March 29, 2024

Original Woodstock Fest gets box set

Aug. 16, 2009
Original Woodstock Fest Gets Box Set
Kristi Kates 8/17/09
Rhino Records will pay tribute to the original Woodstock Festival with a special box set that will be released on August 18, six CDs and 77 songs in all. Included in the set are such previously unreleased recordings as “Pinball Wizard” by The Who and a 19-minute rendition of a Grateful Dead song, plus tracks from Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Sha Na Na, Johnny Winter, Arlo Guthrie, Mountain, and plenty of others. The set, which has been dubbed Woodstock - 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur’s Farm, will retail for $79.98, and will keep the tracklisting accurate to the actual running order of the original festival, as well as including the original stage announcements, Max Yasgur’s famed speech, and audio of Abbie Hoffman meeting Who guitarist Pete Townsend...
Silverstein have joined the ranks of musicians who have crafted their own clothing or shoe line - in Silverstein’s case, it’s all about the shoes, which you’ll be able to purchase through www.loudclothing.com; you’ll find Silverstein’s own line of canvas sneakers there. In addition to their footwear work, the band are also currently wrapping up the end of their summer tour dates in support of their A Shipwreck in the Sand album; they still have a few tour stops planned for Fresno CA (8/19), Sacramento CA (8/21), San Diego (8/22), and Anchorage, Alaska (8/28)...
A revived Pet Shop Boys have announced that they’ll kick off a North American tour in Montreal on August 29; the duo will be touring to support their tenth album, Yes, and have titled their tour the Pandemonium Tour. They’ll be playing plenty of Pet Shop Boys greatest hits (“West End Girls” and “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” are probably the two tunes that will refresh your memory) on the jaunt, as well as material from the new record; they’ll be making stops in NYC (9/1 and 9/2), Chicago (9/14), Milwaukee (9/15), Seattle (9/20), and Las Vegas (9/26), among other places...
And New Zealand indie-rocker Chris Knox is currently at home recovering from a stroke he suffered last month; the stroke is said to have affected the speech and language centers of Chris’ brain as well as the right side of his body, and that recovery may take some time, although Knox personality is reportedly intact. While he’s getting well, a cover album of his indie-rock songs - affectionately titled Stroke - is in the works, featuring contributions from Guided by Voices, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, Lou Barlow, The Magnetic Fields, and more. MGMT have also donated all proceeds from a recent DJ set that they did in Auckland to Knox’ recovery; Knox was supposed to open for MGMT on part of their tour. Get well soon, Chris...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
French group Nouvelle Vague - who are currently in vogue (ahem) for their bossa-nova-style covers of punk and new wave tunes - are featuring a number of new wave standbys on lounge versions of their own songs. Take a listen to these fun dueted tracks by NV along with the likes of Echo and the Bunnymen’s Ian McCullough, Magazine’s Barry Adamson, and Talking Heads (among others) at Nouvelle Vague’s MySpace page, www.myspace.com/nouvellevague...

MINI BUZZ:
No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani recently made an appearance in Elle Magazine, in which she talks about her current case of writer’s block, the life-changing experiences she’s gone through since marrying Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, and how it felt to be a solo artist as opposed to working with her longtime band...
The Lilith Fair web site (www.lilithfair.com) now features the brief message “Returning in 2010,” and execs from Nettwerk Music Group (Sarah McLachlan’s label) has been seen twittering about the fest and mentioning possible European dates next year...
Legendary retro-classic-pop singer Natalie Cole has overcome her medical difficulties and has announced that she’ll resume live shows, starting with her September 9th show at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl...
WHY?’s latest album, Eskimo Snow, was recorded back in February 2007, and is now finally set for release this fall; it will serve as the follow-up to WHY?’s 2008 release, Alopecia, and will be accompanied by a series of tour dates...
The state of Oklahoma has officially made The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize” its official state rock song; the band is originally from Oklahoma City and released the tune back in 2002...
And in the wacky music news department, American Idol judge and music exec Simon Cowell is reportedly teaming up with Timbaland to remake the movie Saturday Night Fever; on the top of Cowell’s list for the lead role is musical/movie actor Zac Efron...
And on the top of this week’s new releases list are these discs... ON CD: The Stone Roses’ The Stone Roses: Special Edition... Ian Brown’s latest (title TBA)... Chris Garneau’s El Radio... and Wild Beasts’ Two Dancers... ON DVD: Old Crow Medicine Show Live at the Orange Peel and Tennessee Theater and Chris Isaak: Greatest Hits ... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.
Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your favorite musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com

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