The Last Word from Johnny Cash

May 17, 2006

The last word from Johnny Cash
Prior to Johnny Cash’s passing in September, 2003, he’d been diligently working on a batch of new songs with producer Rick Rubin, and now, an all-new Johnny Cash album taken from those sessions will be released on the American Recordings label, including “Like the 309,” the last song Cash ever wrote.  An eclectic and emotional set, the songs that are planned for the disc include the beautiful “If You Could Read My Mind,” the heartwarming “Love’s Been Good to Me,” the prayerful “Help Me,” and the melancholy “On the Evening Train.”  A respectful wait to finish and release the album was planned so as not to in any way capitalize on Cash’s death;  the album now stands as Cash’s final statement, and, as Rubin puts it, “(these songs) are the truest reflection of the music that was central to his life at the time - this is the music that Johnny wanted us to hear...”
 
Michigan’s Madonna made an appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in the California desert last weekend, specifically in the festival’s giant dance tent, which was packed to its parachute-cloth rafters with tens of thousands of Maddie-fans.  Stepping out from inside a giant disco ball, Madonna played a too-short six-song set in which she danced, sang, and played guitar in what was largely a surprise performance.  Also at Coachella - which drew an estimated 120,000 fans to this year’s event - were sets from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Scissor Sisters, My Morning Jacket, Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Massive Attack, Tool, Daft Punk, Imogen Heap, Phoenix, Bloc Party, James Blunt, and many, many, many more...
 
Renaissance man David Bowie has been tapped to curate the inaugural High Line Festival next year in New York City, an event that will be held in various neighborhoods that run under the nature-filled High Line, a unique public park that is being created from the remains of a long-abandoned elevated railway line on NYC’s West Side.  As part of the event, Bowie himself will play a large outdoor concert, his first NY show since 2003, and he’ll also hand-select a roster of musicians and artists to appear throughout the fest, with a focus on emerging artists.  You won’t see much of Bowie until then, though, as he’s planning to take the rest of the year off from touring and recording before getting back into the swing of things in 2007...
 
And, speaking of Renaissance men, don’t be surprised if you catch Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos on the Food Network as well as on MTV - he’s been writing a series of food columns for The Guardian newspaper, and now that column is set to be compiled and published in book form.  Titled Sound Bites, the book will be out later this year, and will feature the columns published so far as well as some new material;  Franz Ferdinand’s touring drummer/keyboard player Andrew Knowles is set to illustrate the book.  And as for Franz, they’ve got a heavy festival schedule coming up this summer, with appearances scheduled at Reading and Leeds, Oxegen and The Carling Weekend as well as T in the Park...
 
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:  Alt-rockers Guster have just launched the first episode of their 5-part online docu-comedy about the making of their new album;  see it for free at www.guster.com, and don’t miss their free podcast subscriptions while you’re there...
 
MINI BUZZ:
Those long-awaited Radiohead live dates have finally been announced - well, at least the first leg - so far, Thom Yorke and the boys are scheduled to show up in Boston (6/4 and 6/5), Toronto (6/7 and 6/8), NYC (6/13 and 6/14), Chicago (6/19 and 6/20), and Los Angeles (6/29 and 6/30), with more dates expected...
A whopping thirty-three years after its original release, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album is still hanging in there, today hitting its 1,500th week on the Billboard album charts...
Duran Duran are the latest band to be added to the lineup for the 2006 Voodoo Music Experience, which will be held on October 28-29 at an as-yet-undisclosed location in or near New Orleans, and which will also include co-headliner the Red Hot Chili Peppers...
Green Day and singer Annie Lennox will be the guests of honor at the 23rd Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards next week, where Green Day will snag the Creative Voice Award and Lennox the ASCAP Founders award...
Dashboard Confessional will be hitting the emo road this summer for a set of shows that will include stops in Las Vegas (7/14), Atlanta (7/24), Chicago (7/28), and Minneapolis (7/32); DC will be promoting their upcoming album, Dusk and Summer...
Congrats going out this week to Michigan’s Jack White, who just welcomed a baby girl into the family with wife Karen Elson...
 
And being welcomed into a media store near you are this week’s new releases...  ON CD:  a second “new release” from Jack White (this one with his new bandmates), Broken Boy Soldiers from White’s new band, The Raconteurs... Snow Patrol’s Eyes Open... Paul Simon’s first album in six years, appropriately titled Surprise... Cibelle’s Shine of Dried Electronic Leaves...  Taking Back Sunday’s Louder Now... and Daniel Powter, having a good day with his eponymous debut disc, Daniel Powter...  ON DVD:  Alanis Morissette’s VH1 Storytellers... Howard Jones - 20th Anniversary Concert live at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire... PJ Harvey’s On Tour - Please Leave Quietly... and AMP: Video Archive for the Ages, Vol. 1... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
 
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions about this column or your fave musicians?  Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!