The fifth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will be held May 1-2 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif. Although organizers are still a ways off from announcing the lineup, Billboard.com can reveal that Air, Prefuse 73, the Thrills and Electric Six are confirmed to play. Radiohead and a reunion of the Pixies are strongly rumored as headlining acts.
“It’s something we’ve talked about but I don’t know if it is confirmed,” Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood told Billboard.com this morning (Jan. 12) about the possibility of the band appearing at the event. Radiohead wraps an eight-date tour of Japan and Australia on April 27 in Melbourne.
Fans can expect about 60 bands to descend on the sprawling venue over the course of two days. Last year’s festival, promoted by Goldenvoice, featured headliners the Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, alongside Sonic Youth, Interpol, the White Stripes, the reunited Iggy and the Stooges, Underworld, N*E*R*D and the Hives. Organizers estimate more than 68,000 fans were in attendance.
Source billboard.com.
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Primus, who reunited for their first tour in three and a half years has confirmed an additional fourteen shows to begin next month. The Tour de Fromage will being February 24 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, MO and continue through March 13 at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC.
For more informatin visit primussucks.com.

After being pronounced bankrupt two years ago, The Beastie Boys’ Grand Royal Records has resurfaced on the auction block where it’s being sold on the www.bid4assets.com web site.
Though the defunct label has been up for auction for a little over a month, bids have yet to be made. According to the web site, the auction is open for 9 more days and the minimum bid is $10,000.
You can bid on the label here.
Source SOHH.com.

Yonder Mountain String Band are out to provide a respite from the winter blahs with their annual Cabin Fever Tour. he outing starts just a couple weeks after the band’s stint aboard the Jam Cruise II out of Florida. Dates run the whole month of February and include a two-night stand in Atlanta.
Tour Dates –
Wed 02/04/04

The Doors of the 21st Century are at work on a new album they hope to release by the middle of this year. “We want to say something about the human condition in the twenty-first century, just like the Doors in the twentieth century said something about the human condition,” says keyboardist Ray Manzarek. “If it doesn’t have weight to it, it’s not worth doing. That’s why we’re back together.”
The band — which features Doors vets Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger, as well as former Cult frontman Ian Astbury on vocals — is enlisting poets and songwriters to take over the late Jim Morrison’s lyric-writing duties. Jim Carroll, Michael McClure, X’s John Doe and Warren Zevon have already contributed.
Last month, Manzarek and Krieger paid tribute to Morrison on what would have been his sixtieth birthday by attending a memorial for the singer at his Paris grave site. That night they played a secret show at the city’s La Scene. The set focused on material from L.A. Woman, the Doors’ final album, recorded just before Morrison’s death in 1971.
“We never got to play those live,” says Manzarek, “so we wanted to play them for Jim. It was like being back at the Whisky. It was Morrison’s birthday and a full moon. People were howling, literally howling.”
Doors drummer John Densmore, who is involved in pending litigation against his former band mates over their reunion, did not attend the events. “We were saddened Densmore didn’t come,” says Manzarek. “We wish he would have been there. We’re hoping in 2004 John will put aside his differences and come play live. We’ll see what happens.”
Source Rollingstone.com.

A German brewery has developed a beer containing vitamins and minerals it says are designed to slow the aging process.
The Neuzeller Kloster Brewery plans to introduce its “Anti-Aging-Bier” this year and sell it in grocery and drug stores, a spokesman for the company said Friday.
“It tastes like beer more than it tastes like anything else,” the spokesman told Reuters.
The brewery said the beer contained a host of added ingredients that promote good health.
But the German government may object to the brewery calling the drink “beer” since a law dating back to 1516 says beer brewed in Germany can only be made from barley, hops, yeast and water.
Source CNN.com.

Former Motown house band members the Funk Brothers have corralled several guest artists to join them on their upcoming North American and European tours. Peabo Bryson and Phoebe Snow will be on hand for North American gigs beginning Jan. 17 outside Philadelphia, while Steve Winwood and Isaac Hayes will join in beginning Jan. 29 in Manchester, England.
The group is still riding the success of the documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” which spotlighted its often uncredited contributions to countless Motown hits. The CD of the same name won the best compilation soundtrack award at the 2002 Grammys.
On Feb. 3, UME will issue “The Best of the Funk Brothers: The Millennium Collection,” featuring instrumentals later turned into such smash Motown cuts as “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “Nowhere To Run,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “What’s Going On” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).”
The album also sports the non-LP singles “Soul Stomp” and “All for You,” plus “The Stingray,” an oft-sampled track from the long-out-of-print release “Earl of Funk.”
Here are the Funk Brothers’ tour dates:
Jan. 17: Glenside, Pa. (Keswick Theatre)Jan. 18: New York (B.B. King’s Blues Club)Jan. 19: Alexandria, Va. (Birchmere)Jan. 20: Annapolis, Md. (Ramshead)Jan. 22: Harrisburg, Pa. (Whitaker Center)Jan. 24: Boston (Berklee Performance Center)Jan. 29: Manchester, England (Carling Apollo)Jan. 30: London (Royal Festival Hall)Feb. 1: Berlin (Tempodrom)Feb. 2: Bonn, Germany (Bruckenforum)Feb. 3: Amsterdam (Paradiso)Feb. 5: Hamburg (Congress Centrum)Feb. 6: Frederiksberg, Denmark (KB Hall)Feb. 7: Helsinki (Ice Hall)Feb. 8: Stockholm (Berns)Feb. 9: Antwerp, Belgium (Queen Elizabeth Hall)
Source billboard.com.

Following the May dissolution of his band Hookah Brown, former Black Crowes principal Rich Robinson will embark on a six-date solo tour Jan. 15 in Trenton, N.J. Robinson will be backed by former Hookah Brown drummer Bill Dobrow, bassist Tony Shanahan and keyboardist Jack Petruzelli.
The artist is expected to unveil such new tracks as “Forgiven Song,” “Hold You,” “On My Way” and “Know Me” at the shows, which will also mark his first as a lead vocalist. “I’ve always been a songwriter,” he says. “But these songs show where I’m at as a musician, and as a person. They’re evolving, like I am.”
The Jan. 16 show at New York’s Knitting Factory will feature backing by a string quartet, and will be professionally recorded and sold online. Robinson’s official Web site adds that fans are encouraged to tape at all gigs.
The first three shows of the trek will be opened by Sparticle, featuring former Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon, Blind Melon guitarist Roger Stevens and multi-instrumentalist Rene Lopez.
In related news, Rich’s brother/Black Crowes vocalist Chris Robinson and his wife, actress Kate Hudson, welcomed their first child today (Jan. 7) in Los Angeles, a boy named Ryder.
Here are Rich Robinson’s tour dates:
Jan. 15: Trenton, N.J. (the Conduit)Jan. 16: New York (Knitting Factory)Jan. 17: Allston, Mass. (Harper’s Ferry)Jan. 20: Sacramento, Calif. (Roadhouse)Jan. 21: Santa Clara, Calif. (Avalon)Jan. 22: Los Angeles (Viper Room)
Source billboard.com[.

Joe Jackson, Jason Mraz and Edie Brickell are among the artists who will perform at the Sundance Music Cafe during the Jan. 16-23 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Produced by performing rights association ASCAP, the performances will take place daily at Plan B/The Nightclub at 2:30 p.m. (4 p.m. on Jan. 16).
Also slated to entertain are the All-American Rejects, Joseph Arthur, Sweet Pea Atkinson & Was (Not Was) Quintet featuring Don & David Was, Jon Brion, Shawn Colvin, X leader/sometime actor John Doe, Ricky Fante, Goapele, John Hiatt, Tim O’Brien, Fernando Osorio, Clem Snide and Dan Wilson.
Music will have its place on the silver screen at the annual film festival. As previously reported, the documentary “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” will be screened as part of the “American Spectrum” series.
Also, the drama “Grand Theft Parsons” will be show in the “Park City at Midnight” series. The film plays out the infamous drunken heist of legendary singer/songwriter Gram Parson’s coffin from Los Angeles International Airport and a pilgrimage to the Joshua Tree desert to incinerate his body.
In the “Native Forum,” Danis Goulet’s “Spin” deals with a DJ’s obsession with a particular record and will see its U.S. premiere at Sundance. Among the “Premiere” films is a Depression-era feature starring Isabella Rosellini that centers on a contest to discover “The Saddest Music in the World.”
Source billboard.com.

A Perfect Circle will hit the road on a U.S. spring tour that will be sponsored by cable music video channel Fuse. Kicking off March 18 in Salt Lake City, the run is expected to last through an April 16 concert in Chicago. Opening acts for the tour have not yet been announced.
“The network’s proactive interaction with the fans will make the live experience for us even more exciting,” band co-founder/guitarist Billy Howerdel says in a statement.
APC will set off on a European tour next week, with the first show set for Jan. 14 in Rome. A swing of the South Pacific will take the band to New Zealand and Australia on the Big Day Out tour in February and to Japan in early March.
Like Fuse’s sponsorship of the upcoming Simple Plan/MxPx tour, and past tours by the Deftones and Staind, the A Perfect Circle outing will be supported through broadcast and online elements such as contests and interviews. “This tour is about ultimately giving music fans experiences and opportunities they cannot get anywhere else,” Fuse VP of marketing Mary Corigliano added.
A Perfect Circle is touring in support of its sophomore Virgin album, “Thirteenth Step.” Released in October, the set debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 643,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Here are A Perfect Circle’s North American tour dates:
March 18: Salt Lake City (E Center)March 20: Denver (Magness Arena)March 21: Albuquerque (Convention Center)March 23: Dallas (NextStage)March 24: Norman, Okla. (Lloyd Noble Arena)March 26: Amarillo, Texas (Amarillo Coliseum)March 27: El Paso, Texas (Don Haskins Center)March 28: Phoenix (Dodge Theater)March 29: Las Vegas (The Joint)March 31: Sacramento, Calif. (Memorial Auditorium)April 1: Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Arena)April 2: San Diego (Cox Arena)April 3: San Francisco (Bill Graham Civic Center)April 5: Boise, Idaho (Bank of America Building)April 6: Spokane, Wash. (The Opera House)April 8: Vancouver (Queen E Theater)April 9: Seattle (Tacoma Dome)April 12: Bozeman, Mont. (Valley Ice Garden)April 13: Rapid City, S.D. (Rushmore Center)April 15: Kansas City, Mo. (Municipal Auditorium)April 16: Chicago (UIC Pavilion)
Source billboard.com.

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