Ladies, start separating your underwear into “wearable” and “throwable” piles, because Neil Diamond himself will hit the Rose Garden on Dec. 2 to warm up your cold winter night. Diamond, touted as “America’s Greatest Live Performer” by a true expert, (Diamond Marketing Manager) Stan Sittser, has promised to roll out both the classics and material from “Three Chord Opera,” which hits stores Tuesday.
Along with Diamond, the full line-up of Seattle’s penultimate, packed-with-people annual extravaganza, Bumbershoot, was also announced this week. Past years have been packed with local indie acts. Last year the likes of Modest Mouse, Quasi, The Giraffes, Sleater-Kinney, Elliott Smith, Death Cab For Cutie and Murder City Devils all stopped by. Although none of those bands will make it two in a row, organizers have compiled an impressive list of acts for this year, including Built to Spill, David Lee Roth (actually doing Van Halen tunes), Stephen Malkmus, The Red Elvises, MxPx, Jon Auer, 5 Fingers of Funk, The Black Crowes and Ween. Bumbershoot runs throughout Labor Day weekend at the Seattle Center.
R.E.M. fans will have to wait just a little longer to see the band’s second MTV Unplugged performance. MTV2 will premiere the concert at 8 p.m. Aug. 9.
The Backstreet Boys camp has been quiet since the sudden announcement of “band” mate A.J. McLean’s alcohol problem, and now pop tart Britney Spears has announced equally depressing, disappointing news. Spears said she will cover Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll” on her upcoming, currently untitled album slated for a Nov. 6 release. Spears also covered The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” on her last album and sang some of the song during her now-infamous MTV Video Music Awards striptease performance. Seriously, stop snickering at this news. “Satisfaction” was, at least, excusable. But Jett’s classic track represented an innovative sound, a clearly defined powerful female personality and, of course, rock ‘n’ roll (i.e. guitar-driven). Britney doesn’t embody anything the song represents at all.
The silver lining? Bob Dylan told USA Today he will release a new, full-length album in September, titled “Love and Theft,” which will include “Mississippi” recorded with Sheryl Crow and “Things Have Changed,” his Oscar-winning title song to the movie “Wonder Boys.”
If you’re getting tired of new, hardly established acts waging feuds and rivalries against each other, hope is on the way. FOX News reported last weekend that Michael Jackson turns green with jealous rage every time Madonna scores a success. This may explain why Jackson suddenly announced a massive multi-act Madison Square Garden show right after Madonna started her tour.
Finally, Sony has sued country’s crossover lasses The Dixie Chicks after contract renegotiations broke down this week. The Chicks demanded more money, and when Sony gave the thumbs-down, the girls began threatening to join another label, which is what Sony is suing to stop.
Best-bet concert for the week: Calvin Johnson (of K Records and Dub Narcotic Sound System) at the W.O.W. Hall on Tuesday.