Today at the Chicago Tribune blog Turn It Up, Greg Kot (of Chicago Public Radios “Sound Opinions”) announced three of the rumored headliners for the annual Grant Park festival in Chicago. It appears the Foo Fighters are on board as are MUSE and Eminem. In past years Mr. Kot has been pretty much spot on with his sources, so I think this is pretty reliable. He also said that Best Coast, Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, and Lykke Li are also solid rumors at this point. Three more headliners will be named yet and the full lineup will be announced in April.

Canadian group Stars is known for their intensely layered synthy sound, but their songs and vocals are great enough to stand without all the deep instrumentation – as shown by the Tiny Desk Concert they did recently for NPR, stripped down to just Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan’s voices with Evan Cranley’s acoustic guitar for back-up. Torq and Amy are always able to get across a lot of emotion, but it comes through even stronger here, and the haunting lyrics shine through wonderfully.

Initially the White Stripes breakup news brought a bit of sadness to my already dark mood for the day (I live in Minnesota, what do you expect? Have you SEEN this winter?). It had become increasingly obvious (Jack’s comments a few months back about getting in the studio with Meg notwithstanding,) that the more time passed, the less likely a new White Stripes album would be made. After reading the very classy press release, I realized that this probably was for the best, and it’s not like Jack White was going to disappear in Third Man records and never come out again. I assume we will be seeing more of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, and I have a sneaky suspicion this is a new beginning, not only an end. As restless as Jack White seems to be, there can only be more bands and collaborations up his sleeve. I for one would love to see him induldge his folk and country leanings in a full length release, considering his love of classic country. He recently produced Wanda Jackson’s latest release, and has produced everyone from the Von Bondies to The Greenhornes and the legend Loretta Lynn (helping to bring her a Best Country Album Grammy in 2005). He will only continue to be in demand as a producer. Meg has recently been married, but I do hope she doesn’t disappear completely. While it’s true she may not have had the technical proficiency of many of her peers, there is NO doubt she was the perfect drummer for that band. I can’t even picture someone different in that chair. Sometimes things just fit with the right two people and this is the case here. I really will miss this band, as it seemed every release was an “event” that I looked forward too. I can’t say that about a lot bands, but they were on the short list.
At the end of “Under Great White Northern Lights” (one of the finer tour documents made in a long time,) there is a somewhat heartbreaking moment as Jack plays a gorgeous “White Moon” on the piano, bringing Meg to tears. For some reason, this seems fitting today. Thanks for the music and we appreciated every last bit of it.

A lot of people are calling this a return to form. The most I’ve enjoyed an R.E.M. song in a long while. The new “Collapse Into Now” is available on March 8th. I always love when a legendary band still makes relevant music this late in their career. Let’s hope the rest of the disc can be on the level of this song.