2005

David Bowie made a surprise appearance with the indie rock sensation Arcade Fire during their concert Thursday night.The 58-year-old Bowie joined the band at the end of their concert in Central Park, and the audience roared at the sight of the rock icon.

In town for New York Fashion Week, Bowie took the stage in a white jacket and pants

Tom Waits has filed a lawsuit against a unit of automaker General Motors Corp. and a German advertising agency for allegedly using a soundalike in a series of European ads.

The 55-year-old singer/songwriter, whose distinct, gravelly voice has won him two Grammy Awards, filed the civil lawsuit this week with a state court in Frankfurt, listing Adam Opel AG and the advertising firm McCann Erickson as the defendants.

Andreas Schumacher, Waits’ German lawyer, said the singer was approached numerous times about doing the ads last year but declined, citing a policy of not doing commercials. He said the firm then hired a sound-alike and the ads aired earlier this year in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.

Source: billboard

“Lennon,” the musical about the life and music of John Lennon that earned dismal reviews, will close just six weeks after it opened on Broadway. Created with the help of the former Beatle’s widow, Yoko Ono, the show had a troubled road to Broadway that involved major rewrites after it was first produced in San Francisco.

Critics slammed it for what The New York Times called its “Ono-centric” view of Lennon’s life, and audiences have dwindled since its Aug. 15 opening night, falling to around 40 percent capacity in recent weeks.

Source: billboard.com

Chicago instrumental rock act Tortoise tackles material by some unlikely sources on “The Brave and the Bold,” a collaborative album with indie rock icon Will Oldham. The 10-track set is due early next year via Overcoat Recordings, which recently issued a collaborative EP from Iron & Wine and Calexico.

Among the surprising selections on “The Brave and the Bold” are Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” Elton John’s “Daniel” and Richard and Linda Thompson’s “Cavalry Cross.” The album is rounded out by material originally recorded by Devo (“That’s Pep”), the Minutemen (“It’s Expected I’m Gone”), Milton Nascimento, Lungfish, Quixotic, Melanie and Don Williams.

Meanwhile, Tortoise is gearing up for its fall tour backing artist/producer Daniel Lanois, which begins Oct. 6 in Los Angeles. The parties have yet to rehearse together, but McCombs says the “idea is that we can be interpretive, like using his songs as a jumping-off point to do whatever seems natural. Most of the stuff he sent us is really open-ended.”

Tortoise will also test out some new material during its own sets, with an eye on returning to the studio by the end of the year and a hopeful fall 2006 release date for its next Thrill Jockey album. It will be the follow-up to 2004’s “It’s All Around You,” which debuted at No. 13 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums tally.

Source: Billboard

As if headlining the 2005 Warped Tour 2005 wasn

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey return on October 11, 2005 with their brand new studio album, The Sameness of Difference, on HYENA Records.
Helmed by acclaimed record producer, Joel Dorn, the 13-track collection is a living, breathing, pulsating testament to the 12 years the Tulsa/Cincinnati-based trio has spent touring and recording together. It is unquestionably the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey’s piece de resistance–a post modern jazz masterwork.

Exploring their influences, which stretch from cutting edge indie rock to experimental electronic music to classic pop, all the while rooted in an obsession with the modern jazz canon, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey offer interpretations of music by Bjork (“Isobel”), The Flaming Lips (“The Spark That Bled”), Charles Mingus (“Fables of Faubus”), Neil Young (“Don’t Let It Bring You Down”) Brian Wilson (“Wonderful”), Dave Brubeck (“In Your Own Sweet Way”), The Beatles (“Happiness Is A Warm Gun”) and Jimi Hendrix (“Have You Ever Been To Electric Ladyland”). Their own material is also well represented, as original compositions, “Santiago,” “The Maestro,” “Halliburton Breakdown,” “Slow Breath, Silent Mind” and “Davey’s Purple Powerline” are etched in stone for the first time ever in the studio.

Phil Lesh has assembled his newest friends for a fall tour entitled “Shadow Of The Moon.” Along with Lesh and Chris Robinson, Jimmy Herring, John Molo, Mookie Seigel and Barry Sless will make up the band for this primarily east coast tour. Strangely absent are New York City and Philadelphia stops, but dates in NYC and Philly are expected for early 2006.

Full tour dates are available at: phillesh.net