(photo by Mike Holdsworth)

Our good friend and former colleague Mike Holdsworth reports from Paris :

Cat Power played a show in Paris on her birthday (Jan 21) at the famed  Parisian venue Bataclan. Tickets were changing hands outside for 200 Euros, that’s about 300 of your George Bush dollars. In a short but truly historic show Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues managed to perform a set that ranged across heart rendering passion and through most human emotions including, but not ending in, jealousy and pain. The songs selected were mainly from the new Jukebox album. If Soul Music is passion, tenderness, longing and hurt wrapped up by a great voice and tight band then Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues are Soul in capital letters and the performance of “Lost Someone” was a great example. “Silver Stallions”, one of the highlights on the new album, unfurls with a mean slide guitar and taut solo from Judah Bauer. Together Dirty Delta Blues have matured into a muscular beast. They give the Bad Seeds a run for their money, delivering emphatic and repeated punches at the end of Metal Heart, a song that builds from a gentle beginning into a piledriver. The reworked “Metal Heart’ underlines how good Chan’s songwriting is, on par with any of the covered classics tonight. The version of “He’s Got You” is beautiful but laden with vitriol as Chan stresses the word “you” with real venom live. The evening ended all too soon with Chan handing out white roses. Even the five minutes of the audience calling for more with full house lights on and music playing could not be satisfied due to a strict curfew.

The following day at the Canal Plus TV studios seven songs were recorded for broadcast. In those controlled situations, a small audience and state of the art studio the songs were even better than the Bataclan performance. Watch out for it on Youtube – I am sure it will pop up as soon as it is broadcast in France.

Cat Power & Dirty Delta Blues will be appearing on BBC2’s “Later With Jools Holland” on Friday, February 1, as the show celebrates its 200th episode. Other guests that night include Dionne Warwick, Feist and Radiohead.

Click on the venue names for online ticket sales — the fun starts at 10am, Wednesday, 12/19.

February – 2008

6-NYC @ Terminal 5
7-Boston @ Orpheum Theatre
8-Philadelphia @ Starlight Ballroom
9-Toronto @ Kool Haus
10-Chicago @ Vic Theatre
11-Minneapolis @ First Avenue

(Chan and Judah, pic lifted from La Tête Krançien’s Flickr page)

Jan 21 Paris – Bataclan
Jan 27 London – Shepherds Bush Empire

a) The Paris show takes place on Chan’s birthday.
b) We don’t have ticketing info available yet for either show.
c) ‘Jukebox’ is now available for pre-order (double CD, LP)

The new Cat Power album, ‘Jukebox’ is now available for Pre-Order in the Matador store!

The album comes in two versions: 1. Deluxe silver-foil gatefold cover (on both LP and CD) with bonus disc containing extra tracks 2. Regular jewelcase version (CD only)

Though ‘Jukebox’ won’t be available until January 22 (a day earlier in the UK and Europe), the original Chan Marshall composition “Song To Bobby” is available starting today from the iTunes Music Store.

Today we announce the final sequence for Cat Power’s upcoming ‘Jukebox’ album, to be released on January 22. The names below indicate the best known performer of the original songs, who are not necessarily the songwriters:

1. New York (Frank Sinatra)
2. Ramblin’ (Wo)man (Hank Williams)
3. Metal Heart (Cat Power *)
4. Silver Stallion (The Highwaymen)
5. Aretha, Sing One For Me (George Jackson)
6. Lost Someone (James Brown)
7. Lord, Help The Poor And Needy (Jessie Mae Hemphill)
8. I Believe In You (Bob Dylan)
9. Song To Bobby (written by Chan Marshall and Matt Sweeney)
10. Don’t Explain (Billie Holiday)
11. Woman Left Lonely (Janis Joplin)
12. Blue (Joni Mitchell)

* original version on the ‘Moon Pix’ album
** first appearance of this song

In addition, there will be a limited-edition silver foil deluxe package with a bonus disc containing the following 5 songs:

1. I Feel (Hot Boys)
2. Naked, If I Want To (Moby Grape)
3. Breathless (Nick Cave)
4. Angelitos Negros (Roberta Flack)
5. She’s Got You (Patsy Cline)

Photo by Stefano Giovannini.

The album cover image, along with full songwriting and publishing information for the original sequence of songs can be found at the original announcement. Here is the information for the songs not on that sequence:

7. Lord, Help The Poor and Needy
Traditional, from Jessie Mae Hemphill, arranged by Chan Marshall, Public Domain

12. Blue
Written by Joni Mitchell, published by Joni Mitchell Publishing Corp./Sony ATV Tunes, LLC (ASCAP)

bonus 1. I Feel
Written by Carter, Dorsey, Gray, Thomas, Virgil, published by Chopper City Music Publishing/Money Mack Music (BMI)

bonus 2. Naked, If I Want To
Written by Jerry Miller, published by Ervenson Publishing Co. (BMI)

bonus 3. Breathless
Written by Nick Cave, published by Songs of Windswept Pacific (BMI)

bonus 4. Angelitos Negros
Written by Andres Eloy Blanco/ Manuel Alvarez Maciste, published by APRS (BMI)

bonus 5. She’s Got You
Written by Hank Cochran, published by Sony/ATV Tree Publishing (BMI)

With ample respect for the terrific sets performed by Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues (very smooth Jagger-at-Altamont impersonation by Greg), Don Cabellero, Poison Idea, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Angry Samoans and the Cave Singers, my fondest memory of last weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Festival in Austin concerns the oh-so-fickle audience. 
While Neko Case and Carl Newman (above, blocked by Dan Bejar in white) politely begged, nay, PLEADED in vain for a Rice Krispie treat from the Spider House cafe foodstand (the latter offering $20 for said delicacy), Don Cab’s venerable Damon Che’ — he of the other worldly Speaking Canaries — asked his adoring acolytes for some Tums. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get a pack of Tums that fast without driving their truck into a Rexall. 

CD/LP – January 22, 2008

(The names below indicate the best known performer of the original songs, who are not necessarily the songwriters) :

1. New York (Frank Sinatra)
2. Ramblin’ (Wo)man (Hank Williams)
3. Metal Heart (Cat Power *)
4. Silver Stallion (The Highwaymen)
5. Aretha, Sing One For Me (George Jackson)
6. Lost Someone (James Brown)
7. Lord, Help The Poor And Needy (Jessie Mae Hemphill)
8. I Believe In You (Bob Dylan)
9. Song To Bobby (written by Chan Marshall and Matt Sweeney)
10. Don’t Explain (Billie Holiday)
11. Woman Left Lonely (Janis Joplin)
12. Blue (Joni Mitchell)

* original version on the ‘Moon Pix’ album
** first appearance of this song

In addition, there will be a limited-edition silver foil deluxe package with a bonus disc containing the following 5 songs:

1. I Feel (Hot Boys)
2. Naked, If I Want To (Moby Grape)
3. Breathless (Nick Cave)
4. Angelitos Negros (Roberta Flack)
5. She’s Got You (Patsy Cline)

Recorded in New York, Dallas and Miami, 2007, with the Dirty Delta Blues and Stuart Sikes. Full credits and details to follow. Much like real life, everything’s subject to change.

(due to circumstances beyond our control, Karl Lagerfeld will not be appearing on any of the dates below)

10/14  Norfolk VA              The NorVa
10/15  Washington DC   9:30 Club
10/16  Carrboro NC             Cat's Cradle
10/18  Tallahassee FL  Club Downunder / FSU
10/19    Savannah GA     Savannah Coll. of Art & Design  Trustees Theater
10/20   Orlando FL              Club Firestone
10/21     St. Petersburg FL       State Theatre
10/22     Miami FL                Studio A
11/4    Austin TX               Fun Fun Fun Fest

How do you get to Madison Square Garden? Practice, practice or the A, E or C train.  If you're aspiring blues rocker James Dolan, you wait for your dad to buy the joint.  But if you're Chan Marshall and her world class backing ensemble, you accept an invite from friends and ex-labelmates Interpol to lay waste to the World's Most Famous Arena on Friday, September 14.

Tickets are on sale now. And if you think they're expensive, you won't believe what Lombardi and I paid to see the Riddick Bowe/Andrew Golota riot. 

Of the confirmed variety, folks. Though none of the below take place in the World's Most Dolan-riffic Arena, it's a pretty exciting list, just the same. 

Wednesday 09/19 San Francisco, CA- The Fillmore

Friday 09/21 Los  Angeles, CA- Avalon

Saturday 10/13 Atlanta, GA- Echo Project Festival

Sunday 10/14 Norfolk, VA- The Norva

Monday 10/15 Washington, DC- 930 Club

Tuesday 10/16 Carrboro, NC- Cats Cradle

Thursday 10/18 Tallahassee, FL- The Moon @ FSU

Friday 10/19 Savannah, GA- Trustee's Theatre

Saturday 10/20 Orlando, FL- The Club at Firestone

Sunday 10/21 St Petersburg, FL- State Theatre

Thursday 10/25 Sao Paulo, Brazil – Auditório Ibirapuera (TIM Fest)

Friday 10/26 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – Marina da Glória (TIM Fest)

(Chan belting it out on Saturday, pic swiped from kirstiecat's flickr page)

With all due respect to Slint, Sonic Youth, Mastodon, Clipse, Cat Power & The Dirty Delta Blues (anyone know if this Bauer fella's been in a band before), all of whom were terrific the past two days, my tip for the PF 2007 Momento goes to the following : 

Moments before Sonic Youth took the stage Friday evening, the Union Park audience was reminded that Yoko Ono would headlining the following night.  An announcement which was met with a chorus of boos. 

Man, talk about holding a grudge.

Congrats to Chan Marshall on the most recent Cat Power album, 'The Greatest' being awarded the 2007 Shortlist Music Prize.

Chan's victory brings to mind George C. Scott winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1970 for his lead performance in "Patton". Scott took a dim view of competition between true artists, calling the Oscars "a goddamn meat parade."

Though we've not heard from Chan on this matter (and I do not intend to speak on her behalf), I would like to stress that the staff, management and ownership of Matador Records have only the greatest appreciation for MEAT PARADES. Those of you who might find such spectacles demeaning or superfluous, perhaps you should just 'fess up. You're afraid.  Of Losing.  To Cat Power. 

So bring 'em on — Grammies, American Music Awards, People's Choice, Plug Awards, the Noble Prize, etc.  If Chan's trophy cabinet gets a little too crowded, that's why there's an IKEA nearby.  And if they'd like to sponsor some sort of medal, loving cup or crystal statue, that's all the better.  

(Chan on the cover of the May issue of ID, photograph by Karl Lagerfield)

JULY
7-  Brooklyn, NY @ McCarren Pool (w/ Built to Spill)
8-  Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
9-  Northampton, MA @  Pearl Street
10- Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
13- Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
14- Chicago, IL- Union Park- Pitchfork Music Festival

There's one additional Canadian date to be confirmed.

Proving that nothing in Ms Marshall's world is predictable, we've just heard that she will be playing a 2nd show at the Triptych Festival in Glasgow:

Thursday 26th April,

Venue: The Ferry 25 Anderston Quay, Glasgow.

www.triptychfestival.com

Chan will be joined at this show by Dirty Delta Blues associate, Mr Judah Bauer.

Yes, we have the dates you've all been waiting for….it's Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues in Europe.

wed 25th – April: Glasgow The Ferry (actually this is a solo show)

fri 27 – 29th April:  All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, Minehead

tue 01 – May: London The Forum
wed 02 – May: Brussels Royal Circus
thu 03 – May: Eindhoven Effenaar
fri 04 – May: Heidelberg Karlstorbahnhof
sat 05 – May: Luzern Boa
sun 06 – May: Milan Magazzini
mon 07 – May: Bologna Estragon
tue 08 – May: Rome Piper
wed 09 – May: Madrid Joy Eslava
thu 10 – May: Dublin Tripod

These will all, without exception, be fantastic.

This was the scene on Wednesday night at the glittering Brit Awards, the UK's equivalent of the Grammys. Cat Power was given the accolade of being nominated as Best International Female and both Chan Marshall and co-emperor of Matador Records Chris Lombardi are seen taking it all in. Held at Earls Court (surely the worlds biggest hanger?) home to the Ideal Home Show and various superstar triumphs and disasters over the years, thousands of media industry types and even more pop loving civilians witnessed a roll call of the great and the good (it says here). OK it wasn't the "carnival of mayhem" Russell Brand promised us and we all secretly wished for but there was enough going on to keep us amused and appalled all night. Compere Mr Brand's opening salvo at David Cameron raised him a notch or two to my mind and although he managed the usual percentage of own goal jokes ("Queens vagina" anyone ? I mean anyone?) he carried off the night with ease.Unfortunately Cat Power didn't walk away with the award she so justly deserved but since when has true and authentic quality, style and genuine talent won out against production teams, song doctors and corporate back scratching at such events. (OK a couple of times). But we weren't the only ones that wuz robbed Justin Timberlake over Bob Dylan, don't get me started.
Rumours of strange fluctuations in the telephone voting I am sure are just that. Of course Orson deserved that award – fair and square. And to my mind their acceptance speech was one of the low highlights of the evening that makes the Brits such a memorable entertainment in the pop firmament.

The Arctic Monkeys didn't accept their awards in person but their filmed acceptance speeches first dressed as characters from the Wizard of Oz (great cowardly lion by the way) and then as the Village People really did show their humorous side.

I also learnt that British people LOVE Take That. I mean everybody or at least 99% of them and the other 1% are probably in comas. They have obviously transcended every hurdle to become the sort of icon that is unimpeachable (at least until the next tabloid revelation – build em up and shoot them down).

And we finished up with only one staff member missing in action the next day.
 

(from straight.com, used without permission)

Fri Feb 2 @ MOMA, NYC (performing after a showing of Doug Aitken's "Sleepwalkers")
Sun Feb 4 Hiro Ballroom
Mon Feb 5 Hiro Ballroom.

February 2 and 4 are already sold out ; tickets for February 5 are available here.

In an event that edged on the surreal but certainly was a hugely successful piece of grand theatre Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues rocked the highest echelons of the fashion world on Tuesday providing the music for Chanel's haute coutre cat walk show. Housed in the magnificant and recently restored Grand Palais in Paris the performance took place in a specially constructed arena with the stage high above the models entrance. Proceedings kicked off with Judah, Greg, Eric, Jim and Chan swaggering into a version of "Naked If I Want To". Six men rolled out a huge grey and white carpet  centered with a giant Chanel logo. The models strutted their stuff wearing what to these unschooled eyes looked like opulent and sophisticated yet very pleasing creations. The DDB kicked into a muscular version of "Could We" proving what they bring to the mix (though it doesn't detract from the the album or the Memphis Rhythm Band versions)  creates their own sinuous take on the song. As "Satisfaction" continued the momentum did I notice a flicker of amusement across the concentrated face of Marianne Faithfull watching the models intently from row two? Certainly the woman next to Sean Lennon started taking photos of Cat Power and not the models. The band seamlessly stepped into a gorgeous version of "Tracks of My Tears" which built to a crescendo with Chan singing "you can tell by the look on my face" as the final model commanded the floor in a stunning white coat and gown. The curtains opened and Karl Lagerfeld sat there amongst his team as if they too were an audience watching the show.

So I missed clocking Sigourney Weaver, Madame Chirac, Catherine Deneuve, the French Minister of Culture  oh and Kate Moss but we did see Sofia Coppola and get to take same great photos of Chan with Marianne Faithfull and Karl Lagerfeld.

….the Pitchfork photo editor.  Trust us.  No one knows better than the record label how hard it must be to book a Cat Power / Yoko Ono photoshoot.    First of all, you have all the Versace fittings for that little award show in a couple of weeks.  As for Yoko, even if you lock it down, finding a reliable ride to the shoot gets harder and harder with each blackmail letter.  So, it's with a deep level of empathy that we heap praise on Pitchfork for hiring The Daily Show's photoshop mask experts to make the impossible come true.   

Pitchfork's New Pitchcast: Indie Publicists Rejoice As Need For Screen Shot Software To Prove Exclusive MP3 WAS On Home Page Goes Bye-Bye.

That's right, peoples. Cat Power has been nominated for a BRIT Award in the Best International Female category. For our US readers, the BRIT awards are kinda like the UK version of the Grammys. Traditionally the domain of millions-selling pop stars, Cat Power has manged to get onto the nomination list by…..well, we're not sure. We're not in the habit of assuming that artists deserving awards might actually get them. We're dumbfounded, in fact, given her competition.

She's up against: Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Pink and Nelly Furtado. 

Surely it can't be that industry bigwigs have finally realised that they should give awards to, y'know, really great artists? I mean, what are the chances of that? The only explanation I can think of is voodoo. Practised by members of the Cat Power bulletin board. We salute you, harbringers of dark magick. Well played.