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The Arcade Fire, !!!, Blackalicious, Nouvelle Vague, Annie, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Wrens, Kaki King and Atmosphere are among the first acts confirmed for the 25th annual CMJ Music Marathon, which will be held Sept. 14-17 throughout venues in New York.

Other artists who have signed on to perform are the Hold Steady, Dungen, John Vanderslice, Against Me!, the Constantines, Battles, Kinski, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Rogue Wave, Early Man, Channels, Dirty On Purpose, Walking Concert, Athlete, Acid Mothers Temple and Funeral For A Friend.

Day-time panel discussions, which will be held at Lincoln Center, will focus on everything from securing sponsorship deals and health insurance to the impact of blogging and podcasting on the music industry.

Source billboard.com.

Playing with its classic lineup for the first time in more than 20 years, Pink Floyd dazzled the crowd of approximately 200,000 people at the London edition of Live 8. The group performed “Breathe,” “Money,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Comfortably Numb,” which was introduced to a new generation of U.K. listeners last year via the Scissor Sisters’ top 10 hit cover.

Pink Floyd hadn’t played live at all since the 1994 tour in support of the album “The Division Bell,” and hadn’t performed with bassist Roger Waters since 1981. The latter artist’s dealings with fellow Pink Floyd principal David Gilmour have been rancorous in the ensuing years; Waters even sued Gilmour, unsuccessfully, for touring under the Pink Floyd name without him following the band’s initial split after the album “The Final Cut.”

But on stage at London’s Hyde Park, the group (which also includes drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Rick Wright) was all smiles. Waters even dedicated “Wish You Were Here” to Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, whose mental instability forced him to cede control of his band to Gilmour and Waters in the late ’60s.

Although no official statement has been made, the Live 8 reunion is expected to be a one-off affair for the members of Pink Floyd.

The group was followed on stage by Paul McCartney, who was joined by George Michael for the Beatles favorite “Drive My Car.”

Source billboard.com,

Blue Note Records has emerged the triumphant owner of a 1957 recording by the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane, trumping the interest of Sony BMG’s Legacy Recordings and Verve Records. The tentatively titled “Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane: 1957 Concert” is due Sept. 27.

Jazz specialist Larry Appelbaum uncovered the coveted musical relic in January at the Library of Congress. Negotiations for commercial release rights were completed June 13. “This is one of the most important discoveries in jazz ever,” Blue Note president/CEO Bruce Lundvall says. “We’re thrilled to have it.”

Source billboard.com.

In addition to a Grateful Dead live set already in the pipeline, Rhino is readying a live album and DVD, each chronicling side projects helmed by the band’s late leader, Jerry Garcia. Due Aug. 9, one is a two-disc audio collection of live tracks from his mid-1970s jazz-leaning rock quintet Legion Of Mary, while the other is a video record of a 1990 Jerry Garcia Band show near San Francisco.

In Legion Of Mary, Garcia surrounded himself with an eclectic group of sidemen: keyboardist/vocalist and longtime compatriot Merle Saunders, one-time Elvis Presley drummer Ron Tutt, Martin Fierro (Quicksilver Messenger Service, Zero) on sax and reed instruments and bassist John Kahn (John Lee Hooker, Al Kooper). The group played around 60 shows between December 1974 and July 1975.

Seven of those shows produced the never-before-released recordings on “The Jerry Garcia Collection, Volume 1: Legion Of Mary.” Like many Garcia projects, the song selection is heavy on covers, including Bob Dylan’s “Tough Mama,” Ray Charles’ “Talkin’ ‘Bout You” and Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock.”

Meanwhile, the Jerry Garcia Band’s “Live at Shoreline,” captures a Sept. 1, 1990, show at the Bay Area amphitheatre that was originally meant to be a Dead performance, but was nixed due to keyboardist Brent Mydland’s death a few months earlier. The title is the first official JGB DVD release, and boasts two sets of music that includes covers of the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue.”

As previously reported, Rhino will on July 12 release the two-disc Grateful Dead concert set “Truckin’ up to Buffalo, July 4, 1989.,” which is the soundtrack to the Monterey Video DVD of the same name.

Source billboard.com.

Pearl Jam will cap a slate of fall tour dates with a Sept. 30-Oct. 1 stand at the 3,700-capacity Borgata in Atlantic City, N.J. Sleater-Kinney, which previously toured with Pearl Jam in 2003, will open both shows, tickets for which go on sale July 9.

The Atlantic City stand will come at the end of Pearl Jam’s three-week tour of Canada, which kicks off Sept. 2 in Vancouver and will close Sept. 25 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. The band will also open a Sept. 28 show for the Rolling Stones in Pittsburgh.

Source billboard.com.

Settle down lovers, Bloodshot’s newest signing, THE DETROIT COBRAS, have announced their fall US tour — They’ll be on the road supporting their Bloodshot debut and the band’s first US release in four years.

Baby,” The Detroit Cobra’s first release on Bloodshot Records, is a detour off the beaten path, a collection of 20 inimitable, rocked-out renditions of mostly obscure R&B songs that pay homage to Detroit’s thick musical background reflecting back to Fortune Records and D-Town’s back catalog.

10-08-05 — Beachland Tavern — Cleveland OH
10-11-05 — North Star Bar — Philadelphia PA
10-12-05 — The Mercury Lounge — New York NY
10-13-05 — Southpaw — Brooklyn, NY
10-14-05 — Middle East — Cambridge MA
10-15-05 — Maxwell’s — Hoboken NJ
10-22-05 — Culture Room — Ft. Lauderdale FL
10-25-05 — The Parish @ HOB — New Orleans LA
10-27-05 — Rudyard’s Beer Bar — Houston, TX
10-28-05 — Gypsy Tea Room — Dallas, TX
10-29-05 — Emo’s — Austin, TX
10-31-05 — Plush — Tuscon, AZ
11-01-05 — The Clubhouse — Tempe, AZ
11-03-05 — The Casbah — San Diego, CA
11-04-05 — Troubadour — West Hollywood, CA
11-05-05 — Bottom Of The Hill — San Francisco, CA
11-07-05 — Sabala’s — Portland, OR
11-08-05 — Chop Suey — Seattle, WA
11-10-05 — The Velvet Room — Salt Lake City, UT
11-11-05 — Bluebird Theater — Denver, CO
11-16-05 — The High Noon Saloon — Madison, WI
11-17-05 — Mad Planet — Milwaukee, WI
11-18-05 — Triple Rock — Minneapolis, MN

John Mayer will hit the road this fall with his new trio, featuring bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan. The trek will play clubs and theatres beginning Sept. 6-7 at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and will wrap Oct. 12 in Philadelphia with the last of three dates opening for the Rolling Stones.

The group will play a mix of covers, past Mayer hits reworked for a trio setting and new material. “The challenge is choosing which tunes to play,” Mayer recently told Billboard. “All I have is six strings, all Pino has is four and Steve his drum set.”

Joss Stone and Ray LaMontagne are confirmed to open select shows, with additional support to be announced.

Here are the John Mayer Trio’s tour dates:

Sept. 6-7: San Francisco (Fillmore)
Sept. 10: Las Vegas (House of Blues)
Sept. 11: San Diego (House of Blues)
Sept. 13: Anaheim, Calif. (House of Blues)
Sept. 14-15: Los Angeles (House of Blues)
Sept. 17: Denver (Fillmore)
Sept. 19: Kansas City, Mo. (Uptown)
Sept. 21-22: Chicago (House of Blues)
Sept. 23: Minneapolis (Quest)
Sept. 24: Milwaukee (Eagles Ballroom)
Sept. 26: Nashville (Ryman Auditorium)
Sept. 27: New Orleans (House of Blues)
Sept. 28: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
Sept. 30: Orlando, Fla. (House of Blues)
Oct. 1: Myrtle Beach, S.C. (House of Blues)
Oct. 3: Washington, D.C. (MCI Center; w/ Rolling Stones)
Oct. 4: Cleveland (House of Blues)
Oct. 6: New York (Beacon Theatre)
Oct. 10: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center; w/ Rolling Stones)
Oct. 11: Boston (Avalon)
Oct. 12: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center; w/ Rolling Stones)

Source billboard.com.

The Flaming Lips have gathered 19 music videos for the DVD “VOID (Video Overview in Deceleration),” due Aug. 23 via Warner Bros. While heavy on material released since the Lips’ late ’90s resurgence, the DVD will also feature such formative clips as “She Don’t Use Jelly,” “Turn It On” and “Talkin’ Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever).”

Fans will also find a clip for last year’s “SpongeBob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy” as well as a recently shot video for “Mr. Ambulance Driver,” a new song that will debut on the upcoming “Wedding Crashers” soundtrack. It will also appear on the Lips’ in-progress next studio album, “At War With the Mystics,” due sometime next year.

Group members have recorded commentary for a handful of videos on “VOID,” which will also include the U.S. and U.K. versions of “Do You Realize??” A number of the clips can be streamed on the Lips’ official Web site.

In other Lips news, the group recently recorded a cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” for a tribute album due later this year via Hollywood Records. The group will play a handful of shows during the next few months, including Oct. 15 as part of the Xingolati festival aboard the Carnival Cruise Line ship the Paradise.

At the latter, the group plans to stage a playback of its 1997 album “Zaireeka,” the music for which was split across four separate CDs and, as such, requires four stereos to produce a full listening experience.

Here is the track list for “VOID”:

“Mr. Ambulance Driver”
“SpongeBob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy”
“Fight Test”
“Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”
“Do You Realize??” (U.K. version)
“Race for the Prize”
“Waiting for a Superman”
“This Here Giraffe”
“When You Smile”
“Bad Days”
“Christmas at the Zoo”
“Be My Head”
“She Don’t Use Jelly”
“Turn It On”
“Frogs”
“Talkin’ Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever)”
“Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots”
“Are You a Hypnotist??”
“Do You Realize??” (U.S. version)

Source billboard.com.

Legendary rap act Public Enemy has joined the extensive lineup for Hellfest 2K5, a three-day New Jersey festival that will boast 188 acts, most of which fall in the category of heavy rock music. Described as “a barricade-free, circle pit induced festival,” the Aug. 19-21 event at Trenton, N.J.’s Sovereign Bank Arena will feature five stages of music as well as a flea market, tattoo convention and skate park.

With original members Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Professor Griff, the Public Enemy performance is being billed among Hellfest’s reunion acts, which also include hardcore groups Youth Of Today, Bold, 108 and Good Clean Fun, upstart punk group Outspoken and metal act Killing Time.

Leading up to the festival, organizers are announcing participating acts in weekly bursts, with Chimaira, Hatebreed, From Autumn To Ashes, the Misfits, Sick Of It All, Anti Flag, Bouncing Souls and Cryptopsy among the 120 so far revealed. The full list of confirmed acts can be found on the event’s Web site.

A limited allotment of three-day tickets are available for $99.99 through the site. The venue’s box office will sell remaining general admission passes for $12

Source billboard.com.

According to a story on pitchforkmedia.com, multi-billion dollar shoemaker, Nike has stolen the legendary artwork of hardcore pioneers, Minor Threat. Destined for a campaign called Major Threat, the style and iconic imagery was used for the advertising and done so without the permission of Washington, D.C. based indie Dischord. The label owns the copyright on both the recording and artwork. When asked by Pitchfork, the label had this to say with regards to permission:

No, they stole it and we’re not happy about it. Nike is a giant corporation which is attempting to manipulate the alternative skate culture to create an even wider demand for their already ubiquitous brand. Nike represents just about the antithesis of what Dischord stands for and it makes me sick to my stomach to think they are using this explicit imagery to fool kids into thinking that the general ethos of this label, and Minor Threat in particular, can somehow be linked to Nike’s mission. It’s disgusting.
Dischord is currently evaluating its options, and you can click Read More to compare the artwork for yourself.

Source punknews.org.