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Grammy Slam – Arcade Fire’s Tour – “I’m a Believer”

21 Feb

Steve Stoute Rips the Grammy Awards

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110221/music_nm/us_grammys

Stoute believes the Grammy's are acting ancient (well, when your symbol is a phonograph)

Steven Stoute, a music producer who has produced such quality performers as Nas, recently ran a full-page New York Times advertisement declaring that the Grammy Awards are not in tune with popular music. I could not avoid the pun.

Stoute needed to get his opinion out to the world. He wrote, “Over the course of my 20-year history as an executive in the music business and as the owner of a firm that specializes in in-culture advertising, I have come to the conclusion that the Grammy Awards have clearly lost touch with contemporary popular culture.” Oh, he’s totally calling you out Grammy Awards.

He cited the Grammy voters who snubbed Eminem and Justin Bieber.

“We must acknowledge the massive cultural impact of Eminem and Kanye West and how their music is shaping, influencing and defining the voice of a generation,” Stoute wrote.

The Grammy’s awarded Arcade Fire with Album of the Year and Esperanza Spalding with Best New Artist. Justin Bieber was spotted with wads of cash in his pockets, disappointed, as he was driven home in his stretch limo with a jacuzzi in the trunk.

I agree, the Grammy Awards suck. But I completely disagree with Stoute. The Grammy Awards suck because they refuse to recognize good music. This year, the voters actually did an okay job for the first time in a few years. The Grammy Awards are a MUSIC awards show. They should award musicians who make good music. Justin Bieber is a teen idol whose music is immature, corny and about as mainstream as anything can get. He has no spine and has been molded into the star that others made him become. His is a musical Gumby. Yes, Bieber is insanely popular, but that does not mean he should be awarded for his popularity. The Harry Potter movies do exceptionally well at the box office, but you do not see them winning awards. They don’t because they are sub-par movies. Stoute, Bieber is doing just fine without golden phonographs. He will never have to work a day in his life. Just drop it.

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Arcade Fire Tours

Link: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2011/02/arcade-fire-announce-world-tour-opening-acts.html\

While we are on the subject, Arcade Fire, coming off the high of their unexpected Grammy for Best Album of the Year, will be touring in both the United States and Europe this Spring. Here are the dates:

April
9 – Broomfield, Colo. @ 1st Bank Center ^
11 – Orem, Utah @ The UCCU Center ^
13 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Comerica Theatre ^
14 – Las Vegas, Nev. @ The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel ^
16 – Indio, Calif. @ Coachella
18 – Santa Fe, N.M. @ Santa Fe Convention Center
20 – Kansas City, Mo. – Starlight Amphitheatre +
22 – Chicago, Ill. @ UIC Pavilion +
24 – Chicago, Ill. @ UIC Pavilion +
25 – Chicago, Ill. @ UIC Pavilion +
27 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ The Lawn at White River State Park *
28 – Memphis, Tenn. @ Orpheum Theatre
30 – Dallas, Texas @ Gexa Energy Pavilion #

May
3 – Austin, Texas @ The Backyard %
4 – The Woodlands, Texas @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion %
6 – New Orleans, La. @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

June
9-12 – Manchester, Tenn. @ Bonnaroo Festival
17 – Scheesel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival
18 – Neuhausen, Germany @ Southside Festival
21 – Zagreb, Croatia @ T Mobile InMusic Festival
22 – Burgenland, Austria @ Festivalgelände Wiesen
26 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Rock-A-Field Festival
30 – London, England @ Hyde Park

July
2 – Arras, France @ Main Square Festival
3 – Belfort, France @ Les Eurockeenes
5 – Milan, Italy @ Milano Jazzin’ Festival
7 – Novi Sad, Serbia @ Exit Festival
9 – Lucca, Italy @ Lucca Summer Festival
15 – Lisbon, Portugal @ Super Bock Super Rock Festival
17 – Bennicassim, Spain @ Benicassim Festival
30 – Moncton, New Brunswick @ Magnetic Hill @

August
31 – Manchester, England @ MEN Arena

September
1 – Edinburgh, Scotland @ Edinburgh Castle

– ^ = with Local Natives
– + = with the National
– # = with Okkevil River
– % = with Explosions in the Sky
– @ = with U2

Thank you Paste for such a radical chart. The bolded shows are the ones to make it out to because the opening acts are better than Arcade Fire (LOL)

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Hey Hey We’re Still the Monkees

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/21/the-monkees-60s-uk-tour

The Monkees have been spelling monkey wrong for 45 years and they will splatter billboards with this cutesy misnomer during their recently announced 45th anniversary tour.

The tour is the band’s first in 12 years and original members Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones will smile through renditions of “I’m a Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville” and other hits.

The tour will be a total of 10 dates kicking off on 12 May at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

Echo Arena, Liverpool – 12th May
Manchester Apollo – 14th
City Hall, Newcastle – 15th
Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow – 16th
Royal Albert Hall, London – 19th
City Hall, Sheffield – 20th
NIA Academy, Birmingham – 21st
Plymouth Pavillions – 23rd
CIA, Cardiff  – 24th
Royal Centre, Nottingham – 25th

Hey, Hey!

Vote Sheepdogs – Arizona Benefit Concert – Music’s Downwards Spiral

17 Feb

Sheepdogs Appear in Rolling Stone Contest
Rolling Stone magazine has posted an ultimate music contest for selected unsigned bands. The magazine will pin the musicians against each-other in a tournament for the prize of being featured on the cover of the magazine. Awesome, right? And guess who is in the competition? The Sheepdogs. I featured the Sheepdogs a while back and you can see the feature by clicking on their name.

On March 16, after the votes narrow 16 bands to eight, will be invited into a studio with a major producer before the next round of cuts. When the Rolling Stone are down to two bands, the bands will battle at Bonnaroo Music Festival.

Vote for the Sheepdogs.

Follow this link and listen to some Sheepdogs:

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Alice Cooper will be joined by Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash and other artists, at a concert in Tuscon, Arizona, to benefit a charity set up to after the Jan. 8 shooting.

Mark Kelly, the husband of wounded representative Gabrielle Giffords, plans to speak at the event.

The eleemosynary concert will raise money for the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding, a charity set up by Ron Barber, a wounded Giffords aide.

The event will be held in the Tucson Convention Center and tickets are available at Ticketmaster.

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A Scary Chart

I pulled this chart from Business Insider’s Chart of the Day. They pulled it from another source so make sure to check it out. The chart paints a pessimistic picture of Global Music. Digital music sales are significantly down and the future looks grim. It’s a provocative chart.

Buffalo Springfield Listens to The Music Court (ME)

14 Feb

Buffalo Springfield Will…might…tour

Awesome Picture of Buffalo Springfield

One thing I love about doing this blog is going back and reading old posts. Today, when I read the news that Buffalo Springfield may actually be touring, I remembered that I wrote something about this some months ago. I have a terrible memory. This news just sparked my memory. I searched the blog for Buffalo Springfield and, wouldn’t you know it, back on Sept. 14, I wrote about how Buffalo Springfield was reuniting for Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, California. It was a two-night gig for original members of the band. It went well. Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay sounded young and energetic (as I have heard).

I wrote:

Will they listen to me and tour after the benefit?

“Whether anything happens after this, I certainly don’t know. Generally speaking, it’s Neil that gets these things set up and happening. We’re not really saying ‘Hey New York and Chicago and Miami and Denver, we’re coming to your city.”

Well, it is not a no.

The quotes in that section are from Furay. On Sept. 14, I was not particularly happy at the Jets for losing their opener against the Ravens. I still am disgusted at their loss to the Steelers in the AFC Championship game. So, as I wrote there, news of Buffalo Springfield’s reunion should make everyone happy. Today I have news that will really have you saying hooray for our side.

David Crosby, longtime friend of the band and member of Crosby Stills & Nash, has confirmed that the band will hit the road this Fall, joining forces on tour for the first time since their 1968 break up. This has not been fully confirmed yet, but I do have to say Crosby’s word is probably solid. Crosby goes on to say that he wishes his old band, The Byrds, would tour with Buffalo Springfield, but folk-singer (and former Byrds’ member) Roger McGuinn is having none of it. So, let me work my Music Court charm one more time and start boiling the cauldron again.

Boy, I really hope The Byrds join Buffalo Springfield in the Fall. Now this must happen supposing the Jets continue to make me miserable…which is likely.

I may have some more links for you today. Keep posted.

R.E.M’s Collapse A Good Thing – Younger Decca – Happy Together (if the grades are okay)

7 Feb

R.E.M‘s New Album Best in Years

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, R.E.M guitarist Peter Buck said that R.E.M’s new album Collapse into Now, “is, song for song, the best thing we’ve ever done.”

That may be a slight exaggeration. R.E.M has released enough hits that their greatest hits album is jam packed with awesome material. The new album will be released on March 8 and it has garnered a lot of excitement within the threesome. Bassist Mike Mills and vocalist Michael Stipe are also quite excited about the release.

R.E.M. will not tour for this album and this is also their last release for Warner. I will definitely check out the album and encourage you all to do the same. R.E.M. was one of the only good things to come out of the 80’s musically and while the band is certainly far removed from their prime, I am encouraged by their confidence.

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Decca is Back

Decca records is recording again and attempting to crack the impossible mystery of how to get young listeners interested in classical music.

“It’s kind of a reaffirmation of our commitment to classical music, a bit like renewing your wedding vows,” managing director Paul Moseley told Reuters at a lunch celebrating the re-Decca-ration

It’s tough to say because I actually like classical music, but I tend to believe that attempting to get young listeners into classical music is like climbing Mount Everest. Is it possible? Yes. But people may die and it is a massive amount of work. Decca will try to promote young artists but, let’s be real, classical music is just not sexy enough. It is not danceable and marketable to our mainstream youth. Keep trying though. I’m pulling for you.

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Rock Teaching


Mark Volman knows a thing or two about successful music. If I wanted to take a class on music management I would take it with him. You don’t know who I am talking about right? Volman is the curly-haired co-founder of The Turtles and is the guy making the money when you download “Happy Together” from Youtube.

Volman is just one musician that has hit the mainstage of the classroom in order to teach some young folk about music, and not just how to play it.

“People come in with this television idea that everybody is going to be the next Carrie Underwood,” Volman told John Rogers from the Associated Press. “They don’t understand how many nights you’re not going to get paid what they said you would and how many nights you’re not going to have a room to sleep in because the promoter didn’t get it in the rider you signed.”

Check out the rest of this great read: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110207/ap_en_mu/us_school_of_rock

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Tours and New Albums and Tours: Bob Seger, Bright Eyes, The Mountain Goats

31 Jan

Bob Seger Turns the Page Quickly

Back Touring

In a Rolling Stone exclusive, writer Andy Greene outlines the process of Bob Seger’s decision to tour this Spring. Last year his staff quietly scheduled 40-50 concerts which Seger declined initially. But, he turned the page on the book of no and randomly alerted his staff this month that he actually wants to tour. Seger put his staff in a large predicament. It takes months to schedule a U.S. wide tour. To say they have scrambled to get everything together is an understatement.

But it has been announced that Seger will embark on a two-and-a-half month tour beginning in March, so I guess they did a good job. A few dates will be announced next week as the staff continues to iron out the tour details.

The tour will be classic Seger mixed with some new tracks off of his upcoming 17th studio album set to be released sometime this summer, according to Seger.

I saw Bob Seger back in 2006/2007 when he toured last. He rocked MSG to the tune of a packed crowd. I expect the very same this time around.

Article: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-bob-seger-tour-details-20110128

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Bright Eyes’ Bright New Album

Bright Eyes has released several albums displaying their indie/folk style and lead singer/songwriter Conor Oberst’s melancholic and fluid lyric. In an exclusive NPR first listen, writer Robin Hilton boldly declares that their new album The People’s Key is the zenith of Bright Eyes’ success. Keep in mind Bright Eyes released I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning which is widely regarded as one of the best album’s of the last decade.

In the review, Hilton describes Oberst as, “older and wiser and more sure of himself. His voice is stronger, the sonic palette is richer and the poetry is more compelling.”

And on first listen I actually agree. Oberst and Bright Eyes explore a wide spectrum of music on this album. They move from straight folk into odd experimental tracks. There is no better example than the first track “Firewall” (below) which features Oberst’s friend Denny Brewer, who is the guitarist for the band Refried Icecream, talk about his esoteric views on existence. Esoteric because I don’t want to call them utterly nonsensical and chimerical. The song that follows continues in that vein both musically and lyrically. The album is a huge success and is available for listening on NPR through the link provided. The album comes out for purchase on Feb. 15.

Exclusive First Listen: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/30/133278431/first-listen-bright-eyes-the-peoples-key

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All Eternals Deck Continues Mountain Goats’ Awesomeness

I have posted so many pictures of this band on the blog I am running out of picture choices.

The Mountain Goats are coming back to the Eastern United States to promote their new album All Eternals Deck, which is set to be released March 29. How do I respond to this news?

YES!!!!!!!!!

That is somewhat suitable. They are coming to Ithaca on April 2 and I am going to see them for my second time. I just bought tickets. The Mountain Goats are one of my favorite bands and John Darnielle is a lyrical deity.

The new album will most likely be fantastic. I will lean on the first song leaked from the album entitled “Damn Those Vampires.” Take a listen.

Below is the track list from the album and the concert schedule.

All Eternals Deck tracklist:
1. Damn These Vampires
2. Birth of Serpents
3. Estate Sale Sign
4. Age of Kings
5. The Autopsy Garland
6. Beautiful Gas Mask
7. High Hawk Season
8. Prowl Great Cain
9. Sourdoire Valley Song
10. Outer Scorpion Squadron
11. For Charles Bronson
12. Never Quite Free
13. Liza Forever Minnelli

The Mountain Goats – 2011 Tour Dates
3/24 Richmond, VA @ The National
3/25 Washington DC @ 930 Club
3/26 York, PA @ Strand-Capitol PAC
3/28 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
3/29 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
4/01 Boston, MA @ Paradise
4/02 Ithaca, NY @ Castaways
4/03 Toronto, ON @ Opera House
4/05 Chicago, IL @ The Vic
4/06 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
4/07 Atlanta GA @ Variety Playhouse
4/08 Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
4/10 Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle
4/11 Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center
4/12 Pittsburgh PA @ Mr Smalls
4/15 Philadelphia PA@ Theater of Living Arts

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