Monday, October 13, 2008

Runnin' Down a Dream (2 DVD Disc Set)

"Runnin' Down a Dream: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers" Critically Acclaimed Peter Bogdanovich Film Available as a Two DVD Disc Set with New Bonus Features on Oct 28th.

BURBANK, Calif., Oct 13, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Warner Bros. Records will release cinema legend Peter Bogdanovich's film Runnin' Down A Dream: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers as a two-disc DVD, complete with previously unreleased bonus performances, on October 28th. Formally sold as a four-disc package exclusively at Best Buy, this newly released two-disc package of the film will be available everywhere in the U.S. and Canada.

Premiered to unanimous praise at the 2007 New York Film Festival, Runnin' Down A Dream brings Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers full circle, from their humble Gainesville, Florida beginnings to their emotional hometown 30th Anniversary Concert. The film is a vivid portrait of a band that has created a body of work considered one of the richest catalogs in American musical history.
Upon its original release in October 2007, the Houston Chronicle said Runnin' Down A Dream is "destined to be a classic" and the New York Daily News described the film as "a godsend for music lovers." Rolling Stone called the film "rock and roll purity with poetic gravitas."

The two-disc set will contain the entire four-hour film plus three bonus performances.

The Bonus Performances:
  1. Too Much Ain't Enough, recorded Live At The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, December 31, 1978- Santa Monica, CA. Directed by Michael K. Mannes.

  2. The Waiting (featuring Eddie Vedder), recorded Live At Pepsi Center, July 3, 2006- Denver, CO. Directed by Michael Drumm and edited by Martyn Atkins and William Bullen.

  3. Mystic Eyes (Van Morrison), recorded Live At The Greek Theatre, October 27, 2006- Berkeley, CA. Directed by Adria Petty.

The film, two years in the making, features extensive interviews with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and the band's fellow musicians, friends, and collaborators past and present. Among the participants are Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Jackson Browne, Roger McGuinn, Dave Stewart, Jeff Lynne, Rick Rubin, Jimmy Lovine, and Johnny Depp. The film includes rare archival footage, much of which has never been seen before. In addition, Runnin' Down A Dream captures Tom Petty with his Traveling Wilburys bandmates, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison.

The 4 DVD Disc version that Stevie also appears on is also. This version includes the "30th Anniversary Concert" Tackslist: Listen To Her Heart, Mary Jane's Last Dance, I Won't Back Down, Free Fallin', Saving Grace, I'm A Man, Oh Well, Handle With Care, Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks), I Need To Know (with Stevie Nicks), It's Good To Be King, Down South, Southern Accents, Insider (with Stevie Nicks), Learning To Fly, Don't Come Around Here No More, Runnin' Down A Dream, You Wreck Me, Mystic Eyes, American Girl.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

REVIEW: On his own, Lindsey Buckingham’s style still evolving

CONCERT REVIEW:
By Jon Fassnacht
Reading Eagle

For two hours Friday night, the Sovereign Performing Arts Center could have been called Buckingham’s Palace.

Lindsey Buckingham, best known as Fleetwood Mac’s guitarist and male voice, shared a love fest with a fiesty crowd in Reading.

There were standing ovations following nearly every song. Many were moved to stand up and dance in front of their seats. And there was one gentleman who bellowed “We love yoooooooouu!” about 50 times during the evening.

Buckingham recently celebrated his 60th birthday, but he doesn’t look or sound anywhere near that old. His guitar playing continues to evolve, a unique style that melds delicate finger-picking with the amplification and noisy chords of electric guitars.

He and his three-piece backing band are promoting his new album, “Gift of Screws,” a title that Buckingham said isn’t as nasty as it sounds, coming from an Emily Dickinson poem.

He played a healthy selections of songs from the new album, and all of them were very well-received. It was clear that those who attended weren’t there to just to hear some Fleetwood Mac songs.

But Buckingham was more than happy to delve into his more-popular and lucrative gig as one-fifth of one of the most popular bands in history.

About half of the set’s 19 selections were songs Buckingham wrote for and performed with Fleetwood Mac. Save for acoustic renditions of “Never Going Back Again” and “Big Love,” the songs were aggressive, loud and fresh, climaxing during the final three songs of the main set.

“World Turning” started slowly before building to its forceful conclusion, which led to an Alfredo Reyes drum solo, during which he did his best John Bonham/Animal impersonation, playing everything with his hands. “I’m So Afraid” followed, featuring a mammoth Buckingham solo, leading into “Go Your Own Way.”

Buckingham said the group of musicians has been touring together for only a few years.

“As we keep touring, things keep evolving and it just keeps getting better and better for me,” Buckingham said.

The guitarist clearly was enjoying his time here, frequently mugging for the crowd and saying multiple times that he’ll be back.

“We should set up a residency here,” Buckingham said. “The Reading tour.”

PHOTOS: Lindsey Buckingham Birds Eye View of Salt Lake City Show

Seriously, these photos are up there with some of the best live shots taken of Lindsey Buckingham on this tour that I've seen - and quite possibly the last tour as well! Well done!!
View tons more here: Neeta Lind

Friday, October 10, 2008

Stevie Live in Detroit - October 25th - MotorCity Casino

SOUND BOARD Continues Blockbuster Entertainment Lineup with Stevie Nicks on Saturday, October 25th

DETROIT, Oct 10, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- SOUND BOARD, an intimate live entertainment venue at MotorCity Casino Hotel, proudly welcomes legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Stevie Nicks, to complete its opening lineup with a one night only performance on Saturday October 25, 2008 at 8pm.


Ms. Nicks, who is ranked #14 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, is known for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics. Her enchanting stage presence and signature intensity will undoubtedly provide an unforgettable event as the continuation of the official SOUND BOARD opening weekend.

SOUND BOARD is conveniently located inside the MotorCity Casino Hotel conference center. Unique to the area, the theater was designed as a working musician's theater and is equipped with state-of-the-art digital video and light distribution systems, which include a d&b line array speaker system; DiGiDesign consoles; Hog Lighting Controls and over 40 moving lights. It also features four bars and several private suites that are available to create an unforgettable entertainment event.

Tickets ($125, $100 and $80) go on sale Saturday, October 11th at 10:00 a.m., and may be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations. To charge tickets by phone, call (248) 645-6666.

For more information about MotorCity Casino Hotel or to make a hotel reservation please call 1-866-STAY-MCC or visit http://www.motorcitycasino.com/ .


SOURCE MotorCity Casino Hotel http://www.motorcitycasino.com/

Thursday, October 09, 2008

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham once again affirmed his guitar hero status - Live in Chicago

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM LIVE 
CHICAGO - OCTOBER 2, 2008 - HOUSE OF BLUES

Paste MagazineBy Joshua Klein
Photos by Laura G

Gift Of Screws is Lindsey Buckingham's second solo album in two years following a nearly 15-year gap, and he didn't shy away from showcasing the new material at the House Of Blues on Thursday night, even if most of the attendees were likely expecting his Fleetwood Mac hits (and even if many minds were perhaps preoccupied by the concurrent Cubs playoff game and VP debates, no doubt to blame for the less-than-capacity crowd).

As leader of Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham sold millions of records, but has seen less commercial success on his own. Artistically, though, his solo work has never really struck a wrong note, and all of his records have been exceedingly adventurous. Still, at this point one must assume his cult solo status comes largely by choice: He could easily fit most of his solo tracks to suit Fleetwood Mac, and has in the past. Indeed, much of Gift Of Screws dates back to the time when Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will convinced Buckingham to sideline his solo career and cannibalize several works in progress for the sake of the group.

Still, in a live setting, the likes of "Love Runs Deeper" and the new album's title track proved to be energized rockers with the rough edges left thankfully intact (as much as the control-freak in Buckingham leaves any edges rough). The latter was deliriously unhinged and the former easily on par with past Buckingham pop nuggets such as "Go Insane" and "Trouble," performed that night back-to-back. When Buckingham did dip into the Mac catalog, he chose the unlikely avenue of "Tusk" and "I Know I'm Not Wrong" rather than the most obvious songs-- though he eventually did some of those, too, including "Never Going Back Again" through the crowd-pleasing "World Turning" and "Go Your Own Way."

Throughout the night, Buckingham once again affirmed his guitar hero status, his idiosyncratic finger-picking style one of the many things that set his go-for-broke solos apart from the usual suspects. Though he demonstrated flash to spare, watching him play was akin to watching someone weave, his fingers gracefully dancing across and around the strings with an ease sometimes at odds with the jagged sonic shrapnel coming from his instrument. Buckingham could likely afford to add an extra player or two to the tried-and-true trio that has been accompanying him as of late, but the quartet did remarkably well with his equally composed and crazy arrangements-- frenetic, fussy and just as often beautiful in one fell swoop.

REVIEW: Lindsey Buckingham Live in Chicago - Gift of Screws Tour

Lindsey Buckingham Live in Chicago October 2, 2008
by Vern Hester

Windy City Times

When Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac in 1974, nobody could expect much. Doe-eyed, fresh-faced and hippiefied Buckingham/Nicks had already released an album that went nowhere while the Mac—a British blues band— was seemingly on its last legs. The success of Nicks' witchy Rhiannon caught everyone by surprise but the sleeper 1975 smash Fleetwood Mac prepared no one for the monster 1977 album Rumours. The rest is history ( including breakups, diva attitudes, drugs, divorce, infidelities, booze, jealousy, and an unbroken string of sellout tours and multi-platinum albums ) , but a distinct history nonetheless. In retrospect, no one has had the legs that the Mac has had, and now that Nicks' charm has curdled into schtick it's as plain as day how much Buckingham brought to the table of L.A. rock. After one listen to ‘79's Tusk or his out-there rave-ups on ‘80's Live, it was obvious that the man was a demented wizard or possessed by aliens from another galaxy ... or both.

Part ferocious bluesman, part nutty professor and part post-summer Beach Boy, Buckingham was the wild card that gave the Mac its idyosyncratic flavor and bite. While Nicks kept a higher profile, Buckingham—the other dominant personality in the band and, by far, the most creative—released solo albums of such wayward personality and oddball charisma that he seemed at times, well, nutty. Granted, Go Insane had the clicking heart of Oz's tin man, but Buckingham's studio tinkering took years and could only be called obsessive. ( If the idea of a grown man, albeit a very rich one, tapping out the percussion for a song with two pencils on a box of Kleenex on his bathroom floor with a $20,000 mircrophone dosen't strike you as “obsessive,” I don't know what will. ) As a result, there's a certain closed-in quality on his projects that feels airtight and joyless. A decade of happy matrimony and a brood of his own kids seem to have put some rosiness back in his cheeks and opened up his music by degrees.

His new Gift of Screws, like his four previous solo efforts, is bullish on personality, shot through with a punchy eccentricity, but surprisingly quirk free and emotionally direct. The tone of Screws is a regret-free wistfulness that sounds almost nostalgic. The opener, Great Day, is equal parts syncopated percussion and clenched vocals spiked with jagged guitar blasts. Love Runs Deeper and Gift of Screws have an even bigger assault—there's no way that the Mac could contain this fury. The obvious gem here is Did You Miss Me?—a lilting valentine of such fragmented aching that it sounds like the oncoming of autumn.

Buckingham's packed Oct. 2 show at House of Blues put Screws and all of his music in a different context. Without the safe confines of a cushy studio, Trouble, Did You Miss Me? and Big Love were more plaintive and earthbound. Mac staples Never Going Back Again and World Turning got reworked and turned on their heads—the latter even flipped backwards and almost unrecognizable. A positively fierce Tusk shook the rafters in a way that the Mac never could muster but I'm So Afraid tipped the show in another direction. Buckingham sank into it with a steady conviction, but where the Live version was a weighed-down snarling affair of shrieking pain and fury, his guitar solo here was nimble, fleet and even transcendent. Shorn of its danger and pain, he turned it into something almost hallucinatory and light.

If Buckingham can live through the uber-fame of the Mac's ongoing existence, live a new life and do it without the bitterness and artistic slop that tends to cling to rock megastars, then I guess there's hope for all of us.