50 is the new 30 to queen of pop Madonna

Aug. 24, 2008

Turning 50? That means nothing to Madonna - well, except for the fact that she probably got a party and some pretty cool gifts. The ageless pop star just celebrated her 50th, and didn‘t waste any time getting back to work after her Guy Ritchie-helmed birthday celebration; she‘s in the middle of last-minute preparations for her world tour, which is set to kick off in the UK on August 23rd. The world‘s most successful female recording artist - whose worth with Ritchie is estimated at around $600 million - will finally be making a tour stop in her hometown of Detroit on November 18th, as well as several shows in her adopted hometown of New York City on October 7th, 11th, and 12th. The tour will take Maddie through most of Western Europe until she returns to U.S. shores on October 4th; she‘ll stay in the U.S. and Canada until she wraps the tour up with two Mexican dates the end of November...

Thievery Corporation have invited plenty of fellow musicians to guest on their upcoming album, including go-go pioneer Chuck Brown and world music artists Femi Kute and Seu Jorge. Making a “more overt political statement“ than previous efforts, according to TC‘s Rob Garza, the set will drop on September 23rd on TC‘s own ESL Music, with a digital release prefacing the album‘s physical release on September 9th. Thievery will embark on an international tour on October 10th to help promote the new CD...


The Clash‘s October 13th, 1982 performance at New York‘s Shea Stadium, long bootlegged and much-traded by Clash fans and collectors, is finally getting a real release on Legacy Records. Set to hit stores on October 7th, the disc features the band opening for none other than The Who on The Who‘s “farewell“ tour, and includes tons of favorite Clash songs, from “The Magnificent Seven“ to “London Calling,“ “Should I Stay or Should I Go“ to the all-time classic “Rock the Casbah.“


The Killers are set to release their third studio album this fall, and have been sorting through a couple dozen songs in order to pick the new set‘s tracklisting. Produced by Stuart Price, whose most notable work has actually been with the aforementioned Madonna, the new Killers tunes are more poppy than the band has previously offered up, but also contain plenty of quirky, more experimental elements. Tracks already picked for the disc include “Spaceman,“ and “Goodnight, Travel Well“ - the entire album, titled *Day and Age,* will hit stores and online venues in November; The Killers will be keeping busy with European festival dates in the meantime...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
You‘ve probably already heard that David Byrne and Brian Eno have teamed up to craft their first record as co-writers since their critically-acclaimed 1981 effort. What you might not know is that the album, which took a full year for Byrne and Eno to record, will be self-released, and made available as both a stream and as a digital download for purchase as of August 18th. A first listen of the song “Strange Overtones“ is available for download prior to the 18th, after which the entire record will be online and ready to go...

MINI BUZZ:
UK modern rockers Keane offered up the first new track, “Spiralling,“ from their new upcoming album as a free download via their website, and racked up a record of 500,000 downloads as Universal Records is calling it their “most popular free download ever“ - Keane‘s new album, *Perfect Symmetry,* will drop on October 13th...
Fellow Brits Coldplay have just confirmed 4 more U.S. shows for their upcoming tour; the new dates are 10/29 in Boston, 10/31 in Washington DC, 11/1 in Philly, and 11/5 in Atlanta, GA...
Experimental electro-rock band Minus the Bear are set to take to the road for their own national tour; kicking off in Seattle on 9/1, the band will also pass through Milwaukee (10/16), Chicago (10/17), Detroit (10/19), Washington DC (10/22), and Houston (11/8)...
If you‘re going to be in L.A. October 4th, don‘t miss the Third Annual L.A. Weekly Detour Music Fest, which will take over Main and 1st Streets in downtown Los Angeles and will feature sets from The Mars Volta, Black Lips, Matt Costa, Cut Copy, Bitter:Sweet, and plenty of other bands...
The Sarah McLachlan best-of album *Closer* will be released on October 7th on Arista Records, with the 16-track CD including McLachlan hits like “Building a Mystery,“ “Fallen,“ and “I Will Remember You“ as well as two new songs that McLachlan recorded with producer Pierre Marchand...
MTV has announced plans to relaunch their HD channel in September; they‘ve changed the name from MHD to Palladia, and will feature HD concerts on Saturdays...


ON CD: Juliana Hatfield‘s *How to Walk Away*... Fiery Furnaces‘ *Remember*... The Stills‘ *Oceans Will Rise*... Loudon Wainwright III‘s *Recovery*... The Walkmen‘s *You and Me*... and System and Station‘s *A Nation of Actors*... ON DVD: *Spearhead: All Rebel Rockers*... Randy Newman‘s *Harps and Angels*... *Phish: Walnut Creek* and *Dennis Wilson Forever* ... 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