After six years away, the Beastie Boys return this week to the No. 1 position on The Billboard 200 with “To the 5 Boroughs.” Their latest Capitol set opened with sales of 360,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It’s the follow-up to 1998’s “Hello Nasty,” which also debuted at No. 1, selling 682,000 copies in its opening week. It remained on top for three weeks and has sold 3.8 million to date.

Source billboard.com.

David Crosby and Graham Nash will release their first album as a duo in 28 years Aug. 10 via Sanctuary. Recorded earlier this year in Los Angeles, the two-disc, 20-track “Crosby-Nash” was produced by the artists and the father/son team of Russell and Nathaniel Kunkel. Russ Kunkel, who played drums on 1972’s “Crosby & Nash,” also contributes to the new album, as does guitarist Dean Parks, bassist Leland Sklar and Crosby’s son, James Raymond, his bandmate in the group CPR.

Crosby and Nash, who have released three previous albums a duo, will kick off a tour with Stephen Stills as Crosby, Stills & Nash July 1 in Prior Lake, Minn. At some point following that outing’s Sept. 22 close in Woodinville, Wash., they will stage a tour in support of “Crosby-Nash.”

Source billboard.com.

Former Pearl Jam/Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons gets a lift from a host of his ex-bandmates on his solo debut, “Attention Dimension,” due in August. Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder takes the mic on a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Shine On, You Crazy Diamond,” featuring Primus’ Les Claypool on bass. Chili Peppers bassist Flea guests on “Suluhiana” and “Water Song,” the latter boasting Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard on guitar.

Irons left Pearl Jam for health reasons in early 1998, following the release of the album “Yield” and an Australian tour. “I had to dedicate myself to living a life that would promote healing and a right way of life for me and my family,” he says. “The music on these recordings [is] what was creatively inspired along the way. I could not tour at that point but I still needed to create.”

“Making this music was a way for me to work through all the changes and growing I had to do to become healthy again,” he continues. “This music also helped me reconnect with some old friends and former bandmates, who I am very happy and thankful to say have performed as guest artists.”

Irons is abetted throughout “Attention Dimension” by his Eleven colleague Alain Johannes, who plays an array of instruments on seven tracks. Eleven’s Natasha Shneider offers vocals on “Hearing It Doubled,” while Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament augments the groove on “Dunes.” The cut “Breaking Sea” includes a sample of Spectrasonics’ “Heart of Africa.”

Irons joined Pearl Jam for two songs during an all-star concert last October in Santa Barbara, Calif. It was just the second time he had played with the group since he left.

Here is the track list for “Attention Dimension”:

“Jackie Groove” featuring Alain Johannes
“Suluhiana” featuring Flea, Johannes
“Ocean’s Light”
“Hearing It Doubled” featuring Johannes, Natasha Shneider
“Shine On, You Crazy Diamond” featuring Eddie Vedder, Les Claypool, Johanne, Shneider
“Underwater Circus Music”
“Dunes” featuring Jeff Ament, Johannes
“Come Running” featuring Johannes
“Water Song” featuring Flea, Stone Gossard
“Breaking Sea” featuring Johannes
“Aquaman’s Electric Band” featuring Johannes

Source billboard.com.

Ben Folds is pushing back the release date of his next solo album to early 2005 in order to give William Shatner’s upcoming collection, “Has Been,” his full attention. The set is being targeted for a September release by Shout! Factory.

“It is a great record and it is really worth going out and doing some shows in major cities,” Folds tells Billboard.com. “[Shatner] is not a musician at all — he’s not rapping or singing — but he is still part of the music. I’ve never heard a record quite like it.” Shatner previously guested on Folds’1998 solo album “Fear of Pop, Vol.1”

Shatner’s album was produced and written mostly by Folds and includes cameos by Henry Rollins, Aimee Mann and Joe Jackson, who duets with Shatner on Pulp’s “Common People.” Author Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity”) also co-wrote a song with Folds for the project.

Currently on the road with Rufus Wainwright and Guster through mid-July, Folds plans on returning home to Nashville after the tour to finish his next studio release. Due out in January via Epic and currently untitled, the album includes new tracks such as “Trusted” and “Late,” as well as a few remixed or alternate versions of tracks from Folds’ recent EPs.

“Right now, it doesn’t feel like an album that has a title,” says Folds. “I think because the songs are basic enough to me, it almost has a debut solo artist feel to it. It seems less like a tangent to me in the songs and the production than ‘Rockin’ the Suburbs’ [Folds’ last studio disc], which seems like an over-the-top pop kind of [album]. This doesn’t seem like a direction to me, it just seems like songs I wrote and they are approached much more from the piano and with a little more of a live, rougher edges, feel.”

While Folds enjoys the unfettered creativity and spontaneity associated with releasing EPs (“I love putting out EPs — that keeps me sane,” he says), he foresees a day when all of his non-album projects will be released as “a cheap box set of EPs.”

Fans are finally about to get Folds’ third EP, which is due out in a few weeks and will be available via online and at his shows. Originally scheduled for release last November, “Super D” includes new tracks “Rent a Cop,” “Adelaide” and “Kalamazoo,” along with a cover of the Darkness’ “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” and, more than likely, a live version of the late Ray Charles’ “Them That Got.”

Source billboard.com.

Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson will hit the road together this summer, visiting minor league baseball parks across the United States. Kicking off Aug. 6 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., home to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the 22-date Bob Dylan Show will close Sept. 4 at Community America Ball Park in Kansas City, Kan.

“What we aim to do with this tour is hit the ball out of the park, touch all the bases and get home safely,” quips Dylan in a statement.

Tickets for the first 13 shows go on sale Saturday (June 26) via Ticketmaster, with the balance of the other dates set to go up July 10.

While its not the first time Dylan and Nelson have shared the stage in their storied careers, the Bob Dylan Show outing marks the pair’s first tour together. The tour will also feature Austin, Texas-based Western swing act the Hot Club Of Cowtown in the opening slot.

“Having produced several of Bob Dylan’s concerts in these types of venues over the years, we found that the special atmosphere of a minor league ballpark adds a unique element to his already great shows,” Jerry Mickelson of tour promoter Jam Productions says. “A complete tour of these ballparks will have fans, young and old, experiencing a great evening of music.”

Dylan, who closed out a brief slate of stateside dates at the recent Bonnarroo festival in Manchester, Tenn., is currently on the road in Europe. That touring leg plays Newcastle, England, tomorrow (June 22) and will wrap July 18 in Portugal.

Having recovered from endoscopic carpal tunnel release surgery, Nelson is slated to appear Thursday (June 24) at a fundraising event for expected Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry in Los Angeles. He’ll be back on the road beginning July 3 at Merle Haggard’s annual UFO Music Fest in Roswell, N.M., and his own Fourth of July Picnic following day in Fort Worth, Texas.

Here are the Bob Dylan Show tour dates:

Aug. 6: Cooperstown, N.Y. (Doubleday Field)
Aug. 7: New Haven, Conn. (Yale Field)
Aug. 8: Brockton, Mass. (Campanelli Stadium)
Aug. 10: Wappinger Falls, N.Y. (Duchess Stadium)
Aug. 11: Altoona, Pa. (Blair County Ballpark)
Aug. 12: Aberdeen, Md. (Ripken Stadium)
Aug. 14: Salisbury, Md. (Arthur W. Perdue Stadium)
Aug. 15: Richmond, Va. (The Diamond)
Aug. 17: Charleston, S.C. (Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park)
Aug. 18: Sevierville, Tenn. (Smokies Stadium
Aug. 20: Jackson, Tenn. (Pringles Park)
Aug. 21: Lexington, Ky. (Applebee’s Park)
Aug. 22: South Bend, Ind. (Coveleski Stadium)
Aug. 24: Comstock Park, Mich. (Fifth-Third Ballpark)
Aug. 25: Peoria, Ill. (O’Brien Field)
Aug. 27: Madison, Wis. (Warner Park)
Aug. 28: Des Moines, Iowa (Sec Taylor Stadium)
Aug. 29: Sioux City, Iowa (Lewis & Clark Stadium)
Aug. 31: Lincoln, Neb. (Haymarket Park)
Sept. 1: Wichita (Lawrence-Dumont Stadium)
Sept. 3: Oklahoma City (SBC Bricktown Ballpark)
Sept. 4: Kansas City, Kan. (Community America Ball Park)

Source billboard.com.

2004 edition of the Lollapalooza tour has been abruptly cancelled due to poor ticket sales, according to the event’s official Web site. “This morning (June 22), tour organizers and concert promoters, faced with several million dollars of losses, made the very tough decision to pull the tour,” the site says.

Morrissey, the Pixies, Wilco, String Cheese Incident, Modest Mouse and Sonic Youth were among the acts set to appear at various dates. The tour was to run from July 14 in Auburn, Wash., through Aug. 25 in Dallas.

My heart aches along with the bands, and all of our employees, whose hard work developed one of the most exciting and important tours that this nation was to see,” says Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell. “My heart is broken.”

Adds booking agent/tour co-founder Marc Geiger, “I am in utter disbelief that a concert of this stature, with the most exciting line-up I’ve seen in years did not galvanize ticket sales. I’m surprised that given the great bands and the reduced ticket prices that we didn’t have enough sales to sustain the tour. Concert promoters across the country are facing similar problems. Many summer tours are experiencing weak ticket sales.”

Refunds will be available at points of purchase.

Source billboard.com.

Electronica act the Prodigy has finally nailed down details for its first album since 1997’s “The Fat of the Land.” The 12-track “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” will arrive Sept. 14 via Maverick/XL, preceded by the single “Girls” featuring the Ping Pong Bitches. The Liam Howlett-led group is planning to tour later in the year.

“Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” boasts an array of eclectic guest artists, including actress Juliette Lewis on “Hot Ride,” Oasis’ Liam Gallagher on “Shoot Down,” rapper Twista on “Get Up Get Off,” rapper Kool Keith on “Wake Up Call” and “You’ll Be Under My Wheels” and Princess Superstar on “Memphis Bells.”

Sessions for the album were said to have begun as far back as 2001. In July 2002, Prodigy released the single “Baby’s Got a Temper,” which debuted at No. 21 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. It has been the only piece of new music the threesome has released in recent years but is not included on “Always Outnumbered.”

Source billboard.com.

After releasing their latest album, Undermind, whose cover resembles the Beatles’s last released record, Let It Be, Phish has decided to do another Beatles-esque move: playing on top of a building. As posted on the band’s website – the Vermont quartet is hoping to make their last tour memorable in more ways than one.

When Phish plays the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday night, they will perform from the top of the Ed Sullivan Theatre marquee (about two stories up from the street) at 53rd and Broadway in New York City. The band will perform their first song at the end of the Letterman taping. After the show ends, the band will perform an additional 20-25 minutes for fans.

The best place to watch the band perform will be on the far side of the street opposite from the Ed Sullivan Theater. The band will not perform until 6:25 PM.

In other Phish news, fans got more than they bargained for on Friday night, in Brooklyn, N.Y., as rapper Jay-Z joined the veteran jam band for two songs during its show at KeySpan Park near Coney Island. Phish provided the backing for Jay-Z as he ran through his hits “99 Problems” and “Big Pimpin’,” much to the delight of the stunned audience.

Percussionist Cyro Baptista, a member of Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio’s solo band, also guested on the tunes.

A month after promoters declared the concert industry healthier than ever, big summer tours such as Ozzfest, Fleetwood Mac, the Dead and Lollapalooza have run into a concrete wall of slow sales. “Ticket sales are mixed, and in some cases they appear to be substantially off from the past,” says Alex Hodges, executive vice president of House of Blues Concerts, one of the three major U.S. promotion companies.

The summer’s success stories so far are big-buzz superstar events such as Prince and Madonna, plus low-cost packages including the long-running Warped Tour, Alanis Morissette/Barenaked Ladies and No Doubt/Blink-182. Also, the three-day Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, recently scored its third annual sellout, with 90,000 tickets. Otherwise, sales have been universally slow.

Promoters and agents list several reasons for the unexpected ticket-buying malaise: Once fans spend their summer-entertainment money on Prince and Madonna, they have little left over for Kiss or Ozzfest; some of 2003’s biggest draws, such as Fleetwood Mac and Aerosmith, have already toured several summers in a row at high prices; and the core baby-boomer audience is finally getting tired of amphitheater lawns.

“What consumer wants to sit out at night in Phoenix, Arizona, in 105 degrees to watch Daryl Hall and John Oates?” says Dennis Arfa, president of Writers and Artists Group International, an agency representing Metallica, Rod Stewart and others. “People don’t have an unlimited amount of funds. In the amphitheater business, there is some concern.”

Nobody’s panicking — yet. In early 2003, promoters expressed similar gloom, until Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles and others barnstormed the country. Says Seth Hurwitz, whose company, I.M.P. Productions, books the Merriweather Post Pavilion near Washington, D.C.: “Over the last ten years, I’ve heard ‘This is the worst yet’ every year.”

Source rollingstone.com.

The guitar Eric Clapton used to record the album that included one of his biggest hits, “Cocaine,” is going on the auction block to benefit the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center the legendary rock musician founded.

The Fender Stratocaster, nicknamed “Blackie,” is one of 58 guitars that rock and blues master Clapton, 59, is donating as part of a June 24 auction to benefit the Crossroads Centre Antigua in the West Indies.

The guitar is practically the only one Clapton used on stage and in the studio from late 1970 to 1985.

Christie’s, the New York auction house handling the sale, estimated the instrument would fetch between $100,000 and $150,000. But if past sales are any indication, the guitar could bring in much more money.

At a 1999 Christie’s auction that also benefited Crossroads, an anonymous bidder paid a record $497,500 for “Brownie,” a 1956 Fender Stratocaster that Clapton used on the Derek and the Dominos hit, “Layla.”

That auction of 100 of Clapton’s guitars brought in over $5 million.

“Blackie,” a composite of three guitars from 1956 and 1957, is on the cover of Clapton’s 1977 album “Slowhand,” which includes such hits as “Cocaine” and “Wonderful Tonight.”

He also used it to record the albums “461 Ocean Boulevard,” “No Reason To Cry” and “Just One Night,” as well as his first music video for the song “Forever Man.”

“This was his favorite guitar for a long time,” said Kerry Keane, a musical instrument specialist for Christie’s. “Through his battle with substance abuse, the instrument was by his side.”

The condition of the guitar shows its extensive use. Large areas of black paint have worn off, and the springs in the back are exposed.

Guitar virtuoso Clapton has also donated a Gibson ES-335 that he bought in 1964 and used through stints with The Yardbirds, Cream, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and Blind Faith as well as his solo career.

The estimated price is $60,000 to $80,000.

The 1939 C.F. Martin & Co. acoustic guitar that Clapton played during his famous MTV “Unplugged” appearance in 1992 is also expected to sell for between $60,000 and $80,000.

Other items in the auction include guitars donated by such musicians as Carlos Santana and Peter Townshend of The Who, as well as several of Clapton’s stage suits designed by Gianni Versace.

Clapton, a longtime Antigua resident who has spoken openly about his recovery from drug and alcohol abuse, founded Crossroads in 1998 and is its chairman of the board.

Crossroads Executive Office Tim Sinnott said Clapton has given at least $10 million of his own money to the rehabilitation center and its halfway house.

Source CNN.com.