Noticias

New Year’s Eve is here, a night of countdowns, confetti, and questionable resolutions. But for a select group of Hollywood stars, it’s more than just the end of one year and the start of another. It’s their birthday!

Yep, these lucky celebs get the ultimate combo, a personal party wrapped in global celebrations, complete with fireworks, champagne, and Ryan Seacrest hyping up their big day.

Imagine having the whole world cheer as you blow out your candles, beats having a regular birthday cake, right? These stars were born to sparkle, and they’ve been owning the December 31st spotlight ever since.

Anthony Hopkins, Val Kilmer, and Gabby Douglas

While the rest of us scramble to find the perfect New Year’s Eve outfit or debate whether pineapple belongs on our party pizza, these celebs are busy doubling down on the fun.

Their birthdays aren’t just milestones; they’re full-on extravaganzas.

Bob “Slim” Dunlap, the beloved “replacement Replacement” who joined the band in 1987, has died at the age of 73.

The musician’s family confirmed his death in a statement, per the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Bob passed at home today at 12:48 p.m. surrounded by family. We played him his ‘Live at the Turf Club (’Thank You Dancers!)’ CD, and he left us shortly after listening to his version of ‘Hillbilly Heaven’ — quite poignant,” read the statement. “It was a natural decline over the past week. Overall it was due to complications from his stroke.

Bob “Slim” Dunlap, the guitarist for The Replacements who played on their final two albums, Don’t Tell a Soul and All Shook Down, has died at age 73.

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Dunlap died Wednesday, December 18th, due to complications from a severe stroke that he initially suffered in 2012.

“Bob passed at home today at 12:48 p.m. surrounded by family. We played him his ‘Live at the Turf Club, (’Thank You Dancers!)’ CD, and he left us shortly after listening to his version of ‘Hillbilly Heaven’ — quite poignant,” his family said in a statement. “It was a natural decline over the past week. Overall it was due to complications from his stroke.”

After starting out as a janitor at Minneapolis’ iconic music venue First Avenue, Dunlap joined The Replacements in 1987, replacing original guitarist Bob Stinson, and stayed with the band until their initial breakup in 1991.

In the 1990s,...

On December 4, 1993, Charlton Heston hosted Saturday Night Live. While the show was solid overall, the start of the episode — including the cold open, opening montage and monologue — was something truly unique among SNL’s 900-plus episodes. Rather than try to describe it myself, however, I’ll leave it to the man who wrote and conceived of it: veteran TV writer David Mandel.

Mandel later worked on Seinfeld and Veep, but before that, he was a writer on Saturday Night Live where the opening of the Heston episode was his crowning achievement.

The Night ‘SNL’ Went to the Apes

I love format-breaking. I did the documentary episode of Veep, and I did the backwards episode of Seinfeld. Over the years, Saturday Night Live had done some very cool format-breaking that a lot of people had forgotten about. In the Charles Grodin episode, the concept is that Charles Grodin did all this...

Over the past few years, Asheville, North Carolina, singer-songwriter Mj Lenderman has become every indie-rock fan’s favorite dude — the Craig Finn or Stephen Malkmus or Jeff Tweedy of the mid-2020s. He plays guitar in the great North Carolina band Wednesday, and in 2022, he put out the fantastic breakthrough solo set Boat Songs, piling offhanded, grimy noise on wry, laconic bangers and moaners like “Hangover Game” and “Tastes Just Like It Costs.” This year Lenderman lent sweet playing and vocals to Waxahatchee’s excellent Tiger’s Blood.

He’s...

Laurie Lindeen, who blazed a trail in the grunge era as a guitarist with indie rockers Zuzu’s Petals and later chronicled the experience in a book, died Monday at 62 in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, of a brain aneurysm.

Lindeen moved from Wisconsin in 1987 to join the burgeoning Minneapolis music scene, where acts like Prince, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, and Babes in Toyland were putting the city on the map.

Zuzu’s Petals, which took its name from the rose petals carried by James Stewart’s character in the film It’s a Wonderful Life, made a mark at local clubs as an all-female band at a time when that was still somewhat of a novelty. They recorded a debut four-song cassette with help from Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum and Gary Louris of the Jayhawks.

The band later released two full-length albums for Twin/Tone Records,...

Everybody loves a good indie-rock origin story — like Paul Westerberg holding it down as a janitor in the office of a Minnesota senator before joining the Replacements, or Dayton, Ohio’s Robert Pollard teaching grade school while biding his time before Guided By Voices became a thing. Here’s a new one for you: Meet Mike Maple, a mailman in the small college town of Marquette, Michigan who spends his time walking the postal beat dreaming up relentlessly fun punk-rock tunes to play in his band Liquid Mike. “Given what...

Big Machine Records and Surfdog Records have announced a reimagining of the late Glenn Campbell’s 2011 album, Ghost on the Canvas, out on April 19th.

Titled Glen Campbell Duets – Ghost on the Canvas Sessions, the star-studded project pairs the Rhinestone Cowboy’s original vocals with newly recorded contributions from the likes of Brian Wilson, Carole King, Dolly Parton, Elton John, and Dave Stewart. Also featured on the album are Hope Sandoval, Linda Perry, Sting, Brian Setzer, Daryl Hall, Eric Church, and Eric Clapton. Pre-orders are ongoing.

As a preview of the record, you can hear the reworkings of “Hold on Hope” with Church and “Nothing But the Whole Wide World” with Clapton below.

At the time of its release, the original Ghost on the Canvas was billed as Campbell’s farewell album. It saw the country legend teaming with a younger generation of songwriters, including Paul Westerberg, Guided by Voice’s Bob Pollard,...

As the tenth anniversary of Glen Campbell’s Ghost on the Canvas was approaching, Dave Kaplan —whose Surfdog Records released the haunting album in 2011 — was pondering ways to honor it. A late-period landmark for Campbell, who died in 2017 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Ghost on the Canvas found the venerable pop-country singer and guitarist covering songs by a new generation of writers — alt-rock types like Paul Westerberg, Guided By Voices’ Robert Pollard, Jakob Dylan, and Teddy Thompson. The album ranked Number 88 on Rolling Stone‘s list of...

Hotline TNT have shared their latest single, “Out of Town.” Take a listen below.

Characterized by noisy, lo-fi production and a clear, melodic vocal line, “Out of Town” displays the high energy and lyrical expression that Hotline TNT have been honing-in on. The single follows previous releases, “Protocol” and “I Thought You’d Change” — the former of which got an honorable mention from Consequence’s Song of the Week roundup — which all arrive ahead of the band’s sophomore album, Cartwheel, due on November 3rd via Third Man Records. Pre-orders are ongoing.

Speaking about “Out of Town,” frontman Will Anderson explained that he was inspired by Minnesota acts like The Replacements. “These days most people wouldn’t have the foolishness to start a song by singing the words ‘baby girl,’” Anderson said in a statement. “But I wanted to channel my Minnesotan roots and try it out, Paul Westerberg style.

Like so many other Replacements fans, no doubt, the first thing I did with the new version of Tim was skip right to “Left of the Dial.” One of those “bury my soul in these guitars” songs that any music fan collects over time. It’s a highlight of the classic 1985 album from four Minnesota punk boys, the great American rock band of the Eighties. “Left of the Dial” is the Replacement’s most heart-on-fire confession, a rager about losing your friends over time, missing them over the miles, until...

The Replacements are about to celebrate their 1985 major label debut Tim with the upcoming deluxe edition Tim: Let It Bleed Edition. But before that’s out September 22nd, they’ve shared a preview with an alternate version of their hit “Can’t Hardly Wait” that features some prominent cello shredding.

Frontman Paul Westerberg had always wanted to experiment with the recording of “Can’t Hardly Wait.” Upon writing it in 1984, he made an acoustic guide track — recorded in the cavernous Nicollet Studios, which had once been a movie theater — and then record a full-band version over it. However, the band couldn’t hear the guide track over their instruments, so they decided to record a more standard rock version of the song.

But that wasn’t exactly what Westerberg had in mind. So the next day, he decided to enlist the studio’s receptionist, Michelle Kinney, a trained cellist active in the...

The Replacements’ beloved major label debut, 1985’s Tim, will be expanded into a four-cd, one-lp box set this summer with a remix, previously unreleased recordings (including a few cuts with Alex Chilton), and a live recording from 1986 recorded a week before their shambolic SNL appearance. The rarities include alternate versions, demos, and even a “cello version” of “Can’t Hardly Wait.” The collection, officially titled Tim: Let It Bleed Edition, will come out Sept. 22.

The heart of the box is a new mix that engineer Ed Stasium (Talking Heads, Ramones) worked...

The sound of Terror Twilight, the final album from Pavement, the Platonic ideal of 1990s indie rockers, was the guitar-waggle of frustration, the warp and woof of a brilliant songwriter and still-more-brilliant guitarist struggling against the limits of a band he’d outgrown. By 1999, Pavement leader Stephen Malkmus had long lapped his bandmates, the gents with whom he defined a genre for a solid decade, and on Terror Twilight, reissued in this glorious fan-service-ish package, one can hear it in every note of that progression and struggle.

Following their 1997 album Brighten the Corners,...

A reverent document of one of rock’s most irreverent bands, a new deluxe box set will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Replacements’ first album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.

Two-thirds of the collection’s 100-song tracklist is previously unreleased, featuring the first demos the ‘Mats ever cut, alternate mixes and versions of songs, outtakes, and a recording of a 1981 concert. The box set, which contains four CDs and an LP and is available for preorder, is due out October 22nd. Preorders include a replica flyer...

In 2018, Lucy Dacus kicked off her album Historian with a startling admission: “The first time I tasted somebody else’s spit, I had a coughing fit.” That line was followed by six minutes of eviscerating lyrics and guitar riffs, making for a towering indie-rock moment right up there with the best of Paul Westerberg and Liz Phair — and “Night Shift” was just the first song on the album.

Dacus continues to master the art of first lines on her excellent third album, Home Video, whether it’s “In the summer...

Pleased to Meet Me was the sound of the Replacements trying for once. The band’s previous five LPs were snarky slacker masterpieces full of chintzy songs about hating music ’cause it’s got too many notes, ironic Kiss covers, and the occasional tender ballad, and their concerts were more like drunken hootenannies — all of this sloppiness was what won them their legend. But sometime after recording their beloved Tim album, Paul Westerberg decided they ought to grow up a little, the group parted ways with founding guitarist Bob Stinson,...

When Record Store Day announced this year’s event will be spread in three “drop” dates — August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th — we knew we had to organize three separate lists to highlight the event’s spectacular releases. The September drop, which occurs on Saturday, features classics (alternate takes of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours) as well as records that have been unavailable for years (Nas’ God’s Son). It’s a great way to support your favorite record store, and these drops will allow the largest number of them to partake.

The Replacements have unearthed a previously unreleased demo of “I Don’t Know,” which is set to appear on the upcoming reissue of their 1987 album, Pleased to Meet Me, out October 9th via Rhino.

The demo version, unsurprisingly, is rougher around the edges, although that’s certainly not a negative when it comes to the Replacements. The horns from the final studio version aren’t present, but the guitars still move with a heavy chug and the band drawls the song’s titular refrain, “I don’t know,” with expert apathy.

The Replacements are prepping an expansive box set reissue of their 1987 album, Pleased to Meet Me, featuring an assortment of rarities and unreleased tracks, including Bob Stinson’s final recordings with the band. The set will arrive October 9th via Rhino.

The collection will boast 29 previously unreleased tracks, including demos, rough mixes and outtakes. To coincide with the box set announcement, the Replacements shared six of those unreleased songs on digital platforms: Rough mixes of “Alex Chilton,” “Never Mind,” “Valentine,” “Kick It in” and non-album tracks, “Birthday Gal” and “Election Day.

Sports Team are a great six-piece English rock band who formed when they were students at Cambridge. The crisp, jagged tunes on their debut LP, Deep Down Happy, recall Franz Ferdinand or the early Arctic Monkeys; their weird-angled guitars can evoke Pavement or Silkworm; their clever critiques of British life recall Pulp and the Kinks; and singer Alex Rice’s ranting style has shades of Art Brut’s Eddie Argos and Mark E. Smith of the Fall. It’s all conjured with a buoyant sense of good-natured humor, so they...

When Paul Westerberg first sang “It’s a Wonderful Lie” more than 20 years ago, it sounded like the Man Without Ties’ sad-sack ode to his self-defeat. “Misanthropes, guys like me,” the former Replacements frontman sang, leaving no ambiguity as to exactly who Westerberg was talking about. When Mary Lou Lord covered the song in 2015, the Boston folkie focused on that helpless vulnerability, singing lines like “I still get by” in a near-whisper.

But there’s always been a sappy sweetness to “It’s a Wonderful Lie,” and on the second album from Puss N Boots,...

Beach Slang recruited former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson for their new LP, The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City, out January 10th via Bridge Nine Records.

The indie rock band previewed the album with thunderous lead single “Bam Rang Rang,” a torrent of power chord fuzz, bent-note guitar leads and the ragged snarl of frontman James Alex.

The track opens in glam-punk territory; after a false ending ushers in a wall of feedback, Alex leads the band through a cowbell-heavy hard rock section that conjures a hybrid of Mountain’s “Mississippi...

At first glance, a deluxe, four-disc reissue of the second worst Replacements album might seem like kind of an odd idea — albeit a uniquely Replacements-y one, utterly in keeping with the Minneapolis punk rock icons’ gift for subverting even the simplest music industry rituals to the point of needless self-sabotage. Maligned at the time as once-great indie band’s unfortunate slide into the depths of major-label malaise, 1989’s Don’t Tell A Soul was, indeed, not much of an event compared to the lunatic racket of albums like their 1984 classic Let It Be,...

Former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson is the first to admit that his band’s sixth album is not his favorite. When the Replacements made 1989’s Don’t Tell a Soul, their record label was pressuring frontman Paul Westerberg to write songs that could get played on the radio, and the group ended up compromising on the mix of the album. Producer Matt Wallace’s mixes were dismissed, the tapes went missing for years, and the label hired hit-maker Chris Lord-Alge (Steve Winwood, James Brown) put his spin on it. The end result,...

The Replacements have unveiled the first newly mixed song from their forthcoming Dead Man’s Pop box set, “Talent Show.” The track, from 1989’s Don’t Tell a Soul, gets a redux from original producer Matt Wallace, who revisited the 1988 master tapes for the new mix.

The fresh take gives a glimpse into the studio session, with directional cues heard off in the distance. The guitar melodies sound a bit crisper and brighter, while Paul Westerberg’s vocals as well as the backing vocals are more prominently heard in the new mix.

One of 1994’s heaviest albums was also one of its strangest. Released on June 21st of that year, Betty, the third full-length from NYC four-piece Helmet, retained the huge staccato riffs, free-form solos and supple vocal hooks that had helped make their prior album, 1992’s Meantime, into a period classic and unlikely MTV hit. But this time around, the band dialed up the weirdness, adding sly funk elements, surrealistic lyrics, a deconstructed jazz standard and unsettlingly wholesome cover art into the mix.

“I think I adopted a stance from the...

Anyone who ever owned an album by Gordon Lightfoot might not immediately recognize the man sitting on a metal chair in a dressing room at New York’s Town Hall. These days, Lightfoot only passingly resembles the strapping, mustached, square-jawed troubadour whose ballads, like “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Early Mornin’ Rain” and “Carefree Highway,” became coffeehouse standards. He no longer perms his hair as he once did. Lanky, sandy-brown locks now fall around his face, which is clean-shaven and, like his body, thin and bony. His hands show purple splotches.

Joshua Fleming never expected to live this long. Self-medicating with a cocktail of drugs in his early twenties, bouncing between jobs and playing in punk bands, he was hell-bent on burning out instead of fading away. So it’s not so surprising that the Vandoliers front man should be so pleased about finally playing the long game, with a new record contract in hand and his band’s third LP, Forever, now on the books.

“My goal was to die at 27 from, like, age 12. I just thought that was the end and it was fine,...

Nearly a decade after the Lemonheads released Varshons, Evan Dando’s outfit will return with Varshons 2, the follow-up to their 2009 covers LP.

Lemonheads tackle songs originally by the likes of Eagles (“Take It Easy”), Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (“Straight to You”), John Prine (“Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”) and Lucinda Williams (“Abandoned”) on Varshons 2, which arrives February 8th. Dando and company also shared the first single from the LP, an autumnal spin on Yo La Tengo’s Fakebook cut “Can’t Forget.”

Varshons 2, available to pre-order now, also...

By the time Cameron Crowe made Singles in 1992, the 35-year-old director was already a decade into his career's second act. A former journalist for Rolling Stone, he'd pivoted towards the movies after adapting his book about going undercover at a Los Angeles high school – Fast Times at Ridgemont High – for the screen in 1982. And his directorial debut, Say Anything... (1989), proved that he had a knack for capturing teen spirit.

Crowe, however, wanted his audience to grow up with him, so for his follow-up movie, he turned his attention to twentysomethings.

Bob Odenkirk's 30-plus-year career has included a stint as an SNL writer, a groundbreaking sketch series (Mr. Show), stand-up comedy, and, most recently, Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel in which he gives a brilliant performance as "morally flexible" lawyer Jimmy McGill. And how has the 54-year-old actor's outlook changed over that three-decade span? "As a young man I was the fuckin' expert on comedy, on who was funny and who wasn't funny and who's a douchebag," he says. "I still feel those things but I don't think I'm so right.

The Replacements, which currently consists of long-time members Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson, has been playing a new track called “Whole Foods Blues” at recent shows. The song is now streaming in a pretty decent fan-shot video (isn't technology wonderful?). The slow, bluesy song details a sad trip to the grocery store, where Westerberg gets “A Protein Shake/ To keep [his] girlish figure.” In December, the band released a dizzy, fiercely confident 24-minute jazzy improvisational song called “Poke Me In My Cage” on their SoundCloud. It's not at all representative of the band's classic style, but it's good. They’ll be touring the Us this spring, as well as playing the Primavera Sound Fest this summer.

There are days when time can get a little abstract for Paul Westerberg, and his schedule gets squishy. The 54-year-old alternative-rock icon might wake up in his home in suburban Edina, Minnesota, rake wet leaves, then take some Percocet and lay on the couch to ease his bad back. He might change outfits a few times (“Prince is like that too,” he jokes, “it comes with the craziness”). Or, just to avoid the anxiety of picking out clothes, he won’t change at all (he claims to have worn the...

Ranked: '90s Movie Soundtracks in Order of Awesomeness From Can’t Hardly Wait to Waiting to Exhale. by Gaby Dunn Ranking '90s movie soundtracks is like deciding between outfits in the morning without Cher's magic closet – almost impossible. Luckily, I have some strong opinions, not just on what should be included on a list of the best, but also where those albums should rank. My number one choice, Singles, the soundtrack to the 1992 film starring Kyra Sedgwick, Campbell Scott, the city of Seattle, and the band Pearl Jam, might prove controversial in a tight race, but I stand by it – even if Paul Westerberg later hated the main song, "Waiting For Somebody." It's just so catchy! Uh-huh-huh! Even if you don't agree with my ranking, enjoy this trip down cinema song memory lane – especially the Goofy Movie. You know you loved the Goofy Movie. 33. [...]...

It's not that hard to believe that it's been 25 years since the release of "Heathers," on March 31, 1989.

Really, the movie seems like an artifact from a different era, one paradoxically bolder than our own. It's hard to imagine a movie getting made today that makes fun of teen suicide, schoolhouse violence, and the public grieving process that follows both. "Heathers"'s gleefully gruesome satire made stars out of Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, and Shannen Doherty, launched the careers of screenwriter Daniel Waters and director Michael Lehmann, and created the mold for subversive schoolgirl comedies to come, from "Clueless" to "Mean Girls."

"Heathers" wasn't a hit at first, but it eventually became such a huge cult success that it made lunchroom polls and lines like "What's your damage?" into pop-culture fixtures. Still, as many times as you've seen it, there's still much you may not know about "Heathers," from which other...

The MTV VMAs wasn't the only notable happening on Sunday night: legendary rockers The Replacements got together for the first time in 22 years to perform at Toronto's Riot Fest. Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson were joined by drummer Josh Freese (nope, not Chris Mars) and guitarist David Minehan as they played a 22-song set over 75 minutes, with a little bit of banter in between. "Hello. Sorry it took so long, for 25 years,we had a wardrobe debate. Unresolved," Westerberg began as he stood with Stinson. The Replacements Live Archive Project captured good audio of the whole performance, which you can stream...

It's easy to forget that the Replacements used to be a punk band.

Those who witnessed their first live set in 22 years at Riot Fest in Toronto last night, however, will never forget that the Replacements used to be a punk band. As if taking their cue from Iggy and the Stooges, who played just prior, Paul Westerberg and co. brought a lot of loud and fast material to the fore on their way through an exuberant performance few would have thought likely a few short months ago.

But it did happen, and it played out brilliantly. The 'Mats played an eclectic mix of old songs, made jokes, took requests, played covers, and forgot lyrics in just over 75-minutes onstage.

. (O) /..../ /…./ /´¯/’…’/´¯¯\ /’/…/…./…/¨¯\ (…´…´…. ¯~/’…’) \……………../ \………...../

— The Replacements (@TheReplacements) August 25, 2013

"Takin' A Ride," the first song the Replacements played in front of an audience in over two decades, was fittingly the first track off of their debut "Sorry Ma,...

The Replacements opted for a deep-seated set, playing everything from their 1981 debut Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash to rare b-sides from the late '80s. Donning a plaid sport coat, frontman Paul Westerberg addressed the band's absence: "Sorry it took so long, for 25 years we've had a wardrobe debate.unresolved," before the jumping into their opener "Takin' a Ride."...

Paul Westerberg's manager has confirmed to the Minneapolis Star Tribune that The Replacements reunion lineup will feature drummer Josh Freese and guitarist David Minehan in addition to original members Westerberg and Tommy Stinson. Freese is like the Zelig of rock drummers, having transformed himself to play with everyone from Devo and The Vandals to Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, and A Perfect Circle. Also Daughtry and Sublime With Rome. And he co-wrote "Chinese Democracy." And played drums on the two new Replacements tracks that appeared on the hits package Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? Minehan played ...

1. The Replacements: Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson will play their first shows together in 22 years this summer. Pleased to meet me, indeed. 2. Kanye West: The week before the release of “Yeezus,” he makes news in a New York Times profile as he compares himself to Steve Jobs. Look for the iWest coming to a store near you. 3. Cyndi Lauper: She becomes (incredibly) the first female composer to win a Tony for best musical, “Kinky Boots.” Girls just want to have fun. 4. The Beatles: Apple Corps, the Fab Four’s business arm, inks a deal with Universal’s Bravado...

The '80s are officially back as alternative favorite The Replacements are set to reunite.

Formed in 1979, The Replacements are scheduled to perform together for the first time in more than twenty years at the upcoming music festival Riot Fest. The band is top-billed for three shows at the festival: an August 25 show in Toronto, a mid-September show in Chicago, and a late September show in Denver.

"Oh, and you saw that right, The Replacements are playing!" an accompanying announcement to the Riot Fest lineup reads on the music festival's official website.

Originally made up of Paul Westerberg, Bob Stinson, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars, The Replacements performed onstage for the last time in Chicago's Grant Park on July 4, 1991. The surviving members of the band, Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Mars, teased a reunion late last year. Westerberg and Stinson came together to record an Ep to benefit former Replacements guitarist...

The Replacements played their last show in Chicago in 1991, and though the influential drunk-rock band never officially broke up, the likelihood of any new activity dwindled through the years: Singer-guitarist Paul Westerberg has been famously reclusive, bassist Tommy Stinson has been playing with Guns N Roses, Chris Mars has pursued a career as a visual artist (he also left the band a year before that last show), and guitarist Slim Dunlap had a serious stroke last year. That last bit of information actually ignited this reunion: Westerberg and Stinson re-grouped last year to record an Ep to benefit Dunlap ...

The Replacements will reunite to play their first shows in 22 years as the seminal Minneapolis rock band will take the stage at Riot Fest 2013 in Toronto, Denver and Chicago. The band last performed together July 4, 1991 at Chicago’s Grant Park at Taste of Chicago. That gig, to put it mildly, ended badly as guitarist Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson basically dissolved the group on stage. Westerberg and Stinson came together again last fall to pay tribute to former guitarist Slim Dunlap after he suffered a stroke earlier in 2012: the pair recorded an Ep of song covers...

Much has been made of Jay-z’s involvement with Baz Lurhmann’s epic adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The music mogul has never before lent his name or his talents to a project in this way before (we’re not counting his “inspired by” American Gangster album). Despite the hype, this soundtrack collaboration is fundamentally safe (if seemingly off to a fast start on the charts.). Not only is The Great Gatsby a tent-pole blockbuster with an above-the-title director and major A-list talent, it’s a grandiose celebration of New York jazz age glamour and excess — which in some ways,...

The Replacements have reunited to record a new Ep of cover songs that will come out later this year. Only 250 copies of the 10-inch vinyl Ep will be pressed, and all will be auctioned online, according to Rolling Stone. Sales of the EPs will go to assist Slim Dunlap, who served as the band’s guitarist from 1987-1991. He had a stroke in February. Singer Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson cut the tracks in a Minneapolis studio in late September to cut the tracks. Drummer Chris Mars did not take part: Peter Anderson plays drums on the Ep, while Kevin...

Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson—better known as one-half of The Replacements—have gotten the old band semi-back together. According to Rolling Stone, the duo spent a day in a Minneapolis studio last month, recording four covers that will be released as a limited-edition 10-inch Ep later this year. Only 250 copies of that record will be made and all of them will be auctioned online, with the proceeds going to former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap, who had a stroke earlier this year and is now semi-paralyzed. While the reunion is more than welcome, Westerberg told Rolling Stone that former ...

Paul Westerberg, former frontman of The Replacements (a group as messy as they were influential), quietly let loose a new single over the weekend. "My Road Now"—a catchy, earnest piano ballad full of regret and "adult alternative" flair—marks the first time Westerberg has released new music since 2008's 49:00, a continuous collection of songs and fragments. There was no indication on Westerberg's personal website at the time of release that "My Road Now" is part of a plan to release anything more substantial.

Queens of the Stone Age singer/guitarist Josh Homme helps pay tribute to Glen Campbell in the legend’s farewell video, “A Better Place.” The song, featured on Campbell’s final album, last year’s excellent “Ghost on the Canvas” (and my album of the year), addresses his Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis on the song, singing “Some days I’m so confused, Lord/My past gets in the way/I need the ones I love, Lord/More and more each day.” The album also includes contributions from Jakob Dylan and Paul Westerberg. [More after the jump...] The video features Homme, who is a self-avowed Campbell fan of longstanding, as a...

By Zachary Swickey

Did you know that Bon Iver’s crooner Justin Vernon has his own imprint on his home label, Jagjaguwar Records? Vernon’s equally tongue-twisting Chigliak imprint has been gestating since 2010 and now it appears the label is finally ready for its first release: a reissue by Wisconsin troupe Amateur Love.

This comes as no surprise since Amateur Love is from Vernon’s home town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and he first mentioned reissuing the band’s ’03 debut It’s All Aquatic to Pitchfork back in 2010.

The reissue is expected to drop May 22 digitally as well as appearing in 12” vinyl form, which will be accompanied by a download of some previously unreleased 2004 songs from the group – being dubbed the Ev Sessions.

Vernon explained in a press release that Amateur Love was “the singular catalyst in founding Chigliak.” He continued:

“[Amateur Love's] Josh Scott was the ambassador of my heart for many years.