http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/04/16/tom-morello-welcomes-...

-- fishook (I posted as nanatod on the old board)

That's one hell of a line-up!!

more rock and roll and liberal politics!!! I love it. Who is headlining the Big Oil for Pollution Tour this summer?

Pdog wrote on Apr 17^th, 2008 at 12:20pm:


This sounds like every major tour!

The four original members of pioneering alternative rock band Jane's Addiction will perform for the first time in almost 17 years next week, temporarily burying the hatchet so they can receive an award for career achievement.

Bass player Eric Avery, who had declined to play with the band since it first broke up in 1991, said on Tuesday he would hit the stage at the inaugural NME Awards in Los Angeles on April 23 with singer Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro and drummer Stephen Perkins.

His bandmates, who have resurrected Jane's Addiction a few times, had previously agreed to attend the event at the El Rey Theatre, leaving Avery once again as the holdout.

The band will be honored with the "Godlike Genius Award" for its contribution to the development of alternative rock with such albums as 1988's "Nothing's Shocking" and 1990's "Ritual de lo Habitual."

"I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around," Avery said in a statement. "The reason I started to even consider this is because it's honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it."

Avery has kept a relatively low profile since leaving Jane's Addiction and just released his first solo album.

The band first reunited in 1997, with a succession of bass players filling in for Avery, including Red Hot Chili Peppers member Flea.

The last Jane's Addiction show was in December 2003 when the band, featuring session musician Chris Chaney, cut short a tour to promote its album, "Strays." The split was acrimonious but evidently not irreparable.

In a statement on his blog published on Sunday, Navarro said he, Farrell and Perkins "have been speaking regularly (and) have decided to focus on what's most important ... The music."

His comments doubled as a preemptive strike against journalists and bloggers inclined to bring up old quotes in which the band members trashed each other.

"Everybody in the world has said something over the top due to an emotional charge," Navarro said. "The bottom line is that we have been getting along great and are moving forward with our personal and musical relationships."

The NME Awards are being held by British music magazine NME, which has organized an event in the UK since the 1950s.

Thanks for the info to Yahoo! News.

fishook wrote on Apr 17^th, 2008 at 9:36am:


Here's my review of what happened on the Chicago stop of the Tom Morello / Nightwatchman tour:

Okay, yesterday (5/1/08) I first went to the lunchtime rally:

At a little over 1:30, I left work, walked through the pedway to get to the east side of Dearborn Street, and walked south until I got to the mayday rally at Federal Plaza.  I walked around the crowd a bit, until I settled into a spot just east of the podium where the speakers were.   To the north, I spied Etty Farrell, and when she looked in my direction, I waved.  She recognized me because I was in a black suit, like I was when I spoke with her at the Galapalooza announcement that took place a couple of months ago.  I waved my tickets at her and told her I would be at the Park West tonight.  Then I noticed Perry, in a black jacket and black cap a couple of feet away from her.  

I moved back to the east part of the stage.  Someone pointed out that Tom Morello was in the back with his guitar (it was tough to see at first, because people were standing everywhere).  After a couple of speakers, Morello was introduced and played the same acoustic song about unions that I saw him do at the HOB.  Then he brought up Boots Riley, and they did a song that I was unable to recognize (in part because the makeshift sound system that was set up in Federal Plaza wasn't that great).  Then he brought up Shooter Jennings and Jessi Colter, and they did a tune or two.   I noticed that Mayor Daley and Chicago hispanic politician (I don't know if he is an alderman or not) Danny Solis were at the back of the stage, apparently meaning that Daley would speak later.

Morello then led the audience and everyone in a sing-along version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." Morello and Shooter Jennings were on guitar, and vocals were by Etty Farrell, Perry Farrell, Boots Riley, Ben Harper (prominently wearing a Chicago Bears headband), Wayne Kramer, and Jessi Colter.

This may have been the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life.  To have Wayne Kramer, the leader of the MC5 on the same dais, as Richard M. Daley, the mayor of Chicago, and the son of Richard J. Daley, the mayor of Chicago who had to deal with the MC5's performance /riot in Grant Park at the 1968 Democratic Convention.  It was like something from a parallel universe.

After the musicians were done, they exited the stage toward the north.  People were getting pictures taken with Harper.  I espied a free-lance writer who has been writing about the tour.   I introduced myself, and a couple of minutes later she introduced me to Jessi Colter.   Meeting and talking with Jessi Colter was for me what I think it would be like for Voodoo to have a couple minutes discussing Woodstock with Leslie West.

"Electric" part of the show:

Freedom Fighter Orchestra (Carl Restivo, Dave Gibbs a/k/a Kid Lightning, Breckin Meyer, Wayne Kramer, Tom Morello):
1. Kick out the Jams
2.  Cell phone song about Guantanamo
3.  Fortunate Son

FFO and Perry and Etty:
1.  Mountain Song

FFO, Perry, Etty, Boots Riley and Shooter Jennings:
1.  didn't know the song

Above, without Boots, but with Ike Reilly and with Jessi Colter on lead vocals:
1.  Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35

Perry, Etty, Carl, Breckin, Tom, Shooter, Dave, Wayne(Nightwatchman's "party jam"):
1.  Shake my Shit

Perry, Ike, Carl, Tom, Breckin, Ben Harper, Dave, Shooter, Wayne:
1.  Rocking in the Free World

Perry, Carl, Breckin, Tom, Dave, Wayne, plus special surprise guest Sen Dog
1.  Insane in the Membrane

Above, plus Mars and Etty
1.  Rock Superstar with a little bit of Bring the Noise
2.  Jump Around

Everyone except for Mary Morello, Juan Nelson, and Oliver Charles
1.  This Land is Your Land

I don't know if I'll ever be able to top yesterday from a musical standpoint.