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Here’s an interesting rock news item. According to this morning’s press release, guitarist extraordinaire Nuno Bettencourt has agreed to be part of Rihanna’s live band. Talk about a head scratcher. But I guess in this economy, even a “rock guitar god” has to seek out these types of opportunities in order to pay the bills. Evidently, playing in Rihanna’s band is more lucrative than doing another tour with his main band, Extreme. Ya can’t blame the guy for trying to earn some bank … but really, with Rihanna? I’m not hearing a lot of scorching guitar leads in her music, at least in my mind. who knows, maybe Nuno’s presence in her band will completely change her sound…

here’s the official announcement – November 16, 2009
Guitar virtuoso, Nuno Bettencourt, has joined forces with Rihanna and will be her 2010 world tour lead guitarist. The unexpected combination of Grammy Award winning R&B artist, Rihanna, and Rock guitarist, Nuno Bettencourt, has in fact become what Nuno says, “A great opportunity to blend our talents to create a high energy experience”.

It is clear Nuno has been one of the most influential rock guitarists of our time, and will continue to do what he does best, perform. As for the future of Extreme, Nuno explains, “NO… this is NOT the end of Extreme. We have a live DVD and CD coming out in early 2010 and we will be writing new material throughout the year. We had a great run across the globe on Saudades de Rock… and we’ll be back.”
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The Outfield recently updated their official website and unfortunately it seems that they went for a “retro 90’s” look & feel. You know, the outdated basic HTML/frontpage look. blech. Definitely unprofessional, in my opinion. but what do I know since my blog isn’t all that fancy either. but at least retroblog doesn’t look like something from the GeoCities days!! heh.

Luckily for fans, there’s another Outfield site that has a lot more to offer called OutfieldFanZone.com. The site looks a bit more pleasing to the eye and even features downloadable mp3s of the band’s live recordings absolutely free, including “Live in Brazil (the official bootleg)”! The live tracks are pretty nice collectables for fans but honestly, I prefer their studio work over their live performances. They’re more a studio band than a live act, if you ask me.

purchase music by The Outfield on CDUniverse.

Legendary guitarist/inventor Les Paul died at the age of 94 today. He revolutionized the music world by being the first to utilize multi-track recording as well as by creating the solid-body electric guitar. I can’t even imagine what popular music (especially rock music) would be like if it wasn’t for him. He is a true icon and will very much be missed. Rest in peace, Les.

Here’s a clip of Les Paul performing “I Can’t Get Started” in NYC back in 2006

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Since our kids are heading back to school this week, we took them back to the beach this past weekend for one last summer hurrah. Luckily the rain held off while we were at the beach but the visit was still cut short by the appearance of three sharks nearby. The lifeguards pulled everyone out of the water and we all stood on the shore to view a rather large one surface above the water a couple times. Even though the kids weren’t able to play in the water the rest of the afternoon, the shark sighting was still the highlight of the trip!!
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Anyway, for today’s song of the day, I thought I’d post a “summer-related” track by Neil and Tim Finn titled “Paradise (Wherever You Are)”. enjoy!

Endless travels, can’t remember where I’ve been
Lying in this hammock feeling tragic
Like the ones you hear so much about
Can’t wait to tell you what I’ve seen

Paradise wherever you are…
- written by Neil and Tim Finn

download the mp3 of Paradise by The Finn Brothers (for a limited time via mediafire)
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Purchase Finn Brothers music at CDUniverse

My 12 year old son keeps on complaining that the cell phone that I’ve provided for him is too old school. The boy is *12* so I figured that I’d put him on a pay-as-you-go plan on Boost Mobile so that he could learn to be a responsible cell phone user. I made it sort of a “game”, you see. The “game” is basically for him to make the $20 that I’ve added to his account, last for three months. At the end of the three months, I add another $20 to the account. It’s pretty much the typical routine for thrifty individuals on these types of pre-paid cell plans. But for young kids nowadays with itchy-texting fingers, $20 every three months just won’t do. To help limit the use of the cell phone, I initially got him a no-nonsense Motorola i776 which is very basic with no-frills whatsoever. My son wasn’t impressed and hated being seen with the “oh-so-yesterday” clam-shell design.

Well, there appears to be a new option in the Boost Mobile world, and it’s called the Motorola Clutch (i465). It’s a bit more stylish, especially for a Motorola phone, and is the first iDEN phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. My son has been asking for it ever sincing noticing it on the Boost website. A buddy at work recently ordered one so I got a chance to check it out first-hand. It’s surprisingly small for a phone that features a full keyboard. the screen size is a bit small though and so is the keyboard. But I guess the size would be perfect for my 12 year old. It does seem to be a step up from the i776 since it has video recording capabilities but at VGA resolution, it’s a bit underwhelming. The surprising feature for me is the built-in alarm clock and calculator which were both sorely missed on the i776.

But the big dilemma for me personally is the fact that I’m trying to teach my son to control his cell phone usage and this new phone with its QWERTY keyboard, will probably encourage him to do the exact opposite and text more often. The i465 is probably a good choice for those on the $50 a month unlimited plan on Boost but not for those trying to minimize their usage on the pay-as-you-go plan.

sorry son but it looks like you’ll have to continue using the i776 for now.
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I think it was pretty lame how NBC handled the cancellation of Brooke Shields’ TV series, Lipstick Jungle. The cast, crew and fans were kept in the dark as the show’s fate sat in limbo for months. Without an official statement from NBC, Shields ended up breaking the news to all the fans late last month that the show was indeed canceled. It’s weird that NBC never came out and officially confirmed this, at least to my knowledge. I guess that goes to show how much of a priority the show was to NBC. It’s just as well since NBC is becoming more like the Titanic – with plummeting ratings and Jay Leno taking over the nightly 10pm slot.

So where will Shields go from here?

Nothing’s definite at the moment but she tells More Magazine (in the upcoming May issue) she’s resilient and she’ll make sure that she won’t be “a Hollywood casualty.”

Here’s a preview of the More Magazine cover story:

About Lipstick Jungle: “Shields and her costars ‘talk every day, saying ‘I hate this!,’ adding that she just sent NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman an e-mail asking, “What the fuck?”

About her mom: “She came from Newark, New Jersey, from the opposite side of the tracks. My dad came from the upper-crusty side of the tracks. The tracks weren’t even in his neighborhood. And my mother was always adamant about being perceived as having class, not having been born into it. It plagued her, and I think she didn’t want me to know the insecurity of being rejected. She didn’t want me to grow up as the daughter of someone from Newark. The flip side, though, is that she would constantly throw it out at me. She wanted me to not forget where I came from, and how she was a streetfighter.”

About feeling “complete detachment” from her looks: She recalls being in a jazz dance class and falling whenever she tried to turn. The teacher chided her that she never watched herself in the mirror. “She said, ‘Look at yourself,’ and I didn’t want to. What if I didn’t like what I saw? What if I didn’t look like I did in magazines?”

About how her pregnancy helped her face the mirror: “It was life, and my body had this purpose so far beyond just being there to look at, or tan or shave. Suddenly I realized how good it had been to me over the years, and what it had sustained. And I was in my thirties at the time.”

About the way she looks now: “I’m proud of my longevity more than anything else. There’s a lot to be said for endurance. I’m trying to find the beauty in the whole picture rather than the crow’s feet. Sure, I wish I had the face I had a decade ago, but I don’t. People say, ‘I love my wrinkles.’ I don’t love my wrinkles – come on! But when you see certain women that we knew when we were younger, like Angelica Huston and Isabella Rossellini, and they’ve grown older in the public eye, what you’re responding to is their whole life imprinted on them.”

About the roles she gets now: “For years, I’ve been the youngest person on the set, and it occurred to me recently that I wasn’t 26! I’d read a script and say, ‘Oh, that’s a great character, that’s something I’d love to do.’ And they’d say, ‘Um, no, we’re thinking of you for the mother.’ And then I’d say, ‘Oh, of course! Of course! I knew that.’”

About caring for her aging mother: “I’ve spent a huge portion of my life taking care of my mother anyway. As an only child of an alcoholic, you’re the caretaker; it just happens. Then you think you’re done with it, you have your family and priorities, and all of a sudden, I’m doing it a hundred percent all over again. There’s no martyrdom – it’s a pain in the ass but it has to be done. I just think, you’re only given what you supposedly can handle.”
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Read the Brooke Shields interview in its entirety in the May 2009 issue of More Magazine.
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As some of you already know, we recently had a rash of rude, obnoxious and just plain uncool comments here on retroblog. And like most bloggers, I like getting comments for the most part but when some oddball starts posting nonsense or starts harrassing others, it just gets on my damn nerves. Why should I empower these idiots by providing a platform that allows them to post whatever crude remark comes into their pea brain with absolutely no accountability for their actions? I guess in the Wild Wild Web it was inevitable and so I had to start placing all comments under moderation. I really didn’t want to do it but after what has been happening the last few weeks, it seems like the best thing to do. What this means is that your comments will have to be approved before they appear on the site.

And just to make things crystal clear, I thought I’d post some guidelines on what I consider an appropriate comment on a blog.

1) First of all, the comment needs to be on-topic. In other words, you should be posting something about the subject at hand and not about what you ate last night at Wendy’s (well, unless THAT was what the blog was about. heh). If you want to post something off-topic or want to address another user, please use the forums to do so and not on the blog.

2) Your comment should be coherent and should add some value to the blog. If it’s something like “You rock dude!” or “you’re full of crap!” don’t count on your post showing up here.

3) Be respectful to the blogger and the other commenters on the site. I’m open to other points of view. We don’t HAVE to agree on every subject. We’re all human so we’ll never see eye to eye on every issue. But if you are going to disagree on something, please put some thought behind your statements and add information to back up what you’re saying. If you’re going to criticize, please be constructive about it and not throw a hissy fit. We’re all adults here so let’s act like it.

4) Don’t be crude. No foul language and no harassing other individuals here.

Now don’t let this discourage you from commenting here. I’m all for comments and feedback. But I feel that this process needs to be put in place to keep the site healthy and in good running order. Thanks for your understanding.

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**Update: 16Apr09 – After receiving feedback from all my regular commenters here, it appears that I may have overreacted in this situation. So, for now, I’ve opened comments back up for those that have “previously approved” comments. New commenters/visitors will still be moderated. Also, I’m going to be more proactive to placing those that don’t abide by these guidelines back into the “moderated” category.
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oh, crap. another one of my favorite magazines bites the dust. It was inevitable, I suppose, with the way the internet has affected print media over the years. According to the news item, it seems that their website blender.com will still continue to operate. RIP Blender Magazine! you’ll be missed.

excerpt from Advertising Age:

Alpha Media Group closed Blender magazine today, eliminating about 30 jobs and reducing its portfolio of titles to Maxim alone. The April issue of Blender out now will be its last.

Alpha, the former Dennis Publishing, has endured a series of difficulties and hard choices since its acquisition by Quadrangle Capital Partners and magazine-industry veteran Kent Brownridge in August 2007. The new owners punctuated the $240 million deal by immediately closing Stuff magazine, a sort of laddie shopping title. Blender.com will continue, much as Stuff continues as “Stuff Magazine” at stuff.maxim.com.

OK, here’s what I’ve been listening to lately. Hopefully I’ll be able to crank out some reviews of these releases here on RetroBlog when I finally get some time to sit and write out my thoughts. who knows when that’ll be!

Wetton Downes – Icon 3
Circa - HQ
Ben Folds – Stems and Seeds
Katy Hudson (AKA Katy Perry)
Yes – Alternate Generator (boot)
Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

I’m really enjoying the new Neko Case album. love her voice. Oh and there’s also a fairly recent Jimi Jameson CD that I might post about as well.

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new Journey U.S. tour dates are trickling in. Nothing official has been announced but fans are anxious to see if the band will be making it around to their neck of the woods this summer. Arnel Pineda and company did a phenomenal job in bringing in the numbers last summer (along with Cheap Trick and Heart), so expectations are high for this summer’s tour. As for the tour package this time around, it’s anybody’s guess at this point but there’s some buzz that Bryan Adams might be one.

here are the U.S. dates so far:

May 23, 2009 – Sacramento, CA – Raleys Field
July 18 (?), 2009 – Cadott, Wi – RockFest
August 21, 2009 – Louisville, KY – State Fair – Freedom Hall
August 23, 2009 – Des Moines, IA – State Fair – Grandstand

more to come…