After the Beastie Boys were forced to pull out of their upcoming tour because of Adam “MCA” Yauch being diagnosed with a tumor on his salivary gland, there was much speculation over who would replace the outfit at their two U.S. festival appearances in the coming weeks. More »
The Beastie Boys have canceled upcoming tour dates and pushed back the release of their forthcoming album Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 because Adam “MCA” Yauch has a cancerous tumor on his left parotid gland, which is one of the body’s major salivary glands. Yauch will be undergoing surgery and treatment and the Beasties will be on hiatus while he recovers. (The tumor isn’t located in a place where it could affect his vocal chords.) He recorded a statement explaining how he found out about his illness and threw it up on YouTube; it’s after the jump. More »
Tomorrow I’ll be tripping down to Philadelphia to attend The Roots Picnic, an all-day affair masterminded by Jimmy Fallon’s sidemen (haha, jk guys) and featuring two sets by the band; TV On The Radio, Santigold, and Antibalas are also on the bill. But perhaps the most intriguing part of the day’s festivities will be the start-to-finish performance of Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back–yes, they’ve done it before, but this time, the musical duties will be handled by the Roots and Antibalas. This and the impending relaunch of Unplugged have made me wonder: What albums most deserve a live re-imagining, whether it’s the transformation of samples into band arrangements or the classic Unplugged treatment? I’ve actually been mulling over this question all day, and can’t think of anything off the top of my head–unless Freestyle’s Greatest Beats, Volume One counts. (It should!) After the jump, a few musical experts offer their suggestions. Please feel free to expand further, and if you’re going to the picnic, come say hello! More »
Last night’s 30 Rock season finale closed out with a grand parody of one of those celebrity-studded benefit songs, a la “We’re Sending Our Love Down This Well” and “What’s Going On ’01.” “Kidney Now!” saw Cyndi Lauper, Michael McDonald, Mary J. Blige, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, and a slew of other well/sorta-well-known musicians warbling in honor of Jack Donaghy’s dad (played by Alan Alda)’s nephorotic needs. There’s even a splashy mini-site with a karaoke version of the track to go along with it–although Clay Aiken fans are probably going to get a bit riled up, given that its list of participating celebrities somehow managed to exclude their hero, perhaps because of his alleged relation to Kenneth the Page. (Take heart, Claymates: Mike D got left off the list as well, and he doesn’t even have your insane completely devoted fanbase!) Clip after the jump. More »
Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band, the Beastie Boys, and Kings of Leon are at the head of the 130ish-artist lineup for the Austin City Limits Festival, which takes place in the Texas capital’s Zilker Park from Oct. 2 to Oct. 4. Tickets are $185; the genre-spanning bill also includes Lily Allen, the Supersuckers, Daniel Johnston, a bunch of blog bands, and the Jack White/Allison Mossheart superishgroup The Dead Weather. And the Toadies! Full lineup after the jump. More »
Since they’ve been a hot topic around here lately, you might like to know that Pearl Jam has been tabbed as one of the headliners of the Outside Lands Festival, a three-day festival taking place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in late August. The lineup is, to say the least, eclectic: Tom Jones, the Black Eyed Peas, Raphael Saadiq, the Dead Weather, Incubus, M.I.A. and the Dave Matthews Band are also on the bill. Something for everybody, I guess. Full lineup after the jump!
Tool, the Beastie Boys, and Coldplay will headline this year’s installment of the All Points West Festival—Goldenvoice’s attempt to bring the open-air vibe of Coachella to the East Coast, only with more public-transit-related headaches and people whining about beer limits—which will take place in New Jersey the weekend of July 31. Also on the bill: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, Mogwai, Heartless Bastards, Lykke Li, and Neko Case. And comedians! Full lineup after the jump.
The attention the media gives to Guns N’ Roses and My Bloody Valentine may give young bands the idea that it’d actually be good for their legacy to record regularly for six years, then hold off for at least another 15 so that fan excitement can build and their myth can blossom. (Hey, if Sting and Joe Strummer had waited that long to record follow-ups to Synchronicity and Combat Rock, maybe people would have cared more about Brand New Day and Rock Art And The X-Ray Style!) So I looked at what would have happened to some of rock’s most legendary figures if they, too, had waited 15 years to release new albums once their first six years of putting out records were done–and found that extended absences rarely make later projects look much better.
Do-gooding researchers whose findings will invariably be twisted by politicos and other civic leaders are at it again–this time at science hub North Carolina State University, where a pair of professors have undertaken an experiment to determine whether hip-hop causes men (and ladies) to act in a more misogynistic manner. The answer? Maybe, if you’re already a sexist jerk. Alas, society looks to once again be to blame, as while auditioning records by noted woman-hating jackass Eminem did seem to cause a spike in subjects’ sexist thinking, it turns out those cuddly Buddhists the Beastie Boys likewise had men exhibiting a certain anitpathy towards the ladies.
So the more-contentious-than-usual inductees into the 2008 class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame have been announced. We’re not surprised that voters preferred “Pink Houses” to “Dance, Dance, Dance,” but we still shed a single tear upon reading the list this morning. And all those cranky rock critics–aghast that so much disco bubblegum was nominated this year, especially over greats like Poco and Neil Sedaka–can at least take comfort that none of the hip-hop acts made it in.
