Tampa Calling

For those as far out of the loop as myself, Street Sweeper Social Club is The Coup’s Boots Riley and RATM/AudioSlave guitarist/Nightwatchman, Tom Morello. They’re currently filling the opening slot on the Jane’s Addiction / NIN tour. (Pictured below playing the May 9 show at Ford Amphitheatre; photo taken by Phil Bardi.)

I saw Boots last year while he was out on the road with Galactic and he totally stole the show. The idea of him collaborating with Tom Morello has me extremely excited. Unfortunately, the three tracks of theirs that my buddy supplied me with last night have done little more than disappoint.

None the less, last Sunday, Boots and Trent Reznor shared the stage and mic duties on a cover of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams” and I think it turned out pretty awesome.

(VIDEO AFTER THE CUT THAT I’VE PLACED HERE TO INCREASE THE “CLICK COUNT” ON THIS POST)

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Oklahoma is cooler than Florida! At least as far as official state rock songs are concerned. Residents declared The Flaming Lips‘ “Do You Realize?” the rock anthem of Oklahoma via an online vote. However, the Oklahoma state House rejected the resolution. Some representatives, inclined against all things cool, protested the vote, citing the band’s profanity and provocative wardrobe. A bandmember once wore a hammer & sickle t-shirt? Say it ain’t so! When all was thought lost, Gov. Brad Henry, part-time rock savior, overruled the legislature via executive order and threw his support behind the people’s choice. Oklahoma is now cool despite the best efforts of certain politicians. As for the Lips (pictured right), they are currently prepping a double album.

Joey Ramone passed away back in 2001, but his family still throws the annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash to raise money for the Joey Ramone Foundation for Lymphoma Research. In addition to sets by Fishbone and Supersuckers, this year’s show will feature a listening party of previously unheard Joey Ramone demos and rough mixes.

(Nick Cave’s Gladiator sequel, reissues from R.E.M. and Stone Roses, and more after the jump!) Read the rest of this entry »

Photos by Phil Bardi.

Let’s put this in perspective: when Jane’s Addiction and Nine Inch Nails toured together for the first Lollapalooza in 1991, current high-school seniors were just being born, crying for their momma’s milk. Now NIN and Jane’s have returned to milk the cash cow one more time. Though never officially declared a reunion tour, the fact that the original four members of Jane’s Addiction – singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery and drummer Steven Perkins – have only occasionally been in the same room together, let alone played a show,  certainly made it feel like one. And that’s OK by me.  Jane’s pulled the plug at the peak of their success, leaving many fans and soon-to-be-fans craving a live show.

Trent Reznor is a different story. The reclusive god of goth has been releasing albums once every five years or so and touring about the same. Then he dropped the news that this tour would be NIN’s last. Maybe that’s so, but rock stars have a penchant for breaking such promises.

So, what can you expect when two powerhouse bands schedule a big reunion/farewell tour? Overworked fog machines? Yep. Tons of faded black t-shirts? Yep. Power-packed shows filled with the greatest hits? Err..  Not so much, at least for the NIN set.

Catching many of the crowd off guard, a four-piece NIN took the stage rather early, just before 8 p.m.  Reznor –  dressed in a green t-shirt, black jorts and combat boots — led the band through a spirited five-song run to open to the set: “Now I’m Nothing,” “Terrible Lie,” “SIN,” “March of the Pigs” and “Piggy.”  The performance lost steam as the band trudged through tracks from all over the NIN catalog. It seemed like most of the crowd — many attending their one concert of the year — were waiting for “Closer.” They didn’t get it, and seemed to be even more confused that the band chose to play an Adam Ant cover so late in the set. Reznor finally won the crowd back when he ended the set with great nostalgia (but no tripped out video) with “Head Like a Hole” and “Hurt.” (More text, pictures, setlists, and video after the jump) Read the rest of this entry »

CL’s choice picks for this weekend in music.

Friday, May 08
What was it that Deiter said on Sprockets? Oh yeah … “Your story has grown tiresome.” I can see this gimmicky show — Unwigged & Unplugged: An evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, which features the three now-silver-haired comedians who made up Spinal Tap performing acoustic — as getting real old real fast. Let’s hope the trio doesn’t think that just the songs can carry the day; they’d better have some funny shtick in there, or I could see this thing being a waste of time. Then again, I could be wrong. Still, one wonders: What happens when you run an acoustic guitar through an amp and turn the amp up to 11? Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg, $36.50-$49.50. —ES

Post rock meets experimental electronica by instrumental Los Angeles duo El Ten Eleven (pictured). Made up of Kristian Dunn (fretless bass, guitar/bass doubleneck) and Tim Fogarty (electric drums, acoustic drums, synthesizers), El Ten Eleven employs heavy looping and much effects pedal-pushing to create its fuzzified, lively brand of dance music. Also performing: Surly, The Tape Delay and Ghost of Gloria. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., Orpheum, Ybor City, $8 in advance/$10 DOS. —LP

It’s only fitting that Nashville’s Kings of Leon have graduated to playing arenas — although the Sun Dome is pretty small in that regard — because their sound has morphed from a garage-y immediacy to, yup, more of an arena-style bombast. “Sex on Fire,” the first single from KoL’s current album, Only by the Night, casts a U2-ish hue. The shift must be working: Only by the Night ascended to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, besting 2007’s Because of the Times by 20 slots. For more, read CL’s interview with guitarist Matthew Followill here. Fri., May 8, 8 p.m., USF Sun Dome, Tampa, $35.50 and $43. —ES Read the rest of this entry »

Ticketholders for the Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction tour (May 9 at Ford Amp), cross your fingers that Jane’s makes it that far. They’ve been fighting again. Perry Farrell isn’t concerned though. “I’m not going to tell you it’s been all smooches and hugs. But it shouldn’t be because that would be a bore … As long as they can handle it, I can handle it.”

Morrissey (pictured right) gave Coachella concertgoers a moment to remember last weekend. Midway through the set, he said, “I can smell burning flesh, and I hope to God it’s human.” A few minutes later, Moz left the stage! He would return, explaining, “The smell of burning animals is making me sick. I just couldn’t bear it.” The rest of his set concluded without incident. Moz, you may remember, is an outspoken vegetarian. One of The Smiths‘ albums is titled Meat Is Murder, after all.

More stories about Depeche Mode, The Cure, Pixies, Breeders, Pearl Jam, and Smashing Pumpkins after the jump.

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“What a diff’rence a day makes” – María Méndez Grever

The music portion of SXSW has begun and Austin is infested with indie rockers, scenesters, hipsters and musicians from all over the world. The snarky t-shirts and iPhones of the interactive and film portion have been replaced with leather, tight pants and guitar cases. And they’re everywhere.

Try to imagine if every bar, club and art gallery in Tampa and St. Pete tented their parking lots and had full concert lineups on indoor and outdoor stages for 6 straight days. It’s a lot to take in. Not to mention, the stimulation of the local economy here – from stage and equipment rental to groceries and clothing – is staggering.

These Arms Are Snakes at Red Eye Fly. More photos after the jump.

There are many methods of navigating the music portion of “South by.” You can meticulously plot your path, you can wander from bar to bar (if you have a wristband or a badge) or you can do a combination of both. Modes of transport can include car (shout out to Monica Armendazzle), cab, bus, shuttle, bike (they ought to rent these), rickshaw, horse-and-buggy, and finally your own two feet. 

Ivan is in town now, as well as some folks from Creative Loafing Atlanta, so we’ve been coordinating via text. This has worked to avoid overlap and to catch wind of “secret” parties such as last night’s Playboy Party held in a warehouse on E. 12th in which Jane’s Addiction played a surprise hour-long set. Word on the street is that Metallica will be doing a similar stunt tonight to promote their new Guitar Hero game. We’ll see.

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It’s lunch hour on a Tuesday afternoon and I’m doing what every descent red-blooded American that has managed to keep their job is doing — I’m using the company’s bandwidth to watch videos. Today has been especially good and I thought I’d share some with y’all:

• My distaste for Pitchfork has been well documented on my web site but today on the video portion of the net rag’s site, they’ve redeemed themselves for a week. Real-life bad muthafucker (sorry Samuel), Andre Williams is the focus of the documentary, Agile Mobile Hostile and PitchforkTV is streaming the entire thing. Go Watch It Now! Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday afternoon, Trent Reznor posted a note to the Nine Inch Nails forum announcing a forthcoming co-headlining tour with Jane’s Addiction while reflecting on the band’s past, present, and future as they approach the 20th anniversary of their first official releases. In his note, he casually drops the fanbomb, revealing Nine Inch Nails’ plans to “disappear for a while” the idea being that, like so many bands before who’ve called it quits while seemingly at their prime, they’ll go out guns blazing, before they can get old and stale. Reznor does more than imply that the upcoming world tour could very well be NIN’s last.

Here’s his note: Read the rest of this entry »