Ray Charles had a legendary career that defied categorization and influenced generations of artists
The Matthew Shapiro Think Global Start Local Benefit Concert is being designed in hopes of becoming the largest independent fundraising effort of its kind in New York
Sleater-Kinney will christen its new deal with Sub Pop via the May 24 release of the album “The Woods.” As previously reported, the 11-track set was produced by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev) and recorded during a November burst at his upstate New York studio.
“The Woods” makes good on details guitarist/vocalist Corin Tucker revealed to Billboard.com just prior to the band hitting the recording studio. “The songs we’ve written are really heavy,” she said. “We want them to have an organic feel that is simplistic and yet sophisticated at the same time.”
“Some of them are much longer than we’ve ever written before,” she added. “There’s actually a space jam in between two of the songs.” Said jam bridges the thick rocker “Let’s Call It Love” and the echo-laden closer “Night Light” with five minutes of dirty blues guitar interplay and effects pedal assaults.
Much like Fugazi’s last two albums, “The Fox” finds Sleater-Kinney effectively broadening its sound without damaging the unique dynamic between Tucker, guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein and drummer Janet Weiss.
The album opens with the sludgy, overdriven “The Fox,” before offering up Hendrix-worthy guitar licks on “Wilderness,” chilly, harmony-tinged verse/emphatic chorus juxtapositions on “Jumpers” and a straight-up, sunny ballad (albeit with Fridmann’s arsenal of production tricks) on “Modern Girl.”
Sleater-Kinney begins a short run of live dates Feb. 25 in Bellingham, Wash., followed by a show the next night in Vancouver, a March 2-3 stand at New York’s Mercury Lounge and a March 16 gig as part of the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.
A more extensive tour is in the works for later in the year.
Here is the track list for “The Woods”:
“The Fox”
“Wilderness”
“What’s Mine Is Yours”
“Jumpers”
“Modern Girl”
“Entertain”
“Rollercoaster”
“Steep Air”
“Let’s Call It Love”
“Night Light”
Source billboard.com.
Singer/songwriter Kathleen Edwards has begun setting up tour dates in support of her forthcoming Zoe/Rounder album, “Back to Me.” A handful of shows in her native Canada open Feb. 22 in Peterborough, Ont., with a smattering of U.S. shows set in March and May.
The night of the album’s release, Edwards will play New York’s Canal Room and appear on CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman.” A March 22 show is also set in Los Angeles. Judging by a steady stream of roadwork in support of her critically acclaimed 2003 debut, “Failer,” many more dates are likely to follow.
“Failer” debuted at No. 20 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and has sold 76,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Here are Edwards’ confirmed dates:
Feb. 22: Peterborough, Ont. (Gordon Best Theatre)
Feb. 23: Hamilton, Ont. (The Casbah)
Feb. 25-26: Wakefield, Quebec (The Black Sheep Inn)
March 1: New York (Canal Room)
March 22: Los Angeles (Knitting Factory)
May 10: Boston (Paradise)
May 11: Philadelphia (Theatre of Living Arts)
Source billboard.com.
Jazz trio the Bad Plus will on March 15 release the concert document “Blunt Object: Live in Tokyo” via Columbia. The eight-track set finds the band running through such rock numbers as Queen’s “We Are the Champions” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass,” as well as a 13-minute take on the group’s own “Silence Is the Answer” and an excerpt of the standard “My Funny Valentine.”
The group will be on the road this spring in support of 2004’s “Give,” which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Jazz Albums chart. Dates begin Thursday (Feb. 17) at New York’s Village Vanguard and run through a June 18 appearance at the annual Indianapolis Jazz Fest.
Source billboard.com.
Led Zeppelin got a “whole lotta” belated love from the music industry on Saturday, earning a lifetime achievement Grammy in recognition of a career that changed the face of rock ‘n’ roll.
The English band was one of 10 performers, alongside the likes of rockabilly hellraiser Jerry Lee Lewis, blues belter Janis Joplin and country crooner Eddy Arnold, celebrated at a luncheon one day before the Grammy Awards.
During their 12 years together, Led Zeppelin never won a Grammy, even though they were arguably the biggest band of the 1970s, a combo whose blues-based rock anthems resonate loudly to this day.
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page (news) and keyboardist John Paul Jones showed up with the two children of late drummer John Bonham to receive crystal trophies. Singer Robert Plant (news), busy rehearsing for a tour, sent in a video message.
“It wouldn’t have taken much just to pop over here and meet everybody, would it really?” Page asked Reuters.
For his part, the newly svelte guitarist said he found the ceremony very emotional. From the stage, he blew a kiss to his old label boss, Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, and later chatted with soul guitarist Ike Turner, who jokingly exclaimed, “You’re a grown man now!”
As for the belated recognition, Page bore no ill will, saying that Led Zeppelin’s eclectic oeuvre — with one album completely different from the next — may have been too difficult for Grammy voters to comprehend.
In a separate interview, Jones said Led Zeppelin was too busy touring and recording to pay much attention to awards. But now, the recognition was “incredibly cool.”
Bonham, whose alcohol-related death in 1980 at the age of 32 spelled the end of Led Zeppelin, was represented by children Jason and Zoe.
“It’s totally overwhelming,” said Zoe, who was five when he died. “The whole crazy thing about it is that it’s a lifetime achievement award, and he’s not here. The legend lives on.”
Other posthumous recipients, most represented by family members, included Joplin, country pioneers the Carter Family, jazz drummer Art Blakey, composer Morton Gould, and jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton.
The honorees were rounded out by gospel crossover group the Staple Singers, represented by Mavis and Yvonne Staples, and 91-year-old Delta blues pianist Pinetop Perkins, who will vie for his first Grammy on Sunday.
Source yahoo.com.
Santana has announced plans for a summer North American tour, which will begin May 30 in Tampa, Fla., according to his official Web site. The tour will hit arenas and amphitheatres before closing with festival performances at Taste of Chicago and Milwaukee’s Summerfest.
As previously reported, the dates will be preceded by a tour of Latin America that begins April 1 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Santana is expected to release a new studio album this spring via Arista.
Tomorrow (Feb. 11), the artist will join Black Eyed Peas, James Brown, Earth Wind & Fire, Justin Timberlake, Macy Gray and Herbie Hancock for the Tsumani Benefit Peapod Jam, to be held at the Avalon in Los Angeles.
Here are Santana’s North American dates:
May 30: Tampa, Fla. (Ford Amphitheatre)
June 1: Miami (American Airlines Arena)
June 7: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
June 8: Philadelphia (Penn’s Landing)
June 11-12: Atlantic City (Borgata Casino)
June 14: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)
June 15: New York (Madison Square Garden)
June 17: Mansfield, Mass. (Tweeter Center)
June 18: Wallingford, Conn. (Oakdale Theatre)
June 21: Montreal (Bell Centre)
June 22: Quebec City, Quebec (Colisee Pepsi Arena)
June 24: Toronto (Molson Amphitheatre)
June 25: Clarkston, Mich. (DTE Energy Music Theater)
June 26: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)
June 29: Minneapolis (Xcel Center)
July 2: Chicago (Taste of Chicago)
July 3: Milwaukee (Summerfest)
Source billboard.com.
Australian indie troubadour Ben Lee is set to release his fifthalbum, Awake Is the New Sleep, on February 22nd. Lee, who was famously signed by the Beastie Boys to their now-defunct Grand Royal label as a teenager, stayed true to his roots for the effort, self-financing the fourteen-tracker before inking a deal with Los Angeles imprint New West.
“I don’t need to make records for huge budgets at this point,” Lee says. “I knew I was going to make a pretty special record this time — it was just something I couldn’t put my finger on. I wanted to leave my options open, and New West — these are real music people. For me, it’s exactly the kind of place I need to be at right now.”
Lee wrote the songs for Awake Is the New Sleep while on tour in the U.S. between October 2003 and March 2004 in towns like San Francisco, Austin and New York. But it was at his sometime-home in Los Angeles (the singer spends time throughout the year in New York, India and Australia) that Lee laid down the tracks with former Smashing Pumpkins producer Brad Wood and a collection of local musician friends.
“It was a hugely social time, making this record,” he says of hanging out with pals like Har Mar Superstar, who turn up throughout the record on backing vocals. “There always seemed to be parties, and so we’d go out every night drinking and dancing. It was a really fun time, with all those people around you. That’s L.A.”
Former Phantom Planet drummer (and actor) Jason Schwartzman plays on “Light” and “Close I’ve Come.” And while supporting Schwartzman’s old band in California, Lee came up with one of the album’s standout tracks, “Catch My Disease.” Featuring Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis and singer-songwriter Jason Falkner in the chorus, the jangly number follows a classic Fab Four formula.
“I was watching The Beatles Anthology, and Paul McCartney talked about how the best pop songs are songs that are sung from the artist to the female teenage audience — like ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand,'” explains Lee. “‘Catch My Disease’ follows that model, too. The message [in my] music is a bit complex. But pop music’s so great, because as long as you put it to a catchy melody everyone’s happy.”
Lee says he’s refreshed and ready to take his new bag of songs on the road this spring, having just wrapped up a month-long visit to India, where he studied with a spiritual guide.
“The last few years, I feel like my music and my spirituality have become one and the same thing,” he says. “And I feel like, more and more, I’ve been drawn to music as a form of sharing hope and inspiring. Teachers have helped me clarify that my job as a musician — whatever gift I was given — is here to help people feel some joy. So that’s what I’ve been working on.”
Source rollingstone.com.
Janis Joplin’s estate has thrown its support behind a three-pronged celebration of the late singer’s life. The key component will be “Search for the Pearl,” a TV talent search to uncover the next Joplin that will begin production later this year and air on a channel to be announced. Eventually, five finalists will be chosen to audition before a panel of judges in San Francisco.
The winner will then embark on a world tour with Joplin’s former backing bands: Big Brother & the Holding Company, the Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band. A star-studded tribute concert featuring the winner is also in the works for 2006.
The news comes days before Joplin will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement award this weekend at the Grammys. Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone will participate in a musical tribute to Joplin during the ceremony, which airs Sunday (Feb. 13) on CBS.
Joplin’s life will be the subject of the biopic “The Gospel According to Janis,” which will star pop vocalist Pink. The film will be directed by Penelope Spheeris (“The Decline of Western Civilization,” “Wayne’s World”) and is slated for release by the end of the year.
Renee Zellweger is also attached to a Joplin film titled “Piece of My Heart,” but the status of the project is unknown.
Source billboard.com.
Playwright Arthur Miller, the creator of The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, has died at the age of 89. Miller died on Thursday evening, having battled with cancer, pneumonia and a heart condition.
He was one of the most significant American writers of the 20th Century, whose fame was further magnified by his short-lived marriage to Marilyn Monroe.
His play The Crucible was inspired by the hysteria of the McCarthy witch hunts which he became embroiled in.
New York-born Miller was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Death of a Salesman in 1949 at the age of just 33.
The main character in Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, became a symbol of the struggle of the “little man” to realize the American Dream.
The play is still widely performed today, while the TV movie version picked up numerous awards for its star Dustin Hoffman.
Source: bbc
