The big news from this past week (in case you hadn’t heard) is that the title of R.E.M.’s new record is COLLAPSE INTO NOW. The band’s 15th studio offering, recorded in various locations with Jacknife Lee from New Orleans to Berlin to Nashville, is due out in spring 2011.
In other news, R.E.M. Live From Austin, TX will be out in just over a week. Read more about the DVD here and if you would like to pre-order a copy, please visit amazon.com.
Austin City Limits will re-air the band’s performance from 2008 again on November 27th. We’ll send out an email reminder and tweets closer to the time. Here’s an interview from the original performance:
The Baseball Project has released another one of their cool Broadside Ballads at ESPN.com. It’s called “Panda and the Freak” and you can hear it here. Be sure to watch the live video footage featuring Mike Mills.
Murmurs.com reports that MTV Adria is asking fans to help them choose the “top 10 R.E.M. videos”; have your say here…
R.E.M. has 14 songs on XFM’s top 1,000 songs of all-time list:
Losing My Religion
Everybody Hurts
It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
Stand
Drive
Nightswimming
Man On The Moon
What’s The Frequency Kenneth?
Orange Crush
The Great Beyond
The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight
Shiny Happy People
The One I Love
Fall On Me
Here’s a very thoughtful commentary on artistry from Ethan Kaplan, founder of murmurs.com, Senior VP of Emerging Technology at Warner Music Group, and, for all intents and purposes, a life-long R.E.M. fan…
And… In case you missed it:
On Dec. 9 and 10, Mike will perform Big Star’s Sister Lovers at The Cat’s Cradle in Carborro, NC, with an all-star cast of musicians featuring Big Star’s own Jody Stephens, Mitch Easter of Let’s Active, and Chris Stamey of the dB’s. Read more about it in this article.
Read Aquarium Drunkard’s excellent review of the “Fables” reissue…
PS:
1) The Books For Keeps initiative started here in Athens out of one woman’s concern for children experiencing the intellectually debilitating effects of the “summer slide”— the result of not owning or having access to any books during the summer– is an excellent place to pass along books you no longer plan to read for a great cause. Visit Books For Keeps website to learn how.
2) Join us for the first-ever Athens GA half-marathon on Sunday, October 24th.