2005

Michael Franti is about to embark on a tour – but not the kind with a band, roadies and instruments. Instead, he’s touring a film.

“I Know I’m Not Alone” is the documentary account of Franti’s recent visits to Iraq and Palestinian territories, in which shared his music with families, doctors, musicians, soldiers and residents.

Franti, who is equal parts activist and entertainer, took along his acoustic guitar and a video camera, recording those he came across who, in turn, revealed to him the often overlooked human cost of war, according to the Web site for the film.

Interwoven are Franti’s stories and songs, creating a visual and musical tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.

“I tell stories through my songs and spoken word, and approached the film in the same way,” Franti writes on theWeb site. “We let the images and music flow together as I re-told the story with voiceover and lyrics inspired from the journey.

“In taking this organic approach, I believe we gave unique insight into what people are facing in the Middle East today.”

A spokeswoman for Franti told Pollstar the film will be shown only at festivals and on college campuses when the tour launches in the fall, in advance of its January release.

Franti will appear at each screening of the film on, which to date hits mainly college towns beginning September 15 at the Griffith Film Theater in Durham, N.C. Other cities include Rohnert Park, Calif., Black Mountain, N.C.; Iowa City, Iowa; Urbana, Ill.; Burlington, Vt.; Toronto and Chico, Calif.

Source pollstar.com.

Widespread Panic has announced a lengthy fall tour that will kick off on September 18th at Farm Aid. From there the band will play a majority of their shows in a variety of southern venues, concluding with a southwest run in New Mexico, Arizona and the tour finale – Vegoos on Halloween. For a full list of tour dates please visit widespreadpanic.com

After several delays, OutKast is planning a fall release for its next album and a January launch for its debut film, tentatively titled “My Life in Idlewild.” Group member Big Boi tells Billboard.com a second studio album, “The Hard 10,” may even hit stores before 2006 is out.

The first set will serve as the soundtrack to the film and is “about 80% finished,” according to Big Boi. It will be OutKast’s first new music since its 2003 double-album “Speakerboxx/The Love Below,” which has sold 5.5 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

To read more visit .

Jimi Hendrix’s closisng performance at Woodstock on Aug. 18, 1969, is arguably one of the most iconic moments in rock history, but it has never been commercially available in its entirety. That will change on Sept. 13, when Universal Music and Experience Hendrix release the DVD “Jimi Hendrix — Live at Woodstock.” The project comes out a day earlier in the U.K.

The double-disc set captures one of Hendrix’s only performances with an extended backing band, dubbed Gypsy Sun And Rainbows. Longtime Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer supervised a new audio mix in both 5.1 and 2.0 stereo sound. Bonus features include “The Road to Woodstock” documentary, a contemporaneous press conference and “A Second Look,” which blends black-and-white video footage with color clips from alternate angles.

To read more, visit .

Canadian rock act the Tragically Hip is compiling a four disc music and video boxed set. The limited-edition “Hipeponymous” will boast two audio discs dubbed “Yer Favourites” that will feature 37 tracks recently chosen by fans through an Internet vote on MSN’s Canadian site. Two new songs will also be included.

The box will be bolstered by the concert DVD “That Night in Toronto,” shot in November 2004 at the Air Canada Centre in High Definition. Another DVD will feature the band’s entire video oeuvre of 23 clips, plus 11 new “video pieces.” A 48-page book will round out the package.

The four-disc set will be released as a Nov. 1 in the Great White North by Universal Canada. “Yer Favourites” and “That Night in Toronto” will also be released separately on the same day. At deadline, it was unknown if the collection will be released in any fashion in the United States. The group’s last two studio sets, 2002’s “In Violet Light” and 2004’s “In Between Evolution,” saw U.S. release on Rounder’s Zoe imprint, but a Rounder spokesperson confirms the label and the group are no longer working together.

The Hip has made only two appearances in 2005, playing the Toronto Live 8 concert and Newfoundland’s Salmon Splash Festival. The band will return to live duty when it opens for the Rolling Stones Sept. 3 in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Here is “Yer Favourites” track listing:

Disc one:
“No Threat”
“Grace, Too”
“My Music at Work”
“38 Years Old”
“Gift Shop”
“Ahead by a Century”
“Vaccination Scar”
“Three Pistols”
“So Hard Done By”
“Fiddler’s Green”
“Looking for a Place To Happen”
“Cordelia”
“It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken”
“Blow at High Dough”
“Wheat Kings”
“50 Mission Cap”
“New Orleans Is Sinking”
“Escape Is at Hand for the Travelin’ Man”

Disc two:
“Fully Completely”
“Twist My Arm”
“Courage”
“Lake Fever”
“Poets”
“Fireworks”
“Boots or Hearts”
“Bobcaygeon”
“Nautical Disaster”
“Highway Girl”
“Gus: The Polar Bear From Central Park”
“Scared”
“Something On”
“At the Hundredth Meridian”
“Long Time Running”
“The Darkest One”
“Locked in the Trunk of a Car”
“Little Bones”
“The New Maybe”

Source billboard.com.

When Nickel Creek mandolinist/vocalist Chris Thile entered the studio to record the band’s third album, Why Should the Fire Die?, due August 9th, he did as he always does: took a shot of Jameson’s and lit a candle.

“The studio needs to be dark,” Thile says. “I don’t want to be reminded by my surroundings that what I’m singing about isn’t happening right then. I like to really dissolve into the story. But the Jameson’s I use more for keeping my vocal cords relaxed and clear.”

Recording in Los Angeles with producers Eric Valentine (Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth) and Tony Berg (Aimee Mann, Michael Penn), the California bluegrass trio — Thile, guitarist Sean Watkins and violinist and younger sis Sara Watkins — approached the sessions with a newfound confidence after winning a Grammy for 2002’s This Side. “As a band we have started to come to terms with what we have to offer,” Thile says. “On our first two albums, we were concerned about the perceptions of what we could do as a bluegrass band or a country band. This time, we felt completely at ease with those perceptions.”

The result is an incisive collection of traditional bluegrass and alt-country rock that Thile says was inspired by relationships, both intimate and removed. “The title alludes to dissolution,” he says. “The deeper you get in with anyone, certainly the darker and more complex it becomes. It seems like most relationships, particularly romantic, inevitably deteriorate . . . including, recently, my marriage.”

Among the new songs are the Celtic-infused “Scotch & Chocolate” and a delicate cover of Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” But it’s the storytelling and swirling instrumentation of “Helena” that Thile considers “the ultimate climax” of the record. “All moments in the album point to that second when the drums begin to swell,” Thile says. “As a songwriter, I was happy with the development of the character and how he deteriorates before your eyes and exposes himself to be the desperate, conniving asshole that he is.”

Despite Nickel Creek’s success, Thile doesn’t feel any outside pressure. “All the pressure is self-imposed,” he says. “We feel incredibly confident that we can beat what we did last. And we have. We obliterated the last one.”

The trio will head to Europe before kicking off a North American tour on September 30th in Burlington, Vermont.

Nickel Creek tour dates:

9/30: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
10/1: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
10/2: Portland, ME, Merrill Auditorium
10/4: Philadelphia, Electric Factory
10/6: Boston, Orpheum Theatre
10/7: New York, Nokia Theatre Times Square
10/8: Charlottesville, VA, Charlottesville Pavillion
10/9: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
10/11: Baltimore, Rams Head Live
10/13: Charlotte, NC, Ovens Auditorium
10/14: Atlanta, Fox Theatre
10/15: Nashville, War Memorial Auditorium
10/16: Nashville, War Memorial Auditorium
10/17: Lexington, KY, Singletary Center for the Arts
10/20: Columbus, OH, Newport Music Hall
10/21: Cleveland, House of Blues
10/22: Ypsilanti, MI, Pease Auditorium
10/23: Indianapolis, Egyptian Room
10/25: St. Louis, The Pageant
10/26: Chicago, Vic Theater
10/28: Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theater
10/29: St. Paul, MN, Fitzgerald Theatre
10/29: Minneapolis, State Theatre
10/30: Madison, WI, Orpheum Theatre
11/1: Kansas City, MO, Uptown Theatre
11/3: Dallas, Gypsy Ballroom
11/4: Austin, Stubbs Bar-B-Q
11/5: Helotes, TX, Floores Country Store
11/6: Tulsa, OK, Cain’s Ballroom
11/8: New Orleans, House of Blues
11/10: Louisville, KY, Brown Theatre
11/11: Birmingham, AL, Alabama Theater
11/12: Greensboro, NC, War Memorial Auditorium
11/13: Norfolk, VA, Norva Theatre
11/15: Charleston, SC, Charleston Music Hall
11/16: Knoxville, TN, Tennessee Theater
11/18: Orlando, FL, Hard Rock Live
11/19: Tampa, FL, Tampa Theater
11/20: Jacksonville, FL, Florida Theater
12/1: Denver, Fillmore Auditorium
12/2: Park City, UT, Eccles Center
12/3: Spokane, WA The Big Easy Concert House
12/4: Seattle, Paramount Theatre
12/6: Portland, OR, Roseland Theater
12/7: Portland, OR, Roseland Theater
12/10: San Francisco, Warfield Theatre
12/11: Reno, NV, Reno Hilton Theatre
12/14: Tempe, AZ, Marquee Theater
12/15: San Diego, House of Blues
12/16: San Diego, House of Blues
12/17: Los Angeles, The Wiltern LG

Source rollingstone.com.

Ater what was such a fun and successful tour in April, Jimmy Herring has decided to join The CodeTalkers once again this time for the complete month of August. Jimmy has many connections with The CodeTalkers: for years he played with Col. Bruce Hampton, who, after parting ways with Herring and others, formed The CodeTalkers five years ago with Bobby Lee Rodgers. After sitting in with the band during this year’s Magnolia Festival, it was obvious a new connection had been made. Rodgers and Herring hit it off musically, and just such a project has been brewing now for a while.

For more information, please visit the CodeTalker’s website

Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist “Little” Milton Campbell, whose gritty vocals and songwriting recalled B.B. King’s rough-edged style, died today (Aug. 4) from a stroke, his record company said.

The 71-year-old Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer known for writing and recording the blues anthem “The Blues Is Alright” never awoke from a coma following a stroke he suffered on July 27 in Memphis, said Valarie Kashimura of The Malaco Music Group.

Born to sharecropping farmers near the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness — his father, “Big” Milton Campbell, was a local blues musician — “Little” Milton picked up a guitar at age 12 and recorded his first hit for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records at age 18.

Discovered by blues-rock pioneer Ike Turner, Campbell went on to score dozens of rhythm and blues hits and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1988.

Though acclaimed in blues circles, Campbell never achieved the fame of King and some other American bluesmen. Nevertheless, his nearly constant touring took him all over the world.

After signing with Bobbin Records in East St. Louis, Illinois, Campbell recorded “I’m a Lonely Man” and “That Will Never Do.” A long association with Chicago’s Chess Records produced the 1965 hit “We’re Gonna Make It,” which coincided with the civil rights movement. Other hits included “Baby I Love You,” “If Walls Could Talk,” “Feel So Bad,” “Who’s Cheating Who?” and “Grits Ain’t Groceries.”

“Annie Mae’s Cafe” and “Little Bluebird” were hits he recorded with Memphis’ Stax Records, which he joined in 1971 before the label’s demise.

Source billboard.com.