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The neck of my Guitar

The Next Generation

from Ans , 2005-01-04
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Chicago Suntimes, January 4, 2005.

THE NEXT GENERATION: An upcoming issue of Rolling Stone will feature a story and fun photo focusing on a bunch of offspring of some of the biggest stars from rock ´n´ roll royalty, including Jackson Browne´s son Ethan, Rufus Wainwright, Sean Lennon, Billy Joel´s Alexa, Otis Redding Jr., Keith Richards´ daughters Theodora and Alexandra and Paul Simon´s son Harper.


´In Tune´ is off the air.

from Ans , 2005-01-13
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Rock Hall series pairing old, young runs out of juice
Thursday, January 13, 2005
John Soeder
Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic
´In Tune´ is off the air.

The VH1 television series originating from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has been canceled after only one episode.

´In Tune´ premiered in June with a joint performance by singer-songwriters Paul Simon and John Mayer, taped one month earlier in front of an invitation- only audience at the Rock Hall.

It was supposed to be the first of four specials shot at the museum.

After the debut, however, the Rock Hall and series sponsor Bailey´s, the cream liqueur company, ended their partnership because of creative differences, says Todd Mesek, the hall´s senior director of marketing and communications.

´We´re parting amicably,´ Mesek says. ´We hope to work with [Baileys] again.´

In place of ´In Tune,´ VH1 and Baileys put together a new show, ´The Set,´ with no involvement on the part of the Rock Hall. ´The Set´ first aired last month with a performance by Duran Duran, taped at Sony Studios in Los Angeles.

Baileys opted out of ´In Tune´ in favor of a different concept, says Melissa Woodbury, a spokeswoman for the spirits brand.

´The new show prominently brings noteworthy artists of today together with their fan base,´ Woodbury says.

´In Tune´ was conceived as a musical summit meeting between veteran artists and younger artists. ´American Idol´ judge Randy Jackson was the host.




The ´In Tune´ taping with Simon and Mayer at the Rock Hall in May did not go off without a hitch. It got under way 3½ hours behind schedule because bad weather delayed Simon´s flight to Cleveland.

Concertgoers cheered on cue. Off-camera, however, they stifled yawns. The taping concluded shortly before 2 a.m.

The Rock Hall teamed up with VH1´s sister network MTV in 2001 and 2002 for ´Live at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.´ It featured performances by Mayer, Alicia Keys, Linkin Park and other rising stars.

Rock Hall executives had hoped ´In Tune´ would further elevate the national profile of the museum.

The hall is looking to revive the series in the future with a different sponsor, Mesek says.

© 2005 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.


Eagle Rock presents ´Classic Albums´

from Ans , 2005-01-15
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Oldies (2005-01-14)
Eagle Rock Entertainment Presents ´Classic Albums´ Series Releases By The Band, Fleetwood Mac, The Grateful Dead And Paul Simon



NEW YORK (Eagle Rock Ent.) - Eagle Rock Entertainment presents the next set of titles from their lauded ´Classic Albums´ series with in-depth looks into the makings of legendary releases by The Band, Fleetwood Mac, The Grateful Dead and Paul Simon. The Band´s The Band, Fleetwood Mac´s Rumors, The Grateful Dead´s Anthem to Beauty and Paul Simon´s Graceland DVDs hit the street February 22, 2005.

The Band´s self-titled sophomore album spent 24 weeks in the Billboard Top 40 and went on to sell over one million copies. This edition of the ´Classic Albums´ series features classics such as ´Up on Cripple Creek,´ ´The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down´ and ´Rag Mama Rag.´ This DVD story is told through interviews with surviving members of the band, fellow musicians Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Don Was, and loads of vintage footage. The Band runs approximately 75 minutes and has a list price of $14.98

Fleetwood Mac´s Rumors is one of the most popular albums of all time, spending 130 weeks on the Billboard album chart and winning ´Album of the Year´ at the 1978 Grammy Awards. Made at a time of unprecedented turmoil between band members, the album is an intense output of emotion, and the creativity it fueled resulted in a masterful piece of music. Rumors went on to sell over 19 million copies and features classics ´Dreams,´ ´You Make Loving Fun´ and ´Go Your Own Way,´ among others. This ´Classic Album´ story is told through interviews with band members, along with studio engineers and producers. Rumors runs approximately 75 minutes with a list price of $14.98.

The Grateful Dead´s Anthem to Beauty is a program that looks at the span of music from 1968´s Anthem of the Sun to the 1970 country-styled album American Beauty, which sold over one million copies.
The DVD features many classic Dead tunes including: ´Truckin,´ ´Mountains On the Moon,´ ´Sugar Magnolia´ and ´Box of Rain.´ The story is told through new and vintage interviews with band members and 1994 Rock N´ Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart, guest musicians and lyricist Robert Hunter, along with home movies from the Grateful Dead´s own archive. Anthem to Beauty runs approximately 75 minutes with a list price of $14.98.

Paul Simon´s Graceland, recorded in New York and South Africa, is a landmark album that sold 14 million copies and was named ´Album of the Year´ at the 1986 Grammy Awards. This album brought the sounds of South Africa to audiences around the world and blended Simon´s pop/folk with the rhythms of world music. Graceland runs approximately 75 minutes with a list price of $14.95.

Eagle Rock Entertainment develops, acquires and produces music programming for a wide range of notable and high profile artists, which the company distributes on a worldwide basis. Eagle Rock Entertainment, Eagle Vision and Eagle Eye Media are wholly owned divisions of Eagle Rock Group, LTD.



Simon and Garfunkel release shows duo´s

from JBD , 2005-01-17
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From the Toledo Blade.com

Simon and Garfunkel release shows duo´s great songs are timeless


OLD FRIENDS LIVE ON STAGE Simon & Garfunkel (Warner)
The temptation was to write off Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel´s reunion tour in 2003 as a money-grab to cash in on Baby Boomers with deep pockets and even deeper wells of nostalgia.
After all, the folk/pop duo that dominated the charts in the mid to late ´60s hadn´t recorded anything new together in decades. Their entire set was built on tunes that have been around 35 to 40 years, with a few Simon solo numbers thrown in for variety.

So maybe the songs are dusty and a little too familiar, but they really are great tunes, and in the time they were together Simon tapped into a creative zone that was remarkable. ´Bridge Over Troubled Water,´ ´Homeward Bound,´ ´Mrs. Robinson,´ ´The Boxer,´ and ´The Sound of Silence´ are unmatched in the canon of American songwriters.

Live, these warhorses are fleshed out and given a more muscular, funky feel than in their original form. The pristine harmonies are still there, but with a full band of expert musicians ´Bridge´ gets a gospel treatment, with Simon taking liberties with his lines, and tracks like ´Cecilia´ and ´I Am a Rock´ kick into a higher rhythmic gear that gives them new life.

A new track ´Citizen of the Planet´ is predictably preachy, and a signal that they probably ought to stick with the old stuff. Simon and Garfunkel´s body of work still stands strong as a testament to great song craft, something that can´t be denied.

- ROD LOCKWOOD



Paul on PBS, March 2

from Bodo , 2005-01-19
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According to rockontv, PBS will broadcast the Steve Martin roast on March 2 at
9:00 pm Eastern. Paul is listed as appearing.

This is a message from AMPS. If the rumours work together than maybe Paul is making some promotion for his new album there too. People who can watch PBS, please record it.


NBC Special ´The first 5 years of SNL´

from Ans , 2005-01-21
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Friday, January 21, 2005
NBC PRESENTS NEW BEHIND-THE-SCENES SPECIAL: ‘LIVE FROM NEW YORK: THE FIRST 5 YEARS OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’ ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20
Released by NBC


NBC PRESENTS NEW BEHIND-THE-SCENES SPECIAL: ‘LIVE FROM NEW YORK: THE FIRST 5 YEARS OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’ ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20

NBC to Present Five Emmy-Winning Episodes from SNL´s First Five Years in the ´All Night´ Time Period Beginning Saturday, January 22

BURBANK, Calif. -- January 21, 2005 -- Marking the 30th Anniversary of NBC´s ´Saturday Night Live,´ the network will present a compelling behind-the-scenes look at the birth of this television icon in ´Live From New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live´ (Sunday, February 20, 9:00 – 11:00 p.m. ET).

From award-winning documentary writer-director-producer Kenneth Bowser (´Easy Riders & Raging Bulls´), ´Live from New York´ is a look at the creation of one of the most successful and influential shows in television history - it is SNL´s story told by the people who lived it.

Viewers will get a rare, intimate look at the formative years of the show in new interviews with creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, the show´s original stars, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris, hosts such as Candice Bergen, Elliot Gould, Buck Henry, Eric Idle, Steve Martin, Penny Marshall and Lily Tomlin, writers (Al Franken, Jim Downey and many others), as well as original crew members and musicians (including original musical director, Oscar winner Howard Shore and Paul Shaffer).

These are the stories fans haven´t heard - all presented in a funny, fast-paced, nostalgic format, framed by the legendary musical performances from that iconoclastic era (artists include The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, The Grateful Dead, Patti Smith, The Band, Blondie, George Harrison, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Bette Midler, Randy Newman, The Blues Brothers as well as John Belushi´s inimitable imitation of Joe Cocker).

In addition to the never-before-seen insights, the special will feature classic and hilarious footage from the 70´s as well as recollections from SNL stars of recent years (Dana Carvey, Jimmy Fallon, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Norm Macdonald, Tim Meadows, former writer Conan O´Brien, and Molly Shannon) discussing the show´s influence on them.

Leading up to the special, NBC will re-air Emmy-nominated and Emmy-winning episodes from the show´s historic first five years in the ´All-Night´ timeslot (directly following SNL on Saturday nights or at 3 a.m. ET, check local listings) for the next five weeks beginning Saturday, January 22.

The January 22 ´All Night´ show, with host Elliott Gould and musical guest Anne Murray (from the 1975-76 season), won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy/Variety or Music series. The January 29 show features Candice Bergen/Frank Zappa, from the 1976-77 season. The February 5 show features Steve Martin/Blues Brothers from the 1977-78 season, and February 12 features Richard Benjamin/Rickie Lee Jones from 1978-79 season. All were nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music series. The episode on February 19 with host Teri Garr and music from The B-52´s (from 1979-80) was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy-Variety or Music series.


20th Anniversary ´We Are The World´

from Ans , 2005-01-26
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MNSBC News
Today Show
Jan. 26, 2005.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of ´We Are the World,´ a song that made music history. To commemorate it a new DVD is being released with behind the scenes footage of the recording session. “Today” national correspondent Jamie Gangel has an exclusive look back with the stars that made it happen.

Here is the link for the whole article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6870678/


Folk hero letter found in archive

from Bodo , 2005-01-26
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A 40-year-old letter from singer-songwriter Paul Simon asking for work at a folk club in Swindon has been donated to the region´s records office.
The letter, which reveals Simon´s fee was seven pounds, was part of the Swindon Folk Singers Club archive.

The club, founded by Ted and Ivy Poole, grew out of the protest movement of the 50s and started out in a cellar beneath the Communist Party´s Swindon branch.

In the letter, dated 12 June 1964, Simon asks for a gig.

But Simon never played at the club because of its Communist connection.

Mr Poole, 79, told the BBC: ´He felt it might label him. But it was about traditional music and song, and celebrating working people´s culture.´

´Comprehensive archive´

In the letter, Simon declares: ´I record for Columbia Records in the States and will cut my first LP for Topic Records over here.

´I would appreciate any work that you could give me between the first week of August and the first week of September.´

The letter can be seen in Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office.

Steve Hobbs, archivist for Wiltshire County Council, said: ´It is rare to find such a comprehensive archive from a provincial folk club.

´The archive is a fascinating piece of social history, which shows the links between folk music and protest.

´For example, the club staged benefits for both CND and the Support the Miners campaign in the 1980s.´

The archive also contains a 1966 letter from Adge Cutler, whose backing band was West Country favourites, The Wurzels.