.ng-section1 { font-size: small; border-bottom: 1px solid #C5C5C5; width: 70%; font-weight: bold; padding: 1em 0 0em 2em; } .ng-section2 { font-size: xx-small; padding: 0 0 2em 3em; } Hello everybody and welcome to Navel Gazing: your look back at the week in Punknews. I'm Adam White and I'll be your guide through some of the most popular, notable, and otherwise attention getting stories of the past seven days. Each and every Punknews story is built from tips contributed by you fine folks, and here's what got the community talking this week… The People Must Have Something Good To Read On A Sunday This week's most popular stories This week brought major news that Public Image Ltd is reforming in December. John Lydon's influential post-Sex Pistols act hasn't played in 17 years, but the group wil return for a series of shows to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Metal Box. The presence of Kurt Cobain as a playable character in the new Guitar Hero 5 video game has enranged the members of the Nirvana camp. Cobain's widow Courtney Love threatened to sue the shit out of Activision, while the developer claims that Love signed agreements allowing for Cobain's image to be used. Former Nirvana members Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl were also dismayed, with Grohl urging Activision to "re-lock" Kurt's character so that it can't be used for anything but Nirvana songs in the game. In less contentious Nirvana news, the band's 1992 Reading Set will arrive as a CD / DVD set in November. Influential post-hardcore band Small Brown Bike has announced plans to reform and play shows in the near future. At a recent product announcement Apple unveiled the iTunes LP. The digital download will accompany music with lyrics, liner notes, video, photos and other content. Another forward thinking digital initiative has arrived from Nick Cave, who has released an enhanced ebook for the iPhone. It features the text of his second novel The Death of Bunny Munro with an audiobook read by Cave and featuring original music.
Rise Against has announced plans to work on new album for release in 2010. The Lawrence Arms are gearing up for their upcoming anniversary show by asking fans to choose the set list. Brendan Kelly was also interviewed by NME with a report on his favorite songs. Suburban Home records is giving away free albumsfor their 14th Anniversary. The kids from the Harry Potter movies were spotted checking out popular UK punk act Gallows at recent shows. BYO Records has unveiled Let Them Know covers by Dropkick Murphys, American Steel, and In The Red among others. Keep an eye open for upcoming tour dates from Shook Ones and Title Fight (co-headlining) as well as an upcoming trek from the Star Fucking Hipsters, Citizen Fish and Molotov Compromise. The Fest 8 has confirmed more bands, including Broadway Calls, The Swellers, and Panthro UK United 13. New video footage arrived this week of Frank Turner performing "Poetry of the Deed" live on CNN and Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem acoustically performing "Casanova, Baby!"
This week we said goodbye to Jake Brockman of Echo & the Bunnymen (1956-2009). I Can't Control My Fingers I Can't Control My Brain New feature content, weekly columns and exclusives This week we spoke with lead singer/guitarist John Gourley and bassist Zachary Carothers of Portugal The Man (interview), Nick and Nate from Minneapolis' Banner Pilot (interview), drummer and songwriter Brad Lokkesmoe of Dear Landlord (interview), Jon Ginoli of Pansy Division (interview), and Chase Brenneman of Living With Lions (interview).
Our Dispatches series of band blogs featured another edition of Mike Hale's For Those Still Standing (
Check the Punknews Music page to stream all sorts of anticipated new music including the Sidekicks' new full length for Red Scare Records, the new EP from Rochester, NY's Sakes Alive!!, the new full length from Chicago's The Bomb, the final full length from Brooklyn's Nakatomi Plaza, the Fat Wreck debut from Minneapolis, MN's Banner Pilot, an audio book chapter from Frank Portman of The Mr. T Experience's new book Andromeda Klein, the new full length from Seattle's The Spits, the new record from New York street punks The Casualties, San Francisco, CA's Heartsounds, Punknews community-spawned monstrosity the Sandwiches, the new 7 inch from Long Island's This Is Hell, the new split between Adam's Dagger and Scars and Stripes, the new 12 inch EP from Doylestown, PA's Balance and Composure, and the new 7-song EP from Boston's Ringers.
Win prizes from Banner Pilot
To celebrate the release of their upcoming debut for Fat Wreck Chords, Banner Pilot and the label have put together a nice set of prizes to coincide with the release of Collapser on September 1, 2009.
Your trusty Punknews staffers and reviewers have all sorts of projects on the go, everything from poorly spelled and oft neglected blogs to big official world domination schemes. Make sure to check out videographer Chris Moran's collection of recordings online at Vimeo, news editor Justin August's blog JustinAugust.org, news editor Adam White's blog AdamWhite.org, news editor Bryne Yancey's podcast What We Hate, copy editor Jesse Raub's short fiction webzine Bitter Press, and reviews editor Brian Shultz' blogs Over Looked and Witness.
Of course your day wouldn't be complete without knowing every inane detail of your humble editors' lives. Follow @adamwhite, @jesseraub, @justinaugust, @brian_shultz, @bconoley and @bryneyancey's every move at Twitter.
Punknews reviewer Joe Pelone recently wrote about his 5 Favorite Guitar Hits for guitarist website Jemsite.
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