Festival Changes Dates:  Now Scheduled For Sept 11-13, 2009

By Blurt Staff

This info just slipped over the BLURT transom...

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All Tomorrow's Parties (ATP) is happy to announce its return to Kutsher's Country Club in Monticello, New York for the 2^nd annual ATP New York festival. The event will be held Sept 11-13, 2009 (moved from Labor Day weekend as previously announced). Last year's festival, co-curated by My Bloody Valentine, was a critical and cultural success with rave reviews from media and fans.

Expect more of the same greatness in 2009, with no-holds-barred programming both musically and otherwise. While we have yet to announce the co-curator of the event at this time, we are happy to announce the first seven artists slated for the festival.

Existing tickets will work for the new dates. If you are holding a ticket and the new dates do not work for we are happy to offer a full refund.

Friday Don't Look Back/Comedy

Dirty Three Performing Ocean Songs

Suicide Performing First LP (Suicide)

David Cross - Hosting Comedy Stage

Saturday curated by ATP

Animal Collective

Anti-Pop Consortium

Atlas Sound

Panda Bear

Sunday - Curator TBA in the coming weeks

Tickets are $235 + $12 booking fee; accommodations available at Kutsher's and the nearby Raleigh Resort (on sale from today).Tickets and full information available from www.atpfestival.com

Live, from New York City, it's the Hold Steady!

By Blurt Staff

The Hold Steady new video "Stay Positive" debuted today on MySpace. Directed by Jake Davis, the video for the track was filmed in New York City in September and shows the band tearing through the Stay Positive title track on billboards and walls throughout the city.

Meanwhile, check out this just as cool live version from the Conan show back in August:

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: SYN: The Bonnie Hunt Show: Lance Bass

11:00 AM ABC: The View: Tony Bennett

12:00 PM Sundance: Derailroaded: Inside the Mind of Larry "Wild Man" Fischer

5:00 PM SOAP: Beverly Hills, 90210: Love Hurts w/The Flaming Lips

9:00 PM RAVE HD: From The Basement: Beck , Jamie Lidell , Jarvis Cocker

11:00 PM FUSE: Akonomics 101 w/Akon

11:00 PM PLD HD: Wattstax w/Isaac Hayes , The Bar-Kays , Luther Ingram , Johnnie Taylor , Rufus Thomas , Carla Thomas

11:30 PM PBS: Tavis Smiley: James Taylor

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Kanye West

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Jonas Brothers

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: The Killers

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Tom Morello/The Nightwatchman

12:37 AM CBS: The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Low vs Diamond

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Young Jeezy

3:00 AM BBCA: The Graham Norton Show: Tori Amos

Hey, see what you miss by not checking out celebrity new on weekends?

By Blurt Staff

First, an apology: We apologize for occasionally frequenting the UK tabloids' websites. But, hey, we're so used to standing in the checkout line at the local Bi-Lo waiting to have our groceries, beer and smokes rung up while we glom the latest celeb trash update that we can't help peeking at the overseas online tabloid milieu, too, just to find out who on the other side of the pond playing the Peruvian marching dance,  who's headed to rehab, what star has a simmering beef with some other star, who's been adopting the proverbial "wide stance" in the public bathrooms, and of course what public figures have been getting the most trim.

We're exhausted just typing that last paragraph. So let's cut to the chase: Amy Winehouse, according to a report in the most recent News Of The World, has apparently declared her marrage to the recently-released-from-the-slammer Blake Fielder-Civil to be over. Kaput. Pushing up daisies. Singing with the choir invisible. A dead parrot, er, union.

"It's over," Winehouse was attributed as saying to friends/associates (note that these quotes are not culled from official, on-the-record interviews, but from the proverbial "sources" that tabloids rely so heavily on). "There's no way back for us now. It was never going to last. We were only together for SEX. I fancied him like mad, like no one else I've ever known. But it's not enough, is it?"

No, no, Amy, it's not. It's never enough, in fact. First, there's love, then there's marriage, and then there's the fucking baby carriage. Your as-yet-unborn crack kid thanks you for the latter part remaining unresolved with Blake.

For the rest of you, if you want to read about (we quote directly from the news report here, including the capitalization), Winehouse's man's reported obsession with model Sophie Schandorff, stuff regarding a "wild sex life," drugs and "kinky stuff," "a string of female lovers" and "LESBIAN ROMPS and sordid THREESOMES," click on the provided link.

Wow, who writes this crap. (Waitaminnit... we just did...)

Just make sure you don't get distracted by the stuff on the right-hand side of the page - you know, the stories about "Church Girl Is Porn Star," "Sex: I Have 200 Orgasms A Day" and "Hookers Tell About Millionaire Stars"  and other, uh, stuff. Come to think of it, though - beats the hell out of standing in line at Bi-Lo...

These are hookers, not Amy and Blake:

Six, count ‘em, six CDs worth, all housed in a big-ass box that will sit on your shelf with all those other boxes....

By Fred Mills

Due December 8 in the UK from the Sanctuary label is a massive six-CD box set from the mighty Kinks. Titled Picture Book, it spotlights the group's earliest material for Pye ("You Really Got Me," duh) then moves chronologically through the Reprise, RCA and Arista years, eventually concluding with 1996's To The Bone (which was initially self-released but later saw a more widespread release on Capitol).

Scattered throughout, of course, are the expected rarities, live cuts and demos, plus a hefty 60-page book. Kinks mainman Ray Davies assembled the whole deal, naturally, and it marks a bit of a coup for Davies in one sense: the band's back catalog, though reissued many times over, remains in semi-disarray due to assorted licensing hiccups, so to have, say, Pye tracks rubbing shoulders with RCA material is pretty significant. See full track listing, below.

There's no word yet on an official American release for the box, however. Interestingly, Amazon.com is showing a Dec. 16 date, but that's for a title listed with import status. Sanctuary has distribution through Universal, so it's likely we'll see the box on these shores eventually.

However, you'll be able to order the box directly through Ray Davies' official website, so never fear! And if you do so, you just might be able to nab some special, as yet unspecified, context goodies.

According to a posting at the site:

This site will be taking pre-orders on the box set soon as well as running a special contest which will be exclusive to the websites and not on Amazon.

This is the first ever Kinks box set in the bands 40 year plus history. It has been compiled with the supervision of Ray Davies and contains 138 tracks spread across 6 CD's. There are many unreleased tracks, alternative takes and demos for the hardcore fans as well as all of the Kinks classics. It includes material never released outside of the UK and up to the bands break-up in the mid nineties.

The six cds are housed in a heavy lift lid classic style box with a 60 page booklet featuring a intro by Ray Davies as well as interviews with Ray, Dave and Mick and a full retelling of the Kinks story penned by esteemed rock critic Peter Doggett. It also contacts a full official time line and discography.

We also plan to have new merchandise for the box set including mugs and shirts so check back soon.

Disc 1:

01 Brian Matthew Introduces the Kinks
02 You Really Got Me
03 I'm a Hog for You Baby
04 I Believed You
05 Long Tall Sally
06 I Don't Need You Anymore
07 Stop Your Sobbing
08 I Gotta Move
09 Don't Ever Let Me Go
10 All Day and All of the Night
11 Tired of Waiting for You
12 Come on Now (outtake with two false starts)
13 There Is a New World Opening for Me (Kassner publishing demo)
14 Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
15 Who'll Be the Next in Line
16 Time Will Tell
17 Set Me Free
18 I Need You
19 See My Friend
20 Wait Till the Summer Comes Along
21 I Go to Sleep
22 A Little Bit of Sunlight (Kassner publishing demo)
23 This I Know (demo)
24 A Well Respected Man
25 This Strange Effect (With Brian Matthew speaking over intro)
26 Milk Cow Blues
27 Ring the Bells
28 I'm on an Island
29 Till the End of the Day
30 Where Have All the Good Times Gone
31 All Night Stand (Demo)
32 And I Will Love You
33 Sittin' on My Sofa

Disc 2:

01 Dedicated Follower of Fashion (alternate stereo take)
02 She's Got Everything
03 Mr. Reporter (Ray vocal)
04 Sunny Afternoon
05 I'm Not Like Everybody Else
06 This Is Where I Belong
07 Rosie Won't You Please Come Home
08 Too Much on My Mind
09 Session Man
10 End of the Season
11 Dead End Street (first version)
12 Village Green
13 Two Sisters
14 David Watts
15 Mr. Pleasant
16 Waterloo Sunset (mono mix)
17 Death of a Clown
18 Lavender Hill
19 Good Luck Charm
20 Autumn Almanac
21 Susannah's Still Alive
22 Animal Farm
23 Rosemary Rose
24 Berkeley Mews
25 Lincoln County
26 Picture Book
27 Days
28 Misty Water

Disc 3:

01 Love Me Till the Sun Shines (Top Gear session with Brian Matthew intro and outro)
02 The Village Green Preservation Society
03 Big Sky
04 King Kong
05 Drivin'
06 Some Mother's Son
07 Victoria
08 Shangri-La
09 Arthur
10 Got to Be Free
11 Lola (mono single version)
12 Get Back in the Line
13 The Moneygoround
14 Strangers
15 Apeman
16 God's Children
17 The Way Love Used to Be
18 Moments
19 Muswell Hillbilly
20 Oklahoma USA
21 Twentieth Century Man
22 Here Come the People in Grey

Disc 4:

01 Skin and Bone
02 Alcohol Live
03 Celluloid Heroes
04 Sitting in My Hotel
05 Supersonic Rocket Ship
06 You Don't Know My Name
07 One of the Survivors
08 Sitting in the Midday Sun
09 Sweet Lady Genevieve
10 Daylight
11 Mirror of Love
12 Artificial Man
13 Preservation (U.S. single)
14 Slum Kids (live)
15 Holiday Romance
16 Face in the Crowd
17 No More Looking Back
18 Sleepwalker
19 The Poseur

Disc 5:

01 Sleepless Night
02 Father Christmas
03 Misfits
04 A Rock 'N Roll Fantasy
05 Little Bit of Emotion
06 Attitude
07 Hidden Quality
08 A Gallon of Gas
09 Catch Me Now I'm Falling
10 Nuclear Love (demo)
11 Duke (demo)
12 Maybe I Love You (demo)
13 Stolen Away Your Heart (demo)
14 Low Budget (live)
15 Better Things
16 Destroyer
17 Yo-Yo
18 Art Lover
19 Long Distance

Disc 6:

01 Heart of Gold
02 Come Dancing (demo remix)
03 State of Confusion
04 Do It Again
05 Living on a Thin Line
06 Summer's Gone
07 How Are You?
08 The Road (live)
09 The Million-Pound-Semi-Detached
10 Down All the Days (To 1992)
11 The Informer
12 Phobia
13 Only a Dream
14 Drift Away
15 Scattered
16 Do You Remember Walter? (live)
17 To the Bone (demo)

This breaking news just in: John Lennon and Generalissimo Francisco Franco are BOTH still dead. No firm decision made yet on Jesus, however.

By Fred Mills

According to European media reports the Pope, via Italy's L'Osservatore Romano (described as the "semi-official Vatican newspaper"), has granted a more-or-less pardon to John Lennon for his notorious 1966 comment about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus.

For those who've only heard about the incident from their grandparents, Lennon had told a reporter during an interview with the London Evening Standard, "Christianity will go," he said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right... We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

Subsequently the American media and religious powers-that-be in America essentially crucified Lennon in public - right wing nuts even organized Beatles record-burning events - and the pop star was eventually browbeat by his handlers into issuing what was considered, at that point in time at least, a career-saving apology-by-way-of-clarification of what he really meant.

Said Lennon, "I was not saying whatever they're saying I was saying. I'm sorry I said it really. I never meant it to be a lousy anti-religious thing. I apologise if that will make you happy. I still do not know quite what I've done. I've tried to tell you what I did do, but if you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'm sorry."

Well, that made folks "happy." Then the Beatles went back to their business of becoming bigger than Jesus.

But for chrissakes - here we are, 42 years later, and a bunch of tight-assed clergymen are descending from the mount to let John off the hook after all these years? Wrote the Romano, in an article published this past Saturday marking the 40^th anniversary of The White Album, "The remark by John Lennon, which triggered deep indignation mainly in the United States, after many years sounds only like a 'boast' by a young working-class Englishman faced with unexpected success, after growing up in the legend of Elvis and rock and roll."

Lennon was right - about the "thick and ordinary" part, that is. His original comment was frontloaded with an astute insight into what was happening with young people at the time and certainly what was bubbling under culturally. It was social commentary he was making, not a cocky young man's boast or even a condemnation of Jesus.

"Working on a Dream" at Bruce's official site and at iTunes.

By Blurt Staff

Bruce Springsteen's single "Working on a Dream" is available now in the iTunes Store and will be available on www.brucespringsteen.net  today starting at noon EST.

 Free downloads will be available through both sites today. The track will be a paid download in the iTunes Store from tomorrow exclusively through December 9.

The song is the title track from the Boss' forthcoming album, due Jan. 27 from Columbia. It's the second freebie he's offered to fans in less than a month; at Halloween he made available a free download of "A Night With the Jersey Devil," a song that will be included with the new album as a bonus track.

The Kinks reunion rumors start here!

By Fred Mills

So with the music world abuzz over the news of the forthcoming Kinks box set (including, uh, BLURT), commentary invariably is turning to the will they/won't they reunite - the legendarily warring Davies brothers, that is.

Ray, of course, perennially fuels reunion rumors seemingly every time he's interviewed, most recently in a BBC interview in which he disclosed he was writing new material with an eye towards a possible reunion ("It depends if there's good music. We want good new music. I'd like to do it as a more collaborative thing than we used to do," Davies told the BBC), additionally reiterating what he'd said earlier this year, that it would also hinge his brother Dave's health. The younger Davies suffered a stroke in 2004.

Here's what Ray Davies also told BLURT last spring in an interview with Jud Cost:

BLURT: Will there ever be a Kinks reunion? I read somewhere that Dave hadn't spoken to you in six months.

I spoke to Dave about a month ago. And Dave really would like to do it. But it's not just me and Dave. If it could be done at all, I think everybody's got to have their heads into it. Some of the guys in the various bands we've had over the years get together and play every so often for fun. I went to one gig they did and just listened to them. It was Mick Avory on drums, John Dalton on bass and John Gosling on keyboards, and a couple of the girl backing vocalists from Preservation turned up. I was amazed how tight the band was. They call it the Cast Off Kinks.

BLURT: I've seen you and Dave play many times, and I've never seen you strike each other onstage. Or is that just part of the myth?

I think it's more like we'd throw a punch, miss and hit a wall. [laughs] If we'd been from somewhere like Nashville I think we'd have blown each other away by now. There was a lot of sibling rivalry. These things run deep. You can't analyze it, you can't say who's right and wrong. And you can't define what makes it go wrong. There's just an edge there that rubs up the wrong way.

So... that sounds like a "maybe."  And actually, time and time again, media pundits have poo-pooh'd the likelihood of a reunion, primarily citing some less-than-complimentary comments Dave made in the past about Ray. Pitchfork stated flatly that Dave "still seems to hate Ray's guts." And Billboard, Rolling Stone and other outlets, relying on a screed Dave posted to his official website in November of 2007, apparently took it as gospel that Dave's "It would be like a poor remake of ‘Night of the Living Dead,' Ray has been doing Karaoke Kinks shows since 1996" is the final word - despite it being a year old, and in rock ‘n' roll terms, that's very old, out of date news indeed. (Note: the www.davedavies.com website appears to be temporarily down.)

Well, far be it from us to jumpstart yet another Kinks reunion rumor. But you can read below what brother Dave very recently told journalist Cost (this time for an interview published in the latest issue of Magnet magazine). Clearly, Dave would be up for it, although it appears he's thinking only in terms of performances and not necessarily cutting new material, so read into it what you will. But "doing some Kinks shows" definitely meets the definition of "reunion."

So there you have it, in black and white and on the public record.

Dave Davies, to Jud Cost/Magnet:

"I don't see anything wrong with doing some Kinks shows. But I don't know if I'd feel too happy about going into the studio with Ray, because he's off his head, man. He's like spoiled. He's the frist person on this planet who would own up to thinking he's a genius. Real geniuses don't realize that they are."

Just off tour with Minus the Bear and gearing up for more...

By Blurt Staff

Tarheel country-fuzz popsters the Annuals, who recently completed a hugely successful tour with Minus the Bear, have announced an upcoming 2009 headlining tour in support of their sophomore record, Such Fun, out now on Canvasback Music. This tour will see support from Jessica Lea Mayfield and friends What Laura Says, who are signed to Annuals' label, Terpsikhore.  With two drum kits, six members, loads of instruments and performances packed with energy, the Annuals live experience is called "an absolute must for any music lover.  "

Such Fun embraces "a vast landscape of musical richness," combining frontman Adam Baker's accomplished songcraft with an instrumental palate that is even more colorful than their previous album, Be He Me.  With a cover painting by Bob Ross, a video for first song "Confessor" by Terry Gilliam's right-hand man Daniel Auber, and live shows that are winning over new fans every night, Annuals are being hotly tipped for year-end best-of lists already.

Additionally, Annuals recently received the honor of being influential tastemaker station WXPN's "Artist to Watch" for the month of November.  To learn more, check out XPN's website - http://xpn.org/music-artist/artist-to-watch/artist-to-watch-2008-11

Annuals Tour Dates:

1/20/09           Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
1/21/09           Iowa City, IA @ Maintenance Shop

1/22/09           Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle

1/23/09           Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop

1/24/09           Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo

1/25/09           Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa

1/27/09           Boston, MA @ Paradise

1/28/09           New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom

1/30/09           Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

1/31/09           Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle

2/6/09             Charlotte, NC @ The Visulite Theatre
2/7/09             Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
2/8/09             Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
2/10/09           New Orleans, LA @ The Parish
2/11/09           Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
2/12/09           Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
2/13/09           Austin, TX @ The Parish
2/14/09           Dallas, TX @ Pontiac Garage
2/17/09           Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
2/18/09           San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
2/19/09           Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
2/21/09           San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
2/23/09           Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
2/24/09           Vancouver, BC @ Pit Pub
2/25/09           Seattle, WA @ TBA
2/27/09           Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
2/28/09           Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive

A.C. Newman, Goblin Cock, Antony & more among initial acts lined up.

By Blurt Staff

This news just slipped over the BLURT transom:

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The 17th annual Noise Pop Festival will take place February 24 through March 1, 2009 at venues throughout San Francisco, CA.

 
Early artist confirmations include New Pornographers front man A.C. Newman, No Age, Pinback side project Goblin Cock, Dear And The Headlights, the Bay Area debut of Clues and a very special performance by Antony and the Johnsons at Davies Symphony Hall.  More confirmations will be announced very shortly.

The Noise Pop Film Festival continues its mission of focusing on films that embrace and reflect independent music and culture. Early announcements include "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison" examining the most important day in the career of an American icon, and "Agile Mobile Hostile: A Year with Andre Williams," which follows the charismatic hit songwriter (he has recorded with Berry Gordy, Ike Turner, Stevie Wonder and Jon Spencer to name a few) and his struggle with his creative vision and his addictions. Many Noise Pop Film Festival screenings will include Q&A discussions with the filmmakers.

 
Noise Pop has announced that WolfgangsVault.com returns as a presenting sponsor of the 2009 Festival showcasing emerging artists. Wolfgang's Vault is the home for the past, present and future of live music including The Bill Graham Archives, Daytrotter Sessions, King Biscuit, selections from Noise Pop 2007 and 2008 and more, all available for free streaming online and by iphone. In addition to the Concert Vault music of Wolfgang's Vault, the site also offers concert posters, rock photography, vintage t-shirts and retro t-shirts, rock gear and concert related memorabilia. Wolfgang's Vault will offer exclusive Noise Pop 2009 concerts as free streams and free downloads of the bands destined to become household names.

 
Noise Pop Festival badges, which provide entry to all Noise Pop Festival events will be available to purchase starting at 10:00 AM on December 10, 2008. Festival badges are exclusively available from a dedicated Noise Pop 2009 Festival website (www.noisepop.com/2009) launching on December 3, 2008. Noise Pop Festival news updates will also be featured on Noisepop.com