For the next month or so, many artists are playing benefit shows to allow New York City’s Tonic to continue operating. On March 7 and 8th, Medeski Martin & Wood offered their services and gave fans the opportunity to see them perform in one of the clubs where they got their start.
HIM’s emergence in America seems to be penned firmly to the back of skater- turned-reality show deviant Bam Margera, who immortalized the band’s heart-a-gram logo on skateboards, clothing, and even in ink on his uncle Don Vito’s back.
Xavier Rudd has been known to dabble around with a few instruments. Well, maybe a few is an understatement, as he keeps himself so encircled on stage, he resembles a coin-dropping carnival act. But after hearing this multi-instrumentalist, it’s tough not to take him quite seriously.
George Scott, founding baritone of gospel vocal group the Blind Boys Of Alabama, died yesterday (March 9) at his home in Durham, N.C., according to a statement. He was 75.
“We’re grateful to the Lord for letting us have George for as long as we did,” says Blind Boys leader Clarence Fountain, who was one of the last people Scott spoke to before his death. “He and I grew up together and sang together from little boys to old men. George was a great singer, he could sing any part in a song. We loved him and he was one of the ‘Boys.’ He lived a life of service and now he’s gone on to his reward.”
Born George Lewis Scott in Notasulga, Ala., the artist met Fountain and Jimmy Carter in 1936 at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind. Three years later they formed the traditional gospel singing group, which Scott also accompanied on guitar.
In recent years, the group enjoyed a resurgence in popularity and recently won the best traditional soul gospel album Grammy for “There Will Be a Light” (Virgin), recorded with singer/songwriter Ben Harper. The set featured Scott singing lead on the album’s opening track, “Take My Hand.”
Though Scott retired from touring last year, he continued to record with the group and will be heard on its new album, “Atom Bomb,” due Tuesday (March 15) from Real World Records. No changes are planned in the Blind Boys touring schedule, which picks up again with a March 18 showcase at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
Funeral services will be held March 15 at Monumental Faith Church in Durham. His family has asked that mourners make donations to the American Diabetes Association or send flowers to the city’s Holloway Funeral Home.
Scott is survived by his wife Ludie Lewis Mann Scott, his mother Hassie Lou Scott and his sister Benzie Jackson.
Source billboard.com.
For sale: perhaps the world’s finest and biggest pictorial history of jazz and American music. Must be kept together.
Frank Driggs, a former jazz journalist and record producer, started buying jazz photos from collectors more than half a century ago. After word got out he was a top collector, musicians often gave him pictures.
“For filmmakers who often visit hundreds of tiny archives to make a documentary you can’t appreciate enough the value of a collection that contains so many photos,” documentary filmmaker Ken Burns told Reuters.
Driggs was the single biggest supplier of pictures for “Jazz,” the 17-hour television series by Burns.
Driggs’ nearly 80,000 photos range from 1898 shots of ragtime’s Scott Joplin and Tom Turpin to portraits of big bands at since-closed Harlem and East Village haunts of the 1950s.
To read more, please visit yahoo.com.
Cartoon quartet Gorillaz will on May 24 release its sophomore Virgin album, “Demon Days.” A video is in production for first single “Feel Good Inc.,” featuring De La Soul. Album track “Dirty Harry,” which features what sounds like a children’s choir, has been making the rounds on the Internet for several weeks.
The brainchild of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and “Tank Girl” creator Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz comprises the characters Noodle, Murdoc, 2-D, and Russell who inhabit a virtual world on Gorillaz.com.
The 15-track “Demon Days” is the follow-up to Gorillaz’s worldwide smash self-titled debut, which has sold more than 1.54 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and six million worldwide, according to Virgin.
Accurately described as “darker” and “more intense” than its predecessor, but no less eclectic, the album was co-produced by Albarn and Danger Mouse. “Last Living Souls” is marked by acoustic strumming and piano melodies, while “Kids With Guns” threads a sample of Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It” through a multi-faceted musical backdrop.
The collective puts a weird spin on seductive soul with “Every Planet We Reach Is Dead,” while “White Light” starts off in similar territory as Blur’s raucous “Song 2” before being interrupted by an angelic interlude. For an extra dash of oddness, actor Dennis Hopper offers spoken-word intonations atop “Fire Coming Out of a Monkey’s Head.”
The London Community Gospel Choir can be heard on the title track, while guest spots by Blondie’s Deborah Harry, rock legend Ike Turner, the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder and underground rapper MF Doom are sprinkled throughout other cuts.
Here is the track list for “Demon Days”:
“Intro”
“Last Living Souls”
“Kids With Guns”
“O Green World”
“Dirty Harry”
“Feel Good Inc.”
“El Manana”
“Every Planet We Reach Is Dead”
“November Has Come”
“All Alone”
“White Light”
“DARE”
“Fire Coming Out of a Monkey’s Head”
“Don’t Get Lost in Heaven”
“Demon Days”
Source billboard.com.
Rock the Earth is proud to present the Inaugural Snow Ball, a concert to benefit Rock the Earth at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, March 23, 2005. The concert will feature Colorado’s own jamgrass sensation Shanti Groove and Pete Wernick’s Live Five, the innovative newgrass combo lead by Dr. Banjo, Pete Wernick. The night will also include some very special surprise guests. “Rock the Earth provides a special opportunity for musicians and fans to make waves together. With so much pollution, of everything from the environment to our minds, it’s a way to fight back,” says Wernick.
“These events really demonstrate the special connection that exists between music and the environment and music’s power to inspire change on a wide scale,” says Rock the Earth President and Executive Director Marc Ross. He continues, “We are very excited to be holding our first benefit concert in our new home town of Denver and to have environmentally-conscious artists like Shanti Groove and Pete Wernick’s Live Five playing it, makes the event all the more special.” By collaborating with bands such as Shanti Groove and Pete Wernick’s Live Five, Rock the Earth is able to build nationwide support for local campaigns.
Rock the Earth continues to work with a number of partners to ensure that the Roan Plateau’s wilderness areas will not be adversely impacted by drilling. These important benefit shows will help Rock the Earth draw additional attention to the need for Colorado and Utah citizens to voice their opposition to detrimental drilling in wilderness areas and will also help Rock the Earth secure additional funding to tackle issues like these from the legal and technical standpoints. For more information on the Roan Plateau and how you can help, visit rocktheearth.net/projects.ws.
In addition to the music at Cervantes’, Rock the Earth will hold a silent auction and raffle. Doors open at 8:00pm and the show starts at 9:00pm. All proceeds will benefit Rock the Earth and to further our mission to “Defend the Planet One Beat at a Time.” Tickets are available through Baseline Ticketing at baselineticketing.com. $12 in advance and $15 day of show. For more information, call Rock the Earth at (303) 454-3304.
Other upcoming events to benefit Rock the Earth include two concerts by The String Cheese Incident set to take place April 2nd and 3rd at Suede in Park City, Utah. Tickets are now available from Baseline Ticketing. Hotel/condo accommodations and travel plans may be made through Madison House Travel. String Cheese bassist Keith Moseley says, “SCI is always looking for ways to get involved in good causes; Rock the Earth holds close two of our priorities: the environment and music. We’re glad to help the organization.”
Rock the Earth, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, national public interest environmental advocacy organization, is committed to protecting and defending America’s natural resources through partnerships with the music industry and the environmental community.
