Rick Springfield Arrested for Missed Court Date

Rick Springfield in Boca Raton, Florida.

Rick Springfield was arrested today near Los Angeles and taken into the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station after missing a court date he apparently didn't know about. "Arrested this am on a bench warrant. I didn't know that I was supposed [to] appear in court a few weeks ago," he wrote on his Facebook page with a photo of the police station. "It was to do with the old DUI charge and it's been cleared up and I am free to go."

Q&A: Rick Springfield on Emotional 'Sound City' Movie

Springfield was arrested in May 2011 after police spotted him speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway in his 1963 Corvette. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge with "driving under the influence conditions" last August and received three years of informal probation. He was required to attend a mandatory three-month alcohol education program. He has a show tonight at Eagle Mountain Casino in Porterville, California, and the arrest won't affect the gig.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Patti Smith Holds Court at Toronto Art Gallery

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Death was a common theme at Patti Smith's first of two back-to-back sold-out concerts on Thursday at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, where the exhibit Camera Solo, comprising 75 of her Polaroid photographs and personal objects, is on display until May. On the gallery wall, a quote from her reads in part: "I have a strong relationship with the dead, even a happy one." She reiterated that sentiment at a press conference earlier in the day, speaking of the beauty she sees in everyday life, right down to our final resting place, the gravesite.

For her concert, the 66-year-old chose songs and poems that were fond tributes to the various dearly departed – her one-time companion and close friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe; her husband, guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, who died in 1994; friend and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg; singer Amy Winehouse; and 19th century poet Arthur Rimbaud.

100 Greatest Artists: Patti Smith

The live performances were part of the AGO's Patti Smith programming this week, including a book signing, film screening and a separate ticketed event, An Evening of Words and Song with Patti Smith. She will also perform a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Saturday in honor of the anniversary of Mapplethorpe's death, something she has tried to do each year since he passed away in 1989.

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

The acoustic show had an air of sophistication, no doubt due to its exquisite setting. After grabbing a cocktail in the foyer, patrons were led into a roped-off atrium with high glass ceiling and wooden, serpentine staircase. Smith took the makeshift stage promptly at 7:30 with her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, on piano and guitarist Tony Shanahan. Holding only 400 people (tickets for the two shows sold out in minutes last month, temporarily crashing the AGO website; others waited in line in the snow as early as 6 a.m.), the respectful crowd did not jostle in front of the stage, listening intently without holding up their cell phones cameras as Smith performed such songs as the rousing "Ghost Dance."

She followed with a reading from her 2010 memoir Just Kids about her early life with Mapplethorpe, choosing an amusing segment about how she met Ginsberg. "Are you a girl?" he asked after helping her purchase a sandwich when she was short a dime.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"I took you for a very pretty boy."

"Does that mean I have to return the sandwich?" she replied. Smith then dedicated her next song, "My Blakean Year," about William Blake, to Ginsberg. Next, she told a story about poet and adventurer Rimbaud, leading into the hypnotic spiritual song "Beneath the Southern Cross." Her Mapplethorpe tributes also continued with the reading of a short memorial poem she wrote for him that segued into her song for Amy Winehouse, "This Is the Girl."

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Putting dead legends aside for a moment, Smith spoke of a man who is still living and rockin', the Canadian Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse, with whom she toured last year – "Number One in the world," she proclaimed before launching into a cover of Young's "It's a Dream."

What came after was perhaps the most moving of all her homages: she read a letter she had written to Mapplethorpe a couple of days before he died. "He didn't live to read it, so I'll read it to you," she said. No words except hers could do it justice, but it concluded with the line "of all your work, you are still the most beautiful – the most beautiful work of all."

The hour-long show concluded with the passionate "Pissing in a River" and "Because the Night," the song Bruce Springsteen c0-wrote with Smith, which she dedicated to her late husband. For this, the crowd broke loose a bit to sing along. There was one more reading, a piece about the end of 1969, wandering around snowy New York City with Mapplethorpe: "We felt ready for the Seventies – it's our decade." With that, Smith started clapping as the final song, "People Have the Power," began.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Rick Springfield Arrested for Missed Court Date

Rick Springfield in Boca Raton, Florida.

Rick Springfield was arrested today near Los Angeles and taken into the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station after missing a court date he apparently didn't know about. "Arrested this am on a bench warrant. I didn't know that I was supposed [to] appear in court a few weeks ago," he wrote on his Facebook page with a photo of the police station. "It was to do with the old DUI charge and it's been cleared up and I am free to go."

Q&A: Rick Springfield on Emotional 'Sound City' Movie

Springfield was arrested in May 2011 after police spotted him speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway in his 1963 Corvette. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge with "driving under the influence conditions" last August and received three years of informal probation. He was required to attend a mandatory three-month alcohol education program. He has a show tonight at Eagle Mountain Casino in Porterville, California, and the arrest won't affect the gig.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Rick Springfield Arrested for Missed Court Date

Rick Springfield in Boca Raton, Florida.

Rick Springfield was arrested today near Los Angeles and taken into the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station after missing a court date he apparently didn't know about. "Arrested this am on a bench warrant. I didn't know that I was supposed [to] appear in court a few weeks ago," he wrote on his Facebook page with a photo of the police station. "It was to do with the old DUI charge and it's been cleared up and I am free to go."

Q&A: Rick Springfield on Emotional 'Sound City' Movie

Springfield was arrested in May 2011 after police spotted him speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway in his 1963 Corvette. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge with "driving under the influence conditions" last August and received three years of informal probation. He was required to attend a mandatory three-month alcohol education program. He has a show tonight at Eagle Mountain Casino in Porterville, California, and the arrest won't affect the gig.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Rick Springfield Arrested for Missed Court Date

Rick Springfield in Boca Raton, Florida.

Rick Springfield was arrested today near Los Angeles and taken into the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station after missing a court date he apparently didn't know about. "Arrested this am on a bench warrant. I didn't know that I was supposed [to] appear in court a few weeks ago," he wrote on his Facebook page with a photo of the police station. "It was to do with the old DUI charge and it's been cleared up and I am free to go."

Q&A: Rick Springfield on Emotional 'Sound City' Movie

Springfield was arrested in May 2011 after police spotted him speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway in his 1963 Corvette. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge with "driving under the influence conditions" last August and received three years of informal probation. He was required to attend a mandatory three-month alcohol education program. He has a show tonight at Eagle Mountain Casino in Porterville, California, and the arrest won't affect the gig.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Patti Smith Holds Court at Toronto Art Gallery

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Death was a common theme at Patti Smith's first of two back-to-back sold-out concerts on Thursday at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, where the exhibit Camera Solo, comprising 75 of her Polaroid photographs and personal objects, is on display until May. On the gallery wall, a quote from her reads in part: "I have a strong relationship with the dead, even a happy one." She reiterated that sentiment at a press conference earlier in the day, speaking of the beauty she sees in everyday life, right down to our final resting place, the gravesite.

For her concert, the 66-year-old chose songs and poems that were fond tributes to the various dearly departed – her one-time companion and close friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe; her husband, guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, who died in 1994; friend and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg; singer Amy Winehouse; and 19th century poet Arthur Rimbaud.

100 Greatest Artists: Patti Smith

The live performances were part of the AGO's Patti Smith programming this week, including a book signing, film screening and a separate ticketed event, An Evening of Words and Song with Patti Smith. She will also perform a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Saturday in honor of the anniversary of Mapplethorpe's death, something she has tried to do each year since he passed away in 1989.

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

The acoustic show had an air of sophistication, no doubt due to its exquisite setting. After grabbing a cocktail in the foyer, patrons were led into a roped-off atrium with high glass ceiling and wooden, serpentine staircase. Smith took the makeshift stage promptly at 7:30 with her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, on piano and guitarist Tony Shanahan. Holding only 400 people (tickets for the two shows sold out in minutes last month, temporarily crashing the AGO website; others waited in line in the snow as early as 6 a.m.), the respectful crowd did not jostle in front of the stage, listening intently without holding up their cell phones cameras as Smith performed such songs as the rousing "Ghost Dance."

She followed with a reading from her 2010 memoir Just Kids about her early life with Mapplethorpe, choosing an amusing segment about how she met Ginsberg. "Are you a girl?" he asked after helping her purchase a sandwich when she was short a dime.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"I took you for a very pretty boy."

"Does that mean I have to return the sandwich?" she replied. Smith then dedicated her next song, "My Blakean Year," about William Blake, to Ginsberg. Next, she told a story about poet and adventurer Rimbaud, leading into the hypnotic spiritual song "Beneath the Southern Cross." Her Mapplethorpe tributes also continued with the reading of a short memorial poem she wrote for him that segued into her song for Amy Winehouse, "This Is the Girl."

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Putting dead legends aside for a moment, Smith spoke of a man who is still living and rockin', the Canadian Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse, with whom she toured last year – "Number One in the world," she proclaimed before launching into a cover of Young's "It's a Dream."

What came after was perhaps the most moving of all her homages: she read a letter she had written to Mapplethorpe a couple of days before he died. "He didn't live to read it, so I'll read it to you," she said. No words except hers could do it justice, but it concluded with the line "of all your work, you are still the most beautiful – the most beautiful work of all."

The hour-long show concluded with the passionate "Pissing in a River" and "Because the Night," the song Bruce Springsteen c0-wrote with Smith, which she dedicated to her late husband. For this, the crowd broke loose a bit to sing along. There was one more reading, a piece about the end of 1969, wandering around snowy New York City with Mapplethorpe: "We felt ready for the Seventies – it's our decade." With that, Smith started clapping as the final song, "People Have the Power," began.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Electronics Review Center

Read more »

Rick Springfield Arrested for Missed Court Date

Rick Springfield in Boca Raton, Florida.

Rick Springfield was arrested today near Los Angeles and taken into the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station after missing a court date he apparently didn't know about. "Arrested this am on a bench warrant. I didn't know that I was supposed [to] appear in court a few weeks ago," he wrote on his Facebook page with a photo of the police station. "It was to do with the old DUI charge and it's been cleared up and I am free to go."

Q&A: Rick Springfield on Emotional 'Sound City' Movie

Springfield was arrested in May 2011 after police spotted him speeding on the Pacific Coast Highway in his 1963 Corvette. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge with "driving under the influence conditions" last August and received three years of informal probation. He was required to attend a mandatory three-month alcohol education program. He has a show tonight at Eagle Mountain Casino in Porterville, California, and the arrest won't affect the gig.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Patti Smith Holds Court at Toronto Art Gallery

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Death was a common theme at Patti Smith's first of two back-to-back sold-out concerts on Thursday at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, where the exhibit Camera Solo, comprising 75 of her Polaroid photographs and personal objects, is on display until May. On the gallery wall, a quote from her reads in part: "I have a strong relationship with the dead, even a happy one." She reiterated that sentiment at a press conference earlier in the day, speaking of the beauty she sees in everyday life, right down to our final resting place, the gravesite.

For her concert, the 66-year-old chose songs and poems that were fond tributes to the various dearly departed – her one-time companion and close friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe; her husband, guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, who died in 1994; friend and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg; singer Amy Winehouse; and 19th century poet Arthur Rimbaud.

100 Greatest Artists: Patti Smith

The live performances were part of the AGO's Patti Smith programming this week, including a book signing, film screening and a separate ticketed event, An Evening of Words and Song with Patti Smith. She will also perform a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Saturday in honor of the anniversary of Mapplethorpe's death, something she has tried to do each year since he passed away in 1989.

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

The acoustic show had an air of sophistication, no doubt due to its exquisite setting. After grabbing a cocktail in the foyer, patrons were led into a roped-off atrium with high glass ceiling and wooden, serpentine staircase. Smith took the makeshift stage promptly at 7:30 with her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, on piano and guitarist Tony Shanahan. Holding only 400 people (tickets for the two shows sold out in minutes last month, temporarily crashing the AGO website; others waited in line in the snow as early as 6 a.m.), the respectful crowd did not jostle in front of the stage, listening intently without holding up their cell phones cameras as Smith performed such songs as the rousing "Ghost Dance."

She followed with a reading from her 2010 memoir Just Kids about her early life with Mapplethorpe, choosing an amusing segment about how she met Ginsberg. "Are you a girl?" he asked after helping her purchase a sandwich when she was short a dime.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"I took you for a very pretty boy."

"Does that mean I have to return the sandwich?" she replied. Smith then dedicated her next song, "My Blakean Year," about William Blake, to Ginsberg. Next, she told a story about poet and adventurer Rimbeau, leading into the hypnotic spiritual song "Beneath the Southern Cross." Her Mapplethorpe tributes also continued with the reading of a short memorial poem she wrote for him that segued into her song for Amy Winehouse, "This Is the Girl."

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Putting dead legends aside for a moment, Smith spoke of a man who is still living and rockin', the Canadian Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse, with whom she toured last year – "Number One in the world," she proclaimed before launching into a cover of Young's "It's a Dream."

What came after was perhaps the most moving of all her homages: she read a letter she had written to Mapplethorpe a couple of days before he died. "He didn't live to read it, so I'll read it to you," she said. No words except hers could do it justice, but it concluded with the line "of all your work, you are still the most beautiful – the most beautiful work of all."

The hour-long show concluded with the passionate "Pissing in a River" and "Because the Night," the song Bruce Springsteen c0-wrote with Smith, which she dedicated to her late husband. For this, the crowd broke loose a bit to sing along. There was one more reading, a piece about the end of 1969, wandering around snowy New York City with Mapplethorpe: "We felt ready for the Seventies – it's our decade." With that, Smith started clapping as the final song, "People Have the Power," began.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon MP3 Download Center

Read more »

Patti Smith Holds Court at Toronto Art Gallery

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Death was a common theme at Patti Smith's first of two back-to-back sold-out concerts on Thursday at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, where the exhibit Camera Solo, comprising 75 of her Polaroid photographs and personal objects, is on display until May. On the gallery wall, a quote from her reads in part: "I have a strong relationship with the dead, even a happy one." She reiterated that sentiment at a press conference earlier in the day, speaking of the beauty she sees in everyday life, right down to our final resting place, the gravesite.

For her concert, the 66-year-old chose songs and poems that were fond tributes to the various dearly departed – her one-time companion and close friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe; her husband, guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, who died in 1994; friend and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg; singer Amy Winehouse; and 19th century poet Arthur Rimbaud.

100 Greatest Artists: Patti Smith

The live performances were part of the AGO's Patti Smith programming this week, including a book signing, film screening and a separate ticketed event, An Evening of Words and Song with Patti Smith. She will also perform a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Saturday in honor of the anniversary of Mapplethorpe's death, something she has tried to do each year since he passed away in 1989.

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

The acoustic show had an air of sophistication, no doubt due to its exquisite setting. After grabbing a cocktail in the foyer, patrons were led into a roped-off atrium with high glass ceiling and wooden, serpentine staircase. Smith took the makeshift stage promptly at 7:30 with her daughter, Jesse Paris Smith, on piano and guitarist Tony Shanahan. Holding only 400 people (tickets for the two shows sold out in minutes last month, temporarily crashing the AGO website; others waited in line in the snow as early as 6 a.m.), the respectful crowd did not jostle in front of the stage, listening intently without holding up their cell phones cameras as Smith performed such songs as the rousing "Ghost Dance."

She followed with a reading from her 2010 memoir Just Kids about her early life with Mapplethorpe, choosing an amusing segment about how she met Ginsberg. "Are you a girl?" he asked after helping her purchase a sandwich when she was short a dime.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"I took you for a very pretty boy."

"Does that mean I have to return the sandwich?" she replied. Smith then dedicated her next song, "My Blakean Year," about William Blake, to Ginsberg. Next, she told a story about poet and adventurer Rimbeau, leading into the hypnotic spiritual song "Beneath the Southern Cross." Her Mapplethorpe tributes also continued with the reading of a short memorial poem she wrote for him that segued into her song for Amy Winehouse, "This Is the Girl."

Patti Smith performs at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada.

Putting dead legends aside for a moment, Smith spoke of a man who is still living and rockin', the Canadian Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse, with whom she toured last year – "Number One in the world," she proclaimed before launching into a cover of Young's "It's a Dream."

What came after was perhaps the most moving of all her homages: she read a letter she had written to Mapplethorpe a couple of days before he died. "He didn't live to read it, so I'll read it to you," she said. No words except hers could do it justice, but it concluded with the line "of all your work, you are still the most beautiful – the most beautiful work of all."

The hour-long show concluded with the passionate "Pissing in a River" and "Because the Night," the song Bruce Springsteen c0-wrote with Smith, which she dedicated to her late husband. For this, the crowd broke loose a bit to sing along. There was one more reading, a piece about the end of 1969, wandering around snowy New York City with Mapplethorpe: "We felt ready for the Seventies – it's our decade." With that, Smith started clapping as the final song, "People Have the Power," began.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Dr. John Holds Court with Dan Auerbach in New York

Dr. John and Dan Auerbach perform together at BAM in Brooklyn, New York.

Before the curtain rose for Dr. John last night, an antique jukebox on the side of the stage piped out a crackly boogie-woogie track from his new album, Locked Down. An MC appeared onstage and dialed down the jukebox's volume until it clicked to silence, then a frenetic snare roll cued in the band and the fatback beat. Dr. John appeared, hunched over a Wurlitzer piano in a bright purple suit, his face hidden behind dark sunglasses and his jazzman's fedora. He was decked out with his trademark accoutrements: beads and teeth strung around his neck, totem-pole cane at his side. A cool, confident New Orleans drawl emerged from his wrinkled mouth. At 71, Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. is an old guy. But his band's potent sound and focused energy pushed the New Orleans legend into new sonic territory.

Rebennack is in the middle of a three-week residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House. This weekend's shows highlight his new album, Locked Down, produced by the Black Keys' singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach. An early incarnation of the studio band jammed on a loose set of Dr. John and NOLA funk standards at last year's Bonnaroo festival. New music was later composed, then honed into a razor-sharp set of fresh, funky tracks crystallized by Auerbach's keen ear for riffs and beats. The band's members – among them Leon Michels (baritone sax, keys, vibes), Nick Movshon (bass), Max Weissenfeldt (drums), Dave Guy (trumpet), Aaron Johnson (trombone) and Yoshi Takemasa (percussion) – are all key figures in the cabal of New York-centric musicians who record for Truth and Soul and Daptone records. Matched with Auerbach's Midwestern garage-rock buddy Brian Olive and the gospel-singing McCrary Sisters, the end result sounds retro, but eludes easy categorization. Locked Down often sounds as much like a space-aged Captain Beefheart composition as it does Ethiopian jazz.

The Opera House was a plush, cosmopolitan setting for the Locked Down live set. A sober, attentive audience received less of a rock & roll show and more of a serious-faced exhibition of this record's unique sound. Onstage, Rebennack's demeanor was wry and reflective. He was light on banter and to the point, more subdued than his voodoo-fueled alter ego. But when Rebennack nailed his skewed, percussive Farfisa solo on the second song of the night, the single "Revolution," it was a wizened incarnation of his good-times hustler persona. He perched calmly in the middle of a semi-circle of keyboards (his altar), with a lyrics binder open in front of him (his spellbook) and one hand scampering across the Farfisa, as if with a mind of its own.

The band executed every Locked Down track with impressive precision, maintaining the recordings' tight song structures and allowing for only the most judicious solos and breaks – no jams. That being said, German drummer Max Weissenfeldt deftly maneuvered through complex, polyrhythmic beats. He was the quirkiest player and the most fun to watch, preferring to channel an uptight James Black than the chiller Zigaboo Modeliste. Together with Movshon's rock solid bass playing and Michels' bouncy baritone sax lines, Rebennack presided over a perky ensemble bursting with energy.

On the album highlight "Ice Age," Auerbach and Olive harmonized a syncopated guitar line while the rhythm section produced a galloping beat. Rebennack spat and growled over his spazzy Farfisa. The crowd cheered when he stood up towards the end of the song to pirouette and dance a stiff boogie across the stage before settling down to his Hammond. As the night's bandleader, Auerbach was restrained and reverent. Fans of the Keys' earlier records would have appreciated how he tastefully slipped his meditative Kimbrough-isms on the guitar into band's tight, funky sound, especially on the extended intro to "You Lie." The McCrary Sisters dazzled on "God's Sure Good," a jubilant, hyperactive gospel number.

Rebennack also peppered the set with a handful of choice Night Tripper classics. "Jump Sturdy," "Mama Roux" and "I Walk on Guilded Splinters," from his first album Gris Gris, were all treated kindly by the Locked Down band. Their take on "Glowin" connected the dots between the new album and Rebennack early solo efforts – that repetitive, gutsy baritone sax line wouldn't have sounded out of place on Locked Down.

Towards the end of the set, Rebennack relapsed into a boogie-woogie piano man. He delivered a carefree, solo rendition of "Such a Night," a song that has lingered around his live sets since the mid-Seventies. It was a fun, intimate performance, lit by devotional candles scattered across the stage.

The grand finale harkened back to the jukebox (an important symbol in Rebennack's mythology, as his father serviced them for a living). Leon Michels and the brass section recreated the scratchy, kaleidoscopic loop that kicks off "Big Shot." Turns out the trickster is alive and well in Rebennack, who boasted over a bluesy, barrel-house strut. If he's turned over a new leaf on Locked Down, his infamous, hustler swagger hasn't gone away. The straightforward stomper was the perfect grand finale, a gruff, bombastic New Orleans Bacchanal.  

Set List:
"Locked Down"
"Revolution"
"Jump Sturdy"
"Eleggua"
"Glowin'"
"Ice Age"
"Mama Roux"
"You Lie"
"My Children, My Angels"
"Kingdom of Izzness"
"Black John the Conqueror"
"Getaway"
"I Walk on Guilded Splinters"
"God's Sure Good"
"Such a Night"
"Big Shot"

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Dr. John Holds Court with Dan Auerbach in New York

Dr. John and Dan Auerbach perform together at BAM in Brooklyn, New York.

Before the curtain rose for Dr. John last night, an antique jukebox on the side of the stage piped out a crackly boogie-woogie track from his new album, Locked Down. An MC appeared onstage and dialed down the jukebox's volume until it clicked to silence, then a frenetic snare roll cued in the band and the fatback beat. Dr. John appeared, hunched over a Wurlitzer piano in a bright purple suit, his face hidden behind dark sunglasses and his jazzman's fedora. He was decked out with his trademark accoutrements: beads and teeth strung around his neck, totem-pole cane at his side. A cool, confident New Orleans drawl emerged from his wrinkled mouth. At 71, Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. is an old guy. But his band's potent sound and focused energy pushed the New Orleans legend into new sonic territory.

Rebennack is in the middle of a three-week residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House. This weekend's shows highlight his new album, Locked Down, produced by the Black Keys' singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach. An early incarnation of the studio band jammed on a loose set of Dr. John and NOLA funk standards at last year's Bonnaroo festival. New music was later composed, then honed into a razor-sharp set of fresh, funky tracks crystallized by Auerbach's keen ear for riffs and beats. The band's members – among them Leon Michels (baritone sax, keys, vibes), Nick Movshon (bass), Max Weissenfeldt (drums), Dave Guy (trumpet), Aaron Johnson (trombone) and Yoshi Takemasa (percussion) – are all key figures in the cabal of New York-centric musicians who record for Truth and Soul and Daptone records. Matched with Auerbach's Midwestern garage-rock buddy Brian Olive and the gospel-singing McCrary Sisters, the end result sounds retro, but eludes easy categorization. Locked Down often sounds as much like a space-aged Captain Beefheart composition as it does Ethiopian jazz.

The Opera House was a plush, cosmopolitan setting for the Locked Down live set. A sober, attentive audience received less of a rock & roll show and more of a serious-faced exhibition of this record's unique sound. Onstage, Rebennack's demeanor was wry and reflective. He was light on banter and to the point, more subdued than his voodoo-fueled alter ego. But when Rebennack nailed his skewed, percussive Farfisa solo on the second song of the night, the single "Revolution," it was a wizened incarnation of his good-times hustler persona. He perched calmly in the middle of a semi-circle of keyboards (his altar), with a lyrics binder open in front of him (his spellbook) and one hand scampering across the Farfisa, as if with a mind of its own.

The band executed every Locked Down track with impressive precision, maintaining the recordings' tight song structures and allowing for only the most judicious solos and breaks – no jams. That being said, German drummer Max Weissenfeldt deftly maneuvered through complex, polyrhythmic beats. He was the quirkiest player and the most fun to watch, preferring to channel an uptight James Black than the chiller Zigaboo Modeliste. Together with Movshon's rock solid bass playing and Michels' bouncy baritone sax lines, Rebennack presided over a perky ensemble bursting with energy.

On the album highlight "Ice Age," Auerbach and Olive harmonized a syncopated guitar line while the rhythm section produced a galloping beat. Rebennack spat and growled over his spazzy Farfisa. The crowd cheered when he stood up towards the end of the song to pirouette and dance a stiff boogie across the stage before settling down to his Hammond. As the night's bandleader, Auerbach was restrained and reverent. Fans of the Keys' earlier records would have appreciated how he tastefully slipped his meditative Kimbrough-isms on the guitar into band's tight, funky sound, especially on the extended intro to "You Lie." The McCrary Sisters dazzled on "God's Sure Good," a jubilant, hyperactive gospel number.

Rebennack also peppered the set with a handful of choice Night Tripper classics. "Jump Sturdy," "Mama Roux" and "I Walk on Guilded Splinters," from his first album Gris Gris, were all treated kindly by the Locked Down band. Their take on "Glowin" connected the dots between the new album and Rebennack early solo efforts – that repetitive, gutsy baritone sax line wouldn't have sounded out of place on Locked Down.

Towards the end of the set, Rebennack relapsed into a boogie-woogie piano man. He delivered a carefree, solo rendition of "Such a Night," a song that has lingered around his live sets since the mid-Seventies. It was a fun, intimate performance, lit by devotional candles scattered across the stage.

The grand finale harkened back to the jukebox (an important symbol in Rebennack's mythology, as his father serviced them for a living). Leon Michels and the brass section recreated the scratchy, kaleidoscopic loop that kicks off "Big Shot." Turns out the trickster is alive and well in Rebennack, who boasted over a bluesy, barrel-house strut. If he's turned over a new leaf on Locked Down, his infamous, hustler swagger hasn't gone away. The straightforward stomper was the perfect grand finale, a gruff, bombastic New Orleans Bacchanal.  

Set List:
"Locked Down"
"Revolution"
"Jump Sturdy"
"Eleggua"
"Glowin'"
"Ice Age"
"Mama Roux"
"You Lie"
"My Children, My Angels"
"Kingdom of Izzness"
"Black John the Conqueror"
"Getaway"
"I Walk on Guilded Splinters"
"God's Sure Good"
"Such a Night"
"Big Shot"

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Phil Spector Appeal Rejected by Supreme Court

Phil Spector listens to the judge during sentencing in Los Angeles Criminal Courts.

The United States Supreme Court has declined to review the murder conviction of Phil Spector. The producer's attorneys argued that his constitutional due process rights were violated when prosecutors used the trial judge's comments about an expert's testimony, effectively making the judge a witness for the prosecution.

The court upheld Spector's second-degree murder conviction for the killing of actress Lana Clarkson, who was shot dead in Spector's suburban Los Angeles home in 2003. The justices did not offer any comment on the ruling by a California appeals court.

Spector's attorneys have been working to strike down his conviction with little success over the past two years. Most recently, the California Supreme Court denied a request to review the case over the same claim of due process rights violations.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Phil Spector Appeal Rejected by Supreme Court

Phil Spector listens to the judge during sentencing in Los Angeles Criminal Courts.

The United States Supreme Court has declined to review the murder conviction of Phil Spector. The producer's attorneys argued that his constitutional due process rights were violated when prosecutors used the trial judge's comments about an expert's testimony, effectively making the judge a witness for the prosecution.

The court upheld Spector's second-degree murder conviction for the killing of actress Lana Clarkson, who was shot dead in Spector's suburban Los Angeles home in 2003. The justices did not offer any comment on the ruling by a California appeals court.

Spector's attorneys have been working to strike down his conviction with little success over the past two years. Most recently, the California Supreme Court denied a request to review the case over the same claim of due process rights violations.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »