Archive: 2004

The String Cheese Incident have announced a number of summer tour dates to coincide with their headlining gig on this summer

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new $128 million home in the Time Warner Center is designed to be as fluid as the music itself, with stages that can be reconfigured and the city’s skyline as a backdrop.

“The whole space is going to be dedicated to the feeling of swing, which is a feeling of extreme coordination,” said trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who also is Jazz at Lincoln Center’s artistic director.

The Frederick P. Rose Hall, on the fifth and sixth floors of the Time Warner Center, a vertical mall that opened in February, won’t welcome paying crowds until October. But Lincoln Center officials held a news conference in the half-built facility on Wednesday to announce the lineup for the 2004-05 season.

“Our first season in our new home is going to include programs that cover a broad range of artists and styles and span the entire history of jazz,” Marsalis said.

The new concert hall, perched atop pricey restaurants and shops a few blocks south of Lincoln Center’s main site, will be the first in the world engineered specifically for jazz.

The ceiling at the Rose Theater, the largest of the three performance spaces with a capacity of 1,231, can be dropped, and the room can be “tuned” by adjusting velour curtains and banners, said Chris Darland, an acoustical consultant.

Towers of seats can be moved to offer the choice between “concert in the round” and proscenium theater configurations.

Source Launch.com.

HeadCount, a voter registration group affiliated with The Dead and most of the top improvisational music acts, will be holding a benefit concert at BB King Blues Club on June 7, 2004 to raise money for its nationwide voter registration campaign. moe. will make a special appearance following a performance by the HeadCount All-Stars, featuring Al Schnier and Vinnie Amico of moe., and Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuits. The HeadCount All-Stars performed together once before in Denver, Co on February 14th, at an event to mark the organization’s launch.

Schnier is a member of HeadCount’s board of directors, and Brownstein is the organization’s co-chair.

HeadCount will also send street teams on tour with The Dead this summer, and also register voters at Lollapalooza and most major festivals. The organization already has voter registration tables at up to 25 concerts per week around the country.

Show Details:

Monday June 7, 2004
BB King Blues Club
237 West 42 St- New York, NY
7:30 pm
$32.50 GA
$50 reserved seats (with free poster)
$100 VIP (with poster autographed by all participating artists, plus special VIP laminate and photo opportunity with select artists).

All proceeds from the event will go to HeadCount. The organization’s web site, HeadCount.org, is also accepting volunteer applications and donations. It also houses a proprietary on-line voter registration system.

Hot on the heels of her universally acclaimed Van Lear Rose LP, subversive country legend Loretta Lynn has announced plans to collaborate with White Stripes axe-grinder Jack White on two more full-length records for Interscope. Speaking last week to The New York Times, Lynn revealed, “I’ve got two more [albums] in mind, and Jack and I are going to do ’em together. When I’m on the road, I say to my fans: ‘How many of you know The White Stripes?’ And they applaud. Country people know him.”

Lynn is presently on the road, playing modest gigs– mostly at casinos– nationwide, but she told the paper that she will also embark on another tour with White and the Van Lear Rose backing band, which she named The Do-Whaters, possibly playing rock venues: “Me and Jack are going to do a tour with the Do-Whaters, the boys that played on the album. I’ll take my band out, too, so it won’t be no big deal.” When she might find time for that tour remains to be seen, however, since her current itinerary has her booked fairly solid through the end of the year. Current dates:

05-14 Johnson City, TN – Freedom Hall
05-15 Norfolk, VA – Chrysler Hall
05-29 Hurricane Mills, TN – Loretta Lynn Ranch
06-04 Lubbock, TX – West Texas Canyon Amphitheater
06-05 San Antonio, TX – Sunset Station
06-11 Kalamazoo, MI – Kalamazoo State Theatre
06-12 Toledo, OH – Stranahan Theatre
06-18 Florence, IN – Belterra Casino & Resort
06-19 Branson, MO – Grand Palace
06-20 Birmingham, AL – City Stages
06-25 Bossier City, LA – Isle of Capri Casino
06-26 Jackson, MS – Jackson Municipal Auditorium
07-03 Hurricane Mills, TN – Loretta Lynn Ranch
07-17 Branson, MO – Grand Palace
07-21 Walker, MN – Northern Lights Casino
07-22 West Bend, WI – Washington County Fair Park
07-30 Gilford, NH – Meadowbrook Farm Musical Arts Center
07-31 Atlantic City, NJ – Adrian Phillips Ballroom
08-07 North Myrtle Beach, SC – Alabama Theatre
08-20 Chautauqua, NY – Chautauqua Institution
08-21 Lancaster, PA – American Music Theatre
08-22 Lancaster, PA – American Music Theatre
08-24 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Wolf Den
08-25 Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Wolf Den
08-27 Cherokee, NC – Harrah’s Pavillion
08-28 Cherokee, NC – Harrah’s Pavillion
09-17 Robinsonville, MS – Sam’s Town
09-18 Kinder, LA – Grand Casino Coushatta
10-02 Hurricane Mills, TN – Loretta Lynn Ranch
10-16 Taylorville, IL – Nashville North
10-17 Taylorville, IL – Nashville North
10-23 Cumming, GA – Lanierland Music Park
11-12 Renfro Valley, KY – Renfro Valley Entertainment Center
11-13 Renfro Valley, KY – Renfro Valley Entertainment Center
12-17 Burgettstown, PA – Pepsi Cola Roadhouse

Source pitchfork.com.

Canadian rock trio Rush’s next release will feature covers of classics popularized by the Who, Cream, Buffalo Springfield and the Yardbirds. Due June 29 via Atlantic, the eight-track “Feedback” marks the first time the group has ever recorded material by other artists.

The album kicks off with a new take on Blue Cheer’s cover of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues.” The track list is rounded out by the Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul” and “Shapes of Things,” the Who’s “The Seeker,” Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and “Mr. Soul,” Love’s “Seven and Seven Is” and Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads,” famously covered by Cream.
Bassist] Geddy [Lee], [guitarist] Alex [Lifeson] and I were channeling back to 1966 and 1967, when we were 13- and 14-year-old beginners,” drummer Neil Peart writes in the album’s liner notes. “We thought it would be a fitting symbol to commemorate our 30 years together if we returned to our roots and paid tribute to those we had learned from and were inspired by. We thought we might record some of the songs we used to listen to, the ones we painstakingly learned the chords, notes and drum parts for, and even played in our earliest bands.”

As previously reported, Rush’s 30th anniversary tour begins May 26 in Nashville and will wrap its North American portion with an Aug. 22 show in the group’s Toronto home town. A European swing kicks off Sept. 8 in London.

Source billboard.com.

Hip-hop act Jurassic 5 has wrapped three songs for its next Interscope set, the group’s DJ Nu-Mark tells Billboard. The as-yet-untitled set will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Power in Numbers,” which debuted at No. 13 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In the meantime, Nu-Mark just released his Sequence mix CD “Hands On,” while members Chali 2na and Cut Chemist have scored solo deals with Interscope and Warner Bros.

The group also signed a partnership deal with Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee for his new “Super 7” cartoon, due in 2005. “That’s really cool for us because three out of the six of us collected comics growing up, so we’ve always wanted to see the merge of hip-hop and comics come into play,” Nu-Mark says. “Cut Chemist and I will be doing beats for the cartoon and Chali 2na might be doing the voice for one of the characters.”

Source billboard.com.

Toots Hibbert, Beres Hammond, Sizzla and Israel Vibration’s Apple Gabriel are among the reggae heavyweights contributing to “Is It Rolling, Bob?,” a reggae tribute to Bob Dylan. The 15-track set is due Aug. 10 via Sanctuary/RAS Records and includes a rare reggae mix by Sly & Robbie of Dylan’s “I and I,” the original version of which can be found on his 1983 album “Infidels.”

“As a major fan of both Bob Dylan and Bob Marley, I believe this record really addresses the commonality between their audiences,” RAS Records founder/album producer Gary Himelfarb says. “Dylan was a voice of the oppressed in the 1960s just as Bob Marley was a voice of the oppressed in 1970s.”

The set is highlighted by Hibbert’s version of “Maggie’s Farm,” Luciano’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (which frequently substitutes “zion” for “heaven”), Gabriel’s upbeat take on “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” Hammond’s “Just Like a Woman” and Gregory Isaacs’ “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

“Is It Rolling” features a backing band of musicians who played on sessions by Marley and the Wailers and Peter Tosh, including harmonica player Lee Jaffe and guitarist Earl “Chinna” Smith.

Dylan’s vast body of work has previously been the subject of tribute albums by a string quartet and gospel artists, among many others.

Here is the track list for “Is It Rolling, Bob?”:

“Intro”
“The Times They Are A-Changin’,” Apple Gabriel
“Maggie’s Farm,” Toots Hibbert
“Just Like a Woman,” Beres Hammond
“Lay, Lady, Lay,” the Mighty Diamonds
“Gotta Serve Somebody,” Nasio with Drummie Zeb & the Razor Posse (featuring Incline)
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” Luciano
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” Michael Rose
“Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Sizzla
“Mr. Tambourine Man,” Gregory Isaacs
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” JC Lodge
“One Too Many Mornings,” Abijah
“Blowin’ in the Wind,” Don Carlos
“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” Billy Mystic
“I and I (Reggae Mix)”

Source billboard.com.

Learn About Our Events
Search Directories
Buy Products

Get Yer Boots On

From documentaries to features, Glide’s E.C. Thomas hits the 2nd Annual Independent Film Festival of Boston for the latest in indie cinema lowdown.

To Tulsa And Back is J.J. Cale

The ever-rotating lineup of the Everyone Orchestra took its philosophy of improvisational-based collaborations with a diverse core of musicians, combined with a focus on social consciousness on both local and global issues for a small road trip through Oregon, and us north westerners are sure glad that they did.

Resonating the sounds of eighties post-punk and new wave alike, stellastar* may very well have the staying power to outlast some of their contemporaries. With a galvanizing live show to complement their fine studio work, stellastarr* are earnestly strutting their sound

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum plans to open a satellite museum early next year in downtown Phoenix.

The “on tour” museum will be housed in a two-level building near America West Arena and will remain for at least five years, becoming permanent if it’s well received.

Featuring traveling displays, rare items connected to artists and interactive educational exhibits, it could draw more than 100,000 visitors a year, organizers said Monday.

“It becomes one more little anchor to come downtown,” said Dale Jensen, a businessman from Paradise Valley who has been on the Cleveland-based Hall of Fame’s board for more than a year.

Source Launch.com.

Jamming in the VIP section doesn’t put you above the law. At least that’s what Andy Dick discovered when he was busted for lighting up a joint at the Coachella music festival in Indio, California, last week, according to reports.

Dick was partying in an exclusive area near the stage on May 2, when he was spotted by a security guard lighting up. He was searched and the guard uncovered a small marijuana stash in a baggie.

Dick was handed over to the Indio Police Department, who cited him for misdemeanor pot possession of less than an ounce, removed his VIP wristband and kicked him off the concert grounds.

The funnyman was one of 29 people busted on the closing night of the two-day Coachella festival. Dick is scheduled to appear in Riverside County Superior Court on June 16.

Source Eonline.com.

Sony’s entry in the handheld gaming space might be a bit delayed in the U.S., but when it arrives, it’s going to have a tremendous amount of publisher support. Nearly 100 game publishers are making games for the PSP (or PlayStation Portable), which will be released in the U.S. early next year. (Sony plans to ship the device in Japan this holiday season.)

Sony’s PSP will have a tremendous amount of support in the U.S.
The first batch of games will have some familiar titles, including Metal Gear, SpiderMan 2 and Tiger Woods Golf. Electronic Arts, the gaming industry’s leading publisher, vowed to have four titles ready for the PSP at launch.

The PSP, which has roughly the same graphical quality as the PS2, is being targeted at an older audience than other handheld gaming machines, with Sony particularly eyeing 18-34 year old males.

“We know they buy more games with more disposable income,” said Kaz Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

The PSP will feature a 4.3-inch screen with a 16:9 widescreen ratio, come with built-in stereo speakers. It will support 802.11b wireless connections and have input ports for US 2.0 devices and Sony’s proprietary memory stick storage device.

Battery life will vary, depending on how the PS is used, Hirai said. Gamers should be able to play for roughly 10 hours before recharging the device’s lithium-ion battery. People using the PSP as a music player will be able to listen for approximately eight hours. And when it’s used as a portable movie player, the battery will last 2.5 hours.

Source CNN.com.

Although they are not planning to tour this year, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers will instead be working on various projects, including a live album, a second “Greatest Hits” package and a new studio release. Due next year via Warner Bros., that set will be the follow-up to 2002’s “The Last DJ,” which debuted at No. 9 on The Billboard 200.

In an interview on the band’s official Web site, Petty says he and touring sound engineer Robert Scovill are working on narrowing the live
material to a double-disc release. “We did a live record in ’84 (“Pack Up the Plantation: Live!”) and I never thought it was the great live album that this band should put out,” Petty said. “So that’s kind of another project we have going, to get this live album recorded and out at some point. If it went really quick, maybe it would be out this year.”

Petty is also planning to release “Greatest Hits, Part II,” possibly augmented with new songs, in the months ahead. The group previously issued “Greatest Hits” in 1993 and “Anthology: Through the Years” in 2000.

As well, Petty has completed eight of 10 radio programs for a series titled “Tom Petty’s Buried Treasures” for the XM satellite radio channel. “It’s going to be hour-long shows of music put together by whoever,” Petty said. “It’s mostly old music with an eye to turn people onto stuff, especially younger people who might not have heard this stuff.”

In hopes of making available even more material to his fans, Petty also is planning to create a members-only area on the Web site. “There are so many hundreds and hundreds of bootlegs,” he said. “I would kind of like to make them authorized. Not all of my fans will want bootlegs, but for those who do, I want to have that musical outlet on the Web site.”

Source billboard.com.

THIS DAY IN MUSIC
Birthdays, break-ups, hits, and highlights.
Wed May 12, 2004

LATEST NEWS
Petty Gets Busy On New Album, Live Set
May 12
Roc-A-Fella Keeps Rolling
May 12
Burning Brides Rise From The ‘Ashes’
May 12
BMI Pop Awards Celebrate Brian Wilson
May 12
Billboard Bits: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tommy Stinson
May 12
Usher Unseats D12 From No. 1
May 12
R&B Artist John Whitehead Shot Dead
May 12
Rapper Ras Kass Sues Priority, Capitol, EMI
May 12
Rock Hall To Open In Arizona
May 12
‘Time’ Is Right For New Milian Album
May 11
Jessica Simpson Sets Summer Tour
May 11
Old 97’s Ride Again On ‘Drag It Up’
May 11
Cowboy Junkies Show Their ‘Soul’
May 11
Tynan Exiting Irish Tenors
May 11
Billboard Bits: Pearl Jam, Paul Simon, The Who
May 11
Reprint permission

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. May 12, 2004, 3:20 PM ET

Billboard Bits: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tommy Stinson

Columbia/Legacy has set a June 1 release date for 14 remastered Bob Dylan titles, which first hit the marketplace last year as Super Audio CD hybrids. The remasters, which include “Blonde on Blonde,” “Blood on the Tracks,” “Highway 61 Revisited,” “John Wesley Harding” and “Bringing It All Back Home,” will be available in jewel cases as opposed to the digipaks that housed last year’s editions.

All titles will retail for $11.98 except “Blonde on Blonde” and “Blood on the Tracks,” which will sell for $13.98. The lone album that was part of the initial hybrid campaign that is not being made available next month is Dylan’s most recent studio release, 2001’s “Love and Theft.”

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

————————————————————————

The film version of Neil Young’s latest album, “Greendale,” will be released June 22 on DVD via Sanctuary. The movie, which finds Young and friends bringing to life the characters described in the album, recently enjoyed a theatrical run in more than 40 North American cities.

The “Greendale” DVD will feature a documentary on the film’s creation, interviews with Young and the cast, behind-the-scenes footage, a live performance of album track “Be the Rain” and the full lyrics to the “Greendale” songs.

In late March, Young and Crazy Horse wrapped a run of dates supporting “Greendale,” including a three-night stand at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. The artist has not announced any touring plans for the summer.

Source billboard.com.

Photos by Jason Gonulsen of Ani Difranco’s live performance at the Pageant in St. Louis, MO on May 6th, 2004.

Since the high profile debut 1992 release, Tongues and Tails, that garnered a Grammy nom and added, “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover,” to your permanent memory bank, Hawkins has moved about without much commotion. Now, fourteen years later, she is releasing her first independently recorded album, Wilderness.

Andre 3000, one-half of the chart-topping hip-hop group OutKast, is developing a potential series project with Cartoon Network.

The musician is hashing out ideas for a half-hour special pegged for the cable channel’s “Adult Swim” block. If Andre 3000 and Cartoon — both based in Atlanta — are happy with the results, the channel will greenlight the special for series treatment.

Mike Lazzo, senior vp of Cartoon’s “Adult Swim” program block, quickly got over his reservations about collaborating with celebrities upon meeting with Andre 3000, who has worked as an illustrator. “I’m extremely wary of it, but in Andre’s case, I think he is a creative genius,” he said. “He has definite opinions of what he likes visually.”

While still in the early stages, the project is expected to be inspired by the rapper’s life or possibly his alter ego, Johnny Vulture, the guitar-playing wildman seen in OutKast’s video for the Grammy-winning hit single “Hey Ya!” The special will likely have a musical component similar in style to such off-kilter animated films as “Cool World” and “Yellow Submarine.” The rapper is expected to contribute music to the project.

Andre 3000 also is enjoying a burgeoning film career with a role in the “Get Shorty” sequel, “Be Cool.” He also is gearing up for a starring role in a Jimi Hendrix (news) biopic, to be directed by the Hughes brothers.

Source yahoo.com.