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Vintage rock trio Cream will reunite for a string of shows next year at London’s Royal Albert Hall, sources tell Billboard.com. The group — guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce — played its final shows at Albert Hall before splintering in November 1968. Cream has not performed together since its 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Billboard.com understands the trio will begin rehearsals after the first of the year, with an eye on a week-long run of gigs at Albert Hall. It is unknown if plans call for additional shows in other parts of the world. A spokesperson for Clapton had no comment.

Source billboard.com.

For over a decade the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey have been crisscrossing America, slowly but surely blossoming into one of the most visionary and fearless bands in improvisational music.

A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco has handed a victory to pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys in a dispute over the musical practice of sampling, in which recording artists incorporate snippets of other songs into their own work.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined today (Nov. 9) to reconsider its decision last year allowing the group to use a six-second segment of music from jazz flutist James Newton’s 1978 composition “Choir.” The Beastie Boys used the sample in their song “Pass the Mic” on their 1992 album “Check Your Head.”

A three-judge panel of the court held in 2003 that the band had abided by copyright protections by paying a license fee for a sample of Newton’s recording and therefore did not have to pay an additional fee to license the underlying composition.

That finding upheld a lower-court dismissal of the case in favor of the Beastie Boys, and the 9th Circuit today refused to reconsider its ruling before a larger 11-judge panel.

“We hold that Beastie Boys’ use of a brief segment of that composition, consisting of three notes separated by a half-step over a background C note, is not sufficient to sustain a claim for infringement of Newton’s copyright,” Chief Judge Mary Schroeder wrote in her opinion.

Representatives for Newton and the Beastie Boys were not immediately available for comment.

The Beastie Boys helped spark the modern sampling trend in popular music with the 1989 album “Paul’s Boutique,” which incorporated bits of music from sources as diverse as Johnny Cash, Bob Marley and the Beatles to create new music. Sampling has since become a staple of many artists, especially in the rap and hip-hop genres.

Source billboard.com.

After being celebrated for more than a decade for its consistently riveting live show, Rusted Root is releasing its first live album, a two-disc set featuring the new songs

Two months after disbanding, the former members of Phish are getting busy. In October, ex-frontman Trey Anastasio returned to his Vermont studio, the Barn, to work on a pair of projects. Spending the bulk of the month writing material for an upcoming solo album, the guitarist invited along several collaborators — new and old.

Anastasio first spent time jamming with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock for a cut on the fusion legend’s forthcoming record. The date also included bassist John Patitucci (Chick Corea), veteran drummer Steve Jordan (Blues Brothers, Keith Richards), percussionist Cyro Baptista (Trey Anastasio Band, Beat the Donkey) and trumpeter Jennifer Hartswick (Trey Anastasio Band). Several brief Hancock/Anastasio duets have been posted to TreyAnastasio.com.

During the final week of October, Anastasio also recorded solo tracks with bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson), drummer Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel) and keyboardist Ray Packowski (Trey Anastasio Band). Several of Anastasio’s regular partners — including Hartswick, ex-Phish bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jon Fishman — rounded out the sessions. No release date has been set. In addition, a Trey Anastasio Band taping of Austin City Limits, recorded in September, will air nationwide on January 15th.

After producing and playing on Bane, the surreal debut of quasi-fictional bassist Joey Arkenstat, Gordon will return to both the studio and the road in December. First, the bassist will reconvene with avant-folk guitar legend Leo Kottke to begin recording a follow-up to 2002’s Clone. Shortly thereafter, he will join drummer Joe Russo and keyboardist Marco Benevento for a quartet of holiday shows as the “Benevento/Russo Duo featuring Mike Gordon,” culminating in a New Year’s performance at New York’s B.B. King’s. Gordon will soon launch MikeGordon.com to keep track of his solo activities.

Meanwhile, on November 30th, ex-Phish keyboardist Page McConnell will release Vida Blue and the Spam Allstars — Live at the Fillmore, a DVD of a June 2004 performance with his Afro-funk band. Apparently, life after Phish sometimes involves more than music: the bonus disc will include a forty-minute documentary on McConnell’s “foray into the world of demolition derby and car racing.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Queens Of The Stone Age has confirmed details of its highly anticipated third album for Interscope. “Lullabies To Paralyze” will arrive March 22, although group member Troy Van Leeuwen admits on QOTSA’s official Web site that “songs are still being recorded as we speak. I know March may seem far off (to me anyway), but when the creative engine is chugging at full steam, it’s hard to stop.”

The group just wrapped a late-arriving song titled “The Fun Machine Took a Sh*t and Died,” which benefited from a host of guest appearances. “The session started out relatively normal, but then took a turn for the bizarre, once longtime friends Dean Ween, Chris Goss and Jesse ‘The Devil’ Hughes scarred this song with their musical branding irons.”

Ween and Goss appeared on QOTSA’s last album, “Songs for the Deaf,” while Hughes is a member of Queens leader Josh Homme’s side band, the Eagles Of Death Metal. The new set is also tipped to feature guest appearances from the Distillers’ Brody Dalle and Garbage’s Shirley Manson.

Homme has been flanked in the studio by multi-instrumentalist Van Leeuwen, drummer Joey Castillo, guitarist Dave Catching and bassist Alain Johannes, the latter of whom is filling the bass slot left empty after the departure of Nick Oliveri earlier this year.

The new album will be the follow-up to 2002’s “Songs for the Deaf,” which peaked at No. 17 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 909,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Source billboard.com.

Oakley has announced the introduction of Thump

It’s been more than a decade since The Pharcyde’s groundbreaking debut, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde, was released, but the group is still going strong – minus a couple members.

Founding members Romye “Booty Brown” Robinson and Imani Wilcox are keeping the name alive and touring the U.S. in December. The rappers just got back from Australia, where they rocked clubs across the continent with a DJ, live drummer and keyboardist on stage.

The group’s other original members – Slim Kid Tre and Fatlip – have been gone for years, but Robinson and Wilcox have soldiered on, most recently with Humboldt Beginnings. The album was released earlier this year on the duo’s independent label, Chapter 1.

The Pharcyde headlined a U.S. run this spring, and spent the summer doing shows with the likes of The X-Ecutioners and Ghostface.

The solo careers of Fatlip and Tre have been erratic, although the two appeared together on a Mya track last year. Superproducer Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes reportedly tried unsuccessfully to get all four members back together for his Star Trak label.

Source pollstar.com.

In his strongest comments yet on next year’s Tour de France, Lance Armstrong says he is unsure if he will ride in cycling’s showcase event because he’d like to compete in other races.

Armstrong, who won a record sixth straight Tour de France this year, said in Saturday’s edition of L’Equipe it is “time to move onto other things.” He has previously been somewhat evasive about whether he will return in 2005.

“Honestly, I don’t know if I will be at the start of the next Tour,” he told the sports newspaper. “There are a lot of other things I would like to do in cycling before retiring. So I tell myself 2005 could be a good year to do these (other races).”

The 32-year-old Texan has dedicated most of his cycling life to the Tour, leaving little room for such Classic races as the Paris-Roubaix or Fleche Wallone, which he won in 1996 shortly before being diagnosed with cancer, or the Spanish Vuelta.

“For once, my race calendar is not decided 100 percent for the start of the year,” he said. “I prefer it to be flexible and have the freedom to decide when I choose a race. If that means the Tour, then I will decide when I like. If it’s Paris-Roubaix, then that’s the same thing.”

However, if Armstrong does skip next year’s Tour, he could return the following year.

“Of course, I will continue to adore the Tour. It remains the most important race in the world,” he said. “If I am not there next year, it is not a sanction against the race or its fans.”

His new team sponsor, Discovery Channel, most likely would urge Armstrong to take part in at least one more Tour before he retires.

Source yahoo.com.

In the below message posted on www.discobiscuits.com, the band has announced drummer Sam Altman has decided to pursue other passions, and will be leaving the Disco Biscuits. His last show with the band will be a New Years Eve performance at The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

Life, like music, is only meaningful when it is pursued with absolute passion. A band, like any family, must be built on commitment, not only to the goals common to the family, but to the happiness of each individual member. After much soul searching, Sammy [Altman] has decided that it is time for him to pursue a passion in his life other than music, and is going to apply to medical school. So the Professor becomes the Doctor. The band gives its unequivocal support for Sammy’s decision, as we know that it is right for him at this time. So while we will miss turning around and seeing Sammy leave his heart out there every night as he bangs mercilessly on those drums, we are happy that he has made peace with what he wants from his future. We admire him for having the courage to pursue his dreams wherever that may take him, and can only hope that he brings the same dedication and pureness of vision to medicine as he has brought to the music for the last nine years.

The Biscuits will go on. We have been through tough situations before and we have always emerged with a renewed commitment to each other and the music which we make. We will continue to create inspirational, exciting and revolutionary music. Sammy will play the shows which are announced, including Amsterdam, but Hammerstein will most likely be his last show on American soil. We urge you to come out and celebrate the joy which Sammy gave all of us over the years by putting his whole being into keeping us all in time.

The Disco Biscuits