Archive for October 5th, 2009
Tour Tracker: Goodie Mob, Harper Simon and Flobots
October 5th, 2009
Photo: Diamond/WireImage
Cee-Lo and the rest of Goodie Mob keep their reunion going with a month’s worth of new dates, Harper Simon hits the road in support his RS-approved new self-titled album and the Flobots focus on their native Colorado on their late autumn tour. Full dates for all three treks, after the jump.
Goodie Mob
Oct. 15 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
Oct. 17 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre
Oct. 19 – ...
Lawsuit Claims Guns n’ Roses Stole From Ulrich Schnauss on “Chinese Democracy”
October 5th, 2009
Photo: Kravitz/FilmMagic
Two independent record labels are suing Guns n’ Roses and Universal Music Group, claiming a track off Axl Rose’s Chinese Democracy copied portions of two songs by German electronic music artist Ulrich Schnauss. According to Reuters, Independiente and Domino’s lawsuit against Gn’R says that the band’s “Riad N’ the Bedouins” used parts of Ullrich’s “Wherever You Are” and “A Strangely Isolated Place” without permission. The labels are seeking $1 million in damages.
The way they ...
Mastodon Unleash Twisted Images, Pounding Rock on Tour
October 5th, 2009
Photograph by Jimmy Hubbard
With Saturday night’s Seattle performance, the second of their latest assault on the U.S., Mastodon furthered their claim as kings of wormhole-tearing, time-traveling meta-metal. The Atlanta quartet devoted most of their 70-minute set to Crack the Skye, their recent, mainstream-courting opus, then reeled back through their catalog. Behind them was the sort of big-budget backdrop they’ve always deserved: a drive-in-wide digital video screen lit with vintage black-and-white hellspliotation footage, animated mandalas ...
Album Sales Down in 2009 Despite Huge Jackson, Beatles Numbers
October 5th, 2009
Photo: Mazur/WireImageAlbum sales are down 11.1 percent in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year, Reuters reports based on figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan. That decline comes even with the influx of sales after Michael Jackson’s death and the release of the Beatles remasters, as both artists’ respective catalogs have combined for about 6.3 million in sales this quarter. Even with the unexpected push from the catalog albums, total sales ...
Readers’ Rock List: U2 Songs
October 5th, 2009
Photo: Natkin/WireImage
Last week, with U2 bringing their 360° Tour to stadiums all across North America and Bono and the Edge on the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone, we asked our readers to tell us their favorite songs by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Irishmen. After tabulating the votes, it seems like we’re all in agreement: “Bad” is really good. The Unforgettable Fire centerpiece, a six-minute masterpiece that was never even ...
Metallica Rock Out With 85-Year-Old Fan in Tampa
October 5th, 2009
Photo: Miller/FilmMagic The adage “If it’s too loud, you’re too old” doesn’t apply to 85-year-old Margaret Priebe, a Florida resident who just this weekend embarked with her son to see Metallica’s World Magnetic tour stop in Tampa. Priebe’s story became Internet lore in the weeks leading up to the show: According to the St. Petersburg Times, Priebe was first introduced to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame metal band nine years ago when she ...
Vampire Weekend Unload New Song “Horchata,” Tour Dates
October 5th, 2009
Photo: Forrest/WireImage
Vampire Weekend are offering up “Horchata,” the opening song off their January 12th album Contra, as a free download over at their official Website today. The band has been all viral lately while promoting their second record, and the lead-up to “Horchata” was no different, with their IThinkUrAContra Website mounting a countdown clock that revealed the free download when the zeroes hit today at 2:30 p.m. EST.
“Horchata” has all the markings of a ...
Melissa Etheridge Returns to “Slamming” Rock on March LP “Fearless Love”
October 5th, 2009
Photo: Morigi/WireImage
Melissa Etheridge had a simple message when she met with producer John Shanks to discuss her next album. “I told him that I wanted to make a record that’s a hundred miles an hour all the time — unabashedly drawing from my all of my influences,” she says. “What we’ve done rocks harder than I’ve rocked in years. There’s a couple of ballads on it, but the majority of it is just really slamming.” ...
AFI Treat Despair Faction to Debut of “Crash Love” in Minneapolis
October 5th, 2009
On an appropriately cold and rainy Friday night in the Minneapolis warehouse district, the Despair Faction, AFI’s fan militia, was working itself up, chanting the intro to Black Sails in the Sunset (”Through/Our bleeding!/We/Are one!”) and throwing up martial fist pumps. The all-ages crowd had already been primed by opening act Gallows, whose lanky, ginger vocalist, Frank Carter, spent half his time singing from the middle of the pit and the rest on stage, gobbing ...
Eclectic Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Unites Emmylou Harris, Richie Havens in San Francisco
October 5th, 2009
Photograph by Jay Blakesberg
Warren Hellman is the kind of billionaire investment banker who makes it hard to hate billionaire investment bankers. Every year, Hellman — a successful venture capitalist and an amateur banjo player — organizes something called the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, a three-day celebration of picking and strumming in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It’s open to all and 100 percent free — and every year, Hellman picks up the tab. Since its ...