 8, and interviews with several people did not indicate that Abdallah had enemies, Raymond said.

“Everybody says he was a prince of a guy,” the detective said. “He did record for rappers, gangster rap and hip-hop, but we haven’t found anyone who had any particular problem with him yet.”

Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, recorded “The Slim Shady LP” at Studio 8 in 1997, and the album set the rapper on a path to superstardom. The CD has sold nearly 5 million copies since it was released in 1999.

Grubb & Ellis, real estate firm, listed the building December 15 on the eBay online auction site, asking $215,000.

David Giltner, senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis, told The Detroit News last month that Abdallah decided to sell the studio because he was spending more time in New York.

Source CNN.com.

Younder Mountain String Band is hopping on a hot caravan to tide acoustic music fans over during those cold post-holiday months.

The Cabin Fever Tour kicks off January 29th in Tulsa, Okla., and swings through the South in February and beyond, joined on selected dates by the Del McCoury Band.

So far, five shows with both bands are confirmed. YMSB and the International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainer of the Year will alternate headlining slots on the dates they share.

Bluegrass fans who caught both groups at last year’s installment of the annual String Summit know they’re in for a night of pickin’ and grinnin’ like no other.

The Del McCoury Band will keep rollin’ on with a solid schedule through June and additional dates stretching into October.

Yonder Mountain String Band is booked for much of June, including a four-day slot at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado. The group recently released its first two-disc live package, Mountain Tracks Vol. 3, featuring cuts from the band’s 2003 Kinfolk Celebration.

Source pollstar.com.

Paul Westerberg is taking his band, The Painkillers, up and down the West Coast in February, playing songs young and old.
Cited often as one of the precursors to the grunge movement (along with fellow Minneapolis native Bob Mould), Westerberg has had a successful career since his old band, The Replacements, broke up many moons ago.
Some old fans of The ‘Mats might think things have changed for Paul when it comes to his live shows. Wrong. He still marches out fan faves like “I Will Dare” and “Waitress In The Sky,” and, as was The Replacements’ wont, still tears through covers like The Partridge Family’s “I Think I Love You.”
Meanwhile, those who have followed Westerberg’s solo career will be equally satisfied with the songs on their man’s set list.
Things kick off February 17 at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom. Paul is in Seattle the next night, then Portland right after that. Next up is San Francisco February 21, then a two-night stay in Los Angeles. After a quick visit to Tempe, Ariz., Paul Westerberg & The Painkillers say goodbye to sunny California at Anaheim’s House of Blues February 26.

Source: pollstar

It’s set to be a Super Furry world in 2005, as idiosyncratic Welsh pop mavens Super Furry Animals have three album projects in the works. The band is working on its seventh full-length and front man Gruff Rhys’ first solo effort is due March 8, but XL Recordings/Beggars Group has a career spanning compilation due before either of those projects comes to light

Set for a Jan. 25 U.S. release, “Songbook: The Singles Volume One” is the first Super Furry singles collection. The set covers a lot of ground, from fan favorite “Blerwytirhwng” — off the group’s improbably titled 1995 debut EP “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyndrobwllantysilio-gogogochynygofod
(In Space)” — to “Slow Life” and “Golden Retriever,” from SFA’s 2003 album “Phantom Power.”

Other choice selections among the album’s 21 tracks include “Northern Lites,” “Something for the Weekend,” “Hermann Loves Pauline,” “Play It Cool,” “If You Don’t Want Me to Destroy You” and “The International Language of Screaming.”

The set includes cuts from each of the band’s full-lengths as well as lauded non-album singles “The Man Don’t Give a F***” and “Ice Hockey Hair.”

A companion “Songbook” DVD will feature all of the band’s videos and a 40-minute documentary featuring footage of the band on tour in the United States.

Here is the “Songbook: The Singles Volume One” track list:

“Something for the Weekend”
“It’s Not the End of the World”
“Northern Lites”
“Juxtapozed With U”
“Slow Life”
“Fire in My Heart”
“The Man Don’t Give a F***”
“Herman Loves Pauline”
“Play It Cool”
“Ice Hockey Hair”
“Do or Die”
“Rings Around the World”
“God! Show Me Magic”
“Ysbeidiau Heulog”
“Demons”
“Golden Retriever”
“The International Language of Screaming”
“Hello Sunshine”
“Hometown Unicorn”
“If You Don’t Want Me to Destroy You”
“Blerwytirhwng”

Source billboard.com.

In support of their latest release, Sex, Love and Rock

One of the most famous American band leaders of the swing era, the clarinettist Artie Shaw, has died. He died at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 94.

His 1938 recording of the Cole Porter tune “Begin the Beguine” helped make him one of the most famous and highly-paid musicians in the US at the time.

Shaw was one of the biggest names in the jazz scene during the 1930s and 40s, alongside artists such as Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey.

One of the most famous members of his original band was the then-unknown blues singer Billie Holiday, who went on to become one of the icons of the era.

In 2002, Shaw released a CD box set called Self Portrait that included some never released recordings.

He received a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 2004.

Source: bbc

Phish drummer Jon Fishman’s offbeat “sonic rhythm dress” which is stitched together from recycled cassette tapes is going on display at a museum this month.

The dress commissioned by Fishman, is going on display at Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, The Boston Globe reported in Thursday’s editions.

The dress includes sound collages of some of Fishman’s favorite artists. The bodice includes Jimi Hendrix, Sun Ra, Led Zeppelin and Prince, the newspaper reported. The fabric retains its magnetism and emits a sound when rubbed with a tape head.

The dress was commissioned by the Vermont rocker and designed by New York artist Alyce Santoro.

Source: yahoo

Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium is trying to stage a ‘Live Aid’ style concert to raise money for the Asian tsunami disaster appeal.

Stadium bosses are in talks with some of the UK’s top performers to mount the charity gig on 22 January, but they are working against a tight deadline to get the massive charity gig organised in under three weeks.

“It’s going to be tight,” said stadium manager Paul Sergeant, adding a team of people from the stadium was working over the bank holiday to try to get the concert plan off the ground.

Talks were going on with “A list acts” including some from Wales to support the concert, said Mr Sergeant, although he refused to name possible acts.

Source bbc

There are an estimated 5 million people who have been displaced, in addition to the nearly 125,000 people who’ve been killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami. If you wish to help, please visit one of the resources below.

Our thoughts are with the victims and their families in this tragic time.

Americares

American Red Cross

CARE USA

International Aid

International Rescue Committee

UNICEF

World Relief

Oxfam America