Rob Thomas to play Soaring Eagle

Singer-songwriter Rob Thomas is right in the middle of his Something To Be tour, which he began in early October, and which he plans to stick with through mid-December of this year. Following shows in Texas, Massachusetts, California, and Nevada, he’ll be swinging through the Midwest, making stops in Chicago (12/5), Toronto (12/9), and Detroit (12/10). On this, his first solo tour, Thomas is touring with a full backing band, performing songs from his new album (titled the same as the tour), including tracks “Lonely No More” and “This Is How a Heart Breaks,” as well as some Matchbox Twenty faves (“3 A.M.,” “Push,” and “Smooth” have all reportedly showed up in his set) and several surprise covers.
Northern Michigan fans will be glad to find out that Rob will also be appearing at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mt. Pleasant, just a short road trip away and sure to be a great show in their spacious new concert hall - for tix and info, just hop online and check out www.soaringeaglecasino.com...

Another show that you might just want to hop in the car for is the appearance of Houston pop-punk-rockers Fenix TX on December 5 at Magic Stick in Detroit. The band has shifted members and gone through more than a little turmoil, but the tunes are still there, and now they’re doing some rockin’ live shows across the U.S., with plans to take the whole shebang to the UK and Japan after their American dates have wrapped. Fans can look forward to hearing some as-yet-unreleased material as well as old songs, B-sides, and more - their Purple Reign in Blood LIVE CD is expected in 2005 or early 2006, so keep an ear out...

Acoustic music innovator John Fahey is being honored with a tribute album called I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey that is being produced by M. Ward and will include a whole list of rock and folk artists. Among the musicians contributing to the disc will be Devendra Banhart (covering “Sligo River”), Grandaddy (“Dance of the Inhabitants of the Palace King Phillip XIV of Spain”), Calexico (“Dance of Death”), and Michigan’s own Sufjan Stevens, whose track will be “Variation on ‘Commemorative Transfiguration and Communion at Magruder Park.” Even though Fahey himself is fairly obscure among the ranks of the charts, this disc will show that his influence ranges far among pop-rock musicians themselves...

And in the “ridiculously-less-obscure” department, Aerosmith has announced more tour dates for 2006, with presale tickets being available through Aerosmith’s official fanclub, Aeroforce One (accessible through the www.aeroforceone.com website). The band is promoting their new live disc, Rockin’ the Joint, which records their 2002 performance at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel’s nightclub, The Joint - the disc contains 11 audio tracks, and a DVD side features enhanced stereo mixes plus video footage of Aerosmith playing live. Joining Aerosmith on the road will be Lenny Kravitz, who continues to promote his 2004 album, Baptism - tour stops will include Minneapolis (12/6), Chicago (12/10), Detroit (12/15), and Grand Rapids MI (12/17), and dates will continue through February...
MINI BUZZ:
The Strokes, whose new album, *First Impressions of Earth, will hit stores on January 3, have just announced that they’ll embark on a month-long tour of the UK starting January 19...
Saint Etienne’s latest effort, Tales From Turnpike House, will find its way to stores, too, on January 24...
Collective Soul will be releasing their two-CD DVD set, Home: A Live Concert Recording with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, on February 7...
The new The Darkness album, One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back is out this week, and fans can preview it before buying it in streaming form on the band’s MySpace music site online, www.myspace.com/thedarkness...
The youngest son of the legendary Bob Marley, namely Damian Marley, is back with a new single, “The Master Has Come Back,” that will be out on December 12...
And Robbie Williams has announced that he’s kicking off his biggest tour to date, which will start on April 10, 2006 in South Africa, and will continue criss-crossing the globe through mid-next-September in London, with more dates to be added...

And added to media store shelves this week are these new releases... ON CD: Beck’s Guerolito... the special edition of Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor... The Greenhornes’ Sewed Souls... Kylie Minogue’s reissued Showgirl... Los Lonely Boys’ Live at the Filmore... and New Order’s Singles... ON DVD: Ryan Cabrera’s Live at the Wiltern LG... Rock Star: INXS - The DVD... Brian Eno’s 14 Video Paintings... and Rocked: Sum 41 in Congo... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves about this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!


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