When holding an air guitar, one cannot be holding a gun.

By Blurt Staff

As previously reported in this space, Hot Lixx Hulahan (known to his ma and pa as Craig Billmeier) was crowned the 2008 Cuervo Black US Air Guitar earlier this month, defeating twenty-four challengers from around the country, all vying for the opportunity to represent the United States at the World Championships in Finland. The event brought 20 more challengers - this time from all around the globe - including two-time defending World Champion Ochi (Dainoji) Yosuke of Japan, as well as representatives from Russia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and South Africa.

On Aug. 20 Hulahan bested them all. "I honestly didn't think I had a chance," Billmeier said in a statement afterwards. "Don't get me wrong, I wanted to do good, to do everyone proud, to at least look decent on YouTube." (See below for Hulahan performing at the event.)

For winning the Air Guitar World Championship title, Billmeier was awarded a Finnish handmade Flying Finn electric guitar. Of his victory, he said simply, "I certainly did not expect this."

Dan Crame (Aka Bjorn Turoque), emcee of the Cuervo Black US Air Guitar Championships Tour, and star of the American feature film, Air Guitar Nation, was on hand to host the event (the first time the competition was hosted by a non-Finn). Crane said of Hot Lixx's compulsory round performance, "He couldn't have nailed the song more perfectly. Every move was precise and the audience was eating out of the palm of his hand." The judges concurred, giving Hot Lixx a near-perfect score. "I've never seen such a near-perfect score in the final round," Crane said. "Afterwards, everyone came up to him and said they were happy that if it wasn't them that won, they were glad it was Hot Lixx. He's just got that Air about him."

"It's certainly in keeping with the true heart of air guitar, which is World Peace," said US Air Guitar co-founder Kriston Rucker, referring to the Air Guitar Ideology which states that if one is holding an air guitar, one cannot, at the same time, be holding a gun. "I think it speaks to the old Air Guitar Ideology which states that if one is holding an air guitar, one cannot, at the same time, be holding a gun. I believe this victory validates the organizational initiatives we put into place following our three year drought at the world level. It also reaffirms that our talent pipeline is robust, and will only grow stronger with the global attention that Hot Lixx is bringing to our event."

Since its inception, US Air Guitar has sent a representative to compete for the World Air Guitar crown six times. This latest win marks the third time the United States has triumphed. 'With this win, America has just entered an Air Guitar dynasty,' said USAG co-founder Cedric Devitt. The US won the world crown in its first and second years in the world competition (2003 & 2004, respectively), but relinquished the throne in 2005 to Michael (Destroyer) Heffels of the Netherlands, and in 2006 and 2007 to Ochi (Dainoji) Yosuke of Japan.

Air Guitar World Championships Results With Scores:

1. Craig "Hot Lixx Hulahan" Billmeier (United States) 35.5
2. Andel "John Sniffler" Soree (Netherlands) 34.8
3. Cole "Johnny Utah" Manson (Canada) 34.7
4 Francois-Xavier "Master Peace" Phan (France) 34.4
4. Ichikawa the Rock (Japan) 34.4
6. Ochi "Dainoji" Yosuke (Japan) 34.2
7. Christian "Heart Buckboard" Sweep (Denmark) 33.5
8. Clay "Clay Bangers" Connolly (Australia) 33.4
8. Daniel "Midnight Moses" Robertson (United Kingdom) 33.4
10. Simon "Turak" Edwards (United Kingdom) 32.8
11. Ramsey James "Carlos Slazenger" Williamson (Greece) 16.6
11. Maxim "Angel of Death" Andro (Finland) 16.6
13. Daniel "Fahnderstruck" Faranna (Italy)16.5
13. Terje "Lord Fist" Stephansen (Norway) 16.5
15. Aikyu "Super IQ" Kanagawa (Japan) 16.4
16. Dirk "Lord Airness" Lüdi (Switzerland) 16.3
17. Heine "Lord Wolmer" van der Walt (South Africa) 16.1
17. Alexander "Devil Seducer" Gott (Russia) 16.1
19. Oskari "Knucklefinger" Martimo (Finland) 15.4
20. Aivar Meos (Estonia) 15.1

The timing is not at all coincidental...

By Blurt Staff

Mavis Staples Live: Hope At The Hideout arrives Election Day, Nov. 4, on Anti-. And if you don't spot the significance of that timing, shame on you: Staples' long history of work with the Civil Rights Movement should be common knowledge at this stage (in 2007 she even won a Free Speech award created to honor artists that have incited discussion and worked against the status quo through their music and their actions).

In an even more timely move, with the DNC in full swing in Denver right now and the Republicans set to rock Minneapolis next week, Staples has just released the first track off Hope At the Hideout. Entitled "We Shall Not Be Moved," the song is described by the label as "a classic freedom song.  While the song, which includes lines like ‘we're fighting for our children / we shall not be moved,' could be the theme song for either of the current political campaigns, Mavis puts it squarely into context during an instrumental break-down in the middle of the song.  In the South in the 1960s, Mavis drawls, just trying to have a meal in a restaurant was in itself an act of civil disobedience, and when she and her fellow marchers would be forcibly ejected by the police, they sang ‘We Shall Not Be Moved.'"

 "We Shall Not Be Moved" is available for streaming or download on the Anti label blog.

Incidentally, Anti- points out that Staples and Barack Obama attended the same church in Chicago, and Congressman John Lewis, who figured prominently in last night's moving tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy, wrote the liner notes to Staples' last record We'll Never Turn Back.  Not bad connections to have.

Tracklisting:

1.      For What It's Worth

2.      Eyes on the Prize

3.      Down in Mississippi

4.      Wade in the Water

5.      Waiting For My Child

6.      This Little Light

7.      Why Am I Treated So Bad

8.      Freedom Highway

9.      We Shall Not Be Moved

10.  Circle Intro (encore)

11.  Will The Circle Be Unbroken (encore)

12.  On My Way (encore)

13.  I'll Take You There (encore)

Sure it's a puerile headline... who you think writes this stuff anyway?

By Fred Mills

Nick Cave's Bad Seeds offshoot Grinderman has just gotten their track "No Pussy Blues" remixed by five key knob-twiddlers.

According to a post at the Grinderman MySpace page, Adam Freeland, Midfield General, T. Raumschmiere, G.e.R.M. and Electronic Periodic have each dived into "Pussy," with results the group's Martyn Casey describes as "set over a throbbing pornographic bass line, the world holds its breath for the onslaught of the wah's shriek of frustration and dirty water, ‘No Pussy Blues' continues in the blues tradition and its timeless fascination with getting laid...or not."

Both the Freeland and G.e.R.M. remixes have been posted to the MySpace page's music player. (The former is particularly tasty - seriously club bangin' shit, like Cave and Foetus meet the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.) No word yet how fans will get the full batch of tracks, but iTunes is a pretty good bet.

Cave will bring the Bad Seeds over to the States in three weeks for a string of Dig Lazarus Dig!...

9-16 San Diego, CA - 4th & B
9-17 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
9-20 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre
9-22 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
9-23 Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo
9-24 Seattle, WA - Showbox SoDo
9-26 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
9-28 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
9-29 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
10-01 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus
10-02 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
10-04 New York, NY - WaMu Theater at MSG
10-05 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club

Hey, while we're at it, how about this video of Grinderman doing "Pussy" on TV in the UK? They sure didn't try to pull that off when they played the Letterman show here in the States... pussies.

More skronkin' No Wave than you can shake Lydia Lunch's tailfeather at!

By Fred Mills

James Chance has put legendary No Wave combo the Contortions back together for a  gig in New York this weekend. On Saturday, Aug. 30, at 6pm at the PS1 Warm Up in Long Island City (www.ps1.org/warmup) Chance, Robert Aaron, Jody Harris, Pat Place and Don Christensen will do their first NYC-area show in over a decade.

This comes on the heels of the one-off Teenage Jesus and the Jerks (of which Chance was a founding member) reunion at the Knitting Factory in June. It's set to time with the 30th Anniversary of the classic Brian Eno-produced No New York album documenting the NYC No Wave scene; sharp-eyed readers will recall that the LP marked the Contortions' first recorded appearance. The band plans to perform all its old "hits" (term used loosely) along with new material being worked up for a forthcoming album.

In a statement, James Chance said that he "would like to dedicate this performance to guitarist Jerry Agony who died on July 29th. Jerry performed with James White + Blacks and The Contortions from 1981 - 1997." 

Interestingly, there's been quite a groundswell of attention of late for the No Wave scene of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s: no less than three books have been published in the last year, and you can read about them at the BLURT links below.

No Wave (by Marc Masters) and New York Noise (by Stuart Baker and Paula Court)

No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980. (by Thurston Moore and Byron Coley)

[Original Contortions photo credit: Kate Simon]

Critically-lauded band to be supported on U.S. trek by A.A. Bondy, Deer tick.

By Blurt Staff

After tearing up the festival circuit this year--Outside Lands, Bonnaroo, All Points West, Langerado, The Newport Folk Festival, Mountain Jam--The Felice Brothers will embark on a 37-date headlining tour. The jaunt begins September 4 in Burlington, VT and ends November 2 in New York City. A.A. Bondy and Deer Tick will support the band--except one stop in Kentucky, where the Felice Brothers open for Old Crow Medicine Show. The tour comes just as the band is slathered in all kinds of slobbery praise from the press (you know, about that great-ass album on Team Love Records). Complete dates are below.

The band is also proud of its spanking new video for "Frankie's Gun," filmed live at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, NY. Check it out.

* = w/ A.A. Bondy
# = w/ Deer Tick
% = opening for Old Crow Medicine Show

SEPTEMBER 2008
04 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
05 - Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
06 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim
07 - Great Barrington, MA - Club Helsinki
11 - Albany, NY - Linda Norris Auditorium*
12 - Ithaca, NY - Castaways*
13 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's*
14 - Alexandria, VA - The Birchmere Bandstand*
16 - Atlanta, GA - Smith's Olde Bar*
18 - Nashville, TN - Exit / In*
19 - Lexington, KY - Christ the King Oktoberfest*
20 - Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub*
21 - Iowa City, IA - The Mill*
23 - Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room*
24 - St. Louis, MO - Billiken Club at St. Louis University (Open to the Public)*
25 - Notre Dame, IN - Legends of Notre Dame (Student's Only)*
26 - Cincinnati, OH - Midpoint Music Festival at the Know Theater*
27 - Rutland, OH - Reclaim Festival*
29 - Knoxville, TN - Barley's Taproom*
30 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506*

OCTOBER 2008
02 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church*
09 - Princeton, NJ - Terrace F. Club (Princeton U - Student's Only)#
10 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café#
11 - Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre%
13 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Café#
15 - Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's#
16 - Birmingham, AL - Workplay Theater#
17 - New Orleans, LA - Maple Leaf#
18 - Alexandria, LA - Alexandria Music Project#
22 - West Hollywood, CA - The Troubadour#
23 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall#
24 - Portland, OR - Mission Theatre#
25 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey#
27 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Paladium#
28 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre & Café#

NOVEMBER 2008
02 - New York, NY - Spiegeltent#

Due over here in early Oct. for coast to coast dates.

By Fred Mills

In just a little over a month from now, Britain's Wire will hit the North American shores for a two-week tour in support of their latest album Object 47 (so named because it's the 47^th title in the band's long discography). Wire will only be playing major markets, but what else is new for British outfits? According to the band the record is "the second product of an arc of work began in 2006 which has so far thrown up the rather well received EP, Read And Burn 03 [from which no tracks appear] and stands as a confident statement of where Wire are in 2008."

Fun side note: the band wants us to remind you of its "idiosyncratic mix of an avant-garde mindset with classic pop timing this album boasts ‘tunes with zoom'."

We're not sure what "tunes with zoom" exactly are, but hey, we're game! Read our recent exclusive interview with Wire HERE.

Wire Tour Dates:

10.05 - Montreal, QC @ Le National

10.06 - Ottawa, ON @ Barrymore's

10.07 - Toronto, ON @ Lee's Place

10.08 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs

10.09 - New York, NY @ the Fillmore at Irving Plaza

10.10 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

10.11 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

10.12 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse

10.14 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echoplex

10.15 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore

10.16 - Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom

10.17 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue

10.18 - Chicago, IL @ Metro

New album Only By the Night due in stores September 23.

By Blurt Staff

Anyone for a little sex on fire? The video for the new single from Kings of Leon’s new record Only By the Night is up and ready on MySpaceTV. The clip, directed by Sophie Muller, was filmed in LA and shows the band writhing, tearing up books, eating something that looks like chicken, and belching black smoke. It's--urp!--pretty cool.

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: Natasha Bedingfield

10:00 AM PBS: Sesame Street: Feist , Jack Black

12:00 PM VH1C: Rock Fest: Rush

2:00 PM MHD: MTV Live: R.E.M.

2:00 PM VH1C: Rock Fest: Nirvana

2:00 PM VH1C: Rock Fest: Nirvana

6:00 PM Sundance: Live from Abbey Road: The Subways, Gnarls Barkley, Herbie Hancock

7:30 PM MOJO: London Live!: Morning Runner , Richard Hawley , Primal Scream

8:30 PM IFC: Z Rock: ZO2 , Sebastian Bach

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Little Anthony & the Imperials

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: B.B. King

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

1:00 AM TVONE: The Tom Joyner Show: Earth, Wind & Fire

1:00 AM VH1C: Rock City w/The Rolling Stones , Otis Redding , Cat Stevens (Yusuf) , Jimi Hendrix , Ike and Tina Turner , Eric Burdon

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

How about a CD of it too, guys, hmmmm? Not all of us are on iTunes...

By Fred Mills

The Gutter Twins - that's Dulli and Lanegan to you, punk - had a bunch of material left over from their Saturnalia sessions, so you know that means: EP time! That's right: Adorata is en route exclusively via iTunes next week, Sept. 2, and it will include a slew of covers along with two originals. See track list below.

A portion of of the proceeds from the EP will go to the Natasha Shneider Memorial Fund (www.natashashneider.org). Shneider, a long-time friend of the band, was the lead singer for Eleven and a member of Queens of the Stone Age.

The band's currently in the middle of an extensive European tour but will be back to the U.S. in a couple of weeks. Then on Oct. 24 they'll play the Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans.

Adorata Track Listing:

Belles (Vetiver)

Down The Line (Jose Gonzales)

Deep Hit Of Morning Sun (Primal Scream)

Flow Like A River (Eleven)

St. James Infirmary (Traditional)

Duchess (Scott Walker)

Spanish Doors

We Have Met Before

Classic My Bloody Valentine Albums Isn't Anything and Loveless Plus Tremolo EP and All of the Band's Music Videos Available Digitally.

By Blurt Staff

Today, My Bloody Valentine issued its classic Sire recordings digitally: Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991) are at all digital retail outlets for $9.99. Though both had been available in truncated form, this is the first time these seminal albums will be available for download in their entirety.

Along with the two full-length albums, the Tremolo EP (originally released in conjunction with Loveless) and all of the band's music videos will also available for download. It's the first ever digital release for Tremolo, and the first commercial release of any kind for MBV's videos - "Only Shallow," "Soon," "Swallow," and "To Here Knows When." Tremolo will be available for $3.99 while each video will be available for $1.99 each.

For more than 15 years, these promotional videos offered fans the only opportunity to see My Bloody Valentine in action, but this year Kevin Shields and company return to concert stages. The group's U.K. reunion gigs earlier this summer have drawn raves from the music press, and My Bloody Valentine arrives in America for a string of dates beginning in mid-September.

Sep 19 2008    8:00P

            ATP New York - Kutshers Country Club      Monticello, New York

Sep 22 2008    8:00P

            Roseland Ballroom -SOLD OUT       New York, New York

Sep 23 2008    8:00P

            Roseland Ballroom SOLD OUT        New York, New York

Sep 25 2008    8:00P

            Ricoh Coliseum           Toronto, Ontario

Sep 27 2008    8:00P

            Aragon Ballroom SOLD OUT           Chicago, Illinois

Sep 30 2008    8:00P

            The Concourse Exhibition Center       San Francisco, California

Oct 1 2008      8:00P

            Santa Monica Civic     Santa Monica, California

Oct 2 2008      8:00P

            Santa Monica Civic     Santa Monica, California