In a somewhat shocking move, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin resigned before her first term even came to a close.

Her rambling, hastily organized press conference blamed her resignation on the half-million dollar cost of defending herself against various State indictments surrounding her short uncompleted Governorship, but I'm not buying that excuse.

In her statement, she made one comment about how some adults had been mocking Trig, her youngest child that was born with down syndrome. At first I thought she was making reference to her weird public feud with David Letterman, but that really didn't make sense. No, I'm thinking that comment was the real reason behind her sudden and unexpected departure from politics.

Her staff has now confirmed that Palin informed key party members that she would resign on Wednesday eveningm the same day that CBS News' Scott Conroy and special contributor Shushannah Walshe revealed that they had gained access to emails sent between McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt and the 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee. My theory is that one of those emails between Schmidt and Palin may have had something to do with the circumstances surrounding Triggs birth and who really is the baby's mother. When Palin was notified about the email that Scott and Shushannah had obtained, she did the right thing and resigned, rather than put her family through another whirlwind media blitz.

Now, that's just a theory and I have no basis to really prove it, but the pieces seem to add up to something to that effect. Who knows? Maybe I'm close, maybe I'm right or maybe I'm way off. Either way, whatever, I'm just glad her political career is over.

Here's the footage of Palin resigning....

The Monolith Festival will once again rock Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. While the Sunday headliner remains a mystery, the Saturday line-up will be headed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Great line-up for one of the most consistantly excellent indie-rock festivals.

And yeah, I'm still loving It's Blitz. (photo via thecolorawesome.com)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (headliner), Girl Talk, Of Montreal, M Ward, Doom, The Walkmen, OK Go, Ida Maria, The Pains of Being Pure of Heart, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Frightened Rabbit, Deer Tick, Thunderheist, These United States, Cymbals Eat Guitars, The Antlers, and more.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
Headliner TBA, MSTRKRFT, Method Man & Redman, Chromeo, Dandy Warhols, Phoenix, The Glitch Mob, Passion Pit, The Thermals, Harlem Shakes, Monotomix, The Grate, HEALTH, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Tigercity, and more

On July 4th, Todd P will be hosting the second day of the Woodsist / Captured Tracks Festival with Vivian Girls, Thee Oh Sees, Kurt Vile, Woods, the Beets, Dum Dum Girls, Tyvek and a whole lot more. Advance tickets can be bought here.

(As a note, today is the first day of the Woosist/Captured Tracks Festival and its been moved from 979 Broadway Backyard to the Market Hotel due to rain. The line-up features Crystal Stilts, caUSE co-MOTION!, Psychedlic Horseshit, Blank Dogs and others.)

Meanwhile, the Vivian Girls will be dropping their sophomore album, Everything Goes Wrong, on September 8th. They'll start a tour to support the album on August 25th at Brooklyn's Death By Audio. Also, expect to hear cuts from the album when they play as part of the Whitney Museum's summer music series that will also feature The Walkmen.

VIVIAN GIRLS TOUR DATES
Sat-Jul-04 Brooklyn, NY 979 Broadway Backyard
Thu-Jul-09 Mexico City, MX El Almacén
Thu-Jul-16 Toronto, ON Phoenix Theater
Sun-Jul-19 Chicago, IL Pitchfork Music Festival
Fri-Jul-31 New York, NY Whitney Museum
Tue-Aug-25 Brooklyn, NY Death By Audio
Wed-Aug-26 Philadelphia, PA The Barbary
Thu-Aug-27 Pittsburgh, PA Andy Warhol Museum
Fri-Aug-28 Columbus, OH Summit
Sat-Aug-29 Champaign, IL Cowboy Monkey
Sun-Aug-30 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle
Mon-Aug-31 Minneapolis, MN 7th St Entry
Tue-Sep-01 Fargo, ND The Aquarium
Fri-Sep-04 Missoula, MT Union Hall
Sun-Sep-06 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot Festival
Mon-Sep-07 Portland, OR TBA
Wed-Sep-09 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop
Fri-Sep-11 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
Fri-Oct-09 Honolulu, HI Loft Gallery and Lounge

Megadeth will release their 12th - and possibly final - studio album on September 15ht called Endgame. Considering the album title, it's not surprising that the album is heavily rumored to be the final album from Dave Mustaine under the Megadeth moniker.

A major U.S. tour is slated to begin in September.

MEGADETH'S ENDGAME TRACKLISTING
1. “Dialectic Chaos”
2. “This Day We Fight!”
3. “44 Minutes”
4. “1,320″
5. “Bite The Hand That Feeds”
6. “Bodies Left Behind”
7. “Endgame”
8. “The Hardest Part Of Letting Go… Sealed With A Kiss”
9. “Headcrusher”
10. “How the Story Ends”
11. “Nothing Left To Lose”

The concert promoter behind Michael Jackson's 50 shows is AEG. Yesterday, AEG released video footage from the dress rehearsals of Michael running through the song "They Don't Care About Us" from HIStory, which originally featured the lyric, "Jew me, sue me / Everybody do me / Kick me, Kike me / Don't you black or white me."

Um. Yeah. Remember that one? Well, Michael did change the lyrics after a whole lot of outcry from Jewish community leaders, but still. Fucked up yo. And out of all the songs they could have pulled a snippet from - considering they supposedly have over 100 hours of video footage, which they plan on releasing as a theatrical film - they chose that one? Seriously? Cha-mon.

Anyway, AEG, who owns the Los Angeles` Staples Center, will open the venue for a free public memorial to Michael Jackson on July 7th.

While Vibe announced they're shutting down on Wednesday, another African-American magazine will be celebrating this weekend when Essence hosts its annual music festival, now in its 15th year. The Essence Music Festival takes place in New Orleans. Here's the schedule:

While tonight's headliner, Beyonce, is the biggest-selling artist at the festival, all the buzz is about Saturday's headlining set from Maxwell. The r&b soul singer will release his seven years in the making comeback album, BLACKsummers'night, on July 7th. The first single is "Pretty Wings" and its pretty smoothe.

TONIGHT, JULY 3
Beyonce
John Legend
Ne-Yo
Salt N Pepa
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

SATURDAY, JULY 4
Maxwell
Anita Baker
Robin Thicke
The Knux

SUNDAY, JULY 5
Maze
Lionel Richie
Al Green
En Vogue
Raphael Saadiq
Rebirth Brass Band

Remember when The White Stripes toured Canada in support of Icky thump and they did all those surprise shows that were being filmed. Well, the tour film is finally coming out and it's called Under Great Northern Lights.

The film will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 19th. It will then have a U.S. theatrical release before being released on DVD.

Watch some fan shot videos from the Canadian surprise performances after the jump....

Continue reading "White Stripes to release concert film in theatres" »

After the surprise success of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, small publishers have been scrambling to create "new / old" books. One of the hottest titles was a completely unauthorized follow-up to Catcher in the Rye called 60 Years Later.

Not surprisingly, publication of the book has halted by the courts after J.D. Salinger filed a lawsuit to protect his masterpiece (Frank Portman would disagree with that statement).

Not only has the New York Post been covering the story, but they also published a recent photograph of the reclusive author. Yes, that's him in the photograph.

It's not a parody, it's not a critique -- and it's not for sale, a Manhattan federal judge said yesterday in temporarily barring publication of an unauthorized follow-up to J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye."

Judge Deborah Batts slammed Fredrik Colting, the Swedish author of the book -- who uses the pen name J.D. California -- and his publishers, saying their claims that "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye" is a critical examination of central character Holden Caulfield were "problematic and lacking in credibility."

The judge's 37-page ruling -- which remains in effect until the case can be decided at trial -- sided decisively with reclusive "Catcher in the Rye" author Salinger, who filed a lawsuit blasting "60 Years Later" as "a rip-off, pure and simple" of his 1951 classic.

"In addition to the use of Caulfield as protagonist, '60 Years' depends upon similar and sometimes nearly identical supporting characters, settings, tone, and plot devices to create a narrative that largely mirrors that of 'Catcher,' " Batts wrote.

She said the 90-year-old Salinger -- who was recently confined to a rehab center after breaking a hip -- "is likely to succeed on the merits" of his copyright-infringement claim, "as well as the presumption of irreparable harm."

"Defendants have taken well more from 'Catcher,' in both substance and style, than is necessary for the alleged transformative purpose of criticizing Salinger and his attitudes and behavior," Batts wrote.

"60 Years Later" was set for publication in the United States late this summer before Salinger -- who has steadfastly refused to license the rights to his novel -- filed suit.

During a court hearing last month, Batts said she had read both books and agreed with Salinger -- who did not attend -- that the new book was substantially similar to his own.

JellyNYC have announced the line-up for the 2009 Pool Parties taking place at the Williamsburg Waterfront (aka East River State Park, 90 Kent Ave. @ N9th, Brooklyn). Here's the schedule:

July 12th
Mission of Burma
Fucked Up
Ponytail
Jemina Pearl of Be your Own Pet

July 19th
Dirty Projectors
Magnolia Electric Company
White Denim

July 26th
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
The Black Lips
Health
Grupo Fantasmo

August 2nd
Round Robin show w/
Deerhunter
No Age
Dan Deacon

August 9th
Simian Mobile Disco (DJ set)
Fiery Furnaces
Dark Meat
The Netherlands

August 16th
Del tha Funky Homosapien
Gravytrain!!!
DD/MM/YYYY
Kenan Bell

August 23rd
Girl Talk
Max Tundra
Wiz Khalifa

August 30th
Grizzly Bear
Beach House

And I'm sure that they'll be lots more...

For a band that's done little over the last decade, it's always exciting when the Pixies do actually do something.

The Pixies. who have already done some summer festival dates, have announced some special shows to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their landmark album Doolittle. For these shows, the band will blast through the entire Doolittle album and its related B-sides. Also, expect a nice encore of tracks from their mighty back catalog.

Doolittle was actually released on April 18, 1989, so the actual anniversaqry already passed.

The band are expected to announce U.S. dates shortly.

PIXIES "DOOLITTLE" TOUR
October 1 Dublin Olympia
October 1 Dublin Olympia
October 4 Glasgow SECC
October 6 O2 Academy Brixton
October 7 O2 Academy Brixton
October 8 O2 Academy Brixton
October 9 O2 Academy Brixton
October 11 Frankfurt Jahrhunderhalle
October 13 Amsterdam Heineken Music Hall
October 14 Brussels Forest National
October 15 Paris Zenith

Is it just me or has Kanye West's suck factor greatly increased since the release of 808's and Heartbreak's? Anyway, as if his career wasn't already on a downswing, the man behind the "Glow In The Dark" tour is now heading out on the "Solid Gold" tour with co-headliner Lady Gaga.

The above image is what the "Solid Gold" stage will look like according to images Kanye posted on his blog.

Cheap Trick have a new album calle The Latest. Seeing as the band are considered one of the legends of the 8-Track-era, I think it's pretty sweet that they're releasing The Latest as a limited edition 8 Track.

And yeah, you can also get it as a digital download, cd or vinyl, but c'mon man; 8 Track!

Cheap Trick just started a tour with Poison and Def Leppard

First up was Cheap Trick, who have never really left the road since they went live at Budokan, and their bracing blend of Beatlesque hooks and high voltage riffs still rocks righteously. Cheap Trick rocked the early arrivals with a short, sharp set that mixed classics like “I Want You To Want Me” and “Dream Police” with super-fresh new material like “These Days” and “Sick Man Of Europe” from their just-released album, The Latest.

Next up was Poison who rocked their hair extensions off, as Bret Michaels and Co. put on a flame-throwing, smoke-blowing, drumstick-twirling set that incorporated all the hits: “Unskinny Bop,” “I Want Action” and “Nothin’ But A Good Time.”

Topping off the night was a stormy, stomping set by headliners Def Leppard who trolled through their ’80s hits — a picture-perfect “Photograph,” a semi-acoustic “Bringin’ On The Heartache” and a slamming, set-closing “Rock Of Ages” — like the working class punters they once were before Pyromania went mega-platinum. .

I guess this means Tinted Windows is on hold.

The 2009 Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans has announced their line-up. The festival will be headlined by KISS, Eminem and Jane's Addition.

Also playling the three-day festival are Widespread Panic, Flaming Lips, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Wolfmother, The Pogues, Ween, Silversun Pickups, Eagles of Death Metal, the Black Keys, Meat Puppets, Q-Tip, Fischerspooner and others.

Click here for the full line-up.

Senator Al Franken. It should become official shortly as Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said he'd sign the necessary election certificate after the State's Supreme Court made it's ruling, which it finally have.

Almost seven months since he should have been seated and Minnesota will finally get its Senator:

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled today that Democrat Al Franken won the U.S. Senate election and said he was entitled to an election certificate that would lead to him being seated in the Senate.

"Affirmed," wrote the Supreme Court, unanimously rejecting Republican Norm Coleman's claims that inconsistent practices by local elections officials and wrong decisions by a lower court had denied him victory.

The GOP has pumped over $900,000 into Coleman's legal fund for the sole purpose of keeping Franken from being seating as long as possible (the question of who won the election was over last year) and being the Democrats potential 60th, filibuster-proff, vote.

I'm sure that there is pressure on Gov. Pawlenty (Republican) to not sign the election certificate until Coleman takes this case to the Supreme Court of the United States, but as Pawlenty is up for re-election and local polls show overwhelmingly that Minnesotans want this debacle to be over and for Franken to represent their state in the U.S. Senate, I think he'll keep to his promise and sign the election certificate and get Franken seated as quickly as possible.

UPDATE: Norm Coleman finally conceded. He made a gracious concession speech, albeit, one that came seven months late. Senator-elect Al Franken is expected to receive his election certificate tomorrow and he be sworn into the Senate on Monday as the chamber is closed for July 4th.

I'm just waiting for Tomw Waits to write his own autobiography, but in the meantime, it seems his most recent biographer is in some trouble. Here's the story:

Record company executive Herbert Cohen claims music journalist Barney Hoskyns and Random House defamed him by accusing him of embezzling royalties from Tom Waits in the biography, "Low Side of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits."

Cohen, who says he discovered Waits when the singer was 21, claims he also has managed Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt and others.

Cohen claims the book depicts Waits describing litigation against him involving stolen royalties; Cohen claims it never happened.

Hoskyns allegedly quoted Waits as saying, "I thought I was a millionaire and it turned out I had, like, twenty bucks."

Cohen denies ever litigating copyright issues with Waits, though he acknowledges he settled a lawsuit with the singer-songwriter in 1983. Media reports indicated that Waits filed that lawsuit because Cohen's company, Third Story Music licensed, two of Waits' songs for commercials without the singer's permission.

Q-Tip, along with his resident DJ's Rich Medina and Rashad Ringo Smith, will be turning tonight's weekly OPEN party at Santo's House Party in New York City into an all-out Michael Jackson memorial.

There are rumors of some special live performances That's all I know though.

Expect a whole lot of tribute parties this weekend around the globe.

The front page of today's New York Times' featured an above the fold obit for Michael Jackson and a below the fold obit mention for Farah Fawcett.

By comparison, when Kurt Cobain passed away, he got a below the fold mention akin to Fawcett's placement. It was Kurt Cobain and Nirvana's Nevermind that knocked Jackson's Dangerous from the #1 spot on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart back in 1991.

On July 13th, the late Michael Jackson was set to start a 50-date residency at London's O2 Arena. He supposedly only agreed to ten shows and was furious about the addition 40 bookings (who wouldn't be). It's hard to deny that the hype surrounding these shows was pretty massive. You don't sell out 50 shows in an hour and not get world recognition...or have the shows promoters freaking out about losing millions of dollars (way classy of AEG to put this release out mere hours after Michael's death).

More than $85 million worth of tickets have already been sold for the series of performances, which have the now sadly ironic title "This Is It." As much as $30 million has already been spent on production, according to sources close to the situation. So what's at stake for AEG, the world's second-largest concert promoter, can't be overstated.

Concert business executives have estimated that AEG paid Jackson an advance of as much as $10 million. That, plus the production costs, would mean AEG stands to lose as much as $40 million if nonappearance insurance isn't substantial enough to cover this contingency. For AEG, "it's either horrible or really horrible," a concert business executive says.

But a source familiar with the situation says a traditional nonappearance policy was never written. Billboard couldn't confirm that at press time. Even if AEG had a policy, that doesn't mean Jackson's death, and the losses incurred, would be covered. "If it was a pre-existing condition or drug- or alcohol-related, a normal cancellation policy would not cover that, even if he had passed a medical exam," the source says. AEG could be on the hook "if death was from something that's excluded in the policy."

Whatever happens, the $85 million taken in from ticket sales will need to be refunded to the public. It will be messy, as well as expensive, and it will need to happen quickly by law.

Anyway, the setlist MJ had been practicing for the London residency has been leaked. I thought we'd look at it compared to setlists from his other solo tours, even though he continued touring with his brothers from the Jackson Five through 1984's Victory tour, all of which were either booked into arenas or stadiums. All of which were very, very sold out.

His first New York area show as a solo artist was at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on November 8, 1979. Off the Wall was just starting to make Michael from the guy from the Jackson 5 with the few solo hits into one of the biggest stars of all time.

The last public concert he ever did was the tribute shows he threw for himself at Madison Square Garden on September 7th and 10th, 2001. These two shows, which featured Slash, Britney Spears, Usher, *NSync, Marlon Brandon and others, were surprising not sold out at all.

This Is It - O2 Arena Residency - Proposed Setlist (2009)
Billie Jean / Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' / Rock With You / The Way You Make Me Feel / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough / I Just Can't Stop Loving You / Human Nature / Smooth Criminal / Girlfriend / Man In The Mirror / Beat It / One Day In Your Life / Heal The World / You Are Not Alone / Remember The Time / Thriller

HIStory Tour (1996-1997)
Scream -> They Don't Care About Us -> In the Closet / Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' / Stranger in Moscow / Smooth Crimina / You Are Not Alone ->
The Way You Make Me Feel / I Want You Back -> The Love You Save -> I'll Be There / Rock with You -> Off the Wall ->Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough / Remember the Time / Billie Jean / Thriller / Beat It / Come Together / Blood on the Dance Floor / Dangerous // Black or White // Earth Song / Heal The World

Dangerous Tour (1992-1993)
Jam / Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' / Human Nature / Smooth Criminal / I Just Can't Stop Loving You / She's Out of My Life / I Want You Back -> The Love You Save -> I'll Be There / Thriller / Bean Jean / Workin' Day & Night / Beat It / Will You Be There / The Way You Make Me Feel / Bad / Black or White / Heal the Word / Man in the Mirror

Bad Tour (1987-1989)
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' / Heartbreak Hotel / Another Part of Me / I Just Can't Stop Loving You / She's out of My Life / I Want You Back / The Love You Save -> I'll Be There / Rock with You / Human Nature / Smooth Criminal / Dirty Diana / Thriller / Workin' Day and Night / Beat It / Billie Jean / Bad //The Way You Make Me Feel // Man in the Mirror

Victory Tour (1984)
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' / Things I Do For You / Off the Wall / Human Nature (with "Ben" introduction) / Heartbreak Hotel / She's out of My Life / Jermaine Jackson medley: Let's Get Serious -> You Like Me Don't You -> Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True) / Jackson 5 medley: I Want You Back -> The Love You Save / I'll Be There / Rock with You / Lovely One / Workin' Day and Night / Beat It / Billie Jean / Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)

Triumph Tour (1981)
Can You Feel It / Things I Do for You / Off the Wall / Ben / This Place Hotel / She's Out of My Life / I Want You Back -> ABC -> The Love You Save / I'll Be There / Rock With You / Lovely One / Working Day and Night / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough / Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)

Destiny Tour (1979)
Dancing Machine / Things I Do For You / Off the Wall / Ben / I Want You Back -> ABC -> The Love You Save / I'll Be There / Rock With You / Enjoy Yourself / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough / Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)