Cash's Final Song To Appear On 'American V'
"Like the 309," the last song written by Johnny Cash before his death, will be included on "American V: A Hundred Highways." Due July 4 via American Recordings/Lost Highway, the album was recorded with producer Rick Rubin in the months leading up to Cash's September 2003 passing.
"These songs are Johnny's final statement," Rubin says. "They are the truest reflection of the music that was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted us to hear."
A song utilizing one of Cash's favorite subjects, trains, "Like the 309" is one of two original songs on the disc. The other, "I Came to Believe," was written and recorded earlier in his career about addiction and salvation through a higher power.
The balance of the set includes such songs as Bruce Springsteen's "Further On (Up the Road)," Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind," Hank Williams' "On the Evening Train," Rod McKuen's "Love's Been Good To Me" and the traditional spiritual "God's Gonna Cut You Down."
"I think that 'American V' may be my favorite of all of the albums in the American series," Rubin says. "It's different from the others, it has a much different character. I think that this is as strong an album as Johnny ever made."
Beginning with 1994's "American Recordings," the series of stripped down recordings brought Cash to a new audience and sparked interest in the country legend's career. The four albums have sold 2.6 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "American IV: The Man Comes Around" has been the best received, with more than 1.5 million copies sold. The 2002 disc, which featured a popular cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt," peaked at No. 22 on The Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the Top Country Albums chart after Cash's death.
Cash began work on "American IV" the day after completing "American IV," according to Rubin, using the process to help him navigate the period after his wife June Carter-Cash's May 2003 death.
"Johnny said that recording was his main reason for being alive," Rubin says. "And I think it was the only thing that kept him going, the only thing he had to look forward to."
With Cash's engineer David "Fergie" Ferguson, the songs were completed by a group of musicians who had worked on previous "American" recordings: Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench and guitarist Smokey Hormel (Beck, Tom Waits), along with guitarists Matt Sweeney (Guided By Voices, Chavez) and Jonny Polonsky.
"We felt Johnny's presence during the whole process through to the end," Rubin adds. "It felt like he was directing the proceedings, and I know that the musicians all felt that as well... More than once, Fergie and I would look at each other and say 'Johnny would love this,' because it was so good and so different from anything we'd done before, we knew he would be excited by what was happening."
As previously reported, a trove of sparse solo recordings Cash made in the 1970s will be released May 23 via Columbia/Legacy under the heading "Personal File."
Lots of people will get their pictures on the cover
It cost 'Rolling Stone' $1M to produce the special 3D cover for their 1000th issue.
After all, Wenner says, Sgt. Pepper's colorful cover pictured people who had influenced The Beatles and the 20th century, and there was some fun involved: You had to look closely to recognize all the faces.
An homage to Sgt. Pepper's ensued. "We said, 'Let's pack it' " with faces, Wenner says.
As a lark and for the extra $1 million it cost he also had the cover of the May 18 issue, which hits newsstands Friday, printed in 3-D. "In the back of my mind, 3-D was always in a bag of tricks that somehow I wanted to pull out one day."
The cover features more than 150 pop icons of our times, from Bob Dylan and Janis Joplin to Britney Spears and Eminem. George Clooney is there, and so are Angelina Jolie and Tom Cruise and Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. "There are plenty of famous people who are not in there. There just wasn't room for everybody," Wenner says.
But even if there had been room, President Bush, whom the May 4 issue of RS called the "worst president in history," would not have made it, Wenner says, citing a "combination of incompetence, laziness and ineptitude for the job." Meanwhile, Clinton whom Wenner ranks as his favorite president is in the second row, between Joni Mitchell and Justin Timberlake.
The 1,000th issue is a milestone for Wenner, who starting publishing RS on cheap newsprint from a loft in San Francisco, thanks to a small loan from his future wife's parents. The first issue was Nov. 9, 1967.
"I fell in love with rock 'n' roll and The Beatles and Bob Dylan, and, with a good helping of drugs, I wanted to live my life that way," says Wenner, whose all-time favorite group is who else? the Rolling Stones.
A magazine sounded about right. He had done some writing in college, and at the 1964 Republican convention, he was a copy boy for NBC anchors Chet Huntley and David Brinkley.
Today, nearly three decades later, at a time when some younger readers wouldn't know Sgt. Pepper from Dr Pepper, RS still attracts them to its slick pages: The magazine's rate base of 1.4 million readers, its highest ever, has a median age of 27.
"It is one of the few magazines that stayed true to its original mission and audience from the beginning," says Samir Husni, a University of Mississippi journalism professor. "Wenner was able to maintain the original flavor and keep the passengers on board while bringing in new ones. RS is unique. There is nothing like it on the same scale."
Some might argue that the magazine's best years ended with the turbulence of the '60s and '70s, but not Wenner, now 60. He says its profiles are among the best in the business: "I don't think it's lost its clout culturally. If you look around at all the media and think about the most impactful place you can be, if you're a musician or a movie star, Rolling Stone still carries more weight and prestige, I dare say, than Time, which used to have a lock.
"Most other magazines have an interview in a hotel room with a PR person present. It's nice, it's fun and there's some prestige to being in some of these magazines, but there's no real depth. We go inside a person's life. You really see stuff."
New CD Releases - May 2, 2006
Beethoven's Wig Many More Sing Along Symphonies (Rounder)
Brandtson Hello, Control. (The Militia Group)
Clear Static Clear Static (Maverick)
Coachwhips Double Death (CD/DVD combo) (Narnack)
Current 93 Black Ships Ate the Sky (guest vocals by Marc Almond, Antony, Bonnie Prince Billy, Shirley Collins and more) (Durtro)
Danko Jones Sleep Is the Enemy (Razor & Tie)
Alejandro Escovedo The Boxing Mirror (produced by John Cale) (Back Porch/Narada/EMI)
The Fever In the City of Sleep (Kemado)
Gigi Gold & Wax (Palm Pictures)
Governor Son of Pain (Atlantic)
Roy Hargrove Quintet Nothing Serious (w/Slide Hampton) (Verve)
Jewel Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (Atlantic)
The Lovely Feathers Hind Hind Legs (Equator)
Ministry Rio Grande Blood: The True Story of Faith, Family and Flag (Megaforce/13th Planet)
None More Black This Is Satire (Fat Wreck Chords)
Pearl Jam Pearl Jam (J Records)
The RH Factor (w/Roy Hargrove) Distractions (guest producer/vocalist D'Angelo) (Verve)
The Soft Lightes (formerly known as Incredible Moses Leroy) Say No to Being Cool, Say Yes to Being Happy (Bar/None)
Thursday City by the Light Divided (produced by Dave Fridmann) (Island)
Ralph Towner Time Line (ECM)
Wolfmother Wolfmother (Interscope)
DVD Chieli Minucci and Special EFX A Night with (Shanachie)
Halle Berry Says She Wants to Adopt
NEW YORK - Halle Berry says she wants to adopt a child someday. "I will adopt if it doesn't happen for me naturally," the 39-year-old actress said in a recent interview with TV newsmagazine "Extra." "I will definitely adopt. And I probably will adopt even if it does happen naturally."
However, Berry has no immediate plans to join the ranks of celebrity moms Angelina Jolie, who is pregnant, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Katie Holmes, who recently gave birth.
"There are too many babies being born," Berry joked. "No, no, now's not the time."
Berry is reportedly dating 30-year-old model Gabriel Aubry. Both Aubry and Berry are included in People magazine's "100 Most Beautiful" issue, now on newsstands.
She has been married and divorced twice to baseball player David Justice and to R&B singer Eric Benet.
Her new film, "X-Men: The Last Stand," is set for release May 26.
Radiohead announces summer tour
Radiohead has announced dates for their North American summer tour, and it includes one Canadian stop.
The trek is set to begin on June 1 in Philadelphia, and will make its way to Toronto's Hummingbird Centre on June 7 and June 8.
Tickets for the Toronto shows will go on sale on May 6 at 10 a.m. ET through all TicketMaster outlets. There is a limit of two tickets per person, with a price tag of $71.65 each.
Radiohead are currently wrapping up work on their as-yet-untitled new studio album.
The band's last album, "Hail to the Thief," entered the Canadian album charts at No. 1 back in June of 2003.
Here's the dates for Radiohead's summer tour so far:
June 1, 2: Philadelphia, Tower Theatre
June 4, 5: Boston, Bank of America Pavilion
June 7, 8: Toronto, Hummingbird Centre
June 13, 14: New York, Madison Square Garden
"Nerd" alert: director signs on to remake
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Kyle Newman has signed on to direct "Revenge of the Nerds," a remake of the seminal 1984 teen comedy.
The project is being developed by Fox Atomic, the new young-adult genre division of Fox Filmed Entertainment. The studio is eyeing a summer start date.
The film reteams Newman with scribe Adam F. Goldberg, who is rewriting the latest "Nerds" incarnation. The pair worked together on Newman's upcoming "Fanboys," which will be distributed by the Weinstein Co. Newman also penned the animated children's comedy "Gnomes."