The News Review:
- Grab a beer do your laundry at Bar of Soap
- Year of the comeback as Sex Pistols bring punk to the Picnic
- From Bad Seed to post-punk doctorate
- A Musical Voyage of Discovery
- Fergie underwhelms at Tempe Music Festival
Grab a beer do your laundry at Bar of Soap
Dallas Morning News – Mar 29, 2008
Take me to the Meridian Room. But it’d be a shame not to visit because the 22-year-old bar is among the coolest most genuine dives in the city. Mini boxes of Tide and Clorox sit next to the Irish whiskey and the décor is a mix of art deco and new wave. Bands – punk alt rock surf rock etc.
Year of the comeback as Sex Pistols bring punk to the Picnic
Belfast Telegraph – Mar 29, 2008
Other acts include Franz Ferdinand American funk legend George Clinton and his 30-piece P-Funk Allstars Wilco and African desert warriors Tinariwen. And a trio of stunning Irish female singers — Sinead O’Connor Cathy Davey and Lisa Hannigan — will also participate. And this year there will be the brand new Jazz & World Music Stage which will be hosted by the Improvised Music Company. The International Comedy Club Stage will also return as will the Body & Soul Village complete with holistic therapies yoga green workshops cutting-edge theatre and teepees and log fires. Performance art troupe Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque are coming over from the LA underground scene while David Best will build and then burn his Temple Of Truth. Other regular features include the Hot Press Chat Room which allows fans to talk to their heroes and Fossetts Circus currently celebrating its 130th year in business. And just to ensure that there is something for everybody this year there will be a Cooking Stage in the Spoken Word area.
From Bad Seed to post-punk doctorate
The Australian – Mar 29, 2008
Cave who quit uni to embark on what would become a seminal career as a young punk singer and later dark and brooding writer and performer was awarded the honorary degree by the same institution he walked out of in 1978. He revealed the failure at what was then known as Caulfield Institute of Technology was shattering. "I was like one of those cartoon characters walking over the manhole: suddenly my entire life the bottom dropped out of my life" he said yesterday at what is now Monash University. "But it really made me go and do something else just not paint… Through his lyrics and narrative prose he has also proved to be a literary talent. He has published many of his own books most notably And the Ass that Saw Angel which received the Time Out magazine book of the year award. Cave also wrote the screenplay and music score for the 2005 Australian film The Proposition which received significant local and international acclaim. In October he was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and took the opportunity during the televised awards ceremony to criticise the Hall of Fame concept by personally inducting The Bad Seeds whom he felt deserved the accolade. Monash University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins said Cave was a great contributor to Australia’s creative culture spreading his talents in many different artistic fields. It was his "substantial achievements in the creative arts and in raising Australia’s profile internationally that have made him a worthy candidate for recognition by Monash University" he said. Cave says his brief time at university was critical.
A Musical Voyage of Discovery
Deutsche Welle – Mar 29, 2008
In the age of globalization klezmer can have a pinch of jazz world music and punk even a dash of tango. Around six thousand visitors turned up at the 11th International Klezmer Festival in the upper Bavarian city of Fürth to hear twenty-two klezmer groups consisting of ninety musicians from nine countries. Of the twenty-three concerts many were sold out some time in advance. This year’s festival lasted from February 29th to March 9. Thomas Senne was there and he filed this report presented by Gudrun Heise.
Fergie underwhelms at Tempe Music Festival
AZ Central.com – Mar 29, 2008
Before the Gin Blossoms played the Meat Puppets performed their first Valley gig with the two Kirkwood brothers in a dozen years. The Phoenix-spawned group which made its mark in the ’80s and ’90s before bassist Cris Kirkwood decended into personal and legal turmoil won over a crowd full of young listeners who didn’t catch the band on its first go-round. Led by Kirkwood and his guitar-playing brother Curt the Puppets served up their usual eclectic mix of punk rock and country. They sampled tunes from throughout their career which was cranked up once again last year when Cris re-entered the band. Early on they played 1989′s “Touchdown King” and “Plateau” which also was recorded by Nirvana. They mixed things up with the countrified “Coming Down” and a twisted take on the well-traveled (including via Johnny Cash) “Tennessee Stud. The band played a solid version of its biggest hit “Backwater” and closed with a powerful extended jam on “Lake of Fire.