My mom thought Kenny Rogers was dead. He is not. He is alive and well and heading out on a Christmas tour today.

Rogers has been doing this for years, going out on a Christmas oriented tour. I do not know if he will still play , The Gambler, but you can always holler it out from the audience.

You can get the album at www.kennyrogers.com.

SEE! We really do have info on all sorts of music.
Tour dates--

Nov.26 - Bossier City, LA
Nov.27 - Biloxi, MS
Nov.28 - Anderson, SC
Dec.2 - London, ON CAN
Dec.3 - Toronto, ON CAN
Dec.4 - Quebec, QC CAN
Dec.6 - Ottawa, ON CAN
Dec.7 - Greensburg, PA
Dec.8 - Verona, NY
Dec.9 - Morristown, NJ
Dec.10 - Glens Falls, NY
Dec.11 - Atlantic City, NJ
Dec.12 - Mashantucket, CT
Dec.14 - Binghamton, NY
Dec.16 - Detroit, MI
Dec.18 - Lynn, MA
Dec.19 - North Bethesda, MD
Dec.20 - Reading, PA
Dec.21 - Virginia Beach, VA
Dec.22 - Westbury, NY

 

The Puppini Sisters claim both The Smiths and The Andrews Sisters as influences and they have a Christmas album. Since the Holiday Season is approaching I have decided to post whatever Christmas tunes come my way for free (and conveniently….I am lazy).

The record, Christmas With The Puppini Sisters, (on Verve) is out.

As you may have guessed…they are not actually sisters. It is just a name. They take a “girl group” page out of the 40s and have, indeed, re-recorded  hits from that era for the modern one. Likewise they have taken current tunes and  “aged” them.

Something very nostalgic about this music, even if its origins are from a time decades before your parents were born (it is very much updated though).

Man…this is not an eloquent post! I am also not going to be suspicious that the "sisters" consist of a pretty blond, redhead and brunette. One of each predominant hair color....

Make Do And Mend , out of Connecticut,are heading out on their first European tour, opening for The Sleeping.  The will hit the U.K., Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy in a tour that begins on New Year’s Day.

The band’s first full-length release, End Measured Mile, is out on Panic/Paper +Plastick Records.  Their previous records, We’re All Just Living and Bodies of Water helped build a reputation with young punk rockers everywhere Tour dates on the band website above..

Callers latest video  for the song, How You Hold Your Arms, premiered last week on AOL Spinner but is now all over the place. It is an art piece as much as a music video (directed by Mike Anderson).

The song is off the record , Life of Love, which mixes post-punk with jazz sensibilities (according to the press release). No. It doesn’t, nothing does that. BUT you can check out the video below and tell me I am wrong.  Life is Love comes out today (Nov. 23) and the band has several upcoming dates in Spain following an album release party  at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City today (Nov. 22).

Spain dates--
11/ 25 - Primavera Club - Barcelona, SPAIN

11/26 - Primavera Club - Madrid, SPAIN

11/ 29 - Veneno Stereo - Castellon, SPAIN

12/2 - Sinsal Audio - Galicia, SPAIN

12/ 3 - Cuva Festival - Santander, SPAIN

Let’s just start of with this; Sharon Van Etten is awesome.  And that is coming from someone who hasn’t even seen her live but just heard her record. Van Etten will play six cities in January, the  open  internationally for The National.

She was just on tour with Junip.  Junip  is also awesome. Van Etten has also just released I’m Giving Up On You, a 7 inch, which is already sold out (you can still buy it online).

You can see Van Etten’s concert on NPR’s “Tiny Desk”  HERE.

You can download the 7” for $2  HERE.

You can listen to Don’t Do It off  Van Etten’s album, epic, above.

Tour dates --

12. 3, 2010              Nara, Japan – Nara Café Sample 
12. 4, 2010              Kyoto, Japan – Kyoto Urbanguild
12. 5, 2010               Fukui, Japan – Turuga Pinon-Pinon
12. 7, 2010               Aichi, Japan – Nagoya JD Japon
12. 8, 2010              Kanagowa, Japan – Kamakura Café Goatee
12. 9, 2010              Tokyo, Japan – Shibuya, 7th Floor
12. 11, 2010             Nagano, Japan – Matsumoto Cafe
12. 12, 2010             Tokyo, Japan - FoundLand
1. 8, 2011               New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
1. 19, 2011              New Haven, CT - BAR
1. 20, 2011             Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
1. 21, 2011              Columbus, OH - Wexner Performance Space at OSU
1. 22, 2011             Nashville, TN - The 5 Spot
1. 23, 2011             Asheville, NC – TBD
2. 15, 2011             Belgium, Brussels - Forest National w/The National
2. 22, 2011             Poland, Krakow – Studio w/The National
2. 24, 2011             Poland, Warsaw – Stodola w/The National
2. 25, 2011             Germany, Berlin - C-Halle w/The National
2. 26, 2011             Denmark, Aarhus – SCC w/The National
2. 28, 2011             Sweden, Lund - Färs & Frosta w/The National
3. 1, 2011               Sweden, Stockholm – Cirkus w/The National
3. 3, 2011              Finland, Helsinki - The House of Culture w/The National
3. 4, 2011              Finland, Helsinki - The House of Culture w/The National

I am a tad late getting to this but Band of Horses debuted the video for their track, Dilly, on one of my favorite websites, IMDB. When I cannot remember than name of an obscure Robert Mitchum movie IMDB is always there for me. The digital 45 is also out via iTunes (ugh).

The band says that this is the first video to capture what a day in their personal lives is like. I am glad I don't have a video like that. Me, waking up late and realizing I am out of toothpaste and clean underwear?

ANYWAY, this was also a place where you could have gotten the record for $9.99 but only for 48 hours. I messed up. I should read all my email carefully I suppose.
 
Check out the video HERE.

Rocky Loves Emily have a behind the scenes clip from their  Clueless music video which appears next week sometime. You can watch it while you are stuffed full of some unfortunate fowl. The track is from the band's upcoming EP, American Dream (Tooth & Nail Records).

Holcombe Waller brings to mind the 60s cafe cum Simon & Garfunkel scene. I am not even sure there WAS such a scene but I made one up in my head. There are some angry punk rock types who might take this as an insult and it isn't meant as such. Singer-songwriter music lovers will dig this. They call it "theatrical folk" in the press release as part of the never ending and ever awkward attempt to coin a genre.

Check out the track, Risk of Change, above. 
 
Waller (who resides in Portland but hails from San Francisco originally) has a third record coming out February 22, 2011. The record comes from tracks whose genesis came on his recent tours in the USA, Canada and...Croatia (man his booking agent was HIGH).  Waller majored in art at Yale and self-released his first record. He dabbles in theater and performance art. We won't hold that against him. He is a talented writer and come on! He is from San Francisco. Most folk singers from those parts have dancing midgets and people smearing crap on the walls as part of their performances.

Chicago’s own Scattered Trees recently played in New York City at CMJ and the apparently impressed some people at that show.

The band’s first album, Sympathy,  is slated for release sometime in the Spring of 2011. You can hear a track from this effort, Love and Leave, above.

In October the band released a single, Four Days Straight, with a b-side cover of John Lennon’s Instant Karma. This single will also be on the full length.