Endings and Beginnings.

This week in music was a week of endings and beginnings whether it is a festival, trial, tour, reunion, a work in progress or a rehab completion this week had all of these.

END

The ending of the South by Southwest festival known as SXSW wrapped up this past week.The SXSW is held each year in Austin, Tx and features numerous bands that play in a various venues all over the city. A variety of musical styles are showcased at the festival everything from rock, hip-hop, pop, punk, country, to the avant garde/ experimental. Some of bands and singers you may be familiar with are
The Presidents of the USA, Bowling for Soup, Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde) Kenny Wayne Shepard to some lesser known bands such as Garland Jeffreys , The Whigs, The Saints. The festival lasts all week through the middle of March and is considered an indicator of what bands may be the "next big thing."and members of the music industry gather to discuss and showcases the newest technology and ideas in music.

BEGIN

The beginning of the Phil Spector murder trial started in Los Angeles. Spector is a producer famous for the "wall of sound" technique that was made popular by groups and singers such as The Ronnettes, The Beatles, The Rightous Brothers, The Ramones, and Tina Turner, John Lennon.
Spector has been know for his eccentricity whether it is in the studio where he reportedly pulled a gun because an artist couldn't hit a certain chord to being a recluse in his suburban faux castle mansion in the hills of Los Angeles.
On Feb 3, 2003 Spector and actress Lana Clarkson were in attendance at L.A.'s House of Blues. Clarkson was a forty year old actress who had starred in movies and television shows such as Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Night Court, Hill Street Blues. However, recently she had fallen on hard times working as a hostess at the House of Blues. Later that evening they went to his home and sometime during that same evening Clarkson was found slumped in a chair in the foyer of Spector's home dead from an apparent self inflicted shotgun blast.
A chauffeur of Spector's reported to police that Spector was quoted as saying too him on the night in question " I think I killed somebody" and he had a shotgun with blood on his hands.
A coroners report called the death a homicide and "death by the hand of another," she had gunshot residue on her hands indicating that she had apparently shot herself. Spector maintained it was a "accidental suicide" but was arrested under suspicion of murder and later freed on a $1 million dollar bond.
On Oct 26 , 2005 a judge ruled that damaging statements made by Spector to the police can be used against him at the trial. His lawyer's have fought to suppress a statement made by him to police where he stated " I didn't mean to shoot her" the lawyer argues that Spector is bi-polar and was going through prescription drug withdrawal when police questioned him about the incident. If convicted of murder he could serve life in prision.

Would you like a pastry with that ?

Starbucks Corp. and the Concord Music Group they will launch a label called Hear Music. The first signing was announced Wednesday at the company's annual meeting. The artist will be Sir Paul McCartney. This announcement is a big step for the Starbucks Corp which has produced and sold some albums in their stores. Ray Charles "Genius loves company" was a title that you could get with your verti cappuchino in 2004 and was a big seller for the company.

Someone who will possibly be drinking more of Starbucks product will be Brittney Spears who officially completed her 30 day rehabilitation on Tuesday. She entered the facility on Feb 22 after bizarre behavior which included her shaving her head, getting new tattoos on her wrist and hip, and beating a car with an umbrella. The facility Promises is a Mediterranean style villa located in the Santa Monica Mountains and costs $48,000 for a 30 month stay. Some other famous alumni of the facility are Charlie Sheen, Ben Affleck, and Matthew Perry.
It hasn't been disclosed exactly what Spears entered the rehab facility for but if her hanging out with Paris Hilton before the odd behavior and the rehab is any indication it was most likely alcohol.

Lawsuits a rock n roll staple

The estate of the late Rick James has filed a lawsuit on March 15 seeking unspecified damages against the Brooklyn Music Publishing group. The suit accuses the company of collecting money from licensing James' songs without permission in European markets. About a dozen of Rick James' songs are involved in the lawsuit and they have been used for commercials. Brooklyn Music Group had a long term contract to oversee the publishing rights to some of James' songs but not his hit "Superfreak." When Rick James died in 2004 his trust decided not to renew the agreement and instead awarded the rights to another company in January 2007. Brooklyn Music Group refused to stop administering the songs hence the reason for the lawsuit.

Reassembled Pumpkins, Non Instinct Dinosaur

Billy Corgan who tried to be a solo artist with his first and hopefully last release 2005's 'The Future Embrace' and was panned by fans and critics, so what does a six foot two guy with a big ego and a whiney voice do ?
He decides that having a band wasn't so bad after all and reforms it. Nearly a year and a half after Billy Corgan placed a full page ad in the Chicago Tribune stating that he wanted his old band back. The Smashing Pumpkins will debut with a new album it will be titled 'Zeitgeist' and according to the bands website will be released at 7:07 a.m. on saturday July 7,2007.

It isn't known if any of the former members of the band such as James Iha, D'Arcy Wretzky , or Melissa Auf Der Maur will rejoin the group however, original members Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin will . To build up the publicity of the disc and the reunion of the band they will play a series of festivals in Europe starting with the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands on May 28 and make stops in Germany, Portugal, and Italy before wrapping up at Intelaken, Switzerland.
The only North American date that has been confirmed will be the second night of Toronto's first Virgin Music Festival sponsored by billionaire Richard Virgin. The other acts participating in the festival are Bjork, Interpol, The Killers, Paolo Nutrinin and Amy Winehouse.


Another group that was popular during the late 80's and early 90's has reunited for an album and tour. Dinosaur Jr. will debut their album 'Beyond' and it will be out on May 11 on Fat Possum Records. They have had been touring several dates before completely reforming and this will be their first album recorded together since 1989. They will be playing several dates in ten major cities such as LA, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Chicago, Ann Arbor, and New York.

J.Masics has had some success as a solo artist but not the same level that the group enjoyed during the early nineties which could be the same reason the Pumpkins are getting back together. Bass player Lou Barlow will rejoin the band but is currently on tour with the reunited Sebadoh which he formed after leaving Dinosaur Jr. The tour dates are as follows

May
11 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
12 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
13 Los Angeles, CA - The Troubadour
15 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
16 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
17 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
18 Seattle, WA - The Showbox
19 Olympia, WA - Capitol Theatre
20 Bellingham, WA - The Nightlight
22 Victoria, BC - Sugar Nightclub
23 Vancouver, BC - The Commodore Ballroom
25 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Ballroom
26 Edmonton, AB - The Starlite Room
27 Saskatoon, SK - The Odeon Events Centre
29 Winnipeg, MB - Garrick Centre at The Marlborough
29 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
30 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock
31 Chicago, IL - The Abbey

June
1 Chicago, IL - The Abbey
2 Chicago, IL - The Abbey
3 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
4 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
6 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
7 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
8 Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
9 Montreal, QUE - Club Soda

The White Stripes have announced that they will go on tour in support of their sixth album titled 'Icky Thump.' It has a tentative June release and will be the first under their new agreement with Warner Brothers Records.They will play 34 dates in the U.S. starting July 29th in San DIego and then go to the midwest before ending the tour in their hometown of Detroit. The Shins will also join them for the tour at a single date in September at Coney Island NY.
White Stripes tour dates:
July

29 San Diego, CA - Street Scene

August

6 George, WA - The Gorge
7 Vancouver, British Columbia - Orpheum
8 Vancouver, British Columbia - Orpheum
10 Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium
12 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
15 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
16 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
17 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
18 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
19 Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
22 Denver, CO - Red Rocks
23 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
24 St. Louis, MO - Fabulous Fox Theater
26 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theater
27 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theater
29 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theater
30 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theater
31 Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theater

September

8 Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
9 Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre
10 Columbus, OH - Ohio Theatre
12 Cincinnati, OH - Cincinnati Music Hall
13 Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre
14 Cleveland, OH - Playhouse Square Center-State Theatre
16 Toronto, Ontario - Molson Amphitheatre
17 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre
19 Providence, RI - Providence Performing Arts Center
20 Boston, MA - Opera House
21 Boston, MA - Opera House
24 Coney Island, NY - Keyspan Park *
27 Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavillion
28 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues

October

2 Detroit, MI - Masonic Temple Theatre
*with the Shins and Brendan Benson

New Material coming soon !

R.E.M. are back in the studio after being inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame last week. The remaining members Michael Stipe, Bill Buck, Mike Mills are heading back to the studio to work on their 14th album. The bands 2004 release "Around the Sun" failed to chart very well and wasn't received very well by fans and critics. It was a low point for album sales in the bands twenty seven year career.
R.E.M. are looking for new musical direction and are to be working with Irish producer Garrett "Jacknife" Lee who won two Grammy awards for his work on U2's " How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb." Lee has also worked with english bands Snow Patrol, Kasabian, and Bloc Party.

Bjork is working on new material in Sony's studio in New York City. She was there to lay down two tracks on called 'Pneumonia' which features her unique voice with seven french horns, the other track that she was working on is called 'Trance.' The album titled 'Volta B' will be different than her previous two disc album Medulla and Vespertine. Bjork says that she " Is ready to be an extrovert again and have fun making music." "Ninety percent of this album was born from me sitting in front of the computer editing brass horns and tribal beats." She will also be collaborating with Anthony of Anthony and the Johnsons and producer Timbadland.

Bryan Ferry has recorded a whole disc of Bob Dylan covers. "If not for you," and "Positively fourth street," get the smooth and suave sound that Ferry is known for. He is also recording a new disc with his old band Roxy Music their first since 1982's Avalon.



Morrisey will tour the western half of North America this year . A forty date tour at mid sized venues with the exception being the Hollywood Bowl which seats 17,000. He will not tour Canada because of the annual seal hunt that takes place and is supported by the Canadian government. Listed below are the dates and locations for his tour.

Morrissey Tour Dates

April
27 Stockton, CA - Bob Hope Theater
28 Sparks, NV - John Ascuaga's Celebrity Showroom
29 Sparks, NV - John Ascuaga's Celebrity Showroom

May
1 Oakland, CA - Paramount Theater
2 Santa Rosa, CA - Wells Fargo Center
5 Spokane, WA - INB Performing Arts Center
6 Seattle, WA - Paramount
8 Salt Lake City, UT - E Center Ford Theater
9 Denver, CO - Fillmore
11 Omaha, NE - Orpheum
12 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside
14 Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater
15 Chicago, IL - Auditorium
17 Cleveland, OH - Playhouse Square Center
18 Columbus, OH - Palace Theater
21 Indianapolis, IN - Murat Center
22 St Louis, MO - The Pageant I'm surprised he is coming here ! (author)
23 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
25 Dallas, TX - Palladium
26 Austin, TX - Backyard
28 Houston, TX - Verizon
30 El Paso, TX - County Coliseum
31 Tucson, AZ - Music Hall

June
2 Phoenix, AZ - Maricopa County Events Center
3 San Diego, CA - Bayside Concerts
5 Ventura, CA - Majestic Ventura Theater
6 Riverside, CA - Riverside Municipal Audit
8 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
9 Las Vegas, NV - Pearl



Elvis Costello will begin a ten date tour of the U.S. this spring starting April 13th where he will perform with Rosanne Cash at New York City's Rubin Museum of Art. According to Costello "It will be an all acoustic musical talk show, drawing on the theme of magic numbers," while we all ponder what that means it will be interesting to see if Costello's sound has changed any since he married jazz musician Diana Krall. The ten date tour will be as follows.
May
2 Los Angeles, CA - House Of Blues
3 San Francisco, CA - The Warfield
6 Denver, CO - The Fillmore
8 Minneapolis, MN - Myth
9 Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
11 Detroit, MI - State Theatre
15 Boston, MA - Avalon
16 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre
18 Washington D.C. - 9: 30 Club
19 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory

Guess he didn't find the perfect drug

Trent Reznor has spoken out about drugs and he doesn't have too many good things to say about them. He has said that drugs impaired his ability write and create music and is quoted as saying " I had made writing out to be a terrifying prospect filled with pain and failure and some things, I dreaded doing because I always lacked self confidence and every other thing." "By the end of my run with drugs I realized that my brain wasn't functioning right and I'd lost the power to concentrate." "It really made my art suffer, which made me feel worse, which made me want to get high and you know that cycle starts up." Since sobering up he has stated that he finally learned how to write on the road that makes him even more productive than ever before.


Another group of former drug addicts and never aging rockers The Rolling Stones have announced that they will tour Europe and begin a 27 date tour on June 5 in Werchter, Belgium. They will headline the Isle of Wight Festival June 10 it will be their first at the festival in more than 30 years. The tour will wrap up Aug 21 with a show at London's Millenium Dome which has been re-branded the O2 Arena. They were forced to cancel several european dates for last year's "A Bigger Bang" tour because Keith Richards fell out of a tree and injured his head while on vacation in Fiji and Mick Jagger contracted laryngitis in August. Despite these set backs their 2006 tour grossed $138.5 million.

Contemporaries of the Rolling Stones, The Who are back on tour after they had to cancel a concert in Tampa FL last saturday because of Roger Daltrey's bout with bronchitis . The Who played a sold out concert in the Alltel arena in Little Rock, AR. Daltrey told the crowd that "it feels good to be out of bed," he then proceeded to go perform an over ninety minute set of the bands classic hits and new ones from their recent album ' Endless WIre'. They ended the evening by playing 20 minutes of encores and a few hits from the rock opera 'Tommy.'
In other Who related news Pete Townshend has set off a debate on what is classic rock. In an interview with WAXQ-FM Townshend spoke out against those who would classify The Police as classic rock. Townshend said
" The Police are punk, they are a punk band," 'They aren't classic rock, you know you've got the Stones and the Who. He also stated that "classic rock is finished it's all over after that. This is just music it's not classic anything."


The suicide of Brad Delp lead singer of the band Boston continues to have repercussions on current and former members. Tom Scholz a founding member and chief songwriter wasn't informed of Delp's death and not invited to his funeral.
Tensions between Scholz and the early band members stem from delays in recording Boston's new albums after the releases of 'Boston' in 1976 and 'Don't look back' in 1978. Scholz sued for the rights to the band name an music but lost the case. Those who opposed Scholz attended the funeral and Delp's former wife Micki was quoted on a New York radio station as saying that the professional conflicts in Delp's life caused him to become despondent and after a long time friend Fran Cosmo was cut from Boston's summer concert . Many fans took these for the reason Delp took his own life.
Scholz called Delp his closest friend and collaborator in music for over 35 years and was dissappointed that his exclusion from the funeral . He feels that he is being blamed unfairly for the suicide. His lawyer contacted Micki and asked that she retract her previous statement but no comment was made by her. Delp's fiance said that no one was intentionally excluded from the funeral. She stated that she wanted Delp's children to get through this ordeal quickly and without drama.



Elton John will turn 60 years old on March 25 he will celebrate by putting on a decadent show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It will be interesting how many costume changes he does if any.

Here are the birthdays for the week of March 26- March 31, 2007
Mar 26
Steven Tyler (1948)
born Steven Tallarico
lead singer of the band
Aerosmith.

Teddy Pendergrass, (1950)
American soul singer

Charly McClain ( 1956)
American country music singer.

Kenny Chesney (1968)
Country music singe known for his songs
"No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems"
"When the Sun Goes Down".

James Iha (1968 )
former guitarist for
The Smashing Pumpkins .

Mar 27
Pee Wee Russell, (1906 - 1969)
jazz musician.

Benjamin Webster (1909-1973)
Influential American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Sarah Vaughan( 1924 – 1990)
American jazz singer
one of the greatest
singers of the 20th century

Tony Banks (1950) i
English songwriter, pianist/keyboard player, and guitarist.
One of the founding members of progressive rock/pop group Genesis has belonged to Genesis throughout its entire history.

Andrew Farriss (1959 )
The keyboardist and key composer
for the Australian band INXS.

Brendan Hill (1970)
The drummer for American jam
band Blues Traveler.


Mariah Carey (1970)
R&B singer, songwriter
known for her 8 octave
range voice.


Fergie (1975)
born Stacy Ann Ferguson
Member of the Black Eyed Peas
singer, songwriter, and actress.



Mar 28


John Evan(1948)
played keyboards for Jethro Tull
from April to December 1970
and then from January 1971 to June 1980.

Milan B. Williams (1948 –2006)
Keyboardist and a founding member
of the Commodores band.

Reba McEntire (1955)
Grammy Award-winning American singer
and one of the best-selling
country music performers of all time.


Jon Lee (March 28, 1968 – January 7, 2002)
Original drummer for the successful British rock band Feeder.

David Keuing (1976)
Guitarist for the American synth rock band The Killers.

J-Kwon (1986)
born Jarrell Jones
rapper from St. Louis

Mar 29

Pearl Bailey (1918 –1990)
American jazz and blues
artist popular throughout her
career which started in
the 30's up until her
death in 1990.

Ray Davis (1940- 2005)
Original bass singer
one of the founding members of The Parliaments, Parliament and Funkadelic.


Bobby Kimball (1947)
Singer best known for being
a member of the rock band Toto.

Patty Donahue (1956— 1996)
lead singer of
The Waitresses


Perry Farrell (1959)
Former lead singer of the
band Jane's Addiction and
Porno for Pyro's.

John Popper (1967) i
Musician and songwriter
for the band Blues Traveler


Mar 30

Frankie Laine,(1913 – 2007)
Successful American singer
of the twentieth century.

Graeme Edge (1941)
Drummer and
a songwriter for
the Moody Blues.

Eric Clapton CBE (1945)
nicknamed "Slowhand"
Grammy Award winning
English guitarist, singer and composer,

MC Hammer ( 1962)
born Stanley Burrell
American rapper
popular during the late 1980s
early 1990s, known for
his dramatic rise to and fall from fame and fortune,

Tracy Chapman (1964)
Singer-songwriter,
best known for her singles "Fast Car,"
"Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution,"
"Baby Can I Hold You,"
"Give Me One Reason."

Céline Dion (1968)
Canadian
Grammy and Juno
award winning pop singer
occasional songwriter.

Norah Jones (1979)
born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar
Grammy Award-winning
American singer-songwriter


Mar 31

Richard Kiley ( 1922-1999)
American stage and film actor
narrated various documentaries.

Shirley Jones (1934)
Academy Award
winning singer and
actress. Known for
her role as the mom
on The Partridge Family

Lefty Frizzell (1928-1975)
born WIlliam Frizzell
American country music
singer and songwriter
popular for his Honky Tonk
style during the 1950's.

John D. Loudermilk ( 1934 )
American singer and
songwriter

Herb Alpert ( 1935)
Known for his work
with the Tijuana Brass,

Angus Young ( 1955)
Guitarist and songwriter
for the band AC/DC

Until then GETOUTOFMYHEAD !