NY radio jock keeps jazz boppin', stumps die-hard know-it-alls
New Yorker May 17, 08 6:38 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A white guy from Queens may be our best link to a music rooted in black history. Phil Schapp grew up in a home full of jazz, and has hosted a radio show obsessed with the music's minutiae for decades, the New Yorker reports. He's liable to digress on Charlie Parker's pronunciation of "Okiedoke," but that's an improvement: "For the first twenty years, I was concerned about telling you absolutely everything about every tune," he said.
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Twelve foolproof ways to not get picked
Chicago Tribune May 16, 08 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser)
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R. Kelly's jury is complete, and the arduous process of getting it filled contains a lesson: Should you ever be called upon to weigh in at a child pornography trial, the Chicago Tribune offers some proven ways—at least they worked in this case— to avoid getting trapped in the jury box: Mention your teenage daughter. Argue the age of consent is too high. Explain that you're a doctor with lives to save.
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MUSIC REVIEW
Johansson revisits legendary croaker's catalog
Village Voice May 14, 08 1:15 PM CDT
(Newser)
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“Even the most sympathetic critics,” writes Tom Breihan for the Village Voice , have to grant that Anywhere I Lay My Head, Scarlett Johansson’s Tom Waits tribute album, “is a fundamentally ridiculous enterprise, almost stunning in its total lack of need to exist.” That said, Breihan thinks the record is actually pretty good, made stronger by the fact that it sounds absolutely nothing like Tom Waits.
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Welsh import, following Winehouse et al., makes US TV blitz this week
Wall Street Journal May 12, 08 12:56 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A 23-year-old Welsh singer is the latest in a wave of pop artists—female, British ones—to channel 1960s Motown, the Wall Street Journal reports. Duffy, who storms the US this week with TV talk-show appearances and a performance at the Apollo tonight, is already a hit across Europe, her soul sound coming on the heels of fellow Brit Amy Winehouse’s multi-platinum success.
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Warner deal brings back digitized Sinatra as ad pitchman
Los Angeles Times May 11, 08 2:59 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Ol' Blue Eyes is still doing it his way—or his heirs' way, to be more precise. Frank Sinatra's family has inked a deal with Warner Music Group to ensure the singer's return on the 10th anniversary of his death: A postage stamp and new CD and DVD collections are coming out, as is a digital resurrection of the Pack Master turned ad pitchman, the Los Angeles Times reports.
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Emotional 'Idol' enters country's elite club
Associated Press May 11, 08 11:35 AM CDT
(Newser)
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"American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood ratcheted up her country cred last night, reports the AP, and can now call herself a Grand Ole Opry cast member. Underwood joined the longest-running radio show, fighting back tears as Garth Brooks handled her induction. "This really seems like a great family to be part of," she said. "I promise I'll do everything I possibly can to not make you regret it."
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UPDATED
Denies motion to postpone 6-year-old child-porn case
Chicago Tribune May 9, 08 2:07 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A Chicago judge today denied R. Kelly's attempt to further delay his child-pornography trial—already six years in the making—and began jury selection before recessing for the weekend, reports the Tribune in its gavel-to-gavel coverage. A circus atmosphere earlier prevailed outside the court, with fans and detractors of the R&B singer loudly heralding his arrival.
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Italian personality had been pursued by NY orchestra, others
New York Times May 5, 08 2:23 PM CDT
(Newser)
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After four years of searching for a new music director, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has finally found its man: Italian maestro Riccardo Muti. He will take over for the 2010-11 season on a five-year contract. In September, Muti rejected the idea of an American music directorship because of hefty administrative duties, but a month of guest conducting changed his tune.
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Czech musician tracks down long-lost work
in Germany
BBC May 4, 08 5:57 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A long-lost opera by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi has resurfaced nearly 280 years after its Prague premiere, BBC reports. Argippo , a tale of love and deception set in an Indian maharaja’s court, was first performed in 1730 but vanished soon after, leaving only a libretto. But that was enough for a Czech musician to start hunting around Europe for the rest.
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Book Review
Joe Nick Patoski's biography of Nelson a 'sprawling masterpiece,' says Radar
Radar May 4, 08 3:01 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Joe Nick Patoski hopped aboard Willie Nelson's tour bus more than 35 years ago, and despite the ever-present haze of marijuana smoke, appears to have emerged clear-eyed to write Willie Nelson: An Epic Life . The work is a "sprawling masterpiece" of the Texas hippie, John Clarke Jr. writes in Radar , chronicling a lifetime of drugs, music, and women.
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Producer says so as Bond theme song
gets scrapped
Sun (UK) May 3, 08 4:01 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Drug-addled Amy Winehouse won’t be crooning James Bond's next theme song because, her producer says, she is too troubled to make music. Mark Ronson said they started work on the track but he grew tired of her erratic behavior, the Sun reports. A Winehouse spokesman blames a creative spat for the song stoppage.
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Hand-written memento expected to fetch at least $400K at Christie's sale
Reuters Apr 30, 08 8:20 PM CDT
(Newser)
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John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics to 1960s mantra "Give Peace a Chance" are going up for auction, reports Reuters. A Canadian woman, then 16, acquired them after sneaking into the famous Montreal "Bed-In" staged by Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969—with Lennon predicting, “One day they will be worth something.”
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Adventurous instrumentalist and composer Jimmy Giuffre was a '50s jazz hero
New York Times Apr 26, 08 6:26 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The iconoclastic clarinetist and composer Jimmy Giuffre died Thursday, two days before what would have been his 87th birthday, the New York Times reports. The Texas-born jazz legend's 50-year career took him from big-band hits with Woody Herman to minimalist trios, with a stint playing in mess halls as a GI in WWII. Giuffre's experimental, blues-infused styling made him a leading figure in the '50s "cool jazz" scene.
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