All Smashing Pumpkins friends and foes in the Great White Naaarth will be able to catch the Smashing Pumpkins on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos Tuesday, January 13th at 11pm EST.

The late-night TV host on CBC may be unaware of the unfettered ire directed at the band from CBC’s sister radio station, so let’s hope dear Kelly Bergeron is absent from the taping.  More info on requesting tickets here; post a comment if you’re able to secure passes at this late hour!  It seems as though the show has already been taped with Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin!  Does anyone have any reports from the taping?

Thanks to SmashingPumpkins.com for the tip.

From time to time, we here at HU write about Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails.  Though their marketing strategies in recent years have been overshadowed by other multicolor releases, Reznor continues to pursue creative outlets for bucking the system like other bands we, ahem, may closely follow.

His latest antics come in the form of a New Year’s gift.  From Reznor’s latest blog:

The internet is full of surprises these days.
I was contacted by a mysterious, shadowy group of subversives who SOMEHOW managed to film a substantial amount (over 400 GB!) of raw, unedited HD footage from three separate complete shows of our Lights in the Sky tour. Security must have been lacking at these shows because the quality of the footage is excellent.

If any of you could find a LINK to that footage I’ll bet some enterprising fans could assemble something pretty cool.

Oh yeah, you didn’t hear this from me.

As expected, the official NIN messageboard is all a-twitter with posts about this news; fans are starting to collaborate and create some very cool things.  Side note: When did Trent Reznor get so hot?

Will the Smashing Pumpkins follow suit in the future?  I bet there are a lot of tasty documentary outtakes out there…

Illinois Entertainer has published a new Chicago-centric list of the top 25 tracks in the city’s history.  The Smashing Pumpkins make an appearance at #20 with “Cherub Rock” from Siamese Dream:

Bdddrrddddrrrr-bap! The greatest guitar album of the alt-rock era began with an impish drumroll, followed by rudimentary, clean-tone octave chords. “Cherub Rock” was one of Billy Corgan’s earliest rebukes to a scene that didn’t want him, but the success is in its disarming simplicity, not the textbook rage. The rest of 1993’s Siamese Dream – Corgan’s masterpiece before he latched onto the idea of attempting masterpieces – traversed gauzy textures and pumpkin chords, yet needed a “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to focus it. “Cherub Rock,” one of the last songs written for the LP, was its godsend.

Other notables:

• #1 “Dust My Broom” - Penned by Robert Johnson, performed by Elmore James, covered by Zwan.
• #2 “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man” - Muddy Waters’ biopic and related thoughts were recently covered on HU.
• #14 “Come Sail Away” - Styx.  This song?  Amazing.

Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin faves Ministry, Material Issue, and Cheap trick make the cut too.  Click here for the full list.

Making a fashionably late appearance to the tizzy around the Smashing Pumpkins’ recent interview is Rock Town Hall; their byline: “governing the discourse of rock since 2007.”  Their mission statement is equally hilarious: “Rock Town Hall is a place to discuss - and debate - self-important topics in the world of rock ‘n roll…”  Not to put the cart before the strategic marketing horse, but if it’s one thing to which we can claim expertise, it’s self-indulgence — so these guys must be right up our alley.

RTH Blogger “Oats” presents an article today titled “Billy Corgan: The Limits of Winner Rock” and asks two fine questions about the Kot interview:

Is this what happens when you treat every single musical endeavor like you’re entering the ring? Is Corgan emulating post-game press conference-speak to an almost ridiculous level here?

This article on “Winner Rock” is a must-read for context.  Also, blogger “Mr. Moderator”’s comments couldn’t resonate more strongly:

By “winning,” in these terms, I mean things like “being all that one can be”; trying to live up to some ideal rock model; believing that what you are doing is approaching par with rock’s highest achievements, even if it’s wholly delusional. And yes, it’s also about winning over an audience, but not in commercial terms.

Amateur Chemist follows up his stellar San Diego review and photos with coverage of both L.A. shows as well.

Of particular note, while his full review has yet to be posted for Night 2 at the Gibson Ampitheater, his rundown of the setlist notes that George Lynch, formerly of ’80s stalwart Dokken, joined the band on “Gossamer” and “I Am One Pt. II.” 

I can’t wait for the inevitable Winger cameo.

The Smashing Pumpkins played Gibson Amphitheatre last night in Los Angeles and the reviews are starting to trickle out, led by fans in attendance. This review comes from James Demastus, who also shared more details from his ILoveAllAccess.com VIP Q&A experience (emphasis mine):

I don’t know if this is a bombshell or an empty threat. Billy said this is the last tour where old songs will be played. Everything from here on out will be forward thinking, new Pumpkins material.

According to Demastus’ report, Billy Corgan also spoke strongly about the fan community:

He wants us to bombard a reviewer with 100 emails if he says the Pumpkins suck. He says other bands’ fans do that, but not Pumpkin fans… One guy was taping this with his digicam and Billy caught him and got more pissed. He again stressed that they will only be playing new songs after this tour.

So, a promise to play no old songs and a call for grassroots PR? Sounds like the Smashing Pumpkins are becoming a faith-based initiative.

Below, video from last night: Billy challenges Jeff to a Sammy Hagar solo, riffs on LA freeways, and remembers the “last show” at the Metro eight years ago.

Three days after the onsale, tickets remain for next Sunday night’s show in Chicago.

The illness that postponed one Smashing Pumpkins gig has given life to two new tour dates: after announcing this morning that they will play Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on December 7, the Pumpkins now are saying they will hit Denver’s Ogden Theatre even sooner. Tickets for a December 5 show go on sale this Saturday.

The video for the latest Smashing Pumpkins single will appear next Tuesday on MySpace. This follows the song’s November 4 release on iTunes but precedes its increasingly less exclusive appearance in Guitar Hero World Tour. The Activision bunny feels shame.

In a surprise announcement this morning, the Smashing Pumpkins added a new tour date to their 20th anniversary lineup - December 7th in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow via Ticketmaster at 10am CST (link here).

P.S. Have they fixed the sound in that place in the last five years?

Billy and the band are back in business tonight, soon to hit the stage at Midland Theatre in Kansas City for a “Black Sunshine” gig. We don’t have a liveblog on tap, but at least know that the show and tour will go on.

UPDATE!: HU reader Bruce has uploaded a dozen photos from tonight’s concert, including the one at left. I have adjusted the punctuation in the title of this post to express my excitement!

According to Jim DeRogatis and the Chicago Sun-Times, tonight’s Smashing Pumpkins show at the Chicago Auditorium has been postponed “due to illness.”  The show is rescheduled for December 8th and all tickets will be honored for the new date; the Sun-Times states there’s no plan for issuing refunds that they know of… yet.

We’ll keep monitoring the situation to try and confirm this news as it develops!

UPDATE: According to SmashingPumpkins.com, “Billy’s voice is suffering due to sickness” and the show is, in fact postponed.

Plan B? Go see cultural phenom movie Twilight and eat your world-is-a-vampire heart out.

So, after entering the Cone of Silence for 3 weeks in order to keep myself as surprised and open-minded as possible about the first 2 dates of the Pumpkins return to the “city by the lake,” the Chicago Theatre shows have rolled by, and here I sit, ready to review.

Only, I’m left entirely flummoxed by the whole ordeal. I could quibble about the song selection, or the performance itself, or Billy’s supposed “rant” Tuesday night, but really, is that remotely any different than any other show in the scheme of things? There’s nothing that was unique about Chicago, and really, that’s probably the main story itself. Chicago shows always used to have an extra jolt of electricity in the air, even if the performance itself was nothing special. Once upon a time the delivery of the “city by the lake” line would be drowned out by the roar of the crowd, but Tuesday was more of a reserved detachment, more of a “what have you done for me lately?” Tuesday’s crowd was especially lackluster, which may have had a lot to do with Billy’s comments by the end of the night. Felt more like a morgue than a rock show a lot of the time. Wednesday’s energy was better, but there was still something lacking, with the only thing making it uniquely Second City the Cubs/Sox discussion midshow.

There’s always been a little bit of a sense of joint experience, common mindset in shows past, but any goodwill Corgan and co. had engendered coming up through the Windy City has passed. It’s not the fault of the band, or the crowd, but too much time has elapsed, and the sense of ownership and the shared pathos has faded into nostalgia. We may both be from the same city, but we’re no longer from the same place.

(more…)

From an email sent out by the soundboard-recording distributors:

LiveSmashingPumpkins.com purchase of the 11/16/08 Connecticut show. We regret to inform you that due to technical difficulties, we will not be able to release this show. We welcome you to choose any other show on the tour as a replacement. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Though it’s been making the rumor mill rounds, HU can now confirm that the Smashing Pumpkins (or rather, Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin) are scheduled to make an appearance on the Roe Conn Show tomorrow, likely around 3:30pm. You can listen to the live show on the web here.

A reminder: Q101 is also slotted for Friday.

Thanks to a tip from loyal HU reader Cara, we found this announcement on Local 101, a radio show on Chicago’s Q101 rock station (and longtime Smashing Pumpkins ally - check out their website masthead!).  The MySpace speaketh:

Local 101 On Q101 says Chris Payne will be co-hosting an hour of music with Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin from 2-3pm Friday November 21, 2008 on Q101.1 Chicago.

Cara reported that Chris Payne (pictured below in the studio) mentioned you can email him questions to the band, but answering is at their discretion.  My crystal ball also says we’ll be able to hear live streaming audio at www.q101.com.

The show should be interesting as the Pumpkins set up camp all week in Chicago; will this prove to be an emotional homecoming?  Cara also said the radio station is ramping up their coverage of the event; they were rocking Geek U.S.A. on the airwaves last night.