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THE INDIE ROCK BLOG
The Indie Rock Blog is a collection of Sugartune Artist News and entries from our friends at the Rock and Roll Report. If sweet, sugartunes are stirring in your soul, keep your soul stirred with a subscription to our news feed. 
Last October I posted about the 365 Days Project which is a website that posted 1 MP3 a day of incredibly weird and funny stuff. Well after a few weeks of darkness it has found a new home at http://www.ubu.com/outsiders/365/. If you haven’t had a chance to check this out do it now!
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If you always wondered what the hell your parents were talking about when they started mentioning how they “did the mashed patato” or “the shake” then you better head on over to Dance Crazes of the Sixties for some incredibly comprehensive dance lessons. Kind of hilarious to look at but hey, my wife tells me I need all the help I can get. This site is real boss!
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Eric Clapton’s prized “Blackie” Fender Stratocaster sold for a whopping $959,500 USD at a recent auction! Who are these people that buy this stuff?
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As you might have noticed from the right sidebar, I have added some music news RSS feeds to The Rock and Roll Report. As I am just experimenting with the excellent Feedroll I am moving cautiously at first. I would like to customize this to feature more specific music news about rock and roll but right now I think this is a good start. Let me know if you have any cool rock and roll music RSS/Atom/XML news feeds to suggest. Can you tell I have the day off today?
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Tickets for the Little Steven Underground Garage Festival go on sale today! Go to Ticketmaster to get your tix ASAP! Tickets are only $20.00 USD with a limit of eight tickets per person. The current list of bands are:
Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The New York Dolls, The Romantics, The Ravonettes, The Pretty Things, Moonie Suzuki, The Electric Prunes, The Fonda’s, Bo Diddley, The Cynics, The Chains, The Troggs, The Singles, The Stems, The Woggles, The Chesterfield Kings, The Paybacks, Boss Martians, The Chains, The Forty-Fives, Reigning Sound, The Shazam, The Cocktail Slippers, The Killer Barbies, The Star Spangles, The Charms, The Fuzztones
Looks cool.
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A fresh new batch of record reviews are up over at the classic Shindig magazine for your perusal. Very cool as usual and a valuable resource for your record shopping needs.
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A few days ago I wrote about a coalition of tech companies that are banding together in support of the proposed Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act. Strangely enough both Apple and Microsoft are not members of this coalition. Their possible reasons can be found in Microsoft, Apple snub consumer freedom coalition. This is all so confusing! Or is it?
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More than the indies need Apple according to Charles Arthur on Technology. The situation in Europe is quite different from that of the U.S. with independent record labels commanding roughly 25% of the market there. Because of this, the European indie rock labels have more clout and after bringing MTV to heel I suppose Apple will be next. Also, the European indies appear to do quite well in the traditional European record stores and so their need to be on download services, while important in the long-run, is less important for them and much more of a necessity for Apple. Expect a settlement of the whole affair soon.
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I have just added to the left sidebar a new feature called “New at iTunes” which features the latest additions to the U.S. versions of the iTunes music store in the rock, pop and alternative categories. I will be adding something similar for the brand new iTunes stores in the U.K., France and Germany shortly.
UPDATE! I have added the UK, French and German iTunes stores but for reasons of space I have limited each list to 10 items each.
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Well both The Clash and Oasis have some pretty cool re-issues coming out soon. Oasis will be re-releasing “Definitely Maybe” as a DVD with a whole host of the usual extras while The Clash will see the re-release of the seminal “London Calling” with a 2 CD set plus DVD all in “lavish packaging.” Start saving your pennies now.
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I have noticed that The Rock and Roll Report is consistently getting hits from right around the world and that some people are using Google to translate the site into another language. To assist those of you who might want to read the site in a language other than English I have added an Altavista Babel Fish “translate this site” button to the link bar on the left side. Of course, if you can’t read English you probably have no idea what the hell I’m talking about but hopefully this will help out. Let me know if there are any problems with it. Thanks.
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Can’t get to Glastonbury this weekend? Want to see some of what you are missing? Too old or too smart to brave the crowds? Well if so, check out the schedule of Galstonbury webcasts at Playlouder where they will be featuring a bunch of bands including current sensations Franz Ferdinand and BRMC.
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No matter what your opinion of Apple might be, you have to admit that they come up with some pretty cool stuff. The Mac, iPod, iTunes (hell I remember when they introduced the Apple II which put my Radio Shack TRS-80 to shame) and they are at it again with the very cool Airport Express with Airtunes. A cool little hand-held unit that looks like an AC adapter, you plug Airport Express into an electrical outlet, connect it to your stereo and start streaming music from iTunes right to your stereo. Best of all, it works with Macs or PCs (but alas not with Linux yet). Another very cool gadget from a very cool company.
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Just noticed that one of my favourite bands and Montreal natives to boot, The High Dials, have updated their website. Check it out!
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I don’t usually quote headlines from other sites verbatim but this one was too good not to. According to XFM Online, Sharon Osbourne has been voted “the most important person in the world of rock” according to Kerrang magazine. The full top ten are:
1. Sharon Osbourne
2. Satan
3. Brian Becker
4. Justin Hawkins
5. Rick Rubin
6. Michael Moore
7. Kurt Cobain
8. Rod Smallwood (founder of Sanctuary Records)
9. Lars Ulrich
10. Avril Lavigne
Satan is number 2? Geez I thought he was so “old school.” Not too sure why Michael Moore would be on this list and last I checked Kurt Cobain was dead but hey what the hell since they have included Avril Lavigne “for turning a new generation of pop fans into fans of all things loud and objectionable.” I will have to check with my Goddaughter on that one since she is a big Lavigne fan but come to think of it she does love AC/DC too and she is 10.
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Yes that would be a quote from a “source close to the (Glastonbury) Festival” who says that Oasis are demanding that there be a “drug free zone” backstage when they perform at the festival. My my, times certainly have changed. Good for them though. Do you think this will finally stop Noel and Liam from constantly slugging it out? Nah, I didn’t think so!
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Another band loses their major label contract as The Eels are the latest band to get the heave ho. Next!
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If you like dark, quirky movies about the seamy underbelly of rock and roll, they don’t get much better than Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains(1982). Starring Diane Lane and Laura Dern, and featuring wonderful performances by The Tubes’ Fee Waybill and Vince Welnick as washed up, burned out members of a has-been band called the Metal Corpses (shades of Spinal Tap), Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains chronicles the rise, fall, and ultimate (sort-of) redemption of a group of girl rockers who, with more anger and attitude than musical talent, suddenly become rock and roll sensations. It’s a tale rife with all the betrayal, egos run amok, and commercial selling-out that have unfortunately plagued the rock and roll scene from the beginning. While it’s not a happy movie, it’s smart, entertaining, and full of colorful, believable characters.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains also features members of the Sex Pistols and The Clash in roles as British punk rockers, as well as a brief appearance by Brent Spiner before he found fame as Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The main problem with it is that it’s almost impossible to find at the big commercial DVD/video rental chains and is almost never shown on TV.
For a detailed review and some interesting background info, check out this piece at the Bright Lights Film Journal.
It seems the problems with not being able to copy your copy of the new Velvet Revolver CD to your iPod are making waves according to Revolver Shoots Blanks with iPod. Obviously they will eventually sort this out but I’m quite curious how Steve Jobs is going to handle all of this.
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A bunch of heavyweight tech companies have formed the Personal Technology Freedom Coalition and are supporting the new Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act according to Tech heavies support challenge to copywrite law. I have made my stance clear on what I think of illegal file trading and I still believe that it is wrong but at the same time, people who use technology like the VCR and CD burner should not lose their fair-use rights just because that same technology can also be used to break the law. Check out the article and support this initiative if you believe in it.
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Inspired by bands like The Byrds, Love, The Millenium and Sound Effects-era Jam, Alan McGee and Dick Green created Creation Records in the mid-80s to bring a bit of jangly rock and roll back to the people. The ride was wild while it lasted and if you want to see how Creation Records was born and what it was all about you should check out Biff! Bang! Pow!- The Story of Creation Records, an audio documentary full of exclusive interviews and candid stories. All very cool stuff about a very cool and inportant record label. Creation kind of reminded me of an ’80s version of Immediate Records. Alan McGee is now the head of the quite excellent Poptones record label. Check them out as well.
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The Guardian Newspaper has created “the most authoritative poll of its kind” and have determined The Top 100 Greatest British Albums of All Time. The reasoning behind the choices are explained by pop writer Paul Morley here. The top 10 are as follows:
1: The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
2: Revolver, The Beatles
3: London Calling, The Clash
4: Astral Weeks, Van Morrison
5: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
6: The White album, The Beatles
7: Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
8: Exile on Main S, The Rolling Stones
9: Blue Lines, Massive Attack
10: Metal box, P.I.L.
Surprised! I am just a little but over all the Top 10 isn’t half bad. What do you think?
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Well the Little Steven Battle of the Bands competition hit Washington DC last week for a killer night of rock and roll with the winner, strangely enough shared by two bands: The Beatniks Flies and The Five Maseratis. After Washington it was off to Cleveland for three nights of rock and roll with 20 (!) bands. After a hard fought battle between The Franks, The Chickens, The Clutters and New Planet Trampoline the winner turned out to be…..The Chickens! Congrats to all bands. The stakes are getting higher as we draw closer to the finals in New York City in July. Next up is Long Island, NY! And don’t forget to vote for the wildcard!
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Creature
Moonshine Orchestra
The Snitches
