THE MUSIC RAMBLER

New Orleans Jazz Fest Kicks Off This Thursday (April 25th)

The 39th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival kicks off tomorrow and will continue throughout the weekends of April 25-27 and May 1-4, 2008. Headliners include New Orleans legends The Neville Brothers, Irma Thomas, and Allen Toussaint with Elvis Costello. Plus, non-New Orleans crowd pleaser's such as Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, Santana, Maze feat. Frankie Beverly, Sheryl Crow, Widespread Panic, Dr. John, Al Green, Diana Krall, Keyshia Cole, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and The Raconteurs (Jack White's band).

New Orleans Jazz Fest Website

Chicago's Best Blues: Rosa's Lounge and Melvin Taylor

Looking to head to Chicago for some serious blues?  You can checkout the best club and best band at the same time and place when Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band are playing at Rosa's Lounge.

Mircosoft Creates "Cringe-Inducing" Springsteen Video Parody

Microsoft has produced what they are now claiming is an "internal spoof" video ( it sure doesn't look like an inside joke ) promoting it's Vista operating system that features Bruce Servicepack and the Vista Street Band. Gizmodo says that this atrocity "damages the dignity of not only everyone involved in its production, but everyone who watches it". We think that Gizmodo may be overreacting a bit, but the awfulness of it all is quite funny.

CBGB's Space Now Home to $2500 Jackets

The rent went up and CBGB's moved out. Moving in is fashion designer John Varvatos, who's clothing reportedly has a "punk theme". Apparently some of today's punks want to wear $2500 leather jackets and $275 jeans. Word is that the new tenets have preserved the poster and graffiti covered walls, but have cleaned up what had to be one of planet Earth's worst bathrooms.

Fashion Designer Moves Into NY Club CBGB's Space  (New York Times)

Beale Street Music Festival Lineup

The Beale Street Music Festival will take place at the riverside Tom Lee Park in downtown Memphis on May 2-4, 2008. This year's lineup is an impressive mix of big name crowd pleaser's ( Fergie, Santana, My Chemical Romance) and the great soul, blues, and rockabilly musicians who call Memphis home. A three day pass costs $63.50 and day pass is $27.50.

Friday lineup: My Chemical Romance , Sheryl Crow, The Roots, Keb 'Mo', Richard Johnston, Hellogoodbye , Jonny Lang, Ben Folds, Charlie Musselwhite, Robert "Wolfman" Belfour, Flyleaf , Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Project Pat, Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials, Lord T & Eloise, Amy LaVere, JJ Grey & Mofro, Lurrie Bell

Saturday: Santana, Disturbed, Matisyahu, Bettye LaVette, Richard Johnston, Lou Reed, Seether The John Butler Trio, Pinetop Perkins & Hubert, Sumlin W Billy Gibson, Blind Mississippi Morris, Buddy Guy, Simple Plan, Arrested Development, Watermelon Slim, Cat Power, The Whigs, Colbie Caillat, Back Door Slam, Duman, Saving Abel, Tegan and Sara, Kenny Neal, Muck Sticky, Oracle and the Mountain, Al Kapone, Preston Shannon, Eli "Paperboy" Reed

Sunday: Fergie, Michael McDonald, The Black Crowes, Doyle Bramhall, Richard Johnston Finger Eleven, Aretha Franklin, O.A.R., Magic Slim & the Teardrops, Robert "Wolfman" Belfour, Gavin DeGraw, Jerry Lee Lewis, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Nick Moss & The Flip Tops, Rue Melo, Duman (from Turkey), Umphrey's McGee, Samuel James, Carney, Billy Lee Riley, Pete Francis, Calvin Cooke

The Beale Street Music Festival Website

The Virgin Mobile and The All Points West Music and Arts Festivals Announce Lineups

The increasingly crowded music festival scene adds two more to the ever expanding list with The Virgin Mobile and The All Points West Music and Arts Festival both taking place on the second weekend in August.

The inaugural All Points Festival will take place on August 8, 9 and 10 at Liberty State Park in New Jersey with Radiohead headlining the first two nights and Jack Johnson doing the honors on Sunday. Other acts include Underworld, Kings of Leon, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Cat Power, The Roots, The New Pornographers, Youssou N'Dour, and Animal Collective. Single day passes are $89 and three-day passes are $258. A portion of the event's proceeds will benefit "Friends of Liberty State Park"

Nine Inch Nails, The Foo Fighters,  Stone Temple Pilots and Jack Johnson will headline the Virgin Mobile Festival at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course on August 9 & 10th. Full lineup and ticket prices have not been announced.

The All Points Music and Arts Festival Website

Virgin Mobile Festival Website