Report: Dave Matthews playing for DNC delegates

Dave Matthews will be part of an all-star concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre for Democratic National Convention delegates, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

Tim Reynolds may accompany Dave at the Aug. 24 concert, but not the full DMB roster, the report said. Other rumored performers are Sheryl Crow, Sugarland and Earth, Wind and Fire. The DNC takes place Aug. 25-28 in Denver.

Red Rocks of course holds a special place in Dave Matthews Band lore. It hosted DMB's first live album, Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95, as well as the 2005 four-night stand captured in the Weekend on the Rocks album and box set.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews visits Graceland

Dave Matthews visited Graceland on Aug.3, according to Elvis.com.

Dave was near Elvis Presley's home for Dave Matthews Band's Aug. 2 concert in Memphis. Dave has been making several tourist stops during this tour, including a visit to Walt Disney World.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Farm Aid 2008 coming to Boston area

Farm Aid 2008 will take place Sept. 20 at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass., according to The Boston Globe.

The Globe says Farm Aid board member John Mellencamp will announce the concert at a press conference in Boston this afternoon. He and Farm Aid's three other board members -- Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Dave Matthews -- will headline the show; other acts will be announced later.

It's not clear whether Dave will perform solo, with Tim Reynolds or with the full Dave Matthews Band at Farm Aid 2008. All three incarnations have played at Farm Aid concerts in the past.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews: Band working on 15 songs for new album, LeRoi's absence 'tough'

Dave Matthews Band has 15 prospective songs for its new album, Dave Matthews tells the Rocky Mountain News in a wide-ranging interview.

Dave describes the songwriting process as very casual, with one band member picking up an instrument and everyone else joining in. Producer Rob Cavallo then picked 15 songs and told the band to refine and record them, which is where DMB left off to start its summer tour. (The band is supposed to go back into the studio in October, but there's been no word if LeRoi Moore's injury will affect that schedule.) Dave said he has been listening to the recorded songs and trying to come up with lyrics during days off from the tour.

On the subject of LeRoi's injury, Dave said the first show without him was "a tough one" and that his absence is a "challenge." Dave didn't say what injuries LeRoi suffered, but he did say "there's the possibility of him being out for a while."

Dave also spoke about Butch Taylor's departure from the band. Dave said, "Butch of his own decision decided he didn't want to be here, wanted to pursue something else in his life. We honor that."

Dave spoke to the Rocky Mountain News in advance of DMB's July 20 performance at the Mile High Music Festival in Denver. The AT&T Blue Room will present a live webcast of the festival.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews visits Disney World

Dave Matthews went to Walt Disney World with his family and friends Tuesday.

Tuesday was an off day for Dave Matthews Band, who played Wednesday in Tampa, Fla. and is playing West Palm Beach, Fla. this weekend. Here's a picture of Dave and his daughter Grace, 6 1/2, at the Magic Kingdom, courtesy of Walt Disney World News:

The Celebrity Baby Blog also features a different photo of Dave and Grace.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews gives song for Tibet benefit CD

A Dave Matthews acoustic song will appear on Songs for Tibet, a compilation album to benefit The Art of Peace Foundation.

The news of Dave's inclusion comes via Sting's official Web site, which also lists Sting, John Mayer, Suzanne Vega, Rush and Duncan Sheik as contributors. The Songs for Tibet Web site says that some artists recorded songs specifically for the CD, while others are donating previously recorded songs.

The album will be out Aug. 5, and proceeds will benefit peace projects supported by the Dalai Lama, including several Tibetan cultural initiatives.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews film 'Lake City' in theaters Nov. 7

Dave Matthews' next film, "Lake City," will be out Nov. 7, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Screen Media Films acquired the film's rights and plans to release it on that date in select cities, including New York and Los Angeles. IMDB.com describes "Lake City" as a "searing Southern drama" about a mother and son who reunite after a tragedy. Dave plays a drug dealer named Red, and the film also stars Sissy Spacek, Rebecca Romijn and Drea De Matteo.

Dave's last film was the Adam Sandler comedy "You Don't Mess with the Zohan."

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

'You Don't Mess with the Zohan' opens today

"You Don't Mess with the Zohan," the new Adam Sandler movie featuring Dave Matthews, arrives in theaters today.

Dave plays the leader of a "band of Mel Gibson-loving racist rednecks," according to MSNBC. Other celebrities making cameos in the film include Chris Rock, Mariah Carey and John McEnroe.

Dave has been involved with Sandler movies in the past. He played a flamboyant salesman in "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," and Dave Matthews Band's "Where Are You Going" was featured in "Mr. Deeds."

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews prefers sex to Scrabulous

Dave Matthews likes sex a lot more than Scrabulous, according to a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.

In the brief article, Dave is asked what his favorite tour-bus activity is: sex or Scrabulous, the online Scrabble-like game. Dave replies:

"I love Scrabble, but I haven't played it online. And maybe Scrabble has a better chance now than when I was younger. But it's still a lazy, lazy distant second."

Dave also talks about April's Seeds of Compassion event, where he got to meet the Dalai Lama and give him a fist bump "like we'd just finished a basketball game."

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews sings on new Little Feat album

Dave Matthews will sing on the new Little Feat album, Join the Band, according to USA Today.

Dave lent his voice to the song "Fat Man in the Bathtub," which features 18 different vocal tracks. The song is one of several Little Feat classics re-recorded with guest musicians for the new album, which is due Aug. 26. Other guests include Vince Gill and the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson.

Dave has sung a line from Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken" during performances of "Crash Into Me" for years. Dave Matthews and Friends have also covered Little Feat's "Spanish Moon."

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave and Boyd: New songs not likely this tour

Dave Matthews Band probably won't play any new material on this year's summer tour, according to Dave Matthews and Boyd Tinsley in separate interviews with Rolling Stone and Billboard.com, respectively.

DMB has been in the studio with producer Rob Cavallo this spring, working on the follow-up to 2005's Stand Up. Boyd told Billboard that the album's songs have been composed, but they don't have lyrics, so he isn't sure if the band will play them live yet.

"It might be a situation where we might take a couple of those in rehearsals and in sound checks and sort of work out arrangements to play this summer," he said. "We haven't really discussed that too much."

Rolling Stone specifically asked Dave if the band would play any new songs, and he replied:

"In the past we have, but I want to let this album evolve on its own. There's music on the album, and there's music that we perform live. There's crossover, but they're not necessarily the same. And I think that makes it interesting for fans."

DMB has already played several songs in concert that will likely appear on the next studio album, including "The Idea of You," "Cornbread," "#27" and "Shotgun." It remains to be seen whether DMB won't play those songs this summer, or if Dave and Boyd were just referring to songs that fans haven't heard yet.

The tour starts in just 10 days, May 30 in Burgettstown, Pa.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Looking back at Dave Matthews Band's NYT debut

It's been 14 years since Dave Matthews Band received its first coverage in The New York Times -- a moment highlighted in this week's Mental Floss blog.

The weekly feature "The First Time News Was Fit to Print" reprints the Times' Sept. 2, 1994 HORDE Tour review -- the first time DMB ever graced the Old Gray Lady's pages:

"The day started on the main stage with the Dave Matthews Band, the most promising new group on the bill. It performed lively, introspective rock songs that had just the right amount of open spaces for improvisations and solos. Outside of Mr. Matthews’s gently emotional vocals, the high point was the violin playing of Boyd Tinsley, which moved nimbly from mock-classical background accompaniment to upbeat bluegrass."

The article appeared just as DMB's first single, "What Would You Say," was gaining momentum on the radio and MTV. Under the Table and Dreaming was released 25 days later, launching the band into stardom.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews Band to record new album in Seattle, pre-produce in Charlottesville

Dave Matthews Band will start pre-production on its next studio album this week in Charlottesville, Va., then head to Seattle for recording sessions, according to Stefan Lessard.

There is still no information about who will produce the album or what songs will appear, although Stefan has mentioned "Corn Bread" and "#27" as likely candidates in the past. AntsMarching.org also reported that DMB played "Loving Wings," "Sweet Up and Down" and "Shotgun" during a brief November studio session.

Stefan wrote about the plans for a new DMB album today on his MySpace blog, but the locations were the only information he gave. Charlottesville is of course the band's home base, and Dave Matthews now lives in Seattle.

Stefan also said that Yukon Kornelius, the cover band he formed with Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies and Guster's Adam Gardner, will return.

Digg this

Join DMBnews.net on Facebook

Dave Matthews endorses Barack Obama

Dave Matthews announced today he is supporting Barack Obama for president.

In the endorsement, posted on the Dave Matthews Band Official Site, Dave writes that "corporate greed and its involvement in policy making, along with political cronyism have made it nearly impossible for the people to govern. ... It is time for a change and that is why I support Barack Obama for President." Dave donated $2,300 to Obama's campaign in 2007, according to The Huffington Post.

The endorsement of Obama is the most overt political statement by Dave or any DMB member yet. DMB played the Vote for Change tour in 2004, which was an implicit endorsement of John Kerry, and Boyd Tinsley has performed at fundraisers for John Edwards.

Still, when it comes to overt political endorsements, it will be hard for DMB to top Pearl Jam, who released the song "Rock Around Barack" today.

Digg this

Dave Matthews visits Sundance Film Festival

Dave Matthews attended the Sundance Film Festival earlier this week in Park City, Utah.

Page Six reports that Dave arrived Sunday. He caught "Be Kind Rewind" on Monday with The Edge from U2 , according to FirstShowing.net, then was one of many celebrities to watch the world premiere of "Choke" on Tuesday, according to Cinematical.

Dave also attended Sundance last year because "Joshua," a film by his ATO Pictures, premiered there.

Photo courtesy: Getty Images

Digg this

Share on Facebook

Dave Matthews turns 41

Dave Matthews' 41st birthday is today, Jan. 9. Sharing a birthday today are sportscaster Dick Enberg (73), singer Joan Baez (67), Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page (64) and Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean (30).

To celebrate Dave's 41st birthday, here's a video of Dave Matthews Band playing "#41" on "The Late Show With David Letterman":



Digg this

Share on Facebook

Willie Nelson 'Gravedigger' video released

Willie Nelson has put out a video for "Gravedigger," the Dave Matthews song that is the first single from his new album, Moment of Forever. The video features Willie in several different roles, including a gravedigger, a hearse driver, a priest and ultimately a dead man in a casket.

Amazon has the exclusive "Gravedigger" video, and Moment of Forever will be released Jan. 29.

Dave and Willie know each other through their Farm Aid work, and Dave has covered Willie's "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away" in concert before.

Digg this

Share on Facebook

Dave Matthews records in Pennsylvania

Dave Matthews Band's 2007 tour didn't just stop at amphitheaters, parks and stadiums. For the first time, the band also went into local studios on off days to write and record new songs. And now the location of one of those sessions is known.

Dave Matthews "did some recording" at Milkboy Studios in Ardmore, Pa. in August, according to The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. No details of the session are disclosed, because The News Journal's story is mostly about a local Delaware band that was recording at the studio at the same time. But the newspaper does say that Dave also managed to find time to visit his niece at nearby Haverford College.

Digg this

Share on Facebook

New Dave Matthews song "The Fly" now online

Dave Matthews' "The Fly," a new song he wrote for the film "Joshua" but never commercially released, is now available on the Internet.

"The Fly" appears during the end credits of "Joshua," a movie produced by Dave's ATO Pictures. In an interview today with South African entertainment guide Tonight, Dave said he wrote the song with the expectation that someone else would record it for the film. But the scriptwriters asked him to do it, and they were "elated that it didn't sound like the Dave Matthews Band."

Digg this

Share on Facebook

Dave Matthews talks new songs, South Africa tour

Dave Matthews has written "a handful" of songs for his next film project, "The Other Side," according to an interview today in a South African entertainment guide.

Dave told Tonight that writing songs for movies has helped his overall songwriting process: "In a strange way, it is nice to have parameters I have to write inside of. It made me think that maybe I should definitely start doing that with my writing -- give myself a goal and try to stick to it."

"The Other Side" is a science-fiction comedy scheduled to begin filming next month in Nova Scotia. Woody Harrleson, Jason Lee, Giovanni Ribisi and Alanis Morissette will star alongside Dave.

Dave also said in the interview that Dave Matthews Band will play in his native South Africa by the time it hosts the soccer World Cup in 2010. DMB has never played a concert in South Africa, although Dave performed "Gravedigger" at a Johannesburg radio station earlier this month and may have also played a 1996 solo show in Melville.

Digg this

Share on Facebook