A promise is a promise and I promised that the next update will come a bit sooner than one week after the previous one, which was pretty much late. So, here are some more goodies to brighten up your day. And please, if you can and if it’s safe to do so where you are, remember that yesterday was the blood donors’ day, give blood and save a life.

Today’s update wasn’t mean to be this much different, but the wonderful Tatiana of one of our friend-sites, JohnFrusciante.it somehow found out that John was playing with one of the bands he’ll be collaborating with, AchoZen on 22nd April, which is, curiously, Shavo Odadjian’s birthday and, as it is widely known, Shavo is one of AchoZen’s founding members.

An accomplished professional photographer and director of music videos, Greg Watermann, was very kind to allow the use of two of his photos from his event here, so was one of the people from the audience.

As for the other live photo…well, a friend of my elementary school friend, who is currently in USA, bumped into John after a show of his friend’s band. How cool is that?

If you’re wondering where’s the promised audio update, please wait a bit more, my precious media hard drive is currently being re-animated. So, if there’s nothing new on the site within the next couple of days, that means I’m reformatting the system.

Either way, to cut the long story short, here’s what’s new. Also, if you want to win some really really cool things, check out this year’s creativity competition.

1. One set of professional new live photos
2. Two sets of NEW live photos.
3. Two sets of magazine scans
4. Two sets of screencaps/stills
5. Seventeen album reviews

Read all about it in the extended portion of this update.

(from Baltimore Sun)

For years, Russell deOcampo wanted a way to combine his passions for art, live music, bartending and film. With his new club, the Windup Space, he thinks he’s finally found it.

…

THE NAME’S ORIGIN // It’s a song by John Frusciante. The song is about something a little deeper than selling booze and art to people. It’s just a name, really. But I think it’s catchy, and you can have all the cliches you want. ‘Oooh, I’m going to get wound up at the Windup,’ or, ‘I’m going to wind up at the Windup.’ There’s so much cheesiness. I can talk at length about it.

If you’re, by any chance, interested in the whole article, you can read it here.

To celebrate 10 years of John’s second chance as well as upcoming 20th anniversary of when he joined the band in 1988, and to keep a memory of a dear friend who passed away in 2005 alive; Invisible Movement is hosting a little competition called 2008 Creativity Competition - Make A Connection With A Tree Or A Plant. You can win one of the following prizes if the visitors of the site vote your artwork (written piece + a drawing/painting/collage, photograph or a piece of music) as outstanding enough. So, it’s all about being creative, tickling your brain and not being afraid to express your emotions.

The prizes are:

1. 1x DC EP [CD]
2. 1x A Sphere In The Heart Of Silence [CD]
3. 1x Hump de Bump single [7″ vinyl single]
4. 2x Inside The Veins Of Velvet Groove by Martin Roach [book]
5. 5x A 30×25 cm print of the so-called I-M.net signature photo, the one I took in Vienna in 2006

…and that might not be all. If anyone else would like to donate a prize for the competition, you’re more than welcome. All the above prizes will be sent out on the site owner’s expense, as she would like to be at least 1/3 as kind as many dear people were to her during the last four years.

Please, proceed to this page for details, rules and the story that motivated this little competition.

Hey people, it’s been a while and I’m sorry; so, here’s a rather long update to make up for it.

And, to all people who came up with suggestions for polls, sections of the site and other things: I’ll get back to you and/or implement your ideas in the next days. Please, do have patience. Thank you. Next time there will be some cool audio as well.

1. Volunteer checklist has been updated, according to the changes in other sections.
2. Four new sets of magazine scans in English, Italian and Polish
3. One set of magazine has been updated with missing pages
4. Two new sets of live photos, both from 2007
5. Three new magazine articles
6. Nine new album reviews
7. Transcript of the Joe Lally interview

Click here to read the details on updates.

(From Pitchfork and FMQB.)

Here’s more news on one of the recent collaborations.

Rapper RZA and his alter ego, Bobby Digital, will release a new album, Digi Snacks, in July via Koch Records. Digi Snacks will feature an impressive and diverse list of guests such as John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Dhani Harrison, The Black Knights, Dexter Wiggles, Shavo Odadjian (System of a Down), Reverend William Burke, Stone Mecca and Scandinavian newcomer Thea. “I think Digi Snacks is an album with a lot of fun,” says RZA. “This album is more of a performance album too. When you see it live, you’ll get a difference experience. I’m not trying to get into the world… I’m trying to bring the world to come to us.” RZA will embark on a U.S. tour starting June 10 in Houston with the group Stone Mecca as his backing band.

For cover art and tracklisting, click here. And, to remind you, stream of U Can’t Stop Me Now, the track that John is playing on is available on Myspace.

Today is Tuesday, 29th April 2008. To some people, it could be just any other Tuesday. On Invisible Movement, we’re going to celebrate. Ten years ago, MTV, which had only an ugly, hand-edited and not-so-often-updated HTML site back then; posted the following news on their news page:

Former Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante will be returning to the band he left six years ago, filling the position left open by the recent departure of Dave Navarro.

Frusciante’s return to the fold was confirmed by Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis when he stopped by MTV’s New York studios earlier this week, although there’s still no word when a new album from the band might be released.

And what has happened since then? Well, we all know it. Californication, By The Way and Stadium Arcadium in the rockinfreakuniverse and seven solo and two Ataxia releases as well as a bunch of outakes, freebies and collaborations outside of it.

A little surprise related to this is coming soon…as soon as I have the time to update properly.

In the 411 Mania’s column top 5, this week’s theme is Top 5 comeback albums and, according to Dan Marsicano, What The Hell Happened To…, News, Reviewer, Californication made it to the top. And, naturally, the explanation focuses on John.

5. Californication: by Red Hot Chili Peppers - The mid-90’s were probably the bleakest period for the funk metal band Red Hot Chili Peppers. 1995’s One Hot Minute didn’t sell as well as their previous albums and relations between new guitarist Dave Navarro and the band deteriorated. Former guitarist John Frusciante was near death from a drug addition that was eating him alive and the other band members started to sub come to the deadly temptation of heroin. Navarro left and Frusciante was brought back into the band. Songs would take a while to come out, but finally, in 1999, Californication was released and brought the band back into the spotlight. The album sold over 15 million copies worldwide and hits “Scar Tissue” and the title track would top the charts nationwide. Californication is the album that saved the band from obscurity and showed that they still had some life left in them.

And, according to Blake Lauderback, Californication would be the second album on his list.

The argument against this being a great comeback album is that its predecessor, One Hot Minute, actually sold very well, but it was not very highly regarded by the fans, or for that matter the band itself. Dave Navarro was given his walking papers shortly after its release. Californication is the first album after the return of guitar player John Frusciante, and his presence made all of the difference. Not only did Californication continue their financial success, but it put the band back on track creatively, and they are still riding that wave of greatness to this day. Plenty of can’t miss tracks including “Otherside” and the title track.

*Thanks to orangevarld for the correction.