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Leftover Salmon are keeping true to their word to the late Mark Vann; the band is continuing to tour relentlessly, playing every type of venue and festival around.
Vann, a founding member in the group who passed away in 2002 after battling skin cancer, made the band promise to keep on trucking. And they have.
The new tour runs from the end of January, starting on the West Coast, through April, covering major cities West of the Mississippi – mainly mountain communities
For complete list of dates click pollstar.com.

“The Complete Far Side,” a two-volume, 1,250-page collection of 14 years of the iconic comic panels drawn by artist Gary Larson Was Just Released.
From the first panel on January 1, 1980 — a pair of crabs marveling at the odd appearance of human babies — to the last — a January 1, 1995, double panel in which the cartoonist wakes up to find it was all a dream — the “Far Side” ranks as one of the most popular comics ever.
Syndicated at its peak in 1,900 newspapers and translated into 17 languages according to media reports, “Far Side” was almost a traditional comic strip until Larson convinced his editors of the merits of a panel instead.
“I had a single-image brain; I drew single-image cartoons,” Larson wrote in an introduction in the book.
But summing up those 4,300 cartoons was not as easy as it might seem because once Larson agreed to help compile the retrospective, the process took three years.
“He had been away from it long enough that I guess he felt like it was time he could deal with it,” said Michael Reagan, chief executive of Lionheart Books. Reagan, who is based in Atlanta, worked with Larson to design the collection.
“I think in his mind he always knew he would do what we came to term ‘the legacy book,”‘ Reagan said.
Bound in two volumes (1980-1986 and 1987-1994), the collection features a foreword by comedian Steve Martin, and despite the relatively steep price of $135 (though it can be found for under $100 online), the book made the New York Times best-seller lists and it has garnered rave reviews.
Source CNN.com.

The lead guitarist for the rock band Rush skirmished with sheriff’s deputies, spat blood on one and was arrested on New Year’s Eve after his son refused to leave the stage at a fancy hotel, authorities said. Deputies said they had to use a stun gun on 50-year-old Alex Zivojinovich – known on stage as Alex Lifeson – for what they described as drunken, violent behavior at the Naples Ritz-Carlton hotel. Zivojinovich was still in Collier County jail early Friday. Also arrested were his son Justin Zivojinovich, 33, and his son’s wife, Michelle Zivojinovich, 30. Justin Zivojinovich said deputies broke his father’s nose.
The son said he went on the stage where the house band was performing so he could sing. “I was singing Happy New Year’s, that’s all I was doing, singing to the whole crowd. That’s all I said,

A judge has ruled that the bass player for the rock band Meat Puppets, who has been charged with assault, is a flight risk and a danger to others and must remain in custody.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia Mathis also ruled Wednesday that there is enough evidence to try Cris Kirkwood, 43, in connection with a December 26 incident at a Phoenix post office, said Harriet Bernick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kirkwood is accused of hitting a federal post office security guard in the head with a baton that the musician took from the guard during a struggle.
According to court documents, the guard then shot Kirkwood in the back. The incident began over a dispute about parking with another customer.
Kirkwood has been charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon at a federal facility.
Kirkwood was released from a Phoenix hospital on December 30 and was subsequently arrested.
Kirkwood and his brother Curt fronted the Meat Puppets, who had several hit records in the 1980s and 90s. They were cited as an influence for bands such as Nirvana and earned a gold record in 1994 for “Too High to Die.”
No trial date has been set.
Source CNN.com.

Dublin newbies The Thrills have continued to live up to their name. They’re topping many critical best-of lists for 2003 and were nominated for a prestigious Mercury Music Prize for their major label debut, So Much For The City.
Now, they’re giving fans on the other side of the great sea a little taste of their thrilling tunes. A monthlong tour of North American venerable music haunts is on the books, starting January 9. They also have a couple gigs in the U.K. at the beginning of February.
It’s not the first time The Thrills have been Stateside. In addition to a mini-tour last fall, they spent several months camped out in San Diego writing music for their album.
Much of the band’s sunny California pop sounds are owed to that session in SoCal. Hey, they’ve even got a hit single called “Santa Cruz (You’re Not That Far).”
Source Pollstar.com.

A multimillionaire skin-care maven wants to create a new national park in Maine, but local residents worry that wilderness protection measures will end the lifestyle their families have known for generations.
Roxanne Quimby, co-founder of Burt’s Bees natural care products, wants to buy as much land as she can in northern Maine to piece together a national park where hunting, snowmobiling, and logging would be off limits. “It’s my intention to donate this land to the people of America,” Quimby told the Portland Press Herald.
In November, 53-year-old Quimby bought more than 24,000 acres of forest east of Maine’s Baxter State Park. This land, which sold for $12 million, brings the total of Quimby’s land holdings to 40,000 acres, making her the second largest individual landowner in the state. With the recent sale of 80 percent of Burt’s Bees to an investment firm at a price of $179 million, Quimby is poised to increase her purchasing power. The ultimate goal is a national park that would cover 3.2 million acres of what some consider the most spectacular wilderness east of the Mississippi River.
The proposed national park is supported by a host of high-profile environmentalists

Bluegrass greats Del McCoury and Vassar Clements and progressive act Bela Fleck & the Flecktones are among those confirmed to play the 2004 Suwannee Springfest. Set for March 25-28 in Live Oak, Fla., the event will feature more than two-dozen acts on several stages at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park.
Produced by Magnolia Music & Events, Suwannee Springfest will also feature Guy Clark, Jim Lauderdale, Tony Rice, Donna The Buffalo, Peter Rowan, Psychograss, Verlon Thompson and the Laura Love Band.
Talent lineup and ticket information has not yet been announced for MagnoliaFest, which is slated for Oct. 21-24 at the same location. Clements, Rowan, Lauderdale and Leftover Salmon are among the artists who performed at the 2003 edition of the event.
Source billboard.com.

The VH1 special about the making of Warren Zevon ‘s final album, “The Wind,” will be released on DVD in March.
The album, which includes a cover of Bob Dylan ‘s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and the poignant “Keep Me in Your Heart,” was released to critical acclaim shortly before the singer-songwriter’s death in September. Zevon died at age 56 after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.
Jordan Zevon, executive producer of “The Wind,” says the DVD will show things that wouldn’t fit in the VH1 special and will include footage that shows his father’s personality.
“We got together with Artemis (Records) … and I went through all the tapes and tried to pick some extra tracks to put on there,” he told AP Radio in a recent interview.
“They’re all moments that are uncut. They’re not edited together for the sake of time and go from bit to bit. They’re actually just little moments in the making of the record.”
Warren Zevon has been nominated for five Grammy Awards including song of the year for “Keep Me in Your Heart.” The Grammys will be presented Feb. 8 in Los Angeles.
[i[ Source yahoo.com.

Interscope has penciled in a Jan. 27 release for “Unsung: The Best of Helmet (1991-1997),” a 21-track retrospective of the seminal New York hardcore act. Group leader Page Hamilton was involved in the selection of the songs, which include the 1997 Modern Rock Tracks chart hit “Exactly What You Wanted” and such staples as “Unsung,” “Milquetoast” and “Give It.”
“Unsung” also sports the House Of Pain collaboration “Just Another Victim,” from 1993’s “Judgement Night” soundtrack, plus the “Feeling Minnesota” soundtrack contribution “Disagreeable.”
Helmet split in 1999 after five studio albums. And while a published report in August claimed the group was eyeing a reunion, a management spokesperson for Hamilton refuted the claim to Billboard.com. Instead, Hamilton has signed a deal with Interscope for a new project, which includes late period Helmet guitarist Chris Traynor. As previously reported, the pair has also collaborated on tracks intended for Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale’s solo debut.
The group is targeting a May or June release for its Interscope debut, which will be supported by Hamilton’s most extensive set of live dates in some time. “Page is serious about working and returning to the live scene,” the spokesperson says.
Here is the track list for “Unsung”:
“Repetition””FBLA””Bad Mood””Sinatra””In the Meantime””Better””Unsung””Give It”Iron Head””Just Another Victim””Milquetoast””I Know””Rollo””Wilma’s Rainbow””Overrated””Like I Care””Disagreeable””Pure””Renovation””Driving Nowhere””Exactly What You Wanted”
Source billboard.com.

Meat Puppets bass player Cris Kirkwood was shot Friday by a security guard at a post office in downtown Phoenix, according to reports. Kirkwood underwent surgery for an abdominal wound at a local hospital and was listed in critical condition over the weekend.
Witnesses said Kirkwood got into an argument with a woman when they both tried to pull into the same parking spot. When Kirkwood continued to shout obscenities at the woman on the way into the post office, she reported him to the building’s security guard, who asked Kirkwood to leave the premises.
Back in the parking lot, Kirkwood reportedly refused to leave. When the guard took out his baton, Kirkwood grabbed it and struck him in the head. In self-defense, the guard then took out his gun and shot Kirkwood.
One of the most influential acts of the 1980s, the Meat Puppets soared to worldwide prominence during the modern rock revolution thanks to the 1994 album “Too High To Die” and an appearance on Nirvana’s legendary “MTV Unplugged” episode. The group was led by Kirkwood and his guitarist brother Curt.
Cris Kirkwood has reportedly battled substance abuse in the years since, and did not participate in the group’s last album, 2000’s “Golden Lies.”
Source billboard.com.