Andrew Bird is keeping busy, or so reports the BBC 6. All whilst on a lengthy tour, Bird is finding time to score a film, create an art installation, and cover Kermit the Frog’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green.”

The film in question is titled Norman. It’s a high school drama starring Adam Goldberg and is the first legit full-length feature Bird has scored. The art project is harder to explain. According to Bird, “I’ve been collaborating with this sculptor in Chicago who makes these horns that I play through – they are like speakers – to create a whole installation, a room full of these horns that are shaped like poppies, making loops that come out of different horns. It’s like an arboretum of sonic sculptures. It’ll be a traveling museum show.” Whoa.

The Kermit cover is part of a Sesame Street 40th Anniversary disc, featuring artists like My Morning Jacket and (no surprise) Weezer playing your favorite Muppet tunes. It’s due out early next year. No word yet on whether or not Steve Martin will cover “Dueling Banjos” for the comp. (via P4k)

Tour Dates:

11.13 Paris @ Casino de Paris
11.15 Amsterdam @ Melkweg
11.16 Tumhout @ de Warande
11.17 Gent @ Vooruit
11.19 Katowice @ Festival Ars Cameralis
11.21 Madrid @ Joy Eslava
11.23 Valencia @ Palau de la Musica
11.24 Barcelona @ Sala Apolo
12.08 Champaign, IL @ Foellinger Auditorium at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
12.10 Minneapolis, MN @ St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
12.11 Minneapolis, MN @ St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral
12.15 Chicago, IL @ Fourth Presbyterian Church
12.16 Chicago, IL @ Fourth Presbyterian Church
12.17 Chicago, IL @ Fourth Presbyterian Church
12.30 Marion Bay, AS @ The Falls Music & Arts Festival
12.31 Lorne, AS @ The Falls Music & Arts Festival
01.01 Melbourne, AS @ The Hi-Fi
01.03 Sydney, AS @ Sydney Opera House
01.07 Brisbane, AS @ Sunset Sounds
01.09 Busselton, AS @ Southbound
01.26 Singapore @ Esplanade
01.27 Hong Kong @ Grappa’s Cellar
01.29 Shanghai @ Zhijiang Dream Factory
01.30 Beijing @ Mao Live House
02.03 Tokyo @ Club Quattro
02.06 Honolulu, HI @ Pipeline Café
02.20 Los Angeles, CA @ Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California

At last, the Lollapalooza rumors are put to rest — Depeche Mode, Tool, The Killers, Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon and (of course) Jane’s Addiction will be headlining this year’s festival, along with an impressive cast of supporting bands, Lollapalooza organizers confirmed today.
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In honor of his rise to the top of the indie sales charts this week, we thought it was apropos to show this clip of Andrew Bird doing “Fitz and the Dizzyspells” on Letterman. Bird and his band performed the song — from his newly released record Noble Beast — this past Tuesday [January 27] and features Andrew wielding the violin, whistle, vocals, and of course, a guitar.
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A friend IM’d us the other day asking for our bets on what the new Animal Collective CD would SoundScan. The hype surrounding the release of Merriweather Post Pavilion was palpable — so much in fact, that some wondered if the vinyl release could actually break the Billboard top 200. And Bon Iver had us all swooning the return of heartfelt folk to the list of critical-to-near-mainstream success stories. Yet little hype or hoopla was made about Noble Beast, the newest effort from Andrew Bird, mainly because it shared the same release date as the aforementioned records. But when the increasingly unimportant Nielson SoundScans arrived on our computers this morning, it wasn’t our Merriweather predictions that had us surprised, it was who actually sold more.
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