2008 Voodoo Experience invites you to a road trip

Oct. 5, 2008

2008 Voodoo Experience Invites You to Road Trip
Looking for one last jaunt in the car before winter sets in? Here’s a great one for you - point your jalopy southward to New Orleans for the 2008 Voodoo Experience Fest, set to be held October 24-26 at Naw’lin’s City Park. Not daunted at all by the recent pass-through of Hurricane Gustav, the fest is set to go on as planned, and will feature energetic live sets from the likes of R.E.M., Stone Temple Pilots, Ben Jelen, TV on the Radio, The Mars Volta, and NERD, among others; tix are available online through
www.thetenthritual.com and www.ticketmaster.com...
Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson, who’s been expanding her acting career with her work as CEO-slash-terminator Weaver on Fox TV’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, isn’t giving up on music, so don’t worry, fans - she’s actually set to return to the recording studio next month to track some new songs for a planned solo album. Manson, who’s trying to “branch beyond her music persona,” figures both the solo disc and her work on the TV show will challenge her; her Garbage bandmates approve (no, she isn’t quitting the band), as evidenced by a congratulatory email sent to Manson by Garbage mastermind/drummer Butch Vig upon her TV debut...
Fresh off of several solo shows that he presented in Spain, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy recently announced that Wilco hopes to have their next album - their seventh - in stores by spring 2009. The band has already been performing two new songs, “One Wing,” and “Sunny Feeling,” in their live shows, and plan a more “sculpted” sound in the studio this time around, with more overdubs and production than the previous Wilco set, 2007’s Sky Blue Sky. Wilco was also one of the hit headliners at this year’s Lollapalooza fest in Chicago, and spent the majority of their summer on tour...
It’s snagged a whopping 75 million album sales with spin-off versions pushing sales to over 100 million worldwide; it’s celebrating its 25th UK anniversary; and it’s featured some of the past two decades’ most popular musicians. What is it? It’s that ubiquitous CD compilation series, Now That’s What I Call Music, and they’re ready to do some celebrating. Now 25 Years, set to hit stores on October 27, will serve as a “greatest hits” of the series, and will feature songs from the ‘80s up to today, with participating artists including everyone from U2 to Duffy, The Police to The Spice Girls...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
Wyclef Jean is doing his part to help provide food, water, and other essentials to assist the over 600,000 people who were displaced by storms in Haiti recently. Jean’s Haiti Storm Relief Fund can be contributed to and read about at www.yele.org; the fund will also help provide tents, blankets, and medical supplies...

MINI BUZZ:
Noah and The Whale (best known so far for their TV-advert-boosted hit “Five Years Time (Sun Sun Sun)”) arrived in the U.S. for a fall tour in September, and are continuing through October with dates in San Fran (10/2) and L.A.’s Detour Festival on October 4...
French Kicks have also just wrapped a quick set of North American tour dates, and will now be releasing an EP of live-performance cover songs they’ve conveniently dubbed Covers...
NY band Oxford Collapse has wrapped work on their sophomore Sub Pop album; all thirteen songs on the new set, dubbed Bits, are in-store now...
Electronica guru and Blondie singer Debbie Harry are teaming up to raise awareness for several animal groups, including Rational Animal and the ASPCA, by performing at the 3rd annual Gimme Shelter Rock and Rescue benefit concert on October 6 in NYC; other performers include Goonsquad, Jesse Malin and host Beastie Boy AdRock...
Sub Pop band Beachwood Sparks, who have been on hiatus since 2002, are returning to play a 20th anniversary bash, and will likely embark on recording a third album, along with a short set of tour dates...
Avril Lavigne’s The Best Damn Tour live DVD hits stores this week, covering her April 7, 2008 concert at the Air Canada Center in Toronto...
And now, we’re covering this week’s new releases... ON CD: Elvin Bishop’s The Blues Roll On... Ben Folds’ Way to Normal... The Pretenders’ Break Up the Concrete... Trivium’s Shogun... Annuals’ Such Fun... and Thievery Corporation’s Radio Retaliation... ON DVD: Cold War Kids’ Loyalty to Loyalty: The DVD... Hillsong’s This is Our God... Angels and Airwaves: Start the Machine... and The Lost Concert Series’ Presley and Cash: The Road Show... 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