International Reggae Day

[Best of Both Worlds - Bob Marley & Football. Photo by Adrian Boot. All rights reserved]

Who knew - in addition to July 1st being the first day of UV Safety Month, it is also International Reggae Day. Visit their site here for information on symposiums, classic clips, Twitter Trivia, and more. And enjoy your reggae the other 364 days!

Free Download - Baaba Maal "Miracle" (The Very Best remix)

Listen below to the The Very Best remix of Baaba Maal's "Miracle", from Television. For a free download, go here.

Patti Smith's debut recording honored by Library of Congress

No surprise to her fans: Patti Smith's debut recording "Horses" has been added to the select list of important recordings in The National Recording Registry. With classics like "Birdland" and "Redondo Beach", as well as her own take on classics like "Gloria", the recording introduced to the world the power, punk, and poetry of this music pioneer.

Congratulations Patti. . .visit here for more information

Baaba Maal 2010 US Tour

Fans from LA to NY (and many points in between), get ready - Baaba Maal and his band are on tour!! With the first stop April 2nd in Toronto, and big shows in LA (Royce Hall), DC (LIsner Auditorium), and New York City (Fillmore East), Baaba will be bringing the soul of Senegal to America for his first full tour in years. And for you fans in the South - Baaba will be appearing this year at JazzFest in New Orleans

Visit Baaba's site to see if your city is on his itinerary.

Patti Smith = STYLE!

Patti Smith and her. . .sense of Style? The NY Times talks to the punk-rock icon about her image and, yes, that sense of style that has defined punk goddesses for decades. Candy Slice anyone?

Patti Smith: A Rare Spirit, a Rarer Eye

Newton on The Iditarod!

Newton Marshall, musher-supreme and star of the Jamaican documentary Sun Dogs, has taken on the ultimate dogsled adventure - THE IDITAROD. Having mastered the sport while working with pound dogs in Jamaica (as documented in the film), Newton is now on his greatest adventure on the thousand mile plus trek across Alaska.


UPDATE: Newton Marshall completed his first Iditarod. Congratulations mon!!!!

Amoeba online supports Haitian relief

Amoeba Hollywood is running a one month online program, where they will make a donation to Doctors Without Borders for every sale of select titles. One of the choice titles is the new Blu-ray edition of Stop Making Sense. So go to Amoeba.com, buy the classic Talking Heads movie, and support Amoeba's effort.

SIDESTEPPER IS BACK!

Sidestepper, your favorite Colombian / World Beat band, is back with a new 7 piece live band and two shows on the West Coast. If you ever saw any of their legendary US performances (Coachella, Brooklyn's Prospect Park), you know it's a treat to have them back in the States. Check them out February 19th at The Independent (San Fran) and the 20th at the Luckman Theatre (Los Angeles). For more updates, visit their Facebook site.

Tribute to TOWNES VAN ZANDT wins a Grammy

Steve Earle's heartfelt tribute to songwriter Townes Van Zandt, appropriately entitled TOWNES, has won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

You can find out more about this recording here and more about Townes here.

"Just Kids" - Patti Smith reflects on Robert Mapplethorpe

This week Patti Smith celebrates the release of 'Just Kids', her book on her early years and life with Robert Mapplethorpe, her friend / confidant / roommate in the '70s. The NY Times reports, "'Just Kids' carries its author to the verge of fame. . .becoming pregnant at 19 and heading to New York for a fresh start. . .(a) tenderly evocative memoir."


Read the full The New York Times Review

FREE MUSIC FROM PALM!!

In association with Amazon, Palm proudly announces the release of "THE PALM SAMPLER", a free full-length download featuring tracks from some of your favorite Palm artists. From the world beat rhythms of BAABA MAAL and SIDESTEPPER to indie rock favorites EARLIMART and MOVING UNITS, the Palm Sampler give you 10 choice cuts as an introduction to our catalog.

Go HERE to check it out!

Baaba Maal "Best of 2009" - Nat Geo Music

Among the many accolades given to Baaba Maal's latest CD "Television", National Geographic has chosen it one of the best new discs of 2009. Calling it "a complex, heady album that gets more rewarding with each listen," Nat Geo Music celebrates "Television" as a highlight in a great year for international music.

See the full list at National Geographic's site here

Patti Smith DREAM OF LIFE on PBS

On December 30th , Patti Smith's 63rd Birthday, the documentary DREAM OF LIFE will be making its on-air broadcast premeire as part of the PBS series POV.

Check your local listings to confirm and for rebroadcast times. Meanwhile, today's NY Times has a feature article on the upcoming Patti Smith celebration (including her annual end-of-year concerts at the Bowery Ballroom and a new gallery exhibit (with director Steven Seibring) in the new year.

A Legend as Muse: Patti Smith Fills Role, The New York Times, December 20, 2009

Jonathan Demme directs for theater

Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense) will be directing his first play in NYC this spring:

Apr 7-May 23, 2010
Family Week
by Beth Henley

A year after the death of her son, Claire checks into a recovery center in the desert, searching for a way to cope. When her mother, daughter and sister arrive to participate in "family week," long-dormant traumas collide with recent tragedies in surprisingly comical, shocking and deeply moving ways. United in this family struggle, the women rage and reach out in an effort to reconcile their love with the way things are. Making his theatrical debut, Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) collaborates with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart) on a new version of this bitterly funny play. Acclaimed actresses Rosemarie DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married) and Sarah Jones (Tony Award-winner for Bridge and Tunnel) will join the cast.


"With Jonathan Demme in charge, there’s a guarantee of taste and skill.” -New Yorker

For more information, go to MCC Theater

Baaba Maal completes promo tour at Joe's Pub

Baaba Maal completed a whirlwind visit to the US (Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York), culminating in a sold-out show at Joe's Pub on Saturday October 17th. Billed as IN CONVERSATION WITH BAABA MAAL, the show featured a dialogue between Baaba and MTV's Bill Flanagan, followed by a short acoustic set by Baaba and guitarist Barry Reynolds. Other shows included the UCLA campus and the Chicago Cultural Center, plus live radio appearances on World Cafe and WNYC Soundcheck. [Photos by Kevin Yatarola]

Look for Baaba's return in April for a full tour with band!

Talking Heads STOP MAKING SENSE on BLU RAY TODAY!!!

Get Your Copy Today!

Stop Making Sense Blu-Ray featured in LA Times: 'Pop & Hiss'

Read the full entry here

Bicycle Diaries

Bicycle Diaries

Bicycle Diaries – the title may be an ironic echo of Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries; who knows? – is a deceptively straightforward book, an impressionistic glimpse of some of the cities that Byrne has explored on his pushbike. As anyone familiar with David Byrne's oeuvre might expect, it is not really a book about cycling per se, more a book in which cycling is, if you'll pardon the pun, the cog for Byrne's thoughts about architecture, music, art, travel, politics, religion, kitsch, decay and – a recurring theme – our "quality of life". [cont'd]
source: The Guardian UK

Look for it in bookstores near you!

I Salute You Brother

Jim Carroll - poet & punk icon - died on Friday, leaving behind classic songs ("People Who Died", "Catholic Boy") and a rich written legacy, including the classic novel "The Basketball Diaries".

You can read his obituary from The New York Times.

Patti Smith reminiscence about her friend Jim Carroll in an exclusive interview on the PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer. . .listen online here.

Toronto International Film Festival 2009

September 10-19 2009

This year’s Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 10-19) will show 271 feature films and 64 short subjects, most of them premieres, at more than a dozen theaters and multiplexes all over the city.

One Program in Yonge and Dundas Square is the free TIFF Live in Concert series, featuring a terrific batch of music-related films including “The Harder They Come,” “Don’t Look Back,” “The Last Waltz,” “Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man,” “Monterey Pop,” “Woodstock,” “Stop Making Sense,” and more...

source: morningsun.net