Summer is winding down, but there’s been no storage of music news as sleepy Boston barrels toward Labor Day. In this week’s Caturday Countdown, compiled wonderfully by our polydactyl-pawed feline intern Lola, we talk to the Cult’s Ian Astbury on why cell phones are destroying the concert experience, T.T. The Bear’s Place (a preferred rock club of our own Lolabear) unveiling its 40th anniversary lineup, and Prince showing the best sense of humor ever by using Dave Chappelle’s parody character for his Purple Majesty’s new single artwork.
Oh, right, and there’s also the little ordeal about the Calling’s singer who claims he was abducted in some rural Michigan town, a few days after his one-hit-wonder pop-rock band announced their limp comeback after a decade away.
Let’s dig in.
5. Interview: The Cult’s Ian Astbury on touring ‘Electric’, the plague of cell phones at concerts, and why NYC band Cults should get a new name, August 22, 2013
In a wide-ranging interview, Michael Christopher talks with Astbury about their Electric tour, as well as why Astbury got into it with a cell-phone-obsessed fan at a show in Florida, and why Brooklyn’s Cults should change their band name.
4. More than 60 acts tabbed to play September’s 4th annual New England Americana Festival, August 19, 2013
There’s a bunch of festivals around Boston dotting the September calendar, and the 4th annual New England Americana Fest stacks the deck with more than 60 local acts playing three Harvard Square venues and two free outdoor stages. Cask Mouse (pictured), Roy Sludge, Girls Guns & Glory and Three Day Threshold lead the charge.
3. Game, purple: Dave Chappelle shows up on Prince’s ‘Breakfast Can Wait’ artwork, August 18, 2013
In perhaps the best news of the week, Prince dropped the new artwork for single “Breakfast Can Wait,” and it pretty much blew everyone’s mind. It features Dave Chappelle in his Prince outfit, holding a plate of pancakes, ripped right from the comedian’s Charley Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories sketch. Mind, blown. Game, blouses. Prince is victorious.
2. O Positive, the Sheila Divine, Boston Emissions highlight 40th anniversary week @ T.T. The Bear’s, August 21, 2013
T.T. The Bear’s Place has been in the rock club biz for 40 years, and they’ve booked nearly as many bands to celebrate the occasion. Things kick off September 8 with a Permafrost reunion and live broadcast by Anngelle Wood’s Boston Emissions, and the rest of the week includes the Classic Ruins, O Positive, Emergency Music, and the Sheila Divine. Rumors about a Pixies appearance were unfounded. We heard Frank was busy.
1. Kidnapping and mugging of the Calling singer raises suspicions; Alex Band repped by same publicist as Aaron Carter, who was ‘jumped’ in June by NKOTB fans, August 20, 2013
Shortly after Alex Band revealed he had been abducted and mugged in a Michigan tour just days after his millennial pop band the Calling announced their comeback after a decade hiatus, people were calling it a hoax to get back in the headlines. Fueling this speculation was our Vanyaland report, which revealed that Band shares a publicist, Brad Taylor of Big Machine Media, who repped Aaron Carter back in June when that pop star claimed he was beaten up by a bunch of NKTOB fans here in Boston. You can’t make this shit up.
xo Lola