Beyonce, Pitbull, Steven Tyler get animated for Fox film

Beyonce, Pitbull and Steven Tyler are set to get animated for a new Fox film, according to a Deadline report.

The music superstars will lend their voices to the 3-D computer animated film 'Epic,' which is being produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios.

'Epic' is helmed by 'Ice Age' director Chris Wedge and is described as a battle between good and evil after a teenage girl finds herself transported into a magical secret universe. There she is tasked with saving the world, alongside a team of whimsical characters.

'Public Image was a training camp,' John Lydon says

So this album begins with the sound of you belching.

It's a delicious sound.

You've lived in Marina del Rey now for about two decades, but this album is full of love for the U.K. -- thinking of the 'English roses' on 'Human.'

It's just about remembering British summers -- salad days we used to call them. Being there in the summer on an English afternoon recording the album, it just struck home. It brought back great memories of childhood, the time you're free of all the contamination of what human beings really get up to. Everything just seems wonderful.

Both PiL and Big Audio Dynamite, Mick Jones' post-Clash band, viewed punk as a jumping off point to more adventurous dance textures. They were moves away from everything people expected.

The punk world wasn't just punk rock. That's important for people to understand. As soon as the cliches started to creep in, it was time for the more serious of us to move away from that. My biggest fear is mindlessly and stupidly repeating myself. That's not going to happen. There's too much to do yet. So let's hear it for the next 50.

Edmonds and Smith were later additions to PiL, but not members of the band's most famous lineups. Why this configuration?

I've been gagging at the bit to get back together with these chaps. They're the ones I have the fondest memories with, out of all the PiL situations. Bear in mind there have been something like 49 members. In many ways, Public Image was a training camp. It helped many people get careers they wouldn't have otherwise have had. You only really get one chance in your life. So do it honesty, do it openly, do it with integrity and do it with transparency.

How are things getting on with the Sex Pistols these days?

I suppose they're fine. We don't see much of each other -- I don't mean that badly. I just don't have time for that. The majority of my musical life has been in and around PiL. The Pistols are a part of my past -- a very proud part of my past. It deserves its place in history, no doubt, but I don't want to be living in my history.

Why, then, revisit PiL?

I've always wanted to. I've always wanted PiL to continue. This is not a revisiting. This is a continuation. I couldn't do it due to the record labels. The reason for that nearly decades of being out of work musically was due to record company entanglements. They became oppressive. The contracts were binding. There was no progress to be made. I couldn't afford monthly wages for anyone. I couldn't pay anyone. We couldn't rehearse because there would be no advance until outstanding debts were taken care of. So I ended up having to play the waiting game. I was just waiting for contracts to cease.

A lot of the lyrical imagery on 'This is PiL' seems to reminisce or discuss your youth.

I've been away from making music for so long, so I felt I had to tell a bigger story. I felt I had to even involve early childhood for this album to have any kind of sense to the listener. I felt that was a good backdrop to begin.... Without my past there'd be no present and there'd be definitely be no future. It's not stuck in the past. It just uses it as poignant reference points to explain certain situations. There's a song like 'One Drop,' with the refrain, 'We are teenagers. We are the ageless.' That's how we feel. The message of revolution does not cease to exist with age.

Some of these songs, like 'Deeper Water,' for instance, feel extremely groove-based.

That song we improvised and recorded in one take. Everything was improvised, even words. It all came together from a really good conversation before, and the night before from some other situation. All the different elements of chit-chat between us went into the song. That's how my brain works. It's not regurgitation, but reiteration of certain situations.

What was the chit-chat that inspired the song?

I was talking with Lu and I had never realized that he comes from a long line of admirals in his family. He has a lot of ocean connections. I love the ocean. We were chatting about sharks and it led into all these different things, so the next day it all played out in that song. There's also references in there to people who will deliberately give you bad advice.

Did you talk to record labels before deciding to release this on your own PiL Official label?

Oh yeah, we looked around. We eyeballed every possibility. We gave them all an equal opportunity and decided none of them. It was a tough one to make. 'Oh my God, how quickly can this go wrong?' But it doesn't. It just involves hard rock. I'm sorry. I'm trying to eat at the same time. No, it involves an awful lot of hard work. PiL is not just a band. It's all the people who work with us. We know that if things go wrong we let ourselves down.

What are your thoughts on Levene and Wobble doing a tour centered on PiL's (1979 album) 'Metal Box'?

Wobble had the opportunity to come back and work with us, but [money differences made] it impractical. It's very unfair of him, and it was a shock to me. He's behaving very silly.... Bear in mind, when I started PiL, nobody in the world knew any of them people. I gave them careers.

Is that why the name of the album and the first track appear to be a statement?

We didn't do it as a statement. We just liked the groove and that's the way it naturally occurred. When we record, everything stays on the tape. That's why, quite oddly enough, the first PiL album quite a few years opens up with me burping.

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-- Todd Martens

Photo: John Lydon. Credit: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

Live: The Clean stays youthful at the Echo

The Clean at the Echo review: The New Zealand band still packs energy, especially when it performs 'Tally Ho.'

When the Clean played its first number Wednesday night at the Echo, 'Tally Ho' didn't sound 31 years old.

That's partly because there's a Peter Pan, 'forever young' quality to the song's jangly-pop propulsiveness. The New Zealand band members were teenagers when they made 'Tally Ho,' and they become teenagers when they play it. 

But it's also because, for most ears, the song's still a discovery. Even in its home country, the Clean is only an underground legend, and it's enjoyed mere waves of cult success abroad.

In recent years, the Clean has been discovered by devoted Pitchfork-wielding connoisseurs, in part because taste-making indie label Merge (home of Arcade Fire and M. Ward) released its last album, 2009's 'Mister Pop.' The pogoing fans at the Echo sang along to 'Tally Ho,' but it was probably the first time most of them had heard it live, considering the Clean has played only a handful of stateside dates in its lifetime.

Like the Velvets or the Feelies, two bands its intricately strummed sound references, the Clean is a small but important band.

Ween sets the table for the inevitable reunion

A world without Ween? We can only hope that some other band will step forward to write more songs about weasels, all the while attempting to reach across the genre aisle to unite fans of jam bands and sea chanteys. Ween is done, says principal Aaron "Gene Ween" Freeman, who, on his recently released solo effort "Marvelous Clouds," has apparently moved on to soft rock crooning.

Yet no breakup is complete with the airing of some public drama. "This is news to me," wrote Freeman's partner-in-Ween Mickey "Dean Ween" Melchiondo on Facebook.

So is Ween kaput?

Freeman was pretty direct in an interview with Rolling Stone, telling the mag that his alter ego of Gene Ween is retired. "For me it's a closed book," he said of the band, which is just a few years shy of its 30th anniversary. "In life sometimes, in the universe, you have to close some doors to have others open."

That, despite Melchiondo's online plea of ignorance, doesn't seem to leave much room for interpretation, at least for now. There's been no additional statement from either camp and no updates to Ween's official website or Facebook page. 

Yet beloved cult acts rarely disappear for good these days, and events such as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Outside Lands have given such artists a forever home. Ween (est. 1984) has continued to be a draw, even selling out the Wiltern in 2011 on a tour that had its share of on-stage catastrophies. 

The band, which used a jokey, smart-aleck exterior to mask plenty of catchy, complex music and thought-provoking psychedelia, has had its share of near breakups. 

"I liken it to more of a marriage between two people than a band," Freeman told The Times last year. "And with that comes its ups and downs and its times of intimacy and distance and miscommunication. But as long as we're still walking on the earth, Ween will still be there."

And if not today, we should reiterate that a 30th anniversary is but a couple of years away. 

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Photo: Aaron "Gene Ween" Freeman. Credit: Shore Fire Media

Justin Bieber releases new single: 'Die In Your Arms'

Kanye West had his "G.O.O.D. Friday" series, in which he released a single from his label every Friday, starting in August 2010. Can we now similarly look forward to Justin Bieber album previews all month?

With his new tune, "Die In Your Arms," the barely legal pop juggernaut ramps up anticipation for his second album, "Believe," with the next in a series of pre-release singles. The first one, "Boyfriend," was a minimal sliver of futurist R&B indebted to Justin Timberlake and the Neptunes. But "Die In Your Arms" has a throwback filament glow that recalls the Jackson 5 and Motown at its most teen-friendly (which means -- it's really, really good).

"Believe" is out June 19, and if these two tracks are any indication, Biebs has hit that difficult sweet spot of maturing sonically and vocally without losing the doe-eyed charm of his early tween-demolishing singles. Plenty of recent teenage pop stars, from Miley Cyrus to Britney Spears, had a rougher go of making the transition from earnest innocence to a grown-up sexuality (maybe pop audiences are unjustly more forgiving of young men making that leap?). But taken together, these two songs sound true to where Bieber is right now -- an 18-year-old coming into his grown-up talents and attitudes, without putting on false airs of seriousness or subversion. 

Assertive paparazzi might differ in their take though, as Bieber reportedly is under investigation after a scuffle with a photographer on Sunday in Calabasas.

He hits Staples Center Oct. 2-3 with his new rockabilly pompadour in tow.  Is the world ready for Justin Bieber, the Adult? If it sounds as good as these early tracks do, we say yes. 

-- August Brown

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Photo: Justin Bieber in Paramount Pictures' movie "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never."  Credit: Paramount Pictures

Lady Gaga a target of Indonesia, Thailand and Madonna

The American pop export known as Lady Gaga keeps running into trouble as she tours Asia. First, she was pegged as a "devil" by Islamic hardliners in Indonesia, where protests and security concerns forced the cancellation of a June 3 concert. Now, the 26-year-old pop star is causing a ruckus for tweeting that she was going to use her time in Thailand to buy a "fake Rolex." 

In the never-ending soap opera that is the life of an international superstar -- one of the globe's few -- Lady Gaga is suddenly pop-culture's safest target. Even Madonna, whose once contentious "Like A Prayer" is today family-friendly halftime show entertainment, is piling it on.

Rehearsal footage surfaced online from Madonna's "MDNA" tour, and it sees Madge mashing up her self-empowerment anthem "Express Yourself" with Lady Gaga's kindred "Born This Way." A sly wink to their thematic and tuneful similarities? Perhaps, yet Madonna and subtlety don't always go hand in hand, and Madonna ends the live rendition with "Hard Candy's" bitter "She's Not Me." Madonna's tour starts Thursday in Tel Aviv, so watch the rehearsal clip on YouTube before it's removed. 

When "Born This Way" was released it was the subject of much back and forth between Team Madonna and Team Lady Gaga, a debate that was already tired last February when Lady Gaga was forced to address it on national television. Little on a tour the size of a Madonna or Lady Gaga is off the cuff, and Madonna has already slammed "Born This Way" as "reductive," so working it into "Express Yourself" seems rather petty, an admission that the song isn't harmless but rather an irritant. 

The only winner in all this is Lady Gaga. It's Gaga's whose Twitter will be stalked in hopes of a response, and it's Gaga whose U.S. tour in 2013 will have blogs like this one wondering if she'll retaliate. For Lady Gaga is in that magical/infuriating moment where all she has to do is write a harmless Tweet and she's inspiring wire stories.

Guitarist Doc Watson dead at 89: A 1-2-3 video primer

Guitarist Doc Watson, who died Tuesday at age 89, leaves an extensive legacy that documents his wide-reaching influence in the world of guitar playing and folk music.

"Doc Watson sort of defined in many ways what Americana has become," Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Assn., told The Times. "He played different styles of American roots music."

He received a National Medal of Arts in 1997 and a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2004.

Watson was well into his 40s before he began a serious music career. Ultimately, his example inspired a generation of musicians to upgrade their instrumental technique.

Here are three examples of his artistry in different settings. He was a commanding soloist and an always amenable collaborator. The first video highlights his take on "Black Mountain Rag," which traditionally has featured the fiddle. But Watson transformed it, as he usually did, into a thrilling guitar showcase.

 

Watson also loved playing in the company of other guitarists, and for decades was accompanied on tour and in the recording studio by his son, Merle. But after Merle died in 1985, Watson continued with his career, often sharing the stage with other masters of the instrument. Here's a 1987 performance from Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion," for which Watson begins with his version of Eddy Arnold's "Just a Little Lovin' (Will Go a Long Way)," then is joined by six- and 12-string ace Leo Kottke for "Last Steam Engine Train."

 

Finally, in a trio setting, below is a historic string-instrument summit meeting of Watson with bluegrass banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs and neo-traditionalist singer, mandolinist and guitarist Ricky Skaggs from a "Three Pickers" in which they serve up the country gospel traditional "Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms":

 

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-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Doc Watson in March 2000 at his home in Deep Gap, N.C. Credit: Karen Tam / Associated Press.

Guitarist Doc Watson, who died Tuesday at age 89, leaves an extensive legacy that documents his wide-reaching influence in the world of guitar playing and folk music.

"Doc Watson sort of defined in many ways what Americana has become," Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Assn., told The Times. "He played different styles of American roots music."

He received a National Medal of Arts in 1997 and a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2004

Watson was well into his 40s before he began a serious music career. Ultimately his example inspired a generation of musicians to upgrade their instrumental technique.

But here are three examples of his artistry in different settings.

No Doubt to premiere new music at Teen Choice Awards

No Doubt fans eager to hear samples of a long-simmering reunion album will finally get a taste when the band hits the stage at the upcoming Teen Choice Awards.

The Grammy Award-winning SoCal ska-pop band will perform together for the first time in a year-and-a-half at the awards, airing live on Fox on July 22, where they plan to debut the first single off their new project.

'I can't believe this is actually happening. The idea of playing our new music live is heaven on earth,' lead singer Gwen Stefani said in a statement. 'Can't wait to share it!!'

'We're so stoked to finally start performing these new songs live,' bassist Tony Kanal added. 'And to be doing the first performance of our first single here in Los Angeles makes it even more awesome.'

The band has remained mostly mum about the follow-up to 2001's multi-platinum "Rock Steady,' dropping only a few Facebook photos and cryptic tweets during the lengthy writing and recording process. In September, band members announced that they needed to delay the as-yet-untitled project.

"Ideally, our new record would be coming out this year, but it's just not ready yet. We don't want to rush this album just to get it out," they wrote. "This collection of songs means everything to us, and our only priority right now is to make sure that it's the best album we can possibly make. There is still more work for us to do."

No Doubt last performed in 2010 at the annual Kennedy Center Honors.

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Twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: No Doubt, from left, Adrian Young, Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal and Tom Dumont. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Have $100,000? Bid on Elvis Presley's crypt

It's not uncommon to find a treasure trove of music memorabilia for sale at Julien's Auctions. It is pretty rare, however, to find a rock star's formerly occupied tomb. And one formerly occupied by Elvis Presley? That's one of a kind.

Among the finds up for auction beginning June 23 is a crypt that briefly housed the body of Presley after his death in 1977. The crypt is located at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn.,  and was home to Presley's body for just under two months, after which time he was moved across town to his final resting place at his Graceland estate.

Presley's stay in the mausoleum was limited as the family awaited permits to move the bodies of Presley and his mother, Gladys, to the gardens at Graceland. The crypt has remained empty since Presley's stay, and a statue of the king of rock and roll commemorates his time there. It is currently in the control of the cemetery.

A spokeswoman for Julien's Auctions has not yet responded to requests for more information, but bidding starts at $100,000, according to the item's page online, where one can also view more pictures. The crypt, according to press materials from Julien's Auctions, "lies within the granite and marble mausoleum," and winning bidders will also get a memorial inscription and use of Forest Hill's chapel.

Album review: Sigur Rós' 'Valtari'

When the Icelandic experimental band Sigur Rós first emerged in the late '90s, its records felt like worlds unto themselves. Regal strings and brass, guitar noise, percussive bombast and Jónsi Birgisson's now-iconic coo: It all added up to a sound so huge and ethereal that few other bands felt capable of matching it.

Now that anyone with a laptop can make decently epic soundscapes, how will Sigur Rós keep its lead? On 'Valtari,' it does it by using all its usual tricks, but in even more evocative and expert ways. The band dipped a toe into sunnier pop vibes on 2008's 'Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust' and Jónsi's 2010 solo album, 'Go.' But on 'Valtari' it's back to the essentials: oceanic buildups, flickers of treated orchestras and falsetto vocal lines that yank heartstrings, even though you know exactly when they're coming.

The lead single 'Eg Anda' winds some Velvet Underground-y mangled guitar into gale-force ambience; 'Var' crescendos into a quarter-note pummel of stacked noise. But on the whole, 'Valtari' is pretty dazed and ephemeral: tracks such as 'Varoeldur' and 'Rembihnutur' wander in a fog of flittering vocal samples and synth-pad haze. None of it's too far afield from what you'd expect from Sigur Rós at this point in a long career. But when the mood calls for 'emotionally devastating long-form ambient maximalism,' there's no need to ever go elsewhere.

Sigur Rós
'Valtari'
XL Recordings
Three stars (Out of four) 

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Album review: Regina Spektor's 'What We Saw From the Cheap Seats'

'The piano is not firewood yet,' Regina Spektor declares not long into her new album, and indeed it's hard to imagine this New York City songstress running out of better applications for her instrument any time soon.

On 'What We Saw From the Cheap Seats,' her fourth major-label studio set, Spektor uses the piano to anchor a succession of far-flung ditties, including the funky, suite-like 'Small Town Moon,' the fuzzily percussive 'All the Rowboats' and the deeply affecting white-soul ballad 'How.' Her partner here, the producer Mike Elizondo, knows how to help diversify an artist's sound without muddying the mix; he famously de-cluttered Fiona Apple's 'Extraordinary Machine.'

Beyond her playing, Spektor holds together the music on 'Cheap Seats' with her singing, which even at its most intricately melodic (as in 'Oh Marcello') retains an improvisatory feel, as though she's making up these songs as she goes.

In 'Don't Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)' ' not the Jaques Brel tune ' Spektor chews over the phrase 'I love Paris in the rain' atop a bouncy quirk-pop groove, while 'Patron Saint' finds her stretching 'true love' to at least a dozen syllables. Those lyrical snippets tell you that Spektor, like so many songwriters, has romance on the brain. But, as with her unique arrangements, she rarely comes at the topic from the angle you'd expect.

Regina Spektor
'What We Saw From the Cheap Seats'
(Sire)
Three stars (Out of four)

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A Beach Boys homecoming at the Hollywood Bowl

The group's trademark SoCal sound will be in full effect Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl. Here are a few points to ponder about Brian Wilson and the crew.

Brian Wilson officially quit as a touring member of the Beach Boys in the mid-1960s and has only been on stage periodically with the band since. As for an album together? It's been decades. But this week Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks stop at the Hollywood Bowl for a 50th anniversary tour which kicked off last month in Arizona. 

The Saturday night show ' followed by the release of their new album together, 'Why God Made the Radio,' on June 5 ' is a homecoming of sorts for this quintessential SoCal band. In celebration of this landmark event, Pop & Hiss compiled a list of facts, stats and random bits of info associated with Beach Boys, Version 2012. 

Lies, damned lies and statistics:

For avid Beach Boys fans, no fact is too innocuous to share with the world, and thank God the Internet was invented for exactly this purpose. Helpful tidbits amid all the Beach Boys minutiae include lists of songs the group has performed since launching the anniversary tour.

Songs played at all 19 shows as of Friday include cornerstone hits from the Beach Boys songbook: 'Good Vibrations,' 'California Girls,' 'I Get Around,' 'Little Deuce Coupe,' 'Fun, Fun, Fun,' 'Help Me, Rhonda'; their last No. 1 hit, 1988's 'Kokomo'; and their newly written and recorded anniversary celebration single, 'That's Why God Made the Radio.' (Marketing lesson 101: Always plug the new stuff.)

Some surprises among the stats:

'All This Is That,' a relatively obscure song from the 1972 album 'So Tough,' which was credited as Carl & the Passions, has been included nearly every night ' as has 'Don't Back Down,' a song that never charted from 1964's 'All Summer Long' album. 'This Whole World,' from 1971's 'Sunflower,' has turned up 10 times, according to the obsessive documentarians at www.setlist.fm.

The group's Top 10 hit that has surfaced least frequently? 'Dance, Dance, Dance,' which has been played, played, played just five times so far.
New thoughts on old songs:

In Mark Dillon's new book 'Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys,' the Canadian author interviewed ' yep ' 50 different sources about their favorite songs from the group's career. 

What is Alice Cooper's favorite number, you ask? In the book, they quote him discussing 'In My Room': 'I was 15, I was the perfect age for that. Your room is your sanctuary. It's your Batcave. It's the only thing you own, so there's a certain holiness to it. 'Mom, Dad ' don't come in my room. It's off limits.''

As for the ubiquitous Zooey Deschanel? She cites 'Wouldn't It Be Nice,' from the watershed 1966 album 'Pet Sounds' album. 'Talk about blowing my mind. I can listen to the song over and over again.' She's also a big fan of the separate vocal and instrumental tracks that became available with the 1997 'Pet Sounds' box set: 'Listening to just the vocals is really exciting. It still sounds fresh. It always makes me happy.'

'American Idol': 10 ideas for a reboot and a ratings revival

The ratings are in, and the "American Idol" franchise is officially in trouble. Viewers of the season finale of the series dropped by 32% from last year, a fall that is part of an overall steady decline in viewership since its series peak in 2003. Back then, the "Idol" season was an event, but now it's just another show. The gleam is gone.

As a result, many commenters are wondering whether this marks the end of the run. Probably not, as it's still a ratings winner in the scheme of things. But it may mean that executive producer Simon Fuller and his team will be looking for ways to bring renewed excitement to a series that's struggling to climb out of a rut. Below are a few suggestions to get the "Idol" buzz back.

1. Open the field to all different kinds of vocalists. Which is to say, add young rappers into the mix. If it's fair to pit a pop vocalist such as Jessica Sanchez against a singer-songwriter like Phillip Phillips, why is it such a stretch to think that would-be MCs couldn't rank? Quality is quality, whether crooned, screamed or rhymed. If this is a pop music competition, it's ridiculous to exclude one of the most important creative engines the genre. Who knows, maybe we'll meet the next Kitty Pryde, Kreayshawn, or Riff Raff.

2. Include vocal groups. Every major label is looking for a female vocal group in the TLC and Destiny's Child vein right now, and with the rise of boy groups the Wanted and One Direction, all signs point to a return of packs of singing hunks. Let's manufacture some group hype.

3. Fire all three judges and replace them with Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton. As a twist, the early rounds could be "blind" by making the judges/coaches assess talent with their backs to the singers.

INTERACTIVE: "Idol" vs. "The Voice"

4. Add in a choreography element. Every Idol worth adoration should be able to not only to sing but dance. And considering the success of "Dancing With the Stars," an "Idol" choreography round could add some fuel. It certainly would have made Phillip Phillips' victory -- to say nothing of Kris Allen's or Lee DeWyze's -- less assured had they proved unable to effectively bust a move.

5. Add a juggling component to the dancing and singing. Bring in some professional clowns who can teach the young vocalists the ins and outs of keeping afloat flaming torches, knives and bowling balls. Such a move would balance the playing field even further, because some singers who can juggle aren't very good dancers, and some juggling dancers can barely sing. Imagine the thrill when America finds the perfect juggling vocalist with a knack for a little soft shoe.

6. Change the name of the show to "American (White Guy with Guitar) Idol."

7. Keep Jennifer Lopez but fire Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Ryan Seacrest. Replace them with Marc Anthony, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Ben Affleck.

8. Fire all three judges, then string Ryan Seacrest along for a few months while floating to the gossip sites the idea of firing him too. Change your mind and commit to Seacrest, then bring in Jay Leno as a judge. Fire him at the last minute, and as a replacement hire Conan O'Brien. Then fire Seacrest and replace him with Andy Richter.  

9. Cancel the dang show already and replace it with a reboot of the classic 1970s reality competition show "Battle of the Network Stars." Watch as Tina Fey, Ashton Kutcher, the casts of "The Mentalist" and the "NCIS" franchise, Ryan Seacrest and others race through ridiculous obstacle courses in tight shirts and short shorts.

10. Keep Ryan Seacrest but add as his sidekick a dancing juggler who can sing -- if they can ever find one. They don't grow on trees, you know.

Any tips for a reboot? Add them in the comments below.

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Photo: Phillip Phillips, left, Hollie Cavanaugh, Josh Ledet, Skylar and Jessica Sanchez. Credit: Michael Becker / Fox.

 

 

 

Influential guitar picker Doc Watson recovering after fall, surgery

Doc Watson, the 89-year-old guitarist whose expert flatpicking style brought him a level of acclaim during the folk revival of the 1960s and who is still revered 50 years on, is recovering after he fell down at his Deep Gap, N.C., home. According to Mitch Greenhill, president of Folklore Productions International, which represents him, after being taken to to a hospital, other health issues were discovered.

"They determined after keeping him overnight that there were more serious things going on, and they transferred him to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem for surgery," said Greenhill.  The musician, who lost his eyesight when he was a year old, remains in critical but stable condition after undergoing colon surgery, he added.

A statement on the company's website reads, "Doc Watson is in critical but improved condition after undergoing colon surgery at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The family appreciates everyone's prayers and good wishes."

The guitarist and banjo player didn't achieve national acclaim until age 30, but drew influential supporters after his first appearance at Gerde's Folk City in 1961. After hooking up with fellow folkies such as David Grisman, Watson became a well-known figure in the budding scene. He was a regular performer at the Ash Grove whenever he was in Los Angeles. 

These days, Watson is known as well for his founding of the popular North Carolina music event Merlefest, which brings together folkies from all over the country for a pleasant, family-friendly weekend of music. The event, which Watson started in the memory of his late son, celebrated its 25th anniversary in April, when the three-day event brought together dozens of acts, including Donna the Buffalo, Jim Lauderdale, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and John Hammond. And, of course, headlining was Watson himself.

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-- Randall Roberts
Twitter: @liledit

Photo: Music legend Doc Watson performs at the annual Merlefest at Wilkes Comunity College in Wilkesboro, N.C., on April 28, 2001.   Credit: Alan Marler / Associated Press.

'Duets': I missed it because of singing-show fatigue

'Duets,' I already owe you an apology.

I didn't intentionally snub your premiere Thursday night. It wasn't a slip by the ole trusty DVR. But to be completely fair, there's a severe case of viewer fatigue happening.

The premise is rather enticing: four massive-selling superstars artists -- Kelly Clarkson, Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles, John Legend (who replaced Lionel Richie in the eleventh hour) and Robin Thicke -- not only coach their selected contestants, they sing side by side with them.

It pushes forward 'The Voice's' close-knit mentorship between acts and their respective coaches. Of course, folks are eliminated, there's a "save me" song, a record deal (Disney-owned Hollywood Records, which, surprise, also owns ABC), blah, blah, blah.

'American Idol' finale: The winner and the show's top moments

Rihanna, from one extreme to the other: Rihanna is best when her dance songs unfold like she's trapped in some sort of futuristic cyber-heist. Her performance of "Where Have You Been" started with the star caught in a "Tron"-like teepee, but once she broke free of the lasers and the video game imagery, the song -- and the production -- went south. The clothes came off, circus performers came into view and the svelte electronics were drowned out with an army of needless percussion.  

Full coverage: 'American Idol'

A lil' country: "Idol" contestant Skylar Lane was best when she didn't hide from her big country voice. Yet Reba McEntire showed the power of restraint -- a trait that's on rare display during the run of "American Idol." There's a little bite in McEntire's "Turn on the Radio," and Lane barked it. McEntire, on the other hand, sang like she was conversing, just dropping a bit of scorn and grit wherever she pleased.

Jessica is out of her element: Tackling "I Will Always Love You" was a mistake, especially this year. Jennifer Hudson -- yes, an "Idol" veteran -- rose to Whitney Houston's level when she sang the Dolly Parton-penned ballad on the Grammys, but the teen-aged Sanchez was simply dwarfed by its power.

More Neil Diamond: Just when you're ready to completely write off the show, especially after the "Idol" boys were bouncing around singing "I'm A Believer" like they were in a Chuck E. Cheese commercial, Diamond gracefully entered the stage and stoically sang "Sweet Caroline," showing that his voice is in as sturdy good shape as ever.

Steven Tyler has a sloth. Do they purr?

Killed romance dead: Remember boys and gals, when love comes with product placement, you know it's special.

Someone named Ace Young proposed to someone named Diana DeGarmo, and the two apparently have never grown out of "American Idol" tackiness. "Will you," Young said to DeGarmo, as he paused dramatically, "marry me?" DeGarmo said yes, screamed and shouted, "Wow, babe, you picked a good one!" But she knew what was coming.

Prior to the big moment, Young wasn't so much a suitor as he was a car salesman. "We have conquered Broadway together, we have created new music together, we have an amazing group of people around us and," Young said, "with the help of [the jeweler he plugged is omitted by Pop & Hiss], I have a way to make this fun last forever."

Tinkerbell? We could only be so lucky. Seacrest reminded viewers that Hollie Cavanagh was given the nickname of the Disney character by will.i.am. Yet the tiny fairy surely would have had more fun with the classic show tune "You'll Never Walk Alone" than this cautiously direct rendition from Cavanagh and Jordin Sparks.

Need a holiday after this. Tony Award-winning Jennifer Holliday took the lead on the "Dreamgirls" cut "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," but the song also offered a glimpse into the future for the young Sanchez.

She's been a professional belter all season, hitting all the right notes with passionless precision. Sanchez has been compared to a host of divas all season, but it's been impossible to get a read on her musical heroes. That's because Sanchez seems groomed for "American Idol," a vocal purebreed whose mission in life was to compete on this show. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a successful music career, but more likely it will work OK on Broadway. 

Aerosmith advertises its tour. With tickets to sell for a summer tour, Steven Tyler's Aerosmith performed two songs, including new song "Legendary Child," which was far from embarrassing and stood up quite nicely to an oldie such as "Walk This Way." The gossip pages, however, will obsess over Tyler's shout-out to fellow coach Jennifer Lopez. "I want to keep that team alive," he sang, pleading for his chair-mate to sign on for another year of judging. Perhaps we'll find out Lopez's plans before "The X-Factor" begins. 

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Full coverage: 'American Idol'

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American Idol' finale 2012: How to compare Phillip and Jessica?

Could a hologram-like Elvis tour? If 'tasteful,' says Lisa Marie Presley

-- Todd Martens

Image: Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez and Ryan Seacrest appear on the 'American Idol' finale. Credit: Mark Davis / Getty Images

Could a hologram-like Elvis tour? If 'tasteful,' says Lisa Marie Presley

There's one question, Lisa Marie Presley says, that she's been getting from everyone, reporters and non-reporters alike: Did she see the projected image of the late rapper Tupac Shakur at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April?

It's a natural query. After all, the "Elvis Presley in Concert Tour" pairs original members of Elvis' TCB Band with a large image of the king of rock 'n' roll projected on a video screen. Tupac's "appearance" at Coachella, which was a projected 2-D image that was widely (and incorrectly) labeled a hologram by fans and the media, would seem to offer an evolutionary hint for the next step of the Elvis Presley in Concert Tour.

"I didn't know about the hologram-thing until I started getting asked about it," Lisa Marie Presley said recently during an interview at her management's West Hollywood offices. "But I saw it a few nights ago and I was like, 'Whoa!' That technology is pretty advanced."

Presley said she would consider signing off on a similar projection of her father. Don't gasp -- the younger Presley has already cut a duet with her late father. In 2007, her vocals were added to a charity single of Presley's 1969 track "In the Ghetto."

"If they can come up with something tasteful, creative and classy, I wouldn't object," she said. "That's as close as people can get now. I don't mind simulating as long as it's not awful or degrading."

Of course, the decision to embark on such a tour wouldn't entirely be in the hands of Elvis' heir. Presley sold much of her stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005 to CKX, the company that also owns 19 Entertainment Limited, known best for the global "Idol" franchise.

Presley last week released her first album in seven years, 'Storm & Grace,' a record that brings her back to her family roots. The collection pairs her dusty, robust vocals with moody country and blues accents made famous by the Sun Studio recording house that captured the voice of her father. The stripped-down affair is produced by T Bone Burnett, an artist with a reputation for possessing a reverential, encyclopedic view of the American songbook.

Currently living in England, Presley said she hopes to someday return to Memphis, Tenn.,  and live near her childhood home.

"I have the warmest, happiest, fondest moments when I'm there," Presley said. "I would like to get a home there. My family is there and my babies love it. Nashville gets all the glory, but Memphis is the blues. Memphis needs the light." 

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-- Todd Martens

Image: Elvis Presley in concert at the Forum in Inglewood. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Google's Bob Moog tribute a synthesized hit

Fans of the synth pioneer Bob Moog's eponymous instruments pay thousands and thousands of dollars for the real artifacts. But Google users woke up today to a fully-functioning software take on a classic Moog synth -- affectionately called the "Goog" -- in their browser window.

The occasion was Moog's 78th birthday, and as Internet time-sucks go, this one is compelling. One can play a four-octave range; tweak the filter, mixer and oscillator to create new sounds; and a four-track virtual tape deck records tracks for posterity and social-media posting. The Bob Moog Foundation has a how-to guide for crafting and recording sounds on the Goog from its in-house synthesis expert Marc Doty, which you can see here.

Moog's synths were staples of early electronic pop and experimental music, and they remain essential to any producer or electronic artist performing today. Moog even has a festival in his honor, the North Carolina-based Moogfest, which last year hosted Moby, the Flaming Lips and a host of avant-garde and new music acts such as Terry Riley, Tangerine Dream and Tim Hecker.

The Bob Moog Foundation is also giving away prizes for the best composition submitted to its website.

Any occasion to pay tribute to a guy who literally hand-wired the sounds of contemporary pop music is worth taking. So here's a hearty salut to Google for spotlighting one of music's great technological innovators.

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-- August Brown

 

Photo: Google's homepage.

2 Chainz arrested; was it brass knuckles or just a large ring?

If you thought 2 Chainz's interest in alloy-based accessories only extended to his pseudonymous neckwear, think again.  

The rapper born Tauheed Epps was arrested in the Delta terminal at New York's La Guardia Airport on May 22 on suspicion of carrying brass knuckles in his luggage. Specifically, the charge was misdemeanor possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and Epps was held at the airport before being taken to Queens County central booking for formal charges.

There is a debate as to whether or not the item was a weapon or just elaborate jewelry. Hip-hop peers, including Big Sean and DJ Drama, have rallied to his defense, claiming that the alleged "brass knuckles" were simply a four-finger ring that Chainz had sported in recent videos. Drama Instagrammed a photo of the item in question, and it does seem likely that it was meant as a fashion accessory.

Chainz is on a hot streak right now, performing on Drake's Club Paradise tour with his single "No Lie" and he had a well-regarded cameo on Nicki Minaj's "Beez in the Trap." 

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-- August Brown

Photo: 2 Chainz, Rosci and Terrence J at on April 9, 2012, in New York City. Credit: Craig Barritt/Getty Images. 

Kanye West, Jay-Z's 'Throne' dominates BET Award nominations

"Watch the Throne" garnered rave reviews for its genre-bending production from West, the Neptunes, the RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, Swizz Beatz, Hit Boy and Q-Tip, and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart when it was released in August -' not so surprising, given that Jay-Z and West have 15 No. 1 albums between them.

The Throne is also up for best group, collaboration and viewer's choice statues. West is up for director of the year.

A few of the categories promise to make things complicated for Jay-Z's personal life: In five out of six nods, he's pitted against his wife, Beyoncé, who also scored six nominations.

Like her hubby and his BFF (who we seriously hope is the godfather to the pair's daughter), Beyoncé has two nods in the video of the year category with fan favorites "Love on Top" and "Countdown" making the cut. Usher's enticing clip for his latest single, "Climax," rounds out the category. Beyonce is also up for director against West.

Things are further complicated in the collaboration category, which is essentially six degrees of Jay-Z: Beyoncé's 'Party' remix, which features Jay's protégé J. Cole, competes with Jay's collab with West, who also appears in the category alongside his protégé Big Sean. Did we mention West produced the Beyoncé/J.Cole single?

Other multiple nominees unsurprisingly include Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Drake.

After a year of freshman rappers breaking out, the new artist category is dominated by MCs. A$AP Rocky, Big Sean, Diggy, Future and Meek Mill will compete for the crown. In the female rap category, however, the upstart fem-cees who made news during the year fared less well; only one new face made the cut, Florida girl Brianna Perry. She squares off against reigning "It" girl Nicki Minaj and vets Diamond and Trina (the latter of whom mentored Perry).

Last year Trina, who was edged out by Minaj, Master P's daughter Cymphonique, Lola Monroe and Diamond in the female rap category, had unprintable words for the network after she claimed to be snubbed -- to be eligible artists need a video played on the network during an eligibility period, which explains why buzzy blog darlings such as Australian bombshell Iggy Azalea and gritty Harlem-red spitfire Azealia Banks missed the cut.

Maze featuring Frankie Beverly will receive a lifetime achievement award and Brown and Minaj have been announced as the first of many performers.

The BET Awards remains one of the highest-rated annual events for the network, and plenty of viewers undoubtedly will tune in to see how the show pays tribute to iconic figures the music world lost, including Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Don Cornelius and Amy Winehouse.

The 2012 BET Awards are scheduled to air live July 1 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles with Samuel L. Jackson tapped to host the ceremony.

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
Twitter.com/GerrickKennedy

Photo: Kanye West on stage at Staples Center on Dec. 11, 2011 for his "Watch the Throne" tour with Jay-Z in Los Angeles, the first of three nights. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

An appreciation: Doug Dillard was 'my mentor,' John McEuen says

John McEuen, one of the founding members of the Southern California-based Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, helped forge an early bridge in the 1970s between the then-distinct worlds of rock and country music with the group's 1972 triple-record set, 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken.' McEuen had a profound interest in traditional country and folk music and found inspiration watching L.A.-area appearances by the Dillards, and banjo player Doug Dillard played a key role in McEuen's musical education. Here is what McEuen wrote about Dillard after he died last week in Nashville at age 75 after a long illness.

'Douglas Flint Dillard -- my mentor.  He is the person who showed me that music was exciting and fun to play onstage for people; the one who was 'impickable' with the execution of his art. Douglas Flint Dillard, whose grin would hit the back of the wall from any stage he was on, has passed away.

'There were many times, after I became a 'hanger on' at 17 years old, that the Dillards allowed me to hang out in their dressing room as they tuned up to go on for yet another sold-out L.A. club show. I would sit there, pretending to read a book, but listen as intently as a hawk watches, trying to pick up new nuances of notes. Often, on the way to the stage, Douglas would turn to me and play an incredible previously unheard lick to impress me, and I would ask where it came from. He'd mention another player he was emulating at that moment, and tell me to check them out, which I did. Then, he'd turn back around, walk onstage and play his own style that kept me mesmerized.

'I went to see them so often, sometimes two to three times a week when they did the L.A. club circuit (usually a week at each place, and there were eight of them), that my mother told me after that first year or two that I should change my last name to Dillard. The fire to be a musical performer had been ignited. As you can imagine, changing my college major from math to banjo was an easy decision that came along with that.

'The Dillards' albums took me out of Orange County on roads that led to starting a band. Their appearances on 'The Andy Griffith Show' (Mayberry) as the Darling Family were anxiously awaited by all, and Douglas' session playing on many soundtracks and hits brought the banjo to even more people. Later, he ventured into country-rock, which helped set the tone for that emerging form of SoCal music that I was a part of. The many accolades that Douglas received were always high praise, especially for his friendly, human qualities.

'One night at an after show picking party at a club owner's house, Doug broke a string on his banjo. I always brought mine along, but never played in front of him. I spent many hours studying his attack, strings, setup of his instrument, method of playing, stance and tone, all in vain to try to make mine sound like his. My banjo just did not sound like his. I offered him the use of mine while I changed the string. He started playing it, and it sounded just like his. That is when I learned that, 'it's the archer, not the bow.'

'I am grateful to have been able to call Dillard a friend. There would not have been a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with me in it if it had not been for Doug. Consequently, there would not have been a 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken' album if not for him. Thank you, Douglas, for what you did for me.'

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-- John McEuen

May 21, 2012

Top photo of John McEuen with bluegrass banjo great Earl Scruggs in 1972 during the recording of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." Courtesy of William E. McEuen.

Second photo of Doug Dillard. Credit: A&M Records.

Bono's investment firm rocks Facebook IPO to the tune of $1.5 billion

''''''Bono, U2's lead singer and rocker-in-chief, has a reason to break out in song today: his investment in Facebook could make him one of the richest musicians on the planet, potentially eclipsing Paul McCartney, depending on how the social network's stock performs after its first day of trading Friday.

The musician, however, demurred when asked about how Facebook would affect his net worth. "Contrary to reports, I'm not a billionaire or going to be richer than any Beatle," he told MSNBC during an interview Friday about a food shortage in Africa.

Facebook's stock gained 23 cents and closed at $38.23 Friday, giving the company a $104.6 billion valuation.

Bono's investment in Facebook resulted from his role as a founder of Elevation Partners, a Silicon Valley venture firm that owns 2.3% of the stock, worth more than $1.5 billion, according to the Times' Technology blog. It's unclear how much of Elevation's stake in Facebook can be apportioned to Bono, who struck a humble note in his interview.

"In Elevation, we invest other people's money ' endowments, pension funds," he said. "We do get paid, of course. But you know, I felt rich when I was 20 years old and my wife was paying my bills. Just being in a band, I've always felt blessed."

We're reminded of Bono's lyrics on "God: Part II" off of Rattle & Hum, released in 1988:

Don't believe in excess

Success is to give

Don't believe in riches

But you should see where I live

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-- Alex Pham

Photo: Bono at a 2005 U2 concert in San Diego. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Van Halen cancels dates, but not in L.A.

When the happy fun buses that make up the reunited Van Halen tour roll into Southern California in early June, it may be a last opportunity fans have to catch the '70s metal giants on this tour. Dates on the band's summer tour, featuring the oft-feuding lineup of David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen, as well as Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen, have been disappearing, canceled without so much as a statement from the band or any explanation from the promoter, Live Nation. 

Tickets are no longer on sale for gigs beyond a July 26 date in New Orleans. All told, about 30 dates appear to have been dropped from the tour roster. There is some hope that this isn't the end for the band, as the only information offered by the promoter is that the tour dates have been "temporarily postponed." That's different than saying they're "permanently postponed." 

Yet this trek felt perfunctory from the start. Yes, Van Halen can still, at this late stage in its career, be a powerful band. Live shows have been positively received as frill-free and energetically commanding, but new album "A Different Kind of Truth" hinted that this wasn't a band that had a real burning desire to continue to collaborate.

The songs, after all, were largely constructed and rejected 30 years ago. Roth earlier told The Times, "It's material that Eddie and I generated, literally, in 1975, 1976 and 1977."

Local fans can still travel back in time with the band. Concerts scheduled for June 1 and June 9 at the Staples Center are still, as of this moment, a go, and tickets are available. Speculation is that the tour is temporarily off due to in-fighting, as Rolling Stone quoted an unnamed source as saying, "The band is arguing like mad. They are fighting."

That's good news.

Bill Ward cropped out of Black Sabbath images on band's site

Bill Ward? Was he even in Black Sabbath?

If the band's website has anything to say about it, no. In what appears to be a nasty turn and an effort at revisionist history, the metal band's homepage has cropped the drummer's image from dozens of old photos, as if to suggest that Sabbath never had a drummer. As Brooklyn Vegan first reported (after a tweet from @sethcdiamond), the front page of the band's website is entirely Ward-free.

Black Sabbath's upcoming reunion has been making news of late after negotiations between Ward and the team behind the tour failed to reach an acceptable agreement with the drummer. Ward last week penned an incendiary open letter to the band and its fans declaring his intention to skip the anticipated tour due to what he called the offer of an "unsignable contract."

"I am unable to continue unless a 'signable' contract is drawn up; a contract that reflects some dignity and respect toward me as an original member of the band," he wrote.

The other members of Sabbath -- Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi -- responded with their own press release, which read, in part, "We were saddened to hear yesterday via Facebook that Bill declined publicly to participate in our current Black Sabbath plans," before adding, "We have no choice but to continue recording without him although our door is always open."

That door seems to have now slammed firmly shut. Black Sabbath? Did they even have a drummer? Somebody better guard those original master tapes closely, lest Ward's sonic pounding on "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" suffer the same fate.

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VIDEOS: Classic Donna Summer

PHOTOS: Donna Summer | 1948-2012

-- Randall Roberts
Twitter: @liledit

Photo: Screen shot from blacksabbath.com

Donna Summer: The sonic seduction lives on in today's beats

As the song hit, the women's liberation movement and ideas of female sexuality were expanding; X-rated movie houses were screening underground hit films such as  'Deep Throat' and 'Behind the Green Door,' and in the discotheques and loft parties in New York City, a gay night-life culture was pushing the envelope too.

Summer won five Grammy Awards over her four-decade career, sold an estimated 130 million albums, became the first musician to land three double albums at the top of the charts, appeared in movies and on television, and, through her work with Moroder and beyond, helped push pop music into the digital age.

Her long string of hits stretched from the 1970s through the '80s. 'Bad Girls,' 'She Works Hard for the Money,' 'On the Radio,' among them, were in heavy rotation when they came out and remain in heavy rotation on classics stations. Her voice, with sharp phrasing and an ability to deliver emotional heft with a few subtle vocal nuances, could whisper and command with equal grace. She even managed to transform the strange 1960s standard 'MacArthur Park' into a dance-floor hit.

VIDEO: Classic Donna Summer

From a historical perspective, Summer's most influential song will forever be 'I Feel Love,' the Moroder-produced dance track that is a clarion call of techno and house music. It was a crossover smash with a thumpy, driving robo-beat with synth washes, odd echoey analog synthesizers, a sibilant high-hat repeating with the measures. On 'I Feel Love,' Summer expressed pure joy with a mantra so pure and pleasing that you wondered what the singer was on or who was doing what to her during the recording. She most certainly was feeling love.

'I Feel Love' created a blueprint: repetition that builds into a kind of relentlessness, a mantra that creates a kind of bliss, followed by a snap of silence -- a break, the quiet, slow reintroduction of a skeletal version of the beat -- followed by a grand return and more repetition. This construct remains central to electronic dance music, and when the song was expanded and released in 1983, it became early evidence of a move into the world of remixes. You can hear that template in the work of superstar producers such as Afrojack, David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia even today.

Summer and Moroder's method of music-making, in fact -- a producer and a diva teaming up to create dance-floor magic, designed not for live performance but to be jammed at massive volumes on sweaty dance floors -- is one that over four decades later still rules the charts.

It's in the DNA of Madonna's early work with John 'Jellybean' Benitez, Janet Jackson's work with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Britney Spears' collaborations with a range of different beat-makers, or Lady Gaga's close association with Swedish producer RedOne.

And though Summer later regretted the sexual nature of her early hits -- she eventually became a born-again Christian -- her influence on the sounds and spirit of the disco era and its aftermath can't be denied.

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-- Randall Roberts
Twitter: @liledit

Photo: Donna Summer performing in 1979. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Taylor Swift pledges $4 million for Country Hall's education center

Taylor Swift, the country superstar who became a professional songwriter at 14, scored a record deal at 15 and released her first album at 16, is kicking in $4 million toward the creation of an education center that will bear her name at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, part of the museum's $75-million expansion.

The Taylor Swift Educational Center will increase the museum's educational facilities seven-fold, officials said in announcing her pledge Thursday.

'Taylor Swift represents country music's best traditions,' museum Director Kyle Young said in a statement. 'By stepping forward to fund our education center, she has once again demonstrated that she has an eye on our industry's future. 'It is not an overstatement to say that the Taylor Swift Education Center will have a profound impact on our museum, our new campus, our city and even our country.  It will truly be the heart of our living museum, educating and inspiring young people and families, teaching them country music history and helping them to make meaningful connections between the music and their own lives.'

It is being designed to include three classrooms and a children's exhibition gallery. The museum's capital campaign has raised $56.8 million to date. The expansion is scheduled to be completed early in 2014.

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-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Taylor Swift receives Nickelodeon's Big Help Award in March from First Lady Michelle Obama. Swift was honored for her philanthropic work. Credit: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images.

 

Donna Summer dead at 63; Rush Limbaugh reacts

Donna Summer and Rush Limbaugh. A duo that could have been?

Limbaugh, it turns out, was a big fan of the "Queen of Disco."

Summer, who died Thursday at age 63, is being celebrated from all sectors of the entertainment industry on Twitter, Facebook, TV. Limbaugh's tribute came on his radio show.

PHOTOS: Donna Summer | 1948 - 2012

'It really is sad,' Limbaugh said of the five-time Grammy winner.  'We grew up with Donna Summer.  I met Donna Summer one time and her husband on an airplane.  She and her husband, after the flight took off, came up to me and introduced themselves, and we had a nice conversation.  They were nice as they could be.'

Limbaugh said he played her records often in his early days as a disc jockey and when he was producing Kansas City Royals games.

But even in death Limbaugh chose to see division rather than unison. 

The Black Keys, Brad Paisley and more: This week's on-sales

Honda Center
The Black Keys, Oct. 8 (Fri.)

Nokia Theatre
Hot 92.3 Solar Galaxy of Stars with Morris Day, Oct. 19; Leonard Cohen, Nov. 5; the Fresh Beat Band, Nov. 24 (Fri.); Nicki Minaj, Aug. 5 (Sat.)

Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Sublime with Rome, July 28 (Sat.)

Wiltern
Citizen Cope, Sept. 28; Lyle Lovett & His Acoustic Group, July 3 (Fri.)

Gibson Amphitheatre
Dethklok / Lamb of God, Sept. 14; Pitbull, Aug. 8 (Fri.)

Hollywood Palladium
Childish Gambino, Aug. 10 (Fri.)

El Rey Theatre
Aesop Rock, July 13; Big K.R.I.T.; El Rey Theatre (now); Casey Veggies, June 16 (Thu.); Scream It Like You Mean It Tour, July 25; Austra, Sept. 15 (Fri.)

Fox Theatre Pomona and Glass House
Scream It Like You Mean It Tour, July 24 (Fri.)

Troubadour
He Is We, June 3; Theresa Andersson, June 7; Maps & Atlases, June 8; Bob Schneider, June 9 (now)

The Satellite
Sarah Jaffe, June 16; Dan Sartain, July 21; The Ettes, July 28 (now)

Bootleg Bar
Charli XCX, June 2; Young Empires, July 5; the Soft Pack, June 20; Simon Joyner, July 15; She Keeps Bees, Sept. 12; Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles, July 31; Mike Viola, July 10 and 24; Everybody Else, July 6; Family of the Year, July 2 and 9 (now)

City National Grove of Anaheim
Suicide Silence and Dance Gavin Dance, Aug. 8; Patrizio Buanne, Aug. 24 (Fri.)

Santa Barbara Bowl
The Black Keys, Oct. 2 (Sat.)

The Roxy
The Rocket Summer, June 5; Elan, June 16; Canto, June 19; Guns of Nevada, July 6; Lie or Liar, July 7; Logic, July 12; Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, July 28 (now)

House of Blues
A Flock of Seagulls, Aug. 24 (Fri.)

House of Blues Anaheim
Buckethead, Aug. 18; Brandi Carlile, Aug. 21; A Flock of Seagulls, Aug. 25; the Adicts, Sept. 7; Frank Turner, Sept. 20 (Fri.)

The Joint
Kongfest, July 7 (now)

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Photo: Brad Paisley performs at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 29, 2012. Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Stagecoach. 

Lisa Marie Presley tunes in to her roots with 'Storm & Grace'

With a little help from T Bone Burnett, Lisa Marie Presley gets back to bluesy-country basics in 'Storm & Grace' and breaks free from outside expectations.

Lisa Marie Presley doesn't seem to mind that everyone in the penthouse office of Simon Fuller's XIX Entertainment in West Hollywood can see her when she extends both of her middle fingers in the direction of a reporter.

She used the gesture to exemplify how she felt about being asked to promote a 'sexier image' at one point in her career. But for a woman whose life has been defined by public scrutiny, the move spoke volumes. Presley, 44, is done trying to live up to expectations that aren't her own.

More proof? Her first album in seven years, 'Storm & Grace' (out this week) finds Presley singing, 'She got no talent of her own, it's just her name,' on deluxe-edition track 'Sticks and Stones,' her voice a painful wail while slide guitars whisk around her like unseen demons. In 'Un-Break,' Presley wonders whether she was once a 'backstabbing liar' and is only getting what she deserves against the sound of shuffling western-gothic grooves.

The album, her first for Universal Republic, may serve as a career reboot, but it also brings her back to her family roots, pairing her dusty, robust vocals with moody country and blues accents made famous by the Sun Studio recording house that captured the voice of her father. The stripped-down affair is produced by T Bone Burnett, an artist with a reputation for possessing a reverential, encyclopedic view of the American songbook.

It's a far cry from Presley's last album ' a polished affair marked by glossy, Top 40 guitars and studio-enhanced vocals. 'Yeah, I know,' Presley interrupts talk about the slick nature of her last release. 'I was behind that. I tried to smooth it over, to hide behind it. I wanted louder guitars. I wanted the vocals tripled. All that.'

'I was insulated,' Presley says of that time, adding that she surrounded herself with a team of friends and employees who told her only what she wanted to hear.

'There was a scene woven around me that I had helped weave,' she says. 'It was a personal scene -- employees, friends. It was an entourage. That's all a big mistake. It's all the stuff that happens to a typical L.A., high-profile''

Presley trails off and waves her hand, palm up, as if to say, 'You know, that scene.' But no one really does. After all, Elvis, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, had but one daughter, and it's not many who see their childhood home in Memphis, Tenn., become an internationally renown tourist attraction. That says nothing of Presley's penchant for dominating the tabloids in her late 20s and early 30s, largely due to her short-lived marriage to Michael Jackson.

After releasing and promoting 'Now What,' Presley embarked on a research project: herself. While certainly not ignorant of what was said and written about her -- specifically the outside expectations of how she was or wasn't living up to her last name -- Presley says she was shielded from much of it.

Video: Reggie Watts blames Skrillex for ruining dubstep

In Reggie Watts' new video for Funny or Die, the musician-comedian draws blood early, when, after a quick introduction in which he announces a collaboration with Jack White, Watts declares war on dubstep producer Skrillex. "This one goes out to you, Skrillex. The one artist responsible for ruining dubstep," he says. "Here we go with a Skrillex tribute called 'Skrill the Hell Out of Here.' "

Watts, who's in the middle of a tour that hits the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood at the end of May, then begins creating an on-the-fly track using only his voice and a sampler/loop box. Starting with a sibilant high-hat, the New York-based artist moves through the sounds, building a stereotypical dubstep track. Wobbly bass lines, trippy, echoed loops, hard electo-sounding snare pops and all.

Then he starts singing/rapping to make his case: "Mr. Skrillex, I enjoyed what you did, oh yeah. I went to Burning Man four years ago, I heard a little bit of dubstep, I started moving to the groove." Watts describes how the music moved him before saying, "Now dubstep is everywhere, car commercials, Kraft products. Congratulations, Skrillex. Lick it up, get paid. I understand, it's nice to get paid. But you got to understand what you did."

After a few more choice words, Watts begins to focus on a new target: "David Guetta, where are you? David Guetta, you know what you did."

The whole clip is worth watching below. In addition to Watts' date at the Fonda on May 30, he's also coming to television: On June 8, he'll begin co-hosting a new show (with Scott Aukerman) called "Comedy Bang! Bang!" on IFC. Want more? Watch Jon Hamm and Reggie Watts build a song about the TV show "Taxi."

Video: Willie Nelson, sons cover Pearl Jam's 'Just Breathe'

Willie Nelson's latest album, 'Heroes,' is out today, May 15, and for the occasion the Red Headed Stranger has been working his Willie's Roadhouse classic-country channel on Sirius XM satellite radio, giving his listeners a sneak listen to the entire CD over the last four days.

He also recorded a live rendition of one of the album's songs, a version of Pearl Jam's 'Just Breathe,' in the studio with sons Lukas and Micah Nelson, along with a couple of his longtime Family Band members,  including his sister, keyboardist Bobbie, and harmonica player Mickey Raphael. The video can be seen here.

 

'Just Breathe' is one of a couple of left-field song choices -- another is Coldplay's 'The Scientist' -- on a set that also features more big-name duet partners for Nelson, this time including Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, Sheryl Crow, Jamey Johnson and (drum roll, please) Snoop Dogg. Nelson and Snoop teamed up for the lighthearted smokefest celebration 'Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.'

Should Nelson ever decide to stage the odd-couple duet live, it's a safe bet that Snoop won't send a hologram to inhale in his place.

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-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Willie Nelson and band at Sirius XM live performance session. Credit: Rahav Segev.

Jay-Z rips anti-gay marriage movement as 'discrimination'

Vice President Joe Biden generated headlines -- and inspired a few jokes -- when he credited sitcom "Will & Grace" with educating the American populace on gay rights. Now it's Jay-Z's turn to make headlines.

This week, the hip-hop star-entrepreneur and longtime supporter of Barack Obama echoed the president's sentiments on the topic of gay marriage. Denouncing gay rights "is no different than discriminating against blacks," Jay-Z told CNN. "It's discrimination, plain and simple."

Jay-Z is one of the most powerful figures in a genre that over the last decade has been shedding its perceived anti-gay tendencies, a dialogue that went mainstream after the union of Eminem and Elton John at the 2001 Grammy awards. To be fair, Jay-Z himself used an anti-gay slur more than once in his early works, but he left no room for misinterpretation this week when he stated that the refusal to allow gay couples to wed is "holding the country back."

Jay-Z could prove to be a powerful ally. For one, his "Empire State of Mind" has positioned him as a modern-day Frank Sinatra, and his daughter with Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, is treated like American royalty. But more important, American voters remain divided on the issue, and ballot box polling has shown that gay marriage is a particularly contentious issue among African Americans. The Times recently reported that in "2008 more than 9 in 10 black voters in California backed Obama, then overwhelmingly voted for Proposition 8, the successful ballot measure to overturn the state Supreme Court's decision allowing same-sex marriage."

Jay-Z has been making the media rounds to discuss the two-day Made in America festival he'll be hosting Labor Day weekend in Philadelphia. No doubt by then, more artists will have weighed in with their thoughts on the upcoming election, but one topic won't be up for debate at the event.

"What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love," Jay-Z told CNN. "That's their business."

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-- Todd Martens

Image: Jay-Z at the press conference for his Made in America festival. Credit: Associated Press.

R. Kelly to release 'Write Me Back' on June 26

Grammy-winning R&B king R. Kelly is set to release his new album, 'Write Me Back,' on June 26, RCA Records announced Tuesday.

'Write Me Back' is led by the bubbly 'Share My Love,' which landed at No. 1 on urban adult radio, and his latest single, 'Feelin' Single.'

The singer's 11th disc is the follow-up to 2010's 'Love Letter.' The Grammy-nominated album garnered critical acclaim when Kelly traded in his salacious brand of R&B and knocking hip-hop beats for a disc brimming with retro throwbacks.

Album review: Beach House's 'Bloom'

Few albums begin with such a clear mission statement as the opening lines of Beach House's 'Bloom,' the fourth album from the enchantingly sleepy duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. 'Drifting,' sings Legrand, her voice detached, calm and cool, 'in and out.' It's hard to think of a more pointed word than drifting for Beach House, as the band approaches a melody with hypnotic, spinning-in-place guitars and radiant keyboards.

Guitars don't sound strummed so much as bowed, and percussion, even when recorded live, has a warm, chamber-hall-ready aura. 'Bloom' is right in Beach House's comfort zone, one that continues to echo twilight mood-setters Mazzy Star.

A track such as 'New Year' takes the sound into more otherworldly territory, as verses seem to bend and twist rather than unfold. 'On the Sea' brings a bit of classical polish into orbit and 'The Hours' is all harmonic mystery. Legrand's vocals hover over the instrumentation and linger over the notes, and Scally builds a world around her that slowly ensnares. 

It all makes for a lovely lullaby of an album, but it just doesn't result in many songs. Album closer 'Irene' fades to black at about the seven-minute mark and stays silent for about another six, yet this album is so soft and quiet that one could be forgiven for not even noticing. Elsewhere, the immaculate guitar flourishes of 'Wild' ebb into the electronic twinkle of 'Lazuli' and like the most perfect of background music, it's easy to forget they're even there.

Beach House
'Bloom'
Sub Pop
Two and a half stars (Out of four) 

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' Todd Martens

The pop burlesque of Dita Von Teese

In a city where nearly every bar and club has some type of 'burlesque' dancer or show, the excitement generated by Dita Von Teese's 'Strip Strip Hooray' tour '- which took over the House of Blues on Friday and Saturday  -' is rather significant. Saturday offered two shows; at the early one, the venue was packed to the rafters with the expected greaser guys and curvy gals in bright red lipstick, flowers in their hair and skin-tight vintage frocks.

Yet Von Teese represents the more mainstream side of burlesque, which was evident by a crowd that featured plenty of casually dressed couples in T-shirts and jeans, gussied up goths, blinged-out clubber types, old people, young people, straight people, gay people, black, white, Latin -- you name it. It seems the appeal of burlesque (and we're not talking faux Pussycat Dolls burlesque, but the authentic bump and grind sans tattoos or contemporary punk references) is officially a universal phenom, and Von Teese is its high priestess.

She may not have been the first, but no one, expect maybe Bettie Page herself, has done more for the popularity of burlesque than Von Teese. Retro-inspired stripper culture is almost incidental to Von Teese's star power, as she was once married to Marilyn Manson, has been featured in Vogue and Playboy magazine spreads and her name is branded on a bevy of merch. She doesn't sing, but if she did, could she be a pop star? Indubitably. Like Madonna, who's been influenced by burlesque culture herself, Von Teese has a mystical allure, a combination of shameless confidence and perfectionism.

Campaign music: Politicians are playing their song

Barack Obama channel's Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together.' Mitt Romney leans on K'naan's 'Wavin' Flag.' If there's a politician, there's a song ready to blare.

Like less charismatic hip-hop artists, politicians routinely repurpose other people's songs. And like a great many rappers over the last several decades, they've often done it without permission. As we move into the summer-long showdown between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, here are five songs recently heard reverberating in the corridors of power.

K'naan, "Wavin' Flag"

Romney used this Somali Canadian rapper's 2009 hit after a Florida-primary win, leading K'naan to tweet, "Yo @mittromney I am K'naan Warsame and I do not endorse this message."

Al Green, "Let's Stay Together"

In January President Obama sang a few lines of the 1972 soul classic during a fundraiser at New York's Apollo Theater. It's also included on an official (and no doubt carefully curated) campaign playlist available on Spotify.

Survivor, "Eye of the Tiger"

The early '80s rockers went as far as suing Newt Gingrich to stop the Republican hopeful from using "Eye of the Tiger," best known for its appearance in Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky III."

Toby Keith, "American Ride"

Texas governor Rick Perry regularly used Toby Keith's 2009 country hit at his campaign events, indicating Perry's Southern roots and his freewheeling iconoclasm.

First Love, "Game On!"

Though not perhaps an official Rick Santorum selection, this effervescent pop-country ditty earned the former Pennsylvania senator's approval on Twitter. And why not? "He's got the plan," the sisters of First Love sing, "to lower taxes, raise morale and put the power in our hands."

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-- Mikael Wood

Photo: K'naan. Credit: James Minchin.

Live: Nick Waterhouse at Center for the Arts Eagle Rock

The nostalgist R&B singer Nick Waterhouse brought a huge backing band out for his album-release set at the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock last night -- three sax players, two backing vocalists, two drummers, a bassist and keyboardist, by my count. Dressed in era-perfect suits and dresses for Waterhouse's svelte sound, they played like star students of Stax's brass sunshine and James Brown's funky drumming. 

Any sold-out set that sends L.A.'s cool kids back to the early R&B staples is worthy, and the 25-year-old Waterhouse's aesthetic -- vintage soul refracted through three decades of hip-hop's sampling of vintage soul -- looks and sounds absolutely great. But last night's show couldn't shake a small feeling that it was like listening to Sam Cooke wearing gloves. Waterhouse is such a good student of R&B that sometimes you just want to loosen his tie and make him feel it more.

Waterhouse's debut for the ever-more-essential Innovative Leisure imprint, 'Time's All Gone,' relies on using simple elements perfectly: tight, spare horns; a little gain on his vocals; tasteful guitar soloing in the breaks between choruses. The Center for Arts is a lovely venue, but its acoustics can wash out a large band that needs precision to shine.

Those are small quibbles when a band can blow the roof off, and Waterhouse's ensemble played with the seasoning of a Motown group that's had 30 years to perfect their hits. 'I Can Only Give You Anything' had a finger-snapping swagger; the street-fighting taunt of 'If You Want Trouble' felt totally endearing. He keeps his guitar talents muted on record, but live Waterhouse peels off runs to crack your horn-rims.  

Whitney Houston's family lands Lifetime reality show

Three months to the day after Whitney Houston's untimely death, Lifetime has announced it has ordered a reality show anchored by the late pop titan's family.

'The Houston Family Chronicles,' set to premiere later this year, will follow 'those closest to the pop music icon as they try to pick up the pieces after her untimely death,' according to the network's description of the series.

The 10 hour-long episodes are focused on Whitney's manager, sister-in-law and closest confidant Pat Houston, Whitney's brother Gary and the couple's teenage daughter Rayah.

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Houston's only daughter, Bobbi Kristina, and her mother, Cissy Houston, will also appear on the show. Lifetime says the series will show Pat and Gary as they 'take on their greatest challenge, supporting and guiding Bobbi Kristina as she faces the world alone, without the one person she relied on the most, her Mother.'

Coachella's multiple 2013 weekends expected to be unveiled Monday

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival promoters Goldenvoice/AEG Live have said repeatedly that they could have sold out a third weekend. In fact, "we probably could have added two more Coachella weekends," Randy Phillips, president of AEG Live, earlier told The Times. Could a full month of Coachellas be in the cards for 2013? Unlikely, but Goldenvoice on Monday is expected to provide some clarity on its 2013 plans. 

The promoter on Friday posted one of its now-customarily cryptic pre-announcement announcements. There was little information released, and Friday's Twitter/Facebook bulletin essentially amounts to a press release hyping a press release, but the local promotor promised news at 10 a.m. Monday. It's expected that Goldenvoice will announce the dates for the 2013 event, which has already been booked, confirmed and green-lighted with the desert city of Indio. 

2012 Coachella 360° tour

Coachella in 2012 cloned itself into twin festivals, with identical lineups, spread over consecutive three-day weekends. It's widely believed that Goldenvoice will stay the course for 2013, as more than one manager or agent for a 2012 Coachella performing artist has said all indications are that the festival will return as a two-weekend event.

Photos: Faces of Coachella

Of course, many were taken by surprise at Goldenvoice's announcement last May, so something more unexpected -- a whole other festival somewhere else, perhaps? -- shouldn't be completely ruled out. The experiment to copy and double Coachella has been widely viewed as a success. The event largely sold out before a full lineup was revealed and artists walked away with double the cash. 

Coachella in 2012 drew about 80,000 paying customers per weekend. When passes went on sale last summer, they were priced at $269 (plus service fees), and the non-pre-sale wristbands were priced at $285 (plus service fees). Goldenvoice unveiled its 2012 dates for Coachella last year on May 31.

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-- Todd Martens 

Image: The afternoon of weekend one at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2012. Credit: Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times