News

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new $128 million home in the Time Warner Center is designed to be as fluid as the music itself, with stages that can be reconfigured and the city’s skyline as a backdrop.

“The whole space is going to be dedicated to the feeling of swing, which is a feeling of extreme coordination,” said trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who also is Jazz at Lincoln Center’s artistic director.

The Frederick P. Rose Hall, on the fifth and sixth floors of the Time Warner Center, a vertical mall that opened in February, won’t welcome paying crowds until October. But Lincoln Center officials held a news conference in the half-built facility on Wednesday to announce the lineup for the 2004-05 season.

“Our first season in our new home is going to include programs that cover a broad range of artists and styles and span the entire history of jazz,” Marsalis said.

The new concert hall, perched atop pricey restaurants and shops a few blocks south of Lincoln Center’s main site, will be the first in the world engineered specifically for jazz.

The ceiling at the Rose Theater, the largest of the three performance spaces with a capacity of 1,231, can be dropped, and the room can be “tuned” by adjusting velour curtains and banners, said Chris Darland, an acoustical consultant.

Towers of seats can be moved to offer the choice between “concert in the round” and proscenium theater configurations.

Source Launch.com.

To Tulsa And Back is J.J. Cale

THIS DAY IN MUSIC
Birthdays, break-ups, hits, and highlights.
Wed May 12, 2004

LATEST NEWS
Petty Gets Busy On New Album, Live Set
May 12
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Burning Brides Rise From The ‘Ashes’
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BMI Pop Awards Celebrate Brian Wilson
May 12
Billboard Bits: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tommy Stinson
May 12
Usher Unseats D12 From No. 1
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R&B Artist John Whitehead Shot Dead
May 12
Rapper Ras Kass Sues Priority, Capitol, EMI
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Rock Hall To Open In Arizona
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‘Time’ Is Right For New Milian Album
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Jessica Simpson Sets Summer Tour
May 11
Old 97’s Ride Again On ‘Drag It Up’
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Cowboy Junkies Show Their ‘Soul’
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Tynan Exiting Irish Tenors
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Billboard Bits: Pearl Jam, Paul Simon, The Who
May 11
Reprint permission

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. May 12, 2004, 3:20 PM ET

Billboard Bits: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tommy Stinson

Columbia/Legacy has set a June 1 release date for 14 remastered Bob Dylan titles, which first hit the marketplace last year as Super Audio CD hybrids. The remasters, which include “Blonde on Blonde,” “Blood on the Tracks,” “Highway 61 Revisited,” “John Wesley Harding” and “Bringing It All Back Home,” will be available in jewel cases as opposed to the digipaks that housed last year’s editions.

All titles will retail for $11.98 except “Blonde on Blonde” and “Blood on the Tracks,” which will sell for $13.98. The lone album that was part of the initial hybrid campaign that is not being made available next month is Dylan’s most recent studio release, 2001’s “Love and Theft.”

— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

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The film version of Neil Young’s latest album, “Greendale,” will be released June 22 on DVD via Sanctuary. The movie, which finds Young and friends bringing to life the characters described in the album, recently enjoyed a theatrical run in more than 40 North American cities.

The “Greendale” DVD will feature a documentary on the film’s creation, interviews with Young and the cast, behind-the-scenes footage, a live performance of album track “Be the Rain” and the full lyrics to the “Greendale” songs.

In late March, Young and Crazy Horse wrapped a run of dates supporting “Greendale,” including a three-night stand at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. The artist has not announced any touring plans for the summer.

Source billboard.com.

Jamming in the VIP section doesn’t put you above the law. At least that’s what Andy Dick discovered when he was busted for lighting up a joint at the Coachella music festival in Indio, California, last week, according to reports.

Dick was partying in an exclusive area near the stage on May 2, when he was spotted by a security guard lighting up. He was searched and the guard uncovered a small marijuana stash in a baggie.

Dick was handed over to the Indio Police Department, who cited him for misdemeanor pot possession of less than an ounce, removed his VIP wristband and kicked him off the concert grounds.

The funnyman was one of 29 people busted on the closing night of the two-day Coachella festival. Dick is scheduled to appear in Riverside County Superior Court on June 16.

Source Eonline.com.

Although they are not planning to tour this year, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers will instead be working on various projects, including a live album, a second “Greatest Hits” package and a new studio release. Due next year via Warner Bros., that set will be the follow-up to 2002’s “The Last DJ,” which debuted at No. 9 on The Billboard 200.

In an interview on the band’s official Web site, Petty says he and touring sound engineer Robert Scovill are working on narrowing the live
material to a double-disc release. “We did a live record in ’84 (“Pack Up the Plantation: Live!”) and I never thought it was the great live album that this band should put out,” Petty said. “So that’s kind of another project we have going, to get this live album recorded and out at some point. If it went really quick, maybe it would be out this year.”

Petty is also planning to release “Greatest Hits, Part II,” possibly augmented with new songs, in the months ahead. The group previously issued “Greatest Hits” in 1993 and “Anthology: Through the Years” in 2000.

As well, Petty has completed eight of 10 radio programs for a series titled “Tom Petty’s Buried Treasures” for the XM satellite radio channel. “It’s going to be hour-long shows of music put together by whoever,” Petty said. “It’s mostly old music with an eye to turn people onto stuff, especially younger people who might not have heard this stuff.”

In hopes of making available even more material to his fans, Petty also is planning to create a members-only area on the Web site. “There are so many hundreds and hundreds of bootlegs,” he said. “I would kind of like to make them authorized. Not all of my fans will want bootlegs, but for those who do, I want to have that musical outlet on the Web site.”

Source billboard.com.

Sony’s entry in the handheld gaming space might be a bit delayed in the U.S., but when it arrives, it’s going to have a tremendous amount of publisher support. Nearly 100 game publishers are making games for the PSP (or PlayStation Portable), which will be released in the U.S. early next year. (Sony plans to ship the device in Japan this holiday season.)

Sony’s PSP will have a tremendous amount of support in the U.S.
The first batch of games will have some familiar titles, including Metal Gear, SpiderMan 2 and Tiger Woods Golf. Electronic Arts, the gaming industry’s leading publisher, vowed to have four titles ready for the PSP at launch.

The PSP, which has roughly the same graphical quality as the PS2, is being targeted at an older audience than other handheld gaming machines, with Sony particularly eyeing 18-34 year old males.

“We know they buy more games with more disposable income,” said Kaz Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

The PSP will feature a 4.3-inch screen with a 16:9 widescreen ratio, come with built-in stereo speakers. It will support 802.11b wireless connections and have input ports for US 2.0 devices and Sony’s proprietary memory stick storage device.

Battery life will vary, depending on how the PS is used, Hirai said. Gamers should be able to play for roughly 10 hours before recharging the device’s lithium-ion battery. People using the PSP as a music player will be able to listen for approximately eight hours. And when it’s used as a portable movie player, the battery will last 2.5 hours.

Source CNN.com.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum plans to open a satellite museum early next year in downtown Phoenix.

The “on tour” museum will be housed in a two-level building near America West Arena and will remain for at least five years, becoming permanent if it’s well received.

Featuring traveling displays, rare items connected to artists and interactive educational exhibits, it could draw more than 100,000 visitors a year, organizers said Monday.

“It becomes one more little anchor to come downtown,” said Dale Jensen, a businessman from Paradise Valley who has been on the Cleveland-based Hall of Fame’s board for more than a year.

Source Launch.com.

Umphrey’s McGee’s new album, Anchor Drops will be released June 29th nationwide. The album is being released on SCI Fidelity Records/Hanging Brains Music, and will be distributed coast to coast and beyond by Ryko Distribution. This will mark the sixth release by Umphrey’s McGee, but the first that will be available in record stores around the country.

In support, the band brings their live show on the road this summer. Current tour dates include:

Thu May 20 Bendix Theater South Bend IN
Thu May 27 Shank Hall Milwaukee WI
Fri May 28 Harmony Park Geneva MN
Thu Jun 3 Piere’s Fort Wayne, IN
Fri Jun 4 Newport Music Hall Columbus OH
Jun 6 Belmont-Sheffield Festival Chicago, IL
Fri Jun 11-13 Bonnaroo Music Festival Manchester TN
Thu Jul 22 Smilefest Harmony NC

See umphreysmcgee.com for more info.

Yo La Tengo sure know how to keep busy. Last year, the band released a full-length album and an EP, and toured from March through October. They recently got back from a U.K. outing with Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, and now they’re suiting up for another round of U.S. dates.

The new tour begins May 24 in Vancouver, B.C., and ends June 11 with a stop at the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The band has set aside three nights in a row for San Francisco, where they consistently sell out multiple gigs.

Southern indie rock vets Antietam are set to support on the trek. Their new album, Victory Park, was just released on Carrot Top Records.

Source pollstar.com.

Willie Nelson has canceled concerts for the next two months to have surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome. The 71-year-old star was apparently in so much pain he couldn’t finish a show Saturday in Las Vegas. Nelson had 10 concerts scheduled for the remainder of May and June, including a June 12 appearance at the three-day Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn.

It is unclear when Nelson will resume touring. Among the events on his upcoming schedule include a June 26 show in Chicago’s Grant Park and his annual Fourth of July Picnic in Ft. Worth, Texas. That show is also tipped to feature performances by Asleep At The Wheel, Los Lonely Boys, Merle Haggard and David Allan Coe, among others.

Source billboard.com.