Travis Barker drums. The Game stands behind him and rocks. Drummers and rappers say "hey, I can do that!"

“End.>vacuum,” an orchestral piece composed by Incubus guitarist Michael Einziger, will receive its premiere Aug. 23 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.
The 40-minute piece consists of nine musical movements and will be performed by a chamber orchestra - the Graviton Modern Ensemble - led by conductor and Einziger’s longtime collaborator Suzie Katayama.The piece was inspired by  Igor Stravinsky, George Crumb, Samuel Barber, Krzysztof Penderecki and Frank Zappa.
A major portion of the piece’s inspiration resides in Einziger’s love of science.  He has recently participated in articles with Brown University evolutionary biologist Dr. Kenneth Miller, British physicist Dr. Brian Cox and Pulitzer Prize-winning science historian Dr. Ed Larson.
Therefore, it's only logical that the night should begin with a 20-minute lecture from Cox about particle physics and experiments being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research).
Einziger wrote the piece while recovering form surgery for carpel tunnel syndrome.Einziger begins musical studies this fall at Harvard.

Kristy Lee Cook, the Oregon singer who sold a horse to finance a trip to Philadelphia to audition for “American Idol,” has signed with 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville.  Cook’s first single, “15 Minutes of Shame,” will be released to country radio on Aug. 11. Cook will be recording her debut album with producer Brett James in between tour dates this summer. Album is penciled in for the fall. Cook is the third member of season seven of “American Idol” to secure a recording contract within the BMG roster of labels.

Story by Matt Kivel

There's been a lot of buzz going around about Franz Ferdinand's new material. The Scottish quartet has posted some samples online and announced that their first single will debut on EA sports' forthcoming mega-hit Madden '09. For the media, it's been an endless game of speculation with outlets offering various predictions as to what "new sound" Franz is likely to employ.

The new issue of Rolling Stone poses "afro pop" as a possibility, but it seems that publication is still suffering from a severe case of Vampire Weekend fever (glancing through the reviews page I spotted a suspiciously large helping of references to afro-pop and world beat) ... so the legitimacy is suspect.

In this situation, it's best to let the music do the talking ... so here's a video (with some iffy sound quality) of the soon-to-be Madden soundtracking "Katherine Kiss Me." It employs the same sort of tense-funk riffage that was Franz's bread and butter for their first two albums and sort of makes all the "new direction" talk seem silly ... though a few demos from the band's site surfaced recently, and those do mark some significant sonic changes in the group's sound ... I guess we'll just have to wait for the finished product.   

"Katherine Kiss Me" June 9, 2008 - London

Story by Kurtis Lee

Kimora Lee, ex-wife of rap mogul Russell Simmons is about to get a rather large divorce settlement from the Def Jam founder. The Los Angeles Superior Court has ordered Simmons to cough up $40,000 a month in child support for the two daughters the pair had together. XXL Magazine reports that the grand total comes out to $480,000 annually, with payments set to terminate in 2022.

Although they've had a heated divorce, each seems to have moved on and is now donning a new significant other. Simmons has been dating supermodel Porscha Coleman and Lee is now paired with actor Djimon Hounsou best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance in the 2006 hit "Blood Diamond."

Story by Matt Kivel

I know that the reporting is a bit late -- since this happened over a month ago -- but the situation is just too humorous not to get a mention on the Set List. Apparently, Talking Heads genius / Paul Simon singing / blogger extraordinaire David Byrne has fallen victim to his own free-spirited ways. Whilst whimsically riding bikes through the streets of New York with artist David Shrigley, Byrne took a nasty spill that resulted in a bizarre encounter with the police and two broken ribs. Read more about it on Byrne's immensly entertaining blog.   

Story by Matt Kivel

Variety's own Bill Triplett reports on a new house proposal regarding broadcast radio royalties:

"Musicians and record labels took a major first step toward winning a performance royalty as a House subcommittee passed a bill that would require such payment from broadcast radio."

"But opposition in the full House and possibly the Senate could be significant."

"Broadcasters already pay royalties -- $500 million annually, according to the National Assn. of Broadcasters -- to songwriters and music publishers. The Performance Rights Act would repeal a longstanding exemption for terrestrial radio on paying musicians and singers a royalty when their recorded work is played over the air."

Read the full story on Variety.com

Story by Matt Kivel

Hopeless romantics rejoice! Canadian popsters Stars will likely be coming to a town near you. The band is currently finishing up some European dates, but they'll be kicking out the jams for stateside audiences starting with the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco August 24.

Also, the band just issued a new video (co-directed by Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew) for "Bitches In Tokyo" from the "In Our Bedroom After The War" LP. It's got an appealing, coming-of age in the '70s aesthetic ... and they namedrop a number of awesome bands from the glam-rock scene. Think "Virgin Suicides" meets "Detroit Rock City":

Bitches In Tokyo

Stars 2008 US Tour: 

Sunday August 24th, 2008 San Francisco, CA - San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival

Wednesday September 17th, 2008 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street

Friday September 19th, 2008 Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero Theatre

Saturday September 20th, 2008 New York, NY - Terminal 5

Wednesday September 24th, 2008 Chicago, IL - The Riviera Theatre

Thursday September 25th, 2008 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant

Friday September 26th, 2008 Lawrence, KS - The Granada

Sunday September 28th, 2008 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Music Festival

Wednesday October 1st, 2008 Hollywood, CA - Avalon

Thursday October 2nd, 2008 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues

Saturday October 4th, 2008 Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre

Wednesday October 8th, 2008 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom

Thursday October 9th, 2008 Seattle, WA - The Showbox Theatre

Story by Andrew Barker

Purveyor of the most controversial pop music of the last two decades, and longtime property of the most frightening man in the music industry, Death Row Records has been sold. The little-known Global Music Group paid $24 million for the label's assets, beating out both Warner Bros. and Koch Records.

The label -- once home to Dr. Dre, Snoop and Tupac; currently the home of no one you've ever heard of -- wracked up $750 million in revenue during its heyday, only to see all of its key talent depart, with many of them leveling allegations of extreme malfeasance against frequently-incarcerated CEO Suge Knight.

He was knocked out by some guy outside of an LA club earlier this year:

Story by Matt Kivel

The boys of Radiohead are anything but bashful when it comes to embracing the internet and new media. Whether it be posts on the group's Dead Air Space blog, their first live performance of 2008 streaming online, the Scotch Mist New Year's Eve Videos and their well-documented you-name-it pricing scheme for In Rainbows ... Yorke and Co have been generous to their legions of internet savy fans.

Their latest is a series of videos made recently available via Itunes' Music Store. Filmed on a single day with Nigel Godrich's From The Basement crew, the videos capture Radiohead performing a handful of In Rainbows songs in an intimate setting.   

Morgan Freeman finally gets his "In Rainbows" box set!

Story by Matt Kivel

The story is well-known by now: Juno director Jason Reitman calls Ellen Page into his office for a meeting and asks her what music precocious protagonist Juno McGuff would listen to. The petite Novia Scotian replies: "The Moldy Peaches" and bang! "Anybody Else But You" finds its way into the ears of housewives and love-sick teenagers everywhere while Juno's soundtrack steamrolls its way to the top of the charts. Well, according to Idolator, Reitman had an entirely different band in mind before Ms. Page rocked his world.

Yo La Tengo, the prolific Hoboken trio, were actually slated to serve as the main soundtrack artist.

Speaking to Idolator, Reitman says:

"We started to realize there was this rebirth of lo-fi music that had the same energy as punk music, but nowhere as angry. The first band we discovered was Yo La Tengo and so I started to think that was the sound of the film."   

Now, Yo La Tengo and The Moldy Peaches -- aside from a few songs -- don't share too much in the ways of sonic style ... especially the whole "lo-fi" thing Reitman's blabbering about, but I can't help but ponder a world where "Stockholm Syndrome" and "Season Of The Shark" soared against the silver screen.

Kimya Dawson and The Moldy Peaches complimented the film well, but Yo La Tengo's music would have lent an entirely different bittersweet undercurrent to the movie's off-beat charm. 

Story by Andrew Barker

IAC CEO Thomas McInerney and Ticketmaster chief Sean Moriarty held a conference call yesterday in which the execs laid out the nitty-gritty of Ticketmaster's upcoming spin-off, Reuters' Michele Gershberg reports .

The good? Ticketmaster will have $450 million on hand when it goes independent.

The bad? It will also take on $750 million in debt. Plus, its partnership with the highly ambitious Live Nation ends later this year -- meaning new competition and a loss of 15% of revenue and between 10-15% of bottom line income.

Moriarty is nonetheless optimistic that Ticketmaster will see profit growth in 2009, citing international expansion and its new plan to provide an exchange system for customers (especially those unaware of Craigslist) to trade tickets among themselves.

And should that fail, it could always consider charging service fees for tickets.

Story by Matt Kivel

The more I hear of this new Beck album the more intrigued I get. The thought of pairing Dangermouse with the golden-haired Silverlake native seemed like an ideal scenario (both have roots in hip-hop and both have an uncanny, chameleon-like ability to inhabit a kaleidescope of styles) but the results are every bit as impressive as one might have estimated. Dangermouse may just be Beck's most sympathetic collaborator since Nigel Godrich.

The production on "Orphans" is wide open and airy, with psychedelic guitar flourishes and a deep, plodding bass guitar. Chan Marshall joins Beck for the choruses and breathes some sunlight into the paranoid LSD-fueled trip of the verses. The key to the track is the drum kit -- dirty and dead, snapping and thudding in a ghostly shuffle. Beck plucks his acoustic guitar and carries on with a head-spinning set of lyrics. The whole thing feels like a Mama's and The Papa's acetate, chopped-up and played backwards ... except the vocals are played forwards ... just check out Beck's Ilike page and hear for yourself. 

Story by Matt Kivel

If we havn't spoken enough about Coldplay in the last two days here's a new bit of info regarding their impending US tour: They want you to open for them!

Pitchfork reports that radio stations in Chicago, San Jose, Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia and Hartford are holding Youtube contests to select an appropriate local act to open for the arena rockers. Aspiring bands are encouraged to upload Youtube videos to their nearest radio station's section on Coldplay's tour website.

Maybe it's time to dust off that Les Paul and regroup the old gang from high school for one last gasp of garage band fury - it might just pay off.

Story by Matt Kivel

It was only a matter of time before the world "woke up" the immensely popular Mr. West with a dose of gold old fashioned backlash. After stepping onto the stage at an unseemly 4:30 AM (almost two hours after his announced set time) this past Sunday, the Bonnaroo faithful announced their displeasure with West via a series of boos and derisive chants. Port-o-potties and other surfaces in the Bonnaroo camps were vandilized with West-bashing insults and other derogatory remarks. A nice set of pictures chronicling the fan tirade can be found courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.

Now Kanye - surprise surprise - is expressing his displeasure with the whole situation through a fiery blog post.

It's definitely worth a read -- he explains some of the reasons behind the performance delays with characteristic verve and tons of capital letters and exclamation points. A few highlights are excerpted below as well as Kanye's forthcoming tour dates.

The man has a way with words:

"I understand if people don't like me because I like me or if people think tight clothes look gay or people say I run my mouth to much,  But this Bonnaroo thing is the worst insult I've ever had in my life. This is the most offended I've ever been... this is the maddest I ever will be.  I'm typing so f&^*king hard I might break my f^&ing Mac book Air!!!!!!!!"

"Call me any name you want.... arrogant, conceited, narcissistic, racist, metro, fag whatever you can think of....  BUT NEVER SAY I DIDN'T GIVE MY ALL!   NEVER SAY I DIDN'T GIVE MY ALL!  THIS SHOWS NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY  TO BE GOOD AT SOMETHING THERE WILL BE PEOPLE THERE TO LIE ABOUT YOU AND BRING YOU DOWN!  LIKE WAYNE SAYS PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME DOWN CAUSE I'M FLYING!"

"BONNAROO SHOULD HAVE RELEASED A STATEMENT IN MY DEFENSE BUT SINCE THEY HAVEN'T LET'S BREAK DOWN THE WALLS ON THIS TRUMAN SHOW AND LET YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY OCCURRED!!!"

Kanye West Remaining 2008 Tour Dates

Story by Andrew Barker

Reversing a 27-year policy, MTV announced today that it will begin accepting political advertising on all its networks not aimed at children. TV Week Reports:

"The channel, part of Viacom’s MTV Networks unit, says it will now take political ads, though only from political candidates and party political committees—not the third parties that often lob the biggest bombs."

"As recently as the presidential primaries this year, MTV had refused all political ads, even as it has heavily promoted its “Choose or Lose” get out the vote effort."

A presumably significant beneficiary of this policy would be youth-skewing Barack Obama, who revealed the contents of his iPod to Rolling Stone's Jann S. Wenner for the magazine's cover story, which went online today.

While the Senator has invoked Jay-Z several times before (whether intentionally or not), he now offers a full-fledged endorsement:

(Also on the prospective presidential playlist: The entirety of Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" as well as the rip-snorting "Maggie's Farm," and all five records from Stevie Wonder's '70s golden period. Considering that the current office-holder finds later-period Beatles too "weird" for his tastes, this has to be considered a step in the right direction.)

Story by Matt Kivel

Japanese doom/drone/art-rock trio Boris opened their 2008 tour yesterday with a performance at San Diego's Casbah. The group recently released its 14th!!! full-length album "Smile," which continues to explore the more song-based approach that started with "Akuma No Uta" and crystalized on my favorite record of last year "Rainbow" -- a cooly-delivered sprawl of drone and classic rock featuring Stars/Ghost guitarist Michio Kurihara.

Stephen O'Malley of Sun O))) (Who collaborated with Boris on 2006's slow-burning "Altar") and Kurihara both make guest appearances on "Smile."

Boris 2008 US Tour

06-25 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
06-27 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
06-28 Austin, TX - The Mohawk
06-29 San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
07-01 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
07-02 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds
07-03 Orlando, FL - The Social
07-05 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
07-06 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
07-08 Washington, DC - Black Cat
07-09 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
07-10 New York, NY - Webster Hall
07-11 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East
07-12 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
07-13 Ottawa, Ontario - Babylon
07-14 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
07-15 Buffalo, NY - Tralf
07-16 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
07-17 Pittsburgh, PA - Diesel
07-18 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall
07-19 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall
07-20 Chicago, IL - Union Park
07-20 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
07-22 Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room
07-23 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre
07-25 Denver, CO - Marquis Theater
07-26 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
07-29 Seattle, WA - Neumos
07-30 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
07-31 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
08-02 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
08-03 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex

Video: Boris feat. Michio Kurihara "Rainbow" (Included with the 2 LP version of "Rainbow")

Story by Matt Kivel

Since Coldplay's fifth album "Viva La Vida," racked up the largest amount of album pre-sales in Itunes history, it's fair to say that expectations for the sale of physical copies was -- to put it mildly -- quite high. Well, the numbers are in and "Viva La Vida" is now the number one album in the US, UK, Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany and France, selling a robust 720,000 copies in its first week.

The music industry can now enjoy a collective sigh of relief, safe in the knowledge that not all massively successful rock bands give their albums away for free. This also may be a good time for that Brooklyn-based songwriter who recently accused Chris Martin of ripping him off to hire a lawyer and try his luck -- who knows, Martin might be feeling a bit more generous these days.

Creaky Boards' Accusatory Video

Coldplay's "Unofficial" Video for "Violet Hill" (Dancing Politicians)

Story by Matt Kivel

David Berman and the rest of his Silver Jews gang will be hitting the road in August for a three month US tour in support of their excellent new album "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea" -- released by Drag City on June 17. The record is a simplification of the sound Berman perfected on "Tanglewood Numbers," leaving more room for his gruff baritone and surrealist lyrical vignettes. It sounds kind of like Leonard Cohen singing "Blonde On Blonde" with Johnny Cash's Tennessee Three providing the accompaniment -- Nothing short of stellar. 

Silver Jews US Tour 2008

08/28 Milo Columbus, OH
08/29 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH
08/30 William Pitt Union Assembly Pittsburgh, PA
08/31 Crofoot Pontiac, MI
09/02 Lee's Palace Toronto, ON,CAN
09/03 La Sala Rossa Montreal, QC,CAN
09/04 Iron Horse Music Hall Northampton, MA
09/05 Middle East Boston, MA
09/06 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
09/07 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
09/09 First Unitarian Church Philadelphia, PA
09/10 Black Cat Washington, DC
09/11 Cat's Cradle Carrboro, NC
09/12 Grey Eagle Asheville, NC
09/13 Variety Atlanta, GA
09/14 Jack Rabbits Jacksonville, FL
09/15 The Social Orlando, FL
09/16 Club Downunder Tallahassee, FL
09/17 One Eyed Jack's New Orleans, LA
09/18 Walter's on Washington Houston, TX
09/19 Emo's Austin, TX
09/20 Hailey's Denton, TX
09/22 Plush Tucson, AZ
09/23 Casbah San Diego, CA
09/26 Echoplex Los Angeles, CA
09/27 Fernwood Resort Big Sur, CA
09/30 Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR
10/02 Neumo's Seattle, WA
10/03 Neurolux Boise, ID
10/04 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT
10/05 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
10/07 Waiting Room Lounge Omaha, OH
10/08 Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, MN
10/09 Picador Iowa City, IA
10/10 Metro Chicago, IL
10/11 Birdy's Indianapolis, IN
10/12 Exit/In Nashville, TN

Story by Matt Kivel

Somehow, due to no fault of my own, this has turned into a Brit-Pop themed day on The Set List. We've heard about Coldplay, The Verve and now ... the brothers Gallagher. NME reports that Oasis will release their new album "Dig Out Your Soul" on October 6 in the UK on their own Big Brother label. The first single is called "The Shock Of The Lighting" -- it will be released on Sept 29 in the UK. No US release dates confirmed as of yet. Dave Sardy, who helmed their 2005 album "Don't Believe The Truth," produced the album, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

In case Set List readers are unaware, Oasis bassist Andy Bell was once a member of the acclaimed shoegaze outfit Ride. Their debut record "Nowhere" is one of the better albums to come out of that short-lived scene, which is often remembered as My Bloody Valentine plus a bunch of other sad-looking British bands.

Ride "Nowhere" Live in Brixton (1992)

Classic Gallagher Acceptance Speech!

Story by Matt Kivel

The Verve are back and Richard Ashcroft wants everybody to feel his pain all over again. After spending the past decade eviscerating his inner demons through an increasingly clumsy set of solo albums, the Verve frontman is, once again, plumbing his soul for the emotional pain that pervaded every lyric on the band's three studio albums. "Love is Noise" finds Ashcroft reprising the role of scorned lover, a point of view he has successfully explored many times in the past.

But whereas the bitter melancholia of 1996's "History" was tempered by Ashcroft's gut-wrenching imagery ("The bed ain't made / It's filled full of hope / I've got a skin full of dope") we are now left with large, sweeping cliches that don't seem to go anywhere ("I was blind / didn't see / what was here / inside me / I was lost / insecure / I felt like the road was way too long"). Musically, the band sticks to the grand, rock 'n' roll assault of their 1998 classic "Urban Hymns," but they never really open up or let guitarist Nick McCabe unleash his considerable chops. There is also a fairly annoying "ah oh" chant that's looped throughout the entire track.

The most interesting part of "Love Is Noise" is the bleeping synthesizer that enters in towards the end - it has a Kraftwerk, "Computer World"-era vibe that nicely morphs the sonic landscape. Also, be on the look out for McCabe's watery descending guitar riff, a blatant nod to John Squire of The Stone Roses.

Myspace stream: "Love is Noise"

Verve Myspace    

"The Drugs Don't Work" Live on Later With Jools Holland (Nov 1997)

Story by Andrew Barker

Now that Lil Wayne has sold well over a million copies of his long, long, delayed album "Tha Carter III" in a single week making him the hottest MC since 50 Cent and the hottest Dadaist since Tristan Tzara, he seems to have decided that it's time to give back.

Guest starring on Sean Combs' "Diddy Blog" yesterday, the rapper sought to share some advice for his young fans. (Host Combs, meanwhile, appears to exhaust every reservoir of strength to refrain from interrupting.) Wayne mostly stays on point, discussing the virtues of hard work, the importance of the "three Ss" and the dangers of "underage obesity." But before long, things drift off into koan territory.

Among Weezy's words of wisdom: "Don't try to be different. Because when you try to be different, you end up being the same. Because everybody's trying to be different." "What you've got to do is to just be you. But if that doesn't work, then that isn't what you should be doing."

Story by Matt Kivel

Coldplay is the biggest pop-rock band in the world today -- and XM Radio knows it. Beginning July 15, the satellite radio company will devote a month-long channel to the band's music. Fans can tune in and hear songs from all of Coldplay's studio albums as well as rarities, import-only tracks, interviews, and exclusive concert broadcasts from their forthcoming Viva La Vida North American tour. If you're a fan of big, swooning, mid-tempo rock music this station should provide you with a more-than-adequate fix.

Viva La Vida North American Tour Dates

7/14 The Forum (Los Angeles, Ca), 7/15 The Forum (Los Angeles, Ca), 7/18 HP Pavilion (San Jose, Ca), 7/19 MGM Grand Garden Arena (Las Vegas, NV), 7/22 United Center (Chicago, Il), 7/23 United Center (Chicago, Il), 7/25 Wachovia Center (Philadelphia, Pa), 7/27 Pemberton Festival (Pemberton, BC), 7/29 Bell Centre (Montreal, QC), 7/30 Air Canada Centre (Toronto, On), 8/02 XL Center (Hartford, Ct), 8/03 Verizon Center (Washington, DC), 8/04 TD Banknorth Garden (Boston, Ma)

Story by Matt Kivel

British pop singer Boy George has been forced to cancel his summer US tour after being denied a visa by the USA Administration. An official statement by his management claims that the current refusal to allow the singer into the country is due to his forthcoming trial "in November in London for something in April that happened last year." Details are vague, but George has expressed his sadness in having to miss his first US tour in over a decade, especially the scheduled August 17th appearance at The City of New York Department of Sanitation’s annual Family Day. That concert was planned as a "thank you" of sorts to the DSNY for the kindness shown to him during his community service stint in 2006 for cocaine posession.

To hold all of you Boy George diehards over until he plans another stateside voyage, I present to you a classic video from the star's early days. Ladies and gentleman ... Culture Club!

Story By Matt Kivel

To celebrate Suicide co-founder Alan Vega's 70th birthday, UK-based label Blast First (Petite) will release a year long, monthly, series of Limited Edition 10" Vinyl E.P's. and downloads as well as a Limited run (3000 copies only) Suicide 6-CD Box Set entitled "Live 1977/78." The box set culls a number of rare tracks from early New York performances and their first European tour supporting both The Clash and Elvis Costello - it comes out this month.

The forthcoming E.P. releases will contain three Vega songs each - one performed by an established recording artist, one by an up-and-coming artist, and one rarity from the Suicide/Vega archives. Bruce Springsteen covers "Dream Baby Dream" on the first E.P. release, scheduled for July 28.   

Established artists included are:

Bruce Springsteen, Primal Scream, Peaches, Grinderman (feat. Nick Cave), Spiritualised, The Horrors, Sunn 0))+Pansonic, Julian Cope, Lydia Lunch, Vincent Gallo, LIARS, & The Klaxons.

Up-And-Comers:

Beat The Devil/Shilpa Ray, No Bra, HTRK, X-Vectors, Nik Void (ex Kaito) , Effi Briest, S.C.U.M, Stephen Burroughs (ex Head Of David).

Springsteen Live Performing "Dream Baby Dream"

Story by Andrew Barker

With racial sensitivities at a high thanks to l’affaire Imus, Jena 6 and the candidacy of Barack Obama, this summer would seem a particularly inhospitable climate to release an album titled "Nigger."

That’s what veteran rapper Nas discovered when he announced the incendiary title for his upcoming LP (slated for July 15), prompting censorship concerns and fierce criticism from Jesse Jackson and the NAACP. Ceding to pressure earlier this month, Nas agreed to release the record untitled.

I spoke to Nas on Sunday at the BMI & BET Black Music Month Brunch, and he expressed hope that the old title will be conspicuous in its absence.

"People know what the album is supposed to be called," he says. "And I feel like I call more attention to the word by leaving it out."

Even without the highly-charged slur, the album’s cover should still give record-buyers pause, boasting the image of Nas’ bare back, branded with the letter "N" by whip welts.

While he admits that controversy has increased the album’s visibility ("it’s better than any endorsement"), he stresses that the title was not a mere grab for attention. In conversation, Nas uses such terms as "universal apartheid" to describe race relations in the country, and says he intends the album to be a coherent statement.

Judging from tracks that have surfaced via leaks and mixtapes, the new material certainly doesn’t lack for provocation. The chorus of single "Be a Nigger Too" nods to Lenny Bruce, compiling a litany of racial slurs and diminishing them by repetition, while "Black President" is a somewhat cynical celebration of Obama’s candidacy.

The album will be Nas’ ninth overall and second for label Def Jam, following 2006 conversation-starter "Hip Hop Is Dead." With seven platinum records already under his belt, the rapper seems to be increasingly veering from the radio-ready route in favor of a more explicitly political track.

"It can’t be only about calling up Timbaland for a beat," Nas says, speaking to the difficulty of addressing substantive issues in a hit-single-minded genre. "I want to stay provocative. I want to keep doing this until I’m dead."

Story by Matt Kivel

Seminal shoegazers My Bloody Valentine returned to the stage for the first time in over 16 years this past weekend. Concertgoers at London's Roundhouse were treated to a set plucked entirely from the band's back catalogue with the exception of their marginal goth-rock debut "This Is Your Bloody Valentine." Reviewers have been mixed in terms of enthusiasm, but all agree on the sheer, ear-crushing power Kevin Shields and Co were able to unleash upon a seemingly unprepared audience.

MBV is infamous for its live aural assaults -- documented poignantly in Mike McGonical's 33 1/3 book about "Loveless" -- which were dispatched upon audiences in the late '80s and early '90s with an unrelenting sense of vision and tenacity. The fact that so many reviewers seemed overwhelmed by the noise is a testament to the band's uncompromising devotion to its sound and the partial picture that is painted by the two major studio albums -- which, along with the group's stellar EPs, have been the only source of MBV music fans have had access to for 16 years.

"Loveless" and "Isn't Anything" are undeniable masterpieces of guitar-based rock music, the seismic shifts in tone and texture are breathtaking and, unsurprisingly, have proven massively influential to subsequent generations, but they only hint at MBV's sheer power as a live unit. Listening to "Loveless" at certain volumes can be downright soothing, like some sort of lullabye for crazed noisenicks. Now, 16 years on, we get both sides of the story - live and in the studio.

Set List (Roundhouse - London):

1) Only Shallow 2) When You Sleep 3) You Never Should 4) (When You Wake) You’re Still In A Dream 5) Lose My Breath 6) I Only Said 7) Come In Alone 8) Thorn 9) Nothing Much to Lose 10) To Here Knows When 11) Slow 12) Blown A Wish 13)Soon 14)Feed Me With Your Kiss 15) Sueisfine 16)You Made Me Realize

MBV North American Tour 2008:

Sept 19 ATP New York -Kutshers Country Club (Monticello, NY)

Sept 22 Roseland Ballroom (NY, NY)

Sept 23 Roseland Ballroom (NY, NY) *Sold Out

Sept 25 Ricoh Coliseum (Toronto, Ontario)

Sept 27 Aragon Ballroom (Chicago, Il) *Sold Out

Sept 30 The Concourse Exhibition Center (San Francisco, Ca)

Oct 1 Santa Monica Civic (Santa Monica, Ca)

Oct 2 Santa Monica Civic (Santa Monica, Ca)

Videos:

1991, Interview with Kevin Shields

6/13/08, warm up gig "Only Shallow"

6/20/08, Roundhouse "When You Sleep"

Story by Matt Kivel

Ever since Blender.com posted a brief interview with Shins frontman James Mercer, there has been an abundance of speculation regarding the  songwriter's hinted-at side project. In the interview, Mercer says that he feels "like it would be good ... to create another thing, another band basically. It would be with other people, I just don't know who yet." He also goes on to cast doubt upon The Shins future with Sub Pop - the label they've called home for three albums.

Now, it's definitely too soon to make any sort of legitimate statements regarding the future of this nascent Mercer side project - from the looks of this interview, Mercer himself doesn't seem to be very sure about the group's makeup - but a trusted source tells me that the Shins leader was recently spotted grabbing lunch at Auntie Em's Kitchen in Los Angeles' Eagle Rock district with uber-producer/Gnarls Barkley mastermind, Dangermouse.

Maybe it was just the rich cupcakes or towering open-faced sandwiches that lured these two musical titans out of their cloistered studios, but considering the wildly diverse list of artists Dangermouse has collaborated with in recent years (Gorillaz, MF Doom, The Black Keys, Beck) it doesn't seem unlikely that the two may have been talking about more than just the food.

Fingers-crossed, we'll have some kind of pastoral pop/trip hop supergroup helmed by these two in the near future.

On a day that was 110 degrees, Tom Waits opened his world tour Tuesday in Phoenix at the 1,364-seat Orpheum Theater with an excellent two-hour set. It has been, apparently, 30 years since he played Arizona's largest city; it's his first full-scale tour in eight years.
Perhaps not surprising, the best represented album in the set was "Mule Variations," the 1999 album that was supported by something of a comeback tour. (He also toured in 2006). On June 17, the first of two nights in Phoenix, Waits and his band, which featured his son Casey and jazz saxophonist Vincent Henry, played:

Lucinda / Hoist That Rag / Come On Up to the House / Jesus Gonna Be Here / November / Black Market Baby / Rain Dogs / Trampled Rose / Goin Out West / Murder in the Red Barn / Anywhere I Lay My Head / Cemetery Polka / Get Behind the Mule / The Eyeball Kid / Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis / Picture in a Frame / Invitation to the Blues / Innocent When You Dream / Lie to Me / Chocolate Jesus / Down in the Hole / God's Away on Business / Time

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will perform the world premiere concert of Lee Johnson’s Dead Symphony No. 6, an orchestral exploration of “Saint Stephen,” “China Doll,” “Stella Blue” and other Grateful Dead tunes.
Premiere will take place at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Aug. 1, which would have been Jerry Garcia’s 66th birthday.
For the one-night-only performance, Pro Video Group of Baltimore will re-create a psychedelic video display behind the orchestra during the performance.
The hall's lobby will transform into a counterculture museum featuring Grateful Dead memorabilia and other rock ‘n’ roll gems from the 1960s and 1970s. Rare Grateful Dead photographs by Amalie  R. Rothschild, the house photographer for the Fillmore East in New York, will also be auctioned online and in the lobby the night of the performance. All proceeds will benefit the BSO.
Johnson started working on the symphony in 1995, shortly after Garcia’s death.The Russian National Orchestra recorded Dead Symphony No. 6 and released a CD last year.
The BSO has not announced a conductor nor soloist(s) for the performance.

Dr. John was a hit on the first day of the 30th annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. He was the one cat who mixed a party atmosphere with the serious. Richard Ginell reports:

The good Doctor is still fuming about the treatment that his  beloved hometown of New Orleans continues to receive from the Bush  administration in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; he has channeled his  sorrow into an EP, "Sippiana Herricane," and his rage into a  new  CD, "City That Care Forgot."  He rolled out some of the new  songs in his early evening set -- "Dream Warrior"  being one of the  best -- namechecking Dick Cheney and Hallliburton along the way,  mentioning Billie Holiday and her song "Strange Fruit."
       Grim stuff for a Playboy festival. But all of this serious, at  times eloquent nitty-gritty, was backed by the solid beat of Dr. John's  band, the Lower 911.  He was  careful to provide some rousers like his  hit "Right Place, Wrong Time," and the gospel stomp of "Lay  My Burden Down." Leave it to a veteran New Orleansian to have it both  ways.
Poncho Sanchez, pictured, ran a close second.

The full Variety review is here.

Soon after "The Sopranos" debuted, HBO held a symposium with the creators and talent that was, needless to say, jam-packed. James Gandolfini, aka Tony Sorpano, talked about his own Italian-American upbringing, remarking "I was taught to judge people based on their shoes."
Call me naive, but when my Midwestern-Jewish wife heard the comment, she thought it was hysterical and absurd. I, the son of a New York Italian mother raised in L.A.'s suburbs, thought it was generational rather than an ethnic tick. Besides, I was also taught to look at the watch, too.
The same holds true for Louis Prima. When the film "Big Night"; was released in 1998, any number of people - even those who loved the film - responded, "who's Louis Prima" or questioned how big a deal Prima might be.
Seeing as how Prima was one of the single biggest-selling artists of the pre-rock 'n' roll era, one would think that his name would flow off the tongue as easily as the names Sinatra and Bennett. In truth, though, Sinatra's fans were the youths of the '30s and '40s; Bennett's name held forth in the trinity in Astoria, Queens, in the 1950s and then North Beach come 1962 but nothign like he has enjoyed over the last decade and a half. It was Prima, though, who united the generations - and he kicked his career into second gear at time when Mussolini was the most famous Italian name in the world.
The reintroduction of Prima to American culture - via David Lee Roth, Brian Setzer and the Gap - has always felt steps away from the depth of his artistry. Keely Smith restored some of that spirit in a recent album that took her back to Las Vegas in 1958 and re-created their shows of the time. The substance there, however, related to Keely as she was coming into her own, drawing raves for her singing and comedic timing. She and Prima would be among the winners at the first-ever Grammy Awards at the time.
The spirit of Smith and Prima is on display in a delightful show receiving its world premiere at L.A.'s Sacred Fools Theater. I think it has tremendous potential; the LA Weekly thinks it's great as is.
Anyone who sees it - provided they entered as a fan of the singers - should see that this is an era of multiple untold stories: The effect of rock 'n' roll on anyone who made a living playing music prior to its arrival, specifically the jazz players stuck in a post-big band, post-bebop world in desperate need of visionaries. The pop and country worlds, too, were fraying and R&B, beyond Ray Charles, was in a transition from the big voices to the smooth harmonies. It's much like today: stars of a decade ago are no longer employable at their star levels and modern pop music is driven by songs rather than artists.
Prima stood tall in that era and he got there through perseverance and dedication to both craft; and his audience as "Louis and Keely Live at the Sahara"; Keely revisited the era with her "Vegas '58 - Today"; album in 2005 - she is now working on an album of duets - and Prima's work gets in due in sots through reissues of the earliest jazz work, the Capitol years and the later records. Those are strong bodies of work, it's not just "Jump, Jive and Wail."
That was a tough time that history has treated as some sort of paranoid wasteland. WWII ends and over time they become the greatest generation; JFK, the Beatles, the Pill and protests define the next set.
Pop culture, meanwhile, locks in the artists from the years between V-Day and Elvis's initial hits in iconographic poses that represent a single trait. Marlon Brando, the picture of toughness, gets reduced to shouting "Stella" in a sweat-stained T-shirt and complaining about his lack of a boxing career; Jackie Gleason, the Great One, is stuck in a loop of a wordless stammer; James Dean is commercialized cool, celebrated for the way he stood rather than his acting talent. Too often they are used strictly as symbols of a time or a mood - Chet Baker, anyone? - and not given their due as artists. Count Prima in that class.
The amount of dissertation spent on the artistry of the late 1940s/early '50s; pales in comparison to all the nooks and crannies of WWII and the '60s that have been explored. The retelling of history of that period has never thoroughly come down from the top shelf of Sinatra, Brando, Ed Sullivan, Walt Disney, Ike, Charlie Parker and Brother Ray. We're stuck looking at that period through mythology, the "Happy Days" and "American Hot Wax"; versions. It makes show like "Louis & Keely" that much more important.

Went to three concerts and saw six acts to take the year's tally to 66/183 in my quest to hit 100 concerts/300 acts.

Steely Dan opened their 2008 tour at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Fla. on Monday before heading to New York for a six-night run at the Beacon that starts Friday and runs through June 21.  Tour ends Aug. 24 in Saratoga, Calif.
A cool part of the the first two New York shows is the presence of the great jazz pianist Bill Charlap and his trio. Donald Fagen, judging from his sound, always struck me as a Bobby Timmons or Horace Silver kind of guy - maybe the rip from "Song for My Father" on "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" was the clue - but the Dan is allowing the table to be set elegantly by having Charlap on board. His last album is a true gem.
Steely Dan, meanwhile, treated the Clearwater folks to this set:   

Royal Scam / I Got the News / Everything You Did / Show Business Kids / Two Against Nature / What a Shame About Me / Babylon Sisters / New Frontier / Hey Nineteen / Black Friday / Green Earrings / Glamour Profession /  Parker's Band / Josie / Peg / Kid Charlemagne / FM

Walter Becker's new solo album - his second - was released this week. Video is below.

Documentarians David Leaf and Morgan Neville will chronicle the history of country music in a series executive produced by Shout! Factory and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The individual segments will be thematically divided. On the slate are “The Roots of Country and Bluegrass,” “The Honky Tonk Tradition,” “Outlaw Country,” “The Nashville Sound,” “The Politics of Country,” “Country Songs and Songwriters,” “California Country” and “No Depression,” a look at the alternative country music movement. (I am guessing Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs will be included; that's why their picture is in this item).
“Each self-contained original film will examine a crucial aspect of the heritage and the history of country in a way that presents this American music in a contextual framework that shows how what was once called ‘hillbilly music’ remains a dominant form of expression in American popular music,” Neville and Leaf said in a joint statement.
Modern country stars will be participating in the films, providing their personal connections to the past. Pics will feature archival performances and contemporary ones as well.
Leaf and Neville will be working with a team of filmmakers not yet determined. In structure, the project sounds similar to one undertaken by Martin Scorsese that yielded five films on the blues and its history. Those films aired on PBS in 2003 and were released on DVD by Sony.

Fresh off the delivery trucks and new in the digital pipeline, the Seattle quintet Fleet Foxes took a rare 9.0 rating from Pitchfork to the bank, selling a strong 8,000 copies of their self-titled album in the week that ended Sunday. Sub Pop is getting accustomed to landing its better bands into the top 100 as Fleet Foxes follow the commercial success of labelmates Flight of the Conchords, Band of Horses, Iron & Wine and the Shins.
Stephen M. Deusner writes in the review:
"Theirs is a studiously rural aesthetic, eschewing urban influences and using reverb like sepia-tone to suggest something much older and more rustic than it really is. The album opens with a short tune (titled "Red Squirrel" on early leaks but not listed on the CD) that could be a field recording sung by a small-town congregation 50 years ago." It got me to buy the album - and the EP.
Also selling 8,000 copies this week in their debuts were  Aimee Mann's "@%&!Smilers"; Radiohead's two-disc version of "Best Of"; and the "In the Heights" original Broadway cast album. 
The numbers on the top 50 are here.

Pearl Jam will expand their bootleg program for the upcoming 12-date tour to include physical CDs and mobile content. Digital downloads and burn-to-order CDs of the entire show will be available following each concert via the band's fan club, Ten Club, and three live tracks per show will be released following the show on V Cast Music phones, here and through Verizon Wireless.
Digital downloads of full Pearl Jam shows will be available for download two weeks after each concert in mp3 and FLAC formats. Price will be $9.99 (mp3) and $14.99 (FLAC) per show.
Pearl Jam is launching a new physical CD program for the tour, manufacturing CDs according to customer demand that will ship within three weeks of each show date. Price is $16.99/show and will be available exclusively through the band's website.
For the mobile phones, at each stop of the tour, Pearl Jam will provide three tracks mixed in real-time and released via Verizon Wireless' V Cast Music service or the concert site. Following each show, Verizon Wireless will offer one full-length track for free with two available for purchase. All three tracks will also be available for purchase as ringtones and ringback tones.
Since Pearl Jam started this program, more than 3.5 million bootlegs have been sold.

Wal-Mart execs are busy whistling "Don't Stop Believin'" in Bentonville, Ark.
Journey's "Revelation," a two-CD/one DVD package, sold 104,000 copies in its debut week, according to the retailer. Album is likely to open at No. 5; the band has not had a top 10 hit since "Trial By Fire" opened at No. 3 in 1996.
"Revelation" is being sold exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club in North America, Walmart.com and Samsclub.com, and Journey’s official website, Journeymusic.com. "Revelation's" first week’s sales posted a 1,400% increase over the band’s 2005’s release "Generations."
First disc consists of 11 new songs, the second is filled with 11 re-recorded hits and the DVD is of a concert.

Coldplay has delayed its U.S. tour due to "production delays." The official opening is now July 14 at the Forum in Los Angeles and the last show, Aug. 4 is now Boston instead of Chicago.
The apology on their website reads:

We're very sorry, but unfortunately Coldplay have had to move the dates of some of the previously-announced US shows. The band have experienced some production delays which mean that the show simply won't be ready for June 29. It's very frustrating but they promise you a show worthy of your patience and understanding when they start in mid-July. All tickets remain valid, but refunds will be available from the point of purchase if you're unable to make it to the new date.

They say the new schedule is here and the free shows will still take place. Guess New York City, where they play June 23, won't get all the bells and whistles.

While there is no official announcement yet, Ray Davies will be performing solo acoustic shows in North America throughout July. Tickets go on sale Thursday for  a July 22 show at the Grove of Anaheim. He will also perform July 14 at Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. More dates are forthcoming.
On April 1 of this year at the Chicago Theater, Davies and his band performed:

I’m Not Like Everybody Else / Where Have All the Good Times Gone / Till the End of the Day / After the Fall / A Well Respected Man / Next Door Neighbors / The Tourist / Working Man’s Cafe / 20th Century Man / Harry Rag>This is Where I Belong / In a Moment / One More Time / Vietnam Cowboys / The Real World / No One Listen / Sunny Afternoon / Come Dancing / Tired of Waiting for You / Set Me Free / All Day and All of the Night / Lola / You Really Got Me / Days / Victoria

David Cook, fresh from his teary-eyed  "American Idol" victory, will perform the National Anthem on Tuesday at the start of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Celtics.
Since he finds his song arrangement seemingly by watching old videos, one has to wonder what approach will he take. Marvin Gaye? Jose Feliciano? Roseanne Barr? Chris Daughtry at the Bears-Saints playoff game?
The key is to not wind up in this "highlight" reel.

Nick Lowe will be the next guest on Daryl Hall’s webcast "Live From Daryl’s House," debuting Sunday.
Hall is calling it a back porch segment in which he, Lowe and T-Bone Wolk sit around a table, reminisce and play acoustic guitars.
Segment, which goes live at 8 p.m. ET, was recorded at Hall’s London home.
The set list includes  Lowe’s “I Live on a Battlefield,” “Shelley My Love,” “Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day,” “Cruel to be Kind” and “Time I Took a Holiday.” The trio also performs  “Perikomen,” a Hall composition recorded as a demo when he was 20 years old. It is the first time it has been played live anywhere.

Jason and the Scorchers will receive the Lifetime Achievement in Performance Award at the annual Americana Honors and Awards show Sept. 18 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Original Jason and the Scorchers members Jason Ringenberg, Warner Hodges, Jeff Johnson and Perry Baggs will be on hand to accept the honor and perform together for the first time in more than a decade.
Immediately after the awards ceremony, Ringenberg and Hodges will front a band performing a set of Scorchers’ originals at a venue to be announced.
Hosted by Jim Lauderdale and featuring a band led by Buddy Miller, the Honors & Awards ceremony will also toast winners in six member-voted categories: Album, Artist, Instrumentalist, New and Emerging Artist, Song and Duo/Group of the Year. The AMA will also recognize John Hiatt with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Songwriting.
Slated for Sept. 17 through Sept. 20, the ninth annual Americana Festival and Conference will offer daily seminars, panels and networking opportunities at the Nashville Convention Center. Each evening brings stacked Americana showcases to key venues throughout Nashville.

Headline writers are known to get carried away at times and Brit music mag NME has a lifetime of headlines that go just a bit too far. Like the claim that Led Zeppelin somehow reunited at a Foo Fighters show. Not exactly. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones  joined the Foos  to play "Rock 'n' Roll" and "Ramble On." Robert Plant is touring the U.S. with Alison Krauss.   And if you don't believe the story, there is even some "Bigfoot Spotted"-quality footage on their site.

Leave it to someone who is not a native of the States to understand the value of preserving our history, in this case the pre-1950 Negro Leagues of baseball.
Lee donated 200 baseballs autographed by former Negro Leaguers to the fabulous Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, Mo.  The Kansas City Star has video here.
His impression is much like mine - and I have been there three times: It's  unique and fascinatingly educational. In spots, the hall strives a little too hard to connect the pre-Jackie Robinson legacy with modern ballplayers, but otherwise the collections and displays are superb and at times awe-inspiring.
There is a jazz museum next door.

The next set of Van Morrison reissues will be on on shelves July 1.
The title are "Veedon Fleece" from 1974 "Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast" (1985), "No Guru, No Method, No Teacher" (1986), "Enlightenment" (1990), "A Night In San Francisco" (1994) and "The Healing Game" (1997).

Bob Dylan, who rarely talks about his music, sits down for a chat about his art and  politics with the Times of London in advance of an exhibition of his art .
The writer uses a little too much ink explaining his state of mind at the interview,  but draws out some meaningful quotes from the generally cryptic Dylan.
On his  art education: “I was in my teens before I started to see books of paintings in the school library - frescoes or the work of Michelangelo, that kind of thing. And I didn't really see the stuff that properly had an impact on me - Matisse, Derain, Monet, Gauguin - till later on, when I was in my twenties.”
On his style:  “I don't have that facility to copy note for note. Influenced by? If I had the ability to paint like any of those guys I might see the similarity, but I don't. If there is anything it's just by accident and instinctive.”
On American politics: “Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralizing. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor. But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up ... Barack Obama. He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.”

A documentary on the Gits will receive theatrical release on July 7, the 15th anniversary of murder of lead singer Mia Zapata.
"The Guts" has playdates in 21 cities and more may be added. New York, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., Seattle and L.A. will have parties with band members and other people from various punk scenes.
Liberation Entertainment is releasing the film, which premiered at the SXSW Film festival in 2007, and DVD on July 8.
Her murder was unsolved when Kerry O’Kane began shooting her debut feature. In the interim, however, fans, friends and celebrities such as Joan Jett and Nirvana helped raise money to reopen the cold case. Mia’s death had reverberated throughout the music community, and Mia’s killer was brought to justice as the cameras rolled as the first case in Seattle solved by DNA samples.
"The Gits" - trailer is below - will be screened in the following cities:

Austin, TX. – 7/7/08 @ Alamo Draft House
Boston, MA. – 7/7/08 @ Newbury Comics
Columbia, MO. – 6/7/08 @ Ragtag Theater (Sneak Preview)
Denver, CO. – 7/4 – 10/08 @ Starz Film Center
Edmonton, AB, Canada – 7/27 – 7/31 @ Metro Cinema
Indianapolis, IN – 7/7/08 @ Greenbriar Cinema Grill
Los Angeles, CA. – 7/7/08 @ Echoplex
Louisville, KY – 6/5/08 @ Rudyard Kipling (Last Call Film Festival)
Louisville, KY – 7/7/08 @ Ear X-tacy
New York, NY – 7/4 – 7/10 @ Pioneer Theater
New York, NY – 7/7/08 @ The Delancy (After party – live performance)
Oakland, CA. – 7/5/08 @ Uptown Nightclub
Orlando, FL. – 7/7/08 @ Slingapours
Philadelhia, PA – 7/7/08 @ 941 Theater
Portland, OR – 7/4 – 7/10 @ Clinton Street Theater
Providence, RI – 7/7/08 @ As220
Sacramento, CA – 7/4 – 7/8 @ Movies on the Big Screen (600 4th St)
San Francisco, CA – 7/7/08 @ The Embarcadero
San Jose, CA – 7/5/08 @ The Blank Club
Seattle, WA – 7/4 – 7/10 @ Northwest Film Forum
Seattle WA – 7/7 @ Metro Cinema
Winnipeg, MB, Canada – 7/3 @ Big Smash

Here's a great way to kill a half hour: Billy Taylor on piano, Charles Mingus on bass and Marquis Foster on drums in a radio transcription of a set at the Boston club Storyville. Taylor has posted it on his website.
The story: Nat Hentoff, then a staff Announcer a WMEX, regularly hosted remote broadcasts from two Boston clubs. He remembers the gig because "it was the first time I heard Charles Mingus.  I'd heard Jimmy Blanton, of course, but Mingus, his sound and his technique were really a revelation.  Of course I knew Billy's work, having interviewed him on the radio.  He was then, as now, such a master of the piano that it was effortless."
It was Taylor's mentor, Jo Jones, who set up the Storyville gig, and lined up the personnel.Shortly after a discussion with Papa Jo, he found himself on train bound for Boston from New York with Mingus.  "We talked non-stop for nearly four hours.  That was the first of many lively discussions I had with Mingus.  We disagreed on our approach to many different things and argued about them, quite passionately.  I'd run into Mingus on the street and could easily spend a half hour just standing there, arguing.  He was a remarkable man and bassist.
"He was really ripe for my Trio and I gave him lots of space.  No bassist before or after has that kind of approach for playing melodies.  ... We were friends right up until the time he passed away, in 1978 and I really miss playing and arguing with him."

The Grammy Museum will have its grand opening from Dec. 3 to 7 with events that include a gala fund-raising concert and live music presentations,
Located in the L.A. Live complex at Olympic ad Figueroa, the 32,000 square-foot museum will be four floors of  multimedia presentations that explore and celebrate the legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the awards.
Rock and blues historian Bob Santelli has been named executive director of the museum.
Museum will present educational and public programs featuring films, lectures and performances in its 200-seat Grammy Sound Stage, and will host special programs and private events throughout the many L.A. Live venues, as well as on its rooftop terrace. The opening is the culmination of the Grammy Awards' 50th anniversary celebration.
Grand opening activities include a media day and evening VIP reception on  Dec. 3; a gala fundraising concert on  Dec. 4; school groups and educators tours on  Dec. 5; a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony with music on the Nokia Plaza throughout the day on Dec. 6; and more live music on Dec. 7. The Grammy Museum officially opens to the public on Dec. 6.
Neil Portnow, president/CEO of the Recording Academy, said the "museum will provide visitors a unique and hands-on opportunity to experience music's rich legacy, as well as the special process that goes into creating it. The Museum also will allow guests a behind-the-scenes, in-depth look at the backstage preparations, excitement, energy and power of music's biggest night — the Grammy  Awards. "
After a greeting in the lobby visitors will be taken to the fourth floor where the museum tour begins. Gallery space is filled with films, artifacts and interactive exhibits.  The third floor takes guests behind the scenes into the art and technology of the recording process.  The second floor houses the Grammy Sound Stage and will feature an exclusive film that captures the backstage world of the 50th annual awards ceremony. The second floor also is home to the Museum's Special Exhibits Gallery.  The first traveling exhibit, "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom," will explore the depth to which music has been, and continues to be, a political force in society.
Museum will be run by the Grammy Museum Foundation, a non-profit organization created by the Recording Academy, with the collaboration and financial support of AEG, which owns and operates L.A. Live.

Thirteen shows into the latest leg on the never-ending tour that has taken Bob Dylan from Massachusetts and Maine to Iceland and Russia and the great one has managed shake up his set lists so much that only three songs have made it into every show: "The Levee's Gonna Break" and "Thunder Mountain," both of which appear on his last album, "Modern Times," and "Summer Days" from Love and Theft."
"Rollin' and Tumblin'" has has been played a dozen times; "Spirit on the Water" and "Highway 61 Revisited" have shown up 11; "Like a Rolling Stone," "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "Workingman's Blues No. 2" are up to nine performances; and "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" and "High Water (For Charley Patton)" are at six. Seven tunes have been played five times each.
Opening night had a few songs that have not been repeated on this leg, which runs through July 11 in Portugal: "Can't Wait" from "Time Out of Mind," "A Simple Twist of Fate" and "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)."
He has played 53 different songs in the 13 shows, most of which have 17 tunes each, and to date eight tunes have only been performed once. Most recent examples are "If You See Her, Say Hello," "Ain't Talkin'" from "Modern Times" and "Every Grain of Sand" from "Shot of Love." 
Dylan is back to only playing keyboards. There are 24 more shows on the European tour