Archive: 2004

Sonic Youth, My Morning Jacket, moe. and On The Speakers are among the bands confirmed to play the Great Bamboozle, to be held June 4-6 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J. Three-day and single-day tickets can be purchased from the event’s official Web site. Antigone Rising, Railroad Earth, Om Trio, De Sol and the Breakfast will also be on the bill.

From there, Sonic Youth heads Down Under for eight shows in Australia and New Zealand, beginning June 15 in Canberra and wrapping June 26 in Auckland. Dinosaur Jr. principal J Mascis will support.

Sonic Youth is touring in support of its 19th full-length, “Sonic Nurse,” due June 8 via Geffen. The 10-track set is three songs and nearly 15 minutes longer than its 2002 predecessor, “Murray Street,” but revels in a similarly less bombastic sound, with a noticeable classic rock shading. Highlights include the wistful “Unmade Bed,” the uptempo, melodically memorable “Dripping Dream,” the subtle political commentary of “Peace Attack” and the Kim Gordon-sung opener, “Pattern Recognition.”

As previously reported, Sonic Youth is confirmed to appear on this summer’s Lollapalooza tour alongside Morrissey, Modest Mouse, Flaming Lips, String Cheese Incident and the Polyphonic Spree. The group previously headlined the tour in 1995.

Source billboard.com.

Former Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson gets a lift from the group’s one-time guitarist Audley Freed on “This Magnificent Distance,” his debut for Vector Recordings. Due June 29, the set features one Robinson/Freed co-write plus several tracks featuring Freed on guitar. In addition, Freed has joined Robinson’s backing band New Earth Mud, which now features bassist George Reiff, drummer Steve Distanislao and keyboardist Rob Barraco, who until recently was a member of the Dead.

The set is the follow-up to Robinson’s 2002 solo debut, “New Earth Mud” (Redline), which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and No. 4 on the Top Independent Albums tally. Five songs were penned by Robinson, while six are co-writes with frequent collaborator Paul Stacey, who also co-produced. The tracks “Mother of Stone” and “Like a Tumbleweed in Eden,” were produced by Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Counting Crows).

Highlights include the Crowes-leaning “Mother of Stone” and first single “40 Days,” the soulful vocal performance on “Like a Tumbleweeed in Eden” and “Girl on the Mountain,” which recalls the trippy, haunting side of Pink Floyd. The album also features the 8-minute “When a Cold Wind Blows on the Dark Edge of Night.”

“My first album sounds like a Sunday morning record — it’s about being in love — and this one brings up a lot of questions about freedom,” Robinson says. “And what does freedom mean, because I don’t think it’s the freedom to consume. I think in America people have forgotten their imagination.”

Robinson and New Earth Mud will begin an extensive tour April 30 in New Orleans and will also make a previously announced June 11 appearance at the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn. Beginning July 4 in Portland, Ore., the group will open six dates for the Allman Brothers Band.

Source billboard.com.

Recorded in 1999 after the dissolution of Todd Sheaffer’s old band, From Good Homes, this performance predates Railroad Earth but stands as a document of Sheaffer’s nascent talents and burgeoning skills that play such a pivotal role in the RRE sound today.

Singer-songwriter Gary Jules has recently hit the top of the charts with Michael Andrews and their remake of the Tears For Fears song, “Mad World.” However, Jules

Morrissey, Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth and String Cheese Incident are among the acts confirmed for the 2004 Lollapalooza tour, Billboard.com has learned. This year’s event will mark the debut of a two-day format and a more diverse musical lineup. Tour founder Perry Farrell will also be involved as a DJ or host, although his band Jane’s Addiction is not expected to be on the bill. Offers are also out to such acts as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Le Tigre and the Fire Theft.

“The only theme to the whole thing is eclectic music not driven by the commercial marketplace,” says Marc Geiger, the agent for Lollapalooza at the William Morris Agency, one of the founders of the festival. “Lollapalooza is different from year to year, if you look at it historically. Some years it was more indie, some years more dark.”

Two days means more bands, Geiger points out. “There are just too many great bands, and the one-day rock festival with 13 acts format has been co-opted by the radio shows,” he says. “What we’re doing is more akin to the great European festivals that originally inspired Lollapalooza, as well as [events like] Coachella and Bonnaroo. The two-day format will once again differentiate Lollapalooza from what everybody else is doing.”

Source billboard.com.

Hip-hop collective the Roots has set a June 29 release date for its next Geffen album, “The Tipping Point.” The album sports guest appearances from Jean Grae, Devin the Dude, Martin Luther, guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas, comedian Dave Chappelle and producer Scott Storch.

The Storch-produced first single “Don’t Say Nothin'” will be supported by a video that is currently in production. Other tracks earmarked for the album include “In Love With (The Mic)” featuring Chappelle and “Everybody Is a Star,” described as a “virtual duet” with Sly and the Family Stone.

Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson describes “The Tipping Point” as the “sum of our six records and our 12 years as a band. Most of our album titles are chosen to reflect on the mood of where the group is and we feel as though this album is our biggest step.”

The new set is the follow-up to 2002’s “Phrenology.” So far, the Roots have a handful of tour dates on tap, beginning April 8 in Las Vegas. They will also play the Sasquatch! Music Festival on May 29 outside Seattle and Holland’s Pink Pop Festival two days later.

As previously reported, the Roots recently launched their own label, Okayplayer Records. The inaugural release is slated to be a compilation featuring the Roots, Skillz, Jean Grae, Madlib, Aceyalone, Little Brother and Dilated Peoples.

Source billboard.com.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

Rumors have surfaced that The Rolling Stones are working on their first new album in seven years.

Comic actor Jack Black has been in cast alongside Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson (news)’s remake of “King Kong,” the director said Monday.

Black will play Carl Denham, an adventurer filmmaker who is trying to make a name for himself in 1930s New York. Robert Armstrong played the role in the 1933 original.

Watts is playing Ann Darrow, an American actress who makes a living performing in Broadway song and dance shows. The project, which will shoot in Jackson’s native New Zealand, is set up at Universal Pictures.

“I’ve been wanting to work with Jack Black ever since I saw him in High Fidelity,” said Jackson, who is also writing the remake along with his “Lord of the Rings” co-screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. “He’s a smart and versatile actor blessed with an abundance of energy and charm and I’m absolutely thrilled that he is joining us on ‘Kong.”‘

Black earned a Golden Globe nomination this year for his starring role in last fall’s hit comedy “The School of Rock.” His other credits include “Orange County” and “Shallow Hal.”

Source yahoo.com.

A number of Bruce Hornsby summer tour dates have been added, as he

Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer’s fall 2003 tour will be chronicled on the upcoming CD/DVD set “Music for Two.” Due April 27 from Sony Classical, the audio disc will feature the banjo virtuoso and the double bass master playing innovative original material and arrangements of largely classical works.

The album boasts 16 tracks the duo honed during their first duo tour in 2001, four of which can be traced to J.S. Bach. Four cuts are true collaborations between Fleck and Meyer, while others are solo compositions, such as Fleck’s opening “Bug Tussle” or Meyer’s closing “Wishful Thinking.” In addition, the pair interprets Henry Eccles’ “Sonata – Largo and Allegro Vivace” and covers Miles Davis’ “Solar.”

The DVD comprises a 40-minute film shot by Fleck’s brother, filmmaker Sascha Paladino. Along with performance and backstage footage, “Obstinato: Making Music for Two” also spotlights Fleck and Meyer in rehearsal and composition settings.

The pair will support the release with a brief tour in late May. Fleck and his progressive bluegrass act the Flecktones have a full slate of dates before and after that outing; the group plays Greenville, S.C., tonight (March 30).

Meyer and Fleck shared a 2001 Grammy award for best instrumental arrangement for “Dr. Gradus Ad Parnassum,” from Fleck’s Sony Classical debut, “Perpetual Motion.” The album reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Classical Crossover chart.

Here are Fleck and Meyer’s tour dates:

May 19: Carlisle, Pa. (Regional Performing Arts Center)
May 20: Washington, D.C. (Lisner Auditorium)
May 21: Glenside, Pa. (Keswick Theatre)
May 22: New York (Town Hall)
May 23: Cambridge, Mass.)Sanders Theatre)
May 25: Saint Louis, Mo. (Sheldon Concert Hall)
May 27: Aspen, Colo. (Harris Concert Hall)
May 28: Boulder, Colo. (Boulder Theater)
May 30: San Francisco (Herbst Theatre)
May 31: Palo Alto, Calif. (Stanford University)
June 1: Petaluma, Calif. (Mystic Theatre)

Source billboard.com.

Prolific singer/songwriter Ryan Adams is offering a three-track EP for sale via Apple’s iTunes download store. The “Moroccan Role” EP boasts the songs “Ah, Life,” “I’m Coming Over” and “Don’t Even Know Her Name.”

In addition, Adams’ two recent “Love Is Hell” EPs will be combined onto a single 15-track disc to be issued May 4 by Lost Highway. The EPs debuted late last year on The Billboard 200 at No. 78 and No. 171, respectively.

Adams has been sidelined since injuring his wrist in a Jan. 22 fall from a Liverpool, England, stage. “[I’m] currently doing stuff but its none of anybody’s business and get out of my yard before I hit you with a rake,” Adams says by way of an update on his official Web site, which also features post-operative pictures of his injury.

Source billboard.com.

Grown Backwards, stems from a “top down” approach to songwriting, with David Byrne developing melodies first and then figuring out which chords and structures best fitted his vivid imagination. It wasn

Weir Here is a two-CD retrospective, the first being a chronological journey through his studio work, the second a collection of essential Weir moments caught on stage. And yes, two full albums of Bobby tunes comes with more yelps, hollers and high-pitched screams than you can shake a pair of tight shorts at.

On May 25, the Grateful Dead will release Rockin’ the Rhein with the Grateful Dead, a three-CD set that features the band’s complete concert on April 24, 1972 in Dusseldorf, West Germany.

Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam are among the artists who will take part in a pair of California concerts remembering late country rock pioneer Gram Parsons. Dubbed Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, the shows are set for July 9 at the Santa Barbara Bowl and July 10 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

Jones, Yoakam, Williams, Steve Earle and Jim Lauderdale are confirmed to perform. Artists who have been invited to take part include Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Beck, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, Ben Harper, Starsailor and the Old 97s.

Jointly produced by House of Blues Concerts and Nederlander West Coast, the Return to Sin City concerts are being organized by Parsons’ daughter, Polly.

Tickets will go on sale May 8 via Ticketmaster. A portion of the proceeds from the shows will be donated to the Musicians’ Assistance Program. For more information, visit gramparsonstribute.com.

The legendary tale that followed Parsons’ death from a morphine and tequila overdose in September 1973 is the subject of the film “Grand Theft Parsons,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The movie relates the heist of the artist’s coffin from Los Angeles International Airport by his road manager, Phil Kaufman, and the subsequent a pilgrimage to the Joshua Tree desert to incinerate his body, according to Parsons’ wishes.

Starring Johnny Knoxville as Kaufman, as well as Christina Applegate, Michael Shannon and Marley Shelton, the film was released earlier this month in the United Kingdom and Ireland. For more information, visit its official Web site.

Source billboard.com.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

The songs might not be as catchy as those on his debut album, but On My Way exhibits Kweller

Recorded from their 2003 March run at New York

Wynton Marsalis, Natalie Cole, Lyle Lovett and David Byrne are among the artists confirmed to take part in the Janus Jazz Aspen Snowmass festivals this summer. The first of the events will take place June 24-27 in downtown Aspen, Col., while the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend (Sept. 3-6) festival will be staged at the foot of the nearby Elk Mountains.

The 14th annual June festival will feature Marsalis and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on June 24; Cole on June 25; Al Green, Lizz Wright and Yerba Buena on June 26; and Buddy Guy, Medeski, Martin & Wood and Yerba Buena on June 27. Additional free concerts will be held in Aspen’s Wagner Park, while small venue shows under the JAS After Dark banner will be held throughout the weekend.

At deadline, Lovett and Byrne were the only confirmed artists for the September Jazz Aspen Snowmass event.

In addition, weekly free concerts will be staged at the base of the Snowmass Ski Area, with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, C.J. Chenier, Marcia Ball, Kermit Ruffins, Otis Taylor and Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Boys confirmed to take part.

Daily and weekend festival tickets are already on sale to JAS Club members, and will go on sale Monday (March 29) to the general public via the event’s Web site.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

The surviving three MC5 members — guitarist Wayne Kramer, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson — are planning to tour as DKT/MC5 with guest vocalists including Evan Dando, Marshall Crenshaw, Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek and the Hellacopters’ Nicke Royale.

The tour comes amid a ripe period of discovery of the politically minded, legendary pre-punk band. The Motor City rockers — singer Rob Tyner died in 1991 and guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith passed in 1994 — are at the heart of a pair of upcoming DVDs. First up is Sonic Revolution: A Celebration of the MC5, filmed at a London concert last year when the remaining MC5 members were joined on stage by Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, Ian Astbury, Royale, the Damned’s Dave Vanian and others. Also included on the DVD, due July 6th, is a thirty-minute documentary that includes interviews with Jack White and members of Primal Scream and Death in Vegas, along with footage taken by the U.S. Department of Defense, which kept tabs on the band during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

A second DVD, the documentary MC5: A True Testimonial, was scheduled for release in May, but it was recently put on indefinite hold because of publishing clearance issues. Testimonial includes film and television footage of the band, as well as interviews and testimonials from the likes of Cheap Trick, Blue Oyster Cult, Primal Scream and Kilmister.

The tour will kick off in June and make several North American stops (including a hometown gig in Detroit) before visiting Europe, Australia and Japan.

Source rollingstone.com.

Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and Sammy Hagar have set June 11th in Greensboro, NC as the kick-off for America’s top rock band historic reunion, marking their first concert tour in more than nine years. Tickets will go on sale for select concerts of the nationwide tour on Saturday April 3, 2004, with pre-sale ticket information to be announced shortly. Additionally, Warner Bros. Records will be releasing “It’s About Time,” a newly recorded Van Halen track from the upcoming, best of Van Halen album scheduled for release this June.

Sammy Hagar was the Van Halen front man from 1985-1996. During that period, all Van Halen studio albums, 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance, as well as Best of Van Halen Volume I, went straight to #1 on the Billboard charts.

Van Halen has teamed up with iloveallaccess.com to offer the ultimate fan experience featuring a variety of premium ticket packages. Packages for the Greensboro, Hershey, Philadelphia, Worcester, East Rutherford, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Auburn Hills, St. Paul, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Las Vegas concerts will be available starting Tuesday March 30 at 10am ET.

For more details go to the band’s Web site at www.van-halen.com. Additional concerts will be announced shortly.