By The Beachwood Back To School Affairs Desk
“If children go to school with birthday sex on their mind, they can’t learn anything.”
1. The Original
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Posted on August 11, 2009
Lolla in Review
Bloodshot Briefing
By Matt Harness
Bloodshot Records toasted a Grant Park crowd at Taste of Chicago and will again next month at its anniversary party at the Hideout. But the label has a small presence at this weekend’s Lollapalooza.
Bloodshot alum Neko Case, who is playing Lolla on Sunday, is the label’s only connection to the ‘palooza.
But Elia Einhorn and his Scotland Yard Gospel Choir will be playing a little-known private show for industry folks, including some of the Lolla bands, at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Hard Rock Hotel. SYGC, which arranged for some of their fans to join them at the intimate show, has a new album out Sept. 15.
Beachwood Music: What’s the deal with this private party?
Elia Einhorn: They knew we would be in Chicago and asked our manager. We’ve been on the other side of it at another festival. It’s going to be awesome hanging out and getting out of the heat. The last time we came through one of these we left with Pumas and jeans that cost like $300. It’s stuff you wouldn’t buy on your own. It’s nice to be considered a tastemaker. It’s going to be insane.
Posted on August 7, 2009
Lolla Preview
By The Beachwood Palozza Affairs Desk
The previews are in.
Jim DeRogatis: “Ah, you say, but Lollapalooza isn’t really about the big marquee bands; it’s about the opportunity to sample a whole lot of music in the one of the most beautiful parks in America over the course of one very long weekend.
“True enough. But even with 142 sets scattered over eight stages during 33 hours of music, my personal list of good-to-sure-bet highlights seems skimpier this summer than in years past – though I’m of course always open to pleasant surprises.”
Posted on August 6, 2009
Bloodshot Briefing
By Matt Harness
Dex Romweber’s been around the block.
As one half of the seminal roots-rocking Flat Duo Jets, Romweber made his name throughout the 1980s with his axe, inspiring Jack White, among others, along the way. These days, the Chapel Hill-based guitarist/singer teams up with sister Sara as part of the Dex Romweber Duo. This year’s Ruins of Berlin is the pair’s first record with Bloodshot Records.
Beachwood Music caught up with Dex while he was taking a break from the road and relaxing at his North Carolina country house, not too far from the University of North Carolina campus.
Posted on July 31, 2009
Purple Rain Revisited
By Steve Rhodes
The Wikipedia entry for Purple Rain categorizes the landmark album’s genre as “Pop, rock, R&B, funk, neo-psychedlia, new wave, Minneapolis.”
You got that right.
Purple Rain is all of those things and more. It’s a better record than Thriller, as far as 80s blockbusters go, though not always as daring – and mindblowing – as some of Prince’s earlier work.
Sometimes – “let’s get nuts!” – there are moments of schmaltz.
But it is an undeniable record with far more imagination, musicality, and indivdual brilliance than anything Michael Jackson and his team of songwriters ever managed.
Posted on July 30, 2009
Bloodshot Briefing
By Matt Harness
In the news.
1. Bloodshot alum Neko Case must have made up with the Grand Ole Opry folks after she was banned for life when she took her shirt off during a performance on the Opry plaza seven years ago. She is scheduled to appear on stage at the famed Ryman Auditorium for the first time as a solo artist on Saturday.
“For an aspiring alt-country singer, Neko Case made a major faux pas,” Rolling Stone wrote at the time. “She took her shirt off at the Grand Ole Opry plaza party. ‘I wasn’t trying to be sexy or rebellious – I was just getting heatstroke up there,’ she says of her now-infamous topless performance last year, which got Case permanently blackballed from the same Nashville auditorium where Hank Williams and Patsy Cline launched their careers.”
Posted on July 24, 2009
Blink-182 Blows T-Mobile
From the Beachwood Music department’s in-box:
With the upcoming blink-182 stop in Chicago this summer, I thought you might be interested in the “Live the Rock Life with blink-182” national sweepstakes.
T-Mobile Sidekick is sponsoring the entire tour and the sweepstakes to celebrate the return of the pop-punk trio. The grand prize will include:
* VIP trip to Los Angeles for the entire group with first class airfare and luxury accommodations at a private Hollywood estate
* Exclusive meet and greet with the band and visit to the closed-set sound check
* $20,000 spending cash
* $1,820 shopping spree at Barker’s Los Angeles store, The Fast Life
* Ride on the official blink-182 tour bus
Posted on July 22, 2009
Postards From Pitchfork
Bloodshot Briefing: There’s An App For That
By Matt Harness
* In an effort to return to the town where he started his career, Andre Williams recently wrapped up the recording of his latest album, due out some time next year. From producer Matt Smith, via Metro Times, “Andre’s new material is fantastic – just a great batch of songs. And you can imagine the great stories he told me over breakfast, about working for Motown in the ’60s, spending time the early ’70s hanging out with Ike Turner and Mick Jagger and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. Elvis Presley showed up backstage at one his gigs. Just incredible stuff.”
Posted on July 17, 2009