Jonas Brothers’ Future Looks Bright
Jonas Brothers’ Future Looks Bright
When you’re an up-and-coming band, the best way to get exposure is with the help of an established, successful artist. And that’s just what the Jonas Brothers have done.
The “Hold On” rockers have enjoyed the benefits of being on the sold out “Best of Both Worlds” tour with Hannah Montana actress Miley Cyrus. Guitarist Nick Jonas even described the experience as “living the dream.”
And these guys have all the right answers up their collective sleeve, citing Johnny Cash, Prince, Stevie Wonder, the Animals, the Rascals, the Steve Miller Band, and the Beatles as their primary influences.
Touring aside, these boys are all about expanding their already momentous franchise, with an original Disney Channel flick “Camp Rock” set to air this summer, and a television series called “J.O.N.A.S.” slotted for the fall season.
You could say that Kevin, Joe, and Nick have hit the jackpot, and you’d be correct.
Joaquin to (Johnny) Cash in on Record Deal?
Joaquin Phoenix has walked the line, now he's walking the walk.
His turn as Johnny Cash was apparently as inspiring as it was inspired: The Oscar-nominated actor is cutting an album of his own with help from Tim Burgess, the frontman for British rock outfit The Charlatans.
Burgess told Billboard that plans for the project came about after Phoenix took more than a mere liking to guitar playing, which he learned for his 2005 Walk the Line role, calling it a cathartic process.
"Once he learnt guitar he found that he had quite a lot of demons inside himself that he wanted to expel through music," Burgess said.
Phoenix performed in character on the Grammy-winning Walk the Line soundtrack, contributing nine songs, four of which were duets with costar Reese Witherspoon. The album has gone gold and peaked at No. 9. Phoenix also performed a set of Cash tunes in 2005 at the Man in Black's most famous venue, Folsom State Prison.
As for his new endeavor, Phoenix is taking his time to complete it, according to his collaborator.
"All the tracks…were brilliant," says Burgess. "But I think he just kept scrapping everything or redoing everything. I'm sad to say that I think it's one of those records that may never come out, to be honest with you."
Chris Cornell responds to Idol (non)controversy
So it looks like Chris Cornell has responded to the “controversy” about David Cook’s performance of “Billie Jean” last week on American Idol. While Ryan Seacrest clearly introduced him by indicating he was doing Chris Cornell’s version, that introduction doesn’t seem to have been enough. The incident is similar to one during Season Five when Chris Daughtry performed Live’s arrangement of Johnny Cash’s classic “I Walk the Line.” Then, as now, the judge’s didn’t seem to realize that the contestants were singing other artists arrangements of the pieces, instead praising their bravery and originality.
And they weren’t the only ones. Even in my review of the episode I clearly stated that it was Chris Cornell’s arrangement, and yet I still got comments from people who thought David was trying to pull one over on America by pretending it was his own work. Cornell didn’t see the episode as he was returning from abroad, but he was immediately deluged with emails blasting the judges for praising Cook’s brave ’arrangement.’
“Don’t get me wrong. He sang it great,” Cornell said of Cook’s performance. “But it was literally a note-for-note take on what I came up with. At the end of the day, it’s all good. It’s a good thing for me. There was a moment when I was sitting there writing this new arrangement thinking, ’Is this a good idea or a bad idea?’ Watching the response from the judges was really gratifying. They were signing off on it right there. It was something that worked. It was an idea that went over huge.”
Regardless, the controversy has stirred up increased interest in Cornell’s version, which spiked to Number 12 on iTunes download charts, and allowed him an opportunity to get with the press and hype his new album, which unfortunately is in such an early state that it doesn’t have a name or projected date yet. If only David Cook could have performed it a few weeks later, maybe he’d have something better prepared. Still, he’s working with Timbaland on it, so that’s a pretty good pedigree right there.
As for the controversy itself, I blame Idol and the judges in particular. Yes, they learned their lesson from the outcry over Daughtry’s “I Walk the Line” and introduced the performance as Chris Cornell’s arrangement, but why didn’t anyone bother to tell the judges? For that matter, I am so sick and tired of the judges not all being familiar with every song that is performed each week on the show. At the most it’s twelve songs a night. The songs are available for the contestants to listen to so they can become familiar with it; why can’t some Idol intern trot over some copies for the judges to listen to?
Don’t they think it would add credence and weight to their opinions if they were at least familiar with the original work? Or if they’re concerned it will color their commentary to know the source piece, can they at least be told when a contestant is covering someone else’s arrangement of a song? All of this could have been avoided (twice now!) if the judges had known or been told in advance that the contestants had not arranged these songs themselves. Or maybe Idol likes to stir up controversy because it means more press coverage. And here we are talking about it. Damn you Idol and your manipulative ways!