As if we didn't feel lazy and flabby enough, hunched over our glowing screens, pecking away about the few places we've visited and many places we haven't, we have Tina Turner to make us feel worse.
Not only did she stick it to that of an ex-husband of hers, Ike, by staging an incredible comeback in the 80s, but, 20 years later, she's still touring. Tina Turner Live in Concert hits the West Coast this coming week.
Starting Monday, the only woman who can make Madonna seem sprightly will perform three nights this week in and around Los Angeles before heading up the coast and over to Arizona. Tickets start at $65. Not bad, since Madonna's are usually double that.
We're of two minds about this weekend's Diesel xXx Party. We usually don't like to report on promotional concerts that are way unnecessarily overhyped, as in this promo text:
To get this 24 hour global xXx party started we've recruited the hottest most superlative expending line-up on planet earth and sent them deep into a super-futuristic Hyper-Space themed venue for a party that's going to last 12 hours straight.
If you love jazz but prefer sandy tropical beaches to smoky underground clubs, pack your bags for Anguilla's Tranquility Jazz Festival, celebrating its sixth year and taking place November 6-9 on the island.
Venues like the Cuisinart Hotel, Temenos Golf Club and Johnnos will host performances by jazz greats such as Patti Austin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Arturo Sandoval and Christian Scott by day and by night.
Individual performance tickets range between free and $50, but check here for festival-specific travel packages that include airfare on American Airlines, performance tickets and a range of hotel options.
If it's fall in an election year, the music world can count on one thing: A steady stream of alternative rockers trying to rock the vote in the Dems' direction--and a few country music stars getting excited about the GOP.
Whatever side of the aisle you fall on politically, it's always a boon for music fans, and Election 2008 has a twist--with so many states now offering early voting options, the poll festivities are getting started earlier than ever.
Ohio Democrats are taking advantage with a "Vote Early, Rock Late" concert scheduled for October 16 in Cincinnati. Local-boys-turned-Brooklyn-hipsters The National are headlining the event, which also includes indie stalwarts The Breeders. Volunteers will shuttle voters to the open-early polls in between sets.
We hope we're not the only ones who feel extremely freaking old because of this news: Alternative rock legends The Smashing Pumpkins are heading out on tour this fall to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
Wow, twentieth? Wasn't it just a year or two ago that Billy Corgan and Co. were soundtracking our angsty teenage years? Apparently not!
Oh well. The middle-age Pumpkins kick-off their month-long tour in Cleveland on November 1, and will include a four-night run in their home base of Chicago.
The list of un-hipster-fied Brooklyn neighborhoods grows shorter seemingly by the day, and gritty Gowanus, wedged between Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, is clearly next on the hit list.
So far, the industrial neighborhood is shaping up to be a focal point for local music. The Bell House, a large new venue from the owners of Park Slope's Union Hall, opened in Gowanus last week. LimeWire has details on the venue's opening night show with secret guests Nada Surf, who were so secret that they didn't even show!
Recent big-deal US concerts like the Virgin Mobile Festival and All Points West have been trying to replicate the long-time success of massive British music festivals like Reading and Glastonbury, bringing superstar artists from disparate genres together for a weekend.
For those who can't take the 100,000-person crowds, a new, more intimate, less corporate British festival is coming stateside as well. The All Tomorrow's Parties festival (named for a Velvet Underground song) has been a more under-the-radar success since debuting in Britain in 1999, and this year comes to New York State.
You won't hear the hottest new touring band at The Rotunda, and whatever you do hear, it won't have the state-of-the-art sound system that Philadelphia's larger venues offer.
What will you hear at the Rotunda? It's hard to say. Could be Middle Eastern drumming, freestyle rapping and breakdancing or teenage scream-rockers.
