Saul Williams
Photo: Fader

Perhaps it's fitting that of all the categories at this year's mtvU Woodie Awards, rapper/actor/author/activist Saul Williams was nominated for the one award given to the artist who best defies categorization.

Williams was up against Hasidic hip-hopper Matisyahu, Sri Lankan MC M.I.A., Canadian orchestral-pop ensemble the Arcade Fire and Christian proto-punks Me Without You in the Left Field category, given to the genre-busting artist who, according to mtvU, "came out of left field and surprised us so much, we'd still have no idea what section of the record store to look for them in" (see "My Chemical Romance Win Woodie Of The Year At mtvU Awards").

It may be fitting, but it's also somewhat unfortunate for Williams, who's been fighting classification ever since 1998, when his starring role in the drama "Slam" had film critics pegging him as the next Denzel Washington. In 2001, when he released the politically charged Amethyst Rock Star, it was the music critics who tried to label him, this time as a sort of coffeehouse Chuck D. And when he dropped his self-titled follow-up last year, he was being touted as the next great neo-soul star.

But through it all, Williams refused to be put in any particular box. And he's still refusing now, as he hits the road with the most unlikely of musical partners, Louisville, Kentucky, granola-rockers My Morning Jacket (see "Cameron Crowe Requests My Morning Jacket 'Freebird' For Film").

"It seems like there's such a glaring polarization right now between what seems to be 'black' and 'white' music. A few years ago, groups like Outkast and Jay-Z seemed to bring people together, but now it's so different," Williams said. "So now I think the most interesting thing to do on tours is to try and bring worlds that seem disconnected together. And I say 'seem disconnected' because in reality, we're just people vibing off the music you vibe off. So I'm very excited about touring with them."

Williams also makes a rather unexpected appearance on the soundtrack to box-office-topping gore-fest "Saw II," on a song called "Three Fingers," which he (sort of) recorded with mucho-mysterious masked guitarist Buckethead.

"[System of a Down frontman] Serj Tankian got the whole thing to happen. He did a track on my album, and we're friends, so he asked me if I wanted to do a song with Buckethead," Williams explained. "I went into the studio, heard the music, wrote to it and recorded my vocals all in one day. Bucket wasn't even there. In fact, I haven't actually met Buckethead yet."

• Saul Williams
• My Morning Jacket
• Buckethead

Destiny's Child
Photo: Getty Images

Boy Band Meets Its Destiny: 'NSYNC might have a bigger posse, but they're going to have a hard time toppling female peers Destiny's Child, whose blockbuster breakup tour is still fresh in mind. Destiny's #1's has three brand-new nuggets in addition to 13 chart-toppers; the DualDisc has the songs in 5.1 stereo, seven videos and a trailer for the "Destiny's Child - Live in Atlanta" DVD. 'NSYNC's Greatest Hits, on the other hand, is a glitter-free set with 12 of the group's most well-known cuts — no incentives for the ardent fan here. Point, set, match: DC.

A Sinful Set: Mötley Crüe fanatics had plenty of chances to catch the band's pyrotechnic summer tour, but for those who missed out, the "Carnival of Sins" DVD will leave them with fewer regrets. Splayed over two discs is their April 27 concert in Grand Rapids, Michigan, plus loads of bonuses, including the obligatory behind-the-scenes footage.

Aerojoint: The title of Aerosmith's latest — Rockin' the Joint - Live at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas — pretty much says it all, except that the set list includes a few rarities ("Season of Wither," on a concert album for the first time, plus a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Rattlesnake Shake," etc.), and that the DualDisc's video side has four clips, backstage material and more.

Faith Evans usually takes three or four years between releases, but the holiday spirit has apparently overcome her this time around. Fresh on the heels of April's The First Lady — her first album that didn't include "faith" in the title — Biggie's widow returns to tradition with A Faithful Christmas, a set of traditional songs including "Happy Holiday," "White Christmas" and "O Come All Ye Faithful."

Incidental Spookiness: Are this week's releases haunted? Sink your fangs into Children of Bodom's Are You Dead Yet?, Renee Heartfelt's Death of a Ghost and Hank Williams III's Straight to Hell, or get bewitched by new LPs and reissues by Dead Can Dance, Dead Kennedys, Goblin Co--, Gravenhurst, I Am Ghost, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Program the Dead. BOOyah!

George on Their Minds: George Harrison enthusiasts will want to take note of a remastered version of the two-CD The Concert for Bangladesh, but even more prized is a limited, deluxe-edition version of the DVD, which has a different cover and is jam-packed with unique ephemera like handwritten lyrics, 10 postcards, a static-cling sticker and reprint of the original poster. Joel Harrison isn't one of George's offspring, but he takes advantage of his namesake all the same by redoing 11 selections by the Beatles guitarist. And speaking of the Fab Four, Ben Harper, Ted Leo, Ben Kweller, Sufjan Stevens, Low and Dar Williams laud one of the band's best records with This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul.

Song Titles of the Week:

• "Pretty People Never Lie/ Vampires Never Really Die" (I Am Ghost's We Are Always Searching)
• "F. Ree P. Ersonality T. Est" (Program the Dead's Program the Dead)

Other Notables:

Angie Stone's Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone and "Stone Hits Live: The Very Best of Angie Stone" DVD: The soul revivalist is hoping for another resurgence of sorts with two comps. Her CD has a pair of new cuts, including "I Wasn't Kidding," while her DVD boasts guest spots by Anthony Hamilton at a performance in Atlanta, plus extra footage and photos.

They Might Be Giants' Here Come the ABCs and They Got Lost: The always-unique TMBG really do run through the alphabet on their children's collection ABCs, and there's even more fun for the family with the accompanying DVD, which is full of animated components. Not to be overlooked, so to speak, is They Get Lost, a rarities set with 21 tracks of collectible goodness, due the same day.

Calvin Johnson's Before the Dream Faded: He's been on oodles of albums and played with a bunch of bands (Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System, Halo Benders), so it's hard to imagine that Faded is only the second solo opus by the Northwest indie-punk guru. Members of his K Records clique — including folks from the Blow, Mount Eerie, Glass Candy and Mirah — prop up Papa Johnson on tracks like "When Hears Turn Blue," "Rabbit Blood" and "Obliteration Overload."

New Releases:

• A Day in Black and White - Notes (Level Plane)
• Aberdeen City - The Freezing Atlantic (Dovecote)
• Aerosmith - Rockin' the Joint - Live at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas (DualDisc; Columbia)

Buy Now: Rockin' the Joint - Live at the Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas (Columbia)
• Allele - Point of Origin (Corporate Punishment)
• Annie - DJ Kicks (Studio K7)
• John Arnold - Style and Pattern (Ubiquity)
• The Bacon Brothers - White Knuckles (spinART)
• Jeff Bates - Good People (RCA)
• Jay Bezel - Diplomats Present Jay Bezel: Philadelphia Beast (Sure Shot)
• Bigg Milt - Power 2 the People (Thump)
• Rick Braun - Yours Truly (Artizen)
• Breakestra - Hit the Floor (Ubiquity)
• Buckethead & Friends - Enter the Chicken (Serjical Strike)
• Julie Budd - The New Classics (Ruby/Ryko)
• Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering (DiCristina Stair Builders)
• Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet? (Fontana International)
• Dirty Faces - Superamerican (Jagjaguwar)
• DJ Muggs Vs. GZA the Genius - Grandmasters (Angeles)
• The Drift - Noumena (Temporary Residence)
• Earlies - These Were the Earlies (Secretly Canadian)
• Faith Evans - A Faithful Christmas (Capitol)

Buy Now: A Faithful Christmas (Capitol)
• F-Minus - Won't Bleed Me/ Failed Society EP (Alternative Tentacles)
• Fefe Dobson - Sunday Love (enhanced; Island)
• The Fire Still Burns - Keeping Hope Alive EP (Blackout)
• Girls in Hawaii - From Here to There (Titan/Pyramid)
• Goblin Co-- - Bagged and Boarded (Absolutely Kosher)
• Gravenhurst - Fires in Distant Buildings (Warp)
• Great Big Sea - The Hard & the Easy (Zöe)
• G3 (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci) - Live in Tokyo (with DVD; Epic)
• Joel Harrison - Harrison on Harrison: Jazz Explorations of George Harrison (High Note)
• Marcos Hernandez - C About Me (TVT)
• Scott Holt Band - Revelator (Rockview)
• Hoods - The King Is Dead (Eulogy)
• I Am Ghost - We Are Always Searching (Epitaph)
• Il Divo - The Christmas Collection (Columbia)
• Jin - Jin Presents the Emcee's Proper?Ganda (Draft)
• Colin John Band - Acousticland Lady (Rockview)
• Calvin Johnson - Before the Dream Faded (enhanced; K)
• LaSalle - Expedition Songs (Thick)
• The LeeVees - Hanukkah Rocks (Reprise)
• Jacques Loussier Trio - Mozart Piano Concertos 20/23 (Telarc)
• Matt Maneri - Pentagon (Thirsty Ear)
• Bette Midler - Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook (DualDisc; Columbia)
• Mikoto - Mikoto EP (Level Plane)
• Milemarker - Ominosity (Eyeball)

Buy Now: Ominosity (Eyeball)
• Niacin - Organik (Magna Carta)
• Joe Nichols - III (Universal South)
• Tony Orlando & Dawn - A Christmas Reunion (R2 Entertainment)
• Rebecca Pidgeon - Tough on Crime (The Lab)
• Pinetop Seven - The Night's Bloom (Empyrean)
• Program the Dead - Program the Dead (Low Altitude/Universal)
• Queenadrena - The Butcher and the Butterfly (One Little Indian)
• Collin Raye - Twenty Years and Change (Infinity Nashville)
• Renee Heartfelt - Death of a Ghost (Textbook)
• Report Suspicious Activity - Report Suspicious Activity (Alternative Tentacles)
• Lisa Shaw - Cherry (Naked)
• She Wants Revenge - She Wants Revenge (Geffen)
• The Skygreen Leopards - Jehovah Surrender (Jagjaguwar)
• Silver Sunshine - A Small Pocket of Pure Spirit EP (Empyrean)
• Slum Village - Slum Village (Barack)
• Socialburn - The Beauty of Letting Go (IRock Entertainment)
• Solea - Solea (Textbook)
• Spyritual - Wall of Soul (Kitty Yo)
• Marty Stuart - Badlands: Ballads of the Lakota (Universal South)
• Stereocell - Into Tomorrow (Rockview)
• They Might Be Giants - Here Come the ABCs (with DVD; enhanced; Walt Disney)
• Randy Travis - Glory Train: Songs of Faith, Worship, and Praise (Word)
• Townes Van Zandt - Live at Union Chapel, London England (Tomato)
• Vaux - Beyond Virtue, Beyond Vice (Lava)
• Hank Williams III - Straight to Hell (Curb)
• Various artists - Imaginational Anthems (Near Mint)
• Various artists - Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked (Impulse)
• Various artists - Pull My Finger: Jingle Smells (Oglio)
• Various artists - This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul (Razor & Tie)
• Various artists - Windham Hill Christmas: The Night Before Christmas (Windham Hill)
• Various artists - "Saw II" soundtrack (Image Entertainment)

Notable Reissues:

• Sarah Brightman - Love Changes Everything: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection - Volume Two (Decca)
• Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas (DualDisc; Columbia)

Buy Now: Merry Christmas (Sony)
• Johnny Cash - The Legend of Johnny Cash (Hip-O/Sony BMG/UME)
• John Coltrane - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Harry Connick Jr. - Harry for the Holidays (DualDisc; Columbia)
• Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Miles Davis - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Dead Can Dance - Memento: The Very Best of Dead Can Dance (Rhino)
• Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables: Special 25th Anniversary Edition CD + DVD (Manifesto)
• Destiny's Child - #1's (DualDisc; Columbia)
  Read: "Destiny's Child Look Back With #1's Before Going Their Separate Ways"
  Buy Now: #1's (Columbia)
• Eric Dolphy - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Jerry Garcia - Ladder to the Stars: Garcia Plays Dylan (Rhino)
• Red Garland Quintets Featuring John Coltrane - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Gun Club - Mother Juno (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
• George Harrison and Friends - The Concert for Bangladesh (Capitol)
• Coleman Hawkins - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Lightnin' Hopkins - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - Give Me Back My Bullets - Deluxe Edition (Geffen/UME)
• Jackie McLean - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - Gay, Black & Married (Rykodisc)
• 'NSYNC - Greatest Hits (Jive)

Buy Now: Greatest Hits (Jive)
• Jeffrey Lee Pierce - Wildweed (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
• Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures (Sub Pop)
• Sonny Rollins - Prestige Profiles (with bonus collectors' CD; Prestige)
• Jimmy Smith - Christmas '64 (Verve)
• Angie Stone - Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone (J)
• They Might Be Giants - They Got Lost (Rounder/Zöe)
• Toots & the Maytals - Roots Reggae: The Classic Jamaican Albums (box set; Trojan)
• Various artists - The Concert for Bangladesh (Capitol)
• Various artists - For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records (Bloodshot)

DVDs:

• ABBA - "The Movie" (Universal)
• The BellRays - "At the Barfly" (Music Video Distributors)
• Blues Company - "Keepin' the Blues Alive" (Music Video Distributors)
• Captain & Tennille - "Ultimate Collection" (Bayside)
• George Harrison and Friends - "The Concert for Bangladesh" (limited deluxe edition due same day; Rhino)
• Billie Holiday - "Ultimate Collection" (Verve)
• Mötley Crüe - "Carnival of Sins" (two DVDs; Clear Channel Entertainment)
• The Residents - "Wormwood" (Music Video Distributors)
• Frank Sinatra with Dean Martin and Bing Crosby - "The Frank Sinatra Show: High Hopes" (Music Video Distributors)
• Angie Stone - "Stone Hits Live: The Very Best of Angie Stone" (J)
• Thunders, Kane & Nolan - "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" (Music Video Distributors)
• Trick Daddy - "Thug Holiday" (Music Video Distributors)
• Voivod - "D-V-O-D-1" (Music Video Distributors)
• Various artists - "The Dirty South - Raw & Uncut" (Music Video Distributors)

Coming Attractions:

November 1:

• Nirvana - Sliver: The Best of the Box (Geffen)

Buy Now: Sliver: The Best of the Box (Geffen)
• Blink 182 - Greatest Hits (Geffen)
• Santana - All That I Am (Arista)
  Read: "Guest List For New Santana LP: Big Boi, Mary J., Will.I.Am, Bo Bice And More"
  Buy Now: All That I Am (Arista)

• Limp Bizkit - Greatest Hitz (Geffen)
• The Mars Volta - Scab Dates (Universal)
• Young Buck - T.I.P. (Mass Appeal)

November 15:

• Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi: Platinum Edition (Island)
  Read: "Mariah Carey Emancipating Mimi Again, With Bonus Tracks"
• Green Day - Bullet in a Bible (with DVD; Reprise)
• Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor (Warner Bros.)
  

Buy Now: Confessions on a Dance Floor (Warner Bros.)

• Destiny's Child
• NSYNC
• Aerosmith
• Mötley Crüe
• Faith Evans

Mariah Carey (file)
Photo: mariahcarey.com

It's only been about a week since Mariah Carey's first single from her forthcoming album, The Emancipation of Mimi, leaked on the Internet, and now a second song from the album is making the rounds as well. Carey's song "Tonight," featuring Nelly and Pharrell Williams, is spreading on fan sites and message boards, with fans debating how the first song, "Say Something" (with Snoop and Pharrell), and this one stack up. "Tonight" features Carey crooning in an extended, whispered falsetto, with Nelly singing hook lines like, "It's all going down tonight" and "To the floor, everybody to the floor." ...

Michael Jackson's team lost one battle and won another in court on Monday (November 29). While the judge rejected the singer's request to have a psychologist examine his accuser, the defense may still get its hands on employment, banking, military, psychiatric and medical records involving the alleged victim's family, including the gynecological records of the boy's sister and mother. Judge Rodney Melville said that the defense could seek the records, but ordered them to notify the people referenced in those records, and gave those people five days to challenge the records' release. Melville also granted the defense's request to release grand-jury transcripts. ...

Coldplay's third album, the follow-up to 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head, is due in March. The as-yet-untitled LP features the production work of Ken Nelson, who helmed the band's previous two albums. ... Items from Beyoncé, Madonna, Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are on the block for the annual Hope for the Holidays online charity auction. Proceeds from the eBay auction, which runs through December 9, will benefit MusiCares, a nonprofit organization that provides financial and medical assistance to members of the music community. ...

Last year around this time, Britney Spears busied herself posing bottomless and topless for magazines like Esquire and Rolling Stone, but now that she's a married woman, she's re-imagining herself as a happy housewife for Redbook. Spears will be the magazine's January cover girl; the story inside promises to reveal Britney's take on "in-laws, stepkids, [and] keeping post-honeymoon sex hot." Of course, Britney's name can no longer appear in print without the word "baby" right behind it, and Redbook follows suit by touting the potential for Spears-Federline offspring sooner rather than later. ... Gwen Stefani plays a queen of sorts in her video for "What You Waiting For?," but she's going to get to hang with real royalty when she performs for the Prince of Wales at this year's Royal Variety Performance, which will take place at the London Coliseum on December 14. Joining her on the bill will be Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John and Liza Minnelli. ...

It might take years for Christina Aguilera fans to get a refund if they bought VIP tickets for her summer tour through her now-defunct fan club, FansRule, if they haven't gotten them already through their credit-card companies. FansRule's proposition for over $1 million in financing was turned down in bankruptcy court, and resolution of the company's liquidation could run up to three years. Aguilera's lawyer, however, is hoping the process can be settled within a year. FansRule still owes about $320,000 to Christina fans. ... The parents of Jessica Michalik, the 16-year-old fan who was killed in the pit while Limp Bizkit were performing at the Sydney, Australia, stop of the 2001 Big Day Out festival, have started legal proceedings against the band, the promoters and the security company that worked the show. A 2002 legal investigation found the band to be not responsible for the girl's death. ...

You don't know what it's like to be a misfit until you walk a mile in their shoes. Horror punks the Misfits are the latest group to put out a line of footwear. In conjunction with Select Distribution and Vision Street Wear, the new merch, available through the band's Web site (www.misfits.com), also includes skateboard decks and wheels. ... Brit-rock past and present met over the weekend when the Libertines' Pete Doherty joined former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon onstage in London for a cover of the Libertines' "Time for Heroes." Coxon was performing to support his solo album Happiness in Magazines. ...

If your idea of a great New Year's Eve includes monsters, Japanimation and a visit from the chicken-bucket-wearing ex-guitarist of Guns N' Roses, New York's Irving Plaza is the place to be. Funk/electronica band Particle will headline an evening that includes appearances by monster-mayhem wrestling group Kaiju Big Battel, Buckethead and Japanese punk group Peelander-Z. ... Somnambular trio Low are turning up the volume — well, a little anyhow. The Minnesota group has enlisted Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann for its seventh full-length album, The Great Destroyer. The 13-track disc is due January 25. ...

11.24.2004

Britney Spears is getting ready to be a mom. In a Thanksgiving letter posted on her fan site dedicated to her own mother, she wrote about how she can't wait to have children. "A lot of people think you should wait till you're older to have kids," she wrote. "I've had a career since I was 16, have traveled around the world and back and even kissed Madonna! The only thing I haven't done so far is experience the closest thing to God and that's having a baby." Spears wrote that she believes her children should be her full-time job, and she doesn't want to rely upon nannies. "Spending time at home over the past few months, I have felt richer than I ever did working all the time," she wrote. "My soul feels rich and that doesn't have anything to do with money or material things. To feel content, I just need a roof over my head and to be surrounded by the people I love." She's also learning to cook because "cooking is kind of like motherhood. To be really good at it, you don't need instructions." ...

If Spears wants to be a good mom, she'll think twice before buying any daughter of hers the Hilary Duff nail-polish set. A consumer group called the U.S. Public Interest Research Group issued its annual "Trouble in Toyland" list on Tuesday, warning that, among other toys that pose hidden hazards to kids, the Hilary Duff Twinkle Toes Pedicure set from Townley Cosmetics is potentially toxic, because it contains xylene, a highly flammable, colorless, sweet-smelling liquid that occurs naturally in petroleum but can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion, stomach discomfort and even unconsciousness and/or death at very high levels. ... Lindsay Lohan is now the face for Dooney and Burke's new Heart and Charm handbag collections. She's offering a chance to win one of the handbags and a $500 shopping spree on her Web site. ...

Though Gwen Stefani had planned to promote her debut solo album, Love, Angel, Music, Baby, Wednesday by appearing on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," she's canceled those TV spots due to illness. She plans to reschedule her appearances when she's better, according to her Web site. ... How do you know you're a rock star? When you're onstage rocking and you have somebody to towel off your bald head when it gets too sweaty. Fat Joe showed off his star status as part of the Atlantic Records Joint Chiefs concert Tuesday night at the Apollo Theater in New York. Besides bringing out the whole Terror Squad, Joe surprised the audience by calling on Ja Rule and Jadakiss for "New York." Joe's labelmates Fabolous, T.I., Trick Daddy and Juvenile also had their own sets. Proceeds went to the Takalani Home for Children and the Hope Leadership Academy in Harlem. ...

Recording has begun on Limp Bizkit's next album, the follow-up to last year's Results May Vary. According to a post on the band's official Web site, Fred Durst described the album as being "so f---ing heavy it hurts." ... Now that Brandon Boyd no longer has a date with a judge in his future, Incubus are free to work on two soundtracks in the new year. The first is for the action film "Stealth," while the second is a score for a documentary about surfboard shaper Al Merrick. ...

Marilyn Manson has played many roles throughout his career, but he may have stepped into his most unlikely shoes on Monday, when he became a professor for a day at Temple University. Manson taught the school's Art and Society class for the day as part of MTVU's "Stand-In" series, which will air on December 6. ... Federal investigations into alleged indecency on Howard Stern and Opie and Anthony's radio shows were settled on Tuesday, when Viacom agreed to pay $3.5 million and begin delays in live programming to prevent further violations. The agreement cancels investigations into close to 50 radio and TV shows broadcast across the country that featured allegedly indecent content. The agreement gives Viacom five days to pay the fine. Viacom is the parent company of MTV. ...

Prince Paul has begun work on a solo album to follow up 2003's Politics of the Business. He's also assembling an EP/DVD called The Art of Picking Up Women with the group the Dix, due in January, and putting together a retrospective of unreleased material. ... The Killers, Snow Patrol and Phantom Planet are among the artists who've recorded acoustic sets available for download exclusively at Connect, Sony's online music store. Currently, there are 17 artists in the "Connect Sets" series, and any track costs 99 cents to download. ... Just days after the tour to support More Adventurous ended, Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis got to work on her first solo album. The singer plans to drop the album next summer on Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst's Team Love imprint. ...

• Mariah Carey
• Nelly
• Coldplay
• Britney Spears
• Michael Jackson

Axl Rose (left) and Buckethead (right) onstage (file)
Photo: MTV News

Much to the surprise of, well, no one, Guns N' Roses have nixed their May 30 appearance at Rock in Rio - Lisbon.

In an official statement, singer Axl Rose blamed the cancellation on former guitarist Buckethead, who quit the band earlier this year (see "Buckethead's Hand Puppet Says Goodbye To Guns N' Roses").

"The band has been put in an untenable position by guitarist Buckethead and his untimely departure," Rose said. "I apologize to the fans who planned to see us at Rock in Rio - Lisbon. The festival and its tradition mean a lot to me personally and I sincerely do not enjoy being robbed by one of our own of the opportunity to be the first artist to play it for the third time."

Rose, who failed to show up at two of the band's gigs last year, forcing the cancellation of the remainder of the tour (see "It's Extra Official: Promoter Says GN'R Tour Totally Off"), called Buckethead unreliable, and claimed he was largely responsible for the band's inability to proceed with its decade-in-the-making album, Chinese Democracy.

"During his tenure with the band, Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and commitment — despite being under contract — creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals and live plans with confidence," Rose said. "His transient lifestyle has made it impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communication with him whatsoever."

Buckethead quit Guns N' Roses several times during his four years with the group, but he repeatedly returned. It got to the point, claims Rose, where the band wasn't even entirely sure when the puppet-toting guitarist was in and when he was out.

"In February, we got word from [drummer] Brain that Bucket had called him and said he was back in Guns," Rose said. "According to Bucket, he had been gone, but had turned himself around and was really excited to do Rio - Lisbon and a European tour. Somewhere in the following month, things changed once again."

Not only was Buckethead flaky, Rose claims, he was also underhanded — at least, that's what other people told him. "According to those who have actually spoken with Buckethead, it appears his plans were to secure a recording contract with Sanctuary Records, which I encouraged my management to make available to him," Rose began. "[Then he was going to] quit GN'R and use his involvement in the upcoming Guns release to immediately promote his individual efforts."

Despite the harsh tone of his statement, Rose seems to have left the door open for Buckethead to again return to the GN'R fold. "We greatly appreciate Bucket's contributions and remain open to discussions, as there are obviously several issues to resolve."

Even if Buckethead's gone for good, Rose insists the guitarist's decision to bolt has sparked a creative burst from the band, and added that a release date for Chinese Democracy will be announced "within the next few months."

"Rather than dwelling on the negative, Guns will be moving forward and surprisingly (without giving away any details), this unfortunate set of circumstances may have given us the opportunity to take our recording that one extra step further," Rose said.

Neither Buckethead nor his hand puppet were available for comment at press time.

For more on Buckethead, check out "Beneath The Bucket, Behind The Mask: Kurt Loder Meets GN'R's Buckethead."

• Guns N' Roses
• Buckethead

Buckethead (file)
Photo: MTV News

After fours years as a member of Guns N' Roses, during which time the band canceled more shows than it played and released no original material, guitarist Buckethead has had enough.

The eccentric musician, who wears a fried-chicken bucket on his noggin and talks only through a hand puppet, has walked out before but has always returned to the fold. This time, however, it looks permanent. At the end of last year, Buckethead became fed up with Guns' inability to complete an album or tour and stopped working with them, his manager said.

Buckethead appeared on the green carpet at the Grammy Awards last month and was introduced by Parliament/Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins as a member of Guns N' Roses, but by that time Buckethead had already told Guns frontman Axl Rose he no longer wanted to be in the band, the manager said.

Guns N' Roses are scheduled to headline the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 30. It is unclear whether the band will have a new guitarist by then. Guns N' Roses' label would not comment on Buckethead's departure.

The guitarist will now focus on numerous projects, including two solo albums — Population Overdrive and Cuckoo Clocks of Hell — which are due this summer. In addition, a group called Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains, which features Buckethead, Primus bassist Les Claypool, Guns N' Roses drummer Brain (ex-Primus) and legendary funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell, will release a debut studio album this summer (see "Buckethead's Brains On Hold During GN'R Tour, Claypool Says").

The record was mostly recorded last year in Northern California at Claypool's home studio, Rancho Relaxo, and includes the songs "Buckethead," "Tyranny of the Hunt," "The Big Eyeball in the Sky" and "Hip Shot From the Stab."

"There are slices of all of our worlds," Claypool said. "We're talking about four pretty strong personalities, so you can hear Primus with Buckethead flailing over the top and Bernie Worrell's monster tidbits over the top of what we're doing. It's unbelievable."

Half of the Col. Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains album will be instrumental. The band has played various live improvisational shows, but this will be the first time audiences will hear the band performing structured material.

"It's not as chaotic as you would think," Claypool said. "You'd think, 'OK, here come these four guys and they're just gonna start flailing,' but Brain is a very structured player, so everything tends to be very groove-oriented."

Also on Buckethead's plate are shows and recordings with his recently reunited high school band, Deli Creeps, which features a singer named Maximum Bob, drummer Pinchface and bassist Tony.

And Buckethead will likely join bassist Bill Laswell, Brain and others for a show as Material at this year's Bonnaroo festival, which is scheduled for June 11-13 in Manchester, Tennessee, according to the guitarist's manager. The festival may also feature a reunion of Praxis — a band featuring Laswell, Buckethead, Collins, Worrell, Brain and DJ Flip — who haven't played together in five years.

Buckethead will start a solo tour Wednesday (March 17), opening for Particle in Austin, Texas. Dates run through April 15 in Atlanta.

• Guns N' Roses
• Buckethead

This week DMX emerges from his Great Depression of 2001 with yet another ode to his dog Boomer, Grand Champ. In addition to more traditional hip-hop collaborations, X teams up with Patti LaBelle on "Thank You."

A Perfect Circle take their Thirteenth Step, the follow-up to 2000's Mer de Noms. The disc features ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez, who joined the band early this year.

Country bumpkin Bubba Sparxxx's new album is named Deliverance, after the 1972 movie that had everyone squealing like a pig. Sparxxx reunites with Timbaland on the record and teams up with Justin Timberlake on "Hootnanny." Meanwhile, Erykah Badu's Worldwide Underground EP kicks off its journey to ground level with the lead single "Danger." The album includes a duet with Lenny Kravitz on "Back in the Day" as well as a collaboration with Queen Latifah, Angie Stone and Bahamadia on the reinterpretation of back-in-the-day rappers Sequence and their "Funk You Up."

KFC-lovin' neo-Guns N' Roses guitarist Buckethead serves up a return trip to his world on Bucketheadland 2, while the Darkness, a British hard rock band following in the footsteps of Spinal Tap but claiming not to be a joke, release Permission to Land.

Pearl Jam issue a five-disc live set alongside the Ying Yang Twins' Me and My Brother, featuring the single "Naggin'," and Leona Naess' self-titled album about love, love and love.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the classic "Scarface," Def Jam has compiled Music Inspired by the Movie "Scarface," featuring Jay-Z, the Notorious B.I.G., and Grand Master Flash, among others.

Following his last album, Heathen, David Bowie introduces us to his brand of Reality, featuring the single "New Killer Star" and covers of Jonathan Richman's "Pablo Picasso" and George Harrison and Ronnie Spector's "Try Some Buy Some."

And, really, doesn't that last song embody the spirit of what the new releases column is all about?

Out Tuesday, September 16:

• Erykah Badu - Worldwide Underground (EP, Motown)
  Buy Now: Worldwide Underground (EP, Motown)
  
• Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Iridium Controversy (Cuneiform)
• Jane Birkin - Arabesque (Narada)
• Blind Boys of Alabama - Go Tell It on the Mountain (Real World)
• Bond - Remixed (Decca)
• David Bowie - Reality (ISO/Columbia)
• Buckethead - Bucketheadland 2 (Ion)
• Noam Chomsky - The Emerging Framework of World Power (Alternative Tentacles)
• Collider - WCYF (SonaBlast)
• Robert Crenshaw - Dog Dreams (Gadfly)
• Curlew - Mercury (Cuneiform)
• The Darkness - Permission to Land (Atlantic)
• Maria de Barros - Nha Mundo: Music of Cape Verde (Narada World)
• DMX - Grand Champ (Def Jam)
  Read: "DMX Declares Himself 'Grand Champ,' Makes Plans To Shoot Werewolf' "
  Buy Now: Grand Champ (Def Jam)
  
• Electric Eye - Electric Wisdom (Dirtnap)
• Eliane Elias - Brazilian Classics (Blue Note)
• Evil Beaver - Pleased to Eat You (Johann's Face)
• Aretha Franklin - So Damn Happy (Arista)
• Harkonen - Dancing (EP, Initial)
• Ima Robot - Ima Robot (Virgin)
• J Church/Storm the Tower - J Church/Storm the Tower (Broken Rekids)
• The Jupiter Affect - The Restoration of Culture After Genghis Khan (Orange Sky)
• Paula Kelley - The Trouble With Success or How You Fit Into the World (Kimchee)
• Kid Dynamite - Cheap Shots, Youth Anthems (Jade Tree)
• Little Killers - The Little Killers (Crypt)
• Patty Loveless - On Your Way Home (Epic Nashville)
• Shelby Lynne - Identity Crisis (Capitol)
• Lisa Marr Experiment - American Jitters (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
• Mates of State - Team Boo (Polyvinyl)
• Phil Miller/In Cahoots - All That (Cuneiform)
• MxPx - Before Everything & After (A&M)
  Read: "MxPx Get Promotional Help From George W. Bush, Emily Bronte"
  Buy Now: Before Everything & After (A&M)
  
• Leona Naess - Leona Naess (MCA)
• Need New Body - UFO (File 13)
• Oh Susanna - Oh Susanna (Nettwerk)
• Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen - Cool Yule: A Christmas Party With Friends (Columbia)
• Pearl Jam - "official bootleg" from July 8-9 New York shows (Epic)
• A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step (Virgin)
  Read: "A Perfect Circle Admit They're 'Weak And Powerless' On New Single"
  
• Phantom Limbs - Displacement (Alternative Tentacles)
• Harold Ray - Live in Concert (Alternative Tentacles)
• Run Run Run - Drizzle (EP, First Time)
• Saves the Day - In Reverie (DreamWorks)
  Read: "Saves The Day Attempt To Save Themselves, The World With Reverie"
  Buy Now: In Reverie (DreamWorks)
  
• Side Walk Slam - ... And We Drive (Tooth & Nail)
• The Situation - The Reece Nasty (EP, Orange Sky)
• Sloth - Dead Generation (Hollywood)
• Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance (Interscope)
  Read: "Bubba Sparxxx Softens Bumpkin Image, Teams Up With Justin For A 'Hootnanny' "
  Buy Now: Deliverance (Interscope)
  
• Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions (S-Curve)
• Story of the Year - Page Avenue (Maverick)
• Billy Talent - Billy Talent (Atlantic)
• Telecast - The Beauty of Simplicity (BEC/Tooth & Nail)
• Chalee Tennison - Parading in the Rain (DreamWorks Nashville)
• Thinking Plague - A History of Madness (Cuneiform)
• Thursday - War All the Time (Island)
  Read: "Thursday Deal With Paranoia, Women Who Want To Be Hit On New LP"
  Buy Now: War All the Time (Island)
  
• TRS-80 - Shake Hands With Danger (File 13)
• Vincebus Eruptum - Vincebus Eruptum (Load)
• Rocky Votolato - Suicide Medicine (Second Nature)
• Wayfaring Strangers - This Train (Rounder)
• Carnie Wilson - For the First Time (KMA)
• Ying Yang Twins - Me & My Brother (TVT)
• Zodiac Killers - Society Offenders (Rip Off)
• Various artists - Music Inspired by the Movie "Scarface" (Def Jam)
• Various artists - The Sound of San Francisco (Alive)
• Various artists - Version City Sessions (Asian Man)

September 23:

• Elvis Costello - North (Universal)
• Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (La Face)
  Read: "New Outkast LP 'Like Two-For-One Lap Dance Day' "
  Buy Now: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (La Face)
  
• The Bangles - Doll Revolution (Koch)
• 112- Hot & Wet (Def Jam)
  Read: "112 Go For The Slow-Grind Vibe On Hot And Wet"

September 30:

• Dido - Life for Rent (Arista)

October 7:

• Jin - Almost Famous (Virgin)
  Read: "Ruff Ryders' New Dog: Jin"

October 14:

• Mariah Carey - Remixes (Sony)

• DMX
• A Perfect Circle
• Bubba Sparxxx
• Buckethead
• Erykah Badu

Buckethead
Photo: MTV News

The short-term fate of Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains may lie in the hands of Axl Rose.

That's because the band, which was formed by ex-Primus singer/bassist Les Claypool, features guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain, both of whom are on the road in Guns N' Roses.

Claypool hopes to enter the studio in January with Brain, Bucket and Parliament/Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell to record the group's debut album, but if the Guns tour is extended the project will have to be put on hold and the quirky jam-rocker will begin work on his second studio solo album instead.

"If Bucket and Brain weren't committed to another project, I probably would devote much more time to it," Claypool said. "But I'm just not interested in being in a situation where my tour schedule or my release schedule is dictated by someone else."

If Claypool sounds a little bitter maybe it's because he played a major role in forwarding the careers of both Brain (a.k.a. Brian Mantia) and Buckethead (a.k.a. Brian Carroll). Brain replaced Tim "Herb" Alexander in Primus in 1996, and Buckethead first received mainstream exposure opening for Primus in 1999. In addition, Claypool was a major collaborator on Buckethead's Monsters & Robots (1999).

Even if Axl keeps Buckethead and Brain on the road through 2003, Claypool will probably still release a Bucket of Bernie Brains CD next year, only it'll have to be a live album. The band, which played together for the first time at the second stage of this year's Bonnaroo Festival, recorded its three off-the-cuff San Francisco dates.

"We just showed up and start playing," Claypool said. "They were completely improvised. We didn't even know what key we were going to be in from moment to moment. We went in there and starting throwing pasta at the walls, and it turned out great."

Considering the spontaneous nature of the project, you might expect endless walls of freeform noise, but Claypool said Bucket of Bernie Brains is surprisingly musical.

"Brain, Bernie and myself are very structured players, so everything is very groove-oriented. It's like this thing that starts in one place and just morphs itself into other places. There's not definitive changes between the jams so much as this constant morphing flow of audio."

Although he loves improvising, Claypool said a Bucket of Bernie Brains studio record would feature complete, structured songs, somewhat like The Grand Pecking Order, the 2001 album by his Oysterhead side project with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio and Police drummer Stewart Copeland.

"That was a lot of fun, and those guys are now good friends," Claypool said. "That's one thing I love about all this. You get to make all these songs with incredible musicians, and you wind up being friends with a lot of them. I'm doing exactly what I want to do. Life's too short to do anything else."

• Buckethead

Buckethead and hand puppet Herbie
Photo: MTV News

The Buckethead backstory begins with a kid named Brian Carroll growing up in a Southern California suburb not far from Disneyland. He's a shy kid and spends a lot of time in his room, which is filled with comic books, video games, martial-arts movie memorabilia, slasher-flick stuff, all the usual youth-culture detritus. He also spends a whole lot of time at Disneyland.

As a teenager, Brian takes up the guitar, plonking away under the sway of such metal masters as Angus Young of AC/DC; the late Randy Rhoads, of the Ozzy Osbourne band; and Swedish overdrive virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen. Like the latter two, Carroll incorporates a considerable amount of classical-music consciousness into his burgeoning style. He reads a lot of music theory. He starts getting really, really good.

Unlike his idols, however, Carroll is anything but flamboyant. Mane-tossing guitar-god moves are not something he'll ever be comfortable attempting. In fact, in an ideal world, there'd be somebody else he could one day take up onstage with him and hide behind. Some sort of alter ego.

Nobody much liked the 1988 fright flick "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers." After 10 years, this slasher franchise was pretty much played out. (Even though it's still with us today!) But Brian Carroll was inspired by the film. He went right out after seeing it and bought a Michael Myers-like white mask. Then, that night, as he was eating from a bucketful of take-out fried chicken, another inspiration struck. He described it in a 1996 interview with Guitar Player magazine: "I was eating it, and I put the mask on and then the bucket on my head. I went to the mirror. I just said, 'Buckethead. That's Buckethead right there.' It was just one of those things. After that, I wanted to be that thing all the time."

Unlike the editors of Guitar Player (for which Bucket once wrote a column called "Psychobuddy"), you needn't be conversant with minor 9th intervals or quadratonal arpeggios to be knocked sideways by Buckethead's war-of-the-worlds guitar eruptions. His star-burst chord clusters and eye-frazzling eight-finger solos aren't like much else you'll be hearing on this planet anytime soon.

Of course there are all kinds of aspiring guitar wizards out there (although probably none within pick-flicking distance of this guy). But what sets Carroll decisively apart from the pack is the outré "Buckethead" persona he's so painstakingly created. This character, with its vaguely sinister mask, soberly upended KFC bucket, and absurdly detailed chicken fetish, is pure American surrealism. Buckethead is a star of a strange new kind: not the projection of a preening personality, as is usually the case, but a mirror, a screen, a somehow lovable cipher. As a musical presence, he seems almost (one of Carroll's favorite words) disembodied.

Although most people are probably experiencing Buckethead for the first time in his current stint with the new Guns N' Roses, the man has been putting out solo albums for the last 10 years. Some, like the 1999 Monsters and Robots, are pure "post-metal psycho-shred," as one writer put it. Others, like the just-released Electric Tears, are serenely ambient. Buckethead also records under the name Death Cube K (an anagram); the 1994 Dreamatorium is a good one.

In addition to this solo output, Buckethead has also recorded and performed with a wild array of other musicians, from P-Funk all-stars Bootsy Collins and Bernie Worrell to Iggy Pop, Primus, avant-fusion bassist Bill Laswell and the late Miles Davis Quintet drummer Tony Williams. He's played on three albums by "The Lord of the Rings" star Viggo Mortensen, one by the painter Julian Schnabel, and some movie soundtracks and scores, too ("The Last Action Hero," "Mortal Kombat," "Beverly Hills Ninja"). He longs to do an all-Disney album. ("When You Wish Upon a Star" is one of his favorite tunes.)

We encountered Buckethead backstage at two recent Guns N' Roses shows, in Vancouver and Seattle (see "Fans Riot After Guns N' Roses Tour Kickoff Canceled: Kurt Loder Reports" and "Axl Blows Out Throat, Dons Chicken Bucket For Glitchy Guns Tour Launch"). On both occasions he was standing in his dressing room, in full Bucket regalia, wailing away, at subdued volume, on his extra-large, custom-made Flying V guitar. (Since he stands about seven feet tall — with bucket — he feels that regular, off-the-rack guitars look too dinky in his hands.) His fingers, like those of such renowned forebears as Robert Johnson and Jimi Hendrix, are extraordinarily long, and dizzying to follow as they caper among the frets. (He says he has a "really huge" big toe, too. Whatever.)

As he played, he appeared to be meditating on a large rack in front of him filled with odd dolls and objects: Michael Myers, of course; Leatherface from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"; a little plastic replica of Colonel Sanders, the late KFC impresario; and a rubber chicken straight out of vaudeville.

Brian Carroll is very soft-spoken and self-effacing. He seems to be the sort of person who's consumed by music, and one wonders, in talking to him, if there's any musical style or school with which he doesn't have at least a glancing acquaintance. Since the Buckethead character was famously raised by chickens, and has made it his mission in life to alert the world to the ongoing chicken holocaust in fast-food joints around the globe, we wondered about the presence of the Colonel Sanders doll in his travel rack. Carroll said, "It's like your father; maybe he beats you, but he's still your father, and you love him, and ... it's complicated."

Unlike Carroll, Buckethead doesn't speak at all, at least not for public consumption. When our cameras were about to start rolling, he fitted a whole-head rubber monster mask over his right hand and said that this improvised puppet — he calls it "Herbie" — would answer all questions. We asked what the chicken deal was. Apparently, the evil man who owned the farm where Buckethead was raised (with chickens, remember) came to the coop one day and cruelly slipped some fried chicken pieces inside.

"And for the first time," Herbie says, "he realized they were cooking chickens. And they were his family, so he tried to put them back together, and he just kind of went nuts. And he put the bucket on his head 'cause he thought he could help all those dead chickens come back to life. So when he plays, it's like the sound of all those dead chickens coming through his hands."

Okay. And this rubber chicken here?

"This is kind of sad," Herbie says. "It makes him play more pretty. When he sees this, he thinks of lullabies and that sort of stuff. But it's not real, and he knows it's not real."

When Brian Carroll first got a call from Axl Rose inviting him to join Guns N' Roses, he was nonplussed at first. He knew the band, of course, but it wasn't really ... his kind of thing, right?

Axl persevered, though. At Christmas he invited Brian over to his house. It hadn't been a happy Buckethead holiday up to that point: he'd really, really been hoping that someone would give him a certain hard-to-find Leatherface doll he'd been coveting as a gift, but no one had. Then he arrived at Axl's place, and Axl had that very doll — and he gave it to him. Brian took this as a sign ("He must understand me somehow"), and he joined the band.

So has Axl been any help to Buckethead in scoring chicks on this tour?

There's a pause, then Herbie says, "He's scared of, uh, girls. He just gets a weird feeling. He doesn't understand the feeling that he gets."

Some sort of chick/chicken confusion, maybe?

"That's a possibility," Herbie says. "I've never thought of that. And I'm sure he hasn't, either."

By this point, showtime is impending. Bucket has to head for the stage. We've pretty much covered everything, though: the chickens, the bucket ... But wait — the mask. What about the mask?

"There is no mask," Herbie says.

—Kurt Loder

"The Wrap" premieres Sunday at 9:30 p.m on MTV2.

• Guns N' Roses
• Buckethead