Sounds like something that just might be worth the wait.

Though a release date and label haven’t yet been finalized — Jardine’s leaning towards Concord Music, which has had recent success with such legacy acts as Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, and James Taylor — Postcard seems likely to be snapped up quickly, giving what some consider “the lost Beach Boy” a chance in the spotlight at last.

The longtime Beach Boys guitarist first met the group’s mastermind, Brian Wilson, at Hawthorne High School. Though quitting the band for a few months in the early ’60s to pursue a career in dentistry, he soon returned to the fold, singing lead on the classic “Help Me, Rhonda” and happily hitting the road for the better part of four decades.

“I love getting out and seeing people,” he explains, adding that performing Beach Boys classics — as witnessed by his 2002 release, Live in Las Vegas — never gets old. “They are timeless,” Jardine says of the songs, most conceived and written by Brian Wilson. “Brian is a bona fide genius, the greatest composer of the 20th century. He wrote great songs, but we all contributed a lot.”

Jardine feels that a true Beach Boys reunion may never happen and, in the meantime, will continue honing his Postcards and playing out.

“We do the tried and true stuff along with a few lesser known ones like ‘Honkin’ Down the Highway,’ which we never recorded,” he says of his touring band. “These powerful songs evoke incredible feelings.”

Ten years of hard work and genuine soul-searching has led to the band’s selection of the finest musical ingredients and cultivation of an organic variety of sounds resulting in a truly original rock band. Mexican-American brothers Kinski and Rodax—the vocalist and bass player—like so many first-generation Americans working toward assimilation, initially overlooked the richness of their roots. Anima, their first band together, was a punk/new-wave band almost completely devoid of their Latino heritage. Although the lyrics were in Spanish, the two weren’t into being referred to as a Spanish version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, resulting in their voyage away from rock en español and into an English repertoire. As the pair matured and selected other band members, they have come full circle, attaining the subtlety of a good wine and the hardiness that only embracing one’s culture can bring.

Monte Negro has matured past the natural tendency to bring too many different elements to the table when writing and recording music. From an overproduced sound full of bleeps and fodder from a DAT machine, to heavy drums, and too many guitar sounds, the band has developed a much more refined style. In accordance with the more you eat, the less flavor, Monte Negro has realized just how powerful simplicity can be, which is highlighted on their new album, Cicatrix, which will be released in August 2007 through Feed The Hungry Music/Adrenaline Music Group.

The road to enlightenment, however, is long. Kinski, whose older brother nicknamed him after the neurotic German actor Klaus Kinski, began hanging out at the Hong Kong Lo in L.A., catching rock en español acts as the movement gained momentum in the mid-'90s. Rodax, who studied and played jazz in Mexico, carved out a broader musical landscape before moving to the states. Kinksi and Rodax then recruited Jason Li Shing, a Chinese-Japanese American guitarist, at his high school talent show. Jason’s selective taste for aggressive rock can be juxtaposed with his passion for such expressive female vocalists as Bjork and PJ Harvey, and he eventually underwent his own musical rite of passage that led him to learn the koto, a Japanese traditional zither, and experiment with the harp. After trying a heavier sound with another drummer, Monte Negro hired drummer Xavier Lopez and arrived at its current line-up in 2003 with the band name, Madrepore. As the band’s sound evolved with Cicatrix, the band decided to reflect this with a new band name, Monte Negro.

The music of Monte Negro, defies a simple description. Most say melodic rock, which is true, yet there are distinct undertones and layers making it eclectic and bohemian, American yet definitely worldly. Their music has landed them in magazines such as Spin, La Banda Elástica, and Billboard, and they have worked with famed producers such as Gavin MacKillop (Goo Goo Dolls, Sugarcult) and Tone (Green Day, Carlos Santana). Playing alongside bands like Todos Tus Muertos, Incubus, At The Drive In, and Molotov, Monte Negro most recently performed with the Mexican alternative band Zoe and L.A.’s multiethnic band, Ozomatli.

Today, Monte Negro is finally producing the sound they describe as an "amalgamation of styles filtering through our creative sides." Pop sensibilities mix with darker experimentation to give the listener an acoustic journey through the Monte Negro landscape. Monte Negro’s goal is simple: play for a lot of people and get a reaction.

As lead singer Kinski states, "We hope that people either love us or hate us. As long as we can get a visceral reaction and not be met with indifference, I think we've achieved what we set out to do."

With a savory attitude and an accomplished new sound, Monte Negro emerges as a nourished entity.

Best known for such classics as "Tear The Roof Off The Sucker (Give Up The Funk)," “Atomic Dog” and “One Nation Under a Groove,” Clinton keeps busy these days with his record label The C Kunspyruhzy and is hitting the road to tour with his P-Funk All Stars band.

With five wins out of five nominations, the country trio shook off the anti-Bush backlash and took the stage to pick up three of the night’s top awards—Record and Song of the Year for “Not Ready to Make Nice” and Album of the Year for Taking the Long Way—as well as Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Country Album.

Funky foursome the Red Hot Chili Peppers, whose Stadium Arcadium double-disc set was named Best Rock Album, took home a total of four trophies that also included Best Rock Song for the album’s single, “Dani California.”

American Idol alum Carrie Underwood came in with two, winning the coveted Best New Artist Grammy as well as Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her inspirational hit, “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”

Other double winners included “Crazy” duo Gnarls Barkley, Atlanta rapper T.I., neo-soul artist John Legend, r&b crooner George Benson, celebrated film composer John Williams and the late sax player Michael Brecker, who died Jan. 13.

Jazz innovator Al Jarreau joined Benson on the Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance win with their duet “God Bless the Child,” while gospel singer Yolanda Adams earned the Best Gospel Performance statuette for Victory. Singer Christina Aguilera‘s “Ain’t No Other Man” reeled in the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Also on the BMI winners list were soon-to-be BMI Icons Los Tigres del Norte, who won Best Norteño Album with their release, Historias Que Contar; Irish singer Enya (PRS), whose CD Amarantine was named Best New Age Album; country superstar Vince Gill, who picked up his 18th Grammy Award with a Best Male Country Vocal Performance win for “The Reason Why”; and heavy-hitters Wolfmother (APRA), whose song “Woman” earned the Best Hard Rock Performance trophy.

The Recording Academy also honored Eagles’ member Don Henley as the 2007 MusiCares Person of the Year during a gala dinner, concert and auction held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Feb. 9, two days prior to the Grammy ceremony. Proceeds from the star-studded event went to MusiCares’ Financial Assistance Program, which assists musicians and others in times of financial, medical and personal need.

Ecstatic critical reviews and enthusiastic fan response make it clear that the latter is the answer. Fueled by the success of the chart-topping single “Dani California,” the Chili Peppers’ long-awaited Stadium Arcadium entered the pop charts at No. 1, making it the highest-charting album of the band’s career. Produced by Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash), and recorded at the same Los Angeles mansion-turned-studio where they conducted the Blood Sugar Sex Magik sessions, Stadium Arcadium finds vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, guitarist John Frusciante and drummer Chad Smith broadening their musical palette to include hints of classic rock, folk, and even spiritualized pop.

The double-disc set inspired a veritable storm of adoring reviews. In its four-star critique, Rolling Stone called the album, “the most ambitious work of (the band’s) twenty-three-year career…a late-career triumph that could pass for another, lesser group’s greatest-hits collection.” Blender described the effort as an “elegant… surprising double-disc set… this is virile and excited music.” The discerning and often restrained BBC called Stadium Arcadium a “multi-faceted must,” while declaring the Chili Peppers “card-carrying Rock Gods.”

The band itself might agree with such assertions. In the official Stadium Arcadium biography, guitarist Frusciante touts the life-affirming power of the Peppers’ potent new songs. “If you let go and let this music take you by the hand it will take you flying through skies of sound,” Frusciante writes. “It will zoom you up well above outer space and it will show you around planes of existence that do not share the laws and conditions of this reality.”

As befits a band from Los Angeles, the Chili Peppers’ story reads like a Tinseltown melodrama. Emerging in 1984, the foursome became world-renowned for their righteous reconciliation of bump-and-grind funk, raw-nerved post-punk and mischievous pop. But their climb to the top wasn’t easy. Following the 1988 demise of founding guitarist Hillel Slovak from a drug overdose, the band recruited Frusciante. But as Kiedis recounts in his 2004 autobiography, “Scar Tissue” (Hyperion Publishers), the band wrestled with lingering problems.

The problems came to a head in 1992, just as hit singles like “Give It Away,” “Under the Bridge” and “Breaking the Girl” were transforming the Chili Peppers from underground heroes to nuevo-rock sensations. With scant advance notice, Frusciante quit the band and Kiedis, Flea and Smith soldiered on with several replacement guitarists, including Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro (featured on the Chili Peppers’ 1995 album, One Hot Minute). But Navarro’s tenure was short-lived, and the band welcomed Frusciante back to the fold in 1998.

The Peppers have been on a roll ever since, with Kiedis and Flea becoming as iconic in their L.A. hometown as the Hollywood sign. Either together or separately they have appeared in a host of movies, including Back to the Future II, The Big Lebowski, The Chase and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Flea plays the voice of Donnie Thornberry on the Nickelodeon animated series, The Wild Thornberrys.

Yet despite their occasional film appearances, music remains the Chili Peppers’ main inspiration. Judging by their remarkable track record — the band has sold over 50 million recordings worldwide — fans wouldn’t have it any other way.]]> 2006-10-05T18:00:01-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334835 Artists, Beatles, The, Charles, Ray, Clapton, Eric, Franklin, Aretha, Little Richard, Preston, Billy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The, Musical Styles, Rock BMI Award-winning songwriter Billy Preston, the keyboardist and singer also known as the "fifth Beatle," died June 6 in Scottsdale, Ariz., after a long illness. He was 59.

Known for his big gap-toothed smile and towering Afro, the Houston-born Preston was a teen prodigy on the piano and organ. He first encountered and struck up a friendship with The Beatles while on tour in Europe with Little Richard in 1962. After lending his gospel-tinged touch to many of their albums (Let It Be, The White Album, Abbey Road), as well for other artists like the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, Preston broke out as a solo artist in the '70s, scoring a number of his own hits, including the BMI Award winners "Will It Go 'Round In Circles," "Nothing From Nothing," "Space Race" and "Outta Space," which earned the Best Instrumental Grammy in 1973.

Other Preston-penned classics include the wedding favorite, "With You I'm Born Again," his duet with the late Syreeta Wright, and the Joe Cocker standard, "You Are So Beautiful," another BMI Award-winning song.

He scored the 1970 Sidney Poitier movie They Call Me Mr. Tibbs with Quincy Jones, was the first musical guest on the 1975 debut of Saturday Night Live, and appeared in the films Blues Brothers 2000 and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Preston also made a guest appearance last year on an episode of American Idol.

Noteworthy collaborators over the decades included Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, the Jackson 5, Sly & the Family Stone, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, and most recently, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Neil Diamond.]]> 2006-06-08T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/4019 Artists, Dixie Chicks, Plebz, The, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The, Musical Styles, Rock, Musicworld, On The Scene In a nutshell, The Plebz are all from Los Angeles in one form or another. Jason (a.k.a. Smugglez - guitar) and Jeremy (a.k.a. EzJaz - bass guitar) went to high school together and played in their first band together. Through a mutual friend, Jeremy came to play with Tyler (a.k.a. Ragz - vocals, keys). Jason soon followed. After a band re-organization, the lads were without a drummer.

Cut to a few days later. Jeremy is engineering a session at a local studio. Chris (a.k.a. Dizzy Stix - drums, percussion, totalitarianism) comes to mix another project at said studio. Chris hears what the other guys have been writing and offers to drum on the tracks. Shortly thereafter, writing sessions began in a laboratory off of Beverly Blvd. and The Plebz were born.

Pleb is short for plebeian, plebeian meaning of, or having characteristics of, the common people; i.e., the plebs are the common man. In this case, “The Plebz” because “z” is much cooler than “s” to indicate plurality. It is also a term of common usage in the UK to indicate the working class of lower stature, the everyday guy. Simply put, it’s a state of mind and perception.

Their music is an amalgamation of a punk rock mentality, fused with elements of funk and rock, and engrained with a focused melodic sensibility and appeal. Their live performances are unrivaled.

Since forming almost 16 months ago, The Plebz have collectively generated five albums worth of material, sold out their 4 week residency at Lava Lounge, played over 50 shows (including opening for Beck at the Knitting Factory and direct support for Palo Alto, Mooney Suzuki and other national acts) and have already begun to garner serious interest from major labels. Their success is inevitable; their energy palpable.

After attending one of the band’s Viper Room shows and hearing that The Plebz were heading into the studio, Marc Sovel of Indie 103.1 FM in Los Angeles, took it upon himself to download some demo tracks from the bands website and played them several weeks in a row on his “Check One, Two…” program which highlights local music. Marc also took the tracks to Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, who hosts “Jonesy’s Jukebox,” daily on Indie, and Jonesy played them on his program, warning the ladies to “watch out for this band.” Indie has continued to play the band on a regular basis.

The Plebz have just completed an EP with producer “The Glove.” The record was recorded and mixed by Joe Zook, and it looks like the mastering ears of Bob Ludwig will put the final glean on the songs. In addition, The Plebz filmed a music video to accompany the EP for “Lights, Camera, Action…” The video was directed by Seth Gordon (“New York Doll,” Sundance Selection 2005, Dixie Chicks DVD/EPK). The director of photography, Romeo Tirone, has done videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aerosmith, and Ozzy Osbourne, to name a few.

“Lights…” will also be featured in an upcoming indie film, Little Athens. The film is debuting at CineVegas, the annual Las Vegas film festival that proudly debuted Napoleon Dynamite.

The Plebz website launched in June 2004 boasting 12,000 hits its first month, climbing to 50,000 hits in May 2005, with 1500 unique daily visitors.

The Plebz are featured in BMI’s Podcast #3.  See it hear first.

Café Tacuba traces its roots to 1989 when singer/guitarist Elfego Buendía (who changes his name and alter ego with almost every album, while his birth certificate lists him as Ruben Albarran) met guitarist Joselo Rangel at art school. Shortly after that meeting, Joselo’s brother Quinque picked up a bass and brought his friend, keyboardist Emmanuel “Meme” Del Real, along to a rehearsal. Café Tacuba was born.

Café Tacuba (named for a restaurant in their native Mexico City) eschewed a drummer and relied on drum machines for their first six albums. That absence helped the band develop their manic punk-meets-folk sound, but with their current album, Cuatro Caminos, they’ve added a drummer and toned down their folk roots. And while no one will confuse Cuatro Caminos with Metallica, comparisons to The Beatles' White Album have abounded and are apt.

But this is no Anglo band. Says Meme proudly, “This is Café Tacuba’s most rock[-oriented]album because we play with a drummer, electric guitar and an electric bass. Our Mexican influences are still there, and you can hear it in the songs: we sound like a Mexican rock band, not from another country.”

They may be a Mexican band, but their reach is global. While they toured with Beck in 2000, 2003 is the year mainstream rock audiences discovered them. Having toured throughout the Americas this summer and fall, one of the band’s U.S. tour stops included the three-day Coachella Festival, where Café Tacuba shared the bill with The Red Hot Chili Peppers and The White Stripes. Continuing to grow in importance and fan-base, Café Tacuba more than hold their own and have proven that they are a band on the verge of conquering language barriers worldwide.]]> 2004-01-06T17:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233459 Artists, Angel, The, Jane's Addiction, Navarro, Dave, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The, Musical Styles, Rock, Musicworld, Hitmaker As a founding member of the pioneering alt-rock band Jane's Addiction, Dave Navarro has helped redefine rock guitar. During his brief, mid-'90s stint with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Los Angeles axeman solidified his reputation as one of modern rock's most innovative accompanists.

But with the recent release of his Capitol Records debut album, Trust No One, Navarro has emerged as a solo artist in his own right. Fans expecting indulgent displays of instrumental heroism will be pleasantly surprised. Though the album features plenty of Navarro's apocalyptic guitar, there's also a delectable surfeit of acoustic guitar textures and curious production sounds. But ultimately, Trust No One showcases Navarro's heretofore unsung songwriting talents, most notably his impressive lyrical skills.

In fact, Trust No One is one of the most honest and insightful meditations on rock stardom in recent memory. Songs like "Avoiding The Angel" and "Very Little Daylight" chronicle the guitarist's spiritual struggles, while the single "Rexall" cleverly rebukes idealistic music fans. "I hate my life . . . I want the life you think I have," Navarro sings in a voice dripping with irony. Shunning trendy fatalism, Navarro has created an earnest masterwork that offers a revealing peak inside the surreal world of rock & roll.

As if the album didn't offer enough insight into Navarro's psyche, the guitarist recently released his autobiographical book, "Don't Try This At Home" (Regan Books; $29.95 hardcover). With its sordid tales of band politics, romantic breakups, failed drug rehabilitations and professional mishaps, Don't Try This At Home - like it's musical companion Trust No One - dispels the myth of the glamorous, carefree rock & roll lifestyle.