Chris Cornell Fan Page: News March 2008

Another live first - Chris is playing in Israel's Tel Aviv on June 17 this year. Tickets for the show at the Grand Exhibition Grounds are already onsale - see tour page for a link.

Here's an AOL story which asks people to vote for who gives the best interpretation of Billie Jean - Michael Jackson, Chris Cornell or American Idol's David Cook. Although we're up against the power of mainstream TV on one hand and a huge dose of nostalgia on the other, we can at least try to make sure Chris ends up with a decent showing!! After all, he was the architect of the dark blues version the judges were so quick to call "courageous" and "original"....

Here's a new message to fans from guitarist Peter Thorn - thanks for the great update, Peter, some wise words there!

"Hey guys, we just got back a couple days ago from South Africa... what a cool trip, it was a blast. I took a little movie of our exploits there on my crappy camera and edited it into something at least somewhat cohesive, I've sent it to the webmaster so maybe it'll show up on the Youtube channel soon. Anyways, a good time was had.

Any L.A. people should make the trek to go see the "Run Through the Desert" gig at Molly's in early April, the guys sound really good, it's nice to hear some of Yogi's songs rearranged in the psychedelic Hendrixy fashion... and new ones too.

As for me, I've been rehearsing a bit and have written a couple things with my old friend Courtney Love, she's got studio time booked in May so if I have the chance before we go hit the road, maybe I'll be doing some tracking with her. We wrote a great song together called "Car Crash" and I really hope it gets released somehow... Also been working with Daniel Powter on his next album, which is being produced by one of my dear friends, Linda Perry. Daniel is a great talent and the album is sounding great- it's really broad and warm sounding, simple where it needs to be and big and grandiose when it needs to be... I'm headed to Japan to play at Budokan with him on Earth Day, should be a blast.

Also, just wanted to say- think back 25 years ago, to another time... a killer rocker named David Bowie had just released his 17th (!!!) album, titled "Let's Dance", produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers.... He'd been many things up to that point, and some people might have thought, hmmmm this doesn't sound like Ziggy anymore.... :) Bowie had already surprised some people with "Low", the Brian Eno produced minimalist effort that followed the commercial sound of "Young Americans", and then collaborating with Queen on "Under Pressure"... But the man was stretching creatively, collaborating not just with Nile but with the late great Stevie Ray Vaughn, one of the greatest guitarists ever. Stevie was brought in to lend his talents to what would go on to become an 80's classic... I saw the tour in Vancouver's BC Place stadium, Peter Gabriel (touring for the "Security" album) and The Tubes opened, what an awesome show. Bowie then went on to shape shift some more, experimenting with industrial, hip hop, and drum and bass styles, and more collaborations with guys like Brian Eno, and Trent Reznor - one of my favorite videos ever, and what a killer track, talk about not getting stagnant 25 years into your career. Anyways, you know what I'm getting at :) It's art, and it ain't supposed to be safe and predictable... let's all enjoy the ride."

Check out Peter's photos of South Africa at his MySpace, and his great home video footage from the South African trip!

Chris's version of Billie Jean jumped from #95 to #36 on iTunes yesterday, thanks to the publicity linked to David Cook's performance of the arrangement on American Idol. Chris's live acoustic version of the song from his Stockholm radio session in September 2006 (see songs page for more info on that) is also streaming at his MySpace as "Song Of The Week".

Chris appeared on Ryan Seacrest's radio show this morning via phone and was joined by producer Timbaland, who's produced his forthcoming album. He described the music as a "radical departure" which defied genre and the most enjoyable work he's done in "maybe 12 years"; Timbaland said it was "the best work I've done in my career" and that Chris would be the first rock star to be heard within a club context. Chris also talked about the American Idol affair and sad he'd enjoyed David Cook's performance of his arrangement of Billie Jean - he still hasn't had any feedback from songwriter Michael Jackson, though!

The entire interview with Ryan Seacrest can now be downloaded direct from kiisfm.com here (thanks PJfreak), and here's a feature about the album announcement from People magazine.

Chris Cornell is appearing on Ryan Seacrest's radio show "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" this morning (March 27). The show can be heard on Los Angeles, CA radio station 102.7 KIIS-FM and takes place from 5:00-10:00 am (Pacific Time). Ryan is of course the host on American Idol, so no prizes for guessing what's likely to come up in conversation!

The show can be listened to in the LA area or online live (if you live in the US - the rest of the world can't hear the show due to the usual, ahem, "licensing restrictions") at http://ryan.kiisfm.com/main.html

Also, if you can, tune into Ryan Seacrest's other show American Top 40. You can find your affiliate station and respective times for US and other countries on the American Top 40 Affiliate Page.

Hello everyone. I am on a plane from Cape Town to Johannesburg, then back home to Paris. Just played South Africa for the first time ever and as I leave I again feel very lucky to be able to do what I do as my life’s work. The country is beautiful. The weather, the water, the mountains, but as usual, for me what really matters is the people. The fans and the South Africans that we met have all been amazingly warm and friendly. Getting this kind of reception so far away from home always moves me. This has been another on a long list of firsts for me in the last year. As a solo artist I can finally move unencumbered; making my world as big as possible and playing music for as many people around the world who will show up to listen. I have been working on a lot of new stuff that I will tell you about later.

In other news, American Idol contestant David Cook has performed what's essentially a carbon copy of Chris Cornell's iconoclastic reinvention of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean - you can see Cook's TV performance below alongside a live full-band performance by Chris recorded last year for MSN.

Kudos to David Cook for his rendition - he did great - but many people who saw it on TV simply don't realise that the originality and courageousness of the arrangement was actually down to Chris, as this piece from Australia's Undercover.au (thanks Wildrise) notes. Let them know! Phone in to American Idol, get talking on your local radio station, write to the entertainment media, post on YouTube and the AI website forum. Send people to the MSN performance below.

When another contestant recently chose to perform Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah recently, it made Buckley's recording an iTunes bestseller. Let's hope this piece of hommage does the same for Chris's performance - which is of course available on his last solo album "Carry On" as well as on iTunes.

Those who were planning on seeing Chris at the Fields of Rock Festival in the Netherlands on June 22 will be disappointed - the whole festival has been cancelled by organisers (thanks Stefan). The website claims the festival - which was to have featured Motörhead, Disturbed, Judas Priest, Sex Pistols, Cavalera Conspiracy, Rise Against and Ministry as well as Chris - had not sold enough tickets, although it seems awfully early to come to such a conclusion with three months still to go. The site says "At this moment, alternative gigs are looked into for a number of bands" although whether this includes an alternative date for Chris, we don't yet know.

Here's a chance to vote on the best performance at MyCoke Fest (Johannesburg or Cape Town shows) - give Chris some support!

A "superfan" (local contest winner) got the once-in-a-lifetime chance to play onstage (on "Scar On The Sky") with Chris last night at the MyCoke Fest in Johannesburg. Here's a video snippet showing what happened!

The 12-song setlist didn't include any new songs but the performance was apparently very well-received - a page on the show will be added to the tour archive shortly!

News from the My Coke Fest press conference in Johannesburg yesterday includes an appreciative mention of Chris. According to Christina Kennedy of Artslink.co.za "the media and groupies who waited around for the opportunity to speak to the magnificent Chris Cornell (he of Soundgarden, Audioslave and now solo fame), were richly rewarded." Read more at South Africa's Artslink here.

Tomorrow (21 March) Chris and the band are due to make their first live appearance since the pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles early last month. They're playing at the MyCoke Fest in Johannesburg, with a second appearance when the festival moves to Cape Town on 24 March. All the best to them for that!

Meanwhile, Run Through the Desert, the side project featuring Chris Cornell band members Yogi Lonich, Corey McCormick and Jason Sutter, is gearing up for an album and some live shows.

I'm writing you from Johannesburg, South Africa. First time here for me. We just had soundcheck for the "My Coca Cola Festival" tomorrow. Other bands on the bill are, Muse, 30 Seconds to Mars, Korn, Kaiser Chiefs, Good Charlotte, etc. Pretty cool line up if you ask me. We were expecting rainy weather, but it's gorgeous out, not a cloud in the sky.

In other news, Corey, Jason and I have formed a new band called Run Through the Desert. It's a heavy psychedelic band, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix Experience. We've been rehearsing and getting ready to record our debut album next month. Our first show is at Molly Malone's in Los Angeles on Friday, April 4th. Check out what we're up to on www.runthroughthedesert.com and www.myspace.com/runthroughthedesert.

Guitarist Yogi's song "Let You Go" from his album "Metta" is in this week's episode of "Men In Trees". The show airs in the US tonight, Wednesday, at 10 p.m. (PST) on ABC.

The first in a series of "Songs Of The Week" has gone up at Chris Cornell's MySpace page. Chosen by a fan at Chris's official site, it's the acoustic Sweet Euphoria from his 1999 solo album Euphoria Morning. Check out the album at the official discography (with links to Amazon.com) or at Amazon.co.uk (below). Future songs will be chosen by a variety of different methods and a few surprises are planned!

Tickets for the previously announced German headline dates in Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin are now on sale - see the new links on the tour page (thanks Mo) plus new dates for Norway and France.

Chris and his team need your help. As the latest blog on his official pages states, "we are trying to create a comprehensive archive of all things spanning Chris Cornell's career. If you have items, be they records, posters, press kits, magazine articles, t-shirts, anything official from Soundgarden, Temple Of The Dog, Audioslave, or Chris's solo releases and tours, please upload photos or scans to the new Chris Cornell Flickr group we have created. Please add descriptions as well when possible. If the item you are thinking of uploading has already been uploaded by another fan, please try and not upload duplicate items as this will make things a bit complicated. The reason for this call to action is we are working on building a new website for Chris and it has proven difficult to track down a lot of items from his career that we would like to include on the site. Our hope is, through the fans, we can create a complete archive that will live on Chris's site. We thank you for your help in advance and look forward to seeing what you contribute!"

This site will certainly be sharing its content - hope everyone else will do the same!

Chris will not now be performing at Operation MySpace in Kuwait as previously advertised - the first dates confirmed for the tour so far are in South Africa in March. Meanwhile, see the tour page for more new European dates.

Chris Cornell has signed up to the Body By Milk campaign, which offers free music downloads as a way to encourage healthy eating in young people.

New artists feature every two weeks with Chris's debut on the site set for April 28. Other artists involved include The Smashing Pumpkins, Lifehouse, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Enrique Iglesias and Plain White T's.

Teens can log onto bodybymilk.com to download music and messages, get exclusive artist wallpapers and IM icons, hear exclusive interviews with the artists, and enter for a chance to win prizes such as autographed memorabilia. Learn more about the music roster here - or read more about the campaign, which aims to get kids to drink more low-fat milk and "eat right to stay lean and healthy", at its official website here.



		archived stories from March 2008

			31 March 2008 Another live first - Chris is playing in Israel's Tel Aviv on June 17 this year. Tickets for the show at the Grand Exhibition Grounds are already onsale - see tour page for a link. 30 March 2008 Here's an AOL story which asks people to vote for who gives the best interpretation of Billie Jean - Michael Jackson, Chris Cornell or American Idol's David Cook. Although we're up against the power of mainstream TV on one hand and a huge dose of nostalgia on the other, we can at least try to make sure Chris ends up with a decent showing!! After all, he was the architect of the dark blues version the judges were so quick to call "courageous" and "original".... Vote here.... 29 March 2008 Here's a new message to fans from guitarist Peter Thorn - thanks for the great update, Peter, some wise words there! "Hey guys, we just got back a couple days ago from South Africa... what a cool trip, it was a blast. I took a little movie of our exploits there on my crappy camera and edited it into something at least somewhat cohesive, I've sent it to the webmaster so maybe it'll show up on the Youtube channel soon. Anyways, a good time was had. Any L.A. people should make the trek to go see the "Run Through the Desert" gig at Molly's in early April, the guys sound really good, it's nice to hear some of Yogi's songs rearranged in the psychedelic Hendrixy fashion... and new ones too. As for me, I've been rehearsing a bit and have written a couple things with my old friend Courtney Love, she's got studio time booked in May so if I have the chance before we go hit the road, maybe I'll be doing some tracking with her. We wrote a great song together called "Car Crash" and I really hope it gets released somehow... Also been working with Daniel Powter on his next album, which is being produced by one of my dear friends, Linda Perry. Daniel is a great talent and the album is sounding great- it's really broad and warm sounding, simple where it needs to be and big and grandiose when it needs to be... I'm headed to Japan to play at Budokan with him on Earth Day, should be a blast. Also, just wanted to say- think back 25 years ago, to another time... a killer rocker named David Bowie had just released his 17th (!!!) album, titled "Let's Dance", produced by Chic's Nile Rodgers.... He'd been many things up to that point, and some people might have thought, hmmmm this doesn't sound like Ziggy anymore.... :) Bowie had already surprised some people with "Low", the Brian Eno produced minimalist effort that followed the commercial sound of "Young Americans", and then collaborating with Queen on "Under Pressure"... But the man was stretching creatively, collaborating not just with Nile but with the late great Stevie Ray Vaughn, one of the greatest guitarists ever. Stevie was brought in to lend his talents to what would go on to become an 80's classic... I saw the tour in Vancouver's BC Place stadium, Peter Gabriel (touring for the "Security" album) and The Tubes opened, what an awesome show. Bowie then went on to shape shift some more, experimenting with industrial, hip hop, and drum and bass styles, and more collaborations with guys like Brian Eno, and Trent Reznor - one of my favorite videos ever, and what a killer track, talk about not getting stagnant 25 years into your career. Anyways, you know what I'm getting at :) It's art, and it ain't supposed to be safe and predictable... let's all enjoy the ride." Check out Peter's photos of South Africa at his MySpace, and his great home video footage from the South African trip! 28 March 2008 Chris's version of Billie Jean jumped from #95 to #36 on iTunes yesterday, thanks to the publicity linked to David Cook's performance of the arrangement on American Idol. Chris's live acoustic version of the song from his Stockholm radio session in September 2006 (see songs page for more info on that) is also streaming at his MySpace as "Song Of The Week". 27 March 2008 Chris appeared on Ryan Seacrest's radio show this morning via phone and was joined by producer Timbaland, who's produced his forthcoming album. He described the music as a "radical departure" which defied genre and the most enjoyable work he's done in "maybe 12 years"; Timbaland said it was "the best work I've done in my career" and that Chris would be the first rock star to be heard within a club context. Chris also talked about the American Idol affair and sad he'd enjoyed David Cook's performance of his arrangement of Billie Jean - he still hasn't had any feedback from songwriter Michael Jackson, though! The entire interview with Ryan Seacrest can now be downloaded direct from kiisfm.com here (thanks PJfreak), and here's a feature about the album announcement from People magazine. Chris Cornell is appearing on Ryan Seacrest's radio show "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" this morning (March 27). The show can be heard on Los Angeles, CA radio station 102.7 KIIS-FM and takes place from 5:00-10:00 am (Pacific Time). Ryan is of course the host on American Idol, so no prizes for guessing what's likely to come up in conversation! The show can be listened to in the LA area or online live (if you live in the US - the rest of the world can't hear the show due to the usual, ahem, "licensing restrictions") at http://ryan.kiisfm.com/main.html Also, if you can, tune into Ryan Seacrest's other show American Top 40. You can find your affiliate station and respective times for US and other countries on the American Top 40 Affiliate Page. 26 March 2008 Chris just sent through this personal message to everyone - thanks, Chris! Hello everyone. I am on a plane from Cape Town to Johannesburg, then back home to Paris. Just played South Africa for the first time ever and as I leave I again feel very lucky to be able to do what I do as my life’s work. The country is beautiful. The weather, the water, the mountains, but as usual, for me what really matters is the people. The fans and the South Africans that we met have all been amazingly warm and friendly. Getting this kind of reception so far away from home always moves me. This has been another on a long list of firsts for me in the last year. As a solo artist I can finally move unencumbered; making my world as big as possible and playing music for as many people around the world who will show up to listen. I have been working on a lot of new stuff that I will tell you about later. Peace. CC In other news, American Idol contestant David Cook has performed what's essentially a carbon copy of Chris Cornell's iconoclastic reinvention of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean - you can see Cook's TV performance below alongside a live full-band performance by Chris recorded last year for MSN. Kudos to David Cook for his rendition - he did great - but many people who saw it on TV simply don't realise that the originality and courageousness of the arrangement was actually down to Chris, as this piece from Australia's Undercover.au (thanks Wildrise) notes. Let them know! Phone in to American Idol, get talking on your local radio station, write to the entertainment media, post on YouTube and the AI website forum. Send people to the MSN performance below. When another contestant recently chose to perform Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah recently, it made Buckley's recording an iTunes bestseller. Let's hope this piece of hommage does the same for Chris's performance - which is of course available on his last solo album "Carry On" as well as on iTunes. David Cook on American Idol, March 2008: Chris Cornell for MSN, May 2007: Those who were planning on seeing Chris at the Fields of Rock Festival in the Netherlands on June 22 will be disappointed - the whole festival has been cancelled by organisers (thanks Stefan). The website claims the festival - which was to have featured Motörhead, Disturbed, Judas Priest, Sex Pistols, Cavalera Conspiracy, Rise Against and Ministry as well as Chris - had not sold enough tickets, although it seems awfully early to come to such a conclusion with three months still to go. The site says "At this moment, alternative gigs are looked into for a number of bands" although whether this includes an alternative date for Chris, we don't yet know. 23 March 2008 Here's a chance to vote on the best performance at MyCoke Fest (Johannesburg or Cape Town shows) - give Chris some support! 22 March 2008 A "superfan" (local contest winner) got the once-in-a-lifetime chance to play onstage (on "Scar On The Sky") with Chris last night at the MyCoke Fest in Johannesburg. Here's a video snippet showing what happened! The 12-song setlist didn't include any new songs but the performance was apparently very well-received - a page on the show will be added to the tour archive shortly! 21 March 2008 News from the My Coke Fest press conference in Johannesburg yesterday includes an appreciative mention of Chris. According to Christina Kennedy of Artslink.co.za "the media and groupies who waited around for the opportunity to speak to the magnificent Chris Cornell (he of Soundgarden, Audioslave and now solo fame), were richly rewarded." Read more at South Africa's Artslink here. 20 March 2008 Tomorrow (21 March) Chris and the band are due to make their first live appearance since the pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles early last month. They're playing at the MyCoke Fest in Johannesburg, with a second appearance when the festival moves to Cape Town on 24 March. All the best to them for that! Meanwhile, Run Through the Desert, the side project featuring Chris Cornell band members Yogi Lonich, Corey McCormick and Jason Sutter, is gearing up for an album and some live shows. Here's a special personal message from Yogi: Heya friends ~ I'm writing you from Johannesburg, South Africa. First time here for me. We just had soundcheck for the "My Coca Cola Festival" tomorrow. Other bands on the bill are, Muse, 30 Seconds to Mars, Korn, Kaiser Chiefs, Good Charlotte, etc. Pretty cool line up if you ask me. We were expecting rainy weather, but it's gorgeous out, not a cloud in the sky. In other news, Corey, Jason and I have formed a new band called Run Through the Desert. It's a heavy psychedelic band, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix Experience. We've been rehearsing and getting ready to record our debut album next month. Our first show is at Molly Malone's in Los Angeles on Friday, April 4th. Check out what we're up to on www.runthroughthedesert.com and www.myspace.com/runthroughthedesert. Peace and Love, Yogi 12 March 2008 Guitarist Yogi's song "Let You Go" from his album "Metta" is in this week's episode of "Men In Trees". The show airs in the US tonight, Wednesday, at 10 p.m. (PST) on ABC. 10 March 2008 The first in a series of "Songs Of The Week" has gone up at Chris Cornell's MySpace page. Chosen by a fan at Chris's official site, it's the acoustic Sweet Euphoria from his 1999 solo album Euphoria Morning. Check out the album at the official discography (with links to Amazon.com) or at Amazon.co.uk (below). Future songs will be chosen by a variety of different methods and a few surprises are planned! 8 March 2008 Tickets for the previously announced German headline dates in Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin are now on sale - see the new links on the tour page (thanks Mo) plus new dates for Norway and France. 6 March 2008 Chris and his team need your help. As the latest blog on his official pages states, "we are trying to create a comprehensive archive of all things spanning Chris Cornell's career. If you have items, be they records, posters, press kits, magazine articles, t-shirts, anything official from Soundgarden, Temple Of The Dog, Audioslave, or Chris's solo releases and tours, please upload photos or scans to the new Chris Cornell Flickr group we have created. Please add descriptions as well when possible. If the item you are thinking of uploading has already been uploaded by another fan, please try and not upload duplicate items as this will make things a bit complicated. The reason for this call to action is we are working on building a new website for Chris and it has proven difficult to track down a lot of items from his career that we would like to include on the site. Our hope is, through the fans, we can create a complete archive that will live on Chris's site. We thank you for your help in advance and look forward to seeing what you contribute!" This site will certainly be sharing its content - hope everyone else will do the same! 4 March 2008 Chris will not now be performing at Operation MySpace in Kuwait as previously advertised - the first dates confirmed for the tour so far are in South Africa in March. Meanwhile, see the tour page for more new European dates. 3 March 2008 Chris Cornell has signed up to the Body By Milk campaign, which offers free music downloads as a way to encourage healthy eating in young people. New artists feature every two weeks with Chris's debut on the site set for April 28. Other artists involved include The Smashing Pumpkins, Lifehouse, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Enrique Iglesias and Plain White T's. Teens can log onto bodybymilk.com to download music and messages, get exclusive artist wallpapers and IM icons, hear exclusive interviews with the artists, and enter for a chance to win prizes such as autographed memorabilia. Learn more about the music roster here - or read more about the campaign, which aims to get kids to drink more low-fat milk and "eat right to stay lean and healthy", at its official website here.
			Chris Cornell Fan Page © Clare O'Brien 2007