Basslines and Protest Signs is Brett Callwood’s column looking at the intersection of music and politics. This week stands up in the defense of the Dixie Chicks.
It’s an idobi crossover event for the ages when TS and Sasha from the Cool Nerd Weed Show join Justin and Sean to celebrate 4/20!
idobi staff are bringing you the most wanted acts appearing at this year’s SXSW festival.
Songwriter Don Black, OBE will be honored as a BMI Icon at the U.S. performing right organization’s annual London Awards. The ceremony is Tuesday, October 5 at London’s Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane.
If you notice that slackers are conspicuously absent from the office Tuesday, look at the calendar for a clue as to why: It is, after all, “420,” the national high holiday for marijuana enthusiasts.
In early 1984, when Epic Records executives presented their slate of upcoming releases at the convention in Hawaii of parent company CBS Records they couldn’t resist playing up the success they were experiencing. So between the pitches for new albums, Epic inserted stock footage of semi trucks and a voice-over that thunderously announced, “There goes another load of Michael Jackson’s Thriller albums!” Trucks weren’t really leaving the warehouse every few minutes, but Thriller was still shattering expectations more than a year after its November 30, 1982, release. Epic was selling more than 1 million copies per month in the United… Read more »
Morrissey has signed with Nashville-based roots label Lost Highway for the U.S. release of his new album, sources told Billboard. “Years of Refusal” will be released on February 17, and will be supported by a U.S. theater tour that kicks off February 28 in Boca Raton, Fla., and runs through April 15 in Albuquerque, N.M. The project marks the follow-up to the former Smiths frontman’s 2006 set “Ringleader of the Tormenters.” It will come out internationally on February 2 via Universal, which bumped the album from a fall 2008 release for unspecified reasons. Lost Highway is an intriguing destination for… Read more »
O come, all ye Colbert faithful. Stephen Colbert will host his own Christmas special this year, Comedy Central announced Tuesday. “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!” will air Nov. 23 as a one-hour special. It will be a musical special featuring John Legend, Elvis Costello, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Feist – and “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, who’s slated to sing a duet with Colbert of a song simply titled “Hanukkah.” (The song Colbert is to sing with Nelson appears to be a version of “The Little Drummer Boy” – called “Little Dealer Boy.”) Most of the… Read more »
Backstage notes from the 25th annual MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday. 1. After winning three Moonmen, including video of the year, Britney Spears got cold feet before she met the press. She peeked into the media room with personal assistants and camera crew in tow, then promptly turned around and left. A few moments later, Chris Brown hurried in to take her place — prompting a round of disappointed “Awwwww!” from disappointed Britney-wannabe paparazzi (a reaction that seemed to miff Brown, who maybe didn’t understand that he wasn’t being booed personally.) Never fear, Britney returned after Brown; she said… Read more »
With his spiky mohawk, cluttered canvas of tattooed skin and punk rock pedigree stretching back to childhood, Travis Barker isn’t exactly pleading to be taken seriously as a hip-hop head. A former drummer for the multi-platinum-selling power pop trio Blink-182 who also has done turns behind the kit for rock outfits including the Aquabats, +44 and Box Car Racer, he boasts impeccable Warped Tour credentials and critical props as one of modern rock’s most exciting, exacting percussion players. But a funny thing happened when Barker posted a video of himself on YouTube last September drumming thunderously in time with Southern… Read more »
