Langerado Music Festival announces initial 2009 line-up
After bouncing from a stadium to the suburbs to an Indian Reservation, this will be the Langerado Music Festival's first year in Miami. A press release calls the Magic City the festival's new home. This year's events--running March 6 through 8, with late night concerts scattered at downtown Miami clubs--will take place at the famous Bicentennial Park (capacity 45,000).... read more
Deerhunter guitarist to debut Lotus Plaza LP in March
Good news for the Deerhunter obsessed (or, in our opinion, just anyone with good taste): Pitchfork reports that guitarist Lockett Pundt's side project Lotus Plaza is finally set to release its debut LP.... read more
Great Lake Swimmers will get Lost in March
We already knew the Great Lake Swimmers had a new album on deck for next spring. Now, we have the full details: the album, entitled Lost Channels, will hit stores March 31 and contain 12 new tracks of the Canadian group's brand of folk stylings.... read more
Mark Kozelek helps raise money for West Memphis Three
Damien Echols. Jason Baldwin. Jessie Misskelley, Jr. Together they're known as the West Memphis Three, a trio of Arkansas men convicted in 1994 for murdering and sexually mutilating three elementary school boys. Echols, the eldest, was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison.... read more
Johnny Depp acquires Hand of Dante as possible star vehicle
Johnny Depp is not lacking in the upcoming projects department. In the last few months he has secured another Pirates sequel, an animated flick with Gore Verbinski, an Alice in Wonderland adaptation with favored partner Tim Burton and rumored roles in Sin City 3, The Lone Ranger remake and Dark Shadows. On top of his acting gigs, Depp is currently looking for a director for Rex Mundi, a Dark Horse comic he bought the rights to back in 2006.... read more
Spike Jonze working on Maurice Sendak documentary
Hunter Hill and Perry Moore were unlikely directors for Lake City. It was their first feature and the two had extremely limited experience with film, the only other credits to their names Moore's work as executive producer on the Chronicles of Narnia films. Whatever its success, it was a bold undertaking. Apparently it or Hill's work with Paper magazine attracted the notice of Spike Jonze, who's currently at work on the effects and post-production of Where the Wild Things Are.... read more
Quincy Jones lands South By Southwest keynote
Producer extraordinaire Quincy Jones has been named 2009's keynote speaker at SXSW. Following in the footsteps of 2008 speaker Lou Reed, Quincy will make his address March 19 in Austin, TX. ... read more
Rosie Thomas to team with Sam Beam for new album
Rosie Thomas named her last record These Friends of Mine, a fitting title considering the album boasted collaborations with name-brand folkies Sufjan Stevens, Damien Jurado and Denison Witmer. For her new album, Thomas is adding another friend to the mix: Sam Beam, of Iron & Wine.... read more
Jay Leno stays with NBC for The Jay Leno Show
By now, we all know the 411: Jay Leno is set to go to ABC retire in 2009, Conan O'Brien will take his slot at 11:35pm on the The Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon has been given O'Brien's old chair on Late Night. As far as we knew, that was the end of the story. But nothing is clear cut in TV land these days, and NBC has announced that Leno is staying on at the network in a new time. ... read more
Murk surrouding Ridley Scott's Nottingham cleared up
Ridley Scott’s Nottingham just got a lot more sensible—and a lot less cool. ... read more
Black Lips announce 200 Million Thousand, Winter tour
You don't have to be a hip-hopper to be an ATLien. Sure, the jewel of the south may be famous for liking its beat down low and its top laid back, but there's a host of weird and wonderful post-punksters and power-poppers brimming in the galleries and dive bars of Atlanta. Take the Black Lips: after 2007s widely-acclaimed Good Bad Not Evil, this coming Spring will see the release of follow-up LP 200 Million Thousand.... read more
M. Ward announces tour, pre-sale on tickets
The day after the release of M. Ward's new solo album, Hold Time (via Merge Records), the "Him" of She & Him—makers of Paste's album of the year—will set off on a tour of the East Coast/West Coast, with a few European dates thrown in. Fans can buy tickets ahead of time, today-Dec. 11, on MWardMusic.com. Make a note of the pre-sale password: "holdtime," and make sure to log in before Dec. 12, when tickets for all the U.S., U.K. and E.U. performances go on sale to the public.... read more
Director Catherine Hardwicke out for Twilight sequel
Whether she was fired or walked off and came to a “mutual decision” with Summit Entertainment, director Catherine Hardwicke will not return for New Moon, the sequel to Twilight. ... read more
U2's No Line on the Horizon gets Feb. 23 release date
We've been steadily giving you information on the new U2 album, No Line on the Horizon, as it has become available. Up until now, the release date for the 2009 disc has been unknown. Now, via pre-ordering info on HMV, we can tell you that the Bono-fronted band will release its 12th record (possibly produced by will.i.am?!?) on Feb. 23.... read more
Slamdance announces 2009 features
In an answer to last week's announcement of Sundance's 2009 line-up, its little sibling Slamdance has now announced its own film slate. Slamdance was founded under the auspices that Sundance had become too commercial and features films that aren't really independent. Its requirements include a $1 million or smaller budget and no contract for theatrical distribution. Because of this, it's rare to be aware of the directors or actors unless you know them personally. There's usually less polish, but far more variety than what gets shown at Sundance.... read more
New York Times publishes 10 Best Books of 2008 list
Last week, The New York Times unveiled its "10 Best Books of 2008" list, and seven of the selections were published by Random House imprint Alfred A. Knopf. The sweep is not exactly surprising, as Knopf sits at the upper echelon of literary publishers; but if you take this 7/10 domination and include the ownership that came with the recent restructuring of Random House, two of the remaining three are from the Knopf/Doubleday Publishing Group. ... read more
The Dark Knight to pass $1 billion with Jan. 29 re-release
We already warned you that The Dark Knight would re-open in January in order to make a big Oscar push (and, you know, to make some more money). Well, now we have a date: Jan. 29. No word yet from Warner Bros. on how many screens the film will re-open on.... read more
Joe's Garage play carries on Frank Zappa's legacy
[Above: Joe (Jason Paige) asks the question "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?" in the musical Joe's Garage on stage at the Open Fist Theatre in Los Angeles. The play is an adaptation of Frank Zappa's rock opera of the same name, and will continue until Dec. 20.] Dancing toilet bowls and man-on-machine sex are mere snippets of the on-stage antics at Open Fist Theatre in Los Angeles, where Frank Zappa’s searing brand of satire is taking center stage. Joe’s Garage, a musical play based on Zappa’s 1979 rock opera, tracks the life of a garage band hobbyist seduced by the illegal world... read more
Romanek adaptating Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go
One of the brightest lights of music video directors has long been Mark Romanek. Although he never had quite as much vision as his Propaganda peers David Fincher and Spike Jonze, there's no denying his technical mastery. If other directors sometimes treated videos like short films, Romanek used his chameleon-like skills to match his filmmaking to whatever best fit with the music. ... read more
Mirah sets release date for (a)spera
It's been a long wait, but fans of Portland-based songstress Mirah only need to hang in there for three more months until the release of the much-anticipated followup to 2004's C'Mon Miracle. She recently revealed that (a)spera, her fourth solo LP, has been set for a March 12 release date next year on K Records.... read more
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