last updated 01.21.00
"Windows To The Soul" nominated for a Grammy Award!
Steve Vai's "Windows To The Soul" has received a nomination for a Grammy Award, in
the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance! This is a category that's been good
to Steve in the past (Steve has now been nominated for 5 Grammy Awards, and won the
Grammy for "Sofa", from Zappa's Universe, in 1994), so everybody cross their fingers
when the Grammy Awards air on February 23! The other nominees in that category are
Jeff Beck, Santana featuring Eric Clapton, Green Day and Moby. If you'd like more info,
visit the Grammy website at www.grammy.com
"The Ultra Zone" - Steve Vai's New Record & World Tour
Steve Vai’s new solo record “The Ultra Zone” is in stores NOW, and charted in Japan as
the #1 international rock record! With musicians Mike Keneally, Mike Mangini, Philip
Bynoe, Bryan Beller, Robin DiMaggio, Japanese pop heroes B’z and more, Steve has
released his 7th solo record to rave reviews from press and fans alike. The Japanese
version will feature a bonus track called “Selfless Love”, other titles include “The Blood
And Years”, “Frank”, the first single “Jibboom”, and “Asian Sky”. International tour dates
(a partial list) have been announced in Tour Dates!
Joe Jackson's "Symphony No. 1" out now!
Joe Jackson's stunning and beautiful "Symphony No. 1" is in stores now, and features
Steve Vai on guitar. "It grew from a handful of ideas - for instance, that on the eve of
the 21st century, a piece which was symphonic in structure surely didn't have to be
written for a 19th-century orchestra to qualify as a symphony," writes Jackson in the liner
notes. "I also had a handful of very simple musical themes in my head and wanted to
see if they could be developed and transformed throughout four whole movements.
Gradually, I started to see the symphony as a person, like a character in a musical novel,
traveling through four stages of life".
Mike Keneally's "Nonkertompf" tastes great & is good for you!
Mike Keneally has released "Nonkertompf", a 35-part
feast that's his most introspective and unconventional
offering yet. In the first week of its release,
"Nonkertompf" debuted at #91 on the Album Network's
"Hottest Sales Nationwide" chart, #11 on the
independent music stores chart, and was the
best-selling CD in San Diego (Mike's home turf)
according to the San Diego Union-Tribune! Keneally,
formerly of Frank Zappa's band, currently in Steve Vai's
band, and leader of Mike Keneally & Beer For
Dolphins, plays every note of every instrument on the
record.
Steve Inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk
Steve was recently honored like never before on June 3, with his very own hands
and signature in cement on Hollywood's Rock Walk on Sunset Boulevard. At a
ceremony with fellow new inductees Joe Satriani, Jimmie Vaughan and Larry
Carlton, Steve set his hands into cement to be placed alongside those of some
true musical giants including Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana and Frank Zappa.
All eleven fingers can be viewed outside the Guitar Center building on Sunset.
vai.com Version 3.0 debuts
Anyone who visits vai.com regularly will notice big changes throughout the site, as version 3.0 goes live in August. This site was built new from the ground up, so even the most frequent visitor will want to march through the entire site at least once for new content. Version 3.0 is designed and managed by Richard Pike's new company plainsongs, with all Flash content designed by Niels Bye Nielsen. Special thanks to Dan Stahl for digitizing the videos, and to Victor Steinberger of Web World Services for the chat room & message board.
Steve launches Favored Nations
Steve has started his own record label, Favored Nations, and demos are now being accepted. The label, which is unique in the way it will structure deals so that artists fare much better than they might with conventional record companies, is located in Los Angeles and has been keeping Steve very busy indeed over the last few months. Some artists have been signed and others are in negotiations, and these artists will be announced and profiled on Favored Nations upcoming website (I'll post that info ASAP). If you’d like to send a package to Favored Nations, send it to: Favored Nations Records, PO Box 3240, Hollywood CA 90078 USA, care of VP Ken Blaustein (FavNations@aol.com)
New Book about Steve Vai by Suzannah(Thana) Harris!
Suzannah (Thana) Harris, who has sung with Frank Zappa and Steve Vai
among others (she & husband Bob Harris sang on “Flex-Able” as the duo
Rantin’ & Rayven), has written a book! “UNDER THE SAME MOON: My
Life with Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Bob Harris and a Community of
Other Artistic Souls”
Greasy Kid's Stuff #11 Out Now!
Issue #11 of the official Steve Vai newsletter is available now! Featuring an exclusive SV interview (by a GKS member!), a bunch of new info and a pull-out centerfold of Steve's Rock Walk handprints, the new issue can start your new 3-issue subscription if you join GKS now and they'll send you a free pick and sticker with your first issue -- click here for more info!
