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Happy Birthday, Perry Farrell!

Posted 3/29/11 10:30 am EST by in Music


Frost the cupcakes and get the trick candles ready, because it's time to wish dynamic rock frontman and Lollapalooza godfather Perry Farrell a very happy birthday. The diverse rocker is now 52 years old and is still going strong as the frontman of seminal band Jane's Addiction. But on this special day, it's time to look back at one of his more underrated projects.

When it came time for Jane's Addiction to call it quits, Farrell staged the first Lollapalooza as a farewell tour for the band in the summer of 1991 (that tour also featured Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Ice-T and Body Count, Butthole Surfers, Rollins Band, Violent Femmes and Fishbone). With the band in his rearview, Farrell formed a new combo called Porno for Pyros (which also featured Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins). The group released its first self-titled album in the spring of 1993 to big sales, mostly on the back of the heavy-rotation single "Pets" (a fantasy narrative about aliens visiting Earth and keeping humans captive as house pets). The band toured extensively and also notched a high-profile slot at Woodstock '94 (that was the one with the mud, not the one with the bonfires).

Their second album Good God's Urge was even more eclectic and envelope-pushing, and it also rocked a little bit harder than the debut. Released in the spring of 1996, Good God's Urge dove deep into darker sonic soundscapes and found Farrell focusing even more of his lyrical energy on mythology and the supernatural. The single "Tahitian Moon" is emblematic of Good God's Urge, as it features a blistering guitar riff, some island grooves and Farrell's ethereal voice. It's a killer song with a great video, and it's a perfect way to celebrate Farrell's birthday.


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Spotted: Johnny Knoxville Celebrates 'Jackass 3D' With Tony Hawk

Posted 10/18/10 11:30 am EST by in Music


Every day a multitude of stars wander through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

Johnny Knoxville has plenty to celebrate, as the latest entry in the "Jackass" movie series made quite a bit of money over the weekend. "Jackass 3D" took in a whopping $50 million, shattering expectations and breaking the record for openings in October. While the elevated ticket price for 3-D certainly helped the film along, success is success, and "Jackass 3D" certainly earned it. The stunts were more dangerous, the pain more incredible and the gross-outs more intense than in any previous "Jackass" movies (or the television show, for that matter). Knoxville celebrated on Sunday night (October 17) at the Tony Hawk Foundation benefit at the Green Acres Estate in Beverly Hills, California. The pair were joined by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, former UFC champion Chuck Liddell and former "CHiPs" star Erik Estrada (among many other stars).

Knoxville wasn't the only star celebrating over the weekend, as Christina Aguilera headed out to Hawaii to celebrate the opening weekend of the Waikiki Edition Hotel and scores of stars hung out at the Spike TV Scream Awards. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted" archive, which features over 500 candid shots of stars like Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Rihanna, the Jonas Brothers, Ke$ha, Adam Lambert and Madonna!

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Lady Gaga Dictated The Lollapalooza 'Paradigm,' According To Perry Farrell

Posted 8/7/10 12:00 pm EST by in Music


The first day of Lollapalooza 2010 (August 6) was a roaring success, featuring memorable moments care of B.o.B, the Strokes, Hot Chip and a host of others. But the day was colored by the two appearances by Lady Gaga. The first came when she dropped in on the performance of her friends and opening act Semi Precious Weapons, and the second came later when she closed out the first night with a truncated version of her epic, theatrical Monster Ball show.

Gaga is probably the most pop-centric act ever to headline a Lollapalooza, and according to founder and organizer Perry Farrell, that is by design. "There's a new paradigm happening this year," Farrell told MTV News on Friday afternoon. "We're opening the doors to the world of pop, specifically to Lady Gaga."

Farrell also cited Hot Chip, Empire of the Sun and a handful of other acts who have come from the pop world and infected the rest of the music world. "They work with the best electronic musicians in the world, and we're really interested in electronic music," Farrell said.

With 2010's Lollapalooza already going down in the record books as one of the biggest (an estimated 80,000 people showed up to Grant Park in Chicago yesterday) and boldest (it's the most eclectic lineup in years), it looks like this version will hold up among the festival's all-time greats. And according to Farrell, that's not true of all of them. "Lollapalooza is like a crop. It's like making wine," he explained. "And then you look back and all of a sudden you realize that a particular year wasn't a good year for making wine."

Lollapalooza 2010 is happening now — make sure to check out MTV News' Lollapalooza Live, streaming Saturday and Sunday at 5 p.m., right here on MTV.com. And follow all of Lollapalooza on the MTV Newsroom blog. For up-to-the-minute updates, be sure to follow Kyle Anderson and James Montgomery on Twitter!

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Lady Gaga's Stage At Lollapalooza Will Be Huge: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 6/15/10 5:00 pm EST by in Music


"I actually said, 'Who's the chick with all the clothes, because this is my festival and she's got [a lot of clothes racks]. We've got one rack.' I gotta follow this chick and see what's going on. But she had this sweet smile. And she was real mischievous, so I liked her. She asked for a giant stage, so we spent like $100,000 to give her a giant stage. We spent close to $150,000 to house the production she's gonna do. And I say yeah, let's do it."

-Lollapalooza founder and Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, speaking to MTV News about meeting Lady Gaga for the first time and the elaborate plans she has for this summer's festival. Gaga will be headlining one of the nights of this year's Lollapalooza, which will once again be held in Grant Park, right in the middle of downtown Chicago. The festival will take place on August 6-8 and will also feature Soundgarden, Green Day, Arcade Fire, the Strokes, MGMT and Phoenix, among dozens of others.

Farrell spoke to MTV News on the red carpet of Monday night's (June 14) Activision event at the annual E3 conference in Los Angeles. He first met Gaga when she performed on a side stage at Lollapalooza in 2007. Still a brunette and wearing little more than a bikini during her afternoon set, Gaga managed to impress the small crowd and left an impression with her very early work. Three years later, she is headlining the same festival — which is expected to draw over 75,000 people per day to Grant Park.

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Lollapalooza's Perry Farrell Psyched About Tool, The Future And All The Dancing

Posted 8/8/09 6:14 pm EST by in Lollapalooza


CHICAGO -- "They don't grow groups like they used to," Lollapalooza co-founder and creative mastermind Perry Farrell told us backstage on Saturday about the current musical climate. Kings of Leon may be a new-found exception, but Farrell said we’re stuck in a period where musical acts never seem to make it to the coveted headliner status, which makes his job all that much harder every summer. Luckily, for him, he’s got plenty of big name trailblazers to choose from, including his own Jane’s Addiction, who will return to the fest with their original lineup on Sunday night for the first time since the inaugural fest way back in 1991.

With scenes built around niche music the latest trend - how does Lollapalooza's head-honcho program a festival in today’s environment?

"You have to be thinking in the future, thinking in the past and thinking in the present,” he said, standing in front of a giant inflatable jumpy set up outside his trailer for his kids. “We have to mix in new groups with the classic groups. It's more important today to be (more) widespread on your musical taste than ever before … you have to go back deep into your treasure chest of knowledge and musical vocabulary.”

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Is Perry Farrell's Greatest Legacy A Suffix?

Posted 8/5/09 2:25 pm EST by in Music


Jane's Addiction frontman, Lollapalooza founder and flash mob enthusiast Perry Farrell has been in the business of rock music for over 20 years. In addition to Jane's, he has also fronted the supremely underrated Porno for Pyros and has worked on a number of other collaborative projects. He was the first person to provide a high-profile stage for many of alternative music's elite (including Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam) and basically invented the idea of the touring festival that was later copied by Warped, Ozzfest, Lilith Fair and a half-dozen others. But despite the fact that he's the guy who sang "Ocean Size" and introduced the world to Dave Navarro (which, in turn, gave us "Till Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave"), Farrell's greatest legacy is probably normalizing the idea of taking any word and putting "-palooza" behind it.

I'm neither a linguist, an etymologist or an anthropologist, but when Farrell first introduced the word "Lollapalooza" into the lexicon during the first tour in 1991, he not only opened up the use of the word (which generally describes any sort of vaguely chaotic gathering) but he also inspired variations. CNN referred to last year's presidential race as "Campaign-apalooza" dozens of times a day, and though it looks stupid in print, it sounded something like normal on TV. In my home town, our first recycling program was called "Recycle-palooza." A basic search for the term "palooza" turns up events like "Pet-A-Palooza" and "Polar-palooza." All of this seems perfectly normal, which in turn seems utterly insane. Shockingly, the word isn't in the dictionary, despite the fact that it gets used far more often than Homer Simpson's frustrated grunt.

So here's to you and your 'Palooza, Perry. MTV News will be on the ground blogging and tweeting live from Grant Park in Chicago all weekend. In the meantime, enjoy the video for Porno for Pyros' "Tahitian Moon."

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Lollapalooza 2009 Forces The Question: Snoop Dogg Or Lou Reed?

Posted 6/18/09 5:52 pm EST by in Concerts, Music


Perry Farrell does it to us every year. Yes, his brainchild Lollapalooza is one of the best rock deals for the money every summer, with more than 100 bands playing right on the Chicago lakefront in beautiful Grant Park. But whoever maps out the schedule grid must be a masochist, because this year's lineup has more than its share of conflicts that are going to force some serious musical Sophie's choices. I have already begun stewing over the ones that are trying to break my heart.

Friday is not so bad. Yes, I'd like to see White Lies, but I'll probably choose Jersey punk outfit the Gaslight Anthem. And as much as I've always wanted to check out nutso electronic duo Crystal Castles, by evening I'll probably need to be soothed by the dulcet tones of Fleet Foxes. The headliner spot is an easy one for me, since I just caught Kings of Leon but haven't seen Depeche Mode in six years, and I know their show will have a bit more flash than the Followill brothers' more straight-ahead set.
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Lollalohan: Lindsay Lohan Turns Out For Samantha Ronson Lollapalooza DJ Set

Posted 8/2/08 6:48 pm EST by in Lollapalooza


TMZ-land officially arrived at Lollapalooza Saturday afternoon – and you have Mr. Lolla himself, Perry Farrell to thank for it.

Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson backstage at Lollapalooza on Saturday
A mid-afternoon set at the dance tent Perry’s by Farrell and a “special guest” took on a whole different meaning when that guest was revealed to be none other than Samantha Ronson, accompanied to the endless fascination of all, by her ubiquitous gal pal, Lindsay Lohan. When we arrived to an already packed dance tent, were escorted into a predictably cluster f--- of a backstage area, under a searing afternoon sun, and got even more of a celeb eyefull than we were expecting. There was Perry on stage, in a glittery black and white number, spinning and pumping up the crowd for his ‘guest DJ.’ There was LiLo, hanging with a friend and trying not to pay attention to the fact that everyone in the area was looking at her. There was Samantha, waiting to go on. And then there was the even better known member of the Ronson family, DJ and uber producer brother Mark, an attention magnet himself. And to throw a certifiable rock god into the mix, there was the man himself, Slash -- yet another surprise guest for Perry to spring on the crowd.

Soon it was showtime for Sam – decked out in an Average White Band t-shirt and a fedora, she spun a 15 minute set heavy on “upbeat” tunes at Perry’s request, she told me, and with a healthy dose of ‘80’s. “Yeah, so I included some Foreigner,” she said, “some Depeche Mode, some Hot Chip. I tried to mix it up.

“I’m just psyched to see Slash,” Sam said of first Lolla experience, “Perry and Slash, I’ve never been to Lollapalooza, and after this I don’t think I need to go to another.” Samantha’s in and out of Chicago – she has to be back in LA tonight – but Mark is hanging all weekend, checking out a ton of favorites -- from Black Keys and Radiohead yesterday to Rage tonight -- and then playing his own set tomorrow night, on one of the festival’s biggest stages.

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Day One of Lollapalooza Is Like the First Pancake

Posted 8/1/08 10:00 pm EST by in Lollapalooza, Video


Lollapalooza's front gate

In our house, the first pancake is always the one you toss. Day one of Lollapalooza is kind of like that first pancake. You spend half the day getting your bearings, trying to figure out where the Citi Stage is and wandering around among the shady groves that make Grant Park one of the most unusual, and crash out-friendly festival grounds around. Invariably you miss half the set by the band you were really psyched about, or, if you’re one of the unlucky ones who didn’t get here right at noon, you wait in a gigantic line that snaked almost a mile down street to get in for the sold out first day.

Go behind the scenes with Gil and see some exclusive video, after the jump!
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For The Record: Malkmus, Kid Sister, Neil Diamond & More

Posted 5/7/08 3:21 pm EST by in For The Record


stephenmalkmus

· Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Broken Social Scene, and Times New Viking are set to headline this summer’s Siren Festival in NY.

· Vampire Weekend, Kid Sister, and Santogold are among the acts playing for free at Central Park SummerStage in NY this summer.

· Perry Farrell’s Kidzapalooza, the kid-friendly companion fest to Chicago’s Lollapalooza, will debut at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles this summer. Farrell and others will perform.

· When not inspiring mediocre covers of classic songs on “American Idol,” Neil Diamond has apparently been planning a "secret" show of his latest tunes for his MySpace “friends” at NY’s The Bitter End. It’s tonight.

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