RollnSmoke Scoop

70’s folk rock icons James Taylor and Carol King will team up for a world tour that will swing through the U.S. this spring and summer. The two singers will focus mostly on material from TAPESRTY and SWEET BABY JAMES.

RollnSmoke Scoop

On Sunday, November 29, at 8 PM, HBO will air a four-hour concert special in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which will feature appearances by Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger, U2, Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Lenny Kravitz and Annie Lennox, among many others.

After a free gig earlier this month at The Berlin wall, U2 members headed to the South of France for a song-writing session. They are still debating whether their next record will consist of songs from the last album sessions or whether they will come up an entirely new set of tunes. Says Bono, “I would like to put out an album quickly, but we’re only going to do it if it’s great.”

For the first time since 1999, the all-female music festival Lilith Fair will resume next summer. Peter Gabriel is prepping his first album since 2002 which will consists entirely of covers.

RollnSMoke Scoop : Lil Wayne's Woes

The bestselling rapper of 2008, Lil Wayne, will be forced to take a break from the studio next February to serve eight months in prison on gun charges. Next year he will also appear in an Arizona court to face separate charges related to a 2008 incident where border police found marijuana, cocaine and MDMA on Lil Wayne’s tour bus. And just last week, new copyright infringement charges were brought against him. Lil Wayne’s latest album, REBIRTH, which has already suffered numerous delays, is scheduled to be released shortly before he heads to prison.

RollnSmoke Scoop

With her most recent covers album “Love is the Answer” climbing the charts, Barbara Streisand has become the only artist with a #1 Album in five consecutive decades. Bob Weir and Phil Lesh have recruited John Kadlecik (lead guitarist from a Grateful Dead tribute band) for a new band called Further which features an all-Dead set-list.

Bono (of U2 fame) has come out in support of President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win, penning an op-ed column in this weekend’s New York Times celebrating Obama’s goal of eradicating world hunger and crediting the President for helping “rebrand America.” “I will venture to say,” Bono writes. “That in the farthest corners of the globe, the president’s words are more than a pop song people want to hear on the radio. They are lifelines.”

On November 10 Wyclef Jean is set to release “From the Hut to the Projects to the Mansion,” a 13-track EP featuring all-new material produced by DJ Drama, which will feature guests appearances by Eve, Timbaland, Maino and Cyndi Lauper, among others.

RollnSmoke Scoop

Jay-Z notches his 11th Number One album with THE BLUEPRINT 3, pushing him ahead of Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most number one albums. Jay-Z has the second-most Number One albums among all acts behind The Beatles who have 19.

R. Kelly is scheduled to release several tracks written by Michael Jackson by year’s end. Additionally, the soundtrack to the Michael Jackson documentary THIS IS IT, due October 27th, will include at least five previously unreleased songs.

Artists are eligible for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25 years after their debut release, and notable names for next year’s ballot include The Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J, Abba, Donna Summer and Jimmy Cliff. Time flies when you’re having fun!

RollnSmoke Scoop

After a 13-year break the Long Beach-based punk reggae group Sublime is back together with a new vocalist and will debut at the SmokeOut Festival in late-October. Exciting new releases for this fall include albums by Shakira, Eminem, The Roots and Mary J. Blige.

RollnSmoke Scoop

Bob Dylan is in the studio, working on a charity LP of Christmas standards including “Winter Wonderland” and “Little Drummer Boy.” Manchester rocker Noel Gallagher has quit his (family) band – Oasis -- (again), explaining, "I simply could not go on working with (brother) Liam a day longer." Madonna has made history as her 85-date Sticky & Sweet Tour wraps in Israel, the highest-grossing tour ever by a solo act, raking in more than $400 million over the past year.

RollnSmoke Scoop

Chuck Berry’s “Johnnie B. Goode,” Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” and Journey’s “Don’t stop Believin’” are among the top downloaded tracks for their respective decades. McCain was forced to pay up and apologize to Jackson Browne for using the song “Running on Empty” in a campaign ad against Barack Obama last fall. Rihanna is training to become a tattoo artist.

Roll Considers Rolling Stone Magazine's BEST JAMS OF PAST 20 YEARS

According to ROLLING STONE (8-20-09 issue), here are the BEST SUMMER JAMS of the PAST 20 YEARS …

1990 – “The Humpty Dance” – Digital Underground
1991 – “O.P.P.” – Naughty By Nature
1992 – “Baby Got Back” – Sir Mix-a-lot
1993 – “Cannonball” – The Breeders
1994 – “Gin and Juice” – Snoop Doggy Dogg
1995 – “Waterfalls’ – TLC
1996 – “C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train)” – Quad City DJ’s
1997 – “Mo Money, Mo Problems” – Notorious B.I.G.
1998 – “Are You That Somebody” – Aaliyah
1999 – “Bawitdaba” – Kid Rock
2000 – “The Real Slim Shady” – Eminem
2001 – “Get Ur Freak On” – Missy Elliott
2002 – “Hot in Herre” – Nelly
2003 – “Crazy in Love” – Beyonce
2004 – “Mr. Brightside” – The Killers
2005 – “Gold Digger’ – Kanye West
2006 – “Crazy’ – Ganrls Barkley
2007 – “Umbrella’ – Rihanna
2008 – “Paper Planes” – M.I.A.
2009 – “Boom Boom Pow” – Black Eyed Peas

…Roll is left to wonder what the editors could have been thinking when they chose the Best Jams for years 1996 and 2004 …

RollnSmoke Scoop

Roll is really looking forward to the August 18th release of Brendan Benson’s new solo, alt-rock album “My Old Familiar Friend’ because the track “Feel Like Taking You Home” rocks the casbah!

Keep your eyes peeled for emerging R&B duo out of Southern Cali (and MySpace) called The Write Chix, newly signed to Jamie Foxx’s recording label (check out tracks “Make Up” and Jazzy’s “In Love”). On the heels of their fabulous album release WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX, the French indie-rock band Phoenix has announced a US fall tour. An interesting sign of the times: The number of teens streaming music online jumped from 34 percent in 2007 to 52 percent in 2008. Go, RollnSmokeRecords!

Alt-rock acts Florence + The Machine and Kasabian – both featured on the RollnSmokeRecords site, are the favorites for the 2009 Barclaycard mercury Prize.

RollnSmoke Scoop

LOADS of NEW MUSIC on the horizon!!! We’ll see albums this September from Black Crowes, Jack Johnson, Pearl Jam, Sean Kingston, David Gray and Nelly Furtado. In October The Roots, Sting, Ozamatli and Robbie Williams will drop new albums, and come November, keep your eyes peeled for new releases from T-Pain, Mary J. Blige and Sade. Other fall releases include new music by Lupe Fiasco, Kid Sister and Kate Nash.

The Midyear List of Top Tours has Madonna ($84.7 million), Tina Turner ($80 million) and Britney Spears ($61.5 million) in the top three spots with the top grossing venues listed as Radio City Music Hall (NYC) 02 Arena (London) and The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace (Vegas).

RollnSmoke Scoop

The recording industry secured a deterrent victory when a Minnesota jury awarded 4 major labels 1.92 million in damages against Jammie Thomas Rasset for downloading and sharing 24 songs on the Kazaa peer-t0-peer network. Now The National Music Publishers’ Association is taking a shot at YouTube, alleging that there are performance rights for audio-visual downloads. Go get ‘em, boys! “Roll” says, “New times call for new ways.”

The Black Crowes will release two new studio albums in September, and Vampire Weekend will release one. Crosby, Stills and Nash will drop an all-covers album on their annual summer tour. Good Charlotte and Sum 41 have created dishes for Denny’s new RockStar Menu. Miley Cyrus’s Fall Tour will use paperless tickets as an attempt to thwart scalpers.

RollnSmokeRecords Covers The 2009 BET Awards

Live from The Shrine Auditorium in sunny Los Angeles, California, is another imperfect Annual BET Awards that kicks off with (one of many) clip(s) of Michael Jackson, whose father, Joe Jackson, is frequently panned and present in the front row, seated next to the Rev. Al Sharpton. Then, a mediocre-sounding Jackson Five Medley is followed by the official announcement of the evening’s phat line-up.
The night’s host is talented singer-actor Jamie Foxx who shows up on stage, dressed like Michael Jackson in a shiny, red leather jacket and wearing the signature white glove, movin’ his groove to “Beat It.” You’ve got to hand it to Foxx – in spite of his semi-failed moonwalk -- he’s a very quick-study of serious last-minute material and choreography. “[Michael Jackson] belongs to us,” Foxx declares, reverent, respectful. “And we shared him with everybody else.” Self-effacing, Fox brings everyone out of the closet from the get-go, admitting his own adolescent obsession with Michael Jackson. “Gangstas had the glove too,” he insists “Even Lil Wayne had the glove. He might have had a gun, but he had the glove. Holdin’ a little weed in that glove too.”
Tyra Banks kicks off by presenting the award for Best Athlete to LeBron James (who dances big time all through the evening), and he immediately sets precedent by acknowledging The Jackson Family. Then Tyra hands off the award for Best Hip-Hop to Lil Wayne – a little fella with a monster grill – who also offers a nod to Michael. Keri Hilson (Best New Artist) puts on a performance that’s self-conscious and nothing special, but Ne-Yo (Best Male R&B Artist) kicks-ass with his outstanding soul-voice-with-organ version of [Michael Jackson’s] “Lady of My Life.”
Jamie Foxx and T-Pain (with his BIG ASS CHAIN bling) sing “Blame it on the Alcohol” (winning Best Collaboration, which is when T-Pain thanks all “the Haters”). Plenty of crotch-grabbing. All the while in the audience the super-big-ass stars aren’t too cool to groove – they’re onboard -- and then there’s Snoop Dogg, randomly up on stage, dancin’ in his calf-length leather jacket. After Foxx vilifies the media for generating bad speculation around Michael’s death, there’s a weird, seemingly previously-taped segment of Soulja Boy performing in stereotypically ridiculous-looking low-riding jeans.
Beautiful Beyonce (Best Female R&B Artist) belts out her distinctly non-R&B version of “Ave Maria” in a hooped, angel-wedding dress followed by MaryMary who get their soulful God-on with a guest appearance by Queen Latifah. More live Jamie Foxx with Ne-Yo & Fabolous performing “She Got Her Own.” Then several old school performances, including Bel Biv Devoe’s doing a pretty lame job of their one-hit-winder “Poison.” Smattered in among the clips of Michael Jackson are numerous men – doctors, mayors -- introduced during the evening that are distinguished as successful role models in the black community. Jay-Z lays an “RIP, to The King” onto the end of his live performance of “D.O.A.”
After a rambling introduction, The 2009 BET Lifetime Achievement Award goes to the soul trio The O’Jays, who are dressed in spankin’ all-white suits and who perform a medley of hits including “Money, Money, Money, Money, Money” and “Used to Be My Girl” with snazzy choreography. Wyclef Jean (yelehaiti Foundation) and Alicia Keyes (keepachildalive AIDS awareness campaign) receive Humanitarian Awards in recognition for their charitable work. “I come from a hut,” Wyclef reminds the audience. “From there I went to the projects. From there I went to a mansion. So – all of you out there—you have no excuse.”
The crescendo builds with the BET Viewer’s Choice Award for best song “Live Your Life” by T.I. featuring Rihanna. However, neither is present because T.I. is in prison, and Rihanna is still laying low from her beating by Chris Brown the night before the Grammy’s. And then there’s the 2009 BET Viewer’s Choice Award for Best Video which goes to Beyonce for “Single Ladies.”

RollnSmokeRecords: "Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jackson has just died," a woman boarding a Manhattan bus called out. Soon after the news broke ...

"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced "Thriller." "He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."

RollnSmoke Scoop

Beginning in July artists including the Eagles, Christina Aguilera and Weezer will become online DJ’s, thanks to a joint venture between Clear Channel and Front Line Mgmt. who have created artist personal experience (a.p.e.) radio, a stand-alone company that will allow musicians to produce their own on-line shows. Reclusive soul singer Sade is recording her first album of new material since 2000’s “Lover’s Rock” to be released by the end of this year.

In political news in France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim minority, President Sarkozy contends that burquas are not welcome in there because they are a symbol of the subjugation of women. Said Sarkozy, “The issue of the burqa is not a religious issue; it is a question of freedom and of women’s dignity.” Indicative of the divide over how to reconcile secular values with religious freedom, French Muslims spoke out against this move to curb the burgeoning burqa, claiming that such a move would breach individual freedoms and stigmatize Muslims.

RollnSmoke Scoop

We are closing in on the ten year anniversary of Napster, and Time-Warner is on the verge of dumping AOL.

RollnSmoke Scoop

Martin Scorsese is directing Frank Sinatra’s life story for film which feature shis women and his music (all original recordings). Cast and release dates TBD. 80’s pop icons Devo are in the studio recording for a new album, as is Jimmy Buffett. Eric Clapton is quoted as saying recently, “At age 64, I still haven’t made what I consider to be my best album. I’m still scraping away to find the deeper inner me.” Lady GaGa is bisexual and says that it often makes men “uncomfortable.” Recently, Diddy has been referring to himself as “P. Twitty.”