Street Sweeper, the new collaboration between Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello and the Coup‘s Boots Riley, has been added to the NIN/JA tour—that’s the trek that Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction will take around the country this summer. “We are aiming to make this much more than just three acts sharing a bill,” Trent Reznor said in a statement on the NIN Web site. Just find someone to run a smart drink stand, Trent, and you’ll be on the way. [nin.com]

Street Sweeper, the new collaboration between Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello and the Coup‘s Boots Riley, has been added to the NIN/JA tour—that’s the trek that Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction will take around the country this summer. “We are aiming to make this much more than just three acts sharing a bill,” Trent Reznor said in a statement on the NIN Web site. Just find someone to run a smart drink stand, Trent, and you’ll be on the way. [nin.com]

I don’t want to get on a soapbox here, but the Bush Administration’s authorization of torture and rendition is one of the most shameful episodes in our country’s recent history.^* One of the methods interrogators have for making detainees “talk” consists of playing music at super-loud volumes, sometimes for over 20 days at a time. That would drive anybody crazy. Reprieve, a group that represents 33 Guantanamo detainees, has banded together with concerned musicians to create a campaign called Zero dB:

The campaign urges supporters to help bring to an end the “brutal practice of music torture”. It will feature minutes of silence during concerts and festivals while a petition will call on governments and the UN to uphold their obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture.

Of course, Tom Morello is involved.

Other bands involved: Elbow, The Magic Numbers, James Lavelle of UNKLE, and Massive Attack. Morello takes things too far when he calls for George W. Bush to be locked in a room with Rage’s music for a while—I know that sounds funny, dude, but the point of standing up against torture is that it’s a morally repugnant practice that rarely if ever generates quality intelligence. It’s a grotesquerie in all forms. Man, Morello. That guy gets me so worked up!

Anyway, here is a list of some of the jamz that have been used in Iraq, Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and parts unknown:

“Enter Sandman” – Metallica
“Bodies” – Drowning Pool
“Shoot to Thrill” – AC/DC
“Hell’s Bells” – AC/DC
“I Love You” – from the “Barney and Friends” children’s TV show
“Born in the USA” – Bruce Springsteen
“Babylon” – David Gray
“White America” – Eminem
Sesame Street theme

Other artists on the playlist include Aerosmith, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Don McLean (wonder what song they played), Lil’ Kim, Limp Bizkit, Meat Loaf, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tupac Shakur.

David Gray has rightfully spoken out against this, as has Christopher Cerf, composer for Sesame Street. Can you imagine composing songs beloved by children everywhere and having them twisted and perverted for such monstrous purposes? Hopefully more of the musicians involved will take a stand against this odious practice.

Bands complain about their songs being used in torture [Telegraph]

* Watch Taxi to the Dark Side or read Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals for probably the two best distillations of the issue.

Ghostface’s cameo in Iron Man has been snipped from the final cut of the flick, which opens this Friday, but there’s a new song of his, “Slept On Tony With Dirt,” on the soundtrack. But while Ghost wound up on the cutting-room floor, the suits behind the movie thought that Tom Morrello was worthy of cameo time; his “olive skin and and Mediterranean-like features (he’s actually of Kenyan/Irish descent) were evidently enough to get him cast as a member of the terrorist insurgents with Al-Qaeda like beard and all.” Ooh, political! [The Playlist]

Ghostface’s cameo in Iron Man has been snipped from the final cut of the flick, which opens this Friday, but there’s a new song of his, “Slept On Tony With Dirt,” on the soundtrack. But while Ghost wound up on the cutting-room floor, the suits behind the movie thought that Tom Morrello was worthy of cameo time; his “olive skin and and Mediterranean-like features (he’s actually of Kenyan/Irish descent) were evidently enough to get him cast as a member of the terrorist insurgents with Al-Qaeda like beard and all.” Ooh, political! [The Playlist]

Ghostface’s cameo in Iron Man has been snipped from the final cut of the flick, which opens this Friday, but there’s a new song of his, “Slept On Tony With Dirt,” on the soundtrack. But while Ghost wound up on the cutting-room floor, the suits behind the movie thought that Tom Morrello was worthy of cameo time; his “olive skin and and Mediterranean-like features (he’s actually of Kenyan/Irish descent) were evidently enough to get him cast as a member of the terrorist insurgents with Al-Qaeda like beard and all.” Ooh, political! [The Playlist]

The Presidents Of The United States Of America (authors of “Lump”) were joined by not just one, but two formerly Jewfro’d musical legends at LA’s The Roxy last Friday: Satirical visionary Weird Al Yankovic, who reworked the Presidents’ big hit as the Forrest-saluting “Gump,” assisted in what was an undoubtedly transcedent cover of “More Than A Feeling”; and MC5 axeman Wayne Kramer, who helped essay the perennial “Kick Out The Jams” earlier in the night. Preliminary YouTube searches provided no documentation of either performance, but they did reveal another run through the anthem courtesy of Kramer and three other goofballs who’ve seen better decades.

A year ago, Wayne was joined by guitarrorists Slash, Tom Morello (in acoustic Nightwatchman mode) and Nuno Freakin’ Bettencourt at SXSW for a stirring rendition of the MC5′s “Skunk (Sonically Speaking).” Sorry, “Kick Out The Jams.”

Here’s the MC5 themselves, for comparison’s sake.

Just imagine two bald dudes pogoing with de-stringed basses alongside and you get the picture.

Weird Al and MC5 Endorse The Presidents Of The United States Of America [AntiMusic]

If you’re heading to SXSW next week, color me jealous-ish. Lots of bands, good. Long lines and tons of bloggers, bad. Nonetheless, may I offer a suggestion? Unless you enjoy tedious anti-war preaching from rock stars, avoid Stubbs on the 13th.

Any of the following acts might be tolerable on their own, but together? Performing for a movie about a soldier’s experience with war? Oh dear.

Ben Harper, Tom Morello and Serj Tankian will perform at a South by Southwest showcase for the documentary and soundtrack “Body of War,” inspired by a U.S. soldier paralyzed while serving in Iraq.

The performance is set for March 13 at Stubbs BBQ in Austin, Texas, and will also feature Kimya Dawson, American Bang, Brendan James, RX Bandits and special guests to be announced.

I’m sure the movie’s quite touching, but does anyone deserve to put through several hours of Harper, Morello and Tankian back to back demanding an impeachment or encouraging Nader to run, or whatever? Add Kimya Dawson to the mix, and watch the cuteness collide with the caustic rhetoric! Austin, I didn’t support the war, I never voted for Bush, but whatever I did to encourage those guys to perform together, I’m sorry. Really, really sorry.

SXSW: Harper, Morello, Tankian Declare ‘War’ [Billboard]

Tom Morello, lefty union fan and man who has made guitars go zeedle-eedle-eedle in Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave, “serenaded an estimated 3,000 picketers involved in the Hollywood screenwriters strike who were massed outside Fox’s Century City headquarters Friday morning,” as “The Battle For Los Angeles” takes on strange new meanings. [Blabbermouth]