Wallflowers blossom with the spring

May 11, 2005

The Wallflowers next album, Rebel, Sweetheart, is due out on May 24, and the band has booked several tour dates and special performances to help promote their latest work. They already made appearances at Memphis’ Beale Street Music Festival and Boston’s EarthFest, and will also be making an appearance on NBC’s Today Weekend Edition Show on May 7, where fans can catch the show for free if they make it down to the studio site at 7 a.m. The tour itself is scheduled to start in mid-June and will continue into August, with shows set for Minneapolis (5/12), Philadelphia (6/11), Minneapolis (7/9), and Chicago (7/12) - and while-u-wait for The Wallflowers to hit your town, you can head on over to The Wallflower’s website to listen to a free stream of their newest tune, “The Beautiful Side of Somewhere”...

Modern rock legend Elvis Costello and acclaimed country singer Emmylou Harris have teamed up for a short July set of tour dates, with Costello promoting both his 2004 release, The Delivery Man, and his more recent DVD release, Club Date Live in Memphis, that features Costello and his band The Imposters during a summer 2004 performance in the Tennessee city. The duo will be playing a mix of outdoor venues and mid-range theaters, and will make stops at NYC’s Summerstage series as well as at Chicago’s Ravina Festival...

Speaking of modern rock legends - well, or even post-punk legends, for that matter - Gang of Four is soon to be paid tribute on a remix album that will accompany the other disc of a two-disc Gang of Four compilation, of which the first disc will contain re-recorded Gang of Four songs from their first three albums. The remix disc will feature many artists who cite Gang of Four as an influence, including Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, who will be covering “Ether”... The Futureheads, who will present their take on “Anthrax”... Bloc Party, who will rip up “To Hell With Poverty”... Yeah Yeah Yeah, who will re-record “I Love a Man in a Uniform,” and Hot Hot Heat, who will redo “Damaged Goods.” Beck, Massive Attack, Moby, and the Dandy Warhols are also expected to make contributions. Fans can support Gang of Four live on tour in Minneapolis on 5/10, Chicago on 5/11 and 5/12, Detroit on 5/13, and Toronto on 5/14...

And if you want to support the proverbial underdog - especially a deserving one - boy, have we got the guy for you. Singer-songwriter Michael Penn, who first hit the charts waaaay back in 1989 with his MTV Video Music Award-winning single “No Myth,” has finally broken free from one of the music industry’s longest-running contract disputes and now once again owns his own name and his own website (www.michaelpenn.com) and is able to legally release music on his own. Penn did release two albums on a major label, but those albums never really got any attention due in large part to lack of support; instead, the musician did some film score work, did production work for other artists (Liz Phair and the aforementioned Wallflowers among them) and toured with his singer-songwriter wife, Aimee Mann. Now he’s back with his pretty terrific brand-new 13-song Mr. Hollywood Jr. album, and hopes to tour in support of that album this upcoming fall. And, speaking of Mann, her latest effort, The Forgotten Arm, is in stores this week, too...

MINI BUZZ:
Foo Fighter’s new single, from their upcoming double album In Your Honor, has been pre-released and can be snagged online as a download via www.itunes.com...
Singer/actor Jack Black (Tenacious D) has signed up to star in a new film written by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) and Mike White - the as-yet-untitled movie will feature Black living a double life as both a Mexican priest and a masked wrestler...
Hip-hoppers The Roots are reportedly “60%” finished with their new album, and are considering a February 2006 release date for what they’ve tentatively titled Game Theory...
30 Seconds to Mars have announced show dates for a short U.S. club tour in support of their upcoming sophomore album, A Beautiful Lie, due out August 16; the tour will include stops in NYC (5/24), Detroit (5/30), Toronto (6/1), and Chicago (6/3)...
The Darkness are set to release a new album this fall, and their lead singer, Justin Hawkins, will be releasing a separate solo album, as well - Hawkins’ disc is called British Wail, and will hit stores a couple of months after The Darkness’ new CD does...
And, after almost ten years of work, Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters has finished writing his opera, Ca Ira, which was inspired by the French Revolution; he will release it as a double CD this fall, and the opera may also be performed live in Rome in November with a full symphony and chorus; Rogers is working on a separate rock album, as well...

ON CD: The Crystal Method’s Community Service, Vol. 2... Mike Doughty’s Haughty Melodic... Jars of Clay’s Redemption Songs... Deva Premal’s Dakshina... Lifehouse’s Lifehouse... and Come On Get Happy: The Very Best of The Partridge Family... ON DVD: MTV’s Punk’d: The Complete Second Season... Miles Davis - Cool Jazz Sound... Inside Yes: 1968-1973 A Critical Review... and Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd in De-Lovely, featuring the songs of Cole Porter... 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 modernrocker@gmail.com!