In the cover story from the current issue, we became more acquainted with chilled-out chart-topper Jack Johnson, the mega-million-selling rocker who starting writing songs to impress his future wife and has little need to watch TV. Johnson is also, of course, well-known in the surfing community as a competitor and a filmmaker. Click here to listen to Johnson’s thoughts on filmmaking set to some choice footage from his 2000 movie Thicker Than Water. RS also has photos of Johnson onstage and off, as well as Eddie Vedder’s musings on the value of his friend’s work.

In the current issue of Rolling Stone, Jack Johnson’s friends and collaborators weigh in on the unlikely superstardom of the laid-back songwriter. One of those pals, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, had plenty more to say about his fellow musician and surf enthusiast. Check out all the bonus material from Austin Scaggs’ interview with Vedder, including the details of an ill-fated outing and why he didn’t buy Johnson a distortion pedal.

Eddie Vedder on Jack Johnson: “I met his dad first through different waterman activities. I think it was a while before I met Jack. I think Kelly Slater had given me his first record. I was in the islands at the time, and that went great. It was a great record to listen to in nature. There was a point about two or three years ago when I was with Ben Harper. I said, ‘Okay, Ben, how about you and me chip in and get Jack a distortion pedal?’ (more…)

The Big News: Jack Johnson! Johnson’s new album Sleep Through the Static easily had the biggest-selling debut of 2008, moving 374,619 copies to cruise to the top spot on the Billboard charts. Johnson more than quadrupled the sales of the number two album, Sheryl Crow’s Detours. Last week’s top album, Alicia Keys‘ As I Am, fell to number three, while Lenny Kravitz’s It Is Time For a Love Revolution debuted at four. The 2008 Grammy Nominees compilation rounded out the top five. (more…)

In December, the Smoking Section winged it out to Santa Barbara to hang out with Jack Johnson. Sitting on the rocky coastline with a fat spliff in our mitts watching Johnson shred massive swells was the perfect opportunity to reflect on the wild ride that was 2007. We witnessed amazing performances — Lucinda Williams‘ five-night stand in Manhattan, Stevie Wonder at the Garden, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in the Hamptons, Pearl Jam in Chicago, Wilco at Bonnaroo, The Killers in London and the Foo Fighters in a Vegas hotel room (sadly, we missed Dave Grohl’s “New Year’s Eve Disco Party” in L.A.). We moved into Kid Rock’s Malibu bachelor pad for a few days, tore up Paris with Ben Harper, guzzled absinthe at Marilyn Manson’s house and embraced our inner player, cocktailing with Snoop, strip-clubbing with Kanye and l’chaim-ing Jay-Z. It all poured sweet and clear — it was a very good year. (more…)

Confirming a story that was first reported by Perez Hilton, the promoters behind the Coachella music festival revealed yesterday that they will stage an East Coast off-shoot festival, scheduled to take place on New Jersey’s Liberty State Park on August 10th to 12th. If those dates sound familiar, it’s because another tentative East Coast fest, the Vineland Music Festival in Vineland, NJ, was also scheduled for those dates. While the Vineland Festival is suffering through struggles reminiscent of 2003’s semi-aborted Field Day fest in Calverton, Long Island, the East Coast Coachella (which will eventually be dubbed something other than Coachella East) is already making its play to secure headliners, with Radiohead and Jack Johnson rumored to be the frontrunners. It should be noted that the New Jersey version of the festival is merely a spin-off and will not be replacing the annual Coachella festival in Indio, California, which is scheduled for April 25-27.

In other news, if you can’t wait until August to get your Radiohead fix, the band is playing a free, intimate set of songs from In Rainbows in London tonight that will also be available on a free webcast.

Related Links

• The 2007 Coachella Awards
• Smoking Section: Beastie Boys, Coachella and Nick Low
• The Year in Performances: 2007’s Best Live Shots