The same day that Joni Mitchell releases her next album, Shine on Hear Music (the Starbucks label), Herbie Hancock will release his new album, River: The Joni Letters on Verve. Hancock’s new album features illustrious guests Leonard Cohen, Tina Turner, Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza, with accompaniment from Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Vinnie Colaiuta and Lionel Loueke! Snap! ([More →])

Konono No. 1 shot to international stardom like a comet once Bjork revealed their eccentric sounds on Volta. Well, I guess the fame of touring with Bjork didn’t go to their heads because they kept themselves busy recording a new album of their own! FLY describes their experimental music this way:

Playing on scrap metal percussion and spiky metal thumb pianos, they pound out exuberant and rhythmic beats that are distorted through amplifiers made from old car parts. They have taken the traditional music of Congolese Bazombi tribe and electrified it, creating a sound that is both futuristic and primeval.

([More →])

The Beastie Boys have been uber-busy lately. Therefore, we will forgive them for announcing their L.A. Gala Event a couple days after tix went on sale. If you haven’t heard, the Gala Events are the ones that feature the band as a jazz-funk ensemble playing instrumental music off their new album, The Mix Up. ([More →])

When I reported on the funky music scheduled for the ESPYs on Sunday, I was a little surprised to see that Macy Gray is involved. It seemed like a foreshadowing of something more to come. After all, it’s been four years since she had something new to sing until this spring’s release of Big. It was foreshadowing. Macy Gray announced her north american tour schedule today. ([More →])

Sports fans are probably already excited about the ESPY’s this weekend. I’m not a sports fan, so I actually have no idea what an ESPY is. Hey, at least I’m honest! But, what I do know is good music, and if it’s happening at a sports event, that’s fine with me. How many of you tuned into the Super Bowl just to watch Prince perform? Well, this message is especially for you! ([More →])

Wow, Gnarls are THE MAN! Gnarls Barkley wants to give you super cool rare shizzle for FREE! ([More →])

Alicia Keys has postponed her forthcoming album until October, and now has tentatively set a date for release. She wowed a worldwide audience this past weekend at Live Earth, and you can watch her performance of new material from the new album! ([More →])

Marie Daulne aka Zap Mama will release another gorgeously funky and smooth-as-Sunday-afternoon album this summer. The Belgium beauty is finishing up Supermoon which she describes as a more personal and intimate document than her previous works. ([More →])

What do Quincy Jones, Russell Simmons, and Tommy Hilfiger all have in common? That’s right, it’s not style! The threesome are however organizing a benefit concert to build a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall in DC. (Who isn’t organizing a benefit concert this year? I think even my mom is organizing a benefit concert…)
The Dream Concert will be held at NYC’s Radio City Music Hall on September 18th. The headliners will be Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin, while confirmed support acts include Robin Thicke, Bebe Winans, Cece Winans and Jessye Norman. (Robin Thicke?) Al Roker will be the presenter, and Ben Affleck, Shaquille O’Neal and LaDainian Tomlinson will be part of the event’s hosts.

The Dream Team who are trying to raise the essential funds to build the memorial have a super website. Check it out at:
Build The Dream.org

The party organizers should totally get a hold of some of the fantastic art pieces painted by DREAM from San Francisco. I think this one would fit in nicely:

I could be mistaken about this being done by Dream, but it is definitely by TDK. And TDK are still part of the Dream.

Placido Domingo, a great name I have not heard in ages, is currently the general director of the Los Angeles Opera. Domingo announced big news for the LA Opera today concerning the opening event of the 2008-9 season. It appears that next season, which begins in September, will feature an opera directing debut from -
Woody Allen!

In the press release, Allen was quite open about his involvement in the new project:

“I have no idea what I am doing. But incompetence has never prevented me from plunging in with enthusiasm.”

He will be directing part of Puccini’s Il Trittico the only comedy created by Puccini. The opera is in three acts, and all of it will be directed by movie directors. Allen will be presiding over Gianni Schicchi while William Friedkin will direct the other two acts, Il Tabarro and Suor Angelica. Friedkin is well-known for his direction of The Exorcist and The French Connection.

Links To LA Opera and more info

LA Opera website

For full details on this opera, from Allen and Friedkin’s involvement, to the history and plot of “Il Trittico,” please click over to this PDF page on the LA Opera website.

A full synopsis of the 3 short works can be found on this site honoring Puccini:
Puccini dot com

Enjoy!

So many nifty things happen in LA, I really wish that I could bear to live there. LA had the 10 Theremin orchestra, along with the Stalin remixes by Spooky and Cut Chemist, and now this. Is LA going to be the new NYC? I was rather hoping it would be ‘Cisco.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings have been rocking out in the Daptone studios again. With Sexy Results! 100 Days, 100 Nights is the third full album from the soulful funksters and will be available as of September 25th on Daptone records.

100 Days, 100 Nights Tracklist:

1. 100 Days, 100 Nights
2. Nobody’s Baby
3. Tell Me
4. Be Easy
5. When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle
6. Let Them Knock
7. Something’s Changed
8. Humble Me
9. Keep on Looking
10. Answer Me

Over the last few years, different members of the Dap-Kings ensemble have been adding their funk powers to other live acts on tour and in the studio, such as Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Ghostface Killah, Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, They Might Be Giants, Lily Allen, and Amy Winehouse.

The Dap-Kings are:

Binky Griptite, Guitar, Emcee
David Guy, Trumpet
Bosco “Bass” Mann, Bass, Bandleader
Neal Sugarman, Tenor Saxophone
Tommy “TNT” Brenneck, Guitar
Fernando “Bugaloo” Velez, Congas, tambourine
Homer “Funky-Foot” Steiweiss, Drums
Ian Hendrickson, Baritone and Tenor Saxophone

Special Guests:

Eric Kalb, Drums
Cochemea “Cheme” Gastelum Baritone Sax
Otis Youngblood, Baritone Saxophone
Todd Simon, Trumpet
Al Street, Guitar

Tour Dates:

6/13 New York, NY - River to River Festival (Sharon Jones with Booker T. & the MG’s)
6/14 Brooklyn, NY - Metrotech Center (Sharon Jones with Booker T. & the MG’s)
7/14 Brooklyn, NY - American Roots Festival (Kingsborough College)
7/15 Ottawa, Ontario - Ottawa Bluesfest
7/19 Calgary, Alberta - Calgary Folk Festival
7/26 New York, NY - Castle Clinton (River to River Festival)
8/2 Aspen, CO - The Belly Up
8/3 Telluride, CO - Telluride Jazz Festival
8/4 Denver, CO - The Gothic Theatre

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings Links

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings mice bass
Dap-Kings Artist Page on Daptone
Daptone Records

On July 10th, the wonderful label/catalog known only as ANTI- will release to the public the recording of Healing the Divide: A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation which was hosted by the Lincoln Center in NYC on September 21, 2003. This concert was the grand finale on the Dalai Lama’s 2003 US tour and featured live performances by Tom Waits, Kronos Quartet, Greg Cohen, Philip Glass, Anoushka Shankar and more. In fact, here is the cd tracklist:

TRACKLIST FOR Healing The Divide:

01 Speech by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
02 The Gyoto Tantric Choir - “Invocation”
03 Anoushka Shankar - “Nivedan”
04 Nawang Khechong and R. Carlos Nakai - “Peace Chants”
05 Phillip Glass and Foday Musa Suso - “The Gambia”
06 Tom Waits and Kronos Quartet with Greg Cohen - “Way Down in the Hole”
07 Tom Waits and Kronos Quartet with Greg Cohen - “God’s Away on Business”
08 Tom Waits and Kronos Quartet with Greg Cohen - “Lost in the Harbor”
09 Tom Waits and Kronos Quartet with Greg Cohen - “Diamond in Your Mind”
Healing The Divide is a non-profit organization created in 2002 in NYC that according to wiki, “maintains an international focus on conflict resolution, as it works in four “program” areas: health, justice, peace, and education/culture.” According to HTD’s own website:

Healing the Divide was created to challenge existing, failed modes of thought and action and to foster the kind of revolutionary transformations needed to break the bonds of ignorance, intolerance and injustice.

According to the press release:

All of the artists, Anti- Records, and Healing the Divide are donating all their proceeds from sales to Healing the Divide’s Tibetan Health Initiative, a program that provides health insurance and medical care to impoverished Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns living in refugee settlements. Each CD purchase provides one year of health insurance.

Tom Waits is quoted in the release as describing his involvement with the concert thus:

I’m no fool. It’s a spiritual insurance policy. Hell, at my age, the next group I put together, everyone may be playing a harp. All kidding aside, I owed His Holiness a favor. He did all my papers in school.

The cd will be available in stores and by download from iTunes starting on July 10th, and a DVD of the concert is also in the works according to some sources.

The freshly released Reggae Festival Guide 2007 announces this non-reggae festival which I think many California readers would enjoy. The lineup includes the smoking hot Ivan Neville and Leo Nocentelli as part of the New Orleans Social Club. And on that note, Ivan Neville was AMAZING amazing amAzing last night at the MOG Anniversary party! He had 3 keyboards in a stack and looked like his was dribbling some mean bball the way his hands were bouncing. The entire band brought the N’arlins funk and heat to a starved SF scene. It was excellent, too bad if you missed it, definitely jump at any opportunity to see Ivan Neville, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter Junior, and Renard Poche. Like at this festival in Sonoma for example:
I don’t want to leave out any important details, so here is the script, straight from the guide:

Health and Harmony Festival

June 8, 9, 10, 2007
Sonoma County Fairgrounds

As the earth spins toward the summer solstice, people naturally feel a need to come together outside and celebrate – it’s hardwired into our instincts. Last year’s Festival was the largest and most successful ever, and just to make sure this year is even better, the Festival organizers have gone into partnership with the institution that defined concert production nationwide, Northern California’s own Live Nation (formerly Bill Graham Presents). Said Festival Director Scott McKeown, “Combining the strengths of both organizations allows us to bring to the North Bay a world-class music and lifestyle festival as has never before been seen in Northern California.” It’s an unbeatable combination.

For the first time in the festival’s substantial history, Friday will offer a full day of music and events: three days, three nights, and three Main Stages full of fun and music.

Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys), soul diva Erykah Badu, conscious hip-hop revolutionaries The Roots, Rickie Lee Jones, New Orleans Social Club (featuring Ivan Neville and the legendary Leo Nocentelli among others), and the cream of the jam band and acoustic world, including moe., Umphrey’s McGee, the Waybacks, Hot Buttered Rum, Animal Liberation Orchestra, the Mike Stern Allstars (featuring Victor Wooten of the Flecktones and Dennis Chambers along with Miles Davis guitarist Stern), Vernon Bush, New Monsoon, Common, and Sound Tribe Sector 9 lead the musical entertainment.

As always, there will be further music late at night with the “Harmony After Dark Zone,” featuring Jai Uttal, One at Last, Sheila Chandra, and Shimsai among many others. The “After Dark Zone” will be in three different venues for one modest price. Along with that, the Techno Tribal Dance, with Stanton Warrior, Shpongle, Ganga Girl, and Rabbit in the Moon among others, will go late with the very best of trance dance culture,

Of course, music is only one aspect of the 29th Harmony Festival, which will bring together many different facets of leading-edge information and approaches to healthier, more satisfying lifestyles with an amazing array of distinguished speakers, including Amy Goodman, Arianna Huffington, Edwin Black, Van Jones, and Rabbi Michael Lerner.

This year’s Festival theme is “Promoting Global Cooling.” Every conscious person is aware of the current planetary crisis, and forums, speakers, and exhibits will provide much valuable information; but the theme has a double meaning as it seeks to present an alternative, calmer worldview that seeks to cool down the currently over-heated and divisive partisan atmosphere in which these matters are being considered. Harmony means many things here, in musical, political, and spiritual terms, and the Festival is a holistic gathering that presents the most compelling advances in personal and social transformation, health, healing, ecology, art, activism, food, politics – in fact, the whole life package. It is a Party with a Purpose.

For more information visit: www.harmonyfestival.com

Today’s theme, here on HearingTest, is FREE MUSIC! We have free shows in NYC, Manchester, and free music online to dl right now….

More free concerts in Brooklyn this summer…..

The Neville Brothers kick off the summer season of Celebrate Brooklyn 2007 with a FREE concert in Prospect Park.

New Orleans’ royal family of funk brings the bayou to Brooklyn to open our 29th season. For more than 30 years Art, Charles, Aaron and Cyril have been turning out some of the tightest grooves and closest harmonies known to man, from classic albums like Fiyo on the Bayou and Yellow Moon to the triumphant 2004 reunion Walkin’ in the Shadows of Life. With young Ivan on keyboards adding another generation of sound, the Nevilles’ “spicy funk, heavenly ballads and righteous roots connections” (Rolling Stone) have never been more potent.

Bringing fabulous live music and popular film and performance groups to Brooklyn since 1979, Celebrate Brooklyn is one of NYC’s longest running free outdoor performance events.
The lineup for the rest of the summer includes :

Joan Osborne / The Jazz Passengers: The Supremes Project
The Richard Thompson Band / Olabelle
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys / James Reams & The Barnstormers
Groove Collective / Ravi Coltrane / Craig Harris
The Stills / Sam Roberts Band / Malajube
Issac Delgado / Xiomara Laugart / Pistolera
REwind: A Cantata For Voice, Tape & Testimony
Noche Flamenca / Andrew J. Nemr & CPD Plus / Darrah Carr Dance
Zoé / The Pinker Tones / Chetes
Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra With Mark O’Connor And Maya Beiser
Frank London’s Yiddish Carnival
Blackmail With Alloy Orchestra / Morley
Bobby “Blue” Bland / Catherine Russell
Hal Willner’s Doc Pomus Project Featuring Ben E. King / Teddy Thompson / Steven Bernstein / Joel Dorn / Adam Dorn / Peter Guralnick and many others
Dan Zanes & Friends
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Laurel & Hardy With The Millennial Territory Orchestra / Ethan Lipton
Boricua Festival: Tito Rojas / Joe Cuba Sextet / Viento De Agua / David Cedeño & others
Brave New World Repertory Theater: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry / Jenny Scheinman
Lyricist Lounge With KRS-ONE / Ladybug Mecca / Blitz / Beat Entertainment / Turntable Anihilists
Kassav’ / Bonga
The Hold Steady / The Big Sleep / The Teenage Prayers
Bollywood In Brooklyn: Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin / Dj Rekha’s Bollywood Disco
African Festival: Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars / Sekouba Bambino / Stella Chiweshe / Shiko Mawatu / Baye Kouyaté et les Tougarakés

Go to BRIC Arts/Media for dates and lots more info about each show.

There is also a Manu Chao Radio Remba Soundsystem Concert on June 26th and 27th to benefit the Celebrate Brooklyn events, as well as a benefit concert by Ani DiFranco on July 18th. Visit BRIC for all the info…

Unfortunately, it’s not that kind of street party. But it could be, it’s all up to you!
On May 27-28th, Manchester will host over 200 musicians, dancers, and performance artists as part of its bank holiday extravaganza, Eurocultured Festival 2007. It’s a free, 2-day outdoor street festival celebrating arts and diversity. Datarock from Norway will headline the main stage on Sunday, followed by Portugal’s Buraka Som Sistema. Czech Republic will repped by Swordfishtrombones, while Gypsy legends Mahala Rai Banda rep for Romania, and PPE reps Slovakia. According to Fly, Manc will also be treated to a rare combination of dj culture coming together :

The Balkan Beats collective bring a Gypsy soundclash to the mix as Brighton’s DJ Satellite takes on Brussels based DJ Gaetano Fabri with beats from Eastern Europe and live performance by Nambo-Zambo.

Lineup also includes :
Breaks LDA (Portugal),
DJ FIGHTEX ( austria / vienna ),
DJ SKAPE ( austria / vienna ),
DJ GRUYERE ( barcelona / spain )
Yelle (Live) (first ever UK performance),
Nesky Mami (Live)
Disco Drive (live)
Modernaire (Live)
I-F (CBS, Holland)
Loud E (CBS, Holland)
Unabombers (Electric Chair)
David Walker (Nish Nash Nosh)
Neil Scott (El Diablo’s Social Club)

AND MANY MANY MORE!!!
There is also mad painting, graffiti, breakdancing, turntable competition, and all that good stuff. It’s the kind of place you can feel good about going to with the folks, and then losing them in the crowds.
Get all the info, including individual venues and lineups at http://www.eurocultured.com/. But, be warned, it redirects to a myspace page…
Also see BBC’s Manchester Euroculture page.