Another day, another festival lineup announcement; this time the Voodoo Music Experience, scheduled for October 24-26 in New Orleans. No real surprises though, with Sasquatch's R.E.M. joining Bumbershoot's Stone Temple Pilots and Pemberton/Lollapalooza/Virgin Festival's Nine Inch Nails. The local acts that make Voodoo a little more interesting than your average fest include the Neville Brothers and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Also a nice touch: not inviting Tiesto back. [
Billboard]
Dear everyone getting all excited about the "Michael Stipe comes out" story: Um, this is news? Sure, he apparently told
Spin that he'd "just never felt strongly enough about a particular relationship to say, 'Yeah, he's my boyfriend, that is what it is,'" but that claim would seem to be at least
somewhat contradicted by this 2001 quote from
Time: "Stipe says he's 'phenomenally overworked' but happy. He says he's been 'in a relationship with an amazing man' for about three years (he says his partner isn't a celebrity). In the past Stipe avoided questions about his sexuality, but he's now more comfortable discussing it. 'I was being made to be a coward about it,' he says, 'rather than someone who felt like it really was a very private thing.' He now readily describes himself as a 'queer artist.' " I know, Lexis/Nexis is expensive, but you'd think that semi-real news organizations would at least spend
some money on, like, actual research! [
Us / Photo: AP]
Brangelina makes its perhaps-inevitable SXSW appearance, and yet even the combined starpower of its two members can't get an entourage into Wednesday night's R.E.M. show at Stubb's. That sound you hear is the wailing of a bunch of "lifestyle marketers" who are crushed,
crushed that they couldn't book R.E.M. for their own fake-VIP lounges, because could you imagine what the Google hits would look like if Brad was photographed holding an
Eastport backpack? [
Hollywood Insider / Photo: AP]
R.E.M.'s
Accelerate will stream on iLike, the iTunes-tracker-slash-Facebook-app that I uninstalled long ago, beginning on March 24. That's a whole
week before the album's April 1 release date—and a week or so after it will likely leak out from Warner Music Group's double-locked safe for really big, important albums. [
Billboard]
Is former R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry going to tour with the band this spring? A "reliable source" who called into an Atlanta radio station sure thinks so! And the way this maybe-news sent the R.E.M. fans on my buddy list into paroxysms of exclamation points and "OMG"ing indicates to me that if the band wasn't planning on touring with Berry, they might want to think about giving him a ring and a big, big bribe.
UPDATE:The band's management is saying this rumor is "entirely untrue." Sorry everybody. [
Paste]
Idolator
Soundchecks often serve as safe zones for musicians, a place where they can feel free to goof off and take chances that might not be suitable for an audience of people who've paid big money to hear straight versions of their favorite songs. R.E.M., however, is a bit less precious about the moment's sanctity; the band's 1996 album New Adventures In Hi-Fi is partially comprised of music recorded at soundchecks, and more recently, the band opted to share a peculiar version of their song "Living Well Is The Best Revenge" recorded before a concert in Dresden. The tune starts off about the same as the version that appears on Accelerate, but by the final minute, the drums have gone a bit haywire, and MIchael Stipe has started singing in a strange, quasi-Germanic accent. It's a funny moment, and it's nice that the band has enough confidence to let fans hear it mess around. [R.E.M. HQ]
