
Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize??” Voted Official Oklahoma Rock SongPhoto: Mazur/WireImage Evidently, Oklahoma has spent the past two years working on a very important legislative matter: the nomination and confirmation of the Flaming Lips‘ “Do You Realize??” as the state’s official rock song. According to a press release from the Oklahoma Historical Society, the state’s legislature voted to affirm the track’s importance, putting Wayne Coyne and Co. in the history books for real as part of Senate Joint Resolution 24. The 2002 track from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots beat out some stiff competition: the 10 finalists that were “representative of the pervasive influence of Oklahoma and Oklahomans on the development of rock & roll” included “Let’s Have a Party” by Wanda Jackson (1958); “Walk Don’t Run” by The Venture (1960); “Endless Oklahoma Sky” by John Moreland and the Black Gold Band (2008); “Home Sweet Oklahoma” by Leon Russell (1971); “Move Along” by the All-American Rejects (2005); “Never Been to Spain” written by Hoyt Axton (1971); “Oklahoma” by The Call (1986); “Heartbreak Hotel” written by Mae Boren Axton (1956); and “After Midnight” by J.J. Cale (1965). An official Official Oklahoma Rock Song Advisory Panel was convened in 2007 to recognize the role the state has played in rock history and after the nominations were gathered in 2008 (2,498 were submitted for 458 different tunes) and narrowed down to 10 by the panel, the public voted on the Website oklahomarocksong.org. When the 21,061 votes were counted, the Lips were on top. In case you were wondering, voters submitted comments, too, which include “The beauty in the message of ‘Do You Realize??’ perfectly suits the beautiful state of Oklahoma.”
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Published: 2009-03-03 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News
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Cat Power Readies Two More Covers Albums, Fall Tour Cat Power has been in Brooklyn, Miami and Dallas studios recording two new albums of cover songs with Stuart Sikes (and a band consisting of drummer Jim White, keyboardist Greg Foreman, guitarist Judah Bauer and bassist Greg Paparazzi). On what’s tentatively titled The Covers Record II (due in January), Chan Marshall takes on Joni Mitchell’s “Blue,” the Highwaymen’s “Silver Stallion,” Hot Boys’ “I Feel,” Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son,” Jessie Mae Hemphill’s “Lord Help the Poor and Needy,” Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You,” and a duet with Shane MacGowan on the Irish traditional “The Auld Triangle.” On 2000’s The Covers Record she memorably interpreted the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” and songs by Moby Grape and the Velvet Underground. And in the fall, Cat Power will get a chance to rest out some of these tunes on a short tour during which she’ll be backed by the Memphis Rhythm Band, the group of musicians that played on tours for her 2006 album The Greatest. Keep reading for the full list of tour dates: 8/17 - Dallas, TX (Granada Theater) 9/14 - New York, NY (Madison Square Garden; opening for Interpol) 9/19 - San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore) 9/21 - Los Angeles, CA (Avalon) 10/13 - Fulton County, GA (The Echo Project) 10/14 - Norfolk, VA (NorVa) 10/15 - Washington, DC (9:30 Club) 10/16 - Carrboro, NC (Cat’s Cradle) 10/18 - Tallahassee, FL (The Moon) 10/19 - Savannah, GA (Trustees Theater at Savannah College of Art and Design) 10/20 - Orlando, FL (Club Firestone) 10/21 - St. Petersburg, FL (State Theatre)
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Published: 2007-08-17 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News
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Single Minded: Shelby Lynne, Joe Jackson, Mars Volta, Vampire Weekend and Protest the Hero Every Tuesday Single Minded highlights new tracks hitting stores (or the Web) this week. On Fridays, come back for rarities, remixes, mash-ups and more. Vampire Weekend, “Oxford Comma,” “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” [Official Site] Vampire Weekend’s songs are bright and bouyant, so it’s a shame that by the time you finish reading this everyone you know will already hate them. Joe Jackson, “King Pleasure Time” [MySpace] After five years, Joe Jackson returns with a whole new batch of songs for the Raconteurs to crib from. Shelby Lynne, “Willie and Laura Mae Jones” [Official Site] Lynne gives a once-over to the Dusty Springfield catalog but, to the incredible relief of anyone who attended college in the Nineties, spares us the song they used in Pulp Fiction. The Mars Volta, “Untitled Exclusive Track” [Official Site] Successfully solve this puzzle, and get rewarded with an exclusive Mars Volta track. We’d tell you what it sounds like, but at a certain point the reward was no longer worth the effort. That “certain point” was after, like, nine or ten seconds. Protest the Hero, “Bloodmeat” [MySpace] And speaking of prog! Canadian band imagines a side project between Rush and Skid Row. Make of that what you will. [Photo: Getty]
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Published: 2008-01-29 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Single Minded, Rock Daily
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Ike Turner Dies at Age Seventy-Six Ike Turner an essential and largely undervalued figure in the history of both rhythm & blues and rock & roll, died in his home in San Marcos, California, earlier today. He was seventy-six years old. The cause of his death is unknown at this time. To the public, Turner was best known as half of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, a hard-hitting R&B band that tore off a string of hits in the Sixties and early Seventies — most notably a torrid version of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary” that cracked the Top Ten and became a pop-culture staple on the basis of Tina’s smoldering spoken introduction to the song (“We never, ever do nothin’ nice and easy”). Influential far beyond its hits, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. But Ike Turner had been a musical innovator for years before he met Anna Mae Bullock, the singer who would eventually become his wife and, as Tina Turner, propel him to international fame. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 and raised on a steady diet of the blues, Turner eventually became an important songwriter, producer, guitarist, pianist, band leader and talent scout. “Rocket 88,” a blistering R&B hit in 1951 that is often cited as the first rock & roll song, may have been credited to Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats. But Brenston, who sang the song, was simply the saxophonist in Turner’s band, the Kings of Rhythm, who performed the song under Turner’s leadership. Turner played piano on the track, and may well have written it, though that, too, was credited to Brenston at the time. It would not be the last time Ike Turner was overlooked. But without becoming a star in his own right, Turner thrived in the free-wheeling days of the independent record industry in the South in the 1950s. A propulsive pianist who first learned his style from the bluesman Pinetop Perkins, whom he met as a child, Turner eventually became an outstanding guitarist. His rhythmic sense was at once r
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Published: 2007-12-13 Provider: Rolling Stone Keywords: Rock News
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