Sharp Notes September 30 2000

Gotta love that Elton. World famous Buckheader Elton John will record his greatest hits live ... again, but this time solo, at Madison Square Garden Oct. 20-21. The resulting CD, culled from the two-show stand is interestingly titled, Elton John: One Night Only, and not surprisingly the whole shebang is being videotaped for VH-1. After he plays the hits one more time (yawn), the piano man is scheduled to convene in the studio with ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil to record new material which will presumably be a little harder edged than "Tiny Dancer."
Space is the place. Diana Jones' set Sept. 28 at Eddie's Attic will begin the celebration for the opening of Nuci's Space, founded in memory of musician Nuci Phillips. Phillips committed suicide in November 1996 at the age of 22 following a long struggle with depression. Nuci's Space is a nonprofit organization that provides rehearsal spaces, a performance area, a counseling referral service, support groups, information workshops, music lessons and other services for young musicians--all at a nominal fee. The space opened its doors on September 1, 2000, at 396 Oconee St. in Athens, Ga.
Black dog. The successful but troubled Black Crowes/Jimmy Page tour which had continued in fits and starts because of Page's persistent back problems, has finally been canceled ... at least for now. The Zepp-ster must not know a good chiropractor since the European dates, set to start Nov. 12, have also been shelved. The Crowes will not perform these scheduled shows alone, even in their hometown of Atlanta, so refunds are being issued. The Crowes are staying busy though. They just played a benefit, along with The Allman Brothers Band, Hot Tuna, and former Grateful Deader Phil Lesh, for the family of recently deceased Gov't Mule bassist Allen Woody, who died suddenly Aug. 26 in a Queens, N.Y. hotel room from as yet undisclosed causes.
Farmclub.com, who featured the Sloppy Meateaters a while back, has chosen Atlanta electronic band Aerial as one of the top 10 electronica bands to look out for. Hear why at www.farmclub.com/listen/listeningroom/genre3.html.

• Yesterdayroom. The late Athens' band Dayroom has released an R.I.P. tape that contains a music video, nine live songs from the final performance in Athens on Feb. 5, and various interviews with friends and fans. Check it out at AthensMusic.net. While you're there, the band's frontman and chief songwriter, Michael Winger has just completed his first solo album titled The Modern World, which is also available at the same website.

Video helps the radio star. Nillah recently won a contest in their drummer's hometown of Lexington, Ky. The University of Kentucky at Lexington has used "A Good Idea" as the soundtrack to a short promotional video for university recruiting.
No lie, Weak Lazy Liar's song "Rocketpop" has been selected for the soundtrack of the flick 100 Girls, which premiered recently at the Cannes Film Festival and is currently in wide distribution in Italy. They nuzzle up to Save Ferris and Ben Folds Five on the disc that will be released on Jive Records. Check out the entire track listing and a synopsis of the film at www.100girls.net/music.html. Additionally the band's No. 1 fan has started an Internet newsgroup to chat about them. Get a piece of the Lazy action at weaklazyliar-subscribe@egroups.com.
Indian summer. The Indigo Girls, along with Indigenous, Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez, will participate in the Honor the Earth Tour 2000. The tour, which began in 1993, raises money for American Indian groups to help call attention to issues such as the slaughter of buffalo and concerns about nuclear waste storage. This year's month-long trek kicks off Sept. 30 in Billings, Mont. The duo, who will play a free show in Centennial Park on Oct.28, is also featured in the first issue of Joan Osborne's new Web magazine Heroine (www.heroinemagazine.com) where actress Susan Sarandon interviews them on their political activism.
Busy body. Brendan O'Brien has been burning the midnight oil at Southern Tracks Recording studio lately. He's just finished mixing the new disc from ex-Jane's Addiction and ex-Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist Dave Navarro. He's also mixed the debut disc from Interscope's new signing Sinisstar.
Behind the Iron Curtain. A guy named Lord Litter who hosts an indie music program out of Berlin of all places, has added songs from Karsten Durand's latest album Stream of Consciousness to his Internet play list. Brush up on your German at www.indieport.com. In other KD news, the band made an appearance on Good Day Atlanta a few weeks ago, and has fielded interest from Quincy Jones' label.
As R.E.M. puts the finishing touches on their new album, all of the band's long-form videos (1990's Tourfilm and Pop Screen,1991's This Film Is On and 1995's Parallel) were released on DVD. Of these, the latter is the most interesting, since it contains 11 clips from Automatic for the People, with pieces of "visionary footage" shot by artists and friends of the band as well as video from the R.E.M. documentary Rough Cut. The trio has also recently rented a house in Dublin, Ireland, as the three-some continue to fine-tune tracks from a projected spring release album. Additionally, they will be playing their first live date in over a year when they join the eclectic likes of 'N Sync, Britney Spears, Gilberto Gil and the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the third Rock in Rio Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which runs from Jan.12-21. — Hal Horowitz