Drive By Truckers Announce Spring Tour Dates

Day 2-Voodoo Experience Festival, New Orleans, LA (10-31-09)-2271, originally uploaded by BetweenLoveandLike.

It's going to be a busy spring for Drive By Truckers. Barr Weissman's documentary on the DBTs, "The Secret to a Happy Ending," has been showing, and their newest record titled The Big To-Do is out 3/16. Today they announced tour dates up through May that include some amazing opening acts like Langhorne Slim and Lucero. Tickets went onsale today at 10 am for the 3/12-4/30 dates. (Password is "TheBigToDo".)

Lead singer/guitarist Patterson Hood will also play a solo date for his Annual Benefit Guitar Pull for the Robert Osborne Classic Film Festival on 2/24 at the 40 Watt in Athens, GA. Friends scheduled to join Hood include Don Chambers, Daniel Hutchens, Dave Marr, William Tonks, David Barbe, John Neffand Brad Morgan

Drive By Truckers Spring 2010 Tour Dates
Feb 11, Greenville, SC: Handlebar w/ Pride Parade
Feb 12-13, Raleigh, NC: Lincoln Theater (Evening with...)
Feb 14, Knoxville, TN: Bijou Theater w/ Sons of Bill
Feb 25, Charlotte, NC: Neighborhood Theatre w/ Sons of Bill
Feb 26-27, Charlottesville, VA: Jefferson Theatre w/ David Barbe & the Quick Hooks
Mar 05, Wilmington NC: Greenfield Lake Ampitheater w/ David Barbe & the Quick Hooks
Mar 06, Augusta GA: Sky City w/ David Barbe & the Quick Hooks
Mar 12-13, Atlanta GA: Variety Playhouse w/ David Barbe & the Quick Hooks
Mar 17, Braunfels TX: Gruene Hall w/ Justin Jones
Mar 18, Austin TX: SXSW
Mar 19-20, New Orleans LA: Tipitinas support TBA
Apr 01, New York NY: Webster Hall w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 02, Boston MA: House of Blues w/ Lucero and Langhorne Slim
Apr 03, Philadelphia PA: Electric Factory w/ Lucero and Langhorne Slim
Apr 06-7, Toronto Canada: Lee's Palace w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 08, Detroit MI: St. Andrews Hall w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 09, Chicago IL: The Vic Theatre w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 10, Lexington KY: Buster's Billiards and Backroom w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 11, Cleveland OH: Beachland Ballroom and Tavern w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 13, Pittsburgh PA: Mr Smalls w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 14, Towson MD: Recher Theatre w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 15, Norfolk VA: The Norva w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 16-17, Asheville NC: The Orange Peel w/ Langhorne Slim
Apr 30, Nashville TN: Cannery Ballroom w/ TBA
May 07, Los Angeles CA: Avalon w/ The Henry Clay People
May 08, San Francisco CA: The Fillmore Auditorium w/ The Henry Clay People

"The Secret to a Happy Ending" Screenings
Feb 5, Silver Spring, MD: AFI Silver Theatre (9:15 showing sold out; 12:00 am show available here)
Feb 28, San Francisco, CA: NOISEPOP FILM FESTIVAL (here)

Hold Steady Frontman Co-Writing Screenplay Adaptation for Chuck Klosterman's Fargo Rock City

Given The Hold Steady's tour schedule, I gotta wonder, does lead singer Craig Finn ever sleep? The Hollywood Reporter blog reported today that Finn and Tom Ruprecht, writer for David Letterman, are teaming up to take Chuck Klosterman's memoir Fargo Rock City to the big screen. Finn and Ruprecht are currently at work on the screenplay and Klosterman will join them as producers once the film gets to that point.

The project is in the early writing stages currently, and upon completion, the team said they will begin shopping it around to obtain studio and third-party financing. Given the names associated with it though, it probably has a good shot. At the very least, the soundtrack should be pretty cool.

And $10 says they name the girl-character that Klosterman first dances with is named "Holly."

Sex, late-night and rock ’n’ roll?

Tom Ruprecht, a longtime writer on CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman,” and Craig Finn, frontman of the popular rock band the Hold Steady, are teaming to write and produce the coming-of-age comedy “Fargo Rock City.” The duo has acquired rights to the 2001 memoir of the same name by music scribe Chuck Klosterman, who will join the pair in producing.

Klosterman’s book tells of growing up in North Dakota as one of the few fans of heavy metal, and his experiences using music to transcend high school nerddom. The 1980s-set screenplay will revolve around a group of high school seniors facing graduation as they try to find success with women and generally break out of their geeky cocoons.

“Seventeen or eighteen is the perfect age for characters in a movie like this, because it’s at that age that you have drivers licenses and a certain amount of independence, but you’re still young enough that you can totally make terrible decisions,” Finn told us. “And you’re still young enough that you can have a two-hour argument over whether Motley Crue would beat Guns ‘N Roses in a fight.”

The pic will concentrate on particular portions of the book, including a chapter in which a faulty ATM dispenses excessive amounts of money to Klosterman, which both Finn and Ruprecht say they see as metaphors of the gilded age and easy credit of both the 1980’s and the past few years.

While music is an important theme in the memoir, it won’t be featured quite as prominently as it is in Klosterman’s writing. “Heavy metal is kind of a common bond among a group of friends,” Ruprecht said. “It’s the language they speak. But this will also be a universal story of dorky kids trying to be cool.”

Ruprecht and Finn are working on the first draft of the script, with the group planning to seek financing from studio and third-party entities when they’re done.

Ruprecht, repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, has written for Letterman for more than a decade and is the author of a faux oral history of George W. Bush; he’s also contributed to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and McSweeney’s, though we’ll try not to hold that last one against him.

Finn sings and plays guitar for the Hold Steady, the Brooklyn rock band that has earned a devoted following thanks to its high-energy shows. He writes many of the act’s songs, which contain sharply etched characters and stories dealing with themes ranging from religion and the perils of being a teenager (the latter of which, like Klosterman, he draws from his childhood in the Midwest).

Klosterman is a music writer for publications such as the New York Times Magazine and Esquire. (Another book, “Killing Yourself to Live,” his nonfiction account of visiting the graves of dead rock stars, is being developed as a feature by indie banner Half Shell Entertainment.)

Musicians penning movies that aren’t about music is a fraught proposition. Most singers turn to acting, and even then, it’s with spotty results. (Yes, you, Dave Matthews). But Finn has the storytelling chops and, it seems, the dedication to make a go of it.