Old Friends Party On

November 30 is the day that Simon and Garfunkel fans can look forward to not one, but three new releases documenting the golden-voiced duo’s 2003 reunion tour.  Warner Brothers is making plans to drop the documentary Old Friends: Live On Stage as a stand-alone DVD, a double CD set, and a deluxe set that includes both the CDs and the DVD.  Several nifty extras are set to be included on the DVD, including a new (yes, new!) Simon and Garfunkel audio track called “Citizen of the Planet” that was originally written for an earlier Paul Simon album;  there will also be some previously unreleased footage from the pair’s appearance on a TV special in the late ‘60s.  The tracklisting for Old Friends... will include “I Am A Rock,” “Cecilia,” “The Boxer,” “The 59th Street Bridge Song,” “Mrs. Robinson,” and “The Sound of Silence,” among plenty of others;  meanwhile, Paul Simon is currently at work on his next solo album, which will be produced by Brian Eno...
 Thanksgiving week (the week of November 27) will play host to a whole menu’s worth of musical specials, featuring something a little bit country, something a little bit rock and roll, and something a little bit - retro.  Justin Timberlake will star in a one-hour special set to air on November 25 that will feature JT performing live in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee with special guest (and fellow Memphis resident) Al Green;  JT will also take y’all on a tour of Memphis.  On the 26, Shania Twain hits NBC for her second concert special, also taped in Nashville, and she’ll be backed by Alison Krauss and Union Station.  Saving the corn for Thanksgiving dinner, crooner Harry Connick appears on the 27th with a
family-friendly Christmas-themed special that will feature guest appearances by Marc Anthony and Nathan Lane...
Speaking of holidays, with Christmas nearing quickly, the holiday singles are starting to appear almost as fast as the on-sale frozen turkeys - but it’ll be hard to find one with a higher “cool” factor than this one.  Band Aid founders Bob Geldof and Midge Ure have reportedly begun solidifying details for a re-recording of the 1984 best-selling charity single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” with proceeds to again benefit the Band Aid trust to aid African famine.  The original single was, for many years, the best-selling British single of all time, and a second version of the song was actually re-recorded in 1989, again topping the Brit charts.  This year’s version is setting its sights on Nigel Godrich (Radiohead) to produce, and Geldof and crew have already approached several artists and have been getting positive responses from the likes of Chris Martin (Coldplay), The Darkness, Robbie Williams, Dido, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, and Keane, among others.  We’ll keep you updated...
Indie modern rockers The Unicorns just wrapped up a series of North American tour dates that had them on the road since October 27.  Now the band is getting ready to release a new high-concept project which consists of three three-inch CDs that are meant to be played all at the same time on three stereos.  No word yet on if playing all three at once will send out enough sonic weirdness to get your dog to come in from the yard, but you can try.  In the meantime, you can take a listen to their newest “regular” disc, The Hair Album, which is due out on November 22, and you can check out their bizarre, little, official website at www.theunicorns.net...
 MINI BUZZ:
Beach Boy Brian Wilson has announced that he’ll be re-releasing the legendary single “Good Vibrations” later this month on November 29 through Nonesuch Records; the single will serve as the first proper release from Wilson’s recently-completed “lost” album Smile...
Former Suede frontman Brett Anderson and former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler have formed a new group that they’ve dubbed The Tears, and they’re currently recording an album set for possible release in Spring 2005...
Hoobastank will drop their first DVD, Let It Out, next week, with the disc featuring six videos from their album The Reason plus various “making-of” segments...
Stereophonics have chosen a working title for their new album - Language, Sex, Violence, Other is due out sometime in 2005...
Garage-rockers The Bamboo Kids have signed with Get Hip Records, with their self-titled debut due later this fall...
Spoon have completed work on their fifth album, and expect it in stores early next year...
On the way to a store near you this week are these new releases... ON CD: Live’s Awake: The Best of Live... Pete Yorn’s Live from New Jersey... Ronan Keating’s 10 Years of Hits... Genesis’ Platinum Collection... Neil Young’s Greatest Hits... and Psychic Emperor’s Psychic Emperor...   ON DVD:  Live Aid: The DVD... Peter Gabriel’s Play DVD... Norah Jones and The Handsome Band: Live in 2004... and Queen’s On Fire at the Bowl... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves about this column or your fave artists? Send ‘em to Kristi at expressmodernrock@hotmail.com!

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