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Posted: 12:28 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012

Watch Rise Against take on poverty in a new video 

By Joel

Rise Against's video of Bob Dylan's "Ballad of Hollis Brown" takes on many aspects of poverty in America - from farming and anti-immigration policies, to the financial crisis and unemployment. The song comes from Chimes Of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International, out now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At-YPyVW9R8

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The Black Keys already plan on hitting the studio later this year, even though they just released El Camino in December. Band member Dan Auerbach told Billboard:

"We don't know when it would come out, but we want to try to get in the studio this year just to start working," Auerbach tells Billboard.com. He's not hazarding any guesses about what the group's eighth studio effort will sound like, however. "We won't know 'til we get in there. We don't get to practice together on the road. We're always trying to write and keep ideas going, but where we're most comfortable is in the studio. I can't wait to get back in there."

And that's even more attractive these days since it's Auerbach's own Easy Eye Studio in Nashville, which has gotten busy with bands such as JEFF the Brotherhood, the Growlers and others making use of the space while Auerbach and Keys mate Patrick Carney have been on tour. "It's really busy, to be honest," Auerbach reports. "I wasn't sure I wanted to open it to the public, and it's not really open to the public. But people are starting to book it, people I sort of know or trust, and it's pretty cool 'cause I love making records. It's my favorite thing to do. And having a place I got to design and flow the way I wanted it to is really nice, a total luxury.

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Red Hot Chili Peppers will still bring Santigold to open their March 29 Tampa Bay Times Forum show.

Blur reunited in 2008 but haven't been very active or high-profile. Headlining the closing ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London is pretty high-profile. New Order will also perform.

Operation Ivy - the long-dormant California punk group that later birthed Rancid and inspired bands like Green Day - are often subjects of reunion rumors. Frontman Jesse Michaels is open to ideas but isn't in a hurry to make it happen:

"Operation Ivy had kind of an unblemished record, as far as staying underground goes. It's not because we were super-super-uptight about anything; it's because we were a garage band. We didn't get big till after we broke up. It feels to me that it would be kind of a shame to take that very pure thing and subject it to booking agents, cuts at the door for merchandise and all that bullshit that goes along with being in a bigger band.

While it's tempting-I'm not exactly made of money; I'm doing okay, but… [Laughs.] Money is a nice thing, and I know a lot of people would enjoy it, so while it's tempting, I think it's a little more classy to leave it alone. That being said, I wouldn't completely rule it out, but the short answer is no, there won't be a reunion. It's very unlikely there will be a reunion, because it would be in poor taste. I'm very happy that people are still interested in that music and that it still has an appeal to younger kids."

Good Riddance, also from California, have reunited. They broke up in 2007.

 Joel

About Joel

Joel is a 97x Music Guide weekday afternoons from noon until 6 p.m.

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