On ‘Warzone,’ Yoko Ono revisits and reimagines 13 songs from her past work, spanning 1970-2009, the lyrics and messages still pertinent—perhaps even more pertinent—in 2018. Today, she released the video for the first track, Now Or Never.
“The world is so messed up. Things are very difficult for everybody. It’s a warzone that we are living in…” says Ono. “I like to create things in a new way. Every day things change.” The recordings and arrangements on Warzone are very stripped down, with a particular emphasis on Yoko’s voice and lyrics. Here in this minimalist landscape the content of her message rings clear and unencumbered; sometimes somber warnings, sometimes uplifting encouragement, but her wisdom and fortitude are unflinchingly strong, her power having intensified with time and life experience. She ends the ominous questions of “Now Or Never” (1971) with one of her most famous and inspiring lines: a “dream you dream alone is only a dream, but [a] dream we dream together is reality.”
‘Warzone’ further builds the legacy of an artist unparalleled in her unique and singular vision. At 85 years young, Ono is already plotting her next album. It is not too late to change the world. We need Yoko now more than ever.
After hearing the news that Manchester United would travel to Los Angeles for preseason training, James Corden and 100 children head to UCLA to link up with manager Jose Mourinho and footballers Juan Mata, Ander Herrera and Chris Smalling, giving them a friendly match unlike they’ve ever seen.
Mel Blanc was an American voice actor, comedian, singer, radio personality, and recording artist. After beginning his over 60-year career performing in radio, he became known for his work in animation as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, the Tasmanian Devil and many of the other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoons during the golden age of American animation.
International advocacy organization Global Citizen today announced that headliners Janet Jackson, The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes, Cardi B, and Janelle Monáe will perform at the 2018 Global Citizen Festival, the free-ticketed event on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City on Saturday, September 29, 2018. For the fifth consecutive year, MSNBC & Comcast NBCUniversal will air a live simulcast of the Festival on MSNBC and for the seventh consecutive year, iHeartMedia has been named the exclusive audio media partner.
A special guest performance will be given by John Legend.
Hugh Jackman and Deborra-lee Furness return as lead hosts for the 5th year.
Co-hosts will include Camren Bicondova, Cynthia Erivo, Danai Gurira, Forest Whitaker, Gus Kenworthy, Kal Penn, La La Anthony, Naomi Campbell, and Rachel Brosnahan.
The 2018 festival will serve as a platform from which millions of Global Citizens around the world will demand that world leaders fulfill their obligation to achieve the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and end extreme poverty by 2030.
Building off momentum by activists and students from across the globe, Global Citizens and music fans will stand together to call on world leaders to uphold their responsibilities towards improving the quality of health care and nutrition that women receive during adolescence and childbirth, ensuring girls do not marry before they are ready, reducing, reusing and recycling plastic waste worldwide, ending the criminalization of poverty, providing quality education for all, and ensuring the United States fully funds its foreign aid budget.
Coinciding with the annual UN General Assembly meetings, this year’s Festival is a continuation of Global Citizen’s “Mandela 100” campaign; a series of global events honoring the life and legacy of Nelson Mandela in his centenary year.
The Festival will also be livestreamed on YouTube and Twitter.
Global Citizens can earn their admission to the free-ticketed Festival by joining the movement at glblctzn.me/nyc2018 by downloading the Global Citizen app. Ticket draws will occur throughout the summer and fans will be notified by Global Citizen when they have been selected.
Specific goals for the 2018 Global Citizen Festival campaigns include calling on Congress to resist the White House’s proposed cuts of 32% to American aid programs, which would devastate the fight against extreme poverty. They are also calling on the G7 countries to contribute to the $2 billion needed to tackle the world’s maternal health crisis that sees more than 5 million mothers and children die of preventable conditions every year. The organization also wants to End the criminalization of poverty, through eliminating and drastically reducing the use of cash bail in jurisdictions including New York State.
Since the first Global Citizen Festival in New York in 2012, Global Citizen has grown into one of the largest, most visible platforms for people around the world calling on world leaders to honor their responsibilities in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and ending extreme poverty by 2030.
Global Citizens have generated commitments and policy announcements from leaders valued at over $37.9 billion that are set to affect the lives of more than 2.25 billion people. This year alone Global Citizens have secured 29 commitments totaling over $2.9 billion that are set to affect the lives of more than 501 million people by 2030.
The Church will be celebrating their breakout album Starfish with a North American tour kicking off October 1st at the Chapel in Berkeley, California.
A ringing 12-string guitar introduction. A dreamlike lyric that seems to hold the cosmos in its hands. It’s still the most recognizable, covered and widely beloved song in the catalogue of a band that’s released a remarkable 26 albums.
And it’s 30 years old this year.
The song is ‘Under The Milky Way’, from the church’s most successful album, the undisputed classic Starfish.
In 2018, the Australian paisley underground pioneers are enjoying a year of unique celebrations, which started with a sold-out appearance at the Meltdown Festival in London on the personal invitation of curator, The Cure’s Robert Smith, on June 15th.
Followed by a string of dates in the UK – including a sold-out fan convention in Shepherds Bush which saw the band perform their second album The Blurred Crusade in its entirety for the first time in that country – the church arrive in the US on September 30th for a month’s worth of shows, with a return early in 2019 planned to complete the US circuit. Joining the band onstage once again is ex-Remy Zero guitarist Jeffrey Cain who is also Kilbey’s partner in side project Isidore.
For these shows, Starfish will likewise be performed in its entirety, along with a selection of other gems from the band’s career, which now spans an incredible 38 years. The band will return briefly to the UK in late October as very special guests of Fields of the Nephilim, a band whose music displays similar spectral soundscapes and whose leader, Carl McCoy, remains a big fan of the band.
From there a flight home to a fast selling Starfish 30th Anniversary National Tour of homeland theaters in Australia awaits to conclude the year.
Starfish remains best known for its iconic singles Under The Milky Way and Reptile. But like all classic albums, it’s a journey – and it starts with Destination, the six-minute epic that opens the album. In between it takes you to all point of the compass: North, South, East and West.
The sound of Starfish is open and uncluttered. That was a change for the band after the dense orchestrations of the previous album, Heyday. All 10 songs are individually memorable, yet speak to one other, making for an entirely cohesive, satisfying listening experience.
From there, the list of hits, band and fan favourites is long. Myrhh, which leader Steve Kilbey described in his memoir Something Quite Peculiar as the definitive Church song. Ripple, from the masterful Priest=Aura. Almost anything from 1982’s The Blurred Crusade.
Expect songs from Hologram of Baal, itself celebrating its 20th anniversary. And, of course, there’s The Unguarded Moment, the single that launched the band onto world stages on its release on its release in 1981.
But this is not just a nostalgia trip. The Church have been revitalized since 2014 with the addition of guitarist Ian Haug, formerly of another iconic Australian band, Powderfinger. Haug’s first outing with the band was on the acclaimed Further/Deeper, which yielded a new dynamic set-closer, the infinitely psychedelic and earth shaking Miami.
Last year’s Man Woman Life Death Infinity strengthened the bond, cementing Haug’s place with long-time fans, as well as with the rest of the band: singer, bass player and songwriter Kilbey, fellow guitarist Peter Koppes and longtime drummer Tim Powles. “Ian is a big part of the band now,” Koppes says. “He’s a consummate, intuitive musician with fantastic tones.”
Koppes goes on to sum up the band. “Music is like inner space and we’re astronauts,” he says. It’s a spellbinding thing, it’s hypnotizing. That’s why people like it. It takes them into another world and we’re here to open those doors.”
The Church’s strange journey remains an endless sea of possibilities. In 2018, it’s time for the band to celebrate one of their crowning glories, but always with an eye to the future. Further. Deeper. The Church truly are a rock band for the ages.
Tour Dates:
Sept. 30 – Long Beach, CA – Music Tastes Good Fest
Oct. 1 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
Oct. 3 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
Oct. 4 – Vancouver, BC – Fox Cabaret
Oct. 5 – Seattle, WA – The Triple Door
Oct. 6 – Seattle, WA – The Triple Door
Oct. 9 – Aspen, CO – Belly Up
Oct. 11 – Boulder, CO – The Fox Theatre
Oct. 12 – Fort Collins, CO – Washington’s FoCo
Oct. 14 – Kansas City, MO – recordBar
Oct. 15 – St. Paul, MN – Turf Club
Oct. 16 – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall Ballroom
Oct. 17 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
Oct. 19 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland, Ballroom
Oct. 20 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
Oct. 21 – Montreal, QC – Cafe Campus
Oct. 23 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
Oct. 24 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
Oct. 25 & 26 – New York, NY – City Winery
It’s well-timed to remind ourselves that Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour, so-called by fans and the media, is one Bob Dylan never really announced the name himself. Back in 1989, Dylan’s tour name was cemented when journalist Adrian Deevoy published his interview with Dylan in Q Magazine. The critic Michael Gray listened to Deevoy’s interview tape, and points out in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia that though Deevoy’s article put the phrase into Dylan’s mouth, in fact the label came from Deevoy in the following exchange:
AD: ‘Tell me about this live thing. You’ve gone straight into this tour again — one tour virtually straight into the next one.’
BD: ‘Oh, it’s all the same tour.’
AD: ‘It’s the Never Ending Tour?’
BD: (unenthusiastically) ‘Yeah, yeah’.
Dylan has been dismissive of the Never Ending Tour tag. In the sleeve notes to his album World Gone Wrong (1993), Dylan wrote:
Don’t be bewildered by the Never Ending Tour chatter. There was a Never Ending Tour but it ended in 1991 with the departure of guitarist G. E. Smith. That one’s long gone but there have been many others since then: “The Money Never Runs Out Tour” (Fall of 1991) “Southern Sympathizer Tour” (Early 1992) “Why Do You Look At Me So Strangely Tour” (European Tour 1992) “The One Sad Cry Of Pity Tour” (Australia & West Coast American Tour 1992) “Outburst Of Consciousness Tour” (1992) “Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down Tour” (1993) and others, too many to mention each with their own character & design.
So there you have it. He’s been on this tour for 30 years without a name.
Bob Dylan Tour Dates:
August
08 – Perth, Australia @ Perth Arena
11 – Adelaide, Australia @ Botanic Park
13 – Melbourne, Australia @ Margaret Court Arena
14 – Melbourne, Australia @ Margaret Court Arena
18 – Sydney, Australia @ ICC Sydney Theatre
19 – Sydney, Australia @ Enmore Theatre
20 – Wollongong, Australia @ WIN Entertainment Centre
22 – Newcastle, Australia @ Newcastle Entertainment Centre
24 – Brisbane, Australia @ Brisbane Entertainment Centre
26 – Auckland, New Zealand @ Spark Arena
28 – Christchurch, New Zealand @ Horncastle Arena
October
04 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Comerica Theatre
05 – Tuscon, Ariz. @ Tuscon Music Hall
07 – Albuquerque, N.M. @ Kiva Auditorium
09 – Midland, Texas @ Noël Performing Arts Center
10 – Irving, Texas @ The Pavilion at the Toyota Music Factory
12 – Tulsa, Okla. @ River Spirit Casino Resort
13 – Thackerville, Okla. @ WinStar World Casino and Resort
14 – Sugar Land, Texas @ Smart Financial Centre
16 – Lafayette, La. @ Heymann Center
17 – Mobile, Ala. @ Mobile Saenger Theatre
19 – St. Augustine, Fla. @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre
20 – Clearwater, Fla. @ Ruth Eckerd Hall
21 – Sarasota, Fla. @ Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
23 – Fort Myers, Fla. @ Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall
24 – Fort Lauderdale, Fla. @ Broward Center for the Performing Arts
26 – Orlando, Fla. @ Walt Disney Theater
27 – Macon, Ga. @ City Auditorium
28 – Chattanooga, Tenn. @ Tivoli Theatre
30 – Huntsville, Ala. @ Mark C. Smith Concert Hall
31 – Knoxville, Tenn. @ Tennessee Theatre
November
02 – Asheville, N.C. @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
03 – Durham, N.C. @ Durham Performing Arts Center
04 – North Charleston, S.C. @ North Charleston Performing Arts Center
06 – Savannah, Ga. @ Johnny Mercer Theatre
07 – Augusta, Ga. @ The Bell Auditorium
09 – Charlotte, N.C. @ Ovens Auditorium
10 – Roanoke, Va. @ Berglund Performing Arts Theatre
11 – Richmond, Ky. @ EKU Center for the Arts
LUNO has teamed up with the Frank Zappa Estate on the creation of the SSKL Soundwave, FZ Limited Edition. This uniquely designed record console – only 10 of which will be available for purchase – is highlighted by a solid brass soundwave from Frank Zappa’s “Sofa No. 1” musical composition that is meticulously inlaid by hand and made flush with the walnut door.
The SSKL Soundwave, FZ Limited Edition also features a selection of vinyl recordings from Frank Zappa’s extensive recorded catalog, a minibar with Zappa whiskey glasses and space for four liquor bottles, storage for 150 records, a Groovewasher Kit, and a certificate of authenticity (signed, numbered, and dated). The console comes fully equipped with a Pro-Ject Esprit SB turntable, 2.1 speaker system, 100w subwoofer, 2 aux inputs and AirPlay so you can stream from any Apple device. The console design is the newest addition to LUNO’s luxury hifi console range. This unit truly is a work of art.
Each SSKL Soundwave, FZ Limited Edition console is handcrafted and hand-wired in Los Angeles by experienced craftsmen and engineers. They are available by request only via LUNO’s website.
“How many of your subjects have ended up catatonic?… Zero. Roughly.”
MANIAC tells the stories of Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill), two strangers drawn to the late stages of a mysterious pharmaceutical trial. Things do not go as planned.
A Netflix Limited Series from Cary Joji Fukunaga. MANIAC arrives September 21.
Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award nominee Robin Wright returns as President of the United States in the sixth and final season of the award-winning landmark series House of Cards, airing on Netflix on November 2. Wright is joined by Academy Award nominees Diane Lane and Greg Kinnear as well as Cody Fern this season alongside Emmy Award nominee Michael Kelly, Jayne Atkinson, Academy Award nominee Patricia Clarkson, Emmy Award Nominee Constance Zimmer, Derek Cecil, Campbell Scott and Boris McGiver. House of Cards executive producers are Melissa James Gibson, Frank Pugliese, Robin Wright, David Fincher, Joshua Donen, Dana Brunetti, Eric Roth, Michael Dobbs and Andrew Davies. The series was created by Beau Willimon and is produced by Donen/Fincher/Roth, with MRC as the studio, for Netflix.
In 2013, House of Cards became the first original online series to receive major nominations from the Primetime Emmy Awards. The series has received 53 Emmy nominations to date, with seven wins — including the first major Emmy for a streaming service for David Fincher’s win for “Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.” House of Cards received six Golden Globe nominations, and two wins. The historic series has received 11 Screen Actors Guild nominations with two wins; an AFI Award; four Writers Guild Award nominations, with one win; two BAFTA nominations; four Producers Guild Award nominations; two Directors Guild Award nominations; and a Peabody Award, among other accolades.
