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Founding Gov’t Mule members Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals) and Matt Abts (drums) with now-permanent bandmates Danny Louis (keyboards) and Andy Hess (bass) performed Mule’s monumental 1,000th concert, Friday, April 16, at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco.

The group proved what ten years and a thousand shows sounds like with a seamlessly tune-packed, blues-drenched opening set. The second began with what seemed like a simple appearance by bassist Phil Lesh on “Lay of the Sunflower.” But this soon turned into an unexpected all Dead set as drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann took up the unusual two-kit drum set-up, and guitarist Bob Weir and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti also took the stage. during “Cryptical Envelopment.” Gov’t Dead, so to speak, dealt a powerful serving of “The Other One,” Wang Dang Doodle,” Sugaree,” “Viola Lee Blues” and a “Turn on Your Lovelight” closer.

Only the Mule crew returned for an extraordinarily jammed-out third set, marked by legendary New Orleans funk group the Meter’s Zigaboo Modeliste sat in on Robert Johnson’s “32-20 Blues” and Neville Brothers’ “Fiyo on the Bayou.” The show ended the only way it possibly could — with a rousing version of “Soulshine.”

Gov’t Mule will continue to celebrate with a Tenth Anniversary two-night stand at New Orleans’ Orpheum Theatre on Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1.

While honoring the band’s massive history, Haynes, Abts, Louis and Hess continue to look to the future. The foursome is currently assembling the first Gov’t Mule studio album since the addition of Louis and Hess as permanent band members. It will also be the first release since the extensive guest-gathering Deep End series and the first proper band-based recorded effort since founding bassist Allen Woody’s passing August 26, 2000. The recording is scheduled for an autumn 2004 release on ATO Records.

Meanwhile Warren Haynes’ solo acoustic album, LIVE AT BONNAROO (ATO Records), which documents the entire 16-song set Haynes performed at the 2003 Bonnaroo music festival, will be released June 8, 2004. The release features Mule favorites “Beautifully Broken” and “Fallen Down” and some exciting covers, like the glorious version of Radiohead’s “Lucky” and a redefining interpretation of U2’s “One.”

The Cure has nailed down a June 22 release date for its 13th studio album. The as-yet-untitled set will be issued by Geffen via producer Ross Robinson’s I Am imprint, to which the Cure signed last year after parting ways with longtime label Fiction/Elektra.

The Robert Smith-led band will perform the album’s yet-to-be-revealed first single April 30 on NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” the same day the quintet will be inducted into the Hollywood Rockwalk on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Two days later, the Cure will headline the second night of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. A North American tour is expected to run from late July to September with several up-and-coming support acts clearly influenced by the Cure’s sound, but a spokesperson stresses the lineup and routing are still being finalized.

Source Billboard.com.

The future of The Simpsons may be in jeopardy if the most recent contract dispute between the show’s actors and Simpsons network Fox continues to simmer.

Six actors who provide the voices for dozens of Simpsons characters–Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu and Comic Book Guy), Nancy Cartwright (Bart and Nelson), Dan Castellaneta (Homer and Krusty), Julie Kavner (Marge), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns and Smithers) and Yeardley Smith (Lisa)–are asking the network for more money. Currently, the stars make $125,000 per episode, and they’re looking for the powers that be to nearly triple that figure, to $360,000 per episode or almost $8 million a year for a 22-episode season.

Their other demand: profit participation, which is especially lucrative considering The Simpsons’ potential merchandising, syndication and DVD profits.

The group, which has banded together in the past to hit their bosses up for salary increases, kicked off the current brouhaha when they recently failed to show up for table readings for the show’s 16th season. Six episodes for the 2004-05 season, set to kick off post-baseball in November, are in the can, but the actors haven’t gone to the office for tapings in a month.

With negotiations still at an impasse earlier this week, Fox announced it would be forced to shorten the episode order for next season–which would definitely give fans a cow.

According to Yeardley Smith’s agent, John Kelly, however, Fox’s refusal to play ball with the actors is not just about money but is tantamount to a lack of acknowledgement of the actors’ contributions to the wildly successful franchise. Fox claims the figure is high, but the actors’ reps have estimated that Springfieldian saga has earned Fox and the show’s executive producers more than $2.5 billion since it debuted in 1989.

The Simpsons, the longest-running animated series in TV history, has averaged 11.5 million viewers this season. And, though that marks a drop of almost 2 million viewers from last season’s average, it’s still enough to make the series the cornerstone of Fox’s Sunday-night lineup.

Source eonline.com.

Madonna’s Maverick Records label, home to the Material Girl as well as Alanis Morissette and Michelle Branch, has lost $66 million since 1999, according to recently unsealed court documents filed by its adversary and partner, Warner Music Group.

The documents relate to the latest spat in the 12-year-relationship between Maverick and Warner Music, which was recently bought from Time Warner Inc. by an investment group led by Edgar Bronfman, Jr. Time Warner is also the parent company of CNN.

Last month, Maverick sued Warner Music for $200 million, claiming breach of contract and fraud. The Warner documents were part of a pre-emptive claim filed in a Delaware court asking a judge to find that the company had fulfilled its commitment to Maverick.

The documents claim that in order for Maverick to get out of its joint venture with Warner Music, which is up at the end of the year, Maverick will have to pay $92.5 million, in addition to the value of Warner’s interest in the label. The price tag includes the $66 million in losses, a $20 million loan and $6.5 million in unrecouped fees.

According to Warner Music’s filing, if Maverick cannot raise the money needed to buy itself out the joint venture, Warner can convert the label into a “purely passive economic interest,” taking all control of the label away from Maverick. In this case, Maverick would reap no profits from the label until the losses were repaid.

A Warner Music spokesman declined to comment. Maverick could not be immediately reached. The label is gearing up for the May 18 release of Morissette’s first album in two years, “So-Called Chaos.” The following week, Madonna begins a world tour in Los Angeles.

Source CNN.com.

In celebration of both their music and their legacy, MC5/DKT (Davis, Kramer, Thompson) will begin a worldwide tour in mid 2004 that includes a stop in their hometown of Detroit as well as Japan, Canada, Europe, America and Australia. As they did in London last year, they will be joined by a rotating cast of guest musicians, making each show a singular celebration of the work of the MC5.

The tour coincides with the release of the DVD Sonic Revolution: A Celebration of the MC5, which includes footage from the 2003 Concert, a 30 minute documentary narrated by Mojo editor, Andrew Male, that traces the band’s history from their working class beginnings in 1960’s Detroit, through their controversial, politically charged and short lived career, into the present, and even US Dept of Defense footage of the MC5, taken from the government’s investigation of the notorious rock group during 1968’s Democratic National Convention.

Pioneering Washington, D.C.-based rock act Fugazi has begun selling 20 complete concerts from its archive online, under the banner Fugazi Live Series. Priced at $8 for a single-disc show and $10 for a double-disc, the performances run the gamut from Fugazi’s first show on Sept. 3, 1987, in D.C., to a May 7, 1999, appearance in Kilkenny, Ireland.

“These are very much the original recordings without any attempt to correct for things like volume changes, strange mixing effects, or the occasionally out-of-tune guitar,” reads a statement on the Live Series Web site. “Though the sound quality on these tapes does vary, if a show was too poorly recorded it didn’t make the cut.” The discs will be burned on-demand and will come housed in a “generic cover with concert information and a track listing.”

Fans can sample MP3s and view set lists from each show on the Web site. Fugazi’s members have been kicking around the idea for several years, but the concept finally came to fruition in the past few months, while the group enjoys a hiatus from recording and touring.

In related news, Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye’s new band, the Evens, will play May 1 at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. MacKaye has also launched the Northern Liberties label, to release “work that may seem obscure, but in MacKaye’s opinion speaks clearly to the point of music and expression,” according to its official Web site.

Source billboard.com.

Although it’s an election year, politically active singer Natalie Merchant is making time to focus on the music. The singer is doing a series of U.S. dates on both coasts this summer, beginning July 31 in Northampton, Mass., and continuing through late August.

It’s her first road trip since 2002, when she shared headlining duties with Chris Isaak on a cross-country trek. The singer, who keeps a busy schedule of social activism and volunteering, promises that this will be her only tour of 2004.

She’ll be accompanied by the same band that played on her most recent release, The House Carpenter’s Daughter. The album features Merchant’s interpretations of seven traditional folk songs and four covers by the likes of the Carter Family and Fairport Convention.

Source pollstar.com.

Liz Phair will headline the Chicks With Attitude Tour, which will visit 18 North American cities from August to early September. Other artists set to appear include Cardigans lead singer Nina Persson, Katy Rose and Charlotte Martin. Maybelline has signed on to be the tour’s sponsor; a preview show will take place May 3 at the Hudson Theatre in New York.

A tour spokesperson would not reveal exact dates, but confirmed the trek will visit the following cities: Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Providence, R.I.; San Antonio; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto; and Washington, D.C.

Persson and the Cardigans will launch their first U.S. tour in five years on May 8 in Hoboken, N.J. The group’s latest album, “Long Gone Before Daylight,” will be released May 25 in North America via Koch.

Newcomers Rose and Martin will be touring in support of their debut albums. Rose’s “Because I Can” was issued Jan. 27 via V2, while Martin’s “On Your Shore” is due Aug. 10 via RCA.

Source billboard.com.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

The New England based Wormtown Trading Company has announced the initial line-up of the Strange Creek Campout set for May 29-30, 2004. Taking place at Camp Kee-Wanee in Greenfield, MA, the roster includes Max Creek, The Breakfast, Strangefolk, Jiggle, Uncle Billys Smokehouse, Depth Quartet, Oak Street, Rev Tor Band, Dr. Juice, Gordon Stone Band, Josh Teter & The Late Messengers, Luke Patchen, The Brew, Ed

The music industry’s trade group has ended a program that offered to prevent people from being sued by recording companies if the downloaders admitted to illegally sharing music online, according to court documents.

The Recording Industry Association of America launched the “Clean Slate” program in September, when it embarked on a strategy of suing individual computer users for copyright infringement.

The program required individuals to acknowledge in writing that they shared music files online and then remove the files from their computers. In exchange, the RIAA pledged not to target them in its lawsuit campaign.

While hundreds signed up, critics dismissed the program, saying the trade group could not possibly guarantee that anyone who admitted to file-sharing would not be the target of a lawsuit.

In its motion, the trade group explained that it no longer deems the program useful because it considers the public educated or aware enough now to know that they could be sued for file-sharing. The RIAA added that the number of people stepping forward to participate in the program has slowed “to a trickle.”

Source launch.com.