Scabeba Entertainment has acquired the film and television rights to Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart’s biographical journal “Ghost Rider.” Specifics of the project have not been announced. Scabeba is overseen by Cathy Rich, the daughter of legendary jazz drummer Buddy Rich. She and Peart became friends after the drummer appeared at a 1992 concert in her father’s memory and on a subsequent series of tribute albums.

Published in 2002 by ECW Press, “Ghost Rider” originated from the journals Peart kept as he grieved for the deaths of 19-year-old daughter Selena and his wife Jackie. To deal with the loss, he embarked on a 55,000-mile motorcycle journey throughout North America that ultimately took him from Quebec to Belize and back. A track of the same name later appeared on Rush’s 2002 album “Vapor Trails”

As previously reported, Rush is in the midst of its 30th anniversary tour, which descends on Irvine, Calif., tomorrow (July 14). The group just issued an EP of classic rock covers, “Feedback,” which debuted at No. 19 on The Billboard 200.

As for Peart, he recently issued a new book, “Traveling Music: The Soundtrack to My Life and Times,” initially inspired by a trip to Texas’ Big Bend National Park in his BMW Z-8 sports car.

Source billboard.com.

Rhino Records will release Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the ’80s Underground on October 5th. The four-disc compilation includes tracks from such alternative-rock pioneers as the Replacements, Minor Threat, Husker Du, the Jam, the Smiths, R.E.M. and Sonic Youth.
Included are interviews with Greg Ginn and Peter Jesperson, founders of influential indie-rock labels SST and Twin/Tone respectively, as well as reflections on the era from Manchester scenemaker Tony Wilson and Dream Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn.

DIY punks like the Dead Kennedys and Black Flag were at the forefront of the movement and largely labored outside the reach of the limelight, while artists like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the recently split Jane’s Addiction were able to capitalize on the momentum of the wave created by the earlier groups.

At the time of Jane’s Addiction recent split, singer Perry Farrell furnished an epitaph for the band, that could easily have doubled for the groups that helped bring punk and alternative to the mainstream. “She laid a foundation for unbridled underground music to rise up on,” Farrell told Rolling Stone. “The newly coined ‘alternative music’ came on to replace a stale music scene. We encouraged people to make scary choices.”

Left of the Dial track listing:

Disc One

“Radio Free Europe,” R.E.M.
“Going Underground,” the Jam
“A Forest,” the Cure
“Holiday in Cambodia,” Dead Kennedys
“I’m In Love With a German Film Star,” Passions
“I Will Dare,” the Replacements
“That’s When I Reach for My Revolver,” Mission of Burma
“Johny Hit and Run Paulene,” X
“Just Like Honey,” the Jesus and Mary Chain
“Black Celebration,” Depeche Mode
“Tell Me When It’s Over,” the Dream Syndicate
“Hollywood (Africa),” the Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Temptation,” New Order
“Ghosts,” Japan
“A Song From Under the Floorboards,” Magazine
“Oblivious,” Aztec Camera
“Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely,” Husker Du
“Rise Above,” Black Flag
“Back in the Flesh,” Wall of Voodoo
“Cattle and Cane,” the Go-Betweens

Disc Two

“Message of Love,” the Pretenders
“Vienna,” Ultravox
“Freak Scene,” Dinosaur Jr.
“This Charming Man,” the Smiths
“Stigmata,” Ministry
“Ways to Be Wicked,” Lone Justice
“Wardance,” Killing Joke
“Enola Gay,” Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
“Mirror in the Bathroom,” the English Beat
“Fairytale in the Supermarket,” the Raincoats
“Behind the Wall of Sleep,” the Smithereens
“Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing,” Minutemen
“Punk Rock Girl,” the Dead Milkmen
“Still in Hollywood,” Concrete Blonde
“Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Joy Division
“Blister in the Sun,” Violent Femmes
“Lake of Fire,” Meat Puppets
“Amplifier,” the dB’s
“When Love Breaks Down,” Prefab Sprout
“Goo Goo Muck,” the Cramps
“This Corrosion,” Sisters of Mercy
“Senses Working Overtime,” XTC

Disc Three

“The Cutter,” Echo and the Bunnymen
“Pay to Cum!,” Bad Brains
“Birthday,” the Sugarcubes
“Madonna of the Wasps,” Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians
“We Care a Lot,” Faith No More
“Teen Age Riot,” Sonic Youth
“To Hell With Poverty,” Gang of Four
“Fa Ce-La,” the Feelies
“Ana Ng,” They Might Be Giants
“Swamp Thing,” the Chameleons U.K.
“The Mercy Seat,” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
“I Look Around,” the Rain Parade
“All That Money Wants,” Psychedelic Furs
“Under the Milky Way,” the Church
“Rise,” Public Image Ltd.
“Kundalini Express,” Love and Rockets
“Gravity Talks,” Green on Red
“Adrenalin,” Throbbing Gristle
“She Bangs the Drum,” the Stone Roses

Disc Four

“Monkey Gone to Heaven,” Pixies
“Uncertain Smile,” the The
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” Bauhaus
“Christine,” Siouxsie and the Banshees
“Straight Edge,” Minor Threat
“I Want to Help You Ann,” the Lyres
“Our Secret,” Beat Happening
“Jane Says,” Jane’s Addiction
“World Shut Your Mouth,” Julian Cope
“Running Up That Hill,” Kate Bush
“Sex Beat,” Gun Club
“Take the Skinheads Bowling,” Camper Van Beethoven
“Institutionalized,” Suicidal Tendencies
“Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops,” Cocteau Twins
“24 Hour Party People,” Happy Mondays
“I Want You Back,” Hoodoo Gurus
“Suburban Home,” Descendents
“A Pair of Brown Eyes,” the Pogues
“Jet Fighter,” the Three O’Clock
“Moving To Florida,” Butthole Surfers
“A New England,” Billy Bragg

Source rollingstone.com.

Musician David Bowie underwent an emergency angioplasty to open a blocked heart artery in Germany and is recuperating, his spokesman said Friday.

Doctors discovered the blockage after the 57-year-old Bowie sought treatment after performing in the German town of Scheesel on June 25, according to the spokesman, Julian Stockton.

A pinched nerve was initially cited as the cause of shoulder pain that forced Bowie to shorten a June 23 performance in Prague and eventually to cancel the remainder of a European tour.

Stockton did not specify the date of the procedure but said it was after the June 25 show. Bowie left the clinic in Hamburg, Germany early this week and is now with his family in New York.

Stockton quoted Bowie as saying, “Can’t wait to be fully recovered and get back to work again. I tell you what, though, I won’t be writing a song about this one.”

Source yahoo.com.

Stewart Copeland is big in Italy. He’s also big as a TV and film composer, and he was in a really big rock band called the Police. In May, Copeland took part in the Taranta Ensemble concert in Rome and wailed on his drums in front of 500,000 people. The free concert, showcasing the regional southern Italian music called puglia — a mixture of ethnic Mediterranean sounds and percussion — was broadcast live throughout Italy.

Copeland began a tour with the 20-piece Taranta band this week that will take them throughout Italy and Greece. He also recently released his “Orchestralli” album and DVD in Europe, which was recorded live during the course of four concerts in Italy and features music from his extensive soundtracks, ballets and operas. A North American distribution deal is in the works.

Of his orchestral compositions, Copeland notes: “I went through a period, as a drummer, trying to prove that I am actually a musician by writing a lot of orchestral music. I wrote three operas, three ballets for the Seattle symphony, and I wrote some orchestra work. I actually have quite a lot of orchestral music.”

On the TV side, Copeland has been working diligently on scoring the second season of Showtime’s hit series “Dead Like Me,” which stars Mandy Patinkin, Ellen Muth and Rebecca Gayheart. The new season premieres July 25.

Copeland says he came to “Dead Like Me” because series creator Bryan Fuller was a fan of his work. “[Bryan] laid a lot of very stringent parameters around me: no electric guitar or keyboard,” Copeland says. “So I couldn’t use any guitar or any rock ‘n’ roll instruments for a youth-oriented show, which actually forced me to think of something else. I ended up with this kind of diabolical quartet, with strings and baroque trumpet. I had to find other ways of telling the story that don’t involve the [rock] cliche.”

Copeland says that after almost a decade of writing with the Police, he loved making the transition to film and TV music during the 1980s because the parameters of writing for a particular mood and scene are both challenging and liberating. His scoring work includes “Rumble Fish,” “Wall Street,” “Highlander II,” “She’s All That” and “Gridlock’d.”

Copeland also says he is hoping to regroup with his Oysterhead bandmates Les Claypool (Primus) and Trey Anastasio (Phish) to work on new material later this year.

Source billboard.com.

While taking some time off from the road this summer, the Strokes have begun pre-production on a handful of new songs with longtime producer Gordon Raphael. And while manager Ryan Gentles tells Billboard.com a new album isn’t likely to be ready until spring 2005 at the earliest, the sessions are set to unfold in an entirely new way.

“The recording of this record will be much different from the last two,” he says. “They’re not working on any deadline whatsoever and have built a recording studio into their rehearsal space so that they can just record everything that they do over the next 8 to 10 months, and shape the new songs for the next record out of that.”

The quintet will return to the live stage Saturday (July 10) at Ireland’s Oxegen Festival, to be followed the next day by the U.K.’s T in the Park Festival. Also on tap is an Aug. 14 performance at Little Steven’s International Underground Garage event on New York’s Randall’s Island an Aug. 21-22 appearances at the U.K.’s V2004 Festival.

Afterward, studio time will dominate the schedule. “They might bow out once or twice to do a show here and there just around New York for the band to try out new material,” Gentles says, “and we’re entertaining the idea of doing a brief stint in South America before the end of the year since we’ve never toured there yet.”

Source billboard.com.

Apple Computer will make its iPod mini digital-music player available internationally starting July 24. A spokesperson for the computer giant says prices will vary for each territory. The mini portable player will be available for

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are about to release their first live album, but there are no plans to make it available in North America, according to a group spokesperson. “Live in Hyde Park” is due July 26 in Europe and Aug. 2 in Australia, Japan and New Zealand via Warner Bros. The double-disc set was recorded June 19-20 and 25 in front of an estimated 100,000 fans nightly at the London venue.

Beyond such favorites as “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away,” and more recent hits like “Otherside,” “Scar Tissue,” “By the Way” and “Californication,” the album sports a number of treats for fans. Among them are covers of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and Looking Glass’ “Brandy,” a trumpet solo by bassist Flea and three new songs: “Mini-Epic,” “Leverage of Space” and “Rolling Sly Stone.”

Having just wrapped a European tour, the group will play two shows in Japan at the end of the month as well as a July 28 benefit for the arts advocacy organization the Creative Coalition in Boston. Afterward, the Peppers will hunker down on writing songs for their next studio album, which will be the follow-up to 2002’s “By the Way.”

Here is the track list for “Live in Hyde Park”:

Disc 1:

“Intro”
“Can’t Stop”
“Around the World”
“Scar Tissue”
“By the Way”
“Fortune Faded”
“I Feel Love”
“Otherside”
“Easily”
“Universally Speaking”
“Get on Top”
“Brandy”
“Don’t Forget Me”
“Rolling Sly Stone”

Disc 2:

“Throw Away Your Television”
“Leverage of Space”
“Purple Stain”
“The Zephyr Song”
“Mini-Epic”
“Californication”
“Right on Time”
“Parallel Universe”
“Drum Homage Medley”
“Under the Bridge”
“Black Cross”
“Flea’s Trumpet Treated by John”
“Give It Away”

Source billboard.com.

Bootsy Collins and Blur’s Damon Albarn are among the guests appearing on the next Fatboy Slim album, “Palookaville.” Due Oct. 5 via Astralwerks, the set is the fourth studio release from the artist also known as Norman Cook.

The onetime Housemartins bassist-turned-DJ leans on Collins to provide vocals on a remake of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker,” which will be the album’s first single. The original track reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1974.

Collins contributed to the Fatboy Slim track “Weapon of Choice,” on 2000’s “Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars.” Slim was in turn among the guests on Collins’ latest album, “Play With Bootsy.”

Albarn appears on the cut “Put It Back Together,” while Blackalicious member Lateef is heard on two tracks, “Wonderful Night” and “The Journey.” Manchester, England, DJ/remixer/producer Justin Robertson and Brighton, England-based band Johnny Quality also guest on the set.

Source billboard.com.

In an article published in Tuesday’s Burlington Free Press, ticketless Phish fans may have to dig deep to catch the band’s final two shows in Coventry, VT.

JEFFERSONVILLE — Adriane Whitfield and Ryan McDonald are going to Vermont jam-band Phish’s last show in Coventry next month.

But because the Lamoille County couple is unwilling to spend $450 a ticket — the going price on eBay for the tickets originally sold for $150 each — the question remains whether they are going to get into the two-day concert.

“I didn’t think it was going to sell out at first,” said McDonald, who works restoring homes and painting. “It seemed like there were tickets everywhere. Then it became the last show, but even then I figured, how could they turn you away?”

Like all but the 70,000 people who have tickets to the show, he just might find out.

Phish fans seeking concert tickets are encountering mind-blowing prices now that the band has announced it will split up after the August show. The 200 percent increase on eBay might even be a bargain. Brokers are selling tickets to the show for as high as $915 apiece. That’s 510 percent higher than the $150 face value.

Sky-high prices

Veronica Lusk, sales representative for the Internet broker eSeats.com, has only about 40 tickets left. That’s not many for a show this size that’s over a month away, she said.

Because eSeats.com resells tickets for clients who name their own prices, eSeats lists tickets from $515 to $915. Lusk said the demand for even the $915 tickets is there.

“At this price, they are going really fast,” she said. “We can sell them for this much. People are buying them. I’ve never really seen general admission tickets for this much.”

Whitfield and McDonald were planning to buy their tickets on the Internet at face value. They waited until after they moved into a new home to sign up for online service. Credit card in hand, McDonald logged on to buy tickets.

“I stared at the screen,” he said. “Sold out.”

Whitfield, 30, has been following the band for 14 years. McDonald, 25, has been to 120 shows since he began following them at age 15. The couple met at a Phish show.

Their love for the band is on display throughout their hilltop house — a bootleg DVD alongside their movies, old Phish newsletters on their bookshelf, Phish photos on their walls, the shirt on McDonald’s back, posters in his room, signed memorabilia tucked away in hiding spots, the Phish pint glass McDonald sips his beer from.

Whitfield and McDonald have looked for tickets on eBay. They’ve called ticket brokers they’ve used in the past. They called friends. They’ve yet to find anything affordable.

But they refuse to miss the last show.

“I’m very nervous about going,” said Whitfield, a seamstress and designer. “Yes, I’m going with or without tickets, but I’ll never be a gate-crasher. I want to respect the band and the town. I’m praying.”

She and thousands of others.

Ticketless in Chicago

Brad Feldman, a 23-year-old Chicago business analyst, hopes to score a ticket. He’s been a Phish fan for 10 years, and is pretty sure he’s showing up with or without the right enter the Newport airport, where the concert is being held.

“I’d rather have a ticket and not have to worry, but if it comes down to going without a ticket, I’m going to go to the show,” he said.

He refuses to pay much more than the cost listed on the stub. He said he’s sold extra Phish tickets before, and he’s always sold them at face value.

“Phish is different,” he said. “When people need a ticket and you have some, you sell it at face. Hopefully good karma comes back.”

Internet message boards are full of Phish-hungry fans willing to spice up offers with money, tickets to other shows and even more personal enticements.

As a member of the Jambands.com message board found out, it’s a seller’s market.

“i offered making clothes, sex and cookies/brownies for a coventry (ticket) plus the cost of the ticket……,” wrote a user with the moniker Gabby23. “im still searching.”
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/news/2000h.htm

Modern rock act Cake has just wrapped recording of a new album. Due Oct. 5 via Columbia, the 11-track “Pressure Chief” will be the band’s second studio album for the Sony-affiliated label and fifth to date.

The Sacramento, Calif.-based group recorded the set in a converted house in its hometown, marking its first foray outside of the confines of a conventional commercial studio. “It’s representative of the place we’re from,” trumpeter Vince DiFiore says. “A dry and dusty place.”

Among the songs that have made the cut are opening track “Wheels” and the electronic influenced “No Phone.” Of the folk-ish “The End of the Movie” and “She’ll Hang the Baskets,” wry and often-cryptic frontman John McCrea says, “There’s something funny about disillusionment and something subversive about joy.”

At deadline, Cake had a handful of dates on its itinerary, starting with a July 18 appearance at Boulder, Colo., radio station KBCO’s World Class Rockfest, alongside the Finn Brothers, Mindy Smith and Keller Williams, among others. Also on tap is a Sept. 19 performance at the Austin (Texas) City Limits Music Festival. A full tour in support of “Pressure Chief” is expected.

Source billboard.com.