(CelebrityAccess News Service) – Dave Matthews will embark on a 12-city tour with the band that backed him on his new album, Some Devil. The tour will hit arenas beginning with a December 12 at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA, and will culminate on January 16 in Oakland, CA.
Although Matthews has toured with guitarist Tim Reynolds in the past, this tour marks the very first time the singer/guitarist has toured with a group of musicians other than Dave Matthews Band. Joining Matthews on the road will be Reynolds, Phish's Trey Anastasio on guitar, Brady Blade on drums, Tony Hall on bass and Ray Paczkowski on keyboards. Emmylou Harris and her band, Spyboy, will support Matthews on all dates.
Billed as an "An Acoustic and Electric Evening With Dave Matthews And Friends," the tour will feature Matthews in a variety of musical settings, acoustic with Reynolds and with the band.
Dave Matthews and Friends tour itinerary:
Dec 12. University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center
Dec 13. Providence, RI Dunkin' Donuts Center
Dec 15. Philadelphia, PA First Union Center
Dec 16. Boston, MA Fleet Center
Dec 17. New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Dec 19. Hartford, CT Hartford Civic Center
Dec 20. Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena
Dec 22. Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
Jan 12. Seattle, WA Key Arena
Jan 14. San Diego, CA Cox Arena
Jan 15. Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
Jan 16. Oakland, CA Oakland Arena
–Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
Bette Midler to Tour Top 40 US Cities
(CelebrityAccess News Service) – Bette Midler is hitting the road for the first time in four years with her Kiss My Brass Tour. The first leg the Clear Channel Entertainment promoter tour kicks off on December 10 in Chicago, IL and runs through mid-February. The tour will hit the top 40 cities across the U.S.
Bette Midler itinerary:
December 10 Chicago, IL United Center
December 13 Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
December 15 St. Louis, MO Savvis Center
December 17 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
December 19 St. Paul, MN *Xcel Energy Center
December 27 Columbia, SC Carolina Coliseum
December 29 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
December 31 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun
January 1 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun
January 3 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
January 5 Cleveland, OH Gund Arena
January 8 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
January 12 Toronto, ON, Canada Air Canada Centre
January 15 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
January 17-18 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
January 20 Boston, MA Fleet Center
January 25 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
January 31 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
February 10 Oakland, CA Arena
February 12 Phoenix, AZ Glendale Arena
Additional cities to be played include but not limited to: Washington DC, Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami / Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Atlantic City, Seattle, Portland. –Jane Cohen and Bob Grossweiner
CCE to Promote Chris Rock Tour
(CelebrityAccess News Service) – Beginning on October 15, Chris Rock will embark on his North American stand-up tour, entitled the "Black Ambition Tour," that will run into 2004. The tour is presented by Motorola. Clear Channel Entertainment will be involved in the promotion of the tour.
Rock's most recent HBO special and CD, both entitled "Bigger &Blacker," were released in July of 2000. Throughout his career, he has earned three Emmys, two Grammy Awards, been on the cover of many national publications and has seen his critically-acclaimed HBO talk show, The Chris Rock Show, become one of the network's highest-rated and most talked-about programs. The highly successful comedy CD earned ROCK a 2000 Grammy Award for Best Spoken or Comedy Album.
Although "Bigger &Blacker" brought Rock much success and helped secure a fan base, his emergence can first be traced to his tour-de-force HBO special, "Bring The Pain." The special tapped into social issues like race – such as the African American community's divided response to O.J Simpson – and struck a chord with viewers and critics nationwide. This special was honored with two 1997 Emmy Awards for Best Writing and Outstanding Special. "Bring The Pain," has also seen life beyond HBO. DreamWorks Records released a home video that was certified gold as well as a Grammy award-winning CD, which contains musical bits and comedy sketches.
Chris Rock itinerary:
Oct. 15 Cleveland, OH Palace Theatre
Oct. 17 Syracuse, NY Landmark Theatre
Oct. 18 Pittsburgh, PA Benedum Center
Oct. 19 Toronto, Canada Massey Hall
Oct. 23 Columbus, OH Veteran's Memorial Auditorium
Oct. 24 Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre
Oct. 25 Chicago, IL Rosemont Theatre
Oct. 26 Baltimore, MD Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Oct. 28-29 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre
Nov. 7 Raleigh, NC Memorial Auditorium
Nov. 8 Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium
Nov. 9 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Fox Theatre
Nov. 13 Birmingham, AL The Performing Arts Center
Nov. 14 Richmond, VA Landmark
Nov. 20 St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre
Nov. 22 Kansas City, MO Midland Theatre
Dec. 4 Orlando, FL Bob Carr Center
Dec. 5 Miami, FL Jackie Gleason Theatre
Dec. 6 Tampa, FL Tampa Bay Center for the Performing Arts
Jan. 17 Dallas, TX Nextstage at Grand Prairie
Jan. 23 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theatre
Jan. 30-31 New York Theater at Madison Square Garden
Feb. 8 Wallingford, CT Careerbuilder.com Oakdale Theatre
Feb. 13-14 Los Angeles Universal Ampitheatre
Feb. 20 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
Feb. 21 Philadelphia Tower Theatre
–Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
Morpheus Launches Free College Concert Series
(CelebrityAccess News Service) – While the RIAA is attempting to reign in music on college campuses and prosecute students for sharing music, StreamCast Networks Inc., developers of Morpheus, the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing communications technology, launched a free college concert series. The Morpheus Share the Music – Have a Voice Tour kicked-off on September 29, initially visiting six West Coast University campuses with live concerts featuring recording artists Audio Karate, Antifreeze and FL.
"Since our users can't compete head-on with the recording industry's lobbying efforts in Washington, we believe the only way for our users to win is by leveraging the power of the 63 million file-sharing Americans at the voting booth," said Michael Weiss, CEO of Los Angeles based StreamCast Networks. "The next battle will move from the court house to Capitol Hill and we believe grassroots events are an effective forum to drive voter registration and to inform students about using technology responsibly and in a non-infringing manner."
The free concerts are being coordinated with local University political committees and Internet advocacy groups at each campus to ensure that students are encouraged to register to vote and actively contact their congressional representatives to voice their opinions on issues that affect them. The tour dates include:
September 29 UC San Diego Price Center
September 30 UC Irvine Student Center Terrace
October 2 Cal State Los Angeles Free Speech Area
October 6 UC Santa Barbara Storke Plaza
October 8 UC Berkeley Lower Sproul Plaza
October 10 UC Davis East Quad
Additional dates, colleges and artists for the 2004 portion of the Morpheus Share the Music – Have a Voice College Concert Tour will be announced by year-end. Morpheus software is available for free download at www.morpheus.com. Kung Fu Records' national recording artists Audio Karate and Antifreeze will be performing on the West Coast portion of the tour along with independent band FL.
Audio Karate, Antifreeze and FL have authorized Morpheus to encourage its users to download select songs and freely share them with others throughout the Internet.
"What do I care? It is CD burning that may hurt my business," said Kung Fu Records' owner Joe Escalante, when asked what he thought about Morpheus and file-sharing. "File-sharing is just
a bunch of music fans getting even more into music. I don't have a problem with it, and they're taking my bands on tour to get the word out. I love these guys."
"It's about time college students heard from more than just the RIAA propaganda machine," said Morpheus' VP Marketing Gary Nuell. "By sponsoring a free concert tour on campus, Morpheus hopes to inform students about opportunities to have a voice in the American political process and urge them to contact their congressional representatives,"
The tour will continue in 2004 at dozens of college campuses across America, giving students an opportunity to actively voice their support for technological innovation and file-sharing to their Congressional representatives. In addition to providing free music from leading and independent artists, the Morpheus Tour is a grassroots effort to encourage students to register to vote and have their voices heard.–Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
Queen Latifah to Play 20 Concerts for AEG/LIVE in 2004
(CelebrityAccess News Service) – Scott Sanders, president/CEO of New York-based studio Creative Battery, and Randy Phillips, president/CEO of AEG/LIVE, in association with Jack Rovner and Ken Levitan of Vector Recordings, have teamed up Queen Latifah in a unique, integrated multimedia music joint venture. As part the deal, Queen Latifah will collaborate with Grammy Award-winning producer Arif Mardin on a new album, which Creative Battery along with Vector will record, market and oversee distribution. In addition, Sanders noted that as part of the unique venture, the team will produce a 20-city concert tour and a television special/home video/DVD of the concert. The album, scheduled for release in summer 2004, will be a collection of timeless songs chosen and covered by Queen Latifah.
"I was looking through my record collection one day when I realized how many songs have impacted my life," said Queen Latifah. "For this album, I will choose songs that have shaped me artistically and affected me emotionally. Now all I have to do is narrow down my list of 700 songs. Collaborating with Arif Mardin, Creative Battery and Vector Recordings will allow me to make my dream album and support its release in new, exciting ways."
"We have found a unique and exciting partnership in Creative Battery, AEG and Vector Recordings," said Queen Latifah's manager Sha Kim Compere. "They have varied and extensive expertise in all aspects of artist development. I believe that this partnership is revolutionary in the field and represents the future of entertainment, where artists can look to one comprehensive organization for all of their needs."
"After the world witnessed Latifah's amazing vocal performance in Chicago, we knew we had to make this record. It is the perfect time for both her long-standing and new fans to hear everything she can do," said Sanders.
"AEG/LIVE has been looking for opportunities to partner with the creative community in novel new business models as the music and live entertainment industries re-invent themselves in this brave new world," said Phillips. "How lucky for this company to get the chance to be an active partner in such a multi-faceted project centered around the amazing musical talents of a triple-threat superstar like the Queen and the visionary executive talents of her manager, our partners at Creative Battery, and our joint venture with Vector."
Rovner, co-principal of Vector Recordings, said, "To be able to bring together the multi-talented Queen Latifah and the legendary Arif Mardin is a tremendously exciting opportunity for us at Vector and Creative Battery. We are honored to be involved in the project." –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
Springsteen Ends Tour With Shows at Shea
NEW YORK (AP) — Bruce Springsteen ended a 14-month concert tour near where he began geographically — a quick pink Cadillac ride from his New Jersey home — but in a markedly different climate.
Springsteen and his E Street Band, with Bob Dylan as a one-song guest, wrapped it up Saturday on a Shea Stadium stage, across the Hudson River from where their tour began in August 2002 in northern New Jersey. In the intervening months, they performed for more than 2 million people around the world.
"Welcome to the last dance," Springsteen said to nearly 50,000 fans. "I'm getting a little misty right about now."
For the New York region, the epicenter of the Boss' popularity, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were a fresher wound when the tour started. Half of Springsteen's set that first night came from "The Rising," his album inspired by the event, then approaching its first anniversary.
At the tour's end, it was the war in Iraq that fed a steely resolve in Springsteen.
He opened with an infrequently performed song, "Code of Silence," featuring the angry lyrics: "We keep pretending that there's nothing wrong. It's a code of silence and it can't go on."
Later, Springsteen criticized leaders "playing with the truth during wartime." Although in recent concerts he's flashed a video clip of President Bush talking about weapons of mass destruction, Springsteen mentioned no names Saturday, and carefully noted that such things had happened in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
"It's a good time to be good, vigilant citizens, demanding accountability from our leaders," he said. "Taking time to search out for the truth is the American way. I learned that from Bob Dylan."
Dylan was a surprise guest during Springsteen's first encore, drawing a huge roar from the crowd. He performed "Highway 61 Revisited" with the E Street Band before disappearing offstage.
Springsteen seemed more at home with material from "The Rising" than he had 14 months earlier. The album provided eight of the night's 30 songs. Particularly effective were "My City of Ruins," which Springsteen began alone on the piano, and "Waitin' on a Sunny Day," which has become an audience singalong favorite.
Upon reuniting a few years ago, the E Street Band stuck mostly with material at least 20 years old. Now they're digging deeper into Springsteen's songbook. Relatively rare cuts that made the setlist on the tour's last night were "I Wish I Were Blind" and "Tunnel of Love."
Springsteen's tour is likely to fall just short of being the most lucrative concert tour of all time in North America — a $121.2 million record set by the Rolling Stones in 1994, according to Pollstar magazine.
It included a stunning 13 stadium dates this summer and fall in the New York area alone — 10 at Giants Stadium and the final three at Shea Stadium. The schedule was designed to ensure that anybody who wanted to see the show could find a ticket.
The crisp autumn air added to Saturday's feeling of finality. A cold rain ended just as Springsteen and the band took the stage.
The three-hour, 15-minute show ended with Springsteen's attempt to make a stadium feel like a roadside bar. The stands shook during an old favorite, "Rosalita," and singer Gary U.S. Bonds joined Springsteen for "Quarter to Three" and "Twist and Shout." The latter was a nod to the Beatles, for whom Shea Stadium was a memorable venue four decades ago.
The night ended a few minutes before midnight with band members lined up onstage, holding hands, singing, "Blood Brothers."
"Til we meet again," Springsteen said, and left with a wave.
Brubeck Returns to Oberlin 50 Years Later
OBERLIN, Ohio (AP) — Not much has changed in this quaint college community where old-fashioned storefronts dot downtown, students pedal banana seat bicycles and Dave Brubeck is still the hottest ticket in town.
The pianist known by some as the "Godfather of Jazz" returned to a northeast Ohio campus Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark album "Jazz at Oberlin."
The March 2, 1953, performance was credited with taking jazz from the night clubs to college students, a loyal audience that would grow with the artists. It was one of the first live jazz recordings.
At 82, Brubeck still has star power.
Saturday night, the sellout audience of 1,200 applauded and whistled starting with the closing notes of each number in Oberlin's Finney Chapel.
But during songs, the crowd hushed. The white-haired Brubeck told anecdotes between numbers, but focused on nothing but the piano as he played a mix of new compositions and hits from the '50s, sometimes bending low over the keys.
Sophomore Stephanie Patterson, a saxophone player studying classical music, wanted tickets but couldn't get them. "He's a really good musician. He has some kind of thing that makes him great."
Brubeck said he was excited to return to the 2,900-student college. Founded in 1833, Oberlin is well known for its Conservatory of Music, which invited Brubeck to perform five decades ago.
"It's so hard to believe it's 50 years," he said recently in a phone interview. "It doesn't seem that long.
"That was such an important concert for us. It kind of helped get the college and university concert series going all over the country."
On "Jazz at Oberlin," loud cheers and applause are as prevalent as the quartet's long improvisations that gave a twist to standards "These Foolish Things," "Pedido," "Stardust," "The Way You Look Tonight" and "How High the Moon."
"You can hear the excitement in the audience from the students and the group kind of responded to it, so it made it a very energized concert," Brubeck recalled.
Critics say the album, with its soft, uncomplicated sound, launched the "cool jazz" style also known as "West Coast." The style _ think candle-lighted city cafe _ is heavy with breezy, light melodies as opposed to the loud trumpets and other brass instruments that had been jazz's signature.
The album got the Brubeck Quartet signed with Columbia Records, which helped push the group _ and jazz _ into the national and international spotlights.
Erich Kunzel, conductor of the Cincinnati Pops and the Washington-based National Symphony, has a simpler take on why "Jazz at Oberlin" made such an impact.
"It's damn good!" Kunzel said. "When something is good, it's got sales and it's got longevity.
"It's just a landmark. He's done many, but that one of course is just one of the great ones."
Brubeck first began recording jazz when he was a student in the 1940s at the College of the Pacific. But he began learning the craft early on, from his mother, a piano teacher in his hometown of Concord, Calif.
In 1958, he formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet with drummer Joe Morello, bassist Eugene Wright and saxophonist Paul Desmond. Brubeck's band mates changed frequently over the years, but it was the original quartet that shot him into stardom.
In the beginning, the quartet recorded mostly popular jazz, then experimented some with nontraditional beats and layering rhythms. For example, the group's signature tune "Take Five" was written in a challenging, quick 5/4 meter, meaning there were five beats per measure. Most songs have four beats per measure.
Brubeck is known for being both polyphonic and polyrhythmic on the piano _ playing several contrasting tones and rhythms at the same time.
Desmond and Wright have died. Brubeck said he keeps in touch with Morello.
"So many of my players are gone now, it's very disappointing," Brubeck said.
Like its members, the quartet's sound has changed over the years from bebop to more modern experimental beats, but improvisation continues to be a signature.
Still, Brubeck is not innovative enough for some jazz fans, who say record companies and the popular media are too stuck on the 1950s bebop style.
"I have never been into Brubeck's type of jazz as it's a little too straight ahead for me," said William Vizuete, a 26-year-old graduate student and jazz radio show host at the University of Texas at Austin.
"Only when musicians who truly take artistic risks are given major coverage can jazz be nursed back to health," Vizuete said.
As a composer, Brubeck is more diverse, with work ranging from ballet to church music. With and without the quartet he's recorded more than 100 albums, including the critically acclaimed "Time Out," which features "Take Five."
The album has been digitally remastered and will be released on compact disc later this year with some extras, including a new DVD, Brubeck said.
The digital technology that's now introducing Brubeck to a new generation wasn't even imaginable 50 years ago, he said.
Brubeck, a father of six with his wife of 61 years, said he keeps in touch with the college crowd. Besides Oberlin, he'll perform this fall at Princeton and his alma mater, the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., where a jazz institute bears his name.
And just as young musicians such as Patterson rave about Brubeck, he raves about them.
"They are so fantastic. It's just unbelievable, their talent. It's frightening," he said.
___
On the Net:
Brubeck: http://www.dave-brubeck.com
Oberlin: http://www.oberlin.edu
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