Mad about the girl: Swedish pop sensation as featured in the June BLURT.

By Fred Mills

Swedish non-diva Lykke Li has announced a pair of August shows for NYC and L.A. in August to be followed by a full US tour this October/November.  The acclaimed songbird’s debut album, Youth Novels arrives August 19 on LL Recordings (yes, the LL stands for Lykke Li). Meanwhile, she toured the U.S. earlier this year with El Perro Del Mar and “captivated” audiences, employing drums, acoustic guitar and bass, a sole keyboard and a necklace full of percussion — fans were reportedly dancing in the aisles.

Here’s the scoop on Li and the album from her handlers:

“Joining a few of the dots between Feist, Peter, Bjorn and John, and Robyn, 22 year-old Lykke Li has been winning over audiences across the globe with her very own strain of otherworldly minimalist pop music.  A master of subtle delivery, leftfield arrangements, lovelorn beauty and undeniable brilliance, Lykke Li's songs transcend genre, anchored by her diverse influences which range from everything from Dr. John to A Tribe Called Quest to Madonna.  Youth Novels, produced by Peter, Bjorn and John's Bjorn Yttling, casts a spell immediately upon first listen, resulting in wildfire acclaim in Lykke Li's native Sweden and the UK (where the record was just released), with America quickly following suit.”

Meanwhile, cast your eyes to page 26 of the June issue of our digital magazine where we sing the praises of Likke Li. “Just when we’d gotten Peter Björn and John’s “Young Folks” out of your head,” writes Erich Schumacher-Rasmussen, “along comes Lykke Li’s “Little Bit,” another insidiously catchy, deceptively simple Swedish earworm to drive us mad.”

Lykke Li Tour Dates:

8/25/08           Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Café
8/28/08           New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
10/19/08         Washington, DC @ Black Cat
10/23/08         Boston, MA @ Paradise
10/24/08         Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
10/25/08         Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
10/28/08         Vancouver, BC @ Richards on Richards
10/29/08         Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
10/30/08         Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
11/1/08           San Francisco, CA @ Independent

This is your broom on drugs. Any questions?

By Andy Tennille

On August 17^th, androgynous ‘80s icon Boy George will help celebrate New York City’s Department of Sanitation 4th Annual Family Day by playing a free concert for sanitation workers and their families as a thank you for the kindness shown to him by the DSNY.

On October 7, 2005, New York City police officers responded to a 911 call from George at approximately 3 a.m. Eastern in which the singer claimed his Manhattan apartment had been burglarized. Upon arrival at George’s apartment, police discovered more than an eighth of an ounce of cocaine and charged him with false reporting of a burglary and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Under a plea deal reached in March 2006 with Gotham prosecutors, George pleaded guilty to false reporting of a burglary, received a $1,000 fine, agreed to enter a drug-treatment program in England and promised to complete five days of community service in Manhattan. Although his initial community service proposals included hosting a fashion-and-makeup workshop, George ultimately reported for duty in August 2006 to New York City’s Department of Sanitation and apparently made some life-long friends.

“New York’s Strongest are delighted that Boy George will join us at our Family Day outing in August and perform some of his fabulous hits for our hard-working men and women and their families,” said First Deputy Commissioner Michael A. Bimonte, who coordinates the DSNY Family Day event. “Keeping New York City safe and clean is a daunting challenge – as Boy George well knows – and we welcome his generous offer to entertain those who have made our City the cleanest it has been in more than 30 years.”

The Family Day concert is only a single stop on George’s 29-show North American tour, which begins July 10 in Aspen, CO. While no additional appearances at Department of Sanitation events are currently on George’s schedule, BLURT believes North Myrtle Beach officials might explore the possibility of utilizing George’s services to eradicate the growing “white trash” problem prevalent at local gas stations, Wings and public beach access parking lots.

Boy George Tour Dates:

07/10: Aspen, CO @ Belly Up

07/11: Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues

07/12: San Diego, CA @ Concerts In The Park

07/13: Anaheim, CA @ The Grove Of Anaheim

07/15: Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

07/16: Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

07/17:  Reno, NV @ Grand Sierra

07/18: San Francisco, CA @ Regency Center - Grand Ballroom

07/20: Seattle, WA @ Showbox

07/21: Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom

07/22: Calgary, AB @ Flames Central

07/23: Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Events Centre

07/25: Miami, FL @ Club Cinema

07/26: Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Hotel Orlando

07/27: Tampa Bay, FL @ Jannus Landing

07/29: N. Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues SC

07/30: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

08/01: Philadelphia, PA @ Keswick Theatre

08/03: Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues

08/05: Long Island, NY@ Theatre at Westbury

08/07: Chicago, IL @ House of Blues – Chicago

08/10: Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus

08/12: Montreal, QC @ Metropolis

08/13: Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre

08/14: New York, NY @ Terminal 5

08/19: Atlanta, GA @ Center Stage

08/21: Austin, TX @ Stubb’s BBQ

08/22: Houston, TX @ Verizon Wireless Theater

08/23: Dallas, TX @ House of Blues – Dallas

Hosler and Dimuzio get their groove on.

By Fred Mills

On July 15 the great, still-not-late, Negativland drops Thigmotactic via its own Seeland label. It’s described by the band’s handlers (term used loosely – nobody, not even U2 or SST Records, will ever be able to genuinely “handle” Negativland, eh?) as “going deep into song making territory.

The record, we are advised, moves “in a very different direction than other recent Negativland releases, and with a decidedly surreal bent. These eccentric toe-tapping electronic folk-pop noise songs are strung together to forma continuous and cohesive listening experience, with themes emerging around meat, pants, milk, cows, trucks, Herb Alpert, Richard Nixon, and even love. Thigmotactic continues in Negativland's decades long collage and cut-up tradition, but while the trademark sound of found audio elements is sparingly collaged through-out, the cutting up here is also in the lyrics, created by combining dream journals, bits of advertisements, found poems, automatic writings, stream of consciousness, old National Geographic articles, and more.”

“The fifteen songs and two instrumentals were written, composed and performed by Negativland's Mark Hosler, with contributions from the rest of the group, and with well-known San Francisco noisemaker Thomas Dimuzio contributing lots of rather unexpectedly normal sounding instruments, arrangements and production. The found ethic continues with the artwork that accompanies each track, created from found materials to illustrate each song. Many of these have been shown as part of Negativland's traveling art show "Negativlandland", and, in a creative experiment in financing this release, each one-of-a-kind work is for sale via Negativland's web site, www.negativland.com. Negativland has always existed as an umbrella under which the group releases collaborative work in many mediums - music, noise, collage, film, design, animation, fine art, books, lectures, essays, sculpture, performance, radio, web sites, etc. - with the term "Negativland Presents" sometimes being used as a way to release work that might be mostly the product of one member's brain, or uses members outside of the immediate collective.”

***

NEGATIVLAND BIO (courtesy Seeland)

Since 1980, the 4 or 5 or 6 Floptops known as Negativland have been creating records, CDs, video, fine art, books, radio and live performance using appropriated sound, image and text. Mixing original materials and original music with things taken from corporately owned mass culture and the world around them, Negativland re-arranges these found bits and pieces to make them say and suggest things that they never intended to. In doing this kind of cultural archaeology and "culture jamming" (a term they coined way back in 1984), Negativland have been sued twice for copyright infringement. 

Okay, but what, you still ask, is Negativland exactly? That's hard to answer. Negativland definitely isn't a “band,” though they may look like one if you see their CDs for sale in your local shopping mall. They're more like some sort of goofy yet serious European-style artist/activist collective - an unhealthy mix of John Cage, Lenny Bruce, Pink Floyd, Bruce Connor, Firesign Theatre, Abbie Hoffman, Robert Rauschenberg, 1970's German electronic music, old school punk rock attitude, surrealist performance art, your high school science teacher…and lot's more.

Over the years Negativland's "illegal" collage and appropriation based audio and visual works have touched on many things - pranks, media hoaxes, advertising, media literacy, the evolving art of collage, the bizarre banality of suburban existence, creative anti-corporate activism in a media-saturated multinational world, file sharing, intellectual property issues, wacky surrealism, evolving notions of art and ownership and law in a digital age, and artistic and humorous observations of mass media and mass culture. 

While it is true that, after being sued, Negativland became more publicly involved in advocating significant reforms of our nation's copyright laws, Negativland are artists first and activists second.  All of their art and media interventions have intended to pose both serious and silly questions about the nature of sound, media, control, ownership, propaganda and perception. Their work is now referenced and taught in many college courses in the US, has been written about or cited in over 150 books (including NO LOGO by Naomi Klein, MEDIA VIRUS by Douglas Rushkoff, many legal journals, and various biographies of the band U2), and they often lecture about their work here and in Europe. Negativland is now on the advisory board of a Washington DC based intellectual property lobbying group called www.digitalfreedom.org.

Since 1981, Negativland and an evolving cast of characters have operated “Over The Edge,” a weekly radio show on KPFA FM in Berkeley, California. “Over The Edge” continues to broadcast three hours of live, found-sound mixing every Thursday at midnight, West Coast time, with online access. In 1995 they released a 270 page book with 72 minute CD entitled FAIR USE: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2. This book documented their infamous four-year long legal battle over their 1991 release of an audio piece entitled "U2". They were the subjects of Craig Baldwin's 1995 feature documentary SONIC OUTLAWS and created the soundtrack and sound design for Harold Boihem's 1997 documentary film THE AD AND THE EGO, an excellent in-depth look into the hidden agendas of the corporate ad world and the ways that we are affected by advertising. Their 1997 all-cola focused epic, DISPEPSI, also tackled some of these same topics. In 2002, and to very mixed reaction, they unleashed the dark and noisy book/CD project DEATHSENTENCES OF THE POLISHED AND STRUCTUARALLY WEAK, which combined destroyed sounds with images of things found inside of wrecked cars in automotive wrecking yards. 

2004 found Negativland working with Creative Commons to write the Creative Commons Sampling License, an alternative to existing copyrights that is now in widespread use by many artists, writers, musicians, film makers, and websites. In 2005, they released the elaborately packaged NO BUSINESS (with CD, 15,000 word essay, and custom made whoopie cushion), and debuted "Negativlandland" - a large visual art show of over 80 piece's of their "fine art" works, video, and home-made electronic devices, at New York City's Gigantic Art Space.

More recently Negativland have been touring a new performance piece called “Its’ All In Your Head FM”, a two-hour-long audio cut-up mix about monotheism, the supernatural God concept, and the all-important role played by the human brain in our beliefs. Christianity and Islam are the featured religions, as Negativland asks its audience to contemplate some complex, serious, ridiculous, and challenging ideas about human belief in a show best described as “documentary collage.” In late 2007, Negativland released Our Favorite Things, a feature length DVD collection of their many years of collaborative film work, and in 2008 they surprised themselves and everybody else by putting out a toe-tapping all-songs project called Negativland Presents Thigmotactic.

Negativland is interested in unusual noises and images (especially ones that are found close at hand), unusual ways to restructure such things and combine them with their own music and art, and mass media transmissions which have become sources and subjects for much of their work.  Negativland covets insightful humor and wackiness from anywhere, low-tech approaches whenever possible, and vital social targets of any kind.  Foregoing ideological preaching, but interested in side effects, Negativland is like a subliminal cultural sampling service concerned with making art about everything we aren't supposed to notice.

BLURT IT OUT LOUD!

HARP EDITORS LAUNCH BLURT, AN INNOVATIVE NEW MUSIC DIGITAL-MAGAZINE AND WEBSITE

SILVER SPRING, MD. Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of HARP Magazine Scott Crawford today announced the launch of BLURT, a new music digital-magazine and accompanying website www.BLURT-online.com.  Joined by Managing Editor Fred Mills, Senior Editor Randy Harward, Associate Editor Andy Tennille and Contributing Editor A.D. Amorosi, BLURT will raise the bar for modern music and entertainment magazines by combining insightful features, irreverent interviews, relentless reviews, and first-class design standards.

"Urged on by the industry and its artists, we've managed, in the few short months since HARP's demise this past spring, to create an online destination in BLURT that expands on our coverage of music and culture in ways that were never possible in the print world," Crawford says. "Launching a digital-magazine enables us to combine the technological advantages inherent online with the compelling design aesthetics that HARP readers have come to expect. It's a new world out there, but creatively, I've never been more excited about the possibilities."

Joan As Policewoman graces the cover the BLURT Digital-Magazine debut issue, which also includes feature stories on My Morning Jacket, Ray Davies, My Brightest Diamond, and Alejandro Escovedo, as well as profiles of artists such as Whiskeytown, Tapes ‘n Tapes, American Princes, The Ettes, Centro-matic, Martha Wainwright, Juliana Hatfield, Mia Doi Todd, Sally Shapiro, and A Big Yes and a small no. More than 50 albums are reviewed in the BLURT Digital-Magazine inaugural issue, including Spiritualized's Songs in A&E, Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut, Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs, Solomon Burke's Like a Fire, Howlin Rain's Magnificent Fiend, Elvis Costello and the Imposters' Momofuku, and the deluxe edition reissue of Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville. There are also sections for reviews of books and DVDs plus essential music-lovers' lifestyle merchandise.

"BLURT Digital-Magazine will be free to subscribers and available nine times a year at www.BLURT-online.com," Crawford adds. "We believe BLURT Digital-Magazine's green-minded, digital-only format will set the standard for how digital-magazines can heighten the consumer experience by offering fully interactive and searchable content including exclusive performance and interview videos, MP3s, podcasts and more."

In addition to the debut of the digital-magazine, BLURT-Online will launch this week, offering visitors up-to-the-minute daily news, abundant additional features and reviews (including over 100 additional CD, book, DVD, and concert reviews), plus various video channels broadcasting exclusive video interviews and performances by The Black Keys, Alejandro Escovedo, and Devotchka, as well as an entertaining, behind-the-scenes look at cover artist Joan as Policewoman's photo shoot. Furthermore, BLURT is proud to announce blog contributions from esteemed critic and former Village Voice Music Editor Chuck Eddy (Singles Again, celebrating vinyl), singer-songwriter Chris Lee (Say It Ain't Soul, for songwriters), Triple-A veteran and former XM Music Director Kate Bradley (Cut Through the Noise, industry rants and raves) as well as ongoing political opinions from artists as diverse as songwriter James McMurtry, Anti-Flag's Justin Sane, antifolker Ed Hamell (a/k/a Hamell on Trial) and Grace Potter (of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals), with more to be announced.

ABOUT BLURT: Brought to you by the creative team behind the lauded HARP Magazine (called "America's best music magazine" by NPR's Bob Boilen and "the best music magazine in the country and the one that musicians always read" by Foo Fighter Dave Grohl), BLURT will raise the bar for modern music and entertainment magazines and websites by combining insightful features, irreverent interviews, relentless reviews, and first-class design standards. Visit us at www.BLURT-online.com.

For more information, contact:

Scott Crawford, Editor-in-Chief

scrawford@blurt-online.com

P: 301-592-0006

For sales and marketing opportunities:

Kate Bradley

kbradley@blurt-online.com

P: 202-316-1193

By Fred Mills

BLURT heroine Maria Taylor has resumed roadwork behind her critically acclaimed 2007 album Lynn Teeter Flower. The current tour boasts sponsorship by Daytrotter and it kicked off last weekend; it wraps July 12 in California.

Of that album, a certain now-defunct magazine that you may remember fondly (take a wild guess) had these words of praise:

“Maria Taylor has already shown that she’s capable of crafting both precious dreampop, as one half of Azure Ray, and Postal Service-inspired electronica, on her 2005 solo debut 11:11. But who knew she could actually rock? The ten tracks on Lynn Teeter Flower show a new, remarkably varied, side of Taylor, juxtaposing her gorgeous falsetto with driving guitars, electronic flourishes and deftly woven arrangements. Opener ‘A Good Start’ is a downbeat pop track with hooks so deep they’ll slit your skin; ‘Replay’ features swinging synths and vocals reminiscent of erstwhile Saddle Creek labelmate Jenny Lewis; and ‘My Own Fault’ is a hypnotizing drum machine-driven march to heaven. However, the breakout track on Lynn Teeter Flower is ironically also the most stripped-down: ‘Clean Getaway,’ a heartbreaking paean to moving on that’s so bittersweet it’ll make you wince.”

Hey, who are we to argue? Here’s the complete list of tour dates:

Maria Taylor Tour Dates:

Mon-Jun-09, Dallas, TX, Granada

Tue-Jun-10, Austin, TX, Emo's

Wed-Jun-11, Baton Rouge, LA, Spanish Moon

Thu-Jun-12, Birmingham, AL, Workplay

Fri-Jun-13, Atlanta, GA, Smith's Olde Bar

Sat-Jun-14, Athens, GA, Caledonia Lounge

Sun-Jun-15, Charleston, SC,  Village Tavern

Mon-Jun-16, Carrboro, NC, Cat's Cradle

Wed-Jun-18, New York, NY, Knitting Factory

Thu-Jun-19, Washington, DC, Rock and Roll Hotel

Fri-Jun-20, Philadelphia, PA, The Barbary

Sat-Jun-21, Kingston, NY, Free Wall Street Party

Mon-Jun-23, Boston, MA, The Paradise

Tue-Jun-24, Hamden, CT, The Space

Thu-Jun-26, Toronto, ONT, El Mocambo

Fri-Jun-27, Detroit, MI, Magic Stick

Sat-Jun-28, Chicago, IL, Beat Kitchen

Sun-Jun-29, Chicago, IL, Belmont Arts & Music Festival

Mon-Jun-30, Minneapolis, MN, 7th Street Entry

Tue-Jul-01, Omaha, NE, Waiting Room

Wed-Jul-02, Denver, CO, The Hi-Dive

Thu-Jul-03, Salt Lake City, UT, Kilby Court

Fri-Jul-04, Boise, ID, Neurolux

Sat-Jul-05, Portland, OR, Doug Fir

Sun-Jul-06, Seattle, WA, Tractor Tavern

Wed-Jul-09, San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill

Thu-Jul-10, Visalia, CA, Cellar Door

Fri-Jul-11, Los Angeles, CA, Echoplex

Sat-Jul-12, Sonoma, CA, Gundlach Bundschu Winery

 ***

6/5-7/12 with Johnathan Rice

6/5-7 with Taylor Hollingsworth

6/9-7/12 with Nik Freitas

By Fred Mills

In order to benefit several worthy causes, Tom Waits announced today that he is auctioning off 5 pair of premium tickets to his “Glitter and Doom” tour shows in Phoenix, Houston, Columbus, and Atlanta. All four are sold out.

The auctions start tomorrow, Wednesday, June 11, at 10am (Pacific time) at Ticketmaster.com. The auction for the Phoenix show is a quick one: it will end Friday, June 13 at noon Pacific. The other three auctions will end Thursday, June 19 at noon Pacific.

“Some folks prefer to pay more, you get a good seat, a good tax write off 
and a good feeling for helping for your needy neighbors,” said Waits, in a statement. “It's 
scalping for charity.”

(Waits fans will recall that the Bard of Bawl has a history of going up against the scalpers; on the 2006 “Orphans” tour he went to great lengths to ensure that tickets got into the hands of fans and not brokers. As tour manager Stuart Ross told yours truly while the tour was underway, “It [thwarting scalpers] can be done. The problem is that most acts don’t care. But if you really want to crimp the style of the scalpers, all we’re really doing is modifying the delivery option. We’re not reinventing the wheel. By not actually putting tickets in the hands of anybody until the day of the show, and advertising and letting everyone know that the tickets are not transferable and only the original buyer can pick the tickets up, then we’ve eliminated 99.9% of the game.”)

***

The charities (and related contact info) that the auctions will benefit are as follow.  Read up - this is stuff you  oughta know about, right?

The Young Adult & Family Center - UCSF - In Honor of Dr. Kim Norman

The Young Adult & Family Center (YAF) at UCSF is dedicated to innovation the creation of clinical services, clinical training, clinical research, health education, outreach and public policy advocacy for the benefit of adolescents and young adults aged 12-24 and their families. Our mission is to advance adolescent and transitional age youth's mental health in all communities, with a special emphasis on the most vulnerable, through leadership in clinical care, clinical research, education, outreach and public policy.

The Young Adult & Family Center - UCSF

Department of Psychiatry
University of California, San Francisco
401 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143-0984
415-476-7000

email: Kim.Norman@ucsf.edu

http://psych.ucsf.edu/lpphc.aspx?id=2374

Summerfield Waldorf School

Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm provides an inspiring curriculum based on the developmental needs of the whole child.  The school and farm is situated on 38 acres in Sonoma County, California.  Summerfield’s educational mission is to create a supportive environment that nurtures the development and education of our students. And, in turn, our students receive the foundation they need to contribute to their own communities and the wider world.   It is a well balanced classical curriculum where music, arts, and practical work enliven our students’ academic achievement.  Waldorf education is now the largest private school system in the world.

Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm

655 Willowside Road

Santa Rosa, Ca. 95401

(707) 575-7194

http://www.summerfieldws.org

Children's Village of Sonoma County - In Honor of Georgia Lee Moses

Children’s Village of Sonoma County is an innovative foster care home for children and youth in foster care.  We opened its first four homes in August 2006 serving children and their siblings in foster care.  We are a community care facility serving children and youth in foster care who are unlikely to be adopted or re-unified with biological parents.  Our program is the first of its kind to place on-site volunteer grandparents assisted by Village “parents,” professional therapeutic staff and 100+ volunteers – all of whom are guided by the notion to create a loving, nurturing and supportive family atmosphere for the kids.  The Village concept was a dream of Founder and Executive Director, Lia Rowley.  She was spurred to action to create an alternative to the foster care setting after working with vulnerable populations for three decades and after learning of the murder of a 12 year old girl she knew, Georgia Moses.

Margherita Gudenzi

Fund Development Manager

THE CHILDREN'S VILLAGE OF SONOMA COUNTY

Tel.  707.566-7044 

www.thechildrensvillage.com

NAMI - Sonoma County - In Honor of Jermiah Chass*

NAMI Sonoma County is a grassroots family and client organization, dedicated to improving the lives of all people affected by mental health challenges. Our mission is education, support and advocacy. We provide classes, support groups, art therapy, resources and referrals, and a library. Some of our services are in Spanish, and all are provided at no charge.

*Jermiah Chass, 16, was a much loved family and community member and an excellent student at Analy High School, Sebastopl, California.He was shot to death by police responding to a 911 emergency call from his parents, who were trying to get the mentally distressed boy to the hospital. Jeremiah was the first of four mentally distressed individuals shot dead by police in response to 911 calls in little more than a year. Obviously, there is a profound lack of understanding and training of officers who are sent out on these calls. One of NAMI's goals is to prevent further casualties and to work with local authorities providing police the necessary training and education to respond.

NAMI Sonoma County

1717 Yulupa Ave

Santa Rosa CA 95405

707.527.6655

www.namisonomacounty.org

Catholic Charities

The largest provider of homeless services in California’s Redwood Empire, between the Golden Gate Bridge and Oregon, is Catholic Charities. The Family Support Center serves children and their parents, 130 people daily, providing food, shelter, on-site childcare, medical care, a school liaison and tutoring, and a teen center, while helping homeless parents find jobs, housing, and the help they need to address tough issues such as domestic violence, parenting skills, mental illness or chemical dependency.

The Homeless Service Center is a daytime drop-in center for single adults and couples, providing 100 clients per day with showers, laundry, storage, telephone/message service, mail, community referrals and intake for four other shelters and emergency sick beds.  All told, Catholic Charities assists over 300 people each night at six shelters, focusing on immediate needs and crises, especially for children, while moving adult clients and parents towards independence.

Catholic Charities

PO Box 4900 Santa Rosa CA 95402

(707) 528-8712

www.srcharities.org

By Randy Harward

Idiot savant garage rocker Jay Reatard’s gonna drop Singles 06-07, compiling 17 already out-of-print limited-edition singles he recorded for In The Red, Goner, Squoodge, P. Trash and Stained Circles. Reatard played every note (save some geetar on “All Wasted” by Alix Brown of Angry Angels), and did all the knob-twiddlin’, too. The deluxe package also includes a DVD with four live shows: Philadelphia, Las Vegas, New York City and The Netherlands.

According to the press release from In the Red Records, “2006 and 2007 was an insanely prolific time for Jay, as he left behind his many bands and projects (among them The Reatards, The Lost Sounds, Angry Angles, Final Solutions, Bad Times, Terror Visions, etc.) and started recording under his own name, taking musical cues from Wipers, Wire, The Clean, The Adverts and 999. Five singles were released around the time of his breakthrough album Blood Visions, as some of those album's songs first appeared in versions on 7" singles first.”

The package comes one week before Reatard releases the third 7” in his limited-edition Matador singles series (to be compiled on CD this September, preceding a full-length debut on Matador in 2009), and roughly three weeks before a tour that’ll take him from Denmark (Roskilde Festival) to Dallas.

Jay Reatard Tour Dates:

Sunday, July 6: Roskilde, Denmark (Roskilde Festival *with Slayer, Judas Priest, Neil Young*)

Monday, July 14: Philadelphia, PA (Johnny Brendas)

Tuesday, July 15: Brooklyn, NY (Prospect Park Bandshell *with Spoon*)

Thursday, July 17: Providence, RI (Lupo's *with Spoon*)

Saturday, July 19: Chicago, IL (Pitchfork Music Festival *with King Khan & The Shrines, Times New Viking, Dinosaur Jr.*)

Sunday, July 20: Minneapolis, MN (Triple Rock *with Cheap Time*)

Monday, July 21: Fargo, ND (The Aquarium *with Cheap Time*)

Thursday, July 24: Seattle, WA (Capitol Hill Block Party *with Le Savy Fav*)

Friday, July 25: Vancouver, WA (Commodore Ballroom *with Le Savy Fav*)

Saturday, July 26: Portland, OR (Doug Fir *with Cheap Time*)

Monday, July 28: San Francisco, CA (The Independent *with Cheap Time*)

Wednesday, July 30: Los Angeles, CA (The Echo *with Cheap Time*)

Thursday, July 31: San Diego, CA (The Casbah *with Cheap Time*)

Friday, August 1: Mesa, AZ (Hollywood Alley *with Cheap Time*)

Sunday, August 3: Austin, TX (Red 7 *with Cheap Time*)

Monday, August 4: Dallas, TX (Club Dada *with Cheap Time*)

You know you were waiting to hear about this….

By Fred Mills

With their Viva La Vida album due next week (June 17) from Capitol, Coldplay is gearing up for a North American tour that kicks off July 14 in L.A. Sorry kids: that and the following night are sold out. 30,000 tickets vanished in less than an hour last weekend. But never fear: Tickets for the tour are scheduled to go on sale this weekend in San Jose, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto and Boston.

According to the band’s handlers, the first few dates of the North American tour  “have been rescheduled due to production delays. ‘We're very sorry, but we promise you a show worthy of your patience and understanding when we start in mid-July," said the band, in a statement.’ Tickets already purchased for these shows will be honored on the new dates.”

More info: To celebrate the Viva La Vida tour and album, the band will play free concerts in London (June 16th at the Brixton Academy), Barcelona (June 17th at Espacio Movistar) and New York City (June 23rd at Madison Square Garden). Tickets for these shows have already been given away via a contest, but fans are invited to turn out for the group’s performance on the Today show on NBC on Friday, June 27th. Viewing is on a first-come, first-served basis outside the show's Window on the World Studio, located at 49th Street and Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. The band will also perform on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"on June 26th.

Coldplay Tour Dates:

Date    City                                 Venue                           Public On Sale Date

7/14    Los Angeles, CA            The Forum                               SOLD OUT
7/15    Los Angeles, CA            The Forum                               SOLD OUT
7/18    San Jose, CA                 HP Pavilion                              6/14   
7/19    Las Vegas, NV               MGM Grand Garden Arena        on sale now
7/23    Chicago, IL                    United Center                            6/14
7/25    Philadelphia, PA            Wachovia Center                        on sale now
7/27    Pemberton, BC              Pemberton Festival                    on sale now
7/29    Montreal, QC                 Bell Centre                                6/14
7/30    Toronto, ON                  Air Canada Centre                      6/14
8/2      Hartford, CT                  XL Center                                  on sale now
8/3      Washington, DC            Verizon Center                           on sale now
8/4       Boston, MA                 TD Banknorth Garden                 6/14
10/20    Ottawa, ON                 Scotiabank Place                       TBA
10/21    Cleveland, OH             Quicken Loans Arena                  on sale now
10/26    East Rutherford, NJ      Izod Center                               TBA
11/3      Detroit, MI                   The Palace of Auburn Hills          on sale now
11/7      Orlando, FL                  Amway Arena                           TBA
11/9      Sunrise, FL                  BankAtlantic Center                   TBA
11/11    Atlanta, GA                  Philips Arena                             TBA
11/13    Kansas City, MO          Sprint Center                             on sale now
11/14    St. Paul, MN                 Xcel Energy Center                   on sale now
11/16    Oklahoma City, OK        Ford Center                              on sale now
11/18    Houston, TX                  Toyota Center                          TBA
11/19    Dallas, TX                     American Airlines Center           TBA
11/21    Denver, CO                    Pepsi Center Arena                  TBA
11/22    Salt Lake City, UT           Energy Solutions Arena            TBA
11/26    Phoenix, AZ                    Jobing.com Arena                     on sale now

By Randy Harward

We all know that “Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothin’ to fuck wit!,” but although de facto Wu leader the RZA espouses peace and intellectual edification, one would assume they mean to not fuck wit them in the hip-hop game. Not chess. And yet, this:

WuChess.com is the world’s first online chess and hip-hop community letting users play live chess with people from all over the world. WuChess.com lets players get knowledge from real chess masters online, or train in chambers against the computer to refine their skills. At Wuchess.com, subscribers can log on to watch chess clans do battle on and check out exhibition matches with RZA, other Wu-Tang members and stars from across the planet.

Aaaahhhhh! That’s GZA to Ghostface 6, bitch! Check-fuckin’-mate. That’s the Zig-Zag-Zig, right there! Now you gotta smoke this blunt and recite the Supreme Alphabet. That is, if you down. Is you?

Naw, I’m just playin’.

RZA says of WuChess.com, “[it’s] a great platform for the digital world... a whole new world of myth and reality where people can come talk about chess and challenge the Wu members in our chambers." A video game, a comic book and a film are all in development and all mostly focusing on the story of RZA’s alter-ego Bobby Digital, a digital superhero who "transforms into a powerful being that struggles with the good and evil inside himself by saving the lives of others."

Today RZA commences a tour supporting the third Bobby Digital album, Digi Snacks, due June 24 on Koch Records. The jaunt will be his first ever live band tour with backing band Stone Mecca.

Digi Snacks finds RZA fleshing out the Bobby Digital character’s identity and story (in the songs and the apt added-value: a comic book), which parallel RZA’s own. “This is the snack pack, showin’ you some sides of him,” he tells BLURT. “It includes songs that’s life-related; it includes songs that are totally like science fiction.” The line between the two is hard to differentiate, and RZA alludes to his own promiscuity and bad deeds—ostensibly, when he shot that dude in 1993. It’s nothing if not perfect superhero lore.

“[Bobby Digital]’s still strugglin’ with his sex—tryin’ not to be so promiscuous,” he chuckles. “His growth is basically at that point right before I started Wu-Tang Clan. Right before I started Wu-Tang Clan, I was at that point where… I had demons inside myself. And it took a tragedy for me to snap out of it.”

Read more from this interview in the July BLURT.

Includes encore appearance on Colbert Report.

By Fred Mills

The Apples In Stereo’s rarities/B-sides collection Electronic Projects For Musicians (Yep Roc/Simian/Elephant 6) gets some o’ the proverbial tour support next month. July 18 marks the start of a three-week tour for the Apples, and it will include a special musical performance on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."

“This marks the first time Colbert has invited a musical guest to return for an encore performance,” crowed the band — not unjustifiably — in  a press release. Electronic Projects for Musicians contains the viral phenomenon "Stephen, Stephen," a track written by Robert Schneider in honor of Stephen Colbert and performed on The Colbert Report's 2006 series finale.

The Apples in Stereo Tour Dates:

7/18 LOUISVILLE, KY Headliner's ^

7/19 ST. LOUIS, MO Blueberry Hill Duck Room^

7/20 CHICAGO, IL Pitchfork Music Fest

7/22 MINNEAPOLIS, MN Turf Club^

7/23 OMAHA, NE The Waiting Room^

7/25 TULSA, OK Diversafest

7/26 DALLAS, TX Sons of Hermann Hall^

7/27 LITTLE ROCK, AR Revolution Music Room^

7/28 MEMPHIS, TN Hi-Tone^

7/29 NASHVILLE, TN Mercy Lounge^

7/31 BROOKLYN, NY Masonic Temple#

8/01 RIDGEWOOD, NJ Blend

8/02 PHILADELPHIA, PA World Cafe Live!

8/04 NEW YORK, NY The Colbert Report

^ Poison Control Center & Big Fresh support

# Earlimart & Poison Control Center support

! Poison Control Center supports

A bloody good time… and you thought BLURT was an indierock magazine…

By Fred Mills

It won’t happen until October, which means you have plenty of time to commit your next round of ritual sacrifices. But mark your calendars (and American readers, book your flight reservations): the European leg of the "Unholy Alliance Tour, Chapter III" commences in Manchester, England on October 27 and will run for about a month. We are advised that “this third installment of what has been hailed as ‘the heaviest, darkest tour of the year’ features Slayer, the undisputed kings of extreme speed/thrash metal, and two true princes of the genre, Trivium and Mastodon. An opening act will be announced shortly.” (What, they NEED an opening act?!?)

In a statement, Matthew Heafy, Trivium's frontman, noted, "Trivium is honored that Slayer has invited us to tour with them on the 'Unholy Alliance Tour.' All of us in Trivium are diehard Slayer fans and we look up to them for their music and longevity. They are one of the true pillars of heavy metal and for us to share stages with them is both an honor and a privilege. We've also known the Mastodon guys for a few years and we're definitely looking forward to hanging with them as well." Guitarist Corey Beaulieu added. "I can't wait to get out on tour with Slayer so we can watch them crush every night and then have the opportunity to share many drinks with them and Mastodon after the shows! I better get my liver in shape. it's going to be awesome!"

Yep. Awesome.

The Unholy Alliance tour first launched in Fall, 2004 with a European edition that featured Slipknot, Slayer, Mastodon and Hatebreed. The venture was so successful, the first North American trek, dubbed "The Unholy Alliance Tour, Chapter II: Preaching to The Perverted," kicked off in Summer, 2006 with Slayer, Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, Mastodon, and Thine Eyes Bleed stomping and screaming its way to 30 U.S. and Canadian cities. The European run of "Unholy Alliance Tour, Chapter II" took place in Fall, 2006, featuring Slayer, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, and Thing Eyes Bleed.

"Unholy Alliance Tour, Chapter III" Tour Dates:

OCTOBER
27 Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
28 NEC, Birmingham, England
30 Hammersmith Apollo, London, England
31 Hammersmith Apollo, London, England

NOVEMBER
2 CIA 7000, Cardiff, Wales
3 SECC Hall 3, Glasgow, Scotland
5 Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany
6 Palladium, Cologne, Germany
9 Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart, Germany
10 Eishallel Deutweg, Winterthur, Switzerland
11 Zenith, Paris, France
16 Gasometer, Vienna, Austria
18 Zenith, Munich, Germany
19 Columbia Hale, Berlin, Germany

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, eh?

By Fred Mills

Hit Showtime program Weeds gets a digital-only tribute release next week. June 17 brings Little Boxes Dimebag #1 and it’s to feature the diverse likes of Rise Against, Engelbert Humperdinck, Randy Newman and others performing the hit show's now-retired theme song "Little Boxes.” There will be more “Dimebag” collections set for monthly releases beginning in July.

"Jenji Kohan [Creator and Executive Producer of the show] and I both grew up with the song and she played it over and over while writing the pilot," said music supervisor Christopher Noxon, in a  press release. "We were absolutely thrilled when such an amazing array of artists came forward with their own distinct, individual interpretations of a song about conformity. There was never any question that it would be the perfect theme."

About the song's retirement, Noxon added, "With Nancy moving out of Agrestic and out of her 'little box,' it just didn't make sense to stick with 'Little Boxes.' We tried to make it work, but in in the end I think it's a credit to the producers that they recognized that the show, like Nancy, has moved up and on."

With season four of Weeds arriving June 16, expect the official soundtrack to season three to hit stores on July 8. Among the artists: Kevin Nealon, Beirut, Oh No! Oh My!, Illinois, The Dresden Dolls, Ween, Page France, That 1 Guy and others.

Little Boxes Tracklisting:

01.  Randy Newman
02.  Angelique Kidjo
03.  Maestro Charlie Barnett
04.  Aidan Hawken
05.  Kinky
06.  Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters
07.  Englebert Humperdinck
08.  Peggy Honeywell
09.  Goat
10.  Rise Against

Still raining, still dreaming, for the princess of punk.

By Blurt Staff

This just in from Palm Pictures:

Announcing Palm Pictures’ theatrical release of acclaimed photographer Steven Sebring's directorial debut, Patti Smith: Dream Of Life. The film is set for release this September. The richly layered portrait of the legendary poet, artist, musician and activist won the Cinematography Award when it received its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. New Yorkers will get an early glimpse of the film, which was produced by Margaret Smilow of Thirteen/WNET and Scott Vogel, when it screens at the Film Forum August 6th - 19th.

Patti Smith: Dream Of Life has generated critical acclaim, being hailed as a "spellbinder" (Premiere) and a "joy for anyone interested in pop culture of the past 40 years" (The Hollywood Reporter). "Patti Smith: Dream of Life" gets unusually close to its subject," said Reuters. "Experimental camera work and editing makes for a fittingly unconventional portrait of one of the pioneers of punk music."

Sebring, renowned for merging raw realism with high fashion in his portraiture, first met Smith, in 1996, when he photographed her for Spin magazine. Upon seeing her perform, he was so moved that he asked if he might begin filming her - thus beginning an 11-year odyssey. Patti Smith: Dream Of Life is a plunge into the philosophy and artistry of this complicated, charismatic personality. Sebring captures Smith, who narrates the film, through her spoken words, performances, lyrics, paintings and photographs. The film also features performances with composer Philip Glass and playwright/author/actor/musician Sam Shepard.

Rizzoli will publish Sebring's companion book, Patti Smith: Dream of Life, in August. Integrating quotes and private transcripts with his photographs of Smith, Sebring traces the artist's extraordinary personal journey. The volume also includes never-before-published Polaroid's taken by Smith as well as other photos from her archives.

Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and continues to be a vibrant, prolific artist, working in a wide variety of media. Fondation Cartier in Paris is currently hosting a major solo exhibition of her visual work. The Coral Sea, a live CD she recorded with My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, will be released July 11th on PASK, a new imprint founded by Smith and Shields. The double-CD captures their June 22, 2005 and September 12, 2006 performances at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, a collaboration inspired by Smith's 1996 book of the same name, which paid tribute to her great friend, the late artist Robert Mapplethorpe.

Maybe we can make it here after all…

By Fred Mills

The 2008 Americana Honors & Awards, to be held Sept. 17-20 in Nashville, announced yesterday that BLURT hero — and BLURT blogger —James McMurtry has been nominated in three categories: “Best Artist,” “Best Album” (for this year’s Just Us Kids) and “Best Song” (for the scathing track “Cheney’s Toy”). In 2006 McMurtry took Best Album honors in 2006 for his Childish Things album as well as Best Song for the, er, scathing track “We Can’t Make It Here.” (We sense a pattern developing here…)
 
Just Us Kids has been kicking ass all over the place, spending six straight weeks at #1 on Radio & Records’ Americana Airplay chart, and making showings on four Billboard sales charts (Hot 200 albums, Heatseekers, New Artist and Indie), outpacing his last release, Childish Things, in sales. Critics have lined up to sing McMurtry’s kudos as well, notably the Washington Post, which wrote, “There's a good chance that McMurtry's Just Us Kids will be the best album of 2008.  Angry and scathing in this year of war, recession and presidential campaigns, the disc transcends mere sloganeering by offering the kind of complicated characters and visual description you might expect from the son of novelist Larry McMurtry. But this is much more than literature set to folkie guitar; these tangled tales of dead-end teenagers, burned-out boomers, cynical politicians, divorced loners, drunken roadies and homeless survivors are pushed along by a twitchy John Lee Hooker-like boogie that keeps you hungry for the next line.”

Meanwhile, in the debut issue of the digital magazine of BLURT, we awarded Just Us Kids a rousing 10 out of 10 stars and reviewed it thusly:

If you’ve heard “God Bless America,” the bitter, biting indictment of our political and corporate leaders first released in 2007, then all you really need to know about Just Us Kids is that it’s not even the best song on the album, which is the best of McMurtry’s career. Hell, it’s not even the best political song on the album, an honor that goes to the swampy “The Governor,” whose metaphor stands in sharp contrast to the explicit (but still moving) anti-war proclamations of “Cheney’s Toy.” But there’s not much here that’s not colored by politics in one way or another, whether the tender portrait of a vet’s love affair in “Ruby and Carlos” or in “Ruins of the Realm,” a tender rumination on living in a fallen empire, whether that empire’s the United States or just your own broken life. But the real stunner here is “Fire Line Road,” a tale of sexual abuse that will stop you in your tracks.

McMurtry is among BLURT’s roster of bloggers and will be penning a frequent politically-themed column titled “Wasteland Bait & Tackle.” His debut offering, “See the Elephant in the Room,” talks about Obama’s clinching of the Democratic nomination and the long road of Republican dirty tricks that may lay ahead for the Senator. Got to the Blurt blogs section to read McMurtry.

James McMurtry Tour Dates:

Thur June 12  MEMPHIS, TN  Automatic Slim’s
Fri  June 13  FAYETTEVILLE, AR  George's Majestic Lounge
Sat  June 14  FT. WORTH, TX  The Aardvark
Fri  June 27  AUSTIN, TX  Threadgill’s
Thur  July 3   AUSTIN, TX  KGSR’s Unplugged at the Grove
Fri July 18   SANTA FE, NM   Santa Fe Brewing Co.
Sat July 19   TEMPE, AZ   Last Exit
Tue July 22   LOS ANGELES, CA   The Troubadour
Thur July 24   SANTA CRUZ, CA   Catalyst
Fri July 25   SAN FRANCISCO, CA   Slims
Wed July 30  JACKSON HOLE, WY   Tocky Mtn. Music Series
Thur July 31   TEN SLEEP, WY   Big Horn Mtn. Stage
Sat Aug. 2   SNOWBIRD, UT   Snowbird Music Festival
Fri  Aug 22  PORTSMOUTH, VA Bayside Harley-Davidson

They still move… boy, do they ever.

By Andy Tennille

Arena rock torchbearers and current BLURT feature faves My Morning Jacket today announced plans to ring in the New Year on December 31, 2008 at New York City’s venerable Madison Square Garden.

“An Evening with My Morning Jacket” will culminate what has been an extraordinary year for MMJ, who released their newest studio album – Evil Urges – on Tuesday and made their debut appearance on Saturday Night Live last month. This weekend, the band kicks off its summer touring schedule with an appearance at the Bonnaroo Arts and Music Festival in Manchester, TN and hits Toronto and Montreal before returning south of the border for a sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall on Friday, June 20. Check out the rest of the tour here.

Tickets ($49.50) for the New Year’s Eve concert at Madison Square Garden go on sale Friday, June 27, at 10 a.m. and can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.com, www.thegarden.com or by calling 212-307-4111. Doors open at 8pm and the show begins at 9pm.

Off the cuff wordplay and lighthearted humor, in spades.

By Fred Mills

When we broke the news earlier this year that Danger Mouse would be producing the new Beck album —that is, when BLURT predecessor Harp dropped that bomb in a feature on Danger Mouse — we didn’t know we’d have to wait this long for more info. But info we (and every other friggin’ media outlet on the planet) now have: Modern Guilt will be released July 8th on DGC Records in North America and July 7 on XL Recordings in the UK and Europe.

The ten-song platter follows 2005’s Guero and 2006’s The Information but is not slated to include last year's Grammy-nominated, digital-only single "Timebomb.” The album’s descrbibed as “a tightly assembled group of songs that range in lyrical tone from introspection and social commentary to off the cuff wordplay and lighthearted humor. Musically, the album's ten tracks vacillate between economy and experimentation, hybrid and pop classicism, while consistently manifesting Beck and Danger Mouse's shared interest in psych-rock, folk, electronic minimalism and orchestration.”

Well shit, everybody loves some off the cuff wordplay and lighthearted humor now and then, right?

Tracklisting:

Orphans
Gamma Ray
Chemtrails
Modern Guilt
Youthless
Walls
Replica
Soul of A Man
Profanity Prayers
Volcano

Beck has also announced a handful of U.S. tour dates for later this year. They are:

8/22/08 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
8/24/08 - Bend, OR - Les Schwab Amphiteater
8/30/08 - Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot Festival
9/20/08 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl
9/27/08 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival

Because giving away content for free wound up being a pretty damn good idea…

By Andy Tennille

A little ol’ something called Bonnaroo kicks off today… but you knew that. For those of you stuck at home, you can get in on selected choice parts of the action tomorrow, however.

From the suits at AT&T:

Tune in to the AT&T Blue Room from June 13-15 to see the LIVE Bonnaroo 2008 webcast, straight from Manchester, TN. Check it out here.

Here’s the AT&T Blue Room webcast lineup for Friday and Saturday. All times are Eastern Daylight Time. (Sunday’s schedule is TBD.)

June 13

1:30 PM          Drive By Truckers

2:15 PM          Fiery Furnaces

3:15 PM          Umphrey's McGee

4:45 PM          Bluegrass Sessions

6:00 PM          The Raconteurs

7:30 PM          TBD

8:30 PM          Les Claypool

10:00 PM        Metallica

June 14

1:45 PM          Two Gallants

2:45 PM          The Wood Brothers

3:00 PM          Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

4:15 PM          Ozomatli

5:00 PM          Gogol Bordello

6:30 PM          Against Me!

7:30 PM          Iron & Wine

9:00 PM          Cat Power

10:00 PM        Mastodon

10:30 PM        Ben Folds

Proceeds generated by scribbled-on instrument to benefit AthFest.

By Randy Harward

R.E.M. is showing some hometown love by auctioning off a signed guitar to benefit AthFest, a non-profit organization that preserves the jangly history of the Athens music and art scene. The Brian Setzer Model Gretsch Nashville hollow-body was donated by Gretsch, which celebrates 125 of years of guitar-making this year. From the press release:

In keeping with AthFest’s mission to educate people about music and arts, our staff is organizing a program that will bring musicians and music business leaders into local schools to make presentations to classes, as well as mentor kids interested in careers in music. Savannah, Ga.-based Gretsch Guitars has a foundation that donates guitars that are decorated by artists or signed by musicians and then sold to raise funds for music and arts education programs.

The guitar has been signed by all four original members of R.E.M., including retired drummer Bill Berry, and comes complete with a new deluxe case. The eBay auction will begin on June 18, coinciding with the start of AthFest, and conclude June 27.

From Nebraska to the big ol’ world…

By Andy Tennille

On the heels of the June 3^rd release of his new LP, The Sun is Always Brighter, singer-songwriter Joshua James is hitting the road for a three-month tour that finds the Nebraska native hitting cities on both the West and East coasts and nearly all points in between. What’s BLURT’s favorite stop on the Joshua James tour, you ask? It’d have to be the Tootles Pumpkin Inn gig in Circleville, Ohio. At least it’s not Squareville…

James will be sharing the stage during the tour with the likes of Justin Townes Earle, Corey Chisel and Will Dailey. Check out his music here and read his blog at http://buffalojames.blogspot.com/.

Joshua James Tour Dates:

6/14 The Loft w. Justin Townes Earle, Dallas, Texas

6/15 Stubb’s Bar-B-Q w. Justin Townes Earle, Austin, Texas

6/16 Warehouse Live w. Justin Townes Earle, Houston, Texas

6/18 Hi Tone Cafe w. Justin Townes Earle, Memphis, TN

6/19 WorkPlay Theatre w. Justin Townes Earle 18+ Birmingham, Alabama

6/20 World Grotto w. Justin Townes Earle, Knoxville, Tennessee

6/21 Smith’s Olde Bar w. Justin Townes Earle, Atlanta, Georgia

6/22 3rd and Lindsley w. Justin Townes Earle, Nashville, Tennessee

6/24 The Social w. Will Dailey Orlando, Florida

6/25 Studio A w. Will Dailey Miami, Florida

6/26 Orpheum w. Will Dailey Tampa, Florida

6/27 Jack Rabbits w. Will Dailey Jacksonville, Florida

6/28 Melting Pot w. Will Dailey Athens, Georgia

6/30 Village Tavern w. Will Dailey Charleston, South Carolina

7/1 Local 506 w. Will Dailey Chapel Hill, North Carolina

7/2 Grey Eagle w. Will Dailey Asheville, North Carolina

7/3 Evening Muse w. Will Dailey Charlotte, North Carolina

7/6 IOTA, Arlington, Virginia

7/7 8X10, Baltimore, Maryland

7/8 World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

7/9 The Loft, Poughkeepsie, New York

7/10 Webster Underground, Hartford, Connecticut

7/11 Canal Concert Series, Buffalo, New York

7/12 Valentines, Albany, New York

7/13 Great Scott, Allston, Massachusetts

7/14 Cutting Room, New York, New York

7/15 Tootles Pumpkin Inn, Circleville, Ohio

7/16 The Intersection, (All Ages) Grand Rapids, Michigan

7/17 Club Cafe w. Corey Chisel (21+) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

7/18 Radio Radio, Indianapolis, Indiana

7/19 Beat Kitchen, Chicago, Illinois

7/20 The Ark w. Corey Chisel Ann Arbor, Michigan

7/22 Shank Hall w. Corey Chisel Milwaukee, Wisconsin

7/23 Varsity w. Corey Chisel Minneapolis, Minnesota

7/24 Waiting Room w. Corey Chisel Omaha, Nebraska

7/25 The Record Bar w. Corey Chisel (18+) Kansas City, Missouri

8/1   Club Sound, Salt Lake City

8/3 Seattle, WA

8/4 Portland, OR

8/6 San Francisco, CA

8/7 Sacramento, CA

8/8 San Diego, CA

8/9 Los Angeles, CA

8/10 Tucson, AZ

Trawling for sights ‘n’ sounds with WNCW-FM and BLURT.

By Fred Mills

BLURT’s buddy Joe Kendrick is the morning drive deejay for WNCW-FM (www.wncw.org), a public/community radio station based in Spindale, NC, near Asheville. (Joe also co-hosts a music talk segment with yours truly and Jeff Eason of the Mountain Times, of Boone, NC. Called “What It Is,” it airs weekdays at about 8:15 am; selected “What It Is” podcasts can be accessed via the WNCW website so check it out if you want to hear Joe and Jeff’s suave erudition alongside my hick accent.)

Joe’s presently at Bonnaroo conducting interviews for the radio station and he graciously offered to share some of the photos he’s been taking. We’re not exactly sure who the dude pictured above is, but he certainly looks like he’s well into the spirit of Bonnaroo – dig that belly button!

Three pics from the Bonnaroo grounds. According to Joe, “Bonnaroo is more like Walkaroo. I've made a good five miles yesterday, easily.”

The radio production tent where media can do live broadcasts.

And this is what it’ll look like at night, pressing into the crowds, natch…

MGMT onstage. “A yawner,” says Joe. “I should have seen Battles instead. My friend Brad says they tore the roof off.”

Two shots of the Felice Brothers performing. “They had tons of sound problems in front of their show but rocked,” says Joe. They showed off lots of new material and look to be heading into more of the stomp-rocker territory. They are so much of a throwback at times. The whiskey bottle was passed around stage as the techs futzed with popping amps. Their second or third tune was a completely amped version of 'Whiskey In My Whiskey,' which was at full shout-along clip. Also they show a strong Vaudevillian streak, with subject matter wandering through a kind of maudlin, whiskey-soaked alleyway on its way to the tent revival. A new tune, ‘Saved,’ I guess, gave the audience a lift with its anthemic chorus of ‘I used to lie, I used to cheat, I used to stomp on people's feet...but now I'm saved!!’, slamming together acoustic and electric elements into one hooky shot of rock.”

More to come! Drive By Truckers today!

[All photo credits: Joe Kendrick]

Gabe Roth feels the spirit move.

By Andy Tennille

From the Daptone desk:

Deep in the heart of Panola County, Mississippi lies Como, a small rural town where children and grown folks alike have been living and breathing gospel for as long as they can remember. In the summer of 2006, Daptone Records placed a small ad in local papers and on the radio inviting singers to come down to Mt. Mariah Church to record their songs. The result is COMO NOW, a stirring, 16-track collection of traditional and original a cappella gospel from the voices of Panola County’s own families.

“When Michael Reilly came to me with his first recordings of the Como Mamas, I remember hearing it and being blown away,” said Gabriel Roth, head honcho at Daptone. “Though I’ve been into soul music for a very long time, it has only been in the past few years that I really got deeper into gospel music. I owe this in no small part to Cliff Driver, who invited me to play bass behind Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens. Through Naomi, Sharon Jones, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Wilson Picket, Aretha Franklin, and several other heroes of mine, the line distinguishing soul music from gospel became much less significant. For me, it was less of an academic lineage than a visceral feeling that I started to get from listening to old records by the Soul Stirrers, The Highway QC’s, Dorothy Love Coates, The Mighty Pilgrim Travelers, The Blind Boys, and The Violinaires. They were the same sounds, the same feeling, as listening to James Brown, Tina Turner and Lee Fields when they were really wailing, Otis Redding when he was really pleading and Al Green when he was really moaning. Sounds that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The recordings Michael played me gave me the same feeling.”

COMO NOW is slated for release on August 19, 2008. To learn more about the music recorded in Como and to watch exclusive videos on the recording of the album, go here.

Track List

1.      When The Gates Swing Open – Mary Moore

2.      It’s Alright – The John Edwards Singers

3.      Can See So Much – Brother and Sister Walker

4.      Jesus Builds A Fence Around Me – Della Daniels and Ester Mae Smith

5.      Trouble In My Way – Como Mamas featuring Mary Moore

6.      If It Had Not Been For Jesus – Irene Stevenson

7.      What Would I Do – Brother and Sister Walker

8.      New Burying Ground - The John Edwards Singers

9.      God’s Unchanging Hand - Como Mamas featuring Mary Moore

10.   I Can’t Afford To Let My Savior Down – Rev. Robert Walker

11.   Talk With Jesus – The Jones Sisters

12.  Lil’ Old Church House – Irene Stevenson

13.  Send Me I’ll Go - Como Mamas featuring Mary Moore

14.  Help Me To Carry On – Brother and Sister Walker

15.  Move Upstairs - Della Daniels and Ester Mae Smith

16.  Somebody Here Needs You Lord – Mary Moore

And you thought we weren’t down with th’ Coop…

By Fred Mills

A “concept album with a sinister streak”?

That’s what Alice Cooper’s 25 studio album is being described by his label SPV, which plans to drop Along Came A Spider on July 29.  “A dark and menacing album for dark and menacing times,” continues the Cooper camp, citing “a chilling conceptual thread” that runs through the songs. Hey, we are all about “chilling concepts” – why do you think we started this BLURT thing?

Apparently the album’s songs are related through the eyes/mind/voice of a serial killer named Spider, one that Cooper describes as “an arachnophobic psychopath” (in the song “Catch Me If You Can”).

Here’s the scoop from SPV – and see the tour dates following the album details.

***

Co-produced by Danny S