Smoking Section by Austin Scaggs

February 2009 Archives

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Ting Tings To the Rescue

February 20, 2009 3:54 PM

Is everybody excited for the Oscars this Sunday!

Will it be Oktapodi or La Maison en Petits Cubes in the Short Animated Film battle? Will Hellboy II take down Best Makeup? Will Mickey Rourke's face explode?

There is, however, one thing about the Oscars that sucks ass, perenially. No good music.

Peter Gabriel pulled out after the Academy tried to make him perform his Wall-E song in 9 seconds. And MIA might be MIA.

The Ting Tings' awesome song "Great DJ" served as the soundtrack to the Slumdog Millionaire trailer, and when the TTs dropped by the S.S. recently, they were kind enough to play it for us.

Check it.

The Ting Tings - "Great DJ"

[Video: Pete Maiden/Eric Helton; Editing by Pete Maiden]


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More: S.S. Live Performance

Leonard Cohen Finally Takes the U.S.A.

February 20, 2009 12:28 PM

Photo: Loccisano/Getty

Good lord, the great Leonard Cohen shocked and awed New York last night in his first U.S. performance in fifteen years.

We weren't obsessed with Cohen when we walked into the Beacon Theater last night, but three-and-a-half hours later, we walked out a true believer. The musicians were mind blowing and the mix was magnificent. The trio of background singers -- featuring Sharon Robinson and the Webb Sisters -- sounded like angels, and Cohen was just a fuckin' badass.

You HAVE to go see this show. Cohen has just announced a 28-date tour through U.S. and Canada, with gigs at Red Rocks in Colorado, the Paramount in Oakland, Radio City in NYC and, of course, Coachella fest. (Click here for tour dates.)

Also look out for Live In London, the CD/DVD package that documents Cohen's gig at the O2 Arena last year. Click here for a teaser performance of "Suzanne."

It's unreal!

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More: Concerts

Sneak Preview of Wilco Doc Ashes of American Flags

February 19, 2009 3:00 PM

Photo:Kohen/WireImage
Ashes of American Flags -- the new Wilco documentary -- will have its world premiere tomorrow night at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Montana. On February 25th, it will screen at the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco.

But the S.S. watched the film this morning... and there is some killer footage!

Ashes of American Flags follows Wilco on their club tour through the Midwest and Southeast in early 2008, capturing highlights from shows at Tipitina's in New Orleans, 9:30 Club in D.C., and gigs in Mobile and Tulsa. 

"I'm afraid this show tonight is going to have an asterisk next to it because I'm on steroids," Jeff Tweedy tells a hopped up crowd at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, adding that his voice would be gone if he hadn't 'Roided up. With that, Wilco launch into the nastiest version of "A Shot In the Arm" ever rendered.

The performances are the focus, and as anyone who's seen Wilco recently, they've never been hotter. We won't spoil everything, but we will say the roughly fifteen performances span their whole career. (Our favorites: "Kingpin," "Handshake Drugs" and a stunning take on the title track from a soundcheck at Cain's, in Tulsa.)
  
There's no drama like their last doc, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. All the dudes in the band wax about the highs and lows of life on the road. There's even some footage of Tweedy hanging with his dad. "Every time he reaches the pinnacle," says Pops Tweedy, clearly embarrassing his son, "he just goes a little higher." (True!)

Kicking back on the tour bus, Tweedy sums it up. "Our band has made its living on the road. From the beginning I think that every step of the way was thrilling to us."  

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More: Breaking News

New Album From Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band!

February 19, 2009 12:59 PM

The S.S. just received word that in May Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band will release a brand new album, Outer South. The disc features sixteen new tracks from the band, including "Nikorette," which the boys performed on  Conan last year. 

Oh, and you can catch Conor and the Mystic Valley Band on the road this spring. Click the jump for the dates.

(more...)

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More: New Album, New Tracks, Tour Dates

Men At Work On Murder

February 19, 2009 11:09 AM

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Pete and Roger, Keith and Mick, Slash and Axl.... Seriously, what guitarist hasn't imagined killing his band's lead singer? Or vice versa? 

Ronald Strykert -- guitarist for the Eighties sensation from Oz, Men At Work -- took things a wee bit too far, though,  when he allegedly threatened to kill his former bandmate, singer Colin Hay.

While Strykert denies the threat, and Hay attests that the guitarist would never go through with it, the guitarist was arrested last week for an outstanding bench warrant, after he failed to appear at an arraignment last May.

We're just irked that drama involving Met At Work, who had a big hit with "Who Can It Be Now?," doesn't involve that annoying saxophone player.   

(Sidebar: To this day, Colin Hay puts on an incredible live show, and he's always on tour. Check him out!) 

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More: Drama

Top of the Line Hooker Billy Joel Talks Shea Stadium and McCartney

February 18, 2009 2:49 PM

Photo: Mazur/WireImage

It's always a blast to rap with Billy Joel. He's funny as hell, and doesn't give a shit about speaking his mind. 

The last time we'd caught up with Billy was at Shea Stadium last July, moments before he took the stage for the opener of his sold-out two-night stand there, in which he welcomed guests like Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer and Paul McCartney. 

This morning we spoke to Billy for an upcoming Q+A in the magazine. In just a couple weeks, on March 2nd, in Jacksonville, he'll kick off another long run of shows with his old buddy, Elton John. Billy has just returned to his pad in Miami after a trek out west to play a gig at the MGM in Vegas, and a private concert in Palm Springs. Most big performers play those corporate shows for big bucks, but nobody ever talks about them -- except for Mr. Joel.

"We did a gig in Vegas and we did some stupid casino gig in Palm Springs for one of the high rollers there," he says. "These private gigs are like doing a bar mitzvah. They're not fun because they're for private audiences, not paying audiences. They're not your audience. They don't know your stuff. They're there just to say they were there. I feel like a slut when I do them, but you get paid like a really good call girl. When I walk offstage, it's like the walk of shame."

Yes! Billy Joel compared himself to a call girl!

And we also wanted you to hear what he had to say about McCartney's last minute appearance at Shea, which closed the second show. (A DVD of the Shea shows is slated for release in November.) 

"When I had reached out to Paul before the gigs, he'd said he had a scheduling conflict, that he had visitation with his daughter right around that time, and I understood that," says Billy. "So nobody expected him. Then he called me on the day of the second show, that afternoon, and said, 'Billy, it's Paul.' And I'm thinking, 'Paul? Paul? Paul Reiser?' And he said, [imitating a Liverpudlian] 'McCartney... Look, I'd love to come to the show tonight, but I've got a flight that's landing late and I'll have to go through customs and immigration and drive down from the airport and I don't think it's gonna work.' And I said, 'Well, thanks for thinking about us.'

"About two-thirds of the way through the show I was onstage and I got a message: 'The Eagle Has Landed.' But we still didn't think he was gonna make it because we were getting close to the end of the show. And then right at the last moment, right before our last song, someone came running up and told me he was up there. Somehow, he had his Hofner bass with him, and he just walked onstage. We were all speechless. He comes over and says, 'What do you want to do?' And I said, 'How about, "I Saw Her Standing There,"' and he goes, 'Great!' So we play 'I Saw Her Standing There" and then we leave, and we're standing by the side of the stage and the crowd wanted another song, of course. So he goes, 'What do you want to do?' And I said, 'How about "She Loves You?"' And he gave me this look like, 'Oh, I don't know that one,' which really meant, 'I don't like that one.' And I said, 'Well, what do you want to do?'

"He goes, 'Well, let's do "Let it Be." That seems to be a good closer.' I said, 'Perfect.' So he sang the song and I just sat at the piano like a lump on a log watching Paul McCartney play at Shea Stadium. It was such a poetic moment. We were all stunned."

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More: Concerts, Exclusive

Jeff Beck Announces Club Tour!

February 18, 2009 12:06 PM

After his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on April 4th, guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck has booked a ridiculously intimate, thirteen-date swing through the U.S., where he'll play clubs like Philly's Electric Factory and New York's Irving Plaza.

But we'll tell you what we're most excited about, is finally seeing Beck's young female bass-phenom Tal Wilkenfeld live and in-person.

Growing up in Australia, Wilkenfeld played guitar, but found her calling when she switched over to bass at age seventeen. She dropped out of high school, moved to New York, and started playing with session heavyweights (and Steely Dan vets) like guitarist Wayne Krantz and monster-drummer Keith Carlock.

Click here to check out Tal's website. Click below to watch her take a crazy solo on Beck's "Cause We Ended As Lovers" at the Crossroads Guitar Fest a couple years back.

She's an animal!!! 

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More: Tour Dates

Daptone Records Robbed, Rod Stewart Sessions in Doubt

February 17, 2009 12:50 PM

Photo: Walter/Getty

Bummer.

This past weekend in Brooklyn the headquarters of soul purveyors Daptone Records was robbed -- thieves making off with a slew of guitars, mics, pre-amps, turntables, amps and computers. 

Daptone is the home of the Dap-Kings -- the band that rose to fame after backing Amy Winehouse on Back To Black, and who also tour with soul legend Sharon Jones. In a plea to fans to keep an eye out for the stolen gear, Dap-Kings bassist Gabriel Roth said that the equipment was all uninsured.

In an odd twist, he said that they hoped to borrow equipment to have the studio up and running by Friday, because that day have a session booked to lay down material for a new Rod Stewart album.   

Rod and the Dap-Kings sounds good to us.

Let's hope it still happens.

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More: Drama

Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction Update

February 17, 2009 12:39 PM

Photo: Venema/WireImage

The speculation has finally been put to rest. After fans tried to unravel the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction puzzle Trent Reznor presented to them in the form of pictures on the NIN website and cryptic Twitter messages, the game is over.

As we predicted, Reznor is producing a new Jane's album (the first since 2003's Strays). And the bands will tour together later this year!

The rub is that Reznor has decided that this will be the last NIN tour for some time. In a post on the NIN forum, he writes: "2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while." 

Just how long "a while" means is hard to tell, but the last time NIN went on hiatus it took six years for a new album to emerge!

(more...)

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More: Industry News, New Album

Pearl Jam Debut Two "New" Tracks From Ten Reissue, Only In the Smoking Section

February 17, 2009 12:20 PM

Photo: Temme/WireImage

Pearl Jam fans, here ya go. 

For the first time anywhere, check out two tracks from the upcoming reissue of Pearl Jam's epic 1991 debut, Ten. Check out a leaner, grittier, nastier mix of "Porch," and then dig "Brother," a Ten outtake.

On March 24th, Pearl Jam will reissue Ten. Longtime producer Brendan O'Brien has remixed the original tracks -- which, we can attest, sound better than the original versions -- and a slew of B-sides and rarities will be included. The reissued album will come in four different special editions, each containing a remastered copy of the original album, plus the O'Brien remixed version.

Dig it.

"Porch"

"Brother"

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More: New Album, New Tracks
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