And the winner is....
Nov. 16, 2005
And the winner is...The 12th Annual MTV Europe Music Awards just wrapped in Lisbon, Portugal, with Coldplay and Green Day sharing top honors as the big winners of the night. Coldplay snagged Best Song (for Speed of Sound) and also Best UK & Ireland Act, while Green Day was awarded Best Rock Act and saw their CD American Idiot win Best Album - both bands also performed at the event. Several other modern rockers won, too, including Robbie Williams (Best Male), Gorillaz (Best Group), and Bob Geldof (the mastermind of the Live 8 concerts) who was honored with the Free Your Mind Award. Nigerian artist 2 Face Idibia won the inaugural Best African Act award, which reflected MTVs recent launch of their African MTV channel. Also performing at the event were the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira, and Madonna...
Brit singer/songwriter Beth Orton has finished work on over a dozen songs (working in-studio with producer Jim ORourke, who has also worked with Sonic Youth and Wilco), and will see her new album hit stores on February 7 on Astralwerks Records. Ortons Comfort of Strangers, her fourth collection, features ORourke on bass, piano, and marimba, and features drumming from Chicagos own session master Tim Barnes. Included on the disc will be new Orton tracks Shadow of a Doubt, Countenance, A Place Aside, and Heart of Soul - Orton is also planning out a slate of live dates to coincide with the albums release...
Overzealous White Stripes fans are screeching sellout! as the news arrives that Stripe Jack White has been tapped to work with big-time sodamaker Coca-Cola on a new commercial - but White says hes doing it to get a message of love out to the world. The commercial wont be using any of the Stripes previously-released songs - as White says, that would ...seem strange... - instead, hes composing a brand new track along the theme of love in a worldwide form, and the result is apparantly a quite interesting commercial that is steps above the norm. And cmon, folks - if you were offered a gajillion dollars to do something you enjoyed, wouldnt you at least consider it? As in many things, it might just depend on the circumstances. While youre forming your opinions, keep an eye on your TV for the new Jack White-graced Coke ad, and look for the Stripes on the road in the UK starting this week in London...
Former Kinks leader Ray Davies is releasing a special benefit EP later this month, with all the net proceeds going towards New Orleans music education programs. Titled Thanksgiving Day, the five-song disc will hit stores on November 22, and will also serve as an appetizer for Davies solo album, Other Peoples Lives, which will be out on February 7. The title track from the Thanksgiving Day EP will be available as a preview track download on iTunes starting November 15, and the EP will also include a second new Davies composition and a new mix of Davies London Song. To mark the EPs release, Davies will hit the little screen on - appropriately - Thanksgiving Day evening on NBC-TVs Late Night with Conan O Brien...
MINI BUZZ:
Michigans Madonna, whose new album, Confessions on a Dance Floor is burning up the critics ears in a good way, is now considering another round of live dates to perform her new songs, possibly next summer...
Meanwhile, MTV personality Bam Margera is launching the Viva La Bands tour in a couple of weeks - the tour will include bands Finch, Fireball Ministry, and H.I.M., and will include Viva La Bam footage in between acts...
Also in a couple of weeks, singer-songwriter Kate Bush will release a new album, Aerial, her first studio disc in 12 years...
Queens Of The Stone Age are currently on the road, performing both as opening act for Nine Inch Nails and taking their off days to play what theyre calling their own renegade shows at bookstores, record stores, and even Army/Navy surplus outlets...
Foo Fighters will be the featured musical guest on this weeks Saturday Night Live, and theyll follow that TV stop up with an appearance on the November 16 CBS TV special I Walk the Line: A Night For Johnny Cash...
And Michigan band Anchors For Reality pack up this week for their Midwestern tour, which will keep them on the road until mid-December...
Just being unloaded into a multi-media store near you are this weeks new releases: ON CD: Imogen Heaps Speak For Yourself... Sun Kil Moons Tiny Cities...
Trey Anastasios Shine... Smallville: The Metropolis Mix Original TV Soundtrack, which includes songs from Stereophonics, The Dandy Warhols, Minnie Driver, and The All-American Rejects... the soundtrack for the new Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line... and the first single, Hung Up, from Detroiter Madonnas new album, Confessions on a Dancefloor... ON DVD: The Who - Tommy and Quadrophenia Live... Peter Gabriels Still Growing Up - Live and Unwrapped... The Wonder Stuffs Construction for the Modern Vidiot... and, for a little comic relief, The Best and Worst of American Idol... and thats the buzz for this weeks Modern Rock.
Questions, comments, rants, raves about this column or your fave musicians? Send em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!