RIP: Bob Keane, Del-Fi Records founder
By Shane Mack on 12-02-2009
From the Associated Press (via Billboard):
Del-Fi Records founder Bob Keane, who discovered rocker Ritchie Valens, has died in Los Angeles at age 87.Keane's son, Tom, tells the Los Angeles Times that his father died of renal failure Saturday at an assisted-living home in Hollywood.
Bob Keane founded the West Coast independent label Del-Fi in the 1950s.
In 1958, he discovered the 17-year-old Valens at a small concert and invited him to record in his home studio.
Their brief association led to Valens' hits "Come On, Let's Go," "Donna" and "La Bamba."
Valens was killed Feb. 3, 1959, in the Iowa plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
- Bob Keane Wikipedia entry
- Del-Fi Records
Blur to Release Documentary in January, No Further Plans to Work Together
By Rachel B on 12-02-2009
Blur have been formally put on hold for a handful of years. And unlike certain other mid-decade phenomenons, they really haven't teased us with breakup after breakup after breakup. (I'm looking at you, Liam.) No indeed, after their demise, Blur members went on to promote new, cartoonish projects and generally kept their distance from each other. But as many of you may know, the boys of Blur decided they missed the old times and got a reunion tour going in the last year, playing shows all over England, while dutifully ignoring the United States. Whatever. I didn't want to see them anyway. (Yes I did.)
But although Blur has no plans to permanently reunite or record together again, they did put together a documentary that chronicles the band's beginnings and places special focus on the reunion tour. Titled No Distance Left to Run, the film is "a musing on Englishness and identity, and a portrait of friendship and resolution," according to Blur's label, Parlophone. From the looks of the trailer, I can mostly gather that many hugs, warm feelings, and ponies are afoot, as well as a stage dive here and a backstage peek there.
Arts Alliance Media plans to distribute No Distance next month in U.K. theaters, and we can expect the doc to make its worldwide rounds sometime after that.
Pavement Add More European Tour Dates! Hmm… If My Calculations Are Correct, This Means That They’ll Be Adding Some U.S. Dates Right… About… NOW?… I Mean… NOW!… OK… I Mean… 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
By Nobodaddy on 12-01-2009
Attention, Great Britainers! Atención, Spaniards! Attenzione, Italians! Garde-Ã -vous, Frenchmen! Achtung, Germans! Pozor, Czech Republicans! Aandacht, Belgiumeers! Aird, hardass, oldschool Irishmen! Uh, and yeah, G’day, Australians!
In addition to the string of awesome festival dates and such that they’ve been slowly piecing together, Pavement has just announced that they’ll be coming to a theater near you (in a 2010 near you) to spread their decidedly American Gospel of slacking off; taking it real easy; keeping it “real loosey goosey;” vibing-out on jammy riffage; hiring a full-time aux. perc. player just because your real drummer can’t be relied on to keep time; singing about nothing in whatever key your voice feels like after smoking all of that pot; saying you’ll finish this or that song “some other time” but then just recording it anyway and putting it out; and, last but not least, becoming incredibly famous, respected, praised, acclaimed, and un-duplicate-able in the process.
Get ready to take some notes, Europe, Australia, U.K.! This is how you achieve in our country. Just ask Barack Obama. I’m pretty sure that he was in a psych-stoner-indie-slack-off rock band back in the day too. Yeah. Definitely pretty sure
03.01.10 - Auckland, New Zealand - Town Hall
03.04.10 - Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
03.06.10 - Meredith, Australia - Supernatural Amphitheatre (Golden Plains Festival)
03.07.10 - Adelaide, Australia - Thebarton Theatre
03.08.10 - Perth, Australia - Metro City
03.10.10 - Brisbane, Australia - Tivoli
03.12.10 - Melbourne, Australia - Palace Theatre
05.04.10 - Dublin, Ireland - Tripod
05.05.10 - Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland
05.07.10 - Paris, France - Le Zénith
05.08.10 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05.10.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.11.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.12.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.13.10 - London, England - Brixton Academy
05.15.10 - Minehead, England - All Tomorrow’s Parties
05.18.10 - Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
05.19.10 - Berlin, Germany - Astra
05.20.10 - Prague, Czech Republic - Palac Akropolis
05.21.10 - Vienna, Austria - Arena
05.22.10 - Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
05.24.10 - Rome, Italy - Atlantico Live
05.25.10 - Bologna, Italy - Estragon
05.27.10 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Festival
05.29.10 - Quincy, WA - Sasquatch! Festival
09.21.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.22.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.23.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
09.24.10 - New York, NY - Central Park Summerstage
Welcome Back, Turn-of-the-Century Minneapolis: Lifter Puller Reissued
By Kid Midnight on 12-01-2009
Ah, 1999, what a year, right? Y2K was only a year away, Clinton was still in office, Korn and The Backstreet Boys fought for supremacy on TRL, Prince was partying like the year it was, the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Championship, and, of course, Lifter Puller was still a band.
Don’t know who Lifter Puller was? Can’t understand how the Spurs won the Championship? Don’t worry, I’ll explain. The San Antonio Spurs won the Championship because the twin towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan were an unstoppable scoring machine and their seamless meshing on the court, along with the welcome aid and skills of -- oh... you were just interested in Lifter Puller? Okay. Lifter Puller were a rock band from Minneapolis who counted as members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler who would both eventually move to Brooklyn and form The Hold Steady. During their existence, the band released three LPs, an EP, and played a bunch of shows.
Their whole catalog has been pretty tough to find the last couple years because most of it is out of print, and the people who have it don’t really want to get rid of it. But the times are changing, my friends: the band has announced that not only will its entire catalog be reissued digitally for the first time via The Orchard, but two of the albums will receive “Deluxe Reissue” treatment. There will also be a new odds ‘n’ sods collection of singles, non-album tracks, and live material, plus a book, titled Lifter Puller vs. The End Of, which will contains lyrics, photos, and an oral history of the band.
What does this “Deluxe Reissue” business mean? Well, sophomore LP Half Dead & Dynamite will feature live tracks from a 1998 performance at Minneapolis venue 7th Street Entry; The Entertainment and Arts, the band’s only EP, will also feature bonus tracks from the 7th Street Entry show. Fiestas & Fiascos, Lifter Puller’s third and final album (and debut with Frenchkiss Records) will feature live tracks from a reunion show in 2003. Meanwhile, the new rarities collection, titled Slips Backwards, will feature 17 tracks of singles, non-album material, and two live songs from a 2000 performance in Washington D.C. All of the albums are available for download today, December 1.
NIN Done Touring, Having Garage Sale
By Aaron Norman on 12-01-2009
After 20 years, NIN is done touring forever, at least
according to their website. It's not a claim to be scoffed at, considering a more recent announcement that a large portion of their touring gear is going up for sale at eBay. Stated in the post, "Hundreds of items will be listed over the next several weeks such as guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, staging, anvil cases, cables, rack/outboard gear, guitar effects, and pedal boards." So if you're in the market for overpriced used instruments and random equipment, none of which will be autographed, you should keep your browser pointed here; as of this writing, there are 20 items -- all guitars -- up for auction.
While it might seem like a novel idea for communicating to the masses now that NIN is really, really done touring, this shouldn't come as a shock to the internet-savvy fans of the group. Trent and his collaborators seem to have a penchant for using technology in ways that are atypical, at least when
compared to other big names in the music industry. It's no secret that NIN are quite savvy themselves when it comes to e-trends. In fact Mr. Reznor could very likely be reading this right now.
P.S. I'm a big fan of Trent.
