See also: our R.E.M. special in the new print edition of BLURT.

By Blurt Staff

R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and co-director Dominic DeJoseph (who has directed previous films for R.E.M.) recruited actress Kirsten Dunst to star in one of the videos for "We All Go Back To Where We Belong." Dunst is a Golden Globe-nominated performer who has starred in such movies as Sophia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Marie Antoinette, and the Spider-Man trilogy. She recently received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her role in the current film Melancholia, directed by Lars von Trier.

The other film stars iconic and legendary Dial-A-Poem artist/poet/activist John Giorno. Over the course of his notable career, Giorno has collaborated on several acclaimed projects with such luminaries as William S. Burroughs, Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Glenn Branca. His work includes several books and multimedia poetry experiments and events. A career-spanning collection of his poems, entitled Subduing Demons in America: Selected Poems 1962-2007 was published in 2008. His first one-person gallery show, entitled Black Paintings and Drawings, was mounted at the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery in New York in 2010.

Both black and white films for "We All Go Back To Where We Belong" capture their subjects in stark relief using a strong key light and shot with a stationary camera, an effect that Stipe describes as lending "gravity and beauty" to the proceedings.

These videos arrive on the heels of last years' successful Collapse Into Now Film Project, which featured films by artists for every song on the album. Stipe said of the new project, "To be able to work with John and Kirsten was a dream I carried since we recorded the song, and their participation completes the song for me."  

"We All Go Back To Where We Belong" is one of three new tracks to be included on R.E.M.'s upcoming final album R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982 - 2011, out Nov. 15. See the new print issue (Wilco cover) of BLURT for a special R.E.M. feature.

Toronto synth-drama group plays Moogfest tonight. List of tour dates below.

By Blurt Staff

Following a sold out headlining show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York earlier this month, Austra kicked off a full North American tour last night in Philadelphia. The Toronto band's debut album Feel It Break and Sparkle, the follow-up remix 12", are both out now via Domino Records. All tour dates, including Europe and Australia, below.

Download or stream this previously unreleased Baron Von Luxxury remix of a Feel It Break track, "Spellwork":

Austra - Spellwork (Baron Von Luxxury Space Cathedral Remix) by DominoRecordCo

Tour Dates:

Oct 28 Asheville NC - Moogfest

Oct 30 Atlanta GA - The Earl^

Nov 01 Orlando FL - Backbooth^

Nov 02 Miami FL - Grand Central^

Nov 04 New Orleans LA - The Saint^

Nov 05 Houston TX - Fitzgerald's^

Nov 06 Austin TX - Fun Fun Fun Fest

Nov 08 Phoenix AZ - Rhythm Room^

Nov 09 Costa Mesa CA - Detroit Bar^

Nov 10 San Diego CA - The Casbah^

Nov 11 Los Angeles CA - The Echo^

Nov 12 San Francisco CA - Great American Music Hall^

Nov 14 Portland OR - Holocene^

Nov 15 Seattle WA - The Crocodile^

Nov 16 Electric Owl - Vancouver                              

Nov 17 Cactus Jacks - Kamloops                               

Nov 18 The Brixx Bar & Grill - Edmonton                            

Nov 19 HIFI Club - Calgary                          

Nov 22 Amigos Cantina - Saskatoon                                      

Nov 23 The Exchange            - Regina                                   

Nov 24 West End Cultural Centre - Winnipeg                                   

Nov 25 The Aquarium - Fargo, ND@                                  

Nov 26 Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN @                     

Nov 28 Empty Bottle Chicago, IL@                        

Nov 29 Pike Room at the Crofoot Ballroom  Pontiac, MI@            

Dec 01 Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto                             

Dec 01 The Pheonix - Toronto                                    

Dec 02 Cabaret du Mile End - Montreal                                 

Dec 03 Ritual Night Club - Ottawa                            

Dec 06 Paradiso - Amsterdam, Netherlands                         

Dec 07 Rotown - Rotterdam, Netherlands                           

Dec 08 La Laiterie - Strasbourg, France                                  

Dec 09 Charlatan - Ghent, Belgium                          

Dec 11 Les Docks - Lausanne, Switzerland                          

Dec 12 BOAT - Bordeaux, France                            

Dec 14 Sterolux - Nantes, France                              

Dec 15 La Maroquinerie - Paris, France                                

Dec 17 La Trinitaires - Metz, France                         

Dec 30 Scheune - Dresden, Germany                                   

Dec 31 Palladium - Riga, Latvia                               

Jan 01  Volksbuhne - Berlin, Germany                                 

Jan 28  Laneway Festival - Brisbane, Australia                                  

Jan 30  Laneway Festival - Auckland, New Zealand                                     

Feb 04 Laneway Festival - Melbourne, Australia                               

Feb 05 Laneway Festival - Sydney, Australia                                    

Feb 10 Laneway Festival - Adelaide, Australia                                  

Feb 11 Laneway Festival - Perth, Australia                            

Feb 12 Laneway Festival - Singapore, Singapore                               

^ with Grimes

@ with Young Galaxy, Tasseomancy

Free download of "We Stand As One" below, also a video for his new Occupy Wall Street tribute song.

By Fred Mills

Rocker Joseph Arthur posted a new song to the web yesterday titled "We Stand As One," an elegant, piano-and-guitar powered elegy for the protesters of the Occupy Wall Street movement. You can download a free MP3 of the track and, meanwhile, we've got the video for you here as well. Check it out, and then read what Arthur has to say about the nature of protest songs (a topic we also explored recently at BLURT), along with his lyrics. Arthur additionally mentioned that should you feel like donating to OWS, here is a good link to follow.

From Joseph Arthur:

Protest songs should be open and somewhat naive

They can't help but reference Bob Dylan referencing Woody Guthrie

They usually speak in somewhat general terms

And to be effective at all,

they say things that even those coming from a similar space,

may not fully agree with.

They are easy targets for the venom of music critics (because of all the reasons above)

And yet still sometimes

They are necessary.

So with that I am happy to present you

"We Stand As One."

I hope you love it

Or hate it

Or love to hate it

Or let yourself

Hate to love it

but either way,

In some small way,

I hope that it helps.

- Joseph Arthur

# # #

"We Stand As One" - lyrics

We occupy wall street

Take back our soul

Take back our country

Take back control

Take back our health care

Take back our mind

Take back our freedom

Give up the grind

We occupy wall street

No more fear

No more acceptance

Of insanity's sneer

No more division

No more restraint

Our canvas is freedom

Your blood is our paint

we stand as one

You who have robbed us

You who have lied

You who were greedy

While the needy ones died

You who believed

You were better than them

Who sat in the flower

Ignoring the stem

You who denied them

Doctors and care

Humanity's basics

As if death were their share

You who denied

The struggles of most

Like a pig you consumed

And like a pig you will roast

we stand as one

We occupy wall street

The system has failed

As the innocent ones

Are beat down and jailed

The criminal minds

have stolen this land

By taking our freedom

And binding our hand

To the cuff of misfortune

To the cuff of our need

To the cuff of self pity

To the cuff of a seed

Lost in the desert

No chance to survive

No love to nurture

No water to thrive

we stand as one

A season of murder

The body and soul

Dreams being shattered

The damnation control

Give back our country

We come to defend

Our right to inspire

To love and befriend

Our right to be healthy

Our right to believe

In a country of equals

Of a chance to receive

A chance to develop

A chance to forgive

A chance to dignify

The way that we live

we stand as one

A chance education

A chance to secure

A place for our families

Our right to a cure

The disease is insane

The disease is just greed

The disease is your pain

Ignoring their need

The disease is your reason

Your will is unchecked

But the blood is all over

The lives you have wrecked

But blessed are the meek

For we stand as one

We stand against

The crimes you have done

we stand as one

We stand against

Your desire for more

Hear how we knock

Soon there won't be a door

And what you won't share

Will be ripped from your hands

Your body destroyed

The way fire lands

Burning your homes

The privilege you snake

The payback beyond

Anything you could take

Naked you'll be

And full of regret

And the way they were treated

You'll long to forget

we stand as one

You'll wish you could go back

and undo whats been done

You'll wish you were never

Insanity's son

You'll wish you were fair

You'll wish for compassion

But it will be late

And long out of fashion

Strung up you'll bleed

Like the pig you became

A symbol of hatred

And one with no name

And our country will come back

Belonging to us

Regain it's spirit

Regain our trust

we stand as one

Regain it's standing

Regain the world

The dream of our fathers

A new and bold world

Where people have chance

And can live with respect

And people can dance

Beyond their neglect

Where health is a right

And education within

The grasp of the poor

Who may still one day win

We occupy wall street

So that we may begin

To live in a country

Of freedom again.

we stand as one

It's happening this weekend, with appearances by the Flaming Lips, St. Vincent, Brian Eno, Moby, TV On the Radio, Roedelius, Terry Riley, Passion Pit, Suicide, Tangerine Dream  and tons more.

By Fred Mills

Last year, Halloween weekend, the Asheville, NC, streets were alive with the sound of... Dr. Robert Moog, and his legions of disciples - not to mention several thousand fans, many of them bedecked out in their finest costumes. (Hey, who the heck was that dude in the bunny rabbit outfit that kept popping up in photos?) That would be Moogfest.

The BLURT staff was no exception, as we fanned out to catch as many Moogfest bands, workshops, panels and related events - the  Sunday afternoon free concert in the park was pretty awesome -  as possible. From our wrap-up of the 2010 event: "We were zipping back and forth all over the downtown area of Asheville for 2 ½ days and nights, plus change. We ran into old friends, made new ones, compared notes with fellow journalists, and even hoisted an ale or two with some of the artists who wound up next to us in venues, cheering on their peers. And the one consistent thread that emerged was exactly what MoogFest was intended to be all about: celebrating the wide-open, boundary-less spirit of musical diversity and exploration that Robert Moog pioneered.

"The folks behind MoogFest have apparently already begun sketching out next year's event - I'd reckon that makes it a success. Sure looked, felt and smelled like it."

So - it came true; next year's event is now this year's event. Moogfest 2011 happens this weekend, Oct. 28-30, and it's a whopper, as the lineup of acts, below, clearly reveals. (There's also a series of Moogfest related stories online at the local alternative weekly paper The Mountain Xpress as well as daily newspaper The Asheville Citizen-Times.)

Check that name at the very bottom of the lineup: Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings "visual music" art installation is opening in Asheville during Moogfest weekend (at the YMI Cultural Center in downtown Asheville), and it's only the third time it has been displayed in the US, following openings in San Francisco and Los Angeles. (Previous exhibitions have been in Sydney, Milan and Venice.) What's more, Eno - no stranger to Moog and other analog synths, as the photo above might suggest - will also be on hand to present (separately) one of his "Illustrated Talks" on Saturday afternoon at Moogfest.

About 77 Million Paintings:  "Conceived by Eno as ‘visual music,' it is a constantly evolving sound and image-scape born from his exploration of light as an artistic medium and his interest in the aesthetic possibilities of generative software. Presented on a uniquely configured constellation of video monitors, 77 Million Paintings is a serene and beautiful work, slowly evolving and transforming in time such that no two instants are quite the same. It is art that encourages the viewer to slow down and enter a contemplative state, reflecting on the uniqueness of a passing moment that has almost certainly never existed before."

Last night (Oct. 27) the Eno installation was previewed for Moogfest guests and the press; following that was a press conference with the artist, who was alternately erudite, informative, thoughtful and just downright funny. We'll have more on Eno as well as thoughts on his lecture next week during our Moogfest wrapup.

***

Getting back to the music, this year the roster of venues had expanded considerably. In addition to the Asheville Civic Center Arena, the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium and the Orange Peel club (all of them with considerable audience capacity), there will also be shows held at the relatively intimate Diana Wortham Theatre and the Asheville Music Hall, along with selected performances happening at the Moogaplex and the Moog Store itself. And just to up the ante, they've taken over the parking lot of downtown hotel The Renaissance and dubbed the outdoor stage The Animoog Playground (that's where the Lips will be playing, for example). Here's hoping the weather holds up, as the latest forecast is calling for rain on Friday and then pretty chilly temperatures at night all weekend. (Hey, this IS October in the mountains.)

Speaking of the Moogaplex: that's where the panels and workshops will be held, and they were consistently interesting last year. Among the topics slated to be covered this time around: "Convergence: Software and Hardware Integration in the 21^st Century" (Friday); "Sound Design" (Saturday); Dan Deacon & Tara Busch's Moogerfooger Mayhem" (Saturday); "Journey to the center of the Theremin with Neon Indian, Dorit Chrysler and Albert Glinsky" (Sunday); "Sun Ra and Beyond: Exploring Rare Recordings from Bob's Archives" (Sunday - there was also a Sun Ra discussion in 2010 that was fascinating).

Meanwhile, there are to be all sorts of Moogfest-related happenings in and around the city. The Moogseum, for example, located in the same building as the Moogaplex, will display a portion of the late Dr. Moog's archives - books, gear, prototypes, and more. Then over at venerable indie store Harvest Records at noon on Saturday they will be hosting a special listening party for Brian Eno's new Panic of Looking EP that's slated to be released by Warp on Nov. 8, and attendees will be able to buy the record early. There will also be a pair of Moogfest-related in-store performance: today (Friday, 28^th) Stockholm's The Field will do a set at 3pm, while on Sunday The Drums will be doing a free gig at 4pm.

Visitors to Asheville are advised to follow a few Twitter feeds for updates and last minute (i.e., "secret") event announcements. Follow #Moogfest, as well as these accounts:

@Moogfest   

@MFSpaceman   

@MoogMusicInc

Also, text MOOG to 73378 if you want text updates throughout the weekend.

So... we're off. If you're in town, have fun, and if you're not, follow some of the happenings via the above Twitter feeds, the official Moogfest Facebook page, and even the BLURT Twitter for some random babblings from us over the weekend: @BlurtMagazine  

***

Some of our picks to click - and speaking of clicking, click on the links for the full hour-by-hour schedule for each day...

FRIDAY, OCT. 28:

Matthew Dear - Animoog Playground, 5:15

Austra - Orange Peel, 6:00

Beak> - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, 6:30

Atlas Sound - Orange Peel, 7:30

Tangerine Dream - TWA, 8:00

Mimi Goese & Ben Neill - Diana Wortham Theatre, 8:30

Holy Fuck - Civic Center Arena, 9:00

Chromeo - Animoog Playground, 9:30

Grimes - Asheville Music Hall, 10:30

Moby - Civic Center Arena, 10:30

Lunzproject - Dian Wortham Theatre, 11:30

Flying Lotus - TWA, 12:00

TV on the Radio - Civic Center Arena, 12:30

Anika - Orange Peel, 12:45

SATURDAY, OCT. 29:

Roedelius - Diana Wortham Theatre, 5:00 (read our Roedelius feature here)

Dan Deacon - Animoog Playground, 5:30

CANT - Orange Peel, 6:30

SBTRKT - Civic Center Arena, 6:30

Terry and Gyan Riley - TWA, 6:30

Twin Shadow - Orange Peel, 8:00

Adrian Below - Diana Wortham, 8:00

Flaming Lips - Animoog Playground, 8:30

Amon Tobin - Civic Center Arena, 10:15

Cloudland Canyon - Asheville Music Hall, 10:30

St. Vincent - TWA, 10:45

Suicide - Orange Peel, 11:30

Moon Duo - Asheville Music Hall, 12:00

Battles - TWA, 12:45

KODE9 - Orange Peel, 1:00

SUNDAY, OCT. 30:

Oneohtrix Point Never - Orange Peel, 5:00

Active Child - Civic Center Arena, 5:30

The Drums - TWA, 6:30

Fareed Haque & MathGames - Orange Peel, 6:30

Neon Indian - TWA, 8:00

Baths - Asheville Music Hall, 8:30

Special Disco Version feat. James Murphy & Pat Mahoney - Civic Center Arena, 8:30

Passion Pit - Animoog Playground, 9:00

Umphrey's McGee - TWA, 10:00

Ghostland Observatory - Civic Center Arena, 10:30

Gold Panda - Orange Peel, 11:30

Yet more versions of "Blue Jeans" and "Video Games"...

By Blurt Staff

The Lana Del Rey machine keeps a-rollin' this week. While fans and critics alike have posted mixed reviews of the Brooklyn songstress' prowess as a live performer - her actual singing earns kudos, but her stage presence/charisma apparently is fairly stiff/nonexistent - her "Video Games" single did top Billboard's singles chart, and she won a "Next Big Thing" trophy at the annual Q Awards in Britain.

And two more remixes have come down the pipeline, "Blue Jeans" by Odd Future's Syd the Kid (under his monicker The Internet), and "Video Games" by Jakwob & Etherwood. Check ‘em out, below - and go here if you want to listen to the original versions.

BLUE JEANS Odd Future's The Internet Remix by P5757575757575 VIDEO GAMES Jakwob & Etherwood Remix by P5757575757575

They're a modern stoneage family! Sorry, kids, ya gotta be over 17 to check ‘em out...

By Blurt Staff

In the grand tradition of Frankie Stein & his Ghouls and The Deadly Ones, In The Red is releasing Thee Cormans' Halloween Record w/ Special Effects - a bonafide Halloween rock n' roll album. The first 200 copies are pressed on glow in the dark vinyl (download card included).

Southern Californian biker/surf instrumental combo Thee Cormans have been bashing out their brand of Davie Allan & The Arrows meets the Ventures on meth thrash for several years now. Theirs is a sound informed by scratched up 60's instrumental records, KBD punk records and exploitation B movies chock full of monsters, bikers and mayhem. What this group of weirdos does to the surf instrumental genre is very similar to what The Mummies did to Pacific Northwest 60's rock back in the 90's: they speed it up, drag it through the mud, pour a can of politically incorrect attitude over the top of it and call it a pie. In this case the pie is filled with rubber bats, plastic fangs and novelty shrunken heads.

Thee Cormans - "Open The Gates" by forcefieldpr

The label describes Halloween Record w/ Special Effects as "spine-chilling sounds guaranteed to make you shiver! Flesh-ripping guitar playing! Skull pulverizing drum beats! Gore-spattering bass lines! Spooky, hair-raising sound effects! The bloody horror of this record is positively sinister!"

Well, all right then!

In The Red adds, in an ominous note that may or may not be for real, "no one under 17 will be allowed to purchase this record without written permission from a parent or guardian." So just write your Uncle Blurt and we'll be glad to forge that note for ya.

Track hails from forthcoming Christmas Jam collection The Benefity Volume 4.

By Fred Mills

With news of the 23^rd annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam still fresh - this year's installment, Dec. 10, features Gov't Mule, Phil Lesh & Friends, Los Lobos and a ton of other killer bands - Haynes' label Evil Teen has just announced the impending release of Warren Haynes Presents: The Benefit Volume 4.

 The 2-disc live benefit release drops Dec. 6 and features Gov't Mule, Bob Weir & Friends, John Hiatt & The Goners, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, moe. and more, recorded at the 14th annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in Asheville, NC on December 21, 2002. Yours truly was there and can personally testify to the potency of the evening - there were moments when the entire joint was levitating, like during Randolph & Haynes' duel during Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips," when moe. Was joined onstage by Bob Weir and during the Mule's extended version of signature track "Sco-Mule."

Proceeds from the album will Benefit the Asheville Chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Now let's listen to some Mule:

Worried Down With the Blues - Gov't Mule (The Benefit Concert Vol 4) by Warrenhaynes

Tracklisting:

1. Carolina In My Mind - Warren Haynes w/Don Lewis
2. 111 - Sons of Ralph
3. Nine Pound Hammer - Sons of Ralph w/Warren Haynes
4. The Kind Of Place - Jerry Joseph
5. Climb To Safety - Jerry Joseph w/Robert Randolph, Dave Schools & Matt Abts
6. Looking Out My Window - Robert Randolph & The Family Band
7. Shake Your Hips - Robert Randolph & The Family Band w/Warren Haynes & Danny Louis
8. Dark Star Jam > Mexico - moe.

9. Opium - moe. w/Warren Hayne

Disc 2:
1. Ride Along - John Hiatt & The Goners
2. Tiki Bar Is Open - John Hiatt & The Goners w/Jon Smith
3. Memphis In The Meantime - John Hiatt & The Goners w/Warren Haynes
4. Shakedown Street - Bob Weir & Friends
5. Truckin' - Bob Weir & Friends
6. The Other One - Bob Weir & Friends
7. Worried Down With The Blues - Gov't Mule w/Greg Rzab
8. Sco-Mule - Gov't Mule w/Greg Rzab, Dr. Dan Mattrazo, Jon Smith, Mike Barnes & DJ Logic
9. Simple Man - Gov't Mule w/Dave Schools, Artimus Pyle, Audley Freed, Mike Barnes & Rob Barraco

At Madison Square Garden on Oct. 25, the iconic New Wave group was on a creative roll.

Text/photos by David Chiu

Duran Duran's recent performance at New York's Madison Square Garden was a testament to the group's ongoing popularity and longevity since the self-titled debut album from 1981. Whereas some of their contemporaries from the early ‘80s have come and gone, Duran Duran have matured from their photogenic boy band years to being an influence in terms music, art and fashion. One can trace the band's impact on several of today's electronic pop and alternative rock acts such as Scissor Sisters.

The tour stop in New York this past Tuesday seemed appropriate as the group - singer Simone Le Bon, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor -- is currently on a creative roll. Duran Duran's recent album, All You Need is Now, is probably their strongest album in years as its sound recalls the group's first three albums - Duran Duran, Rio and Seven and the Ragged Tiger - for its arty electronic music, while it still retains Duran Duran's pop and dance sensibilities.

And because the music from All You Need is Now is a throwback to Duran Duran's early past, the new songs ("All You Need is Now," "Leave a Light On," and "Blame and the Machines") fit perfectly with the familiar hits during their Garden show, with stylish imagery and graphics projected on screens behind the band. Thus, one didn't feel impatient or exasperated when Duran Duran launched into a song from All You Need is Now - whereas perhaps for other acts breaking in a new song, it would have been tempting to say, "Get to the hit!"

Of course, the cheers from the audience, which was a cross section of both young and old fans, grew a bit louder when they recognized their favorites: the rollicking "Is There Something I Should Know"; the pulsating "Hungry Like the Wolf"; the moving ballad "Ordinary World": and the funky "Notorious." Other hits included from Duran Duran's glory period were "The Reflex," "A View to a Kill," and "The Wild Boys."

The band also delved deep in their catalog with the aggressive rocker "Careless Memories," from the Duran Duran album, and the jazzy instrumental "Tiger Tiger," from Seven and the Ragged Tiger. The show closed with a performance of "Rio" with the famous Patrick Nagel album cover art shown in the background.

The New York show was also special because of two guest appearances. Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters reprised her rap singing from the recent album for the very disco-influenced "Safe (In the Heat of the Moment)." Then later, Mark Ronson, the producer who's helmed All You Need is Now, performed with the band on "Girl Panic!", another fine track from the recent album.

As for the band members, they've lost none of their touch as far as their musicianship is concerned:  Nick Rhodes' keyboard work is so integral to the Duran Duran sound as is John Taylor's groove-inspired bass work; Roger Taylor's solid drumming - especially when one thinks about his hiatus from the mid ‘80s to the early ‘00s - is what this band needed; and Simon Le Bon's vocals sounds ageless.

If their Madison Square Garden performance and the recent album are any indications, Duran Duran still maintain the stylish exuberance and electricity that fans have come to expect from them for these many years.

Set List:

Before the Rain

Planet Earth

A View to a Kill

All You Need is Now

Blame the Machines

Come Undone

Safe (In the Heat of the Moment) (with Ana Matronic)

The Reflex

The Man Who Stole a Leopard

Girl Panic! (with Mark Ronson)

Is There Something I Should Know

Tiger Tiger

Careless Memories

Leave a Light On

Ordinary World

Notorious

Hungry Like the Wolf

(Reach Up For The) Sunrise

Encore:

The Wild Boys

Rio

Is this what we've been waiting for over the past 30 years...?

By Blurt Staff

Bluewater Productions has announced plans to tell John Lennon's story as part of Bluewater Comics "Orbit" series. Orbit: John Lennon will hit comic book stores in Dec. 2011 in time for the anniversary of his passing.

"No one could begin to estimate the contribution the Beatles have had on our world," said Darren G. Davis, president of Bluewater Comics. "And John Lennon is the perfect choice for our 'Orbit' series. He was so much more than just a rock star, because he used his stardom to make the world a better place."

Comic book writer Marc Shapiro (Selena Gomez: The Graphic Novel, Female Force: Cher) said he painstakingly worked to capture the essence of Lennon's story. "I approached writing Fame: John Lennon as an exploration of a life full of potential and promise that was, sadly, cut short," said Shapiro. "We all know the importance of John Lennon as part of The Beatles. But I felt it was more important to concentrate on his post Beatles' life and career, both good and bad, so that readers would get the clearest possible idea about who he was as a creative entity, husband and father."

However, Shapiro takes the next step and explores "what might have been" in the 32-page comic book.

No word on exactly what that means yet, however, so be very, very afraid...

Subjects of Bluewater's "Orbit" have included Keith Richards, Stephen King, and Howard Stern.  Also launched this week are Kindle versions of the biography comic books of Steve Jobs, Selena Gomez, Anne Rice and more.

Let's Twist again, like we did last summer, y'all.

By Fred Mills

It's a concept that ain't a concept: a person dancing in a rock video! We're in the middle that new oral history of MTV, so this one, uh, definitely clicks with us.

It's the Black Keys, doing "Lonely Boy," the first single from the forthcoming Danger Mouse album El Camino, due Dec. 6 on Nonesuch.

"Lonely Boy" will also be a 12" release for the upcoming Black Friday sale at indie shops courtesy Record Store Day...