Search Results for: a day to remember

New York – Jerry Wexler is the classic record business guy. For more than three decades, Wexler, as co-owner of Atlantic Records and later senior VP at Warner Bros. Records, signed and worked with scores of vocalists and instrumentalists, and produced some of the greatest rock and soul records ever made. Now 86 and long retired, Wexler is still applauded as an insightful producer, crafty deal-maker and promoter, divining rod of hit songs and occasional writer of songs and liner notes. “He is one of my greatest heroes,” Sire Records founder Seymour Stein says. “Jerry is a consummate record man… Read more »

Troubled rapper O.D.B., in a casket surrounded by red and white flowers, was remembered by family and friends Wednesday at a Harlem church where the focus was on the positives in his life. “I grew up in this man’s music,” said Jason Davis, 25, who traveled to New York from Camden, N.J., to bid farewell to the man born as Russell Jones. The wake, which was open to the public, will be followed Thursday by another wake and a funeral. Jones, who would have turned 36 Monday, complained of chest pains, collapsed and died Saturday inside a Manhattan recording studio.… Read more »

Some bands reunite for the money, others for their egos. New Hampshire’s Electras, however, are doing it for the greater good of the country. Though their original bassist, Senator John Kerry, has become somewhat preoccupied with his solo project, the Electras have been supportive of his endeavors, and early next year, they plan to reunite the original lineup for a 45th anniversary gig in Washington, D.C. “We’re planning a mega event!” said founding guitarist Jon Prouty, who hopes several of the surf and garage-rock bands they grew up with will also play at the concert, tentatively scheduled for a to-be-determined… Read more »

Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley is generally a pretty easy-going guy. Interviewing him is usually like sitting through a comedy routine where any and all taboos are duly mocked. On this occasion, though, Bentley isn’t so laidback – and you can hardly blame him. He’s consumed by the problems within America’s political climate. Fearing the ever-looming November 2 U.S. Presidential Election date (which takes place the day Bad Religion play in Montreal), Bentley doesn’t really want to talk about anything else. “My job right now isn’t to play music,” he grunts. “It’s to get a new president in office. Half… Read more »

OCTOBER 26, 2073 – Sixty-nine years to the day after multi-platinum punks Simple Plan released their sophomore album and mega-hit Still Not Getting Any, the now-defunct band plans a reunion tour buoyed by the unwavering obsession with their #1 website www.stillnotgettingany.com The website has fast become the #1 dating website in America for the post-pc generation of self-described “Old People.” The members of the band, none of whom ever married, now reside at the Shady Hills Retirement Community in Bustalottachops, FL. The handsome gents were perhaps best known for their infectious brand of pop-punk in the early new millennium. With… Read more »

The trophy is a silly Moonman. Treasured memories include girl-on-girl kisses, a flying Fartman and the bobbling of a pasty-covered breast. Where other shows confer honors and respect, this one relishes gaffes, guffaws and giggles. Forget “The envelope, please.” It’s time to push the envelope. MTV’s Video Music Awards is among the most irreverent of awards shows. Which may be precisely why it matters. “It’s pop music; how seriously can you take it?” said MTV news correspondent Kurt Loder. “It’s not Martin Heidegger or something. There’s a lot of empty pomp associated with other shows, like the Oscars and even… Read more »

Arthur Kane, original bass guitarist for the 1970s-era punk rock group New York Dolls, has died of complications related to leukemia. He was 55. Kane died Tuesday after being admitted to a Los Angeles hospital and diagnosed with leukemia, said band manager Darren Hill. “He didn’t even know,” Hill said Thursday. “It wasn’t until he went into the hospital that afternoon that they diagnosed that.” The New York native had been suffering from severe flu-like symptoms for several days, forcing him to back out of a July 11 reunion show in Manchester, England, Hill said. In a statement on behalf… Read more »

Whisps of fake fog spilled from the stage and dissipated into a light breeze rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean as 7,000 satisfied fans shuffled toward Nathan’s Hot Dogs, the Wonder Wheel or the D-train. So ended the beginning of the end for Phish, who performed Thursday and Friday at Coney Island’s baseball stadium beside the sea, KeySpan Park. The shows launched the band’s farewell tour, which will culminate August 14 and 15 at a festival in Phish’s home state of Vermont. But fans didn’t let any sadness show at these gigs: Even when the sky opened up and drenched… Read more »

Given the huge success of 2002’s Sticks and Stones, the members of New Found Glory aren’t expecting to top their previous high mark with Catalyst, which drops Tuesday. At the same time, they’re not letting its first single, “All Downhill From Here” dictate their future, either. “I try not to think ahead because I don’t want to jinx anything,” singer Jordan Pundik said. “I just want to let it ride out and see what happens.” Sticks and Stones, NFG’s third and most successful album so far, sold more than 91,000 copies in its first week and entered the Billboard albums… Read more »

While being well-prepared is almost always advised for a young band in the studio, spontaneous strokes of creativity are usually the moments the musicians remember best. Of the 13 songs that comprise Yellowcard’s latest album, Ocean Avenue, the band had a dozen of them hashed out beforehand. But while knee-deep in recording, the group stumbled across the riff that became the foundation for “Only One,” which is slated to be the album’s third single. “We discovered a riff for it by accident,” singer Ryan Key said. “We were testing something else out and just tracked it right away. We then… Read more »