Rockin‘ for Darfur

Nov. 14, 2007

ROCKIN’ FOR DARFUR
The second annual Rock for Darfur initiative kicked off last week, with a slate of a whopping 37 worldwide concerts set to raise money for the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan. Last year’s effort raised nearly $50,000; the hope is that all of these shows will surpass that this year. Events included Fall Out Boy in Bridgeport, CT; Hot Hot Heat in Glasgow; Charlie Hunter in Milan, Italy; Mute Math in Dallas, TX; Suzanne Vega in Seattle; and The Decemberists at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. Wanna get all the show reports and more info on how you can help? Check it all out online at www.myspace.com/rockfordarfur...

Pink Floyd’s entire roster of studio albums are set to be compiled for a 16-disc (yes, that’s 16 discs!) box set that’ll hit stores on December 4 via Capitol Records. Only 10,000 copies will be available for starter. The set will run all the way from Floyd’s 1967 debut disc, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, to their final band album, 1994’s The Division Bell, with each CD album a reproduction of the original vinyl release. The collection has been titled Oh By the Way...

The first Movies Rock concert event is now slated to be taped on December 2 at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theater, the premise being that various musical performers will perform songs from - duh! - movies that rock. Among the confirmed artists set to appear are Mary J. Blige and John Legend, who will duet on “As Time Goes By,” Legend has a solo act (he’ll be tackling music from animated films), and Fergie, who will offer up her take on “Live and Let Die.”  Additional performers include Beyonce, Elton John, Jennifer Hudson, and Carrie Underwood; the show is scheduled to be broadcast on December 7 on CBS TV...

And the My Coke Fest, sponsored by, of course, Coca-Cola, is now making plans for their 2008 event, which will take place in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. Johannesburg rockers Prime Circle will appear, along with international acts Chris Cornell, Muse, Kaiser Chiefs, and more to be announced in the next few weeks. The event will rock South Africa over two days, with those exact two days TBA...
 
MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:  It may be a lengthy link, but it’s an entertaining one - Rolling Stone has posted their “Illustrated Guide to the Indie Rock Universe” online at http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/11/01/the-indie-rock-universe-an-illustrated-guide/ -
complete with, well, illustrations, and also streaming song files...

MINI BUZZ:
Magnetic Fields will drop their first album in four years on January 15; they’ve titled it Distortion...
Queens of the Stone Age will play a unique - to say the least - live venue of sorts (make that salts?) on November 20; a special audience of contest winners will get to see the band play unplugged in a salt mine one mile beneath Sondershausen, Germany...
Glam-folkster Patrick Wolf has announced that he’s launching his own digital-only record label, of which the first release will be a reissue of Wolf’s own album, Wind in the Wires...
Supergrass’ Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey have decided to gig as a separate-from-Supergrass duo while bassist Mick Quinn recuperates from a broken back; they’ll be playing around London through the end of November...
The latest Warchild charity concert took place last week at Brixton Academy in London, as curated by Keane with special appearances from The Magic Numbers, Guillemots, Findlay Brown, and The Raconteurs’ Brendan Benson...
And a sad goodbye this week to famed influential country music legend Porter Wagoner, who passed away from lung cancer on October 28, and whose most recent album, Wagonmaster, was released in June of this year...

This week ON CD: Duran Duran’s Red Carpet Massacre... The Killers’ Sawdust... Seal’s System... The Goo Goo Dolls’ Greatest Hits Vol. 1 - The Singles... Various Artists’ Concert for Diana... and The Hives’ Black and White Album... ON DVD: Ricky Martin’s Live Black and White Tour... The Police: Regatta De Blanc... Eagles’ California Nights Interviews... and Bon Jovi: Lost Highway - The Concert... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave artists?  Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com