Jack White, who just put a new "vault package" up for sale, will release new 7"s by Tom Jones and Duane The Teenage Weirdo on his Third Man imprint this year. End-of-2011 releases included John C. Reily and Jerry Lee Lewis.

White will also appear on TV show American Pickers tonight (January 9th):

Jack White welcomes the crew from The History Channel's American Pickers for a rare visit to his Nashville-based Third Man Records this Monday, January 9th at 9 pm / 8pm Central (Check local listings).

Jack drives a hard bargain with the American Pickers guys, offering personal artifacts including the actual photo booth used in The Dead Weather "Hang You From The Heavens" video in exchange for one of the most "memorable" treasures ever to appear on the show.

Set your DVRs. Watch the TV commercial, and a new video featuring Jack White from the Danger Mouse-Daniele Luppi album Rome, below.

Catch Third Man group The Black Belles on tour and in NYC in February.

Continue reading "Jack White/Third Man on American Pickers tonight, releasing Tom Jones & other stuff"

photos by Chris Graham

Happy Holidays! I take on more than I can handle. That results in a lot of unposted content. In the name of catching up, while also taking it easy during this final week of the year, here's some of that lost material.

The 2nd Annual Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco this past August benefited from a combination of improved planning and the luck of some of the nicest weather the city had seen all summer. The result was a far more pleasant and exciting experience for festivalgoers at this food, wine and music extravaganza.

The venue for the festival is extraordinary, taking up about a third of the massive Golden Gate Park. Once inside, it's hard to believe you're in the middle of a large city. Giant trees and grassy meadows block out any view of outside buildings, and the festival is arranged around the topography so that each group of stages has its own unique look and feel. There were many secluded areas and empty meadows nearby for those in need of respite from the music. Thanks to the efforts of innovative organizers, Outside Lands truly becomes a world unto itself. [Beachside Resident]

The 2009 Outside Lands Festival ran August 28th to August 30th in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Acts that the played the fest's first day included Tom Jones, Akron Family, Q-Tip, The Dodos, Built to Spill, the National, Los Campesinos! and healdiners Pearl Jam. Pictures for Autolux, who also played, are HERE. More pictures from Day One are below...

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 - Day 1 pics (Pearl Jam, The National, Q-Tip, Tom Jones, Akron/Family, Built to Spill, more)"

Mutek banner in Montreal - May 27, 2009 (bneely)

Mutek, the electronic music festival celebrating its tenth year, is currently underway in Montreal. The five-day fest runs to Sunday, May 31st, and it's streaming online. Moderat, the Modeselektor & Apparat supergroup, performed at Mutek on Thursday, May 28th; the group plays NYC's Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, May 30th (the show was originally planned for Webster Hall). Tickets are still on sale.

Speaking of parties up North this summer... three other biggies are Ottawa Bluesfest (July 8th-19th), Vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 17-19th) and Calgary Folk Music Festival (July 23rd-26th). Each of those suitably transcend the "blues" and "folk" labels, hosting bands like The Dead Weather and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (in Ottawa), The Weakerthans and Rock Plaza Central (in Vancouver), and The Decemberists, Apostle of Hustle, Kid Koala and Akron/Family (in Calgary). Full lineup for the Calgary Fest (Ottawa in particular is much too massive to post) and ticket info below.

And don't forget about the previously reported Breeders-headlined Sled Island Fest in Calgary on June 24th-27th, Montreal's Osheaga, NXNE, and Toronto's Olympic Island Fest on July 11th, which will host Broken Social Scene and its Arts & Crafts cohorts.

Across the pond, UK's Glastonbury Festival, which runs from June 24th to 28th, has been sold out since February even though the full lineup wasn't announced until this week. Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Blur will be joined by The Specials, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Spinal Tap, Jarvis Cocker, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Madness, Tom Jones, Animal Collective and many others.

And finally in the States, Monolith Festival, which runs from September 12th to 13th at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Colorado, has announced its intial lineup, Girl Talk, Passion Pit, and The Walkmen included. The whole thing is posted below.

The weekend before Monolith, Bumbershoot will take place in Seattle (September 5th-7th). That fest's lineup has been updated too. New additions include Vivian Girls, Akron/Family, and Elvis Perkins. All new additions, with previously announced acts, are below. Tickets are still on sale.

In Michigan, the Rothbury Festival over July 4th weekend will feature the only summer fest performance by The Dead, as well as sets by Bob Dylan, String Cheese Incident, Broken Social Scene and more. A few more jam-friendly acts were also just added to the bill. Full lineup below. Tickets are on sale.

Info on all the above fests, with ticket info, below...

Continue reading "Mutek underway, Monolith & Glastonbury lineups, Rothbury, Bumbershoot, Calgary Folk & other festival updates"

Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival is taking place this year August 28th-30th at Golden Gate Park. Tickets for the fest go on Visa presale Wednesday, April 15th at 1pm ET, and general sale Sunday, April 19th at 1pm ET.

Like last year, the San Francisco fest shares a headliner with NJ's All Points West. In 2008, it was Radiohead. In 2009, it's the Beastie Boys.

Also on the schedule for the fest is the Dead Weather, Jack White's new band. Dead Weather plays its first show tonight (April 14th) at the Bowery Ballroom.

M.I.A., Ween, TVOTR, Mastodon, Os Mutantes, Extra Golden, Tom Jones, and many others are also playing. Full Outside Lands line-up and poster below....

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2009 festival lineup, Dead Weather tonight"

Tickets are on Am Ex presale for the Andrew Bird show at Radio City Music Hall.

Public Enemy are celebrating Flavor Flav's 50th birthday at B.B. King Blues Club and Grill on Sunday March 15th. Tickets are on sale.

A "friends and family" presale begins for the Leonard Cohen Radio City show on Friday at 10 AM. A Fan Club presale begins Saturday at 10 AM. Regular sale begins Monday at 10 AM.

Seal (does anyone like Seal?) is playing Radio City Music Hall on April 16th. Tickets are on Am Ex presale.

Tickets are still on sale for the Tom Jones show at Beacon Theater.

Friday's Pentragram show at Webster Hall is still happening. Tickets are still on sale.

These Arms are Snakes arrive in Brooklyn on Saturday. Tickets are still on sale for the Music Hall of Williamsburg show.

A psychic looks into Lil Wayne's future, and 1965 footage of Tom Jones, in the videos below...

Continue reading "Andrew Bird, Leonard Cohen, Tom Jones, Public Enemy, Pentragram & other tickets "

photos by Chris La Putt

"It took a while for Jones to get warmed up and he closed the show with a run through many of his tried and true hits. On surefire crowd-pleasers like "She's A Lady," "It's Not Unusual" and "What's New, Pussycat," Jones was in all his Vegas-style glory. The recital of many of the songs seemed a little too well-rehearsed but retained enough looseness to remain fun. Jones ' hair and beard are streaked with a little more gray than in recent years and his set length may be whittled to under ninety minutes but Jones knows how to finished strong. Prior to closing the night with hip-shaking covers of "Venus" and his Art Of Noise inflected version of Prince's "Kiss," he found a time capsule and broke out some vintage dance moves on "Leave Your Hat On." When you see a 67-year-old singer earn his thrown panties instead of getting them tossed his way solely on his reputation, you've seen something inspiring." [Earvolotion]

I think that paragraph sums up the key points. Throw in the full on crotch grab that slightly traumatized me, and Rachael Ray dancing up a story in the balcony, and you've got everything you need to know about Tuesday night's show at Terminal 5 (2/24). I think many in attendance would have been happier if the show was seated, like his next NYC one at the Beacon Theater will be. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Tom Jones @ Terminal 5, NYC - pics"

Tickets go on sale at 5PM for a July 21st Tom Jones show at the seated Beacon Theater. 3.5 hours later Tom hits the stage at the standing-only Terminal 5 in the same town (thx anon).

"No one ever expects this call. You're going about your daily life and then it happens. The phone rings, you answer, and Vincent asks: "What do you think about helping on a Take-Away show with Tom Jones?" What do I think? I think it's Tom whoa whoa whoaaaa mother fuckin' Jones! Actually . . . I don't know what to think. But we're doing it.

Now its time for the second call you don't expect. The phone rings and our liaison in the lobby passes the information onto us: Tom's ready; we can go up to the room. There's some real honest to god Hollywood magic going on up here. Tom is a star from an era before the record industry went bust. In fact, one of the biggest stars of this era and the whole manner of this scene reflects it - the fruit baskets, the amazing view of the city, the manager. His manager is a band manager out of a Woody Allen movie - over zealous, over protective, and hilarious. Tom is still in his bedroom so his manager is talking to us and making sure we're comfortable, but not too comfortable. I busy myself with the mics and don't even look up as I ask the body next to me if they think Tom will be ready soon. The body answers yes, and Vincent says, "Umm, Teresa . . ." I look to Vincent, who looks to me, and then we both look to the mystery person I was talking to. Yeah, it's Tom . . . Jones. Hi."
[LA BLOGOTEQUE]

Definitely surreal... Continuing in that hip tradition, Tom Jones plays the rock club Terminal 5, in NYC TONIGHT (tickets are still on sale).

La Blogoteque's Tom Jones story is continued at their site, and you can watch all three videos below...

Continue reading "Tom Jones Take-Away show (videos), Terminal 5 tonight."

Tickets are on Am Ex presale for the two Van Morrison shows happening at the Theater at MSG.

The Duke Spirit is coming back in February Tickets are on sale for a February 16th show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and for one a day earlier at Maxwell's.

The Ting Tings are playing Webster Hall on March 16th. Tickets are on Am Ex Presale at noon.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale for the Brian Jonestown Massacre show happening at Terminal 5.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale for the Tom Jones show happening at Terminal 5.

Fab Faux have announed yet another show at Terminal 5. The date is March 14th and tickets are on Am Ex presale.

Tickets are on Am Ex presale for the two Bishop Allen shows coming up at Bowery and Music Hall.

Legendary singer Tom Jones releases his first new US studio album in 15 years. Entitled 24 Hours, most of the 13 songs are co-written by Jones and produced by British duo Future Cut, who recently helmed tracks for Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Estelle and others. Jones co-wrote over half of the songs on 24 Hours, a first for him. "It's all very well just singing songs, but for this record I really wanted to get properly personal. In other words, you listen to this album and you get the real me."

In addition to Jones' co-written songs, Bono and the Edge of U2 contribute and play guitar on a brand new song "Sugar Daddy," written specifically for Jones and inspired by a meeting of the friends in a pub in Dublin.

"24 Hours" was released November 25th on S-Curve Records. Speaking to Las Vegas Review-Journal, Tom said,

It all started with Bono, explains the singer, who plans to perform as many as six of the new songs in his MGM Grand shows through Jan. 28. The two met in a Dublin nightclub more than two years ago, and Jones said, "I'd love you to write me a song."

"(Bono) said, 'OK, but if I'm going to write one, it's going to be about you.' " The two went on to discuss Jones' past, with Bono confessing, "When he was a kid, he saw me on TV and he liked the way I dressed as well as the way I sounded. So all that stuff is in the song."

When the two met up again in another club -- this time in London -- Bono sang the rough product of his labors with U2-mate The Edge and writing partner Simon Carmody. The tongue-in-cheek ditty called "Sugar Daddy" captures the Tom Jones swagger by proclaiming "I'm the last great tradition" and boasts, "You don't send a boy to do a man's job." But it also confesses, "the older I get, the better I was." Jones says he and his manager son, Mark Woodward, have talked about pop singers aging and people saying, "Maybe he shouldn't be doing this anymore."

"But you get a blues singer, and nobody's concerned about his age. ... With blues singers, people seem to enjoy that these men have experienced life. And I think maybe this is what happened with this (album) as well. "Maybe it's because I've been around a long time, I think these songs are more fitting now."

After Bono went through the lyrics, he pointed out "That information you gave me in Dublin, there's a lot of that in this song."

"I said, 'Well, do I get writer credit?'
"He said, 'No.' He didn't even think about it," Jones recalls with a chuckle.

The singer remembered Bono's approach -- and took corrective action for royalties -- when the original recording sessions stalled out.

Tom Jones, currently in the midst of a residency at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is coming back to NYC in February for a show at... Terminal 5. $50 tickets go on sale Friday. All dates below...

Continue reading "Tom Jones -new album (w/ U2), 2009 tour dates (Terminal 5)"

The other night I posted a few September Arctic Monkeys tour dates. Now they are official. Summerstage on sale today. ALL dates below...

Continue reading "Arctic Monkeys - all the 2007 Tour Dates"