Christopher Sabec is the co-founder and CEO of the copyright monetization company Rightscorp Inc. He has over 20 years in the music industry as an entertainment lawyer and manager. Some of his more notable clients were the Dave Matthews Band, Hanson, and Jerry Garcia. You can visit his music website here
Eight months after director John Singleton parted ways with the Tupac Shakur biopic – and just a month after his replacement Carl Franklin quietly stepped away from the film – producers have recruited another director to helm the long-in-the-works movie. Music video vet Benny Boom will now take over the project that's working with an incredibly tight deadline: If the film doesn't go into production by year's end, 2Pac's big screen music rights will revert back to the rapper's mother Afeni Shakur, The Hollywood Reporter writes.
"I am blessed with the opportunity of a lifetime," Boom wrote on Instagram next to a photo of the rapper. "Telling the story of this revolutionary, artist, visionary, genius, soldier! I will make him proud and uphold the legacy." The filmmaker has previously directed videos by Nicki Minaj ("Beez in the Trap"), Busta Rhymes ("Touch It"), Lil Wayne, Keyshia Cole, 50 Cent and many more, as well as the 2009 film Next Day Air.
Despite the success of Straight Outta Compton, a film that proved that a hip-hop biopic could thrive at the box office, production on the Shakur film has slowed due to creative differences and ongoing lawsuits. The film was originally scheduled to begin production in June with Singleton as director, but despite a finished script, the biopic was put "on hold." That was followed soon after by Singleton's loud exit.
"The reason I am not making this picture is because the people involved aren't really respectful of the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur," Singleton wrote in April. "They have no true love for 'Pac so this movie will not be made with love, and that's why my ass isn't involved! If Tupac knew what was going on he'd ride on all these fools and take it to the streets...but I won't do that. I'll just make my own project." Singleton then promised to spearhead his own 2Pac film.
Out of Time and House of Cards director Carl Franklin was then tasked with reining the Shakur biopic, but he left the project last month after a pair of producers filed a $10 million breach of contract lawsuit against the production company Morgan Creek.
Coldplay and Beyoncé's collaborative, clubby "Hymn for the Weekend" finds the "Drunk in Love" singer weaving her voice around the group's R&B-inflected arrangement. "Life is a drink, and love's a drug," Chris Martin sings amid rattling pianos and funky percussion, before he and Beyoncé sing, "Drink for me, drink for me," as the song grows more spacey and dreamy-sounding. Beyoncé gets the final words: "And we shoot across the sky." The tune will appear on the band's upcoming album, A Head Full of Dreams, due out Friday.
"It actually started off being quite a different vibe, this song," bassist Guy Berryman told the BBC. "Chris was wanting to write a sort of party song. The words were 'Drinks on me, drinks on me.' And we said to him, 'You can't say that. You can't get away with that.' Then the whole story of the song changed and then he asked Beyoncé to sing on it, and she very kindly said she would. And it was amazing. She came in. She did her thing. She's unbelievably professional. I think she was in and out in five minutes. And we are so blessed to sing on one of our songs."
The bassist later said that he liked how "understated" the pairing sounded. "It was never supposed to be a duet or anything," he said.
Martin recently corroborated Berryman's story about the band protesting him singing, "Drinks on me, drinks on me" in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. He also revealed the tune's inspiration. "The original kernel was that I was listening to Flo Rida or something, and I thought, it's such a shame that Coldplay could never have one of those late-night club songs, like 'Turn Down for What,'" Martin said.
The album contains numerous notable guest appearances, including one by Beyoncé's daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. Noel Gallagher, Gwyneth Paltrow and Tove Lo also appear on the record.
Smoky soul singer Anderson East showed off his swampy, barroom gospel on CBS This Morning this past weekend (November 28th), underscoring why he was named one of Rolling Stone Country's Artists You Need to Know this summer.
Along with "Satisfy Me" and "Find 'Em, Fool 'Em, and Forget 'Em," East performed an online-only rendition of the spiritually-minded "Devil in Me" (watch the performance above). All three songs are part of East's latest album, Delilah, his first to be produced by Americana heavyweight Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell).
With a hungover horn section, back-sliding lap steel and a come-to-Jesus organ whirring behind him, the Alabama native sings about a God-fearing man tempted into sin by a vivacious preacher's daughter. Torn between wild Saturday nights and having to face his maker on Sunday morning, the passion in East's growling vocals makes it clear he's no stranger to either setting.
East grew up in the church — which explains the song's gospel foundation — but like the rest of Delilah, "Devil in Me" seems to owe more to Memphis soul than the Gaither Vocal Band.
"I just wanted to have more fun for once in my life," he tells RS Country about his sound. "[Soul music] is ultimately the best feeling around. I think people are naturally drawn to it. I don't know anybody that can hate Sam Cooke or Otis Redding. We're trying to tip our hats to that style of music, but I don't want to wear that hat. I still want to be relevant now. I don't want to be making 1960s music in 2015."
East will take his modern soul on the road for his Devil in Me Tour starting January 28th in Louisville, Kentucky. It will mark his first-ever headlining run, and he’ll be joined by fellow roots soldiers Dylan LeBlanc and Andrew Combs.
Following the terrorist assault on Eagles of Death Metal's Paris concert earlier this month, the group has called upon artists of all genres to cover its Zipper Down track "I Love You All the Time" with the intention of donating all proceeds to the families of the attack's victims, including the band's merchandise manager Nick Alexander. My Morning Jacket were among the first to cover "I Love You All the Time" at their New York City gig Saturday, and now the Dean Ween Group have contributed their own buoyant version of the track alongside a message from Eagles of Death Metal's Josh Homme.
"The senseless and violent terrorist attacks of November 13th, 2015 in Paris have left us all unsettled and we dare not give another second of precious time to those who have tried to steal our freedoms and take away our power," Homme wrote. "Instead, we are writing to ask for your help to 'Play It Forward.'
"We are calling upon our friends to donate their time, talent and good will in a show of solidarity to help the victims of these atrocious acts in Paris and those affected by terrorism worldwide. We are asking for you to cover our song 'I Love You All the Time.' For every cover sold, we pledge to donate 100 percent of the publishing income to The Sweet Stuff Foundation. We ask that you also donate the money generated from sales of the song to the charity. In the same spirit, we would encourage you to offer one of your songs up to be covered by another artist, and follow suit – donate the publishing monies to charity – the 'Play it Forward Initiative.'"
Homme called upon artists across all musical genres – "soul or R&B; hip-hop or 'hippy'; garage, goth, country, punk or pop; death metal or DJ" – to try their hands at the tune. If the track isn't their style, Homme encouraged artists to help out the Paris victims in another way, much like Duran Duran, who are donating royalties from their "Save a Prayer," a track Eagles of Death Metal covered on Zipper Down, to charity. Homme also asked all digital retailers and streaming services donate their fees from the covers to charity as well.
"We are the songs of our forefathers," Homme wrote. "We are the hymns of God. The songs of the broken-hearted. The unchained melodies. The songs of puppy love and of love that cannot be broken. We are the music of hope and possibility. We are the call to arms. We are the chorus of victory. We are songs in the key of life. We are the champions … of the world."
Read Homme's full letter below:
Hello talented friend, The senseless and violent terrorist attacks of Nov. 13, 2015 in Paris have left us all unsettled and we dare not give another second of precious time to those who have tried to steal our freedoms and take away our power.
Instead, we are writing to ask for your help to Play It Forward. We are calling upon our friends to donate their time, talent and good will in a show of solidarity to help the victims of these atrocious acts in Paris and those affected by terrorism worldwide.
We are asking for you to cover our song "I Love You All The Time." For every cover sold, we pledge to donate 100% of the publishing income to The Sweet Stuff Foundation. We ask that you also donate the money generated from sales of the song to the charity.
In the same spirit, we would encourage you to offer one of your songs up to be covered by another artist, and follow suit – donate the publishing monies to charity – The Play it Forward Initiative.
Whether you're Soul or R&B; Hip Hop or Hippy; Garage, Goth, Country, Punk or Pop; Death Metal or DJ; It matters not. Whether your version is faithful to ours, instrumental, uses only lyrics or fragments thereof or is completely reimagined in every way, it matters not. Your individual musical differences become our collective strength. Simultaneously, we will call upon iTunes, Tidal, Amazon, Spotify & all others who will sell these covers, to join us and donate their portions to a charity as a symbol of unity. So many wonderfully talented artists have offered their love & support or have reached out asking, "How can we help?" Our answer is simple; Unite with us. All of us. The musicians, the bands, the music companies & the fans… because we are music. We are the anthems of great nations. We are the songs of our forefathers. We are the hymns of God. The songs of the broken hearted. The unchained melodies. The songs of puppy love & of love that cannot be broken. We are the music of hope & possibility. We are the call to arms. We are the chorus of victory. We are songs in the key of life.
We are the Champions… of the World.
In the event our song doesn't float your boat, we encourage you to help unite our business by any means possible. If you're drawing a blank, donate something of yours or the proceeds from one of your songs, as Duran Duran has so graciously done. But do join us help & heal through music. They attacked us all, please hear the call.
In what certainly looks like a hopeful sign for country radio, a surprisingly diverse lineup of artists has been announced as performers for the 2016 New Faces of Country Music Show on February 10th. Slated to make appearances are Brothers Osborne, Kelsea Ballerini, Cam, Old Dominion and Chris Janson.
The annual dinner showcase closes Country Radio Seminar, the industry confab of panels and showcases geared to foster the growth of the radio industry as well as introduce new artists to tastemakers. Long one of CRS week's most anticipated events, New Faces regularly serves as a launching pad for future superstars. Past artists to play New Faces include Zac Brown Band (2009), Dierks Bentley (2004), Faith Hill (1994) and even George Strait (1982). By comparison to the 2016 lineup, the 2015 show was heavily male, with Sam Hunt, Frankie Ballard, Cole Swindell and Eric Paslay sharing a bill with Maddie & Tae.
Each of the named artists has enjoyed some significant milestones in 2015. Brothers Osborne currently have a Top 10 hit with "Stay a Little Longer" and their debut albumPawn Shop will be out January 15th, while Chris Janson will add his high intensity performances to Blake Shelton's winter tour starting February 18th. Old Dominion will have a choice spot to support their new album Meat and Candy when they join Kenny Chesney's summer 2016 tour. Cam's "Burning House" has ignited on country radio and her debut album Untamed hits stores December 11th. Kelsea Ballerini previously made history with her Number One "Love Me Like You Mean It" and is bringing out pop star guests like Tori Kelly to sing with her.
Country Radio Seminar 2016 takes place February 8th through the 10th at the Omni Hotel in downtown Nashville.
"Jake, Roisin, Jr., Frank, Donal, Eimear, I never wanna see you again," she wrote, referencing her eldest son, daughter, an unidentified "Jr.," the father of one of her children, ex-husband and her brother, respectively. "You stole my sons from me. Then you had hypocrisy to come to hospital and then not be here when I wake and not pick up phone? I'm shit to you. You're dead to me. You killed your mother. You stole my sons. You left me alone for 12 weeks!
"Why did I have to hear it was your hypocritical asses here while I was unconscious??" she continued. "And now you're gone and not picking up phone? You are child-stealing murderers, I never want to see or hear from any of you again. Why were you here when you're the ones who put me here???? And where the fuck are you now??? Murderers. Liars. Hypocrites. All of you. You caused this."
Irish news source BreakingNews.ie reported Sunday that the vocalist was receiving medical assistance. In her suicide note, she wrote that the only way she'd be able to get her family's attention, following what she vaguely called "a horrific set of betrayals," was by publicly threatening suicide. "Apparently … I'm such a rotten horrible mother and person, that I've been alone," she wrote. "Howling crying for weeks. And been told by them all [to] go fuck myself. I'm invisible. I don't matter a shred to anyone. No one has come near me. I've died a million times already with the pain of it. So yeah: Strangers like me ... but my family don't value me at all. They wouldn't know if I was dead until weeks from now if I wasn't fucking informing them now."
The singer had previously posted a photo of a court order pertaining to custody of her two youngest sons Shane and Yeshua, claiming that on Monday they would both become wards of the court. "Here's your court order Donal Lunny," she wrote. "It says 'joint custody.' ... You and Jake are going to jail, under the terms of the order you falsely claimed supported you in preventing me from seeing my son." Previous posts detail her concerns for Shane, suggesting he is depressed and that her family members prevented her from getting him help.
One year after Bono was seriously injured from a bike accident in New York City's Central Park, the U2 frontman is auctioning off a bike ride to a donor as part of a campaign for his organization (RED), which raises money to battle AIDS. That ride with rock royalty can be won by donating at least $10 through the Omaze platform. The campaign launches on Tuesday, December 1st, to honor World AIDS Day, The Associated Press reports.
"I'm not sure that was as funny to my band as it was to me," Bono told the AP, reflecting on the bike accident that prompted surgery. "But I think we're going to have fun, and yeah, we'll go visit the scene of the crime."
Jimmy Kimmel is dedicating his December 1st episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to the campaign, recruiting Olivia Wilde to co-host the home shopping parody (SHOPATHON). The episode will also feature Tom Brady, who is donating a lesson on how to "master your spiral," and Shaquille O'Neal, who is offering to appear in a donor's holiday card.
Kimmel is also donating a valuable service – the chance to give someone's "child" the sex talk. "There's no age limit — if you have a 45-year-old kid, I'll explain it to him, too, as long as the parents are OK with it. I'm happy to do the job," he said.
Other celebrity "experiences" include a trip to the Game of Thrones set (to sit on the Iron Throne), spending "quality time with George Clooney as he showers you with compliments," a makeover with Kim Kardashian, appearing in a "Dubsmash" video with the Backstreet Boys, having your portrait painted by James Franco, meeting Meryl Streep on the red carpet, meeting the Weeknd backstage and partaking in "legal relaxation" with Snoop Dogg on 4/20 at Colorado's "Merry Jane Wellness Retreat."
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match every dollar raised up to $20 million, and the entry window closes on January 21st, 2016. Bono will celebrate the 10th anniversary of (RED) on Tuesday at New York City's Carnegie Hall, appearing with bandmate the Edge, Vice President Joe Biden, Stephen Colbert, Miley Cyrus and Trevor Noah, among others.
The beauty of Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum lies in the way it expertly honors country music's past while also making just enough room for its present. In recent months, the institution has hosted insightful — and successful — exhibits on contemporary artists like Luke Bryan and Eric Church, both woven seamlessly into a building that devotes major space to the Carter Family and Hank Williams. Now, the Hall has added Keith Urban to its modern-day showcases.
Bowing November 20th, Keith Urban So Far. . . takes a focused look at the musical leanings of the singer-guitarist, paying special care to the instruments in Urban's arsenal that have made him one of country music's most electrifying players. Among the featured guitars: a Levinson Blade electric that Urban played on "But for the Grace of God," his very first Number One single, and a custom Fender he calls "Clarence."
Currently working his new single "Break on Me," the follow-up to the Number One "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16," Urban is readying his latest album for release. Titled Ripcord, the LP will hit stores sometime after the New Year. Earlier this month, Urban shared the stage with John Mellencamp on the 49th CMA Awards, singing "Pink Houses" with the heartland singer. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, meanwhile, is poised to welcome its one millionth visitor in 2015 this week.
Amy, Asif Kapadia's acclaimed documentary on Amy Winehouse's tragic life story, comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on December 1st. In advance of tomorrow's release, we're premiering one of the deleted scenes that will appear as bonus content on these new editions. This clip features Winehouse at the 2004 Brit Awards, a night that the singer's friend and fellow musician Tyler James views in retrospect as an ominous turning point in the singer's career.
We see a beaming Winehouse arriving late at the ceremony and speaking with a reporter. "I'm just excited to be here," she enthuses, mock-fretting, "I don't want to miss Beyoncé!" In a voice-over, James notes that the press' remarks on her appearance at the event led to an unhealthy self-consciousness for the singer. As we see Winehouse reacting with barely concealed dejection to losing the award for Best British Female to Dido, it's clear that the night wasn't the joyous occasion it seemed to be.
Despite criticism from the singer's father, Mitch, who labeled the filmmakers "a disgrace," Amy has become the top-grossing British documentary of all time. "What I learned was what a creative, intelligent, funny human being she was," Kapadia told Rolling Stone of the experience of making the film. "I didn't know any of that. I don't know if anyone did."
In Eagles of Death Metal's first interview since the horrific Paris terror attacks, the band asked that artists in all genres cover their song "I Love You All the Time" in tribute to those killed at the Bataclan club. My Morning Jacket wrapped up their four-night stand at New York's Beacon Theatre on Saturday night, and during that show, the group performed an uplifting rendition of the Zipper Down track following a moment of silence for the Paris victims.
As James told Rolling Stone recently in a video interview, My Morning Jacket's crew members often toured with Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal. "Every note we play and every syllable I sing is for peace, and for understanding, and for love," James said. "The music must always go on and fear must never win. And we must stick together and talk about how we can find ways to accept each other."
In Eagles of Death Metal's Vice interview, the band encouraged artists to submit their own versions of "I Love You All the Time" to digital and streaming services, with all proceeds from each cover going to victims.
Not only did Adele's 25shatter the record for most albums sold in the U.S. in a single week, it also exceeded all estimations and expectations as the LP tallied a colossal total of 3.38 million copies in its debut week. Adele's 25 became only the second album to sell over two million copies in its first week – joining previous record holder N'Sync's No Strings Attached, which moved 2.42 million copies in its first week of sales in March 2000 – and the first album ever to exceed three million in sales in one week, Billboard reports.
After just seven days of availability, 25 is already the U.S.'s highest-selling album of 2015, nearly doubling the 1.8 million copies of Taylor Swift's 1989 had accrued in the first 11 months of the year. Adele's latest is also just the 20th album to put up platinum numbers – over one million copies sold – in its first week of sales since Nielsen started keeping track in 1991.
With 25's massive week, Adele's catalog is now responsible for the top-selling album in three of the past five years: 21 was the bestselling album of 2011 and 2012 – the first time in charts history that an album repeated that feat – and 25 will undoubtedly hold the crown of 2015's bestseller when the calendar turns. 21 has sold over 11 million copies since its release in 2011, and if 25 keeps its current sales trajectory, it will be the favorite to be the highest-selling LP of 2016 as well, especially if the singer continues to keep it off of streaming services.
25 didn't just break sales records in the U.S.: In Adele's native U.K., 25 put up the biggest selling opening week in the history of the Official Charts Company, ousting Oasis' Be Here Now. Adele's latest sold over 800,000 copies in the U.K. – toppling Be Here Now's opening week of 696,00 in 1997 – and, with over 250,000 digital purchases of the LP, quickly racked the most downloads ever in an opening week in the history of the British charts, Billboard writes.
On the British album charts, Adele's 25, which easily placed Number One, sold more than the albums slotted at Number Two through Number 87 combined. Expect similar domination stateside when the complete Billboard 200 rankings are announced early next week.
While artists like Neil Young, R.E.M. and Aerosmith have lashed out at Donald Trump for using their music at political rallies without permission, Twisted Sister have allowed the Republican presidential candidate to use their 1984 hit "We're Not Gonna Take It" on the campaign trail. As singer Dee Snider revealed in a new interview, while his own beliefs strongly differ from Trump's, he says the song "is about rebellion, speaking your mind and fighting the system. If anybody's doing that, [Trump] sure is."
Snider and Trump do have a history, as the singer was fired on the 2012 season of Celebrity Apprentice. "He called and he asked, which I appreciated," Snider told Canadian Business of Trump's use of "We're Not Gonna Take It." "I said, 'Look, we don't see eye to eye on everything – there are definitely issues that we're far apart on.' … Trump and Bernie Sanders are the two extremes. They're raising holy hell and shaking everything up. That's what 'We're Not Gonna Take It' is about."
While they have different ideologies, Snider said he remained friends with Trump after taping Celebrity Apprentice. "I have spent time with Donald and his family," Snider said. "I don't think either of us expected that we would like each other, but you know, Donald Trump is a pretty chill guy. He's a frontman."
When Snider spoke to Rolling Stone in 2012, he was similarly complementary of Trump while disagreeing with the mogul's politics, including Trump's demands to see Barack Obama's birth certificate at that time. "In [Trump's] own way, he is the P.T. Barnum of his day," Snider said in 2012. "It is no coincidence that he is talking about possibly running for president at the time that we're announcing the launch of the Celebrity Apprentice. It's not a coincidence. Saying sensational things like 'President Obama sucks,' knowing at the same time that he wants people to lock up their TiVos."
However, Snider doesn't just allow every politician to use "We're Not Gonna Take It" at rallies: In 2012, Snider denounced Paul Ryan's use of the Twisted Sister single at a rally.
Sia will release her new album This Is Acting in January, and on Friday the Australian singer unveiled "One Million Bullets," the latest single off her 1000 Forms of Fear follow-up. The atmospheric, expressive track starts off on a hushed tone before unfurling an infectious, soaring chorus that has become a staple of Sia's work. "One million bullets could come my way / But I want you to know that / I'd take a million, babe / How many would you take," Sia asks on the chorus.
Jesse Shatkin, the co-writer of Sia's smash "Chandelier," produced "One Million Bullets." Sia previously said of her upcoming album, which features songs she wrote for other artists before recording them herself, "It's much more pop. I'm calling it This Is Acting because they are songs I was writing for other people, so I didn't go in thinking, 'This is something I would say.' It's more like play-acting. It's fun."
While This Is Acting's first two singles – "Bird Set Free" and "Alive" – were penned with Adele in mind, it's unclear who "One Million Bullets" was originally destined for. This Is Acting is due out January 29th.
Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole dropped a pair of Black Friday gifts on fans as the rappers traded beats off their respective albums to create their own new songs, both titled "Black Friday." The swap finds Lamar hopping onto Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive cut "A Tale of 2 Citiez," while Cole adds his verses to To Pimp a Butterfly's "Alright."
In Lamar's ferocious, nearly four-minute-long verse, the rapper touches on Adele ("I'm rolling deep in that paper like two Adeles"), dubs himself Jimi Kendrix and even throws his support behind Kanye West's 2020 presidential run. "Play with him, you're better off voting for Donald Trump / I'm yelling Mr. Kanye West for president / He probably let me get some head inside the residence / I'm in the White House going all out / Bumping College Dropout, God bless Americans," Lamar says. Later, the rapper gloats, "I gotta lay it / Gotta show you fuckers I'm not to play with / The ruckus had been my favorite / King Kunta the fuckin' greatest."
On the other "Black Friday," Cole boasts over the "Alright" beat, "I sold out the Garden / I should play for the Knicks / Took a couple minutes and I sold out Staples / a nigga getting cream like an old-ass Laker." At the conclusion of J. Cole's "Black Friday," he appears to hint that a more substantial collaboration between the two marquee rappers could arrive in 2016. "When you and K. Dot dropping shit," Cole says. "Bitch never, they can't handle two black niggas this clever / But this February, bet shit get scary when I fuck around and drop…" as the verse ends abruptly.
No official explanation for the "Black Friday" drop was provided other than it was "Black Friday $ specials free of charge" from their labels: Lamar's Top Dawg Entertainment and Cole's Dreamville Records. However, Dreamville president Ibrahim "Ib" Hamad tweeted, "I didn't do nothing but spark the idea but thanks for the love. End of the day I'm a fan just like you, I did because it's fun for us fans."
D.A. Pennbaker still remembers the man with the wiry gray hair and the sunglasses, sitting across from him in his office and posing an innocent enough question. "He asked, 'Would you like to come along on a tour with my client? His name is Bob Dylan.' It sort of rang a bell." The 90-year-old filmmaker lets out a raspy chuckle before continuing to speak at his customary rapid clip. "He had one song, 'The Times They Are A-Changin',' that had been playing on the radio and that's about all I knew. But I'd just done this 15-minute film on a jazz vocalist, Dave Lambert...and at that moment, I'd been sort of making these shorts and then putting them in a box, because there was no market for them. So when Albert [Grossman, Dylan's manager] brought up this tour, I thought, 'Oh, another musician. Here's my chance.' And maybe that would be the start of something."
History will confirm that yes, it was most definitely the start of something. Pennebaker would accompany the then–23-year-old singer-songwriter to England for a brief 1965 spring tour, bringing along his customized sync-sound 16mm camera and capturing several Dylan performances — as well as lots of backstage banter, backroom deals, after-party shenanigans, press conferences, put-downs, temper tantrums, rabid fans and one of the most uncomfortable troubadour-vs.-troubadour encounters ever caught on celluloid. The result, released two years later under the title Don't Look Back, would become the definitive visual portrait of the artist as he prepared to go from folksinging poet/prophet to pop-music gamechanger. It would also create the template for the modern rock documentary and become one of the single most influential movies of all time.
Some 50 years after its creation, Pennebaker's fly-on-the-wall time capsule still seems remarkably fresh — and courtesy of Criterion's recent bells-and-whistles release of the movie, Don't Look Back now sounds, per Pennebaker himself, "better than when I initially recorded and shot it." A labor of love for producer Kim Hendrickson (who'd been involved with the movie's inaugural DVD release at another company back in 1999), the new edition includes the earlier edition's commentary track with the filmmaker and tour manager/Dylan partner-in-crime Bob Neuwirth, and 65 Revisited, Pennebaker's odds-ends-and-outtakes movie that was part of 2006 box set. But it also includes key early works from the direct-cinema pioneer, including the aforementioned jazz-musician short Lambert & Co. (1964); new testimonials with Patti Smith and writer Greil Marcus; and Snapshots From the Tour, a collection of Back sequences left on the cutting-room floor.
But it's the audio restoration that genuinely makes the new DVD/Blu-ray stick out, thanks to a painstaking process that would help correct earlier mixes of the movie, which tended to employ a "fake stereo" set-up that panned the mono tracks. (Listen to the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" opening on previous DVD releases, and you can hear the bass line bouncing back and forth between your speakers.) That meant going back to quarter-inch magnetic master tapes in Pennebaker's vaults — what Criterion audio supervisor Ryan Hullings calls the "holy grail" of Don't Look Back materials. "D.A. had stored them properly since day one, so they were in excellent physical condition," he relates via email. "The problem was that those tapes used a special version of Fairchild Sync, which was only used for a very, very brief time in the mid-Sixties...and modern tape heads can't read it. I looked all over New York for someone who could transfer the audio, so I wouldn't have to ship these priceless materials out of the state, and no one could play them."
Salvation came in the form of Peter Oreckinto, a former Kiss roadie living in Los Angeles who had a reputation for being "an analog film-audio guru." Hullings sent him the masters and crossed his fingers; the West Coast resident then built his own bespoke tape head from scratch that could read the outdated signal. "He sent back an audio sample as a test," the Criterion employee recalled, "with a note that said 'I have no idea whether this will sync up, but give it a shot.' We were floored by how amazing the recordings sounded — and it synced up perfectly with the picture!"
"It actually changes the movie," Hendrickson says, in regards to the restored sound. "Take the Donovan scene: It has always been read as this big takedown, with Dylan taking the guitar and trying to one-up the singer. But now, you can actually hear Donovan ask Dylan to play 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' for him — it changes the intention of the scene entirely. It's not nearly as negative! All of us in the office were watching the movie right after we put the sound track in and we suddenly, Wait...did he just request the song?!? And none of us could remember hearing that before."
"The Donovan scene has always been read as this big takedown. Now, you can actually hear Donovan ask Dylan to play 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue' for him — it changes the intention of the scene entirely."
There's also a brief snippet in the supplement section that features Dylan in living if faded color, pounding out a raw, raucous "Ballad of a Thin Man" from the legendary 1966 tour he did with The Band — his first time taking the group out on the road after going electric at Newport in July of 1965, just months after he'd filmed Don't Look Back's acoustic gigs overseas. Hendrickson said she specifically included that moment to emphasize Dylan's subsequent evolution — "We wanted to chart that move from acoustic to electric, from black-and-white to color" is how she puts it. The performance does draw attention, however, to the fact that what would have been a natural addition to the set, Eat the Document, is M.I.A. Though Martin Scorsese used footage from the abandoned project for his 2012 documentary No Direction Home, Pennebaker and Dylan's notorious, never-officially-released follow-up project remains stuck in bootleg-only limbo.
"Would the world have liked Eat the Document as part of this?" Hendrickson asks rhetorically. "Yes, of course, and we included that Ballad footage to emphasize that the bonds that formed on Don't Look Back didn't stop once the '65 tour was done. These two men clearly saw something in each other; Dylan recognized that D.A. got it, and vice versa. But that other project is something that should be celebrated in its own right, and I imagine that it will get out there eventually." Pennebaker agrees, claiming that even if he'd been able to include his cut of the ABC Network-commissioned documentary (Dylan would eventually edit his own version as well), the two films feel like separate entities to him.
"The second project was in a sense his film," the director says. "I was involved, sure, but it really felt more like 'I want you to shoot a film and I'm gonna direct it.' In the end, it got made and ABC didn't want it, and I'm incredibly glad that Marty was able to use as much of it as he did. But I didn't want to have a mutiny on my hands, and I know it will show up eventually. I feel like Bob will figure out what to do with it. He's has always said, 'Well Don't Look Back is your film, man,' and I feel like that's true, for better or worse."
Indeed, given the attention to detail that Criterion has given to framing Don't Look Back as the work of an artist behind the camera in addition to a portrait of the one onscreen, the DVD restoration feels like a tribute to the man who'd forever alter what we expect from music documentaries. "When you revisit this film, most of the time, you talk about Dylan," Hendrickson says. "But it's also the moment that Pennebaker comes into his own. He's moved on from his old collaborators, he's no longer doing those newsreel-style films for Life, and he's started experimenting with avant-garde stuff, like the Duke Ellington piece [Daybreak Express] and the Dave Lambert doc we included here. So by the time he starts on Don't Look Back...he starts the film off with something that has nothing to do with the tour. He jumps into the middle of scenes and cuts out of them. He's making it up as he goes along. So was Dylan. That's why this works so well. It's because of the two of them. It's revolutionary."
"People are always going to need Dylan," Pennebaker says, when asked about why he thinks the film still holds up. "His way of saying, 'It's all fucked up, but I'll show you a way to get through it' — that will never go away. But most documentaries exist in order to capture a specific moment and then they move on. I wanted to make a film for the future, that wasn't just about 1965. And I think that's why it still works."
David Bowie, Robert Plant, David Gilmour, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Phil Selway, Coldplay, My Morning Jacket, Yoko Ono and Björk are among the dozens of artists in the creative community to sign an open letter addressed to the leadership of the upcoming Paris Climate Conference outlining significant changes to the United Nations' climate change framework. Julie's Bicycle, a not-for-profit organization aimed at environmental sustainability, orchestrated the petition.
The open letter was written to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueres and Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister of France and president of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. "We are deeply concerned that our global economic and industrial systems are accelerating rates of extinction, desertification and soil depletion, degrading ecosystems, acidifying and littering our rivers and oceans, and resulting in a relentless rise in greenhouse gas emissions driving irreversible climate change," the letter stated. "In short, we are overwhelming the planet's life support systems."
Among the changes the petition calls on are "an ambitious commitment to climate action, starting now, that will limit future global warming to below 2.0°C (3.6 °F) relative to pre-industrial levels" and "financial mechanisms to stimulate extensive infrastructure for poorer nations to support them in achieving their reduction commitments while permitting equitable development. The petition also seeks "a legally robust and accountable global climate governance framework and implementation strategy that we will be able to support."
Sting, Damon Albarn, Chrissie Hynde, Jack Johnson, Leona Lewis, Fugazi's Ian MacKaye, Tune-Yards' Merrill Garbus, Courtney Barnett, Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Dido and many more musicians, artists, writers and others involved in the creative field also signed the Julie's Bicycle petition.
The Paris Climate Conference will begin November 30th and run through December 11th. Yorke, Patti Smith and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea announced in July that they would take part in the Pathway to Paris concert at the city's Le Trianon theater on December 4th. While the recent terror attacks in Paris have threatened the cancellation of many events revolving around the climate change conferences, Yorke pledged on Twitter, "Will be in Paris as planned on 4th & 5th December to put pressure on our glorious leaders at #COP21 -now or never!"
In 1976, Wanted! The Outlaws assembled the best of the Outlaw Movement in the studio, with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser lending some of their best material to the compilation. But a new recording of Jennings on tour in 1979 captures the outlaw attitude live onstage. An exclusive release for Black Friday Record Store Day (November 27th), the special 12" vinyl is a full Jennings concert from Omaha and includes a barnstorming version of "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand." (Listen to the track below).
Assembled by Jennings and Colter's son, Shooter Jennings, for his Black Country Rock boutique label, Waylon Jennings Live in Concert: Volume 2 was recorded the year the younger Jennings was born.
"It's from Omaha in '79 and I just feel like he had an energy and attitude that was so badass," Jennings tells Rolling Stone Country. "It also is probably the best showcase of his guitar playing on a live record to date. . . This was the peak of the Outlaw Movement and the peak of his popularity and it really shows it."
Along with the Waylon Jennings Live album, Jennings is releasing two other discs for Record Store Day: a recording by Internet personality the Angry Granpa, and "A Civilized Hell," a collaboration between Jennings and another son of a seminal outlaw, Lukas Nelson. In March, Jennings will release his new album Countach (For Giorgio), a tribute to electronic-music visionary Giorgio Moroder.
Lil Wayne is making it a habit of dropping mammoth mixtapes on national holidays: After the Free Weezy Album arrived on July 4th, the rapper's No Ceilings 2 appeared just as fans were sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner. The latest mixtape is the sequel to Wayne's 2009 mixtape that helped bridge the gap between 2008's Tha Carter III and 2010's Rebirth. Download No Ceilings 2 over at Live Mixtapes.
No Ceilings 2 doesn't have much in common with its predecessor other than its overall scope: While the original mixtape had 21 songs, Wayne ups that on the sequel, as No Ceilings 2 runs through 24 songs over the span of almost 100 minutes. Of the mixtape's 24 tracks, one-third of them find Wayne rapping on beats previously employed by Drake ("Hotline Bling," "Back to Back"), Future ("Where Ya At") or Drake and Future (five songs from What a Time to Be Alive). The Weeknd's "The Hills," Eminem's "My Name Is," Post Malone's "White Iverson" and Bryson Tiller's "Don't" are also among the songs getting the Weezy treatment.
Future himself appears alongside Wayne and Yo Gotti on one of No Ceilings 2's original productions, "Cross Me." Other guests on the mixtape include Curren$y, Mannie Fresh, Jae Millz, Los, Gudda Gudda, Baby E, Young Money singer Shanell and Wayne's fellow Hot Boys member Turk.
Wayne's Tha Carter V remains tied up in the rapper's legal battle with Cash Money.
No Ceilings 2 Track List
1. "Fresh (Feat. Mannie Fresh)"
2. "Back 2 Back"
3. "My Name Is"
4. "Where Ya At"
5. "Cross Me (Feat. Future & Yo Gotti)"
6. "I'm Nice"
7. "Duck (Feat. Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda & Shanell)"
8. "Poppin (Feat. Curren$y)"
9. "Jumpman"
10. "Destroyed (Feat. Euro)"
11. "Finessin (Feat. Baby E)"
12. "Millyrokk (Feat. Lucci Lou & Turk)"
13. "Live From The Gutter (Feat. Hoodybaby & T@)"
14. "Big Wings"
15. "Too Young"
16. "Lil Bitch"
17. "Get Ya Gat (Feat. Lucci Lou & Hoodybaby)"
18. "No Reason (Feat. King Los)"
19. "Plastic Bag (Feat. Jae Millz)"
20. "Hotline Bling"
21. "Crystal Ball (Feat. Steph)"
22. "Diamonds Dancing"
23. "No Days Off"
24. "The Hills"
Eight days before Coldplay release their new LP A Head Full of Dreams, Chris Martin stopped by Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show to premiere "Everglow," a heartfelt, piano-led ballad from the band's upcoming album. As Martin previously told Rolling Stone, "Everglow" features his ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow contributing very subtle background vocals to the track.
As for the inspiration behind the track, Martin told Lowe, "I was in the ocean one day with this surfer guy, who spoke just like you'd imagine a surfer guy to speak … This guy spoke like Sean Penn's character from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He was like, 'Yo dude, I was doing this thing the other day man, it gave me this total everglow!'
"I was like, 'What an amazing word.' Then the song came completely out, and to me, it's about – whether it's a loved one or a situation or a friend or a relationship that's finished or someone's passed away – I was really thinking about, after you've been through the sadness of something, you also get this everglow. That's what it's about."
Martin previously revealed "Everglow" was "about a relationship's enduring spark." As for Paltrow's involvement on the farewell song, Martin told Rolling Stone, "We just did it in the studio one day. It was just a friendly kind of thing."
Martin's ex-wife isn't the only unlikely guest to feature on A Head Full of Dreams: Noel Gallagher, Beyoncé, Blue Ivy Carter, Tove Lo, Martin's children and a sample of President Barack Obama singing "Amazing Grace" will also appear on the album.
Nearly 18 months after the death of radio legend Casey Kasem, the America's Top 40 host's children have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Kasem's widow Jean Kasem. In the civil suit, filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Kasem's three children and his brother accuse Jean Kasem of elder abuse and inflicting emotional distress on them, The Associated Press reports. In the months prior to Kasem's death, his three children – all from a previous marriage – were restricted access from their father as he lay bedridden with dementia.
"Casey's early death occurred as a direct and proximate result of Jean's neglect and physical abuse of Casey," the wrongful death suit read. The civil suit came after prosecutors declined to press criminal charges against Jean Kasem earlier in the year. "We would rather see her in jail than receive one dime. We don't care about the money. We care about justice," daughter Kerri Kasem told the AP. "What [Jean] did to my father is reprehensible. It's disgusting. It's horrific." The lawsuit itself seeks at least $250,000 in damages, although a jury would determine the final amount if Jean Kasem was found guilty.
The 28-page civil lawsuit pinpoints the negligent manner in which Jean Kasem cared for Casey in his final months, including letting him remain confined to hospitals long after he was ready to be discharged as well as relocating the radio host from a California medical facility to a friend's home in Washington state as his condition worsened; his children filed a missing person report after Jean Kasem relocated Casey without telling anyone. The Kasem children also cited Jean's decision to bury Kasem in an unmarked grave in Norway as an example of the emotional distress they've endured.
The lawsuit says Kasem's brother and children are seeking "fair recompense for the suffering they personally endured from witnessing the abuse and its painful and damaging physical effect on their beloved father and brother, and the gross treatment and disposition of Casey Kasem's remains in an unmarked grave in a distant land unknown to him or his family."
Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has revealed that the group had a particularly fruitful writing session before deciding not to make a follow-up to 13. "I've got so many riffs," he told Q (via Blabbermouth). "I wrote a whole load of stuff for another album, and we met up in L.A. but the others ... well, Geezer [Butler] didn't particularly want to do another album." News broke last month that the band opted out of recording a new studio record for Universal.
In the new interview, the guitarist explained the ensemble's rationale. "After you've just had a Number One album, where do you go from there?" he said. "For the last LP, we did record 16 songs [but released only 12], so we may still put something out from that. We don't know yet."
Asked if he intended to stop playing, Iommi said no. "It's the touring, really [that's hard]," he said. "I'd love to do something with the guys. But, whatever happens, I will do something."
Last September, Ozzy Osbourne told Metal Hammer that the band intended to head back into the studio. At the time, he said he'd prefer to do it "sooner rather than later" and that they would be writing it around Iommi's treatments for lymphoma. "I don't know if we'll be writing in England or Los Angeles, but I'll fly to the fucking moon for it if I have to," he said.
Rather than make a new album, Black Sabbath are focusing on what they've proclaimed to be their final tour, dubbed "The End." The first leg kicks off in Omaha on January 20th and wraps in late February in New York City. They will return to North America in August and tour through late September for a second leg.
Erykah Badu wasn't kidding when she asked us to put our "Phone Down." In an exclusive advance clip from this year's Soul Train Awards, airing Sunday, host Badu demands that several distracted audience members in the front row — including Tyrese Gibson — put away their cells and focus on her.
"Tyrese, you're on your phone?" she asks the singer-actor. "You're in the front row on national TV … and you're on your phone?" This annoyance prompts Badu to perform her soulful new track as she scans the crowd for cell phones, retrieving every one she spots. "I can make you put your phone down/As we cruise through the city," she sings. "You ain't gonna text no one when you wit' me."
The 2015 Soul Train Awards air Sunday, November 29th at 8 p.m. EST on BET and Centric. The event will feature performances from Brandy, Fantasia, Jeremih, Boyz II Men, Jazmine Sullivan, Erica Campbell, V. Bozeman, Cameo and surprise guest Bobby Brown. Jill Scott will be honored with the first-ever Lady of Soul Award, and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds will receive the Legend Award.
To properly ring in the holiday season, Clint Black will set out on a 12-city Christmas tour beginning Tuesday, December 1st, in the Villages, Florida. The trek will make stops throughout New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma, before wrapping up on Sunday, December 20th, back in Black's home state of Texas.
The tour has become something of an annual tradition for the singer-songwriter, and concertgoers can expect material from Black's Looking for Christmas and Christmas With You albums, which, along with renditions of Christmas standards, feature original tunes like "Milk and Cookies," "Coolest Pair" and "The Kid." He'll also perform songs from On Purpose, his first album of new tunes since Drinkin' Songs and Other Logic a decade ago.
Recorded at his Nashville studio, On Purpose is Black's 10th studio album since the neo-traditional (and now-classic) Killin' Time helped change the country landscape in 1989. With myriad changes to the music business since he scored consecutive chart-toppers with his first four singles, Black didn't worry about pleasing country radio programmers with the material he wrote and recorded for On Purpose.
"I like some of the songs I'm hearing [on radio], but we're going backwards with sounds," he tells Rolling Stone Country. "I don't mind hearing reverb and distortion, but I want to hear the different instruments. The musicians who are playing on this record are Mozarts."
Here's the list of Clint Black's Christmas Tour dates:
December 1 – The Villages, FL @ Sharon L. Morse PAC
December 2 – Clearwater, FL @ The Capitol Theatre
December 4 – Pompano Beach, FL @ Isle Casino
December 5 – Saint Augustine, FL @ Saint Augustine Theater
December 10 – Roswell, NM @ Pearson Auditorium
December 11 – Sante Fe, NM @ Buffalo Thunder Resort
December 12 – Laughlin, NV @ Avi Resort & Casino
December 13 – Wickenburg, AZ @ Del E Webb Center
December 17 – Spencer, IA @ Clay County Events Center
December 18 – St. Louis, MO @ River City Casino
December 19 - Enid, OK @ Chisholm Trail Expo Center
December 20 – The Woodlands, TX @ Dosey Doe
While many of Paris' music venues have reopened their doors since the November 13th terror attacks in the French capital, the majority of concertgoers are still reticent about attending shows following the tragedy. According to Prodiss, the National Union of Producers, Distributors and Theatres in France, ticket sales have dropped 80 percent compared to the same period in 2014 in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks. To help keep the industry afloat, Prodiss is seeking €50 million – approximately $53 million – in emergency aid, the group announced in a statement Tuesday.
France's culture minister Fleur Pellerin has already pledged €4 million in state funding to help the concert industry, NME reports, but that doesn't cover the venues' losses in ticket sales. The funds also won't cover the cost of implementing additional security measures following the terror attack on the city's Bataclan venue, where nearly 90 people were killed during an Eagles of Death Metal concert. Additionally, many of the city's more high-profile concerts have been canceled, including Foo Fighters and Motörhead.
Despite the need for emergency funding, Prodiss is still asking all venue owners to donate one euro from every ticket sold to a fund benefitting the families of victims of the Paris terror attacks.
A coalition of Paris nightclubs issued a statement days after the November 13th attack promising to reopen its doors as soon as November 20th. "Music, dance, sharing, meetings, the social bond and diversity are values that we carry that obviously these terrorists have targeted for destruction. That will not work," the coalition wrote. "Nothing and nobody will stop Paris from dancing."
The holidays will be a festive time for Jennifer Nettles with an appearance in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, not to mention her role in the upcoming TV movie Coat of Many Colors and a return to her hosting gig on the CMA Country Christmas special. The latest single from the Grammy winner, however, is a downright somber ballad full of longing and regret. Nettles performed the song — which will appear on her forthcoming full-length album — during her Tuesday appearance on TheTonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.
"Unlove You," which the Sugarland member co-wrote with Brandy Clark and debuted during her solo Playing With Fire Tour this fall, finds the subject of the song unable to close the books on an old love even though it has reached its inevitable conclusion. The smoldering tune has her pleading, "I can't unlove you, so come love me for now." During CMT's Next Women of Country showcase earlier this month, Nettles introduced the song by saying that country music "celebrates brokenness and it takes realness in life and shines a light through it," adding that "there is beauty in all of this because it is life."
Reclaiming the festive holiday spirit, Nettles returns for the sixth consecutive year to host the CMA Country Christmas special, which airs Thursday, December 3rd, at 9:00 p.m. ET on ABC. The all-star cast includes Kelsea Ballerini, Dan + Shay, Charles Kelley, Martina McBride, David Nail, LeAnn Rimes, Jewel, Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, a capella group Pentatonix and a special performance from Thomas Rhett and Brett Eldredge.
One week later, Nettles will play Dolly Parton's mother, Avie Lee Parton, in Coat of Many Colors, based on the autobiographical song Parton penned in 1971. The film, which also stars Ricky Schroder as Parton's dad and Alyvia Alyn Lind as a young Dolly, premieres on NBC Thursday, December 10th, at 9:00 p.m. ET.
With her new album 25 poised to sell nearly 3 million copies by week's end, Adele is the top story in all of music. But the new queen of the torch song doesn't restrict herself to soaring ballads — she also has an appreciation for country and bluegrass. Thanks, in part, to Chris Stapleton.
For a special edition of her wildly popular album 21, Adele covered "If It Hadn't Been for Love," which Stapleton co-wrote while in the bluegrass band the SteelDrivers. The song first appeared on the group's 2008 debut album. She also made a memorable appearance, pre-21 fame, on CMT's Artists of the Year special in 2010, pairing up with Darius Rucker to sing Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now."
Although she clearly doesn't need to — such huge sales point to an already established mass appeal — Adele has been making the rounds to promote 25. On Saturday, she performed on Saturday Night Live, while Monday found her on The Tonight Show singing "Water Under the Bridge" before joining host Jimmy Fallon and the Roots in a stripped-down take on "Hello," with classroom instruments. She'll headline her own NBC concert special, Live in New York City, on December 14th.
Stapleton, meanwhile, is gearing up for an appearance at a John Lennon birthday tribute concert in New York on December 5th, and will also perform at Nashville's New Year's Eve party, Bash on Broadway.
Adele showcased her immense vocal range on Wednesday during a Today Show performance of "Million Years Ago," a sparse ballad from her new LP, 25. "I know I'm not the only one / Who regrets the things they've done," she sings in the clip, swooping from dramatic high notes to a low rumble, backed by minimal acoustic and electric guitars. "Sometimes I just feel it's only me / Who can stand the reflection that they see."
Adele also spoke with Matt Lauer about 25, her long-awaited, record-shattering third LP – explaining the writer's block which, at first, prevented her from accessing the same emotions that defined 21. "I don't think sadness is always devastating," she says. "It can be quite uplifting and joyful, as well. Sometimes you have to allow yourself to be sad in order to move forward."
As Billboard reports, the singer previously performed "Million Years Ago" during her recent BBC special Adele at the BBC, where she detailed the nostalgia that inspired the song.
"It's kind of a story about … I drove past Brockwell Park, which is a park in South London I used to live by," she said. "It's where I spent a lot of my youth. It has quite monumental moments of my life that I've spent there, and I drove past it and I just literally burst into tears. I really missed it, for no other reason than we've all got different things going on and it’s got nothing to do with me not feeling like I can't go and sit in there and drink a bottle of cider anymore … it's more that life happens, so I’ve got no one to meet there.
"That's basically what it is," she continued. "And it's just sort of about that, and about [how] I never realized that this was going to happen. I never, ever realized when I had my guitar in the park, singing to my friends … we never in a million years thought this would ever happen.”
Nineties hip-hop favorites Naughty by Nature will release a new EP in 2016 and embark on a 26-city tour in January in celebration of their 25th anniversary.
The New Jersey trio kicked off an international leg earlier this month and have a Tampa, Florida show scheduled for December 4th. The main trek, however, begins January 27th at the Cone Denim Entertainment Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. Tickets for the tour are available via Naughty by Nature's website, while a complete list of dates is below.
Along with the tour, Naughty by Nature teased a new EP, as well as a documentary chronicling their extensive career, which began in the late-Eighties when members Treach, Vin Rock and DJ Kay Gee went by the name The New Style.
The group released their debut LP, Independent Leaders in 1989, which garnered the attention of fellow New Jersey native Queen Latifah, who mentored the group as they prepped a self-titled release under their new name. Released in 1991, Naughty by Nature was a huge success, propelled by the single "O.P.P.," an infectious ode to adultery that became a crossover hit despite its scandalous content.
"That was recorded in the first quarter of our recording," Trach said. "We didn't try to make a pop hit; it just happened it was the [Melvin Bliss 'Synthetic] Substitution' beat and a [Jackson 5] sample. It's a call-and-response song and we're talking about fuckin' other niggas' bitches. The record probably would have been banned if radio had known what we was talkin' about. It took them a year or two to figure out what it meant. If you weren't listening or weren't really into hip-hop, it wasn't easy."
Naughty by Nature 25th Anniversary Tour Dates
January 27 — Greensboro, NC @ Cone Denim
January 28 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
January 29 — Miami, FL @ LIV
January 31 — Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
February 2 — New Orleans, LA @ Republic
February 3 — Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
February 4 — Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room
February 5 — San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
February 6 — Dallas, TX @ South Side Music Hall
February 9 — Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar
February 10 — Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
February 11 — Los Angeles, CA @ Regent Theater
February 14 — Denver, CO @ Marquis Theater
February 16 — Des Moines, IA @ Wooly's
February 17 — Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights
February 18 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave II
February 19 — Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
February 20 — Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
February 21 — Louisville, KY @ Mercury Ballroom
February 23 — Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
February 24 — Buffalo, NY @ Waiting Room
February 25 — Washington, D.C. @ The Howard Theatre
February 26 — Reading, PA @ Reverb
February 27 — New York, NY @ Webster Hall
February 28 — Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
Atlanta MC 2 Chainz adheres to the old adage, keep your friends close, your enemies closer and your stacks of cash closest in the extravagant new video for a remix of "BFF," featuring Jeezy.
The video, directed by the Stupid Geniuses, revels in its own luxuriousness and takes its cues from 2 Chainz's latest opulent, indelible hook, "Whole lot of money that my BFF / Keep a Glock. 40 in my Fendi belt / Getting so much cash I don't need a wallet."
Fittingly, 2 Chainz and Jeezy spend the "BFF" clip sauntering among beautiful women and through a gold laced mansion where cash spills out of the cupboards and rains from the shower, while coins cover the tables and fill up the tub.
The Zaytoven produced "BFF" originally appeared on 2 Chainz's latest mixtape, Trap-A-Velli Tre, which arrived in August (the mixtape version did not feature Jeezy). The collection marked the rapper's first solo release since 2014's FreeBase EP, but also followed January's T.R.U. Jack City, a collaborative mixtape featuring artists from his new label, The Real University.
While fans await 2 Chainz's official follow-up to his 2013 album, B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time, the rapper has continued to diversify his revenue streams in characteristically unique ways, announcing a new line of ugly Christmas sweaters. Most of the sweaters boast the rapper's titular two chains dangling over a floral design only a cool grandmother could appreciate, while others feature an amazing knit image of Santa Claus doing "The Dab" the latest dance craze to come out of Atlanta.
Cynthia Robinson, a founding member for Sly and the Family Stone who played trumpet, has died after a battle with cancer. The musician's Facebook page and Billboard confirmed the news Tuesday. She was 69.
The trumpeter was best known for her joyous melodies and inspired vocals and ad-libs on songs like "Dance to the Music" and "I Want to Take You Higher." She commanded listeners to "get up and dance to the music" at the beginning of the former song and sang "hey, hey, hey" background vocals on the latter.
Robinson's career with Sly Stone began in 1966 when the bandleader put together a group called the Stoners. They fell apart quickly, though, and she became a fixture of the Family Stone – a group whose members were male and female and represented different races, a novel idea at the time – alongside her cousin Larry Graham.
Although the ensemble's A Whole New Thing was not a hit, its second LP Dance to the Music scored a hit in 1967 with the title cut, paving the way for a string of successful songs that included "Everyday People," "Stand," "Hot Fun in the Summertime," "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)," "Family Affair" and many others. Trumpeter Miles Davis, deep into his fusion period, said at the time that he was a fan. The band fizzled in popularity by the mid-Seventies, with members leaving, but the trumpeter continued to record with Stone into the Eighties.
When not playing with the Family Stone, Robinson played in Graham's Graham Central Station and worked with George Clinton and Prince. She was inducted into the 1993 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside her Family Stone bandmates.
Robinson was born on January 12th, 1946 in Sacramento, California. She played brass instruments in her high school marching band and participated in an all-faith church choir. She met Stone while still in high school and ran into him again when he was a radio DJ after moving to Oakland. Stone was so beholden to his longtime friend that at the peak of "Everyday People" popularity, he cancelled three months of booked appearances – including the Ed Sullivan Show – while he waited for Robinson to recover from an emergency gall bladder operation.
In recent years, after Stone disappeared from the public eye, Robinson continued to play with a group called simply the Family Stone. She appeared on "Do Yo Dance," the group' latest single released this past summer.
Earlier this year, she told Rolling Stone how committed the singer was to equality and feminism, citing "M'Lady" as an example. "You may think Sly's talking about the ladies in the song, but he's actually talking to the men," she said. "He's giving the ladies props. He's telling the men that the ladies are cool, that they need to pay more attention to them! The repetitive line is, 'Give her some time.' He's telling the guys to spend more time with their ladies. Give her some attention!"
When news of Robinson's death broke, Questlove penned a loving tribute to her, calling her music's original "hypeman" in an Instagram post. "She wasn't just a screaming cheerleading foil to Sly and Freddie [Stone]'s gospel vocals; she was a kick ass trumpet player," he wrote. "A crucial intricate part of Sly Stone's utopian vision of MLK's America: Sly and the Family Stone were brothers and cousins, friends and enemies, black and white, male and female. saint and sinner. ... Cynthia's role in music history isn't celebrated enough."
The administrators of Robinson's Facebook page asked that fans continue to contribute to the Cynthia Robinson Cancer Care Fund.
Roy Orbison had a lot of reasons to be happy when he walked onstage at Cleveland, Ohio's Front Row Theater on December 4th, 1988. After two decades of grinding it out on the oldies circuit, he was wrapping up one of the most amazing years of his career. It began in January when Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Brown and many others saluted his music at the televised Black and White Night concert. At the time he was cutting a new solo album with Jeff Lynne, which would lead to the formation of the Traveling Wilburys alongside Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty.
The first Traveling Wilburys album landed in October and was a huge hit, peaking at Number Three on the Billboard 200. The single "Handle with Care" was all over radio and MTV, and Orbison's next solo album – his first since 1979's Laminar Flow – was completed and slated for an early 1989 release. All of this led to a big uptick in ticket sales, and the house was packed at the Front Row. The new material wasn't worked into the show yet, so it focused entirely on classic tunes like "In Dreams," "Only the Lonely," "Ooby Dooby" and "Crying." The second to last song (before the finale of "Running Scared") was his signature tune "Pretty Woman." Tape was rolling that night, and you can hear the performance of that song right here.
Orbison had been complaining about chest pains all month, but he carried on with an extremely busy schedule and was already planning a huge world tour for 1989. Just two days after the concert, he died of a heart attack at his mother's house in Henderson, Tennessee.He was just 52.
Two months after his death, Mystery Girl arrived in record stores. It received rave reviews and the single "You Got It" became a big hit. "She's a Mystery To Me" – produced by Bono and the Edge – also got a lot of airplay. There were rumors that the Traveling Wilburys were going to replace Orbison with Del Shannon, but that idea was cut short a year later when he committed suicide. The group briefly carried on as a four-piece, but without Orbison it just wasn't the same.
My Morning Jacket's Jim James offered pointed words of healing and perseverance in an interview with Rolling Stone about the terrorist attacks in Paris, saying, "Every note we play and every syllable I sing is for peace, and for understanding, and for love."
The musician recalled the total confusion that took hold after learning about the attack at an Eagles of Death metal concert at Bataclan, where 89 people were killed. As James noted, some My Morning Jacket crew members have also worked for EoDM and Queens of the Stone Age, and for a while, the condition of their friends were unknown.
"That's one of the weirdest things in life," James says. "When shit hits the fan and it's chaos, and it's just, 'What? Who's alive? Who's dead? What's going on?' And ever since then, I can't count how many talks I've had with friends where we're just sitting around trying to figure it out. We're like, 'Why, why, why, why, why?'"
While the "wormhole of questions," in James' words, opened by the Paris attacks can be overwhelming, the singer remained adamant that there's enough space on Earth for all ideas and beliefs to exist without violence.
"The music must always go on and fear must never win," James says. "And we must stick together and talk about how we can find ways to accept each other."
Adele has already sold at least 2.433 million copies of her new album 25 according to Nielsen Music, breaking the single-week U.S. album sales record long-held by 'NSync's No Strings Attached, Billboard reports.
Amazingly, those numbers only account for sales since the album's release on Friday. According to early predictions, Adele could push 2.9 million records by the end of the week. Nielsen will release 25's full first-week figures on Sunday, November 29th.
Adele's record-breaking week comes 15 years after 'NSync set the benchmark for the Nielsen era, selling 2.416 copies of No Strings Attached its first week ending March 26th, 2000 (these sales records only account for albums released after Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991).
Over the past 15 years, album sales have declined steadily. While the drop is due in part to digital piracy, the advent of online retailers like the iTunes store, where fans could purchase songs individually, was equally significant. No longer was it necessary to purchase an $18 CD in order to listen to "Bye Bye Bye" on repeat.
At the peak of the CD boom, it was typical for big-name artists to push over a million copies their first week, but since 2001, only four LPs have cracked the top 10 fastest-selling albums list: Taylor Swift's 1989 (2014) and Red (2012), Lady Gaga's Born This Way (2011) and 50 Cent's The Massacre (2005). All those records, however, settled in the bottom half of the list; the top five fastest-selling LPs (prior to 25) were all released in 2000, save one from 2001.
The lone 2001 LP — in case any further context was needed to establish the enormity of 25's sales figures — was 'NSync's No Strings follow-up, Celebrity, which sat at the Number Two spot on the fastest-selling records list. Still, that LP only sold 1.879 million copies its first week, over 500,000 fewer than its predecessor.
While Adele's decision not to stream 25 certainly padded the album's first-week sales, the numbers speak more to her vast appeal and the significant interest in her records. Her last LP, 2011's 21 was the first of the Nielsen era to top the best-selling U.S. albums list two years in a row, while in 2014, the album became the first to sell over 3 million digital copies.
As country music's heir apparent to Taylor Swift, Kelsea Ballerini seems to be filling that role's perk of celebrating other female performers. During her show yesterday at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, Kelsea surprised the crowd by bringing out pop singer-songwriter Tori Kelly to share the stage.
"I decided I wanted to be about lifting girls up," announces Ballerini between songs. "I'm about to bring one out in a second that is one of my favorite artists ever." The crowd erupts into hysterics at the mention of Kelly's name.
Before they begin singing, Ballerini and Kelly lavish one another with compliments — at least until Kelly starts to feel self-conscious.
"We're being gross now," jokes Kelly.
"So annoying!" agrees Ballerini.
The pair handles "Should've Been Us" — from Kelly's 2015 album Unbreakable Smile — with only their acoustic guitars, swapping lines and harmonizing on the hooky-but-heartbroken chorus. Ballerini defers to Kelly for the bridge section, momentarily pausing to admire her singing partner's soulful belting and looking pleased to see her shine. This isn't Kelly's first time to sing the song with a country artist — back in September, Little Big Town brought her out to perform "Should've Been Us" at one of their tour stops.
It's been a breakout year for Ballerini, whose hit "Love Me Like You Mean It" made her the first female country artist since Carrie Underwood to have her debut single reach Number One. Along the way, she released her album The First Time and scored nominations at both the CMAs and American Music Awards. In December, Billboard will honor her with its Rising Star award at the Women in Music Event.
