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This past weekend, London’s The Sunday Times featured Iggy Pop talking about his daily routine, including macrobiotic diets, smoking jackets and the loony tunes that pay the bills. Here’s an excerpt:

For some reason, I don’t like taking a shower in the morning. I always leave it till the middle of the day. If I get sent moisturiser, I’ll try it, but with my skin I might as well use leather polish. I think I’ve left it too late. Afternoons are when I get creative, but first of all I look at The New York Times, then read a little — at the moment I’m ploughing through Democracy in America, by de Tocqueville. At school I was hoping to go into politics, but after Kennedy was assassinated, things got too paranoid. Vietnam was just… a mess. I was actually called up for the draft, but we didn’t get along. I think I was the kind of guy they’d only call up as a last resort.

Late afternoon is when I get down to music. I’ve boom boxes in every room and I play whatever I’m working on. Admittedly, some of my best songs have come out of my looniest times. I lose my mind for a bit and a great song appears. A song that’s living, breathing and paying my bills. Maybe I wasn’t such a loony after all!

I finish off with another 15 minutes of exercise and then dress for dinner. If we’re going out, I’ll wear a suit, but at home I prefer a smoking jacket and a nice pair of slippers. Nothing else — no shirt, no pants, no underwear. Just the smoking jacket and slippers.

Read more at The Sunday Times.

Record Store Day is proud to announce the appointment of IGGY POP to the post of Record Store Day 2012 Ambassador.

A person should have a personality. You won’t get one dicking around on a computer. It helps to go somewhere where there are other persons. Persons who are interested in something you are. That’s how a record store or any shop that’s got some life to it should work. It’s not about selling shit. I got my name, my musical education and my personality all from working at a record store during my tender years. Small indie shops have always been a mix of theater and laboratory. In the 50’s and 60’s the teen kids used to gather after school at these places to listen free to the latest singles and see if they liked the beat. You could buy the disc you liked for 79 cents and if you were lucky meet a chick. Clerks in these places became managers, (like Brian Epstein), label heads, (Jack Holzman) and Faces on album covers (like me).

Personally I feel best in a store that, while staying small and socially relaxed, still keeps a complete variety of music types and non musical recordings on offer. I’m aware though that a lot of great places are genre-specific, like dance hall shops in Jamaica or Compas here in Little Haiti. In Europe and on the West coast the same goes on for Punk and Goth. All of this is cool and has a much bigger future than most people realize today. When the record and record store businesses began to die at the turn of the new century, they deserved it because they got too big too boring and too plastic.

As Record Store Day Ambassador for 2012 I feel like a representative from some exotic jungle full of life and death and sex and anger, called upon to wear a leopard skin and translate joy to the world of the dead. –IGGY POP

If there was something to be learned from Thursday night’s sold out Iggy Pop and The Stooges show, it’s that dynamism knows no age. …Shirtless and as abnormally ripped as ever, he launched into “Raw Power” without hesitation, jumping and noodling his torso like a tanned fish out of water. It wasn’t more than two songs before he was sailing into the crowd. By the fifth he had fans scaling barricades and dodging security guards to join him onstage. And by the time “I Wanna Be Your Dog” hit, the floor’s multigenerational circle pit had grown to engulf nearly half the crowd.

Read more at LA Weekly.com.

Photo by Timothy Norris

It’s a real Renaissance period for veteran punk rocker Iggy Pop. At 64, he is surfing a tsunami-sized wave of diverse projects that began with the recent rerelease of “Raw Power,” his 1973 classic with his old outfit The Stooges. Reunited, they play a two-night stand in The City starting Sunday (rescheduled after an August foot injury forced the tour’s postponement).

“I got into a position where I could do a few things I wanted to — that was part of it,” he says of this sudden resurgence. “But mainly, it was that other people started thinking of me, and all these invitations — and opportunities that really were opportunities — came up.”

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner.

Grammy®- and Oscar-Winning Composer Michel Legrand Releases Holiday Album Featuring: Iggy Pop, Jamie Cullum, MIKA, Teddy Thompson, Madeleine Peyroux, Carla Bruni, Rufus Wainwright and more!

PREVIEW THE ALBUM HERE

LOS ANGELES — Celebrated Oscar® and Grammy® Award-winning French composer Michel Legrand teams up with an eclectic and critically acclaimed group of artists from around the world for his new studio album, Noel! Noel!! Noel!!! Set for release on December 6th through Verve, it’s just in time for the holiday season.

Legrand called on a glittering array of recording artists from around the world who jumped at the chance to work with the globally acclaimed songwriter and composer on his new studio album. This diverse group of artists includes the Grammy® Award-nominated, jazz-pop singer-songwriter Jamie Cullum; the multi-faceted singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright; the eclectic pop styling of MIKA; acclaimed singer and composer Teddy Thompson; folk-soul chanteuse Ayo; noted French singer Carla Bruni, and punk pioneer Iggy Pop. All gathered together for the recording of this unique holiday collection while recalling the melodies that lit up the Christmas of their own childhood.

Iggy Pop remarked, “Gee. Wow. Michel Legrand. No kidding? Yeah, I’d love to do it. So that’s kind of how the phone call went when I heard about this record. I was just really, really happy to be included, and to be present in a small way for Joyeux Noel En France 2011. Everybody singing on this is really bloody good. I envy Rufus, his beautiful French as well as his talent, and the three ladies on ‘Noel d’espoir,’ each one, are nothing short of bewitching. I guess now I’m cool with Santa Claus. By the way, when I was a boy, I too played the drums. Many thanks to Michel for the beautiful tracks and for allowing me to be a guest.”

Michel Legrand and his team, comprising of the Big Band Jazz featuring 50 musicians including an orchestra of 34, and renowned sound engineer Lawrence Manchester, who has worked with Diana Krall, Regina Spektor, the Coen brothers on the True Grit soundtrack as well as Scorsese’s The Departed, plus Spiderman, flew to New York for the recording of Noel! Noel!! Noel!!!

Included are Christmas classics such as “Jingle Bells,” “Silent Night,” “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “Santa Baby,” as well as the exclusive Legrand-penned song “Hope Christmas,” written and recorded specifically for this album. Said Jamie Cullum, “Over the years of committing songs to memory I kept coming across songs and arrangements I loved. So often the name Michel Legrand turned up. I’m honored to be included on this collection created by Monsieur Legrand in some seriously auspicious company as well. This is not your typical Christmas album! God bless it for that!”

Tearing down the barriers between jazz, classical music and pop, Michel Legrand is at home in any musical situation and has worked with the likes of Orson Welles, Marcel Carne, Clint Eastwood, Norman Jewison, Louis Malle, Andrzej Wajda, Richard Lester and Claude Lelouch, to name just a few. His instrumental LP I Love Paris topped the U.S. album charts and was the first in a string of Legrand’s hit records, including Holiday In Rome which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200; the top 10 album Castles In Spain; The Umbrellas of Cherbourg which achieved massive worldwide success; the Thomas Crown Affair featuring the hit “The Windmills of Your Mind”; and the 1972 hit song “Brian’s Song (The Hands Of Time).”

Tracklist:
1. Jamie Cullum – “Let It Snow”
2. Teddy Thompson/Rufus Wainwright – “White Christmas”
3. Madeleine Peyroux – “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
4. Madeleine Peyroux, Emilie Simon, Carla Bruni, Rufus Wainwright, Iggy Pop – “Noel d’Espoir”
5. MIKA – “Vive le Vent”
6. Emilie Simon – “Santa Baby”
7. Carla Bruni – “Jolis Sapins”
8. Iggy Pop – “The Little Drummer Boy”
9. Ayo – “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
10. Imelda May – “Silent Night”

Buy on iTunes France     Buy at Amazon.fr     Buy at Amazon.com

Here’s your chance to meet Iggy and the Stooges after one of their concerts in December, while supporting a charitable cause at the same time. The band is auctioning off their personal time to raise money for Tibet House US, which works to preserve Tibet’s unique culture. You can place your bids to meet Iggy and the Stooges through the CharityBuzz website. The winner will get two tickets to the show of their choice either on December 1st, 4th or 6th, followed by meeting the band!

Iggy Pop’s collaboration with Lulu Gainsbourg is available now! The new album “From Gainsbourg to Lulu” features Iggy on the song “Initial BB.” Check it out at iTunes and Amazon France.

We wish a happy birthday and many more to James Williamson, whose birthday is October 29th! Please send your birthday wishes!

Steve Mackay has released his new album, “North Bach Jazz.” The mere mention of jazz greats from Coltrane to Stan Getz, brings Steve Mackay to memories of his mother’s 10” record collection then add some Jr. Walker and one might scratch the surface of influence delivered on “North Beach Jazz.”

Steve Mackay, legendary saxophonist of the STOOGES, COMMANDER CODY, backing VIOLENT FEMMES, SNAKEFINGER, utilized one Mike Watt of MINUTEMEN/FIREHOSE fame with whom he collaborated, playing the mighty “Watt machine” the bass, rounding out the combo with Marc Lampert, Dick Deluxe, Jeremy Long all CARNAL KITCHEN partners in crime.

“North Beach Jazz” reflects a young Steve Mackay’s jazz influences along with the golden era of San Francisco’s North Beach. This is the most jazz oriented album done to date, a bit of a departure especially after having such desire to play punk rock and free jazz.

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Though he recently had to postpone a handful US tour dates due to a foot injury, famed Stooges frontman Iggy Pop still had time to take Spinner on a walk back through some of his career’s most notable moments, from “Raw Power” all the way up through “American Idol” and his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Engaged, thoughtful and chuckling throughout the discussion, Pop remains one of rock’s most interesting conversationalists. Check out the exclusive Q&A at Spinner.com.

The book “The Stooges: Head On” has been officially updated and re-released, featuring interviews with all of the Stooges including frontman Iggy Pop and guitarist Ron Asheton. The book, written by Brett Callwood, was originally published in the United Kingdom in 2008, but has been revised to include Asheton’s death and the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Iggy offered his own comment on the book jacket: “It’s a good book. I thank you for writing it.”

AEG Live Las Vegas is running a ticket giveaway on its Facebook page for Iggy and the Stooges’ upcoming September 10th show at The Joint in Las Vegas. Special guest will be Le Butcherettes. Visit AEG Live Las Vegas’ Facebook page for details on how to enter to win two tickets!