2005

Benny

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have dubbed their ninth studio album Stadium Arcadium, according to Flea, and they plan to release it in April.

“It’s very honest music, and I feel like we improved as craftsmen,” said the bassist Friday at the Spike TV Video Game Awards in Los Angeles, where he and lead vocalist Anthony Kiedis were presenters. “We gave all we had to this album.”

The follow-up to 2002’s By the Way has been a long time in the making, as the Chili Peppers — Kiedis, Flea, guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith — wrote and rehearsed for seven months before entering the studio with producer Rick Rubin.

The band is now in the mixing stage, but Flea said there’s quite a lot to mix. “We recorded a huge quantity of music,” he said. “We’re so in the middle of it, so it’s hard to step back and look at it, but we think it’s the best stuff we’ve ever done.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Angus Young, lead singer-guitarist of AC/DC, tops Maxim’s list of the “25 greatest short dudes of all time,” standing tall at 5 feet 2 inches.

NBA guard Spud Webb, at 5 feet 7 inches, is No. 2, followed by Napoleon Bonaparte (5 feet 4 inches), Naim Suleymangolu (4 feet 11 inches) and Yuri Gagarin (5 feet 2 inches).

The magazine, in its December issue, claims to be helping women “begin a long overdue fight against their genetically determined shallowness when choosing a partner.”

Yoda, at No. 6, is the shortest on the list. His height is calculated at 2 feet 2 inches.

Other great short dudes: Martin Scorsese, Jon Stewart, Prince, Kurt Cobain and two of the Hobbits from “The Lord of the Rings” films Elijah Wood and Sean Astin.

The tallest “short dude”? Pro football player Doug Flutie, at 5 feet 10 inches, who is ranked at No. 24.

Source yahoo.com.

Touring behind their new Barsuk Records release, The Weight Is a Gift, Nada Surf will bring their signature vocal harmonies and stunningly catchy melodies to venues across the US and Canada. Additionally they will be the featured musical guests on the December 13th episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and the December 21st episode of Last Call with Carson Daly.

Nada Surf also has the honor of being the only band on an independent label scheduled to perform at the 2005 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas event. Nada Surf will be joining Depeche Mode, Coldplay, The White Stripes, Jack Johnson, Death Cab for Cutie, The Bravery and Hot Hot Heat at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles on December 11th. Tickets for this event go on sale Friday November 18th at 6pm. Night Two proceeds will benefit Para Los Ninos and other local Los Angeles charities. Complete details can be found at KROQ.com

Nada Surf Winter / Spring 2006 tour dates:

2/8 Baltimore, MD – 8X10
2/9 Charlottesville, VA – Starr Hill Music Hall
2/10 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
2/11 Atlanta, GA – The Loft
2/12 Nashville, TN – Exit In
2/14 Columbia, MO – Blue Note
2/15 Lawrence, KS – Granada Theatre
2/17 Dallas, TX – Tree’s
2/18 Austin, TX – Emo’s
2/20 Tempe, AZ – Clubhouse
2/21 San Diego, CA – House of Blues
2/22 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theater
2/23 San Francisco, CA – Fillmore
2/24 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theatre
2/25 Vancouver, BC – Richards on Richards
2/26 Seattle, WA – Showbox
3/1 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theatre
3/2 Omaha, NE – Sokol Underground
3/3 Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Cafe
3/4 Madison, WI – Annex
3/5 Chicago, IL – Metro
3/6 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
3/8 New York, NY – Webster Hall
3/9 Boston, MA – Paradise
3/10 Montreal, QC – Cabaret Music Hall
3/11 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace

Singer/songwriter Beth Orton will hit the road in support of her next album, “Comfort of Strangers,” beginning in March in the United Kingdom, to be followed by a North American visit in April and May. As previously reported, “Comfort” is due Feb. 6 via Astralwerks and was produced by Jim O’Rourke (Wilco, Sonic Youth).

And though there has been some speculation that O’Rourke might hit the road with Orton and “Comfort” drummer Tim Barnes, Orton tells Billboard.com, “Jim can’t tour and Tim can’t either, because they’re doing the producing thing. But they’re helping me get [the touring band] together.”

Also in the works for Orton is a possible project with fellow singer/songwriter M. Ward, who co-wrote the new album’s title track with her. Ward won Orton over after she saw him performing live, and the pair shared two dates together this summer.

“I was completely mesmerized watching him,” she says. “We hope to be doing some writing together soon.”

Source billboard.com.