RIP: Karel Appel

OK - you unsigned artists everywhere, check this out for a setting...




"APPLICATION TERMS for A&M FESTIVAL 2006

Solo performers and bands from all around the world, regardless of the type of music they perform can apply under the condition they don't have an official record release. Each performer/band must send at least three (3) recorded songs on CD exclusively and press material which must contain:

a) contact – name, address, country, phone/cell phone no, e-mail address
b) band members' names
c) short biography
d) performer/band photo
e) web site (if they have one)

The material sent with your application will not be returned!
Applications should be sent on the following address:

ART&MUSIC FESTIVAL, P.P. 201, HR-52100 PULA, CROATIA

It is possible to apply from the moment of application's release until the 4th of June 2006. After that, a jury of seven people will elect eight (8) semi-finalists to perform in the fort Kaštel (The Historic Museum of Istria) in Pula on the 10th and 11th of August 2006. The jury of the festival will select two (2) finalists of A&M Festival while the audience votes for a third. The winners will perform once again on the Saturday, August 12th and the winner of the 10th A&M Festival will be announced later that evening.

The winner of the A&M Festival will have the possibility to sign the contract for the first album release with MENART/DOP RECORDS and to record it with the help of the eminent producer Edi Cukeri?. The promotional activities after the album is released will be organised by DOP PRODUCTION.

Any other information about A&M Festival 2006. can be found on the official web site http://www.artandmusicfest.org/ , phone numbers 00385 95 903 9755 or 00385 98 480 884 and e-mail address direkcija@artandmusicfest.org

ART&MUSIC FESTIVAL 10. PUT!!!

ART&MUSIC FESTIVAL – FOR THE 10TH TIME!
When the first A&M Festival took place back in 1993. Almost every media covered the beginning of this cultural and artistic event now taking place for the 10th time despite inevitable ups&downs during the last 13 years. A&M Festival introduced a number of domestic and foreign rock performers, artists, comic-strip artists, theatre directors, journalists, graffitists, photographers...
The thing that characterized each of the nine past editions of A&M Festival beside the quality of music and good time that visitors had was its intention to promote young bands and performers and also to give them the possibility to stand out. This of course wouldn't be possible without the help of competent people from the music business and record companies, without the media support and the involvement of satisfied audience. That's how it's going to be this year too, and it should be pointed out that the winner of this year's A&M Festival gets the prize really worth competing for.

The events accompanying the musical part of the A&M Festival will be announced later through media and official website (http://www.artandmusicfest.org/) when more information about promotions, exhibitions, round-table talks and foreign bands will be also given.

All journalists interested in covering the 10th A&M Festival can find the application form for accreditation on our web site. We expect journalists is to have active engagement in the promotion of the festival.

For any questions, information or interviews you can contact us at:

FESTIVAL MANAGEMENT:
Branimir Slijep?evi? Brada
00385 95 903 9755

FESTIVAL PR AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE JURY:
Dubravko Jagati?
00385 98 480 884

Looking forward to hearing from you!"

photo from Destinacije

Friday, Live in New York City

"Friday, early evening, The Last Town Chorus at Pianos in the Lower East Side. Doors at 7:00pm. This will be a very special night - if you are in New York, please join us. The show will be recorded to capture a live version of 'Oregon' for an upcoming European EP release. It's the only live show planned in New York in the coming months and is a double bill with friends, Pete Galub and The Annuals. Pete is a regular guitarist with The Last Town Chorus... but he was an inspiration before he was a friend and collaborator.

On Friday The Last Town Chorus will include Pete on guitar, Greta Gertler (keys and voice), Alan Bezozi (drums) and the great Amy Allison (harmony vocals). All these musicians played on the upcoming album Wire Waltz (preview the whole album on the website - release details are coming very very soon)."

Out and about earlier today;
Finally some signs that summer will take place this year as scheduled.

Tiki Oasis 6 in San Diego, CA May 4th-7th, 2006

Indeed, friend, count on Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. -- the name you can trust, even if you can't quite remember it.

TUESDAY, MAY 2nd / And EVERY TUESDAY in May! / Rodeo Bar / 375 Third Avenue (corner of 27th Street), Manhattan / 10:00 sharp until 12:30 / No cover!

More Youtube! Jayne County, Dead Boys, Dickies, Hawkwind, Lyres, Lyres (w/ Ronnie Splinter), MC5, Radio Birdman, Rezillos, Suicide, Television. And to top it off here's Iggy & the Stooges

How could I forget: the Nitwitz?

On this bank Holiday, you can catch the great Robbie Fulks in Kilkenny, Ireland. He's at The Borderline in London on Wednesday (3rd) and in Bergen, Norway on Thursday (4th). Phew...

Also, I just discovered that Steve Wynn is hitting Europe with his full combo in support to the Willard Grant Conspiracy over the next week or so.

Just for the heck of it, more Youtube links: Cramps, Dictators, Bo Diddley, Fleshtones, Howlin' Wolf, Loli & the Chones, Nomads, Nomads (2), Oblivians, Rip Offs, Ronettes, Seeds, Sam The Sham, Yardbirds

and let's not forget (the) New Math!

A potential warning to us all. (Thanks to Bobby Lloyd Hicks for the link)

The new Mary Lee’s Corvette album entitled “Love, Loss and Lunacy” is out in the UK tomorrow. I think there are US shows just prior to that but check the website for those. If there’s such a thing as justice in terms of airplay it’ll be lighting up the airwaves over the course of the next few months and beyond. There’s nothing manufactured or processed here and no need to skip tracks because there are no duffers. “All that Glitters” sets the stall out with an effervescent energy that permeates the whole album and the Herd-like horns that punctuate "Wasting The Sun" are an infectious tonic to these ears. A soundtrack for life circa 2006 that plays out as a timeless slice of pop(tastic) Americana. Add a dash of rock swagger and two fingers of twang and yer all set. “Falling Again” could provide Cyndi Lauper with a passport back to the mainstream should she think about covering it. LL&L is consistent and heartfelt but don’t take my word for it, you can catch Ms Kortes here in the UK in May with Smash Palace at the following establishments proving just that:

Friday 12th Nantwich, The Audlem
Saturday 13th Buckingham The Granary
Sunday 14th Macclesfield, Bar Cuba
Friday 19th Berwick-upon-Tweed, The Barrells
Saturday 20th Comrie, WRI Hall
Sunday 21st Aberdeen, The Lemon Tree
Tuesday 23rd High Wycombe, Wycombe Swan
Wed 24th London, The Borderline
Thursday 25th Swindon, Swindon Arts Centre
Friday 26th Glasgow, ABC2
Saturday 27th Edinburgh, The Village
Sunday 28th Nottingham, The Maze
Monday 29th Sheffield, Broadwalk
Tuesday 30th Winchester, The Railway

Take your pick and get with the action. Full band shows are likely to pack quite a wallop so treat yourself and when you're satisfied that I'm not snowing you then buy the album at the show. Sound like a plan? Good.

Click here to listen to the jukebox...




Anybody seen this? I didn't know anything about it until my buddy Duane told me it had been released. Info on songs, etc. here.

The Ramones brand just gets bigger and bigger (thanks to Martin for this, you can look forward to his review of the "Too Tough To Die" movie coming soon to a blog near you) and another tribute by a guy called Tracy Thornton to da brudders in a Carribean stylee. Not sure it's up there with the mighty Nutley Brass but it further ram(one)s home the broad appeal of the tuneage. Thanks to Murray for the heads up on this one. Following the links, there are also "rockabilly" and "guitar" tributes to the guys too.

Finally the portal is ready, and the court of the great JD King is in session...

Now that I’ve watched “You’re Gonna Miss Me” twice, I feel slightly better versed to blog about it. I purposely didn’t write anything earlier because my first encounter totally depressed me. That and the fact that I didn’t want to spoil anything for readers who I knew would go along tonight. Anyway, it’s not what I expected and although there is performance footage in it, the main crux is a kind of Erickson Vs Erickson for custody of Roky. It's also too long. The stuff with his dad and Sumner’s therapist border on Larry David territory, but not in a good way. Patti Smith, Byron Coley, Gregg Turner and Thurston Moore get a short anecdote each and there are a few major players in Roky’s career missing that might have been able to balance the viewing experience away from being almost exploitative. In his apartment, where he tended to lock himself away, he turned on all kind of instruments and appliances to create a din that may somehow have kept his demons at a fathomable level. Like a sonic force field. I wanted a film that concentrated on the music, that celebrated what he means in the rock firmament. Roky is responsible for some of the most heart-rending music ever made. Any hint of that is buried deep in dysfunctional ugliness that ends up tainting any positive trajectory this may have set out with. By the end, Roky seems to be making progress and as we know he’s been doing shows since so that’s something. My overall feeling with the film is of disappointment. I know you most probably need to see it for yourself and by all means do but beware of the doldrums it may banish you too is all.

From Brother Don in SF...

cynical girls, wreckless eric @ 12 galaxies, san francisco...

just back from seeing the wreckless wonder and that pair of cynical gals at yet another dive (amy sure picks 'em) in the mission district here in old friss-co. as we approached the joint two mariachi guys were walking down mission singing in spanish playing guitars. lori said, "hey, i want to hear them!" but the nasal scream of wreckless eric, a voice i haven't heard live since the 1978 stiff tour, was coming from out of the bar, and we rushed across the street just in time to hear "reconnez cherie". wow! i must say i never would have recognized him. he had some old man hat on (which he joked about among other things). he's even more insane now than he was in the old days. he said something like..."i haven't left home in 26 years...i don't know what you're on about here in the states...i can't understand... er...what's that?", he asked, pointing to someone sitting at a table in front. "a quesadilla? what's that? i want one of those". he played a black single cutaway acoustic thru a fender bassman with a few effects... boss trem, mxr dyna comp, some kind of distortion box. he switched occasionally to some crazy green hollowbody electric with a fender type neck. this guitar was literally falling apart as he played it. but it sounded great. the barflies were carrying on so we moved upstairs so we could hear better. he finally got everyone's attention with his classic "whole wide world". great great great. i wish he would've done "veronica" as well. but he was fun, if not totally mad. as a friend said, after he was over... "he is what he is". amy joined him for one or two songs. he got a big kiss from her as she left the stage.
i ran down the street for some chips (crisps to you limeys) cause the necastle was going to my head and when i got back amy rigby and marti jones had just started. right off you could see what a great combo they make. perfect harmonies. marti looks damn good for fifty! they traded songs and did some duets on amy's songs. "don't break the heart" was nicely done as was "the trouble with jeannie". marti played an acoustic (martin i think) most of the night but added some nice electric 12 string stuff to amy's songs. (a red and white danelectro). it was all good but marti made some remarks about the "interesting" activity in the back by the bar. i.e.: people making more noise than the performers. amy took it in stride as she's used to this horrid behavior when she plays here.(note to amy: avoid the mission district dumps). finally the regulars cleared out and things got better. they were joined by some chick from LA named kelly who played and sang beautifully, adding a nice third part harmony. just before she came out, amy and marti sat down at a table on the stage for some girl talk. marti asked amy what kind of guys she likes. amy said, "well, i like guys that wear hats. how bout you". marti said, "i like bald guys". well ladies, i got you both covered!
excuse me...back to the show... they finished up with amy's recent crowd pleaser, "dancing with joey ramone", and in the encore they brought eric up and amy asked, "have you got any advice for the poeple out there, eric?" to which he replied, "don't play seattle!". but then came his classic, "take the cash". they all seemed to have fun playing that. and amy and marti finished up with marshall crenshaw's "cynical girls". soon as they left the stage there was some announcement that everyone had to leave because there was another show coming on. huh?? two sets in this dump? since when?? we caught up with amy before leaving and i got to meet eric finally after all these years. amy said there was some stiff records tribute going on down the street. i told eric he should go...he'd blow their minds. but he said his voice was shot. sounded like this was the end of their tour.
it was almost midnight so we had to split before the coach became a pumpkin and we all said goodbye to amy... sorry i didn't get to meet ms. jones. anyway get this: there were about 30 people in the place the whole night, right? okay, we get outside and there's a line all the way down the street waiting to get in??? this must be for the next act. i asked someone, "who are you waiting for?"
"ryan adams. AND phil lesh and it's only five bucks", said some excited young lady.
huh?? in a little bar at 22nd and mission?? on a thursday nite?? bizzaro world. and so we hopped on the 49 bus completely dumbfounded. anyway i'd rather pay more that twice as much to see amy, eric and marti jones than ryan adams and phil lesh any day. - don

Returning once again to the New York Dolls: A new album is set for release in July, just hit the link for a couple o' MP3s. Not too sure about the first two songs, but Dance Like A Monkey reminded me of the Lazy Cowgirls in their final incarnation. Which is not bad, not bad at all...

RIP - Dave Mahoney

"Proud Galleries in London are very excited to be hosting a really extensive exhibition of photographs of The Ramones from 27th April through to 4th June 2006 at their gallery in central London. The exhibition includes photographs by Adrian Boot, Roberta Bayley, Philippe Carly, Chip Dayton, George du Bose, Danny Fields, Godlis and Robert Matheu. All the images from the major albums are included and many unseen, `behind the scenes' shots, including the Ramones in Hyde Park, London! The exhibition sets the scene of the 1970's punk revolution from the perspective of the original punk band. There's also opportunity to purchase signed limited edition prints of the photos. Opening hours: Monday-Thorsday: 10am-7pm and Friday-Sunday 11am-6pm. Address: Proud Central, 5 Buckingham Street, The Strand, London WC2N 6BP. Entry is free".

RIP - Bonnie Owens