July 2nd, 2009
“Tommy Mottola Is A Devil!”
Whether or not you’ve had enough Michael Jackson coverage of late, this is still well worth watching for the first or 100th time:
Kinda wish we woulda seen/heard more like this out of MJ in his lifetime.
July 2nd, 2009
“Regurgitated Disinformation,” Kind Of
About a month ago, the Arizona grindcore band Job for a Cowboy filmed a video for “Regurgitated Disinformation” (a track from their upcoming album Ruination) right here in Philly. The clip’s not out yet, but you can watch the band’s live performance of the song from the basement of First Unitarian Church below and get a pit’s eye view of the proceedings. Also, you can stream the entire Ruination, which comes out next Tuesday, for free today only on the band’s MySpace page.
Job for a Cowboy comes back to town August 7th at Susquehanna Bank Center as part of the Marilyn Manson/Slayer-headlined Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival.
July 2nd, 2009
Alice In Chains Coming To Philly
The re-tooled Alice in Chains — with singer-guitarist William DuVall front-and-center where the late Layne Staley used to be — comes to the TLA on September 5th, just a few weeks before the band’s forthcoming album Black Gives Way to Blue arrives in stores on September 29th. The first single, “A Looking In View,” is already making the rounds and it’s actually pretty good, living up to their malevolently melodic legacy (check it out above).
Of course, there’s still a sizable contingent of people who feel like without Layne, there is no Alice in Chains, and I suppose that’s a fair enough stance, especially in the recent context of bands-reuniting-and-touring-without-their-dead-singer (INXS, Queen, Blind Melon, the Doors, etc. etc.). However, I did a piece on Alice in Chains’ decision to move forward without Layne a couple of years ago in which I interviewed Jerry Cantrell, Layne’s mom Nancy McCallum, and such AIC friends as Heart’s Nancy Wilson and former Screaming Trees (and Mad Season, which also featured Staley) drummer Barrett Martin, who all had a lot to say about keeping Alice alive:
Nancy McCallum: “I believe the band has been more than appropriate, and I think that’s because there are deep, deep emotions attached to, ‘What do we do next?’ You lose someone who you counted on being in your life for so many years and you have a fantasy of what the future will be like. If you’re honest, it takes a long time to be able to regroup and come back from those feelings and do something new with it. I can’t imagine that the band has moved in any direction without every step including a thought about Layne and what he would have thought.”
July 2nd, 2009
Quincy Jones Wants His Vibe Back
Although Quincy Jones probably can’t bring his pal Michael Jackson back from the dead — that is, unless Jacko actually faked his own death — it looks like the legendary producer is trying to resurrect Vibe, the urban music magazine he founded in 1993 and sold in 2006 which announced earlier this week it was ceasing publication. EbonyJet.com spoke to Q after news broke, and he said he’s looking to get it back and turn it into an Internet-only entity (which means you’ll hafta look elsewhere on newsstands — if any music mags will be left within a year — for hot pics of Ciara such as at right):
Vibe magazine founder Quincy Jones is distraught over the news that the famous hip-hop publication shuttered its doors yesterday. Though no longer the owner, he did not anticipate this sudden demise, and he says he’s going to bring it back to life – albeit in a slightly different way.
“I’m trying to buy my magazine back now,” Jones told EbonyJet.com just moments ago during a telephone call to Jones’ London abode. “They just messed my magazine all up, but I’m gonna get it back. You better believe it, I’m’a take it online because print and all that stuff is over.”
…
Jones says that all publications must figure out how to live online. That’s where he’s going to take Vibe once he recovers from the death of his friend and protégé Michael Jackson.
“We gotta get into the 21st century you know,” Jones said. “ “Print and all that stuff is over, we gotta remember that. The Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Post Intelligencer. The Miami Herald. They’re over the same way as the record business. We have got to get into this century.”
July 2nd, 2009
Here’s To Steven Wells, Now And Forever.
Thanks go out to everyone who attended yesterday’s memorial for Steven Wells in Center City, and to those who’ve had Steven, his wife Katharine, and his family in their thoughts or raised a glass or two to him over the past week. Last evening’s exceptionally well-attended gathering was touching, funny, moving, full of toasts and wonderful speeches and memories, more than a few “fucks” and “cunts” and references to Steven’s testicles (he certainly would have appreciated that), and above all, it was a testament to the immeasurable ways the one-of-a-kind man and his work affected not only the many family, friends, colleagues, and admirers who were in attendance, but countless people around the world all throughout his life. And in the years to come, new people every day will discover, appreciate, laugh ’til they cry over, talk about, and pass along his writing, his observations, his insight, his wit. Swells will live forever.
July 2nd, 2009
Tonight In Shows
Sonic Youth
7pm, $25-$27. Electric Factory.
The other day I was walking around town and I thought I spotted the Breakfast at Sulimay’s gang, but it was just Sonic Youth. Get it? Sonic Youth is old! But just like Joe, Ann and Bill, Thurston, Kim, Lee and Steve (and current fifth member Mark Ibold, the former Pavement bassist) remain sharp, entertaining, uncompromising and rather right-on when it comes to what constitutes good music. By now, there’s no doubt Sonic Youth is gonna keep on truckin’ in their inimitable style until death; the only question with each new album is whether they’re gonna lean more toward out-there experimental noise or arty-but-more-conventional rock. Just released The Eternal is mostly the latter. And it’s great. I can’t wait to see what Sulimay’s thinks of it. (Michael Alan Goldberg)
(Don’t forget to check out our interview with SY guitarist Lee Ranaldo, if you haven’t already.)
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
7pm, $12. First Unitarian Church.
The name says it all. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone has long been a keyboard-assisted release for Owen Ashworth’s ragged emotions, and his catharsis is all the more visible live, as his talk-singing breaks into a howl amid cheap, blown-out electronics. With just 50 bodies allowed in the Church’s tiny side chapel, this show should go from intimate to excruciating, considering Casiotone’s new Vs. Children, a meditation on whether to embrace or flee parenthood. Ashworth may also lean on the recent collection Advance Base Battery Life, which includes his cover of “Streets of Philadelphia.” The show won’t be a total downer, just a bracing dose of inward reflection. (Doug Wallen)
Also, the Wallflowers drop by the Kewsick Theatre [8pm/$27.50-$35.00]; the Troc hosts a five-band bill that includes Every Avenue, Valencia, Cash Cash, Sparks the Rescue, and Phone Calls From Home, plus comedy sets between the band sets [6:30pm/$11]; locals and semi-locals Vice Royal, Relay, the Meathooks, and Windlestrae play the North Star [8pm/$8]; and Johnny Brenda’s welcomes Scranton roots-rock outfit And the Moneynotes, along with Paleface [9pm/$10].
July 1st, 2009
MMM is closed for business as we remember our friend and colleague Steven Wells today with a memorial gathering. We’ll be back tomorrow. ‘Til then, please read some of the many tributes in this week’s PW, or feast on some of Swells’ perfectly brilliant writing and laugh until you cry. That’s what he’d probably like best.
