Heathen Child Song of the Year

If you haven't heard the GREAT news, Grinderman picked up Song of the Year at this year's MOJO Awards. :) YAAAAAAY! Much congratulations to them; they definitely deserve it!

Here's the video of them accepting the award:
CLICK HERE

Here's an amaaaaazing version of Kitchenette to celebrate (thanks, herecomethewolfman *wink*):

She's Not There, But Heathen Child Is

First of all, Grinderman's "Heathen Child" has been nominated as song of the year HERE, so be sure to vote for them! You have to vote for each category, and I don't know most of the other artists, but anything for Grinderman to get more votes. :)

Also, if you haven't yet heard the AMAZING version of "She's Not There" that Nick did with Neko Case, it is FANTASTIC! I would embed it, but I'm on my phone. Here's the direct link: RIGHT HERE. You will all LOVE it.

I will scan some articles and pics for you all soon. Hope you are all well (I'm sick).

Smudge Opening & NYT Style

Two things. First of all, by now, I'm assuming most of you know about Polly Borland's latest book, Smudge. If not, refer to my previous post. Anyway, I found a site with some photos from the opening of the Smudge showing at the Other Criteria gallery in London.


Nick and Polly Borland

CLICK HERE to view the photos from the opening.

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The next bit of news is that there is a rather dashing photo of Mr. Cave in the latest issue of The New York Times Style magazine. Apparently there are two covers, because mine has THIS AS MY COVER, so just know that it has the same picture of Nick inside that the Nick cover version does. The BETTER version (possibly the international version), features Nick himself on the cover looking very much like, well, himself. The inside photo of him is included in a series of male rockers, such as Iggy Pop, Dave Gahan, Lou Reed, and others, all wearing suits.


Inner photo:


Cave cover:

Photo found on coverjunkie.com

Polly Borland's Smudge

Get ready to be confused and amused...and possibly terrified.

Laura sent me an email containing the following bit of news. Said email was called, quite intriguingly, "WHAT THE NICK CAVE FUCKING HELL?!" Laura is very well-spoken, I assure you.

ANYWAY, photographer Polly Borland has a new book (out NOW!) entitled Smudge. This book contains a number of portraits of people in amorphous leotards/full body nylon/etc. Random ping pong balls are stuffed down their leotards, wigs are utilized to hide the identities of those posing, and it is just bizarre. Nick wrote the introduction to the book (which is VERY amusing and involves him once again talking about "rouged nipples" and just making the whole weird thing sound strangely sexy) AND...

Well, guess who posed for some of the pictures? THESE ARE ALL NICK.







This has been your "NICK CAVE WTF" of the year. LINK TO read about the book (though Amazon.co.uk is cheaper).

All images ©Polly Borland

Upcoming Cave Interview Book!

If this new (yet unauthorized) Cave book is anything like the Tom Waits book, Innocent When You Dream, it will be awesome. It sounds like the same thing, which is a book comprised mostly of interviews WITH NICK from throughout the years.

EDIT: Mat Snow is the guy who apparently "Scum" is based on.Because of that, think about if you want him to have your money or not. It's between Cave and Snow, but yeah...

Gonna be honest...the title scares me. Sounds like tabloid fodder. We shall see.

I preordered it; it comes out January 11th and you can preorder it from Amazon HERE. I will let you all know the verdict when I get it, but it sounds good, if it's all past interviews and what-not.

Grinderman Photo Contest

First of all, THIS INTERVIEW amused me, particularly the last bit.

Anyway, re: this news bit...photos should most certainly be allowed.

from antilabelblog.com

Grinderman are an explosive musical ensemble comprised of Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey and Jim Sclavunos. The band will be taking their electrifying live show across North America in the coming weeks in support of their acclaimed new album Grinderman2. In lieu of this, Grinderman are seeking aspiring photographers to capture performances throughout the tour. Those interested are asked to submit links to digital portfolios via email for consideration. The band will select a winner for each show on the tour and the winning photographer will be given special access to shoot their local show as a house photographer. The resulting photos will then be posted on the band’s official website and Facebook page alongside the works of professional photographers.

Contest instructions:

*Submit link to an online portfolio of your work to: grindermanphotocontest@gmail.com

*Enter the date of the specific show you wish to be considered for in your subject line. Ex. “11/17/10 Show”

*Provide your full name and mobile number in the body of the e-mail

*Send us your e-mail no later than 48 hours before the show.

If you plan to enter and have questions about the contest, please send them to: grindermanphotocontest@gmail.com

Worm Tamer Single

November 22nd, the second single off Grinderman 2, "Worm Tamer," will be released on green vinyl and other formats. The vinyl will come packaged with a poster, and judging by the ones that came with Grinderman 2 and "Heathen Child," it will probably be awesome.

Tracklisting:
1. Worm Tamer
2. Worm Tamer (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix)
3. Worm Tamer (Grinderman / UNKLE)

Click below to read more.
LINK

Tour Dates: Grinderman

Yes! Grinderman finally announced US tour dates. Now I just have to obsessively check for when the Seattle show goes on sale.

From Grinderman's Myspace...here are the upcoming tour dates:

European Dates:

09-25 Nottingham, England – Rock City
09-27 Leeds, England – University
09-28 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands
09-29 Manchester, England – Academy
10-01 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
10-04 Lausanne, Switzerland – Les Docks
10-05 Zurich, Switzerland - Volkshaus
10-06 Milan, Italy – Live
10-07 Rome, Italy - Atlantico
10-09 Ljubljana - Slovenia
10-10 Vienna, Austria – Gasometer
10-11 Munich, Germany - Muffathalle
10-13 Leipzig, Germany - Haus Auensee
10-14 Berlin, Germany - Columbiahalle
10-15 Cologne, Germany – E-Werk
10-17 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
10-20 Utrecht, Netherlands - MCV
10-21 Hamburg, Germany – Docks
10-23 Copenhagen, Denmark - Falkoner Theatre
10-24 Randers, Denmark – Power Station
10-26 Paris, France – Cite de la Music
10-28 Groningen, Netherlands - Groningen De Oosterpoort

North American Dates:

11-11 Toronto, Ontario – Phoenix
11-12 Montreal, Quebec – Metropolis
11-13 Boston, MA – House of Blues
11-14 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre
11-16 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
11-18 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
11-19 Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
11-20 Memphis, TN - Minglewood Hall
11-22 Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
11-23 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
11-26 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
11-27 Seattle, WA – King Cat Theater (Someone should meet up with me!)
11-29 San Francisco, CA - Warfield
11-30 Los Angeles, CA – Music Box
12-01 San Diego, CA – House of Blues

Tickets go on sale August 20th via Ticketmaster.
Reference link.

It's Getting Exciting Now!

I stay away from the 'net for awhile, and what happens? THREE newsworthy Cave happenings, I say, and not one of them has to do with the oh-too-soon release of Grinderman's second album.

1. Mr. Cave is planning to take on and write a remake of the movie, The Crow.

2. The Death of Bunny Munro, Cave's second book, is going to be made into a TV mini-series.

Check nick-cave.com for the full stories on those.

3. THIS:


My initial thoughts on the above:
I've never seen the original movie of The Crow all the way through, but I can imagine it being something of a travesty to hardcore fans that it may be getting remade. I am interested to see what Cave could do with it, though.

As for Bunny Munro, as someone who liked the book but didn't LOVE it, I would actually really like to see a film of it, since seeing it in another medium may help me come to love the story more. (Ignore the huge sentence.)

My thoughts on the magazine: AWESOME. But if that's a recent picture (I don't think so), he's been subjected to the Photoshopped Hairline Treatment again.

What are YOUR thoughts?

JLP Tribute Album

For those of you who didn't know, Mr. Cave is featured on a new tribute CD for Jeffrey Lee Pierce (former frontman of the Gun Club). The album, entitled We Are Only Riders, features tracks Pierce composed prior to his death. Artists include Mick Harvey, Lydia Lunch, Debbie Harry, The Raveonettes, and others.

Cave and Harry duet on the song "Free to Walk," and Cave also performs "Ramblin' Mind".

The album is out now.

Bad Sex Nominee

From HERE, it is reported that Mr. Cave has been nominated for the Bad Sex Award.

Direct quote from The Guardian's article:
On a shortlist of 10, singer Nick Cave was picked for his second novel The Death of Bunny Munro, about a sex-obsessed door-to-door salesman. "Frankly we would have been offended if he wasn't shortlisted," said Anna Frame at his publisher Canongate.

An Attractive Clumsiness

Nouse.co.uk has an article/interview up with Mr. Cave (in which, yet again, someone asks him about his religion or lack of).

Any interview, however, that includes this (below) is worth reading:

"As the phone rings I’m wondering about the ways he might answer it when, suddenly, the ringing stops with a bang; it seems someone has dropped the phone. There’s a succession of loud noises that sound like running and things moving around until Cave eventually speaks: “Ca-can I call you – [aside]: How long will I be? – Can I call you in 15 minutes? Is that alright?” Something about taking or collecting the kids from somewhere. It wasn’t quite the steely greeting I expected. There’s an attractive clumsiness to this notoriously shadowy figure."

LINK: http://www.nouse.co.uk/2009/11/10/nick-cave/

Cave and Hillcoat Team Up Again

I LOVE breaking news to you all! I just submitted this to nick-cave.com, but here it is for you all!



Empire Online reports that director John Hillcoat (The Road, The Proposition) is once again teaming up with Nick Cave. This time, they will be collaborating on a film adaptation of Matt Bondurant's novel, The Wettest Country in the World. Hillcoat stated that the script, penned by Cave, has already been written.

The adaptation, which Hillcoat describes as "Virginia, moonshine, backwoods...", seems as though it will fit right in with Cave's other literary endeavors, such as his novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel, and the screenplay for The Proposition. At this point, a cast has not been determined, nor has a film studio picked up the project, but if all goes well with The Road, chances appear good that The Wettest Country in the World will soon enter the production process.

Hillcoat also spoke of possibly turning Cave's second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, into a BBC or Channel 4 adaptation for television. No word yet on if this will become a real possibility.

[empireonline.com]

Nick and PJ Duet Again

Thank you to my dear friend, Jess for this...I'm just gonna cut and paste, cuz I'm lazy.

Nick Cave, the renaissance man of rock, was reunited with his former lover [NOTE: okay, seriously...*eyeroll*...couldn't they have had a better leading line than that?] PJ Harvey last night during a one-off gig to promote the publication of his second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro.

Cave and Harvey had a famously intense relationship during the mid-1990s, which inspired one of his darkest albums, The Boatman's Call, and which was rumoured to have left the Dorset-based Harvey heartbroken.

The Australian polymath - Cave writes and performs his own songs, acts, has written screenplays and scored the new Cormac McCarthy film The Road - was giving an evening of readings from Bunny Monro interspersed with songs at London's Palace Theatre. He was taking questions from the floor when an audience member asked if he'd perform again with his former muse if she were in the venue.

Harvey, who had previously sat unnoticed in a box next to the stage, made herself known to Cave at this point, and the singer said that while he would love to duet with her, he would only do so if she was up for it too. "If it was the other way round, I'd be mortified," Cave said.

Harvey acquiesced and came up on stage, and the pair sang Henry Lee, a haunting love song from Cave's Murder Ballads album. (This was despite a member of the audience suggesting to Cave that Fleeting Love would be an apt song for the reunion duet, to which Cave growled back: "You're a funny cunt".)

Cave was on fine form throughout the evening, telling the audience that he wouldn't finish the evening with a fourth and final reading from his book because "I read a whole lot of the fucking thing, with projections. Go and see Will Self in the back of Waterstones."

The Quietus website reports that he also confided why he no longer sported his impressive Zapata moutsache: "My wife found my stash of rohypnol, drugged me and shaved it off."

SOURCE: HERE

Sum by David Eagleman

Nick reads a story from David Eagleman's book, Sum. Brian Eno and some other people read parts from it also.

"In one afterlife, you relive all your experiences in carefully categorized groups: sleeping 30 years straight, sitting five months on the toilet, spending 200 days in the shower, and so forth. In another, you can be whatever you want, including a horse that forgets its original humanity. There are afterlives where you meet God, in one a God who endlessly reads Frankenstein, lamenting the tragic lot of creators; in another a God, female this time, in whose immense corpus earth is a mere cell. Eagleman’s engaging mixture of dark humor, witty quips, and unsettling observations about the human psyche should engage a readership extending from New Age buffs to amateur philosophers. --Carl Hays"

You can download the extract of Nick reading the story, which Caroline was kind enough to edit so there aren't any ads, here:
CLICK

Caroline also found THIS news item in which Mr. Cave states, "We’ve recorded a new Grinderman record we’re really excited about. It comes out in March. And I’ll make another Bad Seeds record later on in the year." Woohoo! Thank you, Caroline!

There are also chapter extracts to read HERE.

Thank you to i_am_a_wallet on the nick-cave.com forums for the heads-up!

Second Grinderman Album Done!

Mr. Cave is pleased to inform you...

As reported by NME [ LINK ]:

Grinderman have completed recording their second album, due for release next year, band member Warren Ellis has confirmed.

The multi-instrumentalist told Thequietus.com that the new album from the band, featuring members of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, was a big departure from their 2007 self-titled debut.

"We finished the Grinderman album three weeks ago," he said. "I mixed it over the summer. We’ve still got to do the track ordering, and a few tweaks on the mastering, but the album's there."

"It’s very different from [Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' latest album] 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!' and it's very different from the first Grinderman album. There's an attitude in there that's similar, but sonically it's got some pretty weird things going on.

"It’s kind of like stoner rock meets Sly Stone via Amon Duul. Nick's got a different thing going on with the lyrics than he would have from the Bad Seeds. Less sex? I wouldn’t say that."

Warren Ellis and Nick Cave are set to release a joint album, 'White Lunar', on September 22, featuring soundtrack music they have composed for various films.

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Will this bring in the second coming of the Magical 'Stache of Doom? The masses pray so, but time shall tell!

White Lunar

From the newly-updated official site comes the following news:

"White Lunar, a two CD set to be released by Mute on 21st September 2009 [NOTE: that's my birthday! - outofsorrow], contains music they composed from [The Assassination of Jesse James... and The Proposition], along with a selection of their cinematic scores, including rare and previously unavailable material...

...Accompanying the soundtracks on the second disc are four pieces drawn from the Cave & Ellis archives, all named after craters: “Magma” is constructed from a chorus of Warrens singing a pitch-shifted riff, “Zanstra” swarms like a storm of hornets besieging a submarine, “Halo” finds pastoral calm in the eager teeth of defeat and “Daedalus” rises sure as the sun, with dewy flute and fluttering piano motes, before a sudden fade. The sequence is conceived as a suite. “Listen to it as you might listen to an instrumental album” recommends Ellis, as “some kind of trip”."

Arrrr! 2:30 am Goodies, Me Loves!

Don't forget to check out the last post. I was going to let more time elapse until the next post, but during my 2:30 am Internet rounds, I found several things I had to post.

• First of all, give a look to THIS VIDEO of our guys performing a bit of "Tupelo" recently at Rock Werchter. And THIS ONE from musicaholic81 at youtube is "The Ship Song" from the same show. The videomaker had to record the big screen, but still enjoyable!
  
  
• Next, Iceland Review has a little article mentioning Nick and Warren's involvement in the music for the Faust production. It doesn't really have too much new information, but as Nick often says (anyone else noticed this?)...THERE YOU GO!
  
  
• Finally, I direct you all to the wonderful 3-page gallery of NC&tBS photos that Martyn Flash over at flickr posted. Seriously - there are some outstanding shots. Make sure you leave Martyn a comment of thanks!
  
  Click Nick to view Martyn's wonderful gallery of 145 pics.
  

Exhibition Photos

There are a bunch of awesome photos from Nick's exhibition at the Western Australia Museum. Included in the collection is THIS beetle collection that says, "Nick the Stripper".

Check out much of the exhibit HERE.

And one thing in the exhibit is THIS LETTER about Susie. You will puke from sweetness.

Gladiator 2

The scrapped Gladiator 2 script, penned by Mr. Cave, leaked online. *cough*

From metro.co.uk:
A copy of singer Nick Cave's rejected script for Gladiator 2 has been leaked onto the internet.

Cave was originally asked to write the sequel to Oscar-winning film by director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe.

The Guardian reports that the pair had hoped that Cave would be able to come up with a "creative solution" to deal with the fact that Crowe's character, Maximus, is killed off at the end of the film.

The musician's adaptation sees Maximus meddling with Roman gods in the afterlife. He is then reincarnated, spends his time defending early Christians, reunites with his son, and ultimately lives forever.

Maximus goes on to World War II, the Vietnam war and ends up working for the Pentagon.

Unsurprisingly, this version was rejected for being too over the top.

Scott told UGO.com: "Russell [Crowe] didn't want to let it go, obviously, because it worked very well."

"I mean, when I say 'worked very well', I don't refer to success. I mean, as a piece it works very well."

"Storytelling, he [Cave] works brilliantly. I think he enjoyed doing it, and I think it was one of those things that he thought 'Well, maybe there's a sequel where we can adjust the fantasy and bring him back from the dead'."