Hey, if you live in Austin, Texas, and you're around on November 3rd(my dad's birthday - happy early birthday Pops!), then you're in luck, as the notoriously anti-touring Neurosis will play a show that night RIGHT IN YOUR TOWN!!! More dates are to be announced, but it's enough that Neurosis is playing out. The band released Given to the Rising earlier this year. [SPB]
A week ahead of its August 7th release date, Chuck Ragan, formerly of Hot Water Music, is streaming his entire new album Feast or Famine on his Myspace. Get it while the getting's good - and then support Chuck and Sideonedummy and buy the damn thing next week, eh?
New Weakerthans song over here. Nothing more should have to be said on this matter.
Ontario boys Farewell to Freeway's work ethic has paid off in a deal with heavyweights Victory Records. Congrats, fellas!
Kudos to Express for a killer interview with Minor Threat alum-turned-Bad Religion guitarist Brian Baker. Read! Of particular interest is Baker's estimate of Minor Threat's lifetime sales as somewhere between 800K and a cool million. How 'bout that. Nice links throughout the piece as well.
We all knew American Idol's Simon Cowell was a bit an a-hole - now he's threatening to make the second movie in the franchise's history. Following the colossal failure of 2002's From Justin to Kelly(remember that?), Cowell has been planning("for years" even) a flick called Star Struck, which follows the lives of ten celebrity-hungry contestants as they pursue their fifteen minutes. Wait, hasn't this already been done on television at this point? [RS]
Some gaming news - it comes as no surprise to me that Slash, who is prominently featured in the upcoming third Guitar Hero installment, has a hard time playing the damn game. "I'm not great at it," the guitarist admitted. "And a lot of that has to do with the fact that it’s hard for me to get rid of thirty years — whatever it is — twenty-some-odd years of playing in a certain way and then all of the sudden become accustomed to pressing some buttons and stuff. I have these little things that I'm so used to doing that when I'm playing Guitar Hero it sort of screws me up." You're not alone, Slash. You're not alone.
In related news, Rock Band, which will go head-to-head with GH this fall in its debut, will feature the entirety of Nirvana's Nevermind, fully downloadable and playable, after its release. Wow. I want it want it WANT IT.
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese's documentary on the Rolling Stones, Shine A Light, will hit IMAX and conventional theatres September 21st. Wonder how long it will take for the film, which follows the band for two shows last year at the Beacon Theatre in New York, will take to reach Canada.
Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba is going back to the way it was in 2001 - just him, his acoustic, and a whole bunch of crazed fans; Carrabba is heading out on tour solo for the first time in five years later this fall. Canadian dates include just one so far: November 1st at the Kool Haus in Toronto.
Belated well-wishes to the family and friends of legendary TV man Tom Snyder, who passed away earlier this week. My first memory of late-night television - to which I'm now thoroughly addicted, thanks to this guy) was in my early teens, late at night when my parents were far asleep, watching Snyder host The Late, Late Show on CBS, in his customary armchair, close-up on the face, and being entertained in a classy, veteran way. Rest in peace.
Perhaps the best-known "conscious rapper" outside of Common these days is coming to Ottawa August 31st: Talib Kweli will grace the stage of the Capital Music Hall downtown. Siiiiiiiiick. That will be a busy night for the D, as we'll first be attending the mammoth Misery Signals/Shai Hulud/Means/more show at Babylon earlier that evening(317 Bank Street, c'mon out).
Posted by mike at August 2, 2007 10:50 PM