Three of the major TV networks down south(CBS, NBC and, unsurprisingly, Fox) are all courting Family Guy mastermind Seth McFarlane for a live-action comedy series centreing around a 44-year-old dude who looks back on his life when he was in his 30s, unemployed and living on his parents' couch. Not much of a premise, in my humble opinion, but this is Seth McFarlane here. The guy is a genius. [Relevant]
The Grammy nominations were announced yesterday. No real highlights save U2. I don't really care about the others. Kanye West is obviously loaded with potential hardware.
Jars of Clay are thinkers: when they played their show as part of the Philadelphia Live 8 series of performances, they had a really nice acoustic guitar signed by - among others - the entire Dave Matthews Band, Sarah MacLachlan, The Fugees, actor Chris Tucker(Rush Hour) and washed-up celebrity Paula Abdul. Now, they're turning around and auctioning it off on eBay, with the proceeds(hopefully a ton) going straight to Blood:Water Mission, the foundation JOC set up to help with clean water in Africa. The Mission's website is over here, and if you wanna bid on the guitar, check this out.
I have a feeling that one of my favourite rock bands of the last two years, Duvall, are soon to be on hiatus - or worse. The Cater brothers Josh and Eli have re-formed their former band Smoking Popes, and what was to be a one-off show for a booking-agency anniversary fest turned into a new DVD consisting of that November 11th show in the band's native Chicago, coming via Victory Records February 28th of '06. They'll be touring in support of the DVD with Bayside opening up. Can a new album be far behind? Rest in peace, Duvall. [AP]
One interesting bit of Grammy-nomination news: Norma Jean's O God, The Aftermath is up for Best Recording Package; the art was done by our bros at Asterik Studio out in Seattle - congratulations, fellas!!
Long-absent New Jersey roughnecks Bigwig(they threatened to beat up a fifteen-year-old friend of mine once) are putting out their first album in five years, titled Reclamation. February 7th is the release date on Fearless Records(home to Ottawa lads The Fully Down, currently ripping up the United States on tour with Halifax).
The In Flames/Zao tour next year won't be hitting Ottawa, to no one's great surprise; Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City will be shown the love:
February 19, 2006 - Montreal, QC - Le Medley
February 20, 2006 - Quebec City, QC - Theatre Capitole
February 21, 2006 - Toronto, ONT - Kool Haus
As well, Vancouver gets the rock dropped on January 31st at the Croatian Cultural Centre. Go see this show.
One tour I do hope hits Ottawa is the Yellowcard/Mae trek, happening early next year. We'll see.
Heads up if you live in the south and southwest coasts of the U-Nited States of America: Sinai Beach, Nodes of Ranvier(formerly labelmates), August Burns Red and Oblige are going on a big ol' metalcore tour next year:
January 05th Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction
January 07th Las Vegas, NV - The Clubhouse
January 08th Tempe, AZ - Neckbeard's
January 010th Lubbock, TX - Winchester Pavillion
January 11th San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
January 12th Houston, TX - Walter's On Washington
January 13th Dallas, TX - The Door
January 14th Tulsa, OK - The Pinkeye
January 15th Wichita, KS - Headway Skatepark
January 16th Denver, CO - Rock Island
January 17th Boise, ID - The Venue
January 18th Spokane, WA - Big Dipper
January 19th Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
January 21st San Francisco, CA - Pound SF
January 22nd Corona, CA - Showcase Theatre
I was told about this earlier this week and can't remember if I posted it here, let alone if I even believe it yet: the hugely successful Taste of Chaos tour will be back in 2006, and Ottawa has a date. April 14th/06 at the Corel Centre in Kanata will see Deftones, Thrice, As I Lay Dying and a slew more in town, as well as a band just announced to be playing the Canadian dates: Thursday. How 'bout that? Lil' ol' Ottawa!
Got any photos or kickin' video of Terror? The Los Angeles quintet are putting together a DVD, so if you have the goods, they wanna hear from you: Terror@trustkill.com. [scenepointblank]
So this band Lokyata have signed with Indianola Records; just for kicks, I had my girl Julia listen to about five seconds of Lokyata at work, simply for her reaction: "Yikes. I think I'll stick with the Dixie Chicks." Nuf sed.
Today's Essential Listening: Force of Change, straight outta SoCal, and busting the pit apart over here. Hit it hard!
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe opens tomorrow night. For a fun take on the Christian salvation story, check it out. Maybe I'll go see it at the shiny new theatre here in suburban Ottawa. Who wants to go with me??
This will make lots of kids happy: Circa Survive and Saves the Day, after sharing a bill by accident in Montreal last month opening for My Chemical Romance and Thrice, will go out on tour in the new year. Openers? Moneen! Whoooo! [truthexplosion]
I guess any excuse Evanescence have to be in the news is worth the while: singer Amy Lee is suing the pants off former manager Dennis Rider. A tersely-worded statement released this week by Rider Management says, "Ms. Lee is very creative in writing lyrics to a song. But now she is creating a version of reality that simply has no basis in fact and she knows that. Dennis Rider's guidance of Evanescence and Ms. Lee's personal career has made her a rock and roll celebrity worldwide and wealthy beyond her dreams. That she would now turn on him, make such spurious and groundless allegations and summarily dismiss him is illegal and disappointing beyond words." That's just part of it, too. Ugly.
Following a very disturbing incident at a venue in Tuscon, Arizona, a local kid has stepped up to the plate and delivered a speech worth reading. Amen, brother. The incident in question was a shooting at Skrappy's in Tuscon at a show featuring Hoods and Donnybrook.
They're finally coming, Ottawa kids: Nine Inch Nails have announced a tour stop here in Cap City March 3rd. No word up support, but the show's out at the Corel Centre, so get ready for the madness of the capitaltickets.com rush as soon as ducats go on sale. Tom, you cannot miss this one.
What the bloody...Courtney Love, that tramp, is selling a portion of her deceased husband Kurt Cobain's songwriting catalogue to...Martha Stewart? What, is this the fifth horseman of the Apocalypse? Stewart is calling the songs a "good investment", apparently good enough for her to pay $150 million for them. I hope this is a joke, but if it's not, I've never hated my life more.
Another sign of the undeground's slow surrender to the money: Victory Records and massive video-game maker EA Games have struck a deal that will have Victory exclusively providing the soundtrack for MVP '06 NCAA baseball game. Geez.
Posted by mike at December 8, 2005 04:08 PM