2005

Paul Simon and Herbie Hancock will headline the Berklee College of Music’s 60th anniversary concert, to be held Jan. 28 at Boston’s Wang Theatre. The show will be produced by Phil Ramone and hosted by comedian Bill Cosby. Performances will also be featured from vibes player Gary Burton and vocalist Chiara Civello.

Proceeds will benefit the Berklee Presidential Scholarship Fund; Simon, Hancock and Cosby are donating their usual compensation to Berklee scholarships that will be created in their name.

Hancock and Simon teamed up earlier this year for a new version of the latter’s “I Do It for Your Love,” which appeared on Hancock’s album “Possibilities.” Simon is also progressing on his long-in-the-works collaboration with Brian Eno. Billboard.com understands a number of tracks are finished, but no release date has yet been announced.

Source billboard.com.

The fifth annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is confirmed to take place June 16 – 18, 2005. The three-day camping and music festival will once again be held on the same beautiful, 700-acre farm in Manchester, TN, 60 miles southeast of Nashville.

Festival organizers have also announced that they’ve decided to reduce the total capacity in 2006 by 10,000 people, returning to the same capacity as the 2003 festival. The size will create a more comfortable environment for everyone involved and to create the best festival experience possible.

Stay tuned to the official website for all info including lineup announcements, ticketing info, special activities and more.

he Times They Are A-Changin’, a new musical based on the songs of Bob Dylan, will premiere at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater on January 25th.
Directed and choreographed by Broadway vet Twyla Tharp, the plot chronicles a low-rent traveling circus run by Captain Arab (Paul Kandel), and his son Coyote’s (Michael Arden) longings for a world outside of the family business. The story also details Coyote’s love for a young animal trainer, Cleo (Jenn Colella), who is exploited by Arab. The musical references such Dylan tunes as “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream,” in which Arab is a character, and “Ballad of Hollis Brown,” which features the lyrics: “Way out in the wilderness/A cold coyote calls.”

The Times They Are A-Changin’, which plans to move to Broadway, follows a series of musicals built around rock music, including the Elvis Presley-inspired All Shook Up, the John Lennon-inspired Lennon, the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations and the Billy Joel-inspired Movin’ Out — Tharp’s previous concept musical.

Tickets for the show, which is scheduled to run through March 5th, are on sale at oldglobe.org.

Source rollingstone.com.

The New York Guitar Festival 2006 is honoring Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 Nebraska album with a free gala concert under the glass atrium of the World Financial Center Winter Garden, 220 Vesey Street, Saturday, January 14, at 8:00pm.

Entitled The Nebraska Project, this 25th anniversary celebration of the classic Bruce Springsteen album features on one stage a distinctive roster of singer-songwriters, bands and instrumentalists. The Nebraska Project opens this year’s New York Guitar Festival.

Performing their own arrangements of one of the ten Nebraska songs are Laura Cantrell, Dan Zanes, Vernon Reid, Mark Eitzel, Michelle Shocked, Meshell Ndegeocello, The National, Chocolate Genius, Marc Ribot, Martha Wainwright, Jesse Harris, Kevn Kinney, Lenny Kaye, Gary Lucas and Harry Manx.

“Sometimes a recording artist’s demo versions of songs are more brilliant than the final studio product. Nebraska is one of those moments in music history,” said David Spelman, Artistic Director of the New York Guitar Festival. In 1982, Springsteen chose to release the demo versions of his newest songs, recorded with only acoustic or electric guitar, harmonica, and vocals, as his sixth album, Nebraska. The rest is history. www.brucespringsteen.net

The song and artist run down for The Nebraska Project:
Nebraska – Michelle Shocked
Atlantic City – Jesse Harris
Mansion on the Hill – The National
Johnny 99 – Chocolate Genius
Highway Patrolman – Martha Wainright w/ Marc Ribot
State Trooper – Dan Zanes w/Vernon Reid
Used Cars – Laura Cantrel
Open All Night – Meshell Ndegeocello
My Father’s House – Mark Eitzel
Reason to Believe – Kevn Kinney w/ Lenny Kaye

Plus instrumental interludes by Gary Lucas, Harry Manx and Marc Ribot

Visit newyorkguitarfestival.org for complete line-up and details.

Legendary avant-garde composer Philip Glass has another busy year ahead, including a number of live performances scheduled in the coming months.

Glass will appear with the Qatsi Project for two three-night residencies – in Paris December 16-18, and in San Francisco in February. The Philip Glass Ensemble will perform Glass’ original scores for Godfrey Reggio’s trilogy of films – “Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance,” “Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation,” and “Naqoyqatsi: Life as War.” The films will be shown in order, one per night.

Glass also has a number of solo piano performances lined up. February’s schedule includes concerts in Colorado, Oregon, British Columbia and Alberta.

In March, Glass will collaborate with New York-based composer/violinist/bandleader Daniel Bernard Roumain at Newark, N.J.’s Victoria Theatre.

Three full albums of Glass material surfaced in 2005, in addition to a disc featuring remixes of his work by drum and bass, house, techno and ambient producers. He also composed the soundtrack to “NeverWas,” a film by Joshua Michael Stern scheduled for release in 2006.

Source pollstar.com.