2004

A week after guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Chris Chaney announced Jane’s Addiction’s split through a post on Navarro’s Web site, singer Perry Farrell explains the break-up from his perspective.

“The band went astray, falling into shallow holes,” Farrell tells Rolling Stone. “There was no consideration for the legacy she had built up over the years. Jane was getting stripped of her majesty.”

“My separation came about because this legendary band was taken over by new owners,” Farrell continues. “Music that was once relevant and graceful had become clumsy as a circus seal tooting his horns . . . Jane doesn’t strip for anyone but me. I brought Jane’s Addiction to life, it is only fitting that I am the one to bury her.”

The latest fracture follows a three-year Jane’s Addiction reunion that included a Lollapalooza headlining tour and last year’s Strays, the band’s first album of original material since 1990’s Ritual de lo Habitual. Jane’s had regrouped in 1997 for a tour and released Kettle Whistle, a mixed batch of live tracks, demos and newly recorded songs.

Before splitting in 1991, Jane’s Addiction (Farrell, Navarro, Perkins and bassist Eric Avery) helped shove alternative music into the mainstream, paving the way for bands like Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins.

“I wish for Jane’s Addiction to be remembered as one of the seminal bands of her era,” says Farrell. “She laid a foundation for unbridled underground music to rise up on. The newly coined ‘alternative music’ came on to replace a stale music scene. We encouraged people to make scary choices.”

While his ex-mates have formed a new band with Skycycle singer Steve Isaacs, Farrell, who released the solo album Song Yet to Be Sung in 2001, plans to forge ahead on his own. “I am staying the course,” he says. “At my pace, I have twenty more years in which to perform. I ponder that my greatest achievements still lay ahead.”

Source rollingstone.com.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to release their first live album, but there are no plans to make it available in North America, according to a group spokesperson. “Live in Hyde Park” is due July 26 in Europe and Aug. 2 in Australia, Japan and New Zealand via Warner Bros. The double-disc set was recorded June 19-20 and 25 in front of an estimated 100,000 fans nightly at the London venue.

Beyond such favorites as “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away,” and more recent hits like “Otherside,” “Scar Tissue,” “By the Way” and “Californication,” the album sports a number of treats for fans. Among them are covers of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and Looking Glass’ “Brandy,” a trumpet solo by bassist Flea and three new songs: “Mini-Epic,” “Leverage of Space” and “Rolling Sly Stone.”

Having just wrapped a European tour, the group will play two shows in Japan at the end of the month as well as a July 28 benefit for the arts advocacy organization the Creative Coalition in Boston. Afterward, the Peppers will hunker down on writing songs for their next studio album, which will be the follow-up to 2002’s “By the Way.”

Here is the track list for “Live in Hyde Park”:

Disc 1:

“Intro”
“Can’t Stop”
“Around the World”
“Scar Tissue”
“By the Way”
“Fortune Faded”
“I Feel Love”
“Otherside”
“Easily”
“Universally Speaking”
“Get on Top”
“Brandy”
“Don’t Forget Me”
“Rolling Sly Stone”

Disc 2:

“Throw Away Your Television”
“Leverage of Space”
“Purple Stain”
“The Zephyr Song”
“Mini-Epic”
“Californication”
“Right on Time”
“Parallel Universe”
“Drum Homage Medley”
“Under the Bridge”
“Black Cross”
“Flea’s Trumpet Treated by John”
“Give It Away”

Source billboard.com.

Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Shelby Lynne are among the “girls” that swamp rock legend Tony Joe White has enlisted for his new album, appropriately tagged The Heroines.
The genesis of the album, due in September, was White’s long-running desire to record a set of songs “both with people I admire and people who have recorded my songs through the years,” he says. The set also includes White’s duets with his daughter Michelle and Jessi Colter.

White recorded the songs with just his voice, guitar, bass and drums at an old sixteen-track studio built into his home. His son integrated ProTools into the system, allowing White to send the tunes to the singers to add their voices. “It’s a good system we got working,” he says. “We’ve blended simplicity and something from the Enterprise.”

Harris came by White’s Tennessee studio to add her vocal to “Wild Wolf Calling Me.” “First time Emmy sang her vocal, I knew that was it,” he says. “She said, ‘I can do better and sang it four or five more times. I played her the original and she was surprised. She said, ‘That’s the one.’ You know magic when you hear it.”

Even in the vocal presence of the women, White says the songs retain the muddy sound that has been his trademark for more than three decades, most notably on the 1969 Top Ten hit “Polk Salad Annie.” “That sound is always there, I can’t get away from it,” he says. “We get the swampy tracks doing their thing behind these nice sweet voices . . . well, actually, Lucinda gets down there singing as raw and funky as I do on ‘Closing In on the Fire.’ She’s from Louisiana too.”

After a European tour, White is planning to start making calls for The Heroines’ companion piece: The Heroes. “This new record is just the first part,” he says. He’s already put together a list of potential heroes including Hank Williams Jr., Joe Cocker, French rock star Johnny Hallyday, country singer John Anderson and Michael McDonald. “I got several people in mind,” he says. “And they all seem ready to do it.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Modern rock act Cake has just wrapped recording of a new album. Due Oct. 5 via Columbia, the 11-track “Pressure Chief” will be the band’s second studio album for the Sony-affiliated label and fifth to date.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based group recorded the set in a converted house in its hometown, marking its first foray outside of the confines of a conventional commercial studio. “It’s representative of the place we’re from,” trumpeter Vince DiFiore says. “A dry and dusty place.”

Among the songs that have made the cut are opening track “Wheels” and the electronic influenced “No Phone.” Of the folk-ish “The End of the Movie” and “She’ll Hang the Baskets,” wry and often-cryptic frontman John McCrea says, “There’s something funny about disillusionment and something subversive about joy.”

At deadline, Cake had a handful of dates on its itinerary, starting with a July 18 appearance at Boulder, Colo., radio station KBCO’s World Class Rockfest, alongside the Finn Brothers, Mindy Smith and Keller Williams, among others. Also on tap is a Sept. 19 performance at the Austin (Texas) City Limits Music Festival. A full tour in support of “Pressure Chief” is expected.

Source billboard.com.

In an article published in Tuesday’s Burlington Free Press, ticketless Phish fans may have to dig deep to catch the band’s final two shows in Coventry, VT.

JEFFERSONVILLE — Adriane Whitfield and Ryan McDonald are going to Vermont jam-band Phish’s last show in Coventry next month.

But because the Lamoille County couple is unwilling to spend $450 a ticket — the going price on eBay for the tickets originally sold for $150 each — the question remains whether they are going to get into the two-day concert.

“I didn’t think it was going to sell out at first,” said McDonald, who works restoring homes and painting. “It seemed like there were tickets everywhere. Then it became the last show, but even then I figured, how could they turn you away?”

Like all but the 70,000 people who have tickets to the show, he just might find out.

Phish fans seeking concert tickets are encountering mind-blowing prices now that the band has announced it will split up after the August show. The 200 percent increase on eBay might even be a bargain. Brokers are selling tickets to the show for as high as $915 apiece. That’s 510 percent higher than the $150 face value.

Sky-high prices

Veronica Lusk, sales representative for the Internet broker eSeats.com, has only about 40 tickets left. That’s not many for a show this size that’s over a month away, she said.

Because eSeats.com resells tickets for clients who name their own prices, eSeats lists tickets from $515 to $915. Lusk said the demand for even the $915 tickets is there.

“At this price, they are going really fast,” she said. “We can sell them for this much. People are buying them. I’ve never really seen general admission tickets for this much.”

Whitfield and McDonald were planning to buy their tickets on the Internet at face value. They waited until after they moved into a new home to sign up for online service. Credit card in hand, McDonald logged on to buy tickets.

“I stared at the screen,” he said. “Sold out.”

Whitfield, 30, has been following the band for 14 years. McDonald, 25, has been to 120 shows since he began following them at age 15. The couple met at a Phish show.

Their love for the band is on display throughout their hilltop house — a bootleg DVD alongside their movies, old Phish newsletters on their bookshelf, Phish photos on their walls, the shirt on McDonald’s back, posters in his room, signed memorabilia tucked away in hiding spots, the Phish pint glass McDonald sips his beer from.

Whitfield and McDonald have looked for tickets on eBay. They’ve called ticket brokers they’ve used in the past. They called friends. They’ve yet to find anything affordable.

But they refuse to miss the last show.

“I’m very nervous about going,” said Whitfield, a seamstress and designer. “Yes, I’m going with or without tickets, but I’ll never be a gate-crasher. I want to respect the band and the town. I’m praying.”

She and thousands of others.

Ticketless in Chicago

Brad Feldman, a 23-year-old Chicago business analyst, hopes to score a ticket. He’s been a Phish fan for 10 years, and is pretty sure he’s showing up with or without the right enter the Newport airport, where the concert is being held.

“I’d rather have a ticket and not have to worry, but if it comes down to going without a ticket, I’m going to go to the show,” he said.

He refuses to pay much more than the cost listed on the stub. He said he’s sold extra Phish tickets before, and he’s always sold them at face value.

“Phish is different,” he said. “When people need a ticket and you have some, you sell it at face. Hopefully good karma comes back.”

Internet message boards are full of Phish-hungry fans willing to spice up offers with money, tickets to other shows and even more personal enticements.

As a member of the Jambands.com message board found out, it’s a seller’s market.

“i offered making clothes, sex and cookies/brownies for a coventry (ticket) plus the cost of the ticket……,” wrote a user with the moniker Gabby23. “im still searching.”
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/news/2000h.htm

Bootsy Collins and Blur’s Damon Albarn are among the guests appearing on the next Fatboy Slim album, “Palookaville.” Due Oct. 5 via Astralwerks, the set is the fourth studio release from the artist also known as Norman Cook.

The onetime Housemartins bassist-turned-DJ leans on Collins to provide vocals on a remake of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker,” which will be the album’s first single. The original track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1974.

Collins contributed to the Fatboy Slim track “Weapon of Choice,” on 2000’s “Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars.” Slim was in turn among the guests on Collins’ latest album, “Play With Bootsy.”

Albarn appears on the cut “Put It Back Together,” while Blackalicious member Lateef is heard on two tracks, “Wonderful Night” and “The Journey.” Manchester, England, DJ/remixer/producer Justin Robertson and Brighton, England-based band Johnny Quality also guest on the set.

Source billboard.com.

The White Stripes have gone on the offensive against a filmmaker they say has released an unauthorized documentary about the duo. “Nobody Knows How To Talk to Children,” which was recently screened at the Seattle Film Festival, was shot by George Roca over the White Stripes’ four-night stand in 2002 at New York’s Bowery Ballroom.

“He wanted to videotape the entire event, stage performance and backstage goings on for his demo reel,” the band writes on its official Web site. “We said yes to his request provided he and his crew agreed to the following conditions: 1) it had to be all shot in black and white 2) the cameramen had to wear uniforms (white lab coats in fact), 3) no camera people were allowed to talk to anyone (this was to present a sense of easiness around the building so that people would be more themselves instead of being intimidated with a camcorder taping them the whole time) and 4) the White Stripes own the footage 100%.

“George Roca agreed to all of these terms. He signed a contract along with his co-workers stating that the White Stripes completely own the footage, and nothing could be done with this without our permission.”

When a rough cut of the film was later sent to Jack and Meg White, they felt it needed additional work and asked to give their input as to its content. “He said OK,” the site says. “With the last three years of intense touring and work schedule, this did not happen. And in fact the White Stripes pretty much saw this project — when done properly — as something we would probably release 10 years from now, not a month after it happened.”

In May, Roca requested permission from the Stripes and their management to screen the film. “For many reasons, we said no,” the band says. “We told him no formally, had lawyers tell him no. We sent him a very nice E-mail telling him no. So despite being told no, George Roca decided to take it upon himself to simply release it to festivals with no approval or permission from the White Stripes, no releases and no licenses, not in keeping with the contract that he signed.”

Roca has been sent a cease-and-desist order to block further screenings of the film. Meanwhile, the Stripes say they have their own concert DVD, shot earlier this year in Blackpool, England, ready for release at the end of the year.

The band will return to the live stage with several August festival appearances, beginning Aug. 1 at Japan’s Fuji Rock festival and wrapping Aug. 28-29 at the U.K.’s Reading and Leeds event.

Source billboard.com.

Snoop Dogg will return to recording with the fall release of the tentatively titled new album “R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece.” The set will be issued jointly on the rapper’s own Doggy Style imprint and the Neptunes’ Star Trak label, through Geffen Records.

Snoop is collaborating with the Neptunes on the album, as well as Gap Band founder Charlie Wilson. Although unidentified, other producers with whom the rapper/actor/ubiquitous media presence has previously worked will also be involved, as will “some surprise superstar appearances.”

“Masterpiece” will be the follow-up to the 2002’s “Paid Tha Cost To Be Tha Bo$$” (Doggy Style/Priority). That album featured the Neptunes-produced cuts “Beautiful” and “From tha Chuuuch to the Palace,” plus guest appearances by Jay-Z, Nate Dogg, DJ Premier, Redman and Ludacris, among others.

“Bo$$” debuted at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and No. 12 on The Billboard 200. It has sold 1.16 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Beautiful,” which featured vocals by the Neptunes’ Pharrell and Uncle Charlie Wilson, peaked at No. 3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and Hot Rap Tracks charts and No. 6 on the Hot 100.

As previously reported, Snoop will be hitting the road later this month on Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution tour.

As an actor, the rapper was most recently seen piloting the film “Soul Plane,” and as infamous pimp Huggy Bear the big-screen version of the 1970s television cop drama “Starsky & Hutch.”

Next up is video director Marc Klasfeld’s feature film debut, “The L.A. Riot Spectacular.” Snoop serves as the narrator of the satirical look at Los Angeles in the wake of the 1992 Rodney King ruling, which also features Emilio Estevez, Christopher McDonald, Charles Durning, Jonathan Lipnicki and Shay Roundtree, as well as cameos by porn stars Ron Jeremy and Tabitha Stevens.

Source billboard.com.

Marlon Brando, the stage and screen actor whose performances in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “On the Waterfront” and “The Godfather” earned him plaudits as one of the greatest actors of all time, has died, his attorney told The Associated Press. He was 80.

Brando died in Los Angeles. The cause of death is unknown.

Brando shot to fame in the late 1940s with his groundbreaking performance in Tennessee Williams’ play “A Streetcar Named Desire” as the brutal, animalistic yet shy Stanley Kowalski.

Brando, a devotee of the Method, gave a raw, vital performance under Elia Kazan’s direction that had critics swooning. Using the technique, fostered by the Russian director Konstantin Stanislavsky and popularized at Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio, actors draw on their own psychology and experience in creating roles.

Brando’s first film, “The Men” (1950), earned raves, but it wasn’t until the 1951 film version of “Streetcar” that he became a major movie star. Three years later, Brando won his first Oscar for his performance as ex-boxer Terry Malloy in “On the Waterfront,” also directed by Kazan. One of his lines from the film, “I coulda been a contender,” has been widely imitated.

His roles in “Streetcar,” “Waterfront” and “The Wild One” (1953) established him as an icon of the 1950s. Over the course of his career, he was nominated for eight Oscars, winning two — for “Waterfront” and “The Godfather” (1972).

He followed his early ’50s films with hits in “The Teahouse of the August Moon” (1956) and “Sayonara” (1957), but his career went into decline in the 1960s, particularly after his mannered performance as Fletcher Christian in 1962’s big-budget flop “Mutiny on the Bounty.”

His career revived, however, with perhaps his most famous role, that of Don Corleone in “The Godfather.” Director Francis Ford Coppola had only Brando in mind for the role, a decision not favored by producers, who almost fired the filmmaker over the decision.

Coppola was rewarded when the film became a huge hit — it was the highest-grossing movie of all time until “Jaws” came along — and Brando’s quietly regal, brooding performance as a Mafia kingpin was the film’s centerpiece.

The actor followed up “The Godfather” with a role in a different kind of film, Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” (1973), in which he played a depressed American expatriate who strikes up a charged affair with a young Paris woman (Maria Schneider). Brando and Schneider were nakedly fearless, both physically and emotionally; the film was rated X upon its release.

Source CNN.com.