Music News Net

PR Maven LIZ ROSENBERG To Leave Warner Bros.

MUSIC NEWS - Liz Rosenberg, the PR icon who's worked with many of the biggest names in the music business while at Warner Bros. Records for over 39 years, is leaving the company at the end of the month, it was announced today by Warner Bros. Records CEO Tom Whalley.  Rosenberg is forming her own agency, Liz Rosenberg Media, with plans to represent several of the label’s artists as a consultant with the company. Liz has been a big help to MNN since the inception, we wish her the best !

BAD LIEUTENANT Needs You To Make Their Next Video

MUSIC NEWS - Bad Lieutenant is putting the creative onus squarely into the hands of their fans for their next video.

The band has partnered with DailyMotion.com for a contest that invites you and aspiring filmmakers to create what will be the official music video for the band's new single, "Twist of Fate," a tune off their debut album, Never Cry Another Tear.  The competition starts today, February 23 and will run until April 2, 2010 which is nearly a week after the single's March 23 USA release date.  The winning submission will be personally chosen by the members of Bad Lieutenant. The winner's video will be featured on the Bad Lieutenant channel, their MySpace page, official website, and other social networks, as the official video for "Twist of Fate." 

The lucky, talented winner will also receive a Kodak Zi8 H-D video flip-cam , the Bad Lieutenant Deluxe Vinyl and Artwork Package, and additional band merchandise.   Once your video is completed, upload it as a fan video to the Contest Page at dailymotion.com/group/TwistofFate/ 

Sir Paul McCartney Announces 2010 "Up and Coming" Tour Dates

MUSIC NEWS  - After a brief "not a tour" tour last year, Paul McCartney has today announced a return to the USA for concert dates this spring for his "Up and Coming" tour.  The run opens March 28, 2010 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, AZ (Phoenix).  He must like it; it's the same venue that hosted him in his 2005 "US Tour".

After Glendale, "Up and Coming" moves to California and the Hollywood Bowl in L.A., the first time since 1993 and 46 years after the Beatles played the venue and recorded their live album "The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl." So far, this is it.  No other dates have been revealed yet, but stayed tuned.

 

Get Paul McCartney Tickets at StubHub!

NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW to Get Limited Theatrical Release, Then Blu Ray and DVD Release

MUSIC NEWS - Neil Young Trunk Show,  the concert film starring Neil Young, will be released in theatres for a limited run in March,  then on Blu-Ray and DVD by Reprise Records later in 2010 (actual date tbd, though most dvds are out 17 weeks after theatrical release). The film is director Jonathan Demme’s second in his planned trilogy about the legendary rocker. Demme also directed the 2006 Young documentary Heart of Gold.

 

Shot on hand-held HDCam, HDV, and Super-8mm cameras, Neil Young Trunk Show features scenes from two shows that Young performed at the historic Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA (Philly area), on his 2007 Chrome Dreams II  theater tour. Included are acoustic and electric tracks that span his entire songbook, including rarely performed songs like “Mexico,” “Kansas,” and “The Sultan,” the classics “Cinnamon Girl,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” and “After the Gold Rush,” and more recent work including “The Believer,” and a 20 minute version of  “No Hidden Path.” The film also features offstage and behind-the-scenes footage.

DEVO Wants to Get "Fresh" With You - Free New Song

MUSIC NEWS - DEVO, certainly one of post-modern rock’s most visionary and influential groups, is back in action and plans to break (somewhat) new ground by giving you a brand-new recording free (for only 24 hours) timed with their live performance at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games

on February 24.

 

The new song, “Fresh” off their upcoming new album, will be available immediately following the band’s Winter Olympic Games performance thru their official web site.   DEVO wants YOU, the fans, to be among the first to hear the song, in order to gather valuable feedback that will be part of their song selection survey. Further details regarding the results of DEVO’s research to be revealed at a later date.

MISHKA Out With New TALK ABOUT Album

MUSIC NEWS-  Named 2009’s Best New Artist by digital music leader, iTunes, j.k. livin artist Mishka releases his new album, “Talk About,” on March 30, 2010.  Producer Butch Walker (Pete Yorn, Pink, Fall Out Boy) pitched in and infused some of his mainstream melodies on two of the tracks on the anticipated sophomore album.

Setting the tone for his self-described “album of movement” is the lead single “Bittersweet”,  It came about as a simple studio experiment before evolving into a musical space that surprised even its creator.  “When I brought the song to the band it was extremely raw—just a few chords and a couple lyrics played at a modest tempo,” says Mishka.  “But as we started jamming on it, it started to move into an up-tempo track like I’ve never recorded before—a place, musically, that is brand new to me.”

Two of the tracks on “Talk About”, “Stars Will Be Shining” and album opener “Give Them Love,” are the product of collaboration with producer Butch Walker.  The pair was introduced by label owner, album co-producer, and Hollywood notable Matthew McConaughey.

SHOUT OUT LOUDS "Fall Hard" Remix by Passion Pit - Listen Up

MUSIC NEWS - To celebrate their February 23 release of the new album, Work (out via Merge Records), Sweden's Shout Out Louds are giving you a FREE MP3 Remix download of the first single "Fall Hard." The remix is courtesy of Cambridge, MA's electronic-pop sensation Passion Pit.  Already an infectious piece of pop / rock perfection, once  Passion Pit got their hands on it, "Fall Hard" became blissed out and synthed up.  Check it out @   mergerecords.com

 

Work is SOL's third album and second out on Merge. Recorded in Seattle, WA  and produced by Phil Ek (The Shins, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses) it's been much anticpated here at MNN.  After a year of touring to support their acclaimed second record, Our Ill Wills, the band took a break; singer/main songwriter Adam Olenius to Melbourne, Australia, keyboard/vocalist Bebban Stenborg to L.A., drummer Eric Edman, bassist Ted Malmros and guitarist Carl von Arbin back hine to Stockholm to take a much needed break.

 

BILLY JOEL Ends Joel/Elton John Face 2 Face Tour

MUSIC NEWS -  Singer Elton John has reported that he's "bitterly disappointed" that the summer 2010 leg of his co-starring concert tour with "Piano Man" Billy Joel has been canceled.   John and Joel have been touring together in recent years but Joel recently decided that he needed a break, The Chicago Tribune reported. 

"It's not my decision, it's Billy's," John said during a Friday interview for Chicago's "The Talk" program from Beverly Hills, CA to promote the Billy Elliot musical.  "He has decided to take a year off It doesn't gel with my plans but he's a friend. And as an artist you have to respect his decision.'

Billy, on the other hand, responded to the controversy by telling RollingStone.com; "There was never a tour booked this summer!"  He continued, "Obviously, this has the smell of a really juicy story: 'Why did they cancel? Did Billy and Elton have a fight? What's going on?' The truth is, there's nothing going on. I had made up my mind a long time ago that I wasn't going to work this year."

Either way, the tour was very popular and it looks like the March 11 re-scheduled Albany, NY concert will be the final one.  The co-headling tour had been previously plagued with cancellations due to illnesses by both artists.  We'll likely see more of Elton in 2010, and Billy, enjoy the rest of the year off !

Andrew Lloyd Webber to Save Abbey Road Studios ?

MUSIC NEWS - With EMI intending to sell the historic Abbey Road studios in London, music fans around the globe are worried,  but most especially in the UK.  It's been reported that the UK National Trust has expressed interest in buying, and saving, the studio. The organization, a British charity that protects historic houses, gardens and monuments, already owns Paul McCartney and John Lennon childhood homes in Liverpool.  And now, the BBC says that British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has also expressed interest in buying Abbey Road studios. Lord Lloyd-Webber, through a spokesman, said is "very interested" in buying the London studios if EMI puts it up for sale "He thinks it is vital that the studios are saved for the future of the music industry in the UK,".

The majority of Lloyd Webber's musicals have been recorded at Abbey Road, including the classic Jesus Christ Superstar and Love Never Dies, his upcoming sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.

Webber is one of several celebrities to have expressed concern over Abbey Road, best known for sessions there by the Beatles and many other artists.  Sir Paul McCartney and UK DJ Chris Evans are among those to have called for the studios to be preserved.

And, so far, 8,000 people have joined a Facebook campaign and online petition urging Abbey Road to be maintained as a working studio.

More @ NationalTrust.org.uk

Celebrate Johnny Cash's 78th B'day by Wearing Black

MUSIC NEWS - Friday, February 26, 2010 would have been Johnny Cash's 78th birthday and to celebrate his life, there's a campaign afoot to encourage folks worldwide to wear black for Mr Cash on his birthday. The date also marks the release of his final studio album American VI : Ain't No Grave, out via American Recordings/Lost Highway .

What You Can Do to Honor The Music Legend:

More DURAN DURAN Re-releases in Expanded Form

MUSIC NEWS- Aftewr the recent expanded 2CD reissue of Duran Duran's Rio album, interest in Capitol/EMI's next round of Duran Duran  re-issue albums is high.  The label has now announced a March 30, 2010 release of expanded 2CD/DVD Limited Special Editions and expanded digital audio downloads of the group's 1981 eponymous debut and 1983's Seven and the Ragged Tiger.  Both remastered titles' limited edition packages will be presented in  deluxe, lift-off-lid boxes with replicated UK album art and posters from the original Japanese LP releases, plus five postcards.

On the same day, both Duran Duranalbums will be reissued on 180-gram vinyl, and each LP paired with a bonus 12-inch single.

PARAMORE Releases "The Only Exception" Video

MUSIC NEWS - Paramore today released their video for "The Only Exception" (view it below), off their brand new eyes album (out via Fueled by Ramen /  Atlantic Records).  They are also working on plans for their Spring North American tour that starts April 26th.  Included will be a gig headlining at The Bamboozle New Jersey on May 1st. 

The new tour comes right after Kristian (at left) and company's recent European run, a trek that saw the Grammy Award-nominated band blowing the roof off of sold-out arenas across the continent, including London's 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena. 

More @ paramore.net

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ALICE COOPER Radio Show to Re-Air Interview with The Knack's DOUG FIEGER

MUSIC NEWS - Following the recent untimely death of The Knack's Doug Fieger,the Nights With Alice Cooper radio show has announced plans to re-broadcast an interview that Alice did with Mr Fieger.  The show first aired on August 2, 2006. 

Alice Cooper and Doug are both Detroit natives and had long shared a mutual admiration, so the encounter was especially warm.  The show will air worldwide on Monday, February 22, 2010.

For more info, visit nightswithalicecooper.com

PETER FRAMPTON Returns With "Thank Your Mr Churchill" in April

MUSIC NEWS- Peter Frampton announced his new album this week. You can look forward to a springtime release for Thank You Mr Churchill (via A&M/New Door/UMe) on April 27.  The new project is said to be his most personal collection to date and his first since 2006's Fingerprints. The 11-song album, co-produced and co-engineered by Frampton, features the guitarist tackling the battles that wage within us all and the outside forces that swirl around us. His searing guitar work flows over every song, setting the mood and is particularly noted on Churchill’s centerpiece, the evocative, two-part, 8-minute instrumental, “Suite: Liberté”.   “This album is very autobiographical,” Frampton said recently. “It starts with my birth, which I thank Mr. Churchill for bringing my father back from the Second World War.”

The album was recorded at his home studio in Cincinnati, OH and is a deeply intimate, weaving tales of loss, love and redemption and the lessons learned along the way. Churchill also includes Frampton’s reflective take on troubling world events, including the Wall Street bailout (“Restraint”) and even the tragic case of Megumi Yokota, a Japanese girl kidnapped more than 30 years ago by South Korea (“Asleep At The Wheel”).

TicketMaster Agrees to FTC Settlement Over Springsteen Ticket Disaster

MUSIC NEWS - The Federal Trade Commission announced today that it has settle with Ticketmaster on consumer complaints received about Ticketmaster using deceptive sales tactics to direct Bruce Springsteen concert ticket buyers to a more expensive scalped ticket site for the Boss's May / June 2009 shows at NJ's Meadowlands. As a result of the settlement, Ticketmaster will issue refunds to consumers and will in the future, disclose to the public more information on the availability of tickets that it resells.

The settlement was announced by Jon Leibowitz, FTC Chairman, was a result of problems fans experienced when attempting to purchase tickets through Ticketmaster’s site and were pointed to a another site, TicketsNow (owned by Ticketmaster).  At Ticketmaster, consumers got a No Tickets Found” message and then pointed to TicketsNow who offered tickets at two to five times higher than face value.

Full story @ NYTimes.com, full FTC settlement announcement @ FTC.gov .