I urge and challenge musicians and artists alike to push themselves to be a voice of the times that we live in. I know that many see what happened to Dixie Chicks’ Natali eMaines (she bravely expressed her opinion/dismay on the Bush administration declaring war & was unjustly targeted….while in hindsight being CORRECT) suddenly there was an onslaught of radio silence from artists across the board (correction not everyone was silent, but the silence was deafening) although I’m kinda/sorta addressing the hip hop nation I really apply this challenge to ALL artists. We need new Dylans. New Public Enemys. New Simones. New De La Roachas. New ideas! But it just doesn’t stop there!! We need outlets (hello Clear Channel Radio One Vh1) to balance the system. Yeah I’m just as guilty of feeling the high of all that I despise (“Devil’s Pie” D’angelo) but the reason why this nation seems to be moving 3 steps ahead in some areas…..but then 7 steps backwards in every area is a lack of balance. I’m not saying every song gotta be “Fight The Power” but in times like these we need to be more community minded (taking a wild guess that “urban radio’s” format didn’t change much from the pre program stuff (using that word *politely*) we’ve been hearing for years. & when I say challenge I don’t mean breathless race to the finish on who makes the more banging “Fuck Tha Police” sequel. I mean real stories. Real narratives. Songs with spirit in them. Songs with solutions. Songs with questions. Protest songs don’t have to be boring or non danceable or ready made for the next Olympics. They just have to speak truth. I laugh & have fun w “Bitch You Guessed It” like everyone else. But my soul is aching man. Seriously just ONE or Two songs that change the course. This is something I feel the need and urgency to put out there.
– Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson via Instagram
Questlove Gets It Right On Politics And Music. Again.
AGO welcomes legendary hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy for one-day Basquiat Symposium
Artists, musicians, authors, academics, and other creative thinkers from across Canada and the U.S. – some who knew Jean-Michel Basquiat personally – are coming together to consider the legacy of Basquiat’s artwork as part of the Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now’s the Time Symposium on March 28, 2015. Panelists and participants will explore how Canadians can extend Basquiat’s groundbreaking artistic approach to confront class struggle and social hypocrisy and explore its relevance today in a society as multicultural as Toronto.
Jean-Michel Basquiat took the New York City art world by storm in the early 1980s and gained international recognition by creating powerful and expressive works that confronted issues of racism, identity and social tension. The artist’s revolutionary drawings and paintings continue to challenge perceptions, provoke vital dialogues and encourage critical thinking. Guest-curated by renowned Austrian art historian, curator and critic Dieter Buchhart, the AGO’s exhibition is the first thematic examination of the artist’s work. Inspired as much by high art — Abstract Expressionism and Conceptualism — as by jazz, sports, comics, remix culture and graffiti, Basquiat translated the world around him into a provocative visual language. Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now’s the Time will be on display Feb. 7 to May 10, 2015. Tickets are on sale now.
Who:
- FAB 5 FREDDY, hip-hop pioneer, visual artist and filmmaker
- THELMA GORDON, Director and Chief Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem
- JORDANA MOORE SAGGESE, author of Reading Basquiat and Associate Professor, California College of the Arts
- KAREN MIRANDA AUGUSTINE, Canadian visual artist and writer
- DANA MICHEL, choreographer and performer
- DALTON HIGGINS, performer and author
- DAGMAWI WOUBSHET, writer and scholar
- WARREN CRICHLOW, Professor, York University
- CHRISTIAN CAMPBELL, poet, scholar and cultural critic
- MATTHEW TEITELBAUM, Director and CEO, AGO
- STEPHANIE SMITH, Chief Curator, AGO
Elvis Costello Penning Memoir ‘Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink’
The man who penned “Everyday I Write the Book” has officially penned one himself. Elvis Costello’s “unconventional but indelible memoir” Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink will arrive on October 13th, with the autobiography available as both a hardcover and an audiobook. Fans can pre-order now at the Penguin site.
From his release, with The Attractions, of My Aim is True in 1976, Elvis Costello has been one of the most popular and genre-bending entertainers of our era. Born to a musical family outside of London and relocated to Liverpool, Costello created his own form of punk, became one of the first artists to exploit the newly-burgeoning MTV-Video world and managed to make himself a huge reputation in the UK and the U.S. through both his catchy tunes, provocative, poetic lyrics and more than a few instances of bad behavior. Now, having just turned sixty, Elvis is in the pantheon of elder statesmen musician/rockers, collaborating often with the likes of Paul McCartney, great ballet and opera companies, hip-hop groups, jazz ensembles while appearing frequently in venues like Carnegie Hall and on shows like David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon.
This is his story, written himself, rich with anecdotes about family and fellow musicians, introspective about the creation of his famous songs.
Johnny Marr Will Release His Autobiography in Fall 2016
Century today announced a World Rights deal for the autobiography of music legend and The Smiths co-founder, Johnny Marr. Century won the hotly contested auction, brokered by Kevin Conroy Scott at Tibor Jones & Associates on behalf of Joe Moss at First Third Ltd.
Johnny Marr is one of the greatest guitarists working in music today, perhaps best known for his generation defining work with Morrissey in The Smiths, Marr went on to create the super-group Electronic with Bernard Sumner of New Order and work in bands such as The Pretenders, The The, Modest Mouse and The Cribs before embarking on a successful solo career which saw the 2014 release of his second album, the critically lauded Playland.
Said Marr: “For the past few years as I’ve been out on tour promoting my solo work fans and journalists have been asking me when I’ll write my book. I’m very happy to say that the time has come to tell my story.”
Century Publishing Director, Ben Dunn said: “It’s the book Smiths fans have been waiting their whole lives and the early material that Johnny has written is utterly breath-taking. I’m delighted that Johnny has chosen Century to be his publisher.”
Century will publish in hardback and ebook in Autumn 2016 with an Arrow paperback the following year.
Music Festivals are BIG business in Canada
From FYI Music:
The Indigo Girls Release First Studio Album in 4 Years – ‘One Lost Day’ out on June 2nd
It has been four years since the Indigo Girls released a new studio album. On June 2nd, their much-anticipated release ONE LOST DAY, will be available on IG Recordings/Vanguard Records. With the help of visionary new producer Jordan Brooke Hamlin (Lucy Wainwright Roche) and mixer Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, PHOX, Kathleen Edwards), Amy Ray and Emily Sailers have created a landscape of truly original sounds and stories ranging from stark intimacy to bombastic pop and grind.
On ONE LOST DAY, musicality, whimsy, rawness, sadness and joy move through each of the 13 tracks. This theme is especially evident on the first single, “Happy in the Sorrow Key,” written by Amy Ray. “I drew from lyrics I wrote during some of my travels with the IG’s,” Amy said. “I was thinking about the things that keep us weighed down with non-acceptance and a refusal to embrace impermanence and suffering. I don’t think you can make change for the good until you do, so it’s an activist part of me searching for a way to face reality and still have the energy and passion to work for good.”
ONE LOST DAY was recorded in studios in Nashville, TN and mixed at Justin Vernon’s April Base Studios in Fall Creek, WI and at the Parhelion Recording Studios in Atlanta, GA. Musicians Brady Blade and Carol Isaacs from the Indigo Girls’ Beauty Queen Sister returned, along with the Indigo Girls’ touring band. Additionally, Amy and Emily brought in Lex Price (k.d. lang, Mindy Smith), Butterfly Boucher (Ingrid Michaelson, Katie Herzig, Mat Kearney), Fred Eltringham (Sheryl Crow, The Wallflowers, Gigolo Aunts) and Chris Donohue (Dave Matthews, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams, Robert Plant) to bring a good dose of infectious energy and creativity to the scene.
“We took some chances on the making of ONE LOST DAY, with a new producer, engineer, and various musicians,” Emily said. “Stretching like that felt liberating to me. Each song tells a story of where we’ve been and what we’ve thought about, whom we’ve met, and the travels we’ve had. It is a travelogue on lessons learned and love lived. I’m so glad we brought Jordan Hamlin on board to take us to new musical landscapes for this group of songs. And my relationship with Amy feels further strengthened by the collection of these songs and the diligent effort to make them the best they could be.”
Amy mirrors Emily’s sentiments. “The title sums it up for me,” she said. “This is about the one lost day that rekindled and infused with our spirit to find that making music is just as vibrant and full of passion as it’s even been for us!”
The Indigo Girls will be hitting the road this summer following the release of ONE LOST DAY. Initial dates are listed below with more dates to be announced soon. Visit www.indigogirls.com for updates.
2015 Spring/Summer Tour Dates
4-12 Philadelphia, PA Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts w/Philadelphia Youth Orchestra
4-15 Durham, NC North Carolina Symphony
4-17 Newport News, VA Ferguson Center Concert Hall
4-19 Cincinnati, OH Music Hall w/Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
4-25 Huntsville, AL Panoply Festival of the Arts @ Big Spring Park
4-30 Pittsburgh, PA Heinz Hall w/Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
5-23 Lenox, MA SummerSound Live at Tanglewood Music Center
6-17 Grand Rapids, MI Meijer Gardens
6-19 Ann Arbor, MI Power Center for the Performing Arts (Ann Arbor Summer Festival)
6-20 Dayton, OH Schuster Center w/Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
6-21 Charlottesville, VA nTelos Wireless Pavilion w/Mary Chapin Carpenter
6-26 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheater
7-05 San Diego, CA Humphrey’s
7-07 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
7-08-9 Saratoga, CA Montalvo Arts Center
7-11 Portland, OR Oregon Zoo Amphitheatre
7-12 Seattle, WA Woodland Park Zoo
7-14 Layton, UT Edward A. Kenley Centennial Amphitheater
7-15 Boulder, CO Chautauqua Auditorium
7-18 Eau Claire, WI Eaux Claires Music Festival
7-26 Camden, NJ XPoNential Music Festival @ River Stage in Wiggins Park
7-28 Vienna, VA The Filene Center @ Wolf Trap
7-29 Selbyville, DE Freeman Stage
8-07 Indianapolis, IN Indiana State Fair
Kerry Washington’s Vanguard Award at the #glaadawards is amazing
The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. “Scandal” actress Kerry Washington took the stage to accept GLAAD’s Vanguard Award, given to someone in the entertainment industry who has helped push LGBT rights forward. It’s been awarded to people like Drew Barrymore, Josh Hutcherson, Jennifer Lopez, and Jennifer Aniston.
She gets it right.
“Now you would think that those of us who are kept from our full rights of citizenship would band together and fight the good fight. But history tells us that no, often we don’t. Women, poor people, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, intersex people — we have been pitted against each other and made to feel like there are limited seats at the table for those of us who fall into the category of ‘other.’
There is so much power in storytelling, and there is enormous power in inclusive storytelling, in inclusive representation. … We must be allies, and we must be allied in this business because to be represented is to be humanized. And as long as anyone anywhere is being made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake, and we are all vulnerable.
We must see each other, all of us; and we must see ourselves, all of us. We must continue to break new ground until that is just how it is. Until we are no longer firsts and exceptions and rare and unique. In the real world, being an ‘other’ is the norm. In the real world, the only norm is uniqueness, and our media must reflect that.”
24 pieces of advice for filmmaking and life from Werner Herzog
Found in the book Werner Herzog – A Guide for the Perplexed.
1. Always take the initiative.
2. There is nothing wrong with spending a night in jail if it means getting the shot you need.
3. Send out all your dogs and one might return with prey.
4. Never wallow in your troubles; despair must be kept private and brief.
5. Learn to live with your mistakes.
6. Expand your knowledge and understanding of music and literature, old and modern.
7. That roll of unexposed celluloid you have in your hand might be the last in existence, so do something impressive with it.
8. There is never an excuse not to finish a film.
9. Carry bolt cutters everywhere.
10. Thwart institutional cowardice.
11. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
12. Take your fate into your own hands.
13. Learn to read the inner essence of a landscape.
14. Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory.
15. Walk straight ahead, never detour.
16. Manoeuvre and mislead, but always deliver.
17. Don’t be fearful of rejection.
18. Develop your own voice.
19. Day one is the point of no return.
20. A badge of honor is to fail a film theory class.
21. Chance is the lifeblood of cinema.
22. Guerrilla tactics are best.
23. Take revenge if need be.
24. Get used to the bear behind you.
[via] and Boing Boing
The Most Annoying People on the Plane starring Sir Patrick Stewart
The travel company Expedia conducted a poll asking fliers to name the most annoying types of airplane passengers. Jimmy Kimmel was going to just read the list, but he thought it would be more interesting if the great Sir Patrick Stewart acted it out.
John Fogerty Announces “Fortunate Son” Autobiography Coming October 6th
Coming October 6, 2015, from Little, Brown and Company, is the long-anticipated memoir by JOHN FOGERTY, titled FORTUNATE SON: My Life, My Music. With JOHN FOGERTY writing hit after hit, Creedence Clearwater Revival burst on the music scene with an energy so bright, his songs outsold The Beatles in 1969. Then, just as quickly, that CCR fire burned out in a series of internal band struggles that left the music world without the influence of one of its brightest stars for over two decades.
“I’m excited to share my story and my life with you,” said Fogerty. “You’re going to hear where it all started, my passion to become the best musician I could be. You’ll travel down some rough roads, but that road leads to something beautiful. My book won’t be sugar coated! It’s all in there.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of the most important and beloved bands in the history of Rock ‘n Roll, and the story that JOHN FOGERTY’s memoir tells will keep music lovers and avid readers captivated. FOGERTY wrote, sang, and produced the iconic classics “Born on the Bayou,” “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and so many more. Now he reveals how he brought CCR to the top of the charts and how, one year later, CCR was falling apart. Their amazing talents and culturally-prophetic songs, however, have endured for decades despite the series of personal and legal issues. FORTUNATE SON takes readers from FOGERTY’s Northern California roots, through Creedence’s success, his retreat from music and public life, to FOGERTY’s hard-won revival as a solo artist who finally, through it all, found love.
JOHN FOGERTY was songwriter, lead singer, and lead guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival and is one of rock’s most influential musicians and writers. FOGERTY has been named one of the 100 Greatest Singers and one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists by Rolling Stone and his most recent album was named one of RS’s 10 Best Albums of 2013.
