Sonic Youth Frontman Flies High, Solo

He performed for National Press Club in 1971

(NEWSER) - One of the final live performances by Louis Armstrong will be released to the public for the first time. The recording is of a concert on January 28, 1971, at the National Press Club in Washington. The legendary trumpeter was a featured act at the concert, held less than six months before his death, reports AP . The new album will be titled Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours: Satchmo at the National Press Club. You can hear a snippet of him performing "Hello Dolly" via this Washington Post link. Details on the CD or digital download are here . More»

This year has been a bummer, but the music's good

(NEWSER) - As the first half of 2010 draws to a close, James Montgomery lists his 10 favorite albums of the year—so far—for MTV :

• Kate Nash: “My Best Friend Is You represents Kate Nash at her most scattershot, squeaky and downright smart,” he writes. She’s made “an album that's rough, sprawling and unafraid to get plain weird.”
• Yeasayer: Odd Blood is “perhaps the most fittingly titled album in recent memory, a wavy, dreamy listen, full of supple, electronic fields that undulate and dip, creating precipitous peaks and delving canyons. Pop music for the 22nd century and beyond.”

We all love Norah Jones, but she's still on this list

(NEWSER) - You would never guess, but Jimi Hendrix was technically a one-hit wonder. Yep, the definition of the term is “an artist or band who only has one song make the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart,” regardless of album sales or performance on other charts, writes Sam Greenspan. He goes on to list 10 more very surprising one-hit wonders on 11points.com :

• Grateful Dead, “Touch of Grey”: “Go figure—an eternally loyal army of hippies doesn't translate into huge financial returns.”
• Garth Brooks, “Lost in You”: His “only top 40 single was from that rock album he made under the pseudonym ‘Chris Gaines.’ No song actually attributed to Garth Brooks has ever made the top 40. Ouch.”

Indie darlings were en route from Toronto to Boston

(NEWSER) - Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo suffered minor injuries this morning when a bus carrying the band from Toronto to Boston ran off the New York State Thruway about 40 miles west of Albany. Cuomo complained of rib pain and was taken to a local hospital after the tour bus slid on ice and wound up in a roadside ditch. "It's amazing that it didn't flip over," a state police spokesman told the Times Union . More»

Alexa Ray Joel took a homeopathic drug, source says

(NEWSER) - Alexa Ray Joel is out of the hospital and "is going to be fine," her father, Billy Joel, said last night. The 23-year-old singer-songwriter, reportedly distraught over a recent breakup, was treated at a New York hospital after overdosing on a substance a source identifies as a homeopathic drug. Her mother, Christie Brinkley, was with her at the hospital. Although she has had "moments of being despondent.” the source tells Entertainment Weekly , “Alexa is actually very happy and healthy." More»