Marquee Magazine » June, 2007
The Police put ego and fighting aside to reform for massive summer tour
:: The Police :: Pepsi Center :: June 9 and 10 ::
By Timothy Dwenger
It isn’t often that the cry “The Police are coming” generates as much excitement as it did in January of this year when Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland announced the much anticipated reunion tour of The Police. The tour — the band’s first since the globetrotting Synchronicity publicity caravan came to a halt in March of 1984 — has sold out within minutes in many markets and is sure to be one of the highest grossing tours of the year.
Known for fierce fighting and massive egos, many thought that a Police reunion was something that would never materialize. In fact, Sting’s infamous quote, “If I ever reformed the Police, I’d be certified insane,” ranks right up there with Don Henley saying The Eagles would get back together “when hell freezes over.” Apparently hell froze over back in 1994, and now it seems Sting has been fitted for a straitjacket.
Marquee Tags: Reunion, Stewart Copeland, Sting, Synchronicity, The PoliceNo comments
Bloc Party explores the Noises of a City with a deviation on its sophomore release
:: Bloc Party :: Ogden Theatre :: June 12 ::
By Tiffany Childs
On their newest release, A Weekend in the City, Bloc Party has put down their guitars, so to speak, and picked up some new instruments. Relying on computers, keyboards, extra drums and even the sound of birds in empty courtyards, this album finds the Party moving into a natural, more melodic space. The result is a style that branches out in a very promising way from the dancy pop sound fans have come to expect from the London-based band.
Incorporating these new sounds, as well as stringed instruments for the first time, makes A Weekend in the City very different from Bloc Party’s previous album, Silent Alarm, but their fans haven’t seemed to notice. Or maybe the record is good enough that the band’s followers just don’t care. The album debuted in the top 10 in at least 10 countries and at the Number 12 spot here in the U.S.
Marquee Tags: Bloc Party, Gordon Moakes, Sonic Youth, Weekend in the CityNo comments
Indigo Girls find a new home with Hollywood Records after almost 20 years with Epic
:: Indigo Girls :: Chautauqua Auditorium :: June 20 and 21 ::
By LJ Hammer
In the early days of rock and roll, nobody imagined a career lasting longer than a few years. Now, there are “young” bands like Indigo Girls who have been touring and making records for 20 years.
This career span has become a challenge for record companies. How do you market a veteran band’s new album? This challenge was a large part of what led to Indigo Girls parting ways with Epic Records. After close to two decades, Epic had lost its enthusiasm for marketing the Indigo Girls’ exceptionally literate lyrics and soaring harmonies.
Enter Hollywood Records, home of Despite Our Differences, Indigo Girls’ latest, featuring guest appearances by Pink and Brandi Carlile. “The people there [at Hollywood Records] are great,” said Indigo Girl Amy Ray in a recent interview with The Marquee. “They are really supportive. What doesn’t work for me is that major labels are still working too much in a traditional infrastructure. They haven’t really figured out how to make the leap to what is probably going to be the domain of indie musicians and DIY [labels]. I think all of these labels are learning to evolve and revolutionize themselves. The ones that are able to do it are the ones that will survive and the ones that can’t, won’t.”
Marquee Tags: Amy Ray, Hollywood Records, Indigo Girls, Record LabelsNo comments
Richmond Fontaine continue their role as one of the best bands you’ve never heard
:: Marquee Magzine and Radio 1190 presents :: Richmond Fontaine :: supporting Slim Cessna’s Auto Club :: Bluebird Theater :: June 30 ::
By Brian F. Johnson
Since 1994, Richmond Fontaine has released 10 albums, most to tremendous, rave reviews. The band is a critical superstar and they’ve caught on big in Europe. But while reviews use the terms “masterpiece,” “mind-blowing” and “absolute perfection” when describing the Portland, Ore.-based band, the truth is that most folks still don’t know the group. A perfect example is a headline that ran in Uncut Magazine, that stated, “They’ve just released one of the albums of the year, but who the hell are Richmond Fontaine.”
Who they are is easy, but conveying the power of what they do is nearly impossible. The band started when lead singer/guitarist Willy Vlautin met bassist Dave Harding at the Portland Meadows horse track, a place where, to this day, Vlautin gets a lot of writing done because, as he said, “It’s like being in a library, but once in a while you can bet on horses and look around and see all the interesting guys.” Harding and Vlautin found that they had a mutual love for the music of Hüsker Dü, Willie Nelson, X, The Blasters and The Replacements. They brought on a pedal steel player and a drummer and named the band after an American expatriate that Harding had met while hitchhiking through Mexico.
Marquee Tags: Portland Oregon, Richmond Fontaine, Willie Nelson, Willy VlautinNo comments
Susan Tedeschi and husband Derek Trucks set out on Soul Stew Revival Tour
:: Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks’ Soul Stew Revival :: Paramount Theatre :: June 9 ::
By Ryan Lappi
When talking to Susan Tedeschi, it’s easy to assume that she knows her place in American musical history. Steeped in blues, soul and rock traditions, the gifted vocalist can speak of musicians of the last century like they are part of her own family. Bessie Smith, Delaney and Bonnie, King Curtis, Bernard Purdie, Skip James, and Derek and the Dominos are just a few of the characters that can permeate her conversations about music on any given day, and they are described with such clarity and familiarity that they could be sitting around her dinner table. Of course, not only has she contributed to this musical legacy, but she’s married into a new one in the making.
This summer marks the first time that Tedeschi will tour with her husband, acclaimed “guitar god” Derek Trucks, in the aptly-named Soul Stew Revival. Already a well-seasoned veteran at the age of 27, Trucks is best known for his virtuosic axe skills in the Allman Brothers Band and for pairing up with Eric Clapton on a high-profile world tour last year.
Marquee Tags: Blues, Derek Trucks, Folk, Roots, Soul Stew Revival, Susan TedeschiNo comments
Rocco DeLuca sheds Hollywood connection but continues on Sutherland’s label
:: Rocco Deluca :: supporting John Mayer and Ben Folds :: Red Rocks Amphitheatre :: June 15 ::
By Brian Kenney
Hollywood and rock and roll have long had a suspect relationship. A tumultuous marriage between entertainment and business. The connection can generate instant entertainment credibility. But when Hollywood is in the business of making music, that is to say, in music for the sake of making business, well, that’s something else entirely.
Such is the case for Long Beach, Calif., singer/songwriter Rocco Deluca. Having lived his whole life in the L.A. area, Deluca has long known both the ins and outs of the music industry and the walk and talk of Hollywood.
“Put in the right time and energy, film and music work together,” Deluca said of the concert film released last year, I Trust You to Kill Me. This is also the title for Deluca’s 2006 debut disc on the Kiefer Sutherland-owned label Ironworks. “It’s a film about struggling,” said Deluca of the rockumentary which chronicles not only Deluca and his band The Burden on their first-ever European jaunt, but also Sutherland’s struggles as their tour manager.
Marquee Tags: Ironworks, Long Beach, Rocco Deluca, The BurdenNo comments
From The Barstool Of The Publisher - June, 2007
I remember when I was 16 years old, begging my parents to let my friends and I camp out at the mall on a Friday night so that we’d be first in line for concert tickets on Saturday morning. This was long before the internet made ticket buying what it is today. We froze our asses off that night but we were first in line for what we thought was the concert event of the decade — Journey.
At 10 a.m., when the sports store that housed the Ticketmaster outlet opened, we proudly approached the counter expecting to walk out with the front row seats we thought we had earned that night in the cold.
But alas, we ended up with nose bleed seats, tucked so far up and back from the stage that we could almost touch the commemorative banners that hang from the rafters of the Philadelphia Spectrum. We had gotten shafted.
Marquee Tags: Getting in Demand Tickets, Internet Ticket BuyingNo comments
Industry Profile: Live music painter Scramble Campbell sets palette for summer
Brian F. Johnson
Over the last several years when the house lights have dimmed at area venues, a small headlamp has come on: affixed to the hat of Keith “Scramble” Campbell. As the notes fly from the P.A., paint and brush strokes fly across his canvases and the result is some of the most unique portraits of live music ever created.
With the eye of a live photographer and the creative freedom that only a painter can capture, Campbell has churned out hundreds of paintings a year in a style that gives nods to his artistic heroes, Salvador Dali and Keith Herring, but simultaneously remains entirely Scramble.
His artwork hangs in the homes of some of the artists he’s painted (most notably Bob Weir and the members of String Cheese Incident). His art has gained enough attention that the green room at Boulder’s Fox Theatre is completely dedicated to his work and this summer will mark Campbell’s fourth art opening and show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre’s Visitor Center.
Marquee Tags: Live Music Portraits, Painter, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Scramble CampbellNo comments
This Month in Music History - June
June 1
• 1969: During their bed-in, John Lennon and Yoko Ono record “Give Peace a Chance”
• 1967: The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in the U.S.
• 1947: Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood is born
June 2
• 1941: Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts is born
June 5
• 1971: Grand Funk Railroad sell out Shea Stadium in 72 hours (less time than The Beatles)
June 7
• 1993: Prince celebrates his birthday by changing his name to a symbol
• 1946: Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzman is born
June 9
• 1915: Les Paul is born
June 11
• 1969: David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” is released to coincide with the first lunar landing
June 14
• 1961: Boy George is born George O’Dowd
June 15
• 1937: Waylon Jennings is born
June 16
• 1971: Rapper Tupac Shakur is born Lesane Parish Crooks
• 1967: Rock’s first major festival, The Monterey International Pop Festival, takes place, with Jimi Hendrix, Mamas and The Papas, The Who, the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane
June 18
• 1942: Paul McCartney is born
June 20
• 1980: Billy Joel scores his first #1 hit with “It’s Still Rock & Roll”
• 1955: Van Halen bass player Michael Anthony is born
• 1942: Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys is born
June 22
• 1936: Kris Kristofferson is born
June 24
• 1942: Mick Fleetwood is born
June 25
• 1984: Prince’s album Purple Rain sets a record when 1.3 million copies are sold in one day
June 27
• 1971: New York’s Fillmore East, the heralded rock venue, is closed
June 30
• 1975: Cher marries Gregg Allman only four days after divorcing Sonny Bono
No tag for this post. No commentsCD Reviews - June - 2007
Warren Zevon
Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings
Ammal/New West Records
4 out of 5 stars
In a world where everything is marketed to death, including death itself, Warren Zevon’s posthumous release Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings stands apart, not only as a monument to the man and his work, but as a monument to those who have an intellect developed enough to “get” his music in its raw form. Ultimately, this double disc set allows the listener to enjoy the simplistic beauty of a legendary songwriter’s relationship with his art, and to hear the artist’s true opinion on many subjects in his own words.
The music on the first CD shows Zevon spinning tales of empty L.A. streets, old habits that die hard, old broken down cars, and broken down people, in unpolished splendor which lends itself to the earnestness of his compositions. These songs give the listener a peek inside the writings of a man that had not yet been “discovered” by a wide audience, as most of these recordings were made prior to 1976.
Marquee Tags: Burning Brides, Cat-A-Tac, Derren Raser Band, Doro, Ekoostik Hookah, Golden Smog, Great American Taxi, Spyro Gyra, The Basement, Warren ZevonNo comments