Featured Download: Green Day's "Midwest Medley"

A couple days ago we posted about Billie Joe talking about Cheap Trick's song "Surrender" with Guitar World magazine. In that post we mentioned that Green Day combined Cheap Trick's "Surrender" with The Replacement's "Bastards of Young" creating what Green Day calls their "Midwest Medley". 

Our new Featured Download is Green Day's "Midwest Medley." This recording is from the band's show at the Warfield in San Francisco on October 13, 2005. Green Day rarely plays this mashup of songs live and this is a very good quality recording of it so it is a must-have for any Green Day fan.

Click here to go to the Featured Download page to download this awesome track!

Emily's Army unveils their debut video for "Broadcast This"

Yesterday, Emily's Army released a music video for their song "Broadcast This" from their debut album Don't Be a Dick which was just released on June 14th. This is the band's first music video.

In case you don't know, Billie Joe's son, Joey, is the drummer for Emily's Army. Billie Joe also produced Don't Be a Dick. If you haven't already purchased the band's album (which is pretty damn good I might add), you can do so on iTunes by clicking here.

Green Day included in Gibson's top 50 American bands

All this week, Gibson.com is counting down the top 50 American bands on their website. They posted bands 41-50 today and Green Day has come in at number 50. Other bands of note in the 41-50 range include The Strokes, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, and Kings of Leon.

Excluding my bias towards the band, the number 50 spot seems kind of high. I've never heard of Yo La Tengo, The Lovin' Spoonful, or NRBQ. Could be because I'm young but if they're one of the top 50 American bands, I'd think I would have heard of them.

Today's list can be viewed here and Gibson will continue to roll out their list as the week goes on, with the number one spot being unveiled Friday. It should be interesting to see who they have as the "best" American band.

Billie Joe talks about Cheap Trick's "Surrender" with Guitar World

In the upcoming August edition of Guitar World Magazine, Billie Joe will be discussing the Cheap Trick song "Surrender" as a part of Guitar World's "100 Greatest Classic Rock Guitar Songs" issue. 

In the past Green Day has covered "Surrender" during their live shows and combined it with The Replacement's "Bastards of Young" creating what Green Day calls their "Midwest Medley". Click here to listen to Green Day's rendition of the song.

You can order your copy of the magazine on GuitarWorld.com by clicking here. We will have scans up from the article in the next few weeks.

Billie Joe listed as one of Rolling Stone's "Dads Who Rock"

Rolling Stone has a list of 40 "Dads Who Rock", and included Billie Joe in the mix. 

He's listed between Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart. He's #19, but I don't believe the list is ranked (how could you rank who was a better dad...), but rather just a list of 40 rock musicians who also happen to be parents. 

Longview, Washington writes about their Green Day connection

An article from a local Washington newspaper recently talked about the connection their town Longview has with Green Day. The town of 34,000 is known because it shares a name with one of Green Day's most popular songs, which was released in 1994, and it's music video credited with helping Green Day's huge success with Dookie.

Billie Joe wrote about the title of the song back in February on Twitter:

"Our friend/roadie Kaz Hope, suggested we call our song Longview because the 1st time we played was in Longview Washington in spring 1992"

The band had written the song before the tour, but hadn't given it a name. Since they debuted it in Longview, WA, the name stuck. You can see the music video or find lyrics and information about the song here, or visit our page forDookie. 

Green Day songbooks now on iTunes

A couple official Green Day songbooks are now available for download from the US iTunes Store, including American Idiot Musical: Guitar Tab, American Idiot Musical: Vocal and Piano, and Green Day: Guitar Tab Anthology which features some of the band's greatest hits from Dookie through 21st Century Breakdown.

There are only those three in the store at the moment but I'd think that they'd be adding more soon. If you're interested in other albums, they have been available in print for a while now and can be found at places such as Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, andAmazon.

Another Green Day related book in the iTunes store is Marc Spitz's "Nobody Likes You"which is a GREAT biography about the band. If you haven't read this yet, I would recommend doing so.

St. Jimmy American Idiot Movie part unconfirmed

Contrary to a recent report, the St. Jimmy part in the upcoming American Idiot movie is unconfirmed, as per Bille Joe's latest tweet:

"Haven't totally committed to St Jimmy for AI movie. Yes, I'm interested. Yes someone jumped the gun.."

Who jumped the St. Jimmy bang?!

GreenDay.com receives a much needed face lift

Two weeks ago we posted that GreenDay.com was going to be receiving a face lift sometime in the near future. Well, that update came earlier today and a new GreenDay.com is up and running.

The new site has an Awesome As Fuck theme, in celebration of the band's live album that was released this past March.

Leave us your thoughts about the redesign in the comments section. We'd like to know what you guys and gals think.

Mike Dirnt interview at newly opened Rudy's Cafe

Check out this interview with Mike Dirnt, from a recent NBC news report. He gives a mini tour around the newly opened Rudy's Cafe, as well as talking a little bit about the Uptown 'revival' in the Oakland area.



You can also read this article for more!

Adeline Records set to release The Network's Money Money 2020 on vinyl

On July 26th, Adeline Records will be releasing The Network's first album Money Money 2020 on blue 180 gram vinyl. 

Originally Money Money 2020 was released in September of 2003, about a year before Green Day unleashed American Idiot on the world. Green Day only played a handful of shows as The Network, unlike the whole tour that we received when Green Day played as the Foxboro Hot Tubs in 2008. 

If you would like to learn more about The Network, you can read all the "known" information about them by clicking here.

You can pre-order the vinyl over on Amazon.com for $15.58 by clicking here. Interpunk.com will also carry the vinyl once it is released.

Emily's Army debut album - 'Don't Be A Dick' - Out Now

Don't Be A Dick is hitting the proverbial shelves today, "everywhere" according to the Emily's Army twitter page.

The album, produced by Billie Joe, is well worth checking out. You can listen and download all of the songs on iTunes or ... wait for it... myspace (yes, it still lives!)

For all you old schoolers who'd like to get your hands on a physical copy, you can order the vinyl LP (along with a bundle of other band goodies) over at Adeline Records. 

We're still awaiting news of whether a CD (or even cassette?!) release is in the offing.

Emily's Army are currently touring in the US in support of the album release, go see them if you can.

In the meantime, don't be a dick by not going to vote for the album cover as the best of this week's releases at the 'Dying Scene' site. (Thanks to GreenDayMind for the link)

Mike Dirnt talks about his newly opened second "Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe"

This past Friday, Mike Dirnt officially opened his second Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe in Uptown Oakland, California. NBC Bay Area News was at the official ribbon cutting ceremony of "Rudy's" saying that the restaurant is apart of renaissance in the Uptown area.

Mike talked with NBC Bay Area and said,

"I remember growing up there were great diners, you could go and have a pint with friends after a show. The Bay Area’s a special place, fortunately I get to appreciate it because I’m gone a lot. When I leave I come back, I’m really happy because I don’t always get to be here."

The article also mentions that at every table has a different collection of oddities, making every table unique. In addition, they also mention that the restaurant is filled with a collection of antique dolls, definitely an awesome group of conversation pieces.

You can read the whole article over on NBCBayArea.com by clicking here.

Thanks to @GreenDayMind for the news.

Billie Joe Armstrong will reprise his role as St. Jimmy in the American Idiot Movie

It has just been announced on HollywoodReporter.com that Billie Joe Armstrong (or rather "Billy") will be reprising his role as St. Jimmy from the American Idiot Musical to the upcoming American Idiot movie. 

"Director Michael Mayer of the stage version will direct the movie, while Billy Joe Armstrong will reprise his Broadway role as St. Jimmy in the movie version. "

The article also mentions that the movie is due in 2013.

This is pretty exciting news considering many people did not believe that Billie Joe would play a part in the movie. After blowing us away acting in the staged version of American Idiot, who knows what we can expect from Billie Joe on the big-screen.

In the past Billie has played special guest roles in two TV shows, The Chis Isaak Show (2002) and Haunted (2002), but this will be the first time Billie will play a role in a movie.

Photos of Mike Dirnt arriving at the 5th anniversary of "Love" in Las Vegas earlier this week

Mike Dirnt showed up at the 5th anniversary of "Love" on June 7th in Las Vegas (the Cirque Du Soleil show based on The Beatles music). Below are some of the photos below with Mike, his wife Brittney and Jason White. 

    

New "Rudy's" restaurant celebrating its ribbon cutting ceremony today with Mike Dirnt

Mike Dirnt will be attending the ribbon cutting ceremony tonight at 6:30pm for the new "Rudy's Can't Fail" which just opened in Oakland, CA.

"This will be either the second or third time that I begin this column with Rudy's. It's unavoidable this week because there is a ribbon-cutting ceremony 6:30 p.m. Friday which Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt will attend. He is an investor in Rudy's and a rock star. It made sense to put a rock-star event at the top of the column."

Billie Joe sends a message to young fan battling cancer, and how we plan to help

The past few days we've been talking about Kyle Rodas, a 14 year old Green Day fan from California who was diagnosed with brain cancer last year. His last wish was to meet members of his favorite bands, Green Day, Linkin Park, and Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy called Kyle on Tuesday, and said he'd go visit when he was done touring in Europe. A couple members of Linkin Park went by to visit Kyle yesterday (or Tuesday evening), and yesterday Adrienne sent out a tweet asking for contact info for Kyle (which we forwarded) and then late last night Billie sent the following tweet.

"Hello Kyle. Just want you to know we're thinking about you. Fight the good fight little brother. Rage and love Billie Joe"

And today Billie Joe sent the following:

"Just talked to Kyle on the phone. I talked to his father Oscar too. Beautiful family. And they're Raider fans! Yes! I love that kid!"

It's been awesome to see members of each of these bands reach out to Kyle and his family. Here's a note I got from Kyle's dad shortly after we posted the story on GDA.

"Andres thank you so much. It would mean the world for us to see our son smile again. Thank you for your prayers!"

It's been incredible hearing from Green Day fans around the world interested in helping in whatever way they can. Yesterday we posted info on how you could send a letter or card to Kyle and his family (you still have just over a week till the deadline June 17th), and we're also collecting donations through PayPal to help Kyle and his family.

Today we've decided to step up our commitment in the hopes that it will encourage more people to get involved in some way. First, for each donation we receive via PayPal, PayPal takes a percentage as a fee. We've decided that GDA will donate whatever amount those fees total to make sure 100% of the money sent in makes it to the Rodas family.

Green Day is one of Kerrang!'s most influential bands

Kerrang! Magazine has put together a list of who they believe are the most influential rock bands of the last 30 years. Green Day has come in second place behind none other than Metallica. As often as Kerrang writes about Green Day, I'm surprised they aren't at the top. But #2 is still pretty great on that list.

The top 10:
1. Metallica
2. Green Day
3. Iron Maiden
4. Slipknot
5. My Chemical Romance
6. Linkin Park
7. Bullet For My Valentine
8. Blink-182
9. Ozzy Osbourne
10. Foo Fighters

Ozzy lower than MCR? ... hmmm

Here's an article from Dose Of Metal about the list, and another from Gibson. For some silly reason I can't find the list on Kerrang's website.

Green Day listed in the 10 best musician cameos in movies for 'The Simpsons'

Aux.tv has listed Green Day in the 10 best musician cameos in movies. They gave Green Day the mention for their part in the 2007 Simpsons movie. 




You can still purchase Green Day's rendition of the theme song from Amazon for 99 cents.

Other artists mentioned included Blink 182 in American Pie, Alice Cooper in Wayne's World, and Jack White in Walk Hard, to name a few. You can check out the list to view the top 10 along with videos of each mentioned.

Kid with brain cancer wants to meet Green Day as his last wish

We're posting this video here hoping Green Day will see it. This kid in Artesia, CA (south of Los Angeles) was diagnosed with brain cancer last year, and has lost his vision and most of his speech due to the illness. His last wish is to meet any members of his favorite rock bands - Green Day, Linkin Park, or Ozzy Osbourne.




I understand how tough it is and Green Day can't reach out to everyone - but here's hoping this message can get to someone involved with any of the bands mentioned to help out in some way.

For anyone who wants to help his family, there is a fund setup at Bank of the West in California. You can donate to the Kyle Rodas Fund, Acct No. 653251041


Update: I got an email from Kyle's dad shortly after posting this, sending his thanks for our support in helping to try and make his sons dream come true. I told him Green Day fans around the world had Kyle and his family in our thoughts. Thanks to everyone who's already sent emails trying to reach out to help.

Update 2 - Tuesday June 7 - Kyle got a call from Ozzy Osbourne, here's a story about it.

Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe - New restaurant opens in Oakland, California

Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, co-owned by Mike Dirnt, opened the doors to it's new restaurant today in Uptown Oakland, California. The new outlet is adjacent to the Fox Theatre, which Green Day fans may know best as the venue for Green Day's first official live presentation of the 21st Century Breakdown album, in 2009.

You can read more about the restaurant opening and what Rudy's has to offer over at their new official site. You can also follow them on Twitter for updates.

The original restaurant in Emeryville has been a happy hunting ground for Green Day fans in the past, so we'll be looking forward to testing out some "Shakin' Jesse's" at the Uptown!

One of our GDC-ers has already claimed to have "Christened the toilet" at the new establishment... in the best possible way, of course.

Some of you might get a chance to stop by when Emily's Army have their album release party at the Uptown Club this Friday. Let us know how you get on!

Featured Download: High quality version of "D.U.I.", an unreleased track off Shenanigans

We have just updated our Featured Download section on GDA to have the unreleased song "D.U.I" that was originally going to be on Green Day's compilation album Shenanigans.

"D.U.I" is sung by Tre Cool and was cut from Shenanigans last minute. Green Day decided to leave the song off the album because they felt that to include it was too irresponsible. In one interview Billie Joe said, "I like irresponsibility, but not that much irresponsibility".

For years we have had a low quality version of the song, but now a high quality 320kbps mp3 version of the song is now available on our Featured Download page

Video of Billie Joe moshing at Emily's Army show yesterday

Emily's Army played at BFD, a festival at Shoreline Amphitheater held in Mountain View, CA. The band has a number of dates all month long in anticipation of their debut album "Don't Be a Dick", being released June 14 on Adeline Records. Billie Joe produced the album, which is available for pre-order now from Adeline.

Here's a video of Billie Joe in the mosh pit at yesterday's show. A+ for ability to get a mosh pit going, and his sneaky run away at the end.

'Green Day Across The World' - Video-Pic montage from May 28th

This time last week, 'Green Day Across The World' was taking place, as fans came together in their towns and cities to do something for the environment and celebrate our favorite band.

Looking through the pictures and videos of the various events, it's amazing to see some of the things accomplished by fans everywhere. From planting trees in Brazil, Thailand and Mexico, to the park/beach clean ups carried out in USA, Costa Rica, Japan, Australia and Europe, this was a truly global event. On a personal level, it makes me very proud to be a Green Day fan!

A big thank you to Luke Price for putting together this montage video of some of the pictures and videos we received from the various events. Watch, share and enjoy!



Thank you to EVERYONE involved. Just by getting the word out there, it makes a difference. It's a cause that we can be conscious about and act on day to day.

And thank you once again, to Dawn Wilcox, for putting so much of her own time and resources into organising GDATW.

Same time next year?

P.S. The prize draws are due to take place on June 24th, by Dawn Wilcox, so look out for details of that atwww.greendayacrosstheworld.org.

Update: Billie Joe tweeted about the above video

"Just saw the video of everyone planting trees on gda. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!"

Sao Paolo, Brazil

The Netherlands

London, England

Bloomington, IN, USA

Monterrey, Mexico

Costa Rica

Berkeley/Oakland, USA

Zagreb, Croatia

London, England

Porto Alegre, Brazil

Finland

Cologne, Germany

USA

New GreenDay.com coming soon

Just posted in GreenDay.com's news section is a post saying "Stay tuned... for a brand new GreenDay.com." I'm pretty excited to see what happens and see what the theme is.

Last time there was a site update was a couple months before 21st Century Breakdown was released and it was a neutral black and gray theme (can be viewedhere) which I thought was pretty neat. Then a couple weeks later came the 21st Century Breakdown theme.

We'll be sure to let you know when the new site goes live.