News

Bonnaroo announced today the following additions to the Bonnaroo 2006 lineup:

Cypress Hill
Blackalicious
The Streets
Lyrics Born
deadboy & the Elephantmen
The Refugee All Stars
Electric Eel Shock

More announcements to the lineup will be made in the coming weeks. Complete festival information is available at bonnaroo.com

After several years of work, Paul Simon is finally ready to share his long-awaited collaboration with producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads) with the listening public. The 11-track project, dubbed “Surprise,” will be released May 9 in North America via Warner Bros. and a day earlier internationally.

Among the songs set to appear on “Surprise” are “Sons and Daughters,” “How Can You Live in the Northeast,” “Outrageous” and “Father and Daughter,” Simon’s contribution to 2002’s “The Wild Thornberrys Movie” which was nominated for the best original song Academy Award.

Guest appearances include guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Steve Gadd and pianist Herbie Hancock, whose 2005 album, “Possibilities,” featured a new recording with Simon of the latter’s “I Do It for Your Love.”

Source billboard.com.

Cho On Tour Razor-tongued funny woman Margaret Cho has shows planned in more than a dozen cities over the next few months, starting with Palm Springs, Calif., March 31.

She’ll make three stops in Florida in April, along with shows in New York, Indiana and California. Just one gig is booked for May, but she has several dates lined up in June and July at comedy clubs and theatres.

As political as ever, Cho recently performed at the Bring ‘Em Home Now! concert at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom, along with a long list of artists including Bright Eyes, Rufus Wainwright, Fischerspooner, Devendra Banhart, Peaches and surprise guest Moby.

Source pollstar.com.

Def Leppard and Journey are teaming up for a 34-date co-headlining run through North American amphitheatres, starting June 23 in Camden, N.J.
The tour, presented by VH1 Classic and Live Nation, will run for more than two months, finishing August 31 at the White River Amphitheatre near Seattle. More dates are to be added.

Source: pollstar

Beck has slowly begun announcing appearances at summer European festivals. He will also join Radiohead for an Aug. 22 show in Edinburgh, a pairing that is expected to be repeated several times this summer, with details to be announced.

For now, Beck’s lone North American dates are a May 27 show with the Decemberists in Bend, Ore., and appearances at the Sasquatch! festival in George, Wash. (May 28) and the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn. (June 17).

Beck is touring in support of his 2005 album, “Guero,” which debuted at a career-best No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 786,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Here are Beck’s tour dates:

May 27: Bend, Ore. (Schwab Amphitheatre)
May 28: George, Wash. (Sasquatch! festival)

June 17: Manchester, Tenn. (Bonnaroo festival)
Aug. 12: Oslo (Oya festival)
Aug. 13: Skanderborg, Denmark (Smukkeste Festival)
Aug. 19-20: Chelmsford/Staffordshire, England (V festival)
Aug. 22: Edinburgh (Meadow Bank Stadium; w/ Radiohead)

Source billboard.com.

The Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest

Sonic Youth will release its next album, “Rather Ripped,” June 13 via Geffen. As previously reported, the 12-track set is the band’s first to not feature longtime collaborator Jim O’Rourke since 1998’s “A Thousand Leaves.” Sonic Youth will support the set via several July dates with Pearl Jam and is also eyeing a run with the Flaming Lips.

“Rather Ripped” kicks off with the Kim Gordon-sung rocker “Reena” and in general offers more of a concise attack than on recent, more jam-oriented releases such as “Murray Street” and “Sonic Nurse.” Gordon is more of a vocal presence as well, singing lead on five tracks, including the gentle “Turquoise Boy,” which is dirtied up with bursts of noise at its conclusion.

Other highlights include Thurston Moore’s propulsive “Incinerate,” which seems evolved from the Sonic Youth classic “Teenage Riot,” and the Lee Ranaldo-sung “Rats,” which blends a dark Gordon bass grove with thick sheets of guitar.

“Some of it seems to be an extension of the last couple of records, but some hearkens forward into territory and also back to earlier, more dissonant and atonal stuff we’ve done,” Ranaldo told Billboard.com last fall of the new material. “There’s definitely some rocking songs and also some sound piece-y kind of things that are pretty interesting as well.”

Here is the track list for “Rather Ripped”:

“Reena”
“Incinerate”
“Do You Believe in Rapture?”
“Sleepin’ Around”
“What a Waste”
“Jams Run Free”
“Rats”
“Turquoise Boy”
“Lights Out”
“The Neutral”
“Pink Steam”
“Or”

Source billboard.com.

Ben Harper has drafted Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley as the support act for his summer North American tour, which will begin Aug. 10 in Phoenix and run through Sept. 14 in Knoxville, Tenn. Marley will be replaced by an as-yet-unnamed “very special guest” at an Aug. 11-12 stand at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre.

Also included in the itinerary is a Sept. 5-6 run at Rumsey Playfield in New York’s Central Park as part of the annual SummerStage festival. Harper is touring in support of his new Virgin double album, “Both Sides of the Gun,” which was released March 21.

Before the North American shows, Harper has touring on tap in Australia, Japan and Europe. For a full list of dates, visit his official Web site.

Built To Spill has postponed a spring tour that was due to begin April 11 in Minneapolis to allow frontman Doug Martsch time to recover from a detached retina. The trek will resume June 9 in Calgary, Alberta, and run through Oct. 21 in Lubbock, Texas. For a full list of the new dates, visit the band’s MySpace.com page.

Built To Spill will release its new album, “You in Reverse,” April 11 via Warner Bros. Two new songs, the nine-minute opener “Goin’ Against Your Mind” and “Conventional Wisdom,” can be streamed from MySpace.com.

Source billboard.com.

Award-winning experimental trio Dreadnaught will perform at the Music Hall in Portsmouth NH with acclaimed author Dan Brown (THE DA VINCI CODE) on April 23, 2006. The show is the latest entry in the NHPR/Music Hall-sponsored

Husband-wife duo, The Dust Devils were honored in Linden, Texas this weekend by winning 4 of the 5 Texas Music Awards for which they were nominated. Dust Devils’ founders Kevin Higgins and Barbara Malteze were presented with: Song of the Year (Walk On) written by Kevin Higgins; Vocal Duo of the Year; Female Vocalist of the Year (Barbara Malteze); and Album of the Year (Gathering Dust).

The Dust Devils also contributed 2 songs to the CD which received the “Founder’s Award” for Musical Event of the Year; “A Hill Country Christmas,” (produced by Stephen & Sue Ann Meyer of the Lodge Recording Studio in Marble Falls), benefiting Candlelight Ranch, a retreat for children with special needs, www.CandlelightRanch.org

“We can’t tell you how surprised and honored we are by all the awards that were given out to us,” said Barbara Malteze, “it just hasn’t hit home yet.” Kevin Higgins added, “As we go through life on this musical journey doing what we love, it’s a wonderful thing to receive affirmations from our peers. This weekend, that road took us to Linden.”

To view a complete list of award recipients, (including photos and audio) visit mytexasmusic.com

The five members of Sound Tribe Sector 9 will leave their California homes this spring for another musical road trip, with concerts booked throughout much of the U.S.

The hard-touring band, which blends live instrumentation with laptop grooves, will launch its latest trek April 6 in Santa Ana, Calif. They’ll head through Arizona and Texas to the South, winding their way up the East Coast by late April.

STS9 looks to head home after a May 6 Detroit gig, but the group will be back onstage in June at the two-day Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, Calif., as well as the Wakarusa Music Festival in Lawrence, Kan.

The band released a new album, ARTiFACT, last year, but STS9 fans know studio recordings are only the tip of the iceberg. The group offers live downloads, including dozens of full concerts from its recent winter tour, on its official Web site, sts9.com.

Source pollstar.com.

Known for her raucous and theatrical live shows, the ever-elusive PJ Harvey will finally release her first-ever live DVD, PJ Harvey on Tour — Please Leave Quietly, on May 2nd.

The collection, directed by Harvey’s longtime video director Maria Mochnacz, features footage from the notoriously guarded rocker’s U.S. and European tours in support of 2004’s Uh Huh Her. In addition, Please Leave Quietly offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the construction of the live shows — from stage sets to sound checks — as well as the previously unreleased tracks “Evol” and “Uh Huh Her.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Swedish psych-rock outfit Dungen will be back in the U.S. this spring for its second major tour.

The band will do a week’s worth of West Coast dates coinciding with its appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival April 29-30.

A month later, they’ll return for a round of dates on the other side of the Mississippi, starting in Chicago June 2. More than a dozen shows are planned that month, including two gigs in Canada and a slot at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn.

The EARL in Atlanta will host the last show of the trek June 18.

Source pollstar.com.

Having recently performed in China for the first time ever, James Brown is ready for another round of blistering shows across the U.S. and Europe.

Backed by his nine-piece Soul General band and the General Sweet backup singers, the Godfather of Soul has dates booked throughout May from Oklahoma to New Jersey.

He’ll visit New York and Massachussetts in June before heading to Europe. Gigs are planned in half a dozen European countries, including an appearance at Ireland’s Oxegen Festival.

He’ll be back in the U.S. the following month, with a series of West Coast gigs planned into September. The last confirmed dates are mid-September shows in Missouri, Iowa and Indiana.

Source pollstar.com.

Two years since they reformed for the first time in more than a decade, the Pixies will reactivate for seven European shows in July. What happens after that is anybody’s guess, according to guitarist Joey Santiago. “It will be an organic process, I guess,” he tells Billboard.com. “After these shows, should we continue on? Should we let it rest? We really don’t know.”

For the upcoming gigs, which begin July 14 in Trencin, Slovakia, the Pixies “sought out places we haven’t been before,” according to Santiago. “We actually looked at a map while we were doing the last tour in Japan.”

Here are the Pixies’ tour dates:

July 14: Trencin, Slovakia (Pohoda)
July 15: St. Polten, Austria (Nuke)
July 16: Zagreb, Croatia (Salata)
July 19: Toulon, France (Voix de Gaou)
July 20: Lisbon (Atlantico)
July 21: Benicassim, Spain (Bennicasim Festival)
July 23: Carhaix, France (Les Veilles Charrues)

Source: billboard

Phil Lesh & Friends joins an already jam-packed lineup of artists for a headlining performance at the 4th Annual 10,000 Lakes Festival (10KLF) July 19-22, 2006 at the Soo Pass Ranch in Detroit Lakes, MN.

The perfect addition to 10KLF’s rich musical diversity, former Grateful Dead bassist and his band, Phil Lesh & Friends, perform on the Main Stage Friday, July 21, joining festival headliners Trey Anastasio on July 22 and The String Cheese Incident on July 20.

Drawing from a pool full of talented national, regional, and emerging acts, the 10,000 Lakes Festival seeks to be the nation

Vanderbilt University’s RItes of Spring Music Festival has added several artists to its already impressive lineup.

The latest confirmations include Ben Lee, Matt Pond PA, and Secret Machines, joining the previously announced My Morning Jacket, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Ben Folds, and Gov’t Mule and more.

Rites of Spring, a Vanderbilt tradition for more than 30 years, is set for April 21-22 on the Nashville campus.

Other artists on the schedule include Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Blue Merle, Cary Brothers, B Young, Old Union, and Hot Buttered Rum.

Source pollstar.com.

On May 16, Lotus will release their brand new CD The Strength Of Weak Ties. The new album combines the rock edge of live guitars and percussion with the synthetic bleeps and crushing beats of dance music – and it works to a stunning effect. In a live setting Lotus, plays every note on the spot and nothing is ever prerecorded. The improvisational nature of the live show leads to a spontaneity and excitement that just can

Ivan Neville