Archive: 2004

Drummer Jeremiah Green has rejoined indie superstars Modest Mouse and will tour with the band in Europe and the U.S. this summer.

The drummer had played with the band since its inception before abruptly leaving last spring in the midst of troubled recording sessions. Benjamin Weikel of Helio Sequence filled in for Green during his absence, performing live and on the band’s newest album, Good News For People Who Love Bad News.

Modest Mouse will appear at the KROQ Weenie Roast June 12 before heading to Europe for several weeks of shows. They’ll spend much of July and August on the Lollapalooza main stage, squeezing in a July 30 Milwaukee show on one of their off-days. Two September shows are on the books, both in Texas, during the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

In addition to its new studio album, the band recently “unofficially” issued Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again, a live bootleg recording available only through modestmouse.com.

Source pollstar.com.

A pair of Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble appearances at Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival previously released on CD will have their visual component issued this summer on DVD. Fans will be able to see footage of Vaughan playing the annual event for the first time in 1982, a legendary performance that led to the late blues guitar legend’s mainstream breakthrough, and his triumphant return to headline at the festival three years later.

The two-disc DVD Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985, due Aug. 10 from Epic/Legacy, boasts additional songs not included on the 2001 single-disc audio release of the same title. The DVD will also boast a new documentary about the festival performances, with on-camera interviews with Jackson Browne, John Mayer and Double Trouble’ Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton.

Disc one-July 17, 1982:

“Hide Away”
“Rude Mood”
“Pride and Joy”
“Texas Flood”
“Love Struck Baby”
“Dirty Pool”
“Give Me Back My Wig”
“Collins’ Shuffle”

Disc two-July 15, 1985:

“Scuttle Buttin'”
“Say What!”
“Ain’t Gone N’ Give Up On Love”
“Pride and Joy”
“Mary Had a Little Lamb”
“Cold Shot” (w/ Johnny Copeland)
“Tin Pan Alley” (aka “Roughest Place In Town”; w/Johnny Copeland)
“Little Sister” (w/Johnny Copeland)
“Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”
“Texas Flood”
“Life Without You”
“Gone Home”
“Couldn’t Stand the Weather”

Source Billboard.com.

Kimock

Ray Charles died today (June 10) at his Beverly Hills, Calif., home from complications relating to liver disease. He was 73. The R&B legend was surrounded by family and friends at the time of his death, according to a spokesperson for the artist.

Charles, who made his last public appearance April 30, when his recording studio was designated a historic landmark by the city of Los Angeles, had been sidelined from performing by a hip ailment since August 2003.

At the time, Charles canceled all of his scheduled 2003 tour dates to undergo aggressive treatment for acute hip discomfort. It marked the first tour cancellation in the artist’s 53 years of live performance. “It breaks my heart to withdraw from these shows,” Charles said at the time. “All my life, I’ve been touring and performing. It’s what I do.”

Twice it was thought he was on the mend and would return to the road. When shows scheduled in March were canceled in late February, Charles’ representative at the William Morris Agency told Billboard.com he was expected to kick off a big band tour this month.

Source Billboard.com.

A federal judge found The Source magazine in contempt for violating a court order not to publish alleged “racist lyrics” from a tape made by Eminem in his teen days.

U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch issued a temporary restraining order in December 2003 barring The Source from publishing any lyrics from the recording. However, in violation of this order, the magazine’s website, thesource.com, published the full lyrics in a flashy homepage presentation.

In a pair of rulings made public Wednesday, Lynch ordered The Source to pay legal fees to Shady Records Inc., Eminem’s label. However, the judge denied Shady Record’s request to fine the magazine thousands of dollars because the magazine responded quickly to a cease and desist order from Em’s lawyers to remove the lyrics in January.

A lawyer for The Source spoke to the New York Times and defended the magazine’s publication of the lyrics saying, “The Source had every right to publish the material it did release to inform the public about who Eminem is.”

Source SOHH.com.

Organizers have confirmed the initial list of artists who will perform during the 2004 Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival. Set for Sept. 17-19 in the Texas capital’s Zilker Park, the event will showcase more than 130 acts representing many genres on eight stages.

The third annual event will feature sets by Sheryl Crow, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, Dashboard Confessional, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Modest Mouse, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Solomon Burke, Franz Ferdinand, the Beta Band and reunited modern rock act the Pixies.

Among the newly announced acts is hip-hop collective the Roots and modern rock acts Wilco, Cake, Gomez, Broken Social Scene, My Morning Jacket, the Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Calexico, the Killers, Cat Power, Sloan and Spoon. Along with scene godfather Anastasio, such artists as Medeski Martin & Wood, the North Mississippi Allstars and Particle will represent the jam band contingent, while reggae acts the Wailers and Toots & the Maytals are also on board.

Singer/songwriters will also have a substantial presence, with the likes of Pat Green, Mindy Smith, Josh Rouse, Patty Griffin, Ben Kweller, Howie Day, Neko Case, Joe Ely, Jack Ingram, Donavon Frankenreiter, Shelby Lynne, Kelly Willis, Bruce Robison and Butch Hancock all due to appear.

Among a host of veteran artists confirmed for this year’s festival are Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Solomon Burke, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Holmes Brothers and noted blues belter Marcia Ball.

The full list of confirmed acts can be found at the ACL Music Festival Web site.

Photos by Chad Anderson of the Great Bamboozle in Asbury Park, NJ on June 5th 2004.

This festival included performances by moe., The Breakfast, Om Trio, Kaki King and many others.

Otis Taylor spent almost twenty years outside the music business (1977-1995) as an antique salesman, but this record proves he is again where he belongs. Although not a groundbreaking blues album, Double V is an important statement by a man with a lot on his mind.

Since the summer of 2001, Billy Martin, of Medeski, Martin & Wood, has been organizing Turntable Sessions at various downtown New York City clubs. The Turntable Sessions: Volume 1 is an 11-song collection of highlights throughout the first three years of Martin

Columbia/Legacy will on Sept. 28 release Seven Steps to Heaven: The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis 1963-64, the seventh boxed set devoted to the late jazz trumpeter’s work for the label.

The seven-disc package will consider an important transitional period in Davis’ career. By 1963, his long-running rhythm section of pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb had dissolved; saxophonist John Coltrane, the star of Davis’ late-’50s quintet, had exited the band in April 1960 to lead his own group.

Source Billboard.com.

Clear Channel Communications is expected to hand over nearly $2 million to the Federal Communications Commission, as the government continues to crack down on allegedly indecent material, including broadcasts by Howard Stern.

Clear Channel, the biggest owner of U.S. radio stations, plans to admit it aired indecent material and pay the FCC $1.75 million to settle several complaints, according to Reuters. The company also plans to make changes to prevent further incidents, including implementing a zero-tolerance policy against alleged on-air indecency.

In April the FCC slapped Clear Channel with 18 citations totaling $495,000 in proposed forfeitures for broadcasting “indecent” material from Howard Stern’s morning show in six cities (see “Howard Stern Broadcast Costs Clear Channel Nearly $500,000”).

Source mtv.com.

The Hot Buttered Rum String Band has made a CD I’m sure they feel proud to release, and in many ways I agree that it’s a solid work. But the technical skills and instrumental variety the guys bring to their music cannot compensate for the antiseptic quality of the tunes, nor for the distance the band maintains between itself and its subjects.

With its mopey vocals and multi-layered arrangements, the second EP from
mellowdrone – go get ’em tiger – is what would result if Radiohead and the Cure had a jam/writing session for a locked away weekend – or maybe an
hour. In fact, the influences are so obvious it’s hard to pin point you’re
actually listening to mellowdrone, the alter-ego of singer/songwriter/musician Jonathan Bates.

Jam and Jay Goldberg Events & Entertainment are proud to announce the filming of the Summer Camp 2004 festival that took place at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe, Illinois, on May 28th-31st.

With virtually no option to see “their” bands televised on any sort of regular basis, the “jam fan” fan can now stake claim to JamCam Chronicles! Summer Camp 2004 hosts Jay Goldberg Events and Entertainment have collaborated with 4th Street Productions to produce the inaugural edition of JamCam Chronicles; a brand-new, ground-breaking DVD subscription series tailor-made for the improvisational music enthusiast. Throughout the festival season, starting early spring through late fall, subscribers will receive, by mail, eight consecutive freshly edited issues of this scene-focused “DVD magazine.” “A celebration of music, art and the spirit of community and festival,” JamCam Chronicles is designed to produce positive impact across the entire community. All first year subscribers will receive the Summer Camp show, featuring performances by Leftover Salmon, Jeff Austin (YMSB) and several others, free-of-charge. To learn more about how you, your band, festival or organization can get involved, go to www.jamcamdvd.com or email Director Tom Ledermann at tom@jamcamdvd.com.

Representatives of the Beatles are in discussions with various online music services about licensing their songs for distribution on the Internet, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The Beatles have been one of the biggest holdouts in releasing their catalog for sale online, and the lack of such mega-hits as “Let it Be” and “Yesterday” has been cited as a major weakness for fledgling, Web-based music stores.

Negotiators for the Beatles have talked with several companies, with a particular emphasis on Microsoft Corp’s MSN, which is expected to open an Internet music store late this summer.

“MSN is working very closely with the music industry to build a top-quality music service for consumers, which includes providing a wide selection of music, but has nothing specific to announce at this time,” said a Microsoft spokesman.

The discussions by the legendary group were first reported yesterday (June 8) by CNET.

Sources familiar with the matter said the current round of talks is being steered by the Beatles’ representatives rather than their record label, EMI Group Plc. Representatives of the band’s two surviving members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, could not be immediately reached for comment.

EMI owns the Beatles’ master recordings and would be involved in any final agreement, the sources said. The label has been trying to urge the Beatles for years to grant permission to distribute their songs online. “We think it would be great if the Beatles decided to make their music available on legitimate music services,” said an EMI spokesperson.

One person familiar with the discussions said he was optimistic that some deal could be reached by September.

“This would be a big deal because they have been one of the pre-eminent major holdouts in terms of licensing their digital rights,” said veteran entertainment lawyer Jay Cooper. “In the past year, various major artists are starting to put their toe in the water.”

Various services from RealNetworks’ Rhapsody to Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes to Roxio Inc.’s Napster would all jump at the chance to distribute the Beatles, who broke up over 30 years ago, analysts said.

“We’ve always been confident that artists would see digital music as a must-have platform. We’re at the infancy stage of what will certainly be a booming business,” said Evan Harrison, VP and GM of Time Warner Inc.’s AOL Music.

Apple Computer, which launched its popular iTunes music store over a year ago, has been embroiled in a legal dispute with the management for the Beatles since September.

The Beatles, who formed similarly named London-based Apple Corps. in 1968 to manage its business interests and act as its music label, have accused the computer maker of violating a 1991 agreement specifying it could use the Apple trademark for computer products only.

The Beatles management have said Apple Computer broke the agreement when it used the logo and trademark to promote its iTunes online music store, the most popular Internet download service in the world.

A London High Court judge in April struck down Apple’s request to have the case heard by California courts. The computer maker argued the United States was the proper place for the hearing as this was where the original agreement between the two companies was struck.

Source billboard.com.

In what is being billed as the first appearance in 10 years by all of its key members, the Wu-Tang Clan will headline the July 17 Rock the Bells festival in San Bernardino, Calif. Organizers promise that RZA, GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, U God and Cappadona will all be on hand for the performance.

“At first we thought we could get some of the members of Wu-Tang together and that would be enough, but it became a mission to bring them all out for one special day,” says festival organizer Chang Weisberg. “All the members have expressed their excitement to let their alter egos mash the stage and represent the ‘Clan.'”

A number of other major hip-hop acts have also signed for Rock the Bells, including Redman, Dilated Peoples, Sage Francis, Eyedea & Abilities and Supernatural with Jurassic 5 members Chali 2na and DJ Nu-Mark. Tickets go on sale June 18 via Ticketmaster. Organizers are also planning a Rock the Bells North American tour in 2005.

The Wu-Tang Clan will play eight festival and headlining dates in Europe this summer, beginning July 1 in Zurich, but it is unknown what the group’s exact lineup will be for those shows. As exclusively revealed here in November, the RZA-spearheaded book “The Wu-Tang Manual” is scheduled for a fall release by Riverhead Books, senior editor Sean McDonald tells Billboard.com.

Source billboard.com.

Musically, Here Come the Brides rocks with all the swagger, inebriation and low IQ of the best hair rock. Like a drunk driver in a fast car on a curvy California road, the Brides play with the reckless abandon one would expect from 80s L.A. veterans

Former Toad The Wet Sprocket front man Glen Phillips and Nickel Creek will be joined by former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and drummer Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello & the Attractions) for a 14-date summer tour. The outing, billed as the Mutual Admiration Society, begins July 27 at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, and concludes Aug. 18-19 at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va.

The tour is expected to find the artists performing in solo and collaborative settings. It comes in support of the album “Mutual Admiration Society,” which Phillips and Nickel Creek recorded with producer Ethan Johns. Due July 13 via Sugar Hill Records, the set features songs written and sung by Phillips, with accompaniment and other vocals from the Grammy-winning band.

Phillips is working on a solo album for Lost Highway Records. Nickel Creek is working on its third album for Sugar Hill Records, as well as individual solo projects.

As for Jones, he produced the sophomore album from the Datsuns, “Outta Sight / Outta Mind,” released yesterday (June 7) in the United Kingdom. It will arrive Sept. 14 in North America via V2.

Here are the Mutual Admiration Society tour dates:

July 27: Seattle (Moore Theatre)
July 28: Portland, Ore. (Roseland Theatre)
July 29: San Francisco (Independent)
July 31: Los Angeles (Roxy)
Aug. 8: Minneapolis (Fine Line Music Cafe)
Aug. 9: Chicago (Metro)
Aug. 10: Cleveland (Beachland Ballroom)
Aug. 12: Boston (Paradise)
Aug. 13-14: New York (Bowery Ballroom)
Aug. 15: Charleston, W.Va. (Mountain Stage)
Aug. 17: Lexington, Va. (Theatre at Lime Kiln)
Aug. 18-19: Alexandria, Va. (Birchmere)

Source billboard.com.

Kurt Vonnegut’s contribution of Hook, Line & Sinker to The Greatest Album Covers That Never Were, portions of which are currently on display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, inspired me to take a closer look at the relationship between Mr. Vonnegut and Phish.

Rather than focusing on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot