August 30, 2004

Weezer is more than a month into recording sessions for its long-gestating fifth studio album. After a 10-day break, the band will resume work on the set in hopes of finishing it in time for frontman Rivers Cuomo to start the fall semester at Harvard, which he last attended in 1997.

In yet another new development, producer Rick Rubin, who Cuomo credited with helping him turn a corner in his personal and professional life, has bowed out of the day-to-day work process, according to Weezer’s official Web site. Work behind the boards is being handled by engineer Chad Bramford, who has worked with the band for the past several years in various capacities.

“The sessions with Rick started back in [December 2003] have been shelved in favor of the fresh start that commenced three weeks ago in the current sessions,” the site says. “This was done mainly in response to Rivers regaining his sense of momentum with his songwriting, and not feeling right about continuing with the incomplete recordings from December. In effect, the band is now producing itself, as it did on [the prior albums] ‘Pinkerton’ and ‘Maladroit,’ but this time they have a wise shoulder to lean on if and when need be. So far, it’s working out pretty excellently.”

The site stresses the 12 “songs being recorded now are not ‘brand new,’ they have been worked up since early this year as demos, over the entire spring time, by Rivers. In some cases, they were developed from songs being worked on in ’03, but underwent such changes as to now be totally distinct from their origins. Basically, these 12 songs are ‘new’, but ‘new’ means early and spring 2004 (not last week or whatever). Also, there is the possibility of trying some additional songs if there is time, and such material could be ’04 or ’03 stuff.”

The as-yet-untitled set will be released by the end of the year or early 2005 via Geffen. It will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Maladroit,” which debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200.

Source: billboard.com

Glider

Rachel Yamagata is leaving her home in the Windy City at the right time. The 20-something singer/songwriter has been quietly building critical attention for her two musical releases, the self-evident EP and this year’s Happenstance.
Yet, her appearances outside of Chicago so far have been in support of others, including Damien Rice, Liz Phair, and Gomez.

Yamagata made a splash during her L.A. showcase and signed with RCA in the spring of last year. Her songs are about heartbreak and the awkwardness of relationships (although she swears she’s a happy person in real life), and the ballads are sung with a breathy, sultry voice.

The piano player and sometimes guitarist sang backup and played tambourine five years for Chicago funk outfit Bumpus, but she never felt she had a proper amount of creative input. In the meantime, she attended theatre classes at Northwestern University and built a catalog of her own songs.

With a little luck and the usual hard work, Yamagata could grab some of the attention that’s been afforded other piano playing young women, but comparisons to Fiona Apple and Norah Jones are oversimplified because the three play piano.

Find out for yourself: Yamagata is criss-crossing the U.S. from September through November, from New York City to San Diego. After an intimate show at NYC’s Fez Under Time August 31st, Yamagata hits Philadelphia, Boston, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Los Angeles, along with other stops, before winding things October 21st. (She visits Chicago September 30th.)

Tom McRae supports most dates.

Source pollstar.com.

Kevin Smith is making another convenience store run.

The writer-director of “Dogma,” “Chasing Amy” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” told the Associated Press on Friday that he has begun work on a sequel to “Clerks,” his homemade indie classic from 1994.

That $27,000 movie, shot at night in a store where Smith worked, chronicled the adventures of Dante and Randal, two guys who talk about life, death, sex and movies while working at neighboring stores.

The sequel picks up 10 years later.

“It’s about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it’s time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex,” Smith said during an interview at his Hollywood office. “It’s: What happened to these dudes?”

A new 10th anniversary DVD of “Clerks” debuts September 7, and Smith said working on that three-disc set inspired him to write about what became of those characters.

The sequel — titled “The Passion of the Clerks” — is set to begin shooting in January. Miramax Films, which turned the original into a cult-hit after buying it at the Sundance Film Festival, plans to distribute the follow-up.

“It’s funny, it’s very raw, insanely foul-mouthed. In many ways it’s the antithesis of ‘Jersey Girl,”‘ Smith said, referring to his recent PG-13 comedy with Ben Affleck as the widowed father of a little girl.

Smith is also writing the screenplay for a movie version of “The Green Hornet,” but no longer thinks he will direct it. The “Clerks” movie has moved to the top of his to-do list.

He said he called Jeff Anderson, who played the combative video-store worker Randal, and Brian O’Halloran, who was the besieged-by-strangeness convenience store employee Dante, to run the idea by them first.

“Jeff was actually very protective of ‘Clerks,”‘ Smith said. “Jeff was like, ‘Are you sure you want to do this? That movie means a lot to people and do you want to go back?’ I thought about it honestly, and it would seem chicken to not give it a shot just because I’m afraid of (messing) with the first film.”

So far, he said he has gotten only positive responses from the people who have read the script, so he decided to move forward with it. Both O’Halloran and Anderson are signed on, and Jason Mewes, will return as stoner Jay, the “hetero life-mate” of Smith’s stoic Silent Bob.

“I’m sure there will be naysayers who say, ‘Oh my God, it’s an opportunistic grab at a buck,’ but it’s not. We’re doing it for nothing,” Smith said. “We’re going to do it insanely inexpensively. The budget will be somewhere between 250 grand and $5 million.”

The original was shot pre-dawn, and most of the actors worked for free and then went straight to their day-jobs with little or no sleep.

“This time around we’ll afford ourselves the luxury of nice 12-hour days,” Smith said. “And people can get paid.”

Source CNN.com.

With four awards each, OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” and Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” were the top winners at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, presented last night (Aug. 29) at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

“Hey Ya!” won the prizes for best video of the year, best hip-hop video, best special effects in a video and best art direction in a video. “99 Problems,” which led the field with six nominations, took the awards for best rap video, best direction in a video, best editing in a video and best cinematography in a video.

After winning the video of the year honor, OutKast closed the show with an energetic medley of “Prototype,” “Ghetto Musick,” “Hey Ya!” and “The Way You Move.”

Other multiple winners were Usher’s “Yeah!” (best male video, best dance video) and No Doubt’s “It’s My Life,” which won the awards for best pop video and best group video.

It was a year of firsts for the 2004 MTV VMAs. This was the first year that the event was not held in New York or Los Angeles, the first without a host and the debut of a new VMA category: best soundtrack from a videogame, which went to “Tony Hawk’s Underground” (Activision).

The show opened with Jennifer Lopez introducing Usher, who performed a medley of “Confessions Part One” and “Yeah!,” with the latter song featuring appearances by Lil Jon and Ludacris.

Other performers at this year’s VMAs included Jessica Simpson, Jet, Hoobastank, Yellowcard, Christina Aguilera with Nelly, the Polyphonic Spree, Terror Squad featuring Fat Joe with Ying Yang Twins, Petey Pablo and the ubiquitous Lil Jon.

Maybe it was the fallout over the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake controversy at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show (which MTV produced), but this year’s VMAs were relatively sedate compared to previous incarnations of the show.

Although comedian Dave Chappelle joked that inviting him to be on a live TV show was MTV’s “biggest mistake since Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl,” ultimately there were no incidents likely to bring on the wrath of the Federal Communications Commission.

There were some surprises, but none of them were shocking. The most welcome unannounced performer was Stevie Wonder, who joined Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz on a powerful version of Wonder’s “Higher Ground.” Keys also sang her hit “If I Ain’t Got You” (which won the VMA for best R&B video), and later gave a tribute speech about the late Ray Charles.

Kanye West’s much-hyped “surprise” guest turned out to be Chaka Khan, who warbled her hit “Through the Fire” (and often did so off-key) during West’s performance of “Through the Wire.”

George W. Bush’s daughters Jenna and Barbara Bush (via satellite in New York) and Alexandra and Vanessa Kerry (daughters of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry) appeared together to stress the importance of voting. Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, John Mellencamp and Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee also discussed the issue during the broadcast.

Australian band Jet won the best rock video award for “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” Backstage in the press room, lead singer Nic Cester expressed surprise, “considering we spent only about 50 grand on the video, and everyone else spent like $2 million.”

Keys said backstage that her onstage collaboration with Wonder and Kravitz was “a dream come true.” She added of the performance, “I really wanted to do something special this year. It showed that all three of us singer/songwriters/producers could jam together for real.”

Source billboard.com.