Glasto Lineup Revealed

I keep telling myself that one day I am going to make it to the mother of all music festivals, Glastonbury. It's not going to happen this time around, but one day I'll make it there. This year's lineup of the British festival features headliners The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, and The Who. It takes place on June 22 - 24.

Check out the full lineup, which was announced this week.

Richie Havens is playing in The Acoustic Tent on Saturday.

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TPIR: Thanks for the Memories

As a kid, was there anything more enjoyable than watching The Price Is Right? It meant that you were home on a school day. Whether you were sick (at least that's what you told your mom), school was cancelled due to snow, or it was a holiday, watching Bob Barker on the game show of all game shows was a rare and celebrated treat. I never paid attention to any pricing in supermarkets back then, so most games were a challenge for me, but I played along nonetheless. I think my favorite game may have been the one where the little climber ascends the mountain while yodelling is played. There were other favorites like Plinko, The Golden Road, and Clock Game too. Thinking back is making me very nostalgic for that time of innocence. What was your favorite game on the show?

So this week Bob is taping his final episode of TPIR. This article from Starpulse describes the scene as fans line up for the final taping.

Also, if you've got the free time, this clip from CBS' How I Met Your Mother does an exceptional job celebrating The Price Is Right, as Neil Patrick Harris' character makes it onto the show as a contestant so that he can meet Bob, the man that his mother told him was his biological father. It's well worth the time investment.

That's The Way God Planned It

It was one year ago today that we lost one of the most important sidemen in the history of music. I can confidently say that no one else has performed along with more of the most significant figures in rock n' roll history that the one and only Billy Preston. He has played with artists ranging from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Unless you've read his Wikipedia profile, I bet you didn't know that he was invited to become a member of The Band in 1991, after the death of their piano player, Stan Szelest. He completed a tour, but legal problems put an end to the collaboration before they had a chance to record together in the studio. Preston's final contributions were the Gospel-tinged organ on the Neil Diamond album 12 Songs, and his keyboard work on The Road to Escondido by Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale.

Please take a moment to honor the fifth Beatle by watching his performance of 'That's The Way God Planned It' on Later with Jools Holland from June 2005, five months before he slipped into a coma that he would never come out of.

Rest In Peace Billy.

Paul Broke Up The Beatles

This is one story to illustrate the reason for the demise of The Beatles. To be fair, many other explanations have been given, possibly all with some validity.

From Fox News via The New Yorker:

It was McCartney, and not the always reviled Yoko Ono or the easily fingered Allen Klein, who brought about the end of the Beatles. At a meeting among all the parties in 1969, it was revealed that McCartney had violated a long-held agreement between him and John Lennon. The pair had a tacit understanding that neither of them would ever buy more shares than the other in the music publisher that owned their songs at the time. Steven Gaines and Peter Brown describe the meeting in the very good Beatles biography, "The Love You Make."

Brown was the Beatles' longtime publicist and present at every important event. At the meeting, it was revealed that Paul and his lawyer/father-in-law Lee Eastman had been buying extra shares by the handful. Brown reveals in the book that at that point Paul had 751,000 shares of Northern Songs; John had 644,000. Upon learning this, Lennon, enraged, exited the meeting. Brown says he called Paul a "bastard." It was all over. The Beatles were done.

I asked Paul about this for a feature profile I wrote about him and Linda in 1989. Knowing Lennon would get so angry, would he do it again, I wondered? Paul did not hesitate. "Absolutely," he replied. "I was investing in myself." It was almost the same answer Paul had given John at that meeting. In that sense, it was a smart move. McCartney today, with the help of Eastman, is a billionaire. And whether you like his solo work or not, McCartney became even richer following the Beatles' break-up thanks to a wildly successful career. But let's not allow history to be rewritten. Avarice broke up the Beatles, not a wife or a girlfriend.

Source: Fox News via The New Yorker

Wikipedia 's Article on the break up of The Beatles.

Asheville Music Jamboree: Chapter 1

My trip to Asheville, NC this past weekend for the Asheville Music Jamboree was a series of firsts for me. My first time camping at a festival (I've been to many, yet always stayed comfortably in hotels), my first concert in North Carolina (I've probably seen shows in about 20 states), my first time eating at Waffle House (driven past them on countless road trips), my first time seeing just about all of the artists that played (I've seen The Bridge and Keller Williams before), my first time eating boiled peanuts (never even heard of 'em), my first time hearing the term bluegrastafarians (heard it more than once over the weekend without any hint of irony) and my first time really getting to know people at a concert that I didn't know before I got there (shout out to our neighbors!).

It was just a few weeks ago that I decided I would be attending this festival, and the only catch was that I would have to do it camping...in a tent. You see, I have a bit of an aversion to camping at concerts. It was my ill-fated experience in Noblesville, IN for Phish's three-night run at Deer Creek in 2000 that fully turned me off to the idea. The shows themselves were great but it was the brutal sunburn on my face, the countless mosquito bites on my ankles, and the cramped, miniature, sauna-of-a-tent I "slept" in that sealed my distaste for this means of concert accommodations. It was probably around 6 AM on the third morning in that field in Indiana, while staring up at the sagging fabric of our poorly assembled red tent, which was falling to within inches of my severely sun burnt cheeks, that I vowed never to camp at another show again. That was four Bonnaroos and seven years ago.

Fast forward to Thursday night>>>Locked and loaded with my $30 tent and $20 air mattress from Target, an over-packed bag of clothes, a handy flashlight that doesn’t require batteries, a few other supplies, and a sack full of McDonald's snack wraps for my dinner, I was picked up in a pick-up truck and we were off on our journey to North Carolina. It would be nine hours of driving, a hotel stopover in Wytheville, VA, hours of Jam_ON satellite radio listening, a visit to the Handy Mart in Winchester, WV, and a liquor/beer run on Airport Road before we pulled into the gates of our home away from home, Deerfields, a 940 acre tract of unspoiled mountain wilderness in the Appalachians near Asheville, NC on Friday afternoon.



With tree-lined camping lots, two lakes that were clean enough for swimming, and two stages within mere yards of each other, this was an ideal setting for a music festival. Upon arrival, we setup our tents on what seemed like an innocent incline and unpacked our bags. We then made our way over to our first set of the concert. Playing on the second stage was Charleston, South Carolina's Sol Driven Train. With an afternoon set on Friday, offering up a great show to a fresh and clean (for the time being), receptive crowd of early arrivers, SDT introduced us to their brand of rock, reggae, and world music. Driven by acoustic/electric guitars, bass, saxophone, trombone, and a lot of drums, their songs varied distinctly in style and instrumentation. What stood out most for me was their evident attention to lyrics. I found myself paying attention as much to the words as I did to their playing. They were an unexpected treat, and even though they were the first band we saw, they continued to stand out in my mind throughout the festival.

Stay tuned for more observations from AMJAM 2007, including reviews of a reformed Acoustic Syndicate, a time-slot busting Michael Franti and Spearhead, a rain-soaked Donna The Buffalo, the third ever concert by Keller Williams and the WMD’s . . . the Wisdom tree, a runaway baby, a runaway watermelon, a massage therapist, $1 grilled cheese, a life-size Scooby Doo cutout, and a Bo Bice calendar.

Give Peace a Second Chance

"Imagine all the people, living life in peace." -- John Lennon

For many years, the peace movement was so deeply embedded in American culture that it virtually dominated an entire decade. But in a generation admittedly obsessed with Paulie Walnuts, Google and Blackberrys, we've completely become out of touch with the bigger picture. Believe it or not, there was a time when John Lennon was the source for current events; now it's Anderson Cooper. Have musicians completely given up on peace? Has the peace movement become unfashionable? Okay, so I'm not out in the picket lines either, but I kinda miss the good 'ole "peace song." Think back to the 1960's and 1970's when songs about peace and love were, well, cool. Marvin Gaye was asking what's going on, George Harrison wanted peace on earth, The Youngbloods were telling us to smile on our brother, Cat Stevens was riding the peace train and Bob Marley was preaching one love. Sure, there was Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement and the Cold War, but are we much better off today (Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorism, Darfur, etc.)? We're arguably worse off -- and sadly, no one really seems to care. No one wears peace signs anymore (unless your name is Wavy Gravy), tye-dyes are for summer camp and over-the-hill hippies, and attending protests cuts into our TiVo time.

Although on the one hand, I agree that picturing Fall Out Boy singing a song about peace, love and understanding would be a trainwreck, it's a shame that some of the younger singer-songwriters, few that they are, don't re-embrace the peace movement. I could totally see Noel Gallagher or Ryan Adams pulling it off masterfully. I suppose we're smart enough to realize that a utopian world of rainbows and daisies just ain't gonna happen. But at least singing about it has a somewhat therapeutic effect. So, pick up your acoustic guitar, put on your rose-tinted spectacles and join around the camp fire. Let's make the summer of '07 the new summer of love.

Reader Interactive: The Albums That Changed Your Life

To the Weight faithful from all over the world, leave a comment with the Top 5 albums that changed your life. Anyone reading this site knows full well that music certainly can change your life, either through opening your ears to new musicians and tunes by association or by being a soundtrack to an important time in your life. After all, even through life's turmoils, turbulence, highs and lows, the songs remain the same.

I'll start the comment thread. Think back and share your 5.

Weightstaff

Before the Music Dies

Watch the trailer:



According to Don McLean it already happened. But the producers of this film want to make sure there is no day that that the music dies. This movie is for anyone who is embarrassed about the current state of the music business, or as ?uestlove says in the movie, for people who know how to separate the art from the commerce in the music industry. Lefsetz would be proud.

I had never even heard of this film until I came across it on nedmusic.com. The filmmakers are using a grassroots marketing campaign by staging screenings in cities throughout the country rather than one major theatrical release. Sounds a bit like how true artists are discovered these days. One show at a time.

To find an upcoming screening, click here.

Sgt. Hendrix's Lonely Hearts Club Band

One of my favorite rock stories and picked up from nme.com:

The Night Jimi Hendrix Played Tribute to The Beatles

Jimi Hendrix made a public display of his admiration for The Beatles when the seminal classic 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' was released during the 'Summer of Love' in 1967. Purchasing the record on the day of its release, he performed the title track just two days later at the Saville Theatre in London's Shaftesbury Avenue.Unbeknown to Hendrix, some of The Beatles were actually in the audience, listening intently to his audacious performance. Speaking at a later date, Paul McCartney spoke of his honour of the tribute, calling the performance "simply incredible, perhaps the best I have ever seen him play".

There is actually a YouTube clip of this! The Beatles portion begins at the 1:10 mark and lasts for about 45 seconds but the historical significance and cool factor is huge.

Police drummer rips band's "lame" concert

The singer in the Police jumps like a "petulant pansy," the drummer is making a "complete hash," and who knows what the guitarist is doing?

Notes from a bitter critic? Actually, it's a disarmingly frank concert review from the aforementioned drummer of the newly reunited rock trio.

A philosophical Stewart Copeland unleashed his vitriol in a posting on his Web site on Thursday, a day after the band played its second show in Vancouver, the Canadian city where it began its first world tour in more than 20 years on Monday.

"This is unbelievably lame," Copeland wrote of Wednesday's show at the GM Place arena. "We are the mighty Police and we are totally at sea."

Read the Full Article from Reuters