Archive: 2003

There are some Super Furry Animals on the loose next year. The Welsh power pop group is set to add more stamps in their passport books as they take on Europe, North America and U.K. theatres.
The SFAs are taking just a brief rest for the Christmas/New Year holidays before launching their tour January 21 in Madrid. It wraps April 8 in London. There’s no word yet on support acts.
They’ve got a new-ish LP/CD/DVD out since the summer. The Phantom Power disc is yet another notch on the group’s ever-expanding discography list and showcases the group’s taste for eclectic sounds.
The band has been experimenting with different DVD formats to accompany their new albums. Starting with 2001’s Rings Round The World and continuing with Phantom Power, Super Furry Animals have helped design visual “wallpaper” for their music.
Source Pollstar.com.

When the first snow hits the ground many people put away the hiking gear for a number of reasons

Part Three of Six

With winter in full swing and the holidays upon us, for brewers, it

Neil Young, continuing a tour in support of his new rock opera “Greendale,” will be playing two nights at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on March 17 and 18. Many of the dates for the winter tour have been announced, including shows in Vancouver, Portland, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Milwaukee, Rosemont, and Amherst, MA.
Source Pollstar.com.

The Steve Kimock Band will be making a rare Boston appearance on February 28th, 2004. For the first time in years, you won’t have to drive to Worcester to see this incredible band featuring Steve Kimock (guitar, Zero, KVWH, The Other Ones), Rodney Holmes (drums, Santana, Zawinul Syndicate), Mitch Stein (guitar, The Hermanators, Brother Jack McDuff) & Arne Livingston (bass, The Living Daylights).
Tickets will go on sale this coming Monday, December 15th at 10 AM at the Middle East Box Office and via Ticketmaster.
Source Gamelan.

Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, once a scourge of the British establishment, received its ultimate accolade today when he was knighted by heir to the throne Prince Charles in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
“It was all rather wonderfully formal,” the 60-year-old rock n’roll icon said after the ceremony in which Charles tapped him lightly on each shoulder with a sword.
Asked if he believed that he deserved the top British establishment accolade, the grinning Jagger replied: “Yeah.”
The man who has fronted the legendary rock group for the past four decades, rejected suggestions that he had sold out to the establishment against which he had railed for so long. “I don’t really think the establishment as we knew it exists any more,” he said with a slight toss of the head.
But showing at least a residue of rebellion, Jagger shunned the traditional top hat and tails, opting for a long black leather coat, purple scarf and sports shoes. He took along his 92-year-old father Joe and two of his daughters to share the occasion.
The award puts Jagger on a ceremonial par with pop knights Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney.
Source Billboard.com.

Rush will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a 2004 tour of North America and Europe. The veteran Canadian rock trio will hit ampitheaters begin in June, for approximately 30 dates. In September the group will visit Europe for the first time.
In other Rush news, the newly launched Rounder Books will in May release “Rhythm & Ligh,” a photography volume focusing on Rush drummer Neil Peart. The drummer

Sonic Youth is making plans for its first official DVD releases, as well as an expanded reissue of its 1990 Geffen album “Goo” and the next in the SYR series of experimental LPs.
According to posts on the band

Great White tour manager Dan Biechele and the Station nightclub owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian were indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter yesterday, stemming from the February fire that claimed 100 lives.
Each of the three faces 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter, and each pleaded innocent to charges, the first criminal counts handed down after the tragedy. The Derderians were freed on $5,000 bail each, Biechele posted $10,000 bail.
The fire started just moments into Great White’s February 20th show in West Warwick, Rhode Island, when the band’s stage pyrotechnics ignited soundproofing foam in the venue. The fire quickly consumed the Station; 200 fans were injured and Great White guitarist Ty Longley was among those killed. The band and the club’s owners offered differing stories as to whether the pyrotechnics were authorized.
Source Rollingstone.com.

My Morning Jacket are suiting up for a tour starting early January. Allowing themselves only a couple days to recover from New Year’s festivities, the Kentucky group will hit the road starting in Nashville and move on through the Southern and Midwestern states.
The Jackets join in the NME Awards Show fun February 5 in London when they, along with Junior Senior and Ima Robot, rock The Astoria. Other NME Award Shows taking place around the same week will feature Ryan Adams, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Thrice, Coheed & Cambria, Hundred Reasons, and Million Dead.
According to the band’s Web site, additional shows are expected to be added to the tour If you go to the band’s website, they’re offering tickets to U.S. shows in an effort “to reduce the high surcharges from other online ticket vendors and to offer more convenient ticketing options.” They also have presale information. The increasingly high-profile group signed with Dave Matthews’ ATO Records last fall and released their latest full-length album, It Still Moves, this September.
Source Pollstar.com.

Spring will bring what is said to be the last disc of previously unreleased recordings late Grateful Dead guitarist/singer Jerry Garcia made with his friend, mandolinist David Grisman.
Due March 23 from Grisman’s Acoustic Disc label, the 12-track “Been All Around This World” includes covers of songs by Bob Dylan, James Brown and Jimmie Rodgers’ “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest,” Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy” and Merle Travis’ “Dark as a Dungeon” and “Nine Pound Hammer.” Songs by George Jones, Freddie Hart and Mel Tillis are also featured, as are the traditionals “I’m Troubled,” “Handsome Cabin Boy” and the title track.
Source Billboard.com.

Ozzy Osbourne was seriously injured Monday in an accident on the grounds of his estate in England and underwent emergency surgery, a spokeswoman said.
The 55-year-old rock star was riding a “quad bike,” or all-terrain vehicle, on his Buckinghamshire property when the accident occurred, according to publicist Cindy Guagenti.

His injuries were not considered to be life-threatening, she said. An examination showed Osbourne broke his collarbone, six ribs and a vertebra in his neck, according to Guagenti. He was in surgery Monday evening at an undisclosed English hospital.
The operation was intended to lift the collarbone, which was believed to be resting on a major artery and interrupting blood flow to his arm. Surgeons also were trying to stem “some bleeding into his lungs,” Guagenti said.
Osbourne was taking a day off from promoting the United Kingdom release of “Changes,” a duet with his daughter, Kelly, when the accident occurred.
[I]Source CNN.com.

Funk music pioneer George Clinton was arrested and charged with drug possession after allegedly telling an officer he had cocaine in his pocket.
Clinton, of Tallahassee, was arrested Saturday and bonded out of jail over the weekend, according to jail officials, who wouldn’t release any other information. Clinton’s lawyer, Shoshana Zisk of San Francisco, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Clinton, 63, who headed the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic

Widespread Panic will release three live albums in 2004, one out in spring,another in summer and another in fall. Recorded during a three-night standin November at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the livealbums consist of one set with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, one acoustic setand one of straight ahead Widespread Panic.
The decision to release the live albums stemmed in part from the venue beinga “magical spot” for the band and also from a desire to showcase the impactof collaborating with the eight-man Dirty Dozen Brass Band on even the mostfamiliar songs in the Panic repertoire.
Source Rollinstone.com.

I had heard the rumors that the Charlie Hunter Trio was no longer playing

For many new fans eager to create their own Phish legacy, the Boston show may be deemed spectacular. But for many older fans, who have been following the band for the better part of their young adult lives, aside from a detailed video documentary that brought back floods of dear memories, the anniversary show itself righteously failed to meet its lofty expectations.

Geroge Carlin is continuing with what he does best: touring and making America laugh. The irreverent humorist has inked in new dates on his never-ending cycle of theatre tours.
At the end of the schedule, for the time being, is a multi-week run at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Carlin said he does 12 weeks per year at the venue, although we’re only counting 14 shows right now, which means he could possibly expect to return for another round of laughs. Last year, Carlin won a Grammy for his Napalm & Silly Putty book on tape/CD. It was his fourth such award. The book version of the project went on to spend 20 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. According to a post by Carlin on his self-maintained Web site, he’s working on plans for the “first one-man Broadway show,

A Jimi Hendrix tribute disc being put together by the guitar legend

Elvis Costello has scheduled a brief winter tour that will kick off Feb. 19 in Clearwater, Fla., and end March 11 in San Francisco. The 13-date trek comes in support of his latest album, “North.”
As was the case for a handful of appearances around the time of the release of the album of ballads, Costello will be accompanied by his longtime collaborator, Attractions/Imposters keyboardist Steve Nieve for the tour.
In addition, three dates Feb. 24 in Nashville, Feb.26 in New York and Feb. 27 in Boston