March 29, 2024

Grammys Roundup

Feb. 22, 2006
The 2006 Grammy Awards have come and gone, and among the winners were several deserving Modern Rockers. Among the ones bringing the golden gramophones home were Green Day (Record of the Year for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”), Kelly Clarkson (Best Female Pop Vocal for “Since U Been Gone” and Best Pop Vocal Album for *Breakaway*), Maroon 5 (Best Pop Duo or Group with Vocal for “This Love”), Gorillaz featuring De La Soul (Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “Feel Good, Inc.”), The White Stripes (Best Alternative Music Album for *Get Behind Me Satan*), and U2, who snagged plenty of awards including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rock Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song, and Best Rock Album. Whew! And among the great performances this year were Paul McCartney, U2, and animated modern rockers Gorillaz, who performed “with” Madonna...

The Pretenders - one of the newest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - are following up that honor with a little something to make their fans happy - namely a four CD box set (plus DVD) that they’ve dubbed Pirate Radio. The set will feature the usual plethora of box set contents - album tracks, rarities, and some previously unreleased tracks including demos - and tracks that you can expect to hear will include “Talk of the Town,” “Brass in Pocket,” “Back on the Chain Gang,” “Middle of the Road,” “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” and The Pretenders’ cover of The Kinks’ “Stop Your Sobbing.” The third and fourth CDs contain even more covers, including the band’s versions of Jimi Hendrix’ “Bold as Love,” Radiohead’s “Creep,” and Morrissey’s “Everyday is Like Sunday,” and the DVD will feature live footage from Top of the Pops and the Montreux Jazz Festival. Expect to see Pirate Radio in stores March 14...

This week will see a number of Canadian bands paying tribute to modern rockers Sloan with a special live show set to take place in Toronto’s Kensington Market - a show that’s meant to renew interest in the favorite Canadian rockers, who have just finished a Spanish tour as openers for The Soundtrack of Our Lives and also recently opened for The Rolling Stones in Boston. An eclectic range of bands will perform at the event, including Dollarama, Laura Barrett, The Bicycles, and various members of Ninja High School; DJs Daniel Vila and Maria Funk will also participate, spinning Canadian indie rock between sets...

Sheryl Crow is busy finalizing the last few dates for her late-winter-early-spring tour, with Jack Ingram newly on board as support act. She’ll be hopping on the tour bus the end of this month, with her regular backing band along for the trip, as well as a string quartet for good measure. Stops on Crow’s tour will include Atlanta GA (3/9), Montreal Quebec (3/17), Evansville IN (3/24), and Minneapolis MN (2/28). In other Crow news, the singer recently re-recorded her Wildflower song “Always on Your Side” as a duet with Sting - the new version will be available as a digital download from her website at a date TBA...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: The term “podcast,” contrary to popular belief, doesn’t mean that you can only listen to this cool form of internet radio broadcast on your ipod or other MP3 device. Of course, those are great ways to listen to podcasts, but you can also simply listen right on your computer. Either way, you’ll definitely want to check out this great newish podcast, Motor City Rocks, which brings you some of the best music Detroit has to offer - and, although we love ‘em, it’s got a lot more going on than just The White Stripes. Check it out at http://motorcityrocks.com/podcast...

MINI BUZZ:
Thirty Seconds to Mars are heading out on their first headlining tour - dubbed the “Forever Night Never Day Tour,” it will kick off on March 4 and make stops in, among other cities, Orlando FL (3/17), Philadelphia (3/21), Chicago (4/1), and Grand Rapids MI (4/3)...
The Juliana Theory have announced that they’ve officially broken up, and there will be no final tour - so if you didn’t see them at their last show in Germany on January 28, well, that’s all folks...
Fall Out Boy’s debut album, From Under the Cork Tree, will be reissued as an expanded disc on March 14, with five rare tracks added...
Brooklyn indie-rockers the Fiery Furnaces will release their fourth album, Bitter Tea, this April...
The Streets are on their way back with a new single, “When You Wasn’t Famous,” set to hit radio in March, and a new album, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, set to hit stores in April...
Sinead O’Connor will head to the U.S.A. next week with a short tour to promote her album, Throw Down Your Arms...

And these releases are heading to a CD store near you this week... ON CD: The Life and Music of Richard Thompson... the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie Elizabethtown... Hem’s No Word From Tom... Shawn Mullins’ 9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor... Los Lobos’ Wolf Tracks: The Best of Los Lobos... and John Coltrane - Live in Paris... ON DVD: The Prodigy: Their Law - The Singles 1990-2005... The Tori Amos Video Collection: Fade to Red… Rush R30... and John Legend - Live at the House of Blues… and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musician? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!



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