Two days of fun just got more funner....

By Fred Mills

So you're been a smart cookie and already bought your tix to the two-day Warren Haynes Christmas Jam and... say WHAT? You DON'T have your tickets yet? Are you NUTS? The dang thing sells out every year - time is a-wasting, bubba. You already missed out on the pre-sale last week, but luckily the official public on-sale commences tomorrow morning, Nov. 15, at 10 am EST. See below for more details.

To recap, click over to our previous announcement of this year's Jam HERE. In a nutshell, this is the 20^th anniversary bash and it's expanding to two nights, Dec. 12 and 13, in Asheville NC. Already announced as performing were Gov't Mule, the Allman Brothers, Steve Earle and others, and today word arrived that erstwhile Led Zep bassist John Paul Jones, Coheed & Cambria, Roosevelt Collier, Karl Denson and Audley Freed have also been added to the lineup.

Observed Haynes in a statement, "John [Paul Jones] sat in with us [Gov't Mule] at Bonnaroo and after seeing him at the Led Zeppelin concert in London, we spoke about him performing at the Christmas Jam and I'm thrilled he can make it." Additionally, Haynes came onstage recently at a C&C show to guest on a version of "I Shall Be Released," and after hitting it off with the band, invited them to make the trek south as well.

For full details, go to the official Christmas Jam website. Single Day and 2 Day Tickets will go on-sale to the public through Ticketmaster and at the Asheville Civic Center Box Office on Saturday November 15th at 10AM Eastern. Tickets for each night are $55 + $1 Facility Fee. VIP Tickets are still available. As always all proceeds from the Christmas Jam will be donated to Habitat For Humanity.

The 20th Anniversary of The Christmas Jam

Friday December 12^th

Allman Brothers Band
The Del McCoury Band
The Derek Trucks Band
Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk

Saturday December 13^th

Coheed & Cambria
Steve Earle
Michael Franti with Jay Bowman Acoustic
Gov't Mule
Johnny Winter

Also Appearing - Day To Be Determined

John Paul Jones
Joan Osborne
Travis Tritt

Special Guests Also Scheduled To Appear:

Mike Barnes
Roosevelt Collier
Karl Denson
Ruthie Foster
Audley Freed
JJ Grey
Col. Bruce Hampton
Robert Kearns
Kevn Kinney
Eric Krasno
Mickey Raphael
& Many More

Eighth solo album and first one in three years.

By Blurt Staff

Tommy Keene is set to release his first solo album in nearly three years, In The Late Bright, on Feb. 17 via Second Motion Records. The 11-track album, co-produced by Keene and R. Walt Vincent (Pete Yorn, James Blunt), was recorded in Keene's Los Angeles home earlier this year and features what's being described as "a wide range of songs from the rollicking opener, "Late Bright," to his first recorded instrumental ("Elevated") and the wistful "Save This Harmony.""

In recent years powerpop godfather Keene has worked with both Paul Westerberg and Robert Pollard as their right-hand man on guitar. Additionally, his most recent release, Blues and Boogie Shoes, was a collaboration with Pollard they dubbed the Keene Brothers.

In The Late Bright marks Keene's eight full-length album and his first for newly-founded Second Motion Records out of Chapel Hill.

In The Late Bright track listing

1. Late Bright                                                 

2. A Secret Life Of Stories                            

3. Save This Harmony                                    

4. Tomorrow's Gone Tonight                        

5. Goodbye Jane                                            

6. Nighttime Crime Scene

7.  Elevated

8.  Realize Your Mind

9.  The Right Time To Fly

10. Please Don't Come Around

11. Hide Your Eyes

Allie Goolrick queries Back Door Slam about their musical ménage a trios.

By Blurt Staff

Hey Blurters: Check out the second official Blurt Out Loud podcast. (It follows our debut Blurt Out Loud podcast, logically enough, which featured the Old 97s in Athens, GA.) This one's got our multimedia mistress Allie Goolrick getting the lowdown from killer UK power trio Back Door Slam - she talked to them at the Austin City Limits music fest earlier this year. Stay tuned for a track as well, "Come Home."

Keep your eyes peeled on BLURT for upcoming podcasts with Sharon Jones, Mason Jennings, Langhorne Slim, Dead Confederate and kid rocker Uncle Rock! We'll post ‘em to the video section below along with a host of other BLURT exclusives.

***

And meanwhile, catch BDS on tour currently with Gov't Mule:

Nov 11 2008  8:00P

            Royal Oak Music Theatre 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule        Royal Oak, Michigan

Nov 12 2008   8:00P

            The Venue at Horseshoe Casino 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule          Hammond, Indiana

Nov 13 2008   8:00P

            The Rave 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule          Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Nov 14 2008   8:00P

            Pantages Theatre 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule          Minneapolis, Minnesota

Nov 15 2008   8:00P

            Pantages Theatre 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule          Minneapolis, Minnesota

Nov 16 2008   8:00P

            Harrah's N 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule        Kansas city, Missouri

Nov 19 2008   8:00P

            Orpheum Theater 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule         Flagstaff, Arizona

Nov 20 2008   8:00P

            House of Blues 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule             Anaheim, California

Nov 21 2008   8:00P

            The Fillmore 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule     San Francisco, California

Nov 22 2008   8:00P

            The Fillmore 'Kinder Revolution Tour' With Gov't Mule     San Francisco, California

Viva la Runt!

By Fred Mills

Where were you in '73? If you answer, "Out purchasing that spankingly fine debut album from the New York Dolls" you're lying through your teeth just as sure as if you said you bought the first Velvet Underground album when it came out. Oh yeah, yeah -  maybe your big brother told you about the band, or maybe you heard about this cool magazine called Rock Scene that extolled the virtues of the NYC scene, or maybe you even knew a slutty little gal friend with jones for hitting the Lower East Side in search of Quaaludes and rooster-haired rock dudes to hang out with.

 We understand.

Actually, maybe you likely you didn't even pay attention until the reunited Dolls played the Spin mag day party a couple of years ago at SXSW and all of a sudden you were scrambling to claim some belated hipster cool. Yes, we understand.

So punk, now here's your chance to get in on the ground floor (slight return): in January, Todd Rundgren is going into the studio with the Dolls - essentially founding members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, plus pals Sam Yaffa, Steve Conte and Brian Delaney - to record the band's next album. Rundgren of course produced the '73 debut. Atco/Warners will release the record and the band will hit the road for a lengthy tour, so your 2 imperatives are clear.

Johansen enthused in a statement, "We're really excited to be working with Todd gain. We're hoping to recapture the same magic on the forthcoming album [that was on the debut]."

Here's hoping that "magic" doesn't include the indifference of the buying public and the outright hostility from the record company - because that is what was going on in 1973, revisionist historians aside. You, gentle citizens, can make a difference this time around.

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)

8:00 AM TVONE: Tom Joyner Sky Show:  Keith Sweat

10:00 AM Sundance: loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies

2:00 PM Ovation: The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music

4:00 PM Ovation: Elvis Costello & the Imposters: Club Date

5:00 PM VH1: Rock Docs: NWA: The World's Most Dangerous Group

7:00 PM RAVE HD: Soundstage: Lyle Lovett

7:30 PM IFC: Radiohead: In Rainbows

8:00 & 12:00 BET: Wu: The Story of the Wu Tang Clan

8:00 PM Univsion: Latin Grammy Awards: 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards w/Café Tacuba , Julieta Venegas , Kany Garcia , Alejandra Guzman , Gilberto Santa Rosa , Olga Tanon

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Sarah McLachlan

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Ben Folds , Regina Spektor

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

12:37 AM CBS: The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Cold War Kids

1:00 AM VH1C: Tom Petty -The Story of Mudcrutch

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: 3oh3

Powerhouse percussionist behind Hendrix goes to the great drum circle in the sky.

By Rev. Keith Gordon

Mitch Mitchell, best-known as the powerful presence behind the drum kit of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, died of natural causes in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at the age of 62.

John "Mitch" Mitchell was born on July 9, 1947 in London, England. As a young teen, Mitchell starred in the BBC television program Jennings, but his love of American jazz, blues, and rock music turned him away from acting towards music. During the early-60s, Mitchell honed his craft as a session musician, playing on the Pretty Things' second album, and later performed with Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames.

Fate came calling in 1966, however, when Mitchell beat out Aynsley Dunbar (allegedly by a coin toss) for a seat with the Jimi Hendrix Experience alongside bassist Noel Redding. Although some critics have claimed through the years that the guitarist was saddled with two white musicians in order to appeal to a wider rock audience, the truth is that Mitchell provided an essential element to the Hendrix legacy.

Mitchell's inventive jazz-rock fusion style of drumming allowed him to riff easily behind Hendrix's improvisational flights of fancy, and his work on songs like "Fire" and "Manic Depression" make a strong argument for Mitchell as the consummate rock drummer of the 1960s.

Mitchell played behind Hendrix in the Experience from 1966 until its break-up in 1969, performed as part of the guitarist's band at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight festivals, and was a member of the final Experience line-up at the time of Hendrix's death in 1970.

Post-Hendrix, Mitchell hooked up with April Lawton and Mike Pinera in Ramatam, recording two albums with the band. Over the next three decades, Mitchell kept a low profile, recording sporadically with artists like Randy California, Robert Wyatt, Bruce Cameron, and Junior Brown.

At the time of his death, Mitchell had just completed the month-long, 18-city "Experience Hendrix" tour, a celebration of the life and music of Jimi Hendrix. The tribute featured guitarists like Jonny Lang, Eric Gales, and blues legends Buddy Guy and Hubert Sumlin performing classic Hendrix tunes in front of the rhythm section of Billy Cox and Mitchell. The tour's last date was in Portland and Mitchell had decided to stay in the city for a few days before returning to England.

Mitch Mitchell's life should be celebrated, not only for the part he played in creating the enduring music of Jimi Hendrix, but also for his influence on a generation of rock drummers that followed his lead.

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 Stereolab in Portland, She & Him in San Francisco and the Sonics in Seattle.

• *Bob Ham stalked Stereolab at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland last month (Oct. 18), saying of the space age bachelor padders, "[The] songs reflected back to this American audience the many errors of our ways. Even if Laetitia Sadier didn't take the time out to dedicate their glossy ode to movements in global finance "Ping Pong" to "our current credit crunch," the message was loud and clear: the times they are-a changin' once more."
• *A couple of weeks later in nearby Seattle, Gillian G. Gaar braved the groovy ghoulies of Halloween and the Paramount Theatre to catch the legendary Sonics. "They performed their first Northwest show in 35 years," notes Gaar, "bringing down the house with the kind of shrieks and wails that have thrilled discerning listeners from the Beatles to the Cramps to Nirvana."
• *And a week later in San Francisco, Jud Cost was utterly smitten by M. Ward and Zoey Deschanel, aka She & Him, commenting, simply, and with no trace of irony, "This could be Sonny & Cher for a new generation!"

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.

Headbanging clip for "Lost in the Headlights"...

By Blurt Staff

Those demented art-metal mavens of Chicago instro combo Pelican recently answered the phone in their practice space - it was MTV on the line, tell ‘em they wanted to feature their new video for "Lost in the Headlights" (from last year's highly regarded City of Echoes, issued by Hydra Head).

Cut to today: the clip premiered online at MTV's "Headbangers Blog"  and will debut over the airwaves this Saturday, Nov. 15, on MTV2's "Headbangers Ball" program between 2 and 3 am EST and 11 and 12 pm PST.

We've also got the clip for ya, below, so dig it, baby!

According to the band, they created a previous video for "Dead Between the Walls" and this new one picks up "a loose story line" carried over from the earlier clip. It was shot on the rooftops of downtown LA and the woods of the Angeles Forest by longtime band/label associate and cohort Kenneth Thomas of Scrouge Productions.

The award will be presented during a ceremony in Manhattan on Dec. 10

By Mandy Rodgers

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers gives a Foundation Champion Award every year, and this year it's going to Judy Collins "for music in the service of humanity." Collins, a long-time singer/songwriter, has supported many causes since the 1960s, like civil rights, the environment and the Vietnam War. Her 1970 album, Whales and Nightingales, was dedicated to the endangered species, humpback whale. Collins also served on UNICEF. After her son's death in 1992, she began promoting awareness for depression and substance abuse victims, and wrote the 2003 book Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival and Strength.

Collins has dabbled in many musical genres throughout her career like folk, pop, rock and show tunes, all while looking into her own social activism. She worked with singer-songwriters Richard Farina, Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman and won a Grammy Award in 1968 for Best Folk Performance. Marilyn Bergman, president of The ASCAP Foundation, announced that Collins will receive her award on Dec. 10 in the Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center Manhattan.

More blooze-fuzz-drone-tones than you can shake a shoegazer at!

By Fred Mills

Okay, so that headline is misleading  - the legendary late ‘80s British band is not getting back together anytime soon that we know of. Contemporaries both sonically and spiritually of Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus & Mary Chain, Swervedrive, etc., Loop folded at the end of that decade, leaving behind a lot of broken hearts and busted eardrums but plenty of good cranial-uncorking memories, too.

Bandleader Robert Hampson subsequently put together his ambitious ambient/experimental project Main (he also performed, for a short while, with Godflesh), which lasted until about 2006, at which time Hampson commenced operations under his own name. According to Hampson's website he has a solo album due this month via the Touch label, although details are somewhat sketchy. Meanwhile, the other erstwhile Loop members had formed the Hair & Skin Trading Company and released several well-regarded albums.

Now, though, word comes from Hampson via his Loop-oriented "sister website," Heaven's End, that the long out of print Loop back catalog has been remastered for reissue. Rumors surfaced about this last year, and since then periodic updates have been posted to the site but nothing much in the way of concrete information was disclosed.

No longer - next week in England 1987's Heaven's End and 1988's Fade Out will see the light of day once again, each expanded to two-disc versions featuring relevant B-sides, alternate mixes and Peel session material. See full track listings below. Then early 2009 should see the arrival of 1988 compilation The World In Your Eyes as a two-volume set.

This leaves 1990's A Gilded Eternity still in CD reissue limbo, of course, although it is available in digital form at most online download retailers.

According to the Heaven's End site, "Remastered from the original analogue sources, these two releases will be released on the same day [and] will be housed in a Mini Vinyl style card sleeve, which reproduce the original artwork which has been slightly modified to fit the gatefold format and including inner bags for both discs. All due care has been taken to release everything that is available to us in some chronological order, sadly a couple of tapes have been too badly damaged or lost to make a complete edition, but these will be the definitive editions...there won't be any 'special editions' to rip you off with, that's a promise. As for vinyl, it is planned to do a limited run of 180g pressings, but these will only be repros of the original lps without the bonus material. The bonus material will only be available on the Compact Disc issues and not for digital downloads, mainly because of the costs of having to pay ungodly rates on the Peel Sessions. So, the Compact Disc issues will be unique in their own right."

"There is not a great wealth of outtakes or different versions but we [have strived] to get everything we can find that warrants inclusion, all remastered from the original sources. The World In Your Eyes will now be known as The World In Your Eyes Vols. I & II. These are of course compilations of all the original 12" vinyl singles originally released on [labels] HEAD and CHAPTER 22, plus compilation tracks and rare archive material. To avoid confusion, the original Chapter 22 compilation of singles called Eternal, which was issued against the wishes of Loop at the time, then reissued as "Dual" on Reactor in the 90's is now called The World In Your Eyes Vol. II."

Oh, and we're also advised that Hampson is designing special limited edition Loop teeshirts that will be sold at the site.

Lastly, a quick check of Amazon.com indicates that the two albums will be available in the U.S. on Dec. 9 via the Atila/Revolver label - preorders for Heaven's End are currently listed at a mere $14.99, while Fade Out goes for $18.98, but either is bargain by any estimate for such mind-expanding tuneage.

Loop on!

Track listings:

Heaven's End:

CD1
Soundhead
Straight To Your Heart
Forever
Heaven's End
Too Real To Feel
Fix To Fall
Head On
Carry Me

CD2
Rocket USA
Soundhead (1st Mix)
Head On (1st Mix)

Peel Session 1
Soundhead
Straight To Your Heart
Rocket USA

Fade Out:

CD1

Black Sun
This Is Where You End
Fever Knife
Torched
Fade Out
Pulse
A Vision Stain
Got To Get It Over


CD2
Black Sun (Feedback)
Torched (1st Mix)
Got To Get It Over (1st Mix)
This Is Where You End (House In The Woods Demo Mix no. 7)

Peel Session 2
Pulse
This Is Where You End
Collision

Fade Out Guitar Loops (House In The Woods Recording June 88)
I
II
III
IV
V