Beck performs at the Elliott Smith memorial concert
Photo: MTV News

HOLLYWOOD — With tears in their eyes, friends and fans of Elliott Smith sang along to some of the troubadour's most poignant material on Monday at a memorial concert a few miles from where he took his life less than two weeks ago.

Beck, Beth Orton, Lou Barlow and others performed at the Music Box at the Fonda Theater, although it was Smith's tender melodies and anguished lyrics that took center stage.

"For us, Elliott is one of the great pillars to the kind of music we try to contribute to," Rilo Kiley singer/guitarist Blake Sennet said backstage. "And for a moment we felt like one of the pillars had fallen, but later you realize the pillar is his music, and that's what he left behind. Ultimately, he tried to make his misery into a positive thing."

Most of the artists who took part in Monday's concert played only Smith songs, although some performers tossed in a song or two that they knew Smith liked or that they felt were appropriate. Some were stripped down to nothing but a voice. Others were dolled up with as many as eight musicians. And while the Smith songs spanned from his first solo album to his last, and even included music from his early band Heatmiser, all of them had a similar, somber tone.

"This is really a memorial for his fans, but also for his friends," Beck said backstage. "He had a lot of friends in L.A. and in these parts, and this is our chance to say goodbye and thanks" (see "Singer/Songwriter Elliott Smith Dead; Friends, Fellow Musicians Pay Tribute").

Beck ended his solo set with exactly those words, after strumming through "Ballad of Big Nothing," "Clementine" and "Alameda" — the first and last from 1997's Either/Or and the second from 1995's Elliott Smith, the album that turned Beck on to Smith.

"The good thing about his songs is they're so well made, they're so crafted and meticulous, they can weather even the most feeble rendition," Beck said. "I've been working on them pretty hard the last two days."

Beck's set was flawless in delivery, but others found Smith's songs more challenging. Some admitted to giving up on learning more songs, while others stopped halfway through versions, noting that it was an Elliott trademark.

"His music is so incredible on so many levels, a lot of the musicians playing here tonight have commented on how difficult it is to learn it," said Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis, who stunned the capacity crowd with an a cappella rendition of "I Didn't Understand" from 1998's XO. "He was such an amazing guitar player and incredible lyricist and beautiful voice. For this generation of songwriters, he was incredibly important and timeless."

Rilo Kiley also played "The Biggest Lie," with Lewis releasing her pain by stomping her foot to the beat, and two of their own songs, which they said Elliott heavily inspired.

Orton, who performed just before a screening of the experimental documentary "Strange Parallel" ended the night, played "No Name #3" from 1994's Roman Candle as well as one of her own songs, "What We Begin."

"I wrote this song about one of my best friends growing up who hanged himself last year," Orton said, her voice trembling as she sang the opening line, "You're never comin' back, and we can't change that."

Orton told the audience she did not know Smith well but wanted to perform because it was a benefit for the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund, which will support groups for abused children.

"If any good can come out of this, it's that perhaps he wasn't lucky enough to overcome what he suffered, but through his organization, he can help other people to overcome what they suffer," she said of Smith, who was abused. Orton paused, then added, "This is such a headf---."

Barlow, the Folk Implosion singer who toured with Smith when Barlow was in Sebadoh in the mid-'90s, also played a song he wrote for a friend who had passed. "I know you've given all you can give to me," he sang. "I know there'll come a day I'll understand/ Until then I'll be trying to solve your mystery/ Wonder why I couldn't make you stay."

Barlow also played Smith's "Division Day," with the help of a crowd member who yelled out a line the singer forgot. "Elliott would stop [shows] like that," Barlow said. "I loved it when that happened. It showed humanity, and that was something Elliott brought to his music, and we all loved him for that."

Monday's show opened with Los Angeles buzz band the 88, who performed spot-on versions of "King's Crossing," "Can't Make a Sound" and "Stupidity Tries," the latter two from 2000's Figure 8, Smith's final album.

Other highlights included Papa M's "Half Right" (the hidden track on Heatmiser's Mic City Sons), Radar Brothers' "Between the Bars" from Either/Or and Future Pigeon's almost reggae version of "Waltz #2 (XO)."

John Doe performed "Rose Parade" from Either/Or as well as a new song and a favorite X song of Smith's. "Elliott influenced a lot of people," the X singer/bassist said. "He appealed to the underdog in everybody. So everybody related to him on a pretty deep level. It's like, 'Yeah, I'm that underdog, he's talking for me.' And he talked the talk and walked the walk."

The sold-out show, which also featured Alaska! and Tito Larriva, was recorded for a live album that will also benefit the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund.

For more on Smith and his music, check out the feature "One Of Us Is On The Moon."

• Beck
• Beth Orton
• John Doe
• Elliott Smith

Speech
Photo: iMusic

Terrorism struck the United States on a Tuesday, the day labels release albums, and that day had its share of potential blockbusters: Jay-Z, Bob Dylan and Mariah Carey were among the artists who released records on September 11, 2001.

The first anniversary of the attacks, by contrast, will pass quietly in the nation's record stores, with no big-name releases hitting shelves this week and retailers predicting that new records will be the furthest thing from fans' minds.

"It just seems to be in bad taste," said bassist Joe Escalante of veteran punk band the Vandals, who chose a September 17 release date for their album Internet Dating Superstuds to avoid dropping the album this week. "Sometimes it's hard enough to push silly punk rock on people and say, 'Buy this,' but if you're going to do that the day before the first anniversary of September 11, it makes even less sense."

Retailers say it's also a poor marketing move to release an album on September 10. "You're not going to want to spend this week trying to promote a pop culture product when most of the country is going to be mourning," said Dave Montes, general manager of Tower Records in New York's East Village. "There's the ethical side of it that says it's not the right time. And from a marketing standpoint, it's probably not a smart decision. No one's going to concentrate on a new album this week."

Sales during the week of September 11 last year did not appear to drop drastically in light of the attacks. Jay-Z's The Blueprint, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, sold just under 427,000 copies, while his previous album, The Dynasty - Roc La Familia 2000, sold about 560,000 the year before (see "Jay-Z's Dynasty Continues As Blueprint Debuts At #1").

Although this week will see an absence of major-label acts who typically score big first-week sales, some independent labels are proceeding with business as usual. Among the indie releases hitting shelves are albums by Ani DiFranco, X singer John Doe, the Bangs, "I Will Survive" singer Gloria Gaynor and former Arrested Development member Speech. DiFranco's double live CD, So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter, includes a poem reflecting on 9/11 (see "In Stores Now And Coming Soon: LPs By Ani DiFranco, BT, The Pattern, Run-DMC, Sahara Hotnights, Ivy & More").

"It's unbelievably self-centered to think that a record would matter compared to all these grand tributes," Doe said Monday. "Records, especially on independent labels, last a lot more than one week. And you've got to get on with it. ... Some [people] are paying tribute, remembering; others are moving on and listening to music."

Speech said he immediately fingered September 10 to release Spiritual People, feeling that the album's themes were particularly relevant considering the anniversary of the attacks. "We really wanted to go for it," he said. "My music has always been pretty message-orientated, and we felt that coming out with an album with messages of hope and freedom was a good thing. ... Music is part of reflecting, and yeah, you should buy music this week, just like you should still buy food."

Doe, whose Dim Stars, Bright Sky features appearances by Jakob Dylan, Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield and Go-Go Jane Wiedlin, suggested it was mostly fear that motivated labels to refrain from releasing albums on Tuesday. "I think people find any excuse to be scared," he said. "The entertainment industry is so paranoid, and it's so difficult to even get noticed putting out a record. People are so scared that anything's going to get in the way that they'll move the day of the release. My theory is, 'Keep going.' "

Yet some label reps said silence may be the only appropriate way for the industry to acknowledge the anniversary of the attacks. "It's about respect," said a spokesperson for Warner Bros., which is not releasing any major albums on Tuesday.

Major labels will be back in action in the next couple of weeks. Lifehouse, Enrique Iglesias, Disturbed, Ryan Adams and a single by "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson are due on September 17, while Beck, India.Arie, Uncle Kracker, Peter Gabriel, Underworld and Steve Earle will release albums on September 24.

• Speech
• The Vandals
• Ani DiFranco
• John Doe

Gordon Gano
Photo: Jill Epstein

With so many visitors it's sometimes hard to know who's the star and who's the guest, hip-hop has perfected the art of the cameo.

But with the exception of Santana's multi-platinum Supernatural and recent CDs from Stevie Nicks and Sheryl Crow, most rock artists have been less willing to share their albums with a raft of guest vocalists and players.

A pair of upcoming albums from two punk/new wave legends, though, takes the idea of star-studded collabos and twists them around in two unexpected ways.

The solo debut from Violent Femmes lead singer Gordon Gano, Hitting the Ground (August 27), is so star-studded that the nasally voiced singer could only squeeze his vocals onto three of the 11 tracks.

Of course, it helps when your songs are sung by the likes of two different members of the Velvet Underground (Lou Reed and John Cale), PJ Harvey frontwoman Polly Jean Harvey, former Pixies singer Frank Black, They Might Be Giants, and ex-4 Non Blondes singer and Pink/Christina Aguilera producer Linda Perry.

On the flip side, John Doe, singer for Los Angeles punk legends X and leader of the John Doe Thing, simply called some of his friends in to help out on his upcoming fourth full-length solo album, Dim Stars, Bright Sky (August 20). His friends just happen to be folks like Jakob Dylan, Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield and Go-Go's member Jane Wiedlin, whose contributions are decidedly more subtle than Gano's collaborations.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to sing with them ... people who I respect as people and artists?' " Doe said of his first acoustic album, which he tagged as "folk soul." "I have a difficult time separating the two, because if I don't like the person I usually don't like what they sing about."

Gano came by his high rollin' cameos through a back door. His first solo effort after 20 years fronting the Femmes was conceived as the soundtrack to a film by David Moore ("Polish Spaghetti"). The indie filmmaker tapped Gano for the project after seeing a performance of the "Blister in the Sun" singer's musical, "Carmen: The First Two Chapters" at New York's avant-garde Knitting Factory club.

"It started because I thought that, for a movie, it seemed silly if the same voice is singing in the background all the time," Gano said. While, like Doe, Gano nabbed some friends to voice his songs, he'd never met some of the guests, such as Perry.

"I was vaguely familiar with her, but there were probably only five or 10 seconds of the 4 Non Blondes record that had something that I liked vocally," he said candidly. The two bonded on the phone, though, over their mutual love of smoky jazz singer Nina Simone, and Perry turned in a nuanced, sensual vocal that surprised both her and Gano.

In another surprise, Polly Jean Harvey's take on the title track features her amazing, quavering imitation of Gano's signature vocal style over a driving folk punk track, which he took as a high compliment.

Though Gano wrote all of the songs and recorded rough demos for his colleagues (and in some cases finished songs awaiting their vocals) to work off of, only punk godfather Lou Reed got a co-songwriting credit.

"I told him about the project and he said if he had time and was inspired that he would try to do something," Gano said of his musical hero. "Well, at the point where I thought it wasn't going to happen, he called and said he was done, but that he'd changed some of the lyrics." As it turned out, in addition to rewriting more than half of the lyrics to the playful sung/spoken "Catch 'Em in the Act," Reed also completely rearranged the song's phrasing in a way that Gano said he could have never imagined.

Being the old-school punk that he is, Doe had always eyed all-star albums with a healthy dose of skepticism. But, after years of being asked why he hadn't recorded an all-acoustic album, Doe finally decided that the songs he'd been writing seemed to call for a more mellow setting, so he swallowed his punk rock pride and unplugged.

Bringing along his friends for the ride suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea, either.

"The same part of me that resisted doing an acoustic album resists being pigeonholed and worries about getting old, or soft," Doe said. "It's difficult to maintain that intensity after you've relied on electric guitars and fast tempos. Making rock music is very seductive and you always wonder, 'I've been at 10, am I getting to 10 this way?' "

While he traded bashing drums, electric guitars and loud vocals for pedal steel, mandolin, acoustic guitars and piano, Doe found a different kind of intensity. Paired with female singers who complement his voice in a more seductively poppy way than the edgier vocals of his longtime partner in X, Exene Cervenka, Doe's voice takes on a mellower, wounded tone on the album. Songs like "Closet of Dreams," "Still You" and "Backroom" are a series of elliptical poems about lives hanging in the balance and fuzzy portraits of characters barely keeping hold of the ones they love, and in some cases, themselves.

With a solo career that has frequently drawn more accolades than record sales, Doe said he thought the novelty of an acoustic album, paired with the guests, couldn't hurt his prospects.

"I'd be a liar if I said I did it strictly because of the art," he said. "Eighty percent of the people that say 'I love John Doe' have no idea what I sound like. But I also realize that it's cool and people like those things in an age where there's so many things going on at once and every small advantage my help you make another record."

Similarly, Gano said he wasn't concerned that his voice doesn't appear all over his solo debut, because his guests wont' likely hurt sales, either. "It was just very natural in how it developed," he said. "Maybe it's like my version of a hip-hop solo record!"

• Gordon Gano
• John Doe
• Lou Reed
• John Cale
• PJ Harvey

X's Exene Cervenka and John Doe
Photo: MTV News

Prevailing ideology pins punk's origins on New York's Ramones or England's Sex Pistols. And while sunny California might have seemed ill-equipped to foster a punk scene when compared with soggy London or New York's concrete jungle, Los Angeles bred its own version of the genre and X, along with the Germs, marked the scene's focus.

Fans who've never had the pleasure of dropping some X into their CD players can do just that when Rhino Records reissues the band's first three albums — Los Angeles (1980), Wild Gift (1981) and Under the Big Black Sun (1982) — on September 18, making them available for the first time individually in the compact-disc format, according to a label publicist (see "Got Any X? Memorabilia, That Is"). Produced by Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, each album was critically heralded in its time for elaborating on punk's raw edge with folk, country, rockabilly and straight-up rock influences.

The remastered reissues feature the albums' original artwork and bonus material in the form of demos, alternate takes, remixes, live cuts and previously unreleased studio tracks.

X gave punk conventions a twist when they hit the Los Angeles club scene in 1977. The band's original lineup consisted of singer Exene Cervenka, whose trashy-chic wardrobe predated Madonna's similar garb by five years; Billy Zoom, an all-American guitarist with rockabilly roots; flailing drummer Don Bonebrake; and the punk-poet bassist John Doe. X's distinctive art-punk sound was a major influence on future bands such as Jane's Addiction that also hinged on flamboyant style and imagery.

The quartet's original lineup is still alive and kicking, albeit infrequently, on the concert circuit. Zoom left the band in 1986 and was replaced briefly by Dave Alvin, who played in Cervenka and Doe's punk-folk side project, the Knitters. Tony Gilkyson later performed with X onstage and in the studio prior to Zoom rejoining his bandmates in 1998.

Doe and the group begin a brief string of West Coast dates Friday in Portland, Oregon. A handful of previously scheduled shows had to be scrapped so Doe could film a few episodes of the WB series "Roswell," his manager said. Doe has had a recurring role as the father of the character Liz Parker since the program first aired in 1999.

The actor/bassist is also working on his next solo album, the follow-up to last year's Freedom Is …, according to his manager. Six songs produced by singer/songwriter Joe Henry have been recorded with guests including Aimee Mann, Jakob Dylan, Beck guitarist Smokey Hormel (who also played on Doe's last effort) and R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker. Doe will pursue a new label deal upon the album's completion.

X/John Doe tour dates, according to Doe's manager:

• 8/17 - Portland, OR @ The Satyricon (Doe solo)
• 8/18 - Seattle, WA @ Experience Music Project
• 8/19 - Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Cafe (Doe solo)
• 9/7 - San Diego, CA @ Street Scene
• 9/22 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
• 9/23 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

• X
• John Doe

Bob Dylan
Photo: Sony

Rock's a young person's game, so how is Bob Dylan still showing everyone how it's done 40 years into his career? Sure the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney continue to churn out albums, but Dylan is not only still around, he's winning awards and releasing some of the strongest albums of his career. He turns 60 years old on Thursday (May 24), and in many ways he's just as challenging a character now as he was when he upended pop music back in the mid-'60s. Enigmatic, powerful, and armed with enough wit and whimsy to keep you guessing forever, he deserves a pat on the back and a tip of the hat.

We asked an eclectic group of musicians — including Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, rapper Wyclef Jean, Sugar Ray singer Mark McGrath, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and electronica duo the Chemical Brothers — to talk about the man's contributions to music and his impact on their art. So happy birthday, Bob. You said it best in your recent Oscar-winning song, "Things Have Changed," when you sang one of your quintessential lines about a drifter on a journey: "Lot of water under the bridge/ Lot of other stuff too/ Don't get up gentlemen/ I'm only passing through." Scott Weiland — "I didn't become a Dylan fan until recently. I've been a Beatles fan my whole life, but Dylan, I always thought, 'I don't understand what's so great about that guy.' But as I've gotten older, and as I've become more open about learning about a lot of things, I've realized that all you have to do is listen to the story he's telling and the way that he's able to use words. He's been widely accepted as probably the most influential writer of lyrics ever since rock 'n' roll began." Wyclef Jean — "'Gone Till November' is an original song that I wrote, but I mention Bob Dylan's name in the song. I said, 'I had none, so I had to do some/ So I'm knockin' on heaven's door like Bob Dylan.' And I was like, 'Yo, we should get Bob Dylan in the video!' And it was like, 'You ain't getting no Bob Dylan! Bob Dylan never shows up in videos, man! Bob Dylan doesn't do that kind of stuff!' But I was like, 'Yo, we can get him, man!' And we got Bob Dylan. I think that what Bob Dylan brought to the game is lyrical continuity in the music, and [the idea that] it's not all about the commercialism. It's about standing up for something and speaking out for the rights of the people." Mark McGrath, Sugar Ray — "I personally have never been influenced by Bob Dylan. He's at another level beyond music; he kind of transcends music. I've never been the hugest fan, but I definitely respect him for what he's done for the American culture in general. I can't write lyrics like he does. I write about beer and falling down, and he writes about cultural change, which I know nothing about. I'll leave it to the pros." Chris Robinson, Black Crowes — "Bob's influence on me was just the power of the music and the magic. Even when I was very young and I wasn't aware of music on a conscious level, I always knew when I heard Bob I knew it was important." Michael Stipe, R.E.M. — "There's a really short list for me as a music fan [and] as a musician and songwriter of people who have had really long careers and maintained a sense of dignity and a really uncompromising approach to their work. It's about keeping your eye on the ball. Fame is great, power is great, money is great. Bob Dylan probably has all that. But the thing that has always kept him writing the stuff he writes is the music. That's what it's about. To me, he's a huge star. I've met the man, too. He's got the softest hands I've ever touched. 'Like a Rolling Stone' is one of the greatest songs ever written. I've always wanted to cover it. I sing it in the shower." Sting — "It was interesting this year at the Oscars, because I was nominated, and Bob Dylan was nominated, and Bob won. I couldn't begrudge him it, because I learned to write songs at his feet like most people of my generation did. We copied Bob Dylan, or tried to." Miles Zuniga, Fastball — "Bob Dylan, to me, is some sort of magician. In [Dylan's 1967 movie] 'Don't Look Back,' you just don't know how he's doing all that. 'I'll let you be in my dream if you let me be in your dream.' That's my favorite line from the movie. He presented [his ideas] like they were always there and you just stumbled upon them, like a mountain. The music and the force of his words are so convincing. You absolutely yield to the force of his words." Rosanne Cash — "There are so few artists who haven't started doing parodies of themselves at around the age of 45 or 50, and Bob hasn't done that. He's been completely original from '64 on. That's a tough trick. To keep going to the same well and finding new things there, to be young and vital regardless of age. The fact that my dad (Johnny Cash) was doing a song with Bob Dylan made me unutterably cool, and 'Girl From the North Country' was so poignant. I had a good sense of who my father was as an artist, so their pairing didn't seem incongruous. In fact, it seemed very natural — these guys are complete originals, of course they should do something together." Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day — "He showed me how to stuff as many lyrics into one song as you can get. 'Like a Rolling Stone' was one of the first songs that got into that feeling of abandon. It sounds like he's talking to some trust-fund college kid who came up and had the world on a silver platter and then he suddenly has to fend for himself, has a lot of growing up to do. One of the reasons he's so legendary is that he's so human, he's put out crap, too. That's what makes him even better — he has evolved. Eventually everybody makes crappy records, but to come back and make something halfway decent ..." Jeff Tweedy, Wilco — "Dylan is, I think, the only artist of the rock era who is truly timeless. Even the Beatles, great as they are, sometimes sound dated. In Dylan's music, the studio is always transparent, as if the only thing that mattered in the studio was that it documented his furious intellect. If there is something like a rock canon, Dylan is the obvious center of it." Mike Peters, the Alarm — "From having posters on the wall in your bedroom growing up and reading and listening to all of this incredible poetry, to actually being able to go on tour with Bob Dylan later in life is a massive thing." Stevie Nicks — "His influence on me as a songwriter is mammoth. When you listen to Bob Dylan's words for many, many years, you really understand that if you want to be a true songwriter, you've got to stand up to him." John Doe, X — "Musically and lyrically, he taught me more than I can say. He rewrote the book — a new chapter on folk, a new chapter on rock and a new chapter on poetry. I know that he has a philosophy of 'strange is better.' At 60 or even after 40, you're usually thinking, 'Well I've done that, now I should be normal.' He doesn't think that way at all. His contribution is his sense of adventure, being a seeker and continuing to experiment. Everybody steals from themselves and copies themselves for the first five years. He still has an unbelievable sense of discovery." Ed Simons, Chemical Brothers — "There's this yearning — there's a sort of restless quality because he's always questioning things, every song. A lot of music feels like it's a complete statement, and to me, that's why I like Bob Dylan — it always feels like there's more. ... We went to see him a couple years ago at a very small club in New York. ... You know, I've never cried at a gig — it was so moving, incredible." Tom Rowlands, Chemical Brothers — "It's just the most amazing imagery that you'd never have in any other songs. It's from another place totally when you listen to it. It just still blows you apart, really. It's brilliant." For more on Dylan, be sure to check out "Forever Freewheelin': Dylan As Improviser."

• Bob Dylan
• Scott Weiland
• R.E.M.
• Wyclef Jean
• Green Day

John Doe, best known as the bassist and vocalist for the seminal L.A. punk band X, is preparing to deliver a new album this summer and has mapped out a brief tour in support of it.

Doe and his The John Doe Thing will release their second album, "Freedom Is...," on July 18, and Doe will support it with a tour kicking off on May 10 in New York. Doe will hook up with alt-rocker Juliana Hatfield for a handful of dates near the end of the brief trek.

On "Freedom Is...," Doe once again hooks up with Smokey Hormel and Joey Waronker, who played on The John Doe Thing's 1998 EP "For The Rest Of Us." The new album will also feature appearances by Money Mark, Josh Freese, and X vocalist Exene Cervenka.

Dave Way, who produced "For The Rest Of Us," will once again help out this time around, sharing production duties with Doe.

Doe will first hit the road by himself for a trio of solo acoustic dates in early May and will then meet up with The John Doe Thing for a couple of dates before opening three shows for Hatfield. The John Doe Thing is expected to play a full U.S. tour this summer. Here's how their schedule looks so far:

• 5/10 - New York, NY @ Fez (solo acoustic)
• 5/11 - Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's (solo acoustic)
• 5/12 - Chicago, IL @ Schuba's (solo acoustic)
• 5/20 - Bakersfield, CA @ Jelly's (The John Doe Thing)
• 5/21 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Yucatan (The John Doe Thing)
• 6/12 - San Francisco, CA @ Slim's (The John Doe Thing w/Juliana Hatfield)
• 6/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour (The John Doe Thing w/Juliana Hatfield)
• 6/14 - Tempe, AZ @ Nita's Hideaway (The John Doe Thing w/Juliana Hatfield)

• John Doe