Backstage Pass

Here are some of my favorites moments from last year:

10. Taking Back Sunday, Giants Stadium, 7.7.07: After their rousing set as part of Live Earth, TBS’ Adam Lazzara, Fred Mascherino and Matt Rubano take to the press room to discuss environmental concerns and the meaning of the day with the world’s media. When they see me, however, the trio uses its place at the podium to get the world’s media to give me a big round of applause. The world’s media declines.

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Backstage@Backstage #10-6 (Taking Back Sunday, Amy Winehouse, Joseph Arthur, Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine)" »

Continue reading "INDIE ROCK INJURY REPORT: Envy on the Coast's Ryan Hunter" »

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5. Arcade Fire, “Antichrist Television Blues” (Merge): A dark, depressing look into the world of stage parents and child stars that is cleverly disguised by the jangling guitar, the sweet backing vocals and Win Butler’s diabolically earnest delivery.

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Singles #5-1 (Arcade Fire, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Justice, Rihanna)" »

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10. Bone Thugs N Harmony feat. Mariah Carey and Bow Wow, “Lil L.O.V.E.” (Full Surface/Interscope): Bone Thugs’ double-time, tongue-twisting rhymes play nicely against Carey’s silky, low-key singing on the refrain, creating a single as potent as “We Belong Together.”

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Singles #10-6 (Bone Thugs N Harmony, Glen Hansard, Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, Amy Winehouse, UGK)" »

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15. Avril Lavigne feat. Lil Mama, “Girlfriend (Remix)” (RCA): I admit it, I wasn’t crazy about the original version, but Lil Mama’s flashy rhymes and irresistible “B-R-double-O-K-lyn” style makes it all worthwhile.

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Singles #15-11 (Against Me!, Glasvegas, Boys Like Girls, Los Campesinos, The Academy Is...)" »

20. Against Me! feat. Tegan, “Borne on the FM Waves” (Warner Bros.): Of all the deliciously subversive anthems on Against Me!’s fine “New Wave” album, the sweetness that Tegan adds to the struggle pushes this one to the top.

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Singles #20-16 (Against Me!, Glasvegas, Boys Like Girls, Los Campesinos, The Academy Is...)" »

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Singles #25-21 (Envy on the Coast, Lily Allen, Keyshia Cole, M.I.A., Chamillionaire)" »

National Public Radio listeners today confirmed their reputation as bespectacled white geek-rockers who prefer not to actually rock by voting Radiohead's "In Rainbows" as the No. 1 album of 2007.

The listeners' Top 25 albums included only one rap album and one non-white artist: "Kala" by the Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A.

Five critics weighed in with similarly colored Top Ten lists, bringing the number of albums by non-white artists to three, including "Cornell 1964," a newly-released live recording by Charles Mingus, and "Twinight's Lunar Rotation," a collection of tracks from obscure funk-soul bands.

(The critic Will Hermes chose "Untrue," by the mysterious London producer Burial, which may or may not count: Burial has remained almost completely anonymous, making it hard to tell.)

Three critics also chose "In Rainbows" as No. 1.

Listeners picked Canadian acts Arcade Fire and Feist as No. 2 and 3, respectively, and rounded out their top ten with Wilco, The White Stripes, Spoon, Modest Mouse, The Shins, The National and Andrew Bird.

(Full disclosure: This writer's Top Ten list leads with The Fiery Furnaces' "Widow City.") 

The space that currently holds the Virgin Megastore in Union Square will be put on the market by a real estate broker for 2009, according to Billboard.biz.

Winick Realty has already sent out packages highlighting the massive store's features, which include 28,000 square feet on one floor and 30,000 on another, Billboard reports. Virgin will vacate Feb. 1, 2009, according to The New York Sun.

Back in August, two real-estate firms, Vornado Realty Trust and The Related Companies, jointly purchased the Virgin chain, which owns 11 stores in 6 states, including the Union Square location and another in Times Square. Even then, observers predicted that Vornado-Related would shutter the New York locations in order to rent the spaces to business at higher rates.

Both stores have reportedly benefited from below-market rent thanks to long-term leases.

Two prime tickets -- Section A1, Row 26, Seats 11 and 12 -- for Miley Cyrus's Dec. 28 show at Nassau Coliseum are being auctioned off for charity, with bidding currently at $2,500.

The money will go to Free Arts NYC, which provides educational arts and mentoring programs to children. If you've got the dough, and the holiday spirit, check out www.charityfolks.com.

5. The Academy Is..., “Santi” (Fueled by Ramen): Chicago’s The Academy Is... delivered one shiny pop single after another on “Santi,” from the stomping “We’ve Got a Big Mess on Our Hands” to the glam-tinged “Neighbors” to the current power ballad “Everything We Had.”

The Academy Is.., "Neighbors"

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Albums #5-1 (The Academy Is..., Amy Winehouse, Bruce Springsteen, Stars, Jay-Z)" »

Ani DiFranco will kick off her 2008 winter tour at the good ol' IMAC theater in Huntington on Jan. 17. Opening will be Gail Ann Dorsey, a onetime session bassist for Bowie who also happens to have an impressive voice. DiFranco's tour also includes a stop in Nyack, NY, to join Pete Seeger's ongoing campaign against the Indian Point power plant there. Check out the IMAC site here.

10. Mavis Staples, “We’ll Never Turn Back” (Anti-): Wrapping her gritty-pretty soulful voice around a moving set of civil rights protest songs was not enough for Mavis Staples. Using flecks of hip-hop, blues and folk, she turned them into something new.

Mavis Staples, "Eyes on the Prize"

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Albums #10-6 (Mavis Staples, Rufus Wainwright, Alicia Keys, Radiohead, Lily Allen)" »

Black Sabbath without Ozzy Osbourne? The Who without Roger Daltrey? Led Zeppelin without Robert Plant? How about The Jam without Paul Weller?

That would be From The Jam, a combo made up of founding Jam members Bruce Foxton (bass) and Rick Buckler (drums) plus session musicians Dave Moore (keyboards) and Russell Hastings on lead vocals and guitar.

The band has done well enough on its November-December U.K. tour that it's now launching a 13-date tour of theaters in the U.S. with a stop Feb. 9 at Blender Theatre at Gramercy.

How will classic Jam tracks like "That's Entertainment," "This is the Modern World" and "Town Called Malice" sound without Paul Weller? Here's one answer:

Billboard.com asked more than a dozen artists to pick the best music of 2007 and got some fairly typical answers -- all the indie bands love each other, it seems -- but some of the responses were surprising.

Who knew, for instance, that Jessica Simpson likes the ethereal Icelandic composers Sigur Ros and the hipster electro-rock band Mute Math? "American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee put Radiohead's spacey latest, "In Rainbows," at the top of her list. Ozzy Osbourne voted for Paul McCartney's mellow "Memory Almost Full" (along with Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" and The White Stripes' "Icky Thump.") And what were the baby-faced Jonas Brothers doing at a Genesis concert, which made their top three?

Other artists' lists come off as suspiciously "eclectic." The classical pianist Lang Lang, for instance, cited Pavarotti, Bocelli, Chris Botti, Norah Jones -- and Kanye West. By contrast, Babyface didn't even try to stretch: He chose Colbie Callait, Maroon 5, Chrisette Michele and Amy Winehouse.

PHOTO: Billboard.com 

Edison Glass has finally posted a newly-minted video for "Let Go," the title track from its EP, released this summer. You can check it out at MySpace here. Note: The cell phone number at the end actually works -- you can leave a message for the band members, who promise to call back.

Billy Joel's classic album "The Stranger" featuring the hits "Just the Way You Are," "Movin' Out" and "Only the Good Die Young" will be inducted into The Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008, alongside a slate of other "recordings of significance" that include everything from Arturo Toscanini's 1953 recording of "Verdi: Otello" to The Police's "Roxanne" and the John Coltrane Quartet's "Ballads" album.

"The Stranger," released in 1977, was the album that turned Joel into a superstar. It sold more than 10 million copies, even holding the title of Columbia Records best-selling album in history until 1985, and landed him his first Grammy awards record and song of the year honors for "Just the Way You Are." The album, his first collaboration with producer Phil Ramone, was not only a commercial success, but an artistic one as well, featuring "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Vienna."

Recorded works are eligible for The Grammy Hall of Fame 25 years after their release and are seen to have significantly impact musical history, said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. "This year's inductees span nine decades and represent a diverse array of genres from classical and show tunes to blues, jazz and rock and roll," Portnow said in a statement. "They exemplify the best qualities that make the recording arts such a vital part of our culture and each not only uniquely reflects the zeitgeist of its time, but also possesses the enduring power of transcending time."

The inductees -- which also include Michael Jackson's "Thriller," The Beatles' "Help!" and Prince's "1999" -- will be recognized as part of the 2008 Grammy Awards broadcast on Feb. 10.

Continue reading "Billy Joel's "The Stranger" inducted into Grammy Hall of Fame" »

15. Annie Lennox, “Songs of Mass Destruction” (RCA): Though she spends most of her time outlining life’s heartbreaks and human failures on this album, Annie Lennox does it so beautifully in “Smithereens” or “Dark Road” it still seems positive.

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Albums #15-11 (Annie Lennox, Bishop Allen, Bjork, Envy on the Coast, Linkin Park)" »

Before Bayside hits the road with Straylight Run and Tokyo Rose in January, singer Anthony Raneri has booked a secret acoustic show at the Knitting Factory on Jan. 18. Tickets are $14 and go on sale at TicketWeb at noon tomorrow (12/20).

PHOTO: Anthony Raneri by David Schrott for Victory Records. 

Taking Back Sunday drummer Mark O’Connell still isn’t sure exactly what went wrong.
    After a show in Phoenix in August, he simply stopped being able to walk.
    “I got off the bus and it just hit me and I fell to the ground,” O’Connell recalled. “The guys were like, ‘What are you doing? That’s not funny.’ And I was like, ‘I can’t move.’ They kept saying, ‘Get up, you’re fine’ and they got me into the hotel lobby and I sat on the couch. I thought I would be better after a while, but I couldn’t move. I crawled on the floor through the lobby and onto the elevator to my room. I thought in the morning it would be fine. I got up the next day and I just fell in the bathroom. I was sitting on the bathroom floor in tears.”
    That’s when O’Connell was taken to the emergency room and learned he had a herniated disc in his back. Doctors ordered him off the tour and confined him to bed rest.
    Aside from his appearance for TBS’ set at the Jones Beach stop of the Projekt Revolution tour, which O’Connell was only able to make after doctors injected steroids directly into his spine, he was able to do nothing but rest at his Long Beach home for weeks.
     “It was a lot of just sitting around,” O’Connell said. “It definitely sucked. I was on painkillers for a long time and I was so worried I might get addicted.”
   

Continue reading "INDIE-ROCK INJURY REPORT: Taking Back Sunday's Mark O'Connell" »

Specifically, Doritos corn chips.

Gina Cutillo, the veteran rocker from Coram, has made it to the semi-finals of the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest. A ridiculous name, you might say, but there's nothing ridiculous about the prize: a 60-second music video montage shown during the Super Bowl XLII broadcast in a slot normally reserved for a Doritos ad.

That's pretty good exposure: The Super Bowl is one of the highest-rated televised programs of the year, and its commercials are nearly as popular as the game. In February, some 92.8 million people watched the ads, according to Nielsen Media Research. By contrast, the May finale of "American Idol" drew about 31.2 million.

(Cutillo, seen with hands down pants at right, might not want to strike that pose on national television. That whole Janet Jackson fiasco is still fresh.)

A panel of music industry types, including will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas, chose the 10 Doritos semi-finalists, but the winner will be determined by vote. Check out Cutillo's competing song, "The Blame," and perhaps cast your ballot, at the Doritos site here.

PHOTO: Wayne Herrschaft 

20. Lucinda Williams, “West” (Lost Highway): California’s calming effect is starting to take hold of Lucinda Williams, who lets grand songs “West” and “Mama You Sweet” leisurely unfold and even makes time for a political daydream (“What If.”)

Lucinda Williams, "What If"

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Albums #20-16 (Lucinda Williams, Chamillionaire, Patty Griffin, Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts, Arcade Fire)" »

Mary J. is in a happier place these days as her new "Just Fine" video shows and it carries through the rest of the album. (Full review here.)

Mary J. Blige, "Just Fine"

MORE: Mary J. Blige's effortless 'Growing Pains' (Grade: B+)

In a ranting, all-cap post on her blog, M.I.A. claims MTV has "sabotaged" her video for "Paper Planes," scheduled to premiere on the network today.

The song's hook features four gun-shots, but the video has replaced those sounds with something more like a snare-drum.

How did M.I.A. find out about this tomfoolery? Through YouTube, of course.

"I MADE THE PAPER PLANES VIDEO," the rapper wrote on her MySpace blog. "I MADE IT HOW THEY WANTED. NO VIOLENCE. AMBIGUOUS. MTV - FRIENDLY. NOW TODAY, I CHECK YOUTUBE AND SEE THE LEAKED MTV PAPER PLANES VIDEO UP FOR THE FIRST TIME. I CLICKED ON IT AND OUT COMES THIS ----UP MESS WITH DOUBLE-TRACKED ---- MESS."

This isn't the first time M.I.A. has run afoul of the Standards & Practices department at a network. In September, she performed the song live for "Late Show With David Letterman" with the gunshots similarly replaced.

By the way, speaking of sabotage, look for a couple of Beastie Boys in the "Paper Planes" video. Here's the unedited version, which M.I.A. posted on MySpace:

And here's that weird-sounding Letterman performance:

In the run-up to his new album, Everlast is promoting his anti-war video for the track "Letters From the Garden of Stone," in which a soldier seems to be discussing his tour of duty from beyond the grave. It's unclear whether the solider is American or Iraqi, but as he notes in the song, "We all end up on the same side."

The video, filmed in Nashville and directed by Everlast's childhood friend Mazik (formerly of the band Blood of Abraham), focuses on the human cost of the war. There are shots of what appear to be a bloodied Iraqi child and an Iraqi man with his arms raised in surrender.

As with most protest songs, "Letters" doesn't get into questions of policy. But in a statement released today, Everlast -- whose Website displays his name in Arabic-style script -- said American troops are "not just fighting the good fight for the Red, White and Blue. They're fighting a mental and emotional battle every day, and as each day passes, they lose a little more faith, and a little more hope."

 It may have seemed like a risk when he did it, but Fred Mascherino’s decision to leave Taking Back Sunday to pursue his own band The Color Fred is looking more and more like a sure thing. When The Color Fred first came through, it was playing the small Knitting Factory. On Friday, the band played the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza with Straylight Run. When it returns on Feb. 15 with Angels and Airwaves, it will be playing Roseland Ballroom.

“It’s crazy,” Mascherino told me Friday night, after his set at Irving Plaza. “It’s way too early to be playing Roseland with this project, even if we are just opening.”

But fans of the band’s debut “Bend to Break” (Equal Vision) or those who have seen its increasingly more powerful live shows know that The Color Fred is quickly coming into its own. And Mascherino said he’s once again enjoying the climb up.

“It’s like going back in time,” he said. “I’ve had so much fun on this tour. And it’s so rewarding to be playing my own music.”

SETLIST: Get Out / Complaintor / The Tragedy / Hate to See You Go / Minnesota / If I Surrender / Don’t Pretend

On a related note, Taking Back Sunday has gathered in New York this week and is apparently auditioning guitar players to replace Mascherino. The band is looking at five guitarists, including Andrew Jackson, lead singer/guitarist from the recently broken-up Connecticut rockers Hot Rod Circuit.

On Friday night, as the Straylight Run / The Color Fred tour (a.k.a. The Former Taking Back Sunday Frontmen Move On Tour) wrapped up at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, there was this enjoyable exchange.

FAN: Universal sucks!

JOHN NOLAN: Universal does suck!

FAN: I hate Universal!

NOLAN: I hate Universal too!

And so the Long Beach band's unceremonious dropping from its major-label deal with Universal was announced to the hometown crowd. Bassist Shaun Cooper announced it last week in a post on the band's message board, saying, "We did everything in our power to avoid the horrible situation we were put into, but I guess that wasn't enough. I guess the label is kind of in shambles. I mean, if you feel like the man that brought you The Killers and Fall Out Boy is expendable; what the hell are we?"

In the end, the move really wasn't a surprise. The band's album, "The Needles, The Space" is a pretty bold experiment that would've been hailed as an indie record, but was never a high priority over at Universal because it would simply never go multi-platinum. It was a weird match from the start, though Straylight did get the chance to make the album they wanted to make, glockenspiels and all.

And as their concert Friday night showed, the band and its ambitious sound only continue to improve. Cooper said the band is working on new material already and it has already lined up a tour with Bayside starting in January.

SETLIST: Soon We'll Be Living in the Future / The Miracle That Never Came / Hands in the Sky / The First of the Century / Who Will Save Us Now? / A Slow Descent / The Words We Say / How Do I Fix My Head? / Sympathy for the Martyr / Mistakes We Knew We Were Making / Still Alone / Take It to Manhattan / Existentialism on Prom Night // ENCORES: Your Name Here (Sunrise Highway) / Another Word For Desperate / Tool Sheds and Hot Tubs / Dignity and Money.

PHOTO: Straylight Run for Universal. 

The soft-rock troubadour Dan Fogelberg, known for his mellifluous voice and poignant, sometimes weighty lyrics, died Sunday of prostate cancer. He was 56.

A message on Fogelberg's Website said the singer died at 6 a.m. Sunday at his home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side.

Fogelberg was one of the leading lights of the '70s singer-songwriter scene, though he was never quite a part of it. Living in California in the early '70s, he made guest appearances on albums by Jackson Browne, Randy Newman and Roger McGuinn. But his distaste for the music industry led him to leave the West Coast in 1974 and settle in Boulder, Colo., far from the entertainment world.

Nevertheless, Fogelberg racked up a string of million-selling albums, including "Souvenirs" (1974) produced by Joe Walsh, "Captured Angel" (1975), "Nether Lands" (1977), "Twin Sons of Different Mothers" (1978), collaborating with the jazz flutist Tim Weisberg and "Phoenix" (1979), which charted at No. 3.

In 1981, as punk and new-wave were pushing singer-songwriters aside, Fogelberg ignored industry trends and released a double-album song cycle called "The Innocent Age." The album generated four Top Twenty hits: "Hard to Say," "Leader of the Band," about his father, a bandleader, "Run for the Roses" and "Same Old Lang Syne."

Fogelberg continued to record and tour until 2004 when he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. In a message on his Website that year, he thanked fans for their supportive emails.

"It is truly overwhelming and humbling to realize how many lives my music has touched so deeply all these years," Fogelberg wrote. "Each one of you who have taken the time and effort to reach out to Jean and I have helped immeasurably to uplift our spirits and keep us looking strongly forward during some very rough moments. I thank you from the very depths of my heart."

25. Macy Gray, “Big” (Geffen): Murderous tales, working mom R&B anthems and Justin Timberlake. Who could ask for more?

Macy Gray, "Finally Made Me Happy"

Continue reading "BEST OF 2007: Top Albums #25-21 (Macy Gray, Erasure, White Stripes, The Cribs, M.I.A.)" »

 Remember when the first single from a Janet Jackson album was an event, when “Miss You Much” or “That’s the Way Love Goes” or changed the way radio sounded and MTV looked? Yeah, “Feedback” (Island Def Jam) isn’t like that. It follows instead of leads, traipsing down the same robo-dance path as Britney Spears’ “Blackout.” What saves “Feedback” from sounding totally anonymous is Jackson’s playful phrasing and her ability to mine the electro-groove. Those touches, not the surprisingly cookie-cutter production from Rodney Jerkins, keep “Feedback” fun. It’s fluff, sure, but enjoyable fluff.

Hear "Feedback" here

PHOTO: Island Def Jam Records 

Anthrax has hired Dan Nelson, formerly of Unbroken and other Long Island-New York City bands, as its new lead vocalist.

Nelson, a casual acquaintance of Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano, replaces Joey Belladonna, who reunited with the band for a successful reunion tour last year.

"I was actually looking for a band," Nelson said in a press release from Anthrax. "Long Island, NY is a pretty dead scene. I was in Unbroken, and through that I met Rob a couple years ago. I had gone through some stuff on a personal side where I took time off from music. When I got back to the scene, I couldn't find a band, so I contacted Rob through MySpace and offered my services."

Nelson continued, "We sent music back and forth, got together, and jammed for 10 hours straight. After 10 hours, he said, 'I think you'd be right for Anthrax.'"

The band, with Nelson, is currently writing new material.

PHOTO: Adrenaline PR 

Ike Turner, known as much for his soulful duets with his wife, Tina Turner, as he was for having abused her, died in San Diego yesterday. He was 76.

"Tina is aware that Ike passed away earlier today," her spokeswoman, Michele Schweitzer, told The Associated Press. "She has not had any contact with him in 35 years. No further comment will be made."

Turner, often credited with having made the first rock album, 1951's "Rocket 88," was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 along with Tina. He released his last solo album, "Risin' With The Blues," in 2006 and won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album.

Newsday's obit is here. 

PHOTO: The Associated Press 

For one of its most eclectic classes ever, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will induct Material Girl Madonna, heartland rocker John Mellencamp, British Invasion popsters Dave Clark Five, guitar virtuoso instrumentalists The Ventures and poet-rocker Leonard Cohen next year.

Blues harmonica great Little Walter will be inducted in the Sidemen category. Producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, architects of the Philly soul sound, will be inducted in the non-performer category, which has been renamed the Ahmet Ertegun Award in honor of the late Atlantic Records co-founder who also launched the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

The inductees will be honored at a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan on March 10 and they will join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. 

So much for the free download of Green Day's "secret" new album.

A few days ago, word leaked that Green Day had formed a band called Foxboro Hot Tubs and was offering a free 6-song EP called "Stop Drop and Roll!!!" through the Website FoxboroHotTubs.com, but that window of opportunity appears to have closed.

The site now displays only the band's name above a ticking clock, a possible hint that the album may be released again in some form in the future.

Green Day is staying silent on the matter, much as the band did back in 2003 when it refused to admit that it had released an album called "Money Money 2030" disguised as a new-wave band called Network.

Foxboro Hot Tubs sounds nothing like Green Day -- the "band" has a 1960s garage-rock vibe, and the cover of its "album" has a vintage design modeled on the colorful sleeves and movie posters of the go-go era. The lead vocals sound similar, though not identical, to Billie Joe Armstrong's, and the overall feel of the music recalls some of the early rock touches on Green Day's "American Idiot" album.

Listen to a few tracks from Foxoboro Hot Tubs at MySpace here.

IMAGE: Foxboro Hot Tubs 

Do we really have to call him Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr.?

The welterweight boxer who felled Mike Hatton with a 10th-round TKO in Las Vegas over the weekend apparently believes he can rap.

A grainy, poorly-shot video for "Money" Mayweather's song “Yep,” credited to his own Philthy Rich record label, shows the boxer living large, drinking Grey Goose, partying in a pool and counting money while surrounded by women wearing G-strings.

“We got them guns,” Mayweather raps, possibly referring to his pecs rather than actual firearms.

The track puts Mayweather in the company of Allen Iverson, Deion Sanders, Kobe Bryant and other professional athletes who have tried to break into the music world with less than spectacular results. (Remember "K.O.B.E." with Tyra Banks?)

Mayweather's video has already met with negative reviews, including one from TheSweetScience, a boxing Website, which calls it a "disgrace" and blasts the champ for acting “like a world-class thug” and using the N-word.

“It's a gross showing,” writer Michael Woods says on the site. He also calls the video “some sad, sick stuff.”

PHOTO: Associated Press 

Led Zeppelin is somewhat definitely not ruling out perhaps considering a possible reunion, maybe, according to the British press.

Citing an anonymous source, The Sun reports that the band members discussed playing three shows at Madison Square Garden in 2008 soon after performing at London's O2 Arena Monday night as a part of a tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records.

Singer Robert Plant talked with guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham (son of original drummer John, who died in 1980) about the success of the O2 show while drinking “hot mugs of tea and coffee,” according to The Sun's source.

“Then the talk went to, ‘What next? Was this it or would there be something else?’ One of the guys started talking about their three concerts at the Garden. There was a consensus of, ‘Why not?’ It is one of the best live music venues in the world. I have no doubt after their reaction backstage that they will be there next year playing to a sell-out crowd.”

The story is already being reprinted by Websites like the New Musical Express and blogs such as Blabbermouth.net (and this one, come to think of it), reigniting rumors of a reunion tour even after Led Zeppelin stated firmly that it wouldn't come to pass.

PHOTO: Getty Images 

With the Straylight Run/The Color Fred tour wrapping up on Friday at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, the busy bands have already lined up their next moves. Straylight Run will team up with fellow Long Islanders Bayside for a national tour that runs from Jan. 25 and ends at the Crazy Donkey on Mar. 1. (Before they head out, Bayside plans to film a video for its next single "Carry On.")

The Color Fred has some serious plans too. The band will open for Angels and Airwaves starting in January, continuing the close bond singer Fred Mascherino built with the band when he was touring with them as part of Taking Back Sunday. The Color Fred has also signed on to the 2008 Vans Warped Tour, one of 6 bands that will be on the entire tour. Others making the full Warped trek include: Gym Class Heroes, The Academy Is..., Relient K, We the Kings and Reel Big Fish.

 PHOTO: Mascherino for Equal Vision Records.

Here in the New York area, radio stations switched to the ever-popular holiday format around Thanksgiving. You wouldn't think people wanted to hear "Jingle Bell Rock" over and over and over, but in fact they love it. Stations say their holiday format invariably boosts ratings, which means it's popular with advertisers, too.

Billboard first started tracking the holiday chart back in 2001, not long after radio stations invented the format, and it recently released the latest numbers. Despite a few obvious chart-toppers, like Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas," there are a couple of surprises.

One is the complete absence of anything by Josh Groban in the Top 30, despite a No. 1 Christmas album, "Noel."  Could it be that even carol-humming housewives have gotten sick of him? Another shocker is that Wham! UK's "Last Christmas" didn't make the Top Ten, despite being, like, the best holiday track ever. Also, if you're sick of hearing Band-Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" every year, you are mostly alone -- it's at No. 13.

Here are the top ten songs on the Billboard Hot Holiday Songs chart:

1.  Brenda Lee, "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" (MCA)

2. Bobby Helms, "Jingle Bell Rock" (Decca)

3. John Lennon and Yoko Ono, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" (Capitol)

4. Burl Ives, "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (MCA)

5. Mariah Carey, "All I Want for Christmas is You" (Columbia)

6. Nat King Cole, "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)" (Capitol)

7. Eagles, "Please Come Home For Christmas" (Asylum)

8. Jose Feliciano, "Feliz Navidad" (RCA)

9. Bing Crosby, "White Christmas" (MCA)

10. Andy Williams, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Columbia)

And just in case you've forgotten how good it really is:

Sure, The Police played a bunch of stadium shows. And yeah, Van Halen got more attention. But it's Hannah Montana (a.k.a. Miley Cyrus) who tops ticket reseller StubHub's top selling tours list. According to the site, Montana tickets went for an average of $258 apiece for all 55 of her shows.

StubHub said more than $100 million in concert tickets passed through the site this year and that segment became its fastest-growing. The average price of a ticket on the site dropped to $118, showing that it is being used for smaller, less expensive shows, as well as the big, hig-priced ones.

StubHub's Top 10 Tours of 2007

1.       Hannah Montana

2.       The Police

3.       Bruce Springsteen

4.       Van Halen

5.       Justin Timberlake

6.       Kenny Chesney

7.       Jimmy Buffett

8.       Dave Matthews Band

9.       Bon Jovi

10.   Genesis

PHOTO: AP

Newsday Graphic Artist Ed Amantia filed this report from the Led Zeppelin concert Monday night in London

“For everybody else, its back to the drawing board” .... That is the comment I heard from a guy behind me after the final notes of “Rock and Roll” ended the two-plus hour Led Zeppelin concert. And I have to say I couldn’t agree more. In many ways, Monday night’s show was groundbreaking and could be a model for rock concerts of the future (pretty surprising for a ‘dinosaur’ band)

The concert was billed as a tribute concert to Ahmet Ertegun, with net profits going to charity. And yes, there were other artists opening the show, including Bill Wyman, Paul Rodgers, Keith Emerson, Chris Squire, Foreigner and more. But make no mistake, the night was all about Zeppelin.

Continue reading "Led Zeppelin rocks London" »

SIGNS POINTING TO YES

SIGNS POINTING TO NO

History. Since Bonham’s death in 1980, the remaining members have only reunited for Live Aid in 1985 and its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

New projects. Robert Plant’s collaboration with Alison Krauss recently arrived, debuting at No. 2. Jimmy Page has reportedly been working on a new solo album this year that is tentatively scheduled for released next year. John Paul Jones has been playing with Robyn Hitchcock and producing and performing with Uncle Earl.

In the meantime, there are hopes last night’s show will roll out on DVD soon.

SETLIST: Good Times Bad Times / Ramble On / Black Dog / In My Time Of Dying / For Your Life / Trampled Under Foot / Nobody's Fault But Mine / No Quarter / Since I've Been Loving You / Dazed And Confused / Stairway To Heaven / The Song Remains The Same / Misty Mountain Hop / Kashmir / Whole Lotta Love / Rock And Roll.

MORE: Led Zeppelin lets the 'Good Times' Roll [AP] 

PHOTO: ledzeppelin.com 

Bishop Allen is finally getting some serious mainstream airplay. On the radio? Yeah, right. That would require some -- though not that much, really --- risk-taking and we all know what the chances of that are. No, you can hear the Williamsburg-based band's excellent "Click Click Click Click" a dozen or so times a day in the latest Sony digital camera ad campaign.

It's the best of the current bunch of cool music-driven campaigns, even outside of the usual suspects of the iPod and Old Navy. (Unfortunately, it seems Target's use of the Go Team's "We Just Won't Be Defeated" was limited to its Black Friday sales.) And, of course, there's Beyonce's "Upgrade U" commercial for Direct TV -- which will, no doubt, be the first of many uses for this song. Airlines, hotels and car companies are probably all standing in line.

PHOTO: Bishop Allen by Aubrey Edwards for Dead Oceans.

On the jump, the real video for Bishop Allen's "Click Click Click Click"

Continue reading "Bishop Allen gets its close-up" »

Heedless of negative coverage in the press and rising resentment among music fans, The Recording Industry Association of America announced late last week that it had sent colleges another round of letters threatening to sue students who have downloaded music illegally.

The 396 letters were sent to 22 university administrators, encouraging them to identify the users of IP addresses that the RIAA believes are responsible for digital piracy. It's a tactic the RIAA has used in the past to pressure schools into fingering students and, perhaps, encourage the kids to cough up some settlement money before a lawsuit is filed.

According to Billboard.com, this latest, 11th batch of letters brings the total number of letters sent by the RIAA to 4,553.

“For those who ignore these great legal options and ignore years of warnings, we will continue to bring lawsuits,” Jonathan Lamy, Senior Vice President, Communications at the RIAA said in a statement. “It’s not our first choice, but it’s a necessary part of the equation."

Alleged pirates who want to settle a pending case are directed to the RIAA Website www.p2plawsuits.com.

Here's the breakdown of colleges that received pre-litigation settlement letters, according to the RIAA:

Auburn University (13 letters), Brandeis University (12), Georgia Institute of Technology (16), Gustavus Adolphus College (36), Indiana State University (18), Iowa State University (13), Ithaca College (15), Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (16), Louisiana Tech University (15), Mississippi State University (15), Morehead State University (17), Rochester Institute of Technology (12), University of Arizona (14), University of California, Davis (14), University of California, San Diego (17), University of California, Santa Cruz (24), University of Dayton (16), University of Massachusetts at Amherst (30), University of Rochester (15), University of Southern California (33), University of Washington (16), and Western Kentucky University (19).

Check out what appears to be an older version of the settlement letter here.

IMAGE: BoingBoing.net.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will play Giants Stadium on July 27, 28 and 31. Given his history of selling out that place for long stretches of time, further dates may be announced soon.

 Tickets are $95 and $65 and go on sale Dec. 15 at noon through Ticketmaster, 631-888-9000.

In other Springsteen news,  he has announced that "Girls in their Summer Clothes" will be the next single from "Magic." The video for the song was directed by Mark Pellington.

PHOTO: Springsteen by Danny Clinch / Columbia Records