News

Production is underway for a new feature-length documentary about the Who, tentatively titled “My Generation: Who’s Still Who.” Scheduled to hit theaters in early 2006 via Spitfire Pictures, the film is being overseen by Oscar-winning director Murray Lerner and is being produced with the assistance of surviving Who members Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey.

The film will follow the band’s influential career through archival footage, clips from performances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight, interviews and “never-before-seen private materials” from the Who’s archives.

Lerner is calling on fans to provide amateur footage of the band, or anecdotes that could be relevant to the project, via the film’s official Web site.

The DVD of “Who’s Still Who” will contain two supplementary films, one comprising segments devoted to each band member and the other boasting previously unreleased footage from a 1969 show at the London Coliseum.

Source billboard.com.

Two members of the Cure have exited the veteran U.K. rock act, which has long featured a revolving door of musicians backing up leader Robert Smith. Keyboardist Roger O’Donnell announced his departure today (May 27) on his official Web site, while a fan site dedicated to guitarist Perry Bamonte conveyed the same news about his fate.

“As of Tuesday this week I am no longer a member of the Cure,” O’Donnell wrote. “It was sad to find out after nearly 20 years the way I did but then I should have expected no less or more.” He added that he was looking forward to touring in support of an upcoming solo album “in a more relaxed and happy atmosphere than has surrounded the Cure these last couple of years.”

It is unclear how these moves will affect the band’s recently confirmed first shows of 2005, including stops Aug. 5 at Spain’s Benicassim Festival and Sept. 3 at the Rock N’ Coke Festival in Istanbul.

Rumors have circulated that Siouxie and the Banshees principal Steve Severin will fill in at these shows in some capacity. Severin and Smith are longtime friends who recorded a 1983 side-project album, “Blue Sunshine,” under the moniker the Glove.

Source billboard.com.

As noted in the message posted below on the zoomatour.com website, this year’s travelling festival featuring Trey Anastasio and Ben Harper has been cancelled.

“The producers of the ZOOMA Tour regret to announce that this summer’s Tour has been canceled. Ticket refunds for all dates will be given through the outlets where the tickets were purchased.

The Zooma Tour was conceived to provide fans with an exceptional musical and entertainment experience. Due to unforeseen circumstances, it has become clear that it would not be possible to provide that experience at the level initially envisioned. Rather than go forward with a tour that falls short of what was conceived, everyone involved has mutually agreed that it is best to cancel the tour altogether.

We want to thank all of the fans for their support and the tour’s staff for their dedication and hard work on this project. We look forward to exploring new and exciting opportunities in the future.

If you purchased your tickets through Trey Anastasio or Ben Harper ticketing pre-sales, the card you placed your order with will automatically be refunded for ticket face value plus all other service and shipping charges. Refunds will begin Friday May 27 and continue until June 2nd. Once the refund is processed you will automatically receive an email confirmation. Please note: it can take up to 2 business days for the refund to show up on your account. If you have any questions, please e-mail tix@musictoday.com”

Bonnie Raitt eschews the 12-bar blues of her past on the new album “Souls Alike,” due Sept. 13 via Capitol. For the first time, the artist also takes the production reigns in tandem with Tchad Blake (Pearl Jam, Crowded House).

Tracks include first single “I Will Not Be Broken,” “The Bed I Made,” “I Don’t Want Anything To Change,” “Deep Water” and “Crooked Crown,” penned by what the label describes as unnamed, “lesser-known writers.”

“Some of the songs are clearly terrain that people have come to know and appreciate from me, but the rest are about finding some new direction and something new to say,” Raitt says.

In related news, Eagle Rock Entertainment will on Tuesday (May 31) release the DVD “Live at Montreux 1977,” featuring Raitt’s early hit cover of Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” Four songs from her 1991 return to the famed Swiss festival are included as bonus tracks.

Source billboard.com.

Nebraska-based indie rock outfit Cursive has rounded up 12 rare and unreleased tracks for “The Difference Between Houses and Homes (Lost Songs and Loose Ends 1995-2001.” Due Aug. 23 via Saddle Creek, the set features all but one track with original guitarist Steve Pedersen, who was later replaced by Ted Stevens.

“Lost Songs” opens with the previously unreleased 1995 track “Dispenser” and includes tracks from such 7-inch singles as 1996’s “The Disruption,” 1997’s “Zero Hour” and the following year’s “The Icebreaker.”

The set also includes “I Thought There’d Be More Than This,” an unreleased cut from 1996 put to tape in Otho, Iowa, constituting the lone song here not recorded in Lincoln, Neb., with producers Mike and AJ Mogis.

The only song recorded by Cursive’s present lineup (Stevens, guitarist/vocalist Tim Kasher, cellist Gretta Cohn, bassist Matt Maginn and drummer Clint Schnase) is 2001’s “Nostalgia,” released on a split single with Small Brown Bike.

Here is the track list for “Lost Songs and Loose Ends”:

“Dispenser”
“Pivotal”
“Sucker & Dry”
“Icebreakers”
“And the Bit Just Chokes Them”
“There’s a Coldest Day in Every Year”
“Disruption in the Normal Swing of Things”
“Nostalgia”
“Knowledgeable Hasbeens”
“Polar”
“Disruption in our Lines of Influence”
“I Thought There’d Be More Than This”

Source billboard.com.

As it prepares to launch a European tour Saturday (May 28) in Barcelona, Sonic Youth is also prepping a series of upcoming releases. According to its official Web site, the group is “putting the finishing touches” on a double-disc reissue of its 1990 major-label debut, “Goo.” No release date is yet confirmed for the album, which will be bolstered with eight-track demos, B-sides and previously unreleased tracks.

“I always kind of discounted ‘Goo’ and thought [1992’s] ‘Dirty’ represented more what we were going for at that point,” Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore told Billboard.com in 2004. “In retrospect, listening to ‘Dirty,’ especially in reissue form, it leaves me a bit spent. But I have a completely renewed interest in ‘Goo’ now and I’m really excited.”

Also on tap in the coming months is a CD chronicling an April, 12, 2003, performance at New York’s Anthology Film Archives, plus a double-vinyl album that captures four instrumental tracks recorded in Melbourne by Moore, drummer Steve Shelley, guitarist Lee Ranaldo and bassist Jim O’Rourke.

Source billboard.com.

Joe Strummer often spoke of reissuing the lone album from his mid-Seventies pre-Clash band, the 101ers. But the punk legend’s untimely death of a heart attack in 2002 gave the project a new urgency that will finally land it in shops again on June 14th, almost twenty-five years after its original release.

Richard Dudanski, Strummer’s longtime friend and former 101ers drummer, is overseeing the release of Elgin Avenue Breakdown (Revisited) (Astralwerks), which features newly unearthed live tracks that showcase Strummer’s raw, R&B beginnings.

To read more, visit rollingstone.com.

Nine Inch Nails have chosen Interscope labelmates Queens Of The Stone Age to open their fall North American arena tour. The itinerary will be announced early next month, according to NIN’s official Web site, and will most likely not begin until mid-September. Sources say a third band may join the bill, but that a final decision has not been made.

NIN will wrap its current North American run with Dresden Dolls June 2 in Mexico City. International festival and headlining dates are on tap through August. QOTSA will follow a similar path, completing a North American tour June 4 in Auburn, Wash., and then heading to Europe through late August.

The Trent Reznor-led NIN has returned to the top of the charts thanks to “With Teeth,” its first album since 1999. Save for a headlining slot at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, the first batch of North American dates have been held in theaters and large ballrooms and have done big business at the box office.

To read more, visit billboard.com.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s founding in San Francisco, as well as the 10th anniversary of the death of the band’s reluctant leader, Jerry Garcia. Monterey Video will commemorate the milestones with concert and documentary DVDs, due July 5.

“Truckin’ Up to Buffalo” captures the band on July 4, 1989, at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y., in the midst of a tour that was arguably the peak of the band’s latter era career. The nearly three-hour Independence Day show is preserved in its entirety, and includes a host of classics, including “Deal,” “Ship of Fools,” “Bertha,” and an apropos encore performance of “U.S. Blues.”

One song from the show was previously officially released; “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” appeared on guitarist Bob Weir’s 2004 retrospective “Weir Here” (Hybrid Recordings).

The video portion of “Truckin'” utilizes the original master tape from a six-camera shoot at the venue, while the DVD’s audio includes 5.1 Surround and stereo mixes taken from multi-track soundboard tapes. A two-disc CD version of the show due from Grateful Dead Records was mastered in HDCD.

Monterey’s second offering, “The End of the Road,” is a documentary about the Grateful Dead’s final tour. Begun three months before Garcia’s death, the filmmakers planned to capture life on the road with the enduring act but ended up witnessing the outpouring of grief and celebration of his life at the public memorial held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The film includes appearances by late Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, organist and frequent Garcia collaborator Merl Saunders and 1960s counter-culture figure Wavy Gravy. Bonus features include uncut footage of the memorial and extended interviews.

Source billboard.com.