Morrissey revealed at his SXSW press conference yesterday that he was offered $5 million last year for The Smiths to re-form at the 2005 Coachella festival. Obviously though, he denied because “money doesn’t come into it.” He also took a swipe at The Arctic Monkeys, pronouncing, “For them it’s happening too quickly. They haven’t proven anything and they haven’t had to work too hard. It’s all a bit unnatural. Yes, they’ve sold 700,000 albums but it can’t be gratifying. They haven’t been driving up and down the M1 in a van for 15 years.” The always outspoken Moz hasn’t changed a bit, and I appreciate it. ( source )
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Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo is getting married this summer. Yeah, of course we all know he prefers Asian girls. Pinkerton went into specific details, resulting in my favorite album from them. So, he is marrying a girl named Kyoko Ito who he met in 1997 at a solo gig. She is more than half-Japanese though, so no “god damn!”‘s from him about it on ‘El Scorcho’. This will be an interesting marriage though because Rivers is an interesting person. Sometimes mopey, sometimes happy, and sometimes declaring to Rolling Stone that he is abstinant… well, we wish him the best of luck either way. ( source )
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New album details from Boards of Canada, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, Dungen and recovering Daniel Johnston. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ new album, Stadium Arcadium, is twenty-eight tracks and two discs long. All are also planning new tours. I am looking forward to Petty’s Highway Companion the most, as I saw him live last year and he was exceptional.
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Charlize Theron is now producing a documentary on Cuban hip-hop that will appear at SXSW. I don’t listen to Cuban hip-hop, but I would have never guessed that Theron could produce or had an interest in the genre. ( source )
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Pearl Jam is still making music with their new album, Avocado, and they just recently revealed the artwork for the album. Dumb looking cover. Hopefully the album will be good though. ( source )
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I reported earlier on the Jack White-Billy Childish feud. White is now sueing the London art gallery, Aquariam, which displays Billy Childish’s works. They had a picture interpretating their ‘war of words’. Gallery owner Steven Lowe said, “It was just a bit of fun but these people don’t seem to have a sense of humor.” White is just doing this to get under Childish’s skin obviously. If not, he is easy to offend. ( source )
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Bob Dylan will tour this summer. He has begun to line up some UK tour dates. Click the source for the specific info. ( source )
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James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire or the Manic Street Preachers will both release separate solo albums. Wire describes his new material as, “a really crappy punky solo album.” He is indeed modest. The Manic Street Preachers also have a new album planned for the near future as well. ( source )
Another update will be made later today. /
