Conan O'Brien (you know him from Twitter) returned to television (basic cable) last night (11/8) with his new, and simply titled show Conan (he joked they can't replace him now). Guests included Seth Rogen, Lea Michelle, and Conan's good friend Jack White, who not only was the last musical guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (as was Meg), but who has known Conan since 1999. Well, that's at least what Conan claimed on the show, but not surprisingly, he was at least partly joking. He told Rolling Stone the full story:

In Detroit, there's a place where you can get a bite to eat, and then go bowling, and there's a rock venue there too," Conan recalled. "When I was there -- I wanna say this is like 1999 -- I got a bite to eat with my crew, and then we decided to go bowling, and these kids started to come over and hang out with us. I don't even remember -- I just remember hanging out with all these really young, scruffy Detroit kids for a while, all of us talking and drinking beer.

"Flash forward to: the White Stripes are the big deal and they're on Saturday Night Live, and I really love them, so I went to watch them at rehearsal," he continued. "After they're done rehearsing, Jack and Meg walk down -- and they're coming right at me. And they said, 'Hey, it's good to see you again.'

"And I said, 'Again?' They said, 'Yeah, in Detroit you hung out with us for like three hours and had beers in a bowling alley and we just shot the shit and you were real nice.'"

Conan erupted into laughter. "And I'm like, 'I didn't know that was you guys!' "

Video from last night's show below...

Continue reading "'Conan' debuted on tbs w/ old friend Jack White (videos) "

The Dead Weather @ Coachella (more by Rachel Carr)

The Dead Weather have a new album, Sea of Cowards, coming out May 11th on Third Man Records/Warner Bros. As a preview of the record, the band will play it straight through at the Third Man building in Nashville on Monday, May 3rd, at 6pm (today), a set that'll be streaming on Myspace. The record is also streaming at NPR.

The band just played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 2nd. Here's a review of their set:

White Stripes honcho Jack White led his latest alt-rock ensemble, the Dead Weather, in a compact but potent romp through moody and scarifying guitar-centric songs, mostly from the Horehound album. Alison Mosshart's vocals and flailing theatrics competed for attention with White's no-holds-barred guitar attacks and usually lost. Until the final song, that is: "Will There Be Enough Water?," delivered during a steady drizzle, found them both in peak form, playing with whisper-to-scream dynamics and flattening the audience. [USA Today]

Jack White's wife Karen Elson has her own outside summer show coming up. She plays with Band of Horses and Grizzly Bear at Waterfront on June 20th. Tickets are on sale for that.

Also on the horizon for Jack White: a possible White Stripes "reunion". What he's said about that, all tour dates, album art, tracklist and the video for the album's first single are below...

Continue reading "The Dead Weather playing Prospect Park this summer & on MySpace today ++ full new album streaming now "

He actually published this list in August, but in case you missed it...

Continue reading "Gorilla Vs Bear's favorite 'songs of the decade'"

Daft Punk's first album had helped refresh house music in the mid 1990s; the second went further, rewriting electronic pop's pleasure principles to such a degree that when it came out a lot of people thought Discovery must be a put-on. They took the joy in the record for irony. Rather, the band had simply plunged into the raw popstuff of their 70s childhoods, from AOR to disco, Buggles to Manilow, rock to robotics. They wanted their listeners to get the rush of context-free delight they had hearing music as kids, and on "Aerodynamic" and "Digital Love" they succeeded wildly, dissolving a decade-plus of dance music good taste. And not all of Discovery looked back. The middle of the album is house music as string theory, with the duo finding dimensions of pleasure coiled within the tiniest loops: "Crescendolls" releases an awesome, gleeful energy by repeatedly triggering one five-second sample.

Discovery was simply the decade's best good-times record, with Daft Punk as pyramid-toting party wizards and the chipmunk Kraftwerk of "Harder Better Faster Stronger" their anthem. But this most celebratory of records has a bittersweet streak, too: Daft Punk know that a rush always carries the risk of exhaustion. Perhaps the album's most underappreciated track is the sad but gorgeous "Short Circuit", a three-minute robot graveyard of crumbled transistors and dying LEDs. But from Romanthony's first blissful, vocoded shout of "one more time!" the dominant emotion on Discovery is joy. A joy that wasn't afraid to be sentimental and funny as well as hard and futuristic, and is all the better for that. When a generation looks back and tries to catch a fuzzy hold of the music that made them happy this decade, Daft Punk's will be top of the list. --Tom Ewing [Pitchfork]

Continue reading "Pitchfork announces the top 20 albums of the decade "

If you didn't hear, Jack White is now in a band called The Dead Weather....

In addition to frontman White, who drums and sings in the band, the supergroup quartet includes vocalist Alison Mosshart of U.K. outfit The Kills; guitarist Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age; and bass player Jack Lawrence, one of White's fellow Raconteurs.

The Dead Weather made their performance debut in Nashville last night in front of an invitation-only crowd of 150 fans, insiders and friends, including Sheryl Crow, Martina McBride and fellow White Striper Meg White.

The 20-minute show took place at the headquarters of the White-founded label Third Man Records, a building designed to serve as a one-stop shop for rockers, housing a record store, photo studio and stage.

"This band is the first project to come out of this new system, which is our new studio in town and this building," White told the crowd before the gig.

The band's debut single, "Hang You From the Heavens," is already available for download on iTunes. Their 11-song debut album, Horehound, will consist of 10 original tracks and a cover of Bob Dylan's "New Pony."

It's set for release on White's Third Man label in June. [E]

Continue reading "Jack White's new band...."

BB King @ the Wellmont Theater in December (more by Tim Griffin)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Howlies @ Sound Fix
* Emo Philips @ Comix
* Pow Wow! @ the Annex
* Tristan Perich @ The Stone
* Patton Oswalt @ Caroline's
* PG Six & Mike Wexler @ Rehab
* Delta Spirit @ Bowery Ballroom
* Balthrop, Alabama @ Monkeytown
* Tombs & Engineer @ Death By Audio
* Celebration & Tall Firs Glasslands
* The Hood Internet @ The Bell House
* Buddy Guy & BB King @ Beacon Theater
* My Teenage Stride & Knight School @ the Jackson
* French Kicks & The Pomegranates @ The Bell House
* Get Him Eat Him & Kleenex Girl Wonder @ Union Hall
* Noah & The Whale & Ferraby Lionheart @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Telepathe, Teengirl Fantasy, Hawnay Troof & Silk Flowers @ 92YTribeca

"Just What Conan O'Brien Needed: A big, Abe Vigoda-blessed sendoff. Overnight ratings for O'Brien's final Late Night were up a whopping 44 percent over the show's season average, NBC said today." [E Online]

"O'Brien took a sledgehammer and ax to his stage set this week, giving fans souvenirs. On his last show, taped Friday evening and aired at 12:35 a.m. ET, a construction vehicle was used to tear down a pillar of lights, which was cut up offstage." [AP]

""We're going on to this next gig, and sometimes I read that it's time for Conan to grow up because he's going to 11:30, and I assure you, that's just not going to happen," O'Brien said, to cheers from the studio audience. "I can't, this is who I am, for better or for worse."" [Variety]

Watch the whole episode at NBC's site.

Video of the White Stripes part, below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Saturday?"

Leonard Cohen last night at Beacon Theare (by Renovation Therapy)

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Emo Philips @ Comix
* DJ Ramesh @ Le Royale
* The Forms @ Sound Fix
* Demetri Martin @ MHOW
* Patton Oswalt @ Carolines
* Air Supply @ Nokia Theater
* Santigold @ the Apple Store
* The Sadies @ Mercury Lounge
* Antony & The Johnsons @ Town Hall
* Neville Bros & Dr. John @ Terminal 5
* The Death Set & Royal Bangs @ the Delancey
* Blank Dogs & Black Dice @ Le Poisson Rouge
* Joe & Flying Spoons & others @ Death By Audio
* Weird Owl, Naam, and Heavy Hands @ Union Pool
* Tim Fite, Benjy Ferree & DeLeon @ the Bell House
* Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ Shubert Theater in CT
* Emmylou Harris and Patty Griffin @ the Beacon Theatre
* Skeletons, The Muggabears & Skinny Claire @ Less Artists More Condos
* Violent Bullshit, Cerebral Ballzy, K-Holes & The Jadewalkers @ Cake Shop
* Telepathe, These Are Powers, Teengirl Fantasy, Soft Circle & Katie Eastburn @ Market Hotel

Tonight is the final episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The musical guest is the White Stripes.

Fake Male Voice played Glasslands on February 10th. Video from that show below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Friday?"

by Ryan Barkan

Advertising agencies make lots of online commercials. You know, spots made not for television, but with the hope the brand's message will spread virally on the net in an organic way. Though lots of them never catch steam like a rickroll, the new Guitar Hero World Tour "Bike Hero" video has already been watched over one million times. The creative takes The Living End's "Prisoner of Society" and turns it into a live action, first person bike ride through the song's playable level in GHWT. It's a pretty cool idea with amazing execution and a slight bit of computer magic. Watch the video below.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Bishop Allen played two shows in NYC over the weekend. They are a band that has benefited from some key licensing placements in the last year. The band appeared and performed in the recent Michael Sera movie, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Watch the scene below. The song they performed, "Middle Management", was also on the soundtrack and used in the film's trailer. They were also used in a commercial for Sony digital cameras late last year - watch the spot here.

Crayola goes indie-cool this holiday season with Dan Deacon and Lightspeed Champion songs in the campaign for the new Glow Station (via Pitchfork). Watch the spots below.

The new holiday commercial from LL Bean features "Valley Winter Song" by Fountains Of Wayne.

Danish band The Blue Van rock the soundtrack to the new Samsung Behold commercial. Watch below.

While enjoying college football on Saturday, I heard Nick Drake's "Place To Be" used in a promo spot for Michigan State. That video is below too.

I have a bunch of friends that can not get enough of the show Top Chef. Some of those friends are also crazy for the Foo Fighters (editor's note: with friends like that who needs enemies? JUST KIDDING. Actually that doesn't even make sense...). Those friends will be in heaven when TC goes "Foo Fighters Thanksgiving" this upcoming November 26th. The episode taped during a tour stop in Rochester, NY; the band will guest judge the few remaining contestants. Apparently, TC is Dave Grohl's favorite show.

You may have heard A-Ha's classic jam "Take On Me" before. It is/was a popular song and video. So popular, A.C. Newman is going to cover it for an upcoming Valentine's Day compilation for Starbucks. Even more so, you can take it on karaoke-style in the new video game by Microsoft, LIPS. The pretty clever commercial for the game uses the song as well. Watch it below.

The game's soundtrack also includes songs by The Police, Coldplay, Duffy, The Cure, Peter, Bjorn, & John, Radiohead, and more.

Nintendo DS and Wii players can now get their skateboard on while on the go with the release of EA's Skate It. The soundtrack contains tracks by Cut Chemist, Fujiya & Miyagi, Judas Priest, The Clash, Sly & the Family Stone, and more.

continued below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing "

Jack White has commented for the first time on his upcoming James Bond theme song, "Another Way To Die." The track, written, produced & performed by White and featuring Alicia Keys, is the first duet theme song in Bond movie history. The film, Quantum Of Solace, directed by Marc Forster and staring Daniel Craig as James Bond, will be released theatrically in November '08.

Describing the creative process White says:

"After a couple of years of wanting to collaborate with Alicia Keys, it took James Bond himself to finally make it happen. Alicia put some electric energy into her breath that cemented itself into the magnetic tape. Very inspiring to watch. It gave me a new voice, and I wasn't myself anymore. I drummed for her voice and she mimicked the guitar tones, then we joined our voices and screamed and moaned about these characters in the film and their isolation, having no one to trust, not even themselves. Maybe we became them for a few minutes.

The Memphis Horns were there to help us out, along with some of Nashville's finest. Might be the first analogue Bond theme in twenty years, I don't know. We wanted to push soul into those tapes, and join the family of Barry, Bassey, Connery and Craig."

Jack White kicks off a series of European festival dates with his band The Raconteurs on August 23rd. A North American tour begins on September 16th in Portland, Oregon.

Continue reading "Jack White on working with Alicia Keys on James Bond"

Adele & XL labelmates

Adele is playing Webster Hall on September 3rd. Tickets go on sale Friday at noon. Adele is on this year's Mercury Prize shortlist. Not many tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Adele - Mercury Prize-nominated, playing Webster Hall "

Jack White & Last Shadow Puppets @ Glastonbury - June 28, 2008 (cred)

There had been rumours flying around Glastonbury that the Last Shadow Puppets would make a surprise appearance at some point during the three day event.

The band, which is the side project of Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys and the Rascals' Miles Kane, performed on the Park Stage to a large crowd who had gathered in hope of their appearance.

But fans got far more than they bargained for as none other then Jack White joined them on stage.

6 Music caught up with Alex Turner backstage who said it was all his girlfriend Alexa Chung's idea to get Jack White on board.

Turner said: "Well actually Alexa said, 'Is Jack White playing with you, why don't you get him?'. As she was sprawled across the bed while we were having a nap earlier on. So I thought yeah, that would be a good idea. So off I went and then he kindly joined us." [BBC]

The next Last Shadow Puppets NYC show is going to be somewhat larger than their last one. All dates (including one in LA) below too.....

Continue reading "the LAST SHADOW PUPPETS w/ Jack White @ Glastonbury, 2008 Tour Dates (Grand Ballroom), a whole bunch of videos "

About a week after he had his own Superman moment, Jack White made a rare public appearance with his wife, supermodel Karen Elson, to the opening of the "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Costume Institute Gala on Monday, May 5th. [The Modern Age]

Thursday, May 8, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Superheroes and Super Chic
The College Group at the Met invites you to join us for a super soirÉe in celebration of the opening of the Costume Institute's spring exhibition "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy." Students will also tour the Wrightsman Galleries, home to the Museum's renowned collection of French furniture and related decorative arts pieces. The event will take place in the Great Hall and the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court.

He's a legend of the Grand Old Opry and one of country music's rhinestone and Rock-A-Billy survivors. But tonight, friends and family are asking for prayers, for Porter Wagoner. His publicist announced today that Wagoner is suffering from lung cancer and he remains hospitalized in Nashville. Doctors describe his condition as serious.

Known for his rhinestone stage outfits, Wagoner helped launch the career of Dolly Parton when he hired her as his duet partner in 1967. Last year he spent two weeks in the hospital after suffering a stomach aneurysm, but he recovered and in May, celebrated 50 years on the Opry. In June, he released a new CD called Wagonmaster. Over the summer he opened a concert for the White Stripes at Madison Square Garden [WVLT]

UPDATE The White Stripes say it is not Meg in the tape.

I'd rather not report on this. I feel even worse knowing that the sex tape (link removed) is what might be causing Meg White's ''acute anxiety'. But the Internet is what it is, and if I don't post about it, it will be in the comments anyway - and it will be what everyone is talking about today one way or another (update: it is of course also possible that the tape is not even really her), so consider this the BrooklynVegan forum for talking about it, but please be nice....

So it wasn't just ACL....

Continue reading "White Stripes cancel whole tour, Meg anxious"

Well, I guess that solves that. The White Stripes and Arcade Fire were scheduled to play at the same time at Austin City Limits this upcoming weekend. Now I know who I'll go see at that time (still haven't decided between MIA & LCD Soundystem or Wilco & My Morning Jacket though).....

Producers were informed today that Grammy-award winning band The White Stripes are canceling their Austin City Limits Music Festival performance, scheduled for Saturday, September 15. As of the time of this release, medical reasons have been given for the cancellation.

The White Stripes were scheduled to play on the AT&T stage at 8:30 pm to close out the night at the Festival. At this time, a replacement has not been announced.

You just do what you're told....

Continue reading "VIDEO: White Stripes - You Don't Know What Love Is"

* TV on the Radio are playing a free show
* Sonic Youth are performing Daydream Nation
* RATM, Wu-Tang & others play Rock the Bells Festival

What are you doing? Seeing the Simpsons movie?

White Stripes @ MSG (CRED)

Grinderman @ ATP (CRED) (couldn't find one from MSG)

Porter Wagoner @ MSG (CRED)

It was a fun show start to finish with the White Stripes playing an almost two hour headlining set to the 20,000-or-so in attendance at Madison Square Garden last night (July 24, 2007). Porter's set was short, but sweet - he really seemed to be enjoying himself. Grinderman's (first U.S.) set seemed a little long for an opener, but it was high-energy, and it was great to see Nick Cave. White Stripes proved they could pull it off to an enthusiastic arena filled with people of all ages, and from all walks of life - rowdy "bros" included. The stage show was modest - lots of red (obviously), a disco ball, and some strobe lights - the ringmaster Jack White on guitar, and his sister Meg on drums. What else do you need?

Their NYC show before this one was at the much smaller Irving Plaza.

Porter Wagoner plays with Grinderman & The White Stripes @ MSG tonight (July 24).

more Porter Wagoner (and Dolly Parton) below....

Continue reading "PORTER WAGONER videos (opening for White Stripes)"

Street Team shenanigans (CRED)

A bus, and a bowling alley too....

Continue reading "VIDEO: White Stripes in a bowling alley"

* Can music save the planet?
* Rio may nix Live Earth gig for safety reasons
* Al Gore's son busted for drugs in hybrid car
* Joy Division biopic 'not true,' say band
* NY Times does Ed Banger, JUSTICE
* Reunited Van Halen eyeing fall arena run
* Chrissie Hynde opening vegetarian restaurant
* The White Stripes played on a bus in Canada
* Gothamist interviews Matt Allen - The Ice Cream Man
* Man claims Union Pool bouncer beat him up
* Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode to Release Solo Record
* Flash forward: White Stripes, Nine Inch Nails push use of USB drives

Jack did it in NY. Jack did it in LA. Paul did it in NY. Now Paul's doing it in LA. Is Jack better than Paul, or is Paul better than Jack? Do you prefer your caffeine from Starbucks or Coke? Just kidding. (thx tm).

The White Stripes @ Irving Plaza, NYC - June 19, 2007(CRED)

I have to go to bed now. Consider this a placeholder.