MC5 : High Time
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
After Midnight : More Women Of Soul Featured
Patti LaBelle (above left), Gladys Knight (above center) and Natalie Cole (above right) will shimmy into the spotlight in the Jazz Age salute to the Harlem Renaissance, which revisits Duke Ellington's years at the legendary Cotton Club, with his original arrangements played by an onstage big band of jazz musicians hand-picked by Wynton Marsalis. MORE HERE
official website
Paul Rodgers : Chairman Of Sustained Creative Achievement
The Music Business Association (Music Biz), formerly NARM and digitalmusic.org, will present its Chairman’s Award for Sustained Creative Achievement to Paul Rodgers – frontman and founder of classic Rock bands Bad Company, Free and The Firm and a Grammy-nominated solo artist – at the Music Biz 2014 Awards Luncheon on May 8, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
Music Biz 2014, which will be held May 6-8, 2014 is the music industry’s premier event, giving the commerce and content sectors a place to meet with trading partners, network with new companies, and learn about new trends and products impacting the music business. The Awards Luncheon will also feature the presentation of the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award to Ariana Grande, a chart-topping pop star and actress, the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award to Dee Snider, frontman of classic Heavy Metal band Twisted Sister, and the Outstanding Achievement Award for the Frozen soundtrack. source
Registration is available now. For more information or to sign up for the conference, GO HERE
official website
Wanda Jackson: Stagecoach Sensation
The final day of Stagecoach on Sunday, April 27, 2014 closed out three weekends of Coachella/Stagecoach awesomeness with more great music.
Wanda Jackson (above) was a highlight of the late afternoon. She opened her set with “Riot In Cell Block No. 9”—which, simply put, was awesome. She said the dust in the air was causing her some problems, yet her voice was incredible. She went through hits such as “Funnel of Love” and “I Betcha My Heart I Love You,” and talked about her relationship with Elvis Presley in the mid-’50s. MORE HERE, HERE & HERE
Photos HERE
official website
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Martial Arts Master Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson has accomplished a great deal in his 80 years, and on Monday night (April 28, 2014), the day before his 81st birthday, the Red Headed Stranger added to that long list of accolades.
Nelson received his fifth-degree black belt in a martial art called GongKwon Yusul, a discipline with Korean roots that Nelson says he has practiced for 20 years. MORE w/video HERE
Photos HERE
official website
2014 Tony Award Nominations
"Hedwig and the Angry Inch," a cult off-Broadway hit that this season stars Neil Patrick Harris, won eight nominations, while "After Midnight," a musical celebrating Duke Ellington's years at the Cotton Club nightclub, got seven, tied with "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" and "Twelfth Night." MORE HERE & HERE
official website
Monday, April 28, 2014
Graham Nash/Mavis Staples: Civil Rights Singers
The Music and Social Consciousness panel on the first day
of the Civil Rights Summit gave a nod to popular culture’s involvement
in the civil rights movement.
Mavis Staples and Graham Nash (above), two
musicians known for their contributions to pop culture and the civil
rights movement, spoke, followed by a four-song
performance given by Nash. Both Staples and Nash talked about how the
civil rights movement and political atmosphere influenced their careers
in music. source
The Dude Abides At Lebowski Fest
Jeff Bridges and his band The Abiders performed Friday April 25, 2014 at Lebowski Fest, but Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 campy crime comedy The Big Lebowski was still the night's biggest star.
Fans of the film filled the Wiltern Theater in midtown Los Angeles to capacity for the annual celebration of the cult classic, which has been staged around the country since 2002.
Bridges and his band performed a 30-minute set that included songs from "Crazy Heart," the 2009 film for which he won the best actor Oscar. Kyle Gass, the other half of Tenacious D, opened the evening by singing tunes from "The Big Lebowski." source
Video HERE
Monty Python Finalé Worldwide Screening
On July 20, 2014 the five
remaining members of famed comedy group Monty Python will reunite for
one last show, and you won't have to fly to the United Kingdom to watch.
Due to popular demand, The Last Night of Monty Python will be streamed live to 1,500 theaters around the world.
Originally, members John
Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones had
intended to do just a pair of live shows in the UK for a final reunion —
their first live shows since 1980 — but when tickets sold out in just 44 seconds,
the group realized that there was a larger opportunity. They bumped the
number to 10 shows, beginning July 1, 2014 and running through July 20, 2014 at
London's O2 Arena. That very last performance is the one that will be
broadcast to theaters in other countries, including but not limited to
the United States, Russia, Australia, Sweden, and Poland. source
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Neil Young Delivers A Letter Home
Young and White recorded the album acoustic and directly to vinyl, at Third Man's 1940s phone-booth-size studio. Young covered Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Bert Jansch, Don Everly, and more.
Now, Young has announced a Deluxe Vinyl Box Set
version of the record, to be released May 27, 2014. A Letter Home
will also be released as a CD and digital album. Watch Young record
his cover of Bert Jansch's "Needle of Death" in the Third Man booth in
the video above. sourceofficial website
The Long, Strange Trip Of Bob Weir
The movie follows Weir's life, from his early years as a high-school dropout following author Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters communal group, through his amazing 30-year adventure as a member of the world's most celebrated jam band and beyond.
The Other One features candid conversations with Bob, as well as interviews with his Dead band mates Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann; various family members; and musical friends such as Sammy Hagar, Bruce Hornsby and Phish's Mike Gordon.
In addition, the movie includes concert and behind-the-scenes footage, and takes a look at how the Grateful Dead was affected by and influenced the cultural changes the world underwent during the group's existence.
The flick also will be shown at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 29, 2014 and May 2, 2014. source
MORE HERE
official website
Frank Headed To Theaters
In the world of alternative music, The Soronprfbs are the ultra outsiders. A brilliant, ramshackle, barely functioning band, they are built around the eponymous Frank, an unstable yet charismatic musical savant, who at all times wears a large, round fake head with crudely painted on features.
FRANK is based on the memoir by Jon Ronson. It is a fictional story loosely inspired by Frank Sidebottom, the persona of cult musician and comedy legend Chris Sievey, as well as other outsider musicians like Daniel Johnston and Captain Beefheart. The film opens May 9, 2014. MORE HERE & HERE
official website
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey Keep It Rocking
Told that he had only months to live, he resolved to make the most of his time and headed out on the road for a tour that everyone - including Wilko and his doctors - anticipated would be his last.
When he confounded medical science and was still around to see in 2014, he declared that he'd had "a brilliant year" and announced another tour, taking in dates in both Britain and Japan.
In between these intended farewells, last November (2013) he went into the studio with Roger Daltrey to record Going Back Home
. MORE HEREofficial website
Dolly Parton Blue Smokin'
" on May 13, 2014,
and she stresses there's a little bit of something for everyone.The album release will come in the middle of a busy touring season for Parton. She launched an Australian / New Zealand tour in February (2014).
She will then return to the U.S. to promote the "Blue Smoke
" release, and then
kick off an American leg of the tour on May 22, 2014. Then, in July (2014),
she will return overseas for the UK / European leg. MORE HEREofficial website
Laurel Canyon Conspiracies
Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and early 1970s was a magical place where a dizzying array of musical artists congregated to create much of the music that provided the soundtrack to those turbulent times.Members of bands like the Byrds, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, the Monkees,the Beach Boys, the Turtles, the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Steppenwolf, CSN, Three Dog Night and Love,along with such singer/songwriters as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, James Taylor and Carole King, lived together and jammed together in the bucolic community nestled in the Hollywood Hills.
But there was a dark side to that scene as well. Many didn’t make it out alive, and many of those deaths remain shrouded in mystery to this day. Far more integrated into the scene than most would like to admit was a guy by the name of Charles Manson, along with his murderous entourage. Also floating about the periphery were various political operatives, up-and-coming politicians and intelligence personnel – the same sort of people who gave birth to many of the rock stars populating the canyon.
Dave McGowan’s Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippy Dream
is no less than the Official
Classic Rock Conspiracy Theory. MORE HERE & HERE
Friday, April 25, 2014
Beth Gibbons Covers Black Sabbath
Sometimes it's best to just let a work of art speak for itself. Above, you'll find a video for a song called "Black Sabbeth." It's Portishead's Beth Gibbons singing Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" while English metal trio Gonga back her up ...and it totally kicks ass. source
official website
Sir Paul To Perform Candlestick Park Finalé
The Beatles played their final public concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco back in 1966, which gives the soon-to-be-demolished ballpark a special place in Paul McCartney's heart. Sir Paul had made it clear he wanted to perform the final concert at Candlestick and he's been confirmed to do just that on August 14, 2014. MORE HERE & HERE
official website
Record Store Day Breaks Record
The vinyl love-in keeps growing.
Just-released figures from last weekend’s Record Store Day (April 19, 2014) show another huge spike for the vintage format. According to Nielsen/SoundScan, the deeply-grooved delivery system enjoyed a 58% increase in sales on this Record Store Day over that holiday last year.
More broadly, vinyl sales are up 36%, over this same period last year. That’s on top of a 33% spurt in 2013, compared to figures from 2012, which added up to over 6.1 million units. MORE HERE
Thursday, April 24, 2014
NPR Streams Pixies' Indie Cindy
is the product of blurts and
bite-size doses and false starts: the release of a single that no one
saw coming, the departure of Kim Deal that everyone saw coming, the
steady trickle of songs and EPs that would eventually congeal into an
album fans started receiving piece by piece back in June 2013. Taken in
its entirety, in this order, Indie Cindy functions as a surprisingly coherent album, with disarming beauty nestled against dissonant snarls. The official release date is April 29, 2014.NPR is streaming the entire LP. GO HERE
official website
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