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The third annual Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival, presented by Fat Tire Amber Ale, will be held June 8-11 at Clinton State Park near Lawrence, Kan. The event will combine four days of live entertainment with camping and other outdoor activities.

Wakarusa exploded on the national festival scene during its second year in 2005, selling out to an estimated 15,000 concertgoers, attracting attendees from all 50 states and five foreign countries. With another sell out expected in 2006, Wakarusa will once again be one of Kansas

Matador’s second Scottish release of 2006 comes from Glasgow’s most distinctive noisemakers, Mogwai. “Mr. Beast” is the long-anticipated follow-up to 2003’s “Happy Songs For Happy People,” which Mojo called “an ultramodern rock masterpiece,” and Alternative Press called “a sonically cinematic experience that will leave the listener at once elated and emotionally drained.” “Mr. Beast” is perhaps their noisiest record since their debut five albums ago, yet still utterly gorgeous.

Delivering one of the most devastating live shows around, Mogwai will be hitting the road in March, covering much of the Midwest and East Coast before cruising down to Austin for SXSW.

Full tour dates – all dates with Growing:
3/1 Chicago IL Logan Square Auditorium
3/2 Columbus OH Wexner Center for the Arts
3/3 Lexington KY The Dame
3/4 Charlottesville VA Satellite Ballroom
3/6 New York NY Avalon
3/7 Baltimore MD Sonar
3/8 Carrboro NC Cat’s Cradle
3/9 Asheville NC Orange Peel
3/10 Nashville TN Mercy Lounge
3/11 Atlanta GA Whirly Ball Atlanta
3/12 Atlanta GA Whirly Ball Atlanta
3/14 Houston TX Numbers
3/15 Austin TX SXSW

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will be held in its usual location at the city’s Fair Grounds Race Course on April 28-30 and May 5-7, despite the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. The event will be sponsored by Shell, marking the first time a presenting sponsor has been brought on board. A full lineup announcement is expected next month.

“We’re dedicating this year’s festival to the people of New Orleans and inviting everybody who cares about this city to come to Jazz Fest and play a meaningful role in bringing back the city’s culture, which is the soul of America,” festival producer Quint Davis said today (Jan. 31).” Jazz Fest 2006 will be a homecoming party for thousands of New Orleans musicians, Festival chefs and craftspeople, and we want the world to join us in welcoming them back as we present the celebration of a lifetime.”

The lone artist confirmed at present is R&B legend Fats Domino, who was evacuated from his New Orleans home in the wake of Katrina. Domino will also be the subject of the 2006 event poster, which was designed by local painter James Michalopoulos.

Tickets for Jazz Fest are on sale now via NOJazzFest.com and Ticketmaster. The event’s Web site features information on early-bird discounts and VIP packages.

Source billboard.com.

Particle is poised to return to the stage February 24 at The Fonda in Hollywood with the help of a few friends. DJ Logic will open the festivities that evening as well as make an appearance with the band. Particle will also welcome Robbie Krieger from The Doors back as a special guest that evening. More guest announcements and details surrounding the evening will be released shortly.

Particle will hit the road with fresh material, a revamped lineup, and a renewed energy this spring. After a special SXSW showcase on March 16 in Austin, TX that will also feature Brazilian Girls, The Mutaytor, and Kid Beyond, the band will head to Dallas on March 17 for a show at The Granada theatre on St Patty’s Day. The tour continues the following week with a stop in Phoenix at The Brickhouse on March 24 and a return appearance at The Belly Up in San Diego on March 25 before heading out across the country.

Upcoming Tourdates:
Feb-24-2006 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Thr. w/ DJ Logic
Feb-28-2006 SF, CA Great American Music Hall w/Motion Potion
March-16-2006 Austin, TX SXSW-Fox & Hound w/ Brazilian Girls, The Mutaytor, and Kid Beyond
March-17-2006 Dallas, TX Granada Thr.
March-24-2006 Phoenix, AZ Brickhouse
March-25-2006 San Diego, CA Belly Up
March-31-2006 Arcata, CA Mazottis
April-1-2006 Tahoe, NV Breeze
April-5-2006 Vail. CO Club 8150
April-6-2006 Boulder, CO Fox Thr.
April 8-2006 Denver, CO Gothic Thr.
April-9-2006 Lawrence, KS Granada
April-11-2006 Ames, IA People’s
April-12-2006 Minneapolis, MN Cabooze
April-13-2006 Madison, WI Orpheum Thr.
April-14-2006 Chicago, IL Abbey Pub
April-15-2006 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
April 18-2006 State College, PA-Crowbar
April-20-2006 Boston, MA Paradise w/ Pnuma Trio
April-21-2006 NY, NY Bowery Ballroom
April-22-2006 Philadelphia, PA-TBA
April-23-2006 Baltimore, MD Recher Thr.
April-26-2006 Charlottesville, VA Starr Hill
April-27-2006 Richmond, VA Canal Club
April-28-2006 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
May-2-2006 Birmingham, AL Zydeco
May-21-2006 Joshua Tree, CA Joshua Tree Music Fest

It appears Lollapalooza will return to Hutchinson Field at Chicago’s Grant Park, with dates tenatively set for Aug. 4-6. Lollapallooza is produced by Austin, Texas-based Capital Sports & Entertainment and Charles Attal Presents, who also stage the annual Austin City Limits Festival in September.

The lineup for the event won’t be announced for weeks, but Chicago media reports have suggested a primary target for a headliner is Smashing Pumpkins, who are making rumblings about a reunion. Thievery Corporation told Billboard.com last week it would be on hand for the festival.

Chicago promoters Jam Productions, on the other hand, appear to have been stymied in their attempt to stage a multi-band festival at Grant Park this summer. “I tried for six months,” Jerry Mickelson, co-president of Jam with partner Arny Granat, tells Billboard.biz. “The park district would not give me dates. I’m more than disappointed.”

Mickelson says Jam “blazed the trail” for producing events in Grant Park, dating back to 2001. “Now Jam is unable to get dates from the Park District and I’ve given up because it’s too late,” he says. “This is anti-competitive. As far as I’m concerned Arny and I and Jam have a right as Chicago taxpayers to rent Park District space, but yet we are being excluded. We’re shut out.”

Representatives from the Park District could not be immediately reached for comment.

Source billboard.com.

Tool will join Depeche Mode as the headliners for the 2006 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, which will be held April 29-30 at Empire Polo Field in Indio, CA. Tool performed at the first Coachella in 1999 but has not played live in the United States since late 2002. The band is expected to release a new album at some point this spring.

Billboard.com has learned other acts confirmed to appear at this year’s festival are Paul Oakenfold, Franz Ferdinand, My Morning Jacket, Bloc Party, TV On The Radio, Sigur Ros, Scissor Sisters, Cat Power, Damian Marley and Tricky. Representing the hip-hop world will be Common, Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu and Dangerdoom, a collaboration between producer Danger Mouse and masked rapper MF Doom. Another Danger Mouse project with Cee-Lo, Gnars Barkley, will also perform.

Full article: billboard

Hollywood Records has signed an exclusive worldwide recording agreement with acclaimed roots-rock band Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, it was announced today by Bob Cavallo, Chairman of the Buena Vista Music Group. On April 11th, Hollywood will reissue an enhanced version of the band

Arctic Monkeys have achieved the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history, opening at No. 1 yesterday (Jan. 29) thanks to sales of 360,000 copies of “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (Domino). That comfortably exceeded the 306,000 sales achieved by pop act Hear’Say with its 2001 debut album, “Popstars.”

But the Monkeys were unable to secure simultaneous album and single chart-toppers, as their second No. 1 single, “When The Sun Goes Down,” fell from the top to No. 2. Instead, Notorious B.I.G. scored a posthumous No. 1 with “Nasty Girl” (Bad Boy), featuring P. Diddy, Nelly, Jagged Edge and Avery Storm.

It’s rare for a single to rise to the No. 1 position on the British chart, and the fact that the rapper’s first U.K. No. 1 arrives nine years after his death makes the event all the more remarkable.

Source billboard.com.

After almost a decade and a half of scruffy indie rock and sprawling space-pop, the California band Grandaddy are headed for the great big rock and roll nursing home in the sky. In an interview with Pitchfork yesterday, frontman Jason Lytle revealed that Just Like the Family Cat, due out May 9 on V2, will be the last Grandaddy album, and that the band has no plans to tour.

“We’ve seen an erosion happening,” Lytle said. “I use the word

Dinosaur Jr. has announced their Spring 2006 Tour, which will bring them into 21 U.S. markets, many of them for the first time since the unlikely reunion of the band’s original members – J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph – last year.

Dinosaur Jr. has long been celebrated as one of alternative rock’s most significant pioneers. Their sonic wall of melodic bass, furious drums and stunning guitar wizardry, coupled with an almost laissez faire vocal delivery, forever changed the face of rock & roll music. The New York Times calls them “Loud, alternative, and still definitive.” Indeed, the band’s first three albums, re-issued last year on MERGE, have proved their music to be as relevant today as it was when the band first became. The albums – Dinosaur, You’re Living All Over Me and Bug – were recently deemed by critics as “classics,” offering “near-perfect, ridiculously hooky thrash.” (Blender)

Dinosaur Jr. Spring 2006 tour dates are as follows:

March 29 2006 Gypsy Tea Room Dallas TX
March 30 2006 Stubb’s Bar-B-Q Austin TX
March 31 2006 Warehouse Live HoustonTX
April 01 2006 House of Blues New Orleans LA
April 02 2006 The Moon Tallahassee FL
April 03 2006 Free Bird Cafe Jacksonville FL
April 04 2006 House of Blues SCN. Myrtle Beach SC
April 05 2006 9:30 Club Washington DC
April 06 2006 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro NC
April 07 2006 The Orange Peel Asheville NC
April 08 2006 Variety Playhouse Atlanta GA
April 09 2006 City Hall Nashville TN
April 10 2006 Young Avenue Deli Memphis TN
April 11 2006 The Vogue Indianapolis IN
April 12 2006 Blue Note Columbia MO
April 13 2006 Liberty Hall Lawrence KS
April 14 2006 The Fox Theatre Boulder CO
April 16 2006 The Depot Salt Lake City UT
April 18 2006 WOW Hall Eugene OR
April 19-20 2006 Great American Music Hall San Francisco CA
April 21-22 2006 The Troubadour West Hollywood CA

Tickets on sale now at www.baselineticketing.com.

Dinosaur Jr. has also announced plans to release their first ever DVD. This full length concert DVD, which will feature the band in its original line-up, was filmed at New York’s legendary Irving Plaza in December 2005, and at other shows along the band’s December tour. The DVD is being directed by Gold In Berlin, which is run by Mascis’ own brother in-law, German filmmaker Phillip Virus. With unfettered access to this famously elusive band, fans can expect complete backstage access to Dinosaur Jr.’s recent reunion tour, one-on-one interviews, behind the scenes goings-on and a full set of performances of Dinosaur Jr. favorites. The DVD will be packed with bonus materials that any fan of the band – seasoned or brand new – will find thrilling and entertaining. Look for the DVD to be released in summer 2006.

So what’s next for these still-definitive rockers? The band is spending the next month at J Mascis’ home studio recording new material. It’s true – J, Lou and Murph are in the studio. But for now, that’s all they’re saying.

For more information, visit dinosaurjr.com.