Blondie to tour this summer
Are reports of punk rock's demise greatly exaggerated? Conflicting opinions on the subject abound both on the internet and off. The recent revamping of CBGB's East Village space into a pricey designer clothing store has perhaps given additional heft to one side of the argument. Now, the iconic Debbie Harry has re-emerged with her band that sprang from that particular late '70s scene. Contrary to Harry's announcement two years ago that Blondie's tour with The Cars would be its last, the band's new trek kicks off in early June. Dates: June 5 - Baltimore, Md. @ Ram's Head Live 6... read more
Legal P2P program Grooveshark debuts web media player
Last week, Grooveshark, a peer-to-peer music file-sharing community that brokers music transactions between members, debuted a web media player version of its service, called Grooveshark Lite. The music search engine lets you play tracks while you search for others, all without signing up for an account. Think of it as a combination of sites such as Last.fm (with its social networking capabilities), Pandora and Napster/Limewire, but easier to use and entirely above-the-table. "Grooveshark Lite comes as an answer to almost all of the questions and suggestions that early users had about the original Grooveshark platform," says Jack DeYoung, a... read more
What topic should Morgan Spurlock document next?
Morgan Spurlock's Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? hit limited theaters on Friday. Now that he's taken on fast food and terrorism, what would you like to see Spurlock document next? [1006 votes total] fast food terrorism (32): 3% Scientology (501): 50% the blogosphere (44): 4% zombies (78): 8% Ashton Kutcher (42): 4% film documentarians (42): 4% Internet dating (101): 10% baby sign language (26): 3% girls that have recently gone wild (105): 10% Other (35): 3% Full Results Comments ... read more
Islands announce tour in support of Arm's Way
As previously reported, Islands will release Arm's Way, their Anti- debut, on May 20. In support of the release, which now finds Islands keeping the record-label company of Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Man Man and more, the band has announced updated and complete dates for its forthcoming tour. Watch your back, North America: April 30 - Memphis, Tenn. @ Hi-Tone May 1 - Birmingham, Ala. @ Bottletree 22 - Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat 23 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ First Unit 24 - New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall 25 - Boston, Mass. @ Middle East 27 - Ottawa, Ontario... read more
Brian Wilson stands up for cure on tour
Brian Wilson, number seven of Paste’s Best Living Songwriters, is no stranger to charitable works without the aid of a court mandate like many other rock stars, so it comes as no surprise he is playing a benefit gig in New York City. The former creative genius of the Beach Boys is teaming up with the non-profit Stand Up for a Cure, whose goal is to eradicate lung cancer, for a late spring show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. If getting to New York is too much trouble to catch Wilson in concert, the benefit happens in the middle of a... read more
Sea Wolf announces land-based headlining tour
An Internet search of the phrase “sea wolf” will reveal more hits about the Jack London novel than it will the band by the same name, but perhaps a sea change is imminent. Sea Wolf, whom you’ve hopefully read about by now, is headed off on its first headlining tour. The band, comprised of principal songwriter Alex Brown Church and a changing cast of other musicians, has been touring for the past year to support its debut full-length, last September’s Leaves in the River. Having already opened for Nada Surf and labelmates Silversun Pickups, Church and Co. will now have... read more
Jim White tours Skiperoo throughout May
Recent Artist of the Week and all-around Southern gothic artist Jim White plans to wrap up a tour in support of his latest album Transnormal Skiperoo by winding his way back home to Athens, Ga in May. The veteran musician might sound like a real-life Hazel Motes from Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood, but his live act (which even made a slight European detour earlier this year) extends far beyond the South. Dates: May 8 - Madison, Wis. @ Orpheum Stage Door 9 - Chicago, Ill. @ Old Town School Of Folk Music 11 - Toronto, Ontario @ The Legendary Horseshoe... read more
RZA brings back Bobby Digital to enjoy some Snax in July
It’s hard enough for most people to name all the members of Wu-Tang Clan, but things get even trickier when alternate monikers come into play. Wu-Tang founding member and chief producer RZA returns under his alter-ego Bobby Digital with more of his funky, futuristic, sci-fi intellect for a third album, Digi Snax, coming July 1 on Koch. The first single, up on RZA’s MySpace now, is “You Can’t Stop Me Now,” featuring Wu-Tang’s Inspectah Deck. “This album is simply fun hip-hop. It’s a perfect blend of reality, fiction, sci-fi and martial arts,” RZA told Billboard. RZA has widespread touring plans... read more
Ridley Scott, Casey Affleck take on The Kind One
While he's still putting the finishing touches on Body of Lies, Ridley Scott has been hired by Warner Bros. to direct and produce The Kind One. A period drama set in 1930s Los Angeles, the film is about an amnesiac working for a mobster who eventually falls in love with his boss's girlfriend. "It's a world that Ridley has never touched before, so that's what drew him to the project," producer Jules Daly told Variety. Casey Affleck is also signed on for the project, working with the same producers who worked with hi on The Assassination of Jesse James by... read more
Expelled uses John Lennon’s “Imagine,” doesn't say please
The filmmakers of the documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed have apparently used John Lennon’s “Imagine” without consent. Ben Stein spearheaded the film, which hits select theaters today. In an article from the Wall Street Journal, Yoko Ono’s lawyer said, “It was not licensed. We are exploring all options.” Any legal resolutions are unknown at press time. The filmmakers confirmed that they did use the track without permission, but they insist that their legal counsel told them it was fair use protected under the First Amendment due to the fact that they only used 25 seconds of it. When the initial... read more
Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz team up for Broken Embraces
After the success of their collaboration on Volver (Paste's #6 film of 2006), Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz are once again working together, this time on a film entitled Los Abrazos Rotos ("Broken Embraces"). "To be specific: Broken Embraces is an original script and it is not inspired by any novel," Almodóvar writes on his blog. "It's inspiration comes from darkness." He goes on to explain that following the promotion of Volver, he suffered a period of persistent migraines and photophobia that left him necessarily in the dark a lot of times. "It was those moments of darkness that gave... read more
Ratatouille director Brad Bird honored with lifetime prize
This week, the WGA West's Animation Writers Caucus honored Oscar winner Brad Bird, director and writer of Ratatouille and The Incredibles, with a lifetime achievement prize. As has become standard in the entertainment industry, Bird has been awarded this award before his entire life is, in fact, up. (He's only 51, folks. Worry not.) This will come as good news to fans of his animated creations, as well as those who are looking forward to his first live-action feature 1906. In celebration of his award and the fact that he is still alive and kickin', today we bring you a... read more
Tori Amos-inspired Comic Book Tattoo set for July release
The music and comic book worlds have converged once again to create Comic Book Tattoo, a 480-page compendium of 50 story arcs based on songs by Tori Amos. Several notable comic book artists collaborated in the four-color adaptation of Amos' discography, ranging from young illustrator Jason Levesque—who illustrated the cover, seen above (left)—to seasoned award-winning artist Ted McKeever. Neil Gaiman—author of The Sandman comic saga—wrote the introduction to Comic Book Tattoo. Also a close friend to Amos, Gaiman has often compared her to his comic book character Delirium, while Amos herself references The Sandman in several of her songs. Coming... read more
Black Crowes, Avetts, many more to play Newport Folk '08
Jimmy Buffet, the Black Crowes, the Avett Brothers and Cat Power will take center stage at the 49th annual Newport Folk Festival, organizers announced this morning. Paste editor-at-large Jay Sweet is co-producing this year’s festival, which will take place August 1-3 at Fort Adams State Park in Rhode Island. This year’s lineup is a mix of traditional folk artists and newer, more mainstream acts the festival’s organizers hope will revitalize the historic festival, which has only achieved half to two-thirds of its 10,000 person capacity to date. “For me the theme was bridging the gap,” Sweet told The Boston Globe.... read more
Roskilde returns with too many great acts for one headline
Roskilde, Denmark: heard of it? Perhaps not. Allow us to bring to light this town (which, by the way, was founded by Vikings) that annually hosts a golden nugget of sonic aggregation so great, it actually has us contemplating flying halfway around the world to see it. In a day where music festivals seem to be spawning into multitudes, Roskilde manages stay relevant while upholding a tradition that is 37 years strong. Starting with Bob Marley in 1978, Roskilde has hosted quite a few greats at their height, including the Talking Heads in 1979, U2 in 1982 and The Clash... read more
Outkast talks new album in 2009
There is a debate of sorts concerning when the last true Outkast album was released. Was it 2006’s Idlewild soundtrack, or does it go all the way back to 2000's Stankonia? And can you really count 2003’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as an Outkast album since it was just two solo albums packaged together? Gah. It’s time to call the whole thing off, though, because a new Outkast album (keyword: collaborative) will be out in the beginning of 2009. In an interview with MTV News, Big Boi told the network, “Outkast are stronger than ever,” and laughed about any rumors... read more
Stan Lee creating new superhero franchise, Legion of 5
And the comic fans rejoice once more... Stan Lee (creator of such recognizable characters as The X-Men, Iron Man and Spider-man) is certainly keeping busy these days. As previously reported, he's put three projects into motion with Walt Disney. Meanwhile, he's further taking his talents to the silver screen in a deal with Rainmaker Entertainment and Brighton Partners. Lee is developing a CG animated film through his company POW! Entertainment starring a new group of heroes called the Legion of 5. Details of the new characters are scant at this time. Lee is best known as the Editor in Chief... read more
SAG/AMPTP negotiations off to shaky start
Two months after the conclusion of the Writer's Guild of America contract strike, television is finally back to normal and film production is steamrolling forward. Already, though, the next big set of Hollywood negotiations are underway, as the Screen Actors Guild began its own series of contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers this past Tuesday. Variety reports that though both parties began from a more amicable start than the WGA situation, the talks have already been a little bit rocky. Oddly, this came not from the AMTP but instead the SAG's sister organization, the American... read more
Sub Pops!: Iron & Wine, Wolf Parade, more to play SP20
On April 1, this showed up on SubPop.com: "Today, and this is no April Fools joke, is Sub Pop Records’ 20th Anniversary. When I asked Jon Poneman, aka The Jonald, how it feels to turn 20 he responded, 'The company maintains bowel movements at regular intervals so we’re not nearly as grouchy as some other labels our age.' I couldn’t put it better myself, but this is coming from a man who has never once used the bathroom in the office." If that's not cause for celebration, we don't know what is. So then, the indie rock name-makers, "in an... read more
Mark Sultan aka BBQ to tour with Clinic
Mark Sultan is a musician's musician. He's earned his rock 'n' roll stripes multiple times over, performing with so many side projects it's hard to tell if he ever had an original band. He's headed up Les Sexareenos as well as the The Spaceshits, collaborated with the likes of The Deadly Snakes and Jack Oblivian, run Sultan Records, and has put out some damn fine garage tunes with King Khan and the BBQ Show. The reason Sultan hasn't become more famous is one of those rock 'n' roll injustices that makes idealistic music writers turn to the sauce on cold,... read more
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