CD new releases of note

Aug. 23

Björk Drawing Restraint: 9
The Everly Brothers Hit Sound of, Roots, Show, Sing and The New Album
The Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood
Charles Mingus A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry
New Pornographers Twin Cinema

Aug. 30

Cannonball Adderley Sextet In New York
Cannibal and the Headhunters Land of 1000 Dances
Eric Clapton Back Home
Bob Dylan No Direction Home: The Soundtrack - The Bootleg Series Volume 7
Thea Gilmore Songs from the Gutter
Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra Not In Our Name
Herbie Hancock Possibilities
Les Paul and Friends
Sonny Rollins Without a Song
VA Austin City Limits Festival
VA Phil's Spectre 2: Another Wall of Soundalikes
DVD Suicide Girls: The First Tour

Out now!


Pop Artifacts! Fisher-Price Little People

Vintage DC Comics house ad

Details on "Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock" DVD

Out Sept. 13, this double DVD features Hendrix's complete set from the August 1969 festival.

The set features 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo soundtrack mixed by Hendrix's original engineer Eddie Kramer. The 57-minute music set appears on disk one.

Disk two includes:

Jimi Hendrix: Live At Woodstock: A Second Look

A student-shot, black-and-white version of the entire Woodstock set. This version features never-before-seen footage of "Hear My Train A Comin'" - a performance missed by the sanctioned Woodstock film crew who had to stop shooting to change film at that moment.

The Road to Woodstock

A new documentary featuring Hendrix performance footage and new interviews with Woodstock promoter Michael Lang, and Hendrix band members Mitch Mitchell (drums), Billy Cox (bass), Larry Lee (guitar) and Juma Sultan (percussion) among others.

Jimi Hendrix Press Conference

Filmed in Harlem at Frank's Restaurant on September 3, 1969, just two weeks after Woodstock, this press conference was called to announce Jimi's upcoming benefit performance on behalf of the United Block Association, a Harlem based youth organization. Jimi's comments about the festival and his memorable rendition of Star Spangled Banner are part the press conference.

Nashville Roots

Band members Billy Cox and Larry Lee recall their friendship with Jimi Hendrix and their shared journey from the fabled R&B 'chitlin circuit' to the greatest rock festival ever conceived. Cox had been Jimi's army buddy and the two joined up in Nashville after Jimi's discharge. They formed a band called the King Kasuals and became mainstays of the chitlin' circuit including the Del Morocco Club in Nashville where they were the house band for a time. Upon the departure of bassist Noel Redding in April, 1969, Jimi invited Cox to join him and went on to be the bassist for the Woodstock group - called Gypsys, Sun & Rainbows, as well as with Band of Gypsies in 1970 with drummer Buddy Miles, continuing with the reformed Jimi Hendrix Experience when drummer Mitch Mitchell returned to the fold. It was in Nashville that Jimi and Billy became friends with guitarist Larry Lee who is seen on stage in the Woodstock performance. He had played guitar for such groups as The Impressions and was drafted and wounded in Vietnam. Two weeks after his discharge, Jimi invited him to play at Woodstock. He later gained recognition as a guitarist on sessions at Stax and would also work with Al Green for more than a decade.

Recording Woodstock

Engineer Eddie Kramer details the recording of the entire epic festival. Kramer was Jimi's partner in Electric Lady Studios in New York and is a living link to the sonic legacy of Jimi Hendrix and a font of knowledge about Hendrix. He is co-author, with John McDermott of the book Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight.

Rare Artifacts & Memorabilia

Collection includes original Woodstock poster, festival tickets, and Hendrix's own handwritten set list draft, and poem about the festival, "500,000 Halos."

Songs include:

Message To Love
Spanish Castle Magic
Red House
Lover Man
Foxey Lady
Jam Back At The House
Izabella
Fire
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Star Spangled Banner
Purple Haze
Woodstock Improvisation
Villanova Junction
Hey Joe

You can pre-order the set now from Amazon.

Quick hits

Mike Sterling remembers the Calculator (and when Batman used to laugh).

The Hollywood Reporter has a review of Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm": "[The film] emerges as a folkloric adventure that intermittently entertains. The central problem is that Gilliam never figures out what movie he wants to make. "Grimm" ranges from 18th century slapstick to pure fairy tale and from Monty Python absurdity to a semi-serious meditation on the collision between rationalist convictions and mystical beliefs." Yahoo! Movies has an exclusive clip from the flick.

The New York Times has an obituary of electronic music pioneer Robert Moog.

You can now watch old eps of "Doctor Who" and "Red Dwarf" on your mobile phone. Why you'd want to do this, I don't know.

What was in Buddy Holly's overnight bag?

BBC Radio plans a John Peel Day for Oct. 13.

No.

Via Cognitive Dissonance: Which Doctor Who are you?

Giant ape attacks New York City!

The UK's Empire magazine will publish the first official mag cover featuring a shot from director Peter Jackson's upcoming "King Kong." Here's a look:

DVD new releases for Aug. 23

The OC Complete Second Season

The Ring Two

Emergency! Complete First Season

Alf Complete Second Season

Kung Fu Complete Third Season

21 Jump Street Complete Third Season

Six Feet Under Complete Fourth Season