'The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson' bumps up No Age performance

"The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" ran No Age's performance of "Eraser" Thursday night, instead of the scheduled Oct. 27 running -- perhaps, just maybe, to capitalize on all the chatter? Seriously, before this No Age thing, when was the last time you thought about Craig Ferguson? Wait, so you've actually thought about Craig Ferguson before? All teasing aside, he decently diffuses the situation with a quintessentially late-night host monologue, replete with self-deprecation, "I'm so wacky" facial expressions and props to the band he's clearly never heard. As far as No Age goes, well, it wasn't their finest hour but Randy Randall stripping off his flannel at the last minute and storming off the stage should go down as one of 2008's more punk, if compromised, moments.

-- Margaret Wappler

L.A.'s played host to a lot of great shows lately -- Beck, Nick Cave, My Bloody Valentine. Even Sky Saxon and the Seeds at Club Ding-a-ling! last week were pretty fun in an antic, "is that a tab of acid in my beer?" kind of way. (If you don't know Club Ding-a-ling, it's Hyperion Tavern's Tuesday concert series featuring the weird and the inspired in Los Angeles, and it's worth a visit.)

And now there's more good news for me and lots of Depeche Mode fans who have not been enjoying the silence from our favorite British purveyors of snap-tight electropop. The Mode has not only signed a deal with Mute/EMI that will get their next album due April 2009 to the U.S. at the same time as Europe, they are also launching a stadium tour. It'll start in Israel in May, but according to an EMI representative, the trio will make it to an L.A. stadium (Staples?) sometime in the late summer.

The rep also said, though he hasn't heard it himself yet, that the Mode's new album will sound like "old-school Depeche Mode, with a big sound... upbeat and electronic." Here's hoping this particular rumor is true.

--Margaret Wappler

Photo credit: Miguel Villagran / Associated Press

We caught up with Liz Phair earlier this week after the second show of her sold-out performance of "Exile in Guyville" at the Troubadour (read Ann Powers' take on Phair's re-issue of "Exile" here), and asked her to confirm a sneaking suspicion we had that she might be writing something other than songs these days.   

"I thought to myself, what can I do better than other people?" she postulated post-encore from the side of the stage after greeting friends and fans. "I'm not the best singer," she demurred, adding that "I'm not the best songwriter, either. But I do tell stories well."

Phair's publicist confirmed Tuesday that the Connecticut-born singer has a literary agent, but Phair, currently a South Bay resident, was adamant on Monday that nothing is currently in the works, so don't expect to see anything at your local Barnes & Noble just yet. The songstress did say that she was not interested in pursuing a memoir, a la Juliana Hatfield's just-released offering "When I Grow Up" or Chris Connelly's "Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried," but rather, a work of fiction.

Phair, who penned a book review of Dean Wareham's "Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance" earlier this year for the New York Times, clearly has a talent for sketching out characters (listening to "Exile in Guyville" is akin to reading a novel, with memorable dialogue and a richly drawn cast), and it's not a huge stretch to imagine her writing a contemporary novel. Maybe we'll see Phair's literary debut in the fourth quarter of 2010?

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Every card-carrying member of the indie scene's favorite radio station is making a few changes this fall. 

In order to tighten up its format and shore up ratings (or rather, just become rated) so it can attract national advertising, the indie rock station-of-record in Los Angeles, Indie 103.1, has moved several shows, and will ditch a few others. 

Henry Rollins' weekly show is moving to Saturdays from 8 to 10 p.m., from its previous Tuesday night time slot. Brent Bolthouse and Danny Masterson's "Feel My Heat" is on "hiatus," according to a representative of the station, (and EW.com) as is the Crystal Method's Friday night dance music program, "Community Service."

"You have to look at the overall programming, and radio stations have to be consistent," Indie 103.1 programming director Max Tolkoff said Tuesday. "We have to be consistent from hour to hour. Part of Indie moving forward is to try and get that consistency from 6 a.m. to midnight, Monday to Friday... that's the idea." 

Both Rollins' manager and Crystal Method's representative confirm the changes...

Rap entertains, rock pays -- is that the message from a pair of politically motivated pop music events?

Rapper and music mogul Jay-Z will perform for free this weekend -- on Saturday in Detroit and on Sunday in Miami -- in concerts aimed at urging fans to register to vote, and then to vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. The concerts come just ahead of next week's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 4 presidential election.

But although 18-and-over rap fans will be able to hear one of their heroes for free, rock aficionados will have to pony up for two of theirs who are joining forces to aid Obama's campaign.

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will share a stage for the first time on Oct. 16 at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom at a fundraiser for Obama's campaign. Tickets for that benefit will run from $500 to $10,000. It's still rock 'n' roll, indeed.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Jay-Z by Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times

With the word “change” pouring forth frequently from the stages at both the Democratic and Republican National conventions, John Mellencamp has decided the time is right for an update of Bob Dylan’s 1963 bellwether of social and political transformation, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
      
Mellencamp has recorded a homemade video capturing his stripped-down, acoustic guitar rendition of the song, singing while wearing his horn-rimmed glasses as he appears to read the lyrics as he goes. The video has been posted as a Web-only performance on his website, www.mellencamp.com.

Is it just me, or does he bring a little change of his own to Dylan’s original lyric “As the present now/Will later be past” toward the song's end, modifying it to “As the president now/Will soon be the past”? His sendoff, perhaps, to the outgoing chief executive?  Decide for yourself.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

   

Scratch the new U2 album off your Christmas list. Singer Bono says the album, which had been anticipated for release this fall, will now arrive sometime in 2009. But he says there’s good reason for the delay.

“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop,” Bono says on the band’s website. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

The group has been at work since last year in recording studios in Dublin, Morocco and France, working on the follow-up to 2004’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” which won a Grammy for album of the year. They’ve piled up 50 or 60 tracks and they’re still at it, according to the website post.
      
“When we set out on this record it was Larry [Mullen Jr., the band’s drummer] who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono says. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”

In other words, how to dismantle a fall release schedule?

— Randy Lewis

Photo by Getty Images

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

Depeche Mode will come to L.A. in the late summer, with new album in tow

L.A.'s played host to a lot of great shows lately -- Beck, Nick Cave, My Bloody Valentine. Even Sky Saxon and the Seeds at Club Ding-a-ling! last week were pretty fun in an antic, "is that a tab of acid in my beer?" kind of way. (If you don't know Club Ding-a-ling, it's Hyperion Tavern's Tuesday concert series featuring the weird and the inspired in Los Angeles, and it's worth a visit.)

And now there's more good news for me and lots of Depeche Mode fans who have not been enjoying the silence from our favorite British purveyors of snap-tight electropop. The Mode has not only signed a deal with Mute/EMI that will get their next album due April 2009 to the U.S. at the same time as Europe, they are also launching a stadium tour. It'll start in Israel in May, but according to an EMI representative, the trio will make it to an L.A. stadium (Staples?) sometime in the late summer.

The rep also said, though he hasn't heard it himself yet, that the Mode's new album will sound like "old-school Depeche Mode, with a big sound... upbeat and electronic." Here's hoping this particular rumor is true.

--Margaret Wappler

Photo credit: Miguel Villagran / Associated Press

We caught up with Liz Phair earlier this week after the second show of her sold-out performance of "Exile in Guyville" at the Troubadour (read Ann Powers' take on Phair's re-issue of "Exile" here), and asked her to confirm a sneaking suspicion we had that she might be writing something other than songs these days.   

"I thought to myself, what can I do better than other people?" she postulated post-encore from the side of the stage after greeting friends and fans. "I'm not the best singer," she demurred, adding that "I'm not the best songwriter, either. But I do tell stories well."

Phair's publicist confirmed Tuesday that the Connecticut-born singer has a literary agent, but Phair, currently a South Bay resident, was adamant on Monday that nothing is currently in the works, so don't expect to see anything at your local Barnes & Noble just yet. The songstress did say that she was not interested in pursuing a memoir, a la Juliana Hatfield's just-released offering "When I Grow Up" or Chris Connelly's "Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried," but rather, a work of fiction.

Phair, who penned a book review of Dean Wareham's "Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance" earlier this year for the New York Times, clearly has a talent for sketching out characters (listening to "Exile in Guyville" is akin to reading a novel, with memorable dialogue and a richly drawn cast), and it's not a huge stretch to imagine her writing a contemporary novel. Maybe we'll see Phair's literary debut in the fourth quarter of 2010?

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Every card-carrying member of the indie scene's favorite radio station is making a few changes this fall. 

In order to tighten up its format and shore up ratings (or rather, just become rated) so it can attract national advertising, the indie rock station-of-record in Los Angeles, Indie 103.1, has moved several shows, and will ditch a few others. 

Henry Rollins' weekly show is moving to Saturdays from 8 to 10 p.m., from its previous Tuesday night time slot. Brent Bolthouse and Danny Masterson's "Feel My Heat" is on "hiatus," according to a representative of the station, (and EW.com) as is the Crystal Method's Friday night dance music program, "Community Service."

"You have to look at the overall programming, and radio stations have to be consistent," Indie 103.1 programming director Max Tolkoff said Tuesday. "We have to be consistent from hour to hour. Part of Indie moving forward is to try and get that consistency from 6 a.m. to midnight, Monday to Friday... that's the idea." 

Both Rollins' manager and Crystal Method's representative confirm the changes...

Rap entertains, rock pays -- is that the message from a pair of politically motivated pop music events?

Rapper and music mogul Jay-Z will perform for free this weekend -- on Saturday in Detroit and on Sunday in Miami -- in concerts aimed at urging fans to register to vote, and then to vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. The concerts come just ahead of next week's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 4 presidential election.

But although 18-and-over rap fans will be able to hear one of their heroes for free, rock aficionados will have to pony up for two of theirs who are joining forces to aid Obama's campaign.

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will share a stage for the first time on Oct. 16 at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom at a fundraiser for Obama's campaign. Tickets for that benefit will run from $500 to $10,000. It's still rock 'n' roll, indeed.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Jay-Z by Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times

With the word “change” pouring forth frequently from the stages at both the Democratic and Republican National conventions, John Mellencamp has decided the time is right for an update of Bob Dylan’s 1963 bellwether of social and political transformation, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
      
Mellencamp has recorded a homemade video capturing his stripped-down, acoustic guitar rendition of the song, singing while wearing his horn-rimmed glasses as he appears to read the lyrics as he goes. The video has been posted as a Web-only performance on his website, www.mellencamp.com.

Is it just me, or does he bring a little change of his own to Dylan’s original lyric “As the present now/Will later be past” toward the song's end, modifying it to “As the president now/Will soon be the past”? His sendoff, perhaps, to the outgoing chief executive?  Decide for yourself.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

   

Scratch the new U2 album off your Christmas list. Singer Bono says the album, which had been anticipated for release this fall, will now arrive sometime in 2009. But he says there’s good reason for the delay.

“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop,” Bono says on the band’s website. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

The group has been at work since last year in recording studios in Dublin, Morocco and France, working on the follow-up to 2004’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” which won a Grammy for album of the year. They’ve piled up 50 or 60 tracks and they’re still at it, according to the website post.
      
“When we set out on this record it was Larry [Mullen Jr., the band’s drummer] who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono says. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”

In other words, how to dismantle a fall release schedule?

— Randy Lewis

Photo by Getty Images

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

Liz Phair's second career: novelist?

We caught up with Liz Phair earlier this week after the second show of her sold-out performance of "Exile in Guyville" at the Troubadour (read Ann Powers' take on Phair's re-issue of "Exile" here), and asked her to confirm a sneaking suspicion we had that she might be writing something other than songs these days.   

"I thought to myself, what can I do better than other people?" she postulated post-encore from the side of the stage after greeting friends and fans. "I'm not the best singer," she demurred, adding that "I'm not the best songwriter, either. But I do tell stories well."

Phair's publicist confirmed Tuesday that the Connecticut-born singer has a literary agent, but Phair, currently a South Bay resident, was adamant on Monday that nothing is currently in the works, so don't expect to see anything at your local Barnes & Noble just yet. The songstress did say that she was not interested in pursuing a memoir, a la Juliana Hatfield's just-released offering "When I Grow Up" or Chris Connelly's "Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible and Fried," but rather, a work of fiction.

Phair, who penned a book review of Dean Wareham's "Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance" earlier this year for the New York Times, clearly has a talent for sketching out characters (listening to "Exile in Guyville" is akin to reading a novel, with memorable dialogue and a richly drawn cast), and it's not a huge stretch to imagine her writing a contemporary novel. Maybe we'll see Phair's literary debut in the fourth quarter of 2010?

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Every card-carrying member of the indie scene's favorite radio station is making a few changes this fall. 

In order to tighten up its format and shore up ratings (or rather, just become rated) so it can attract national advertising, the indie rock station-of-record in Los Angeles, Indie 103.1, has moved several shows, and will ditch a few others. 

Henry Rollins' weekly show is moving to Saturdays from 8 to 10 p.m., from its previous Tuesday night time slot. Brent Bolthouse and Danny Masterson's "Feel My Heat" is on "hiatus," according to a representative of the station, (and EW.com) as is the Crystal Method's Friday night dance music program, "Community Service."

"You have to look at the overall programming, and radio stations have to be consistent," Indie 103.1 programming director Max Tolkoff said Tuesday. "We have to be consistent from hour to hour. Part of Indie moving forward is to try and get that consistency from 6 a.m. to midnight, Monday to Friday... that's the idea." 

Both Rollins' manager and Crystal Method's representative confirm the changes...

Rap entertains, rock pays -- is that the message from a pair of politically motivated pop music events?

Rapper and music mogul Jay-Z will perform for free this weekend -- on Saturday in Detroit and on Sunday in Miami -- in concerts aimed at urging fans to register to vote, and then to vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. The concerts come just ahead of next week's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 4 presidential election.

But although 18-and-over rap fans will be able to hear one of their heroes for free, rock aficionados will have to pony up for two of theirs who are joining forces to aid Obama's campaign.

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will share a stage for the first time on Oct. 16 at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom at a fundraiser for Obama's campaign. Tickets for that benefit will run from $500 to $10,000. It's still rock 'n' roll, indeed.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Jay-Z by Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times

With the word “change” pouring forth frequently from the stages at both the Democratic and Republican National conventions, John Mellencamp has decided the time is right for an update of Bob Dylan’s 1963 bellwether of social and political transformation, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
      
Mellencamp has recorded a homemade video capturing his stripped-down, acoustic guitar rendition of the song, singing while wearing his horn-rimmed glasses as he appears to read the lyrics as he goes. The video has been posted as a Web-only performance on his website, www.mellencamp.com.

Is it just me, or does he bring a little change of his own to Dylan’s original lyric “As the present now/Will later be past” toward the song's end, modifying it to “As the president now/Will soon be the past”? His sendoff, perhaps, to the outgoing chief executive?  Decide for yourself.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

   

Scratch the new U2 album off your Christmas list. Singer Bono says the album, which had been anticipated for release this fall, will now arrive sometime in 2009. But he says there’s good reason for the delay.

“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop,” Bono says on the band’s website. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

The group has been at work since last year in recording studios in Dublin, Morocco and France, working on the follow-up to 2004’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” which won a Grammy for album of the year. They’ve piled up 50 or 60 tracks and they’re still at it, according to the website post.
      
“When we set out on this record it was Larry [Mullen Jr., the band’s drummer] who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono says. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”

In other words, how to dismantle a fall release schedule?

— Randy Lewis

Photo by Getty Images

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

Indie 103.1 cancels Camp Freddy radio, changes time slot for Rollins' show

Every card-carrying member of the indie scene's favorite radio station is making a few changes this fall. 

In order to tighten up its format and shore up ratings (or rather, just become rated) so it can attract national advertising, the indie rock station-of-record in Los Angeles, Indie 103.1, has moved several shows, and will ditch a few others. 

Henry Rollins' weekly show is moving to Saturdays from 8 to 10 p.m., from its previous Tuesday night time slot. Brent Bolthouse and Danny Masterson's "Feel My Heat" is on "hiatus," according to a representative of the station, (and EW.com) as is the Crystal Method's Friday night dance music program, "Community Service."

"You have to look at the overall programming, and radio stations have to be consistent," Indie 103.1 programming director Max Tolkoff said Tuesday. "We have to be consistent from hour to hour. Part of Indie moving forward is to try and get that consistency from 6 a.m. to midnight, Monday to Friday... that's the idea." 

Both Rollins' manager and Crystal Method's representative confirm the changes...

Rap entertains, rock pays -- is that the message from a pair of politically motivated pop music events?

Rapper and music mogul Jay-Z will perform for free this weekend -- on Saturday in Detroit and on Sunday in Miami -- in concerts aimed at urging fans to register to vote, and then to vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. The concerts come just ahead of next week's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 4 presidential election.

But although 18-and-over rap fans will be able to hear one of their heroes for free, rock aficionados will have to pony up for two of theirs who are joining forces to aid Obama's campaign.

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will share a stage for the first time on Oct. 16 at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom at a fundraiser for Obama's campaign. Tickets for that benefit will run from $500 to $10,000. It's still rock 'n' roll, indeed.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Jay-Z by Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times

With the word “change” pouring forth frequently from the stages at both the Democratic and Republican National conventions, John Mellencamp has decided the time is right for an update of Bob Dylan’s 1963 bellwether of social and political transformation, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
      
Mellencamp has recorded a homemade video capturing his stripped-down, acoustic guitar rendition of the song, singing while wearing his horn-rimmed glasses as he appears to read the lyrics as he goes. The video has been posted as a Web-only performance on his website, www.mellencamp.com.

Is it just me, or does he bring a little change of his own to Dylan’s original lyric “As the present now/Will later be past” toward the song's end, modifying it to “As the president now/Will soon be the past”? His sendoff, perhaps, to the outgoing chief executive?  Decide for yourself.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

   

Scratch the new U2 album off your Christmas list. Singer Bono says the album, which had been anticipated for release this fall, will now arrive sometime in 2009. But he says there’s good reason for the delay.

“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop,” Bono says on the band’s website. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

The group has been at work since last year in recording studios in Dublin, Morocco and France, working on the follow-up to 2004’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” which won a Grammy for album of the year. They’ve piled up 50 or 60 tracks and they’re still at it, according to the website post.
      
“When we set out on this record it was Larry [Mullen Jr., the band’s drummer] who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono says. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”

In other words, how to dismantle a fall release schedule?

— Randy Lewis

Photo by Getty Images

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

Jay-Z stumps for Obama, new voters

Rap entertains, rock pays -- is that the message from a pair of politically motivated pop music events?

Rapper and music mogul Jay-Z will perform for free this weekend -- on Saturday in Detroit and on Sunday in Miami -- in concerts aimed at urging fans to register to vote, and then to vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. The concerts come just ahead of next week's voter registration deadline for the Nov. 4 presidential election.

But although 18-and-over rap fans will be able to hear one of their heroes for free, rock aficionados will have to pony up for two of theirs who are joining forces to aid Obama's campaign.

Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will share a stage for the first time on Oct. 16 at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom at a fundraiser for Obama's campaign. Tickets for that benefit will run from $500 to $10,000. It's still rock 'n' roll, indeed.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of Jay-Z by Jennifer S. Altman / For The Times

With the word “change” pouring forth frequently from the stages at both the Democratic and Republican National conventions, John Mellencamp has decided the time is right for an update of Bob Dylan’s 1963 bellwether of social and political transformation, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
      
Mellencamp has recorded a homemade video capturing his stripped-down, acoustic guitar rendition of the song, singing while wearing his horn-rimmed glasses as he appears to read the lyrics as he goes. The video has been posted as a Web-only performance on his website, www.mellencamp.com.

Is it just me, or does he bring a little change of his own to Dylan’s original lyric “As the present now/Will later be past” toward the song's end, modifying it to “As the president now/Will soon be the past”? His sendoff, perhaps, to the outgoing chief executive?  Decide for yourself.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

   

Scratch the new U2 album off your Christmas list. Singer Bono says the album, which had been anticipated for release this fall, will now arrive sometime in 2009. But he says there’s good reason for the delay.

“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop,” Bono says on the band’s website. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

The group has been at work since last year in recording studios in Dublin, Morocco and France, working on the follow-up to 2004’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” which won a Grammy for album of the year. They’ve piled up 50 or 60 tracks and they’re still at it, according to the website post.
      
“When we set out on this record it was Larry [Mullen Jr., the band’s drummer] who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono says. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”

In other words, how to dismantle a fall release schedule?

— Randy Lewis

Photo by Getty Images

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

John Mellencamp covers Bob Dylan for a "Change"

With the word “change” pouring forth frequently from the stages at both the Democratic and Republican National conventions, John Mellencamp has decided the time is right for an update of Bob Dylan’s 1963 bellwether of social and political transformation, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”
      
Mellencamp has recorded a homemade video capturing his stripped-down, acoustic guitar rendition of the song, singing while wearing his horn-rimmed glasses as he appears to read the lyrics as he goes. The video has been posted as a Web-only performance on his website, www.mellencamp.com.

Is it just me, or does he bring a little change of his own to Dylan’s original lyric “As the present now/Will later be past” toward the song's end, modifying it to “As the president now/Will soon be the past”? His sendoff, perhaps, to the outgoing chief executive?  Decide for yourself.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

   

Scratch the new U2 album off your Christmas list. Singer Bono says the album, which had been anticipated for release this fall, will now arrive sometime in 2009. But he says there’s good reason for the delay.

“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop,” Bono says on the band’s website. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

The group has been at work since last year in recording studios in Dublin, Morocco and France, working on the follow-up to 2004’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” which won a Grammy for album of the year. They’ve piled up 50 or 60 tracks and they’re still at it, according to the website post.
      
“When we set out on this record it was Larry [Mullen Jr., the band’s drummer] who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono says. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”

In other words, how to dismantle a fall release schedule?

— Randy Lewis

Photo by Getty Images

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

New U2 album delayed till 2009

   

Scratch the new U2 album off your Christmas list. Singer Bono says the album, which had been anticipated for release this fall, will now arrive sometime in 2009. But he says there’s good reason for the delay.

“We’ve hit a rich songwriting vein and we don’t want to stop,” Bono says on the band’s website. “It gets a bit dark down here but looks like we’ve found diamonds not coal. I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there’s more priceless stuff to be found?”

The group has been at work since last year in recording studios in Dublin, Morocco and France, working on the follow-up to 2004’s “How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb,” which won a Grammy for album of the year. They’ve piled up 50 or 60 tracks and they’re still at it, according to the website post.
      
“When we set out on this record it was Larry [Mullen Jr., the band’s drummer] who came up with the plan not to have a plan,” Bono says. “He put up this idea that wouldn’t it be great just to make music for its own sake, not for the purpose of a live show or on album but just to see what we’re capable of.”

In other words, how to dismantle a fall release schedule?

— Randy Lewis

Photo by Getty Images

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

F Yeah Fest's Sean Carlson talks about his alleged Hollywood Bowl scuffle with security

On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

Keeping it all in the family: Beck, father share stage for first time at Hollywood Bowl engagement next month

Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage.  The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together. 

Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars.  His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. 
Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly. 

- Charlie Amter

Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis

Expanded Hollywood Palladium lineup unveiled

   

After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.

Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).

Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.

— Randy Lewis