Johnny Cash Remixed, Featuring Snoop Dogg (Of Course), Gets CD Release and DVD Expansion; Another Cash Comp Coming Soon, Too
By ryryjensen on Oct 16 2008
Not to be outdone by Elvis remixes and the internet mash-up culture, Compadre Records has given the album Johnny Cash Remixed a January 27 in-store and online release date. (A small number of independent records stores have already stocked the vinyl deluxe edition of the album last month.)
Produced by the Man in Black's son John Carter Cash, Snoop Dogg, and Mathew Knowles (father/manager of Beyoncé Knowles), the album features remixes of classics from the original Sun Records-licensed master recordings. On par with the dance and hip-hop that dominates the album, Snoop Dogg does his own interpretation of Cash's classic "I Walk the Line," with help from his new production crew QDT (featuring Teddy Riley and DJ Quik). Elsewhere, Mocean Worker, made famous by the remix of Elvis Presley's "Burnin' Love," takes on "Hey Porter," while Dirty Pop king Kennedy does "Sugartime." Other remixes by Pete Rock ("Folsom Prison Blues") and "Sopranos" theme song creators Alabama 3 also grace the album.
Enclosed with the disc is a short DVD documentary chronicling the making of the remixes in numerous home studios and Cash's own Cash Recording Cabin in Tennessee.
If one was so inclined, they could listen to this album with the forthcoming tribute album All Aboard: A Tribute to Johnny Cash, expected October 21 via Anchorless Records. This tribute, in stark contrast to the former, features covers courtesy of The Bouncing Souls, MxPx, The Flatliners, and The Dresden Dolls. It's up to you to listen and decide which compilation will honor the legend's legacy and which will cause more metaphorical grave rollovers.
Johnny Cash Remixed Tracklisting (deluxe vinyl edition):
Rock The Bells 2008 Goes Across Seas with Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul
By Jenn on Oct 16 2008
Starting off as a California hip-hop festival in 2004, Rock The Bells has since grown into one of the most widely respected concert series. With acts like Wu-Tang Clan and Mos Def, it has easily become one of the best hip-hop shows to date.
The tour just wrapped up U.S. dates this past summer, but fans who missed it can travel across the Atlantic to hit up the dates in Europe, which kicks off on Halloween in the Czech Republic. Although there are no big reunions this year (like 2004's A Tribe Called Quest reunion), you can still catch Nas, Mos Def, De la Soul, The Pharcyde, EPMD, Supernatural, Scratch, and others, as they keep the Rock the Bells torch a flamin'.
Corgan and Company Release Documentary, But I’d Rather Have Another Book of Poetry
By Kenny Bloggins on Oct 16 2008
Okay, I got a joke. What does Billy Corgan and Charlie from Flowers for Algernon have in common? They both went from brilliant to phenomenally stupid in a short period of time.
Tracing the trajectory of Billy Corgan would be like trying to find Bin Laden -- all over the place. Here you have a man who went from sporting groovy polyester shirts, rockin' out balls to the wall, and writing masterpieces like Siamese Dream, to coming back from outer space with a shiny head, ghoulish veneer, black tunic, and moon boots; his ability to write music unfortunately decimated upon entering the chrono-synclastic infundibulum. Then, dude breaks up his band, buddies up with Dave Pajo, decides he hates Dave Pajo, sues whoever comes into the cross hairs, blogs his entire life with with Jim Jones-worthy quotes ("I am happy to be a warrior of light and universal logic if I am fighting for the good in us"), and more recently toured with a band called Smashing Pumpkins that is not actually Smashing Pumpkins, which included residency shows that took place very far from their home base of Chicago, despite Billy's full page "omg I love you Chicago" letter he purchased in the Sun Times. Someone should seriously shoot a documentary about Corgan and title it "Lolocaust."
Alas, that's not in the works. However, you can catch a new documentary called If All Goes Wrong. Go on and insert your own punch line on the name. If All Goes Wrong chronicles the aforementioned San Francisco and Asheville residency shows that took place in the summer of 2007, as well as fun-for-the-whole-family backstage antics with Pete Townsend, who is evidently one of three people actually stoked on Zeitgeist. The 105-minute limited release doc arrives on the big screen for one day, November 6, in 40 cities across the U.S. You can locate the closest screening to you at the film's official site. All show times are 8 PM local time.
Can't make it on that date? No worries, as the 2-disc DVD subsequently drops the following week on November 11. In the meantime, instead of seeing what Iha and D'arcy are up to and how much money they want, like he should be doing, Billy and the boys will be celebrating the group's 20th anniversary with this fall's extensive tour (TMT News). For your consideration, I've taken the time to include the black hole sun white thunder horse voodoo glow skulls shoop-da-woop set lists of each concert
10.26.08 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Bridge School Benefit)
11.01.08 - Cleveland, OH - Palace Theatre
11.03.08 - Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall ("Black Sunshine")
11.04.08 - Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall ("White Crosses")
11.06.08 - New York, NY - United Palace Theatre ("Black Sunshine")
11.07.08 - New York, NY - United Palace Theatre ("White Crosses")
11.08.08 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata
11.11.08 - Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall ("Black Sunshine")
11.12.08 - Washington, DC - DAR Constitution Hall ("White Crosses")
11.14.08 - Boston, MA - Wang Center ("Black Sunshine")
11.15.08 - Boston, MA - Wang Center ("White Crosses")
11.16.08 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena
11.18.08 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre ("Black Sunshine")
11.19.08 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre ("White Crosses")
11.21.08 - Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ("Black Sunshine")
11.22.08 - Chicago, IL - Auditorium Theatre ("White Crosses")
11.26.08 - St. Louis, MO - Fox Theatre
11.30.08 - San Diego, CA - RIMAC Arena
12.02.08 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre ("Black Sunshine")
12.03.08 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre ("White Crosses")
RIP: William J. Claxton, Famous Jazz Photographer
By Shane Mack on Oct 15 2008
From The Washington Post:
As the premier chronicler of West Coast jazz, photographer William Claxton took his subjects out of the shadows and into the light.Instead of posing musicians such as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins in dark, seedy-looking clubs, wreathed in cigarette smoke, he photographed them on golden beaches, riding on carousels, strolling in the Mojave Desert, emerging from the ocean cradling a trumpet.
Mr. Claxton, who worked in a style he called "jazz for the eyes," died Oct. 11 in Los Angeles of complications from congestive heart failure. He was 80.
- William Claxton official website
- William Claxton Wikipedia entry
- The Associated Press article: "Music photographer William Claxton dies at 80"
