2005

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.

The 16th Annual HIGH SIERRA MUSIC FESTIVAL will be held on Thursday, June 29 – Sunday, July 2, 2006 at the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds, Quincy, CA.

Confirmed acts so far are:

Bela Fleck and The Flecktones
Nickel Creek
Umphrey’s McGee
Robert Walter’s Super Heavy Organ
Tea Leaf Green
ALO
Drew Emmitt Band [formerly of Leftover Salmon]
Lotus
New Mastersounds
Apollo Sunshine
Adrienne Young and Little Sadie
Shady Deal
Dubconscious
Chuch
Plus many, many more TBA

The High Sierra Music Festival is a unique four-day music and camping festival that features an eclectic and boldly creative span of music from acoustic singer-songwriters and down-home bluegrass to high-energy funk and skillfully improvised jazz, rock and live electronica.

Festival pass price includes a $1 donation to the High Sierra Foundation, which has established a special fund for direct aid to New Orleans musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina.

highsierramusic.com

When you’re home this holiday season drinking Bailey’s with the family, now there’s one more Christmas disc to add to the seasonal shuffle.

As noted by The Slip’s brother duo of Brad and Andrew Barr, “Our family only really attended church services on christmas eve and as far as we were concerned that was more than enough. The only thing that made that little wool uniform less than unbearable was the sacred music that ensued outside around the manger. Over the years we have both developed a real soft spot for some of these melodies and last December we invited the elves over to help us track some yule tide favorites. These cuts were intended to be for the family only, but The Slip’s friend and co-manager Jon Bahr convinced us that there might be others out there who need some ammo to help pry their families from the illimitable amount of garish tinsel time muzak.

Enjoy with eggnog.
-Andrew and Brad

1.White Christmas
2.Silent Night
3.Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
4.Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
5.Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

all instruments played by The Barr Brothers

Click Here to purchase

Although Rush released a new live DVD, “R30: 30th Anniversary World Tour,” just last month, the veteran Canadian rock trio is planning on reissuing several classic live performances in 2006. To the delight of long time fans, their well-worn VHS copies of “Exit…Stage Left,” “Grace Under Pressure Tour” and “A Show of Hands” will soon be replaced with DVD reissues.

“Everything’s been remixed to 5.1, and that was the intention — to keep it all intact, except for the remix,” guitarist Alex Lifeson tells Billboard.com. “So it’s available in surround.” It remains to be decided if the releases will be made available individually or packaged together. “I’m guessing a box set — that would make more sense,” Lifeson says.

Lifeson says he enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane while refurbishing the material. “It was interesting to see the development in the arrangements, and how our sound changed over the course of a decade,” he says. “I definitely found it fascinating, looking at that. And how the stage show changed over the years — of course, [in] 10 years a lot of stuff changes. But it was a little fascinating to watch that, actually.”

Asked if he was planning to follow-up his lone solo release, 1996’s “Victor,” the artists offers, “‘Victor’ was really, really rewarding for me, and I felt that I really needed to do something like that at the time. I don’t feel like that so much anymore. Not that I would discount it, it’s great to work with other people, it’s great to work on your own music — especially in my case, when I have a studio.”

“But at the same time, we’re thinking about starting a new [Rush] record in the next month,” he continues. “We’ve been celebrating the last 30 years, and it’s time to kind of move forward now. So, I’m really looking forward to a new Rush studio album. And then afterwards, we’ll see.”

Source billboard.com.