U.K. Bands Hitting Down On South By Southwest
There will be a significantly upgraded British presence at this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, which takes place March 17-21. A U.K. new talent showcase will be sponsored by BBC Radio 2 and its digital station, 6 Music, in conjunction with the British Phonographic Industry. A second showcase will be aired in the United Kingdom by MTV2.
The Radio 2/6 Music showcase is set for March 18 at Buffalo Billiards and will be headlined by Embrace. The bill will also feature Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Go! Team, James Blunt, Tom Baxter and Amy Smith.
The MTV2 showcase will take place March 19 at La Zona Rosa, where a five-act bill will be headlined by the Music. Also playing are Idlewild, Nine Black Alps, the Magic Numbers and Tom Vek. The network, which visited SXSW for the first time last year, will produce a one-hour special from the showcase to air March 25-26. MTV2 will also broadcast between three and five SXSW specials on its “Gonzo” series, commencing March 21.
The BBC’s commitment to the festival includes extensive broadcasting on Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6 Music. The latter two stations are building their SXSW coverage into a Texan-themed season of programs, and will also launch a dedicated SXSW Web site.
Additional U.K.-based acts confirmed to appear at SXSW include Doves, Robyn Hitchcock, Kaiser Chiefs, 22-20s, Bloc Party, Fatboy Slim, the Kills, Graham Coxon and keynote speaker Robert Plant.
Source billboard.com.
Bob Dylan’s Chronicles Honored By NBCC
Long considered rock’n’roll’s poet laureate, Bob Dylan can now add literary laurels to his list of honors. The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has named Dylan’s “Chronicles: Volume I” one of five nominees for best biography/autobiography.
The nod places Dylan alongside such luminaries as past bio winners Sylvia Nasar (“A Beautiful Mind”), Frank McCourt (“Angela’s Ashes”) and Philip Roth (“Patrimony: A True Story”) and fellow 2005 bio nominees Ron Chernow (“Alexander Hamilton”); Stephen Greenblatt (“Will in the World”); John Guy (“Queen of Scots”); and Mark Stevens & Annalyn Swan (“De Kooning: An American Master”).
Source billboard.com.
Pearl Jam Scraping The Rust In The Studio
Pearl Jam has begun work on its eighth studio album in its Seattle homebase. “We’re recording but not really putting any pressure for something to actually come out of it,” frontman Eddie Vedder told former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on his Friday radio show, Jonesy’s Jukebox, which emanates from Los Angeles radio station KDLD-FM (Indie 103.1).
Asked if he still enjoys the recording process after 15 years of making music with Pearl Jam, Vedder answered, “Depends [on] what day it is or how much sleep you’ve had. We’ve been getting together as a whole group, all five [members], for five days a week. Actually, seven days — that was one of the problems. I think we’re going to slow it down a little bit and we’ll get something down in February.”
Vedder acknowledged it had taken some time for band members to get back in the swing of things after several months apart from one another. “You get together as a band and you want to push yourselves harder or get some place you’ve never been before, and there’s work to get there,” he said. “The length of time you all have to be communicating; when you’re not working, you don’t have to communicate at all, and you get spoiled and quiet.”
“Even close-knit bands like Fugazi, [which seems] like a four-headed monster, are [made up of] four completely different individuals,” Vedder continued. “They seem like a gang, but it’s a gang made up of individuals. It’s not as easy as you would think.”
The as-yet-untitled album will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Riot Act” and Pearl Jam’s first since leaving longtime label Epic last year. The band’s official Web site previously confirmed the set would be released “on the BMG label” but did not reveal specifics of the new arrangement.
Band members have also been at work on other endeavors. Guitarist Stone Gossard is making a new album with his Brad side project, while drummer Matt Cameron has completed the first new album since 1993 with the band Hater, which features his ex-Soundgarden colleague Ben Shepherd on bass and guitarist John McBain, his longtime collaborator in Wellwater Conspiracy.
As previously reported, bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Mike McCready can be heard as part of an as-yet-unnamed project with King’s X leader Doug Pinnick, but no release date has been announced for the completed album, tentatively titled “Montana.”
Source billboard.com.
Bob Marley 60th Birthday Celebrations Planned
India.Arie, Angelique Kidjo and the Marley family join a roster of international music stars here next month to celebrate the 60th birthday of the late reggae legend Bob Marley – the first time the event has been held outside the singer’s native Jamaica.
Hundreds of thousands are expected to participate in a month of festivities starting February. 1 dubbed “Africa Unite” in tribute to one of Marley’s many famous songs. The highlight is Ethiopia’s largest ever concert on Marley’s birthday, February 6, in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Rita Marley will sing with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt as the I-Threes, Bob Marley’s former backing group, on February 6. Joining them on stage will be Senegal’s Baaba Maal and Youssou N’Dour, Benin’s Kidjo, Reggae rapper Shaggy, soul singer India.arie and Marley’s children.
Other events include a film festival, an exhibition of African art, the Ethiopian launch of Rita Marley’s autobiography “No Woman No Cry – My Life with Bob Marley,” and conferences on the themes of African unity, women and youth.
Source pollstar.com.
The Aviator Leads Oscar Nominations
The Howard Hughes epic “The Aviator” led Academy Awards contenders with 11 nominations Tuesday, including best picture among them, plus acting honors for Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Alan Alda and a directing slot for Martin Scorsese.
The boxing saga “Million Dollar Baby” and the J.M. Barrie tale “Finding Neverland” followed with seven nominations each, among best picture and acting nominations for Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank and Johnny Depp.
Eastwood also got a directing nomination for “Million Dollar Baby.”
The other best-picture nominees were the Ray Charles portrait “Ray” and the buddy comedy “Sideways.”
Along with Eastwood, Jamie Foxx also scored two nominations, as best actor for the title role in “Ray” and supporting actor as a taxi driver whose cab is hijacked by a hit man in “Collateral.”
Foxx’s dead-on emulation of Charles has made him the front-runner in the lead-actor category.
Starring as aviation trailblazer and Hollywood rebel Hughes, DiCaprio also was nominated for best actor. He and Foxx will compete against Depp as “Peter Pan” playwright Barrie in “Finding Neverland”; Eastwood as a cantankerous boxing trainer in “Million Dollar Baby”; and Don Cheadle for “Hotel Rwanda,” starring as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered refugees from the Rwandan genocide.
The best-actress category presents a rematch of the 1999 showdown, when underdog Swank won the Oscar for “Boys Don’t Cry” over Annette Bening (news), who had been the front-runner for “American Beauty.”
This time, Swank was nominated as a bullheaded boxing champ whose life takes a cruel twist in “Million Dollar Baby.” Bening was chosen for “Being Julia,” in which she plays an aging 1930s stage diva exacting wickedly comic revenge on the men in her life and a young rival.
Both actresses won Golden Globes for the roles, Swank for best dramatic actress, Bening for actress in a musical or comedy.
Also nominated for the best-actress Oscar were Catalina Sandino Moreno as a Colombian woman imperiled when she signs on to smuggle heroin in “Maria Full of Grace”; Imelda Staunton as a saintly housekeeper in 1950s Britain who performs illegal abortions on the side in “Vera Drake”; and Kate Winslet as a woman who has had memories of her ex-boyfriend erased in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Joining Eastwood and Scorsese among directing nominees are Taylor Hackford for “Ray”; Mike Leigh for “Vera Drake”; and Alexander Payne for “Sideways.”
Scorsese, arguably the most prominent modern filmmaker who has never won an Oscar, also has never delivered a best-picture winner. Considered a nominal best-picture favorite, “The Aviator” offers him a shot to finally triumph on Oscar night, though Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” is a formidable competitor.
“The Aviator” won the Golden Globe for best-dramatic film, but Eastwood beat out Scorsese for the directing prize at the Globes. Eastwood is a past Oscar winner for best-picture and director with 1992’s “Unforgiven.”
Along with Foxx in “Collateral,” Alda was nominated for supporting actor as a senator tussling with Hughes in “The Aviator” while Freeman was picked as a worldly-wise ex-boxer in “Million Dollar Baby.” The other nominees: Thomas Haden Church as a bridegroom out for a final fling in “Sideways”; Clive Owen as a coarse lover in “Closer.”
For supporting actress, academy voters picked Blanchett, who plays Katharine Hepburn (news) in “The Aviator”; Laura Linney as the title character’s sexually adventurous wife in “Kinsey”; Virginia Madsen as a deceived lover in “Sideways”; Sophie Okonedo as innkeeper Rusesabagina’s wife in “Hotel Rwanda”; Natalie Portman as a gutsy stripper in “Closer.”
Source yahoo.com.
Ben Folds Releasing New Album -Songs For Silverman – April 26
Since the release of 2001’s “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” Ben Folds has toured various parts of the world time and time again, collaborated extensively with William Shatner, released a live album and a trio of EPs and recorded nearly all of a new studio album twice. The fruit of the latter endeavor will emerge as “Songs for Silverman” April 26 via Epic.
After finishing nine songs in early 2004, presumably in the studio he built in his adopted home of Adelaide, Australia, Folds re-recorded most of those cuts plus two more in a six-week fall session at a historic Nashville studio. In the same rooms once used by Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, Folds returned to the trio setup with which he first found fame as leader of Ben Folds Five, pairing himself with bassist Jared Reynolds (Allison Moorer, Shatner) and drummer Lindsay Jamieson (Departure Lounge, Butterfly Boucher).
Here is the “Songs for Silverman” track list:
“Bastard”
“You To Thanks”
“Jesusland”
“Landed”
“Gracie”
“Trusted”
“Give Judy My Notice”
“Late”
“Sentimental Guy”
“Time”
“Prison Food”
Source billboard.com.
Xavier Rudd U.S. Tour Dates Planned
Multi-instrumental solo musician Xavier Rudd is returning to North America to tour in support of his 2004 independent release, Solace. As a follow up to his sold-out and critically acclaimed Fall 2004 tour, Xavier will perform a handful of dates including a special performances at Canadian Music Week in Toronto to celebrate the release of Solace on Universal Canada.
Following these dates Xavier will stop in New Zealand to perform at Womad before embarking on tour with Jack Johnson later this year support for both Jack and Xavier provided by G Love. In June, Xavier will return to North America for a summer festival tour to follow up on the success of last years festival appearances that saw him breaking historical CD sales records and being touted as the breakout artist of the summer. With invitations to reappear flooding in, confirmed dates thus far will include Bonnarro, Rocky Mountain Folk Festival in Lyons, CO and the Ottawa Blues Festival.
Tour Dates
Feb. 22: San Francisco, CA Slims
Feb. 24: Victoria, BC Alix Gooldin Hall
Feb. 25: Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
Feb. 26: Seattle, WA Crocodile Caf
Ray LaMontagne: Trouble
Produced by Ethan Johns, (Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, the Jayhawks) who also ads the drums, bass and piano parts, [Trouble is all heart and trembling white soul. LaMontagne
Late Night Legend Johnny Carson Dies
Johnny Carson, the quick-witted “Tonight Show” host who became a national institution putting his viewers to bed for 30 years with a smooth nightcap of celebrity banter and heartland charm, died Sunday. He was 79.
Carson died early Sunday morning, according to his nephew, Jeff Sotzing. “He was surrounded by his family, whose loss will be immeasurable,” Sotzing told The Associated Press.
He did not provide further details, but NBC said Carson died of emphysema at his Malibu home.
Source yahoo.com.
New Beck Album Guero Due March 29th
Beck will release his much-delayed eighth studio album, Guero (which means “White Boy” in Spanish), on March 29th. The follow-up to 2002’s acoustic-based Sea Change features a collaboration with the White Stripes’ Jack White, as well as production by the Dust Brothers, Tony Hoffer and Dan “the Automator” Nakamura.
“It’s pretty aggressive,” Beck told Rolling Stone. “I’ve been working on it for a while, but I ended up doing Sea Change first. I’ve been wanting to do a record with loud guitars for a long time.”
Several of the songs, including “Girl,” “Go It Alone” and the album’s first single, “E-Pro,” which hits radio next month, have been leaked on the Internet.
Much has changed for Beck since releasing his last album: last April he married Marissa Ribisi, twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi, and the couple gave birth to a son, Cosimo, shortly after.
Beck recently played two last-minute shows in Los Angeles. He debuted songs from Guero last week during a surprise gig at the Spaceland club, and last Monday, he joined Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Tenacious D at the Wiltern Theatre for a concert to benefit tsunami relief efforts.
Source rollingstone.com.
U2 World Tour Dates Announced
U2 will kick off its 2005 Vertigo tour March 28 in San Diego. Sixteen North American dates are on tap so far for the first leg of the tour, which will wrap May 26 in Boston. Tickets for some shows begin going on sale Saturday (Jan. 29), but paid subscribers to U2’s Web site can take advantage of an exclusive pre-sale beginning tomorrow.
The band has also confirmed 24 European summer dates, beginning June 10 in Brussels and concluding Aug. 14 in Lisbon. Although a routing has not yet been confirmed, U2 will return to North America for another 30-date leg in the fall.
As on the 2001 Elevation tour, the arena floor will be general admission for about 1,700-1,800 seats, depending on the building. And, like Elevation, the tour will feature unique production elements.
“This tour will be not unlike the last production in that the lowest priced tickets will be on the floor,” says U2 manager Paul McGuinness. “The best seats are the cheapest, and we want people to get excited.” He adds that details on distribution of floor tickets will be forthcoming. “Some will be on sale, some will be radio contest winners,” he says.
Here are U2’s tour dates:
March 28: San Diego (Sports Arena; on sale Jan. 29)
April 1: Anaheim, Calif. (Arrowhead Pond; on sale Jan. 30)
April 5: Los Angeles (Staples Center; on sale Jan. 30)
April 9: San Jose, Calif. (HP Pavilion; on sale Jan. 30)
April 14: Phoenix (Glendale Arena)
April 20: Denver (Pepsi Center; on sale Jan. 29)
April 24: Seattle (Key Arena)
April 28: Vancouver (GM Place)
May 7, 9: Chicago (United Center; on sale Jan. 29)
May 14: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center; on sale Jan. 29)
May 17-18: East Rutherford, N.J. (Continental Airlines Arena; on sale Jan. 31)
May 21: New York (Madison Square Garden; on sale Jan. 31)
May 24, 26: Boston (Fleet Center; on sale Jan. 29)
June 10: Brussels (King Baudouin Stadium)
June 12: Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Schalke Stadium)
June 14: Manchester, England (Stadium)
June 18: London (Twickenham Stadium)
June 21: Glasgow (Hampden Park)
June 24: Dublin (Croke Park)
June 29: Cardiff, Wales (Millennium Stadium)
July 2: Vienna (Ernst Happel Stadium)
July 5: Katowice, Poland (Slaski Stadium)
July 7: Berlin (Olympic Stadium)
July 9: Paris (Stade de France)
July 11: Zurich (Letzigrund Stadium)
July 13: Amsterdam (Arena)
July 19: Milan (San Siro)
July 23: Rome (Olympic Stadium)
July 27: Oslo (Vallehovin Stadium)
July 29: Gothenburg, Sweden (Ullevi Stadium)
July 31: Copenhagen (Parken)
Aug. 3: Munich (Olympic Stadium)
Aug. 5: Nice, France (Parc des Sports Charles Ehrmann)
Aug. 7: Barcelona (Camp Nou)
Aug. 9: San Sebastian, Spain (Anoeta Stadium)
Aug. 11: Madrid (Estadio Vicente Calderon)
Aug. 14: Lisbon (Alvalade)
Source billboard.com.
Queens Of The Stone Age Announce U.S. Tour
Queens Of The Stone Age will tour Europe and North America this spring in support of their upcoming album, “Lullabies To Paralyze.” The trek will get underway Feb. 21 in Paris and has dates on tap through April 18 in Los Angeles, while the new album will be released March 22 via Interscope.
“We have been rehearsing for about six weeks,” QOTSA leader Josh Homme tells Billboard.com. “All 14 tracks [from the new album] are fair game, and [as for] ones from the other records, the soil has been re-tilled and everyone is real bright-eyed. It feels really good around here.”
Although longtime collaborator Alain Johannes plays bass on “Lullabies To Paralyze,” he will not be joining Homme, drummer Joey Castillo and multi-instrumentalist Troy Van Leeuwen on the road this spring. Homme declines to reveal who will be playing bass, saying, “It’s great to keep people on the edge of their seats as long as possible, without anyone falling down.”
“It’s not Alain because he has this f***ed up thing called a life, the bastard, which I have to look into, apparently,” the workaholic Homme adds with a chuckle.
After the spring dates, which may feature support from Homme’s side band the Eagles Of Death Metal, QOTSA will be “looking for something to do that’s not any of the festivals this summer. We’d almost like to make our own mini, midget festival. I want there to be general admission. I don’t want there to be 15 bands in a day. People can’t receive that. I’d rather have five and have it start after work. Stand and sit wherever the hell you want to.”
The new album’s first single, “Little Sister,” debuts this week at No. 29 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Here are Queens Of The Stone Age’s tour dates:
Feb. 21: Paris (Trabendo)
Feb. 24: Koln, Germany (Kantine)
Feb. 26: Berlin (Postbahnhof)
March 3: London (venue TBA)
March 15: Austin, Texas (Stubbs’ BBQ)
March 16: Dallas (Gypsy Tea Room)
March 19: Atlanta (Earthlink Live)
March 20: Norfolk, Va. (NorVa)
March 24: New York (Webster Hall)
March 26: Hartford, Conn. (Webster Theatre)
March 27: Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)
March 28: Boston (Roxy)
March 30: Toronto (Kool Haus)
March 31: Montreal (Metropolis)
April 2: Cleveland (House of Blues)
April 3: Detroit (St. Andrews Hall)
April 5: Chicago (Vic Theatre)
April 6: Minneapolis (Quest)
April 8: Winnipeg, Manitoba (Burton Cummings Theatre)
April 10: Calgary, Alberta (MacEwan Hall)
April 11: Edmonton, Alberta (Red’s)
April 13: Vancouver (Queen Elizabeth Theatre)
April 14: Seattle or Tacoma, Wash. (venue TBA)
April 16: San Francisco (Fillmore)
April 18: Los Angeles (Henry Fonda Theatre)
Source billboard.com.
moe. to host Tsunami Relief benefit in NYC with Trey Anastasio
moe. will host a charity concert to benefit Tsunami survivors. The concert will be held at New York’s Roseland Ballroom, Thursday, February 10 at 8PM. moe. will be joined by various artists throughout the evening, including guitarist Trey Anastasio, MMW keyboardist John Medeski, mandolin virtuoso Sam Bush and Vorcza keyboardist Ray Paczkowski.
Tickets are $40.00 in advance. A limited number of tickets will be available, Friday, January 21 at 12:00PM EST at moe.org. The remaining tickets will be available at the Roseland Ballroom box office and all Ticketmaster locations, Saturday, January 22 at 10:00AM EST. All proceeds from this event will be matched by Dave Matthews Band and will go to the Bama Works Village Recovery Fund.
“The scope & breadth of this disaster are beyond comprehension,” says moe. guitarist Al Schnier. “As musicians on the other side of the world, we can’t help feeling a bit helpless. Our hope is to contribute in some small way to help reestablish the communities damaged in the wake of these recent storms.”
Adds bassist Rob Derhak, “We in the music community can get aid to families that need it. The concert profits will go to relief for Tsunami survivors, but it doesn’t have to stop there. We need to continue to help those in need; it is everyone’s responsibility.”
Source moe.org.
Kings Of Leon Opening First Leg Of U2 World Tour
U2 will kick off its 2005 world tour March 28 at the San Diego Sports Arena, Billboard has exclusively revealed. Kings Of Leon will open the first leg of the trek, tickets for which will begin going on sale Jan. 29. The tour, named Vertigo after the first single from U2’s new Interscope album, “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” will be officially announced Monday (Jan. 24).
“One of the great privileges of working with U2 is you get to go on the road with them,” longtime manager Paul McGuinness tells Billboard. “We are, I suppose, that rarest of things: a major touring attraction that is still having number one records all over the world after 25 years.”
Even though its kick-off is still two months away, Vertigo will likely be the top-grossing trek of 2005. Conservative estimates put the tour’s gross potential at $225-$250 million from as many as 110 shows.
The first North American leg will run for two months and wrap in Boston in late May. Afterward, the tour will hit some 30 European stadiums, beginning June 10 in Brussels. The band will stay in Europe through mid-August, then return to North America for another run of 30 arena dates.
Ticket prices will average $90, including $49.50 on the low end and $165 on the high end. On the 2001 Elevation tour in support of the album “All That You Can’t Leave Behind,” the range was $45-$135.
As on that trek, the arena floor will be general admission for about 1,700-1,800 seats, depending on the building. And, like Elevation, the tour will feature unique production elements.
Source billboard.com.
RAQ Announces 28 Show U.S. Tour
RAQ, the electrifying rock quartet from Burlington, VT, will embark on their fourth national tour in just two years this spring. Formed in just 2001, RAQ is doing what most young bands only dream about and have announced the first twenty-eight dates of a national tour that takes them from the Stone Church in New Hampshire to the famous Whiskey A-Go-Go in West Hollywood with all major cities in-between and back to New England with a two night stand at the Higher Ground in Burlington, VT on April 8th & 9th.
Self-described as “aggressive improvisational rock” RAQ’s music is full of precise hooks and floating improvisation. Relix Magazine says, “RAQ has the ability to captivate an audience, dropping jaws with hyperkinetic improvisational splendor.”
They have already been invited to perform at many of North America’s highest profile events including Tennessee’s Bonnaroo Music Festival, California’s High Sierra Music Festival, Florida’s Langerado Music Festival, New York’s moe-down, Massachusetts’s Berkshire Mountain Music Festival, and Vermont’s Garden of Eden festival. The band has appeared at the most prestigious venues along the way such as the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco
and the famed Knitting Factory in New York City. Highlights of this tour include headlining shows in NYC, Chicago, Boulder, Los Angeles, and a support slot in Atlanta with MOE at The Tabernacle on March 4th.
This is only the first leg of the spring tour and additional dates are expected to be added to this leg too. Please go to www.raqmusic.com for updates.
January 26 – Stone Church – Newmarket, NH
January 27- Big Easy – Portland, ME
January 28 – Main Pub – Manchester, CT
January 29 – Middle East – Cambridge, MA *
February 2 – Water Street Music Hall – Rochester, NY
February 3 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA
February 4 – Lions Den – NY, NY
February 5 – Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ
February 8 – Crowbar – State College, PA
February 9 – Wilberts – Cleveland, OH
February 10 – Mad Frog – Cincinnati, OH
February 11 – Subterranean – Chicago, IL
February 12 – University of Wisconsin – Madison, WI
February 15 – 8150 – Vail, CO
February 16 – Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
February 17 – Sherpa & Yeti’s – Breckenridge, CO
February 18 – Cervante’s – Denver, CO
February 19 – Starlight – Ft. Collins, CO
February 22 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA
February 23 – Goodfoot Lounge – Portland, OR
February 25 – 12 Galaxies – San Francisco
February 27 – Whiskey A-Go-Go – West Hollywood, CA
March 2 – Sticky Fingerz – Little Rock , AR
March 3 – Zydeco’s – Birmingham, AL
March 4 – Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA **
March 5 – Visulite Theatre- Charlotte, NC
March 17 – Harpers Ferry – Allston, MA
April 8 & 9 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT
All shows headlining except:
* Supporting Steve Kimock Band
** Supporting moe
String Cheese Incident Announces Spring Ski Incident
This spring, The String Cheese Incident and their fans will take advantage of this season’s record snowfall along the continent’s western slopes. SCI’s upcoming tour, being dubbedSpring Ski Incidents, will bring traveling fans and locals into ski towns across America’s west, to enjoy majestic mountains and music, including outdoor afternoon shows at the base of the slopes in Park City, Utah and Whistler B.C!
The spring tour will begin with three nights at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium and, in the tradition of SCI’s Winter Carnival, will feature very special guests – this year, New Orleans legend Dr. John, innovative rocker Perry Ferrell (aka DJ Peretz), Jason Carter and Ronnie and Rob McCoury, plus after-show parties each night! After a day of rest the band will head west, armed with boards and instruments, to play on some of their favorite ski mountains. Highlights of the run include a two day stop in Park City, Utah where, after a full day tackling Utah’s powder, SCI will play one long afternoon set at The Canyons at the base of the mountain each day. Fans won’t need a ticket to enjoy the show- but can buy discounted ski lift tickets at
www.SCITicketing.com.
Discounted lift tickets go on sale February 1st while supplies last. After hitting Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Bozeman, Montana and Spokane, Washington, the tour will wrap up in beautiful British Columbia, including another afternoon show, this time at the base of Whistler &; Blackcomb Mountain to kick off the 10th anniversary of the annual TELUS World Ski &; Snowboarding Festival – North America’s largest snowsport and music event.
The complete list of tour dates are as follows:
Thu Mar 24 Denver, CO The Fillmore Auditorium w/ Dr. John
Fri Mar 25 Denver, CO The Fillmore Auditorium w/ Perry Ferrell aka DJ Peretz
Sat Mar 26 Denver, CO The Fillmore Auditorium w/ Ronnie &; Rob McCoury and Jason Carter
Tue Mar 29 Lake Tahoe, NV Circus Maximus Showroom @ Caesars Tahoe
Wed Mar 30 Lake Tahoe, NV Circus Maximus Showroom @ Caesars Tahoe
Fri Apr 01 Boise, ID Big Easy Concert House
Sat Apr 02 Park City, UT The Canyons (apres ski)
Sun Apr 03 Park City, UT The Canyons (apres ski)
Tue Apr 05 Jackson Hole, WY Snow King Center
Wed Apr 06 Bozeman, MT Valley Ice Garden Arena
Thu Apr 07 Spokane, WA The Big Easy Concert House
Fri Apr 08 Whistler, BC The Base of Whistler &; Blackcomb Mountain (apres ski)
Sat Apr 09 Vancouver, BC The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
blur: starshaped
Thanks to the camcorder, blur has released starshaped, a video retrospective of their carefree glory days from 1991-1994. These are moments when cases of Newcastle were flowing freely, backstage buffoonery was welcomed, and overall drunkenness and reckless travel dominated the landscape of a band that had only the pressure of finding their sound.