New CD Releases, April 10: Bright Eyes, Grinderman, Blonde Redhead
Bright Eyes "Cassadaga"
Bright Eyes, the indie-rock band led by acclaimed songwriter Conor Oberst, returns with its first full-length batch of new songs since simultaneously releasing two discs--"Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and "I'm Awake, It's Morning"--back in 2005.
Oberst was aided on "Cassadaga" by a cast of players that included regular band members Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott as well as such special guests as Gillian Welch, Janet Weiss (formerly of Sleater-Kinney) and Ben Kweller.
Oberst and crew will support the new set with a North American tour that begins April 22 in Milwaukee, WI and continues into June.
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Grinderman "Grinderman"
Don't recognize the name? Well, fans of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds should definitely recognize the sound. Grinderman is the side project of Cave and a few Seeds (drummer Jim Sclavunos, bassist Martyn Casey and violinist Warren Ellis).
The Grinderman release is just one facet of what should be a pretty busy year for Cave and his fellow musicians. Also in the works is the Aug. 26 release of Cave and the Seeds' first DVD, "God is in the House." That band is also planning a short tour of North America, currently scheduled to stretch from June 16 to 25.
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Blonde Redhead "23"
No. 23 turned out to be a pretty lucky numeral for Michael Jordan. We'll see if the number pans out as well for this rock trio of vocalist Kazu Makino and Italian twins Simone and Amedeo Pace.
This is the seventh studio album for the group--which performed last month at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, TX--and its first since 2004's "Misery is a Butterfly."
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DJ Tiesto "Elements of Life"
The electronic music star is back with a follow-up to 2004's "Just Be." The DJ, who is well known for his work in the trance genre, enlisted vocalists BT and Faithless' Maxi Jazz to help out on "Elements of Life."
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Martin Short "Fame Becomes Me"
The gifted comedian, who came to fame as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live," delivers the soundtrack to his hit Broadway comedy/musical. "Fame Becomes Me" features original music from the composer/lyricist behind the mega-successful show "Hairspray."
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Other new releases:
Brother Ali, "The Undisputed Truth" (Rhymesayers)
Chayanne, "Mi Tiempo" (Sony)
The Clark Sisters, "Live One Last Time" (EMI)
Cocorosie, "The Adventures of Ghosthorse and Stillborn" (Touch and Go)
Mark Farina, "House of Om" (Om)
Hell Yeah, "Hell Yeah" (Sony)
Bob James, "Angels of Shanghai" (Koch)
Brenda Lee, "Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends" (Reunion)
MiG, "MiG" (Decca)
Scott Miller and the Commonwealth, "Reconstruction" (Sugarhill)
Nekromantix, "Life Is a Grave and I Dig It" (Hellcat)
Sandi Patty, "Falling Forward" (Sony)
Laura Veirs, "Saltbreakers" (Nonesuch)
VNV Nation, "Judgement" (Metropolis)
Wonder Pets!, "Wonder Pets!" (Nick)
Rock all-stars remake Sgt. Pepper's for anniversary tribute
Some of the U.K.'s most popular rock bands are set to remake the iconic Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band this spring.
The BBC has enlisted a host of hit musical acts — including Oasis, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Travis, Razorlight and James Morrison — for the project, which will pay tribute to the album's upcoming 40th anniversary.
Over the years, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has topped several best album lists.
"This will be not only a unique radio event, but a very special musical moment," Lesley Douglas, controller of BBC Radio Two, said in an interview with BBC News.
Douglas also said that the new versions "will be a fitting tribute to one of the great albums of all time."
The bands are participating in recording sessions with BBC Radio Two, with the tribute to air June 2.
Geoff Emerick, the original engineer who recorded the Sgt. Pepper's album in 1967, is also taking part.
He will record the new cover album with the same equipment he used for the Fab Four's original at London's famed Abbey Road Studios.
Released June 1, 1967, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the eighth album from the Beatles.
With songs like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, When I'm Sixty-Four, A Day in the Life and With a Little Help from My Friends, it was an instant hit and grew to become one of the band's most influential albums and has often topped critical lists of the greatest albums of all time.
The album's cover art — which featured a collage depicting the band in costume alongside with images of Karl Marx, Bob Dylan, W.C. Fields, Marlene Dietrich, Edgar Allen Poe, Marilyn Monroe and dozens of other famous figures — also gained acclaim. Aside from being enshrined on a British stamp, it has been parodied by everyone from Frank Zappa to MAD magazine to The Simpsons.
NBC Bounces 'Barker' to Saturday
Given the underwhelming ratings it's earned in its few weeks on the air, "Andy Barker, P.I." was probably a longshot for renewal next year anyway. But that shot just got longer.
NBC has bumped "Andy" from its Thursday schedule this week and moved the show's final two episodes to the barren wasteland that is Saturday night network primetime. The remaining two episodes of the show will air back-to-back at 8 p.m. ET Saturday, April 14.
"Scrubs" will take over "Andy's" 9:30 p.m. time period a week earlier than originally planned. The veteran hospital comedy is switching spots with "30 Rock" for a few weeks and will move back to 9 p.m. in early May.
If there's any positive news in the "Andy Barker" move, it's that all six produced episodes will now air on the network. NBC had initially scheduled only five for air, with the sixth, "The Lady Varnishes," slated to appear only on the network's web site.
The first three episodes of "Andy Barker," which stars Andy Richter as a CPA-turned-private eye, averaged about 5.2 million viewers. Those numbers give the show, which earned a fair share of critical praise, the unwelcome distinction of being NBC's lowest-rated series this season.
Apple sells 100 million iPods
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc. has sold its 100 millionth iPod in just over five years, boasting on Monday that the digital device was "the fastest selling music player in history" that appeals to both young and old.
Since its November 2001 launch, the portable music player has become the must-have gadget worldwide, with Apple introducing more than 10 new models to incorporate changing technology such as the ability to record and play videos, hold photos, and with more varied, fashionable colors.
"iPod has helped millions of people around the world rekindle their passion for music, and we're thrilled to be a part of that," Apple's COE Steve Jobs said in a statement.
Apple said its iTunes online music store has sold more than 2.5 billion songs, 50 million television shows and more than 1.3 million movies.
The market-leading iPod has taken over from the original portable audio player with headphones, or the Walkman, that was launched by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). in 1979.
Grammy Award-winning singer Mary I. Blige said it was hard to remember life before the pocket-sized iPod.
"iPod is more than just a music player, it's an extension of your personality and a great way to take your favorite music with you everywhere you go," she said in a statement.
Current versions of the iPod are priced at about $249 and are no longer just ubiquitous among urban teenagers.
A survey of 100 people aged 99 years and older released earlier this month by U.S. health care co-ordinator Evercare found four percent of respondents had listened to music on an iPod.
The iPod has also sparked a vast range of over 4,000 accessories varying from cases to speaker systems and more than 70 percent of 2007-model U.S. cars offer iPod connectivity.
The iPod has become so commonplace that one of Australia's biggest banks, the Commonwealth Bank, has used a recent version -- the slimline Nano -- to compare global currencies and purchasing power in 26 countries, similar to the Big Mac index launched 20 years ago by The Economist magazine.
Sopranos finale begins on downbeat note
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - And so begins the last dance of the wiseguys. HBO's "The Sopranos" has been one of television's true monuments, a masterpiece of grand artistic vision and extraordinary performance.
Part of its legacy will certainly be its glorious inconsistency, which one can also see as experimentation -- like the episode last season during which Tony Soprano ( James Gandolfini) imagined his life as an everyday salesman during a protracted dream sequence as he hovered between life and death with a gunshot wound.
Creator David Chase has never stopped pushing the creative envelope, and he isn't about to start now as the show launches its final nine (really this time) episodes that cap eight years of some of the most memorable drama we're ever likely to see on this or any other planet.
That the opening two stanzas supplied for review carry an especially bittersweet, downbeat edge should surprise us not at all. Chase and Co. are lulling us into a state of complacency. Everything's winding down, you see. But I don't trust it, and neither should you. This series has proved expert at screwing with our heads, and already I'm feeling screwed with anew. The early point of this swan song seems to be that these people are walking, talking anachronisms who don't seem to yet realize that their time has passed. That naivete is poised to tango with the usual dark comedy as "Sopranos" shuffles off into the sunset.
As we pick up this second half of the final season -- I think that's what they're calling it -- Tony still is on the mend from his brush with death after having been shot by the dementia-laden Uncle Junior ( Dominic Chianese). But the opening hour is eerily quiet, one that leaves us quivering with anxiety. Tony and wife Carmela ( Edie Falco) accompany his embattled sister Janice ( Aida Turturro) and henpecked brother-in-law Bobby (Steven R. Schirripa) on a weekend retreat to the Adirondacks that's filled with Monopoly, karaoke -- and one memorable interfamilial brawl. Also in the mix now is the ongoing preoccupation of Tony's nephew Christopher ( Michael Imperioli) with Hollywood and his new mob-funded slasher movie, for which he unsuccessfully tried to recruit Ben Kingsley.
That engrossing first hour is brilliantly low key, written by Diane Frolov, Andrew Schneider, Matthew Weiner and Chase and directed by Tim Van Patten. In the second hour (airing April 15, penned by Terence Winter and directed by Alan Taylor), Tony is suddenly disturbed that a character based on him behaves like such a thug in Christopher's flick. And as this plays out, there's the inglorious death of the once-volatile Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) from cancer while in prison. It features a sprightly turn by director Sydney Pollack as an orderly convicted of murdering his wife and others.
Both episodes seem to set an especially gloomy tone, one that appears to be Chase's way of setting us up for the inevitable "crime doesn't pay, look what happens to all of these poor saps" message. But again, if we have learned anything from this man and this show, it is that we should be braced to expect the unexpected.
"Sopranos" looks to be taking us on one of its darkest journeys yet en route to the finish line, setting a tantalizing table for the forthcoming climax.
Johnny Hart, 'B.C.' creator, dies at 76
ALBANY, N.Y. - Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning "B.C." comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, has died. He was 76.
Hart died Saturday while working at his home in Endicott.
"He had a stroke," his wife, Bobby, said Sunday. "He died at his storyboard."
"B.C.," populated by prehistoric cavemen and dinosaurs, was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million, according to Creators Syndicate Inc., which distributes it.
"He was generally regarded as one of the best cartoonists we've ever had," Hart's friend Mell Lazarus, creator of the "Momma" and "Miss Peach" comic strips, said from his California home. "He was totally original. 'B.C' broke ground and led the way for a number of imitators, none of which ever came close."
After he graduated from Union-Endicott High School, Hart met Brant Parker, a young cartoonist who became a prime influence and co-creator with Hart of the "Wizard of Id" comic strip.
Hart enlisted in the Air Force and began producing cartoons for Pacific Stars and Stripes. He sold his first freelance cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post after his discharge from the military in 1954.
He won numerous awards for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society's prestigious Reuben Award twice for Cartoonist of the Year.
Later in his career, some of Hart's cartoons had religious themes, a reflection of his own Christian faith. That sometimes led to controversy.
A strip published on Easter in 2001 drew protests from Jewish groups and led several newspapers to drop the strip. The cartoon depicted a menorah transforming into a cross, with accompanying text quoting some of Jesus Christ's dying words. Critics said it implied that Christianity supersedes Judaism.
Hart said he intended the strip as a tribute to both faiths.
"He had such an emphasis on kindness, generosity, and patience," said Richard Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate in Los Angeles.
Newcombe said Hart was the first cartoonist to sign on when the syndicate was created 20 years ago. "Traditionally, comic strips were owned by syndicates," Newcombe said. "We were different because we allowed cartoonists to own their own work. It was because of Johnny's commitment to this idea that made us a success."
Newcombe said "B.C." and "Wizard of Id" would continue. Family members have been helping produce the strips for years, and they have an extensive computer archive of Hart's drawings to work with, he said.
When "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz died in 2000, United Media, which held the rights to the strip featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy, started running old panels of the cartoon.
Besides his wife, Hart is survived by two daughters, Patti and Perri. He was a native of Endicott, about 135 miles northwest of New York City, and drew his comic strip at a studio in his home there until the day he died.
A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Nineveh Presbyterian Church.