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Natalie Merchant

Neil Young Fans across the Globe have finally had their long wish come true. Four of Young

Noel Redding, the bassist for the Jimi Hendrix Experience died Sunday of unknown causes, he was fifty-seven. Redding was recruited by Hendrix

Phish’s live downloads site is expanding its offerings and planning to make available all 10 shows from singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio’s upcoming tour in support of his recently released live album “Plasma” (Elektra). The site is offering pre-orders of each show for $9.95 as MP3 files or $12.95 as Shorten files, with the option to purchase the entire tour for discounted prices of $79.95 and $109.95, respectively.
Phish is also offering a similar package-discount for downloadable shows from its 12-date winter tour. The entire run is available for the price of 10 individual shows.
As previously reported, the group’s next batch of retail releases in its Live Phish series is due May 20. The four shows — 7/15/98 Portland, Ore.; 5/7/94 Dallas; 7/12/91 Keene, N.H.; and 12/29/94 Providence, R.I. — were chosen by bassist Mike Gordon, who employed an exhaustive process of reviewing his notes from more than a thousand possible candidates.
Source billboard.com.

Members of the Wailers will be accompanying Lauryn Hill on a few tracks on her follow-up to the 1998 breakthrough album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Hill has been producing the new record herself and the album is described to be more rock and soul than hip-hop. As or now, there are no official release dates for the record. Source Rollingstone.com.

The script for the long-awaited Tenacious D feature film, “Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny,” is about halfway complete. Shooting will hopefully begin by the end of the year for the film, which Lynch says “follows the stages the D had to go through, as well as one of their first character-building quests, to help prepare them to be the greatest band in the world.” Lynch says initial script ideas pitched from writers outside the D camp were “funny,” but failed to capture the comedy rock duo’s hard-luck essence. “Part of what is funny about the D is them being the underdogs and thinking they’re awesome, but you’re in the reality of what they actually are,” he says.
Music will naturally be a major part of the film, the soundtrack for which may double as the follow-up to Tenacious D’s 2001 self-titled Epic debut. “As we’re writing, we’re recording all these little crumbs of song ideas,” Lynch says. “There are obviously several musical scenes and some that are almost like a musical or a video. There are other scenes of them in their apartment working on a tune.”
Source Billboard.com.

Radiohead, the Flaming Lips, Jamiroquai, Diane Schuur, George Benson, Craig Van Morrison and Jethro Tull are among the many acts on display at Switzerland’s 37th annual Montreux Jazz Festival. Set for July 4-19, the event will feature most artists performing in three venues: Auditorium Stravinski, Miles Davis Hall, and Casino Barriere.
For the majority of the performances, each venue will host a musical genre for the evening, such as a rock’n’roll night with the Pretenders and Van Morrison at Auditorium Stravinski on July 19. Other themes include hip-hop with Gang Starr, RJD2, El-P & Murs, and the Streets July 5 at Miles Davis Hall and “Bireli Lagrene: Tribute to Django Reinhardt” with Philip Catherine, Christian Escoude, Didier Lockwood, and Martin Weiss on July 12 at Casino Barriere.
Source Billboard.com.

In the footsteps of Pearl Jam, Ben Harper plans on making a large number of his live performances available to the public. Harper has gone as far to say that practically every live performance may be available. Harper has access to the tapes and they are all categorized and organized in a library so all a fan has to do is write in and request the specific show of their choice. There is no specific date as to when this project will launch, but in the meantime Harper will soon be embarking on a summer tour with Jack Johnson.
Source Rollingstone.com.

The Tragically Hip

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