Are you smiling yet?

On October 29 and 30 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a veritable cornucopia of rock royalty will descend for a two night concert series celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Over the course of the two-night stand, members of the Hall of Fame will perform onstage with guests, effectively documenting the evolution of various musical styles. Crosby, Stills and Nash will perform with California-based artists, Metallica will headline the hard rock portion of the concerts, and Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin will perform with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra as part of a soul revue.

Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band, U2, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, and Simon and Garfunkel are also expected to perform in what the event’s executive producer and Rolling Stone founder, Jann Wenner, calls “a celebration of the artists and their music.” Joel Gallen, the induction ceremonies’ producers, will direct the shows, with a highlight version scheduled to be aired on HBO. Proceeds go to establishing an endowment for the Hall of Fame; AMEX cardholders will be able to purchase tickets today, while sales open to the general public on August 3.

To further commemorate the Hall of Fame’s anniversary, a book, titled The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The First 25 Years will be released via Collins Design in September. A nine-disc DVD collection will be released in August by Time Life, featuring highlights from past induction ceremonies and rare footage. (via RS)

For a 21 year old being touted by international media as a fresh face of electronic music, La Roux’s Elly Jackson has a pretty good head on her shoulders. The Brixton native, who with band mate Ben Langmaid comprise the duo, carries the interview out more like a conversation between friends than for a publication, and also isn’t afraid to swear.

Playing five dates on her mini-States tour, the red-headed one stopped in San Francisco to play Popscene as part of the Club NME series — a rag of which she has also been fawned over. But the show that night proved there are some truths behind the chops. Jackson took a bit to warm up to the crowd, playing closer songs “I’m Not Your Toy” and “Bulletproof” with more enthusiasm, dancing with her beats and facing out into the crowd more. She teased the audience by leaning into the front row almost tauntingly. “Which one of you is gonna have this up on YouTube tomorrow?” she asked before screams of confirmation answered her question.

We chatted with her pre-show, and in addition to her amicable nature, she also was very cool about our extreme stuttering problem from a lack of coffee.

“God, I’m so sorry I keep fucking up these questions,” I said apologetically. “Thank you for being patient.”

“Oh, no worries,” Jackson responded. “The point is that you get them right. I’d much rather have you say it the way you want to.”

Five Questions For La Roux
How much hair product do you think you use a month to get hair as awesome as yours?
Oh, wow, I don’t know. In a month, usually one can of mousse, intense mousse. You don’t need much wax but there’s that, and also very strong hairspray.

You’re an electronic powerhouse now, but you used to be more inclined to folk music when you first started out.
It wasn’t like we decided to electronic music out of the blue or anything. It just happened really naturally. My dad taught me guitar from the age of 6 and I was introduced to all music: rock and blues, folk. As a kid I liked Joni Mitchell a lot. I guess it was just kind of natural to write in that style. I wrote songs from the age of 12 and that’s where I pulled inspiration from. If you think about it, Paul Simon is pretty synthy — and you can quote me on that — people like Stevie Wonder also can fall into this. When I met Ben I’d written a lot of songs in a folk kind of area, and the more we wrote together, it just became a bit passé to us and we took it out of the tracks to start to go more dance.

For you, where is the line between creating original content and paying tribute?
I think there is a bit of both in what we do. It’s kind of annoyed me when people have taken the 50s or the 60s [to incorporate into their music], and people don’t bat an eyelid, but when you put the 80s in, people go, “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I mean, you weren’t there in the 50s, and then the counter is “But don’t you like rock and roll?” It’s like the 80s have this tainted thing on it. There is a lot of the revival of the leggings and spandex and American Apparel going on, but there was a classy cool romantic appeal that we’re appealing to, not the neon part. More Tears For Fears side.

While I was doing research I found there’s actually a band called LeRoux, which describes themselves as “Southern Rock/New Orleans Funk/Classic Rock/Power Ballad band with excellent harmonies, tight musicianship.” How do you differ?
Sounds like a big jerk off to me. What a bunch of assholes. Who says that about themselves?!

They do! On their own website, even.
That’s so contradictive as well, all the descriptions. Why do you need to write it down when it’s…ah, never mind (laughs).

Since you guys just got off a UK tour with her, is Lily Allen as horrible as she’s made out to be?
Do people think she is horrible? (laughs) To say what we think…like, when everyone else does that in their friend group, they’re not seen as bad. But when it’s written down and the facial expression is done, then it gets taken out of context. If one of your friends said it, you wouldn’t even remember if it sounds horrible or bitchy. She’s really not like that at all. But you have to know it to understand it. Someone went on my MySpace and left a comment that said “You’re such a bitch!” And that really hurts, because really, really, really, really I’m not a bitch, but now I can’t change your mind because you think I’m a cunt.

Some bands like to do cover albums. Some bands want to sound like Paul Simon. Deer Tick just wants you to hear their cover of “Still Crazy After All These Years”. It’s really just that simple.

Deer Tick was a bit late in getting its holiday note out this year, but given its hectic schedule you can’t really fault them. Bandleader John J. McCauley III sent out a holiday note to fans yesterday morning, which included a lovely cover of Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years”. Here’s the holiday cheer from the man himself:

Hey everybody,
Happy holidays brothers and sisters. Greetings from Westtown, NY. As you may or may not know, Deer Tick has been really busy the past 6 or 7 months between recording an album, touring relentlessly, and just a few days ago beginning pre-production on an even newer album. We wanted to share with all of you a gem from one of our recent sessions…

With love,
-John & the boys of Deer Tick.

Deer Tick – “Still Crazy After All These Years” (Paul Simon Cover)

Legendary folk musician — and arguably one England’s best guitarists — Davy Graham passed away on Monday (December 15), he was 68. Graham’s manager Mark Pavey told the Guardian that the musician was “diagnosed with lung cancer only weeks ago and suffered a seizure at his home at around 3.30pm yesterday.”

His debut release in 1962, the EP 3/4 AD, contained his most famous song, “Anji”. Inspired by his girlfriend at the time, the song was covered by many artists, including Simon and Garfunkel on their 1966 album Sound of Silence. Noted for his role in the 1960s folk revival, and his impeccable acoustic style, Graham is credited with touching on a wide range of influences in his music, particularly jazz and blues, as well as elements from a wider world of sounds, such as Indian or Arabic, that were not particularly well-known at the time.

There will be a private funeral held for Graham this week and a public memorial service is being planned for January. Further details of the service will be posted here, while Davy Graham’s website currently features testimonials from a few of the people he touched as a musician.

From the Davy Graham website:It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Davy died yesterday amongst friends and family from a massive seizure at home after a short battle with lung cancer… Davy will be missed by those of us who loved him. The many fans who came to see his last concerts gave him much joy and satisfaction and was something he drew great strength from.

“Probably England’s greatest guitarist” –Paul Simon

“He’s my absolute hero, always will be” — Bert Jansch