BuffettNews.com

THE NEW CARS ROLL OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE:

And The New Cars are officially born. This was confirmed in a recent e-mail from Kasim Sulton to his mailing list. It reads:

"I guess it's safe to tell you all about the 'big announcement' now as most of you have put two and two together. I've accepted a position as the Bassist for a new incarnation of an old band ... The Cars! Currently being billed as "The New Cars". I know most of you are aware that Todd Rundgren has also signed on as the lead singer. Pretty cool huh? We've already recorded some new songs and are scheduled to be touring all next year (2006).

The line up is as follows, Todd, myself, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawks and Prairie Prince. We're planning to record a live CD/DVD sometime after the new year and a possible TV appearance before Christmas. So, thats what I've been alluding to for the past month or so and I'm really excited to be involved in this new project with a great bunch of guys. I'm sure we'll be doing shows near you and this is one show you really don't want to miss. I mean come on ... Todd and ME? Playing Cars songs? Hee hee!!!! It'll be like hearing them for the first time!

As soon as the publicity shots from the photo session we did are approved, I'll be putting them up here - www.KasimSulton.com."
The full line-up is: Todd Rundgren vocals, guitar; Kasim Sulton bass, vocals; Elliot Easton guitar, vocals; Greg Hawkes keyboards, vocals; Prairie Prince drums.

That's quite a line-up by anyone's admission. Yes, I'll definitely look forward to new material from these guys, but I'm still not sold on their choice of name. At least they aren't trying to use the original Cars name. Perhaps I could suggest Second Hand Cars as an alternative?

This was just brought to my attention concerning "The New Cars":

It seems I made a premature announcement in my recent newsletter...

The fact is, there are currently no definite plans for The New Cars
to be touring next year.

We did record some new material, but beyond that, things are still
being worked out.

I apologize for any confusion my misstatement caused.

Kasim

Used Cars..

Where's Rick O'Casik?

From Billboard.com:
http://billboard.com/bbcom/news/article ... 1001525267

Rundgren Steps In For Ocasek In New Cars



Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Cars principals Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes are teaming with veteran singer/songwriter Todd Rundgren in a new incarnation of pioneering new wave rock act the Cars, which will tour and possibly record an album next year. Rundgren will step in for Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, who has no plans to participate in the project. Cars bassist/vocalist Ben Orr died of cancer in 2000.

The original band split up in early 1988, after a 12-year-career that spawned such classics as "Just What I Needed," "Let's Go," "My Best Friend's Girl" and 1984's Orr-sung "Drive," the Cars' biggest hit at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Billboard.com has learned that the New Cars are eyeing a 2006 tour with another legendary new wave rock outfit, but no details have yet been announced. Reaction to the news that Easton and Hawkes were pressing on without Ocasek and Orr has been mixed, but Rundgren defended the decision this week in a post on the Web site TRConnection.com.

"So now an opportunity has arisen for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year," he wrote. "The catch is, a lot of people have been counting on something else," he said, referencing the disapproval of fans that are clamoring instead for a reunion of the Rundgren-featuring '70s band, Utopia.

"Let's make this clear: the possibility of a Utopia reunion of any kind has always been extremely remote," he said. "We disbanded for specific reasons that a previous reunion attempt [in 1992] only exacerbated. Despite whatever enjoyment we got from playing the music for our fans, the reformation left a sour taste. It would be ludicrous to Spinal Tap our way through a tour so fans could be satisfied that we simply showed up on the same stage. That's a redefinition of Utopia I can't personally handle."

Speculation about a Cars reunion has increased in recent years, as the band's influence has become apparent on such hit-making modern rock acts as Weezer and the Strokes. "We will be playing parts of the country we'd never get to otherwise, and hope to see you all there when we do," Rundgren said.

And although he is opting out of the new band, Ocasek told Billboard.com this summer that he was involved in assembling a Cars documentary, tentatively titled "The Cars Unlocked." No release date has been nailed down for the film.

"The backstage stuff is stuff in hotel rooms and dressing rooms," he said. "I think it will be a nice insight into what the Cars were really like. There's interviews, video outtakes, kind of just hamming it up, and some nice club things that probably people wouldn't have gotten to see, from way back. I think it's pretty telling. I think it's the most comprehensive thing that's ever been put out on the Cars."

Here's a follow-up to this story...An article in today's Boston Herald...

http://theedge.bostonherald.com/musicNe ... eid=113281

New Cars Ready To Roll With Album, Tour



Greg Prato, N.Y.

Confirming long-standing speculation, Cars guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes have drafted Todd Rundgren to front a new version of the band, appropriately dubbed the New Cars. The lineup is rounded out by singer/bassist Kasim Sulton and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince. Original Cars vocalist Ric Ocasek is not involved in the new endeavor; original bassist/vocalist Ben Orr passed away in 2000.

"When Ric made it clear to us that he really no longer wished to tour, and Greg and I wanted to do this thing, we sort of cast about for who we could get to be in the band. Who would be a great frontman and a great writer?" Easton tells Billboard.com. "I sort of came up with a very short list, and Todd was at the top of it. To my very pleasant surprise, he was receptive to the idea. It's just a great fit. It sounds terrific. He's a lot of fun to play with."

The newly formed quintet debuted in front of an invite-only audience in January in Burbank, Calif. Several tracks from that show will be released May 9 on the album "It's Alive" via Eleven Seven Music. The set also features three new tracks penned by Easton, Hawkes and Rundgren, "Not Tonight," "Warm," and "More." A European release will follow shortly thereafter.

"We have played, but they're not shows in the sense that it was a venue where somebody could buy a ticket," explains Rundgren. "We had to come up with some sort of recorded product, and it was always the intent to come up with a live album. It just was also the intent to have played live before we did that [laughs]. So we had an invited audience on a soundstage, and we played three nights. We tried to make it as much of a gig as possible, but reality-wise, it was the first three shows we ever played."

As for the new tracks, Rundgren says "they were the final product of a process of various combinations of us getting together and trying to write songs -- including alone, in twos and sometimes all of us together. Just trying to figure out what we wanted to play, and how we could update the sound and not lose original Cars fans."


The New Cars will hit the road with Blondie beginning May 12 in Robinsonville, Miss. "The hopes are after that to do Europe and beyond that, Australia, Asia and New Zealand, and then come back, and do another swing of the States," Easton says. Fans who purchase tickets via VH1Classic.com or Ticketmaster.com will receive free five-song download bundles from eMusic.com of tracks from "It's Alive" plus unreleased live Blondie recordings and the band's new cover of Roxy Music's "More Than This."

Easton insists there is no ill will between Ocasek and the New Cars. "I have been in contact with [Ocasek]," he says. "I read in some press thing that Ric did where he said he just wanted to see Greg and I be happy. I thought that was a very nice thing to say, and I wish him the same."

Here is the track list for "It's Alive":

"Just What I Needed"
"Let's Go"
"Candy-O"
"You Might Think"
"Best Friend's Girl"
"I Saw The Light"
"You're All I've Got Tonight"
"Not Tonight"
"Drive"
"Moving In Stereo"
"Shake It Up"
"Dangerous Type"
"Bye Bye Love"
"Open My Eyes"
"Good Times Roll"
"Not Tonight" (new studio recording)
"Warm" (new studio recording)
"More" (new studio recording)

Here are the New Cars/Blondie tour dates:

May 12: Robinsonville, Miss. (Grand Casino)
May 13: Grand Prairie, Texas (Nokia Theatre)
May 17: Phoenix (Dodge Theatre)
May 19: Las Vegas (Aladdin Theatre)
May 20: Universal City, Calif. (Gibson Amphitheatre)
May 23: Alpine, Calif. (Viejas Casino)
May 25: Saratoga, Calif. (Mountain Winery)
May 26: Reno, Nev. (Events Center)
May 27: Kelseyville, Calif. (Konocti Field)
May 30: Englewood, Colo. (Coors Amphitheatre)
June 3: Highland Park, Ill. (Ravinia Pavilion)
June 4: Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)
June 6: Vienna, Va. (Wolf Trap)
June 7: Boston (Bank of America Pavilion)
June 9: Wantagh, N.Y. (Jones Beach)
June 10: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)
June 13: Orlando, Fla. (Hard Rock Live)
June 14: Clearwater, Fla. (Ruth Eckerd Hall)
June 15: Hollywood, Fla. (Seminole Hard Rock Hotel)
June 17: Atlanta (Chastain Park Amphitheatre)
June 18: Charleston, S.C. (Oyster Shell)
June 21: Toronto (Molson Amphitheatre)
June 23: Montreal (Bell Centre)
June 24: Atlantic City, N.J. (Borgata)
June 25: Uncasville, Conn. (Mohegan Sun)
June 30: Clarkston, Mich. (DTE Energy Music Theatre)

Does anybody care about this reunion tour? Ric Porizkova doesn't want to be away from his wife and who the hell can blame him. And, Ben Orr who sang their best song, "Drive" is no longer with us.

I'll take a pass on this one. Let me know when the J. Geils Band decides to give it another go.

I loved the Cars back in the day.... but I wouldnt spend money to see them now... just not really interested ....

Learned my lesson about reunion tours several years ago... Went to see Three Dog Night.... and expected it to sound like it did in 1975.... and it didnt even come close.....

Now the Eagles on the other hand...... The Hell Freezes Over Tour was outstanding... but of course it only had been 11 years for them.... not 25 or 30!!!

The only reunion show I've ever been to is Cream. If I went to another one it would have to be something on that level.

I've seen several "reunion" shows but by far the most memorable was Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Tix were also very reasonable at $35 a pop, unlike some other performers out there that feel compelled to gouge their fans at every given opportunity.

I don't need a new car but, i just bought a new truck