Keyboard player and musical arranger for The Jerry Garcia Band, Melvin Seals evoked a sound from Garcia that rivaled his work in the Grateful Dead. Now he creates that emotion on his own, releasing his first official solo album, Melting Pot.
The reunited original lineup of influential modern rock act Dinosaur Jr. will perform on television for the first time April 15 on CBS’ “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.” The following day, guitarist J Mascis will play at Los Angeles’ Spaceland club with his band the Fog, as well as guests described only as “very special.”
As previously reported, Dinosaur Jr. will this summer play its first shows with the lineup of Mascis, bassist/future Sebadoh leader Lou Barlow and drummer Murph since 1989. The only confirmed dates at deadline are June 8 in London, June 10 at the U.K.’s Download Festival and July 29-31 at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festival.
Last week, Merge reissued the band’s first three albums, “Dinosaur,” “You’re Living All Over Me” and “Bug,” with remastered audio and smattering of bonus tracks and rare photos. Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Mike Watt and Guided By Voices’ Robert Pollard contributed to new liner notes.
In related news, Barlow, who just finished a run of dates in support of his new Merge album “Emoh,” reports on his official Web site that he recently spent time with Sebadoh drummer Eric Gaffney. The experience “bodes well for some comprehensive Sebadoh reissues in the future,” he said.
Source billboard.com.
Rock duo the White Stripes will release their next studio album on June 14 via Third Man/V2. The as-yet-untitled set was recently recorded in the group’s Detroit home base. It will be the follow-up to 2003’s “Elephant,” which debuted at a career-best No. 6 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 1.7 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
A handful of live dates have already been announced ahead of the album, including a three-night run in Mexico that begins May 11 in Monterrey. As previously reported, the group will also play June 10 at Atlanta’s Music Midtown festival.
Beyond the White Stripes disc, singer/guitarist Jack White has also been working on an album with fellow Detroit native Brendan Benson. The project, which also features Greenhornes bassist Jack Lawrence and drummer Patrick Keeler, will most likely not see the light of day until the end of the year or early 2006, according to a V2 spokesperson.
Source billboard.com.
In a move that might be the equivilent of Bob Weir playing guitar for Motorhead, funk minded Galactic drummer Stanton Moore mans the kit for metal band Corrosion of Conformity and their latest release
Basement Jaxx, Royksopp, David Byrne, the Arcade Fire, Yo-Yo Ma, Femi Kuti and Mos Def have signed on for Los Angeles radio station KCRW’s World Music Festival, to be held throughout the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. Byrne, the Arcade Fire, Si*Se and the Extra Action Marching Band will kick things off on June 26; KCRW music director Nic Harcourt will host.
Basement Jaxx, Royksopp and Bossacucanova will headline the Planet Electronica event on July 17, followed by a bill featuring Femi Kuti and Mos Def on July 24. Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble are confirmed for Aug. 7, while Desmond Dekker, Maxi Priest and Black Uhuru will lead Reggae Night IV on Aug. 28. The event will close Sept. 11 with Destination Hawaii, featuring a host of performers from the island.
Source billboard.com.
At Orchestra Baobab
Legends cast large shadows, but such observations bare little weight when speaking of Sarah Lee Guthrie, daughter of Arlo and granddaughter of Woody. With the help of songwriter and husband Johnny Irion, Guthrie has released Exploration, the duo’s debut studio recording; an acoustic, rock-and-hum album enlivened by honey-sweet harmonies and modest hooks.
Saddle Creek fans are in for a treat this spring: Two of the label’s star acts are sharing the bill on a six-week North American tour.
Bright Eyes and The Faint will hit the road April 28 in Lawrence, Kan., and will gig relentlessly through the June 10 finale in San Diego. So fervent are the bands’ fans that two-night stands have been booked in Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Tempe, Ariz. In New York City, they’ll play a whopping five nights in a row at Webster Hall.
Both bands will appear at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., May 1.
Before heading out with their labelmates, Bright Eyes will open for R.E.M. on a two-week tour of Australia and New Zealand. Ever the workaholics, Conor Oberst et al will play extra shows on their own in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on the tour’s off-days.
Bright Eyes is currently riding high on its two January releases, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. The Faint is supporting Wet From Birth.
Source pollstar.com.
Jim Morrison may have died nearly thirty-five years ago, but now you can stay at his place any time you like.
The owner of the Los Angeles apartment where the Doors singer lived with longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson before moving to Paris in 1971 (where he would be found dead later that year) is allowing fans to relive a piece of rock history for $200 a night, or $1000 for a week.
To read more, visit rollingstone.com.
Paul Hester, the drummer from popular 1980s Australian rock band Crowded House, hanged himself in a park in southern Australia, an emergency services spokeswoman said Monday.
Hester, 46, had failed to return home after taking his two dogs for a walk on Friday night. The drummer’s body was later found in a park near his home in the southern city of Melbourne.
Ambulance officers arrived on the scene shortly after midday Saturday and tried to resuscitate him, but “he was dead when they arrived,” Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokeswoman Liraje Memishi said.
Source CNN.com.
