Knitting Factory to close?

Sad news for music fans in Los Angeles, who have lived with the fantastic Knitting Factory venue for nearly eight years. Apparently, the Factory’s owners feel it’s being unfairly targeted for closure by the city, who claims there are some issues with the venue’s conditional use permit, or CUP (CUPs regulate lots of different things about how a business can operate, including opening and closing times and where a queue is allowed to form on the street).

According to the LAist blog, the Knitting Factory may be a target because it doesn’t fit in with the generally tourist friendly environs of Hollywood these days. This is a pretty strange thought–if anything, the Factory is a major draw. People drive out to Hollywood to see shows there, and the venue provides all-ages shows to boot, giving kids a place to go and hang out. Hopefully, everything works out and the doors stay open.

Concert tickets, including those for shows at the Knitting Factory, can be found at Stubhub.com.

Radiohead creates new music video–with no cameras

From the very start, Radiohead has been hailed as a unique musical force. Even before Kid A, when they started playing with electronic textures and ambient sounds, their Brit-rock stuff was different and experimental. So it follows that they would be inspired by innovative styles when it comes to music videos.

Pitchfork has a few stills and a story about the band’s new video for “House of Cards,” off In Rainbows. The video, in a word, looks stunning. Apparently it was shot using lasers reflected off the band’s faces, but all the images look digitally created. Unfortunately, the video isn’t available online yet, but according to the story, it will soon be, and a link is provided for where you’ll be able to see it.

While you’re waiting for that video to show up, you might want to consider hearing “House of Cards” live. Radiohead tickets, along with other concert tickets, are available at Stubhub.com.

Rush: Album by album

One of the best known prog-rock bands to emerge from the ’70s was Rush. Their work is still regularly played on classic rock stations, but many younger fans might not remember much about the band other than that they recorded a science-fiction-themed concept album based (loosely) on the works of Ayn Rand entitled 2112. The signature song off that record, of course, was entitled “2112″ and lasted 20 minutes, with seven parts to it’s long, winding story.

But much of their other work is overlooked. So fortunately for those younger prog fans just coming into their own, Rolling Stone has put together a definitive guide to the albums of Rush, identifying the best songs on each record as well. It’s too bad more music magazines don’t do primers on artists like these, helping us figure out which records to drop money on and which to avoid. With Rush, a fairly experimental band, there’s some records from their past that might be of interest to you.

If you were hoping to hear them perform their songs live, now is the time. Rush tickets, along with other concert tickets, are available at Stubhub.com.

Knock, Knock…

The American rock band, 3 Doors Down is charting their tour route for this summer, which will take them to places like Milwaukee, Hartford, Saratoga Springs, Evansville and Camdem, among many others.  3 Doors Down is known most famously for their rockin’ little hit, “Kryptonite,” which continues to be their most successful song.  They are recognized as a band that loves to tour and most often they find themselves performing more than 300 concerts per year to keep up with their legions of fans.

The band released their debut album in 2000 called The Better Life, which was an immediate success, producing the hit singles “Kryptonite,” “Loser” and “Duck and Run.”  Since then other records have helped their propulsion to success, those include: Away from the Sun and Another 700 Miles, Seventeen Days and most recently their self titled album, 3 Doors Down.  They continue producing hit after hit and will likely remain at the top of the charts for years to come.  Get your pair of 3 Doors Down tickets today.