By Kathie Bassett / The Telegraph
The great jazz musician Miles Davis has received the official stamp of approval from the U.S. Post Office.
Linn’s Stamp News announced that stamps honoring Davis and French singer Edith Piaf would be issued in 2012 as part of a joint issue with France.
“This is a fitting honor,” said Lee Barham, chairman of the steering committee for the Miles Davis Jazz Celebration. “Miles Davis was one of the greatest jazz musicians and trumpet players in the world. Before Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, there was Miles Davis.” [...]
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By Andy Greene / Rolling Stone
Neil Young is recording a new album with Crazy Horse, according to a post on Young’s fansite Thrasher’s Wheat – and now confirmed by Rolling Stone: “It’s looking good,” a representative for Young says. According to the fansite report, Young shared the news over the weekend at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, at an event with Jonathan Demme to promote their new movie Journeys. The audience “erupted in applause” when Young said that he was working with Crazy Horse again. [...]
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By drainu182 / The Audio Perv
Record Store Day, the annual event in support of independent record stores the world over, is proud to announce the appointment of Iggy Pop to the post of Record Store Day 2012 Ambassador!
Of course, there is a lot to say about the upcoming event, set this year for Saturday, April 21st, but who better to extoll the virtues of our ”holiday” than the Ambassador. [...]
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By Nekesa Mumbi Moody / Associated Press
Eight years after he died of prostate cancer, Johnny Ramone’s autobiography is finally being published.
“Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone” is set for release April 2 by Abrams Image. In an interview Tuesday, his widow, Linda, described the book as “kind of his last word that he knew would be out.”
“It is a really powerful book because his whole life has gone before him and he knows it’s going to come to an end, and he really needs to tell everybody what he’s feeling inside, so that’s what makes it so amazing,” she added later. “That is the biggest, most powerful thing, writing a book when you know you’re dying.”
Johnny Ramone, whose real name was John Cummings, was one of the founding members of the legendary New York City-based punk band the Ramones, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Considered one of the most influential guitarists in rock, he died in 2004 at age 55 after battling cancer for five years. [...]
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By Andy Greene / Rolling Stone
Bruce Springsteen is close to announcing his 17th studio album and a U.S. tour with the E Street Band. Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau tells Rolling Stone that the record is an ambitious “big-picture piece of work. It’s a rock record that combines elements of both Bruce’s classic sound and his Seeger Sessions experience, with new textures and styles.” Music was played for Sony recently, according to The Hollywood Reporter, whose source described the songs as having “unexpected textures – loops, electronic percussion… influences and rhythms from hip-hop to Irish folk rhythms.” [...]
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By Jeremy Mullman / Ad Age
Bruce Springsteen is following me on Twitter.
That sounds impressive until you realize that he’s not really following me, but actually following a Twitter version of himself that I created.
The idea behind SpringsteenSays [@springsteensays] was simple: It was a way pay tribute to one of my heroes while learning more about how and why content spreads online. So I set up Twitter and Facebook accounts and started posting a Bruce lyric a day, give or take.
Some 18 months and 13,600 followers later, here’s what I learned: [...]
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From Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — MTV’s surviving original veejays have some wild times to share.
Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced Thursday that it had signed with Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter and Martha Quinn for an “uncensored” oral history of the music channel launched in 1981. The book is currently untitled and no release date had been set. A fifth veejay, J.J. Jackson, died in 2004. [...]
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By Tim Appelo, Shirley Halperin / The Hollywood Reporter
Bruce Springsteen is gearing up to release a new album with the E Street Band — his 24th – and a source tells the Hollywood Reporter it’s The Boss’ “angriest” yet.
“He gets into economic justice quite a bit,” says an earwitness who’s heard some of the music. “It’s very rock’n’roll. He feels it’s the angriest album he’s ever made. Bear in mind, though, that [Springsteen] wrote and recorded the majority of the album before the Occupy movements started, so he’s not just setting headlines to music.” [...]
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By Brian McCollum / Detroit Free Press
Mitch Ryder knows all about putting his heart on his sleeve: With a career in the soul-singing business for more than half a century, it’s practically his job description.
But perhaps nowhere has the Detroit-bred musician bared more than in his raw new autobiography, “Devils & Blue Dresses” (Cool Titles, $26.95). It’s an exhaustive — and sometimes emotionally exhausting — account of his tumultuous life and career, a trip that began with ’60s hits such as “Jenny Take a Ride!” and “Devil with a Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly,” soul-rock hybrids that helped establish an enduring Detroit music template. [...]
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By Jon Scorfina / Riverfront Times
Having interviewed over 50 of St. Louis’ record aficionados, Last Collector Standing is ending the column on an interview with the proverbial “kings of the scene,” Vintage Vinyl owners Tom “Papa” Ray and Lew Prince. For over 30 years, Vintage Vinyl (6610 Delmar Boulevard, 314-721-4096) has been hub for local music lovers, introducing thousands of people to new and exciting musical acts and exposing each new generation to the experience of vinyl. The store is now a must-see St. Louis landmark, still drawing people away from their computers and into the record store. We met with Ray and Lew in the office of Vintage Vinyl, where we discussed how the duo got their start in the record business and the future of music in the digital age. [...]
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