Rarities and Remastered to Redefine Pink Floyd
The undiscovered diamonds from the psychedelic treasure of Pink Floyd is set to shine. The official website Pinkfloyd.com, has announced “Why Pink Floyd…?, a major release campaign, in an association with EMI, the band’s record label since 1967.
The release is scheduled on September 26, 2011 with versatility to appease every listener. The comprehensive release will include something for everyone along with the previous unreleased tracks, alternate versions, and restored and rare videos of the band’s performances. CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, SACD, various digital formats, iphone Apps, and a brand new ‘Best of’ album will be the major highlights of this grand release.
As it goes for Pink Floyd’s music, ‘experiencing’ is more dominant and integral than mere listening, ‘Why Pink Floyd..?’ is being designed and will be presented in a set of different listening experiences.
DISCOVERY EDITIONS & BOXSET
The ‘Discovery’ collection: 14 Remastered Studio Albums
‘Discovery’ albums are designed as an introduction to the artist, with lyrics booklets.
Discovery editions:
14 x Remastered studio (Discovery) Albums
14 Remastered Studio Albums Discovery Boxset
EXPERIENCE EDITIONS
Experience editions will feature the expanded versions of classic albums. It will include the original remastered album, a disc of additional material and an expanded CD booklet.
Experience editions will include:
The Dark Side of The Moon: Experience Boxset
The Wall: Experience Boxset
Wish You Were Here: Experience Boxset
IMMERSION EDITIONS
This edition will contain remastered, unreleased and audio-visual material, and much additional content. Fans who want more will have something more such as reproduced memorabilia, brand new graphics, art prints, collectors’ items, lavish booklets.
Immersion editions:
The Dark Side Of The Moon Immersion Boxset
Wish You Were Here: Immersion Boxset
The Wall: Immersion Boxset
BEST OF – A FOOT IN THE DOOR
A brand new ‘Best of’ CD with tracks chosen by Pink Floyd featuring new artworks by Storm Thorgerson and remastered tracks by James Guthrie.
Apart from these editions, the mysterious Vinyl edition is also included with this launch.
~Source http://www.whypinkfloyd.com
Steve Vai Does a ‘Writings on the Wall’ for the New Album Name
The Letter ‘Y’ makes its appearance besides the official vai logo to raise the anticipation level higher for the upcoming Steve Vai album. The latest post on social networking site announced a teaser for the curious fans.
Source: http://www.vai.com/ Steve Vai posing in front of the wall with the graffit'Y' of the partial album name and the official logo!
“Hey folks, I have the name of the new record but not quite ready to reveal it. See if you can guess it. We will add letters little by little until all is revealed.”
The official site has also announced the launch of GuitarTV.com an interactive, 24-hour online video channel. The main highlights of the video channel will include performances of the world’s greatest guitar players in multiple genres, live concerts, guitar related movies and plenty more.
GuitarTV.com will be launched on May 10th accompanying a live event from Musicians Institute in Hollywood. The official site has announced an Ibanez JEM as prize for fans who will RSVP & join online for the launch. To get early site access register at www.guitartv.com.
Steve Vai Digs ‘Innerness’ a Painfully Beautiful Piece
True to his words on the hunt for exotic guitar brutalities, ‘Guitar God’ Steve Vai, has shared his inner feelings about the track ‘Innerness’ from his upcoming album. The latest post from Steve, on the social media site reads:
“Sometimes I sit in the studio and get an idea, work on it and when I listen to it back, it surpasses my expectations. That’s what just happened here at the new Harmony Hut and I’m blown away. Painfully beautiful piece called “Innerness”. The new record is starting to take shape from audio gold. I just can’t wait for you to hear it.
I know it’s taking me a long time. It always does. So sorry about that.
s”
With anticipation building up for the new 2011 Steve Vai album, the eager fans know that this is definitely worth waiting. Meanwhile as announced in the official Steve Vai website, ‘“The Bodhi Tree” VaiTunes #7 is now available online for download on all the major digital music retailers
iTunes, Amazonmp3, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic, Lala.com, IMVU, Shockhound, Amie Street, LimeWire Store and the Nokia Music Store. ‘The Bodhi Tree digital booklet PDF‘ is also available on the VaiTunes page.
Image Courtesy: Vai.com
PA asserts Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine did NOT collapse in Russia, but not without a Charlie Sheen joke
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine’s Personal Assistant, Rikki, churned out a passionate post to assert that the singer did NOT collapse in Russia. In the March 20 piece posted on Megadeth.com, presses that “DAVE MUSTAINE NEVER COLLAPSED IN RUSSIA. Not ON stage, not back stage, not ever. He was NOT rushed to the hospital,” among busting other metal myths but not without a Charlie Sheen joke.
“Dave addressed his health issues himself, and I have no idea where anybody got the idea that there was a collapse because simply put, it is NOT TRUE. Anybody who was at that show can verify that, and as his personal assistant, as his right hand out here on the road, I want to testify to anybody who doubts it, this never happened. It’s really pathetic that people have to play the telephone game and spread bulls*&t rumors to trump up some fantasy that they have played out in their heads,” the PA writes in the blog post titled, ‘DAVE MUSTAINE IN GOOD HEALTH; RUMOR OF HOSPITALIZATION UNTRUE’.
“Please pass the word along to anyone who may say other wise, and to fellow Megadeth fans, and to people who claim to know otherwise,” she goes on to urge, before reiterating the “candid and honest” rockstar’s revelations that the trouble was due to kidney stones, “quite a normal thing, and extremely painful.”
Bashing the rumor mills, the post says, “Something as strongly worded as “collapse” can come across as way more dramatic and blown out of proportion than you may realize.”
In the ensuing argument, Rikki goes on to bust some popular myths about musicians accompanied with an unexpected and hilarious swipe at the scandalous ‘Two and Half Men’ star, Charlie Sheen.
“You heard it here first: Britney Spears does NOT have 2 heads (though Charlie Sheen, I’m not so sure), Ozzy does not eat bats for breakfast on a daily basis, and Dave Mustaine did NOT collapse in Russia.”
India Art Summit – Review
Anushka Rajendran, a Delhi-based art writer, reviews India Art Summit 2011:
I must admit up front. Most of my four days at the India Art Summit was spent crouching over a limited edition work by Prajjwal Chowdhury and not so by choice though even otherwise, I would not have minded lavishing quite some time over the work. When I finally got the opportunity to go around, it was just before everything was closing and a half hour there made sure I was way too saturated to witness the rest with any cognitive prowess whatsoever. Still a few works did grab at my interest and they along with the work by Prajjwal Chowdhury make up the premise of this article. What I enjoyed about the summit beyond all else was how by making an event out of artworks that in most cases remained accessible to all and sundry on an everyday basis, putting all of them in the same space, and lavishing the PR industry’s skills on them, could put a whole city in touch with a part of the aesthetic sphere that do not feature very heavily in their quotidian cultural experience. As we all know, it is no well kept secret that the industry enjoys this exclusivity and does not try too hard to change things while keeping an eye out for prospective patrons. I do not want to tread any Marxist discourse here, but these three days when the doors are thrown open to the public, giving them a reason to access the art world, is one of the reasons that makes the summit significant to me.
During the course of my vigil, I had several brief interactions with visitors at the summit. Save the VIP launch, where almost everyone seemed to know what they were talking about or at least what they wanted from the summit, the rest of them predominantly fell under a singular adjective – overwhelmed. I suppose that is what art does to people. Or, maybe I am being overly presumptuous. Back when Clement Greenberg was the last word in art criticism, he was taken very seriously when he laid out an underlying difference between the works of T.S. Elliot and a Tin Pan Alley song, the former being ‘high brow’ where as the latter was ‘popular,’ though both were the offshoots of the same collective society. We no longer adhere to the gospel of Greenberg. Postmodernism came and knocked out cold humorless formalist masturbations (not that I discredit these in any way for most of my favorite artists fit this description).
India Art Summit
Though the stalls that welcomed you to the summit mostly featured modern and contemporary masters whose works have become mostly self-referential of their value and genius over anything else it might speak of, weary to the initiated and alien to the uninitiated, the note gradually shifted as one moved along the narrow corridors. Past the Souzas, the Picassos and the Miros, a couple of rungs down but nowhere near down, I came face to face with a work by Mithu Sen that reminded me of the Prajjwal Chowdhury I had been staring at. What I saw was a pink velvet spongy spine, flexible in all its gigantism, going up a wall not unlike a common garden creeper. Her idiom popularly references the kitsch and middle-class household decorative, and takes it very seriously. While she tries to incorporate such a ubiquitous aesthetic into the high space that art assumes, the incongruity of its mere presence on a red carpet playfully pokes fun at taste that may not appear very refined to many connoisseurs. Yet she remains important for this very reason. At the summit, this simultaneously played a different role. For most, right after lines and paint that spoke a language they could not comprehend, for I believe art is an acquired taste, this spine literalized as installation the adjective few of us have not heard – spineless or weak-spined. This is a saying that proliferates, vernacular languages not excluded. This spine brought with it a flash of recognition. Finally something familiar, very relatable.
Similar was the Nano fenced outdoors, decked and decorated with mosaic by Ketna Patel to several times its price, poking fun at Indian Roads and Indian traffic. Prajjwal Chowdhury’s matchboxes carrying images of iconic works that are universally familiar thanks to their heavy dissemination in the mechanical age almost amused whoever chanced by. The use of the matchbox put them in their comfort zone and the recognizability of the images that bring with them some of the fetishized aura of the original, made it endearing. A lot of them wanted to carry individual boxes back with them, not quite able to recognize its status as a work of art. But I must admit, this made me happy. It is not just enough that high and popular art conflate in theory and in practice, as long as the work itself circulates in a highly insulated circuit. The India Art Summit heralds a day when spaces of art conflate beyond mere instances of public art. I have been unfair to some brilliant and note-worthy galleries and artworks in this account by virtue of their omission, most specifically a few that caught my eye like the gallery from Pakistan Grey Noise, Nielson Gallery from Spain and Nature Morte’s booth for Thukral and Tagra’s ‘Put it On’ – whose virtues verge on those of the Mithu Sen as a trophy carried over from their background in advertising. Yet, I hope to have been faithful to the spirit of the summit.
Anushka Rajendran
Contact the writer on e-mail: anushka.rjndrn@gmail.com
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Foo Fighters Releases New Single ‘Rope’
The new Foo Fighters’ single track, ‘Rope’ is out to revive the rock band’s hard rocking style. This song definitely carries the Foo Fighters signature sound and is intensifying the wait for the new album for the hungry fans.
So until we wait in anticipation, the new single ‘Rope’ will definitely loop in your playlist.
Click to listen to the new single ‘Rope’ by Foo Fighters.
WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange turns muse for Artists
Since the dawn of mankind, art – to a great extent – has been influenced by the external world. At some level artistic expression can be defined as the result of the mingling or rather clashing of the internal with the external. Events across the world and international politics are therefore muses for several artists. Street art and graffiti probably illustrate this phenomenon the best. In the recent past, an unusual muse has emerged for artists across the globe – Julian Assange.
From a coloring book to full-fledged tribute art – the art world seems to be at the awe of the silver haired Australian. The founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks is easily one of the most spoken about and debated about personality in the world. Assange’s efforts to bring out the secrets that the authorities want to push under the rug have shaken the world order. A hero to many, villain to few – artistic tributes to the controversial man is now popping up in every street corner, as well as on the world of internet.
Dubbing Assange the “new folk hero”, a post on Brooklyn Street Art observed,”Pre-dating the modern ‘Street Art’ movement, the street has traditionally been an outlet for the voice of the people and social movements have almost always gained purchase there.
“Posters of underground heroes are as old as ‘Wanted: Billy the Kid’ nail-ups that people used to rip down and take home. The amount of politically motivated Street Art you see or even themes surrounding social issues seem to ebb and flow in quantity, but they are ever present. Villain to some and emerging folk hero to others, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has already inspired a comic book in addition to some pieces on the street.”
At the fun end of the spectrum, a website simply called Julian Assange Colouring Book allows users to enjoy the relaxing benefits of “Coloring in” ready made outlines of the gifted computer hacker/journalist/founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks.
“‘Collateral murder’, ‘Cablegate’, sexual misconduct charges against Julian in Sweden, calls for his assassination by the CIA, intrigue, suspense, and conspiracy theories – it all makes for pretty serious stuff.
“So where does the Julian Assange Coloring Book fit in? Well, simply put, it’s not “serious stuff”. It’s a coloring book about Julian Assange (with the occasional WikiLeaks page for good measure),” reads the website’s about section.
Pixies got creative on Julian Assange Colouring Book - mixing Che with Rasta's Red, Gold, Green
But the frivolity – so to speak – ends there as the versatility of the tribute art dedicated to Assange does not fail to awe. A point that needs to be stressed here is the fact that the pieces of reverence towards Assange come from all corners of the world. Amorfart, Hungarian street art site, showcased the making of a five layer stencil on a vinyl album, while the street art from Melbourne has been displayed for the world to see on the photo-sharing website Flickr by Regan Tamanui.
But the best of the lot comes from a French artist called Thierry Ehrmann. Ehrmann is quite a controversial figure. The artist born in Lyon is the founder and current chairman of the Serveur Group, a company that manages databases of art auction quotations through ArtPrice website. Ehrmann sparked off a row in connection with the decoration of his house, the Abode of Chaos. The house located in the peaceful village stick outs as the artist turned it into a replica war zone. Ehrmann is fighting a legal battle to sustain his house in which lives over 2,500 artworks from different artists.
Ehrmann’s photostream on Flickr contains an impressive collection of Assange-inspired art. The first of the three portraits of Julian Assange at the Abode of Chaos has been painted by an artist called Thomas Foucher. The second one has been posted on the occasion of Assange’s arrest, while the third and the most impressive one by Ehrmann has been posted to celebrate Assange being named the Man of the Year by Le Monde. The third portrait of Assange incorporates the fictitious cult-rebel hero ‘V for Vendetta’. While the right half of the portrait is that of Assange, the Guy Fawkes mask that ‘V’ wears forms the left half. This portrayal is extremely striking due to the parallel drawn between the man who fought against the totalitarian government in the Graphic-Novel series by Alan Moore and the man who is fighting against the tightlipped and seemingly scheming leaders and authoritative bodies in a world – present and real – plagued by many miseries.
Julian Assange - Portrait 1 @ Thierry Ehrmann's Abode of Chaos
Julian Assange - Portrait 2 @ Thierry Ehrmann's Abode of Chaos
Julian Assange - Portrait 3 @ Thierry Ehrmann's Abode of Chaos
Valentine’s Day with Augustana and Lucinda Williams
The Valentine’s Day just got special for music lovers in LA as the ‘Sweet and Low’ rockers Augustana will be performing alongside Lucinda Williams at Bardot on February 14.
Announcing this on Facebook, Augustana wrote, “Hey LA friends, we’re going to be joining the incredibly talented Lucinda Williams for It’s A School Night at Bardot on February 14th (Valentine’s Day)! You can RSVP on their website… See you then!”.
Augustana and Lucinda Williams' 'It's a School Night' show
Those interested in attending can RSVP on It’s A School Night website.
Augustana has over 170,000 fans on Facebook.
While the gig comes as a great news for the Augustana and Lucinda Williams’ fans in LA, most of the comments on the social networking site were from the disappointed ones.
“GRRRR! I live on the east coast but would be there in a heartbeat if I could! That would be my dream valentine’s day!!” wrote Emily Tennant.
Korey Vallance wrote, “Yet another reason I wish I lived in LA.”
However, one question in the comments threads that did strike us was from Todd Zilla, who asked, “new record any time soon?”
We hope Augustana would heal the thousands of aching hearts who have missed all the recent shows and the one coming up on Valentine’s Day by just releasing a new album.
Kim Kardashian mentions 2010’s nude photos for publicity
While Kim Kardashian blazed the red carpet in Marchesa at the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) Awards in Los Angeles, the internet was set on fire by the nude photos of the actress/socialite as she posed for the W Magazine late last year. Google Trends has been volcanic with related search terms.
Kim Kardashian went bare for W Magazine’s ‘Art Issue’. On the cover shot, Kardashian’s assets are covered by strategically placed text bars. In the feature within the magazine, the bombshell is covered with absolutely nothing but silver paint.
If you are wondering how the magazine shots taken last year has yet again made it back to the spotlight, it is all thanks to the show Kourtney and Kim Take New York on E!.
The photos were mentioned on the last night’s episode of the show. The mention seems to serve two purposes. For one, it revived the interest in the ‘W’ photos, which back when released caused quiet a lot of commotion coupled with the Playboy photos. On the other hand, the nudity was hoped at also reviving the show, which seems to be losing popularity without Khloe.
Nothing sells like sex!!
‘The Big 4’ – Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer & Anthrax – to thrash California on April 23
The wait is over and the announcement has been made – the 2011 edition of the ‘Big Four’ or ‘Big 4’ show will be held on April 23 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
The Big 4 festival brings together four legendary bands of thrash metal – Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.
“Four of the heaviest bands of all time, share one stage for the one and only U.S. appearance, Saturday April 23rd 2011 – Empire Polo Club, Indio, CA,” read an announcement on ‘The Big4’ Facebook page.
The Big 4 Festival - Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax
The announcement came after the anticipation was built up on the social networking site and other social media platforms like Twitter on the upcoming announcement.
“Announcement Tuesday January 25th 8am PST,” said the earlier post.
The ticket sales will begin on Friday, January 28 at 10 am.
Megadeth Fan Club members have a day’s advantage with tickets’ presale beginning on Thursday, January 27 at 8 am PST. Metallica also announced that Fan Club members can check MetClub.com for pre-sale and VIP package info.
The 2010 edition of the Big 4 festival took place on June 2010 at Sonisphere Festival at Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria. The DVD of the show and a limited-edition guitar pick was unveiled in the year-end.
“You’ve probably heard us all say it . . . the vibe was just so incredible at last year’s Big 4 shows that we can’t stop now!! So we’re finally bringing the love to our home turf on April 23, 2011 with ‘Tallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax in Indio, CA at the Empire Polo Club (yes, the more observant of you will note that this is the same spot where the Coachella Festival takes place the weekend before),” a statement on Metallica.com read.
The Big 4 festival took birth in 2009. Back then, it was something so surreal to even imagine these four heavyweights share the stage. We’ll recall what Lars Ulrich said when the rumours began doing the rounds in September 2009:
“I think it would be a super-fun thing to do. It’s something that I would definitely support. It’s something that I would love to encourage. It’s something I love to be very proactive in putting together. But right now it’s not something that really left that party; it’s not something that’s like hush-hush being worked on behind the scenes or anything like that.
“I read some of those Internet sites myself once in a while, and it’s not something that’s going down, but it’s something that I would be totally for at some point if it could happen. And we would love to be a part of that at any level possible.”
Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler in spotlight due to American Idol; but why?
With all the buzz around the tenth and the latest season of the American Idol, Steven Tylor, who along with Jennifer Lopez, is the new entrant on the judging panel is enjoying a lot of the attention. All through Thursday, Steven Tyler and American Idol related search terms dominated the Google Trends list. On Twitter, the lead singer of Aerosmith took a spot on the Trending Topics list.
Banner promoting Steven Tyler on American Idol on Aerosmith.com
If you are one among the thousands of loyal rock worshipers who cringed at the idea of Tyler selling himself to reality TV, you are not alone. According to media reports, the band members of Aerosmith were not too happy with Tyler choosing to go on the American Idol.
“Aerosmith band members weren’t too happy with Steven Tyler’s foray into that type of musical activity, however, especially Joe Perry, and they said as much back then, but Steven chose to push forward anyway,” the Examiner reported.
When he was questioned as to why he chose to appear on American Idol, Tyler told Howard Stern that his feet were killing him and he needed to rest. The singer, who is famed for songs like ‘Dude looks like a lady’, ‘Amazing’, ‘Crazy’, ‘Crying’, ‘Angel’, ‘Dream on’, ‘Love in an elevator’, ‘Nine Lives’ and ‘Permanent Vacation’, had undergone several surgeries on his feet after some of the aging star’s dance moves did not fit in well with his body.
It is a known fact that Tyler continues to struggle with drug problems. As recent as 2009, the Aerosmith front man was forced to get off the stage after drugs resulted in a broken shoulder. He also received 19 stitches on his head after a fall.
However, Tyler’s honesty with the media has earned him brownie points.
In another report, the Examiner observes, “Tyler’s brazen honesty about his addiction issues and his falling out with fellow Aerosmith band member Perry because he wasn’t “too good” to do “Idol” is all refreshingly different from most cover-your-backside press speak by celebrities.”
According to the latest reports, Tylor is still feuding with Perry despite the reports that the band is getting together this weekend to record new material. Public verbal attacks continue. Tyler was recently quoted as saying, “(We last spoke) a long time ago, on tour. I think he’s bummed out I’m sober. Joe is missing in action. I texted him 20 minutes ago: ‘Hey Joe, where are you?’ He’s angry with me for what? Because I took f**king Idol? What a crock of s**t.”
Tyler now sits along side another new judge, the pop singer Jennifer Lopez and the only remaining member from the original judging line-up, Randy Jackson on the tenth season of American Idol. The rock star is said to be far more ‘nice’ than Simon Cowell, who was known for his mean remarks.
“The show isn’t attempting to replicate Cowell, but is opting for a sweeter, gentler judges’ panel. Based on an audition sample given to the media, Lopez seems to be a nurturer, a less loopy Paula Abdul. Tyler is a bit of a wild card. You never quite know what’s going to come out of his mouth,” noted Access Atlanta.
Greenday & Soundgarden to release new Live albums on same day – March 22
Two rock bands are set to release their Live albums on the same day this year. On March 22, 2011, rock fans will be treated to two new albums – both Live – of Greenday and the recently reunited Soundgarden.
The Punk rockers will release their brand-new live album, titled ‘Awesome As Fuck’, on Reprise Records. GuitarWorld.com reported that the set includes a CD plus bonus DVD, features explosive performances captured during the band’s 2009-2010 World Tour in support of their Grammy Award–winning album ’21st Century Breakdown’.
Greenday New Live Album 'Awesome as Fuck'
The track-listing for ‘Awesome As Fuck’ is as follows:
CD
1. 21st Century Breakdown – (London, England)
2. Know Your Enemy – (Manchester, England)
3. East Jesus Nowhere – (Glasgow, Scotland)
4. Holiday – (Dublin, Ireland)
5. Gloria – (Dallas, Texas)
6. Cigarettes and Valentines – (Phoenix, Arizona)
7. Burnout – (Irvine, California)
8. Pasalaqua – (Chula Vista, California )
9. JAR – (Detroit, Michigan – August 23rd 2010)
10. Holden Caulfield – (New York, New York)
11. Geek Stink Breath – (Saitama-shi, Japan)
12. When I Come Around – (Berlin, Germany)
13. She – (Brisbane, Australia – December 8th 2009)
14. 21 Guns – (Mountain View, California)
15. American Idiot – (Montreal, QUE)
16. Wake Me Up – (Nickelsdorf, Austria)
17. Good Riddance – (Nickelsdorf, Austria)
DELUXE ALBUM BONUS TRACKS (ALL DIGITAL RETAILERS EXCEPT iTUNES)
1. Letterbomb – (Chula Vista, California)
2. Christie Road – (Hartford, Connecticut)
iTUNES BONUS TRACKS
1. Letterbomb – (Chula Vista, California)
2. Christie Road – (Hartford, Connecticut)
3. Paper Lanterns/2000 Light Years Away – (Alpharetta, Georgia) (iTunes Exclusive)
DVD
1. 21st Century Breakdown
2. Know Your Enemy
3. East Jesus Nowhere
4. Holiday
5. Static Age
6. Gloria
7. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
8. Burnout
9. Geek Stink Breath
10. Welcome to Paradise
11. When I Come Around
12. She
13. 21 Guns
14. American Eulogy
15. Jesus Of Suburbia
16. Good Riddance
You can pre-order the album on Amazon. Catch the trailer on Greenday.com.
Meanwhile, Soundgarden is also working towards releasing their first ever Live Album, titled ‘Live on I5’, on the very same day. According to GuitarWorld, ‘I5’ is a reference to the Interstate 5 which runs up and down the West Coast. The selection will include tracks like ‘Spoonman’, ‘Rusty Cage’, ‘Burden In My Hand’, and ‘Black Hole Sun’, performed by Chris Cornell solo.
Soundgarden (Photo Courtesy: rosshalfin.com)
“Happy New Year! We’re pleased to tell you that we are going to be releasing our first-ever live album taken from the west coast leg of our tour in 1996. The album will be called Live on I5 and you can get it on March 22nd. We had always intended to release this as a live record and now it’s time to unleash the fury!” the band said on the official website, Soundgardenworld.com on January 13.
Tracklisting in full:
1. Spoonman
2. Searching With My Good Eye Closed
3. Let Me Drown
Tracks 1-3: Recorded live at Crosby Hall, Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA – November 30, 1996
4. Head Down
Recorded live at Mercer Arena, Seattle, WA – December 18, 1996
5. Outshined
Recorded live at Crosby Hall, Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA – November 30, 1996
6. Rusty Cage
Recorded live at Pacific National Exhibition Forum, Vancouver, BC, Canada – December 7, 1996
7. Burden In My Hand
Recorded live at Salem Armory, Salem, OR – December 8, 1996
8. Helter Skelter
9. Boot Camp
Tracks 8 and 9: Recorded live at Crosby Hall, Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA – November 30, 1996
10. Nothing To Say
Recorded live at Mercer Arena, Seattle, WA – December 18, 1996
11. Slaves And Bulldozers
12. Dusty
13. Fell On Black Days
Tracks 11-13: Recorded live at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA – December 5, 1996
14. Search And Destroy
Recorded live at Mercer Arena, Seattle, WA – December 18, 1996
15. Ty Cobb
Recorded live at Crosby Hall, Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA – November 30, 1996
16. Black Hole Sun
Recorded live at Mercer Arena, Seattle, WA – December 17, 1996
17. Jesus Christ Pose
Recorded live at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, Oakland, CA – December 5, 1996
Queen’s movie ‘We Will Rock You’ will ooze ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
The Official website of the legendary rock band, Queen, has announced the release of its movie titled ‘We Will Rock You’. The movie promises to break the cliches of the safe, happy, Ga Ga world and to ooze the real spirit of the track ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’!
The band is set to delight the rebels who wanna rock. The musical will feature hits such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Killer Queen’ and portray the dystopian society. Unlike other music band based movies, Ben Elton’s script will not include the biography of the band. The script narrates a story of the Bohemians who wrote their own songs and expressed the rhapsody.
The surviving band member Brian May has confirmed the musical, which is set to be screened at Dominion theatre.
Blood Libel: Sarah Palin’s foot in mouth syndrome worsens
Sarah Palin’s foot in mouth syndrome seemingly continues to aggravate as she has taken the ‘art of saying something inappropriate’ to new heights with her latest remarks containing the controversial words “blood libel”.
In an eight minute video statement, Palin defended herself against allegations that her firearms-infused political attacks prompted the assassination attempt on Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, in Tucson.
Sarah Palin (Video screenshot)
“Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. Especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible,” Palin remarks in the video released early Wednesday.
“Blood libel”, words heavy with religious symbolism, refers to the accusation slapped against religious minorities, especially Jews that they murdered children, especially Christian, and used their blood to bake matzos, a cracker-like unleavened bread, for the Passover festival. This has been one among many claims used to justify the persecution of Jews in Europe.
Palin’s latest statement has sparked off a row across the globe raising questions on the freedom and right to expression against appropriateness. Interestingly, the Republican’s words came at a time when she was trying to argue that her words were unfairly linked to the 22-year-old suspected gunman Jared Loughner’s violence.
While the media outlets wonder if Palin and those in her camp understood the implications of the term, observers and linguists are busy explaining to the world how the literal meanings of phrases change over the years while another fraction have tried to throw light on why the Republican’s statement has prompted rage.
Palin has several times in the past run into trouble for her choice of words. The most recent one being the coining of the term “refudiate”, which was a mash-up of two words: “refuse” and “repudiate”. Refudiate was recently named the most unnecessary word by the American Dialect Society, after New Oxford American Dictionary, on the contrary, named it the top word of 2010.
After using the term for the first time in Fox News’s Hannity show seeking President Obama and his wife Michelle to “refudiate” the NAACP’s suggestion that the Tea Party movement was racist, Sarah Palin used ‘refudiate’ in her tweets on Ground Zero Mosque. She later defended her term arguing, “‘Refudiate,’ ‘misunderestimate,’ ‘wee-wee’d up.’ English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!”
Kormer President George W Bush had coined “misunderdestimate” while Barack Obama referred to people in Washington being “wee-wee’d up”, which according to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs means when people just get all nervous for no particular reason.”
Palin had also sparked off a far more serious controversy by supporting Dr. Laura Schlessinger in the wake of her controversial use of the N-word – 11 times in a span of five minutes – on her radio show.
Backing Dr. Laura’s claim that her First Amendment rights have been silenced by “hateful” interest groups, Palin had said, “Dr. Laura did not call anyone or any group of people the n-word. Curiously, the same criers over this issue didn’t utter a word when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel called a group protesting the Obama Administration’s actions, ‘f***ing retards’…”
Pixies say:
History narrates several stories of how caustic oratory has incited violence. Even in the present day scenario, terror takes birth from rhetoric and brain-washing. While the politicians are too busy attacking each other for political mileage, this present crisis should either raise appeals to tone down the rhetoric or to introduce some form of education at the grass-root level to help youngsters understand and decipher rhetoric.
Never-seen-before pictures of Bob Marley with Marijuana
High Times, the monthly magazine that advocates the legalization of marijuana, has dished out never-seen-before pictures of Reggae god Bob Marley with the herb on the occasion of the 420th issue.
The New York-based magazine decided to release the unpublished outtakes from the photo shoot that Bob Marley did for the cover of September 1976 issue ahead of the release of the book – Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae (Titan Books). The book documents “the golden age of reggae.”
In 1975 and 1976, underground photojournalist Kim Gottlieb and her husband, Island Records publicity head Jeff Walker toured Jamaica and held exclusive meetings in Los Angeles with reggae luminaries such as Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Toots Hibbert, Burning Spear, Jacob Miller, Third World, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, besides Bob Marley.
High Times has released five unpublished photos of Bob Marley with marijuana. In one the artist is examining the “photo props” at the shoot. In two other photos Bob Marley is accompanied by Bob and Wailers percussionist Seeco Patterson. While in the fourth Bob is seen standing as he “chops up herb for another spliff”, the fifth one shows “Bob in contemplation”.
In the piece Jeff Walker recalls, “During some down time between the Roxy and the Santa Barbara County Bowl, Kim and I went to Bob’s hotel to shoot a private session for the now-iconic HighTimes cover that would feature Bob smiling over a mound of herb. His delight that afternoon is pretty evident in these never-before-seen photos of that session.”
“Two days later, as the sun set on Bob Marley as he neared the end of his outdoor concert at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, none of us could have imagined what lay ahead in the next few years – from the attempt on Bob’s life in his home as he was rehearsing for the “Smile Jamaica” concert (meant to help simmer down a very tense political climate in Kingston) to the diagnosis of the cancer that would eventually take his life way too soon. But on that day in Santa Barbara, in an idyllic setting, Bob was at the peak of his powers, and his legend would only continue to grow.”
Bob Marley died on 11 May, 1981.
Cavalera Conspiracy to inflict ‘Blunt Force Trauma’ on ears this March
Blunt Force Trauma - Cavalera Conspiracy Album Artwork
Following their 2008 debut album Inflikted, Cavalera Conspiracy is set to inflict Blunt Force Trauma on your ears this March.
Roadrunner Records, the label that released the heavy metal group’s first album on 25 March 2008, has announced that March 29, 2010 “will bring Cavalera Conspiracy’s second masterpiece, Blunt Force Trauma.”
The new album’s artwork has been unveiled. But don’t be fooled by the minimalistic and simple art, the record label has warned, indicating what the fans will “put on the rack” will be nothing like the album art by releasing the list of tracks on Blunt Force Trauma:
1. Warlord
2. Torture
3. Lynch Mob
4. Killing Inside
5. Thrasher
6. I Speak Hate
7. Target
8. Genghis Khan
9. Burn Waco
10. Rasputin
11. Blunt Force Trauma
Conspiracy took birth in death of Cavalera brothers’ fued
For those who just recognise the name ‘Cavalera’ but have no idea about Cavalera Conspiracy, here is the must-know facts of the extremely potent metal group. The band was formed by Max Cavalera of Sepultura and Soulfly fame and his drummer brother Igor Cavalera. The Brazilian brothers, who founded Sepultura in the early 1980s, invited American guitarist of Soulfly, Marc Rizzo, and French bassist of Gojira, Joe Duplantier, to complete the band.
With the formation of the band, the Brazilian brothers put an end to a decade-long feud that stemmed in 1996 with Sepultura’s drummer Igor Cavalera, guitarist Andreas Kisser, and bassist Paulo Jr. telling Max they wanted to replace several members of the band staff, including Max’s wife and band manager Gloria citing that she paid more attention to Max than the band.
Max Cavalera with brother Igor Cavalera
Max left the band as he felt that the band was “biting the hands that feed”. Speaking on the “worst decision he had to make in his life” in a 2008 interview with Revolver magazine, Max said Gloria had worked for Sepultura for two years without earning a single dollar. She did it just for the passion of the music.
Inflikted
A song titled Inflikted was inspired by Sepultura’s 1992 Indonesia visit. The song based on a “crazy ritual”, which Max described “There was self-inflicted pain, knives, blood, fire. It was insane. It stuck in my head,” was originally meant for Soulfly’s sixth studio album Conquer. But Max’s desire to work with brother Igor gave birth to the Cavalera Conspiracy’s debut album Inflickted. Recorded in 2007, the album was released in March 2008.
The band toured till August 2009 for the album and in October 2009 Max announced plans of the second album Blunt Force Trauma.
The band’s line-up for the album remains the same as the original with former Systematic 4-stringer, Johnny Chow, on the bass.
Steve Vai in search of “guitar brutalities” in new year 2011
Steve Vai - Rare photos from vai.com
‘Guitar God’ Steve Vai has dived into work right at the start of the new year. The three time Grammy Award-winner posted on Facebook that he was in search of “guitar brutalities” while wishing all his fans a Happy New Year.
“Hey Folks, Happy New Year again… and again… and forever!” the Italian American rockstar greeted.
Vai, who released Where the Other Wilds Are in 2010 following the 2009’s Where the Wild Things Are, has revealed that the new year will also bring in another album.
“I am just right now starting to work on a new record… right… now!
I’m diving into the infinity shelf and letting it run all over the place. Looking for exotic guitar brutalities.
I’ll keep you posted on the preposterous.
Thanks for tuning in,” the post on the social media site added.
Earlier, the Guitar International Magazine awarded the title of Guitar DVD of the Year to ‘Steve Vai Live in Minneapolis: Where the Wild Things Are’.
“Seeing Steve Vai live is an experience all unto itself, and his latest live release Where the Wild Things Are couldn’t have captured that essence any better. Though the album was released at the end of 2009, this baby had some legs and continued to amaze and inspire viewers throughout the past 12 months, so we decided to include in the 2010 edition of the awards,” the magazine said on the 2-hours-40-minutes-and-27 tracks DVD.
Besides this, Vai grabbed the ‘Guitar Concert of the Year Award’ for performances on the Experience Hendrix Tour, which “allowed fans to see some of their favorite players pay tribute to a man that has inspired countless millions of guitarists and fan across the globe over the past four decades.”
The Philanthropist has also reminded aspiring guitarists that they need to get their entry into the Steve Vai scholarship competition by Friday, January 7 to be considered. The Guitar Institute, part of London’s Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, has tied up with Steve Vai for the scholarship.
Johnny Cash resurrected by fans, nominated for Grammy
It is beyond doubt that true artists live forever. But, reminding us yet again that it is the true fans and followers who consecrate immortality on to the artists, the crowd-sourced Johnny Cash video has grabbed a spot on this year’s Grammy Nominations.
Art submitted on Johnny Cash Project
‘The Man in Black’ has been resurrected by the The Johnny Cash Project, which gave Cash’s final studio recording, ‘Ain’t No Grave’, with a nothing-like-anything-before video. It is a collective, or crowd-sourced, music video put together using the drawings submitted by the denizens of the web.
Now, ‘Ain’t No Grave / The Johnny Cash Project’ figures on the list of nominees for 53rd annual Grammy Awards under the category Best Short Form Music Video, alongside tracks like Eminem & Rihanna’s ‘Love The Way You Lie’ (Explicit Version), ‘Stylo’ of Gorillaz, Mos Def & Bobby Womack, Cee Lo Green’s ‘F*** You’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘Bad Romance’.
The Johnny Cash project does face a huge competition. Take for instance the YouTube views of the other contenders, ‘Bad Romance’ has more than 300 million views, ‘F**k You’ has attracted 32 million views while ‘Love The Way You Lie’ has pocketed around 200 million on the video sharing website.
Art submitted on Johnny Cash Project
Nevertheless, the Cash nomination stands class apart. For one, the artist’s work has been featured seven years after his death in 2003. The video is created by fans across the world and refreshes itself with every new contribution.
The Johnny Cash Project:
Video director Chris Milk is the man behind the commendable project, produced by Radical Media.
Speaking about how the project was born in Portugal at an art and technology conference back in 2009, where he met Aaron Koblin, who now heads up Google Creative Lab’s Data Arts Team, is quoted as saying in Mashable, “We knew that we would need an artist that had a certain level of universal love for them already existing, and that’s a difficult thing on the Internet nowadays because you only have to go a couple of pages deep to find millions of haters of everything.”
The Johnny Cash Project has a dedicated website, where fans can use a specialized drawing tool to contribute a frame or frames to the video.
Johnny Cash Project
“A UNIQUE COMMUNAL WORK, A LIVING PORTRAIT OF THE MAN IN BLACK” – reads the website.
“Through this interactive website, participants may draw their own portrait of Johnny Cash to be integrated into a collective whole. As people all over the world contribute, the project will continue to evolve and grow, one frame at a time.”
According to the video [Watch Official Video], “To date, over 250,000 people from 172 countries have participated in an online video to construct Johnny Cash’s final music video.”
Pixies say:
We continue to love how internet is changing how the world works in almost every way possible. The medium has not only provided the true blue Johnny Cash fans an opportunity to be part of the brilliant musician’s legacy, but has also, consequently, brought him back to life to give the “stars” of the day a run for their money.
Our digital artist is current trying hand on the Johnny Cash Project. If we get our frames up there, we will surely share it with you all. In case, you have already got your art featured or are trying to, share your story with us – tell us about your inspiration and love for ‘The Man in Black’.
Hats off to Rolling Stone for acknowledging ‘Rockstar’ Assange
So what if the TIME magazine chose to snub WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for the ‘Person of the Year’ title, the Rolling Stone magazine crowned the silver-haired whistle blower the ‘Rockstar of the Year’ for 2010.
The Italian edition of the US-based magazine made thousands of WikiLeaks worshipers happy on this week by naming the 39-year-old controversial Australian the ‘Rockstar of 2010’.
WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, crowned 'Rockstar of the Year'
There is no doubt that majority of the rock fans out there agree with the magazine’s contention that even though Assange is not a musician he “is the person who best embodied a rock’n’roll behaviour” this year.
“Assange is an icon like Che Guevara on T-shirts or Mao for Andy Warhol. He is the pop leader of the end of diplomacy and imperial security. Assange is the true rock&roll; star of the Three Thousand years,” said the magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture.
‘The Man Who Fell (From The Web) to Earth’ – reads the cover of the magazine, which features a “bare-chested” Assange – a detail that hit the headlines across the globe.
According to the magazine, the decision to publish tens of thousands of leaked US diplomatic cables made him a cross between a James Bond baddy, a Marvel comics superhero and a character from The Matrix films.
With the tag line ‘The Man Who Fell (From The Web) to Earth, the magazine also drew comparisons between Assange and David Bowie’s character in the 1976 movie ‘The Man Who Fell to Earth,’ in which Bowie plays a humanoid alien who is sent to Earth to secure water for his dying planet.
Besides praising him as “the exterminator of secrets held by the world’s great powers”, the magazine described him as “the popleader of the end of diplomacy and imperial security”.
WikiLeaks’ recent ‘Cablegate’ exposed confidential communications between 274 embassies in countries across the globe as well as the US State Department. Besides the latest and the massive Nov 2010 leak, WikiLeaks has a long list of achievements to show for the year, including the Iraq Apache helicopter attack, Guantanamo Bay procedures, Scientology, Climate Reasearch e-mail leaks, leaks from Sarah Palin’s e-mail account, and 9/11 pager data.
However, Assange follows another non-rockstar in winning the title. The Italian edition of Rolling Stone had in 2009 named the sex scandal-tainted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi its ‘Rockstar of the Year’ for his “lifestyle worthy of the greatest rock star.”
Nevertheless, the 2010 selection of the Rolling Stone deserves a huge applause, especially after TIME disappointed with its selection of Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerburg for its ‘Person of the Year’ title despite Assange winning a whooping 382026 votes from the public to head the list of the contenders for the year. [Time Public Voting Poll Results]
Pixies say:
Julian Assange and his army at WikiLeaks are doing what legendary rockstars sang or rather screamed about. The whistle blower’s actions and the effects its having not only on the US government but also on authorities across the globe reflect the political angst of the likes of Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, who has authored songs like ‘Peace Sells’; and that of Rage Against The Machine’s provocative lines from songs like ‘Killing in the name of’.
So hats off to Rolling stone for acknowledging the real rockstar of the day – the man who shook up the planet with the truth.
Lexicalpixies 