All the concert news ‘n' reviews that's fit to print.

By Blurt Staff

More concert coverage from your friendly neighborhood BLURT - this time, we've got Laika & the Cosmonauts in San Francisco and Magnetic Fields in Washington, DC.

• *Jud Cost pulled up his rickshaw at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco Oct. 16 to catch Finnish surf demons Laika & the Cosmonauts on their farewell tour. Writes Cost, "With a dramatically executed set-list played by a band that, after two decades on the road, is tighter than a well-digger's sphincter, the two hours flew by in a gorgeous Mercury 7 exhaust plume."

• *And just two nights ago, on Oct. 26, Zach Herrmann was at DC's George Washington University Lisner Auditorium to see Stephin Merritt & Co. (otherwise known as the Magnetic Fields) for a rare live performance. "The band sticks to a soft, acoustic format, sans percussion," observes Herrman. "The five-piece band, including vocalist Sally Simms, had little trouble filling out the reasonably small theater. But especially with each member spaced out across the entire stage, everything aurally and visually evident suggested a larger imaginable presence."

Check ‘em out at the provided links, or simply scroll down the BLURT front page to the reviews section. We've also got new book, DVD and CD reviews being added daily.

It takes a village of black Rasta punks to build a nation....

By Fred Mills

As previously announced in this space, Rasta punks the Bad Brains will be playing in D.C. on Nov. 4, election night. You can bet they'll be working up fresh versions of "Banned In D.C." and "Pay to Cum." The group's also announced additional dates, including two California shows in early December - see below for more info.

The group's still flying high from the release of Build A Nation, and is as uncompromising as ever. That's vocalist H.R., guitarist Dr. Know, bassist Darryl Jennifer and drummer Earl, in case you haven't been paying attention. And incidentally, check the November digital magazine issue of BLURT, scheduled to go live on the site this Thursday - we've got a very special interview with H.R. that may raise a few eyebrows.

Bad Brains Tour Dates:

November 4 - 9:30 Club, Washington D.C.

November 5 - Irving Plaza, NYC

November 6 - Irving Plaza, NYC

Novermber 9 - Waterloo Park, Austin TX

December 6 - Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles CA

December 7 - House Of Blues, San Diego CA

Cross-genre who's-who of stars come out to contribute to inspiring collection.

By Blurt Staff

Inspired by the grassroots movement created by Barack Obama's historic presidential run and his call for "Change We Can Believe In," Hidden Beach Recordings (HBR) has assembled a first-of-its-kind music compilation featuring an array of artists and material that reflects America's diversity and taps into the creative community's overwhelming response to the campaign's universal themes of hope, unity and change.

The 18-song disc, Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement, borrows its name from one of the campaign's central messages and boasts a stellar collection of artists from across genres, including such renowned multi-platinum performers as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Kanye West, Jill Scott, Los Lonely Boys, Jackson Browne, BeBe Winans, Lionel Richie, Adam Levine, Keb' Mo' and John Legend. The project features current and classic material as well as new music heard here for the first time along with speech excerpts from the Democratic nominee, which are embedded throughout the project. The full track listing is below; 11 of the 18 songs with versions exclusive to this album.

Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement is available via both digital download and hardcopy CD exclusively on the Obama campaign's official website (www.BarackObama.com , with all proceeds benefiting the campaign's fundraising efforts. Following the November 4th election, the disc will be made available beginning November 11 via Hidden Beach's website as well as at retail outlets worldwide.  Plans call for Hidden Beach to donate a portion of the proceeds to a number of charitable organizations as voted on by fans who purchase the CD.

Spearheaded by Hidden Beach CEO and Founder Steve McKeever, Yes We Can came about as a result of a broad-based and increasingly urgent desire by artists and other conscious individuals to join in the grassroots efforts to bring about positive change. Hidden Beach--widely respected for innovation, quality and a commitment to social empowerment--was considered the logical place to harness this energy and bring this project to light. 

The call for material and participation inspired more than 150 submissions from some of the industry's most respected, talented and accomplished artists hailing from all music forms and backgrounds.   Whether current hits, new tunes or classic tracks, central to the material chosen for Yes We Can are the songs paralleling the Obama campaign's core ideas of patriotism, perseverance and a sense of shared responsibility, among other concepts defining this historic movement.

"This year's election has inspired unprecedented enthusiasm and activism. Obama supporters from Nevada to New Hampshire are finding their own way to get involved--volunteering to knock on doors, registering new voters, and artists have created new works, including posters, sculptures, and music," said Obama campaign spokeswoman Moira Mack, in a statement. "With the stakes so high and November right around the corner, we are thankful to all the Obama supporters who are communicating the importance of voting in this election."

Added McKeever, "Thanks to the hard working staff at the entire Obama campaign along with the help of some of the world's top artists and industry professionals, we've created what we believe to be the first-ever presidential campaign compilation. The incredible response by the creative community to this project underscores how deeply inspiring this campaign has been across boundaries.  The artists involved truly reflect America's diversity, and speak to a real grassroots approach to affecting change, and the music really underscores how much more this country has in common than it has differences."

Included on Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement: John Mayer's "Waiting On The World To Change," BeBe Winans' "I Have A Dream," Jill Scott's "One Is The Magic," Jackson Browne's "Looking East," Sheryl Crow's "Out Of Our Heads," Los Lonely Boys' "Make It Better," Keb' Mo's "America The Beautiful," Yolanda Adams' "Hold On," Ozomatli's "Love & Hope" and Stevie Wonder's legendary tune and official Obama-Biden Campaign anthem "Sign, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."  Several of these songs are now worked into unique "Obama" versions featuring some inspiring speech excerpts from the campaign trail.

New music featured on the music compilation includes Lionel Richie's "Eternity," Dave Stewart's "American Prayer," John Legend's "Pride In The Name Of Love," Suai's "Am I All Alone?" Ken Stacey's "America," Malik Yusef's "Promised Land," featuring Kanye West and Maroon 5's Adam Levine, and Shontelle's "Battle Cry."

Samples of the material and additional background on Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement can be found at the official Hidden Beach website.

 . 

Track List:

Note:    + indicates excerpts of speeches from Senator Barack Obama

            # indicates excepts of speeches from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

            ** indicates songs with versions exclusive to this album

Unconfirmed reports have McSame campaign  painting rival as a rappin'  inner-city scary black man all over again...

By Blurt Staff

The Twin Cities-based indie rappers Heiruspecs channel Barack Obama in their new video "Get Up." Are they shouting him out? You decide; the message isn't entirely clear, although the group's handlers describe it as "a spoof on Obama ditching his normal schedule for a day and living like a hip-hop civilian for a day."

Yeah, it's pretty dumb, not to mention featuring murky lighting and amateurish editing. In any case the song -- off their self-titled new album due out December 13 -- is worthy of some serious ruspec.

View the video below...

Those three popular chimes are getting a reworking.

By Mandy Rodgers

For 75 years TV audiences have identified channel NBC with its recognizable three chimes. The notes are simply G, E, C, but played in that order, the colorful NBC emblem immediately comes to mind. To play with its own theme song, NBC called on an array of artists to record eight-second pieces doing whatever they want and then ending with their own arrangement of the famous G, E, C, progression. The spots will begin airing around Thanksgiving of this year.

Starring NBC's own stars and a variety of musical groups and individuals, the short spots began shooting last week. Called "Chime In," the commercial with non-musical actors features John Stamos (ER), Christian Slater (My Own Worst Enemy), Jenna Fischer (The Office) and Masi Oka (Heroes) among others humming (or bonging) the tune or discussing NBC's winter line-up, including the Super Bowl.

As for the musical guests, B.B. King, Richie Sambora, The B-52s, Clint Black, T.I. and the Flaming Lips are set to have promos on the network. Entertainment Weekly joined Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne as the group shot its piece and talked about guitar hero's influence and the legend of those chimes.

Watch a video of Wayne Coyne's chat with EW HERE - watching the Lips churning through eight seconds of patented Lips-noize, and concluding with a majestic 3-note finale, is worth the price of admission alone.

Speaking of the Lips, we have a review of the band's new film Christmas On Mars film in our new (November) issue of the official BLURT digi-mag. Watch the BLURT site for the magazine to go live this week.

JVC brings down the curtain on standalone players and recorders.

By Fred Mills

Sad news, gearheads and bootleg tape trader fiends: according to tech site Engadget, this week "marks the end of an era" - JVC, the last remaining electronics manufacture to produce VCR players, has announced it will no longer be manufacturing standalone units.

You remember the VCR, right? That bulky, funny-looking gadget you used to play your Betamax, and later VHS, tapes on? The one you manned until all hours of the morning trying to nab some obscure film being broadcast on the local affiliate, or this week's edition of seminal music program The Midnight Special, or if you were really lucky, some amateur porn being broadcast over a tiny cable access channel.

I still have fond memories of being off at college when, upon learning that PiL was about to appear on American Bandstand, I frantically dialed my mom and begged her to pop in a blank tape and record the show for me (our family had a recorder but I didn't - back then, they cost something like 900 bucks). I also got her into the habit of putting in a tape every Saturday night around 11:30 and just letting it run while NBC aired Saturday Night Live - and yes, you guessed it, I acquired a trove of vintage Saturday Night Live programs that way, including all the early, classic music performances (Elvis Costello et al). And let's not forget rival comedy/music program Fridays - the 4-song Clash appearance was among network TV's most memorable music broadcasts ever.

Thanks, mom.

At any rate, Engadget waxes nostalgically too:

"Today, friends, is a day worth remembering. Today truly marks the end of an era, as so far as we can tell, JVC really was the only company still producing standalone VCRs. Of course, the outfit will continue to serve customers with a need to play back VHS tapes by offering up DVD / VHS combo units, but those looking for a shiny new slice of retro in 2008 will be out of luck after remaining inventories dry up. 

"All told, over 900 million VCRs were produced worldwide, with 50 million of those boasting a JVC label. We simply couldn't think of a more fitting way to put the iconic VCR (which just turned 30 in 2005) to bed than by hosting up a poll and soliciting your input -- here's hoping the videocassette lives on in your domicile in one form or another, even if it's just the resident dust collector."

If you go to the Endgadget site you can also vote in their poll. As of this writing the "I've got one, but it hasn't been used in eons" response is in the lead:

• Yes! Use my standalone VCR regularly! 3061 (9.8%)
• I've got one in a combo unit. 3255 (10.5%)
• I've got one, but it hasn't been used in eons. 11762 (37.8%)
• No way -- sent mine to the thrift store years ago. 5442 (17.5%)
• Just picked up a huge lot on eBay! 148 (0.5%)
• Did VHS really outlast HD DVD? Damn. 7476 (24.0%)

And just for the record, I own a combo VCR/DVD unit by Sony, but I also own a standalone double-well dubbing deck manufactured by GoVideo (the company that specialized in producing, for awhile, units that could override copy-protection features on commercially-manuractured video tapes).

Shit. I'm feeling really nostalgic now.  Somewhere I've got a tape-box full of Flaming Lips concerts filmed way back on their Hear It Is tour. Time to go watch them again. Here's hoping the tracking function on one of my players still works.

Meanwhile, expect a backlash, 8-track style, from collectors everywhere. Something about primitive technology that a true luddite simply can't resist, I guess...

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

9:00 AM PLD HD: Aftermath: The Station Fire Five Years Later

11:00 AM ABC: The View: Aretha Franklin

11:30 AM FUSE: The Weekly Riff: Butch Walker

1:30 PM FUSE: Loaded: Eminem

2:30 & 5:30 PM FUEL: Daily Habit:  Deerhoof

3:30 PM Sundance: Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter

6:00 PM FUSE: Loaded: Rise Against

8:00 PM Fuse: Live From Voodoo Experience: Nine Inch Nails , Stone Temple Pilots , R.E.M. , Lil Wayne , Panic at the Disco , Dashboard Confessional

11:00 PM VH1C: AC/DC - No Bull

11:30 PM Comedy Central: The Colbert Report: Yo-Yo Ma

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Darius Rucker

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Jennifer Hudson

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

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Saving Abel

Return of the (urp) musical supergroup.

By Matthew Recchia

Punk Rock Karaoke, made up of guitarists Greg Hetson (Bad Religion/Circle Jerks) and Eric Melvin (NOFX), drummer Derek O'Brien (Social Distortion, Adolescents), and bassist Steve Soto (Adolescents/Agent Orange), will release first CD/DVD package October 28 through MVD Entertainment.

The DVD features ten staples from the classic punk rock era performed by Punk Rock Karaoke with legendary punk singers like Dave King of Flogging Molly and Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory. Fans can choose to sing along or perform solo by turning the guest singer and lyrics on and off from the easy-access option menu. Among the safety-pinned icons you can channel: the Dickies, Black Flag, Buzzcocks and Dead Kennedys.

The DVD also captures interviews with band members from the band, as well as three live performances of the band in action, some of which showcase multiple fans' abilities to recreate or butcher classics like Black Flag's "Nervous Breakdown" and the Dead Kennedy's "California Über Alles".

Originally formed in 1996 as a live karaoke band specializing in classic punk rock for a restaurant, the band has moved on to participate in Vans Warped tour and music festivals around the United States. Whether it's a fan glistening in their three minutes of fame, or the band's opportunity to shine on one of the sixty-plus classics in their song repertoire, everyone will be rocking out when Punk Rock Karaoke comes to town.

Tour Dates:

Sunday, November 2 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy

Monday, November 3 - Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp

Wednesday, November 5 - San Francisco, CA @ Thee Parkside

Track Listing:

1) Manny, Moe, and Jack (The Dickies) -guest singer Mike Herrera of MxPx

2) Back Against the Wall (The Circle Jerks) -guest singer Jim Lindberg of Pennywise

3) Gimme Gimme Gimme (Black Flag) -guest singer Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio

4) What Do I Get (The Buzzcocks) -guest singer Warren Fitzgerald of The Vandals

5) Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell (Bad Religion) -guest singer Dave King of Flogging Molly

6) Suspect Device (Stiff Little Fingers) -guest singer Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

7) Minor Threat (Minor Threat) -guest singer Jordan Pundik of New Found Glory

8) Bikeage (The Descendents) -guest singer Joey Cape of Lagwagon

9) Amoeba (The Adolescents) -guest singer Spike Slawson of Swingin' Utters

10) California Über Alles (Dead Kennedys) -guest singer Sean Wheeler of Throw Rag 

Signs up for one show on the Get Out and Vote 08 Tour.

By Blurt Staff

Perry Farrell will join Beastie Boys and friends' Get Out and Vote 08 tour for one night only, this Wednesday, October 29, at the Chevrolet center in Youngstown, Ohio. Farrell will perform on the bill along with Norah Jones, Ben Harper, Sheryl Crow and Beastie Boys.

Tickets have sold out for the Charlotte NC and St. Paul MN stops of the Get Out and Vote 08 Tour as well as the Rock The Vote Pre-Election Night show in Denver CO. Tickets are still available for the Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin dates.

Read more about the tour and the full itinerary HERE.

Get Out and Vote 08 will let the music do the talking every night, with a completely non-partisan no-preaching evening of non-stop music featuring Beastie Boys bringing nearly an hour's worth of hip hop classics with the able assistance of Mixmaster Mike, and, in various markets, complete sets from Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Norah Jones, Crosby & Nash, Santogold, and Tenacious D.

Representatives from Rock The Vote will be on hand at each show to distribute information on local polling sites, including early voting locations where available.

LeBron James to also host the rally.

By Blurt Staff

Add Jay-Z to the list of music artists doing free get-out-the-vote concerts this election season - and, naturally, the list of artists staunchly pro-Obama.  This Wednesday, Oct. 29, the hip-hop superstar along with NBA superstar LeBron James will show up in Cleveland at the Last Chance For Change Rally for a 6:30 show at the Q.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer the event is free and open to Ohio residents but a ticket is still needed - see the CPD story for ticket locations - and there's a limit of two free tickets per person.

Don't forget some of those other Obama-related events taking place this week either:

*Perry Farrell/Beastie Boys in Youngstown, OH,  Oct. 29

*Reigning Sound, Tift Merritt and others in Asheville, NC, Oct. 28

*dB's, Superchunk and others in Chapel Hill, NC, Nov.1

*Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds in Richmond, VA, Oct. 26 - whoops, that was yesterday. Well, hope everyone had a great time!