Posted on: Tuesday, March 1, 2005
Jack Johnson goes global to promote his new CD
| • | CD review: He knows what works and sticks with it |
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
Hawai'i singer/songwriter Jack Johnson's third CD, "In Between Dreams," goes on sale today.
Photo by Danny Clinch • Universal Music With few exceptions, the music hews close to the spare acoustic folk and soft, semispoken lyrics fans have come to recognize and love from the guy. But the CD's worldwide release, accompanying tour and television appearances are far more high-profile than the low-key Johnson hoped for when we spoke with him in January 2004.
"I'm really excited at how much has happened," Johnson said then. "But truly, I'm not looking to always take it a step further. I'll do another record, but I don't know how much I'll put into promoting it or touring with it. It might be way mellower than the first two. It might just be a lot of acoustic guitar and voice. ... I wouldn't mind putting out one that was even more folky sounding, (where) maybe only a fraction of the people would want to hear it."
• When: 4:30 p.m., April 16 • Where: Waikiki Shell • Price: $30 lawn and pit, $35 reserved seats; $15 for kids 3-10 (general admission); free for kids under 3 • Info: (877) 750-4400, ticketmaster.com • Performing: Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne, John Cruz, Ozomatli, G. Love & Special Sauce, Kawika Kahiapo & Kaukahi • Also: 4 p.m. April 13, Maui Arts & Cultural Center • Price: $35 general/lawn, $40 reserved, $17 for kids 3-10 (general admission), free for kids under 3 • Info: (808) 242-7469, mauiarts.org Johnson is in Philadelphia today for an in-store performance/autograph session at Tower Records. He'll do another five of these over the next week in Toronto, Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco before making his first-ever "Saturday Night Live" solo performance March 12.
A tour of Australia and New Zealand keeps him away from home until Kokua Festival performances April 13 on Maui and April 16 at the Waikiki Shell. After a late-April Louisiana stop for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, he'll go on a monthlong tour of Europe and Japan.
Will Johnson bow at Billboard's No. 1 spot this time? Probably not, given the competition. Still-hot Jennifer Lopez's "Rebirth" joins Johnson's CD in record stores today; mega-hot 50 Cent releases his sophomore disc "Massacre" on Thursday.
The battle between Johnson's sweet "Dreams" and 50's aggressively nightmarish "Massacre" will be decided by whose fan base is larger and more likely to snatch up first-week copies. Expect Johnson to debut somewhere in Billboard's Top 3 again, but not at the top.
Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.
The CD, recorded at Johnson's North Shore Mango Tree Studios in October, is expected to rack up the million-plus sales of its two predecessors. It arrives almost two years after Johnson's last studio CD, "On And On," which debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart and has sold more than 1.1 million copies in the United States. His 2001 debut, "Brushfire Fairytales," has sold more than 1.6 million.
Jack Johnson returns to Hawai'i for the second Annual Kokua Festival in April.
Perhaps in between "Dreams" and your fifth disc, Jack. But not this time.
KOKUA FESTIVAL
