Bits and Bobs: Ludacris, Jenny & Johnny, The Drums, Cee Lo

- Ludacris will be helping Tower Beer, Wine & Spirits reopen its Doraville location on Saturday, and in return the liquor store is giving Luda a $10,000 donation for his Ludacris Foundation, which supports Atlanta youth and the community. We love it when everybody wins.

- Jenny Lewis and her beau Johnathan Rice just dropped their Jenny & Johnny record, I’m Having Fun Now, and you can download a free mp3 of “Animal” HERE.

- Fellow hipsters The Drums have premiered a video for “Down By The Water” on Stereogum. They will be playing The Loft with Surfer Blood on September 15.

- The final fabulous video for Cee Lo’s “Fuck You” has arrived, and we just love it. Go check it out on Idolator if you’re somewhere that’s alright with a few dozen F-bombs.

Bits and Bobs: Black Lips, NARIP, Kylie Minogue, FUN

- Spin has been talking to Black Lips about the Atlanta hooligans recording a new album, and they also chat about the usual other stuff: skulls, Osama Bin Laden, the Braves.

- Local lass-around-town Eileen Tilson (who heads up Leslie Fram and husband’s artist management company Tipping Point Entertainment Group) has been appointed to the board of NARIP (The National Association of Record Industry Professionals) in Atlanta. Congrats Eileen!

- The wonderful Kylie Minogue has been pretty busy this week. First she did a crazy surprise gig at an out-of-the-way pub in England (which you can check out on Idolator) and then she performed “Get Outta My Way” on “America’s Got Talent” (which you can check out on Zap 2 It). We love the huge video montage behind her, documenting all the past Kylies – definitely a bonus for the fans! Now she just has to do a proper American tour, and actually stop down here.

- Those popular indie pop kids from New York who call themselves FUN will be coming back to Atlanta for a show at The Loft on December 11. Tickets for this gig happily go on sale a lot sooner – September 2.

Bits and Bobs: Vonnegutt, Big Boi, Beach House, Eels, Goat Farm

- Local rap-rockers (it’s not as bad as it sounds, really) Vonnegutt are planning on re-releasing their EP, The Appetizer, again on Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon label, but this time with Manchester Orchestra’s Favorite Gentlemen label on board too. The lads have been making themselves known recently, with their “Follow Us” collaboration for Big Boi’s recent release, and even performed the single on “Late Show with David Letterman” last night. Check out the video over on Idolator. You can also download single “Bright Eyes”.

- Beach House are coming back to Georgia, but won’t be playing Atlanta. They will be stopping off at the 40 Watt in Athens instead, on October 16. Tickets go on sale August 27 at 10 a.m.

- Spinner is streaming the new Eels album Tomorrow Morning right now.

- Sounds like the Nameless Festival went down a treat last weekend at Goat Farm. Ohmpark has videos of All The Saints, Balkans and Abby Go Go all performing at the too-cool-for-school “venue.”

Bits and Bobs: Dead Confederate, Cee-Lo, Klever, Jason Isbell and More

- Dead Confederate are streaming their new album, Sugar, here right now. Check it out and then go see them play their in-store at Criminal Records on Sunday, where you can get the CD and get it signed.

- In other awesome Georgia people news, Cee-Lo just released a video for his new song, “F*ck You,” which is just the lyrics popping up against a colorful background, but we love it. The tune has a sweet early ’70s, late ’60s soul vibe, but the lyrics are, as you can guess, pretty grumpy. Check it out here.

- East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern is going to be hosting a showcase for killer record label Slow Roast with Klever, Craze, Kill The Noize, 12th Planet and Rob Wonder. Tickets are on sale now at the link below.

- Locally-based mag Paste is launching their first tour, with ex-Drive-By Truckers man Jason Isbell, Langhorne Slim and others. The tour stops at The EARL on October 28. Paste has the scoop on their website, of course.

- And finally, we were sad to hear that Michael Been, vocalist and guitarist of ’80s band The Call and father of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Robert Been, has passed away after suffering from a heart attack. He was touring in Belgium with BRMC as a sound engineer.

Bits & Bobs: The Ting Tings, Big Boi, John Legend, The Roots, Free Energy

- The Ting Tings have put up a new song, “Hands,” on their Facebook page for all their fans to listen to (you must “like” the band first in order to be able to listen). It’s a bit more moody than their debut, but still oozes fun, just in a more ’80s, Duran Duran kinda way. We like it.

- We’re happy to hear that Big Boi will be playing three shows in Atlanta in the next couple of month: supporting STS9 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on August 28, Opera on September 4 and the Tabernacle on September 28. Creative Loafing‘s Crib Notes has the scoop.

- The world is in a bit of a rough place right now. Luckily we have folks like The Roots, John Legend, Common and Melanie Fiona to tell us things might be alright. Legend is about to release his collaborative record, Wake Up, with the Roots on September 21, and we’re given a little taste of it with the title track, a cover of Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes’s 1975 hit “Wake Up Everybody.” These fellas have good heads on their shoulders – nice to see someone does. Check out the video over on Idolator.

- Finally, Free Energy is offering up a free download of the Fool’s Gold remix of “Bang Pop” on Stereogum. For those interested, Free Energy is playing The EARL with Titus Andronicus on September 20.

Bits and Bobs: The Felice Brothers, The Love Language, The Drums, Downtown Restaurant Week

- After the departure and consequential heart surgery of drummer/singer Simone Felice, The Felice Brothers are back and are off on tour. They’ll be coming to Atlanta for a show at The EARL on November 6.

- In other coming-to-The-EARL news, the lovely Love Language are coming on September 3!

- Perfect summer (evidenced in the video below) indie pop band The Drums are finally coming to Atlanta for a show at The Loft with Surfer Blood. Tickets go on sale July 30.

- Downtown Restaurant Week started yesterday, and actually runs for two weeks until August 8. There are a ton of great $25 and $35 prix fixe menus to choose from, but we personally will be going for Spoon, The Social, BLT and Thrive.

Bits and Bobs: Deerhunter, Movie Music Geeks, Kele, Tron

- Deerhunter is gearing up to release their new album Halcyon Digest in September, and they’re already throwing some treats out to their fans. For the street-teamers who printed out the flyers and posted them everywhere, Pitchfork reports that Deerhunter has bestowed the tracklisting, cover art, and now a free download. Visit the album website for more details.

- In other Deerhunter news, Ohmpark is reporting that there is a concert documentary in the works, directed by filmmaker John Albrecht. Check out the trailer below.

deerhunter live – film trailer from John Albrecht on Vimeo.

- In honor of all music geeks, Spinner has a great top-20 list of the greatest movie music geeks.

- Bloc Party’s Kele is looking quite the (very emotional) fittie in his new video for the amazing “Everything You Wanted,” from his solo record The Boxer. It’s like out generation’s “Nothing Compares To You,” with the teary Sinead O’Connor. Check it out on Stereogum.

- We are really starting to wish we were at ComicCon. They just premiered the new trailer for Tron: Legacy, which may or may not look just a wee bit confusing. For folks not massively familiar with the movie, like me, go over to Gawker to check out the trailer and see the break down. The only thing missing from the trailer: the Daft Punk soundtrack. Didn’t sound like any of the robotic duo’s recognizable tunes were there.

Bits and Bobs: Mercury Prize, Andy Hummel, Mark Ronson, Pitchfork Music Festival, Bryan Ferry

- This morning the Mercury Prize nominees were announced in London. Consequence of Sound has the full list, which includes our faves Dizzee Rascal and Paul Weller (and The XX, who I care a little less about). NME has all the records for you to listen to. The winner will be announced on September 7.

- Andy Hummel, the original bassist for Big Star, has passed away at age 59. Spinner has the story.

- Rolling Stone premiered the new video for Bryan Ferry‘s new song “You Can Dance,” from his solo album Olympia, due out October 26. We’d like to be excited about it, since he’s back working with Roxy Music members Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay and Brian Eno, but it’s all a bit disappointing – the music is pretty uninspiring, and (though we know having sexy ladies everywhere is Ferry’s “thing”) the video is fairly dull too.

- Apparently a little music festival took place in Chicago this past weekend, by some indie blog called Pitchfork. Pretty much everyone and their mother has pics up, so we’ll default to Pitchfork themselves.

- Mark Ronson has released the album art for his upcoming release Record Collection, due out October 5. Since he’s been working a ton with Duran Duran lately, it’s not too surprising that it’s pretty influenced by some of the ’80s band’s own album art. He’s also got a video out for the fab tune “Bang Bang Bang” – it’s all up on Arjan Writes now.

Bits and Bobs: Judi Chicago, Avett Brothers, Facebook, Weapons of Audio, Cookie Cakes

- Travis Thatcher of Judi Chicago is having what looks like a pretty kick-ass yard sale on Saturday. Look, he has a fancy flyer and everything.

- The model whose picture appears on the cover of Vampire Weekend‘s Contra is suing the band’s label XL Recordings and photographer Tod Brody (who sold the picture) for $2 million, saying that her signature was forged. Brooklyn Vegan has done a bit of investigative journalism for those who want the details. … Continue Reading

Bits and Bobs: B.O.B., James, Ed Harcourt, Joaquin Phoenix, Live Aid, Guided By Voices, Arcade Fire

- One of England’s best bands, James, will be joining one of England’s best troubadours, Ed Harcourt, for a fall jaunt around the U.S. They will be stopping in Atlanta on September 22 for a show at Variety Playhouse. Tickets go on sale July 16 HERE. Check out the video of a recent performance of James’ classic “Laid,” which shows the band definitely still rocks.

- The BBC is making a film about the relationship between Boomtown Rats’ Bob Geldof and promoter Harvey Goldsmith, the duo who created the legendary benefit concert event Live Aid. According to Spinner, … Continue Reading