Thursday, December 24, 2009

Update: Vic Chesnutt in a coma after alleged suicide attempt

Update at 11pm PST on 12/24: After this article was originally published, Billboard magazine published their own report saying Chesnutt had passed. At this point, there are still no official statements.

Update at 11:30 pm PST on 12/24: Within the past half hour, both Billboard and Athens Blur have removed their articles reporting Chesnutt’s death. We’ve updated our headline from “Vic Chesnutt reportedly dead after alleged suicide attempt” to “Update: Conflicting reports on Vic Chesnutt condition after alleged suicide attempt” to reflect these changes. We continue to seek out an official statement and will update this story as new information comes in.

Update at 10am PST on 12/25: The Wall Street Journal reached Don Wilkie, co-founder of Constellation Records. Wilkie said, “There is no truth to the rumour that Vic has died. He remains alive.” We’ve updated our headline to “Update: Vic Chesnutt in a coma after alleged suicide attempt” to reflect this.

Our original story follows:

Reports circulated late Christmas Eve that singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt had died after falling into a coma.

Chesnutt’s label, Constellation Records, had confirmed in a statement that Chesnutt was in a coma mid-day, and Athens Blur magazine broke the news later that Chesnutt had died, though no official confirmation was available at press time.

Tweets from former Throwing Muses singer Kristen Hersh—a longtime friend of Chesnutt—circulated among bloggers through the day.

On Christmas Eve morning, Hersh posted:

and later

Later in the day, the Constellation press statement confirmed the coma.

On October, Chesnutt told Spinner that he’d run into recent financial problems. “Right now, I’m in huge trouble in that the hospital is suing me for $35,000, which is terrifying, and the rub is that I have health insurance. I have hospitalization insurance, for which I pay almost $500 a month, and then on top of that I still owe the hospital $35,000. That is truly an insane system. I did everything right and I’m still under the gun.”

Chesnutt, 45, was partially paralyzed and has been wheelchair-bound since being injured in a car accident at 18. He completed a tour in recent weeks in support of his latest release, At The Cut.

Monday, December 14, 2009

In Review: Jimmy Buffett, “Buffet Hotel” (Mailboat)

As far as latter-era Jimmy Buffett albums go, “Buffet Hotel” is pretty solid—not quite as good as 1994’s “Fruitcakes,” but definitely better than 1996’s “Banana Wind” and 2006’s “Take the Weather with You.” It is, however, hard to imagine many of these “Hotel” numbers securing anything but temporary residency, amid all the classic cuts, in Buffett’s concert set lists. In other words, this album—like too many that have preceded it—is short on “keepers.”

“Buffet Hotel” opens in a likable enough fashion, with Buffett once again mining that radio-friendly “new country” vibe on “Nobody From Nowhere.” It’s a fun song, one in the time-honored tradition of celebrating the simple pleasures of living in “Nowheresville, USA,” and it’s easy to imagine his mega-platinum disciple Kenny Chesney scoring a major hit with it. The album really starts to fly with the second track, “Wings,” another country-tinged number that takes a more convincing, old-school approach and even name-checks the great Merle Haggard.

From there, however, Buffett follows an all-too familiar course—at least for those that have listened to his recent studio records—and checks in for an extended stay in the land of mediocrity. He falls into the rat trap of making music about his own music—singing about the Buffett concert experience and even sampling “Margaritaville” in “Big Top”; nodding to “Fins” in “Rhumba Man.” Buffett’s loyal legion of followers (aka, the Parrot Heads) will get some giggles out of those maneuvers—but, really, the end result is to make listeners feel like they’d have been better served by just listening to “Margaritaville,” “Fins” or any other greatest hit.

Buffett, however, is in tip-top vocal form throughout the album. Also, his Coral Reefer band, as one would expect, is as versatile and tuneful as ever; and the production work by Michael Utley and Mac McAnally (both Coral Reefers) is spot-on. Plus, “Buffet Hotel” ends on a true high-note with the clever, gimmick-rich “A Lot to Drink About,” the “Hotel” song that has the best shot at a lengthy stay in Buffett’s concert set lists.

The topical closer, chock full of memorable lines, is Buffett’s rebuttal to all that currently ails the world. His tongue-in-cheek answer to such problems as “the price of oil/the war of spoils” is simply to pour another cold one—and, really, who’s to say he’s wrong?

—Jim Harrington

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Springsteen endorses New Jersey gay-marriage legislation

Bruce Springsteen has come out in support of the same-sex marriage legislation currently making its way through New Jersey’s State Senate.

“Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I’ve been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton,” Springsteen said in a statement posted on his website. “I’ve long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, ‘The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is—a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law.’ I couldn’t agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.”

The New Jersey Senate’s Judiciary Committee passed the bill Monday. Before becoming law, it still must pass muster with the full Senate—which may vote on the issue as early as Thursday—and the state’s General Assembly. Current Gov. John Corzine (D) said he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk, but incoming Gov. Chris Christie (R) said he would veto it.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Massachusetts. It becomes legal in New Hampshire in January.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

In Review: R.E.M., “Live at the Olympia” (Warner Bros.)

Some bands deliver their best performances in New York City, while others save their A-game for Los Angeles or London. R.E.M., it seems, turns it up a notch whenever the band hits Dublin, Ireland.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act has only released two live albums during its nearly 30-year career. Both were recorded in James Joyce’s hometown—and, more significantly, both are excellent. The latest is the double-CD set “Live at the Olympia,” which follows—at least in terms of concert releases—2007’s “R.E.M. Live.”

The set is a terrific snapshot of what may have been R.E.M.‘s most inspired musical period of the decade. It was recorded during the now-legendary five-night residency that the Athens, GA, band conducted at the intimate Irish theater back in 2007, when the group was testing material for what would be its 14th studio effort, last year’s “Accelerate.” That album would turn out to be band’s most rocking affair in more than a decade. It would also provide the group with its best reviews of the millennium—and one can understand why by listening to “Live at the Olympia.”

The 39-track set includes offerings from throughout the band’s fabled career—from its debut EP, 1982’s “Chronic Town,” through such multiplatinum affairs as 1992’s “Automatic for the People”—yet, almost without fail, the record’s highlights are the “Accelerate” pieces. Many of those tunes were still works in progress during the Dublin stand, and the band would further tinker with them in the studio, but they still beat with undeniable heart and exude such exquisitely rough rock ‘n’ roll charm. Vocalist Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills sound like they’re having a ball playing these songs and their joy is contagious.

So much has changed for the group over the last 15 years. “Live at the Olympia,” however, shows that one thing remains the same: R.E.M. can still summon up what it takes to be a truly great live band.

—Jim Harrington

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Royalty Rate Agreement Breathes New Life Into Online Radio Stations

Record labels and online radio operators reached an agreement Tuesday (7/7) on a new royalty rate structure for online airplay. The deal caps a two-year battle that culminated in threats of complete shutdown by radio sites that would have deprived labels and artists of much-needed exposure as music consumers increasingly shift their music discovery from terrestrial to online sources.

Web radio site Pandora hailed the new rates as a substantial reduction, though the new fee structure will force the site to begin charging a 99-cent fee to users who want to listen more than 40 hours a month.

“If the rates weren’t resolved, we were sunk. So this is a huge relief,” Tim Westergren, Pandora co-founder told the L.A. Times.

Under a previous plan, imposed by a panel of judges in March of 2007 and decried by webcasters as financially impossible, online stations would be liable for a royalty rate of 0.08 of a cent per song, per listener, billed retroactively to 2006. That rate would increase incrementally to 0.19 of a cent per song per listener by 2010.

The new plan starts at the same 0.08 rate but incremental increases roll out more gradually and top at 0.14 of a cent in 2015. Additionally, webcasters are grouped into two categories—large webcasters who generate over $1.25 million a year in revenue and small webcasters who earn less.

The actual payment structure will task a large webcaster with an annual fee based on the larger of calculated royalties or 25% of revenues. Smaller webcasters would pay against a smaller percentage of revenues (10%-14%) or 7% of their expenses, whichever is greater.

All webcasters must pay a $25,000 initial fee for legal access to streamable material, though the fee is applicable toward royalty payments.

The struggle to get to this point has been far from amicable on both sides. Large webcasters like Pandora threatened repeatedly to pull the plug and take their millions of listeners away from artists and labels. Labels and SoundExchange, their proxy in the negotiations, held a hard line, accusing webcasters of building a business on the backs of artists and not adequately compensating them for the use of the artists’ music.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Facebook Unveils Chat And Live Streaming Tools After Successful Jonas Brothers Test

Facebook has announced a significant set of broadcast and community tools for its publishing platform with the rollout of an embeddable chat widget and a partnership with video service provider Ustream that could allow musical artists to broadcast live footage to their Facebook-membered fanbase.

The tools underwent load testing with a trio of recent Jonas Brothers webcasts. According to Ustream, the Jonas Brothers events logged the following activity:

While most artists would never approach this level of fan engagement, the webcasts proved the stability of the system and provided a preview of the technology. According to Techcrunch, the streaming service will initially be open to a limited group of applicants. Once approved, an artist can go with a free, ad-supported player or pay a setup fee of $15,000 for Ustream to develop an ad-free player for them. No immediate word on other potential costs.

The chat service, called Facebook Live Stream will operate as follows per Facebook:

Again, this provides an opportunity for an artist to take advantage of an existing Facebook-membered fan base to create a community event on their own official website. Per Mashable, Ustream already has chat functionality incorporated into their video stream offering.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Police Cruise Through Los Angeles Opener

Three weeks into 2007’s largest reunion tour, The Police hit a mix of high notes and partial duds during the first of three nights in Southern California on Wednesday (6/20).

The band’s return to the stage after a 23-year hiatus has been one of the few bright spots in a sluggish concert season, and is expected to be the top-grossing tour of the year by a wide margin, due to a combination of stadium stops in several cities and ticket prices surpassing the $250 mark in larger markets.

That set of factors bring a pretty high level of expectations, and the band didn’t quite deliver superstar pacing, performance or production at the Staples Center.

The nearly two-hour set was plagued early on by sound problems that gave Sting’s bass a quacky tone and buried guitarist Andy Summers’ intricate chord work too deep in the mix. The sound sorted itself out a few songs in, and drummer Stewart Copeland in particular shone, nailing many of the crisp fills and syncopated rhythms that formed much of the Police’s trademark sound.

Sting at 55 is a wonder to behold, with a chiseled physique and in fine voice, though like many of his contemporaries (Bono and Bruce Springsteen come to mind), he’s taken to artistically stepping away from some of the high notes of the early catalogue.

As a group, the band’s biggest problem proved less to be the mechanics of their performance than their projection of it. During several of the too-long-and-interchangeable ska jams that punctuated the night and at some critical points in their bigger songs, the band felt less like they owned the material and more like a talented cover band that hadn’t quite nailed some of the nuances.

The fact that the setlist has changed since the beginning of the tour indicates the show may still be finding its rhythm. There was a palpable sag about mid-set during “Invisible Sun” and “Walking In Your Footsteps” that may find its footing later in the tour.

Highlights included terrific takes on “Driven To Tears,” “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “So Lonely.” Sting’s voice lit up compelling performances of “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and “Every Breath You Take.”

In all, the show was a fun—if uneven—journey through one of the premiere staples of the early music video generation.

Setlist:

Start - 8:50
“Message In A Bottle”
“Synchronicity II”
“Walking on the Moon”
“Voices Inside My Head / When The World Is Running Down”
“Don’t Stand So Close”
“Driven to Tears”
“The Bed’s Too Big”
“Truth Hits Everybody”
“Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
“Wrapped Around Your Finger”
“De Do Do Do De Da Da Da”
“Invisible Sun”
“Walking In Your Footsteps”
“Can’t Stand Losing You”
“Roxanne”

“King of Pain”
“So Lonely”

“Every Breath You Take”

“Next To You”
End - 10:40

Monday, July 18, 2005

Apple iTunes Podcast Directory Draws Criticisms In Early Going

The July release of an Apple’s iTunes software upgrade that included a podcast directory has produced a new groundswell of interest in the phenomenon, as amateur broadcasters pile on to the bandwagon and established (and startup) media companies wrestle with models for monetizing the nascent medium.

The traffic surge fit well into the capabilities of many established media outfits, like Los Angeles-area NPR station KCRW, which had to ramp up server capacity in the days following the iTunes release, but managed the upgrade smoothly, offset by a well-timed podcast sponsorship deal with Lexus dealers in the station’s broadcast area. The deal, reportedly in the six-figure range, is something of a holy grail scenario for most podcasters, particularly those in iTunes’ directory who are on bargain shared-hosting plans.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Apple’s iTunes To Incorporate Podcasting Features

Months after the ubiquitous iPod portable media player and its companion software iTunes enabled a phenomenon known as podcasting, Apple Computer has decided to formally embrace the podcasting world in a new version of its platform.

In a presentation at the Wall Street Journal’s technology conference this week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs previewed an upcoming version of iTunes that will serve as an aggregator and distributor of podcasts. iTunes users will be able to download Apple-approved podcasts through the iTunes service for free and then sync them to their iPods for portable playback.

Up to now, podcast listeners had to either manually download MP3 links of their chosen programs and manually add them to their iTunes playlists or use third-party software, such as iPodder, to grab the files from RSS feeds and import them into their iTunes or Windows Media playlists.

 

Friday, May 13, 2005

CD Review: Dierks Bentley, “Modern Day Drifter” (Capitol)

Dierk’s Bentley’s sophomore effort finds him revisiting a lot of the stylistic ground that he covered on his debut, yet he manages to prove that this particular well isn’t dry yet.

Bentley spent much of 2004 on the road with George Strait and Kenney Chesney, and plenty of “Modern Day Drifter” feels crafted with live performance in front of those same types of audiences in mind. This is warm-weather music written with country music’s two strongest constituencies in mind: the party crowd and the heartstrings crowd.

On the party side, “Cab of My Truck” gallops out of the gate like a sequel to Bentley’s big-splash debut, “What Was I Thinkin’.” “Truck”  and “Lot of Leaving”  bring a Garth-like kinetic energy to the proceedings.