Archive: March 2009 (81-90 of 123)

Mar 22 2009 12:51 AM ET

Erykah Badu's SXSW performance delayed by alleged stalker incident

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Categories: Erykah Badu, SXSW Festival

Erykahbadu_lOne of the hottest tickets at this year’s SXSW festival is Erykah Badu’s performance with her new band, the Cannabinoids, at the Auditorium Shores Stage tonight. Her set was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. But at roughly 5:30 p.m., Badu posted a startling update to her Twitter account: "Police just apprahended [sic] a stalker in front of my house.Stay tuned for details." Badu went on to give her Twitter followers a blow-by-blow account of a dramatic confrontation outside her Dallas home.

Badu’s tweets, apparently written while the singer traveled the nearly 200 miles to Austin, say that though her arrival will be delayed, she still plans to take the stage tonight. Click through to the jump to read all of Badu’s tweets so far; she’s still posting updates as we write this. We’re heading over to the Auditorium Shores Stage now, and we’ll do our best to keep you updated as this story develops.

SUNDAY UPDATE: Attempts to reach Erykah Badu or her reps for comment have been unsuccessful so far. She performed later in the evening at the GOOD Music showcase with Kanye West.

SATURDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Just got back to my hotel from what might have been the shortest Erykah Badu show on record. When I arrived at the Auditorium Shores Stage around 8 p.m., a line of perhaps hundreds was already snaking away from the free outdoor venue. Most of the people in line seemed to be chattering about local heroes Explosions in the Sky, who had been scheduled to play after Badu. Around 8:15 p.m., I could have sworn I heard Badu playing inside the concert grounds, but when the music died down a few minutes later, I assumed I had been hearing a between-sets DJ. Yet when I arrived to the front of the line, a SXSW staffer who preferred not to give his name told me that Badu had indeed played two songs and promptly left. Twitter updates from Badu confirmed this and named the songs: "The Healer" and "Danger." By the by, Badu also tweeted about reading this very post: "Damn , just read my stalker story on entertainment weekly .. Geez."

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Mar 21 2009 05:57 PM ET

Smashing Pumpkins: And then there was one...

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Categories: Smashing Pumpkins

Billycorgan_l_2How many members of the Smashing Pumpkins’ classic line-up are necessary to carry on operating under that name? The answer, apparently, is one—as long as it’s Billy Corgan. According to a new message on the Pumpkins’ MySpace page longtime drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin has left the band. But the message adds that Corgan will continue to write and record as Smashing Pumpkins and has plans to head into the studio this spring.

Of course, Corgan is the band’s main creative force, and its frontman. However, do you think it’s right that he should carry on as the Pumpkins? And can you think of another musician who has continued to sail under the flag of his band’s name in this manner? I’m sure there are a few—but my dangerously undercaffeinated brain can’t think of any.

Mar 21 2009 04:48 PM ET

St. Vincent talks about her 'beautiful,' 'disgusting' SXSW

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Categories: Concert Reviews, St. Vincent, SXSW Festival

Stvincent_lActor, the upcoming sophomore effort from St. Vincent, is an album of contradictions. “I’m happy with how the orchestrated and beautiful parts on the album came out,” St. V. (a.k.a. Annie Clark) told me yesterday afternoon. “I’m also happy about how disgusting and gnarly the guitar parts came out. ” You could say her two SXSW showcases this year split up along similar gnarly/beautiful lines. Her set last night was a brief, blistering blast at the grubby club Antone’s, while her Wednesday night set at the Central Presbyterian Church (pictured) seemed to fit right in with that lofty venue. “Church shows are nice because people are really attentive,” Clark says. “There’s a reverence for the space in general, so it’s really nice to be able to put on a show with some nuance.”

Nuance, clearly, is something that Clark values in her music. And nuance isn’t always an easy quality to translate to a live setting. “It’s a whole other puzzle, and you have to figure out what has to go where to be the most convincing live,” Clark says. “It’s a little bit of a challenge, but it’s not insurmountable.” Judging by her SXSW shows, she’s doing just fine surmounting that challenge. Four accompanists deployed strings, woodwinds, and samplers in an effort to re-create the album’s intricacies. Clark herself is a focused dynamo on stage, quite possibly my new favorite live guitarist. The combined effect is often breathtaking, and I was sorry St. Vincent couldn’t play for longer at Antone’s last night.

Next week, Clark is headed to L.A. to shoot a video for lead single “Actor Out of Work.” (She wouldn’t reveal anything about the treatment she’s using for the video, fearing it would “sound really cheesy.” Mysterious!) After that, she’ll head out for some promo dates in the U.S. and Europe, followed by a full-scale U.S. tour to support Actor‘s May 5 release. Check it out if you have a chance. “Hopefully the beautiful parts [of the album] will be even more beautiful live,” she says, “and the gnarly parts will get even more disgusting.”

Mar 21 2009 08:03 AM ET

Metallica not-so-secretly rock SXSW: EW photo blog!

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Categories: Concert Reviews, Metallica, Photo Blog!, SXSW Festival

It was the worst-kept secret of the week: Activision’s Guitar Hero: Metallica premiere at Stubbs Friday night would not simply feature a “special appearance by members of” the veteran metal band, as the posters suggested, but would in fact consist of a big ol’ rock show involving instruments free of primary-colored buttons, and men made not of pixels but skin. SXSW is infamous for producing outlandish rumors — omg Tom Morello and David Byrne are playing a set of Pink Floyd covers at the Perez Hilton party tonight! — but the enormous trucks and trailers parked outside the humble barbecue restaurant were all the proof anyone needed that this one would turn out to be head-bangingly true, and kids were lined up pretty much all day to get in. “Surprise,” drawled frontman James Hetfield sarcastically as the band took the stage, wasting little time before using “Creeping Death” to whip everyone into the obligatory chorus of “Die! Die! Die!” … but it was a cheerful chorus, as fans and band alike had a tough time wiping the awkward wow-you’re-close-to-me-right-now grins off their faces.

After a quick demonstration of the new video game courtesy of three contest winners introduced as “the luckiest virgins you will ever see in your life,” the real Metallica motored through a fairly predictable 90 minute set of songs for the 2000+ fans, journalists, Sandra Bullocks, and formerly dreadlocked members of N’Sync who packed the backyard, as well as the hundreds who didn’t make it through the gates but lined streets and nearby rooftops to catch a distant whiff. Oldies like “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Sad But True” flanked newer material like “Cyanide” with everything at its usual gut-rumbling level of intensity, and it was hard not to giggle halfway through when Hetfield asked the crowd if they were “ready for heavy,” as though he’d been playing Colbie Caillat covers or something before. Could the sweetness of the southland and the elbow-rubbing culture of SXSW turn one of rock’s tetchiest bands all hippie and soft? Nah. I am proud to announce that as soon as “Seek and Destroy” came to its inevitable end, the four members of Metallica walked off stage, out the back door of Stubbs, and into four separate black SUVs that pulled away before half the folks assembled on the sidewalk could get their flip cams turned on. Guess that means me and Lars aren’t hitting the taco truck later.

Pictures have disappeared from this blog thanks to a server transfer adventure, but do visit the author’s Flickr page for photographic proof that what Hetfield called a “young, struggling band from Norway” might make it big someday…

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Mar 21 2009 05:03 AM ET

John Forte plays SXSW, opens up about his new CD and life after prison

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Categories: John Forte, SXSW Festival

Johnforte2009_lThe afternoon following his SXSW debut at rapper Talib Kweli‘s Blacksmith Records showcase headlined by Reflection Eternal, musician John Forte invited EW to his hotel for an intimate chat about getting his career back on track after former president Bush commuted his 14-year prison sentence halfway through serving a lengthy drug-trafficking conviction last November.

EW: Last night was your first major solo show since your release from prison. How did it feel to be back on stage in front of so many people?
JOHN FORTE: The crowd was incredible. I really felt a lot of love up there last night and they made my homecoming that much easier. I got emotional.

EW: How many songs did you perform?
JF: I did "Breaking of a Man," "Nervous," "So I (The Harmonic Song)," "Hanging on the Surface," and "I’ll Give You Me" with an introduction of "Life Has Just Begun," so it was kind of like six songs. I was in prison at the time of writing those songs, but most of them aren’t about being in prison–they’re about the time before I was away and what I’d like to see happen when I come home. Some people smoke cigarettes; I wrote songs to cope.

EW: Have you been writing a lot since you’ve been home?
JF: Not a lot. I’ve just been downloading the material from my brain to the studio hard drive because I didn’t have an opportunity to record those songs over the years. There was a fear that I wouldn’t be able to write once I got home because the inspiration would somehow vanish. But I still got it!

EW: How many songs did you write while you were in prison?
JF: About four albums’ worth. That’s the unofficial number. In the past two weeks, I’ve recorded 24 songs.

EW: Wow. How are you going to transform that vast body of work into one album at a time?
JF: I’m not sure. The functioning title of the album is Water Light Sound. It’s a three-word metaphor for birth. I see this album in stages–its water stage, its light stage, and its sonic stage. It’s about bringing all of this stuff together because the tapestry of the music is so broad. There’s an acoustic guitar sounding like a folk song one second, next it has a reggae feel, and then it has a rock feel, almost like [my last CD, 2002's], I, John.

EW: Are you collaborating with any other producers, songwriters, or guest artists?
JF: Thisis my first public admission to wanting to work with Lisa Hannigan.She’s an Irish folk singer who used to sing with Damien Rice. I really,really, really want to do a duet with her super badly.

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Mar 21 2009 01:04 AM ET

Are the SXSW day parties better than the night shows now?

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Categories: SXSW Festival

What a blue-sky Friday we are having here in Austin, Texas; what a day for sitting on a porch with a beer and some friends to hear a band. Just returned from an excursion down South Congress to the Home Slice pizza parlor, where a respectful crowd of mozzerella-loving Jason Isbell fans heard the former Drive-By Trucker and his new band, the 400 Unit (pictured, right), work unceremoniously through several songs off their recent self-titled and kinda hypnotic first album. Stood in the backyard space, surrounded by toddlers, locals, hipsters on bikes, and the occasional pizza waitress walking through, pie held high. Had my first festival cry of 2009 during “The Blue,” somewhere around the line “I’d never know I touched you if you didn’t let me see,” and cracked up at their Talking Heads-by-way-of Muscle Shoals cover of “Psycho Killer.” Tilted my face happily into the sun.

Prior to that, I’d spent the lion’s share of my day — when not picking up a credential for the show at Stubbs tonight where Metallica is by no means playing — at the Onion A.V. Club/Canvas Media “par-TAY” at some bar on 6th Street. There, I enjoyed curiosity-piquing sets from Mexico City rockers Chikita Violenta and the Canadian folk-pop of Gentleman Reg, and introduced Third Eye Blind frontman and occasional online radio DJ Stephan Jenkins to the adorable live charms of Ra Ra Riot, a band he’d recently added to his station’s playlist. (Stay tuned to the Music Mix for more on Jenkins, who is here attending his first SXSW, and seems to have a lot going on at the moment.) “SXSW is overwhelming,” said Riot singer Wes Miles from the stage. “To see you were all not overwhelmed by choice and could make a decision is impressive. But that you chose to come see us? It’s very nice. Thank you.”

It was nice, the whole afternoon — and thank jeebus, because my Thursday night was one of those death marches that reminded me of how much it sucks to try and hear music at SXSW sometimes. After the jump, a serious question: Given the ever-dominant scenster aspects of this festival and the crippling effects of alcohol on respect and concentration skills in humans, have the day parties at SXSW become the place for real music lovers to see bands?

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Mar 20 2009 11:46 PM ET

SXSW: Afternoon delight

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Categories: Indie Rock, SXSW Festival

It’s a South By rule that while bands from Tokyo and New Zealand and Denmark play their little frequent-flier-mile hearts out all over town, you end up seeing a band that shops at your same grocery store back home. So it was that I started day three in Austin with Brooklyn’ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The co-ed foursome’s sound is a sweet jumble of late ’80s/early ’90s shoegaze and jangly Britrock, and just as achingly sincere as the name implies. Singer Kip Berman, sweating gamely in 80-degree heat in a olive anorak, captured all the wistful longing of those Cure and OMD records you had in high school, minus the lip liner, and keyboardist Peggy Wang bopped around like Janice from the Muppets, punctuating the choruses with wispy harmonies. The clip “Everything with You” has been on repeat in my cubicle back home for a while:Next up? Psych-jammy trio Woods, whose immediate live sound gave me weird Credence Clearwater Revival vibes, but it panned out to be more of a pretty, folksy country-ramble thing—think Fleet Foxes with falsetto (Odd to know that they were once signed to Rough Trade). A request to the band, whose combined age appears to be about 37, so they know about these interweb things: please be more Googleable! For now, all we’ve got is your Myspace and this one clip, which doesn’t really do the recorded stuff justice:The relentlessly hyped-slash-already-backlashed Wavves, meanwhile, is so new that they (actually just 22-year-old San Diegan Nathan Daniel William, who looks like a lost member of Vampire Weekend’s deck crew) didn’t even have enough material to fill his half-hour slot. When told he still had 15 minutes, the 22-year-old responded with a bewildered “F—.” Still, his psych-thrash fuzz is fun, kind of like the Pixies for stoned eight-year-olds (not an insult. Seriously!) with a big dose of art-school lo-fi bedroom shtick—a sort of giddy sonic fuzzbom of repetitive, simple, ear-wormy choruses, and sentiments like, well, “I’m So Bored”:

Mar 20 2009 11:01 PM ET

Metallica's James Hetfield talks 'Guitar Hero,' Hall of Fame

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Categories: Metallica

Jameshetfield_lA few hours before Metallica’s feverishly anticipated “secret” SXSW show tonight, frontman James Hetfield gave us the scoop on their impressive (and, based on a quick preview, ridiculously difficult) new Guitar Hero Metallica game, which hits stores March 29. “I actually first played [the original Guitar Hero] maybe a year ago,” he says. “Oh, I sucked. I thought it was not much like playing real guitar. It’s a game. But there are certain aspects that are pretty real. You have to strum at a certain time, press down at the same time. The drums, you have to hit things. But I don’t have four colored buttons on my guitar. It was like learning another instrument.” Now that his band has their very own game, packed with 28 Metallica songs, surely he’s gotten better? “No. [Laughs] There’s no desire, honestly. I love seeing the youth play it and get good at it and have fun with it and rock out together, but…I have a pretty large collection of real guitars that I love playing with.”As for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which will induct the band next month, Hetfield says, “We’re very honored to be recognized. There’s a whole genre around us that hopefully we can invite through the door. Hopefully there will be recognition for some of the bands that have changed music and changed people’s lives. That’s what I think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame should be about. There are certainly a lot of bands that aren’t in there that I can’t belive aren’t: Motorhead, Rush, Judas Priest, Deep Purple. But for us to be in there, hopefully we can bring some awareness to heavy stuff.” The band has invited a slew of past collaborators to the ceremony, including former members Dave Mustaine (who declined the invite) and former bassist Jason Newstead. “We wanted to invite everyone who was involved with Metallica,” says Hetfield. “You know, the drama that goes around the Rrock and Roll Hall of Fame is pretty ridiculous most of the time. We’re trying to avoid that. We are a band that’s alive and feeling good and still creating, and we want it to be a family reunion. We’ve invited pretty much everyone from our first drum roadie to the head of the record company now, and all in between. We put the invite out there and anyone is welcome.”

Mar 20 2009 10:05 PM ET

Prince is the busiest man in showbiz (next week)

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Categories: Prince

Prince_lNext week Prince will not only perform three nights in a row (March 25-27) on Jay Leno, he’ll also play three back-to-back concerts (at different venues, no less) on March 28th in Los Angeles, according to billboard.com. It’s all leading up to the March 29th release of his two new albums "MPLSoUND" and "LOtUSFLOW3R" and the launch of his website lotusflow3r.com.

Are all you Prince fans out there completely psyched? Will you watch all three nights on Leno? Or simply booking your flights to L.A. right now?

 

Mar 20 2009 09:06 PM ET

Why I'm psyched about Mary J. Blige's new movie

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Categories: Movies

For me, Mary J. Blige is a lot like Jell-O: there’s always room for more. So, I’m PSYCHED to hear that she’ll be joining the cast of Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself, alongside Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson and Perry. Now, I know that Perry’s films can be a bit polarizing but, personally, I’m a fan. And I think Blige is a perfect choice for one of Perry’s projects. Much like the female protagonists in many of Perry’s stories, Blige has gone through struggles and emerged victorious. She’ll get a chance to show off some acting chops, much like Janet Jackson in Perry’s 2007 flick Why Did I Get Married?, and we’ll probably get some new Blige tunes via the film’s soundtrack! It’s a win-win. What do you think of Blige’s casting, Music Mix-ers?

More on Tyler Perry:
Tyler Perry inks deal for two more movies with Lionsgate
‘Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail’ wins big at the box office
Movie Review: ‘Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail‘

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