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The Foo Fighters have scheduled a pair of free performances to take place before and after the upcoming final debate between the major candidates for the U.S. Presidency. The sets will take place tomorrow at the Arizona Democratic Party’s Debate Watch Party in Tempe Beach Park.

Tickets for the free show are available via Democratic candidate John Kerry’s official Web site. There is a four-ticket limit per request. The campaign staff is also seeking volunteers for the event through the request page.

Earlier in Kerry’s campaign, Foos frontman Dave Grohl participated in rallies in Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, where he performed acoustic sets. He has said that he decided to take part after learning that President George Bush’s re-election campaign had been playing Foo Fighters songs, including the band’s 1997 single “My Hero,” at their rallies.

Grohl and the Foo Fighters have not been on the road, but are taking a break from recording their fifth album to perform at the Kerry rally. As previously reported, the release will likely boast one acoustic and one electric disc.

Source billboard.com.

Radiohead’s official Web site will be the exclusive distributor of the DVD “The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time,” featuring 24 short films previously broadcast on the band’s Radiohead.tv Web site in conjunction with the 2003 album “Hail to the Thief.” The DVD is expected to begin shipping around Dec.

“Everyone was working themselves into a froth,” Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke writes on the band’s site. “They told us they could get us our own station. It was very exciting. We were going to take over the airwaves. So we set about putting together some television. We got lots of tapes from a request we put on our Web site. Lots. Lots and lots. We also generated some television of our own to avoid going stir crazy in the studio.”

“Now you can watch it when you want, and maybe actually see it properly as well,” he continues. “It contains music from ‘Hail to the Thief’ etc., and all sorts of other stuff from us… videos you may not have seen, and unreleased music that isn’t out anywhere else.”

Radiohead played just one North American show this year at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival but has already been mentioned as a possible headliner for the prospective Field Day 2005 festival, which is being eyed for July at a site about 45 miles outside of Albany, N.Y.

Source billboard.com.

The Beatles’ first four U.S. albums — “Meet the Beatles,” “The Beatles Second Album,” “Something New” and “Beatles ’65” — will be bundled together in the boxed set “The Capitol Albums Volume 1,” due Nov. 16. All were originally released in 1964 as Beatlemania swept the United States.

“In the ’60s, American record labels often chose to reformat British records to suit the needs of the U.S. market,” says Capitol president Andy Slater. “In America, singles were generally included on current albums, where in the U.K. albums and singles were most often separate releases. Higher music publishing costs in the U.S. also made it impractical to include as many songs on American albums. In addition, in the case of the Beatles, some of the recordings on the American albums were given more echo than the British versions, to ‘Americanize’ their sound.”

The albums, which have been remastered from the original tapes, include stereo and mono versions of each song. Each album is housed in a miniature replica of its original album cover, while the box will feature a 48-page booklet chronicling the Beatles’ unprecedented 1964.

“Meet the Beatles” (originally issued Jan. 20, 1964, in the United States) begins with what was at the time the group’s latest single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” and its U.S. and U.K. B-sides, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “This Boy.” The bulk of the remaining tracks were taken from the U.K. version of the album “With the Beatles.”

“The Beatles Second Album” (April 10, 1964) is a grabbag of such tracks as the “She Loves You” single and its B-side “I’ll Get You,” additional songs from “With the Beatles,” cuts from the “Long Tall Sally” EP and a German version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand.”

“Something New” (July 20, 1964) includes eight songs from the soundtrack to the Beatles’ first film, “A Hard Day’s Night,” although not the title track or “Can’t Buy Me Love.” The album was denied the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top LPs chart by the movie’s proper soundtrack, issued by United Artists.

“Beatles ’65” (Dec. 15, 1964) boasts the “I Feel Fine”/”She’s a Woman” single, the “A Hard Day’s Night” leftover “(I’ll Be Back)” and eight songs from the U.K. album “Beatles for Sale,” including three particularly dark John Lennon tunes, “No Reply,” “I’m a Loser” and “Baby’s in Black.”

It is unknown if Capitol plans to re-release additional titles such as “Beatles VI” or “Yesterday … and Today.”

Here is the track list for “The Capitol Albums Vol. 1”

“Meet the Beatles”:
“I Want To Hold Your Hand”
“I Saw Her Standing There”
“This Boy”
“It Won’t Be Long”
“All I’ve Got To Do”
“All My Loving”
“Don’t Bother Me”
“Little Child”
“Till There Was You”
“Hold Me Tight”
“I Wanna Be Your Man”
“Not a Second Time”

“The Beatles Second Album”:
“Roll Over Beethoven”
“Thank You Girl”
“You Really Got a Hold on Me”
“Devil in Her Heart”
“Money”
“You Can’t Do That”
“Long Tall Sally”
“I Call Your Name”
“Please Mr. Postman”
“I’ll Get You”
“She Loves You”

“Something New”:
“I’ll Cry Instead”
“Things We Said Today”
“Any Time At All”
“When I Get Home”
“Slow Down”
“Matchbox”
“Tell Me Why”
“And I Love Her”
“I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”
“If I Fell”
“Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand”

“Beatles ’65”:
“No Reply”
“I’m a Loser”
“Baby’s in Black
“Rock and Roll Music”
“I’ll Follow the Sun”
“Mr. Moonlight”
“Honey Don’t”
“I’ll Be Back”
“She’s a Woman”
“I Feel Fine”
“Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby”

Source billboard.com.

Matador Records will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a double-disc collection of favorite tracks and rarities, plus a DVD of music videos. The material roughly dates from 1999-2004, serving as a companion piece to the prior compilations “What’s Up Matador” (1997) and the 10th anniversary album “Everything Is Nice.”

The “greatest hits” disc sports 18 familiar tracks from Interpol, Cat Power, Stephen Malkmus, Yo La Tengo, Guided By Voices, Mission Of Burma, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Belle & Sebastian, among others.

“Unreleased and rarities” boasts contributions from the New Pornographers, Pretty Girls Make Graves, GBV, Mogwai, Matmos and, as previously reported, a live version of the Malkmus and the Jicks’ “It Kills.”

Twelve music videos are included on the DVD, such as Cat Power’s “He War,” Interpol’s “PDA,” Pavement’s “Spit on a Stranger” and Mogwai’s “Stanley Kubrick.”

Here is the track list for “Matador at 15”:

Disc one (“Greatest Hits”):

“This Is Our Emergency,” Pretty Girls Make Graves
“Obstacle 1,” Interpol
“The Laws Have Changed,” New Pornographers
“Dirt,” Mission Of Burma
“Free,” Cat Power
“Church on White,” Stephen Malkmus
“Don’t Have To Be So Sad,” Yo La Tengo
“Drop,” Cornelius
“Money Rock’n’Roll,” Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
“The Whirlings,” Dead Meadow
“My Kind of Soldier,” Guided By Voices
“Caught in the Rain,” Preston School Of Industry
“Inside,” Bardo Pond
“Forty Nights,” Seachange
“Don’t Leave the Light on Baby,” Belle & Sebastian
“1926,” Thalia Zedek
“For the Trees,” Matmos
“Hunted by a Freak,” Mogwai

Disc two (“Unreleased and Rarities”):
“Graceland,” New Pornographers
“Specialist,” Interpol
“C-30 C-60 C-90 GO!,” Pretty Girls Make Graves
“Dust for Guitars #1,” M. Ward
“It Kills” (live), Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
“Hunted by a Freak” (Boom Bip remix), Mogwai
“Everything Going On” (alternate version), Dead Meadow
“Deeper Into Moves” (acoustic), Yo La Tengo
“Fame & Fortune” (live), Mission Of Burma
“Free of This World,” Guided By Voices
“The Party,” Cat Power
“Seven Calls,” Seachange
“Tone It Down” (Pablo Wong Remix), Preston School Of Industry
“Homemade Bombs in the Afternoon,” A.C. Newman
“Cymbals & Aspirin (A Breakthrough in Pain Relief),” Matmos
“Wataridori,” Cornelius

Disc three (“Music Videos”):
“Stanley Kubrick,” Mogwai
“Spit on a Stranger,” Pavement
“Dr. Cat,” Mary Timony
“Ladies & Gentlemen (In the Woods),” the Wisdom Of Harry
“Discretion Grove,” Stephen Malkmus
“I Hate Hate,” Cornelius
“The Laws Have Changed,” New Pornographers
“PDA,” Interpol
“She Said,” Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
“He War,” Cat Power
“This Is Our Emergency,” Pretty Girls Make Graves
“Stars and Stripes Forever,” Matmos

Source billboard.com.

He may be known for his over-the-top antics but Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille has another claim to fame: his “Guitar Solo” has been named the worst of all time by Guitar World magazine.

The magazine selected the “100 Worst Riffs, Licks & Solos of All Time,” identifying ones that are “lazy,” “boring,” “just plain stoopid,” or “involve C.C. Deville.”

The list includes songs by David Bowie, Def Leppard, Metallica, Green Day, B.B. King, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith and The Strokes, among others. Many are guitar legends who simply had a bad night or bum note.

Guitar World describes DeVille’s nine-minute solo “completely devoid of taste, structure or steady tempo” and recommends every budding guitarist listen to it because “surely, they can’t do any worse.”

DeVille was also cited for his “Cherry Pie” solo when he played with Warrant and Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”

The magazine recommends DeVille “take solace in the fact that he’s in some rather good company.”

Rounding out the top 10: “Summertime Blues,” Blue Cheer; “The Game of Love,” Carlos Santana; Falstaff beer 1967 radio spot, Cream; “All You Need is Love,” The Beatles; “Thirsty and Miserable,” Black Flag; “Wango Tango,” Ted Nugent; “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” Rolling Stones; “Sting of the Bumblebee,” Manowar; and “American Woman,” Lenny Kravitz.

The list appears in the magazine’s December issue.

Source yahoo.com.

Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer died Monday of an apparent heart attack; he was fifty-eight. Born in Canada in 1946, Palmer was an early collaborator with Neil Young, first in the Mynah Birds, a band that also featured the recently deceased Rick James. The group broke up after James was sent to prison for going AWOL from the military. Palmer and Young moved from Ontario to Los Angeles in the spring of 1966, making the journey in Young’s black hearse. The pair soon joined forces with Stephen Stills, drummer Dewey Martin and singer/guitarist Richie Furay to form Buffalo Springfield.

In just two years Buffalo Springfield captured the spirit of folk-rock protest with songs such as “For What It’s Worth,” and revealed a more rocking side with “Mr. Soul.” The group served as a springboard for some of the biggest bands of the late Sixties and early Seventies, with alums going on to form Crosby, Stills and Nash; Neil Young and Crazy Horse; Poco; and Loggins and Messina.

“There’s not a person who listened to the Buffalo Springfield that wasn’t drawn to the way he played bass,” says Furay. “He made the music move — Bruce was truly a musician’s musician. I consider it a privilege to have played with him in such a creative time in my life.”

Buffalo Springfield split in 1968 after two years and two albums, in part due to Palmer’s ongoing difficulties with U.S. immigration, which sought to deport him for a pair of marijuana-related convictions. Palmer left the group shortly before its break-up and was replaced by Jim Messina.

Palmer went on to record one solo album, 1971’s The Cycle Is Complete, recruiting his old bandmate Rick James to contribute percussion and vocals. More than a decade later, Palmer re-teamed with Young to join his live band and play on Young’s 1983 Trans. In the mid-Eighties, Palmer and Martin resurrected the Buffalo Springfield name, performing shows as Buffalo Springfield Revisited. The closest the group came to a full reunion was in 1988 when the original members got together for an informal rehearsal. Palmer told Rolling Stone in 2002 that the reunited Springfield sounded “terrific,” but plans for a reunion were scuttled when Young didn’t show up for the next scheduled rehearsal a few months later. “He just forgot,” Palmer said. “So we all said, ‘What’s the use?'”

An enigmatic stage presence, Palmer frequently performed with his back to the audience and was often photographed with his hair covering his face. “Bruce was the mysterious one in the group,” says Furay. “You may not have always known what he was thinking as he just looked at you and smiled, but when he plugged the bass in, there was no mistaking his life was truly about the music.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Bluegrass veteran Del McCoury won his ninth entertainer of the year award at the 15th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards last night (Oct. 7) at the Kentucky Center in Louisville. McCoury and his band also netted the album of the year accolade for “It’s Just The Night.”

The awards show is the highlight of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) World of Bluegrass Oct. 4-10 trade show and festival. Alison Krauss and Dan Tyminski, taking their second consecutive turn at the podium, hosted the ceremony.

Larry Sparks won his first award in the male vocalist of the year category, a victory that was especially sweet as Sparks is celebrating his 40th anniversary in bluegrass. This year also marked a milestone for Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. The group celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, and picked up a fourth consecutive vocal group of the year trophy.

Perennial favorite Rhonda Vincent garnered an unprecedented fifth win in the female vocalist category. Vincent also won song of the year for “Kentucky Borderline” from her Rounder album “One Step Ahead.” Vincent co-wrote the song with Terry Herd of the Bluegrass Radio Network and Sirius Satellite Radio, who was also named broadcaster of the year.

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder earned their sixth win for instrumental group of the year. Blue Highway received their second award for gospel recorded performance of the year for the Rounder album “Wondrous Love.” The band’s Rob Ickes took home his seventh trophy in the dobro player of the year category.

The recorded event of the year was the Universal South album “Livin’ Lovin’ Losin’: Songs of the Louvin Brothers.” Produced by Carl Jackson, the tribute to Charlie and Ira Louvin featured performances by Emmylou Harris, James Taylor, Vince Gill, Terri Clark, Merle Haggard, Ronnie Dunn, Leslie Satcher, Kathy Louvin, Patty Loveless, Dierks Bentley, Larry Cordle, Dolly Parton, Sonya Isaacs, Marty Stuart and Pam Tillis, among others.

The 2004 IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Honor inductees were Curly Seckler and the late Bill Vernon.

The awards were broadcast live on Sirius Satellite Radio and syndicated to radio stations in more than 300 U.S. markets and 14 foreign networks.

Source billboard.com.

Melissa Etheridge has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has canceled upcoming tour dates to accommodate treatment. The 43-year-old artist will undergo surgery and her doctor expects a “speedy and complete recovery,” her publicist says in a statement.

“I am fortunate to be under a wonderful doctor’s care and thankful that this was caught early,” Etheridge says in the statement. “I am looking forward to a quick and full recovery.”

The artist had North American dates in support of the her latest Island album, “Lucky,” scheduled through the end of the month. Refunds will be available at point of purchase.

It is unclear if Etheridge’s illness will affect her work on her upcoming ABC sitcom, in which she stars as a gay woman raising the daughter of a friend with her straight male roommate.

Source billboard.com.

Jay-Z is headed to the big screen in the Paramount Classics documentary film “Fade to Black,” which opens Nov. 5 in U.S. theaters. The rapper is the star, narrator and an executive producer of the film, which centers on his all-star concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Nov. 25, 2003.

Other artists who appear in the concert footage include Beyonc

British music magazine Q said in its October issue that there’s another band that’s ready to follow The Pixies’ return to the stage: the classic lineup of Pink Floyd. So far though, a rumor is all there is to the story.

Q is the only print source that’s even hinting at something in the air. According to the magazine, Floyd, with bassist/lyricist Roger Waters, will play a “series of lucrative shows next year.”

To do so, the members would have to set aside 20 years of differences. That includes acrimony left over following Waters’ 1986 legal action against his former bandmates. He sued guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason to keep them from using the band’s name without him. Waters lost.
A reunion tour of any significance could generate more than $100 million in gross revenues.
This isn’t the first time Pollstar has heard rumblings of Floyd’s return but in the past, the rumors all went south. During the last go-around, one reliable source told Pollstar it was false, adding one that Gilmour “didn’t need any more houses.” This time, the same source laughed out loud before putting the kibosh on the report.

One major promoter who would likely have involvement with a potential tour told Pollstar there was no information. Barbara Skydel of William Morris Agency, who has had longtime ties to Waters, responded to our inquiry by saying it was the first she had heard of the rumor.

Still, she contacted Waters’ manager for verification, then passed along to Pollstar that there was no truth to the rumor “at this time.”

According to fan Web site www.rogerwatersonline.com, Q recently published a special edition magazine devoted to Pink Floyd that included interviews with Waters and Mason. The Web site speculated the magazine may have used at least one of the two musicians as a source.

Source pollstar.com.