Live from Lisbon

Oct. 12, 2005

The 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards are on the way, and this year’s event will be held in Lisbon, Portugal on November 3rd, to be broadcast live on MTV Europe and MTV USA. Leading the pack in nominations are Coldplay and Gorillaz, who each have five nods, along with four-time nominee Gwen Stefani and three-time nominees U2, Green Day, and 50 Cent. Performers at the awards will include Coldplay, Green Day, Robbie Williams, Foo Fighters, and the Black Eyed Peas; winners in most categories will be voted for by MTV viewers worldwide, with the Best Video and Free Your Mind awards being voted on exclusively by MTV Europe viewers...

Meanwhile, the next American music awards show, the...er... American Music Awards, to be exact... will take place on November 22, with Green Day and Kelly Clarkson leading the nominees, and the show set to be broadcast on ABC TV. Other modern rockin’ musicians up for multiple awards include Maroon 5 and the Black Eyed Peas, while The Killers, Jesse McCartney, and Sugarland will duke it out for Favorite New Artist. Plenty of additional artists snagged at least one nomination, among them Coldplay, Rob Thomas, Gwen Stefani, and Will Smith; confirmed performers so far include Mariah Carey and the aforementioned former Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas...

Alanis Morissette will be releasing her version of Seal’s smash hit “Crazy” as the prelude to her upcoming Maverick Records retrospective collection, which she’s dubbed simply “The Collection.” The compilation of Alanis hits will be available both as a single-disc (enhanced, of course) and as a double-disc that’ll be packaged with a special hour-long DVD documentary. The set will include such Morissette hits such as “Hand in My Pocket,” “Thank U,” and her first big chart single, “You Oughta Know,” as well as more obscure tracks like her contributions to the soundtracks for “City of Angels,” “Dogma,” and the Cole Porter story, “De-Lovely.” Morissette’s “The Collection” will hit stores on November 15...

And, remarkably, it’s taken nearly ten years, but the Fugees appear to be back on the road to reunion time - Fugees Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Prakazrel Michel have been spending time together in the recording studio for the past two months, and, as a result, a brand-new Fugees song titled “Be Easy” has been leaked onto the internet. So what does one song mean? Well, it’s only the start of what is set to be the Fugees reunion album, which now has a tentative release date of December 27, although it’s still untitled as of press time...

MINI BUZZ:
Indie rockers Pedro the Lion are hard at work on a new studio album, while their label, Jade Tree, are simultaneously preparing to release a DVD set of the band featuring a plethora of live footage and interviews; the new PTL album is due next summer, with the DVD due out early next year...
Former Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale may have moved on to his new project, modern rock band Institution, but Bush’s label Kirtland Records is still looking to the past with a new DVD called Zen X Four that will hit stores on November 1 and will contain all of Bush’s music videos...
The Juliana Theory, whose new album, Deadbeat Sweetheart, just hit stores, have wrapped up phase one of their tour with a home-state show in Pennsylvania, and they’ll be heading back out on the road again beginning October 19 in Detroit...
Australia’s Falls Festival is shaping up for the New Year, with confirmed performers so far including Aussie legends The Hoodoo Gurus plus the Dandy Warhols, The Shins, and Pete Murray...
Dave Matthews Band are kicking off a fall tour on November 26 in Minneapolis, with stops in Detroit (12/3), Toronto (12/4), and Philadelphia (12/13) and with opening acts Soulive, Mike Doughty, and Gavin DeGraw in tow...
Fans of INXS were surprised to see a variety of musical instruments and memorabilia from the band’s recent TV show Rock Star: INXS up for grabs this month on auction site eBay...

And up for grabs for you in multimedia stores this week are these cool new releases... ON CD: Big Star’s first studio record in three decades, Big Star in Space... The Constantine’s Tournament of Hearts... The Detroit Cobras’ Baby... Elbow’s Leaderes of the Free World... HIM’s Dark Light... and Sean Paul’s The Trinity... ON DVD: Elvis ‘56 - In the Beginning... New Order’s A Collection... Chick Corea’s Rendezvous in New York... and Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music - The Director’s Cut... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

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