Click HERE to download and watch the conversation that took place on June 3rd at the Apple Store SoHo with Stephen King, John Mellencamp, and T Bone Burnett, co-creators of the southern gothic supernatural musical “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.”
This extraordinary collaboration—13 years in the making—is a haunting tale of fraternal love, jealousy, and revenge.
The moderator, Anthony DeCurtis from Rolling Stone talks to the special guests about the inspiration behind the project and the all-star recording, with music and lyrics by Mellencamp, libretto by King, and musical direction by Burnett.
Apple today announced iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV, you’ll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalized your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive “first listen” premieres from top selling artists, Siri integration, plus the ability to tag or buy anything you hear with just one click.
iTunes Radio offers music fans access to thousands of new songs every week, as well as serving up exclusive music from new and popular artists before you hear them anywhere else. Whether it’s an exclusive single from an up-and-coming band or a pre-release stream of an entire album, iTunes Radio has it all. iTunes Radio will also be home to special events including live streams direct from the iTunes Festival in London and other exclusive iTunes Sessions.
Coming this fall, iTunes Radio will offer you an incredibly personalized experience on day one based on your listening history and past purchases from iTunes. In addition, if you’re listening to a song you like from iTunes Radio or your music library you will be able to have a station built around those. It’s easy to create and customize stations based on whatever you want to hear. Search for artists, songs, or genres, and iTunes Radio will instantly build a station around your choice.
Let Siri make your listening experience even more fun. Ask Siri “Who plays that song?” or “Play more like this” and Siri will make it happen. Say something like “Play Jazz Radio” or ask for any of your existing favorite stations and genres. Shape your stations by telling Siri what you like and don’t like, or tell Siri to pause, stop or skip. You can also have Siri add songs to your Wish List to download later.
iTunes Radio is ad-supported and free for everyone. iTunes Match users get iTunes Radio ad-free, so instead of hearing the occasional ad on iTunes Radio, iTunes Match makes your listening completely ad-free. With iTunes Match, all your music—even songs you’ve imported from CDs—are stored in iCloud. So iTunes Radio can use information about your entire music collection to make your stations even more personalized. iTunes Match costs $24.99 for a year.
Writer Stephen King, producer T-Bone Burnett and musician John Mellencamp, creators of the Musical, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County which is now available on CD, DVD and a Deluxe book package.
Last year the Mister Rogers clip “Garden of Your Mind” went viral. To date, the video has garnered 8.7 million YouTube views and a Webby for best video remix/mashup.
Today PBS is releasing another Mister Rogers remix from Symphony of Science’s John D. Boswell called Sing Together. Check it out below.
Brothers of Darkland County, (Hear Music/Concord Music Group), the long-awaited southern gothic supernatural musical from co-conspirators Stephen King, John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett, will be released as an illustrated digital book created and designed especially for Apple’s iBooks on June 3rd, 2013.
Blending the special project’s Stephen King-penned libretto, original songs and lyrics written by John Mellencamp, excerpts of key dialog along with interactive video, sound effects and graphics, the digital book will provide readers a one-of-a-kind immersive experience into this extraordinary collaboration.
A stellar cast of guest artists including Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, Neko Case, Taj Mahal, Ryan Bingham, Will Dailey and Kris Kristofferson, along with actors Matthew McConaughey, Samantha Mathis and Meg Ryan perform the book’s songs and audio excerpts.
In an historic note, the Ghost Brothers of Darkland County digital book edition is Stephen King’s very first digital book conceived and designed especially for Apple’s iBooks in the legendary author’s long and illustrious career.
Pre-order Ghost Brothers of Darkland County exclusively on the iBookstore: iTunes.com/GhostBrothers
It’s been 20 years since Billy Joel released his last pop album. Though the Piano Man has toured extensively, won a Tony, and even put out a collection of classical compositions over the last two decades, he hasn’t released new music since 1993′s River of Dreams.
According to an interview in this week’s New York Times magazine, the singer talks about why he stopped making albums: “I got bored with it,” Joel says. “I wanted to write something other than the three-minute pop tune even though that’s an art form unto itself.” And though Joel sounds nothing but grateful for his success, he also seems to resent being pegged as a pop writer: “It’s a very nice box to be in for a while, but then it becomes like a coffin.”
The New York Times spent some time with the 64 year old songwriter to discuss his lengthy music career and fascinating private life. You can read the interview HERE.
Last night’s Saturday Night Live was the last to feature Fred Armisen, who’s been a member of the cast for 11 seasons. His final sketch was a performance as his British punk rock alter ego Ian Rubbish singing an original song, “Lovely Day”.
Fred brought out a bunch of his coolest indie rock friends: Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Steve Jones from The Sex Pistols, Carrie Brownstein from Sleater-Kinney and Wild Flag (and Portlandia!), J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr., and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth.
Mondo, the collectible art division of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is excited to announce the release of The Raid: Redemption Motion Picture Soundtrack on limited edition black vinyl with randomly inserted smokey grey vinyl discs. The limited edition vinyl features the perfectly imposing artwork of Mondo artist Jock in stark shades of black and white along with music from the film by Joe Trapanese and Mike Shinoda.
Joe Trapanese is most well known for his collaboration with Daft Punk on 2009′s Tron: Legacy soundtrack, as well as Mondo’s most recent LP release of the soundtrack to Oblivion. Joe’s work varies from television (Dexter) to collaborations with M83 on their 2011 album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.”
Mike Shinoda is perhaps best known as the principal songwriter, guitarist and rapper of Linkin Park. He has a diverse musical background, producing tracks for everyone from Depeche Mode to Lupe Fiasco. His collaboration with Joe Trapanese marks his first film score.
The Raid: Redemption vinyl will be available for purchase on May 24 at MondoTees.com, follow@MondoNews on Twitter for the exact sale time. Starting June 26th the limited edition vinyl will be available for purchase from select retail stores.
The Post-Punk / New Wave Super Friends is an amazing illustrated project by Brazilian designer Butcher Billy that reimagines a famous group of post-punk and new wave rock stars as superheroes from DC Comics’ crime fighting Super Friends team. Prints, apparel, iPhone cases and more are available to purchase online at Society6.
AEG Live is pleased to announce that the southern gothic, supernatural musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, written by Stephen King, with music by John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett, has confirmed a tour of 20 American cities throughout the Midwest and Southeast beginning October 10 in Bloomington, IN, and ending November 6 in Grand Rapids, MI.
This extraordinary collaboration, 13 years in the making, is a haunting tale of fraternal love, lust, jealousy and revenge, which will be performed by an ensemble cast of 15 actors and a four-piece live band.
The album of the musical will be released on June 4 via Hear Music and the Concord Music Group.
The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County saga began when Mellencamp told King about a cabin on his land in Indiana where two brothers had gotten in a fight over a girl; one brother accidentally killing the other, only to die along with the girl in a car crash a short time later. King came up with an outline for a play in a matter of days. And then off and on, back and forth, they began to develop it into a full-length musical.
The superb blues ‘n’ roots music of Ghost Brothers reflects the wide range of styles and influences needed for a work that jumps back and forth across decades. Rather than use the songs to propel the play’s narrative, as in a conventional musical, Mellencamp chose to make them a way to reveal the emotions and inner workings of the characters.
Set in the tiny town of Lake Belle Reve, Mississippi, the Ghost Brothers’ story centers on two sets of brothers: the ghosts of Jack and Andy, dead in an apparent murder/suicide, and their nephews, the living Frank and Drake, who seem to be headed toward the same downward spiral as their uncles. Joe, younger brother of Jack and Andy, father of Frank and Drake, has decided it’s time to reveal his own terrible secret at the site of the tragedy, before it’s too late.
Tour dates and locations are as follows:
October
10 – Bloomington, IN – Indiana University Auditorium
11 – Louisville, KY – Whitney Hall
12 – Knoxville, TN – Knoxville Civic Auditorium
13 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
16 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
17 – Evansville, IN – Aiken Theatre at The Centre
18 – Indianapolis, IN – Clowes Memorial Hall
19 – Akron, OH – Akron Civic Theatre
22 – Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre
24 – Ft. Wayne, IN – Embassy Theatre
25 – Madison, WI – Overture Hall
26 – Rockford, IL – Coronado Performing Arts Center
27 – Appleton, WI – Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
29 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theatre
31 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre
November
1 – Sioux City, IA – Orpheum Theatre
2 – Ames, IA – Stephens Auditorium
3 – Davenport, IA – Adler Theatre
5 – South Bend, IN – Morris Performing Arts Center
6 – Grand Rapids, MI – DeVos Performance Hall
Please visit aeglive.com for links to all ticket purchases. The password for pre-sales will be posted on aeglive.com and here on stephenking.com at 9:30 AM ET Tuesday morning.
Off Camera is a website, magazine, television show, and podcast that is hosted by photographer/director Sam Jones. He created the show out of his passion for the long form conversational interview, and as a way to share his conversations with a myriad of artists, actors, musicians, directors, skateboarders, photographers, and writers that pique his interest. This week he interviewed singer songwriter Aimee Mann.
Mann, the Boston born Grammy winner and self-described Oscar loser, was recently named to NPR’s list of the ten finest living songwriters. With surprising humor and optimism, Mann lets us in on her bumpy journey, a few surprising hobbies and why, after a career-long struggle to make a living with her art, she believes there’s always a next step.
Tomorrow MONDO will release the soundtrack to Oblivion by M83′s Anthony Gonzalez with Joseph Trapanese.
This 180 gram 2XLP has been pressed on clear vinyl with artwork by Kilian Eng. The clear vinyl is exclusive to MONDO’s webstore. For more details and pics, check the blog HERE.
Please follow MONDO on Twitter for the on sale announcement. This 2XLP will be available online at a random time on Friday, April 26th.
Original music by M83. Score composed by Anthony Gonzalez and Joseph Trapanese. Packaging design by Kilian Eng. 2XLP pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Limited edition pressed on clear vinyl. $25
“Over 350M books sold. 40 New York Times #1 Bestsellers. One lousy band.
In 1992, a cadre of the world’s bestselling authors formed a rock band. Twenty years later, they’re hanging up their guitar picks, drumsticks and leather whips, but not without a look back on two decades of friendship, love, writing and the redemptive power of rock’n’roll.
Hard Listening is a voyeuristic view into the private lives of your favorite authors, combining essays, fiction, candid email conversations, Q&As and interactive parlor games.
See Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, Dave and Sam Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Mitch Albom, James McBride, Ridley Pearson, Matt Groening, Greg Iles, and rock legend Roger McGuinn at their most unguarded.”
Stephen King contributed a new essay, a new short story, and several candid email exchanges to the book. The essay is called ‘Just a Little Talent’.
King’s fans will also enjoy the writing contest in which several of the authors (including SK) contributed short stories written in Stephen’s style.
The 4 stories are ‘Robert Johnson’s Flattop,’ ‘The Rock and Roll Dead Zone,’ ‘In the Woods,’ and ‘Black Mambo’.
Readers then get to vote on which piece was actually written by Stephen, before seeing the results.
The album features Elvis Costello, Neko Case, Sheryl Crow, and Roseanne Cash.
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will be available across a variety of formats:
The 3-disc (2CD/1DVD) Hardcover Edition (distributed by Scribner) with leatherette cover, contains the musical’s songs (with and without dialog excerpts), specially printed libretto, liner notes written by noted journalist Alan Light and the Making of Ghost Brothers mini-documentary DVD, featuring in-depth interviews with King, Mellencamp and Burnett along with the digital libretto and other bonus material.
The 2-disc (1CD/1DVD) Deluxe Edition features the musical’s songs with dialog excerpts and the digital libretto, along with bonus video including the Making of Ghost Brothers mini documentary and music only digital download card.
The (enhanced CD) Standard Edition features the musical’s songs, dialog excerpts, digital libretto and music only digital download card.
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County iBook Digital Edition allows users to interact in unprecedented ways with the musical’s songs + digital libretto, as well as exclusive video and graphic materials.
You can listen to Kris Kristofferson perform “How Many Days” HERE.
A limited-edition poster of Jimi Hendrix is one of the highlights of Record Store Day 2013.
“It’s entirely appropriate that an image of Jimi Hendrix is on the official Record Store Day poster,” said Janie Hendrix, his sister. “He was an avid music fan and record collector himself and, of course, his recordings are among the most enduring and cherished of all time. Jimi’s musical legacy and influence grow with every passing year so, in a sense, he makes Record Store Day last much, much longer than 24 hours.”
Only 5,000 copies of the poster will be made. The image is a 24” x 36” poster printed on heavy paper and will be free to Hendrix fans at fully participating record stores in the United States. Fans should contact their local stores the week before Record Store Day, which falls on April 20th this year, for details.
Beyond this limited-edition poster, Record Store Day 2013 will excite Jimi Hendrix fans and collectors. Experience Hendrix will issue a limited-edition, individually numbered 7-inch vinyl single featuring the original mono mixes of “Hey Joe” and “Stone Free,” which have been unavailable since their original 1966 release.
HERE is a list of the special releases that will be available today.
Record Store Day began six years ago as an event to support the independent record community worldwide; it occurs on the third Saturday of April.
Twitter #Music ($Free) is a new official app that makes it easy to find what songs are trending, what artists are emerging, what the artists you follow are listening to, and what tracks your friends are digging. Just sign in with your Twitter account, link the app with Spotify or Rdio, and enjoy.
Min-ETune is a compact, battery-powered robot tuner that tunes your Gibson guitar in seconds—and delivers 80-100 tunings on one charge. Adjust the tuning pegs manually, turn on the Min-ETuneTM to tune all six strings to perfect pitch automatically, or select any of 12 popular alternate tunings (including six you can program yourself). You can even adjust your guitar’s tunings to match other instruments.
Available on a wide range of Gibson guitars so you can find one that is just right for you. A guitar with Min-ETune feels the same, looks the same (the unit mounts onto the back of your guitar’s headstock), and plays the same. But most importantly, it sounds the same—Min-ETuneTM works by tuning the physical strings, not by digital trickery that degrades your tone.
Save time and money in the studio, keep the flow going onstage, enhance your creativity with new tunings, and more. You take care of the playing—we’ll handle the tuning.
MONDO, the collectible art division of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is excited to announce the limited edition vinyl release of the Oblivion Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, featuring new music by Anthony Gonzalez of M83 and Joseph Trapanese (TRON: Uprising, The Raid: Redemption). This collaboration was an exciting project for MONDO to once again combine their love of film music with gorgeous custom artwork. The artwork for the vinyl album cover and interior comes from MONDO artist Kilian Eng and will be a 180 gram 2X LP in Deluxe Gatefold packaging. The Oblivion vinyl will be available for purchase on April 26 at MondoTees.com for $25 and will also be available for retail sale starting May 28.
Tom Cruise stars in Oblivion, an original and groundbreaking cinematic event from the visionary director of TRON: Legacy and producers of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. On a spectacular future Earth that has evolved beyond recognition, one man’s confrontation with the past will lead him on a journey of redemption and discovery as he battles to save mankind. Oblivion will be released in theaters and IMAX on April 19.
Artist Kilian Eng was born 1982 in Stockholm, Sweden. His commissioned work has mostly been for the music industry creating artwork for bands around the world, including The Gaslamp Killer, Miami Horror, Lazer Sword and Tesla Boy. His visuals often connect to sci-fi and surrealist themes. Some of his greatestinspiration comes from French and Belgian artists like Moebius, Philippe Druillet and Hergé.
Discussing his work on the MONDO vinyl packaging, Kilian said, “When I was given the honor to create artwork for the Oblivion soundtrack, I wanted toconvey the feeling of a world that was left behind; a place full of traces and remnants of a civilization long gone. An environment that truly makes the person exploring it feel small is a theme I often come back to in my artwork. For the front cover I wanted to describe this in a peaceful way. The warm colors of a sunset, or sunrise, adds an air of tranquility, providing the image a nice balance against the sharp, dark silhouettes in the foreground.”
The Oblivion Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features new music by Anthony Gonzalez of M83 andJoseph Trapanese (TRON: Uprising, The Raid: Redemption). The score is a hybrid of the traditional M83 electronic sound combined with sweeping orchestral elements. It has 16 score cues, along with a brand new song by M83 featuring Norwegian singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfor used as the end title for the film.
Track listing:
1. Jack’s Dream (1:22)
2. Waking Up (4:09)
3. Tech 49 (5:58)
4. StarWaves (3:41)
5. Odyssey Rescue (4:08)
6. Earth 2077 (2:22)
7. Losing Control (3:56)
8. Canyon Battle (5:58)
9. Radiation Zone (4:11)
10. You Can’t Save Her (4:56)
11. Raven Rock (4:33)
12. I’m Sending You Away (5:38)
13. Ashes of Our Fathers (3:30)
14. Temples of Our Gods (3:14)
15. Fearful Odds (3:09)
16. Undimmed By Time, Unbound By Death (2:26)
17. Oblivion (feat. Susanne Sundfor) (5:57)
For the exact sale time on April 26 follow @MondoNews on Twitter.
A new Rosanne Cash track would be exciting all by itself. But make it a collaboration with Stephen King, John Mellencamp and T Bone Burnett, and it becomes something altogether more impressive.
You Don’t Know Me, premiering today at USA Today, is Cash’s contribution to the all-star recording of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a musical featuring libretto by King, music and lyrics by Mellencamp and production from Burnett. The album is set for a June 4 release.
In November 2012, YouTube membermassbetelnut completely remixed the Beach Boy’s song, “I Get Around” by dubbing in new voices, leg slaps, finger snaps and instrumentation. It makes the band sound awful (in a funny way).
For those that would like to listen to the original song, here you go…
