All is Clear for Ivy

March 16, 2005

New York rockers Ivy’s new album, In The Clear, complete with guest appearances from Brazilian string arranger Ze Luis and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, just hit stores last week on Nettwerk Records, and the band’s already got a plethora of plans in motion to help promote their new tunes. Beginning with a NYC show on April 22 at the Bowery Ballroom, the band, which has expanded temporarily to a six-piece for this slate of tour dates, will go west, young band, for another half-dozen shows, including stops in Los Angeles (5/11) and Vancouver (5/16)...

The Black Eyed Peas latest effort, dubbed Monkey Business, is due in May of this year, festooned with contributions from the likes of R singer John Legend and revered surf guitarist Dick Dale (best known for his work on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack). The disc, being mixed and mastered as you read this, will include tracks “Change the World” (featuring Legend) and also “They Don’t Want Music,” a track on which they managed to get James Brown in for a little extra collaboration. The first single is expected to be “Don’t Funk With My Heart,” which the Peas shot a music video for last week with vid directors The Malloys...

It’s the coolest school assembly ever!! March 18 will see the Northwest School in Seattle celebrating their 25th anniversary, and a few old students are stopping by to help them mark the event. A special concert will be held at the Paramount Theatre, featuring Pearl Jam (guitarist Stone Gossard is a Northwest alumnus), Presidents of the USA (PUSA’s Jason Finn also attended school here), Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson (Ann Wilson has children currently attending the school) and Bill Frisell (also with a child at Northwest). Several lucky students will get to perform inbetween the main acts, which will make for great bragging rights in the yearbook...

And March 19 is the day on which the latest inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be honored - with special guests, including blues legend B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, folk-rocker Neil Young, and relative newbie Justin Timberlake all scheduled to be on hand to help present the awards. So, who made the cut for this year’s Hall of Fame? No less than U2, The Pretenders, Buddy Guy, Percy Sledge, and the O’Jays...

MINI BUZZ:
Several of Fiona Apple’s new longggggg-awaited songs - including “Not About Love,” “A Better Version of Me,” and album title track “Extraordinary Machine” - surfaced on Seattle radio station 107.7 last weekend; still no word yet on when the album itself will see the light of day...
Weezer are edging their way back to the public eye... er... ear... with two rare upcoming live shows in the UK in June...
Michigan’s own Madonna has signed on to portray ‘60s icon and Andy Warhol pal Candy Darling in an upcoming movie...
Creed spin-off band Alter Bridge are set to headline this year’s Jaegermeister Music Tour, with rockers Submersed and Future Leaders of the World also on the bill...
Scissor Sisters’ sole female member, Ana Matronic, has been snagged by New Order to contribute vocals to the new New Order tune “Jetstream” off of their upcoming album...
The Backstreet Boys (cough, cough - yep, you read that right) are making a bid for credibility by returning for a club tour of new BSB songs that will start on March 21...

And making a bid for your wallet this week are these new releases... ON CD: Daft Punk’s Human After All... Matt Bianco’s Matt’s Mood (featuring songstress Basia)... Kathleen Edwards’ Back To Me... and various artists contribute to the soundtrack for the new animated movie Robots... John Digweed’s Fabric 20... and The Decemberists’ critically-acclaimed Picaresque... ON DVD: Morrissey’s groovy Who Put The M in Manchester... Nanci Griffith’s One Fair Summer Evening Plus... Johnny Cash’s Live at Montreaux 1994... and Paula Abdul’s Video Hits... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, about this column or your favorite artists.Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!