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 the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco and Richie Havens in Covington, KY.

• *David Downs hopped a biodiesel-powered shuttle to Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay this past weekend (Sept. 19 and 20) where he caught acts like Justice, Vampire Weekend, the Dodos, the Raconteurs, Spiritualized and TV On The Radio. "The young'uns threw that shit into the wood-chipper, and reassembled the pieces live," observes Downs, of the collective thumbing-of-nose at the music industry old guard taking place at T.I., adding, "on the fly, sometimes nastily, but always to devastating and maximal effect."
• *A week earlier Steven Rosen was getting his inner Woodstock Nation groove on at Richie Haven's Sept. 9 show in Kentucky. Writes Rosen, "His performance has [a] spiritual intensity and immediacy... seated at a stool, furiously strumming an open-tuned acoustic guitar and choosing chording that often highlights a song's inherent melancholy."

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.

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 James in Washington, DC and James McMurtry-Jason Isbell in Athens, GA. Don't overlook the exclusive photos from the shows, either.

• *Kyle Gustafson popped into D.C.'s 9:30 club on Sept. 18 to catch Britain's James attempting a bit of a comeback on these shores. Muses Gustafson, "Why have they been relegated to a mere footnote in 90's rock lore? Thursday night's show provided more questions than answers, as the group displayed the confidence and moxy of their most successful peers."
• *One night earlier, Brian Creech was down south in Athens for the turbocharged twin bill of James McMurtry and Jason Isbell at the Georgia Theater. "It was balls-out cynicism mixed with an innate storytelling ability that kept the crowd held under McMurtry's power," writes Creech of the former, additionally noting of the latter, "The centerpiece of the night was clearly Isbell's guitar as he shredded through songs from his Drive-By Truckers days and solo albums alike."

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.

This is your brain on MySpace.... Zzzzzzz...... any questions?

By Fred Mills

MySpace Music officially launched yesterday after weeks (if not months) of tease, hype and buildup. As expected of what is touted as the world's largest social network - MySpace, duh- the interfaces are clunky, the loading of pages perilously slow. In short, just like MySpace, only amplified! Don't believe us? Go to the regular MySpace first and just do some random sampling - see how long it takes for songs to load in the music players, the wait between page refreshes, etc. Then try it at MySpace Music. It's like déjà vu all over again!

Seriously folks - I could have boiled a pot of tea and drank 3 cups by the time some of this stuff started working properly.

At any rate, MSM is being called a pretty big deal because, one, bands and musicians can upload all their music, and not just a handful of songs, to the site for streaming, and, two, users can also feature up to 10 songs on their personal profiles (compared to a single song previously). Naturally you'll be able to click-through if you hear something you like and purchase the track - significantly, MySpace went with Amazon and not iTunes for the retail end of things. (Guess that deal with Snocap wasn't a smashing success...)

A lot, but not all, labels are on board with the deal; Universal, Warners, EMI and Sony-BMG have signed up, but that just covers the majors. Some significant players in the indie sector have so far emitted a collective yawn at the MySpace venture, among them the Beggars Group, Koch and Domino.

In a widely circulated email this morning, Merlin CEO Charles Caldas stated, "It is incredibly disappointing that MySpace will launch their new service without having finalised a deal with the world's most important independent labels and artists. It certainly makes [MySpace co-founder] Chris DeWolfe's public statements, that the "indie bands are really the heart of MySpace", ring extremely hollow. What is absolutely clear, however, is that any independent deal struck without an equity component (as was done with the majors), will see independent labels face a situation whereby their major competitors will profit from the use of their repertoire without an appropriate upside opportunity being extended to them by MySpace Music and its Major Label equity partners."

(According to statistics released by Merlin, it's members "command a 9% share of the US digital recorded music market equivalent to EMI." Merlin works within the global indie record sector and is still currently in negotiations to license the world's leading independent labels and artists to the service.)

Of course, if the service sucks in the first place, what's the point?

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)

7:00 AM NBC: Today: Billy Bob Thornton

10:30 AM MTV2: Celebrity Deathmatch: The Prodigy , Celine Dion , Will Smith

2:00 PM FUSE: Steven's Untitled Rock Show: Innerpartysystem

5:30 PM Noggin: Yo Gabba Gabba!: Mya , Mark Mothersbaugh

8:00 PM PLD HD: 2008 Video Music Awards: Performance Remix

8:00 PM RAVE HD: Later With Jools Holland: Kasabian , View , Jarvis Cocker , Damien Rice , Just Jack , Randy Crawford

8:30 PM Comedy Central: The Colbert Report: Jackson Browne

9:00 PM Bravo: Project Runway:  Rock N' Runway w/LL Cool J

9:00 PM PLD HD: Glastonbury 2008: KT Tunstall , The Ting Tings , The Feeling , Candi Staton , Editors , Lupe Fiasco , Crowded House , Duffy , James Blunt , Vampire Weekend , Raconteurs , Elbow , Mark Ronson , Tawiah , Newton Faulkner , Crystal Castles , Goldfrapp , The Pigeon Detectives

10:30 PM VH1C: Jailhouse Rock (1957)

11:00 PM HBO: Real Time With Bill Maher: Will.I.Am

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Delta Goodrem

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Plain White T's

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Foals

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

12:37 AM CBS: The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Jamie Lidell , Garbage

1:30 AM VH1C: BBC Crown Jewels: Chuck Berry

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Moby

Doctors tell the lad to get some rest.

By Fred Mills

According to a message posted to the Oasis website, Noel Gallagher has had a CT scan to see how extensive the injuries he sustained in that onstage assault in Toronto earlier this month, and the results indicate he suffered "three broken and dislodge ribs." Doctors tell him not to perform for "at least another week.

As a result, shows in England, Germany and France have been cancelled. You can read the full site posting below. Meanwhile, go HERE if you want to read BLURT's first-hand account of the incident - our own Kyle Gustafson was in Toronto on September 7 photographing the Virgin Mobile Festival when the assault took place.

****

Noel Gallagher

23 September 2008

Oasis are being forced to postpone three further shows as a result of the injuries Noel sustained when he was attacked on stage in Toronto.

A CT scan has now revealed that Noel suffered three broken and dislodged ribs in the attack and he has been advised by his doctor that he will not be able to perform for at least another week.

The three affected shows are the Eden Project, Cornwall on the 27th September, the Gloria Theatre, Cologne on the 29th September and Bataclan, Paris on September 30. All three shows will be rescheduled and fans are advised to retain their tickets pending further announcements.

The Oasis UK Arena Tour, beginning Oct 7, is going ahead as planned.

Five week tour to include unique setlists designed for residencies.

By Blurt Staff

It's a bit of an anticlimax since they've been touring fairly steadily since leader Billy Corgan put the band back together over a year ago, but the Smashing Pumpkins have announced a 20^th Anniversary Tour to mark the band's 1988 formation.

The five-week run starts Nov. 1 and will be highlighted by multi-night stops in such cities as Chicago, Toronto, New York, Washington, Boston, Kansas City and Los Angeles. The Pumpkins are coming prepared with completely different set lists in each of the multi-night engagements with no songs being repeated over the course of the two night run.  Night #1 is being called "Black Sunshine," while night #2 will be dubbed "White Crosses."  A special two-night ticket bundle will be available for all multi-night engagements. 

In Chicago--where singer/guitarist Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin continue to be based--the Pumpkins will play four shows at two different venues.  In cities where the band is set to play one night, they plan to deliver a unique one-off set.

"I am extremely proud of the work we have done," Chamberlin said in a statement. "It certainly doesn't seem like 20 years! The Pumpkins will always be about moving forward and although I'm excited to play these shows, I'm just as excited to move our music into the next decade."

Before the anniversary tour's kick-off, the Pumpkins will make a return performance at the annual Bridge School benefit hosted by Neil Young in Shoreline, CA on October 26 (the second of the two-night engagement). 

The Pumpkins have also confirmed a national television appearance for Friday, October 24 when they'll perform new single "G.L.O.W." on the outdoor stage at ABC-TV's "Jimmy Kimmel Live." The song will be released via the upcoming Guitar Hero® World Tour game, marking the first time a band has recorded a new song exclusively for the franchise which will be released afterwards, giving Guitar Hero® fans exclusive access to Smashing Pumpkins music before anyone else.  The new track, bundled with two other rocking Smashing Pumpkins hits--"1979" and "The Everlasting Gaze"--will be available post-launch of the game as a three-song downloaded content pack. Additionally, on-disc with the release of Guitar Hero World Tour this fall, Corgan will appear as an in-game character and will bring with him "Today," the band's smash hit from their pivotal and four-times platinum 1993 album Siamese Dream.

As previously announced in this space, he band's upcoming two-DVD set If All Goes Wrong is due out November 11 and consists of a 105-minute documentary, also titled If All Goes Wrong, plus The Fillmore Residency, a full concert filmed in late July and early August of 2007 over five of the 11 sold-out nights at the famed Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, CA.

Smashing Pumpkins Tour Dates:

Sat      11/1               Cleveland, OH                        Palace Theatre

Mon     11/3              Toronto, ONT                           Massey Hall

Tue      11/4              Toronto, ONT                           Massey Hall

Thu      11/6              New York, NY                           United Palace Theatre

Fri       11/7               New York, NY                          United Palace Theatre

Sat      11/8               Atlantic City, NJ                     Borgata

Tue      11/11            Washington, DC                    DAR Constitution Hall

Wed    11/12             Washington, DC                                DAR Constitution Hall

Fri       11/14             Boston, MA                             Wang Center

Sat      11/15             Boston, MA                             Wang Center

Sun     11/16             Uncasville, CT                         Mohegan Sun Arena

Tue      11/18             Chicago, IL                            Chicago Theatre

Wed    11/19             Chicago, IL                            Chicago Theatre

Fri       11/21             Chicago, IL                              Auditorium Theatre

Sat      11/22             Chicago, IL                            Auditorium Theatre

Wed    11/26             St. Louis, MO                                     Fox Theatre

Sun     11/30             San Diego, CA                      RIMAC Arena

Tue      12/2               Los Angeles, CA                               Gibson Amphitheatre

Wed    12/3               Los Angeles, CA                   Gibson Amphitheatre

Or you can simply donate, folks!

By Fred Mills

Posted today to the October booking calendar for Schubas Tavern in Chicago: My Morning Jacket's Jim James in a "special acoustic performance" at a benefit bash for the Barack Obama Victory Fund.

It's to be held Wednesday, Oct.8 at the Windy City venue that will incorporate a reception for Obama For America Chief of Staff Jim Messina. If you want to attend it'll set you back $100, but hey - that's close to what you should be considering donating to the Obama campaign if you haven't already, right?

It's sure to sell out, so go to the calendar link above and scroll down to the Oct. 8 date and follow the RSVP instructions.

Incidentally, James and his band will be in Chicago the following two evenings at the Chicago Theatre - check out our exclusive photos of last week's Berkeley concert HERE.

My Morning Jacket Tour Dates:

9-25 San Diego, CA - SDSU Open Air Theater
9-27 Portland, OR - McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater
9-28 Seattle, WA - McCaw Hall
10-02 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
10-03 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater
10-04 Detroit, MI - Fillmore
10-06 Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion
10-07 Iowa City, IA - University of Iowa Rec Building
10-09 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
10-10 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre

Blurt launch party happens after hours at Parish w/Band of Horses, McMurtry.

By Blurt Staff

Only two more shopping days ‘til this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival - it'll officially kick off this Friday, Sept. 26 at 11:15 a.m. and run through Sunday. Three day passes were sold out long ago, but you can still purchase single day passes.

For ticket info go HERE.

A complete schedule of artists and set-times can be viewed HERE. Among the headliners are Foo Fighters, Plant & Krauss, Beck, Manu Chao, John Fogerty, David Byrne, the Raconteurs, the Mars Volta, Gnarls Barkley and Conor Oberst. But there's tons more, including BLURT faves Uncle Rock, Band of Horses (more on that in a sec), Okkervil River, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Alejandro Escovedo, Drive-By Truckers and Spiritualized. A number of the sets will be viewable online, incidentally, via the venerable ATT Blue Room hookup.

And yes, you heard correct: BLURT will be in the house this year, our roving band of reporters making the rounds and posing the hard-hitting questions of the day to musicians we trip over, er, encounter. Keep your eyes peeled for the official BLURT boogie van - just look for the lime-green day-glo paint job and the custom bong smokestack protruding from the rear portion of the roof. But don't forget the rules, kids: don't bother knockin' if the van be a-rockin,' if you catch our drift.

***

Meanwhile, of course, Saturday night in downtown Austin BLURT will be rockin' a whole ‘nother set of ‘tude. That's when THE BLURT LAUNCH PARTY, featuring Band of Horses, goes down at The Parish Room. Tickets sold out in under two hours after tickets went on sale last week.

"We thought we put together a pretty good lineup for the BLURT LAUNCH PARTY, but this far and away exceeded even our own high expectations," says BLURT Editor-in-Chief and Founder Scott Crawford. "I think everyone who was lucky enough to get a ticket will be in for a real special night."

Doors will open at 10:30 p.m. following the conclusion of the day's music at the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival. Famed BLURT blogger James McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards are slated to open with music beginning at 11 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from the concert will benefit the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide access to affordable healthcare for Austin's low-income, uninsured working musicians. For more information, please visit: http://www.healthallianceforaustinmusicians.org.

"For those of you who weren't able to get a ticket today, there may be a small quantity of tickets made available the day of the show, so look for updates on BLURT-ONLINE.COM next week and check in at the Parish Room box office a few hours before the doors open," says BLURT Associate Editor Andy Tennille. "We're also going to be giving away some tickets at BLURT-ONLINE.COM and through some of the local radio stations in Austin, so keep your eyes peeled and your wits about you."

About HAAM

Health Alliance for Austin Musicians was founded in April 2005 when the Seton Family of Hospitals and St. David's Community Health Foundation Leadership joined forces with The SIMS Foundation to provide medical, dental, and mental health care to the city's hard-working, low-income musicians. More than 1,200 musicians, most 35 and younger, have been serviced. For more information, please visit: http://www.healthallianceforaustinmusicians.org.

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's digital magazine raises the bar for modern music and entertainment magazines by combining insightful features, irreverent interviews, relentless reviews, and first-class design standards while the site contains provocative blogs, exclusive videos and countless reviews and MP3s. Visit us at http://www.BLURT-ONLINE.COM.

Links

http://www.healthallianceforaustinmusicians.org/

www.blurt-online.com

http://www.myspace.com/bandofhorses

http://www.jamesmcmurtry.com/

www.theparishroom.com

www.excaliburmail.com

www.christopherwilsonphoto.com

For more information, contact:

Scott Crawford

Editor-in-Chief, BLURT

scrawford@blurt-online.com

Andy Tennille

Associate Editor, BLURT

atennille@blurt-online.com

Homophobia still not an acceptable reason to hate someone's music. 

by Brian Creech

In an announcement that left thousands of Americans saying, "Yeah, we pretty much figured that was the case," former American Idol contestant Clay Aiken disclosed that he is a homosexual.  Various media outlets including Raleigh News & Observer ran an article earlier today highlighting Aiken's announcement and pushing its readers to go to People  magazine on Friday for the full story. 

In a very personal family moment, Aiken describes coming out to his mother four years ago after they dropped off his brother at Camp Lejeune Marine Base for his deployment to Iraq.  Aiken said of the moment,"I just started bawling. She made me pull over the car and it just came out...[My mom] still struggles with things quite a bit, but she's come a long way."

Granted for some, this is may come as a no-brainer, and several celebrity watchers are probably patting themselves on the back for having perfectly calibrated gay-dar.  But given Aiken's meteoric rise thanks to American Idol's celebrity makeover, it is really easy to forget that he was raised in the small, conservative town of Four Oaks, NC; where people are less than cosmopolitan about homosexuality (Regardless of your opinion of his music, there is a clear Horatio Alger tone about his quick rise from high school chorus singer to the most polite and successful American Idol).  It is important to remember that coming out of the closet, especially in the public eye, is a ground-shaking thing for the perennial nice-guy, so if you're going to hate on him, let it be because his music is way too pat and sentimental, not because you're a homophobe. 

What prompted Aiken's decision to publicly come out of the closet was the birth of his son, Parker, on August 8th.  "It was the first decision I made as a father," People quoted Aiken as saying. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."  According to the Raleigh News & Observer, Parker was conceived through artificial insemination with music producer Jaymes Foster, sister to music mogul David Foster.  Foster and Aiken have been best friends for a while, and though rumors about a clandestine romance circulated while Foster was pregnant, Aiken's recent announcement surely dispels those rumors. 

In an effort to capitalize on the baby-mania, People will have exclusive pictures of Parker Aiken available when the issue hits newsstands on Friday. 

That Lucky Old Sun turning out to be more than just lucky for St. Brian....

By Blurt Staff

Brian Wilson announces a November tour to 11 U.S. cities, performing his new Capitol/EMI album, That Lucky Old Sun, in its entirety.  Wilson and his band will also perform many of his classic hits at the special shows. The tour begins in Nashville on November 10 and will continue to 10 more cities, including New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC, before ending in Westbury, NY on November 25.

On September 12, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilmembers Tom LaBonge and Jack Weiss honored Brian Wilson before a standing-room-only crowd at Los Angeles City Hall for his "unique and unparalleled contributions" to Los Angeles and California culture. Following several heartfelt speeches and some dancing in the chamber's aisles to his sun-splashed hits, Wilson was presented with a special Brian Wilson Day proclamation by Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilmembers LaBonge and Weiss.

During a recent visit to the U.K., Wilson and four of his band members piled into a London cab with a camera crew for "Black Cab Sessions," a one-take performance filmed en route through the city. To watch the video, visit www.blackcabsessions.com.

On October 10, NPR's "World Café," carried by nearly 200 public radio stations across the country, will premiere an exclusive performance by Wilson and his band, featuring a mix of songs from That Lucky Old Sun and classic hits. The program will also be available for streaming at www.npr.org.

Read BLURT's review of the album HERE.

Read BLURT's review of Wilson's Oakland concert HERE.

Brian Wilson: "That Lucky Old Sun" Tour

Nov 10    Nashville, TN          Ryman Auditorium

Nov 12    Ann Arbor, MI       Michigan Theater

Nov 13    South Bend, IN     Morris Performing Arts Center

Nov 15    Minneapolis, MN                State Theater

Nov 16    Chicago, IL             Chicago Theatre

Nov 18    Washington, DC    Warner Theater

Nov 19    Boston, MA            Orpheum Theatre

Nov 21    New York, NY      Hammerstein Ballroom

Nov 22    Glenside, PA           Keswick Theater

Nov 23    Montclair, NJ          Wellmont Theatre

Nov 25    Westbury, NY         Westbury Theater

* * *