Brothers of a Feather

March 1, 2006

Brothers of a Feather
Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson have always served as the foundation for The Black Crowes, but now they’re breakin’ up the House of Crowe to take their brotherly show on the road. Chris and Rich, sans the rest of the Crowes, will be billed as “Brothers of a Feather,” and will be presenting their show, “An Acoustic Evening with Chris and Rich Robinson,” at theaters and small clubs across the U.S. They’ll be performing plenty of Black Crowes classics, plus some cover tunes and - surprise! - some brand new Black Crowes songs, too. The shows will begin in early April in Brooklyn, New York, and will continue to the beginning of May...

We’ve already told you that Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab For Cutie are teaming up for a series of tour dates, but now we’ve got more details on this supercool pairup. It’s become a trio of coolness, as the two bands have now added Yorkshire band The Cribs as their opening act. The Cribs will hop on the tour trail with Franz and Death Cab after their appearance at the SXSW festival, and will stick with the tour through March and April. Performance stops for all three bands will include Reno NV (3/24), Houston TX (3/30), Atlanta GA (4/5 and 4/6), Washington DC (4/11), Toronto (4/17), Detroit (4/18), Chicago (4/19), and Minneapolis (4/20), after which the tour will head up into the wilds of Canada...

The Rolling Stones played one of their biggest shows ever last week, a show that may also have been one of the world’s biggest ever live rockxp shows overall. Performing a 20 song set that included well-known Stones hits such as “Satisfaction” and “Jumping Jack Flash,” the performance took place in front of over a million fans on the Copacabana Beach in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil - and none of those fans even had to pay for the free event, which was part of the Stones’ Bigger Bang World Tour. The only catch? The Stones, surprisingly, didn’t beat the city’s record for biggest concert audience - that is inexplicably held by Rod Stewart, who played a show for 3.5 million people in that very same location back in 1994...

New York-via-Chicago duo The Fiery Furnaces have switched labels and are ready to put forth their latest album, which they’ve dubbed Bitter Tea. Recorded in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the album was produced by Furnace Matt Friedberger, and he also wrote all of the songs and played all of the instruments with the exception of the drums, which were played by his sister Eleanor, who also sings for the duo. The band remains on tour through February, and will also be performing at this year’s SXSW Fest...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK: The Beastie Boys will be screening their new concert film, Awesome: I F***in’ Shot That! at the aforementioned SXSW Fest this year on March 15. The film is unique in that it was not shot by a professional film crew, but instead by 50 audience members who were given cameras to each cover the show in the way they chose. The footage was then put together by the Boys’ Adam Yauch (billed as “Nathanial Hornblower”) and has been impressing critics ever since. The film will hit select markets on March 31 - get more info on this landmark rockumentary at
www.thinkfilm.com & www.beastieboys.com...
MINI BUZZ:
Swedish glam-punkers The Sounds, whose new album, Dying To Say This To You, hits stores on March 21, have confirmed their upcoming U.S. tour, which will begin on March 22 and will continue for over two months, including stops in Detroit (4/18), Chicago (4/20), and Mexico City (5/4) - Morningwood and Action Action will ride along as opening acts...
Thirty Seconds To Mars are also hitting the road for their very first official headlining tour, which they’ve named the “Forever Night Never Day Tour” - it will kick off March 4 in Salt Lake City and will run through April 30, with appearances in Chicago (4/1), Grand Rapids MI (4/3), and Minneapolis (4/8)...
Brit singer-songwriter James Blunt is prepping to tour, too, with 18 dates running from March through the beginning of April serving as his early spring club tour - The Boy Least Likely To and Sierra Swan will be the show openers...
Chicago’s Fall Out Boy are releasing a limited edition of their From Under the Cork Tree album - it’ll be called the Limited Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour Edition and will include five new tracks, including three non-album single B-sides. You’ll also be able to catch Fall Out Boy on Saturday Night Live on March 4...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have just filmed a video for their single “Danni California” with director Tony Kaye - the single’s release will preface the Peppers’ May 9 double album, Stadium Arcadium...
If you’re ready for a road trip, start planning your route to go and see Ben Folds, My Morning Jacket, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, and Gov’t Mule, who are among the acts set to play Vanderbilt University’s Rites of Spring Festival, set for April 21-22 in Nashville...

And here’s what’s new this week: ON CD: Arctic Monkey’s Whatever People Say I Am That’s Not What I Am... William Orbit’s Hello Waveforms... Eels’ With Strings Live at Town Hall... Jenny Lewis’ Rabbit Fur Coat... Madonna’s CD single release of “Sorry”... and various artists, including The Decemberists, Sexton Blake, and Dolorean, contributing to To: Elliott From: Portland, a musical tribute to late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith... ON DVD: Brian Eno’s 14 Video Paintings... Sugarcubes The DVD... Eels With Strings Live at Town Hall (the DVD version)... and The Velvet Underground’s Velvet Redux: Live MCMXCIII... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

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