Consider this the last in a short series of encounters with somewhat cantankerous sorts, following accounts in this space over the couple of weeks of meetings with Lou Reed and Gordon Lightfoot, both of which have stirred some passing interest and lively comment. Today’s subject is Van Morrison, by reputation a notoriously tough assignment, as I would discover.
The appearance of Werner Herzog as the icy criminal mastermind in Tom Cruise’s most recent film, Jack Reacher, may have come as a surprise to those who assumed that the German director wouldn’t have much interest in such conventional film making.
Around this time in 2012, I came up with 40 records, released between January and June, that I liked enough to include in a six-month Best-Of list. Either I’m being more diligent, or less discerning, or else 2013 is shaping up to be a better year: as you can see, I’ve managed 67 here.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse kicked off the European leg of their Alchemy tour last night (June 2).
The band played in Waldbühne, Berlin, an outdoor arena with a capacity of 22,000.
According to reports, the stage sets that the band had used on the previous legs of the tour were absent.
Lou Reed has said he is "feeling better and stronger than ever" following a life-saving liver transplant last month.
On Saturday (June 1), Reed's wife Laurie Anderson revealed that her husband had been recovering since his operation but suggested that he might not "ever totally recover" from the surgery.
However, Reed has since posted a message to fans on Facebook, where he described himself as a "triumph of modern medicine" and announced that he is looking forward to returning to the stage.
Patti Smith has been added to the line-up for this year's Green Man Festival.
Smith will headline a night of live music in the Far Out Tent on the Thursday night (August 15) of the festival that runs between August 15 and 18. Smith's appearance, the only UK festival she will be performing at this Summer, will see her join a bill that includes Jon Langford, Matt Berry and Manchester band Money.
Just before the release of 2007’s Era Vulgaris, Uncut’s Jaan Uhelzski headed out to California to see if head wrangler Josh Homme could keep the party going when the group’s hedonistic regulars had been barred…
