BOB DYLAN TO REUNITE

Bob Dylan, the popular songwriter best known for touring with T Bone Burnett in the mid ’70’s, has announced that he is officially reuniting with himself for an international tour in February and March, which will begin in Dallas, Texas Feb. 21 and include stops in Mexico City, Brazil and Argentina. Fans and media have been speculating for months about a possible reunion, and finally Mr. Dylan released a typically cryptic statement today which stated, “Yeah, I’m gettin’ back together, see how I get along with me…gonna hit the old dusty trail. See ya out there.” Mr. Dylan was supposedly inspired by the enormously successful reunion of Led Zeppelin on December 10, 2007 in London, England. Over 20 million fans attempted to buy tickets online for the historical concert. The month long Bob Dylan reunion tour begins Thursday, Feb. 21 at House Of Blues in Dallas, Texas.

PROOF THROUGH THE QUARTER CENTURY

This week sees the music world observing a big anniversary – the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller album from 1983, which is still the largest selling album in the history of large selling albums. The number of units sold aside, it is also important to observe another significant anniversary in music; 1983 also saw the release or a relatively poor selling album, Proof Through The Night by T Bone Burnett. Most T Bone fans agree that it is his masterpiece. Oddly enough, the album and it’s other Warner Bros. counterpart, the Trap Door EP from 1982, had never seen release on CD, until 2007, when both were combined with the second U.K. Trap Door EP onto a 2 CD set issued as a limited edition on Rhino Handmade Records.

Even if one were not a T Bone fan, you can enjoy the guitar playing of Richard Thompson and Pete Townshend, both of whom were guest stars on the record. The lyrics are amazing and the sound is that of a Big Rock Record.

Sadly, the Rhino Handmade edition of 5,000 quickly sold out, and these magnificent recordings are yet again not currently available on CD, other than used copies on Ebay or Amazon. Seek them out, they are amazing records, and deserve a permanent home with a caring record company, if there is such a thing at this point. Ideally. Mr. Burnett should oversee the issue of a special 25th anniversary edition of Proof Through The Night in 2008, perhaps with a second disc of bonus tracks (demos, outtakes, live recordings) from that era. It is utterly mystifying that an album so great should suffer this fate. Oh, Warner Bros. Where Art Thou?

DISLIKE A ROLLING STONE

There have been three T Bone Burnett releases in the past two years, and Rolling Stone has yet to acknowledge the existence of any of them; True False Identity, The Essential T Bone Burnett, and the Proof Through The Night/Trap Door reissue on Rhino Handmade. This is the same magazine that used to report his every move in the 80’s and 90’s, and also named him Songwriter Of The Year in 1983. Did T Bone lose a bet with Yawn Winner? Have they forgotten that he does something other than produce soundtracks? Maybe it would have robbed Britney and Eminem of their much needed square media footage. Regardless, I call on Rolling Stone to turn off the (tom) cruise control, and devote more space to T Bone and other deserving, underrated musicians. Hell, put him on the damn cover, he’s big time now in case you haven’t heard. – Bucks Burnett

T BONE TO PRODUCE THE WHO?

Pete Townshend has said this month in his official blog that he wants T Bone to produce the next Who album, which he has begun writing. Pete describes his concept to be ‘more of a basic Who album,’ meaning that it might not be a micro-opera or audio novel gone awry. Odd that a guy who was well known in the 80’s for producing new acts of the 80’s (Los Lobos, Peter Case) has gone on to conquer the world of classic rock superstars. Pete will just have to wait until T Bone is through touring with Robert Plant. We are officially predicting he will go on to produce the Rolling Stones on their next album. Anything is possible at this point. Ultimately, we feel he should go on to produce his old employer Bob Dylan. Other new albums produced by T Bone coming out soon are new titles from John Mellencamp and The BoDeans. He also produced the debut album by the new G.E. Smith project, Moonalice. We think he may have cloned himself, so that evil T Bone Burnett robots can simultaneously produce every recording artist on earth. 

MITT WE HARDLY KNEW YE

Mitt “Quit” Romney has suspended his presidential campaign. In an emotional farewell to his fans, he said, “I cannot allow the continuation of my campaign to aid in the surrender to terror.” We did not make that up, HE did. His warmth and wit will be sorely missed in the coming months. Barack Obama shocked his growing fan base by announcing that he has changed his campaign slogan from “Change We Can Believe In” to “Change We Can Believe In.” Said Sen. Obama, “There is one thing that WILL not change, my fellow Americans, and that is my repeated use of the word Change.”

T BONE FORMS SUPERGROUP ‘METALLISON’ FOR BONEAROO FEST

As a response to the disappointment of fans and journalists everywhere regarding the confusion surrounding Led Zeppelin’s briefly announced appearance at the Bonearooo Festival this month (Associated Press mistakenly reported that Led Zeppelin were to play the festival, when it is in fact the band Lez Zeppelin, the all female Zep tribute act), T Bone Burnett has announced the formation of Metallison, a supergroup ensemble which will hopefully add some ’superstar power’ for any festival goers disappointed by the dashed Zeppelin appearance. “I’m taking Metallica, and adding Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and myself. I’m adding Eddie Veddar from Pearl Jam and Steph Paynes, the guitarist from Lez Zeppelin. We’ll be performing high speed death metal versions of Elvis Costello songs with Alison Krauss taking the lead on such numbers as “Alison,” of course, as well as “Veronica” and “Mystery Dance.”‘ When asked if Elvis Costello might join Metallison for a metal Coward Brothers reunion, T Bone replied with an enigmatic grin and said, “This conference is adjourned.” His notorious assistant and bodyguard Betty Machete then sprayed the room in a hail of automatic gunfire as T Bone silently and quickly left the room. Only your humble Overpaid Attention reporter was spared. Further details will be announced as the festival draws near. 

ELVIS TO FALWELL: “BACK OFF”

The deceased Elvis Presley, who died in his home August 16, 1977, today issued via an audio only clip on YouTube, in response to deceased televandalist Jerry Falwell’s plea to Jesus Christ that he renounce his newly chosen savior, music producer T Bone Burnett; “Dear Mr. Falwell, sir…please ease up on Jesus. I don’t know who T Bone is or why the hell they named him that, but if Jesus likes him enough tuh worship him he can’t be all bad. Now I know yer a man uh the cloth, and you’re my Christian brother up here for a long long time and we all gotta git along. But dontcha go tellin’ Jesus what to do.’ “He’s a fine boy and He’s made His Daddy proud, just like I hope I made mine. But ya can’t go pickin’ on Him for havin’ a savior. Hell, I mean, heaven, I looked up to other singers, and weren’t nothin’ wrong with that, I weren’t cheatin’ on my fans or nothin’, so why can’t Jesus have his own Jesus?  You like other preachers, dontcha? You tellin’ me you never wanted to be like Billy Graham?  Well, I knew Mr. Billy Graham, sir, and ya ain’t no damn Billy Graham.’ “We got everything we want up here, why dontcha take one uh my angel girls out for a spin and git some wind in your hair an’ try an’ relax. Jesus knows what He’s doin, He’s the Son uh God, for Christ’s sake! Let him worship T Bone if He wants. Back off, preacher man, you keep yappin’ yer mouth, yer likely to get ‘im all riled up and then we’ll ALL have hell to pay.’ “Speakin’ uh T Bone, where can I get me a good steak around here? I need me some protein! I done got suh lanky from all these fruits and grapes and stuff, all my purty jump suits are all saggy on me. Can somebody just please find me uh steak?” 

BURNETTROSPECTIVE – Coming Soon

Burnettrospective will be a set of listings pertaining to the recordings and events produced and created by T Bone Burnett. This section is currently being created. Construction is expected to last for six days, followed by 24 hours of rest.

JERRY FALWELL CHALLENGES CHRIST TO DEBATE

Things are heating up in heaven, as they say. Deceased televandalist Jerry Falwell today issued a blunt rebuttal to the YouTube audio only announcement by Jesus Christ, which states that he has chosen popular music producer T Bone Burnett as his first ever lord and savior. Mr. Falwell issued the following statement via his own audio only message on YouTube shortly after the announcement from Christ: “I must respectfully protest the shocking and disheartening announcement by my lord and savior, Jesus Christ, today on YouTube. He has chosen to accept a mortal Christian earthling, a Mr. T Bone Burnett, as His personal messiah. According to the word of God, The Holy Bible, we are to put no idols above Jesus Christ, and must love and serve only Him with all our hearts. While I cannot claim to understand the inner workings of His heart, in obedience to His word, I must denounce His decision. If He is going to have anybody as a savior, it should be Himself.’ “ Not only does it contradict His Father’s commandment to love and serve His Son, it sends the wrong message to the youth of America, who are on quite a slippery slope as it is. If they see Jesus Christ glorifying a rock star, Christian or otherwise, that certainly counts as undue influence to follow suit.’ “I am afraid that Mr. Christ must immediately retract His statement in order to prevent young people everywhere from idolizing musicians more than they already do. I understand that Mr. Burnett is a fine upstanding Christian and I in no way hold him responsible for Jesus’ decision, but I call on Mr. Burnett to pray to Christ to not choose him, or any mortal being, as a savior of any kind. Christ, of course, is holy and incapable of sin, but this might come as close to sin as He is comfortable with.’ “I have spoken with His Father, God, in regards to this matter, and He is quite upset. He told me that Jesus has even hung up a blacklight poster of T Bone Burnett in His bedroom and refuses to take it down. I’m pretty sure this must’ve started with the long hair and incense of His youthful days.’ “Mr. Christ, I must ask You to reconsider, and I respectfully challenge You to debate me on this topic via YouTube, so that we can get You back to being worshipped, not the other way around. Jesus, I ask this of You in the name of Yourself, and not in the name of T Bone, or The Led Zeppelins or anybody else, amen.” As of press time, Christ has not responded to the recently deceased preacher’s request for a debate. T Bone Burnett could not be reached for comment.

JESUS CHRIST ACCEPTS T BONE BURNETT AS HIS PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR

To the shock of all known beings and dimensions, and to the outrage of his heavenly father, Jesus Christ, aka the Prince Of Peace and at times The Artist Formerly Known As The Prince Of Peace, announced today via a still small voice that was captured in audio format only on YouTube, that he has chosen, of his own free will, to accept T Bone Burnett, the famed Hollywood music and soundtrack producer, as his personal lord and savior. The still small voice is believed to be issuing the following statement:   ”Follow me, my sons and daughters, as you always have and as you always wish, as long as that is your wish and my words and ways bring you hope. But remember, that I myself am also searching, in an ever expanding universe, for new life, new meaning, new hope. In your troubadour, J. Henry Burnett, who was raised in a Fort of Worth, I have found one who has accepted me unconditionally, with great fervor but also with quietness and grace; one who can reject me and still win my favor; and one who is likely to reject the notion that I have chosen him, unconditionally. It is not because he is better, or more pure than the rest of you, my children, but because he is slightly taller than most of you without being too tall. He will be easy to spot in a crowd if I need to seek his counsel. Let me clarify that T Bone is very tall, and in fact stands taller than myself when in human form; but he is not bigger than me. We have been through all that before, have we not, with they who were The Beatles. Let us not start with that again. ‘  ”For centuries, I have been offering salvation to others, with varying degrees of success. I realized that I, too, would like to be saved, but by whom and from what? In T Bone, I have found a devoted human admirer, who is both loving and aloof, mysterious and wise, yet beautifully flawed. He makes me laugh, and his open guitar tunings intrigue me. I seek not to glorify T Bone, but to love and understand him, and to learn from his deeds and misdeeds, as he has learned from mine and me. In his heart, I have found a love for myself, as I have asked. It is next to his love for the atheists, and enemies, which many of you forget to include in your prayers and hearts. He teaches while learning, leads while following, brings a silence to the song and a song to the silence. I am pleased with his imperfection, and accept his love and example. I love him no more than the least of you, nor less than the greatest. I hope not to burden him with this attention; this will likely be a test as well as testament for the humility he seeks to honor. That is all, for now. Rest ye and keep warm, and seek out his Warner Bros. recordings, which again seem to have gone out of print, to my eternal disappointment.”   T Bone Burnett could not be reached for comment in regards to this most startling development. His friend and associate Elvis Costello, when told the news, issued the following statement through his publicist; “I’m chuffed, really. Couldn’t be happier for him.”