Seminal emoting songsmith Morrissey, currently at the center of a battle with Brit music magazine NMEover a few allegedly xenophobic quotes — “The gates of England areflooded, The country’s been thrown away” — gracing the current issue’scover, has released a statement to the magazine, and notably its editorConor McNicholas, claiming NME is out to get him.
“Ibelieve they have deliberately tried to characterise [sic] me as aracist in a recent interview I gave them in order to boost theirdwindling circulation,” the statement read, as reported by U.K.’s Guardian.”I abhor racism and oppression or cruelty of any kind and will not letthis pass without being absolutely clear and emphatic… Racism isbeyond common sense and has no place in our society.”
Withinthe issue in question, Moz supposedly (as printed) responded to queriesasking if he would consider moving back to the U.K., by stating,”although I don’t have anything against people from other countries,the higher the influx into England the more the British identitydisappears… If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of theweek you won’t hear an English accent. You’ll hear every accent underthe sun apart from the British accent.” But adding thunder to Moz’sargument, the journalist behind the story, Tim Jonze, has publiclydistanced himself from the story, claiming it was heavily edited.
NME,defending its stance and claiming Morrissey’s quotes are accurate asprinted in a Q&A style, have declined to publicly apologize and arenow named in a defamation lawsuit. Remember, “it’s Morrissey’s town, we just live in it.”
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Dewey Cox to Hit Road with Hard Walkers
In honor of Judd Apatow‘s forthcoming comedy, the faux musical biopic Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, John C. Reilly,the star of film playing legendary songsmith Cox, will slip intocharacter and join his backing band the Hard Walkers for a 7-date NorthAmerican jaunt, dubbed the Cox Across America Tour. Kicking offtomorrow night (Dec. 5) in Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,the tour will then hit Chicago, Austin, Nashville, San Francisco, LosAngeles, and New York as Reilly, a.k.a. Cox, and crew belt out tunesfrom the film’s career-spanning, hilarioussoundtrack, which hits store shelves today (Dec. 4). What’s more, isbefore each show clips from the film will be unveiled in advance of itsrelease to theatres, Dec. 21.
Dewey Cox & the Hard Walkers tour dates:
12/5, Cleveland, OH (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)
12/6, Chicago, IL (The Cubby Bear)
12/7, Austin, TX (Stubb’s)
12/8, Nashville, TN (Mercy Lounge)
12/10, San Francisco, CA (Great American Music Hall)
12/13, Los Angeles, CA (Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd)
12/19, New York, NY (The Knitting Factory)
Yo La Tengo Celebrate Hanukkah, Add ‘Freewheeling’ Dates
New Jersey-based indie stalwarts Yo La Tengohave a busy holiday season ahead; the trio will commence their longtimetradition of Hanukkah performances tonight at Hoboken’s legendary venueMaxwell’s. But once all the candles have been distinguished, and theholiday fixings digested, the band will hit the road once again,returning in 2008 for handful of dates on their Freewheeling Yo La Tengo tour,a special series of intimate, acoustic shows. Now, Yo La Tengo willopen the New Year with 10 gigs in cities like Charlotte, Atlanta,Athens, Nashville, and Memphis. [Via Pitchfork]
Yo La Tengo tour dates:
12/4, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
12/5, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
12/6, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
12/7, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
12/8, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
12/9, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
12/10, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
12/11, Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s/Hanukkah show)
1/9, Charlottesville, VA (Satellite Ballroom)
1/10, Carrboro, NC (Carrboro Arts Center)
1/11, Charlotte, NC (Visulite Theatre)
1/12, Atlanta, GA (Variety Playhouse)
1/14, Athens, GA (Melting Point)
1/15, Birmingham, AL (Workplay)
1/16, Louisville, KY (930 Listening Room)
1/17, Nashville, TN (Belcourt Theatre)
1/18, Memphis, TN (Gibson Lounge)
1/19, Springfield, MO (Randy Bacon Gallery)
Gnarls Barkley to Drop New LP in Spring ’08
Though Cee-Lo, the crooning frontman of Gnarls Barkley, has busied himself as the president and CEO of new label Radiculture, he has found time to unite with beat-master and production mastermind Danger Mouse to begin work on the follow up to the duo’s 2006 smash debut, St. Elsewhere. Speaking to The New York Times,Danger Mouse said the new effort is slated to drop in the spring of2008 and would be a conflicted sonic departure. “It sounds like we’remore comfortable with each other and just as uncomfortable witheverybody and everything else.” Yeah, exactly. [Via NME.com]
