The News Review:
- Endfest 16 a blast from the past
- Drummer sues for royalties
- Documentary tells story of British singer-songwriter Nick Drake
- A new way for Jose
Endfest 16 a blast from the past
Seattle Post Intelligencer – Sep 23, 2007
MUSIC REVIEWENDFEST 16WHEN: Saturday. 7 FM (“The End”) which made its debut as an alternative-rock station in 1991 staged its first Endfest (then called “End Fest”) at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Silverdale with the Beastie Boys Sonic Youth Mudhoney and other bands filling the lineup. Saturday’s event brought entire families — not just teens and young adults — out for a day of music contests live broadcasts End-a-Roke and other activities in a carnivallike atmosphere. Music was offered on three stages… 7 FM (“The End”) which made its debut as an alternative-rock station in 1991 staged its first Endfest (then called “End Fest”) at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Silverdale with the Beastie Boys Sonic Youth Mudhoney and other bands filling the lineup. Saturday’s event brought entire families — not just teens and young adults — out for a day of music contests live broadcasts End-a-Roke and other activities in a carnivallike atmosphere. Music was offered on three stages. Smashing Pumpkins Social Distortion Bright Eyes and Satellite Party performed on the main stage while Seattle bands Minus the Bear Moneta and Kay Kay & His Weather Underground played the local stage. The “What’s Next” stage offered the most bands and the most variety: The Used Shiny Toy Guns Hot Hot Heat Straylight Run Paramore The Bravery and Against Me!Satellite Party offered a spirited set that came across like a Jane’s Addiction greatest-hits show. Bright Eyes singer-songwriter Conor Oberst’s lyrics are poetic and apocalyptic. In “Four Winds” from the current album “Cassadaga” he wailed in a sweet plaintive voice about a woman “standing in the ashes at the end of the world.
Drummer sues for royalties
Amarillo.com – Amarillo.com (subscription) – Sep 23, 2007
Specifically Reinhardt said there was never any written deal authorizing the sale of those songs digitally. He said he is owed at least $900000 in royalties and asked the court to issue an injunction preventing further use of his compositions without permission. Along with the digital music stores the lawsuit names a pair of production companies associated with the band and the estate of guitarist John Cummings who performed under the name Johnny Ramone and was the driving force behind the band’s business affairs. Spokespeople for Wal-Mart and Apple declined to comment on the lawsuit. Officials at RealNetworks did not immediately respond to an inquiry. A lawyer for the band and one of its business representatives Ira Herzog did not immediately return phone messages. The Ramones helped define punk after forming their band in New York in 1974.
Documentary tells story of British singer-songwriter Nick Drake
San Francisco Chronicle – Sep 23, 2007
Jeroen Berkvens the Dutch filmmaker who directed “A Skin Too Few” remembers being entranced by Drake’s music the first time he heard it. One night when he was in high school in the mid-1980s he went to a club. Before going onstage a punk band decided to entertain the audience with something that contrasted sharply with their industrial noise. “It was heavenly music” Berkvens recalls in an e-mail. “The next day I read the review in the local newspaper stating the name of a Nick Drake. From then on my search for his records and his story began. What appeals to Berkvens about Drake’s music is what makes it special for so many in his relatively small but growing fan base… “The next day I read the review in the local newspaper stating the name of a Nick Drake. From then on my search for his records and his story began. What appeals to Berkvens about Drake’s music is what makes it special for so many in his relatively small but growing fan base. “It is a sort of private world which is created when he sings in his dreamlike voice these lyrics which are more poems than song texts” he says. “It’s like you have discovered a secret that you want to keep for yourself at first. In “A Skin Too Few” one sees the countryside where Drake grew up south of Birmingham and how it helped shape his music. There are swooping vistas of serene verdant landscape and still contemplative shots of windswept trees.
A new way for Jose
The Age – Sep 23, 2007
“A lot of my father’s friends got tortured or killed and myfamily had a couple of close encounters trying to flee. Theycouldn’t tell anyone where they were. Gonzalez’s father had sung in an Argentinian folk band andturned his eldest son onto Brazilian music. At 14 Gonzalez pickedup the guitar and began playing Beatles songs: MichelleBlackbird and Dear Prudence. His biggest influencewas the drama and poetry of Cuban singer-songwriter SilvioRodriguez though not Rodriguez’s “squeaky voice”. At high school Gonzalez formed a punk band and toyed withbecoming a scientist: at the University of Gothenburg his PhDthesis examined the replication of DNA in viruses. He found it”amazing” what molecular biology could tell us about the physicalworld but music overtook science and today he is happy to justread popular science magazines to stay in touch with scientificdiscoveries… At 14 Gonzalez pickedup the guitar and began playing Beatles songs: MichelleBlackbird and Dear Prudence. His biggest influencewas the drama and poetry of Cuban singer-songwriter SilvioRodriguez though not Rodriguez’s “squeaky voice”. At high school Gonzalez formed a punk band and toyed withbecoming a scientist: at the University of Gothenburg his PhDthesis examined the replication of DNA in viruses. He found it”amazing” what molecular biology could tell us about the physicalworld but music overtook science and today he is happy to justread popular science magazines to stay in touch with scientificdiscoveries. Gonzalez’s girlfriend is the Swedish-born jazz singer YukimiNagano who is of Japanese and US parentage and has performed withNu Jazz duo Koop. Gonzalez wants to stay in Gothenburg and doesn’t mind thehigh-taxing Swedish system – he values its health and educationsystems – but admits that one day he might be tempted to quitSweden for a warmer climate. Singing in a Gothenburg choir once a week several years agohelped Gonzalez with his stage presence he says while classicalguitar training helped his playing.