Jack White Stomps Through 'Austin City Limits' Set

Jack White's Austin City Limits performance aired on PBS last night, and the rocker took on old and new material for his hour long set, visiting tracks from the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather his solo debut Blunderbuss and covers of Blind Willie Johnson and Hank Williams. White brought out both his all-male and all-female backing bands, the Buzzards and the Peacocks, who took turns helping him out. The rocker capped his intense set with a soothing rendition of the White Stripes' "We're Going to be Friends," but White stomps and rips through the rest of the set.

source: rollingstone.com

Ronnie Wood Weds In Secret Ceremony

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has reportedly married his 34-year-old fiancee in a low-key civil ceremony.

The 65-year-old rocker tied the knot with theatre producer Sally Humphreys at London's Dorchester Hotel on Friday, according to reports.

The couple are said to have known each other for nine years and have been dating for around six months.

Earlier this year, Ms Humphreys said Wood proposed after asking her father's permission at the premiere of the Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane.

She said: "There's no problem with the age difference. I can understand why people would have a problem with it but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. We get on very well."

She added: "He's very funny and very talented. There's the Ronnie that everyone thinks that they know and the very talented artist and musician."

Wood, who has battled addiction to drink and drugs, split up with second wife Jo in 2008, after he left his wife of more than 20 years for 21-year-old former cocktail waitress Ekaterina Ivanova.

His divorce from Jo was finalised last year.

His first marriage, from 1971 to 1978, was to Krissy Findlay, the mother of Jesse, one of his four children.

Second wife Jo recently auctioned off items from their marriage, sparking a dispute with the guitarist who said his Rolling Stones tour outfits were not hers to sell.

The band recently played a string of concerts marking 50 years since their first gig.

source: planetrock.com

Dave Grohl's Directorial Debut to Premiere at Sundance

Dave Grohl's directorial debut, Sound City, is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and the rocker will be in attendance. His documentary examines the history of the Van Nuys, California, recording studio and was inspired by Grohl's purchase of the Neve 8028 recording console from the Sound City Studios last year.

"As a first-time director, I am humbled to be able to share my passion for songwriting and storytelling with this incredible cast of legendary musicians, as seen through the extraordinary story of America's greatest unsung recording studio, Sound City," said Grohl in a statement. "Being included in this group of artists is a true honor, and the Sundance Film Festival is the perfect place to premiere a film about craft, integrity and passion for art. I am over the moon!"



Grohl's relationship with the studio began in 1991 when Nirvana laid down the tracks for Nevermind in its booths. The Sundance Film Festival runs January 17th to 27th in Park City, Utah. For more information on Sound City, visit its website.

source: rollingstone.com

Steven Tyler Apologizes to Nicki Minaj; Ex-American Idol Judge Says He's "Not a Racist"

Steven Tyler isn't looking to feud.

The former American Idol judge is sorry that Nicki Minaj found his comments to be racist. "I apologize if it was taken wrong, Nicki," the Aerosmith rocker said Tuesday on eTalk, a Canadian entertainment show.


"But I am the farthest from [being a racist]," he said. "I am the last thing on this planet as far as being a racist. I don't know where she got that out of me saying I'm not sure how she would've judged Bob Dylan."

Minaj was outraged after Tyler told MTV he thought the "Starships" singer "would have sent [Dylan] to the cornfield" if he'd come on Idol. But Tyler insisted he only meant, "if Bob Dylan came on the show, he would've been thrown off."

"Maybe I spoke out of turn," he said. "But a racist I'm not, Nicki."

source: eonline.com

Tom Petty Auctioning Off 'Favorite' Convertible on eBay

Starting on October 11th, Tom Petty fans have 10 days to bid on his sleek, champagne-colored 1996 Jaguar XJS Convertible on eBay, where the rocker is auctioning it off for charity.

"I have so many great memories associated with this car," says Petty. "When I began dating Dana (my wife), I asked her what her favorite car was. So, I phoned the office and said I wanted a champagne convertible Jaguar XJS. The next day, they delivered it to my house and showed me how everything worked and I took it for a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway. I was in heaven, as was Dana. This car has such an incredible design. My favorite car I ever owned. We sure are going to miss it."

Jaguar stopped making the XJS in 1996. All proceeds from the auction will benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, the medical humanitarian organization that provides independent health care and assistance in over 60 countries.

source: rollingstone.com

Aerosmith Go Full-Throttle on Raucous New Song 'Lover Alot'

Now that Steven Tyler is finished with American Idol, he has plenty of time to lay down vocals with Aerosmith on songs like "Lover Alot," a new tune the band is streaming. It's a bombastic rocker with a propulsive beat and pounding bassline that anchor motormouth vocals from Tyler and a squealing guitar solo from Joe Perry.

The song is the second the band has posted from its forthcoming album, Music From Another Dimension. The band debuted the first tune, "Legendary Child," in a performance on Idol in May. Music From Another Dimension is due November 6th.

source: rollingstone.com

Steven Tyler votes self off ‘American Idol’, returns to Aerosmith

LOS ANGELES – Rocker Steven Tyler on Thursday bowed out of his job as a judge on top-rated television singing contest “American Idol” for the coming season, saying he wants to dedicate himself to his band, Aerosmith.

Tyler’s departure comes as his fellow judge, Jennifer Lopez, also weighs whether to return to the program that once reigned supreme atop U.S. TV ratings but has seen its audience shrink in recent years.

Third panelist Randy Jackson seems a likely bet to return this fall for the program’s 12th season as either a judge or in a mentoring role.

“I strayed from my first love, Aerosmith, and I’m back,” the band’s lead singer said in a statement.

“I’ve decided it’s time for me to let go of my mistress ‘American Idol’ before she boils my rabbit,” Tyler added, in a reference to the thriller movie, “Fatal Attraction.” “I got two fists in the air, and I’m kicking the door open with my band.”

Tyler, 64, and Aerosmith had amassed numerous hits like “Walk This Way” and “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” since gaining fame in the 1970s, but the group had reached a lull a few years back when the singer decided to join “American Idol” as a judge.

The addition of Tyler and Lopez to the judging panel in the season that began in January 2011 sparked great interest in the Fox TV network’s hit show.

But the most recent season that ended in May had the lowest-rated finale in 11 years with just 21.5 million Americans tuning in to watch Phillip Phillips win the title and recording contract that comes with it. More than 30 million viewers watched the show’s finale in its heyday in 2006 and 2007.

Mark Darnell, president of alternative entertainment for Fox, called Tyler “a terrific judge, a true friend, and great mentor” on the show.

“We are very sad that Steven has chosen to focus more on his music, but we always knew when we hired a rock ‘n roll legend, he would go back to music,” Darnell said in a statement.

Indeed, Tyler’s return to performing seemed foremost on his mind in March when Aerosmith announced it would go on a North American tour that began June 16, and release their first album in eight years, “Music From Another Dimension,” on Nov. 6.

The flamboyant rocker’s departure leaves a big hole on the “American Idol” judges panel as he has been a fan favorite. He helped create one of this past season’s dramatic moments when young Jessica Sanchez was voted off by fans, then saved from elimination after Tyler and fellow judge Jackson stormed the stage in her defense. Sanchez went on to the finals.

Still in doubt is the fate of Lopez, another music superstar, who just this morning on NBC’s “Today” show seemed still undecided about her next move.

“It’s been on my mind a lot, as you can imagine,” she said. “You know, I signed on to ‘American Idol’ to do one year, and … I wound up doing the two years. And now it’s like, ‘OK, do we continue on this journey?’”

source: interaksyon.com

Foo Fighters Drummer Will Play Iggy Pop in 'CBGB'

Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins will portray Iggy Pop in the forthcoming film CBGB, the Hollywood Reporter confirms. This will be Hawkins' first significant acting role, though he has had comedic roles in a handful of Foo Fighters videos. It's unclear how substantial the role will be – there's a good chance that it's a small part and Hawkins was cast in part because he somewhat resembles the Stooges rocker in his prime.

Other parts in the film have been cast as well, including The Borgias actress Mickey Sumner as Patti Smith, The Big Bang Theory star Johnny Galecki as Television manager Terry Ork, Malin Akerman as Blondie singer Debbie Harry and Rupert Grint as Dead Boys guitarist Cheetah Chrome. Alan Rickman will star as Hilly Kristal, the owner of the famous punk rock hot spot.

source: rollingstone.com

Neil Young Enlists Shepard Fairey for 'Americana' Visuals

For his new album with Crazy Horse, Americana, Neil Young asked artist Shepard Fairey to create paintings to represent each of the record's 11 songs. The series of works premiered in L.A. last night at the Perry Rubenstein Gallery and will be on display there starting this week through July 14th.

"We discovered a lot of depth in these songs and the visuals of these are just amazing," Young told Rolling Stone. "'Clementine' is so deep with its original verses and this art, you really get a feeling for the tenseness and desperation of the situation, the unresolved death and longing."

Fairey's work brought out a lot in the songs that Young believes he might not have seen otherwise. "Almost every one of them had a view that was unique to me," he said. "I wouldn’t have thought of it."

Young and Fairey have worked together before, when Fairey included Young in his May Day project, a series of portraits of some of his heroes from different walks of life, in 2010. As a result of that painting Fairey did of Young, the rocker asked Fairey to design the packaging for the 25th anniversary of the Bridge School, Young's annual Bay Area benefit.

Given their past history, this project was very much a collaboration between the two. "We talked about them. If he didn’t have an idea or he was wondering, we talked and between the two of us we came up with concepts for them," Young said. "Some of them he knew exactly what he wanted to do and they were great and I just kept saying yes."

For Fairey, the project was a labor of love. "I’m just really excited I got to do this because I love Neil’s music and I love the way that music affects people viscerally and inspires them to look deeper into the meaning of the songs," Fairey said.

Both of them are hoping to get people to reexamine songs they think they know. Americana is made up of 11 standards, from "Oh Susanna" and "Clementine" to "This Land Is Your Land" and "Wayfarin' Stranger." But Young says these aren't the songs people think they are.

"We had to bring back the original words. Everybody’s forgotten what the songs are about in the first place in their kind of rabid celebration of the beauty of the songs and the lightness of some of the verses," Young said. "They took away the counterpoints the songs were a house for, and so the songs weren’t as strong. And now with the original verses back in and the art that reflects the tension of the original message, we’ve worked on it and made a different thing out of it."

Those words were music to Fairey's ears. "I’m so glad to hear that from Neil. We discussed some of that, but I almost didn’t want to press on all my political views just in case we disagreed," Fairey said, eliciting strong laughter from both himself and Young at that last part. "But my reading into a lot of the songs was it was very relevant to the struggle reflected in [John] Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath, which people are saying this recession is the most serious thing since the Great Depression and a lot of the same dynamics are at play, so I felt like it was very relevant."

The works will live outside of the gallery. In addition to being the centerpiece for the recent 40-minute short film Young did to promote Americana, which finds the rocker visiting a gallery in search of images to accompany his book America, the paintings will also join Young and Crazy Horse on the road. "The art will be the backdrop for this short tour that we’re doing," Young said of the upcoming Americana dates, which he described as "really a very short tour."

And beyond the next tour, he sees this partnership continuing in some way. "We’re both moving pretty quickly in our lives right now, but we’ve had a good time collaborating on this and I’m sure there are gonna be more opportunities for this."

source: rollingstone.com