Hard to believe that Woody Guthrie, conceivably, could still be alive in 2012, given that he’s been gone for 45 years. Yet his incomparable work, especially circa 1939-1949, and the indomitable spirit of that work, a Big Bang of social-consciousness-in-song that set off reverberations down through history – from Dylan and Ochs and the whole early ’60s folk revival and on to Joe Strummer’s righteous punk rebellion – resonates still, as long as repression, corruption, and abuse of power still flourish.
Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon is auctioning a guitar made from a whiskey barrel.
The custom axe is called The 1608 and was made by Vernon in conjunction with master luthier Gordy Bischoff. Crafted from white oak wood taken from Bushmills Irish Whiskey barrels, the guitar came about as a result of Bon Iver's advertising deal with the drinks brand.
The volume and tone control knobs are made of bottle caps and whiskey was added to the guitar humidor during the making process, so the instrument smells every so slightly booze-y.
Usual excuses about too much work to do (currently: a forthcoming Ultimate Music Guide on The Kinks, and the dark mathematics of Uncut’s end-of-year charts, as well as the rest of the next issue) mean that I failed yesterday to write a review of the Six Organs Of Admittance show at Birthdays in Dalston.
The Rolling Stones have announced two London dates for November – scroll down to watch a video of the announcement.
The Stones will play London's O2 Arena on November 25 and 29 to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They will also be playing two New York shows on December 15 and 13. Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 19, at 9am.
The band made the announcement via a video posted to their Facebook page.
Neil Young is not, at a guess, an artist who suffers much from writer’s block. In the past few years, many of his albums have felt like spontaneous dispatches from an over-productive mind.
