October 10, 2005

Dinosaur Jr. – who has never before released a DVD – has finally announced plans to issue an official Dinosaur Jr. DVD release. This full length concert DVD, which will feature the band in its original line-up, will be filmed at New York’s legendary Irving Plaza during the bands upcoming two night stand on December 2-3, 2005. The DVD will be directed by Gold In Berlin, which is run by Mascis’ own brother in-law, German filmmaker Phillip Virus. With unfettered access to this famously elusive band, fans can expect complete backstage access to Dinosaur Jr.’s recent reunion tour, one-on-one interviews, behind the scenes goings-on and a full set of performances of Dinosaur Jr. favorites. The DVD will be packed with bonus materials that any fan of the band -seasoned or brand new – will find thrilling and entertaining. Look for the DVD to be released during the first half of 2006.

In spring of 2005 the original members of Dinosaur Jr. – J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph – announced they would play their first shows together in fifteen years; one of music’s most celebrated alternative rock pioneers, who split abruptly after only three albums, would roam again. Avid fans of the band knew that the impossible had happened – the reunion of J and Lou seemed as likely as aliens landing, music lovers quietly anticipated a rare second chance to see the legendary live show they had regretfully missed over a decade before, and young listeners, too young to have been there for the first time around, lined up for venue entrance like the generation before them.

Pixies guitarist/vocalist Frank Black is eyeing an early 2006 release for his second consecutive solo album that has been recorded in Nashville with top session musicians. The artist tells Billboard.com he has about 25 songs to choose from for the upcoming Back Porch/EMI set, which will be the follow-up to this summer’s “Honeycomb,” which debuted at No. 11 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.

“It will either be a lean and mean record with 11 songs on it, or a self-indulgent opus with everything,” he says with a laugh. Although the provisional name for the album was “La Sicilian,” Black says, “That probably won’t be the title.”

Black recently completed a second round of recording with such artists as Steve Cropper, Spooner Oldham, David Hood, the Band’s Levon Helm, Al Kooper, Buddy Miller and Rich Gilbert, a member of his solo band the Catholics. He also recorded duets on the country oldie “Dirty Old Town” with Marty Brown and Cowboy Jack Clement on the original “Golden Shore,” the latter of which he describes as “very James Taylor-ish.”

Black has even revived an outtake from “Honeycomb,” an old traditional song called “Been All Around the World.” The artist says, “Dylan and the Dead have done it. I sort of updated the lyrics and that one is also James Taylor-ish.”

Among the other cuts in consideration for the album are “You Can’t Crucify Yourself,” “I’m Not Dead, I’m in Pittsburgh” (co-written with Reid Paley), “Elijah,” “If Your Poison Gets You,” “My Terrible Ways,” “Fitzgerald” and “Holland Town.”

Black was finally able to present some of the Nashville material live during a one-off show when he was in the city earlier this fall, and he’s still hoping to mount a tour at some point. “It makes sense if I put out a couple of records on Back Porch with various lineups, I’d be more comfortable doing a tour with whoever I can get,” he says.

“Whereas with just ‘Honeycomb,’ that band was such a classic lineup and it was the only record representing my so-called ‘Nashville’ period, that I felt under a little pressure to have that band,” Black continues. “I didn’t want to go out with some young buck alternative rock guys. But now that there’s a second record with different people, I could find some alt-country guys. A lot of the ‘Honeycomb’ guys have expressed interest in going on tour, but half the time they’re flying around with Neil Young!”

Source billboard.com.