Mirah has never been a lover of the limelight. She doesn’t do a ton of interviews. She takes her time. And, in this instance, she’s taken over four years to get us her fourth full-length solo album, a (spera). The long-awaited follow up to 2004’s C’mon Miracle (TMT Review) comes after a lot of time spent touring small clubs and participating in quirky collaboration efforts. Joyride: Remixes, for example, found her first three albums remixed by friends like Bryce Panic and YACHT, while 2007 brought Share This Place: Stories and Observations, a collaboration with Spectratone International (read: Lori Goldston and Kyle Hanson writing songs about insects).

Lori Goldston is just one of many friends appearing on a (spera). Mirah also brings along Chris Funk, Tara Jane O’Neilm and Phil Elverum — all of whom she’s worked or toured with in the past.

(a)spera still won’t be here until March 10, but what’s a few months in the scope of four years?

(a)spera tracklist:

1. Generosity 2. The World Is Falling Apart 3. Education 4. Shells 5. Country of the Future 6. The Forest 7. Gone Are the Days 8. The River 9. Bones & Skin 10. While We Have the Sun

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In these tough economic times, you’ve got to look for those ever-elusive alternate streams of income. Especially when you’ve got a family to support. Just ask the coolest Dads on the planet: Jeff Tweedy and co. Do you think that they’re just sitting around and resigning themselves to the fact that, you know, Spencer Tweedy isn’t going to be able to go to a good University?

Hell no. Instead they’re just cranking out some more merchandise.

First on the docket is a lovely and long-due Wilco concert DVD, titled Ashes of American Flags, which chronicles a couple of February 2008 visits to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium and Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Cain Ballroom. (Auditorium?? Ballroom?!? Classy!) The footage was assembled by longtime collaborators Brendan Canty (of Fugazi fame) and Christoph Green of Trixie Films, who previously worked on Tweedy’s solo DVD Sunken Treasure and the behind-the-scenes film that accompanied certain editions of Wilco’s 2007 dad-rock opus Sky Blue Sky (TMT Review).

The whole shebang is due in February or March from Nonesuch, cleverly in advance of another fine consumer product: namely, the next Wilco studio album, which currently boasts little more detail than the band’s assurance that they are hitting it hard in the studio at the moment. Still, it never hurts to start the hype early. Will the synths and laptops return? Will Glenn Kotche do that thing where he blows into his drums? Stay tuned!

According to a recent fan newsletter, Wilco will play "a handful of gigs" in the southern U.S. in April, to be followed by an extensive tour of Spain in May and then "the usual summer hijinks with a new record and gigs everywhere imaginable." Meanwhile, Tweedy also has three solo shows on tap in Michigan and Illinois later this month. And while he’s there, you can be sure that he’ll be checking out those Colleges.

Jeff Tweedy:

01.29.09 - Kalamazoo, MI - State Theatre
01.30.09 - Ann Arbor, MI - Hill Auditorium
01.31.09 - Champaign, IL - Foellinger Auditorium

Wilco:

04.25.09 – New Orleans, LA – New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

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From YouTube

From NME:

Ron Asheton, the guitarist and bassist with The Stooges, has been found dead today (January 6). He was 60. Asheton was found at his home in Ann Arbor this morning, according to police. A cause of death is yet to be confirmed, although initial reports suggest that Asheton died of a heart attack.

 Ron Asheton MySpace
 Ron Asheton Wikipedia entry

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You guys remember The Darkness, right? Well, according to the same hype machine that caught wind of their meager talent and ridiculous personalities and blew them way out of proportion before their first album dropped (NME), there has been talk of a Darkness reunion. However, relationships within the band have never recovered since Justin’s retreat into Betty Ford: Justin and brother/guitarist Dan Hawkins are not in good standing with each other, and the fact that Dan and drummer Ed Graham are suing the band’s management over missing cash makes this all the more crippling. There are also no known attempts to contact Frankie Poullain, their original bassist, who walked away during the recording of One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back. In fact, the only reason it’s even being mentioned is because some rich festival guy has an offer on the table.

Regardless of how flimsy this "news" is, allow me to go ahead and join the massive preemptive wave of "please gawd, no." Don’t even think about it, guys. Cheeseball cock rock with Quiet Riot guitars, inappropriate hair, and a nasally douchebag lead singer is on the outs, and the irony that fueled the adoration of gold-crusted one-pieces and piercing falsettos is nowhere near recharged. Even the Kings Of Leon got haircuts, followed by their first record in the Billboard Top 10, and their music isn’t even accidentally humorous (or amusing at all, for that matter). Give it at least another lifetime. Besides, the remains of The Darkness already reformed as Stone Gods, and Justin is currently pimping a comical new band called Hot Leg. It’s best for everyone if you just admit your five minutes is up.

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From YouTube:

From the New York Times:

Eartha Kitt, who purred and pounced her way across Broadway stages, recording studios and movie and television screens in a show-business career that lasted more than six decades, died on Thursday. She was 81 and lived in Connecticut.

The cause was colon cancer, said her longtime publicist, Andrew E. Freedman.

 Eartha Kitt official website
 Eartha Kitt Wikipedia entry
 Eartha Kitt IMDB entry

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