Activision Responds to Courtney Love's Denial of Authorizing Kurt Cobain's "Likeness" for Guitar Hero 5; What? Something wrong with Kurt singing Bon Jovi beneath a Coca-Cola ad?

The gripe: Kurt Cobain's "likeness" is used in the recently released Guitar Hero 5.

- Courtney Love's eloquent position (via Twitter): "FOR THE RECORD I DID NOT APPROVE KURTS AVATAR FOR GUYITARHERO5. i think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar" and "WE are going to sue the shit out of ACtivision we being the Trust the Estate the LLC the various LLCs Cobain Enterprises"

- Activision's response: "Guitar Hero secured the necessary licensing rights from the Cobain estate in a written agreement signed by Courtney Love to use Kurt Cobain's likeness as a fully playable character in Guitar Hero® 5."

- TMT's position: This is the best avatar in existence.

----

UPDATE:

- Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl have responded too: "We want people to know that we are dismayed and very disappointed in the way a facsimile of Kurt is used in the Guitar Hero game. The name and likeness of Kurt Cobain are the sole property of his estate - we have no control whatsoever in that area.

"While we were aware of Kurt's image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn't know players have the ability to unlock the character. This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in "re-locking" Kurt's character so that this won't continue in the future.

"It's hard to watch an image of Kurt pantomiming other artists' music alongside cartoon characters. Kurt Cobain wrote songs that hold a lot of meaning to people all over the world. We feel he deserves better."

Lee Ranaldo Injured; Sonic Youth Cancel Dates; Stephen Malkmus and Nels Cline Wait at Home by Their Telephones Anyway, Just in Case

Although the members of seminal New York downtown, art-rock, such and suchers Sonic Youth do indeed seem to remain mysteriously youthful sonically, there doesn’t seem to be as much of a guarantee in that same youth department, you know, physically.

Case in point: SY’s young and hip new home Matador announced yesterday on the Matablog that the badass guitarist and proprietor of middle-aged-done-right hair Lee Ranaldo has unfortunately fractured his middle-aged left wrist while playing the young man’s game that is tennis, thus requiring the band to reschedule their upcoming West Coast tour just a bit.

Two of the band’s dates have been canceled (September 26 in Santa Barbara and October 4 at the Austin City Limits Festival), and another five of them have been rescheduled for this coming January. According to Matador, tickets for the original dates will be honored in those applicable cases, and, where necessary, refunds will be available at the point of purchase (seems like you’re out of luck for the Austin City Limits Festival though; you’ll just have to slog through the fest anyway, feeling all youthless).

And sure, yeah, playing tennis may not seeeeeeem like a particularly “cool” way to injure yourself when you’re in fucking Sonic Youth... but hey, knowing Lee, this was no ordinary tennis game. He was probably playing Experimental Underground Art Tennis. And I hear that that’s a much harder sport.

Sonic Youth Cancelled/Postponed Dates:
09.25.09 - Pomona, CA - Fox Theater
09.26.09 - Santa Barbara, CA - Arlington Theatre
09.28.09- San Diego, CA - House of Blues
09.29.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
10.01.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theater
10.02.09 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre
10.04.09 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits

New List O’ Dates:
10.21.09 - Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle
10.22.09 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
10.23.09 - London, England - The Forum
10.25.09 - Paris, France - Palais des Congrés
11.07.09 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Planeta Terra Festival
11.21.09 - New York, NY - Terminal 5
11.22.09 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theatre
11.23.09 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theatre
12.05.09 - Minehead, England - ATP Nightmare Before Christmas
12.06.09 - Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
01.04.10 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre (rescheduled)
01.05.10 - Phoenix, AZ - Marquee Theatre (rescheduled)
01.07.10 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues (rescheduled)
01.08.10 - Pomona, CA - Fox Theatre (rescheduled)
01.09.10 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern (rescheduled)

Beach House Sign to Sub Pop, Tour with Grizzly Bear

Sub Pop, best known for Chixdiggit and its NIKE shoe, will be releasing Beach House's third and as-yet untitled album. The Baltimore-based band's previous full-lengths, Beach House and Devotion (TMT Review), were both released via Carpark, who itself recently signed Toro Y Moi... so there!

According to Sub Pop, the new album is "their greatest work to date," which MAKE-UH ME SO HAPPY! Look out for it in early 2010.

Meanwhile, you can check out some new tunes on their previously reported tour, which will see Beach House joined by Grizzly Bear for a hefty hefty hefty portion.

Check it, direct it, and let's begin:
09.19.09 - Portland - the Berbati’s Pan (Musicfest NW)
09.20.09 - Seattle - Nuemos
09.22.09 - Anacortes, WA - Department of Safety
09.23.09 - Bellingham - The Nightlight
09.24.09 - Victoria BC - Rifflandia Festival
09.26.09 - Ann Arbor - Michigan Theatre #
09.27.09 - Chicago - the Metro #
09.28.09 - Chicago - the Metro #
09.30.09 - Minneapolis - First Avenue #
10.01.09 - Columbia, Missouri - Blue Note #
10.02.09 - Norman - the opolis
10.03.09 - Austin - EMOS
10.05.09 - Atlanta - Variety Playhouse #
10.06.09 - Norfolk - Norva #
10.07.09 - Philadelphia - Electric Factory #
10.08.09 - Boston - Orpheum Theatre #
10.09.09 - Poughkeepsie - Vassar College
10.19.09 - San Francisco - Bottom of the Hill
10.20.09 - LA - Hollywood Palladium #
10.21.09 - San Diego - Belly Up Tavern #

# Grizzly Bear

[Artwork: Elena Johnston]

Tickley Feather to Charm You Again This Fall on Record and On Tour, AnCo Swoons

Philadelphia's adorable late-night freak-folk crooner Annie Sachs, a.k.a. Tickley Feather, a.k.a. Animal Collective's BFF 4 life, follows up her eponymous debut next month with Hors d’oeuvres. The album promises to be a little more accessible (supposedly) and joyful album, as Sachs recently moved back to her old homestead of Virginia to embrace her roots and her "Southern Gothic meets Existential Hillbilly vibe." That doesn't exactly sound like more "accessible" work, so I'm looking forward to additional psychotic weirdness and looking glass journeys via 4-track recorder that Tickley's already established.

Hors d’oeuvres comes out October 19 via Paw Tracks.

Tracklisting:

1. Muscles
2. Sure Relaxing
3. Don’t Call, Marylin
4. Buzzy
5. Trashy Boys
6. Not A Drum
7. Roses Of Romance
8. Fly Like An Eagle
9. Club Rhythm 96 & Cell Phone
10. Tickley Plays Guitar

To get the masses stoked on the new jam hive, Feather's got two dates stateside, including a performance with HEALTH in Philadelphia and a show as part of the Paw Tracks showcase at this year's CMJ Music Marathon in New York. After that, it's off to lands who mostly speak in languages of a Germanic language (that does include English, though)

09.25.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Fire Unitarian Church #
10.23.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Cameo Gallery
11.03.09 - Cologne, GER - King Georg
11.04.09 - Darmstadt, GER - Oettinger Villa
11.05.09 - Berlin, GER - Schokoladen
11.06.09 - Prague, CZ - TBA
11.07.09 - Vienna, AUS - Transporter
11.08.09 - Munich, HER - Under 13
11.09.09 - Freiburg, GER - KTS
11.10.09 - Lyon, FR - Grrrnd Zero
11.11.09 - Metz, FR - L'Emile Vache
11.12.09 - Paris, FR - TBA
11.14.09 - Brighton, UK - The Lectern
11.16.09 - Glasgow, UK - TBA
11.18.09 - Dublin, IE - Whelans
11.20.09 - Gardiff, UK - Gaffalo
11.21.09 - London, UK - TBA

Move Over John Mellencamp and Neil Young! Phosphorescent to Play Farm Aid; Also Announces Fall Tour

Farm Aid isn’t just for Top 40 artists anymore. This October, Willie Nelson’s biggest fanboy Phosphorescent will join his idol, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Wilco, and, uh, Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz at this year’s Farm Aid event in St. Louis, MO. Who knows, maybe Phosphorescent will be lucky enough to persuade Willie Nelson to guest on a few songs from his tribute album, To Willie (TMT Review).

Tourdates:
10.02.09 - Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen
10.04.09 - St. Louis, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (Farm Aid)
10.05.09 - Memphis, TN - Hi Tone Cafe
10.07.09 - Nashville, TN - Exit In
10.08.09 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree Cafe
10.09.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
10.11.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
10.12.09 - Charlotteville, VA - IS Venue
10.13.09 - Washington, DC - Black Cat
10.14.09 - Baltimore, MD - The Ottobar
10.15.09 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
10.16.09 - Providence, RI - Providence Black Repertory Theater

RIP: Jake Brockman, former Echo and the Bunnymen keyboard player

From the BBC:

Jake Brockman, who was 53 and married, lived in Bristol. He died when his bike was in collision with a converted ambulance near Kirk Michael on Tuesday.

Known to fans as the "Fifth Bunnyman", he had been associated with the Liverpool band since its 80s heyday and became a full-time member in 1989.

- Echo and the Bunnymen official website
- Echo and the Bunnymen MySpace
- Echo and the Bunnymen Wikipedia entry

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