Tim McGraw apologizes for new hits album

Can we expect country superstar Tim McGraw’s update on Brenda Lee’s biggest hit sometime soon? McGraw sounds like he’s ready for a chorus of “I’m Sorry” in the statement he issued today apologizing for the new collection of his hits that his record label is issuing for the holidays.
    
“I am saddened and disappointed that my label chose to put out another hits album instead of new music,” McGraw said in the statement. “I’ve only had one studio album since my last hits package. It has to be just as confusing to the fans as it is to me. I had no involvement in the creation or presentation of this record.”

My Morning Body Cast? Jim James of My Morning Jacket took a tumble off the stage last night during a show in Iowa City, Iowa, and evidently landed pretty hard. That’s causing the band to postpone a few shows in Chicago that were on tap later this week, as well as benefit performances for Sen. Barack Obama tonight in Chicago and next week in Louisville, Ky.

"We were finishing up the last few bars of 'Off the Record,' and just like any other night we were all having a great time,” according to a statement the band issued today. “Jim went to get closer to the audience on his side of the stage, and as he moved forward to step onto the sub-woofer, the lights darkened, and he inadvertently stepped off the stage.

“Upon falling, he suffered traumatic injuries to his torso, and was immediately taken to the hospital,” the statement continued. “Per the doctor's orders, Jim will be off the road and recovering from his injuries for the next two to three weeks. Sadly, we must postpone the two shows in Chicago on Thursday and Friday until further notice… We take our fans and performances very seriously, and would never cancel a show unless it was absolutely necessary. Please know that we will be making every effort to return to your fine city.”

There’s no word on whether the doctor gave James the news to the tune of MMJ’s “Lay Low.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

Rapper T.I. has blazed a golden road to the top of the national sales chart with his new album, “Paper Trail,” which qualifies for gold certification in its first week of release with sales of 568,000 copies.

It’s the Atlanta rhymer’s third collection to enter the chart at No. 1 and also the third best opening-week sales of 2008, behind Lil' Wayne’s "Tha Carter III" and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” which sold 1 million and 721,000 copies, respectively, during back-to-back weeks in June.

T.I. earns another chart distinction by becoming the first performer in four years to replace himself in the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. “Live Your Life,” the second release from the new album, has just taken over the top of the list, knocking out “Whatever You Like.” Usher last did the same when “Confessions Part II” replaced “Burn” at No. 1.

“Jennifer Hudson,” the long-gestating debut album from the “American Idol” contestant turned Oscar-winning actress, showed up at No. 2 with sales of 217,000. Robin Thicke’s “Something Else” comes in behind Hudson at No. 3 on sales of 137,000 copies. And James Taylor’s new collection with his versions of some of his favorite rock and pop songs, “Covers,” lands at No. 4 with first-week sales of 95,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: T.I. performs at Key Club on Friday. Credit: Michael Park

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Why is it that Republican candidates keep stepping in it when they try to use pop music as a rallying cry?

Ronald Reagan incited an uproar when he attempted to get his reelection campaign rocking in 1984 to the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” His campaign staff apparently only ever listened to that one line in the song, not the rest protesting the shabby treatment Vietnam War veterans had received after coming home.

Flash forward to 2008 when Jackson Browne sued Sen. John McCain’s campaign for unauthorized use of his 1978 hit “Running on Empty" to take a swipe in a TV ad at rival Sen. Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Now McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have sounded echoes of the Reagan gaffe with the use of the 1994 Martina McBride country hit “Independence Day”...

Van Morrison is nothing if not a patient man -- at least when it comes to his landmark 1968 album "Astral Weeks."

The work established him as one of rock's most revered singers and songwriters after his initial bout with fame and commercial success a few years earlier with his band Them. But it wasn’t a big hit -- it never cracked Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart -- and took 33 years to reach gold record status, denoting sales of 500,000 copies. It has, however, consistently shown up on critics' lists of the greatest albums of all time, alongside the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde."

Come November, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album’s release, he’s doing a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl performing the album in its entirety, something he never did originally.

“In the '60s and '70s the record companies did not support the music, so I never got to take these songs on tour, and I certainly did not have the money to do it,” the mercurial 63-year-old said in a news release announcing the shows. “These songs are as timeless and fresh right now as the day they were written and I am happy about taking them to the Hollywood Bowl."

Tonight's show at Royce Hall for McCabe's 50th anniversary show is already pretty stacked: Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Odetta, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ricky Jay, Ditty Bops and lots more. But guess who else is coming. Hint: She's got something in her pocket.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

My Morning Jacket's Jim James injured, shows postponed

My Morning Body Cast? Jim James of My Morning Jacket took a tumble off the stage last night during a show in Iowa City, Iowa, and evidently landed pretty hard. That’s causing the band to postpone a few shows in Chicago that were on tap later this week, as well as benefit performances for Sen. Barack Obama tonight in Chicago and next week in Louisville, Ky.

"We were finishing up the last few bars of 'Off the Record,' and just like any other night we were all having a great time,” according to a statement the band issued today. “Jim went to get closer to the audience on his side of the stage, and as he moved forward to step onto the sub-woofer, the lights darkened, and he inadvertently stepped off the stage.

“Upon falling, he suffered traumatic injuries to his torso, and was immediately taken to the hospital,” the statement continued. “Per the doctor's orders, Jim will be off the road and recovering from his injuries for the next two to three weeks. Sadly, we must postpone the two shows in Chicago on Thursday and Friday until further notice… We take our fans and performances very seriously, and would never cancel a show unless it was absolutely necessary. Please know that we will be making every effort to return to your fine city.”

There’s no word on whether the doctor gave James the news to the tune of MMJ’s “Lay Low.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

Rapper T.I. has blazed a golden road to the top of the national sales chart with his new album, “Paper Trail,” which qualifies for gold certification in its first week of release with sales of 568,000 copies.

It’s the Atlanta rhymer’s third collection to enter the chart at No. 1 and also the third best opening-week sales of 2008, behind Lil' Wayne’s "Tha Carter III" and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” which sold 1 million and 721,000 copies, respectively, during back-to-back weeks in June.

T.I. earns another chart distinction by becoming the first performer in four years to replace himself in the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. “Live Your Life,” the second release from the new album, has just taken over the top of the list, knocking out “Whatever You Like.” Usher last did the same when “Confessions Part II” replaced “Burn” at No. 1.

“Jennifer Hudson,” the long-gestating debut album from the “American Idol” contestant turned Oscar-winning actress, showed up at No. 2 with sales of 217,000. Robin Thicke’s “Something Else” comes in behind Hudson at No. 3 on sales of 137,000 copies. And James Taylor’s new collection with his versions of some of his favorite rock and pop songs, “Covers,” lands at No. 4 with first-week sales of 95,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: T.I. performs at Key Club on Friday. Credit: Michael Park

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Why is it that Republican candidates keep stepping in it when they try to use pop music as a rallying cry?

Ronald Reagan incited an uproar when he attempted to get his reelection campaign rocking in 1984 to the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” His campaign staff apparently only ever listened to that one line in the song, not the rest protesting the shabby treatment Vietnam War veterans had received after coming home.

Flash forward to 2008 when Jackson Browne sued Sen. John McCain’s campaign for unauthorized use of his 1978 hit “Running on Empty" to take a swipe in a TV ad at rival Sen. Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Now McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have sounded echoes of the Reagan gaffe with the use of the 1994 Martina McBride country hit “Independence Day”...

Van Morrison is nothing if not a patient man -- at least when it comes to his landmark 1968 album "Astral Weeks."

The work established him as one of rock's most revered singers and songwriters after his initial bout with fame and commercial success a few years earlier with his band Them. But it wasn’t a big hit -- it never cracked Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart -- and took 33 years to reach gold record status, denoting sales of 500,000 copies. It has, however, consistently shown up on critics' lists of the greatest albums of all time, alongside the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde."

Come November, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album’s release, he’s doing a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl performing the album in its entirety, something he never did originally.

“In the '60s and '70s the record companies did not support the music, so I never got to take these songs on tour, and I certainly did not have the money to do it,” the mercurial 63-year-old said in a news release announcing the shows. “These songs are as timeless and fresh right now as the day they were written and I am happy about taking them to the Hollywood Bowl."

Tonight's show at Royce Hall for McCabe's 50th anniversary show is already pretty stacked: Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Odetta, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ricky Jay, Ditty Bops and lots more. But guess who else is coming. Hint: She's got something in her pocket.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

T.I.'s 'Paper Trail' leads at No. 1

Rapper T.I. has blazed a golden road to the top of the national sales chart with his new album, “Paper Trail,” which qualifies for gold certification in its first week of release with sales of 568,000 copies.

It’s the Atlanta rhymer’s third collection to enter the chart at No. 1 and also the third best opening-week sales of 2008, behind Lil' Wayne’s "Tha Carter III" and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends,” which sold 1 million and 721,000 copies, respectively, during back-to-back weeks in June.

T.I. earns another chart distinction by becoming the first performer in four years to replace himself in the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. “Live Your Life,” the second release from the new album, has just taken over the top of the list, knocking out “Whatever You Like.” Usher last did the same when “Confessions Part II” replaced “Burn” at No. 1.

“Jennifer Hudson,” the long-gestating debut album from the “American Idol” contestant turned Oscar-winning actress, showed up at No. 2 with sales of 217,000. Robin Thicke’s “Something Else” comes in behind Hudson at No. 3 on sales of 137,000 copies. And James Taylor’s new collection with his versions of some of his favorite rock and pop songs, “Covers,” lands at No. 4 with first-week sales of 95,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: T.I. performs at Key Club on Friday. Credit: Michael Park

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Why is it that Republican candidates keep stepping in it when they try to use pop music as a rallying cry?

Ronald Reagan incited an uproar when he attempted to get his reelection campaign rocking in 1984 to the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” His campaign staff apparently only ever listened to that one line in the song, not the rest protesting the shabby treatment Vietnam War veterans had received after coming home.

Flash forward to 2008 when Jackson Browne sued Sen. John McCain’s campaign for unauthorized use of his 1978 hit “Running on Empty" to take a swipe in a TV ad at rival Sen. Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Now McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have sounded echoes of the Reagan gaffe with the use of the 1994 Martina McBride country hit “Independence Day”...

Van Morrison is nothing if not a patient man -- at least when it comes to his landmark 1968 album "Astral Weeks."

The work established him as one of rock's most revered singers and songwriters after his initial bout with fame and commercial success a few years earlier with his band Them. But it wasn’t a big hit -- it never cracked Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart -- and took 33 years to reach gold record status, denoting sales of 500,000 copies. It has, however, consistently shown up on critics' lists of the greatest albums of all time, alongside the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde."

Come November, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album’s release, he’s doing a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl performing the album in its entirety, something he never did originally.

“In the '60s and '70s the record companies did not support the music, so I never got to take these songs on tour, and I certainly did not have the money to do it,” the mercurial 63-year-old said in a news release announcing the shows. “These songs are as timeless and fresh right now as the day they were written and I am happy about taking them to the Hollywood Bowl."

Tonight's show at Royce Hall for McCabe's 50th anniversary show is already pretty stacked: Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Odetta, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ricky Jay, Ditty Bops and lots more. But guess who else is coming. Hint: She's got something in her pocket.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

Bob Dylan signature harmonicas unveiled

They’ve bottled and sold Elvis’ sweat, so I guess there’s a certain logic to offering rock fans a shot at some of Bob Dylan’s spit.  Once you get past the initial “eewww!” factor, though, the new collaboration between rock’s poet laureate and the Hohner harmonica company holds a certain fascination. 

It’s the first time Dylan has ever endorsed any product, in this case a signature line of the Hohner harmonicas he’s been wheezing into for the better part of a half century. The Bob Dylan Collection is on exhibit at the Sam Ash music store on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and boasts the answer of what to get for the truly expectorating, er, discriminating Dylan fan: a harmonica actually played by the man himself.

There’s a hand-signed set of seven harmonicas — one in the key of each note of the C major scale — and they’re authenticated to guarantee that Dylan not only owned them but blew into them at some point in time.
      

Why is it that Republican candidates keep stepping in it when they try to use pop music as a rallying cry?

Ronald Reagan incited an uproar when he attempted to get his reelection campaign rocking in 1984 to the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” His campaign staff apparently only ever listened to that one line in the song, not the rest protesting the shabby treatment Vietnam War veterans had received after coming home.

Flash forward to 2008 when Jackson Browne sued Sen. John McCain’s campaign for unauthorized use of his 1978 hit “Running on Empty" to take a swipe in a TV ad at rival Sen. Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Now McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have sounded echoes of the Reagan gaffe with the use of the 1994 Martina McBride country hit “Independence Day”...

Van Morrison is nothing if not a patient man -- at least when it comes to his landmark 1968 album "Astral Weeks."

The work established him as one of rock's most revered singers and songwriters after his initial bout with fame and commercial success a few years earlier with his band Them. But it wasn’t a big hit -- it never cracked Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart -- and took 33 years to reach gold record status, denoting sales of 500,000 copies. It has, however, consistently shown up on critics' lists of the greatest albums of all time, alongside the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde."

Come November, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album’s release, he’s doing a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl performing the album in its entirety, something he never did originally.

“In the '60s and '70s the record companies did not support the music, so I never got to take these songs on tour, and I certainly did not have the money to do it,” the mercurial 63-year-old said in a news release announcing the shows. “These songs are as timeless and fresh right now as the day they were written and I am happy about taking them to the Hollywood Bowl."

Tonight's show at Royce Hall for McCabe's 50th anniversary show is already pretty stacked: Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Odetta, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ricky Jay, Ditty Bops and lots more. But guess who else is coming. Hint: She's got something in her pocket.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

'Independence Day' songwriter jabs McCain-Palin campaign's use of song

Why is it that Republican candidates keep stepping in it when they try to use pop music as a rallying cry?

Ronald Reagan incited an uproar when he attempted to get his reelection campaign rocking in 1984 to the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” His campaign staff apparently only ever listened to that one line in the song, not the rest protesting the shabby treatment Vietnam War veterans had received after coming home.

Flash forward to 2008 when Jackson Browne sued Sen. John McCain’s campaign for unauthorized use of his 1978 hit “Running on Empty" to take a swipe in a TV ad at rival Sen. Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

Now McCain and running mate Sarah Palin have sounded echoes of the Reagan gaffe with the use of the 1994 Martina McBride country hit “Independence Day”...

Van Morrison is nothing if not a patient man -- at least when it comes to his landmark 1968 album "Astral Weeks."

The work established him as one of rock's most revered singers and songwriters after his initial bout with fame and commercial success a few years earlier with his band Them. But it wasn’t a big hit -- it never cracked Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart -- and took 33 years to reach gold record status, denoting sales of 500,000 copies. It has, however, consistently shown up on critics' lists of the greatest albums of all time, alongside the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde."

Come November, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album’s release, he’s doing a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl performing the album in its entirety, something he never did originally.

“In the '60s and '70s the record companies did not support the music, so I never got to take these songs on tour, and I certainly did not have the money to do it,” the mercurial 63-year-old said in a news release announcing the shows. “These songs are as timeless and fresh right now as the day they were written and I am happy about taking them to the Hollywood Bowl."

Tonight's show at Royce Hall for McCabe's 50th anniversary show is already pretty stacked: Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Odetta, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ricky Jay, Ditty Bops and lots more. But guess who else is coming. Hint: She's got something in her pocket.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

Van Morrison to revisit "Astral Weeks" live

Van Morrison is nothing if not a patient man -- at least when it comes to his landmark 1968 album "Astral Weeks."

The work established him as one of rock's most revered singers and songwriters after his initial bout with fame and commercial success a few years earlier with his band Them. But it wasn’t a big hit -- it never cracked Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart -- and took 33 years to reach gold record status, denoting sales of 500,000 copies. It has, however, consistently shown up on critics' lists of the greatest albums of all time, alongside the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde."

Come November, to mark the 40th anniversary of the album’s release, he’s doing a pair of shows at the Hollywood Bowl performing the album in its entirety, something he never did originally.

“In the '60s and '70s the record companies did not support the music, so I never got to take these songs on tour, and I certainly did not have the money to do it,” the mercurial 63-year-old said in a news release announcing the shows. “These songs are as timeless and fresh right now as the day they were written and I am happy about taking them to the Hollywood Bowl."

Tonight's show at Royce Hall for McCabe's 50th anniversary show is already pretty stacked: Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Odetta, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ricky Jay, Ditty Bops and lots more. But guess who else is coming. Hint: She's got something in her pocket.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

Guess who's coming to Royce Hall tonight

Tonight's show at Royce Hall for McCabe's 50th anniversary show is already pretty stacked: Jackson Browne, Richard Thompson, Odetta, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Ricky Jay, Ditty Bops and lots more. But guess who else is coming. Hint: She's got something in her pocket.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

Metallica on 'Death Magnetic' complaints: Get over it

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has a few words for fans who are griping about the sound quality of the new "Death Magnetic" album.

In response to the debate over the CD's sonics, which has spawned an Internet petition now carrying more than 13,000 signatures asking for an improved version to be released, Ulrich tells Blender: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.

"It's 2008, and that's how we make records. [Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it to sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds ... smokin'."

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

Cornell out, Bon Jovi in at Obama fundraiser downtown

Last week, we told you about a Hillary Clinton-led fundraiser for Barack Obama, taking place Saturday at the Edison downtown.  Chris Cornell was expected to play, but he has been replaced by someone we actually can imagine Clinton rocking out to: Jon Bon Jovi. 

Bon Jovi (and Richie Sambora) will play three songs at the event and will introduce the New York senator. The entire event is expected to take place between 6 p.m. and 8:15 or so. Around 9 p.m., after the invite-only, $500-and-up benefit, the Edison then actually plans on opening its doors to the public for normal Saturday night business.

Tickets are advance sales only, and invite-only through the Obama campaign. Tickets for the Detour music festival, which will be taking place just blocks away during the Obama fundraiser, are still available online and can also be purchased at the festival near City Hall.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Mike Derer / AP

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP

Phish resurfaces for March reunion shows

Grab your tackle box--Phish is back.

The Vermont-based jam band, which became one of the top draws in the concert business during the 1990s and early part of this decade, will reunite for shows March 6-8 in Hampton, Va., and is expected to announce additional performances for 2009.

Rumors of a reunion have been heating up since last spring, and the momentum kept building when three of the four Phish members played together in July at the Rothbury Festival in Michigan. All four showed up last month and played at the wedding of their road manager Brad Sands.

When the group decided to call it quits in 2004, guitarist Trey Anastasio said his thinking was that  "Phish has run its course and that we should end it now while it's still on a high note.”

The band’s final shows Aug. 14-15, 2004 in Coventry, Vt., drew about 80,000 fans and movie theaters around the country carried some of the performances.

Only two of the group’s studio albums made the Top 10, but Phish pulled off the unprecedented feat of placing 16 live albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums chart within the span of  14 months in 2001 and 2002.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Oct. 18 through Ticketmaster, but fans wishing to get a jump on the general sale can try an online ticket request process under way at a Phish ticket web site.

--Randy Lewis

Photo by Alden Pellett/AP