2006

My Morning Jacket recently trekked to Woodstock, N.Y., to record a cover of the Band’s “It Makes No Difference” for a star-studded Band tribute album, due Jan. 9 via Savoy Jazz. The catch: the song was put to tape at the studio of the Band’s drummer, Levon Helm, bringing MMJ’s members face to face with one of their musical idols.

As for My Morning Jacket, the band has just been added to the lineup for next month’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago and will re-team with Pearl Jam as an opening act for 11 September dates on the latter’s first European tour since 2000.

As previously reported, an MMJ live album and DVD, “Okonokos,” will be separately released in the fall. The double-disc CD is due Sept. 26, while the DVD will arrive Oct. 31 and will also be screened at select U.S. movie theaters. Eschewing the straight-up “film the show” approach, the latter follows a storyline that transports fans to an MMJ show in the middle of a forest.

Source billboard.com.

For the first time in over a year, Sufjan Stevens is going on tour, bringing with him a talented group of musicians and friends including a small string ensemble (ranging from four to eight members in different cities) and brass section.

They will perform a repertoire of familiar songs from Seven Swans, Michigan and Illinois in a new symphonic context. This tour is not a promotional tour for The Avalanche, Stevens’ latest CD of Illinois outtakes, but instead a chance for Stevens to showcase his compositions in a more formal atmosphere. The tour will bring Sufjan and his ensemble to some of the country’s finest theaters, including Nashville’s esteemed Ryman and Los Angeles’ historic Wiltern. Almost all of these shows will be seated, with three exceptions.

The pomp and pageantry of the previous Illinoisemakers tour will be augmented by a nuance, mastery and sophistication of talented new players. But don’t expect to see any cheerleading uniforms or routines. Suit coats, neckties and corsages might be more appropriate; but we aren’t about to issue a dress code. Sufjan will also be performing five to six new songs on the tour.

Supporting the tour will be My Brightest Diamond, a moniker for the talented singer-songwriter Shara Worden. Shara has toured extensively in Sufjan’s band, appears on his recordings, and is often his right-hand woman. Shara is also a close friend, creative peer and Brooklyn neighbor to Sufjan.

Tour Dates

Mon. Sept. 11: Nashville, TN, Ryman

Fri. Sept. 15: Austin, TX, Paramount Theater

Sat. Sept. 16: Austin, TX, Paramount Theater

Tue. Sept. 19: New Orleans, LA, House of Blues

Weds. Sept. 20: Atlanta, GA, Fox Theater (PASTE Fest)

Thu. Sept. 21: Chapel Hill, NC, Memorial Hall

Sat. Sept. 23: Indianapolis, IN, Egyptian Theater

Sun. Sept. 24: St. Louis, MO, The Pageant

Mon. Sept. 25: Milwaukee, WI, Pabst Theater

Tue. Sept. 26: Chicago, IL, The Riviera

Thu. Sept. 28: Philadelphia, PA, The Towers

Fri. Sept. 29: New York, NY, Town Hall

Sat. Sept. 30: New York, NY, Town Hall

Mon. Oct. 9: Los Angeles, CA, The Wiltern

Weds. Oct. 11: San Francisco, CA, Zellerbach Hall

Fri. Oct. 13: Portland, OR, Crystal Ballroom

Sat. Oct. 14: Vancouver, BC, St. Andrews Cathedral

Sun. Oct. 15: Seattle, WA, Paramount

Massive Attack will embark on its first wide-scale North American tour since 1998 with a previously announced Sept. 10 appearance at Toronto’s inaugural V Festival. The three-week trek will wrap with an Oct. 3-5 stand at New York’s Roseland Ballroom.

And while details are not yet confirmed, sources say to expect appearances from longtime collaborators Elizabeth Fraser and Horace Andy throughout the trip. Massive Attack is also eyeing an early 2007 release for its fifth album, “Weather Underground.” The recent Virgin retrospective “Collected” debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top Electronic Albums chart.

Prior to the North American dates, the group will be on the road internationally through a Sept. 1 show in Stradbally, Ireland.

Here are Massive Attack’s tour dates:

Sept. 10: Toronto (V Festival)
Sept. 11: Montreal (Metropolis)

Sept. 12: Detroit (State Theatre)
Sept. 13: Chicago (Riviera Theatre)
Sept. 15: Houston (Verizon Wireless Theatre)
Sept. 16: Austin, Texas (Austin City Limits)
Sept. 17: Dallas (Nokia Theatre)
Sept. 19: Phoenix (Celebrity Theatre)
Sept. 20: San Diego (SDSU Open Air Theatre)
Sept. 22: Berkeley, Calif. (Greek Theatre)
Sept. 23: Las Vegas (the Joint)
Sept. 24: Los Angeles (Hollywood Bowl)
Sept. 28-29: Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)
Sept. 30: Philadelphia (Tower Theatre)
Oct. 1: Boston (Orpheum Theatre)
Oct. 3-5: New York (Roseland Ballroom)

The 19th annual Farm Aid benefit will be held Sept. 30 at the Tweeter Center in Camden, N.J., just across the Delaware River from downtown Philadelphia. Farm Aid co-founders Neil Young, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp will perform, as will Dave Matthews. Tickets go on sale July 14 to members of the FarmYard club and July 22 to the general public.

Young announced the details today (July 6) during a press conference at Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market. “It is unfortunate that we have to continue doing this,” he said. “I really hope that we don’t have to do Farm Aid forever.”

Source: billboard

Josh Homme has revealed that Queens Of The Stone Age have started work on their new album.

The singer, currently working with his other band Eagles Of Death Metal, told NME.COM Queens are currently writing new material in the studio, but refused to divulge the line-up of the band.

He said: “That’s not a healthy question. You’ll ruin the surprise. We’ve gotta keep our cool.”

Source: nme.com

CB’s, as it is universally and fondly known, opened its doors in 1973, making it NYC’s oldest continuously-operating rock venue. Owner Hilly Kristal originally intended the club to showcase country, bluegrass and blues (hence the acronym), but the lack of places for unsigned bands to perform in New York at the time made CB’s a magnet for the punk and art-rock scenes that were emerging downtown. Throughout the 70’s, such seminal artists as The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, The Patti Smith Group, Television and Suicide performed at CB’s regularly, and the club served as an incubator for what would become the most influential music of the era.

When punk metamorphosed into hardcore in the 80’s, CB’s remained on the city’s cutting edge, offering a home for The Gorilla Biscuits, Agnostic Front, The Cro-Mags, Sick Of It All, H20, Murphy’s Law, Leeway and the other pillars of the NYHC movement.

As the New York nightlife industry grew bigger and more cutthroat in the 90’s, CB’s remained an endearingly stubborn throwback, sticking firm to the open-door booking policy that first welcomed its inaugural class of rebels – whoever you are, whatever you do, your band can play at CBGB. In a downtown scene increasingly governed by fashion and status, CB’s has zealously adhered to the formula that made it meaningful, by refusing to apply stylistic filters to its bookings, welcoming all comers to sink or swim on their own merits.

A much-publicized altercation with their landlord in mid-2005 led to an a star-studded benefit concert in Washington Square Park, and even Mayor Bloomberg vocally led his support to the little club that had developed, over the decades, into a globally-recognized cultural institution.

However, despite the universal outpouring of love, and numerous attempts to resolve the matter legally, Kristal has been unable to arrive at terms with the building’s owner, and a three-decade musical legacy will come to an end in just a few short months.

Fittingly, steadfastly independent New York concert promoters Rocks Off have signed on to book CBGB’s closing festival, set to take place throughout August and September. They are in touch with many of the artists who made CB’s famous, and are hard at work putting together a final schedule that will do justice to the club’s enduring impact in the many varieties of rock and roll it has helped to cultivate throughout the years.