Modern Rock

Modern Rock Kristi Kates This Summer’s Rothbury Fest Not Happening
As Rolling Stone quoted last week, “Rothbury is not the new Bonnaroo,” as evidenced by the fact that the 2010 rendition of the newbie Michigan music fest has already been canceled. The official announcement from the Rothbury folks blames “the recording and touring schedules of various artists” for the cancellation, saying that the scheduling conflicts made it impossible for Rothbury to secure a “worthwhile” lineup. That excuse seems a little thin, since other summer music festivals seem to be doing just fine rounding up top-notch rosters of bands and performers (we’re thinking that the economy has a lot more to do with Rothbury’s demise.) But regardless, no Rothbury this year, so save your bucks for Chicago’s Lollapalooza fest and the usual plethora of local outdoor events...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates C’mon and Listen to the Music of The Who
There’s one modern rockin’ concert scheduled for New York City’s Carnegie Hall on March 2 - producer Michael Dorf has assembled quite an impressive list of performers for Music of The Who, which will pay tribute to the influential British rock band. No word yet on if Pete Townshend or Roger Daltrey will show up - but attendees will get to hear Who songs interpreted by the likes of The Gaslight Anthem, The Smithereens, Living Colour, Sondre Lerche, The Postelles, Gov’t Mule, and Robyn Hitchcock, among others. Dorf - who’s staged similar events to honor Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and R.E.M. - says the Who tribute performance will be “one of the most memorable shows yet.” For more info, check out www.carnegiewho.com...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates You’ll Really Get The Kinks New Movie
Acclaimed music vid/film director Julien Temple, who’s helmed music videos for everyone from Duran Duran and ABC to Blur, David Bowie, and Neil Young as well as documentaries on the Glastonbury Fest and the Sex Pistols, will soon be tackling a new movie about Brit band The Kinks. The Kinks’ Ray Davies himself will be involved at the project, which will focus on the relationship between bandmate brothers Ray and Dave Davies, complete with the sibling rivalry and love/hate dynamic seen in more recent years in fellow Brit band Oasis. A cast or release date has yet to be announced, but the film’s tentative title borrows from one of The Kinks’ very own songs - it’ll be dubbed You Really Got Me...
Speaking of movies, Detroit band The White Stripes’ concert film Under Great White Northern Lights premiered summer 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and now everyone else will get a chance to see the movie, too, when it arrives in box set format on March 16. The limited edition set includes a DVD of the film plus a whole lot more - a DVD of The White Stripes Under Nova Scotian Lights

Modern Rock Kristi Kates The Return of McLachlan and Lilith Fair
Sarah McLachlan is stepping back into the music scene to revive the late ‘90s music festival Lilith Fair, which was the first modern concert event to feature primarily female singer-songwriters all on one festival bill (the early Lilith Fairs included performances from McLachlan along with the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Lauryn Hill, and Christina Aguilera.) The summer of 2010 will see the return of the Lilith Fair event, which has already booked its first round of performers, among them Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, Belinda Carlisle, Metric, Chairlift, and Emmylou Harris; for more info, keep an eye on www.lilithfair.com...
Elbow’s Guy Garvey has moved from Manchester back to his hometown of Bury, England, and has been working hard on songwriting sessions for Elbow’s next album. Garvey recently mentioned that he’s actually been including tales of his hometown in some of the lyrics for Elbow’s new songs, and that the band is also experimenting with psychedelia and shoegaze sounds in their music, complete with Moogs and Mellotrons. The band already has almost two dozen song ideas for the new set, which will be their fifth album and will serve as follow-up to 2008’s The Seldom Seen Kid...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Fiery Furnaces Craft A Sound of Silence
The Fiery Furnaces are striking out to take a stand on file-sharing - although given the obscure wording of their recent press announcement, it’s a little difficult to tell which side they’re on - by making the production of their next album a “Silent Record” that will “consist of instruction, conventional music notation, graphic music notation...” and a good half-dozen other items. Once the album is released, the Furnaces will reportedly organize a series of “Fan-Band Concerts,” via which groups of Furnaces fans will “perform, interpret, contradict, ignore, and so on” the compositions that make up the Silent Record. Fans can write to the band at thefieryfurnacesemail@gmail.com to nominate their local venue (“post office break room, truck stop parking lot, municipal arts center, etc.) for one of the shows. Should be interesting...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Austin City Limits Celebrates 35 Years
PBS TV music show “Austin City Limits” just kicked off their 35th year on the air this past fall, and are celebrating in part by booking their first hip-hop acts in addition to the rest of their standout performance roster for 2010. In addition, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have just designated the Austin City Limits studio “landmark status,” due to their longevity with a format that probably would’ve been cancelled years ago on fickle commercial television. The January-February schedule includes plenty of acts that help solidify why ACL is one of the best and most interesting performance shows on TV, with shows including Allen Toussaint (1/9), Mos Def (1/16), Them Crooked Vultures (2/6), and Madeleine Peyroux (2/13)...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Cash, Lewis, Presley, Perkins Worth a Million Bucks
“Million Dollar Quartet” is the title of a new musical that’s been test-running in Chicago before it heads to New York for a planned Broadway run in spring of 2010. The musical focuses on the real-life 1956 gathering of rock legends Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Carl Perkins, who were brought together for a jam session at Memphis’ Sun Records by producer Sam Phillips.

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Brand New Devo for
a Brand New Year

‘70s/’80s new wavers Devo have signed a new partnership with Warner Bros. Records, the very label that they kicked off their hit career with back in the day. The new paperwork includes the label in Devo’s recordings, touring, merchandising, endorsements, web presence, and much more, and began taking action last month with deluxe CD and limited-edition colored vinyl reissues of Devo’s 1978 gold debut disc, Q: Are We Not Men?

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Musical Gift From The Smashing Pumpkins
A gift of sorts is on the way soon from The Smashing Pumpkins; they recently announced plans for a new SP album that will only be issued online and free of charge. The songs on the set, which they’ve dubbed Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, will showcase the band’s more melodic and psychedelic roots, and will include 44 (yes, you read that number correctly) new SP songs; frontman Billy Corgan says the plan is to release one song at a time until all 44 tracks are online. Corgan also emphasized that each song will be made available for free to everyone at www.smashingpumpkins.com, with no strings attached, and you can download as many times as you’d like. The music will additionally be sold as 11 different limited-edition four-song EPs, especially for the SP collectors...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Gwen Stefani Offers Up New Rockin’ Fashions
Singer-songwriter-fashionista Gwen Stefani has been working on her latest LAMB fashion collection, the most recent installment of which was featured at this fall’s New York Fashion week to great critical and fashion-mag acclaim. Stefani’s newest designed look draws from much of ‘80s fashion, as several of the items in her line include acid-wash denim and off-the-shoulder sweatshirt type tops as well as T-shirt dresses; other influences seem to be punk, from studded suspenders to skinny jeans and plaid. Stefani’s new items will be on sale in early 2010...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Hall of Fame Nominees
Include RHCP, Stooges, Abba
Next year’s ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees features yet another diverse roster of artists eligible for induction 25 years after their debut release (which means this crop released their first single no later than 1984.) The final list of inductees will be announced in January 2010, with the ceremony set to be held once again at New York’s Waldorf Astoria in March. The Red Hot Chili Peppers and LL Cool J are up for nomination alongside the likes of ABBA, The Stooges, The Hollies, Darlene Love, and Jimmy Cliff, among others, with RHCP and Cool J making the ballot on their very first year of eligibility; if Cool J gets inducted, he’ll be the third hip-hop act in the Hall, after Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Airborne Toxic Event Merges Rock and Classical
Indie rockers The Airborne Toxic Event will be presenting a special performance at L.A.’s Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall on December 4; the band will be performing with the award-winning Calder Quartet (among other special guests) in a cool merging of contemporary music with classical. The show is part of the West Coast Left Coast Festival, a celebration of “the music and culture of California”; The Airborne Toxic Event is the only rock act on the festival’s bill, representing their hometown of East L.A....

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Gabriel, Wyman, Ferry
Contribute to Charity Album
Part of a BBC One fundraising effort that’s raised over $850 million to date, a charity cover recording of The Beatles’ classic track “All You Need is Love” is set to be recorded at London’s Studio 2 for the Bandaged Together album. The album will include other tracks as produced by AD Chivers, but the single itself will be the highlight, as it will feature some huge names in rock and pop music, including Peter Gabriel, Bill Wyman, Bryan Ferry, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, Queen’s Roger Taylor, and Jamie Cullum, among others...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Monsters of Folk
Supergroup Give Back
Monsters of Folk - the cool, folky supergroup that consists of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, singer-songwriter M. Ward, and My Morning Jacket’s Jim James - released their debut album back in June, and have spent much of their fall on the road in America. The uber-collaborative band, whose live shows include them frequently switching instruments and trading their band roles throughout the set, have also partnered up with Air Traffic Control, a resource for musicians’ philanthropic work, to donate monies raised from their tour tix sales; the band will be donating $1 from every ticket sold to local non-profit organizations. More U.S. dates may be added, but for now, the Europeans are the lucky ones, as Monsters of Folk have just a few dates left in November, including stops in London (11/17), Paris (11/18), and The Hague, Holland (11/21)...

Modern Rock Kristi Kates Modern Rock\David Bowie the subject of New eBook
Kristie Kates 11/9/09
An exclusive Ziggy Stardust eBook App is now available exclusively at the iTunes App store for a mere $2.99; the interactive electro-book chronicles David Bowie’s 20-month journey in the early ‘70s as his Ziggy Stardust character and Ziggy’s metamorphosis into Aladdin Sane. Over 600 images by world-renowned photographer Mick Rock are included in the ebook, some of which are being published for the first time. The images utilize the new Photomosiac technology that enables views to tap or pinch to zoom into full resolution of the images; it’s a perfect mini-gift for any Bowie fan...