According to Graham Nash, Crosby, Stills and Nash’s new album is about one-third done. Helmed by producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin, the untitled release will feature an array of classic rock covers. During their summer tour, CSN has been giving audiences the first taste of some of their reworkings, including a version of The Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday.”

Nash and Stephen Stills have revealed other songs that will be part of the album: The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” Bob Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country,” The Allman Brothers Band’s “Midnight Rider,” the Grateful Dead’s “Uncle John’s Band,” Jackson Browne’s “Lives in the Balance” and Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe.” Nash told Billboard.com that he’s not sure when the album will be finished and released.

“It’s a lot slower than it’s ever taken us to do an album, because we’ve been on the road since May, and we don’t quit until October,” Nash said. “We all want it to be right – Rick, too – so we’re taking our time to make sure it is.”

Nash said that working with Rubin has been “very interesting. It’s hard to tell CSN what to do in the studio after almost 40, 50 years, but it’s an interesting experience. We’re certainly opening to listening to him. He has good ideas, of course.”

The singer and former member of The Hollies also is working on a live album that will compile tracks from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 1974 tour. He said he’s enjoyed listening to the old tapes.

“We were really a fine band,” he said. “It’s very obvious when you play the tracks that we’re listening to each other, not stepping on each other’s toes, not overblowing. It’s really, really good.”

He said he hopes the live release will come out in 2011.

Eric Clapton is one of the owners of the Ferrari 458 Italia, which have been involved in a recall because a design flaw has seen five of the $230,000 cars burst into flames. The Italian car manufacturer has been forced to recall more that 1,200 Italias.

Ferrari has been in touch with all the Italia owners and offered to fix them for free.

Meanwhile Clapton, who hates his voice, is preparing for the release of his 19th solo album,Clapton, on September 28. The album features guest appearances from Sheryl Crow, Derek Trucks, Steve Winwood, Wynton Marsalis and Allen Toussaint.

And finally, there will even be special seasonal tie-ins. This Halloween will introduce us to “scarrots.”  Yikes! And as the family that gives out baby carrots instead of candy on Halloween, start saving up for the therapy your child will undoubtedly need…

Sponsored by the Downtown Davis Business Association, Armadillo Music, and the Cultural Action Committee of the City of Davis

First Prize: $200

Second Prize: $100

Third Prize $50

All poems submitted will be considered for publication in The Blue Moon Literary and Art Review

Submissions must be emailed or postmarked by September 21st, 2010

Emailed entries should be sent to:  jackkerouaccontest at gmail.com

There is no entrance fee, though you should submit only your best work.

The Cultural Action Committee of Davis and the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts are proud to announce a poetic tribute to the reluctant leader of the Beats, Jack Kerouac with the Jack Kerouac Poetry Prize. In a contest to be judged by Beat icon Michael McClure (see below), poems emulating the spirit of the Beat Generation will be chosen for cash awards, for publication in The Blue Moon Literary and Art Review, and for public performance with live jazz at the annual Davis Jazz and Beat Festival.

This year the contest will be judged by a key member of the beat generation, Michael McClure. McClure’s first book of poetry, Passage, was published in 1956. His poetry is heavily infused with an awareness of nature, especially in the animal consciousness that often lies dormant in mankind. Not only do they contain an awareness of nature, but the poems are organized in an organic fashion, continuing with his appreciation of nature’s purity. Stan Brakhage, friend of McClure, stated in Chicago Review that, “McClure always, and more and more as he grows older, gives his reader access to the verbal impulses of his whole body’s thought (as distinct from simply and only brain-think, as it is with most who write). He invents a form for the cellular messages of his, a form which will feel as if it were organic on the page; and he sticks with it across his life…”

jackkerouaccontest@gmail.com

-Jobe

Rush have always been a band for hardcore cult fans, mostly guys, and a bit of a punching bag for critics. But that attitude has slowly changed in the last year, with the Canadian trio getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a cameo in the Paul Rudd bromance, I Love You, Man. But the biggest factor in the band’s sudden “cool” status is the award-winning documentaryRush: Beyond the Lighted Stage. Guitarist Alex Lifeson spoke to MusicRadar.com about the film’s impact.

“I think Rush have always had this reputation, particularly to non-fans, of being an ultra-serious and cerebral group when, in fact, the reverse is true. We don’t take ourselves seriously at all. Sure, we take our music seriously, but that’s altogether different. As people, we’re just three regular guys. People are always stunned at how normal we are. We don’t act like rock stars. We have very middle-class values and a good work ethic. Behaving like rock stars, that’s just not the way we’re built.”

Lifeson noted that even the band’s notoriously dude-heavy crowd makeup is slowly changing:

“I think the documentary, above anything else, made us accessible to women. Believe me, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that we’re seeing a lot more women at our shows than ever before, and that’s probably not by accident. Something is definitely bringing women in. I think the documentary affected them somehow… Perhaps a lot of women — maybe their husbands or boyfriends were lifelong fans — might never have thought of coming to see us live, but they saw the documentary and see us in a new light.”

Most of all, according to Lifeson, longevity and friendship have influenced the court of public opinion:

“This might be the biggest thing of all – there’s the fact that we’ve just been around for so long. Eventually, you kind of wear down people’s resistance, and they start to see you for what you really are. I do think the documentary helped in that area — it showed everybody how close a unit we are and that we really love and care about one another. Our bond goes way beyond the music.”

EMI unveiled the complete tracklisting and cover art for a slew of new John Lennon remasters and collections, to be released on October 4 in the U.K. and October 5 in the U.S. in anticipation of what would have been the rock legend’s 70^th birthday on October 9. Featured in the launch are eight remastered Lennon solo albums, plus severalnew titles.

Double Fantasy Stripped Down features a newly remixed version of the 1980 Grammy Album of the Year, with original producer Jack Douglas and Yoko Ono overseeing the remixes. The album will also feature original drawings by Sean Lennon.

Other classics will regain some bits that have fallen by the wayside over the course of format changes from vinyl to cassette to CD. Some Time in New York Citywill once again feature six “live jam” recordings that were featured on the original release. And Walls and Bridges will have the original artwork restored.

The 11-disc John Lennon Signature Box includes 13 previously unreleased demos and personal essays written by Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon. There will also be a four-disc set titled Gimme Some Truth and a single disc greatest hits called Power to the People: The Hits.