Juliana Hatfield Sets The Record Straight

I have been a fan of Juliana Hatfield's music for more than 15 years. It is rare that an artist can keep my attention for that long. She had a brief flirtation with mainstream success in the early 90s with her song "My Sister," but that flirtation was very brief. She has largely been an underground sensation for her entire career.

During an interview in the early 90s, Juliana made the claim that she was still a virgin (I call it a claim because I have no firsthand knowledge). She was then rumored to be having a fling with Lemonheads leader Evan Dando. She was close friends with him, and played bass on Lemonheads' most popular record, It's a Shame About Ray. For some odd reason, the issue of whether or not Juliana Hatfield lost her virginity to Evan Dando has been something indie rockers have been obsessing about for years.

Juliana has finally set the record straight. In an angry letter to Boston weekly newspaper, Dig, Ms. Hatfield takes the paper to task for continuing to feed this rumor. Her letter is posted here.

Just because I have Juliana on the brain, here is an mp3 from her first solo album, Hey Babe. The song, "Nirvana" was originally recorded by Juliana's first band The Blake Babies. The Babies version was acoustic, her solo version is more rocked out. Enjoy.

Juliana Hatfield - "Nirvana" (mp3)

Tag: Juliana Hatfield

Dinosaur Jr Was Robbed...Literally

Dinosaur Jr.'s gear was stolen Tuesday, August 26 from their trailer, which was parked outside of their hotel in Long Island City, New York. The band humbly requests that their music industry friends and colleagues help spread the word and keep their eyes out for the stolen gear. They ask that you contact their management at 303.998.0001 with any information.

The list of missing gear and their descriptions are as follows:

Guitars
1959 Fender Jazzmaster SN# 38927 - decal coming off. cracked headstock at top near low E peg. color black with purple/bluish sparkle coming through. adonized pick guard gold metal. tuneomatic bridge gold, tuning pegs gold.
1961-3 Fender Jazzmaster SN# 62012 - purple sparkle, black pickup covers. headstock repaired, a whole new piece of wood was glued on for the top part of the headstock under the tuners and up a 1/2" , along the whole top of the headstock. gold tuneomatic bridge, gold tuners
1964-5 Fender Jazzmaster SN# L21581 - orange, white pearl pickguard, stickers all over it, original tuners.
Fender Purple Jazzmaster new SN# R074329 - purple sparkle with matching headstock gold adonized guard tuneomatic bridge.
Rory Gallagher Stratocaster new SN# R25507 - has a big gold grover tuning peg on low E
Rickenbacker 197? Fireglo Bass SN# 4001 - checker-board binding.
B.C. Rich Warlock Bass SN# 4242413
Cymbals
[1] Paiste 20" 2002 medium
[1] Paiste 20" giant beat
[1] Paiste 20" 2002 crash
[2] Paiste 19" 2002 crash
[2] Paiste 15" 2002 sound edge top hi-hats
[1] 15" 2002 sound edge bottom hi-hats
- Also a Custom pedal board with custom audio electronics RS-10 foot controller, Teese RNC2 wah pedal, boss stage tuner, mute box, and cables
- And one black backpack with Sony headphones, tools, etc.

Dinosaur Jr.

New Lemonheads Album and Tour Information

(From Pitchforkmedia)Having recently signed to emo-powerhouse- no-more Vagrant Records, the newly re-formed Lemonheads will release their first full-length in almost ten years on September 26. In the near-decade between 1996's Car Button Cloth and this self-titled affair, lead Lemon Evan Dando has been performing more or less as a solo act, releasing an album in 2003 called Baby I'm Bored.

The latest Lemonheads incarnation features Dando and two members of the Descendents: Bill Stevenson (drums) and Karl Alvarez (bass). They're joined on the new album by special guest contributors Garth Hudson (The Band) and the mighty J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr., Witch). Dando and Stevenson co-produced the album, which was recorded in Fort Collins, Colorado at Stevenson's Blasting Room Studios.

The resurrected Lemonheads will take to the road this winter, playing to thirtysomethings across the U.S.

But first, just what do the Lemonheads sound like after all these years? AOL has posted a taste from the forthcoming record, new tune "No Backbone", which you may download and test drive by clicking here.

Bored no more:

01 Black Gown
02 Become the Enemy
03 Pittsburgh
04 Let's Just Laugh
05 Poughkeepsie
06 Rule of Three
07 No Backbone
08 Baby's Home
09 In Passing
10 Steve's Boy
11 December

Lemony fresh:

11-18 Santa Ana, CA - Galaxy Theatre
11-19 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
11-21 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
11-22 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
11-24 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
11-25 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
11-27 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
11-28 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe
11-30 Boise, ID - The Big Easy Concert Hall
12-01 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
12-02 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
12-04 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground
12-05 Minneapolis, MN - The 400 Bar
12-07 Chicago, IL - Double Door
12-08 Chicago, IL - Double Door
12-09 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
12-10 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
12-12 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
12-13 Philadelphia, PA - North Star Bar
12-14 Washington, DC - Black Cat
12-15 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
12-16 Boston, MA - Avalon Ballroom

Tag: Lemonheads

Gene Simmons Hails Israeli Soldier

(AP) JERUSALEM -- The flamboyant, Israeli-born rocker Gene Simmons has sent a televised message of support to an Israeli soldier seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon, calling him his 'hero.'

Simmons, 57, founded the heavy metal band Kiss in the 1970s and became famous for wearing white and black face makeup, spitting fire and sticking his tongue out at sold-out elaborate performances.

Simmons, the band's bass player, was born Chaim Witz in the northern Israeli city of Haifa before emigrating to New York as a child.

Simmons sent a video message this week to Ron Weinreich, an Israeli soldier and die-hard Kiss fan, who was seriously wounded in Israel's 34-day fight with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Weinreich remains hospitalized and is paralyzed from the chest down. Above his hospital bed, a Kiss poster is spread across the wall.

Weinreich's brother had his wedding relocated this week to the hospital, so his brother could attend. At the wedding, the surprise recording was played.

"Hi Ron, this is Gene Simmons. I'm talking to you from my home. I can't tell you how proud I am of you, and how much the world and Israel owes you a debt of gratitude," he said. "From the bottom of my heart, you are a real hero, you are everybody's hero, you are my hero and I wish I could be there with you."

Suddenly switching to confident Hebrew, Simmons added: "My name is Chaim, I was born in Haifa."

He concluded by saying in English: "I wish you my best, a happy life and I hope the wedding comes off and everybody should honor you because you are a real hero."

Tag: Gene Simmons

TONIGHT!! Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth!!

Hard to believe, but it's true. Tonight I get to see two of my all-time favorite bands play together! The Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth are playing tonight at Stir Cove/Harrah's Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Tickets are still available if you haven't bought one in advance. Do not miss this show!!

Tag: Flaming Lips

The Fags Available on iTunes

About three months ago I told you all that one of my favorite bands, The Fags, was dropped by Sire/Warner Bros. Records. They were dumped by the label before releasing any material for them. Fortunately, the band was given its album back to them and they have now made it available on iTunes. The album, Light 'Em Up, is fantastic; and fans of bands as diverse as The Replacements, Cheap Trick, KISS, The Cars, Motley Crue, The Strokes and Weezer will find a lot to like on the album.

Tag: The Fags

Weezer: Not Broken Up

Weezer is not broken up according to a posting on the band's website. Yeah!

Tag: Weezer

Stream The New Paul Stanley Album

The new solo album from Paul Stanley can be streamed here.
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SANTA MONICA, CA-New Door Records/UniversalMusical Enterprises are proud to announce the October 24, 2006 release of Live to Win, the solo release from iconic KISS frontman Paul Stanley. The voice and songwriting force behind such KISS classics as "Detroit Rock City," "Black Diamond," Hard Luck Woman" and "Tears Are Fallin'," Stanley's career with KISS spans more than three decades and in excess of 100 million records sold worldwide.

Stripping all the legendary bombast away, what becomes starkly clear is that besides rocking relentlessly, the power of human emotion and conviction on Live to Win can rattle not only the walls, but also touch the heart and soul of the listener. "What I wanted to do on this album was sing about my life because my life is not that different than anybody else's," he continues. "The truth is, what we all deal with in life is pretty similar. You change the names and the story's the same."

"This album is purely a labor of love," says Stanley. "It is a labor of passion, and something where I was concerned with turning out the album I heard in my head, without regard for having glitz and star power from other sources. It was purely about making the album I wanted to make." While the heartfelt "Loving You Without You Now" was written without any outside collaboration, the remainder of the album reunites him with former KISS songwriting partners Desmond Child [Aerosmith, LeeAnn Rimes] and Holly Knight [Tina Turner, Pat Benatar], and introduces new collaborators including Andreas Carlsson [Bon Jovi, Britney Spears], John 5 [Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson] and Marti Frederiksen [Aerosmith, Faith Hill]. Seven of the ten tracks were co-written with Child and/or Carlsson, with Stanley and Child joined by John 5 on "Where Angels Dare" and Frederiksen on "Lift," and Knight teaming with the frontman on "It's Not Me."

Live to Win is self-produced by Stanley, who provides lead vocals, guitar and percussion alongside a studio core of guitarist Corky James [Avril Lavigne, The Matrix], drummer Victor Indrizzo [Beck, Macy Gray] and keyboardist Harry Sommerdahl [Carrie Underwood, Lindsay Lohan]. Also performing on the album are former KISS bandmate Bruce Kulick and guitarist John 5.

"I've always believed that when you give somebody an album, it should be like a fresh newspaper, where you get ink on your fingers and it's today's news," says Stanley, who wrote and co-wrote the ten tracks on Live to Win specifically for the new release. "For me, this album is where I'm at now - This is where things are in my life, and my perspective on my music.

Stanley is planning a North American club tour to coincide with the release of the album.
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The new Paul Stanley album could be good, but probably not. To see why KISS is my favorite band, watch this clip of them from a 1975 appearance on The Midnight Special performing "She." Fucking brilliant.


Tag: Paul Stanley

New Lemonheads Music Online

Four new songs from the recently re-formed Lemonheads are streaming now on the band's website, TheLemonheads.net. The new album is scheduled to be released September 26 on Vagrant Records.

Tag: Lemonheads

Slayer's 'Christ Illusion': "Fucking Brutal!"

I picked up the new Slayer CD last night. Fucking brutal! The disc is called Christ Illusion,(click to buy) and most of the songs deal with the usual Slayer topics: war ("Consfearacy"), anti-Christianity ("Skeleton Christ"), and violence ("Catalyst"). The first single, "Cult" is a pretty harsh attack on all religion. They certainly will not be playing at the next Republican convention.

There is one exception to the usual Slayer subject matter on the new one. The song "Jihad" appears to be about the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The Slayer twist is that they write the song from the terrorists' perspective. This will certainly get them some attention from the Sean Hannitys and Bill O'Reillys of the world. I would love to see Kerry King face off with Hannity. That would be a great visual.

King writes most of the songs on Christ Illusion which is a little different for Slayer. Also, the songs are much shorter than on more recent Slayer records. I listened to the record about three times right after buying it. It's a totally solid album. I hope they play in Omaha on this next tour.

The YouTube video here is of Slayer on The Henry Rollins Show from a few weeks ago. They are playing "Cult."


Tag: Slayer

Even More Details About Paul Stanley's New Solo Album

At KISS's official website, KISSOnline.com, they have posted full track-by-track details about Paul Stanley's new solo album, Live To Win. The details can be found here.

I am not really optimistic about the quality of the new CD. KISS dried up creatively a long time ago. But Paul has always been pretty consistent, and wrote many of the band's good songs during their bad periods (80s). I'll give it a shot.

Tag: Paul Stanley

More Replacements Reunion Activity

(Reuters/Billboard) On the heels of their surprise reunion to record two new songs for the recent Replacements best-of album, Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson are together again on two songs from the soundtrack for the animated film "Open Season" soundtrack.

The album, due September 26 via Lost Highway, includes 10 Westerberg originals, of which "Love You in the Fall" and "Right to Arm Bears" boast Stinson on bass.

The film, which features the voices of Ashton Kutcher and Martin Lawrence, opens three days later.

One Westerberg track each is performed by Pete Yorn ("I Belong (Reprise)") and Deathray ("Wild As I Wanna Be"). Rounding out the soundtrack are Deathray's "I Wanna Lose Control (Uh Oh)" and the Talking Heads' "Wild Wild Life." The score was penned by Westerberg and Ramin Djawad.

Westerberg broke the news he was making a foray into film scoring in a 2004 Billboard.com interview. "I wouldn't like to do that as a regular job and do five movies a year and all that, but it's a viable ... alterntive to touring," he said.
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I also just found out that Tommy Stinson will be doing some dates as bassist for Soul Asylum: Aug. 17 - Pike Market Place (12:00pm show) - Seattle, WA Aug. 18 - Mid-America Center - Concil Bluff's, IA Aug. 19 - Austin Rockin' Blues Festival - Austin, TX Aug. 23 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA Aug. 24 - Plaza deCesar Chavez - San Jose, CA Sep. 09 - Deadwood Jam - Deadwood, SD

Tag: Replacements

Redd Kross To Play in NYC

I recieved this email from Redd Kross:
Redd Kross tickets for the Sept. 22nd Irving Plaza show in NEW YORK are ON SALE NOW!

Featuring the Legendary and Classic Neurotica Line Up:

Jeff McDonald, Steve McDonald, Roy McDonald, and Robert Hecker!!!

For those of you too young to have never seen Redd Kross live, this is your chance to see the real deal ... and for those of us who were there the first time, it's everything you've come to love and expect from a Redd Kross concert.

This is a RARE opportunity so wave your freak flag high and don't miss out!

Once the tickets are gone they're gone!

Buy tickets at http://www.irvingplaza.com.
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This is looking more and more like a test run for an actual reunion of Redd Kross. Let's keep our fingers crossed.


Tag: Redd Kross

I Stand Corrected. Gene Simmons' Family Jewels Is Pretty Good.

Despite the fact that it is an obvious rip off of The Osbournes, I have to admit that I was wrong about the Gene Simmons' Family Jewels show. I watched the first four episodes last night, and it was actually pretty good.

Gene toned down the obnoxious asshole persona that he has perfected over the years, and when it rears its ugly head, his kids push it right back down. They are his harshest critics. When Gene starts rambling on about all of his accomplishments, we see Nick and Sophie (the kids) roll their eyes and tell him to shut up. They don't put up with any of his bullshit -- neither does Shannon Tweed, to whom he has been "happily un-married" for 23 years.

Gene's son, Nick, is a lot like Gene without the obnoxiousness. He has a band (which Gene tries to take over in one of the episodes) and seems like a cool guy. Apparently, he is quite an illustrator and is working on a graphic novel. Actually, Gene used to create his own comics when he was a kid, too.

The daughter, Sophie, seems like a sweet girl. Despite being only 14, it is obvious that she has inherited her looks from her Playmate mom, Shannon. There is one episode where Mother and daughter visit Fashion Week in NYC, and Sophie gets hit on by all sorts of men who should know to stay away from such a young girl. Mom is right there to remind these guys of that, and there are quite a few embarrassed folks after that.

I do think that many of the activities on the show are staged, so it is not nearly as authentic as The Osbournes seemed. However, I am totally surprised by how much ribbing Gene tolerates (and allows on the show) from his family. That makes the show for me.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am looking forward to next week's episodes. Staged or not, the show is much better than I thought, and I am not embarrassed to be a Gene Simmons fan when I watch it.

Tag: Gene Simmons

How Is This Even Possible? Slayer and Stryper as Co-Headliners?

(Metal Sludge) German power metal band EDGUY and the legendary American death metal band DEICIDE have been confirmed to perform on the main stage of the third edition of the Monterrey Metal Fest, set to take place Saturday, September 23, 2006 at the Coca Cola Auditorium in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

SLAYER and STRYPER will co-headline the event, which is being billed as "Hell and Heaven United". The concert promises to be the "biggest and baddest version yet," featuring eight of the biggest names in heavy metal music from all over the world on the main stage and 12 up-and-coming international and Mexican bands on the second stage.

The official festival pre-party will be held on Friday, September 22, 2006 at the Cafe Iguana with mini-sets from bands that will be performing on the festival's main stage and second stage.

The main-stage lineup is shaping up as follows, with more bands to be confirmed:

SLAYER
STRYPER
EDGUY
DEICIDE
WARCRY



Tag: Slayer

The Gene Simmons Family PR Blitz

Here's a clip of Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed from their appearance on Jimmy Kimmel the other night. The two are in full P.R. mode for their show, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, on A&E. The pair were also on Howard Stern, and Shannon went on The View.

My thoughts on the upcoming show have been documented, yet I am still planning on watching it.



Tag: Gene Simmons