Performing free concert in Reno, Nevada.

By Fred Mills

It's not a fundraiser, but a get-out-and-vote-early awareness-raising concert: everyone's favorite harpist Joanna Newsom will be doing a free show next Monday, Oct.20, in Nevada. See full details below, courtesy Newsom's label, Drag City.

Students for Barack Obama Present: JOANNA NEWSOM

Get Out The Vote For CHANGE

Monday, October 20
Reno, Nevada
Nightingale Concert Hall
University of Nevada Reno campus
doors 7pm, show 8pm

Free and open to Nevada voters with NV school ID or NV state driver's licenses. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

VIP tickets are available 10am-6pm October 18 and 20 in front of the JCSU on UNR campus.

Vote Early Oct 18-31!

Visit www.voteforchange.com  or call 1-877-OBAMA-NV for a list of polling locations nearest you.

WE ARE THE CHANGE WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

Also doing dates with Shaky Hands and Ohbijou.

By Blurt Staff

Ottawa five-piece, The Acorn is preparing to make its way across the US for a tour with Calexico, kicking things off with long-time friends and collaborators, Toronto's Ohbijou, and Portland, Oregon's The Shaky Hands. The band has come off a successful summer festival season and fall UK tour with Akron/Family.

The Acorn were nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize this year, the Canadian equivalent of the Mercury Prize. Now, after the recent release of the Tin Fist EP in the US, The Acorn also have a brand new video in the works for their song "Crooked Legs," off their critically-acclaimed album Glory Hope Mountain, available now on Paper Bag Records. The "Crooked Legs" video will once again be envisioned by Christopher Mills (Interpol, Modest Mouse, BSS). Mills is the same director who brought their beautiful lo-fi animation video for single "The Flood Pt.1" to life, which premiered on Pitchfork TV and aired on MTV2 Subterranean. The Acorn also plan to release Heron Act, a collection of hard-to-find live recordings, blog/radio session recordings and demos, in the US in the new year.

Here's what your friendly neighborhood BLURT had to say about the album:

In Ottawa, Rolf Klausener's achieved mythic status for merging tender merciful folkie prose with alterna-rocking anthems that usually find themselves tinged with ragga-Brazi rhythm. Think Arcade Vampire Furnace only chillier. For this rousing record, Klausener's forged a way to wrangle more indie-points than if Santi White slept with SpankRock: he wrote a record pretty much about his mom without sounding too sappy. From the second he sets foot on the "the sanctity of soil" his trembling tenor voice embraces you, and during the incrementally theatrical "Hold Your Breath" you sense his import. But as each progressive step follows mom's life-journey literally, figuratively, firmly and fascinatingly with Honduran music and percussion as its root, he finds a playfulness that a dozen sad cellos and lapsteels can't hinder. Though "Flood Pt.1" is too melodramatic for my taste, the supple subtle "Crooked Legs" has just the perfect mix of mirth and mom-ness. I'm calling home now. - A.D. Amorosi

The Acorn Tour Dates:

Thu. Oct 16 2008 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge++
Fri. Oct 17 2008 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern++
Sat. Oct 18 2008 - Portland, OR - Rock Creek Tavern++
Sun. Oct 19 2008 - Bend, OR - Old Saint Francis++
Tue. Oct 21 2008 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock++
Wed. Oct 22 2008 - Santa Cruz, CA - Crepe Place++
Fri. Oct 24 2008 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland++
Sat. Oct 25 2008 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified++
Tue. Oct 28 2008 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive++
Wed. Oct 29 2008 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown++
Thu. Oct 30 2008 - Minneapolis, MN - The 7th Street Entry++
Fri. Oct 31 2008 - Madison, WI - Cafe Montmartre++
Sat. Nov 1 2008 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's++
Fri. Nov 7 2008 - Austin, TX - Antone's*
Sat. Nov 8 2008 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre*
Sun. Nov 9 2008 - St. Louis, MO - Duck Room*
Mon. Nov 10 2008 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge*
Wed. Nov 12 2008 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle*
Thu. Nov 13 2008 - Washington DC - 9:30 Club*
Fri. Nov 14 2008 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts*
Sat. Nov 15 2008 - Tarrytown, NY - Tarrytown Theatre*
Sun. Nov 16 2008 - Somerville, MA - Somerville Theatre*
Thu. Nov 20 2008 - Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom*
Sun. Nov 23 2008 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown*
Mon. Nov 24 2008 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre*
Tue. Nov 25 2008 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater*
Thu. Nov 27 2008 - Toronto, ONT - Lee's Palace#
Fri .Nov 28 2008 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa#
Sat. Nov 29 2008 - Ottawa, ONT - Barrymore's Music Hall#

# w/Ohbijou
++ w/Ohbijou, Shaky Hands
* w/Calexico

New album due Oct.28.

By Blurt Staff

With October 28 creeping up as the release date for Cardinology, Ryan Adam's new album with his band The Cardinals (see details HERE), Adams' label, Lost Highway, has supplied some audio clips from the record. See the links, below.

Additionally, fans who preorder the record via iTunes will get immediate full-song downloadsfor first single, "Fix It"  and bonus track "The Color Of Pain."

Don't forget that upcoming December tour with Oasis, either:

3 - Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena

4 - LA, CA - Staples Center

6 - Las Vegas, NV - The Pearl

8 - Denver, CO - Broomfield Events Center

10 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center

12 - Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena

13 - Detroit, MI - Palace of Auburn Hills

17 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden

19 - Camden, NJ - Susquenhanna

20 - Washington, DC - GMU Patriot Center

Cardinology Audio Clips

Born Into A Light:

http://losthighway.edgeboss.net/wmedia/losthighway/ryanadams/cardinology/90secclips/born_into_a_light_clip.wax

Fix It:

http://losthighway.edgeboss.net/wmedia/losthighway/ryanadams/cardinology/90secclips/01_fix_it.wax 

Magick:

http://losthighway.edgeboss.net/wmedia/losthighway/ryanadams/cardinology/90secclips/magick_clip.wax 

Cobwebs:

http://losthighway.edgeboss.net/wmedia/losthighway/ryanadams/cardinology/90secclips/cobwebs_clip.wax

Evergreen:

http://losthighway.edgeboss.net/wmedia/losthighway/ryanadams/cardinology/90secclips/evergreen_clip.wax 

-Ben Westhoff

It turns out Joe the Plumber -- the star of last night's debate, and supposedly thinking of buying his own plumbing business -- isn't a plumber. He isn't even named Joe! According to The New York Times Political Blog this Toledo, Ohio resident's name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher and he does not own a plumbing license. As Sarah Palin might say -- "Say it ain't so, Joe!"

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/joe-in-the-spotlight/?hp

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)

6:45 AM Starz Cinema: Paul Weller: As Is Now

11:00 AM BET Jazz: Documentary: Nanu Dibango: King Makossa

2:00 PM FUSE: Steven's Untitled Rock Show: The Clash

2:30 PM FUEL: The Daily Habit: CSS

4:00 PM RAVE HD: Soundstage: Farm Aid 2003 w/Emmylou Harris , Sheryl Crow , Neil Young , Hootie & the Blowfish , John Mellencamp , Willie Nelson

8:00 PM RAVE HD: Later With Jools Holland: Supergrass , Vampire Weekend , The Kills , Dianne Reeves , Chris Barber

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Kenny Chesney , Queen Latifah

12:00 AM VH1C: The Last Waltz (1978)

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Jessie Baylin

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

1:00 AM TV Land: TV Land Myths & Legends:  Manson, Monkees and Mister Ed: Jennifer Lopez , Charles Manson , The Monkees , The Beach Boys , Ritchie Valens

Three million copies (digital + physical) and counting.

By Fred Mills

Just over a year ago, on Oct. 10, everyone's fave musical mavericks Radiohead - who make that other maverick, John McSame, look like Howdy Doody by comparison [Er, wot's that got to do with anything? And you used the Howdy Doody schtick yesterday. - Ed.] - made their album In Rainbows available for download on a pay-what-you-like basis. Since then the band has declined to reveal exactly how many downloads took place or what the average price people forked over was; it's been assumed that most fans entered "zero" as their download price.

Now it turns out that assumption was erroneous. The UK media is reporting today that while exact statistics haven't yet been revealed - it's expected that later today Warner Chappell, which administers the publishing for In Rainbows, will go into detail at the "You Are In Control" media conference in Iceland - the download made more money before [the album] was physically released" on December 31 than the total that In Rainbows' predecessor, 2003's Hail to the Thief, had taken in to date.

Read an in-depth report on this and related matters HERE.

Writes MusicAlly.com, "According to [Warner Chappell] there were a total of three million album purchases including the box sets, CDs and all downloads including iTunes and pay-what-you-like downloads via their official site.... Their previous three albums sold in the low hundreds of thousands."

One fascinating behind-the-scenes tidbit: "The band and their management never announced a timeline for the pay-what-you-like experiment and were watching the average price daily with a view to potentially withdrawing it any moment should it drop too low. The average price went down after the download moved from uberfans to less committed fans."

A FEW STATISTICS:

• Three million albums sold in digital and physical form.
• During the period it was theoretically available for free it went to #1 in the UK and in the US.
• As the first Radiohead album to be offered for sale digitally at iTunes it became the #1 album there, selling 30,000 units in the US in the first week.
• The physical CD has sold 1.75 million to date.
• 100,000 copies of the limited edition box set were sold.

Sounds like a successful experiment by musical mavericks to us!

Also on the bill: Santogold, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Norah Jones, Crosby & Nash, Tenacious D.

By Fred Mills

The mighty Beastie Boys have confirmed the latest dates on their "Get Out and Vote 08 Tour" which is designed to hit crucial swing states prior to the election: North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota will be included in the stops.

 As previously announced, joining the band in various markets will be Sheryl Crow, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Norah Jones, Crosby & Nash, Santogold, Tenacious D, as well as representatives from Rock The Vote, who will be on hand to distribute information on local polling sites, including early voting locations where available.

 
The newly announced dates and lineups are:

 
Oct 27 Charlotte, NC Amos Southend
Beastie Boys / Sheryl Crow / Santogold

 
Oct 29 Youngstown, OH Chevrolet Center
Beastie Boys / Sheryl Crow / Ben Harper / Norah Jones

 
Oct 30 Dayton, OH Hara Arena
Beastie Boys / Sheryl Crow / Ben Harper
 

 
Full Get Out and Vote 08 itinerary:

 
Oct 27 Charlotte, NC Amos Southend
Beastie Boys / Sheryl Crow / Santogold
ON SALE THURSDAY VIA ETIX.COM

 
Oct 28 Richmond, VA - Richmond Coliseum
Beastie Boys/Jack Johnson/Norah Jones/Santogold
ON SALE NOW VIA VENUE BOX OFFICE AND TICKETMASTER

 
Oct 29 Youngstown, OH Chevrolet Center
Beastie Boys / Sheryl Crow / Ben Harper / Norah Jones
ON SALE FRIDAY VIA VENUE BOX OFFICE AND TICKETMASTER

 

Oct 30 Dayton, OH Hara Arena
Beastie Boys / Sheryl Crow / Ben Harper
ON SALE FRIDAY VIA VENUE BOX OFFICE AND TICKETMASTER

 

Nov 1 St. Paul, MN - Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Beastie Boys/Ben Harper/Tenacious D
ON SALE FRIDAY VIA VENUE BOX OFFICE AND TICKETMASTER

 
Nov 2 Milwaukee, WI - U.S. Cellular Arena
Beastie Boys/Ben Harper/Crosby & Nash/Tenacious D
ON SALE NOW VIA VENUE BOX OFFICE AND TICKETMASTER

 

For further information: www.beastieboys.com  or www.getoutandvote08.org

Blurt-approved outfit just tears the roof off the sucker...

By Blurt Staff

Back in August, Syracuse's Ra Ra Riot issued The Rhumb Line (Barsuk) and sold nearly 6000 units in its first week of release - not bad for a debut full length. The record and the band's live performances have racked up critical kudos, too, including at BLURT:

Album: www.blurt-online.com/reviews/view/310/

Sept. 6 concert: www.blurt-online.com/concert_reviews/view/64/

March 3 concert: www.blurt-online.com/concert_reviews/view/5/

So you could kinda say that BLURT loves ‘em. Catch ‘em on tour as they wrap up their current US trek this week, head over to England, and then swing back to the States for a final leg leading up to Christmas.

NPR LIVE CONCERT SERIES PERFORMANCE STREAMING AT:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95519776

 Ra Ra Riot Tour Dates:

10.15.08: Philadelphia, PA // Johnny Brenda's
10.16.08: New York, NY // Bowery Ballroom // SOLD OUT
10.17.08: Brooklyn, NY // Music Hall of Williamsburg // SOLD OUT
10.18.08: Cambridge, MA // The Middle East Downstairs
10.25.08: London // Push @ Astoria 2
10.26.08: London // London Forum // SOLD OUT
10.28.08: Newcastle  // Newcastle Academy // SOLD OUT
10.29.08: Glasgow// Glasgow Barrowlands // SOLD OUT
10.30.08: Liverpool // Liverpool Academy // SOLD OUT
10.31.08: Bristol // Bristol Academy // SOLD OUT
11.01.08: Leeds//Cockpit
11.03.08: London // Hoxton Bar
12.03.08: Burlington, VT // Higher Ground
12.04.08: Albany, NY // Valentines
12.06.08: Swarthmore, PA // Swarthmore College
12.05.08: Northampton, MA // Iron Horse Music Hall
12.09.08: Newport, KY // Southgate House
12.11.08: Louisville, KY // 930 Listening Room
12.12.08: Nashville, TN // Exit/In
12.13.08: Athens, GA // 40 Watt Club
12.14.08: Asheville, NC // Grey Eagle
12.16.08: Baltimore, MD // Ottobar

Doing Little Honey in its entirety in Minneapolis.

By Fred Mills

Mark your calendars and prime your web browsers for next week, Oct. 23: that's when Lucinda Williams will be playing at First Avenue in Minneapolis and streaming it as a free audio webcast. She'll do the just-released Little Honey album (Lost Highway) all the way through followed by a second set of old faves and prime nuggets.

Fans can chat live while listening to the show by going  to www.lucindawilliams.com and at the website, listeners can download the Microsoft Silverlight Player that will allow them to hear the music.

Want an advance peek at what the current Luce show might be like? Check out our review of the tour's opening night concert HERE.

[Photo Credit: Derrick Santini]

Likens recent events to shouting "fire" in a crowded theater.

By Fred Mills

MSNBC's "Countdown" commentator Keith Olbermann has called for John McCain to suspend his campaign because it represents "a clear and present danger" to America.

Referring to recent incidents at McCain and Palin rallies during which audience members have hurled epithets at Obama and, at a Palin appearance in Pennsylvania, when someone shouted out "Kill him!" when Obama's name was mentioned, Olbermann accused the candidate of doing nothing about the pinheads - and thereby tacitly endorsing and encouraging them.

Says Olbermann, "Sen. McCain, your supporters, at your events, are calling Obama a terrorist and traitor and are calling for him to be killed. And yet you keep bringing back these same rabid Right Wing nuts to deliberately stir these crowds into frenzies. And then you take offense when somebody who remembers the violence in our political past, calls you on it. You, sir, are responsible for a phalanx of individuals who are shouting fire in a crowded theatre. There are some things to respect and honor about you, Sen. McCain.

"But on this, you're not only a fraud, Senator but you are tacitly inciting lunatics to violence. If you want to again grand-stand and suspend your campaign here's your big chance. Suspend your campaign now, until you, or somebody else, gets some control over it and it ceases to be a clear and present danger to the peace of this nation."

You got that right. Read the entire article and view the video HERE.