'Choose The Cover' Contest Winner

A big congrats to The Sheepdogs, for being the first ever unsigned band to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone! I voted for them every chance I got over the past few months. It's refreshing to finally see a rock & roll group on the fucking cover. The band from Saskatoon will receive a contract with Atlantic Records. Check out below their reactions upon hearing the news.



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The Announcement of PEARL JAM TWENTY

The captivating documentary gives fans and audiences an intimate first glimpse into Pearl Jam’s journey culled from more than 1,200 hours of rarely and never-before-seen footage, over 24 hours of recent interviews with the band, as well as live footage of their spellbinding concert performances.

- courtesy of www.pearljam.com

So here's what's gonna happen:

Sep 10:
- World Premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival

Sep 13:
- Release of PJ20 Companion Book -- compiled and written by veteran music writer Jonathan Cohen with Mark Wilkerson, the book includes a foreword by Cameron Crowe (and material from all his own band interviews) as well as original interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Dave Grohl

Sep 20:
- Worldwide Release of Pearl Jam Twenty in select theaters and cities

- Release of PJ20 Original Soundtrack -- includes 2 CDs with 29 tracks of rare and unreleased from across Pearl Jam's 20 year history, curated by Cameron Crowe

Oct 25:
- DVD Release of Pearl Jam Twenty

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Are you excited??

Lifes Rich Pageant

I just realized I'm about the same age as R.E.M's fourth album. It's also their fourth one from the 80's to get the remaster/re-issue edition, though I can't say that the songs benefit from the treatment (loudness war strikes again!). Like their previous Fables Of The Reconstruction, Pageant is criminally underrated. To my ears, it's the band's most catchy record (my only gripe: why the cheesy banjo playing at the start of I Believe?). It also contains the best sounding drums out of all their first decade's output. This album highlights the start of the maturity and sophistication of Michael Stipe's songwriting.; you'll notice how he puts more political subtext into the words. Still present here is Mike Mills' signature background vocals and of course Peter Buck's awesome Rickenbacker jangles, but managing to sound very different from their first three records. But this is only half the fun. The other half is the second disc titled Athens Demos, in which I got a real kick out of. Bare in mind it's not a bunch of throwaway songs. Gives us some insight into the band's creativity. The last six songs or so is classic stuff. Biggest surprise here is a very early version of Bad Day, which was finally released as a single in 2003. So here's how I rank my top five R.E.M. albums: first Murmur, then Reckoning, Lifes Rich Pageant, Automatic For The People, and New Adventures In Hi-Fi.

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Goodbye, Amy

So now Amy Winehouse joins the infamous '27 club'. I can't say I was totally shocked when I heard the news. With all due respect, somehow I knew something like this was gonna happen. She was no doubt the best female singer of her generation, and I'm very sad she threw away her amazing talent for drugs and alcohol. I liked her album Back To Black, but if you want real artistic genius, listen to her debut, Frank. Rest in peace.

RS Interview with Clarence's wife

Another look into the greatness that is the Big Man. It's now slightly over a month since his death, and I still think about him every single day. Life just wouldn't be the same without Clarence, but one thing's for certain, and Bruce said it best:

"Clarence doesn't leave the E Street Band when he dies. He leaves when we die."

Remember that.

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Cameron Crowe

There's this excellent new interview with one of my favorite film directors, only second to Martin Scorsese when it comes to putting together movie soundtracks (by the way I enjoyed the widely-panned Elizabethtown). He talks in detail about this aspect, also his rock journalism, and some interesting tidbits about his two new films, including PJ20, and apparently a HUGE upcoming project on Neil Young!

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