02 Dec 2003

Song Poems Make a Swell Holiday Gift

By John James
• In the pre-digital culture, kitchen-table lyricists and pop-radio junkies devoured hokey magazines that flourished in the day, re-printing popular song lyrics and publicity photos to an information-starved audience.
25 Nov 2003

Rock Stars Take the Low Road in New Film

By John James
• Maynard James Keenan of Tool as Satan? In a phallic laser battle with Dee Dee Ramone as the Pope? From the minute the screen explodes with bikini babes, sledgehammers, high-powered weaponry, and classic Mustangs and GTOs, you know that this isn't your father's guns-and-girlies exploitation flick.
18 Nov 2003

The Man in Black Takes a Box-Set Bow

By John James
• The most anticipated box set in memory is due this Tuesday, unfortunately now a posthumous release because of the sad passing of the Man in Black. The Johnny Cash five-CD set, entitled Unearthed, features 64 previously unreleased songs recorded with producer Rick Rubin, who had a special knack for drawing out Cash's most haunting and beautiful work in his later years.
11 Nov 2003

Label Releases Monster Sampler

By John James
• In what the label is referring to as "a revolution in a jewel case," Go-Kart Records has just released a compilation of gargantuan proportions. Entitled Go-Kart MP300 Raceway, the disc comes loaded with an interactive MP3 player for any computer and 300 songs by 150 bands on two CDs.
04 Nov 2003

Rolling Stones Sell Out to Best Buy

By John James
• Bringing a tear to my eye, next week the Rolling Stones give the finger to every record store in North America except Best Buy, as the band releases a four-DVD set of its most recent tour exclusively through the bland box for the first four months.
28 Oct 2003

Label Gives Artists an Assignment

By John James
• The indie Chrome Peeler Records imprint has just released one of the more novel ideas I've heard in a while, with label honcho Jason Ziemniak reaching out to his favorite musicians and asking them to write an original song based on an assigned song title.
21 Oct 2003

'Tis the Season for DVDs

By Administrator
As most consumers can't yet easily or cheaply burn DVDs, this next generation of home video has become the sizzle to bring buyers back into record stores. This season brings a mountain of cool DVD releases, on their own or as an added bonus with CDs.
14 Oct 2003

Jason Scorches One for Children

By John James
• As founder and frontman for Jason & The Scorchers, Jason Ringenberg's cowboy hat and corn-fed yelps fit his image of an original alt-country pioneer. This Tuesday it seems he's been spending more time corralling than hanging at the used-guitar shop, releasing his first-ever children's album, A Day at the Farm with Farmer Jason.
07 Oct 2003

New Film Mines Musician Culture

By John James
• Expanding his video background to feature-length film direction, Steven Hanft has created Southlander, a quirky, homespun production drawn from passed-down tall tales and quirky anecdotes found among the struggling Los Angeles musician community.
30 Sep 2003

Fun Lovin' Criminals Break Out with New Disc

By Administrator
• It might get getting chilly these fine fall nights, but my pick of the week is sunny-hot with the return of the Fun Lovin' Criminals and the band's new Welcome to Poppy's album, due next week on the DiFontaine/Sanctuary Records imprint.

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