Videos are starting to leak from the Paul McCartney honoring ceremony at the White House with Jack White, Seinfeld, The Jonas Brothers, and of course President Barack Obama all paying a bit of tribute to the man that has brought us so much music over the years. CoS has the clip of the artists (and Obama) singing “Hey Jude.” Amazing.
Paul McCartney said on Tuesday he was honored to be receiving one of the United States’ most important music awards, the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
To mark the occasion, a lineup of stars including Stevie Wonder, the Jonas Brothers, Herbie Hancock and Elvis Costello will pay tribute to the former Beatle in a concert at the White House on Wednesday presided over by President Barack Obama.
McCartney is the first non-American recipient of the award that has only been given twice before — to Paul Simon in 2007 and to Stevie Wonder in 2009.
When I first heard that news that Jim James accidentally fell off the stage during “Off the Record” at their Iowa City concert on Tuesday night, for some reason I didn’t think it was a really big deal. I thought this kinda thing happens to JJ quite a bit considering how crazy he is on stage regularly, but then the news got a bit more serious and something that no one should really take lightly. It turns out this little spill forced the show to get canceled halfway through with a doctor ordering the frontman off the road for a couple weeks while he heals up. This means that the Chicago shows got canceled (or postponed) along with the Obama benefit in Louisville and the solo show at Schubas. Major bummer for the Chicago fans in the house, including Greg Kot, I’m sure…
Injuries suffered by singer Jim James in an accidental fall while performing have forced My Morning Jacket to cancel two concerts scheduled Thursday and Friday at the Chicago Theatre, the band announced Wednesday.
James fell off the stage while performing Tuesday in Iowa City and “suffered traumatic injuries to his torso,” the band said in a statement. The singer was treated at a hospital and released, but ordered off the road for two to three weeks to recover from his injuries. Also wiped off the docket were solo concerts James was supposed to perform Wednesday at Schubas and next week in Louisville to benefit presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Relix is confirming a Spring 2009 tour by all of the surviving members of The Dead:
Sources confirm that the surviving members of the Grateful Dead — guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh,and drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann — are planning to tour in April and May of 2009. There’s no word yet on the band’s configuration — previous configurations of “The Dead” and The Other Ones have included singer-guitar hero Warren Haynes, guitar ace Jimmy Herring, singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi, singer Joan Osborne, keyboardists Jeff Chimenti and Rob Baracco, as well as guitarists Mark Karan and Steve Kimock.
While Ratdog and Phil & Friends seem to have found their niche in the post-GD touring world, nothing really compares to getting all the surviving members together on a stage. The big question is who will fill in on guitar duties. Jimmy Herring seemed pretty busy with Widespread Panic until they announced that they’d be taking some time off during 2009. So he’s a possibility. As much as I would love to see it happen, it’s hard to imagine Steve Kimock ever re-joining with The Dead. So, Herring seems like the obvious bet. But Mark Karan maybe? Warren Haynes? Larry Campbell? I’m sure we’ll find out more specifics soon enough.
Also, it looks like the band is planning another “Deadheads for Obama” show. Relix has now confirmed the show will take place on October 13 at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, PA, and it will also feature the Allman Brothers Band and an undetermined opening act. Warren Haynes and Jeff Chimenti will respectively fill in on guitar and keyboard duties for the band.
I thought I’d give a little props for one of the lesser-known bands that got booked for the Democratic National Convention going on right now in Denver, CO. Yonder Mountain String Band is scheduled to appear today right before the Obama acceptance speech — what a time slot — which isn’t all that surprising given the geography that this newgrass band calls Colorado their home. They’re expecting up to 75,000 people today. Amazing.
I haven’t followed the happenings there too much, but I loved the Monitor Mix post on the subject previewing the events. And I know Rage Against the Machine played last night, which we were hoping on getting a photographer for but that fell through at the last minute. Oh well.
Yonder Mountain String Band, hailing from Nederland, Colorado (forty miles northwest of Denver), is honored to perform at this year’s Democratic National Convention held on Denver August 24-28. Yonder will take the stage on the final day of the convention – August 28th at INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium – just prior to Barack Obama’s highly anticipated acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination. Also scheduled to perform at the event are will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Wonder.
Any Denver live music fans care to share in the comments about the festival-like atmosphere around town? I’m curious.
In Drymount! and Print Tease I’ve looked at artists and bands who have had long productive relationships. Pearl Jam and Ames Bros. have been working together for over 10 years; Rob Jones shapes the White Stripe’s image almost as much as Jack White does. Another really fruitful combination has been indie-favorite The Arcade Fire and Minneapolis printing outfit Burlesque of North America.
There were a lot of Print Tease worthy prints released this week, including some choice prints from Emek, Jermaine, Jay Ryan and others. But I went with this latest Arcade Fire print to show once again how an artist can shape a bands larger identity.
