NEW RELEASES AND SOLO ACTION

Kim will have an art show in conjunction with Lizzi Bougatsos at: Reena Spaulings Fine Art, 371 Grand Street in NYC. The show runs from September 17 – October 15, 2004. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, noon – 6pm.

'KIM'S CHORDS' ON ITUNES


The song 'Kim's Chords', available previously only on the Japanese version of the 'Sonic Nurse' CD, is now available worldwide as an exclusive itunes download.

WILL MISS YOU MUCH, BOB QUINE

Mike Watt had the following to say about the passing of Bob Quine:

I'm just back from ireland w/iggy and found out about this sad news regarding bob quine's passing. I'd like to say his playing was really inspiring and wild. lee ranaldo had me record a version of dylan's "visions of johana" thirteen or something years w/him and who was on guitar (besides lee)? none other than bob quine! steve shelley was on drums. well, me and d. boon first heard him on richard hell's "blank generation" single and very much were blown away (as w/the other guy on guitar, ivan julian and of course, richard hell himself) - made a huge impression on us. it was a trip to get to both spiel and play alongside him that day at wharton's in nyc - I must've asked a million questions (all foamed-up) but he was so nice to me. he played righteous too. I heard he was kind of belig but he was nothing but a gentleman to me and the other cats there. it's a great memory for me to look back on. he told me that day the first guy he saw on electric guitar was buddy holly. that was trippy.

Richard Hell's thoughts on Bob Quine are available here.

Mike Watt's thoughts on anything and everything are available on his hoot page.

SY ON TOUR: AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE

Sonic Youth are off to Australia and New Zealand for a whirlwind whip with J Mascis in tow. Tickets for all of these shows are on sale now. Check www.ticketek.com or the venue for tickets unless otherwise noted.

June 15 - Canberra A.N.U
June 17+18 - Sydney Enmore Theatre
June 19 - Brisbane Arena
June 21 - Fremantle Metropolis (Buy tickets at 78's, Beat, Planet or Mills)
June 23+24 - Melbourne Forum
June 26 - Auckland St. James

After Australia, Sonic Youth will tour this summer as part of the Lollapalooza 2-day festival. The line-up can be seen at the Lollapalooza website. Sonic Youth will also be playing a select few shows of their own on days off during Lollapalooza. These shows are beginning to be announced. The complete Lollapalooza dates are in orange below, with updated non-Lolla shows in black.

7/13 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
7/14 Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre
7/15 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
7/17 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/20 San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheatre
7/21 Phoenix, AZ Marquee Theatre
7/22 Ventura, CA Ventura County Fairgrounds
7/23 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues- Mandalay Bay
7/25 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue (former Bricks)
7/26 Englewood, CO Coors Amphitheatre
7/28 Minneapolis, MN The Quest
7/29 Tinley Park, IL Tweeter Center
7/30 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
7/31 Columbia, MO The Blue Note

8/2 Clarkson, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
8/4 Montreal, QUE Metropolis
8/5 Toronto, ON Molson Amphitheatre
8/6 Ottawa, ONT Capital Hall
8/9 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
8/12 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post
8/13 New Haven, CT Toad's Place
8/14 Mansfield, MA Tweeter Center
8/15 Portland, ME State Theater
8/16 New York, NY Randall's Island
8/18 Camden, NJ Tweeter Center
8/21 Atlanta, GA Turner Field
8/24 Dallas, TX Smirnoff Music Centre


Tickets are already on sale for several Lollapaloozas as well as non-Lolla shows and more are going on sale soon. Check the calendar page for more info on specific shows.

After the final Lollapalooza, SY will head to Europe for a select few shows. Dates for this tour are:

8/26 Geneva, Switzerland Victoria Hall
8/27
Paris (St. Cloud) Rock En Seine
8/28 Oudenaarde, Belgium Feest in Het Park
8/30 Amsterdam Paradiso SOLD OUT
9/1 Glasgow Barrowland Tickets
9/2 London Brixton Academy
9/4 Bologna, Italy Independent Days Festival

SOLO ACTIVITIES

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Text of Light, the improvising ensemble whose rotating cast includes Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht, Christian Marclay, DJ Olive, William Hooker, and Ulrich Krieger has a full length CD out June 7 on the Starlight Furniture Co. label.

The Text of Light group was formed in 1999 to perform improvised music during screenings of films by Stan Brakhage and other American avant-garde filmmakers from the 1950's and 60's. The three tracks on this CD come from live performances at New York City clubs Tonic and the Knitting Factory, as well as Anthology Film Archives in NYC.

The disk will be available through Revolver.

Lee and Jim also have an recent trio release with Carlos Gifonni on Antiopic Records. The 3" CD is described this way by the label:

Recorded 31 August 2003 at North Six, Brooklyn NY, USA This is the first release in Antiopic's Live Series.

A seething, screaming set of power electronics and guitar with hardly a moment's pause for air, this recording finds the trio of Carlos Giffoni (computer, synth, guitar), Lee Ranaldo (guitar, firebell) and Jim O'Rourke (synth) in devastating form. This is classic free bombast, alternately sounding like a "rock band" interpretation of Merzbow's Rainbow Electronics or a punk update of a Musica Elettronica Viva session. The instantly identifiable Ranaldo/Sonic Youth guitar sound is joined by blurting digital scree and analog filter abuse, melding to create a heavy tidal rush of ecstatic cosmic noise. The bliss of the set is confirmed by the Brooklyn audience's joyful reaction at the close.

WE WANT THE AIRWAVES


While in Seattle to perform at the Showbox, Sonic Youth will also appear live on KEXP. The performance will be live at 12:30pm on July 14 and will stream online.

Then on July 19 the band will perform on the Late Show with Craig Kilbourn on CBS.

Sonic Youth will play on Late Night with Conan O'Brian on Wednesday, July 7.

In anticipation of the release of "Corporate Ghost", MTV2 will air a half-hour special June 6 on the Subterranean program.

Then Sonic Youth will perform on the Tonight show with Jay Leno on Wednesday, June 9.

The next day they will perform live on the Morning Becomes Eclectic program on KCRW. The program also streams online starting at 16:00 GMT.

While in Australia and New Zealand, Sonic Youth will appear on several radio programs.

On June 18 at 10 in the morning, Kim and Thurston will appear on the National Youth Radio Network for an hour of interview and guest DJ duties. This will be broadcast on Triple-J radio, a link for an online stream can be found here.

June 21 at 3pm Kim and Thurston will be interviewed on RTRfm in Perth.

On June 24 Thurston will play records and be interviewed at 3:30 on RRR FM in Melbourne. Check out the stream.

Then on June 25 Kim will be on National Radio, on the Deep End program. The program airs from 8:30-10:30.

Lee and Thurston will appear live on 95B FM in Auckland at noon on June 26 for an interview and guest DJ stint. This will be available as an online stream.

SY ON TOUR

Sunday, June 6th, Sonic Youth will play The Great Bamboozle at The Stone Pony Festival Area in Asbury Park, New Jersey with Patti Smith and others. Three day passes and daily tickets are available. The fest is all ages. For more info, check out:
www.thestonepony.com
www.thegreatbamboozle.com


On June 10, SY will be
perform at the Troubadour in This show is now sold out. However, free tickets will be given away to the first 125 people to buy the new SY album, Sonic Nurse, at Amoeba Records in L.A. when the album goes onsale June 8.

SOLO ACTION II

Thurston and Jim will play with their group Dream/Aktion Unit - which also features Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty in collaboration with Double Leopards as Double Dream/Aktion Leopards (unit) at The Schoolhouse, Hadley, MA Sunday May 23rd. Also on the bill are Sharon Cheslow and Die Yellow Swans.

Thurston will be playing with College Girls Gone Wild which also features Matt Valentine, Erika Elder and Dan Ireton at the Flywheel, Easthampton, MA. Tuesday May 25th. Also appearing is Lasse Marhaug (from Norway). UPDATE: THIS GIG IS CANCELLED

SY SEEKS DIRTY VIDEO CONTEST "NIC FIT" DIRECTOR

Sonic Youth is seeking contact with the videomaker who was the runner-up in the MTV Dirty Video contest in 1992.

The video is for "Nic Fit" and includes footage of guys smashing TV's.

Anyone with information please contact: videos@sonicyouth.com

AUTISM BENEFIT

SY will be in Northampton, MA on April 30 with J. Mascis, Sebadoh, and others at John M. Greene Hall at Smith College.

Tickets will be available at:
Night Owl Records - Easthampton, MA and Turn it Up! - Northampton, MA

Tickets are also available on insound.com

All proceeds from the concert will benefit Community Resources for People with Autism.

SOLO ACTION

Lee will be performing in a duo with Leah Singer as Drift. Here's the deal:

17 April 2004 Doors 7:15, show 8 pm Ridge Theatre, 3131 Arbutus (at 16th) Vancouver, BC
Lost reflections.

Various "fields" of sound and image blur and collide. Treated guitar, spoken word and manipulated film projections. Loud dreams.

Drift is a collaborative performance by Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer. Ranaldo (guitars, loops, tapes, texts) is a musician, poet and artist best known as guitarist and sometime-singer with legendary New York band Sonic Youth. Singer (images, projections, sounds, texts) shoots 16mm motion picture film in a 35mm still camera, then manipulates the speed and cadence of the projections the way scratch DJs work with vinyl.

Presented by Vancouver New Music: www.newmusic.org

Tickets: $30 ($20 students/seniors). Advance tickets at the Ridge Box Office, Zulu Records (1972 West 4th Ave.) or Ticketmaster 604.280.3311


Thurston solo:

Tune (In))) The Kitchen    
April 22 (Thu) 7-11pm $20 (includes radio)/$10
Curated by Christopher McIntyre ,Galen Joseph-Hunter (free103point9 &Electronic Arts Intermix ) and Tom Roe ( free103point9 )
This sound installation/event is designed for a virtually silent environment in which listeners hear live performances through individual radio headsets. Co-presented by The Kitchen and New York-based transmission arts organization free103point9, Tune(In))). The Kitchen showcases five "stations" of sound performance and video work: Kitchen Legacy,free103point9 Transmission Arts, Avant-Rock, New Electronics, and Video Tune(In))), with over forty artists participating, including 31 Down, Peggy Ahwesh, David Behrman, Erika Elder, Barbara Ess,Carlos Giffoni (Monotract), I-Sound, John King, Alan Licht, Thurston Moore, Ikue Mori, Jeremy Novak (Dymaxion), Zeena Parkins, Tom Roe, Marina Rosenfeld, Scanner, Sybarite, Richard Teitelbaum, The SB, Matt Valentine, Stephen Vitiello, and Gregory Whitehead.


Jim also has further events related to the Whitney Biennial in New York. On April 23rd the Whitney will show Jim's film "Not Yet" with live music, and on the 29th Jim will perform live.

Lee will have a sound installation entitled "Six Minutes & Five Seconds" in the show FutureSonic<04>, Manchester UK, april 27-May 8 2004. More info: www.futuresonic.com

NY TIMES, THURSTON SOLO

Thurston had an op-ed piece in the April 8 New York Times remembering Kurt Cobain. The link is here.

Thurston also has some gigs lined up:

Friday, April 16th @ "Vulture Cock Festival" at SUNY Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road in PURCHASE, NY. This is a FREE outdoor show in the dorm quad. Artists: Thurston Moore Group (With Jim O'Rourke, Tim Barnes, Okyung Lee) W/ many others (Daniel Johnston, Neil Hamburger etc. etc.)

April 17: The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, 131 E. 10th St., New York, NY 10003, Silent Auction and Fundraiser Saturday, 3:00pm to 7:00pm
The Poetry Project's spring fundraiser this year is a combination party and silent auction, featuring readings and performances by Edmund Berrigan, Brenda Coultas, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, and Edwin Torres. Refreshments will be served in the Parish Hall all afternoon, and items for auction will be on view in the Sanctuary. These include signed books, collages, drawings, letters, manuscript pages, paintings, and prints by Sherman Alexie, John Ashbery, Rudy Burckhardt, Jim Carroll, Clark Coolidge, Jane Freilicher, Philip Guston, Duncan Hannah, Yvonne Jacquette, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Lou Reed, George Schneeman, and Kiki Smith, among many others. There's something to suit every pocket, and every cent raised will contribute to the continued existence of the Poetry Project.
$10, $8 members April 22 (Thu) 7-11pm :

LEE SOLO ACTION

Lee will be performing in a duo with Leah Singer as Drift. Here's the deal:

17 April 2004 Doors 7:15, show 8 pm Ridge Theatre, 3131 Arbutus (at 16th) Vancouver, BC
Lost reflections.

Various "fields" of sound and image blur and collide. Treated guitar, spoken word and manipulated film projections. Loud dreams.

Drift is a collaborative performance by Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer. Ranaldo (guitars, loops, tapes, texts) is a musician, poet and artist best known as guitarist and sometime-singer with legendary New York band Sonic Youth. Singer (images, projections, sounds, texts) shoots 16mm motion picture film in a 35mm still camera, then manipulates the speed and cadence of the projections the way scratch DJs work with vinyl.

Presented by Vancouver New Music: www.newmusic.org

Tickets: $30 ($20 students/seniors). Advance tickets at the Ridge Box Office, Zulu Records (1972 West 4th Ave.) or Ticketmaster 604.280.3311