2004

Ben Kweller, the Flaming Lips, the Raveonettes, Death Cab for Cutie, Cake and the Dandy Warhols lead the list of bands covering oldies for Stubbs the Zombie: The Soundtrack. Due out March 15th, the compilation provides the audio backdrop for a video game set in 1959 in fictional Punchbowl, Pennsylvania. The game pits wealthy industrialist Andrew Monday against Stubbs the Zombie, after Monday builds his tech-happy “City of the Future” on a burial ground. War between humans and corpses ensues.

The Lips do the Wizard of Oz classic “If I Only Had a Brain”; the Raveonettes cover “My Boyfriend’s Back,” co-written by their producer Richard Gottehrer for Sixties girl group the Angels; and Kweller does “Lollipop,” a Number Two hit for another girl group, the Chordettes, in 1958.

“I thought it would be such a good juxtaposition to be in this happy town in Pennsylvania singing ‘Lollipop’ while you’re a zombie killing people,” Kweller says. “‘Lollipop, lollipop,’ and everything’s good and happy except you’re all going to die.”

Beyond the basic changing of pronouns in the song from he to she, Kweller’s version stayed faithful to the original, with band members competing to sing the song’s more distinctive vocal accents. “We went around the room to see who had the lowest vocal and John [drummer Kent] won, so he did the [bass] ‘doo do do do’ part,” Kweller says. “We went around the room to see who had the best lollipop [popping] sound, and it happened to be the owner of the studio. It’s one of those songs that has such stigma to it that you can’t really remove any of those parts and try to make it your own. It was really fun though . . . I’m really excited to play the game.”

Stubbs the Zombie track listing:

“Lollipop,” Ben Kweller
“My Boyfriend’s Back,” the Raveonettes
“Earth Angel” Death Cab for Cutie
“Everyday,” Rogue Wave
“Strangers in the Night,” Cake
“There Goes My Baby,” the Walkmen
“All I Have To Do Is Dream The Dandy Warhols
“Mr. Sandman,” Oranger
“If I Only Had a Brain,” the Flaming Lips
“Tears on My Pillow,” Clem Snide
“Shakin’ All Over,” Rose Hill Drive
“Lonesome Town,” Milton Mapes
“The Living Dead,” Phantom Planet

Source rollingstone.com.

The Museum of Modern Art reopened its doors Monday after a 2 1/2-year, $425 million renovation, showing reporters a spacious, glassed-in home nearly double its old size.

With a 110-foot atrium, higher ceilings and more natural light, the new design has thousands of square feet of additional exhibition space and a larger sculpture garden.

“We are able to see the collection in a new light,” MoMA chairman Ronald Lauder said. “Art was not meant to be seen jam-packed in a room. When you see the collection now, it glows.”

Claude Monet’s 1920 impressionist masterpiece “Water Lilies” is presented on an entire wall. Most artworks are arranged in chronological order; pop artist Andy Warhol shares one space with American photorealist painter Chuck Close.

Hundreds of reporters and photographers from around the world crowded into MoMA for the press preview. The museum opens to the public Saturday, with a day of free admission.

The six-story building, designed by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, covers approximately 630,000 square feet and stretches over an entire block, with entrances on 53rd and 54th streets connected by a 12,400-square-foot lobby.

The renovation project is part of an $858 million capital campaign that also transformed the museum’s storage space in Queens into its temporary home during renovations. MoMA QNS closed in September.

After Saturday’s debut, general admission will be $20, with discounts for students, seniors and children under 16, as well as free admission on Friday afternoons.

Source yahoo.com.

Chaos erupts at awards show taping, one man stabbed Fighting broke out at last night’s taping of the second annual Vibe Awards when an unidentified man approached Dr. Dre’s table and punched him.
The bodyguards of the rap impresario — who was being summoned to the stage by Snoop Dogg and Quincy Jones to receive a lifetime achievement award — pursued the attacker. Dozens of attendees near the stage then began brawling, taking swings and throwing chairs, and one twenty-six-year-old man was stabbed (he is currently in the hospital in stable condition).

T he taping, which took place at a Santa Monica, California, airport hangar, was interrupted for five minutes, but was allowed to continue. No arrests were made.

Vibe nominees for best artist include Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Twista and Usher. Keys and Usher are also tapped for best R&B artist, along with Brandy, Jill Scott and R. Kelly. And for best newcomer, it’s a battle between Ciara, Young Buck, Anthony Hamilton, Nina Sky and Christina Milian.

The show, hosted by LL Cool J and Tyra Banks, will air tonight on the UPN network, featuring performances by Nelly, Ashanti, Alicia Keys and Snoop Dogg with Pharrell.

Source rollingstone.com.

As predicted by Glide Magazine in last month’s Shortlist Prize preview story, TV On The Radio won this year’s award honoring the year’s top non commercial release.

As reported on billboard.com –
TV On The Radio won the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize last night (Nov. 15) in Los Angeles. The New York-based act was honored for its Touch & Go album “Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes” at the fourth annual concert/ceremony at the Avalon Theater, which featured performances by three of the 10 finalists.

“We are not the next Damien Rice,” TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone told Billboard.com, referring to the singer/songwriter who won the award in 2003. “Seriously, this was a great honor. We didn’t even expect to be nominated, let alone win. None of us expected this to happen, and we’re really happy to be here.”

A soulful mix of rock, blues and dance, “Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes” peaked in March at No. 15 on Billboard’s Top Heatseakers chart.

In a 30-minute set to close the concert, TV On The Radio played a number of cuts from the album, including “Dreams” and “Staring at the Sun.” The latter best exemplified the act’s tuneful experimentation, with gospel-worthy call and response vocals and a wall of guitars that reached rave-like hysterics.

TV On The Radio received a $10,000 cash prize presented by XM Satellite Radio. The show was broadcast live on XM and will be televised Nov. 20 on MTV2. Other performing Shortlist finalists included Josh Homme’s Eagles Of Death Metal, hip-hopper Dizzee Rascal and lighthearted pianist Nelly McKay.

Styled as a U.S. equivalent to Britain’s Mercury Music Prize, the Shortlist honors cutting-edge performers whose latest albums, released between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, had sold fewer than 500,000 copies at the time of their nomination. The nominees and winner are selected by a panel of “listmakers,” which this year included Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, Chris Carrabba, the Dixie Chicks, Jim Jarmusch, John Mayer, Norah Jones and System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian.

This year’s affair featured half as many performers as the 2003 event, which producers said was directly related to the fact that last year’s show ran almost five hours. In contrast, the 2004 edition was professional and sterile, with even the tension-filled songs of U.K. rapper Dizzee Rascal failing to energize the rather sparse crowd.

There were a number of notable no-shows, including finalists Wilco, Franz Ferdinand, Loretta Lynn and Air. Other than a star performer, this year’s show lacked the spontaneity of past Shortlist events. In 2002, Iggy Pop and the Hives treated concertgoers to a performance, while last year was marked by a rant against Clear Channel by Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst.

In addition to Rice, past winners of the Shortlist prize are N.E.R.D. (2002) and Sigur Ros (2001).

Rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who lived a life as wild as his lyrics, collapsed and died inside a recording studio today (Nov. 13). He was 35. The artist, whose real name was Russell Jones, had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, according to a statement from his label, Roc-A-Fella Records.

Jones, who was also known variously as Dirt McGirt or Big Baby Jesus, was a founding member of iconic hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s. With his offbeat, unorthodox delivery, he segued into a successful solo career and released several hit singles, including 1999’s “Got Your Money.”

But he was frequently in trouble with the law, mostly for drug possession. In February 1998, he crashed the stage at the Grammy Awards and hijacked a microphone from singer Shawn Colvin as she accepted an award, apparently upset over losing the best rap album Grammy to Puff Daddy. Later that year, he was wounded in a shooting during a robbery in his apartment.

In 2001 he was sentenced to two to four years in prison for drug possession plus two concurrent years for escaping from a rehab clinic. He was released in 2003 and immediately signed with Roc-A-Fella, for which he’d been at work on a new album.

ODB would have turned 36 on Monday. “To the public he was known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard but to me he was known as Rusty,” his mother, Cherry Jones, said in a statement. “The kindest most generous soul on earth. I appreciate all of the support and prayers that I have received. Russell was more then a rapper he was a loving father, brother, uncle and most of all son.”

“All of us in the Roc-A-Fella family are shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic death of our brother and friend, Russell Jones, Ol’ Dirty Bastard,” said Roc-A-Fella CEO Damon Dash. “Russell inspired all of us with his spirit, wit and tremendous heart. He will be missed dearly, and our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences go out to his wonderful family. The world has lost a great talent, but we mourn the loss of our friend.”

The Wu-Tang Clan reactivated this summer for its first show with all of its principal members in 10 years. Several of them, including ODB, appear on the soundtrack to “Blade: Trinity,” due Nov. 23 via New Line Records. The group is also the subject of the book “The Wu-Tang Manual,” which is in production via Riverhead.

Source billboard.com.