Of special interest to Dean & Britta fans: Britta Phillips provided the singing voice of the titular 'toon.

By Blurt Staff

It doesn't happen until September, but all you indie kids who watched TV cartoons in the mid ‘80s while waiting for the grunge explosion to hit will surely start foaming at the mouth to learn this: JEM and the Holograms is back, in the form of a deluxe DVD set.  Shout! Factory, in association with Hasbro Inc., will release the long-awaited JEM: The Complete Series Special Collector's Edition 12-DVD box, with all the episodes in their original order and exciting bonus content that showcases the origin and legacy of the series, including all-new exclusive interviews with the cast and creators. The 65 episodes of JEM: The Complete Series are collected in a specially designed collector's box.

The highly popular JEM, aka JEM and the Holograms, was a unique animated series, boasting elaborate subplots, complex villains, and a staggering amount of original music, with 2-3 new songs written for each episode. JEM is the story of Jerrica Benton, who by day is the President of record label Starlight Music, and the founder of the Starlight Foundation, a foster home for girls. Jerrica was left a special gift by her late father, a secret holographic computer system called SYNERGY that can create realistic holograms of virtually anything. Using special star-shaped earrings, SYNERGY transforms Jerrica into the glamorous pop singer Jem. Sharing the spotlight is Jem's band the Holograms, Kimber, Aja and Shana, the only people who know Jem's true identity. Together they face off against their musical rivals The Misfits (no, silly, not THAT Misfits!) and The Stingers, and have adventures that take them all over the world. Through it all, Jem must maintain her secret identity and prevent her enemies from exploiting Synergy.

Created by Christy Marx (G.I.JOE, Spider-Man), JEM featured a stellar ensemble voice cast, including Samantha Newark (JEM and Jerrica Benton), Britta Phillips (Jem's singing voice), Cathianne Blore, Cindy McGee,  Ellen Bernfeld, Patricia Albrecht, Bobbie Block, Charlie Adler and Michael Sheehan (Rio). JEM aired on television from 1985 - 1988 in wide syndication.

As Shout! Factory advises us, tongues only partially in cheek, "With its glamour, romance, fashion and music, JEM attracted legions of fans worldwide. Jem was an idol to many viewers and continues to inspire passionate fandom today. With her iconic pink hair, rock star status, a mansion and a gorgeous boyfriend named Rio, Jem was a beautiful, successful career woman who knew how to rock her glamour and glitter, fashion and fame."

Hey, it beats the hell outta collecting Bratz dolls, ya know? Stay tuned to BLURT for more JEM coverage soon...

"Make Some Noise" - truth in titling.

By Blurt Staff

The official announcement this week that the long awaited new Beastie Boys Album Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 would be arriving on May 3 was quickly accompanied by a leak of the track "Make Some Noise." As it spread across the internet, the band simply decided to release the funky, squonky, truth-in-titling raucous tune themselves. Wrote Mike D at the band's blog, "This wasn't really part of the plan, but since this track is out there we wanted to let you hear it here first, or maybe second. Enjoy."

You can hear it this very moment over at the Beasties blog.

(That official announcement about the album read thusly: "Since the dawn of time, and perhaps even before, there was a silent order who were tasked with a mission. They held their secret tightly. On may 3rd the HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART TWO will be unleashed on the general public. Hold fast ye heathens.")

Meanwhile, here's the tracklisting:

Tadlock's Glasses B-Boys In The Cut
Make Some Noise
Nonstop Disco Powerpack
OK
Too Many Rappers (featuring Nas)
Say It
The Bill Harper Collection
Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (featuring Santigold)
Long Burn The Fire
Funky Donkey
Lee Majors Come Again
Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
Pop Your Balloon
Crazy Ass S--t
Here's A Little Something For Ya

INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE BAND AND JOHN CORNEAL: "BACK AT HOME & JOHN CORNEAL AND THE ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL"

By Blurt Staff

Two classic albums of interest to roots and American fans are en route from SPV, packaged together and completely remastered with bonus tracks.

THE INTERNATIONAL SUBMARINE BAND was formed by Gram Parsons and Ian Dunlop, along with Guitarist John Nuese and drummer Mickey Gauvin, in 1965. The group came from disparate musical backgrounds. Parsons had previously been a folk singer but was weaned on Memphis rock & roll. Ian Dunlop was a rocker through and through. Drummer Mickey Gauvin had played in R&B bands, and John Nuese was into the Bakersfield country music sound. Their idea was to meld these influences into what they called "Cosmic American Music.

Following Gauvin's departure, Jon Corneal, an old Parsons associate, got the kit seat and the band went on to record a now-legendary 1967 album for Lee Hazelwood's LHI label, Safe At Home. Their folk/country-rock hybrid, however, proved elusive commercially, and Parsons soon split to join the Byrds - and the rest is history.

Corneal, meanwhile, decided it was time to make a solo album. He went back to Florida in 1974 and recorded Jon Corneal & the Orange Blossom Special, financing it himself. It still stands as his only solo outing. Corneal enlisted his pals from Florida, many of whom were also musical acquaintances of Gram Parsons. The album is a document of an era and place. "The people who played on my album were the 'A' team session musicians in the Auburndale area in those days," says Corneal.

The Corneal album has now been paired with Back At Home, a collection of studio outtakes originally issued in 2000 and billed somewhat tenuously as the International Submarine Band. It comprises mainly Corneal compositions plus tracks penned by Parsons, Gene Clark, Ian Dunlop, Buck Owens and Hank Williams.

April 4 at the Doug Fir Lounge, the Nashville songbird charmed a roomful of Oregon hipsters.

By Tim Hinely

Young (23 year) Nashville singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose is wise beyond her years. Her debut (Own Side Now) is getting well-deserved rave reviews and while she is apparently close to a household name in Europe she is barely known here. Hopefully that will all change soon and if this set at Doug Fir is any indication, she is on her way.

Dressed in a lovely black skirt and armed with her acoustic guitar, she was flanked on either side by a guitarist and a pedal steel player (who looked like a cross between Joey Ramone and one of the Hanson "Slap Shot" Brothers).  Any fears that this sparser lineup would change the songs subsided by song one, "Learning to Ride" which sounded beautiful. While musically it all sounded lovely, it was Roses's booming voice which is her calling card and in the live setting really gave her a chance to shine. On her records the vocals are a bit subdued but on stage she lets it fly and man does this gal have a voice.

Other songs on the record which sounded ace were "Own Side", "Shanghai Cigarettes", "For the Rabbits"  and "New York." We didn't get to hear her Stones cover of "Dead Flowers" (the name of her 2^nd ep) but for the final tune she played a beautiful solo acoustic version of Randy Newman's "Marie."  On stage she joked about breaking a nail, feeling like she was in a roller rink (to which the disco ball suddenly started spinning) and how she noticed few smokers in Portland. The gal is a natural and as previously stated, she is on her way.

The Other Side Of Nashville sets out to document the non-Music Row scene that continues to thrive after all these years - and you can help see the project to completion.

By Fred Mills

Yes, here's where we give props to our own: a member of the BLURT family has a Kickstarter campaign going, and we'd like to encourage everyone to check it out. See below for details.

The Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been scribbling for Uncle Blurt since we got started back in the spring of '08, and it was with great pleasure that I reviewed his book Trademark of Quality last December, published via his own Excitable Press imprint. That anthology of Gordon's music blog writing, covering the 2007-2010 period when his "Trademark of Quality" blog ran, was one of my favorites of 2010 precisely because it hearkened back to the classic rock journalism I'd grown up with in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. (You can read the review of Gordon's book here.)

In the latest print issue of BLURT we published part of an interview I did not long ago with Gordon that's worth posting here (watch for the full, unexpurgated version soon):

BLURT: Why did you launch the TMQ blog that spawned your book?

GORDON:I wanted to explore the "long form" album review that had mostly been lost in the Internet age, and over three years I had developed a smart, remarkable international readership.

You also started Excitable Press, which enables you to self-publish...

The invention of print-on-demand technology allows alternative publishers to enter the book game at a lot lower cost with little sacrifice in quality. Self-publishing itself has a long and glorious history, and since my ancestor Lord Byron (George Gordon) self-published his poetry, I see myself carrying on a family tradition.

Memorable or notorious anecdotes from over the years?

Drinking a beer with Joey Ramone was pretty damn cool, as was talking to his mother on another occasion when Joey was late for a phone interview. My "most notorious" would have to be spending Labor Day weekend with the members of the Screamin' Sirens... about which I've been sworn to secrecy.

What do you think of music criticism circa 2011? Advice to young scribes?

I'm an unabashed rockist at heart, and honest rock criticism does seem to be on life support. Capsule reviews, to me, just aren't very entertaining, or long enough to capture the Zen of an album. I'd recommend anybody wanting to become a critic to read plenty of Dave Marsh, Lester Bangs, Rick Johnson, Greg Shaw, and the other rockcrit pioneers to see how it was done back in the golden age.

***

Now comes word of Gordon's new book project, The Other Side of Nashville, which he describes as documenting the "non-country" side of the Music City. Featuring several hundred artists and a discography of literally hundreds of albums, tapes, and CDs, The Other Side of Nashville provides an incomplete history of an ongoing and vital Nashville rock scene that has produced talents like Jason & the Scorchers, the Kings of Leon, the Features, Lambchop, and many other Nashville musicians that are loved and respected worldwide."

Gordon, who has been expertly covering rock ‘n' roll from Nashville and Tennessee for a good while, goes on to explain that the book is about "90 per cent finished" with 400 pages already laid out - but that in order to complete the job professionally (and reach his target of 600+ pages) he needs to raise some dough. If all goes well, he may even be able to begin work on a possible documentary film of the same name.

Hence the Kickstarter campaign. You can view the Kickstarter page right here, as it outlines more details about the book along with info on the various pledge levels. (Hint: some sweet goodies are included at the pledge levels.) Check out the video clip at the page as well, and then... you know, do your duty, music fans! It's for a damn fine cause, and it's a helluva lot better than, say, throwing away your money donating to some crooked politician's campaign fund.

The campaign runs until April 14 at 3:10 pm ET.

Watch it online right now.

By Blurt Staff

The Wrong Ferarri is the first feature-length film starring, directed and written by singer/songwriter Adam Green, ex-Moldy Peaches. Shot entirely with the video camera in his iPhone, The Wrong Ferarri is unlike any film you've ever seen -- a 70 minute piece of work that boldly straddles the line between screwball tragedy, surrealist comedy, and performance art.

In addition to Green, The Wrong Ferarri features the talents of Macaulay Culkin, Devendra Banhart, Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion), Har Mar Superstar, Jack Dishel (Only Son, Moldy Peaches), BP Fallon, Cory Kennedy, Aleksa Palladino (Exitmusic, Boardwalk Empire),  members of the band Spacecamp, Adam Green's mother, vocal work from Evan Dando (The Lemonheads) and more.  

The Wrong Ferarri is available to stream and download for free from The Wrong Ferarri.com.

Shot over 8 months in 2010 and 2011, The Wrong Ferarri took Green across the globe, from Brooklyn to Prague to Venice and back again.  Centered around the possibly fictional character of Greenster - portrayed by Adam Green - The Wrong Ferarri is a fast-paced rumination on ketamine, romantic dysfunction, turning 30, having a pet/being a pet, and the parallel universe created by touring in a band.  The film's script, which was written on index cards and handed out to the cast each morning before filming, reads a bit like the lyrics to one of Green's songs, quick-witted, surreal, unflinchingly honest and hilariously poetic as only Green can be.  

With seven solo albums and one art show of original paintings and sculptures under his belt, Green has become one of independent culture's most consistently original and impressive voices.  As one half of New York City's much-loved folk duo The Moldy Peaches, Green has been the recipient of widespread international acclaim; the twosome's duet "Anyone Else But You" was not only featured prominently in the Oscar-nominated film Juno, but propelled the film's soundtrack to platinum certification.  The Wrong Ferarri is another amazing feather in Green's considerably full creative cap.

Not to mention hosts a punk-stuffed bill featuring Rollins, Thurston Moore, Off and Fucked Up.

By Fred Mills

While J Mascis proceeds apace with his solo tour in support of his recent
Sub Pop album Several Shades of Why (read our interview with him here), the Mascis mothership, aka Dinosaur Jr, has just announced a string of full-band dates for June that will have them performing 1988's Bug track-by-track.

It's guaranteed to be quite a gathering of the punk tribes, too: the bills will feature, variously, Fucked Up, Off  and Thurston Moore as the opening acts, along with Henry Rollins doing a spoken word set as well as interviewing Dino Jr. Check the official website for the exact lineup each night.

And for genuinely hardcore fans who want to spring for plane ticket: July 1 in London, as part of ATP's Don't Look Back series, the band will also appear alongside the Flaming Lips (doing The Soft Bulletin) and Deerhoof (Milk Man).

Tour Dates:

6-21 Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre
6-22 Boston, MA - The Paradise
6-23 New York, NY - Terminal 5
6-24 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
6-25 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
7-01 London, England - Alexandra Palace

It's back... bigger and better than ever. Even Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson are getting into the act....

By Blurt Staff

The final countdown to Record Store Day 2011 begins today, with 9 days left until April 16th. RecordStoreDay.com have published "the big list," featuring hundreds of exclusive and limited pieces created especially for the big day. The Beach Boys, Kate Bush, Eric Clapton & John Mayall, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are just a few classic artists that will be releasing exclusive and limited edition pieces this year at participating stores on Record Store Day.

Go to that "big list" link above where you can view the complete roster of goodies - they have it as a webpage or a downloadable PDF. And trust us, it's massive: just a cursory glance reveals... drumroll please... limited edition items from Akron/Family, Bad Brains, Big Star, Caribou, The dB's, Deerhoof, Dio, Steve Earle, John Fahey, Grateful Dead, Grinderman, Hendrix, Gram Parsons, Lady Gaga, Mastodon, Of Montreal, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, REM, Ramones, Sonic Youth, Flaming Lips, Fela Kuti, Decemberists, Red Krayola...

Among the higher profile titles just announced:

The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations/ Heroes & Villains

Limited Edition double 78 RPM vinyl 10" single. Black vinyl comes in a single pocket jacket with foil stamp and numbering.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love Collector's Edition

Kate Bush's American breakthrough Hounds of Love was two suites, and two songs from each suite are on this pink vinyl 10" version. Featured tracks are "The Big Sky," "Cloud Busting," "Watching You Without Me," and "Jif of Life."

Eric Clapton & John Mayall - Lonely Years

The disc, originally issued in a limited edition on producer Mike Vernon's mail-order-only Purdah label, features a pair of spare duo performances: the loping Mayall composition "Lonely Years" and the rousing Clapton-penned instrumental "Bernard Jenkins." These two rare vintage gems, sourced from the original mono masters, capture both of these legendary blues masters in an intimate, stripped-down setting on this special Record Store Day 7".

Michael Jackson - Hollywood Tonight/Behind The Mask

Both sides of this 7" are previously unreleased remixes of "Hollywood Tonight" and "Behind The Mask." 

The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar

This Rolling Stones 7" features an extra track from Sticky Fingers session, only previously released on a more obscure Rolling Stones hits package. Includes the songs, "Brown Sugar," "Bitch," and "Let It Rock." 

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Gotta Get The Feeling b/w Racing In The Street  

10" LP, featuring tracks from the upcoming live dvd. 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Tom Petty's 1976 debut album re-issued on limited, white vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - You're Going To Get It!

Tom Petty's second full-length (1978) re-issued on limited, blue vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day.

As crucial evidence of the sundry babes, dudes, boozing, debauchery and, yeah, rawkin' outlined in our Rock The Boat! feature published at BLURT today, we present the following photo gallery from author Rodger Cambria's cruise. Our motto: paint it black, you devils.

All photos by Rodger Cambria

(above) Legendary artist Ralph Steadman's original illustration for the Shiprocked story (see it in the current issue of BLURT)

Naughty schoolgirls

KISS dude, in full effect

Ratt

Appreciative (drunk - duh) crowd

Lucha Libre!

Naughty sailors (sailorettes?)

Tattoo dude

Angelina

Skid Row

Vince Neil (more on him here)

Cowbell dude

Rock chicks....

April 2, at the NOS Events Center in San Bernadino, the Murs-curated Paid Dues Festival brought out some of the hottest acts in independent and underground hip-hop. Among those acts: Black Star (w/Mos Def & Talib Kweli), Dead Prez, Shock G (of Digital Underground), Bun B, Sage Francis and others. Official website: PaidDuesFestival.com

Photos by Scott Dudelson

(above) Shock G of Digital Underground

Andre Nikitina

Asher Roth

Binary Star

Black Hippy

Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli)

Bun B of UGK

Casey Veggies

Dead Prez

DJ Nu Mark of Jurassic 5

Dom Kennedy

Droop E

Eligh of Living Legends

Scarub of Living Legends

Lucky I Am of Living Legends

Sunspot Jonze of Living Legends

Eternia

Ill Bill

Immortal Technique

King Fantastic

Krizz Kaliko

Lil B The Based God

Mista Fab

Mos Def

Murs

POS

Sab The Artist

Sage Francis

Tabi Bonney

Talib Kweli

UNI

Vini Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks

Visionaries