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To support its sophomore album, “Demon Days,” due May 24 via Virgin, the cartoon band is in the planning stages for how to present the material in a live setting. “As for the show itself, it would be one where the lights never come up,” group member Damon Albarn (aka 2D) tells Billboard.

“So, if [album guest star] Dennis Hopper were to walk on stage, you would know it’s him by his voice alone — as well as his silhouette,” he continues. “It will be like those old cutout silhouette portraits everyone used to get. Yes, it will all be done by silhouette.”

To read more visit billboard.com.

The official Bonnaroo 2005 schedule has been released, with all the bands filling their respective time slots. Amongst the attractive bills is a late night/Saturday morning 1:00-4:00 a.m. set by the Mars Volta and a late night/Saturday morning show by Sound Tribe Sector 9, alongside Galactic

Today Jam Cruise 4 announces Les Claypool, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Critters Buggin, Hairy Apes BMX, New Monsoon, The Lee Boys and Gabby La La to join its already stellar lineup: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Digable Planets, and Antibalas Aftrobeat Orchestra, Galactic, Umphrey’s McGee, Keller Williams, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The String Cheese Incident side-projects (Remarkable Elba Kramer featuring Kyle Hollingsworth, Zilla featuring Michael Travis, Honkytonk Homeslice featuring Billy Nershi and Elastic Mystic featuring Michael Kang with DJ Lorin), Steve Kimock Band,Liza Oxnard, and Fantastic 4 (featuring Eric Krasno, Robert Walter, Cheme Gastelum, and Adam Deitch).

Now in its third year, Jam Cruise has become a leader in the evolution of music festivals and cruise travel. For Jam Cruise 4 the Italian cruise line’s MSC Lirica will leave port from Ft. Lauderdale on January 7, 2006, floating for six days and six nights with stops in Ocho Rios (Jamaica), Grand Cayman (Cayman Islands) and Cozumel (Mexico).

Jam Cruise 4 general on sale will happen May 25th at 11 am MST at
www.jamcruise.com. (not the originally scheduled on sale date of May 18th).

Is It D

He hasn’t been seen on set for weeks. His hit show has been shut down. And his friends are speculating on various reasons for his purported meltdown.

Now comes word that Dave Chappelle is undergoing treatment in a psychiatric facility in South Africa.

Quoting an unnamed source “close to the situation,” Entertainment Weekly said Wednesday that the comedian flew to South Africa late last month and voluntarily checked himself into the undisclosed facility. There is no word on the nature of his ailment or how long he will be hospitalized.

Source eonline.com.

Billy Corgan launches a tour in support of his solo debut, TheFutureEmbrace, in Atlanta on June 22nd, the day after his album hits stores. His last date will be in Vancouver, on July 19th.
“It’s guitar-driven and loud, but not aggressive,” the former Smashing Pumpkins frontman told Rolling Stone of the record. “No one will accuse me of sitting on my past.”

Recorded in Chicago, Future was co-produced by Corgan and features eleven new songs, as well as an unlikely cover of the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody,” with the Cure’s Robert Smith on backing vocals. “The Cure is one of my favorite bands of all time,” Corgan said. “Robert is a good friend of mine, so it’s a dream come true. That song’s sort of a gem that not everyone will know.”

The video for the first single off the album, “Walking Shade,” is currently in rotation, and Corgan will play Europe before his North American stint.

Billy Corgan North American tour dates:

6/22: Atlanta, Earthlink
6/24: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
6/25: Philadelphia, Electric Factory
6/27: New York, Webster Hall
6/28: New York, Webster Hall
6/30: Boston, Avalon
7/2: Toronto, The Carlu
7/5: Chicago, Vic Theatre
7/6: Chicago, Vic Theatre
7/7: St. Louis, The Pageant
7/8: Dallas, Gypsy Tea Room
7/11: San Diego, Soma
7/12: Los Angeles, Henry Fonda Theatre
7/13: Los Angeles, Henry Fonda Theatre
7/15: San Francisco, The Fillmore
7/16: San Francisco, The Fillmore
7/18: Seattle, Moore Theatre
7/19: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom

Source rollingstone.com.

Nearly a decade after hatching the idea for a country album that infuses reggae, Willie Nelson’s “Countryman” will see release this summer by Lost Highway. The album finds the outlaw country icon covering Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come” and dueting with Toots Hibbert on the Johnny Cash/June Carter Cash composition “I’m a Worried Man.”

The project was originally conceived with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell when Nelson joined the label’s roster in 1995. Basic tracks were recorded with producer Don Was over the next few years, but Blackwell’s exit from the label and a series of sales and mergers involving its parent companies put the album in limbo.

“Here is the “Countryman” track list:

“Something To Think About”
“How Long Is Forever”
“I’m a Worried Man” with Toots Hibbert
“The Harder They Come”
“I’ll Still Be Thinking of You”
“Sitting in Limbo”
“Darkness on the Face of the Earth”
“One in a Row”
“I’ve Just Destroyed the World”
“You Left a Long, Long Time Ago”
“I Guess I’ve Come To Live Here”
“Undo the Right”

Source billboard.com.

Jazz legend Herbie Hancock has restaffed his famed Headhunters ensemble with a host of notable names and will take the band on the road for four shows this summer. Anchoring the collective on piano, the artist will be joined by guitarists John Mayer and Lionel Loueke, bassist Marcus Miller, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, trumpeter Roy Hargrove and percussionist Munyungo Jackson.

Headhunters ’05 will play three dates surrounding their June 10 appearance at Tennessee’s Bonnaroo festival: June 8 in St. Louis, June 9 in Dayton, Ohio, and June 11 in Memphis. Hancock will serve as Bonnaroo’s first “artist in residence” and is expected to perform with a host of acts throughout the festival.

Source billboard.com.

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, the International Noise Conspiracy, Ben Kweller, Drive-By Truckers, the Ponys and Mark Farina are some of the latest acts to be added to the Lollapalooza lineup. The bill is headed by the Pixies, the Killers, Widespread Panic, Weezer, the Arcade Fire, Death Cab For Cutie and Dashboard Confessional. Lollapalooza will be held July 23-24 in Chicago’s Grant Park and more information can be found by visiting the festival

Canadian indie rock outfit New Pornographers will return this summer with a new studio album, “Twin Cinema.” Due Aug. 23 via Matador, the 14-track set features a guest spot from group member Carl Newman’s teenage niece Kathryn Calder, who will soon join the touring incarnation of the group. The title cut can be sampled on the New Pornographers’ official Web site.

New Pornographers have begun confirming summer shows, including a previously announced June 25 date as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn festival in the borough’s Prospect Park.

Here are the New Pornographers’ tour dates:

June 23: Hoboken, N.J. (Maxwell’s)
June 24: Lancaster, Pa. (Chameleon Club)
June 25: Brooklyn, N.Y. (Prospect Park)
June 26: Northampton, Mass. (Pearl Street)

Source billboard.com.