On Tour Category

For the past few years, former punk rocker Henry Rollins has been doing spoken word performances around the globe. He is currently on tour in the United States through April 15 and then heads for Austrailia and South Africa.

I ran across the following account from Rollins about the cover for his latest album Spoken Word Guy while looking up tour dates:

There's a new talking CD by yours truly called Spoken Word Guy 11-03-08 Alexandria, VA. The title is derived from the cover photo of the CD. We were in Spain for a talking show in 2008 and the man waiting to pick us up had a sign that said 'spoken word' and I thought that would make a good photo, so I shot it before he saw me. We decided to make it the semi-generic cover for the next series of talking CD releases. We have been recording shows on the last several legs of the tours and we will hopefully be able to put out a few that will be to your liking. This first one is from the wonder Birchmere Theater in Alexandria, Virginia, the night before the last presidential election, November 3rd, 2008. It is a 2-CD set. We will have them on this upcoming North American tour and they will also be available from Musictoday.

Source: Bravewords.com

Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright is currently on tour with nine performance remaining for 2009. He also has a live album called Milwaukee At last!!! coming out on September 22. I saw Wainwright live in Monterey, California and it was a memorable performance. I found an amateur video of him performing in Lyons, Colorado on August 14 on YouTube this morning. It will give you a good idea of what his performances are like.

I really like the cover for the deluxe version of Wainwright’s album. He is putting on a diamond earring and pretending to be a diva. Those familiar with Wainwright get the joke. He is far from a diva on stage. He is very down-to-earth and approachable. The retro font used quite effectively on this cover.

American ska/rock band No Doubt is wrapping up their tour this month. The band has not released an album since 2004’s Everything In Time (B-sides, Rarities, Remixes). A few months back, I ran across a video on YouTube of No Doubt fans lip syncing to Just A Girl. It is simply hilarious.

Grace Jones is currently on tour and the blogs are buzzing with rave reviews of her performances in Los Angeles and New York. Jones is known for having some of the most innovative album covers of all time. While the cover of her latest album Hurricane doesn’t quite have the impact of many of her others, it is a fantastic album.

The cover for the single William’s Blood is my favorite from this album. It is also my favorite track. The video includes live concert footage. As you can see, Miss Jones can still put on a heck of a show.