Reportedly gone fishin' and casting around for a new record label...

By Fred Mills

"Hmmm, where to go... bye..."

That's the latest post on Ryan Adams' personal blog, dated yesterday, Dec. 2, and though fans can read what they want into it, it has particular resonance in light of an article published yesterday on the Mojo magazine blog. Adams is leaving his longtime label Lost Highway in the wake of the artist and label being unable to agree on how to proceed in terms of Adams' career, according to Mojo.

Referencing an interview with Adams that appears in this month's print edition of the magazine (Oasis appears on the cover), the songwriter is quoted as saying, "Today my attorney sent me my termination agreement with Lost Highway, signed. I'm not like, ‘Ding dong, the witch is dead,' because I respect them and understand what we went through, how I wanted to do things a certain way, more unconventional than what they were attached to."

Adams maintains that over the course of his nine-album tenure with Lost Highway he consistently indicated his intentions to experiment stylistically, but that the label was more focused on marketing his alt-country, Americana side. For their part, the record label commented to Billboard earlier this year that with Adams' contract now up following the release of the recent Cardinology, the artist is probably served better by being "totally independent."

Observed label head Luke Lewis, "We took some pretty harsh criticism for putting out so much music, but we could have put out more." [In 2009, Lost Highway will issue an Adams anthology featuring several new songs.] "As much as we've tried to accommodate him by putting out a lot of records, a major-label deal is probably a bit restrictive for Ryan. My sense is he'd be better served by being independent, and by that I mean totally independent."

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the arenas....

By Fred Mills

Already beset by a deep financial recession, the national mood grew darker this week as word arrived of the forthcoming reunion of mook-rockers Creed. Rumored to be on the table for some time now, the reunion appears to be nearing reality as the former band members hammer things out.

In a report filed by Billboard, vocalist Scott Stapp, estranged since 2004 from guitarist Mark Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips and bassist Brian Marshall (who formed the almost-as-mooky Alter Bridge following the Creed split, is in "prime physical and mental condition" and ready for a reconciliation. A spokesman for the band's old label, Wind-Up, told Billboard that there have been talks, dollars put on the table, and an announcement could be imminent, "but it would be premature to comment on them at this time."

Well, all right then! Who can argue with 26.1 millions sold in the U.S. alone? What do a bunch of pointy headed critics know, anyway?

Fun fact: Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy is reportedly being considered for the singer position in the Robert Plant-less Led Zeppelin reunion that has been floated lately. For more reunion madness, go to the BLURT reunion poll page HERE. You can have your say on Creed, Led Zep and a host of other proposed 2009 reunions!

Written in Chalk due March 3 from New West.

By Blurt Staff

This info just slipped over the BLURT transom, and indeed, here are few songwriting partnerships in music today that are as consistently compelling as the dynamic between Buddy and Julie Miller.

The husband-and-wife duo have been writing and making music together since they first met and married over 20 years ago. Some of the efforts resulted in solo records for Buddy (five); others ended up albums by Julie (six). Written in Chalk, due out on New West Records on March 3, 2009, is only the second collaboration credited to both Millers following eight years after 2001's Buddy & Julie Miller.

Guests on Written in Chalk include Robert Plant, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Regina and Ann McCrary and Larry Campbell.  The record was recorded at the couple's home studio in Nashville, TN.  Written In Chalk will also be available on limited edition 180 gram vinyl.

Julie wrote nine of the twelve tracks on this extraordinary record. Her songs are emotional, even gut-wrenching at times, but all with underlying hints of love and of her faith.  The most touching song on the album is "Don't Say Goodbye" a beautiful, poignant ballad that features Patty Griffin on backing vocals.  Her lyrics often evoke a deep sadness evident in "A Long, Long Time" with the muted trumpet crying as Julie sings.  The record is balanced out with Buddy contributing to the country-rock duet "Gasoline and Matches" and Dee Ervin's bluesy, "One Part, Two Part" which Buddy sings with Regina and Ann McCrary.  Robert Plant supplies vocals on "What You Gonna Do, Leroy" a swampy stomp written by Mel Tillis and originally performed by Lefty Frizzell.

 Named "Artist of the Decade" by No Depression magazine, and instrumentalist of the year by the Americana Music Association for the past several years, Buddy Miller is one of the more highly sought after guitarists and has played with such greats as Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Shawn Colvin, Lucinda Williams, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jim Lauderdale, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Buddy's songs have been cut by such artists as The Dixie Chicks, LeeAnn Womack, Jim Lauderdale and Emmylou Harris, among others. As a producer, his resume is just as impressive; he produced Emmylou Harris's live album Spyboy, Solomon Burke's Grammy® nominated Nashville and Allison Moorer's covers record Mockingbird.

 Julie received her first real attention with the release of Buddy Miller's 1995 HighTone debut, Your Love And Other Lies, for which she co-wrote several songs and sang on three. Her songwriting soon attracted the attention of Emmylou Harris, who recorded Julie's "All My Tears," as did jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott.  Emmylou Harris, as well as Steve Earle and Karen Perris of Innocence Mission, guested on Miller's album Blue Pony, which generated reams of critical praise and brought Julie's talents to center stage.

Check out www.buddyandjulie.com  for more information.

 Written In Chalk track List & credits:

 1 "Ellis County"

(Julie Miller)

Brady Blade - Drums

Chris Donohue - Bass

Larry Campbell - Fiddle

John Deaderick - Keyboards

Buddy And Julie Miller - Vocals

2 "Gasoline And Matches"

(Julie And Buddy Miller)

Bryan Owings - Drums

Chris Donohue - Bass

Buddy And Julie Miller - Vocals

3 "Don't Say Goodbye"

(Julie Miller)

Patty Griffin - Vocal

John Deaderick - Piano

4 "What You Gonna Do, Leroy"

(Mel Tillis)

Jay Belerose - Drums

Dennis Crouch - Bass

Stuart Duncan - Fiddle

Gurf Morlix - Lap Steel

Robert Plant - Vocal

5 "A Long, Long Time"

(Julie Miller)

Matt Rollings - Piano

Brady Blade - Drums

Byron House - Bass

Kami Lyle - Trumpet

6 "One Part, Two Part"

(Dee Ervin)

Brady Blade - Drums

Chris Donohue - Bass

John Deaderick - Keyboards

Russ Pahl - Steel Guitar

Regina And Ann Mccrary - Vocals

7 "Chalk"

(Julie Miller)

Brady Blade - Drums

Chris Donohue - Bass

John Deaderick - Keyboards

Patty Griffin - Vocal

8 "Everytime We Say Goodbye"

(Julie Miller)

John Deaderick - Piano

9 "Hush, Sorrow"

(Julie Miller)

John Deaderick - Keyboards

Larry Campbell - Mandolin

Russ Pahl - Steel Guitar

Regina  Mccrary - Vocal

10 "Smooth"

(Julie Miller)

Bryan Owings - Drums

Chris Donohue - Bass

Buddy And Julie Miller - Vocals

11 "June"

(Julie Miller)

Buddy And Julie Miller - Vocals

12 "The Selfishness In Man"

(Leon Payne)

Brady Blade - Drums

Chris Donohue - Bass

John Deaderick - Keyboards

Russ Pahl - Steel Guitar

Emmylou Harris - Vocal

Tour Dates:

Feb 3 2009      8:00P

            The Birchmere             Alexandria, Virginia

Feb 4 2009      8:00P

            The Birchmere             Alexandria, Virginia

Feb 5 2009      8:00P

            Whitaker Center at the Forum            Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Feb 6 2009      8:00P

            The Keswick   Glenside, Pennsylvania

Feb 8 2009      8:00P

            Music Hall       Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Feb 9 2009      8:00P

            State Theatre   Ithaca, New York

Feb 10 2009    8:00P

            The Warner Theater    Torrington, Connecticut

Feb 19 2009    8:00P

            Meyershoff Symphony Hall   Baltimore, Maryland

Feb 20 2009    8:00P

            Beacon Theatre           New York City, New York

Feb 21 2009    8:00P

            Bardavon 1869 Opera House             Kingston, New York

Feb 22 2009    8:00P

            The Orpheum Boston, Massachusetts

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

7:00 AM CBS: The Early Show: Tony Bennett

9:00 AM SYN: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: David Cook

2:00 PM Ovation: Deep Blues (1991) w/R.L. Burnside , Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes , Jessie Mae Hemphill , Big Jack Johnson , Junior Kimbrough , Jack Owens

6:00 PM FUSE: My Chemical Romance

8:00 PM Smithsonian: The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice w/Wanda Jackson

11:00 PM FUSE: The Killers Rock Fuse

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Charlie Haden

12:00 AM FUEL: The Daily Habit: Flaming Lips

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: T.I.

1:00 AM Smithsonian: Sound Revolution: Sounds of Jazz w/New Orleans All Stars , Louie Bellson , The Modern Jazz Quartet , Miles Davis , Newport All Stars , Quincy Jones

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Young Jeezy , Nas

Yes, some days ARE better than others, aren't they?

By Fred Mills

Some Days are Better Than Others is the name of an upcoming film directed by Matt McCormick, already well-known to indie-rock fans for having worked on Shins videos. No surprise here, then: Shins vocalist James Mercer was tapped by McCormick to play the lead. It will also star erstwhile Sleater-Kinney member Carrie Brownstein.

According to a report by the NME, McCormick describes the film as concerning "lonely people trying to create their own abstract forms of communication."

Wow. That's helpful. Please God, don't let it be about Twitterers...

At any rate, McCormick notes, of Mercer, "the character he plays is in many ways an extension of the character that I created for him in The Shins "The Past and Pending" video I did a while back. While writing the script, James sort of became this character by default. The character isn't necessarily based on James, it was just James' face that was in my head when writing this character. And then after I did the "Australia" video I was just completely impressed with his poise and ability to take direction, and eventually decided to give him a shot at playing this role."

Well, all right then! The film's due next Fall. No details yet on what studio will be distributing the film.

And yes, sharp-eyed readers are already noting that the film title is the same as that of a U2 song from Zooropa...

[Photo by Crackerfarm]

Los Lobos, Dave Alvin, Alejandro Escovedo and tons more paying tribute to the late, great Sahm.

By Blurt Staff

Vanguard Records has announced Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm, slated for a March 24 release. It will mark the tenth anniversary of Sahm's death in 1999, and the songs on Keep Your Soul will cover Sahm's entire history, including his time with the Sir Douglas Quintet, Texas Tornados and many solo recordings.  It features artists such as Levon Helm, Delbert McClinton, Los Lobos, Dave Alvin, Shawn Sahm with Augie Meyers, Jimmie Vaughan, Alejandro Escovedo and others. See the list of contributors below. 

Doug Sahm created a vast musical impact over a 50-year career. Starting in Texas and traveling far beyond, he is considered by many to be one of the most significant figures in blues, rock, R&B, country and other genres, as well as an originator of Tex-Mex rock & roll.   "My dad is a vital link in the Texas musical food chain," says son Shawn Sahm, "and this album will show that he belongs right next to all his peers when it comes to being a founding father of the state's rich legacy."

Born in San Antonio, Texas on November 6, 1941, Doug Sahm was a child prodigy in country music, starting his professional career singing and playing guitar, mandolin, pedal steel and fiddle as "Little Doug" when he was only nine years old. He went on to form the 1960s influential group the Sir Douglas Quintet, scoring a Top 10 single with "She's About a Mover." Later, with Augie Meyers, Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez, Sahm founded the Grammy Award-winning Texas Tornados.  He continued recording as a solo artist and won another Grammy Award for The Last Real Texas Blues Band, and recorded with a new formation of the Sir Douglas Quintet on SDQ '98. His last studio album, The Return of Wayne Douglas, was released posthumously after being made at a studio near his hometown of San Antonio, returning Sahm to his country roots and the area where he first began.

Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm, produced by Bill Bentley, Stephen Brower, David Katznelson and Shawn Sahm, celebrates the life of a true American music visionary. Sahm was a master of every style he played, and is viewed as someone who helped shape the sound of modern music. He was also a sought-after session musician, appearing on other releases with Willie Nelson, the Grateful Dead, Uncle Tupelo and many more. His 1973 Atlantic Records release, Doug Sahm & Band, included special guests Bob Dylan, Dr. John, Flaco Jimenez, David Bromberg, Andy Statman, David "Fathead" Newman and Wayne Jackson.

The late Atlantic Records executive and album producer Jerry Wexler inscribed his autobiography Rhythm and the Blues to Sahm in 1993: "To Doug, of all the musicians I've worked with, I have always felt closest to you. And of all of them, you are the most gifted, the most versatile, with a musical ability that never quits." Keep Your Soul co-producer Bill Bentley adds, "These new recordings of Sahm's songs by the musicians who loved him would no doubt have Doug proclaiming, ‘far out,' and then grabbing his guitar to go find a place to play. He really was a Texas tornado, and there sure won't be another Sir Doug."

List of confirmed artists at press time (with more to be announced)

Delbert McClinton / Texas Me

Levon Helm / She's About a Mover

Los Lobos / And It Didn't Even Bring Me Down

Jimmie Vaughan / Why, Why, Why

Alejandro Escovedo / Too Little Too Late

Greg Dulli / You Was For Real

Dave Alvin / Dynamite Woman

The Gourds / Nuevo Laredo

Terry Allen (with Joe Ely) / I'm Not That Kat Anymore

Freda & the Firedogs / Be Real

Shawn Sahm (with Augie Meyers) / Mendocino

Joe 'King' Carrasco & Texas Tornados / Adios Mexico

Charlie Sexton / Magic Illusion

Drums on "ferocious" tune "Run With Wolves".

By Fred Mills

The Prodigy is setting a March 2 release date for its fifth album, titled Invaders Must Die and due from the band's own Take Me To the Hospital imprint. And in addition to it marking a reunion of sorts with Prodigy mainman Liam Howlett and his once-estranged vocalist Keith Flint, the album will also feature Dave Grohl, currently of a little ol' band called the Foo Fighters and previously of...hmmm... let's see... oh yeah, Nirvana.

In an interview with Australia's Herald Sun, Howlett commented on his choice of drummer for the track "Run With Wolves," which along with the rest of the albm was more or less completed - then Grohl, who he was already friends with, got in touch.

"It's ferocious, that tune,'' Howlett says. ‘‘It's definitely one of the more venomous tracks on the album. It's fast and has a big, evil synth riff that comes in for the hook.' He'd finished touring and wanted to get in the studio and play drums. He asked how I'd feel about him sending me a load of his drum samples to use. I was like ‘F---ing come on'. So he went into the studio, laid down all these beats and sent me the hard drive in the hope I'd be inspired. We wrote the track in four days. I sent it back, he redrummed it and here we are.''

Go HERE to read the entire article, which details how Howlett put the band back together for the album.

Chewing the fat with Elton John, Lou Reed, Tony Bennett, Rufus Wainwright and more.

By Fred Mills

As previously outlined in this space, Elvis Costello is about to become a more-or-less talk show host when his new program for the Sundance Channel, Spectacle With Elvis Costello, debuts. And it's happening this week on the respected cable channel - Wednesday night, at 9 pm EST. Described as "a mix of music, talk, and music-oriented talk," it won't be featuring Paris Hilton, stupid people tricks or actors plugging their latest film, as one glance at the lineup should clue you in: Elton John (who appears in this week's debut program), Lou Reed, Tony Bennett, Rufus Wainwright and Smokey Robinson.

To date 13 episodes have been taped in New York, both at Studio 8H and the Apollo Theater. Costello kicks off each segment by doing a song by that show's guest; he'll do "Bordertown" for the Elton John episode.

In a story published in Sunday's New York Times the show is likened to a "a blend of The Dick Cavett Show, Inside the Actors Studio and Charlie Rose." Quoted in the article is Sundance Channel general manager Laura Michalchyshyn, who commented, on approaching Costell, "When I met him for our pitch, he said, ‘I want this be to a show about genres of music that may have been forgotten, about artists that haven't been in the spotlight and people performing in a way they haven't before.' His big, big point was ‘We are going to film for a much longer period than a conventional talk show. We're going to jam.' "

Added Costello, on why he was finally persuaded, after some hesitation, to take the gig, "[There's] no compulsion to talk about the new product, the thing that's coming out next week. And nobody's saying, ‘Wind it up after a couple seconds because we've got to get to the recipes.' "

Read the entire article HERE.

Latest album on Rounder should continue her string of critical successes.

By Fred Mills

Sultry songstress Madeleine Peyroux may have a reputation for shunning and perhaps even harboring an active disdain for the music press, but those of us stuck out here in the critical community can't help it: we've been smitten by the Georgia native ever since her '96 debut Dreamland, Since then she's moved far beyond an early reputation as uncanny channeler of Billie Holiday, with one obvious career high point being 2004's Careless Love - that one not only charmed the scribes it sold over a million copies.

Now word arrives that Rounder is readying a new album for a March 10 release. Bare Bones will feature collaborations with album producer Larry Klein, Walter Becker, Julian Coryell, Joe Henry, David Batteau and Sean Wayland, and the track "I Must Be Saved" was written entirely by Peyroux. Peyroux says the album builds from wariness, to loss, to acceptance, and finally to hope. "I'm really happy that I got to write," said Peyroux, in a press release., "It feels like a new segment, and it's great work. I'm surrounded by beautiful sounds, really honest musicians, really honest playing."

Critics, start your engines, and let the kudos begin... Don't worry, Maddy, we won't bite.

'Bare Bones' Track List

1.Instead (Julian Coryell/Peyroux)
2.Bare Bones (Walter Becker/Larry Klein/Peyroux)
3.Damn the Circumstances (David Batteau/Larry Klein/Peyroux)
4.River of Tears (Klein/Peyroux)
5.You Can't Do Me (Becker/Klein/Peyroux)
6.Love and Treachery (Joe Henry/Klein/Peyroux)
7.Our Lady of Pigalle (Batteau/Klein/Peyroux)
8.Homeless Happiness (Coryell/Peyroux)
9.To Love You All Over Again (Batteau/Peyroux)
10.I Must Be Saved (Peyroux)
11.Somethin' Grand (Klein/Peyroux/Sean Wayland)

A nod is as good as a wink to the great American songbook, eh lads?

By Fred Mills

Long-suffering Faces fans ill-served by Rod Stewart's seeming total immersion into MOR and schlock of late can rest easy: according to a report filed today by RollingStone.com, Rod the Mod is getting back together with his old mates in the Faces (minus the late Ronnie Wood, Lane, who passed away in 1997) for a 2009 reunion tour.

Speaking to RS, Wood confirmed the long-rumored reunion, saying, "We had a few fantastic rehearsals last week and we're ready to go. It's like no time has passed by. We just have to sort out when and where and drop all of the management egos and just do what we can. We know we can do it. It's just a matter of getting everyone's availability sometime next year."

Wood added that in addition to the projected tour, a new studio album is likely. Thus far at rehearsals. Stewart's bassist Conrad Korsch has been sitting in - but hey, where's Tetsu Yamauchi, who replaced Wood towards the end of the Faces' initial tenure? He wasn't too shabby a player, either!

Speaking of reunions, here's what BLURT readers think of them. Go HERE.

Okay, all together now - time for a rousing chorus of "Three Button Hand Me Down":

I don't need no one's opinion
On the matter concerning my dress.
I was raised in a clinic down in Oklahoma,
There were many things I did not possess.
I never complained, because my father said,
Son you'll get your chance before you're my age.
Then he took me upstairs and gave me this suit
Written all over his face
He said, Others may come and others may go,
But that suit will be around wherever you're goin'
Three button hand me down
Three button hand me down
I had my fair share of neat women,
But they came between me and my suit.
That was a filly from Boston, a barmaid from Houston,
Not forgetting the one in Detroit.
They said, We like you boy and we think you're sweet,
But can't you lose your suit?
I said, No, you can't do that to me
I remember what my father said:
He said, Others may come and others may go,
But that suit will be around wherever you're goin'
Three button hand me down, ha ha,
Three button hand me down
I've never been a tidy dresser
And the fold in my trousers it ain't straight.
Still I know a good cloth when I see one.
That's why I'm clad in this gray flannel suit.
Sometimes I wonder if I should visit a tailor
And get myself a smooth outfit.
Then I remember what my father said to me.
I'll make you from the open road
He said, Others may come and others may go,
But that suit will be around wherever you go
Three button hand me down,
Three button hand me down

The Smashing Pumpkins' latest music video for their newest single "G.L.O.W." (Jackie Stallone take note) will be shown exclusively on Myspace at http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=46404025. The single marks the first (and hopefully the last) time a band has recorded a new song for the wildy popular Guitar Hero® franchise which was released afterwards.
 
The Pumpkins are in the midst of a widely criticized North American tour  celebrating their 20th anniversary. During their hometown Chicago tour stop, it was reported that frontman Billy Corgan simultaneously confounded and pissed off large segments of the paying audience by inviting a heckler up on stage and berating him. Our unsolicited advice to Corgan: the only artist we've seen pull that off successfully is Fugazi's Ian Mackaye (and Tony Clifton, but we're sounding off in strictly musical terms here) and it was a thing of beauty. Don't attempt such things if you're only retort resembles a drunken jarhead.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

8:00 AM TVONE: Tom Joyner Sky Show:  Cameo

9:00 AM Syndicated: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Keane

9:00 AM Syndicated: Live with Regis and Kelly: Aretha Franklin

11:30 AM Sundance: The True History of the Traveling Wilburys

12:00 PM PLD HD: VH1 Hip Hop Honors

 4:00 PM FUSE: The Killers Rock Fuse:

7:00 PM Smithsonian: Sound Revolution: Sounds of Jazz w/New Orleans All Stars , Louie Bellson , The Modern Jazz Quartet , Miles Davis , Newport All Stars , Quincy Jones

8:00 PM CBS: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer w/Burl Ives

8:00 PM NBC: Christmas In Rockefeller Center w/Harry Connick Jr. , Beyoncé , Tony Bennett , Faith Hill , Jonas Brothers , David Cook

9:00 PM CBS: The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! w/Foo Fighters , B.B. King , John Mayer , Taylor Swift , Celine Dion , Mariah Carey

9:00 PM Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...:  Elton John

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Jenny Lewis , Elvis Costello

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Tom Jones

12:00 AM Oxygen: The Tyra Banks Show: Beyoncé

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ice Cube

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: The SteelDrivers

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Pendulum

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

7:00 AM ABC Good Morning America: Britney Spears

7:00 AM CBS The Early Show: Andrea Bocelli

9:00 AM Syndicated: Live with Regis and Kelly: Barenaked Ladies

11:30 AM NICK: Yo Gabba Gabba!: Datarock , Mark Mothersbaugh

2:30 & 5:30 PM FUEL: The Daily Habit: Flaming Lips

3:00 PM PLD HD: MTV Live: Foo Fighters

6:45 PM Showtime Next: Moog

8:00 PM Showtime Next: Eminem Live From New York City

9:15 PM IFC: The Henry Rollins Show: Chris Cornell

10:00 PM TMC: Prey for Rock & Roll (2003) w/Gina Gershon

11:00 PM VH1C: The Temptations (1998)

11:30 PM PBS: Tavis Smiley: Quincy Jones

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Sia

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Akon

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Steel Train

1:00 AM FUSE The Killers Rock Fuse

Maybe they could tour with Phish... or the Faces... or Jesus Lizard... or Led Zep... or....

By Fred Mills

Word arrives this morning from the British media that ska godfathers the Specials are reuniting next year for a 30^th anniversary tour, tentatively slated for April. According to the NME, Specials founder Terry Hall commented, "It's the right time to do it [reunite] - we talked about it at 25 but we weren't together enough. Now we're all getting on and it feels comfortable again."

The band hasn't performed under the name the Specials since 1981. Co-founder Jerry Dammers apparently will not be along for the ride (Hall: "The door remains open to him") but original members Neville Staple, Sir Horace Gentleman, Roddy Radiation, Lynval Golding and John Bradbury will be taking part in the reunion.

The shows will take place April 22, 23, 25, 26, 28 and May 3, 6, t at Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and London. And you just know that those lucrative summer festivals dates await, too.....

***

Meanwhile, over at the official BLURT anti-reunion poll (go HERE), the votes are coming in fast and furious. Thus far, gentle readers, you have spoken vehemently in opposition of a proposed Robert Plant-less Led Zep, with Creed coming in second as a 2009 reunion you would most NOT want to see. (Note that the poll was created prior to the recent news that the Jesus Lizard, the Faces and the Specials were all considering getting back together, but you can write those in at the comments section if you so choose.) The stats thus far:

Pavement (2)    3%

Led Zeppelin w/new frontman (29)    43%

The Kinks (3) 4%

Blink-182 (3)   4%

The Smiths (1)             1%

Sublime w/new frontman (8) 12%

Faith No More (2)       3%

Klaatu (2)        3%

Creed w/ANY frontman (18)

A DVD from each and every D&N tour would not be unwelcome around these parts...

By Fred Mills

Damon & Naomi's homegrown label 20/20/20 Records just announced a live D&N DVD available exclusively at their website (http://www.damonandnaomi.com/ merchandise/merch.html). Titled Shibuya 0-Nest 2008, it's a limited edition so don't sit on your hands if you're a fan.

The document of Damon & Naomi's 2007-08 tour included Michio Kurihara, on lead guitar; Bhob Rainey, on soprano sax (of nmperign); Helena Espvall, on cello (of Espers); and special guest Masaki Batoh (of Ghost).

Here's the scoop, from the label:

Last January, in support of their 2007 album Within These Walls, D&N embarked on their longest tour in history, ending with two spectacular nights in Tokyo.  These shows were filmed by Hiroo Ishihara (collaborator on the now sold out limited edition DVD for The Earth Is Blue tour), and armed with this new footage, Ishihara has created a beautiful document of D&N's 2007/8 live show. There is absolutely no overlap in material from the previous DVD of 2005(!).  This new set features a number of songs from Within These Walls, but also several older songs not usually played live, which were performed at the request of their Japanese hosts (reaching all the way back to This Car Climbed Mt. Washington, from More Sad Hits).

Track Listing:

1. Eye of the Storm
2. The Well
3. Ueno Station
4. On the Aventine
5. Defibrillation
6. The New World
7. Within These Walls
8. This Car Climbed Mt. Washington
9. Lilac Land
10. Stars Never Fade
11. Love (Jacks)
12. Cruel Queen

First studio album since 2006.

By Blurt Staff

Songbird Neko Case's new album Middle Cyclone arrives on March 3 courtesy Anti-, and it's been awhile, to say the least, since we've had new studio material from the Tucson tornado. Her last album Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, came out way back in 2006, although it goes without saying that she got a lot of mileage out of it as the record did gangbusters in year-end polls that year (including BLURT precursor Harp magazine), additionally earning Case" Female Artist of the Year" honors from the PLUG Independent Music Awards.

Here's the scoop from the Case camp:

'Middle Cyclone' was produced by Case with Darryl Neudorf and recorded in Tucson, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vermont.  It features Case backed by her core band - guitarist Paul Rigby, bassist Tom V. Ray, backing vocalist Kelly Hogan, multi-instrumentalist Jon Rauhouse, and drummer Barry Mirochnick - along with numerous guests including M. Ward, Garth Hudson, Sarah Harmer, and members of The New Pornographers, Los Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, Visqueen, The Lilys, and Giant Sand, among others. In addition to twelve new songs written by Case, 'Middle Cyclone' includes covers of "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" by Sparks, and "Don't Forget Me" by Harry Nilsson. 

Track listing:

1.  This Tornado Loves You

2.  The Next Time You Say Forever

3.  People Got A Lotta Nerve

4.  Polar Nettles

5.  Vengeance Is Sleeping

6.  Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth

7.  Middle Cyclone

8.  Fever

9.  Magpie To The Morning

10. I'm An Animal

11. Prison Girls

12. Don't Forget Me

13. The Pharaohs

14. Red Tide

15. Marais La Nuit

First headlining tour in nearly six years.

By Blurt Staff

Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders kick off the Breakup the Concrete North American tour on Jan. 29 in Albany and wrap things up March 14 in Reno. Although they've performed on these shores sporadically in recent years, included a celebrated appearance a couple of years ago in Austin at SXSW, this will mark the first full-blown Pretenders road trek since 2003.

Pretenders touring lineup: Hynde, longtime drummer Martin Chambers, James Walbourne, Eric Heywood, and Nick Wilkinson. Full list of dates is below, with more tba.

To read the BLURT review of the album, go HERE.

 January 29                                    Albany, NY                          The Palace Theatre

January 30                                    New York, NY                        Roseland Ballroom

January 31                                   Atlantic City, NJ                     Borgata-Music Box

February 2                                   Washington, DC                         9:30 Club

February 4                                    Boston, MA                            Orpheum Theatre

February 5                                   Jim Thorpe, PA                          Penn's Peak

February 6                                   Philadelphia, PA                      Electric Factory

February 7                                   Ledyard, CT                              Fox Theatre

February 9                                   Ann Arbor, MI                         Michigan Theater

February 10                               Cleveland, OH                        House Of Blues

February 11                                Indianapolis, IN                       Murat Theatre

February 13                               Cincinnati, OH                         Taft Theatre

February 14                              Akron, OH                         Akron Civic Ctr Theatre

February 15                              Chicago, IL                           Riviera Theater

February 17                              Milwaukee, WI                Northern Lights Theatre

February 18                              Milwaukee, WI               Northern Lights Theatre

February 20                              Minneapolis, MN                  First Avenue

February 21                              Kansas City, MO                Ameristar Casino

February 22                              Tulsa, OK                           Brady Theater

February 24                              Denver, CO                         Paramount Theatre

February 25                              Aspen, CO                           Belly Up Aspen

February 27                              Dallas, TX                           House Of Blues

February 28                              Houston, TX                         House Of Blues

March 1                                    Austin, TX                                      Stubbs

March 4                                    Phoenix, AZ                          The Dodge Theater

March 5                                    San Diego, CA                          House Of Blues

March 6                                    Pala, CA                          Pala Casino-Cabaret Room

March 7                                    Las Vegas, NV                        House Of Blues

March 8                                    Anaheim, CA                              The Grove

March 10                                  Los Angeles, CA                     The Wiltern

March 13                                  San Francisco, CA                  The Fillmore

March 14                                   Reno, NV                           Silver Legacy Casino

Intriguing link-up with the Open Source Cinema project as well.

By Blurt Staff

12-2-08

At the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam recently the much-anticipated Girl Talk film, the Brett Gaylor-directed Rip: A Remix Manifesto, won the Dioraphte Audience Ward. The documentary takes an in-depth look at Girl Talk's mashups along with commentary on matters relating to sampling, copyright and piracy.

According to a report filed by IndieWire.com the film is described along lines of Girl Talk (aka Greg Gillis) going "under the microscope to demonstrate how he constructs music by sampling multiple pop tracks, and he joins a chorus of folks defending his use the samples to create new music... An Open Source Cinema project, the doc delves into contemporary copyright issues. As the filmmaker recently told IndieWire,  ‘I wanted to document and explore the war of ideas between those who want to share ideas - the Copyleft - and those who want to lock up ideas - the copyright.'"

Added Gaylor by way of further explanation, "We made the film in collaboration with the Open Source Cinema community. [It's] a remix website launched so that peers could remix and contribute to the film. We posted our raw footage under a Creative Commons license, and asked people to remix it around key themes. The resulting work was then included in the film -- the goal is for these stages of remixing to continue throughout our festival release, and then once the film moves from "beta" to 1.0 -- that we release it to the web."

In addition to the honor in Amsterdam, the film also won a "Special Jury Prize" at the Festival Nouveau Cinema Montreal and has been selected for a number of other film festivals.

To view the film trailer, see below, or go to the official website.

[Photo Credit: Christos Schizas detroitartist.org]

All the concert news ‘n' reviews that's fit to print.

By Blurt Staff

More concert coverage from your friendly neighborhood BLURT - this time, we've got Todd Snider (plus opening act Mary Gauthier) in Covington, KY, and the twin-billed Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel in Chapel Hill.

• *Steven Rosen was on hand for traveling troubadour (and BLURT blogger) Todd Snider for a Nov. 21 show at Covington's Carnegie Performing Arts Center. "It occurred to this writer," noted Rosen, "that he had learned the lessons of the older Bob Dylan - the Dylan of the 1990s and this decade - better than just about any younger touring musician out there."
• *Then John Schacht caught the Will Johnson crew comprising the C-m and SSG bands at Local 506 in Chapel Hill on the previous evening, Nov. 20. Calling it "one of the best double bills you didn't even know you missed," Schacht noted that Johnson is "content for now to spin his emotions and vowels out into the timeless void in the hopes of making a connection. On this night, for the lucky few in this crowd, there can be no doubt of that."

Check ‘em out at the provided links, or simply scroll down the BLURT front page to the reviews section. We've also got new book, DVD and CD reviews being added daily.

Legendary folksinger and civil rights icon passes away at 77.

By Fred Mills

We've lost another lioness of music. Yesterday, Dec. 2, legendary folksinger and civil rights-era icon Odetta died at New York's Lenox Hill hospital from heart disease. She was 77. Her booming, soaring voice, informed by blues and gospel but rendered in an utterly signature style, never failed to touch the emotional core of every person who had the privilege to hear her. See a video of her from 2005, below.

Born in Alabama on Dec. 31, 1930, Odetta was trained in classical music and theater but found her professional calling in the ‘50s on the thriving boho-beatnik coffeehouse scene of San Francisco, eventually releasing her first album, Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, in 1956. Embraced by the burgeoning folk movement - among her many fans was Bob Dylan, who has claimed that Odetta was directly responsible for turning him on to folksinging  - she soon became a mainstay of the civil rights movement; in the early ‘60s she marched with Martin Luther King and performed for President Kennedy. (Two other key albums from this period: 1962's live album Odetta at Town Hall, and 1963's Odetta Sings Folk Songs.)

She released numerous records throughout the ‘60s, her output slowing down in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, but continued to tour extensively. More recently she released three awards-nominated albums on the venerable blues label MC Records: 1999's Blues Everywhere I Go (Grammy nominated), 2001's Lookin' For a Home: A Tribute to Leadbelly (W.C. Handy Award nominated) and 2005's Gonna Let It Shine: A Concert for the Holidays (Grammy nominated). In 1999, President Bill Clinton awarded her the National Endowment for the Arts' National Medal of Arts. A celebrated tribute concert for Odetta took place in 2007 in D.C. featuring such storied performers as Peter, Paul & Mary, Janis Ian, Harry Belafonte Roger McGuinn, Pete Seeger and Sweet Honey in the Rock.

And she was performing herself up until the very end, gracing the concert stage - in a wheelchair - throughout much of 2008. She reportedly was planning to appear at Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20.

**

In an email sent out this morning by MC Records' Mark Carpentieri, the label owner reflected on working with the woman he numbers among "of the greatest voices and artists America has ever produced."

"One of the greatest joys of my life was to have recorded and produced Odetta's last three recordings," writes Carpentieri. "My wife and I frequently enjoyed Odetta's company, compassion and her wonderful humor.

"How magnificent that she lived long enough to see Senator Obama elected President."

How magnificent, indeed.

Odetta, live 2005, doing "House of the Rising Sun":

Dresden Dolls songstress has a belly, er, a beef with her label.

By Fred Mills

BLURT fave Amanda Palmer, of the Dresden Dolls, issue a spankingly fine record this year and we told you all about it in our feature and exclusive video shoot. Meanwhile, word arrives of a tangled tale of intrigue and mistrust between Palmer and her record label, Roadrunner.

Palmer has outlined the whole story quite exhaustively at her official blog, so rather than to try to cannibalize it for you, we suggest you go straight to the source. The bottom line, as things stand right now, is that Palmer isn't too happy with Roadrunner, and although she's still contractually bound to the label she has asked to be released. The label hasn't publicly commented yet.

"Urban riding gear"? WTF?!? This one really takes the cake... In which we open up our mailbag and let you peek inside. Don't throw up, please.

By Blurt Staff

In between strategy and planning sessions (held down at the local Hooters, natch) and trips to the john every 15 minutes for a "jolt" (you know what we're sayin'...), we here at BLURT central actually devote some time going through our in-boxes and spam folders to make sure that nothing currently going on within the music industry escapes our steely gaze. We pride ourselves at being way ahead of the fucking curve.

Of necessity, as a major media player we also have to field a lot of correspondence that is, shall we say, somewhat misdirected. (Memo to the person that keeps sending us Buckcherry updates: thanks!) We're not sure if these are acts of p.r. desperation, inexperience-bred naivete, or a willful ignorance of what BLURT is all about.

On the latter point, an occasional glance out our website and digital magazine might be helpful in terms of how labels and publicity firms target their pitches. But that's out of our control. What we CAN control, however, is what we do with the dang emails, which is where you, gentle readers, come in. Presenting the latest in an occasional series: Dumb PR Pitch O' Week. Guarantee: all dialogue repeated verbatim. Some names may be changed/deleted to protect the clueless. Void where prohibited by law. Caveat emptor. Enjoy!

Previously:

Colin Armstrong www.blurt-online.com/news/view/1292/

Jonathan Coulton www.blurt-online.com/news/view/1321/

RedOne www.blurt-online.com/news/view/1382/

***

You're receiving this email because of your continued support of Chrome Bags.

Introducing Chrome's Urban Riding Gear

We've raised the bar with our full line of urban riding gear.  Our mission with clothing is the same as our bags.  Advanced design with technical attributes that shield against  harsh conditions while providing pure comfort for daily wear.

Our apparel pulls double duty with tech performance for sustained abuse and design that gives a progressive edge to street wear.  The days of rolling up jeans and looking like a walking bike advertisement are over.  Whether it's a 15 mile commute, splitting lanes, or hitting up a happy hour, feel secure knowing that no matter where you end up you will arrive in style.  

Cobra Merino Wool Jacket Now Available

Designed to keep you warm in the worst city riding conditions, our hooded 100% merino jacket is the choice when the mercury drops.  The Cobra stays soft and itch free while regulating body temperature and keeping moisture away from the skin.  This piece is the go-to for chilly nights on the bike and frequent stops at the local bar.  Features include hidden thumb loops, hidden front hand warmer pockets, full width hidden back pocket, high neck collar and three panel hood. 

Pacer Merino Wool Jacket Now Available

Not to be confused with the iconic car of the 70's, our Pacer stands the test of time.  This lightweight 100% merino wool jacket is like a favorite pair of worn out jeans, always comfortable.  Works great as a base layer against the skin or as a full-zip top layer for all endurance activities or just chillin' at the corner café.  This workhorse has no boundaries.  Constructed from the finest merino wool, this piece is soft and itch-free while naturally anti-bacterial and odor resistant. 

Champ Riding Jacket Available 12.15.08

We designed a riding jacket for the jack-of-all-trade athlete.  Our design fuses a fresh urban look and advanced tech fabrics to keep you ahead of the pack.  Call us shallow, but we believe in cool, functional clothes that keep you out of the ER.  The Champ steps it up in safety with hidden cuff and back panels that open to reveal reflective material.  This jacket's urban style allows transition from day to night effortlessly.  From bike lane to the VIP line.   

Chrome Industries | 580 4th Street | San Francisco | CA | 94107

Amazing band caught in full flight, live and uncensored...

By Blurt Staff

As part of BLURT's ongoing exclusive performance and interview series, we're pleased to announce our latest offering: DEERHOOF.

Captured in glorious high-definition by our camera crew at DC's 9:30 Club in late October, the 3 performance clips offer a glimpse of the band's memorable live shows. Directed and photographed by Brendan Canty and Christoph Green (who have also shot the Black Keys, Tom Morello and an upcoming Jolie Holland video for BLURT), the videos include smoking takes of "Wrong Time Capsule," "The Perfect Me" and "Buck and Judy" - the latter from the group's recent album Offend Maggie - plus interview segments.

Scroll down to our video kiosk, or simply go straight in HERE.

To read our feature story on Deerhoof in the November issue of the BLURT digital magazine, go HERE.

Other recent BLURT exclusive videos include performances by Jason Isbell, Devotchka and Alejandro Escovedo as well as interview clips with Joan as Policewoman, Ben Taylor, Amanda Palmer and comedian/performance artist Tony Clifton.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

8:00 AM Biography: Led Zeppelin

9:00 AM Biography: Jerry Garcia

9:00 AM Syndicated: Live with Regis and Kelly: The Bacon Brothers

9:00 AM Syndicated: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Ludacris

10:00 AM Sundance: French Beauty: Jane Birkin , Charlotte Gainsbourg

11:00 AM ABC: The View: Harry Connick Jr.

1:30 PM FUSE: Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks 2

8:00 PM Biography: Jimi Hendrix

9:00 PM Biography: Janis Joplin

9:00 PM FUEL: The Daily Habit: The (International) Noise Conspiracy

10:00 PM Biography: The Who

11:00 PM Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...:  Sir Elton John

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Common

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Tom Jones

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: The Airborne Toxic Event

12:37 AM CBS: The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: X

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: The Sounds

All proceeds go to a worthwhile charity.

By Fred Mills

From Ramseur Records, home of the mighty Avett Brothers, comes Jim Avett and Family. It features the Avetts themselves - Seth and Scott, plus partner Bob Crawford, along with Avetts associates Joe Kwon on cello and Nelson Mullis on guitar - along with their sister Bonnie and their dad Jim.

It's a gospel album with a decided North Carolina bent, and it's for a good cause, too: all of the proceeds will be given to Kid's First of the Carolinas: http://www.kidsfirstofthecarolinas.com.

‘Tis the season to be generous. ‘Nuf said. Here's are the details from the label, and you can get more info about the album and how to order it at www.ramseurrecords.net .

***

Jim Avett and Family is a gospel album by a retired welder, his daughter and two sons.  He is not only a welder of course. He, like any man, is more than his career, more than his working business.  He is a farmer. He is an ex-psychology professor. He is a husband of forty years and a father of thirty-five.  He draws.  He cuts and bails his own hay for his own cows.  From 1967 to 1971, he served in the United States Navy.  He is a dedicated family man.  He has worked with neglected children and broken households as a social worker. He has built bridges of steel and a home of lumber. Oh yes, he sings and picks the guitar as well.  

With this record, he has done so with his family in mind, so that his children's children and so on will have a way to know a little of who he is, who he was.  Perhaps fittingly, it is by his own children's encouragement that it is now available to the general public.  For all of what he is, this collection of tunes is a glimpse into his sentiment and history; the son of a preacher and a pianist, who as a boy, sat in the pews and heard not only his father's sermons, but these songs as well. Now, he has sung them with the tape rolling, as honest and rough-cut as it gets, and anyone may listen.

Held Wed., Dec. 3 at the Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles and BLURT was there!

BY JOSE MARTINEZ

Award shows usually make their official announcements at some God awful time early in the morning (if you're on the West Coast anyway) where bleary-eyed journalists go to some sterile hotel banquet room half awake and slowly come to life on free coffee and pastries. This year the GRAMMYs opted to announce the nominees for the 51^st annual GRAMMY Awards, to be held Sunday, February 8 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, on a weeknight during a live-on-television concert.

The fact that the GRAMMY brain trust was able to sell thousands of seats at hundred of dollars to the general public for an hour-long show (followed by an hour-long solo set by John Mayer) was a stroke a genius. I guess there really is a sucker born every second. The show also served as an opportunity to constantly plug the brand new GRAMMY Museum that opens this Friday at the state-of-the-art LA LIVE entertainment complex. But to the Academy's credit, the first-ever GRAMMY Nomination Concert ran like clockwork.

Coming up with a novel twist, all of the evening's performers were former GRAMMY winners doing their rendition of songs now in the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. Opening the show was Mariah Carey singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." Still able to hit at least one of her trademark annoying high pitch squeals, unfortunately for us U2 was neither available nor interested in appearing on the broadcast.

Up next, performing to an audience that also included the Jonas Brothers (sitting in the front row), Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole, and Lindsey Buckingham, Celine Dion offered an uninspired take on Janis Ian's "At Seventeen." This would have been the perfect time to run to the kitchen for a snack or to fix a quick drink, or even an opportunity to do some channel surfing, but being stuck in the makeshift pressroom in the bowels of the Nokia Theatre that was not an option. (But at least there was some finger food to feast on.)

After a commercial break the Foo Fighters took on Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" which made me wonder if this would have made Kurt Cobain cringe? Joined onstage by a violinist that was drowned out by the roar of the band, the Foo's take on the ‘70s classic was sometimes rockin' and sometimes just off base. After the song, singer Dave Grohl announced the nominees for best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, and had some fun at the expense of the Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group with Vocals category.

Then came a hockey moment between the evening's hosts Taylor Swift and LL Cool J - the former, of  course, is pretty far removed from the rapper that broke onto the scene nearly 20 years ago. That was followed by Swift's version of Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" along with a quick rendition of her own song "White Horse." I'm not sure if that was her way of insinuating that she's on par with Little Miss Dynamite or if she's just desperate to plug her own catalog. Either way, at least she looked hot and leggy.

The broadcast's final performance paired guitar legend B.B. King with John Mayer who is better known these days for who he is or isn't dating, as well as his sometimes funny rants on TMZ, but it was good to see him get back to work. Together they delivered a knockout performance of Louis Jordan's 1946 hit "Let The Good Times Roll."

After the show went off the air, and John Mayer performed a solo set for those that decided to remain in their seats, many of the night's nominees, among the various 110 categories, stopped by the press area.

Ne-Yo, nominated for six awards, including Album of the Year, said he prides himself on his music's diversity, noting, "I'm in great company," adding he's "dumbfounded" at being nominated.       

Nominated for Best New Artist, singer Jazmine Sullivan called her nomination "surreal" and "unbelievable," reflecting, "I've been in this industry for so long that's it's great that it's finally coming together."

Polished beyond their years, the Jonas Brothers, also void of any personality, made time for a quick Q&A. "The GRAMMY nomination is the tip of the iceberg," Kevin Jonas stated. "We never forget where we come from so this is truly an honor."

Brother Nick Jonas said if he could pick any artist to collaborate on a GRAMMY performance with it would be with Elvis Costello. (Meanwhile, over on the Sundance Channel, EC was kibitzing with Elton John. Life is sweet, no?)

Comedian Kathy Griffin, nominated for Best Comedy Album, was a breath of fresh air backstage, even if she was surrounded by a whole team of handlers. "Britney Spears is a train wreck!" she declared. Whether or not she was kidding is open for interpretation. Wearing a "sweaty armband" courtesy of Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Griffin confessed she, like the Jonas Brothers, is "carefully looking for the right girl to lose [her] virginity to."

Finally, living legend B.B. King confessed that at age 83 he enjoys sitting down and quickly sat for a quick chat. Noting he had a "great time" playing with John Mayer, King, reflecting on the recent presidential election, admitted, "I never thought I'd live long enough to see a black president elect. America has grown up, but not enough, but I'm very happy and proud."

And now, let the flood of overblown, meaningless, self-congratulatory emails and press releases from record labels and p.r. firms begin!

***

Nominations of interest include:

Album of the Year:

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III

Ne-Yo - Year of the Gentleman

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Record of the Year:

Adele - "Chasing Pavements"

Coldplay -  "Viva La Vida"

Leona Lewis - "Bleeding Love

M.I.A. - "Paper Planes"

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Please Read The Letter"

Best New Artist:

Adele

Duffy

Jonas Brothers

Lady Antebellum

Jazmine Sullivan

Song of the Year:

"American Boy" - Estelle featuring Kanye West

"Chasing Pavements" - Adele

"I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz

"Love Song" - Sara Bareilles

"Viva La Vida" - Coldplay

Best Pop Performance By A Duo or Group with Vocals:

Coldplay - "Viva La Vida"

Eagles - "Waiting In The Weeds"

Gnarls Barkley - "Going On"

Maroon 5 - "Won't Go Home Without You"

OneRepublic - "Apologize"

Best Pop Vocal Album:

Sheryl Crow - Detours

Duffy - Rockferry

Eagles - Long Road Out Of Eden

Leona Lewis - Spirit

James Taylor - Covers

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group with Vocals:

AC/DC - "Rock ‘N Roll Train"

Coldplay - "Violet Hill"

Eagles - "Long Road Out Of Eden"

Kings Of Leon - "Sex On Fire"

Radiohead - "House Of Cards"

Best Rock Song:

"Girls In Their Summer Clothes" -  Bruce Springsteen

"House of Cards" - Radiohead

"I Will Possess Your Heart" - Death Cab For Cutie

"Sex On Fire" - Kings Of Leon

"Violet Hill" - Coldplay

Best Rock Album:

Coldplay - Viva La Vida

Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus

Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night

Metallica - Death Magnetic

The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely

And he's been in a movie too!

By Brian Creech

Dex Romweber has been around. After a stint in Athens, GA in the late 80's and a featured spot in the documentary "Athens: Inside/out," the former frontman for the world famous psycho-surf-rockabilly-garage-punk combo Flat Duo Jets, released his first of nine albums in 1990.  He has been showcased on MTV's The Cutting Edge and 120 Minutes and has shared the stage with dozens of other rock icons including Iggy Pop and the White Stripes.  But the 1990's, being the rollicking time they were Dex, are over, but the rock-a-billiy revivalist has been busy readying "Ruins of Berlin" for a release on Tuesday, February 10th.

The new album was produced by John Plymale (Meat Puppets, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Corrosion Of Conformity), and special guests include Cat Power, Neko Case, Exene Cervenka and Rick Miller of Southern Culture on the Skids. The Dex Romweber Duo also features Dex's sister Sara Romweber (Lets Active, Snatches of Pink) on drums.

A press release from Bloodshoot, the duo's label teases for a tour with the following, "Expect massive touring in every populated area of the planet in 2009, the Duo have vowed to shun sleep until every last fan of grease-soaked, primitive proto-rock has heard songs from this new platter."

 If Dexter is going on a missionary trip to bring rawk to all the dark corners of the world, he'll have to put his recently launched acting career.  His first role, in the new film Lake City is in theaters now. Lake City stars Sissy Spacek, Keith Carradine, Rebecca Romjin and Drea de Matteo. Dex plays Frank, the guitarist in Keith Carradine's band, and he is joined in that combo by Dave Matthews. This is probably the only time you'll see these two in the same room, let alone in the same band.

Ruins of Berlin Track Listing:

1. Lookout (featuring Rick Miller of Southern Culture On The Skids)

2. Lovers Gold

3. Picture Of You

4. Love Letters (featuring Cat Power)

5. Cigarette Party

6. Camillias Gone

7. Lonesome Train (featuring Exene Cervenka)

8. People, Places And Things

9. Still Around (featuring Neko Case)

10. Ruins Of Berlin

11. Oh, Lovers Gone

12. Polish Work Song

13. Grey Skies

14. Is It Too Late?

High-minded announcement of album's impending January 20th release

By Brian Creech

"The Crying Light" is the highly anticipated full-length follow-up to Antony and the Johnson's Mercury Prize winning "I Am a Bird Now."  A Secretly Canadian press release describes the album as a "shift in thematic focus that explores his relationship with the natural world."  The album also holds elements of avant-classical composer Nico Muhly amd Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno.  The album seems to be describe as a trip through Antony's loneliness and into his reverie. 

If this , ahem, level of ostentatiousness isn't enough, a Secretly Canadian press release also states, "The Crying Light may even become one of those albums that becomes emblematic of its time,  a reflection of the momentous changes that we are facing, within each of our private worlds as well as collectively, and how we are summoning the courage to start moving through them."

So, already, they are placing it on par with Sgt. Pepper's, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Appetite for Destruction, Let it Be, Nevermind, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and countless others of your favorite albums.  Antony's good, but man, can anybody really be that good?

We'll find out on Jan.20!

Otherwise known as hopping on the "have a fan direct a video" bandwagon. Winners to receive signed copies of the things they create.

By Brian Creech

Have you ever looked at a Dandy Warhols video and decided that you can make it better?  No?  Well, now you can anyway.

As announced on art and culture magazine Juxtapoz's, the Dandys have made both the music and the art to the song/video for "Mis Amigos" available for remixing.

There is a reward though waiting at the end of the tunnel for all those who dare to try their hand directing/mildly re-editing a Warhols' video.  Two winners will be selected (one for music, one for art), and will receive a signed 12" vinyl copy of their remix and a signed and framed 12" single cover, respectively, and both pieces will be featured on the Dandys' MySpace site.

Instructions can be found by pushing the "How It Works" button on the remix widget at www.thedandywarhols.com. All entries must be received by February 1, 2009, which gives you just a little over 2 months to build up the motivation.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 AM Syndicated: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Katy Perry

9:00 AM Syndicated: The Bonnie Hunt Show: Good Charlotte , Celtic Woman , Joel Madden , Benji Madden

2:30 PM FUEL: The Daily Habit: The (International) Noise Conspiracy

3:00 PM Rave HD Concerts: Peter Gabriel: Live in Milan

4:30 PM VH1C: The Pink Floyd Story: Which One's Pink?

6:00 PM RAVE HD: Later With Jools Holland: Primal Scream , Ray Davies , The Young Knives , Jose Gonzalez , Rosanne Cash

8:00 PM NICK: Movie: Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008)

9:00 PM FOX: Don't Forget The Lyrics!: Eddie Money

9:00 PM Sundance: Live from Abbey Road: Mary J. Blige, Dashboard Confessional, James Blunt

10:00 PM Smithsonian: Sound Revolution: Sounds of Jazz w/New Orleans All Stars , Louie Bellson , The Modern Jazz Quartet , Miles Davis , Newport All Stars , Quincy Jones

10:00 PM Sundance: We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen

11:30 PM PBS: Tavis Smiley: Seal

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Taylor Swift

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ludacris , William Shatner

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Adele

1:35 AM Encore: Cheech & Chong: Get Out Of My Room (1985)

3:00 AM BBCA: The Graham Norton Show: Natalie Imbruglia

Have a drink on BLURT!

By Fred Mills

It's officially Repeal Day, imbibers! Yes, that's right - exactly 75 years ago to this day, Dec. 5, 1933, the United States repealed the 18^th Amendment and effectively put an end to Prohibition. Recall that in 1919 Congress had passed the Volstead Act which outlawed alcohol, but rather than "put an end to drunkenness, crime, mental illness and poverty" (as the official Repeal Day site helpfully puts it), the actual results were folks desperate to pay any price to get their buzz (cue up MORE drunkenness and MORE poverty) and a thriving criminal underclass rising up to service the demands of the American consumer (hence MORE crime) - and it just drove everybody in the country fucking crazy, which is the "MORE mental illness" part of this equation.

You can read all about it at the link above.

Meanwhile, in what must surely be the greatest incidence of cultural synchronicity this year, it was announced this week that to coincide with the Obama inauguration Jan. 20, Washington D.C. intends to expand the legal drinking hours in restaurants and bars until 5 a.m. during Jan. 17 - 21, three hours longer than the usual last call at 2 a.m. According to a Reuters report, the legislation was offered by D.C. City Council member Jim Graham, obviously an enlightened sort, as an acknowledgment that folks in town for the big bash might be wanting to party, uh, like it's 1999.

After debate the legislation was subsequently approved, and as word got out all the kneejerk conservative curmudgeons of D.C. took to the internet, as this little sampling from the comments section of the Reuters blog reveals:

How kind of them to allow people longer hours in which to drown their sorrows. - Jordan

Remember this is a liberal america now. no more morals or values. - Dan

Like Bill Clinton when dancing "La macarena" in his moment. Democrats... - Morochos

Yeah, whatever assholes. We say - drink up, D.C. And drink up, America. Change is here, and it's time to toast it.

And do the Macarena, too:

Dusts off guitar for first album since a collaboration with Eric Clapton.

By Blurt Staff

J.J. Cale is the man behind two of Eric Clapton's biggest hits - "After Midnight" and "Cocaine."  The man is ubiquitous among other people's track listings. Artists who've covered Cale include Johnny Cash, The Band, Chet Atkins, Captain Beefheart, Santana, The Allman Brothers, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Cale though will again release an album of his own.  On February 24, Rounder Records will release 'Roll On,' his first solo album in nearly five years, and his debut for Rounder.  'Roll On' also follows Cale's Grammy-winning 2006 album with Eric Clapton 'Road to Escondido.'

Cale wrote and produced all twelve songs on 'Roll On,' and plays all the

instruments on most of the tunes.  He also tracked most of the album at his home studio in California.

Another artist steps up to the plate during the season for sharing...

By Fred Mills

Jethro Tull have rescheduled their previously-cancelled Mumbai concert for tonight, Dec. 5, 2008 at 7:30 PM, at the Shammukhanda Hall, in Mumbai, India.  Jethro Tull will perform with the group's special guest, Anoushka Shankar. All artist fees are going to local charities in the wake of the recent terror attacks.

 
Ian Anderson said, in a statement: "We have all been outraged at the awful atrocities of the last week and were forced to take the decision to suspend the Mumbai concert in the light of the Taj Hotel siege which, at the time of cancellation, was still ongoing. In the light of today's new India terror warnings and airport alerts, we are all understandably a little nervous about the show but hiding under the bed is not really an option."
 

Tonight's Billion Hands charity concert will feature Tull's Classic Rock and acoustic music as well as specially-written new material for the collaborative set with Anoushka Shankar.

Details: www.abillionhands.com/abh_concert.html

That little ol' annual event in Austin....

By Blurt Staff

Just announced: multi-Grammy winning producer, composer and arranger Quincy Jones will deliver the keynote address at the 2009 South By Southwest Music Conference in Austin, TX on March 19^th. SXSW takes place March 18-22 at the Convention Center, as usual - look for no less than 1700 bands performing over the course of the four-day industry bash. Details on registration and more go to www.sxsw.com.

The Jones press release follows:

***

A longtime humanitarian who produced and conducted the historic "We Are The World" recording benefitting Ethiopian famine relief, Jones is expected to discuss the power of music to influence and create positive change in the world and the responsibility of the artist to use their craft to bring people together for the betterment of mankind.

Among Jones' current and upcoming projects include the recently released book "The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey and Passions," a feature film documentary on Brazil's annual Carnival Festival which will benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Brazil's impoverished Favelas, a bio-pic mini-series on jazz great Louis Armstrong, a duets album with Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder, and a tribute album of his recordings featuring artists such as Usher, John Legend and Amy Winehouse, among others. He is also planning a chain of nightclub-restaurants based on his album Q's Jook Joint, with the first slated to open in Las Vegas in 2009.

Named by Time Magazine as one of the six most influential Jazz artists of the 20th Century, Quincy Jones' career has spanned six decades and encompassed the roles of composer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, record producer, record executive, film and television producer, magazine founder, multi-media entrepreneur and humanitarian. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, Quincy Jones has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including records, live performances, movies, television and magazine publishing.

Among Quincy Jones' countless awards and accolades he is a 27 time Grammy Award winner (the most of any living musician) and is the all-time most nominated Grammy artist with a total of 79 nominations. He is the recipient of an Emmy Award; the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award; 7 Academy Award nominations including one for Best Picture -- only African-American producer to do so; France's highest civilian honor the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur; and was recognized as a Kennedy Center Honoree for his contributions to the cultural fabric of the United States. Most recently, Jones' vast contributions to music were recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts when he was named a Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honor.

Quincy Jones began his career at the age of 13 under the tutelage of legendary Jazz artists such as lifelong friend and collaborator Ray Charles, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Billy Holliday, Billy Eckstine, Bumps Blackwell, Clark Terry, and Bobby Tucker. After receiving scholarships to Seattle University and the Schillinger House, now known as the Berklee College of Music, Jones would move to New York where he officially began his career touring as a trumpeter and arranger for Lionel Hampton. It would be during this period of his life that Jones would make his first trip abroad to Europe where he would witness firsthand the power of music to transcend cultural and geographical boundaries and lead him to a lifelong pursuit of international collaborations and goodwill.

In 1953, Jones would depart Hampton's band and begin a busy career as a composer/arranger working with diverse artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown and Cannonball Adderly, as well as Basie, Hampton and Charles.

Jones would again experience music's power to build bridges in 1956 when he was tapped by Dizzy Gillespie to serve as musical director, arranger and trumpeter for the Gillespie Orchestra's U.S. State Department sponsored tour tasked with bringing goodwill to troubled areas in Europe, the Middle East and South America. Following the tour, Jones would re-locate to Paris where he would study with Nadia Boulanger, the legendary Parisian tutor to American expatriate composers such as Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copeland.

Jones won the first of his many Grammy Awards in 1963 for his Count Basie arrangement of "I Can't Stop Loving You." His three-year musical association as conductor and arranger with Frank Sinatra in the mid-60's also teamed him with Basie for the classic Sinatra At The Sands, containing the famous arrangement of "Fly Me To The Moon," the first recording played by astronaut Buzz Aldrin when he landed upon the moon's surface in 1969.

As producer and conductor of the historic "We Are The World" recording (the best-selling single of all time), Michael Jackson's multi-platinum solo albums, Off The Wall, Bad and Thriller (the best-selling album of all time), and the multi-Grammy winning "Album of the Year" Back On The Block, Quincy Jones stands as one of the most successful and admired creative artist/executives in the entertainment world.

333 times 3 CDs equals 999 CDs for the entire world...

By Fred Mills

The sixth or seventh Radiohead member, depending on how you rank him with producer Nigel Godrich, is surely artist Stanley Donwood, who's been on hand doing sleeve and poster art for the band since 1994. Now, according to a report at NME.com, Donwood has formed a record label called Six Inch Records, www.6inchrecords.com.

But there's a catch - better put in your orders fast with the label fast, because Six Inch is apparently only releasing three CDS, each of which will be limited to 333 copies and available as six-inch square card packs. Donwood said, in a statement, that he thinks the standard five-inch format for CDs is just "too small." Give a man an inch and he'll...

Those three artists: Patrick Bell (Travel Notes), Max de Mara (Classist) and The Joy of Living (The Beyond Within). What, no Radiohead?

Donwood will be putting on a launch night in London for his label on Jan. 30. Joy of Living and Max de Mara will perform.

Get in line, lawyers...

By Fred Mills

Aficionados of quality, enduring music this morning heave a collective "So what?" when word hit the web of cornball guitarist Joe Satriani suing cornball band Coldplay for plagiarism. Apparently Satch feels that the British group lifted "substantial original portions" of his cornball 2004 song "If I Could Fly" for the cornball track "Viva La Vida" (from Coldplay's recent Grammy-nomiated Viva La Vida Or Death and All His Friends, which BLURT famously reviewed HERE and awarded it a tepid 6 stars).

That's a lot of damn corn. Sounds like some chikkins comin' home to roost.

In a report filed by the BBC, the chrome-domed plaintiff lodged his complaint in a Los Angeles court yesterday and is seeking the usual jury trial, all profits from the song, blah blah blah.

***

Meanwhile, not long ago band called the Creaky Boards is ALSO accusing Coldplay of plagiarism! Check out the video - ‘nuf said!

Amazing band caught in full flight, live and uncensored...

By Blurt Staff

As part of BLURT's ongoing exclusive performance and interview series, we're pleased to announce our latest offering: DEERHOOF.

Captured in glorious high-definition by our camera crew at DC's 9:30 Club in late October, the 3 performance clips offer a glimpse of the band's memorable live shows. Directed and photographed by Brendan Canty and Christoph Green (who have also shot the Black Keys, Tom Morello and an upcoming Jolie Holland video for BLURT), the videos include smoking takes of "Wrong Time Capsule," "The Perfect Me" and "Buck and Judy" - the latter from the group's recent album Offend Maggie - plus interview segments.

Scroll down to our video kiosk, or simply go straight in HERE.

To read our feature story on Deerhoof in the November issue of the BLURT digital magazine, go HERE.

Other recent BLURT exclusive videos include performances by Jason Isbell, Devotchka and Alejandro Escovedo as well as interview clips with Joan as Policewoman, Ben Taylor, Amanda Palmer and comedian/performance artist Tony Clifton.

Brighton Port Authority - Norman Cook, David Byne, Iggy Pop, Dizzee Rascal, Emmy the Great and others - puts YOU in the driver's seat.

By Blurt Staff

So here's the deal: Fatboy Slim's new project Brighton Port Authority - which has a fascinating and possibly even partly true backstory involving Cook and the others listed above - wants fans to take their song "Toe Jam" and do the fan remix thing.

According to a blurb at the BPA website, "Remix the song "Toe Jam" featuring Dizzee Rascal and David Byrne from The BPA's upcoming album I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat and enter your remix for a chance to win a pair of Technics RP-DH1200 Headphones, Fatboy Slim's catalog on vinyl and the chance to have your remix released as a digital EP along with an official remix of "Toe Jam." You can remix the song in any way you like, either by adding your own beats and instrumentation, or just remixing the original parts."

The link above will take you to the download page and additional instructions. Meanwhile, go HERE for general details on the BPA as well as a slew of other intriguing goodies, fan-created videos, and more. Sure, there's a lot of hype and just plain silly blather, but we're talking Fatboy Slim, so you know it's gonna be fun, right?

Receiving Kennedy Center award this weekend...

By Fred Mills

It's a milestone, indeed: on Sunday, Dec. 7, The Who will receive one of the Kennedy Center Honors of 2008. It's an award that frequently goes to Americans, although in the past Elton John, Elizabeth Taylor and Cary Grant have been honored- but this will be the first time a British band has ever received it, and the first time, period, that any rock band has been tapped. It's in recognition of, according to a press release issued today by the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., "the depth and breadth of British rock influence in the fabric of American culture."

Founding members Peter Townshend and Roger Daltrey will be on hand to receive the award at the 31^st annual ceremony, along with actor Morgan Freeman, singer George Jones, actress Barbra Streisand and choreographer Twyla Tharp.

"As the heart and soul of the seminal band The Who, songwriters and singers Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey transformed the sights and sounds of rock and roll," stated Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarzman.

Commented Townshend, "This is a great thrill.  Since the Who began in the early '60s we have loved American music and audiences and have made deep and lasting friendships with everyone involved in the industry there. Roger and I both feel our work in the United States has been as important as our work at home. Because our medium rock music is quintessentially American music with broad and deep international and multicultural roots, this honour is especially meaningful to we Brits."

Daltrey also made a statement, saying, "As a teenager growing up in the austerity of post-war England, it was the music I heard emanating from America that gave me a dream to hang my life on.  To make music and make it there.  I am deeply touched at receiving this honour, the warmth and affection I feel from our US audience is humbling indeed.  To be added to the list of past recipients of this award makes that dream come true."

The event will be broadcast on CBS Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 9pm.

***

Press Release: About the Kennedy Center Honors

The Annual Kennedy Center Honors Telecast has also developed a loyal television following, and has been honored with five Emmy's for Outstanding Program and is nominated again this year.  It has also been recognized with the Peabody Award for Outstanding Contribution to Television and seven awards from the Writers Guild of America.  The Honors recipients recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts- whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures or television-are selected by the Center's Board of Trustees. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence. The Honors are not designated by art form or category of artistic achievement; the selection process, over the years, has produced balance among the various arts and artistic disciplines.

Past Honors recipients, as well as Members of the Kennedy Center's national artists committee, made recommendations of possible 2008 Honorees.  Artists making recommendations included: Alan Alda, Dan Aykroyd, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Glenn Close, Joel Coen, Christine Ebersole, Renée Fleming, Savion Glover, Thomas Hampson, Herbie Hancock, Paloma Herrera, Hugh Jackman, Billy Joel, Evgeny Kissin, Patti LuPone, Rob Marshall, Reba McEntire, Terrence McNally, Mark Morris, Mark O'Connor, Bernadette Peters, Frederica von Stade, Forest Whitaker, Damian Woetzel, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Previous Kennedy Center Honorees, including Carol Burnett, Clint Eastwood, James Levine, and Sidney Poitier, also made nominations.

***

Meanwhile, back at BLURT, get this: At the ceremony Rog and Pete will apparently be seated alongside their fellow recipients with President and Mrs. Bush! Wouldn't you want to be a fly on the wall for some of those conversations! The mind just boggles...

President Bush: It's darn cool to meet you guys, Pete. I've been a fan of the Who for ages. During my younger years I had a personal theme song from you: "However Much I Booze."

Pete: I can identify, sir. You know, looking at you now, peering at what's behind your blue eyes, I can tell that while people try to put you down just because you get around, you've truly been on an amazing journey these past 8 years.

Bush: You know that Rummy and Cheney's nickname for me used to be "Tommy" - because they claimed I was deaf, dumb and blind! Heh-heh-heh.

Pete: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss, sir! I understand that your fellow Americans won't get fooled again after President Elect Obama comes in, though.

Bush: So they say. Hey, guess what our theme music is that we play when we have security meetings about Osama Bin Laden?

Pete: Um... "Run Run Run"?

Bush: No. "I Can't Reach You"! Heh-heh-heh...

Pete: Bloody awesome, sir. My second guess would have been "I Can See For Miles." Would you like to sing with us at our next D.C. show, being a fan and all and knowing our music?

Bush: Ah, I can't carry a tune. But I do have all four sides of "Quadrophenia" on my iPod. It certainly sums up how I'm feeling these days. Is it in my head? I don't know, but I've had enough. By the way, I really liked that song of yours about Mary Ann and her shaky hands. I knew a girl back in Texas who jerked off the entire football team.

Pete: [is speechless, for possibly the first time in his career]

Talkin' 'bout their generation, yo:

Bettie Page, the striking, raven-haired 1950s pinup was hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent told the Associated Press on Friday.

The 85-year-old had been hospitalized for the last three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she had the heart attack Tuesday. Page remained in intensive care Friday, apparently in a coma.

Page was immortalized in the 2006 film The Notorious Bettie Page (starring Gretchen Mol as Page) which chronicled her sexually provocative and playful 50s modeling career and subsequent decision to live a quiet, "Christian" life (leading many to believe she had died) until resurfacing in the 1990s where her autographs often went for hundreds of dollars.

Posing for Hugh Hefner's fledging new magazine Playboy in 1955, one could argue that Page inadvertently helped spark the sexual revolution. 

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 AM Syndicated: Rachael Ray: Tony Bennett

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres - Beyonce

2:00 PM PLD HD: MTV Europe Music Awards: Katy Perry , Beyoncé , The Killers , Kanye West , Estelle , The Ting Tings

4:00 PM RAVE HD: From The Basement: The White Stripes , The Shins , The Divine Comedy

6:30 PM Ovation: 1 Giant Leap w/Faithless , R.E.M. , Brian Eno , Neneh Cherry , Stewart Copeland , Linton Kwesi Johnson

8:00 PM Ovation: Yo-Yo Ma and Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace w/Yo-Yo Ma , James Taylor , Diana Krall , Chris Botti , Alison Krauss

9:00 PM Sundance: In Prison My Whole Life w/Mos Def , Snoop Dogg , Steve Earle

10:00 PM Smithsonian: Sound Revolution: Free Jazz to Future Jazz w/Wynton Marsalis , Herbie Hancock , Wayne Shorter , Charles Lloyd , Lili Haydn , Brad Mehldau

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Duke Spirit

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: kd lang

12:00 AM Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... Elton John

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Stephen Colbert, The Lee Boys

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Gavin DeGraw

3:00 AM BBCA: The Graham Norton Show: Katie Melua , Courtney Love

[photo credit: Richard Thane]

Doesn't rule out more live performances, however.

By Fred Mills

Tom Morello was in the news over the weekend, affirming his plans to keep moving forward with the Nightwatchman (second album The Fabled City was released earlier this year) while putting the kibosh on any rumors regarding more studio material from Rage Against the Machine, who got back together last year and has continued to perform live.

Speaking to Billboard.com, Morello commented, "There are no plans for that," referring to a Rage album. "We've had a wonderful year and a half of playing shows, and I don't see any reason to not play more shows. The thing is, there's only so many hours in the musical day, and mine are very occupied right now."

Morello also indicated that a third Nightwatchman album wasn't yet underway but when he does start working on it he'll probably use his touring band the Freedom Fighter Orchestra; he also wants to get started on a collaboration with Coup frontperson (and Nightwatchman touring mate) Boots Riley.

Meanwhile, don't forget to read our exclusive Morello interview in the November digital magazine of BLURT. We also have a series of exclusive interview video clips in our video section.

After releasing a holiday album, a tour begins

By Mandy Rodgers

The Los Angeles/New York-based band is set to tour five cities during the first month of next year. The Raveonettes released its fourth album in 2007 to great critical and audience praise. Lust Lust Lust was the first for the duo on Vice Records, but the group also recently released the holiday EP, Wishing you a Rave Christmas this year, now available digitally online, as part of an ongoing series of digital EPs from the band.

Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo are taking their music on the road in January of 2009 to two east coast cities with Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes and three concerts on the west coast with The Soft Pack opening. These are the first concerts since Foo had her baby girl.

1.15.09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

1.16.09 New York, NY @ Webster Hall

1.17.09 Washington, DC @ Black Cat

1.23.09 San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's 365 Club

1.24.09 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater

Noel Murray wraps up his year-long project of abstinence from new music.

By Fred Mills

You've probably heard the deal by now: at the end of 2007A.V. Club music critic Noel Murray announced his intentions to take a year off from listening to new music. Instead, his intention was to revisit "his record collection in alphabetical order, to take stock of what he's amassed, and to consider what he still needs."

He dubbed the project Popless and he's been posting his anecdotes and impressions as a series of columns for the A.V. Club. Today, Dec. 8, marks the latest and final installment in the Popless column - it and all the previous ones can be viewed at www.avclub.com/content/topics/Popless.

The story was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition when it was just getting started in March: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88008118 .

***

Murray's column launched on Dec. 31 of 2007; it was titled "Stopping In The Name Of Love". At the time he wrote, in part," My pleasure in listening to new music and writing about it has diminished substantially since I turned 35-either because I've been getting more cruddy promo CDs than ever, or because I just can't figure out a new way to describe the sound of an electric guitar. I'm also a little weary of the fray surrounding music criticism-both among my colleagues and our readers-which strikes me as increasingly trivial the older I get. I've seen too many "bands to watch" and "albums of the year" disappear into obscurity to take the cycles of hype and backlash as seriously as some.

"So I'm spending 2008-or at least the first 10 months of it-taking stock. I want to look back through my collection and try to figure out what I've learned about popular music over the past 17 years as a professional critic, and try to figure out how the varied pieces of music I've picked up over the years fit together-or if they do."

Murray went on to suggest that among his self-imposed restrictions would be no new-music purchases from record stores, iTunes or othwerwise; he'd file away any promo CDs, unopened, that arrive in the mail; and cancel all music-related RSS feeds and newsgroup subscriptions. Now, Murray has been writing about music for 17 years, so you can imagine the withdrawal symptoms he might undergo, not to mention how he must have missed checking out all that free promo swag from the record labels. (It would be interesting to find out how many label and publicist lists he got dropped from in 2007 since music journalists are constantly in a cycle of sucking-up to the record industry if they want to stay on the, uh, promo gravy train.)

You can retrospectively chart his progress at the above link. In last week's installment, dubbed "Epilogue 1: On Returning" (the de facto final music column was actually week 46, posted on Nov.17), Murray talks about how he decided to break his embargo prematurely back in October, and details the introspective elements of the entire project. One passage stands out:

"For the most part, 2008 has been a lousy year, culturally. It was a lousy year for music, a lousy year for movies, a lousy year for the economy-just a lousy year. Good people died, both famous (like Paul Newman) and not-so (like my friend and fellow critic Andrew Johnston). And though a lot of us have reason to believe that "hope" and "change" are on the way in '09, that doesn't make looking back on '08 any more fun."

And to that we'd say - if that's what taking a year off from new music does to you, then kids, don't try this at home. There's too much great stuff coming out - and that came out this year - to risk becoming so jaded. To his credit, though, Murray clearly loves the music and his passion is palpable. We think he's just depressurizing, and that he'll be just fine. Welcome back to the land of the living, sir.

The singer/songwriter's next record will debut in March

By Mandy Rodgers

Based in Portland, Ore., Mirah waited for several years before she decided to release another group of songs. Since 1999, the singer/songwriter has been involved with K Records and put out her debut album, You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This, in 2000. Mirah has been working on the newest record, (a) spera, with Phil Elverum (The Microphones, Mount Eerie), Tucker Martine and Adam Selzer (Norfolk and Western). Chris Funk (Decemberists), Tara Jane O'Neil and Lori Goldston are also featured.

In Latin, the title means through hardships to the stars, which is a theme throughout the folk-inspired album. According to Mirah's record label, "The songs on (a)spera strike a bold path across a landscape of dynamic and varied melody forms. Mirah's strongest asset, her sincerity and the care she takes in placing herself within her music, is offered without compromise." The record is set to debut on March 12 with ten tracks including "Generosity" and "Country of the Future."

We're all ears for Hold Time; album due Feb. 17, tour starts Feb. 18.

By Blurt Staff

Having devoted most of 2007 to the She & Him project with Zooey Deschanel, M. Ward is now gearing up for the release of his next solo album, titled Hold Time and due Feb. 17 from Merge. Go HERE for details on the record, which will feature Deschanel along with Lucinda Williams and Grandaddy's Jason Lytle guesting.

Ward will hit the road for a short tour the day after the album is release, and fans will have the opportunity to purchase tickets in advance.  Pre-sale for the US shows begins Tuesday, December 9 and ends Thursday, December 11. Tickets for all shows in the US, UK, and EU will go on-sale to the public beginning Friday, December 12. Password for pre-sale:  holdtime

For more information and to purchase tickets, go to www.mwardmusic.com.

M. Ward Tour Dates:

Wednesday, February 18  Boston, MA @ Somerville Theater
Thursday, February 19  New York, NY @ The Apollo Theatre
Friday, February 20 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero Theatre
Saturday, February 21 Washington, DC @ Sixth and I Synagogue
Wednesday February 25  London, UK @ Borderline
Thursday February 26 Paris, FR @ Café de la Danse
Friday, February 27 Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Wednesday March 4  Los Angeles, CA @ Music Box at Fonda
Thursday, March 5 San Francisco, CA @  Palace of Fine Arts
Friday,  March 6  Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
Saturday, March 7 Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theater

Employs pseudo-Radiohead pricing model for album. Good thing for you consumers we at BLURT didn't award it a "10", eh?

By Blurt Staff

This just got slipped over the BLURT transom... you can call it an instance of backhanded praise getting its comeuppance, or just a snarky-but-savvy business move. But it's still pretty fucking funny. And as of this writing, Pitchfork hasn't commented. Read on....

***

Asthmatic Kitty is experimenting with a new post-In Rainbows method of determining the price of an album. Instead of allowing the consumer to dictate price, Asthmatic Kitty looked to the next obvious choice to determine the value of an album: the music critic.

Today, renowned and respected indie rock critics Pitchrok released a review of Ropechain, the second full length album from Indianapolis-based Grampall Jookabox. Employing their 10-point system, Pitchfork scored the album at a 5.4.

Asthmatic Kitty will therefore sell Ropechain for $5.40 for 54 hours from 9am, December 8th.

"Pitchfork's ten point scoring system, along with their infamous one decimal point makes them the ideal choice for a dry run with this experimental pricing structure. It just makes dollars and sense," said Michael Kaufman, A&R.

Moose, frontman for Grampall Jookabox, commented, "I know that it has been a long and difficult road for music critics everywhere. It's 2008, but until now their point systems had absolutely no effect on the value of music. Today, they rightly take their place as determiners of the value of music. "

Both Moose and Kaufmann are so excited about this new move for the label and band that they quickly collaborated in a music video of "Let's Get Mad Together" from Ropechain to commemorate the new pricing structure. Moose dons a dollar bill costume and dances while Kaufmann stands on his head. The video is here:
http://vimeo.com/2446399

Whether this pricing structure will proliferate through the entire record industry depends both on the experiment's success at Asthmatic Kitty Records, and the willingness of music critics to adjust their reviews to fit currency valuation. Just as Radiohead's album sale did, this move may send shock waves through the industry. It is expected that those publications using grade levels, percentage points, or "stars" may have to quickly adjust. Some have purportedly already started converting their scores straight into U.S. dollars.

Consumers wishing to participate in the experiment can buy the album here:
http://asthmatickitty.com/news.php?newsID=372

The band also has some complimentary remix MP3s:

http://asthmatickitty.com/mp3/grampall_jookabox_-_ghost_nobody_remix.mp3
http://asthmatickitty.com/mp3/grampall_jookabox_vs_the_chap_-_we_might_be_fucked_remix.mp3
http://asthmatickitty.com/mp3/grampall_jookabox_-_lets_go_mad_together_fanastic_mr_fox_remix.mp3

Fourth studio album due March 3 from Kemado.

By Blurt Staff

Back when BLURT was just a little ol' print magazine called Harp we enthusiastically sang the praises of Boston songbird Marissa Nadler, who at the time had recently seem a full US release of her album Songs III: Bird on the Water by the Kemado label. Now comes word that Kemado is set to drop Nadler's fourth record on March 3.

Titled Little Hells, it's described by the label as demonstrating Nadler's unique ability to "envelop the listener in splendid gauzy moods without becoming monochromatic."

Adds Nadler, "The songs take on different personalities at different points in time. If a song is good, you should be able to do it in any style and transform it, take a risk and have some fun."

Well, all right then. And Nadler has always operated without a net, which is perhaps why she has been steadily expanding her fanbase even as she continues to test herself and her art. Here's the scoop, from the label:

A master of creating rich dreamscape atmospheres, Nadler's voice shines and glides even more with a full band accompanying her. Produced by Chris Coady, the starry musical guests include longtime collaborator Myles Baer, Simone Pace (Blonde Redhead), and Dave Scher (Farmer Dave).  Few contemporary artists can match the stunning ride of Marissa's reverb vocals that are a journey into themselves on every rose tinged track. Little Hells displays a brighter leap in musical maturity and attention to detail, as the fantasmagoric sounds delve into melancholy nuggets, sometimes erotic, sometimes gutting, but filled with a gorgeous sense of serene hope more so than previous album, Songs III: Bird on the Water.

Building on her hazy sonic foundations, Nadler ventures into territory as varied as the Brill Building-tinged pulse of Mary Come Alive and the title tracks old-time country loam -- a trek tha'ts both breathtakingly scenic and psychically compelling. Sadness can be found in the undercurrents of Little Hells, to be sure. But there are just as many moments of serene reflection and quiet contentment in pleasures as simple as the warmth of the sun or the scent of flowers -- the latter of which permeates several of the new albums offerings. That mixing of tones affords Little Hells both delicacy and strength -- a balance that, it might be said, exists in Marissa Nadler herself.

Beach Boys alum's DVD companion to recent album

By Mandy Rodgers

On Sept. Brian Wilson released That Lucky Old Sun on CD and vinyl. On Jan. 27, a DVD companion will debut of the same name. The DVD will focus on a live performance of the album, a new documentary and behind-the-scenes looks into Wilson's recording time. That Lucky Old Sun will run over two and a half hours and include an audio commentary track by Wilson and his songwriting partner Scott Bennett.

The performance the DVD will feature is from a May 19 studio session with Wilson at Capitol Records. The newest album from the musician has already received a lot of praise from major music publications like Rolling Stone, Spin and Pitchfork Media. More bonus materials will be included on the DVD and more information can be found at www.ThatLuckyOldSun.net.

Read our review of Wilson's recent tour HERE.

Tracklisting:

1 That Lucky Old Sun
2 Morning Beat
3 Narrative: Room With a View
4 Good Kind of Love
5 Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl
6 Narrative: Venice Beach
7 Live Let Live / That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)
8 Mexican Girl
9 Narrative: Cinco de Mayo
10 California Role / That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)
11 Narrative: Between Pictures
12 Oxygen to the Brain
13 Can't Wait Too Long
14 Midnight's Another Day
15 That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)
16 Going Home
17 Southern California

Industry watchdog Bob Lefsetz weighs in.

By Fred Mills

So... heard any good news lately? Maybe that Joe Satriani-sues-Coldplay-for-plagiarism thing that's all over the web? Music biz observer/gadfly Bob Lefsetz sure heard about it, and what's more, he compared the two tunes: "It's the same damn song!" concludes Lefsetz. See below for what he has to say about the matter. Maybe Coldplay should hire HIM to handle their business affairs since apparently nobody competent is these days. Come to think of it, Tom Cruise could use him too...

***

Lefsetz writes:

If George Harrison can go to court and lose, what makes Chris Martin and his team think they can win this one?  Especially with YouTube on Satriani's side?

It's like sampling.  Clear the license.  Pay the man.  Coldplay could have paid Satriani and the world wouldn't be the wiser.  How many people know the original anyway?

Somebody in Coldplay heard it.  That's what you need to prove liability.  Access.  If Satriani was a guy working in an amp repair shop in Cincinnati, Coldplay would have a leg to stand on.  But he's a guitar geek's guitar hero.  Along with Eric Johnson and the rest of the shredders the mainstream is unaware of but the maestros salivate over.  Coldplay absolutely can't win this case.  Or even if they possibly could, their image has already been shredded.

Watch this video (below).

I'll admit, when wind of this story first started blowing through my inbox I took it with a grain of salt.  Isn't everybody claiming they're being ripped off?  Then I watched the video, and I cracked up.  IT'S THE SAME DAMN SONG!

Now Coldplay paid Kraftwerk when they took that band's riff on their previous album, why not pay Satriani here?

This is not a monetary issue, this is a public relations issue.  This is how Tom Cruise got in trouble.  He's a twit who had an incredible PR person.  But then he fired her and now we know Tom Cruise is an adolescent with behavior problems and his career has been irreparably harmed.  I don't know how you control this story at this point.  But Coldplay needs to hire a strategist.  This is the biggest music story on the Web right now.  Chris Martin's image was already inches above the toilet.  Do I think that Coldplay INTENTIONALLY ripped off Satriani?  No.  But that's not how the law works.  Give Joe a piece of the action.  I'd say to even invite him up on stage to play his part.  But that'll just let the Coldplay fans without Internet access in on this crime.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 Syndicated: Bonnie Hunt - Jesse McCartney

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres - Darius Rucker

9:00 Syndicated: Regis & Kelly - Jason Mraz

11:00 AM Biography: Traci Lords

2:30 PM VH1C: That Metal Show: Twisted Sister

3:00 PM VH1C: That Metal Show: Yngwie Malmsteen

3:30 PM VH1C: That Metal Show: Lita Ford

4:00 PM PLD HD: Palladia Concerts: Amy Winehouse: Live from London

5:00 PM VH1C: Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed w/ Queen , Elton John , Robbie Williams , Boy George

9:00 PM RAVE HD: From The Basement: Damien Rice , Autolux , eels , Architecture In Helsinki

9:15 PM IFC: The Henry Rollins Show: Billy Bragg

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Jamey Johnson

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Sara Bareilles , Ingrid Michaelson

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Common

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: The Gaslight Anthem

1:35 AM NBC Carson Daly - Josh Radin

3:00 AM BBCA: The Graham Norton Show: Backstreet Boys

Another reunion we didn't ask for! Don't forget to vote in BLURT's reunion fever poll, kids...

By Fred Mills

Is it just us, or is this the dullest news we can come up with to start the morning off? Where's that damn barista! The most overrated British band of the past two decades, Blur, is getting back together next year, following months of speculation.

In a report filed by NME.com it was announced that Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree will be reuniting to play Hyde Park in London next July 3 (tickets on sale this Friday; go to NME.COM/GIGS for details). Other dates may be possible - Britain's annual mudbath Glastonbury has been floated - but the band isn't confirming anything beyond the Hyde Park gig just yet.

"It just felt it was right again," said Albarn, speaking to the NME. "It somehow feels like there's something for ust to do again, we're not completely useless or pointless, we've got a reason to exist."

Er, some of us might debate those points, Dam! At any rate, Coxon added they were "making public what's been going on a little bit privately. For the benefit of the fans and those interested we can say that something's on the cards."

"The Price of Silence" will commemorate Universal Declaration of Human Rights Act

By Mandy Rodgers

Today, Dec. 9, alternative Latin music record label Nacional releases "The Price of Silence" to bring attention to the 60^th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Act. Produced by Andres Levin, there will be multiple versions of the track available on iTunes with all proceeds benefiting Amnesty International. The song will be available in a full version, radio edit, Spanish version, and the original song on which the new single is based ("Canción Protesta," by Aterciopelados, pictured above) can also be bought.

In the same vein as the 1985 pop hit "We Are the World," Nacional Records has brought a diverse, global group of musicians to feature on the track, including Emmanuel Jal, Natalie Merchant and Stephen Marley. For the music video, actor Laurence Fishburne reads a prologue written by a two-year prisoner of Argentina's Dirty War, Alicia Partnoy. Every artist in "The Price of Silence" have all been activists throughout the past years.    

To be held March 6-8; tix on sale Friday, Dec. 12.

By Blurt Staff

Death Cab For Cutie (pictured), Snoop Dogg, Ryan Adams And The Cardinals, Thievery Corporation, Slightly Stoopid, Flogging Molly, Dashboard Confessional, Broken Social Scene, Cold War Kids, Girl Talk, Chromeo, Mute Math,, Gym Class Heros, the Faint, Pogues, Zac Brown, Matisyahu, Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's Mcgee, Robert Randolph, Spearhad, the Virgins, the Black Kids - those are among the initial roster just announced for next year's Langerado Festival in Bicentennial Park, Miami. For full details and ticketing info go to www.langerado.com.

Meanwhile, here's the official press announcement:

***

Held for the first time this year at Bicentennial Park on Biscayne Bay, Langerado now calls Miami - one of the world's must cultural cities - home.  Today, festival organizers make an initial artist announcement to make the Magic City proud.  Death Cab For Cutie, Snoop Dogg, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Thievery Corporation (Live), Slightly Stoopid and Dashboard Confessional join Flogging Molly, Broken Social Scene, Girl Talk, Cold War Kids, The Faint, Gym Class Heroes, Tricky, Chromeo, Mute Math, Black Kids, Café Tacuba, The Pogues, The Virgins, Zac Brown Band and more.  Langerado is also proud to welcome back veterans from Langerado's past including Matisyahu, The Disco Biscuits, Umphrey's McGee, Robert Randolph and The Family Band and Michael Franti and Spearhead and extend a warm welcome to the many artists performing at the festival for the first time.  Artists will perform on multiple stages throughout the three day event and more artists are still to be announced!

Tickets to the 7^th Annual Langerado Music Festival go on sale Friday December 12^th at 12pm EST.  Purchase tickets with no additional service charges through http://langerado.musictoday.com and at www.langerado.com.  

In addition to world class music, Langerado will offer local arts and crafts, delicious food vendors, and a variety of festival activities for the whole family - all on-site at Bicentennial Park's 30 acres of waterfront.  With Bicentennial Park located just minutes from Downtown Miami and Miami's South Beach, visitors and locals can enjoy easy access to Miami's many hotels, international restaurants and sizzling nightlife. Taking advantage of Miami's after-hours scene, Langerado will host official late night shows and parties at various local venues throughout Miami including world-famous South Beach, the Design District, Coconut Grove and beyond.  Stay tuned to www.langerado.com for the most up to date information on artists and late night show announcements.

Festival Details as follows:

7^th Annual Langerado Music Festival
Bicentennial Park on Biscayne Bay
301 North Biscayne Boulevard, Miami

Tickets starting at $120 for weekend passes; individual day tickets starting at $75.  Langerado is proud to announce that prices for weekend passes and day tickets are all inclusive and there will be no additional service charges. 

Langerado will also be offering a layaway plan for purchasers of weekend passes with 3 equal payment spread out over three months.  Visit the Langerado ticketing page at www.langerado.com for more information.

VIP packages that include upgraded amenities such as daily catered buffet, merchandise packages, exclusive viewing decks for the main stages and more will also be available at www.langerado.com.   

Children 8 and under are admitted at no charge with paid adults. More details are available at www.langerado.com.

For six years, the Langerado Music Festival has kicked off the United States' burgeoning festival season with a full weekend of music and art in South Florida. Recognized by such national media outlets as the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine, Langerado has grown enormously since it's inaugural year; growing from 3,500 in attendance in 2003 at Fort Lauderdale Stadium, to nearly 25,000 per day in attendance at 2008's event at the Big Cypress Indian Reservation.

The Langerado Music Festival is produced by Mark Brown and Ethan Schwartz.  Brown is the managing partner of Jam Cruise (www.jamcruise.com).  Schwartz produces and promotes shows in the South Florida area.  Together, the partners also produce the Caribbean Holidaze festival in Runaway Bay, Jamaica ( www.caribbeanholidaze.com

We just added our latest exclusive performance video to the BLURT TV section. Checkout Jolie Holland—live in the BLURT TV studios—performing "(The End of) Traveling," from her latest album The Living and the Dead (Anti).

  http://blurt-online.com/video/view/167

Directed and photographed by Brendan Canty and Christoph Green, Trixie DVD (trixiedvd.com)

New studio album features the virtuoso keyboardist tackling some unlikely suspects.

By Blurt Staff

On February 3, Marco Benevento will release Me Not Me, a new studio album featuring his interpretations of songs by artists including My Morning Jacket, Leonard Cohen and Deerhoof among others.  The ten-track collection arrives within a year from release of Benevento's critically acclaimed debut studio effort, Invisible Baby. Like its predecessor, Benevento is joined by bassist Reed Mathis and drummers Matt Chamberlain and Andrew Barr.  The band recorded at Chroma Sound in Seattle during days off on a West Coast tour earlier this year. Engineer Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Antony & The Johnsons, Phish) mixed the sessions in Brooklyn. Of further note, Benevento takes a giant step into the 21st century with the formation of his own label, The Royal Potato Family (distributed by MRI/Red), for the worldwide release of Me Not Me.

"When I first started touring with the trio, in addition to my own material, there was a great opportunity for me to perform tunes from other artists that I'd always wanted to play, both a combination of older rock songs and modern tunes that are part of our current culture," explains Benevento. "So the next step was to make a record with some of this material. I decided to leave the harmony of the songs pretty close to the originals, but really get into messing with the arrangements. I got into sculpting sound around the original piano parts by using some of my favorite keyboards and re-amping them in interesting ways. This album has more layering and textures than the last one. Bryce and I worked closely in developing that idea as an underlying concept for the music."

Marco Benevento, who first attracted national attention playing Hammond B-3 organ and Wurlitzer in The Benevento-Russo Duo, shifts the focus to acoustic piano with his own trio. Throughout Me Not Me, he proves to be one of the most compelling sonic innovators of his generation, re-imagining the instrument through guitar pickups, delay and distortion effects and a Fender Super Reverb Amp.  He shapes and shifts the aural depth of the recording by adding layers of Ace Tone drum machines, Farfisa, Optigan, Mellotron, tack piano and other unconventional keyboards, while using circuit bent toys to develop the emotional character of the songs. Beneath the blanket of colors, the core of the album is the collective energy of Benevento's trio. Reed Mathis, Matt Chamberlain and Andrew Barr provide a take off point for magnetic post jazz improvisations.

The three original compositions on Me Not Me underscore Marco Benevento's inclination for simple pop melodies, multihued sound and playful composition. "Now They're Writing Music" was first debuted in a rough sketch when the pianist was a guest on "The World Cafe With David Dye." Benevento asserts the "toys" themselves wrote the song. The instantly familiar "Mephisto," often performed by The Benevento-Russo Duo, is the closest the album comes to straight-ahead jazz, hinting at 1970's Keith Jarrett. On the other hand, "Call Home" seems to summon the spirit of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Marco Benevento will launch Me Not Me with a residency at Yoshi's in Oakland, appearing every Tuesday night in February with different special guests. Additional West Coast tour dates for February will also be announced shortly.

Me Not Me Track Listing:

1. Golden (My Morning Jacket)
2. Now They're Writing Music (Marco Benevento)
3. Seems So Long Ago Nancy (Leonard Cohen)
4. Mephisto (Marco Benevento)
5. Twin Killers (Deerhoof)
6. Call Home (Marco Benevento)
7. Heartbeats (The Knife)
8. Sing It Again (Beck)
9. Friends (Led Zeppelin)
10. Run Of The Mill (George Harrison)

We got your press release right here...

By Blurt Staff

This spring Black Lips will return with the follow up to the widely successful Good Bad Not Evil with 200 Million Thousand, out February 24th on Vice Music.  In addition, MySpace Music will be presenting a spring North American tour beginning March 4th in Carrboro, NC.  Teaming up with MySpace Music empowers Black Lips to connect intimately with fans by enabling artists to upload video content, blog, post tour dates, lyrics, and make their music available to fans for stream or download.

The 14 tracks that make up 200 Million Thousand show true early rock and roll at it's finest: simple, straightforward songwriting mesh perfectly with the Black Lips distinctive howl to create a time capsule rife with nods to simple pleasures and a world of worry.  It's a modern, mature reflection on life and the world traveled.  As has come to be expected, 200 Million Thousand will be followed by ample opportunity to see Black Lips do what they do best - whip a crowd into a pure ball of drunk, unpredictable energy. Having spent the better part of their formative years touring the world, Black Lips have emerged garage rock veterans.

Tour Dates:

2/26/09         BIRMINGHAM, AL                  BOTTLE TREE

2/27/09         ATLANTA, GA                     VARIETY PLAYHOUSE

MySpace Music Presents Tour:

3/04/09             CARRBORO, NC                    CAT'S CRADLE
3/05/09             WASHINGTON, DC                  BLACK CAT
3/06/09                PHILADELPHIA, PA                        JOHNNY BRENDA'S
3/07/09          CAMBRIDGE, MA                   MIDDLE EAST
3/09/09              NEW YORK, NY                    BOWERY BALLROOM
3/10/09          BROOKLYN, NY                    MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG
3/12/09               CLEVELAND, OH                   BEACHLAND BALLROOM

3/13/09         DETROIT, MI                     MAGIC STICK

3/14/09         CHICAGO, IL                     LOGAN SQUARE AUDITORIUM

3/15/09         MILWAUKEE, WI                   TURNER HALL BALLROOM

3/16/09         ST. PAUL, MN                    TURF CLUB

3/17/09         OMAHA, NE                       WAITING ROOM

3/18/09         LAWRENCE, KS                    BOTTLENECK

3/20/09         AUSTIN, TX                      SXSW

3/21/09         AUSTIN, TX                      SXSW

3/23/09         NEW ORLEANS, LA                 ONE EYED JACKS

3/25/09         TALLAHASSEE, FL                 CLUB DOWNUNDER

3/26/09         TAMPA, FL                               ORPHEUM

3/27/09         MIAMI, FL                               CHURCHILL'S

3/28/09         GAINESVILLE, FL                 COMMON GROUNDS
3/29/08           JACKSONVILLE, FL                        JACK RABBITS

3/30/08         ORLANDO, FL                     THE SOCIAL

Acclaimed violinist does the score for Over the Hill and Far Away.

By Blurt Staff

The Lili Haydn-scored film Over the Hill and Far Away has been accepted into the Sundance Film Festival. For her first-ever full film scoring, the Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and violinist extraordinaire worked with composer/guitarist Kim Carroll. Over the Hill and Far Away centers on a couple's quest to find a cure for their son's autism that takes them to the mystical reaches of Mongolia, journeying from shaman to shaman on horseback.

This is not the first film outing for Lili, who's been the featured voice and violin in several other films, collaborating with Hans Zimmer on Pirates of the Caribbean and Guerrmo Arriaga's (Babel) The Burning Plain starring Charlize Theron as well as the upcoming thriller The Unborn (2009), which was directed by David S. Goyer and stars Gary Oldman, Odette Yustman and Cam Gigandet.

"The film is about turning heartbreak into inspiration, set in Texas and the lush scenery of Mongolia," states Haydn about Over the Hill and Far Away.  "This gave us the chance to create a delicious east meets west score both expansive and raw in a sort of Neil Young and Sigur Ros meets Crouching Tiger way.  Alchemy and exoticism, what could be more perfect?!"

Look for LILI to perform music from the film and her latest album Place Between Places (Nettwerk) at the Sundance Film Festival. Meanwhile, the public will be able to view Over the Hill and Far Away at these screenings:

Sat. Jan 17      3:00 PM           Temple Theatre, Park City

Sun. Jan 18     9:15 PM           Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City

Mon. Jan 19     10:30 PM         Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, SLC

Thu. Jan 22     9:00 AM           Temple Theatre, Park City

Sat. Jan 24      3:00 PM           Temple Theatre, Park City

Meanwhile, for a sneak peek of the trailer for Over the Hill and Far Away visit:

http://horseboymovie.com/trailer.html

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 Syndicated: Bonnie Hunt - Neil Sedaka

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres - Adele

9:00 AM Biography: Pete Townshend

9:00 AM Syndicated: Rachael Ray: Tom Jones

9:00 AM Syndicated: The Tyra Banks Show: Ludacris

10:00 AM Biography: Courtney Love

11:00 AM Rave HD Concerts: Glastonbury Festival 2005: Hot Hot Heat , KT Tunstall , Echo & the Bunnymen , Interpol , Keane , New Order

2:00 PM Biography: Buddy Holly

4:00 PM Rave HD Concerts: Warren Haynes - The Benefit Concert 2006

7:00 PM RAVE HD: Other Voices: Daniel Lanois , Kate Walsh , Super Furry Animals , Sons & Daughters

7:00 PM Smithsonian: Sound Revolution: Free Jazz to Future Jazz w/Wynton Marsalis , Herbie Hancock , Wayne Shorter , Charles Lloyd , Lili Haydn , Brad Mehldau

7:00 PM VH1C: One-Hit Wonders: Metal w/Faster Pussycat , Autograph , Loudness , Faith No More , White Lion , Vixen

9:00 PM CMT: CMA Awards 2008: Trace Adkins , Jason Aldean , Rodney Atkins , Big & Rich ,

Brooks & Dunn , Kenny Chesney

9:00 PM Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...:  Lou Reed and Julian Schnabel

11:35 CBS Letterman: Loudon Wainwright

12:00 ABC Jimmy Kimmel - Zooey Deschanel, Adele

1:30 AM ETV: Saturday Night Live (E!):  Steve Carell / Kanye West

1:35 NBC Carson Daly - Taylor Swift, Saving Abel

3:00 AM BBCA: The Graham Norton Show: Rufus Wainwright , Melanie C

[Photo Credit: Theo Wargo]

The band hits the road in February

By Mandy Rodgers

After supporting Weezer across the country, Tokyo Police Club has decided to continue life on the road early next year. The first leg of the tour will begin in Providence, RI on Feb. 24. The Ontario band will be supported by Harlem Shakes on the first half of the tour and Ra Ra Riot on the latter part with Born Ruffians ending the tour with the last two shows.

After finishing up the tour in mid-March, Greg Alsop (drums), Josh Hooks (guitar/percussion), Dave Monks (vocals/bass) and Graham Wright (keyboards/vocals) will reportedly hit the studio to work on the follow-up album to the acclaimed Elephant Shell.

02/24/09 - Providence, RI - Lupo's - Support: Harlem Shakes
02/25/09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall - Support: Born Ruffians
02/26/09 - Washington, DC - Black Cat - Support: Born Ruffians
02/28/09 - Pittsburgh, PA / TBD - Mr. Smalls - Support: Harlem Shakes
03/01/09 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop - Support: Harlem Shakes
03/02/09 - Columbus, OH - The Basement - Support: Harlem Shakes
03/03/09 - Cincinnati, OH - Mad Hatter - Support: Harlem Shakes
03/05/09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl - Support: Harlem Shakes
03/06/09 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder - Support: Harlem Shakes
03/07/09 - Orlando, FL - The Social - Support: Harlem Shakes
03/10/09 - New Orleans, LA - The Parish @ House of Blues - Support: Ra Ra Riot
03/11/09 - Houston, TX - Walters on Washington - Support: Ra Ra Riot
03/12/09 - McAllen, TX - Cine El Ray - Support: Ra Ra Riot
03/13/09 - San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit - Support: Ra Ra Riot
03/14/09 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre - Support: Ra Ra Riot
03/16/09 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown - Support: Ra Ra Riot
03/18/09 - Chicago, IL - The Metro - Support: Born Ruffians
03/19/09 - Pontiac, MI - Crofoot - Support: Born Ruffians

How many wu's could a wu chuck chuck, if a wu chuck could chuck wu's?

By Blurt Staff

Wu Music Group, the new label ran by the administrative mind of Mitchell "Divine" Diggs and the creative force of Wu-Tang Clan's chief architect, "The RZA", will release their second album, Afro Samurai: The Resurrection, on January 27th, 2009. The album is the soundtrack to season two of Spike TV's critically lauded animated television show and DVD featuring the voice of Samuel L Jackson and is musically produced entirely by Wu Tang Clan's The RZA. The soundtrack features unlikely collaborations and guest spots from legendary recording artists such as Sly Stone, members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Kool G Rap, Rah Digga, and a whole cast of RZA's protégé's, including the late Ol' Dirty Bastard's son - Boy Jones. This highly anticipated release demonstrates RZA's incredible genius and ability to unite some of the finest voices in hip-hop together in one place. The multi-talented producer/actor will also hit the big screen again later in the year as he co-stars in the upcoming comedy from writer/director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) out summer 2009.  He will be seen alongside Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in Funny People, the story of a famous comedian who has a near-death experience.

The Afro Samurai animated series debuted on Spike TV in 2006 and was the best-selling anime DVD release of 2007. In Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Academy Award® -nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson returns as the voice of the solitary warrior Afro Samurai and his sidekick Ninja Ninja as well as executive-producer of the this stylish series. Joining the cast this season is Lucy Liu (Dirty Sexy Money, Charlie's Angels, Kill Bill) as Sio, the seductive and sadistic mastermind plotting to destroy Afro. Also newly cast is Mark Hamill (Star Wars) as Bin, Sio's servant and protector.

RZA's 2007 soundtrack to season one of the Afro Samurai series introduced the world to a new team/swarm of the Wu disciples and included legendary collaborations with Big Daddy Kane, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, and more never thought to be captured on tape. The exceptional follow up comes with deluxe packaging and O-Card and features the Wu-Tang mastermind at his architect best, drawing up the blueprint for a new dimension of sound and collaborations with friends old and new.

Afro Samurai: Resurrection marks another milestone for Wu Music Group, which recently announced a comprehensive partnership with The Orchard, to distribute and market the label's popular catalogue worldwide.  The Orchard and Wu Music have digitally released the label's entire catalogue of unreleased material, including important recordings from RZA and other Wu-Tang Clan members, and will be marketing and distributing future physical and digital releases, beginning with Afro Samurai: Resurrection, from current label acts and new signings. The saga will continue, as the Diggs brothers breathe new life into the legacy of the Wu-Tang Clan. The RZA is also currently on tour with the Wu-Tang Clan - dates below.



RZA ON TOUR W/ WU-TANG CLAN

12.10.2008    DENVER, CO    OGDEN THEATRE
12.11.2008    FORT COLLINS, CO    AGGIE THEATER
12.14.2008    CHICAGO, IL    HOUSE OF BLUES -
12.15.2008    MINNEAPOLIS, MN    FIRST AVENUE
12.17.2008    CLEVELAND, OH    HOUSE OF BLUES  
12.18.2008    ROCHESTER, NY    MAIN STREET ARMORY
12.19.2008    PHILADELPHIA, PA    THE TROCADERO THEATRE
12.20.2008    NEW HAVEN, CT    TOAD'S PLACE
12.21.2008    SAYREVILLE, NJ    STARLAND BALLROOM
12.23.2008    NEW YORK, NY    HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM
12.27.2008    LANCASTER, PA    CHAMELEON
12.31.2008    BALTIMORE, MD    SONAR
01.01.2009    WASHINGTON, DC    9:30 CLUB
01.02.2009    PROVIDENCE, RI    LUPO'S HEARTBREAK HOTEL
01.04.2009    SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT    HIGHER GROUND
01.07.2009    NORFOLK, VA    THE NORVA
01.08.2009    RICHMOND, VA    TOAD'S PLACE RICHMOND
01.09.2009    GREENSBORO, NC    THE N CLUB AND RED ROOM
01.10.2009    CHARLESTON, SC    THE MUSIC FARM
01.11.2009    CHARLOTTE, NC    AMOS' SOUTHEND
01.12.2009    RALEIGH, NC    LINCOLN THEATRE
01.13.2009    COLUMBIA, SC    LEVEL

"Afro Samurai: Resurrection" Tracklisting:

1.   Combat (Afro Season II Open Theme) - RZA; P. Dot
2.   You Already Know - Kool G Rap; Inspectah Deck; Suga Bang
3.   Blood Thicker Than Mud "Family Affair" - Reverand William Burke; Sly Stone; Stone Mecca
4.   Whar - Kool G Rap; Ghostface Killah; Tash Mahogany; RZA
5.   Girl Samurai Lullaby - Rah Digga; Stone Mecca
6.   Fight for You - Thea Van Seijen
7.   Bitch Gonna Get Ya' - Rah Digga
8.   Bloody Days Bloody Nights - Prodgical Sunn; Thea Van Siejen
9.   Kill Kill Kill - Rugged Monk
10. Nappy Afro - Boy Jones
11. Bloody Samurai - Black Knights; Dexter Wiggles; Thea Van Seijen
12. Dead Birds - Killah Priest; Prodgical Sunn; Shavo
13. Arch Nemesis - Ace; Moe Rock
14. Brother's Keeper - Reverand William Burke; The RZA; Infinite
15. Yellow Jackets - Ace; Moe Rock
16. Take the Sword pt. III - 60 Second Assassin; Leggezin; Crisi; Christ Bearer; Rugged Monk; Tré Irie; Kinetic; Reverand William Burks; Bobby Digital
17. Number One Samurai (Afro Season II Outro) - The RZA ; 9th Prince

The two are ready to tour with new music

By Mandy Rodgers

Fiction Family is the name of the new band made up of Nickel Creek's guitarist, Sean Watkins, and Switchfoot's lead singer, Jon Foreman. The two finished their first album together, Fiction Family, set to debut on Jan. 20. Fiction Family has been in the works since 2005 when Watkins and Foreman first began collaborating on music and songwriting. The two met at a show featuring their other bands, REM and Wilco.

The album is now available for pre-order on the group's Web site (www.fictionfamily.com) and a free download of the song "When She's Near" is also on the site. While writing and recording the 12-track debut album, Watkins and Foreman switched off between vocalizing the lyrics and playing the music, which includes instruments like a piano, steel guitar and fiddle. The tour will start in Ann Arbor, MI on Jan. 13 and travel through the country to end in Hollywood CA on Feb. 7.

January 13         The Ark         Ann Arbor, MI
January 14         Calvin College         Grand Rapids, MI
January 15         Abbey Pub         Chicago, IL
January 17         Ransburg Auditorium         Indianapolis, IN
January 18         Mountain Stage         Morgantown, WV
January 20         Bowery Ballroom         New York, NY
January 21         Paradise Rock Club         Boston, MA
January 22         World Café Live         Philadelphia, PA
January 23         Crawford Auditorium         Grove City, PA
January 24         Jammin Java         Vienna, VA
January 25         Brubaker Auditorium         Grantham, PA
January 27         Gravity Lounge         Charlottesville, VA
January 29         Variety Playhouse         Atlanta, GA
January 30         Belcourt         Nashville, TN
February 3         Neumos         Seattle, WA
February 4         Aladdin Theatre         Portland, OR
February 5         The Independent         San Francisco, CA
February 6         Anthology         San Diego, CA
February 7         Largo at Coronet Theatre         West Hollywood, CA

By Blurt Staff

This press release just got slipped over the BLURT transom... sometimes we write the news, sometimes it writes itself! And take note of where the item has been stored... cue up "Twilight Zone" theme music....

***

The staff of the largest collector and vintage car auction company, Kruse International, is busy finalizing all details so that the 35th Annual Las Vegas Collector Car Auction taking place December 19-20 will be another success. Kruse proudly announced an impressive lineup of vehicles that includes "Mr. Las Vegas" Wayne Newton's 1982 Mercedes Benz, Pamela Anderson's customized "LoveStream" Trailer Lounge, and the most coveted item of the event: Elvis Presley's 1962 Lockheed Jet.

Elvis Presley was known to be an airplane enthusiast, owning three jets during his lifetime, which included a Convair 880 Jet (the famous "Lisa Marie") and two Lockheed jets. After Elvis' death, all jets were sold, and today, only "Hound Dog II" and the "Lisa Marie" have returned to Graceland.

The 1962 Lockheed Jet that will be up for auction is one of only 204 aircraft manufactured between 1957 and 1978 in a private project between Jetstar and Lockheed. This aircraft has never been restored and features original external painting and detailing, as well as the original interior. The jet is the only airplane that belonged to Elvis that is still in private hands. It is expected that the aircraft will bring an estimated range between $700,000 to $2 million.

Stored in Roswell, New Mexico, prospective buyers will be invited to inspect the Lockheed Jetstar JT 12-5 on December 13-14. According to the owner, the aircraft can be easily moved by taking off the wings until it reaches its final destination. The engines are out of the jet, but can be purchased for an additional amount ranging between $10,000 and $35,000, depending on its condition.

The aircraft is considered by many Elvis fans to be one of the greatest attractions in the world, making it a substantial addition to any museum, amusement park, entertainment center or private collection.

Visit www.kruse.com for more details. A fee of $75 is required to register for participants in the Las Vegas auction.

Three-disc set timed to come out just before Black History Month next year.

By Blurt Staff

December 10, 2008 -Fairfax, VA - It is one of the most inspiring, powerful and emotional stories in American history. Within a generation, Americans of African descent overturned several hundred years of slavery and brutally enforced segregation to win their Civil Rights. And throughout the movement, music played a role unlike any other.  It did not simply generate memorable songs reflecting the time and the events, music helped lead from the frontlines. The songs of the Civil Rights movement are the subject of Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement, a new 3-CD set from that will be released during Black History Month 2009. An accompanying documentary film co-produced by Time Life for PBS and TV-One will be broadcast in conjunction with the set's release, retelling the story both in music and dramatic first-person accounts.

Let Freedom Sing:The Music of the Civil Rights Movement  assembles inspiring, bold and hopeful music that reflects the emotions and power of the movement. While the collection wouldn't be complete without iconic songs ("Respect," "Change Is Gonna Come," "Blowin' in the Wind," "We Shall Overcome," "Say It Loud I'm Black and I'm Proud," "People Get Ready," "Get up-Stand up"), the curators of the set were also careful to include extremely rare recordings such as Brother Will Hairston's account of the Montgomery bus boycott, "The Alabama Bus," and Nat King Cole's unreleased protest song from that era, "We Are Americans Too."

The story begins with "Go Down Moses ("let my people go")," one of many spirituals that led African Americans on their quest for Civil Rights. It continues with a bitter indictment of the lynchings that plagued the South after the Civil War (Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit") and an equally bitter indictment of the treatment of African Americans in the armed forces during World War II (Josh White's "Uncle Sam Says").  "No Restricted Signs" and "Black, Brown and White" protested the segregation that greeted returning servicemen. The call for change became more clamorous during the 1950s with the bus boycotts, the lynching of Emmett Till, the enforced integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the lunch counter sit-ins. All were etched memorably in song.

The escalating bitterness of the 1960s is captured in songs like Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam," Phil Ochs' "Too Many Martyrs," and John Lee Hooker's "The Motor City Is Burning." The riots following Dr. King's assassination are echoed in George Perkins' "Cryin' in the Streets." And the Black Power era is reflected in Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand," Curtis Mayfield's "We the People Who Are Darker than Blue," Lee Dorsey's "Yes We Can" (adapted as a campaign slogan by President-Elect  Barack Obama), and Gil Scott Heron's 1971 classic "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised "(cited by many as the first rap record). The story continues to the present day with artists such as Chuck D., who also wrote the introduction to the set.

"This project was conceived almost two years ago because we understood the importance of bringing the story to life and taking the time to get it right," states Michael Mitchell, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at Time Life Music. "For centuries, music vividly communicated injustices, especially for African-Americans in the South. This set encapsulates the struggles that eventually allowed African Americans, like me, to rise within our chosen professions, and allowed President-Elect r Barack Obama to capture the nomination as the 44th President of the United States. Notably, in his acceptance speech, he adapted the words of Sam Cooke's "Change Is Gonna Come." The songs bring the movement alive with more immediacy than any other medium, and when we listen to LET FREEDOM SING from beginning to end, we realize what an incredible transformation has taken place during our lifetime." 

Time Life's Vice President of Audio & Video Retail, Mike Jason, adds, "From the dark and ominous ‘Strange Fruit' to the joyous message of ‘Free At Last,' the set is filled with songs that reflect the painful, yet ultimately triumphant, Civil Rights struggle. Music nurtured the movement and the movement inspired the music. The nation's lowest point is undoubtedly its treatment of African Americans while the ability of African Americans to contribute so prodigiously to the culture in spite of that treatment is perhaps the finest example of what we can be as a nation. It's an honor for all of us at time Life to share this music and a small part of the story."

Set to tour in March, Allen releases preemptive single stateside leading up to album release.

By Mandy Rodgers

Potty-mouthed English singer/songwriter, gourmand, partyin' bon vivant and topless swimmer Lily Allen has just released her newest video for "The Fear" off the upcoming album, It's Not Me, It's You. "The Fear" looks into a darker side of celebrity life and will hit U.S. airwaves in January. In the UK, "The Fear" is the "Record of the Week" on Scott Mills' BBC Radio 1 Show.

It's Not Me, It's You is slated for release on Feb. 9 overseas and Feb. 10 in the US. All of the tracks on the album look at Allen's fear the world will soon become a place where everything is sponsored. She co-wrote the songs with producer Greg Kurstin, including "He Wasn't There" and "Who'd of Known."

Tour Dates:

3/14    Glasgow Academy
3/15    Manchester Academy
3/18     Bristol Academy
3/19    Southampton Guildhall
3/20    Brighton Dome
3/22    Norwich UEA
3/23     Birmingham Academy
3/24    Leeds Academy
3/26    London Shepherd's Bush Empire

Big news for Pearl Jam fans was just released to the media. The full press released follows; read on....

***

PEARL JAM ANNOUNCES THE REISSUE OF BAND'S DEBUT ALBUM, TEN:

FOUR SPECIAL EDITION PACKAGES IN STORES MARCH 24, 2009

PRE-SALE OF SUPER DELUXE EDITION BEGINS TODAY AT PEARLJAM.COM

Album extras found across the four editions of Ten include:

Remaster of original Ten album + remix by producer Brendan O'Brien   • 

DVD of previously unreleased 1992 Pearl Jam MTV Unplugged performance with 5.1 surround sound audio remix   •  LP of the band's 1992 "Drop in the Park" concert    •   Replica of Pearl Jam three-song demo cassette with Eddie Vedder's original vocal dubs  •  Recreation of Eddie Vedder composition notebook   •  Never before seen memorabilia   •  Bonus tracks and more.

SEATTLE - Ten, the debut album that sold 12 million copies and introduced the world to Pearl Jam in 1991, will be reissued in four (4) new and expanded editions. Pre-orders of the Super Deluxe Edition begin today, December 10, 2008, through the band's Ten Club at www.pearljam.com, with all four editions available at retail on March 24, 2009. The reissue of Ten serves as the launch of a planned two-year catalogue re-release campaign leading up to the band's 20^th anniversary in 2011.

Each Ten package will include two versions of the album: the remastered version of the original album PLUS an accompanying remixed version done by the band's long-time producer, Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Audioslave). Details on specific extras for each of the four packages are attached.

"The band loved the original mix of Ten, but were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it," says producer Brendan O'Brien. "The original Ten sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that. After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original - giving a fresh take on it, a more        direct sound."

TEN RE-DESIGN

Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, who served as the art director for the original Ten packaging, reprised his role for the reissues collaborating with designer, Andy Fischer, of Cameron Crowe's Vinyl Films (Into the Wild soundtrack LP, Vanilla Sky soundtrack LP, Harold and Maude anniversary edition soundtrack LP).

"The goal was to assemble the ultimate fan-piece," explains Fischer. "Something Pearl Jam lovers could pore over as they experience an indelible record all over again, in an entirely      new way."

"The original concept was about really being together as a group and entering into the world of music as a true band...a sort of all-for-one deal," says Jeff Ament. "There were some elements of the original Ten artwork that didn't turn out the way we had hoped, due to time constraints. With this reissue, we've been able to take our time and invest resources into making the design the way we had originally intended."

REPLICA OF PEARL JAM THREE-SONG DEMO CASSETTE IN SUPER DELUXE EDITION

In the process of digging through his archives for this project, Ament came across an old cassette marked "Momma-Son" - the fabled original Pearl Jam demo tape featuring the first recorded versions of "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps." Ament and guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready had recorded instrumental tracks of these songs to help solicit a singer for their newly formed band. Mutual friend - and then Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer - Jack Irons suggested they send the tape down to San Diego surfer and little-known singer Eddie Vedder.

Completely inspired by what he heard from these musicians that he then only knew by name, Vedder quickly wrote lyrics, put these vocals to the music tracks and shipped the tape back to Seattle. Upon hearing how Vedder had transformed the songs, Ament, Gossard and McCready asked him to come up to Seattle so they could meet and have an official "tryout" together. Shortly thereafter, Pearl Jam was born. (A replica of the "Momma-Son" cassette will be included in the Super Deluxe Edition of Ten.)

Jeff Ament describes the experience of re-visiting that tape with singer Eddie Vedder:

"I think the first time that Ed or I had opened any of those boxes was a few weeks ago. I knew that the original ‘Momma-Son' cassette was somewhere, but I hadn't listened to it in 17, 18, 19 years. It was cool to sit down and play it for the first time with Ed and see his reaction. And to find that 90% of it stayed exactly the same as what ended up on the record. A lot of elements were identical. There was some energy flying around at that point even from 1,300 miles away from Seattle to San Diego."

ABOUT TEN

Pearl Jam released Ten on August 27, 1991. The album reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart, sold over 12 million copies and became one of the cultural touchstones of the 1990s. Songs such as "Alive," "Black," "Even Flow" and "Jeremy" became staples of rock radio, and still make frequent appearances on the band's ever-changing concert setlists. The album was produced by Rick Parasher. Pearl Jam's 1991 lineup was Jeff Ament (bass), Stone Gossard (guitar), Dave Krusen (drums), Mike McCready (guitar) and Eddie Vedder (vocals).

ORIGINAL TEN TRACKLISTING

Once

Even Flow

Alive

Why Go

Black

Jeremy

Oceans

Porch

Garden

Deep

Release

Master/Slave (hidden track)

THE FOUR EDITIONS OF TEN: ALBUM EXTRAS PER PACKAGE

1.      Legacy Edition (2-disc set in mini-LP style slipcase):

• Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
• Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O'Brien, plus six bonus tracks: "Brother," "Just a Girl," "State of Love and Trust," "Breath and a Scream," "2,000 Mile Blues" and "Evil Little Goat"
• Re-designed packaging

2.   Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD specially designed hardbound package):

• Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
• Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O'Brien, plus six bonus tracks: "Brother," "Just a Girl," "State of Love and Trust," "Breath and a Scream," "2,000 Mile Blues" and "Evil Little Goat"
• DVD of Pearl Jam's previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of "Oceans" with 5.1 surround sound audio remix

3.   Vinyl Collection (2-LP set)

• LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
• LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O'Brien

4.   Super Deluxe Edition (2-disc set plus DVD, 4 LPs and replica cassette in linen-covered, slip-cased clamshell box):

• Disc 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
• Disc 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O'Brien, plus six bonus tracks: "Brother," "Just a Girl," "State of Love and Trust," "Breath and a Scream," "2,000 Mile Blues" and "Evil Little Goat"
• DVD of Pearl Jam's previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of "Oceans" with 5.1 surround sound audio remix
• LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
• LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O'Brien
• LP 3 & 4: Drop in the Park - Live at Magnuson Park in Seattle on September 20, 1992 (audio mixed by Brendan O'Brien)
• Cassette: replica of original "Momma-Son" Pearl Jam demo cassette featuring "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps"
• Package also includes an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam's early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert.

 [Photo credits: Lance Mercer]

By Blurt Staff

Starts January in L.A.

Beginning with a January 8 opening reception and running through January 29, Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles will present UNDER THE INFLUENCE: An Official Tribute To BEASTIE BOYS.

 
UNDER THE INFLUENCE is an all-original collection or works inspired by the music of Beastie Boys, with participating artists from all over the country, including  Alex Pardee (SF), Axis (L.A.), Dave Flores (Santa Barbara), Jason D'Aquino (NY), Plush artist Jen Rarey (KC), Le Merde (Portland), Mark Brown (Idaho), Matt Dangler (NJ), Mear One (L.A.), Scott Schiedly (FL), Tristan Eaton (NY) and literally dozens more. A complete listing of participating artists can be found at www.88Beasties.Blogspot.com.

 
A portion of this show's proceeds will benefit Gramercy Housing Group (www.gramercyhousinggroup.org)

 
Gallery 1988 is located at 7020 Melrose Ave Los Angeles CA 90038
http://www.nineteeneightyeight.com/entry/future.html

 
For further information re: Gallery 1988 contact Jensen gallery1988@aol.com 323 937 7088

Live and uncut at the Blurt TV studio doing a track from her latest album.

By Blurt Staff

We just added two exclusive performance videos to the BLURT TV section. Checkout Jolie Holland-live in the BLURT TV studios-performing "(The End of) Traveling" and "Palmyra," from her latest album The Living and the Dead (Anti-).

Scroll down to the video kiosk or go straight in without having to stand in line HERE.

Directed and photographed by Brendan Canty and Christoph Green, Trixie DVD (trixiedvd.com).

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

6:35 AM Sundance: We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen

9:00 AM Syndicated: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Common , Cee-Lo

10:00 AM Biography: Rick Springfield

11:00 AM Biography: Jon Bon Jovi

11:00 AM PLD HD: Rothbury 2008: Dave Matthews Band , John Mayer , Widespread Panic

11:35 AM IFC: A Hard Day's Night (1964)

1:00 PM Biography: Guns N' Roses

3:00 PM PLD HD: mtvU Woodie Awards: Santogold , Vampire Weekend , Lykke Li , All Time Low , Chromeo , The Cool Kids

6:00 PM PLD HD: Listening To You: The Who at The Isle of Wight

8:00 PM Biography: John Mellencamp

9:00 PM Biography: Homeward Bound: John Mellencamp

9:00 PM Smithsonian: Sound Revolution: Free Jazz to Future Jazz w/Wynton Marsalis , Herbie Hancock , Wayne Shorter , Charles Lloyd , Lili Haydn , Brad Mehldau

11:00 PM Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...: Lou Reed and Julian Schnabel

11:35 CBS Letterman -  Bon Iver

11:35 NBC Leno - The Cure

12:00 ABC Jimmy Kimmel - Snow Patrol

12:35 NBC Conan O'Brien - Tony Bennett

1:35 NBC Carson Daly - Gym Class Heroes

Passionate, celebratory tribute to you-know-who and his message.

By Blurt Staff

Michael Franti & Spearhead's "Obama Song," a tribute to the president elect Barack Obama, is available now for free download (MP3 format), exclusively at www.iLike.com/franti . The song, featuring Michael Franti, Solliloquists of Sound, Cherine Anderson, and Anthony B, is a celebration of the hope and optimism that has filled the hearts and minds of the country ever since the words uttered on the campaign trail, "Yes We Can."  It is also yet another example of how Michael utilizes his music to effectively convey his message of peace, joy and hope. 

Featuring Michael's unique sound, "Obama Song"'s lyrics will resonate with all those that were similarly moved by Obama's message of peace, unity, and hope.

As a socially conscious singer-songwriter, Franti has grown up in public as his message has evolved from one of youthful frustration to a more mature determination to find common ground. Franti's live performances are a musically electrifying and unifying experience, marked by a genuine openheartedness, a commitment to communication, and a greater sense of community.

Michael Franti & Spearhead are currently touring in support of their sixth studio album All Rebel Rockers.  Charged with "infectious hooks, catchy choruses, stellar musicianship, top flight production and a mix of politically relevant and fun lyrics" All Rebel Rockers demonstrates that music is the driving force in Michael's creative world.

For a free download of "Obama Song" go to www.ilike.com/franti. 

Heavy metal band promises 2009 album that extends past its usual 12 inches.

By Mandy Rodgers

From Absolutely Kosher Records, Goblin Cock's new album Come With Me If You Want To Live promises to be a great second outing from the San Diego metal band. Artist Mike Sutfin (Star Wars: New Essential Guide to Characters) worked on the album cover, and the label warns, "prepare for Lord Phallus to be the Farrah Fawcett of the ‘00s thanks to the foldout poster insert."

Consisting of Lord Phallus (guitar/voice), Bane Ass-Pounder (guitar), King Sith (bass), Braindeath (drums) and Loki Sinjuggler (keyboards), Goblin Cock is rumored to be setting a tour schedule for next year. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/goblincock.

Lotsa puppy, er, poppy love goin' on with these swingin' musicians.

By Mandy Rodgers

From producers Chris Fitzpatrick and Thomas Dimuzio comes Poptastic's debut album, The Teen-Pop-Noise Virus. Seeland Records will release the album made of pop music which has been overly produced and arranged, in the same vein as Lou Perlman's bubblegum pop of the ‘90s.

According to the label, "Poptastic's basic concept is accessible and humorous, yet buried in the layers of sound is a complex web of mixing, remixing, editing, re-editing, arranging, and de-arranging that continues to reveal something new with each listen. It was also designed so that in CD shuffle play, only the "hits" play, yet when in continuous linear play, the entire album is a single interwoven work."

The album has 13 different tracks with poppy love titles, including "You Put a Spell on Me" and "I Want This Love to Last." Keep checking www.myspace.com/poptasticnoise.com to find out a future release date.

From the Hollies through CSN through the solo records.

By Blurt Staff

Graham Nash's tenor is among rock's most recognizable, and
as resonant as his voice of conscience as a songwriter. He started The
Hollies with his childhood friend Allan Clarke in 1961, before embarking on a lifelong musical journey, solo and with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Neil Young.
 

On Feb. 3 Rhino willl issue Reflections, a three-CD boxed set that encompasses 40 years of erstwhile Hollies/sometime CSN&Y member Graham Nash's estimable music-making. Included will be 64 songs; half of which are unreleased mixes, alternate versions and unissued tracks. This deluxe package features a 150-page booklet with 75 classic and unseen photos and track notes by Graham Nash.

Arranged chronologically, Reflections spans Nash's recordings from 1967 to 2007, starting with a trio of singles he released with The Hollies in 1967: "On A Carousel," "Carrie Anne" and "King Midas In Reverse."

 
Nash left the group a year later, joining with Crosby and Stills to record the trio's self-titled album, which earned them the Grammy for "Best New Artist." Reflections gathers several songs from that album (and its follow-up, released a few months later with the addition of Young) including "Pre-Road Downs," "Marrakesh Express," "Our House" and "Teach Your Children." The set also includes tracks from the group's other albums: "Just A Song Before I Go," "Wasted On The Way" and "Heartland."

 
Over the years, Crosby and Nash have recorded a number of albums as a duo. Reflections features several gems from those collaborations with "Immigration Man," "To The Last Whale," "Jesus Of Rio" and more. The collection also brings together several classics from Nash's four solo albums, ranging from the politically-charged ("Military Madness" and "Chicago"/"We Can Change The World") to the emotionally raw ("Simple Man" and "Sleep Song") and the socially conscious ("Barrel Of Pain" and "Chippin' Away.")

 
Reflections spotlights 32 songs with different mixes and alternate versions that have never been released. Among the highlights is Nash's solo acoustic demo of "Right Between The Eyes." Recorded during the Déjà Vu sessions, a live version of the track popped up in 1971 on a CSN&Y live album. The compilation contains six unreleased tracks, including "Water From The Moon," "Try To Find Me" and "In Your Name," a song he recorded in 2007.

 

Track Listing:

 
DISC ONE

1. "On A Carousel" ­ The Hollies (mono)
2. "Carrie Anne" ­ The Hollies (mono)
3. "King Midas In Reverse" ­ The Hollies (mono)
4. "Marrakesh Express" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
5. "Pre-Road Downs" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
6. "Lady Of The Island" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
7. "Our House" ­ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
8. "Teach Your Children" ­ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young *
9. "Right Between The Eyes" ­ Graham Nash **
10. "I Used To Be A King" ­ Graham Nash *
11. "Simple Man" ­ Graham Nash *
12. "Man In The Mirror" ­ Graham Nash *
13. "Better Days" ­ Graham Nash *
14. "Military Madness" ­ Graham Nash *
15. "Sleep Song" ­ Graham Nash *
16. "Chicago"/"We Can Change The World" ­ Graham Nash *
17. "Southbound Train" ­ Crosby/Nash
18. "Immigration Man" ­ Crosby/Nash
19. "Wild Tales" ­ Graham Nash *
20. "Prison Song" ­ Graham Nash *
21. "Oh! Camil (The Winter Soldier)" ­ Graham Nash *
22. "On The Line" ­ Graham Nash *
23. "You'll Never Be The Same" ­ Graham Nash *
24. "Another Sleep Song" ­ Graham Nash *

 
DISC TWO

1. "To The Last Whale" ­ Crosby/Nash
A. "Critical Mass"
B. "Wind On The Water"
2. "Fieldworker" ­ Crosby/Nash
3. "Cowboy Of Dreams" ­ Crosby/Nash
4. "Love Work Out" ­ Crosby/Nash
5. "Marguerita" ­ Crosby/Nash
6. "Taken At All" ­ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young *
7. "Mutiny" ­ Crosby & Nash
8. "Just A Song Before I Go" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
9. "Cold Rain" ­ Graham Nash *
10. "Cathedral" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash *
11. "Barrel Of Pain (Half-Life)" ­ Graham Nash
12. "Magical Child" ­ Graham Nash *
13. "Song For Susan" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
14. "Wasted On The Way" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
15. "Love Is The Reason" ­ Graham Nash *
16. "Raise A Voice" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
17. "Clear Blue Skies" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash **
18. "Lonely Man" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash ***
19. "Sad Eyes" ­ Graham Nash *
20. "Water From The Moon" ­ Graham Nash ***
21. "Soldiers Of Peace" ­ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

 
DISC THREE

1. "If Anybody Had A Heart" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
2. "Chippin' Away" ­ Graham Nash
3. "After The Dolphin" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
4. "House Of Broken Dreams" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
5. "Unequal Love" ­ Graham Nash **
6. "Liar's Nightmare" ­ Graham Nash **
7. "Heartland" ­ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young *
8. "These Empty Days" ­ Crosby, Stills & Nash
9. "Try To Find Me" ­ Graham Nash ***
10. "Two Hearts" ­ Carole King & Graham Nash **
11. "Behind The Shades" ­ Graham Nash ***
12. "Michael (Hedges Here)" ­ Graham Nash **
13. "I Surrender" ­ Crosby/Nash
14. "Live On (The Wall)" ­ Crosby/Nash
15. "Dirty Little Secret" ­ Graham Nash
16. "We Breathe The Same Air" ­ Graham Nash ***
17. "Grace" ­ Crosby/Nash
18. "Jesus Of Rio" ­ Crosby/Nash
19. "In Your Name" ­ Graham Nash ***
 
*          previously unreleased mix
**        previously unreleased version
***      previously unreleased song
 

Whattaya get when you cross a Soft Boy, a Young Fresh Fellow, a Minister and an R.E.M.er?

By Blurt Staff

On February 17^th Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 - comprising R.E.M's Peter Buck on guitar, Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M.) on bass and drummer Bill Rieflin (Ministry, R.E.M.) - will storm back onto the pop music landscape with Goodnight Oslo, the follow-up to their critically lauded 2006 album Olé Tarantula.

Olé Tarantula marked the beginning of a stark renaissance in the career of one of Britain 's most enduring songwriters and performers, reinvigorating his unique artistic voice and illuminating his influence on another generation of psychedelic folk disciples. Continuing Olé's trend, Goodnight Oslo explodes the Hitchcock myth with an album of pure pop mastery complete with horns, jangling guitar hooks and signature Hitchcock-ian word paintings that prove the Englishman's creative engine is more fiery than ever. Goodnight Oslo harkens back to Hitchcock masterpieces Underwater Moonlight and Globe of Frogs, with early opinions calling it one the best albums of his already storied career.

The album features guest vocals from Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) and Sean Nelson (The Long Winters, Harvey Danger). One man horn section Terry Edwards contributes signature stabs and sweeps, adding color what Robyn refers to as, "The best record of my adult life," and his unique vision of pop music in a perfect world.

Much about finding a return route out of the rabbit hole, Goodnight Oslo is bright and shining, further delineating this era from the frequently dark nature of his earlier work. Says Robyn, "These songs are largely about breaking out of a negative cycle, and believing that change can happen. It's not a recovery album or a therapy album per se; it's just a sign to the exit."

Oslo comes on the heels of 2 meticulously curated retrospective boxed sets. I Wanna Go Backwards and Luminous Groove combine to reissue six albums (plus 4 discs of rarities)  worth of Hitchcock's 1980's Egyptians and solo output.  

Autolux and Black Dice just added to Saturday lineup, too.

By Blurt Staff

All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP) is happy to announce The Flaming Lips will act as the Sunday curator for the second annual ATP New York festival. Also, Autolux and Black Dice have been added to the ATP-curated lineup on Saturday.  The event will be held Sept 11-13, 2009 at Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, New York. Last year's festival, co-curated by My Bloody Valentine, was a critical and cultural success with rave reviews from media and fans.

The event was moved from Labor Day weekend, but existing tickets will work for the new dates. If you are holding a ticket and the new dates do not work for you we are happy to offer a full refund.

Friday Don't Look Back/Comedy

Dirty Three Performing Ocean Songs

Suicide Performing First LP

David Cross - Hosting Comedy Stage

Saturday - curated by ATP

Animal Collective

Anti-Pop Consortium

Atlas Sound

Autolux

Black Dice

Panda Bear

Sunday - CURATED BY THE FLAMING LIPS

The Flaming Lips

Tickets are $235 + $12 booking fee for a 3 day pass.

Accommodations available at Kutsher's and the nearby Raleigh Resort (on sale now!).

Tickets and full information available from www.atpfestival.com

Title track from ex-Distillers' new band's Ghetto Love EP.

By Blurt Staff

Acclaimed video and film director Liam Lynch has created the new Spinnerette video for the title track off the band's debut EP "Ghetto Love."  Both the video and the "Ghetto Love" EP will be available as a package digitally at www.SpinneretteMusic.com on December 11.

"I was over at Brody's house and we were talking about the upcoming album. We decided to collaborate for fun and do a homemade video. So she came over to my place around midnight and I just shot her singing 'Ghetto Love' with a HDV cam against a green screen. It was quick, casual, and fun. Brody is so awesome. She's just got it all. She's the real deal. This album is her best work ever. It's so rare to find an album where you can listen to the whole thing from start to finish and love every song." expressed Liam Lynch.

"Liam Lynch is a genius. He has a brilliant imagination, is extremely passionate and never stops working, creating or brainstorming, in fact he barely sleeps. I gave him the record and he offered to make a video for the song Ghetto Love - he is very loyal and loves to do things for his friends and other people who inspire him. For the video, he made a beauty light for me out of the metal ring of a lazy susan and gaff taped the "beauty" lights on to it. It was like some frankenstein light monster. Liam's creation worked like a charm and the Ghetto Love video looks awesome," said Brody Dalle.

After disbanding The Distillers in 2006, Brody Dalle took the last few years to regroup and start a family with husband Joshua Homme. During this time, she began focusing on a new direction to take her music and mapping out the path to calling her own shots for her new project, Spinnerette. The 4 new songs on the Ghetto Love EP - 'Ghetto Love,' 'Valium Knights,' 'Distorting A Code,' 'Bury My Heart,' were penned by Brody Dalle and produced by Alain Johannes. The Liam Lynch directed video for 'Ghetto Love' is currently only available at the Spinnerette website as part of the "Ghetto Love" EP package. On December 16th, the Spinnerette "Ghetto Love" EP only will also be available on iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon and other digital outlets.

"Ghetto Love" was recorded at PinkDuck and 11AD studios in Los Angeles. Additional musicians on the EP include Alain Johannes (Queens of the Stone Age, Eleven), Tony Bevilacqua (The Distillers), and Jack Irons (Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers).

To check out the Ghetto Love video go to www.SpinneretteMusic.com.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 Syndicated: Bonnie Hunt - REO Speedwagon

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres - Barry Manilow

12:00 PM Rave HD Concerts: David Gilmour - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

2:30 PM VH1C: That Metal Show: Yngwie Malmsteen

6:00 PM RAVE HD: From The Basement: Sonic Youth , Jose Gonzalez , Laura Marling

8:00 PM NBC: Greatest Holiday Moments: Songs of the Season Countdown w/John Lennon , Mariah Carey , Bing Crosby , Gene Autry

9:00 PM Sundance: Live from Abbey Road: Rascal Flatts, Kate Nash, Herbie Hancock

10:00 PM Sundance:  Roky Erickson You're Gonna Miss Me

11:30 PM VH1C: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

12:00 ABC Jimmy Kimmel - Barry Manilow

1:35 NBC Carson Daly - 3OH!3

2:30 AM Smithsonian: The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice: Wanda Jackson , Elvis Presley , Buddy Holly , Johnny Cash , Jerry Lee Lewis , Elvis Costello         

Rarest Radiohead Artifact... Ever! (on eBay!)

12-12-08

Better deposit something into your PayPal accounts, kids....

By Fred Mills

How much would you pay for a limited edition Radiohead remix from In Rainbows? Oh really? That's all? What if we told you it was a limited edition of ONE - what would you pay in that instance? (Pitchfork readers, don't answer this question.)

That's essentially what Radiohead is asking by making available, on eBay, a four-hour video remix of the song "Videotape." According to a report at NME.com, the remix was created by producer James Rutledge (aka Pedro) and it's on a VHS tape, signed by all five members of the band. Proceeds will go to benefit the Missing People charity, which is a UK-based organization that works with runaway kids, missing/unidentified people and their families.

The auction runs through Dec. 21 and can be viewed HERE. As of this writing there had been 11 bids with the current bid £200.00.

Stephen Malkmus, St. Vincent, Josh Ritter, French Kicks, Ra Rio, Submarines and Martha Wainwright now on the bill.

By Blurt Staff

As previously announced in this space, the annual Noise Pop Festival will be happening in San Francisco Feb. 24 through March 1, and the latest news is that Stephen Malkmus, will be making his San Francisco Bay Area live solo debut as part of the festival. St. Vincent, Josh Ritter, French Kicks, Ra Ra Riot, Martha Wainwright, Broken West, The Morning Benders, and The Submarines also join previously announced headliners, Antony & The Johnsons, No Age, A.C. Newman, and Clues.

Festival Badges are on sale now from the newly launched Noise Pop 2009 Festival website (www.noisepop.com/2009). Noise Pop Badges grant the owner entry to all general admission Noise Pop Festival events and are priced at $150 each with a 10% discount being offered until January 12, 2009.

In addition to dozens of live music events, Noise Pop 2009 will include a film festival, gallery art openings, and "Industry Noise" (co-produced with Bandwidth Conference) a single day music industry conference featuring educational panels. Also returning for the fourth year is "Pop ‘n' Shop" - Noise Pop's take on the local indie designer trunk sale and rock poster show.

Full details and updates at www.Noisepop.com

Now c'mon, you know you gotta have the deluxe edition...

By Blurt Staff

Arcade Fire will release the documentary film Miroir Noir online this Monday, December 15 -  it follows Arcade Fire through the making and touring of their 2007 album Neon Bible, documenting the band at their Montreal studio, the making of promotional films and videos, along with live footage and a few short films made on the road.

 
Miroir Noir is directed by Arcade Fire friend and collaborator Vincent Morisset. Vincent was responsible for the interactive video for the song "Neon Bible" and for the Arcade Fire web design. The film was shot by Vincent Moon.

 
The digital download and standard edition DVD feature the 70 minute film Miroir Noir. The deluxe edition DVD contains bonus material including Arcade Fire's live performances on Jonathon Ross, Saturday Night Live and at Maida Vale. 

The 70 minute film will be available globally at www.Miroir-Noir.com on December 15th as a one-off download in two sizes to suit preferred players. The physical standard and deluxe DVDs are planned for 2009 delivery (with digital versions delivered instantly).

Album drops Jan. 20, massive international tour follows.

By Blurt Staff

Antony and the Johnsons have revealed the cover art for the forthcoming full-length, The Crying Light.  Following a natural progression from the Another World EP, the album art features a 1977 portrait of renowned Butoh dancer, Kazuo Ohno, taken by Naoya Ikegami in Tokyo.  Ohno is shown reaching towards light, his striking visage and reclined posture echoing elements of cradle and the grave. Life, death, and transcendence are effectively invoked in one image.

Antony says, "My new album "The Crying Light" is dedicated to the great dancer Kazuo Ohno. In performance I watched him cast a circle of light upon the stage, and step into that circle, and reveal the dreams and reveries of his heart. He seemed to dance in the eye of something mysterious and creative; with every gesture he embodied the child and the feminine divine. He's kind of like my art parent."

The Crying Light will be released on Secretly Canadian on January 20th followed by a series of US and European tour dates (dates below).  The tour, which goes through the end of February, includes stops at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville as well as the historic Vic Theatre in Chicago and the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Tour dates:

02/02:  Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre
02/03:  Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
02/04:  Columbus, OH @ Southern Theatre
02/07:  Knoxville, TN @ Big Ears Festival
02/08:  Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
02/12:  Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
02/13:  Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
02/14:  Minneapolis, MN @ Pantages Theatre
02/17:  Toronto, ON @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
02/19:  New York, NY @ Town Hall
02/20:  New York, NY @ Town Hall
02/22:  Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center
02/24:  San Francisco, CA @ Nob Hill Masonic Center
02/27:  Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
02/28:  Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre

03/15:    Bergen, Norway @ Griedhallen
03/17:    Oslo, Norway @ Sentrum Scene
03/19:    Stockholm, Sweden @ Cirkus
03/21:    HeIsinki, Finland @ House of Culture
03/26:    Copenhagen, Denmark @ Falkoner
03/28:    Ancona, Italy @ Teatro delle Muse
03/29:    Rome, Italy @ Auditorium il Parco della Musica
03/31:    Florence, Italy @ Teatro Politeama Pratese
04/01:    Milan, Italy @ Sala Verdi Conservatorio
04/04:    Zurich, Switzerland @ Kongresshaus
04/09:    Paris, France @ Le Grand Rex
04/13:    Brussels, Belgium @ Bozar
04/15:    Barcelona, Spain @ Palau de la Musica
04/23:    Munich, Germany @ Postpalast
04/24:    Berlin, Germany @ Adimiralspalast
04/27:    Frankfuhrt, Germany @ Alte Oper
04/29:    Warsaw, Poland @ National Theatre
05/01:    Krems, Austria @ Donaufestival
05/03:    Eindhoven, Netherlands @ MC FritsPhilips
05/05:    San Sebastian, Spain @ Kursaal Auditorium
05/07:    Murcia, Spain @ Auditorio de Murcia
05/11:    Madrld, Spain @ Palacio de Congresos
05/14:    Lisbon, Portugal @ Coliseum
05/16:    Braga, Portugal @ Teatro Circo
05/18:    Porto, Portugal @ Coliseum
05/21:    Brighton, UK @ Dome
05/22:    Birmingham, UK @ Symphony Hall
05/24:    Sheffield, UK @ City Hall
05/25:    Edinburgh, UK @ Play House
05/27:    London, UK @ Hammersmith Apollo
05/29:    Gateshead, UK @ The Sage
05/31:    Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar St
06/01:    Belfast, UK @ Waterfront

Amazing band caught in full flight, live and uncensored...

By Blurt Staff

As part of BLURT's ongoing exclusive performance and interview series, we're pleased to announce our latest offering: DEERHOOF.

Captured in glorious high-definition by our camera crew at DC's 9:30 Club in late October, the 3 performance clips offer a glimpse of the band's memorable live shows. Directed and photographed by Brendan Canty and Christoph Green (who have also shot the Black Keys, Tom Morello and an upcoming Jolie Holland video for BLURT), the videos include smoking takes of "Wrong Time Capsule," "The Perfect Me" and "Buck and Judy" - the latter from the group's recent album Offend Maggie - plus interview segments.

Scroll down to our video kiosk, or simply go straight in HERE.

To read our feature story on Deerhoof in the November issue of the BLURT digital magazine, go HERE.

Other recent BLURT exclusive videos include performances by Jason Isbell, Devotchka and Alejandro Escovedo as well as interview clips with Joan as Policewoman, Ben Taylor, Amanda Palmer and comedian/performance artist Tony Clifton.

Live and uncut at the Blurt TV studio doing a track from her latest album.

By Blurt Staff

We just added two exclusive performance videos to the BLURT TV section. Checkout Jolie Holland-live in the BLURT TV studios-performing "(The End of) Traveling" and "Palmyra," from her latest album The Living and the Dead (Anti-).

Scroll down to the video kiosk or go straight in without having to stand in line HERE.

Directed and photographed by Brendan Canty and Christoph Green, Trixie DVD (trixiedvd.com).

Retrospective of past jams plus last night's Pre-Jam

By Fred Mills

First things first: last night (Dec. 11) at the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam Pre-Jam (held at Asheville's Orange Peel) we were practically levitating at sets from Warren Haynes - who teamed up with John Paul Jones for a version of Led Zep's "Going to California" - as well Gov't Mule, Ivan Neville's Dumpstafunk, the Del McCoury Band, the Lee Boys and more. (Ask us how high the entire room was flying during an astonishing collaboration between the McCourys and the Lees.) A full report on all this soon, and meanwhile, check out some pics from the show courtesy our good friend Joe Kendrick, who DJs at WNCW-FM (which was broadcasting the event live and will repeat the show on New Year's Eve).

And then go to our concert section where we have a visual retrospective of some of the Christmas Jams past. Some pretty amazing photos there by BLURT staffers Andy Tennille and Allie Goolrick.

Call it an early Christmas present from your friendly neighborhood BLURT.

[Photos credit: Joe Kendrick/WNCW)

Del McCoury Band

Dumpstafunk

Warren Haynes and John Paul Jones

Govt' Mule

Mule Gear

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

7:50 AM MORMAX: Once (2006)

12:15 PM Encore Drama:  Elvis: His Best Friend Remembers

2:00 PM FOOD: Emeril Live: Emeril's Happy Happy Holidays w/The Boys Choir Of Harlem

6:00 PM Sundance: French Beauty w/Jane Birkin , Charlotte Gainsbourg

8:05 PM TMC: Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)

10:00 PM Smithsonian: Sound Revolution: Soul Stirrings w/Davell Crawford , The Neville Brothers , Ernestine Anderson , The Mighty Clouds Of Joy , Ray Charles , LaVern Baker

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Sheryl Crow

12:00 AM Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...:  Lou Reed and Julian Schnabel

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Lady Gaga

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: John Legend , Amy Adams

1:00 AM ETV: Saturday Night Live (E!): Alec Baldwin / Shakira

4:00 AM Biography: Oasis

But he has no problem raking in a few more royalties just the same...

By Fred Mills

Reacting, no doubt, to the totally unsubstantiated rumors that BLURT was floating a couple of weeks ago about an impending Smiths reunion in 2009 (make sure you pay close attention to how we word our polls and news clips folks - those trained chimps we have toiling away in our news room can be purty clever at times!), guitarist Johnny Marr has issued a statement to NME.com debunking those rumors.

"The stories circulating about a Smiths reunion are, as usual, untrue," stated Marr. "I'm currently very excited about writing and recording with The Cribs for a new album to be released next summer and we're playing shows in February, so going back in time isn't in my plans."

Gee, it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Marr and Morrissey hate each, now, could it?

Meanwhile, Marr also was quoted by the NME as saying he's at work mastering a forthcoming Smiths compilation, due out in January:

"I think everyone was glad that I stepped up to the breach. I didn't have to do it, it could have come out anyway - but I just felt like it was doing a disservice to the band and the people who were buying the records. Over the years there have been releases of the records and I wasn't happy with the way they sounded. So I rolled my sleeves up and fixed that, and I'm pretty happy with the way that turned out."

Waitaminnit - a two-CD "deluxe edition" The Sound of the Smiths was just released a month or so ago, and we have proof elsewhere on the BLURT site. You're saying the fans are going to take it on the chin again, money wise? Maybe is should be titled, with a tip o' the hat to the Sex Pistols, Milking A Dead Cow....

Singer's awards for activism officially surpass U2's Grammy tally.

By Fred Mills

Friday in France Bono was awarded a "Man Of Peace" prize by Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe as part of the annual Peace Summit Awards, according to news reports. On hand for the three day event and awards ceremony were five Nobel Peace Prize winners, including F.W. de Klerk of South Africa, Lech Walesa of Poland and Northern Ireland's John Hume.

It was to recognize the U2 frontman's work as long-time activist in the global anti-poverty arena, including his recent successes in persuading world leaders to take on African debt.

Noted Bono, "This is a very big award for me, because let's be honest this is as close as I am going to get -- as close as a rock star is ever going to get to the Nobel Peace Prize."

"I am an over-awarded, over-rewarded rock star. You are the people who do the real work," he added, referring to the Nobel laureates.

According to co-host Walter Veltroni, of Italy, "We decided to nominate a man who has given a lot and will continue to give a great deal to the struggle for human rights, to the fight against poverty, with his music and with his words. He has put pressure on the world's governments to reach the UN's Millennium Goals. To give him the prize, is to say that fight will carry on."

God was reportedly invited to the Peace Summit Awards. However, rumors of the Creator harboring deep jealousy towards Bono have long swirled, and he was not in attendance.

One of the top hundred axemen of all time, indeed.

By Blurt Staff

Derek Trucks scorched the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam this weekend, and now comes official word of the guitar virtuoso's forthcoming album. Read on...

***

One of the most critically acclaimed guitarists and the youngest musician to be named in Rolling Stone's list of the Top Hundred Guitarists of All Time, Derek Trucks has completed his much anticipated sixth studio album with The Derek Trucks Band, Already Free, available January 13, 2009.  As well, the album's first single, a stirring cover of Bob Dylan and The Band's  "Down in the Flood" from the album The Basement Tapes, is set for release November 4^th. 

The album was self-produced by Trucks and recorded in his Jacksonville, Florida home studio.  Nearly a year in the making and brimming with a newfound focus on creating original material, Already Free  is the band's natural evolution as they move forward integrating influences that span a variety of musical genres.  Known for their blues roots, the group takes this album well beyond blues to incorporate the larger sounds of rock & soul.

Over the course of several albums, various bands and countless tours, Trucks has explored an exciting array of musical styles.  On Already Free, Trucks has written original songs and reinvigorated old ones, introducing a profound new vision.  One hears blues, soul, jazz, flourishes of world music from afro-beat to qawwali, even the advanced tonalities of the modern European masters. 

"This album was completely organic.  We had no expectations. We just came down and started writing. Then one thing led to the next. I had all this time off so I just started calling up friends. And once the process started rolling and once we realized that we were onto something, we were writing tunes and all the sounds we were getting were amazing and it was starting to feel great.  It felt like something was happening and we wanted to keep throwing musicians on the fire," said Trucks of making the album.

The band, which consists of Derek Trucks on guitar, bassist Todd Smallie, percussionist Count M'Butu, drummer Yonrico Scott, keyboardist Kofi Burbridge and singer Mike Mattison, was joined by their famous friends- pals like Doyle Bramhall II, Oteil Burbridge and Trucks' wife Susan Tedeschi can all be heard on the album. 

Bramhall takes over the vocal duties on the two songs, "Maybe This Time" which mixes languid guitars and Eastern flavor and "Our Love," a companion piece with the piercing guitar riffs signature of Bramhall/Trucks collaborations.  

The album's first single, "Down in the Flood" from Bob Dylan and The Band's album The Basement Tapes, has almost more relevance now, post Hurricane Katrina, than when Dylan wrote it in 1967.  "I think it really turned out to be one of the most powerful tracks on the record. I think lyrically it's pretty timely. Crash on the levee, down in the flood, are so significant post-Katrina. There are some good metaphors, as there are in most Dylan tunes," says Trucks.

Track Listing:  

1. Down In The Flood

2. Something To Make You Happy

3. Maybe This Time

4. Sweet Inspiration

5. Don't Miss Me

6. Get What You Deserve

7. Our Love

8. Down Don't Bother Me

9. Days Is Almost Gone

10. Back Where I Started

11. I Know

12. Already Free

Download of documentary also available today.

By Fred Mills

Friday we brought you word of the forthcoming Arcade Fire documentary, Miroir Noir, due on DVD early next year but being sold via download starting today.

Here's the film trailer:

All the songs you know you really wanna hate but can't....

By Blurt Staff

The second installment of 07's sing-a-long darling, Guilt By Association, with yet another volume of pop music gems sung by your favorite indie artists. Guilt By Association Vol 2 is brings together your most beloved underground bands with your Top 40 Radio hits of the 80's, 90's and today. The series, according to BLURT precursor Harp, is more "elegy than irony and offers a primer on how to cover songs successfully". (Watch BLURT soon for a feature on this new installment of GBA.)

 
Guilt By Association Vol 2 looks and plays like a cassette tape that you might have made for a friend or, lets face it, your cutie crush in high school with love notes and all. Vol 2 features Robbers On High Street doing New Edition, Matt Pond PA covering My Chemical Romance, Takka Takka tackling Phil Collins, Cassettes Won't Listen covering INXS.

 
Guilt By Association Vol 2 was conceptualized and produced by Wesley Verhoeve and lends towards danceable covers of some of the artists favorite pop songs. "We wanted to take what was done on Volume 1 and pour it into a cohesive framework. We're big fans of pop music, but also of indie music and in that sense there's nothing ironic about this project. Together with the artists we picked pop songs they loved that might sometimes be painted as guilty pleasures by some (but not us), and then attempted to shine a light on them in a way that exposes what is so awesome about these songs," says Wes.

 
The Forms's cover of Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire' or My Brightest Diamond's take on 'Tainted Love', are transformed into a slamming modern indie dance party track that fits right into today's' Brooklyn scene. Others like Matt Pond PA's version of My Chemical Romance' "I'm Not Okay" provide us with a quick mellow moment of melancholy.

The Guilt By Association is a compilation series conceived by Peter Block, co-founder of Engine Room Recordings, will release the Vol 2 on Feb. 17th with a third not far behind. The first volume was produced by renowned music supervisors Randall Poster and Jim Dunbar (All Wes Anderson films, Squid & The Whale, Lost, etc.) and included tracks by indie luminaries Devendra Banhart, Will Oldham, Petra Haden and many others. As an overarching theme for Vol. 1 there was a moody early 90's indie feel.

Click Here To Listen To My Brightest Dimond Do "Tainted Love"

Notes from the bands:

Conrad Doucette of Takka Takka covers Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight":

"I'n The Air Tonight' is probably the darkest, and weirdest, tune Phil Collins ever wrote. The structure of the song allowed us to drop some of our own atmospherics onto a song already rich in atmosphere. If anything, we feel guilty about not feeling guilty about liking this song."

Alex of The Forms covers Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire":

"I grew up playing classical piano and this was one of the first songs that helped me make a transition to rock music, in a nerdy 8 year old kinda way. It's an impressive song. There are 7 verses and it was a real challenge for us to continually make those interesting. It's also compelling that the lyrics for a song written in '88 ring so true in an eerie way for today."

Alex from Lowry covers Toto's "Africa":

"We've always been afraid of the return of prog rock.  That being said, perhaps we were able to stick our fingers in the dam by releasing a song that was already good and making it bad. LOL.  Seriously though, we really like the song.  If anyone knows what the hell David Paich was talking about in that song, please reach out to us. . .we're stumped."

 
Track Listing:

1. My Brightest Diamond - Tainted Love
2. The Bloodsugars - Self-Control
3. Robbers on High Street - Cool It Now
4. Frightened Rabbit - Set you Free
5. Matt Pond PA - I'm Not Okay
6. Takka Takka - In the Air Tonight
7. Kaki King - I Think She Knows
8. Francis And The Lights - Can't Tell Me Nothing
9. Lowry - Africa
10. The Forms - We Didn't Start The Fire Final Mix
11. Rafter - If You Leave
12. Cassettes Won't Listen - Need You Tonight
13. Jukebox the Ghost - It's A Beautiful Life
14. Max Vernon - I Kissed a Girl

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres: Britney Spears

12:00 Rave HD: From the Basement - Thom Yorke

1:00 Rave HD: Dave Fanning Interview - Radiohead

6:00 Sundance: Iconoclasts - Tony Hawk + Jon Favreau

8:00 Rave HD: Dave Fanning Interview - Paul Weller

9:00 VH1 Classic: FM

9:30 Fuse: Fall Out Boy - Live From Chicago

10:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise - Islands

11:35 CBS David Letterman: Fall Out Boy

11:35 NBC: Jay Leno: Relient K

12:35 CBS: Craig Ferguson: Don Rickles

12:00 ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live!: the Cure

12:35 NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Fleet Foxes

1:35 NBC: Carson Daly: Bam Margera/ Dan Finnerty

CURRENT: La Blogotheque: the Dodos, Grand Archives

Only two, count ‘em, two weeks this time, punters.

By Fred Mills

The Hold Steady just announced dates for their Spring tour (it'll be preceded by a charity bash in Chicago on Jan. 15). The trek begins March 31 in Albany and will only run for two weeks, through April 15 in Sacramento - they must be worn out from nonstop touring in '08 in support of Stay Positive.

Opening act on all dates will be War On Drugs.

Tour Dates:

Jan 15 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues (Cubs Charities event)

Mar 31- Albany, NY @ Valentine's

Apr 1 - Buffalo, NY @ The Tralf Music Hall

Apr 2 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Calvin College Fine Arts Center

Apr 3 - Urbana, IL @ Illini Courtyard Cafe

Apr 4 - Bloomington, IN @ Jake's Nightclub

Apr 6 - St. Louis, MO @ The Gargoyle

Apr 7 - Iowa City, IA @ Picador

Apr 8 - Omaha, NE @ Slowdown

Apr 10 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theater

Apr 11 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge

Apr 13 - Reno, NV @ The Underground

Apr 14 - Stateline, NV @ Harrah's Tahoe South Shore Room

Apr 15 - Sacramento, CA @ Harlow's Night Club

Tour starts Feb. 12; tix can be had right now, bubba!

By Blurt Staff

BLURT fave Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit will be hitting the road in mid-February shortly before the release of the new self-titled album (Isbell's second since leaving the Drive-By Truckers), due Feb. 17 on Lightning Rod. See below for the scoop.

Pre-orders for tickets have already begun and will run until Dec. 19 at this site: http://jasonisbell.frontgatetickets.com/. Tour dates follow the album details.

 The 400 Unit is Derry deBorja (keyboards), Jimbo Hart (bass) and Browan Lollar (guitar). Matt Pence (Centro-matic/South San Gabriel) lends his talents as co-producer, drummer and engineer. The album was co-produced by Isbell and The 400 Unit with Matt Pence. "I want it to be known that it's a band record," says Isbell. "I want it to be known that it's something we all did together. Even though I wrote the songs, it was a very inclusive project." Isbell has posted the new track, "Seven-Mile Island," on the band's MySpace site.

The album was recorded at the renowned FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. Isbell, who Details Magazine calls "one of America's best young songwriters," is following in the tradition of American songwriters who have recorded in North Alabama. Much like Arthur Alexander, Eddie Hinton and Spooner Oldham, Isbell mixes a soulful vocal style with songs that are passionate and unrepentant in their sense of place and direct in their stubborn Southerness.

Isbell and The 400 Unit have played over 200 dates since the release of Sirens Of The Ditch  (including All Points West, Voodoo Music Experience and WXPN Freedom Fest) and will announce the first round of their 2009 dates soon.

Meanwhile, don't forget to check the BLURT video section - we've got some exclusive clips of Isbell performing acoustic versions of Sirens material along with interview material (such as the origin of the name "The 400 Unit") filmed in Asheville, NC, earlier this year.

TRACKLIST

1.  Seven-Mile Island                        

2.  Sunstroke

3.  Good

4.  Cigarettes and Wine

5.  However Long

6.  Coda

7.  The Blue

8.  No Choice in the Matter

9.  Soldiers Get Strange

10. Streetlights

11.  The Last Song I Will Write

 Tour Dates:

Thu-Feb-12 Birmingham, AL Workplay
Sat-Feb-14 Florence, AL Shoals Theater
Tue-Feb-17  Athens, GA Georgia Theatre
 Wed-Feb-18 Atlanta, GA The Earl
Fri-Feb-20 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
 Sat-Feb-21 Richmond, VA  The National
 Sun-Feb-22 Harrisonburg, VA The Pub
 Tue-Feb-24 Boston, MA TT the Bears
 Thu-Feb-26 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
 Fri-Feb-27 Philadelphia, PA    World Café Live
 Sat-Feb-28  Pittsburgh, PA Club Cafe
 Sun-Mar-01 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
 Mon-Mar-02 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom
 Wed-Mar-04 Toronto, ONT  Horseshoe Tavern
 Thu-Mar-05 Buffalo, NY Mohawk Place
 Fri-Mar-06 Columbus, OH The Rumba Café
 Sat-Mar-07 Cincinnati, OH Southgate House
 Sun-Mar-08 Asheville, NC Orange Peel
 Fri-Mar-13 Louisville, KY Headliner's
 Sat-Mar-14 Nashville, TN The Mercy Lounge
Mar 18 - 22 Austin, TX SXSW

Note:

Sons of Roswell support 2/12 and 2/14
Benji Hughes supports 2/17 - 2/ 22 and 3/8
Deer Tick supports 2/24, 2/27 - 3/14

[Photo Credit: Allison V. Smith]

Now you can annoy everybody with some more Christmas music, and not just those in proximity to your cellphone...

By Blurt Staff

Weezer fans anxious (are there any other kinds?) to hear the much-talked-about Christmas songs the band recorded for iPhone get an early Christmas present today - well, they have to pay for it, but that's beside the point.

December 16 brings the digital release of six Christmas songs originally recorded for the recently released the #1 selling iPhone app "Tap Tap Revenge Christmas With Weezer." For the first time ever a band recorded music for an app but demand was so great from non-iPhone users that the band decided to make the songs available at all the usual digital retailers including Tunes and Amazon.com. This also marks the first time Apple released App music on iTunes.

The songs on the EP are: "We Wish You A Merry Christmas", "Silent Night", "O Holy Night", "The First Noel", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful."

By Blurt Staff

The 30^th annual Blues Music Awards will take place May 7 in Memphis - among the nominees this time are the Mannish Boys, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Elvin Bishop and Magic Slim. For a complete list of the 30th Blues Music Awards Nominees, click here: http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/nominees.php4

Full details follow:

WHAT: The Blues Music Awards

WHEN: Thursday, May 7, 2009

WHERE: Cook Convention Center, 255 N. Main, Memphis, TN

TICKETS: $125, available December 16, 2008 via http://www.blues.org or 901.527.2583 x10. (Tables of 10 are $1200.)

The Blues Foundation has confirmed the thirtieth annual Blues Music Awards, a seven-plus hour throw-down featuring dozens of incredible musicians and honoring the best of the blues world. Blues Foundation members will be able to vote starting today, through March 1, with the results determining the winners.

West coast-based group The Mannish Boys lead the pack this year with six nominations, including band, traditional album and album of the year in addition to individual nominations for band members Richard Innes (drums), Kid Ramos (guitar), and Larry Taylor (bass).  Tied with four nominations each are slide guitar legend Elvin Bishop, pianist Eden Brent, songstress Janiva Magness, soul man Curtis Salgado, and former truck driver Watermelon Slim. Buddy Guy is nominated for three awards and B.B. King for two.

The Mississippi-based Homemade Jamz Blues Band are the youngest nominees at 9, 14, and 16 years of age. Sadly, Sean Costello received two posthumous nominations while Jeff Healey received one. Chicago elder statesman and torch bearer Magic Slim earned three nods. Lurrie Bell earned two nominations for an album he made while grieving the loss of his wife and his father, harp man Carrie Bell.

The Blues Foundation has added a Rock Blues category for the first time in 2009, with nominations going to Gary Moore, Jeff Healey, Michael Burks, Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Sonny Landreth, and Walter Trout.

Performers have not yet been confirmed for the 2009 show but all nominees are invited to take the stage, showing a broad range of blues styles from solo resonator fingerpicking to soul-blues shouters. For the blues fan, it's the only way to see a lineup like this and it annually threatens to rage well into the night.

The awards ceremony and concert will be broadcast live by Sirius XM Satellite Radio's B.B. King's Bluesville channel. The Blues Music Awards will be shot in HD for a DVD to be released in by October, 2009.

The Blues Foundation has 3,000 individual dues-paying members around the world and 160 affiliated grassroots, member-based local blues societies in a dozen countries.

The Blues Music Awards are produced by The Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization established to preserve Blues history, celebrate Blues excellence, support Blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form. In addition to the Blues Music Awards, the Foundation also produces the Blues Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, the International Blues Challenge and the Keeping the Blues Alive Awards. It fosters education through its Blues in the Schools programming and supports the medical needs of Blues musicians with its HART Fund.  Throughout the year, the Foundation staff serves the worldwide Blues community with answers, contact information and news.   For more information or to join The Blues Foundation, log onto www.blues.org

Well, why not? Last year it was Led Zep rumors. If neither artist pans out they can always get a Phish tribute band and John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band to sub... or an encore set from Lez Zeppelin....

By Fred Mills

Gentlemen, start your rumors. RollingStone.com is reporting from "reliable sources" (uh-huh) that Phish is slated to be a two-night headliner at Bonnaroo '09 (which we previously announced in this space as taking place next June 11-14 in Manchester, TN). According to the report, while the organizers of the annual gathering of the tribes rarely announces the lineups until February, the aforementioned reliable sources say that Phish is being tapped in order to restore "the fest to its jam-friendly roots." And of course Phish already announced their impending reunion a couple of months ago, so it makes sense.

Meanwhile, RollingStone.com is also saying that there's strong buzz about Bruce Springsteen potentially being the Sunday night festival closer. Which ain't a bad thing at all! The Boss will have a new album out early next year and will likely be making the rounds of stadiums in the summer, but a festival date would mark an entire new deal for the E Streeters.

Coming soon: BLURT poll on holiday songs you never want to hear again...

By Fred Mills

See that subhead above? Keep your eyes peeled, kiddos. Meanwhile, before la deluge, this Christmas song from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, currently streaming at their MySpace page: "All I Want For Christmas" finds Karen O & Co. in strikingly subdued form, poppy and with a hint of Spector (pre-murder trial, natch) for good measure.

This all while we wait for the previously-announced new album from the NYC band, to be titled Show Your Bones and due sometime next year.

Streaming video of the making of the album at Anti.com.

By Fred Mills

We previously brought you the dope on the forthcoming Neko Case album, Middle Cyclone, due March 3 from Anti-. Now comes word that the label has posted a video on the making of the record featuring behind the scenes footage and some of the new songs.

Go HERE to view the video.

According to the label:

Filmed in the "creaky" New England barn that served as home base for some of the album sessions, the footage reveals fascinating details of the 'Cyclone' recording process, including the "piano orchestra" that Neko assembled from free pianos obtained through craigslist; a recording booth constructed of cardboard that she describes as "a lot like a Little Rascals set"; and the serendipitous sounds of wind and frogs that made it onto the album.

Well, all right then! We're all about creaky barns, free pianos and serendipitous sounds!

[Photo Credit: Dennis Kleiman]

Getting "ready for the flood" no doubt...

By Blurt Staff

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 Syndicate Ellen Degeneres: Eric Benet

12:00 Rave HD: Chris Isaak Christmas Special

2:00 Fuse: Steven's Untitled Rock Show

4:30 Rave HD: Depeche Mode Live in Milan

10:00 Rave HD: Black Angels

11:35 NBC: Jay Leno: Scarlett Johansson

11:35 CBS: David Letterman: Broken Social Scene

12:05 ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live!: The Fray

12:35 CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Death Cab for Cutie, Samuel L. Jackson

1:35 NBC Carson Daly: Panic at the Disco

FUEL TV: The Daily Habit: the Hives

10:00 SUNDANCE: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Bill Clinton

Pop pop fizz fizz... kinda like her music.

By Blurt Staff

Welsh singer and Rockferry breakout star Duffy will be the new face for Diet Coke in the UK, it was announced today. She reportedly nailed a six-figure deal for the upcoming ad campaign, and according to Coke they like her for her "raw and edgy character... She's ideal to reach our target audience in the teen and twenties age ranges."

Hey - that's the same fuckin' demographic BLURT is chasing. You know - the raw and edgy types. To that end, BLURT will be seeking "a new face" for our brand. Aspiring models may send photos - lots, especially if you look anything like Duffy - and portfolios to the usual address...

It's free, but why not make a donation to Safe Horizon while you're at it.

By Blurt Staff

This holiday season, the ghosts of alt-rock Christmas bring a special re-release from Secret Machines' front man Brandon Curtis, featuring vocalist Tamaryn, whose solemn adaptation of the relentlessly familiar 1818 German Christmas classic "Silent Night" evokes the darker side of human nature in its quest to rekindle compassion for mankind. The digital-only offering will be available from the Secret Machines' website as a free download, with the option to make a donation to the childrens' charity, Safe Horizon, which will receive 100% of the proceeds.

"We originally released it in 2006 as a little Christmas gift of our own, on MySpace. Tamaryn and I were both performing in New York at the time, and we were looking for an opportunity to work together on some music. It was December and we were confined by the cold, confined by the holidays, and confined by our own disillusionment. It started with this story which Tamaryn had written," explains Curtis. A pastor looks down from a hill and meditates on a peaceful blanket of snow. From beyond the heavens he hears the sound of angels singing; a leader is born in silence, no fireworks or roaring crowds a child of sovereign blood first hears. Everything quiet, calm and otherworldly, the angels continue to sing, their romantic illuminations so powerful that one trembles upon seeing them and recognizes the dawn of grace.

The story behind the song's inspiration gives way to the importance of giving back to those in need during these trying times. The song is being offered free of charge, or with the option to make a goodwill donation to Safe Horizon, a New York-based charity that assists victims of abuse, neglect, and domestic violence. "Silent Night is the song of an angelic yearning for the perfection of pure love. To sing it is to join in the universal hope that it exists," continues Tamaryn. "It's a really pretty image - Utopian for sure - but isn't that what it's all about?" adds Brandon. (Tamaryn is a vocalist living between New York and San Francisco. Her EP Led Astray, Washed Ashore is being released by Troubleman Unlimited this spring.)

To download the song and donate to Safe Horizon, visit www.thesecretmachines.com.

http://www.myspace.com/imagesmusic

http://www.myspace.com/secretmachines

Documents the group's historic concert stand in NYC.

By Blurt Staff

Coming March 3: Coheed and Cambria are prepping to release Neverender, The Children of the Fence box set.

 
Neverender marked the culmination of the band's four-part interconnecting concept album cycle. The four-night event featured the band performing each of their four albums in their entirety on consecutive nights, October 22-25  2008 at New York's Terminal 5, and was the first time that Coheed had performed the saga that connects the albums in order. The band performed every song they have ever written, many never before or rarely before played, in front of nearly 11,000 of their most passionate fans, who flew in from all over the world, organized for months in advance to carpool and share hotel rooms, lined up all day in the rain to get the best spots on the floor.  Selling out in three hours, Neverender's New York dates prompted a tide of demand that spawned three other sold-out Neverender stands, in LA, Chicago and London.

 
The box set documents the New York stand (as well as clips from all three other cities) in one massive package that will include four live DVDs, four live audio CDs, one documentary DVD, a 10 x 10 hardcover 48-page photo book and a 7-1/2" custom metal dragonfly. A condensed two-disc DVD will also be made available. Pre-sales for the box began on Friday, Dec 12. Fans who pre-order it will get their names included on a "Children of the Fence" page inside the book. The first 3,000 copies will be signed by the band.

The concerts were recorded and mixed without any overdubs of any kind. The box set includes b-roll footage with dozens of interviews and a special appearance by Warren Haynes, famed guitarist of Gov't Mule and the Allman Bros, who joined the band during their encore on the final night of the event - and the band returned the favor last weekend when it was a featured performer at Haynes' annual Christmas Jam benefit concert in Asheville, NC.

Coheed and Cambria begin a tour with Slipknot on Jan. 23rd.

Don't forget that holiday EP too...

By Blurt Staff

The Pretenders announced today they will be the latest artist to be part of the iTunes "Originals" series. The Pretenders edition will be available exclusively at the iTunes Store starting December 23.  On top of this release the band has released a digital holiday EP which features a new recording of the band's classic "2000 Miles" as well as holiday classics "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and "Blue Christmas." The version of  "Blue Christmas" will also be featured in the video game Rock Band.  

The Pretenders' "Originals" release contains new recordings of songs that trace the band's entire career and were recorded with the band's lineup of Chrissie Hynde, Martin Chambers, James Walbourne, Mark Spencer, and Nick Wilkinson. As previously announced in this space, the band will tour the US for six weeks starting January 29 in Albany (Eric Heywood, the pedal steel player from the last album will be rejoining the band for the tour replacing Mark Spencer). The Pretenders Original also includes interviews with Chrissie Hynde exploring the origins of songs, and the LP Version of "Love's A Mystery" from the band's critically lauded Break Up The Concrete.

Song list for iTunes Originals:

Almost Perfect
Don't Cut Your Hair
Love's A Mystery (LP Version)
My City Was Gone
One Thing Never Changed
Rosalee
Talk Of The Town
Tequila
Thumbelina

Just in time for new album The Century of Self

By Blurt Staff

 ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead just announced a national US tour in support of their new full-length - The Century of Self - out February 17 on the band's Richter Scale Records imprint on Justice Records.  The tour kicks off on the 19^th of February at the Granada Theater in Dallas , TX . Fresh on the heels of the album's release, it will take the Austin musicians coast to coast to perform at notable venues including the Bowery Ballroom in NYC and Slim's in San Francisco.

The Century of Self was produced and mixed by Chris Coady (TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear) at his DNA Studio in NYC's East Village .  The album was recorded Spring 2008 in Austin , TX with Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Patty Griffin) at The Mob House and Chris "Frenchie" Smith (Sixteen Deluxe, Smog, Jet) at The Bubble.  Featuring vocal contributions from Yeasayer and Dragons of Zynth, Trail of Dead's sixth full-length will mark a return to their indie roots since forming in 1994.

Go HERE to read BLURT's interview with the band about the album and their recent EP.

...Trail of Dead Tour Dates:

Feb.   19^th              Granada Theater                         Dallas , TX

          24^th              The EARL                                   Atlanta , GA

          26^th              Rock & Roll Hotel                        Washington , DC

          27^th              Music Hall of Williamsburg           Brooklyn , NY

          28^th              Bowery Ballroom                        New York , NY

Mar.   1^st                Middle East Downstairs                Cambridge , MA

          7^th                Triple Rock Social Club                Minneapolis , MN

          9^th                Bluebird Theater                        Denver, CO

          12^th              Neumo's                                    Seattle , WA

          16^th              Slim's                                        San Francisco , CA

Follows string of sold-out NC shows....

By Fred Mills

With BLURT faves the Avett Brothers heading towards a year-end countdown with five sold-out shows in North Carolina (Dec. 26, 27, 28 in Asheville; Dec. 30, 31 in Charlotte), the band is now announcing a spring tour opening for superstar Dave Matthews. It runs April 22 through May 6 and tickets officially go on sale Jan. 17 - these are amost guaranteed to be instant sellouts considering the draw of each artist.

Meanwhile, bandmember Scott Avett has been busy of his own accord - bet you didn't know he's a gifted artist - and is offering limited-edition prints at the upcoming shows. One is pictured above, and in a statement from Avett he explains what went into it and his efforts:

"The print marking the fifth series of shows presented by the Avett Brothers to celebrate the onset of the new year in Asheville NC and Charlotte NC was first realized while viewing MEAL AT EMMAUS I by Michelangelo Merisi, a.k.a "Caravaggio". The composition is to have this same sort of, men gathering at a table with a bit of urgency and distress, feel. The image provides a view of six men banding together and placing their trust in time, as unforgiving as it may be, in hopes that it will serve us all as the great healer and a reason to rejoice.

The elements of 2008-09 were documented while traveling during late summer of 2008. The six figures were drawn in Portland Oregon while the drapery was drawn by observing drapery in a hotel in Boise Idaho. The transfer and carving were executed in North Carolina while the printing was also done in NC at East Carolina University."

You can also view Avett's work at www.scottavett.com

Avett Brothers Tour Dates w/Dave Matthews:

4/22: Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek

4/24: Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre

4/28: Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre At Encore Park

4/29: Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre At Encore Park

5/1: The Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

5/2: Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center

5/5: Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion

5/6: Phoenix, AZ Cricket Wireless Pavilion

Finally getting over here to promote their Constellation album The Hungry Saw.

By Fred Mills

For the first time in over five years the Tindersticks are headed to these shores. The UK band is still basking in the critical kudos for this year's The Hungry Saw, and anyone who's seen the band before can testify that in concert the group is utterly captivating, serving up, as the band's label puts it, "expertly conjured complex emotions and double-edged narratives through a sultry, swirling, finely orchestrated music that is gently uplifting, beautifully arranged, and shot through with dark tension."

Vocalist Stuart Staples' expressive, at times world-weary, but always passionate, voice has a lot to do with all that of course, but the large ensemble is a keenly-meshing group bringing scores of influences and musical gifts to the table. "In a live setting they mesmerize old fans and new with a profoundly literate and deeply moving song cycle that pulls from the group's majestic back catalogue while also featuring brilliant arrangements of the superb new album.... They create a kaleidoscope of gently stirring tunes balanced and emboldened by beautiful instrumental moments all topped by Staples' uniquely poignant voice."

The live band is a 7-piece, featuring founding members Stuart Staples (voice, guitar), David Boulter (organ, keyboards) and Neil Fraser (guitar), the new rhythm section of Dan McKinna (bass) and Thomas Belhom (drums), and Terry Edwards (brass) and Andrew Nice (cello). 

Read our review of the album HERE.


Tindersticks Tour Dates:

Wed. Mar. 4    Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
Thu.  Mar. 5    Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
Fri.    Mar. 6    Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
Sat.    Mar. 7    Boston, MA @ Somerville Theatre
Mon. Mar. 9    Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
Tue.   Mar. 10  Toronto, ON @ Opera House
Wed.  Mar. 12  Chicago, IL @ Epiphany Episcopal Church

[photo credit: Richard Dumas]

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: Neko Case

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres: Plain White T's

11:00 Rave HD: Elvis Costello Live in Montreal

4:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: The Donnas

5:30 VH1 Classic: That Metal Show: Twisted Sister

7:00 VH1 Classic: Prince: Paisley Park

8:00 Rave HD: Dave Fanning Interview: Radiohead

10:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: Dr. Dog

10:00 Sundance: Iconoclasts: Bill Maher & Clive Davis

11:00 Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Bill Clinton

11:35 CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Of Montreal

11:35 NBC: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno: Zooey Deschanel

12:05 ABC Jimmy Kimmel: All American Rejects

12:35 NBC Conan O'Brien: Little Big Town

1:35 NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: the Cure

Don't worry - digital download coupon will also be included.

By Blurt Staff

This year Brooklyn's Ida released their seventh album Lovers Prayers along with the companion EP My Fair, My Dark, additionally undertaking a successful tour of the UK with Low. The band's been around since '92 and remains one of America's most beloved indiepop outfits. Now, Polyvinyl, in cooperation with Simple Machines, has announced plans to release of Ida's first 3 albums on vinyl for the first time ever. 

Each album will be printed on deluxe double gatefold jackets and pressed on 180 gram vinyl, and included will be a digital download coupon  for the entire album for the iPod enthusiast in the house.

The details:

Ida - Tales of Brave Ida
 
This somber debut from the New York duo Dan Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell marks a great beginning for Ida. Tales of Brave Ida features melodic, fuzzy guitar work that is comparable to the haunting, droning aspects of the Velvet Underground and Nick Drake while still maintaining an original sense of style. With the canny addition of a gloomy cello, provided by Julia Kent, the album does an excellent job of portraying dismal beauty. Dreamy songs such as "Tempting," "Slowdance," and "Vacation" make this debut release worthwhile.

Ida - I Know About You
 
            Ida's second full-length release, I Know About You, is a giant step forward from the band's first,
Tales of Brave Ida. With the addition of drummer Michael Littleton, the songs come into full bloom with new rhythms and interesting dynamics that add to the band's prominent style. Tracks such as "Back Burner" and "Treasure Chest," showcase the piercing vocal intricacies of Ida's managing duo, Dan Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell.  I Know About You, is a breakthrough in more ways than one, a mandatory gem in Ida's vast catalogue.

Ida - Ten Small Places
 
            Ida's third release, Ten Small Places, was recorded over a several year span, in various studios. Instead of a concentrated, thesis oriented album, this release is more of a collection of 14 songs that illustrate the band's dynamics. Dan Littleton and Elizabeth Mitchell continue to showcase their interwoven guitar and vocal work with the added help of new member, bassist Karla Schickele, who contributes with compositions like "Fallen Arrow" and "Poor Dumb Bird." The album also contains multiple covers, including Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere," and Brian Eno's "Golden Hours." Ten Small Places continues to persuade listeners with warm, intimate material, while also giving fans a different sense of what makes the band special.

The contact:

 www.idamusic.com

www.polyvinylrecords.com

That's Coco, Poni and Jem to their friends....

By Fred Mills

BLURT hero/heroines The Ettes will be serving up a March 2009 EP and have a limited edition vinyl single in the works recorded with friend/fan Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. The 5-track EP includes two tracks with Auerbach, one unreleased track from the Toe Rag sessions that yielded this year's amazing Look At Life Again Soon, and two live tracks. 

Meanwhile, though, they'll be doing select national dates starting in January and are scheduled to appear at SXSW, where for the past two year's they've stormed Austin stages like nobody's business. (BLURT was in attendance so we can attest that you'd be a chump to miss ‘em on tour.)

Some p.r. hype that ain't offbase:

The Ettes have been melting hearts and stages across America with their unique sound - part 60s girl group melodic pop, part raw early punk anthems and enough attitude and live presence to ignite the dance floor.   Tours with like-minded artists ranging from the New York Dolls to Holly Golightly, The Constantines and the Black Keys have honed the band's edge. THE ETTES managed to blow audiences away at clubs and fests such as SXSW, CMJ and more. They also conquered Spain, where the Spanish edition of Rolling Stone dedicated five pages to a spread on the trio!

Lauded by fans and critics alike, American radio has embraced the band, and they've also had song placements on MTV and critical fave Friday Night Lights. Their current release, Look At Life Again Soon (Take Root),  found them back at London's legendary analog haven Toe Rag Studios to work with soul mate and  gear guru Liam Watson, who took the band under his wing. The production is effectively low-fi and has a nice, tube-amp growl that suits the band's beat-punk rock and roll. It's also a blistering follow-up to their Sympathy for Record Industry debut, Shake the Dust (2006) and shows The Ettes as a band that just keeps getting better.

Read about ‘em at BLURT HERE.

Or if you want to read a profile of the band written by, uh, me, go HERE.

Tour Dates:

Jan 15 - Memphis, TN @ The Hi-Tone

Jan 16 - Oklahoma City, OK @ The Conservatory

Jan 17 - Albuquerque, NM @ The Atomic Cantina

Jan 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Rogue West w/ The Love Me Nots

Jan 21 -Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland

Jan 22 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop

Jan 23 - Portland, OR @ Slabtown

Jan 24 - Seattle, WA @ KEXP, In-Studio at 3pm!

Jan 24   Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern w/ The Purrs

Jan 27 - Boise, ID @ TBA

Jan 28 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Burt's Tiki Lounge

Jan 29 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge

Jan 30- Omaha, NE @ The 49R

Jan 31- St. Louis, MO @ The Way Out Club 

Now aren't you glad you read BLURT? How else would you find out about cool stuff like this?

By Blurt Staff

Mark your calendars for Jan. 13, punters: that's when Superchunk will release the fourth volume in their Clambakes series:  Superchunk -- The Clambakes Vol 4 -- Sur La Bouche -- Live in Montreal 1993.

Recorded on a cold March night at the club Backstreet by Howard Bilerman (later of the Arcade Fire and current engineer and operator of Hotel 2 Tango Studios in Montreal),  Sur La Bouche captures Superchunk in the midst of touring for On the Mouth, out on Matador a few months previous.  The sound is not pristine -- guitars and drums are cranked and overload the tape occasionally -- but the energy of the night is definitely captured and after all, it's a bootleg!  Howard even dug up the flyer from the show from the depths of his archives.

Available for digital download exclusively from the Merge digital store, Clambakes Vol 4 will also be sent for free to all subscribers to the SCORE! Merge 20th Anniversary Box Set as the first of many archival downloads Merge will make available to SCORE! subscribers throughout 2009.

All the concert news ‘n' reviews that's fit to print.

By Blurt Staff

More concert coverage from your friendly neighborhood BLURT - this time, we've got Mudhoney (w/openers Wooden Shjips) in San Francisco December 12 and Mercury Rev (w/Dean & Britta) in Boston December 5.

• *Wyndham Lewis caught the Rev at Boston's Paradise Rock Club to witness them marching "through a set that overloaded the senses of sight and sound while delivering a perfect dose of the best kind of drama."
• *A week later Prof. Jud Cost stalked his old buddies in Mudhoney at San Fran's The Independent and found ‘em to be as mighty as ever. "It was a great night," concluded Cost, "drenched with the untamed spirit once available on a weekly basis in the late '80s when this same place, called the Kennel Club back then, hosted incendiary shows."

Check ‘em out at the provided links, or simply scroll down the BLURT front page to the reviews section. We've also got new book, DVD and CD reviews being added daily.

Divinely inspired, we are advised....

By Blurt Staff

The Soundtrack of Our Lives will release their 2 disc, 24-track  Communion in early '09 on esteemed indie label Yep Roc. It's their first studio record in nearly four years from the Swedish band of roving psychedelic Argonauts. Caftan-sporting eccentric lead singer Ebbot Lundberg, guitarists Ian Person and Mattias Bärjed, bassist Kalle Gustafsson, keyboardist Martin Hederos and drummer Fredrik Sandsten reportedly experienced divine inspiration in the studio, completing basic tracks in a mere two weeks.

"This was the easiest, most natural thing we've ever recorded," Lundberg notes, adding, "It really felt like the album created itself, like we had a dream of what the album was supposed to be and then the album became that."

After it became evident the band was taking a new musical direction, the members decided to abandon plans for a follow up to their last album Origin Vol. 1 and instead focus on a large scale mood piece based on the concepts of day and night-a  song for each hour.

Watch for a tour following the release of the album - as anyone who's caught them I the past (their SXSW show in Austin a couple of years ago was a mind blower), the band's not to be missed in concert. 

Also records new album's worth of holiday songs.

By Fred Mills

Over at Sufjan Stevens' label Asthmatic Kitty, they've got some Christmas goodies for you - just click on the link to go to the website and highlight some of the "presents" boxes and you'll be able to:

*Play Sufjan Stevens' A Christmas Game
*Create a Sufjan Elf E-Card
*Print some ornaments for your tree
*Listen to Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas for free
*Download free Sufjan Christmas ringtones
*Download free Sufjan Stevens MP3s
*Watch "Put the Lights on the Tree"
*Watch "Put the Lights on the Tree" by the International Class Grade Four

Now that's some good ol' fashioned fun - and in the true Christmas spirit of givin'.

Meanwhile, word arrives (via Pitchfork) that Stevens has recorded yet another edition of holiday music; recall that his first five volumes were boxed by his label as Songs For Christmas (still available, incidentally). The latest, Volume 8, is called Astral Inter Planet Space Captain Christmas Infinity Voyage, although note that at the moment it appears to be a private pressing deal for family and friends only.

Tracklisting:

1 Angels We Have Heard on High
2 Do You See What I See?
3 It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
4 Christmas in the Room
5 Good King Wenceslas
6 Joy to the World
7 The Child With the Star on His Head

Signs deal with the label to the sound of much back-slapping and more...

By Blurt Staff

Actually, despite that snarky title we think it's pretty cool too because we are all about vision, ‘ears' and maintaining integrity ourselves. But we still wish Van the Man had signed with our own Blurt Records.. Read on...

***

Multi-award-winning legendary soul singer and songwriter Van Morrison has returned to EMI Music, with a live recording slated for release in early 2009. The album marks the first record to be issued on Morrison's own label, Listen To The Lion Records, which will be distributed worldwide by EMI.  The album captures the widely-acclaimed live performance Morrison gave at the venerable Hollywood Bowl in November, which featured a breathtaking recreation of the "Astral Weeks" album.

"I brought these records to EMI because they seem to have people with vision, who have ‘ears' and who understand the significance of the complex arrangements and the classic essence of recordings like ‘Astral Weeks,'" said Van Morrison.  "They're committed to maintaining the integrity of the records I make.  That is what it's all about to me."

"Van Morrison is a true living legend, and he continues to inspire artists and fans that span generations and genres," said Nick Gatfield.  "We are delighted he is bringing his label to EMI and are very excited to bring his first release to the world."

In his remarkable career, Morrison has become one of the most influential artists in the modern age.  His album "Astral Weeks," originally released 40 years ago, was heralded as a groundbreaking work and today is universally regarded as one of the most important albums in popular music history.  Timeless music from the soul, "Astral Weeks" is ranked one of the greatest albums of all time by Mojo, Rolling Stone and Britain's The Times.

"EMI has had the good fortune to work with Van over the years, but I am personally excited about this release because I worked with Van back in 1968 on the release of the original ‘Astral Weeks' recording" said Ian Ralfini, Senior Vice President, EMI Music.  "This particular show at the Bowl was electrifying.  For some of us it was a little bit of nostalgia and for others it was a brand new experience.  But for everyone it was a great concert and a piece of musical history.  We are honored that Van has returned to EMI." 

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

8:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: Ted Leon & the Pharmacists

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres: Carmen Electra, Pussycat Dolls

9:00 Syndicated: Bonnie Hunt: Melissa Etheridge, Lucy Lawless

11:00 VH1 Classic: Prince - Paisley Park

12:30 Sundance: True History of the Traveling Wilburys

3:00 Rave HD: Keane - Live at the O2

5:00 VH1 Classic: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

8:00 Rave HD: Dave Fanning Interview: Slash

9:00 Sundance: Live From Abbey Road - Panic at the Disco, David Gray, Suzanne Vega

10:00 Sundance: Sigur Ros "Heima"

10:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: My Morning Jacket

11:00 VH1 Classic: Soundstage: Fleetwood Mac

11:35 CBS: David Letterman: Leona Lewis

11:35 NBC: Jay Leno: Melissa Etheridge

12:05 ABC: Jimmy Kimmel: Fall Out Boy

1:35 NBC: Carson Daly: GAvin DeGraw

2:00 Sundance: Live From Abbey Road - Panic at the Disco, David Gray, Suzanne Vega

BLURT heroine ‘n' heroes close out the year with their first live release.

By Blurt Staff

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals are set to release their first-ever live recording, Live From Skowhegan, arriving fro Ragged Company/Hollywood Records on Dec. 23 at all digital retailers. Culled from a concert given at the Skowhegan Opera House in Skowhegan, Maine, on June 27 of this year, the EP finds the band performing two new songs, "I Can't See Through" and "Sugar" as well as four favorites from their two previous studio albums: "Ragged Company," "Stop The Bus," "Apologies" and "Ah Mary."

Based in Burlington, VT, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have made a name for themselves as one of New England's most popular bands, so it was only fitting they record a debut live EP in their home region. The Skowhegan concert came as part of a yearlong headlining tour that took the band all over the country promoting 2007's This is Somewhere.

You may recall that a little ol' magazine called Harp named it one of the 50 Best Albums of 2007 and additionally featured Potter in some provocative photo spreads in the magazine's subsequent political issue....

Potter and the Nocturnals will wrap up 2008 with a three-night New Year's stand at the Higher Ground Ballroom in Burlington Dec. 28, 29 and 31. Happy new year from your friends at BLURT, Grace and gang!

He is still the Lizard King - he can do anything.

By Blurt Staff

Does the world need yet another Doors biographical treatment? Wolf Films/Strange Pictures, in association with Rhino Entertainment, apparently thinks so, and despite the existence of numerous Doors films - concert docs, video clips anthologies, and of course the Oliver Stone biopic - When You're Strange gets bragging rights as the "first feature documentary" about the band.

It will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17 at 9 p.m., with additional screenings throughout the week (see schedule below). According to Rhino, Award-winning writer-director Tom DiCillo's film "uncovers historic, previously unseen footage from the illustrious rock quartet and provides new insight into the revolutionary impact of their music and legacy. Using footage shot between their formation in 1966 and Jim Morrison's death in 1971, it follows the band from the corridors of UCLA's film school, where Manzarek and Morrison met and began writing songs, to the stages of sold-out arenas. Rare cinéma vérité footage offers an intimate glimpse into their musical collaboration ­ and their offstage lives."

 The film of course takes its title from a Doors song of the same name.

"The Doors' music is the rock equivalent to film. It has great drama, sex, poetry, and mystery. Their music is for all those who've ever felt the cool chill of isolation and oddness in themselves; which in effect is all of us," says filmmaker DiCillo, in a statement.

Adds producer Dick Wolf, "Remember the phrase 'If you remember the '60s, you weren't there?' In '66 I was a sophomore in college. I don't remember that, but I do remember the first time I heard The Doors that year. I'm still listening 42 years later and so is my 15-year old son. The Doors will be remembered, and listened to, as long as people have ears."

 
The soundtrack to the film featuring classic studio and live tracks from The Doors, will also be released in Summer 2009 from Rhino.

 
 

 
PUBLIC SCREENING SCHEDULE AT SUNDANCE:

Sat. Jan 17 at 9:00 PM - Temple Theatre, Park City ­ (Premiere Screening)
Sun. Jan 18 at 2:30 PM - Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City
Tue. Jan 20 at 6:00 PM - Broadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Wed. Jan 21 at 9:00 AM - Temple Theatre, Park City
Fri. Jan 23 at 6:15 PM - Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City

 
PRESS & INDUSTRY SCREENING

Sun. Jan 18 at 9:45 PM ­ Yarrow 1, Park City

New album due Feb. 17. What the hell is up with that baby, Moz?

By Blurt Staff

Morrissey's "Years of Refusal" arrives in the US February 17 on Attack/Lost Highway. It will be Morrissey's first studio album since 2006's UK #1 "Ringleader of the Tormentors". In February, Morrissey will begin the US leg of his world tour that includes rare intimate club dates. Tickets for some of the dates go on sale TODAY, Dec. 19, at Ticketbastard.

The late Jerry Finn, who previously worked on 2004's critical and commercial smash "You Are the Quarry", produced "Years of Refusal" which is the last album he worked on. The single "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris", which Morrissey debuted during his sold out 2007 world tour, will precede the album. Long time band members Boz Boorer, Jesse Tobias, Matt Walker, and Solomon Walker play on the album, which also features a contribution from Jeff Beck on the track "Black Cloud".

Years of Refusal Tracklist

1.    Something Is Squeezing My Skull
2.    Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
3.    Black Cloud
4.    I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris
5.    All You Need Is Me
6.    When Last I Spoke to Carol
7.    That's How People Grow Up
8.    One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell
9.    It's Not Your Birthday Anymore
10.     You Were Good In Your Time
11.     Sorry Doesn't Help
12.     I'm OK By Myself




Morrissey US Dates

2/28      Boca Raton, FL        Mizner Park
3/1        Orlando, FL            Hard Rock live
3/3        Jacksonville, FL       Florida Theater
3/4        St. Petersburg, FL    Jannus Landing
3/6        Myrtle Beach. SC     House of Blues
3/7        Atlanta, GA             Variety Playhouse
3/9        Asheville, NC          Orange Peel
3/11       Durham, NC           Durham Performing Arts Center
3/13       Richmond, VA         The National
3/14       Washington, DC      Warner Theater
3/16       Montclair, NJ          Wellmont Theater
3/17       Pittsburgh, PA        Carnegie Music Hall
3/19       Buffalo, NY            University of Buffalo Center       
                                        for the Arts
3/21       New York, NY        Bowery Ballroom
3/22       Philadelphia, PA     Acadmy of Music
3/25       New York, NY        Webster Hall
3/26       New York, NY        Carnegie Hall
3/28       Mashantucket, CT   Foxwoods
3/29       Boston, MA            House of Blues
3/31       Ann Arbor, MI        Michigan Theater
4/1        Columbus, OH        Palace Theater
4/3        Milwaukee, WI       Eagles Ballroom
4/4        Chicago, IL           Aragon Ballroom
4/6        Minneapolis, MN    State Theater
4/7        Kansas City, MO    Midland Theater
4/8        St. Louis, MO        Pageant Theater
4/10       Dallas, TX           Palladium Ballroom
4/11       Houston, TX        Jesse H. Jones Hall
4/12       Austin, TX           Bass Concert Hall
4/14       El Paso, TX          Chavez Theater
4/15       Albuquerque, NM   Sunshine Theater

Hey - just in time for Saint Paddy's day!

Billboard.com is reporting that the new U2 album, No Line on the Horizon, is due to hit stores March 3 via Interscope. It was produced by Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite and has had a somewhat protracted gestation - including an incident where some of the tracks were leaked to the web via YouTube - since it was originally due this year before Christmas.

Bono stated earlier this year on the group's website, "I'm always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply 'put out the songs now.' If it was just up to me they'd be out already!, But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we've been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we're going to start making an impression very early on."

Speaking to Billboard, label chief Jimmy Iovine commented, "I met with the guys in U2, and they say to me, 'You know what? This album needs two more songs, and it will be exactly what we have in mind.' I go there and I listen, and I agreed with them. It's a great record, but it deserves the time. Labels need to work with artists to help them achieve their best work, not to jam records out that are half-baked or three-quarters baked."

Now THAT sounds like some of the best advice we've heard all year. Does that mean we can return all those three-quarters albums the major labels have been dumping on us for the past five years and get our money back?

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

Saturday, December 20:

10:00 VH1 Classic: Soundstage: Fleetwood Mac

1:00 Rave HD: Kaiser Chiefs Live at the Trabendo

1:00 HDNet: Derek Trucks Band - Songlines Live in Chicago

2:00 Biography: Gangsta Girls

2:30 & 11:00: Fuse: Fall Out Boy Live From Chicago Theatre

6:00 Sundance: Live From Abbey Road: Panic at the Disco, David Gray, Suzanne Vega

6:00 Rave HD: Later With Jools Holland: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keane, Thom Yorke, Bellowhead, Be Good Tanyas, The Klaxons

7:00 Rave HD: Hall & Oates

9:00 PBS: Austin City Limits: Bloc Party, Ghostland Observatory

11:00 Rave HD: Soundstage) Joss Stone

11:oo PBS: Tavis Smiley: Al Jarreau

11:00 VH1 Classic: That Metal Show: Ace Frehley

11:30 NBC: Saturday Night Live: Josh Brolin, Adele

2:00 MTV2: Headbangers Ball

Sunday December 21:

12:30 Biography: Jack Nicholson

1:00 Fuse: Top 40 of 2008

1:30 Rave HD: Dave Fanning interview: Iggy Pop

2:00 HDNet: Deacon Blue - live at Cornbury Festival

2:00 Sundance: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Bill Clinton

2:00 MTV2: 50 Cent: The Money and the Power

2:55 HDNet: Melissa Etheridge HD Rock Live

3:00 Rave HD: From the Basement: White Stripes, Neil Hannon, Shins

4:20 HDNet: Doobie Brothers - Live at Wolf Trap

7:00 VH1 Classic: Def Leppard "Hysteria"

8:00 HDNet: Kenny G - An Evening of Rhythm and Romance

9:00 VH1 Classic: David Bowie Ziggy Stardust

10:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: British Sea Power

***

COMING DEC. 28 On HDNet: Robyn Hitchcock - Live at the Cornbury Festival

Cancels shows due to an "arm injury."

By Fred Mills

Pete Doherty is in the news again, this time, according to a report at NME.com, that the troubled Babyshambles frontman canceled three nights of solo performances "at the 11^th hour, just before he was due on." They were to have taken place Dec. 20, 21 and 22 at the Rhythm Factory in London.

Doherty cited an unspecified arm injury as his reason for canceling. Gee, what could that be? Maybe he slammed his arm in a car door? His dealer broke it for non-payment? A friggin' needle broke off in a vein? The mind does wander in all matters Doherty....

The shows have been rescheduled for Jan. 8-10. UK oddsmakers are already lining up to take on the event....

Funky track surfaces for one day then, apparently, disappears.

By Fred Mills

Rollingstone.com is reporting on a track called "There Will Never B Another 1 Like Me" from Prince that surface last night on a website called Mplsound (www.mplsound.com). The six-minute track is described as a "return to the funk, similar to that fan-baiting "PFUnk" that popped up last year and the Black Album, but without the weird vocals."

According to the report the aforementioned website displays a "full screen of eye-hurting purple" while the song streams. However, as of this writing it's only displaying a black screen, with no sound whatsoever, so it appears that His Purpleness has already taking the track down. Might be worth checking it out from time to time, however.

Meanwhile, earlier this week Prince previewed three other tracks over L.A. FM station Indie 103: a cover of "Crimson & Clover" plus a "laid back guitar joint" called "Colorized Mind" and a track of "more guitar virtuosity" called "Wall of Berlin." Prince is reportedly done with his next album and in the process of finding a home for it. According to a spokesman at the radio station, Prince "wants nothing to do with record labels, so he's meeting with people to figure out how to operate at his level without a record label."

Er, indie artists all over the planet are doing that already, Mr. Nelson. No reason you can't join the party.

Band is also beginning work on next album.

By Blurt Staff

Speaking to NME.com, Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler offered a few glimpses at what went into making the band's new documentary Miroir Noir, directed by Vincent Morisset and released this week as a digital download (it's due early next year on DVD).

"It gives a little window into the band," said Butler. "We wanted to do something that gave some idea of what the band is like live, and it seemed like having 50 cameras set up wasn't necessarily the best way to do that. So it was interesting having Vincent on tour with us - [it was] just two guys with a camera. I'm happy with how it turned out.

"We got really used to it. He was onstage, and he's a very energetic guy. We met him at our first show in Paris - he was trying to get in with his girlfriend, and Richard let him into the show. So we've known him for a long time, so it's pretty easy to let him do his thing and we can do our thing."

With the DVD out of the way, the Arcade Fire is currently writing new material for their next album.

UPDATE: Butler was interviewed by Pitchfork yesterday about all this and more (including the theft of his iPod).

Includes live performances from Pete Townshend, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Kate Bush and others.

By Blurt Staff

The Secret Policeman's Balls is the collective name for a legendary series of hilarious, irreverent and groundbreaking benefit shows staged to raise funds for Amnesty International. Beginning in 1976, the Balls featured the cream of Britain's comedians and an astounding line-up of international musical talent. The shows have been credited by many as being the inspiration for many of the high-profile charity events of the last 30 years, including Live Aid.

Now, Shout! Factory, in association with Amnesty International, will be releasing The Secret Policeman's Balls DVD box set on January 27. This marks the first time the films will be available in North America.

 Featuring five of the most popular shows from the first wave of The Secret Policeman's Ball from 1976-1989 and including rare footage, these feature members of the Monty Python (John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin) and Beyond The Fringe comedy troupes (Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller), as well as individual comedic talents such as Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) and Hugh Laurie (House M.D.).

In addition to the comedians, the shows feature acoustic musical performances that prefigured the "unplugged" phenomenon by Pete Townshend, Sting, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel, Donovan, Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading. Also featured are rare duets from guitar legends Eric Clapton & Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins.

 The Balls:

Pleasure At Her Majesty s (1976)

The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)

The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981)

The Secret Policeman's Third Ball (1987)

The Secret Policeman's Biggest Ball (1989)

Bonus Features:

* Remember The Secret Policeman's Ball? (2004): Feature-length BBC documentary celebrating the 25th anniversary. Never before seen in the U.S.

* Footage from the U.K. premiere of the Secret Policeman's Other Ball.

* Rare bonus footage.

* Brand-new essays and video intros by co-producer Martin Lewis.

You gotta admit, "Brain Failure" has to be the most awesome band name that's come down the pike in years!

By Fred Mills

Tokyo's Bad News Music Publishing Co., Inc. has hooked up with the China's biggest digital music distributor company, R2G (located in Beijing, China) to release their Chinese punk band Brain Failure's new album "Downtown Production" in digital format. Their new album "Downtown Production" arrived earlier this month, on Dec.2, along with their other works for the first time in China.

According to Bad News, they are working with the Beijing band in the digital realm as part of an ongoing effort to combat illegal downloads, which is well-documented as being rampant in China. Most estimates suggest that piracy of recorded music overshadows legitimate purchases by a factor of at least 2 to 1. So while we're not completely clear on how this move by Bad News and Brain Failure will help stem the tide, we applaud any and all such efforts.

The scoop on the band:

Formed by Xiao Rong (Vo. & Gu) in Beijing, China in 1997. They have released two full albums in US, Japan, and China. They have played at the biggest US music festival Vans Warped Tour and toured throughout US with Dropkick Murphys, Stiff Little Fingers, etc. (they have done more than 300 shows), and played with Nine Inch Nails at Beijing Pop Festival which was held in China. They also played with NOFX at Japanese music festival Punk Spring which you can see they have played in many countries in the world. In 2009, they are releasing their new album "Downtown Production" which includes tracks made with Public Enemy, the legend of US Hip Hop.

And once again - just fuckin' awesome band name! Check ‘em out at www.brainfailure.com , where you can find links for the downloads. Go to their official MySpace page (www.myspace.com/brainfailurepunk) for sound samples and some  pretty cool video clips, too.  

By Fred Mills

"I am not a crook."

With those words some three decades-plus ago, President Richard Nixon sealed his fate, going on to be caught with his hand in the Watergate cookie jar and ultimately being forced to resign in disgrace. Rather than mark the beginning of a new, better era, however, Nixon's departure actually marked the beginning of America's decline - not the least of which was the notion of the "Imperial Presidency," which George W. Bush went on to embrace so wholeheartedly that he systematically shredded the office's credibility in the eyes of the international theater while taking big chunks of the Constitution with him.

For that legacy and much more, may Nixon continue to rot in hell like a festering, fetid, char-broiled turd.

So today the news arrived that Mark Felt died, at the age of 95, of congestive heart failure. Felt was second-in-command at the FBI during the Nixon administration and wound up being, as "Deep Throat," the source for Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein when they were looking into what was behind the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate hotel, and of course details about the subsequent cover-up by Nixon and his aides.

Felt and the reporters managed to keep his identity secret for many years until he finally came forward in 2005, at which time he was alternately branded a traitor and a hero.

He was a hero, make no mistake.

Yet the fall-out from Watergate was profound. Many of us still carry deep psychic scars with us.  I can still recall excitedly telling my high school classmates about "this Watergate deal" when it was first starting to unfold in the national media - and being ridiculed for daring to believe that the President would be capable of such deceit and criminal behavior. At times it seemed like the entire country was fumbling around in a fog of denial, and for those people who desperately needed to know the truth, and to see Nixon removed and perhaps even get his comeuppance (President Gerald Ford took care of that, however, when he issued an official pardon for Tricky Dick in '74), it was one of the most depressing periods in modern history.

Perhaps some of that baggage is what we brought to this year's election, and perhaps that's why Obama's message of hope and change resonated so deeply - because for the first time in many, many years, it seemed like those lingering Watergate scars might now have a chance of healing.

Only time will tell, of course. But with Felt's death, in a metaphorical sense it does finally close the door on the era, and if metaphors are to truly mean anything, you gotta believe.

Happy Christmas, everyone. Watergate is finally over.

New live album about to drop - and dig the amazing video, too.

By Blurt Staff

The Appalachian mountains may not seem a likely source of African-rooted music, but Toubab Krewe, of Asheville, North Carolina, blends West African rhythms with rock, creating a sound all its own and earning a devoted following at performances from Bonnaroo to the legendary Festival of the Desert in Essakane, Mali.

For proof, check out the surfin'-in-Africa styled 7-minute video, "Buncombe to Badala," below.

What the Village Voice calls the "futuristic, psychedelic, neo-griot frenzy" of Toubab Krewe's shows has now been captured on their second album, Live at the Orange Peel (recorded as Asheville venue the Orange Peel, natch, last year on Dec. 30 & 31) due from Upstream Records, distributed by ADA, on January 6.

The instrumental quintet's five members, childhood friends and long-term musical collaborators who joined up in 2005, have spent extended periods studying with musical luminaries in Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea and learning traditional instruments such as the kora (a 21-string harp) and the kamel ngoni (a lute). Their music also brings in the worlds of surf and zydeco in "a Dick Dale moves-to-Timbuktu experiment" (Boston Herald). The new album, produced by Grammy winner Steven Heller, features eight previously unreleased tracks, including collaborations with legendary spoken-word artist Umar Bin Hassan of The Last Poets and fiddler Rayna Gellert.

Meanwhile, the band commences the "Buncombe to Badala" tour next week, kicking off with a two-night end-of-year stand in Denver on Dec. 30 and 31. Full dates listed below.



Toubab Krewe is:

Teal Brown - Drums
Drew Heller - Guitar
Justin Perkins - Kamel Ngoni, Kora, Guitar
David Pransky - Bass
Luke Quaranta - Percussion

Toubab Krewe - 'Live At The Orange Peel' Track Listing:

1). Autorail
2). Lamine's Tune
3). Roy Forester
4). Kaira
5). 51 Ft Ladder
6). Maliba
7). Moose
8). Buncombe To Badala

Tour Dates:

Dec 30 - Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom (New Year's Revival w/ Panjea & Kyle Hollingsworth)
Dec 31 - Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom (New Year's Revival w/ Panjea & Kyle Hollingsworth)
Jan 08 - New York, NY - S.O.B.'s ('Live At The Orange Peel' Record Release Show w/ Jar-e)
Jan 17 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre
Jan 20 - Vienna, VA - Jammin Java
Jan 21 - Charlottesville, VA - Gravity Lounge
Jan 23 - Virginia Beach, VA - Jewish Mother
Jan 24 - Richmond, VA - Capital Ale House Downtown Music Hall
Feb 6 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
Feb 7 - Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre
Feb 14 - Atlanta, GA - Smiths Old Bar

Toubab Krewe on the web:

www.toubabkrewe.com
www.myspace.com/toubabkrewe
www.ilike.com/artist/Toubab+Krewe
http://www.vimeo.com/user891020

Frontman for the Jackmormons, Stockholm Syndrome and the Denmark Veseys pulls out all the stops.

By Blurt Staff

Three days of fun from BLURT faves Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons. The songwriter's New Year's Eve bash is usually held in Costal Rica, but this year it'll be in the Big Apple at The Delancey - and the '08 send-off will be preceded by a pair of shows at Crash Mansion on Dec. 29 and 30.

Joseph, drummer Steve Drizos and bassist JR Ruppel will be joined by opener Bret Mosley for all three nights as well as various other special guests. Watch for the kinds of fireworks fans of the Jackmormoms, Stockholm Syndrome and the Denmark Veseys (Joseph's three outfits) have become accustomed to. Full details below.

The trio has been touring and recording together and plan to release an ep, Charge, early in 2009.
 

Not unwarranted press hype:

"The Jackmormons' frontman and lead songwriter Jerry Joseph is the 21st-century equivalent of a tribal medicine man. He'll hand you a sonic peyote cocktail and proceed to dance around a swirling bonfire of electric guitars. Bass and drums pound out a beat to match your rising pulse as Joseph works himself into a sometimes eight-minute-long frenzy of Hendrix sounds and dark imagery." - Performing Songwriter

JERRY JOSEPH'S NEW YEAR'S EVE IN NYC

12/29  New York, NY Crash Mansion (199 Bowery)
 $25, 9PM

Jerry Joseph & Jackmormons featuring Jerry Joseph (guitar/vocals) & Steve Drizos (drums) & JR Ruppel (bass)
w/ Bret Mosley opening

12/30  New York, NY Crash Mansion (199 Bowery)
$25, 9PM

Jerry Joseph & Jackmormons featuring Jerry Joseph (guitar/vocals) & Steve Drizos (drums) & JR Ruppel (bass)
w/ Bret Mosley opening

12/31   New York, NY The Delancey (168 Delancey)
$45, 9PM

Jerry Joseph & Jackmormons featuring Jerry Joseph (guitar/vocals) & Steve Drizos (drums) & JR Ruppel (bass)
w/ Bret Mosley opening

Do the math: a million pre-orders @ $95 a pop x 9 weeks = a lot of interest accrued!

By Fred Mills

Okay, okay, so that's a deliberately misleading headling. Technicaly, it's a PRESALE. Got your attention, however, eh?

Frequenters of Amazon.com, or at least those who have bought music from the online mega-retailer, received a curious early Christmas present in their email inboxes this weekend: an opportunity to place a pre-order for no less than five versions of the forthcoming U2 album, No Line on the Horizon, which we previously brought you details on at BLURT.

It's due March 3, but that's not stopping Amazon from getting in some pre-emptive moves, sales-wise. And they're pitching it as a friggin' Christmas gift - or rather, a "certificate" you can print out and wrap up for the U2 fan in the house.

According to the email:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Because you've purchased music or products related to U2, you might like to know that U2 has officially announced that their new album, "No Line on the Horizon," will be released on March 3, 2009.

Amazon.com has all five versions available for pre-order today. Order one for yourself, or surprise your favorite U2 fan by tucking a printable certificate in his or her stocking.

Now THAT is ballsy.

So let's see just exactly what these five versions will be, according to Amazon, along with the regular price versus the advertised pre-order price.

Version One: $13.98 list price, Amazon price $9.99

This version is the standard album CD in a plastic jewel case w /24 page color booklet.

Version Two: $35.98 list price, no discount

This version features the album CD in a cardboard folded sleeve w/ a 36-page color booklet and fold-out poster, as well as a new film from Anton Corbijn featuring the music of U2, available as exclusive downloadable content.

Version Three: $49.98 list price, no discount

This version features the album CD in a special 60-page soft cover magazine-style book as well as a new film from Anton Corbijn featuring the music of U2, available as exclusive downloadable content.

Version Four:  $95.98 list price, no discount

This version is a deluxe limited-edition-collectors item: packaged in a special box, album CD in a cardboard folded sleeve w/ 36 page color booklet and fold out poster. Box also includes 60-page hard cover book plus an additional fold-out poster and a DVD of the new film from Anton Corbijn featuring the music of U2 in a slip case cover.

Version Five: $17.98 list price, no discount

This version is 2 vinyl discs in a folding sleeve with 16-page oversized booklet.

Like we said - ballsy. We've heard of "value-added" items (remember that quaint term from back when labels started putting enhanced content, bonus EPs and DVDs, etc. on new releases?), but some of this kinda, um.... takes the cake, hubristically speaking. Ladies and gentlemen, start your credit cards!

Let's not forget that bloated limited "U2 Deluxe Edition" box that came out earlier this year to accompany the expanded reissues of the band's first three albums. Here's the Amazon product description just to remind you:

This limited edition collectible U2 Deluxe Edition boxset is handsomely constructed in a sturdy hardbound shell, measuring 5 3/4" (width) x 2 3/4" (spine width) x 5 7/16" (tall) and comes with the newly remastered and expanded 2 CD deluxe editions of the bands first three albums BOY, OCTOBER and WAR, plus room for a fourth (not included). Re-mastered from the original audio tapes, each deluxe includes a disc of b-sides, live tracks and rarities, and the packaging on all three titles has been restored and expanded, with new liner notes for each record, previously unseen photos and full lyrics. This set also comes with a limited edition, exclusive 18'x24' full color replica poster from the bands [sic] beginnings, recreated just for this boxset.

Courtesy the aptly-named Egotastic site....

By Blurt Staff

This is definitely not a public service announcement, with guitars or otherwise. Over the weekend celebrity photo-op website Egotastic.com (motto: "the sexy side of celebrity gossip") posted a series of pics (from which these two were taken) of Amy Winehouse frolicking topless in the surf off St. Lucia. The obvious question is not "why" but rather, as the site administrator him- or herself puts it, "why would you ever want to see that disgusting crack head topless?"

Er, right.

Writes Egotastic, "Okay, let's get one thing straight: I am not posting these Amy Winehouse topless pictures by choice. But if I don't, I know I'm going to get a ton of emails asking me why I haven't posted them yet. I've already gotten a few. My question to you is: Why would you ever want to see that disgusting crack head Amy Winehouse topless? Do you get off on the toothless look? At least she doesn't look completely like a Holocasut [sic] victim anymore. Thankfully, these pictures aren't high-res, because if they were, I'd be scarred for life. In case you're wondering, Amy is on holiday in St. Lucia. The island has since been declared a disaster area, and humanitarian [sic] relief is being rushed in."

Okay, back to the morning coffee and newspaper, kids. No further comment necessary.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

Monday, December 22:

11:00 Sundance: Minutemen We Jam Econo

3:00 Sundance: Joe Strummer Let's Rock Again

4:00 VH1 Classic: David Bowie Ziggy Stardust

4:00 Rave HD: Dave Fanning interview: Rod Stewart

6:00 VH1 Classic: BBC Electric Proms: The Who

6:00 Fuse: Fall Out Boy Live from Chicago Theatre

8:00 Rave HD: Soundstage: Kate Nash

10:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: Stars

11:00 PBS: Tavis Smiley: Seal

11:30 VH1 Classic: Motley Crue Carnival of Sins

11:30 CBS: David Letterman: Todd Rundgren

11:35 NBC: Jay Leno: Johnny Mathis

12:05 ABC: Jimmy Kimmel: Keane

12:35 NBC: Conan O'Brien: Bela Fleck

12:35 CBS: Craig Ferguson: Matt Nathanson

12:45 Sundance: Spectacle - Elvis Costello & Bil Clinton

Tuesday, December 23:

9:00 Syndicated: Regis & Kelly: Jason Mraz

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres: Taylor Swift

11:00 VH1 Classic: Roy Orbison Live in Australia

4:00 Rave HD: Keane- Live at the O2

6:00 Sundance: Iconoclasts - Bill Maher & Clive Davis

7:00 VH1 Classic: BBC Electric Proms: Paul McCartney

7:00 Rave HD: The Rapture - Live at the Trabendo

9:00 Fuse: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

11:30 CBS: David Letterman: Mickey Rourke, Darlene Love

11:35 NBC: Jay Leno: Natalie Cole

12:05 ABC: JImmy Kimmel: John Legend

12:35 NBC: Conan O'Brien: Old Crow Medicine Show

12:35 CBS: Craig Ferguson: Conor Oberst

Just a little of that Peruvian marching powder smeared liberally over your nipples will set y'all right...

By Fred Mills

The BBC is reporting that a tape of John Lennon, recorded in 1973 during the late Beatle's so-called "lost weekend," was sold at an auction in L.A. Sunday for $30,000. The six-minute recording is a version of Lloyd Price's "Just Because" (which he later rerecorded for the Rock ‘n' Roll album) and features Lennon ad-libbing some of the lyrics thusly:

"Just a little cocaine will set me right... Wanna take all them new singers, Carol and the other one with the nipples, I wanna take 'em and hold 'em tight".

Well, of course.

Lennon was purportedly drunk at the time of the recording and as a result, according to auction house Bonham and Butterfields, "the background band speeds up or slows down, trying to keep up with him until a male voice finally calls an end to the session after a little over six minutes."

The winning bidder in the auction was not identified.

Sometimes the press releases just write themselves and we love ‘em for it...not since the Mentors has there been a band this much fun...

By Blurt Staff

Rumored to be the brainchild of Robcore labelhead Rob Crow of indie wunderkinds Pinback, Goblin Cock is focused, primed, and ready to pull the pin on the follow-up to their mammoth debut Bagged And Boarded on Absolutely Kosher Records, which was nominated for three Plug Award including Metal Album Of The Year. Come With Me If You Want To Live is due, like, any minute now, and the band wants you to know a few things.

To wit:

Goblin Cock is a band from beyond time, beyond space, beyond your naive concept of dimension in metal. Since before your pathetic "god" had supposedly "created" you and your kind, Lord Phallus was hunkered in a cybertimeship/fun dungeon skating the layers of what was considered "true metal" in all societies and in all generations. Eventually His Majesty realized that he really didn't care and launched a full-scale war against bland metal with and emphasis on ACTUALLY HAVING A GOOD TIME! "Bagged and Boarded" is the first assault on your laughable 5 senses (Lord Phallus and his kind have 32). Expect a future double whammy in the form of "Come With Me if You Want to Live" - a collection of new supercharged action-metal wonderhits, and "Dragonfucker" - the 20 minute uberpiece with a b side of numerous BRUTAL cover songs (the roaches, the osmonds, and the monkees have been rumored). arrrgghh!

Cock Across America Tour Dates:

January 31 - Mesa, AZ @ Hollywood Alley

February 02 - Austin, TX @ Red 7

February 04 - Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Café

February 05 - Birmingham, AL @ the Bottletreet

February 06 - Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade

February 07 - Charlotte, NC @ The Milestone

February 09 - Washington, DC @ DC9

February 13 - Allston, MA @ Harpers Ferry

February 17 - Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room

February 18 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

February 19 - Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Saloon

February 20 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge

February 21 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court

February 23 - Seattle, WA @ The Funhouse

February 26 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop

February 27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory

Have some more Cock:

Collaboration due on CD in January but partial download already available.

By Blurt Staff

Hot Chip want their fans to know that they are putting together "a little present" for them. It's part-Christmas gift and part post-Christmas, as it technically arrives next month, on January 27 via Astralwerks, but will be available initially via download starting this week. And it's pretty special: along for the ride will be the godfather of the experimental psych-prog world, Robert Wyatt, and kindred mischievous electronic spirits Geese to help out as well.

Long recognized as one of the pioneers of avant-jazz rock (as recently as this year by Domino Records in fact, who have just re released his back catalogue), from his beginnings as a member of Soft Machine and through his collaborations with Scritti Politti and Syd Barrett, Robert Wyatt brings his quietly magical touch to 3 songs personally chosen from Hot Chip's 2008 album "Made in the Dark". The result - as recorded at Gallery Studios earlier this year - are several mutations of songs that are described along lines "as delicate and whimsical as they are adventurous and distinctive," be it the quixotic cornet and jew's harp on "Made in the Dark", or Wyatt's singular vocals and whistling on "Whistle for Will", or the lush added effects and atypical arrangements on "We're Looking for a Lot of Love".

Meanwhile, Hot Chip collaborators Geese (aka Emma and Vince from The Elysian Quartet) also lent a hand, reworking the Wyatt- assisted "We're Looking..." while completely overhauling "One Pure Thought" from a straight-ahead floor shaker into something stranger, dreamier, but no less lovely. All in all, a deliciously unpredictable collaboration made in quirk-pop heaven.

Fans can already download 2 tracks from the EP on from HotChip.co.uk, thus providing, as the band puts it, "a stimulus that is musical and financial for us all."

Hot Chip, picked up their first Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording for the track "Ready For The Floor." The Annual Grammy Awards will be announced live on on Feb. 8 on CBS. The group has had feverish schedule this year which took in numerous side projects, solo records, countless dancefloor-igniting remixes, production duties and, of course relentless touring (which culminated in their triumphal homecoming shows at Brixton Academy in November).

CD TRACKLISTING:

1.      Made in the Dark (with Robert Wyatt)
2.      Whistle for Will (with Robert Wyatt)
3.      We're Looking for a Lot of Love (with Robert Wyatt and Geese)
4.      One Pure Thought (remixed by Geese)

Signs on with Wal-Mart for exclusive greatest hits deal.

By Fred Mills

Bruce Springsteen joins the rarified likes of the Eagles and AC/DC next month when he releases a 12-song greatest hits album to be marketed exclusively by Wal-Mart. It's due Jan. 13 at the planet's biggest retailer, but before all you Boss fans get excited, consult the track list below - it's nothing special, touching on the most obvious tracks and omitting material from albums such as Nebraska and Tunnel of Love that didn't feature the E Street Band.

Fair enough; the rest of us already have the 1995 Greatest Hits that provided a pretty solid overview up until that point, along with the sprawling 3-CD collection fro 2003, The Essential. And this all falls under the rubric of savvy marketing anyway; his new studio album Working on a Dream arrives two weeks after the compilation, on Jan. 27.

The Wal-Mart release is expected to carry a bargain price in keeping with the retailer's price rollback ethos, natch.

Track Listing:

'Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)'
'Born to Run'
'Thunder Road'
'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'
'Badlands'
'Hungry Heart'
'Glory Days'
'Dancing In The Dark'
'Born in the U.S.A.'
'The Rising'
'Lonesome Day'
'Radio Nowhere'

Tour Dates:

2/11 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis MN
2/12 - Bottom Lounge - Chicago IL
2/13 - Magic Stick - Detroit MI
2/14 - Alfred University Knight Club - Alfred NY
2/15 - Paradise - Boston MA
2/17 - LPR - New York NY
2/18 - The Trocardero - Philadelphia PA
2/19 - 9:30 Club - Washington DC
2/20 - Cats Cradle - Carrboro NC
2/21 - 40 Watt Club - Athens GA
2/23 - Back Booth - Orlando FL
2/24 - Club Downunder - Tallahassee FL
2/25 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge LA
2/27 - Emos Alternative Lounge - Austin TX
2/28 - Palladum Loft - Dallas X
3/2 - Rhythm Room - Phoenix AZ
3/3 - Echoplex - Los Angeles CA
3/5 - The Independent - San Francisco CA
3/6 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland OR
3/7 - Neumos - Seattle WA

Panama! Van Halen frontman splits his pants (and lungs) just for YOU.

By Fred Mills

On a 1-10 scale of awesomeness, this one clearly goes to "11": David Lee Roth has a site devoted to him, or more accurately, to his various shouts, whoops, hollers, grunts, random animal noises, and the occasional "Goddamnit baby, you know I ain't lyin' to ya I'm only gonna tell you one tiiiiimeahhhhyeeeahh!"

Go to TheTyser.com (home page reproduced above) and click on any number of the Roth-isms. We trust you'll be glad you did. Hint: click on a whole series of them in rapid succession to hear an entire angelic chorus of Diamond Daves!

Now THAT's some friggin' Christmas cheer! This has been a public service announcement... with testosterone.

The U.K.'s Sun published photos of Lilly Allen sunbathing--sans top--today, just 24 hours after topless pics of fellow Brit songstress Amy Winehouse surfaced.

Draw your own conclusions and see for yourself below:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article2065467.ece

A.V. Club calls out the year's most egregious offenders....

By Fred Mills

Those astute culture vultures over at the A.V. Club are at it again, and this one's a corker. On a scale of 1-10 of awesomeness, I'd have to say this one also goes to "11" - if nothing else, just for the sheer tenacity involved in keeping track of "the worst and funniest" band names they came across this year.

Their official "winner"? Natalie Portman's Shaved Head (pictured, above), from Seattle. Big ups to the Nat crew!

It's a pretty huge list, so go to the site and take a look at the entire thing. But for my money, some of the best picks are as follow:

Metal - (tie) Terminally Your Aborted Ghost, Cemetery Rapist

Melodramatic Theater Nerd Names - Druids Of Huge

Emo - Your Kisses Cause Crashes

Funk - Weapons of Mass DeFunktion

Truth In Advertising - Shitty Shitty Band Band

Hippie-Sounding Nonsense - Fragyle Vibes

Hey, We Smoke Pot! - Post Mortem Bong Hit

Whores, Sluts, Pussy & Bitches, Inc. - Gestapo Pussy Ranch

Scatology - Farticus

Sex - Evangenitals

First Person - I See Hawks In L.A.

F-Bombs - Fucked By The State

Reworking Proper Names & Trademarks - Natalie Portman's Shaved Head

Movie/TV References - Previously On Lost

Wha? - A BIG YES... and a small no

Just Plain Stupid - We Go To 11

That sucking/popping sound? It's the sound of the recording industry pulling it's head out of its own ass after all these years...

By Fred Mills

Christmas came a little early this year for those dastardly criminals known as filesharers: the Recording Industry Association of American has announced that instead of chasing down people who upload music to the Internet (and then file lawsuits in order to crush said uploaders into little tiny pieces of blood, flesh and bone), it's going to work with ISPs directly.

It will work roughly like this: when the RIAA detects and illegal uploader, it will send a notice to that person's ISP, who in accordance with an agreement with the RIAA will in turn send the uploader a notice. If the activity doesn't stop after a couple of notifications, the ISP can switch the user's service to a slower speed cut off access to the web completely. No longer will ISPs be required to turn over the names of their customers to the RIAA, and the RIAA will not be filing lawsuits. But the idea is to make file-sharers realize they're not invisible, and that their ISPs will be taking matters into their own hands in order to protect their own asses. (It's too early to say what kinds of sanctions the RIAA will levy on the ISPs, however...)

According to a major label source, "We're faced with the reality of ‘this shit isn't working.' And legally the ground is getting shakier in terms of winning these lawsuits. And it's costing money. So, time to move on." Gee, nothing like a lousy economy and an industry in turmoil to get people to wake the hell up.

Read more about all this at:

Billboard.com

RollingStone.com

Wall Street Journal

Meanwhile, industry watchdog Bob Lefsez had a few choice words about the news:

"Press scuttlebutt says that only 19% of the public is downloading.  If this is true, and one accepts Michael Eisner's theory that ten percent of the audience will NEVER pay, we're fighting here over nine percent of the population.  When really, we should be focusing on the other eighty one percent!  Most people will pay for music, if a reasonable offer is made.

"Today's news that the RIAA is dropping their lawsuits just shows that the labels have no strategy, that they're so busy playing catch-up that they've squandered their business.  ANYBODY could have told them that the lawsuits wouldn't have worked five years ago. But these assholes had to prove something.  That they owned the music and you'd better consume it their way.  Obviously didn't work, their revenues have tanked."

Amen to that.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

Wednesday, December 24:

9:00 VH1 Classic: BBC Electric Proms: Paul McCartney

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres Cher, Missy Elliott, Pussycat Dolls

12:00 MTV2: Lil Wayne's World

1:00 Rave HD: Soundstage: Alison Krauss

1:00 VH1 Classic: That Metal Show: Ace Frehley Yngwie Malmsteen

3:00 Rave HD: Peter Gabriel Live in Milan

6:00 Rave HD: Warren Haynes Presents The Benefit Concert 2006

9:00 VH1 Classic: Oliver Stone's The Doors

9:00 Sundance: Spectacle - Elvis Costello w/James Taylor

10:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: The Constantines

12:00 Midnight Sundance: Flaming Lips Christmas On Mars

12:05 ABC Jimmy Kimmel: Fall Out Boy

Thursday, December 25:

7:20 Sundance: Sigur Ros Heima

9:00 VH1 Classic: Kissology concerts

9:00 Rave HD: Later With Jools Holland marathon (Green Day, Elvis Costello, Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, Paul Weller, John Cale, Pearl Jam, Jenny Lewis, Raconteurs, Amy Winehouse, Muse and more)

9:00 Syndicated: Ellen Degeneres: Kid Rock

2:30 Sundance: Flaming Lips Christmas On Mars

8:30 Sundance: True History of the Traveling Wilburys

10:00 Sundance: Iconoclasts - Venus Williams and Wyclef Jean

10:00 Rave HD: Beautiful Noise: Yo La Tengo

11:00 Sundance: Spectacle - Elvis Costello w/James Taylor

11:30 CBS David Letterman: Stephen Colbert, Super Diamond (Neil Diamond tribute band)

11:35 NBC Jay Leno: Relient K

12:05 ABC Jimmy Kimmel: Robin Thicke

12:35 NBC Conan O'Brien: Billy Joel

1:35 Carson Daly: Shirley Manson, Cut Copy

Gorillaz tops the list...

By Fred Mills

In further proof that social networking destroys critical facilities and eats away at cranial matter, the Gorillaz have been determined to be the most popular band on MySpace! British media reports are saying that the animated act - which, since it's a ‘toon, is technically nonexistent (Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are the s-called "leaders" of the group out in meatspace), and in fact has not even been active during 2008 - has accumulated 686,177 MySpace friends, with more being added daily.

Not quite Tila Tequila territory, but pretty impressive, particularly for a two-dimensionan entity. Now THAT is some fuckin' social networkin'... Or pretty adept use of automated friend-adder software..

Back in reality, Madonna's "4 Minutes" was the most popular video on MySpace.

Some stats:

MySpace most popular musical acts:

Gorillaz (682,875 friends)
Bullet for My Valentine (596,885 friends)
Amy Winehouse (542,268 friends)
Coldplay (525,110 friends)
Lily Allen (462,159 friends)
MIA (399,858 friends)
Oasis (353,484 friends)
Imogen Heap (351,484 friends)

Myspace most popular music videos:

Madonna - 4 Minutes
The Verve - Love Is Noise
BPA ft. David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal - Toe Jam
Justice - DVNO
Oasis - I'm Outta Time
Dragonforce - Heroes of Our Time
Sigur Ros - Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur
The Raconteurs - Old Enough

New blog entry from Panic bassist, a concert review and a DVD review - we're wall-to-wall Widespread at Blurt!