Latest news with #MC5
Time Out
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley
Ironies – both intimate and enormous – imbue It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley with much of its thematic weight. So it's only apt that they also contribute to its artistic buoyancy. For the most part this does feel like a straightforward musical biography, with copious and well-chosen footage of the late singer-songwriter both onstage and off. But though his life and art were influenced most visibly by men, director Amy Berg (West of Memphis) chooses to tell his story in large part through women. We hear emotional memories and thoughtful insights from his single mother, Mary Guibert, his good friend Aimee Mann, his former girlfriend Rebecca Moore, and his fiancée Joan Wasser (the musician known as Joan as Police Woman). We're also witness to his own broken heart, cleaved both by the parent who abandoned him and the world that wouldn't allow him to move on. Even as Jeff was trying to understand what it meant to be the son of celebrated singer Tim Buckley, he despised the way everyone else wanted to understand it, too. And there's another paradox as well, one that's likely to remain with viewers every time they hear his music from here on. As his admirers already know, and Berg shows us at length, he put tremendous effort into crafting his own work. He also pushed back hard against a commercial mindset that coldly exploited creativity. Fans will fiercely argue that Buckley has so much more to offer than Hallelujah Buckley became increasingly disenchanted by the business side of music, and we can see hints of a path that's become sadly familiar in stories of sensitive young artists (including, it must be said, his father): towards emotional instability or mental illness, perhaps exacerbated by substance use. But as it happens, the punk angel with the four-octave range also had a rare and remarkable mimetic gift – which made him an unusually skilled interpreter of other artists, from Nina Simone to MC5 to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. And today, he is arguably best known for his elegiac cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, a rendition that's moved millions even while corporate media has come to rely on it as an easy emotional touchstone. Fans, of course, will fiercely argue that Buckley has so much more to offer. And in the strongest compliment to Berg's affectionate portrait, she makes a similarly convincing case, with ample and tender grace. .
Boston Globe
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
With a new solo album out, former Heartbreaker Benmont Tench plays City Winery Thursday
I last spoke to Benmont Tench in 2017, days before what would become Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' final Boston concert. Petty died less than three months after that 'Reality changed,' says Tench, 71, reflecting on 'Three months later, my daughter was born. Thank God for Catherine. One teacher goes, another appears,' Tench tells me in a phone interview from his LA home where he lives with his wife, Alice Carbone Tench, and their daughter. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up While Tench had songs in his pocket in '17, between death, life, and battling cancer, 'a few things got in the way' of releasing his sophomore Advertisement More than a decade after his 2014 solo debut, rock's most in-demand session keyboardist — described as a 'genius' by Heartbreaker Mike Campbell in his recent arrived as a singer-songwriter with Now on a solo tour in support of the album, the '71 Phillips Exeter alum returns to Boston to play Advertisement In conversation, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is warm and down-to-earth. We talked Exeter days, Boston nights, Petty, the power of human connection, the Heartbreaker renaissance, and more. Q. The Heartbreakers have always had a special connection with Boston. A. The two cities in America that first responded to us were Boston and San Francisco. We've always been thankful to Massachusetts fans in general, but Boston fans in particular are among the best fans we ever had. Loyal and loud. Q. That's us. So how are you feeling? You said you were first diagnosed with tongue cancer around 2010. A. Between 2011 and 2019, I had five surgeries. In 2023 I had my jaw [partially] replaced. So we decided to hold the record until I recovered enough to play gigs and talk to people. But I love how it came out. Q. What inspired these songs? A. They're usually about something on my mind, but often I find, as I play them, they might be about something else. When it comes [out], it's like, 'Oh, that's a biblical metaphor. That's interesting.' Or 'That's a riff on a John Prine rhythm.' Tench's new album, his second as a solo artist, is "The Melancholy Season." Summer Moon Q. You grew up in Gainesville, Fla., playing classical piano from age 7, and loving rock 'n' roll. Your time in Exeter had a profound effect on you. A. What happened at Exeter, there was an explosion of Chicago blues getting its due with white kids. Now I came from the South. North Florida, until I was 10, was Jim Crow. So I come up to New England and [hear music] that inspired the Beatles and Stones. The second I heard an this ?' So I got a huge musical education, not formal, but cultural, up there. Advertisement Q. A. I raved about that concert when I met him, because it was very fresh in my mind, so that stuck with him, I know. One of my closest friends at Exeter got me into the MC5. I went because MC5 was opening, Led Zeppelin was headlining. Johnny Winter was in the middle. It was glorious. Q. After A. My friend from Exeter was an assistant engineer at a studio. He called me: 'Look, the studio is giving me free time and tape so I can work on my skills as a recording engineer. Get over here.' He had to bug me a few times because I'm lazy and my self-esteem was low. I'd called Tom to come down and just listen. I got a call two days later from Tom's first wife, Jane: 'Tommy wants a band. And he wants the band you and Stan have.' I went, 'I'm in.' Tom wants to get back together? Hell yeah. Q. I grew up going to epic concerts at the old Great Woods, where the whole crowd and band sang together, every song, every word. You must've had some magical moments. Advertisement A. Too many to name. The first times we played anywhere where we felt like people got it. When we played Paul's Mall in Boston [opening for Al Kooper] there were more people on stage than in the audience. But playing to however many or few people, if you feel like 'I'm trying to do something here, and they get it' — it's so rewarding. It's a thrill to headline some festival — but it's also a thrill to play the smallest gig in the world and feel people connect with you. That's the thing for me: connection. You want to connect. Because this world is such a mess, and everybody is so off their own head. There are many functions of art, but one function is for finding common ground. That's why any attempt to censor or control the arts — you can't. It's food for the soul. It's crucial. Q. Are you still close with A. Yeah, I talked to him about two weeks ago. I love him. Q. I'm a huge Dylan fan. I have to ask about the Heartbreakers A. Q. Mike is touring with , Stan has a new band, Advertisement A. It kind of is. None of us ever stopped making music, but it's all coming out in the BENMONT TENCH At City Winery Boston, June 26, 7:30 p.m. Lauren Daley can be reached at
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How many Detroit artists are in the R&R Hall of Fame? After some dispute, here's an answer
When the White Stripes were named Sunday night among the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 2025 inductees, there was plenty of celebration from Detroit music fans. But some of those folks had a bone to pick with the Detroit Free Press. We had described the White Stripes as Detroit's 22nd inductee, complete with a list of those 22 artists, a rundown that starts with the Class of 1987's Aretha Franklin. "Where's the MC5?" asked many who scanned the list, recalling that band's entry into the rock hall last October. Similar questions came in about Motown's Norman Whitfield, who was honored the same night. Readers were especially perplexed by the omissions because the Free Press had extensively covered that very ceremony last fall. Yes, the MC5 and Whitfield weren't in Sunday's list of 22. But there is an explanation — even if, like all things Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, it's ripe for debate. It's a running tab the Free Press has maintained for many years now. We've updated it each time a hometown artist gets inducted into the rock hall's prestigious performer wing. The performer field is the one that dominates headlines every year, accompanied by the requisite cheers and arguments among music fans worldwide. More: The White Stripes headed to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; 22nd Detroit act to be inducted More: From fan to family: A son discovers his father — and a link to a Detroit rock legacy But beyond that main tier, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has some supplemental categories, like the Award for Musical Excellence — the honor bestowed last year on Whitfield and the MC5. The award was established in 2000 under the name Sidemen, with Motown bassist James Jamerson among the inaugural honorees. When it was rebranded 10 years later with the 'Musical Excellence' banner, RRHOF officials said it was a way to recognize musicians who might not otherwise get their flowers. That eventually benefited the MC5: After six unsuccessful nominations in the performer field, the late-great Detroit band was finally ushered into the hall of fame via the Musical Excellence category. And while it might not be evident when watching the RRHOF's annual ceremony — where Musical Excellence awardees get less pomp and circumstance than others — officials say those recipients are considered fully vested hall of fame inductees. The number 22 is impressive enough, signifying Detroit's mammoth contribution to music history. (At one point in the early '90s, Motor City artists constituted more than one-fifth of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's total body of performer inductees.) Still, the Free Press will rethink this one going forward. We certainly don't want to downplay the full scope of Detroit's hall of fame presence. So as of late April 2025, here's your total number: 29. Below is the list of all the Detroit-related groups and individuals who have made the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame via one route or another. Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@ (Inducted in the performer wing unless otherwise noted.) Aretha Franklin — 1987 Marvin Gaye — 1987 Smokey Robinson — 1987 Jackie Wilson — 1987 The Supremes — 1988 Berry Gordy Jr. — 1988 (Ahmet Ertegun Award) The Temptations — 1989 Stevie Wonder — 1989 Hank Ballard — 1990 Four Tops — 1990 Holland-Dozier-Holland —1990 (Ahmet Ertegun Award) John Lee Hooker — 1991 Martha and the Vandellas — 1995 Gladys Knight & the Pips — 1996 Little Willie John — 1996 Parliament-Funkadelic — 1997 James Jamerson — 2000 (Award for Musical Excellence) Benny Benjamin — 2003 (Award for Musical Excellence) Bob Seger — 2004 Madonna — 2008 The Stooges — 2010 Alice Cooper — 2011 The Miracles — 2012 Eminem — 2022 The Spinners — 2023 MC5 — 2024 (Award for Musical Excellence) Norman Whitfield — 2024 (Award for Musical Excellence) Suzanne de Passe — 2024 (Ahmet Ertegun Award) The White Stripes — 2025 (pending November ceremony) This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How many Detroit artists are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
David Thomas, frontman of experimental rockers Pere Ubu, dead at 71
David Thomas, the live-wire frontman for experimental rockers Pere Ubu, has died. He was 71. The band posted news of Thomas' death on its official Facebook page, where the cause of death was given as "a long illness." Thomas "died in his home town of Brighton & Hove, with his wife and youngest stepdaughter by his side," the statement continued. "MC5 were playing on the radio. He will ultimately be returned to his home, the farm in Pennsylvania, where he insisted he was to be 'thrown in the barn.'' Thomas, born in Miami, was a pivotal figure in Cleveland's experimental rock underground (a regional scene that would go on yield the Dead Boys, Devo and Nine Inch Nails). Thomas first came to prominence in the group Rocket From the Tombs, which, despite never recording an album, became an influential act locally in its brief tenure. Known for his near-falsetto high voice and contrarian fondness for professorial suits onstage, Thomas cut as distinct a figure onstage as his music did on record. Several Rocket From the Tombs members split off to form Pere Ubu — named after a play by French writer Alfred Jarry — in 1975. The band was wildly progressive for its era (and continues to sound bracing today), forgoing the sneering blasts of the simmering punk movement for arty dissonance, paired with ponderous rhythms, affection for B-movie soundtracks and Thomas' idiosyncratic, sung-spoken literary allusions and bruised poetry. The group's 1978 LP, "The Modern Dance," was a landmark of post-punk and new wave ambition that arrived just as punk itself crested in the U.S. While never a commercial success during its initial run from 1975 to 1982, Pere Ubu would inspire generations of experimental rockers and producers, and re-formed over the years with a revolving lineup around Thomas. The group recorded 19 studio albums, including its highly regarded 1978 LP, "Dub Housing," and 1979's "New Picnic Time," a stressful and abrasive record that helped inspire acts like Sonic Youth. Thomas' solo career included collaborations with singer-songwriter Richard Thompson and "Saturday Night Live" music producer Hal Willner. New Pere Ubu music may come posthumously. "David Thomas and his band have been recording a new album. He knew it was to be his last," Pere Ubu wrote on Facebook. "We will endeavour to continue with mixing and finalising the new album so that his last music is available to all. ... His autobiography was nearly completed and we will finish that for him. "We'll leave you with his own words, which sums up who he was better than we can," the band's statement continued. ''My name is David F— Thomas … and I'm the lead singer of the best f— rock n roll band in the world.'' Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
David Thomas, frontman of experimental rockers Pere Ubu, dead at 71
David Thomas, the live-wire frontman for experimental rockers Pere Ubu, has died. He was 71. The band posted news of Thomas' death on its official Facebook page, where the cause of death was given as 'a long illness.' Thomas 'died in his home town of Brighton & Hove, with his wife and youngest stepdaughter by his side,' the statement continued. 'MC5 were playing on the radio. He will ultimately be returned to his home, the farm in Pennsylvania, where he insisted he was to be 'thrown in the barn.'' Thomas, born in Miami, was a pivotal figure in Cleveland's experimental rock underground (a scene that would go on yield the Dead Boys, Devo and Nine Inch Nails). Thomas first came to prominence in the group Rocket From the Tombs, which, despite never recording an album, became an influential act locally in its brief tenure. Known for his near-falsetto high voice and contrarian fondness for professorial suits onstage, Thomas cut as distinct a figure onstage as his music did on record. Several Rocket From the Tombs members split off to form Pere Ubu — named after a play by French writer Alfred Jarry — in 1975. The band was wildly progressive for its era (and continues to sound bracing today), forgoing the sneering blasts of the simmering punk movement for arty dissonance, paired with ponderous rhythms, affection for B-movie soundtracks and Thomas' idiosyncratic, sung-spoken literary allusions and bruised poetry. The group's 1978 LP, 'The Modern Dance,' was a landmark of post-punk and new wave ambition that arrived just as punk itself crested in the U.S. While never a commercial success during its initial run from 1975 to 1982, Pere Ubu would inspire generations of experimental rockers and producers, and re-formed over the years with a revolving lineup around Thomas. The group recorded 19 studio albums, including its highly regarded 1978 LP, 'Dub Housing,' and 1979's 'New Picnic Time,' a stressful and abrasive record that helped inspire acts like Sonic Youth. Thomas' solo career included collaborations with singer-songwriter Richard Thompson and 'Saturday Night Live' music producer Hal Willner. New Pere Ubu music may come posthumously. 'David Thomas and his band have been recording a new album. He knew it was to be his last,' Pere Ubu wrote on Facebook. 'We will endeavour to continue with mixing and finalising the new album so that his last music is available to all. ... His autobiography was nearly completed and we will finish that for him. 'We'll leave you with his own words, which sums up who he was better than we can,' the band's statement continued. ''My name is David F— Thomas … and I'm the lead singer of the best f— rock n roll band in the world.''
