December 2004

On the mounting success of their full-length debut, Funeral, eccentric Montreal pop sextet the Arcade Fire are readying for a second, more extensive tour of the States, kicking off January 13th in San Francisco and wrapping up on February 3rd in Boston.
But the band members are hoping that their newfound popularity won’t force them to behave like rock stars. “If it’s going to be, like, us wanking our little guitars in the spotlight, not seeing anyone — no, that’s not the point,” says multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Regine Chassagne. “It’s a human thing. I like to meet people after a show, and sometimes I recognize them from another show.”

The Arcade Fire (named for the fire department where a family member worked) include frontman Win Butler and wife Chassagne, Win’s younger brother Will, guitarist Richard Parry, bassist Tim Kingsbury and touring violinist Sarah Neufeld. And their eclectic sound stems from the wide-ranging tastes of their members. “I was listening to classical music and Mary Poppins and weird voodoo Haitian records,” explains Chassagne, who plays piano, accordion, drums and xylophone. “I sang in choirs, and played for a long time in a medieval band — I wore a costume, sang in old languages, played the recorder and mandolin and tambourine. I was singing jazz when I met Win.”

“There’s a bunch of Eastern European bands that my brother turned me on to,” adds Butler. “He was just in the Czech Republic doing a big thing on Czech rock & roll in the Eighties.” Butler, however, is convinced that the sum of all these parts is pretty simple: “For all its eccentricities, the band is a pop band.”

For new fans, the Arcade Fire’s self-titled debut EP is only available at their shows. But one track from that record, “No Cars Go,” can now be downloaded at the iTunes music store. And for those across the pond, the group has signed a deal to distribute Funeral in the U.K. through Rough Trade Records, set to hit stores there on February 28th.

Meanwhile, the Arcade Fire have begun work on new songs at their studio in Butler’s family barn in Maine, and they’ve recently completed their first video, for the track “Rebellion (Lies).” “It’s a real video,” says Butler. “We got a grant from the Canadian government to make it!”

The Arcade Fire tour dates:

1/13-14: San Francisco, Great American Music Hall
1/15-16: Los Angeles, Troubadour
1/17: San Diego, Casbah
1/18: Tucson, AZ, Solar Culture
1/21: Austin, Emo’s
1/23: Houston, Fat Cat’s
1/24: New Orleans, House of Blues
1/26: Atlanta, Variety Playhouse
1/27: Asheville, NC, The Orange Peel
1/30: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
1/31: Philadelphia, Theatre of Living Arts
2/1: New York, Bowery Ballroom
2/2: Brooklyn, NY, Warsaw
2/3: Boston, Roxy

Source rollingstone.com.

For many, skiing in Maine conjures up images of the state’s two largest ski resorts, Sugarloaf USA and Sunday River. Those mountains, each with more than 120 trails and a dozen lifts, attract skiers from the world over.

But the state has 19 other ski areas that are often overlooked. With expansions at three of those areas — Black Mountain in Rumford, Big Rock in Mars Hill and Saddleback in western Maine — the lesser-known mountains are drawing notice of their own. Skiers who hit the slopes at those three mountains this season will have new trails, new lifts and new base lodges, thanks to major expansions during the offseason.

Black Mountain and Big Rock are owned by the Maine Winter Sports Center, which is funded through The Libra Foundation, a Portland-based philanthropic organization.

Andy Shepard, president and CEO of the center, said the projects are part of the center’s effort to create healthy communities. While the larger ski areas have grown over the years, the smaller mountains have lost skiers because they weren’t upgrading their equipment and trails, he said.

Skier visits to Maine ski areas have hovered around 1.3 million in recent years, with Sunday River and Sugarloaf accounting for about two-thirds of those visits. Shepard said it’s important to get more people on the community ski areas’ slopes for the future of the entire Maine ski industry.

“Our commitment is to get as many people on skis as possible, to re-establish skiing as a lifestyle in Maine,” Shepard said.

Black Mountain in Rumford and Big Rock in Mars Hill are community ski areas that cater mostly to local residents. Saddleback in western Maine is primarily a destination resort.

“To have three individual ski areas putting in new lifts is a substantial statement that a lot is going on in Maine skiing,” said Greg Sweetser, executive director of Ski Maine Association. “And for two community areas to do it in the same year is of note.”

‘We’re a reborn giant’
Saddleback, located in Sandy River Plantation next to Rangeley, underwent a $12 million dollar construction project during the summer.

The resort built a new four-person chair lift, expanded its lodge from 16,000 to 39,000 square feet, cut seven new trails and expanded two others. Snowmaking now covers 80 percent of the mountain.

The expansion is part of Archie “Bill” Berry Jr.’s plans to bring the ski area back to prominence and profitability after having skier visits fall by more than half. Berry’s family bought ski area 14 months ago for $8 million.

“We’re a reborn giant,” said Peter Fox, Saddleback Inc.’s marketing director. “We are the up-and-coming family destination resort.”

In Rumford, Black Mountain has installed a new triple chairlift, snowmaking equipment and lights, and built a 13,000-square-foot lodge. Its new trails more than double the skiable acreage and vertical drop, from 470 feet to 1,150 feet.

In Mars Hill in Aroostook County, Big Rock ski area has installed a triple chairlift and blazed three new intermediate tails. It has also upgraded and expanded its snowmaking capabilities.

Skier visits at Big Rock doubled to 22,000 in 2002-2003, the first year the center owned the mountain. Skier visits fell to 16,000 last winter, largely due to the brutal cold.

Black Mountain last year had 8,000 skier visits, which Shepard says could grow to 30,000 in the years ahead.

Sweetser said the projects at Black Mountain and Big Rock show that community ski areas are gaining strength.

“They have clarified their identity, their brand,” he said. “Their brand is that they’re convenient, they’re close, they’re less expensive. They’re a community asset.”

As for Saddleback, Sweetser said the resort becomes only the third Maine ski area with a 2,000-foot vertical drop. The Maine ski industry can now claim that it has two large mountains, Saddleback and Sugarloaf, close together.

“To have two big mountains within 40 minutes of each other, over time this will be an attractive feature for national and international business,” he said.

Source CNN.com.

Widespread Panic is back. In a bold and shocking move by one of the most successful touring rock bands, Widespread Panic left the road at the close of 2003. This was the first hiatus for the band in 19 years of non-stop touring and record-breaking sold out dates throughout the country. Today, after 15 months, they announced their long-awaited return to the stage by posting their first round of tour dates on their website at www.widespreadpanic.com. Fans who have been anxiously waiting for this announcement are expected to quickly snatch up tickets for these concerts, prompting most shows to sell out almost immediately. The tour, kicking off in late March, will coincide with the release of their new live album recorded at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, SC in 2003. Widespread Panic Live At Myrtle Beach will arrive in stores February 22, 2005 on Sanctuary Records/Widespread Records.

The anticipated homecoming will kick off with three dates at the historic Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Widespread Panic first headlined the Fox in 1993 and has since sold-out every one of their 13 shows at the venue, more than any other band in the history of the theatre. Tour dates will also include three dates at New York’s famed Radio City Music Hall (their first appearance at the venue), three dates at the majestic Chicago Theater, two nights at Altel Pavilion in Raleigh, NC and back to Jazzfest in New Orleans (where they previously set an attendance record in 1999).

As an additional bonus, the spring tour will include performances at smaller, theater-sized venues to give the fans a more intimate performance experience. Widespread Panic is forgoing their usual shed-sized venues in direct response to overwhelming requests from their longtime supporters. Concertgoers will not only have the chance to see the band more up-close and personal than usual, they will also be surprised with a revamped stage show using top of the line technology.

Tour Dates:

March 24, 25 & 26 Atlanta, GA
Fox Theater

March 29 Chattanooga, TN
Civic Coliseum

March 30 Cincinnati, OH
Taft Theater

April 1 Detroit, MI
State Theater

April 2 Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Music Hall

April 3 Bloomington, IN
Indiana Univ. Auditorium

April 5 Milwaukee, WI
Eagles Ballroom

April 7, 8 & 9 Chicago, IL
Chicago Theater

April 12 Boston, MA
Agganis Arena

April 14, 15 & 16 New York, NY
Radio City Music Hall

April 17 Philadelphia, PA
Tower Theater

April 19 Washington, DC Constitution Hall

April 20 Salem, VA
Salem Civic Center

April 22 & 23 Raleigh, NC
Altel Pavilion

April 24 Columbia, SC
Three Rivers Festival

April 26 Columbus, GA
Columbus Civic Center

April 27 Tallahassee, FL
Leon County Civic Center

April 29 New Orleans, LA
Jazzfest

April 30 Dallas, TX Brady Theater

May 3 Kansas City, MO
Starlight Theater

May 5 St. Louis, MO Fox Theater

May 6 Louisville, KY Louisville Gardens

May 7 Asheville, NC Asheville Civic Center

Josh Rouse will release his fifth album, Nashville, next March. Named for Nebraska-born Rouse’s adopted hometown (where the set was crafted), the upcoming disc was recorded by Brad Jones, who also produced the singer-songwriter’s acclaimed 2003 disc, 1972.
Rouse is proud of the simplicity of the record’s sound. “It’s the sound of a band in a room, and it’s quite nice, actually,” he says. And while other artists are clamoring to claim new territory, Rouse is happy to mine the same terrain, acknowledging similarities between the new record and its predecessor. “It’s exactly the same,” he says with perfect confidence. “Why would we change anything?”

Tracks will include “It’s the Nighttime,” which Rouse calls “a hooky tune with pedal steel and Fleetwood Mac keyboards,” and “Winter in the Hamptons,” which Rouse cites as “Smiths-ish, with more hooks.” But the artist counts “My Love Has Gone” as his pick of the new set. “It’s my favorite,” he confesses. “It just has a great swing.”

Rouse will launch a stateside tour in support of Nashville next spring, before heading to Europe.

Source rollingstone.com.

The soulful New York-bred trio the Holmes Brothers lead the nominees for the 2005 W.C. Handy Blues Awards, presented annually by the nonprofit Memphis-based Blues Foundation. Singer/guitarist B.B. King, Southern soul-bluesman Bobby Rush, harmonica ace Kim Wilson, pianist Pinetop Perkins and vocalist Solomon Burke are in the running for blues entertainer of the year.

The awards — the most prestigious in the blues business — will be presented May 5 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. Blues Foundation members vote on the winners.

The Holmes Brothers’ Alligator Records album “Simple Truths” was nominated for blues album of the year and contemporary blues album of the year, and the group will compete for blues band of the year. Additionally, Wendell Holmes’ composition “Run Myself Out of Town” received a blues song of the year nomination; his brother Sherman was cited for instrumentalist/bass, while bandmate Popsy Dixon was tagged in the instrumentalist/drums category.

Released in January, “Simple Truths” peaked at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Blues Albums tally.

Harmonica player Paul Oscher, a veteran of Muddy Waters’ band, received four nominations. Rush, Wilson, Perkins, singer-guitarist W.C. Clark, harp players Rod Piazza, James Harman and Charlie Musselwhite and vocalist Mavis Staples received three nominations each.

Source billboard.com.

An autopsy of rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard reveals his death by heart attack was due to “intoxication by the combined effects of cocaine and [the painkiller] Tramadol,” according to Grace Burgess, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner’s office.
Born Russell Jones, O.D.B. died on November 13th after collapsing suddenly in a New York recording studio just days short of his thirty-sixth birthday.

The wild card of the nine-man Wu-Tang Clan, at the time of his death, O.D.B. had completed a two-year prison sentence for a drug possesion and had been working towards his fourth solo album and Roc-A-Fella Records debut. Osirus, an album recorded during the rapper’s last six months, will be released January 4th on JC Records, a label recently formed by his mother Cherry Jones and manager Jarred Weisfeld. A reality TV show, Stuck On Dirty, which wrapped filming in the weeks before O.D.B.’s death, will debut on Spike TV in early 2005.

Source: RollingStone.com

Thousands waited in line in near-freezing temperatures Tuesday night to pay tribute at a memorial service for slain rock star “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.

Security was tight; guards used screening wands on grieving fans as they arrived for the public mourning of the former guitarist for the heavy metal band Pantera.

Messages such as “RIP Dime” and “Honk, honk for Dimebag, Peace in the after life” were scrawled on cars in the convention center parking lot. A high-pitched guitar solo blared from a pickup.

“A legend died on Wednesday night. I guarantee I’ll be telling my kids about this day and the day that he died,” said Skyler Smith, 18. “My heart was broken.”

Abbott, 38, was shot to death in Columbus, Ohio, while performing with his new band, Damageplan. Three others also were killed before police killed 25-year-old gunman Nathan Gale, described as an obsessed fan.

Fans cheered the arrival of flower arrangements in the shape of guitars and a display with the words “Crown the Moment, Crown Royal,” a reference to Abbott’s favorite brand of whiskey.

Michael Schaefer, 21, of Garland, and his wife both wore black Pantera concert shirts. “It’s still a real shock, the fact that it actually happened and the fact that someone would want to hurt him,” Michael Schaefer said.

Rick Cunningham, 48, a former lead singer for the Dallas band “Rage,” was among those who waited in the long line for the service — and one of a few who wore a suit and tie. He said he’d known Abbott for 20 years.

“It’s terrible, man. He was the nicest fella you would ever want to meet,” he said.

Abbott had formed Damageplan with his brother and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott; the guitarist lived in nearby Dalworthington Gardens.

Source CNN.com.