Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe 2003 DIY CONVENTION ANNOUNCES PANELISTS The 2003 DIY Convention: "Do It Yourself in Film, Music and Books," has announced a new round of panelists for the Saturday, Feb. 8, event to be held at the American Film Institute in Hollywood. Advertisement The DIY Convention is a series of panels and workshops focused on teaching musicians, filmmakers, authors and entrepreneurs how to create, promote, protect and distribute independent film, music and books. The convention is part of a three-day package of events that includes the DIY Film Festival and DIY Music Festival. The music panelists scheduled to appear at the 2003 DIY Convention include: Wayne Kramer, part of the legendary MC5 and now a successful solo recording artist; Chris Morris, Billboard independent music columnist; Scot Sax, songwriter for Curb recording artists Feel; Jonathan Palmer, Bug Music Publishing; Derek Sivers and Marc Roemer of leading online retailer CDBaby; Jennifer Tefft, booker for Spaceland in Los Angeles; Rory Felton, co-founder of The Militia Group; Janet Fisher, author of "Music Horror Stories"; Todd Clifford of Los Angeles indie retailer Sea Level Records; Nadine Condon, founder of the Northern California festival Nadine's Wild Weekend; Brooke Ramel, an independent musician who has sold 30,000 albums on her own; Anna Waronker (That Dog) and Charlotte Caffrey (Go-Go's), co-founders of Five Foot Two Recordings; Ladybug Mecca, Digable Planets; Mark Stern Hypnogaja; Neville Johnson, attorney; Noel Ramos, Intermixx list founder; Bob Biggs, Slash Records; Bruce Brodeen, Not Lame Recordings; and, Carrie Borzillo-Vreena, author/journalist. Advertisement PETER GREEN RETURNS Pioneering blues-rock guitarist Peter Green has a new album, "Reaching The Cold 100," set for release Feb. 25 on Eagle Records. The title is taken from a Robert Johnson lyric in the song "Terraplane Blues." "Reaching The Cold 100" refers to hitting the speed of 100 miles per hour in the Hudson Terraplane, an early 20th century automobile favored by John Dillinger. Green, an early member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and an original member of Fleetwood Mac, has overcome many obstacles throughout his 35-year career, from rotating bands and lineups to a bout with mental illness. His three recent albums have been part of a dramatic revival in the guitarist's career. After releasing "Time Traders" (Spitfire Records) and "Peter Plays The Blues: The Classic Compositions of Robert Johnson" (Eagle Records) in 2000, Green put together a new band, The Peter Green Splinter Group. The group spent most of 2002 on a world tour. The group also has released an album of blues covers, "Blues Don't Change," for sale exclusively on the road and the Internet. REVEREND HORTON HEAT DVD SHOOT AT DEEP ELLUM LIVE Reverend Horton Heat will perform a special show Jan. 31 at the Deep Ellum Live club in Dallas, which will be filmed for a live DVD. It also will be shot in high definition and aired subsequently on the high definition network HDnet. The show will be a retrospective of the band's 12-year career. The band chose Deep Ellum Live for the filming because the Deep Ellum neighborhood is where they got their start and performed for the first time. Award-winning director Mike Drumm of Music Link Productions in Denver will direct the shoot. Drumm's production credits include DVD features on the Indigo Girls, Widespread Panic, Bad Company and Ringo Starr. For the Deep Ellum Live show, the Reverend Horton Heat also is offering a special low-price advance ticket of $5 as a thank you to their local fans over the years. Advertisement SCOTTISH ROCKERS SAY 'SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POET' Scottish rockers The Remote Part have a new album scheduled to hit U.S. stores March 25. The recording is a follow-up to the group's critically acclaimed 2001 album "100 Broken Windows." Idlewild also will kick off a U.S. club tour in Boston March 5 with a newly expanded lineup and a performance at the South-by-Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas. Formed in Edinburgh in 1995 as a quartet of distortion-wielding punks, Idlewild's debut single and raucous live shows drew the immediate attention of influential Radio One disc jockey Steve Lamacq, leading to the release of their first full-length album, 1999's "Hope Is Important." During a week in New York City in early 2002, the band met Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye, who encouraged the group to build its sound further. The band retreated to a friend's Highlands sheep farm to apply Kaye's advice to more than 20 new songs. The album closes with "In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction," featuring octogenarian Scottish poet Edwin Morgan, who utters his brief poem "Scottish Fiction" atop the rising tide of guitars, piano and drums. Idlewild singer Roddy Woomble taped Morgan in his flat after a years-long correspondence, maintained since Woomble's school days. Advertisement SEALS ON THOMPSON STREET Singer-songwriter Brady Seals is best known as a singer-songwriter for the hit group Little Texas, but he's likely to draw more attention to his solo career with the release of his third solo album, "Thompson Street," out Feb. 25 on Image Entertainment. Seals is joined on "Thompson Street" by his mentor, the great songwriter Rodney Crowell, and pop maestro Andy Sturmer, who fronted the 1990's power pop ensemble Jellyfish. Seals, who produced and engineered the disc in Nashville, plays numerous instruments on the album, including keyboards (mellotron, Hammond B3, Wurlitzer and piano) and guitar. His varied musical tastes and influences, ranging from the Beatles and Beach Boys to Harry Nilsson, are much in evidence. Seals is part of the musical family that includes his uncle, Nashville legend Troy Seals, Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts and Dan Seals of England Dan and John Ford Coley.
