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Morrissey, Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth and String Cheese Incident are among the acts confirmed for the 2004 Lollapalooza tour, Billboard.com has learned. This year’s event will mark the debut of a two-day format and a more diverse musical lineup. Tour founder Perry Farrell will also be involved as a DJ or host, although his band Jane’s Addiction is not expected to be on the bill. Offers are also out to such acts as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Le Tigre and the Fire Theft.

“The only theme to the whole thing is eclectic music not driven by the commercial marketplace,” says Marc Geiger, the agent for Lollapalooza at the William Morris Agency, one of the founders of the festival. “Lollapalooza is different from year to year, if you look at it historically. Some years it was more indie, some years more dark.”

Two days means more bands, Geiger points out. “There are just too many great bands, and the one-day rock festival with 13 acts format has been co-opted by the radio shows,” he says. “What we’re doing is more akin to the great European festivals that originally inspired Lollapalooza, as well as [events like] Coachella and Bonnaroo. The two-day format will once again differentiate Lollapalooza from what everybody else is doing.”

Source billboard.com.

Hip-hop collective the Roots has set a June 29 release date for its next Geffen album, “The Tipping Point.” The album sports guest appearances from Jean Grae, Devin the Dude, Martin Luther, guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas, comedian Dave Chappelle and producer Scott Storch.

The Storch-produced first single “Don’t Say Nothin'” will be supported by a video that is currently in production. Other tracks earmarked for the album include “In Love With (The Mic)” featuring Chappelle and “Everybody Is a Star,” described as a “virtual duet” with Sly and the Family Stone.

Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson describes “The Tipping Point” as the “sum of our six records and our 12 years as a band. Most of our album titles are chosen to reflect on the mood of where the group is and we feel as though this album is our biggest step.”

The new set is the follow-up to 2002’s “Phrenology.” So far, the Roots have a handful of tour dates on tap, beginning April 8 in Las Vegas. They will also play the Sasquatch! Music Festival on May 29 outside Seattle and Holland’s Pink Pop Festival two days later.

As previously reported, the Roots recently launched their own label, Okayplayer Records. The inaugural release is slated to be a compilation featuring the Roots, Skillz, Jean Grae, Madlib, Aceyalone, Little Brother and Dilated Peoples.

Source billboard.com.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

Rumors have surfaced that The Rolling Stones are working on their first new album in seven years.

Comic actor Jack Black has been in cast alongside Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson (news)’s remake of “King Kong,” the director said Monday.

Black will play Carl Denham, an adventurer filmmaker who is trying to make a name for himself in 1930s New York. Robert Armstrong played the role in the 1933 original.

Watts is playing Ann Darrow, an American actress who makes a living performing in Broadway song and dance shows. The project, which will shoot in Jackson’s native New Zealand, is set up at Universal Pictures.

“I’ve been wanting to work with Jack Black ever since I saw him in High Fidelity,” said Jackson, who is also writing the remake along with his “Lord of the Rings” co-screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. “He’s a smart and versatile actor blessed with an abundance of energy and charm and I’m absolutely thrilled that he is joining us on ‘Kong.”‘

Black earned a Golden Globe nomination this year for his starring role in last fall’s hit comedy “The School of Rock.” His other credits include “Orange County” and “Shallow Hal.”

Source yahoo.com.

A number of Bruce Hornsby summer tour dates have been added, as he

Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer’s fall 2003 tour will be chronicled on the upcoming CD/DVD set “Music for Two.” Due April 27 from Sony Classical, the audio disc will feature the banjo virtuoso and the double bass master playing innovative original material and arrangements of largely classical works.

The album boasts 16 tracks the duo honed during their first duo tour in 2001, four of which can be traced to J.S. Bach. Four cuts are true collaborations between Fleck and Meyer, while others are solo compositions, such as Fleck’s opening “Bug Tussle” or Meyer’s closing “Wishful Thinking.” In addition, the pair interprets Henry Eccles’ “Sonata – Largo and Allegro Vivace” and covers Miles Davis’ “Solar.”

The DVD comprises a 40-minute film shot by Fleck’s brother, filmmaker Sascha Paladino. Along with performance and backstage footage, “Obstinato: Making Music for Two” also spotlights Fleck and Meyer in rehearsal and composition settings.

The pair will support the release with a brief tour in late May. Fleck and his progressive bluegrass act the Flecktones have a full slate of dates before and after that outing; the group plays Greenville, S.C., tonight (March 30).

Meyer and Fleck shared a 2001 Grammy award for best instrumental arrangement for “Dr. Gradus Ad Parnassum,” from Fleck’s Sony Classical debut, “Perpetual Motion.” The album reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Classical Crossover chart.

Here are Fleck and Meyer’s tour dates:

May 19: Carlisle, Pa. (Regional Performing Arts Center)
May 20: Washington, D.C. (Lisner Auditorium)
May 21: Glenside, Pa. (Keswick Theatre)
May 22: New York (Town Hall)
May 23: Cambridge, Mass.)Sanders Theatre)
May 25: Saint Louis, Mo. (Sheldon Concert Hall)
May 27: Aspen, Colo. (Harris Concert Hall)
May 28: Boulder, Colo. (Boulder Theater)
May 30: San Francisco (Herbst Theatre)
May 31: Palo Alto, Calif. (Stanford University)
June 1: Petaluma, Calif. (Mystic Theatre)

Source billboard.com.

Prolific singer/songwriter Ryan Adams is offering a three-track EP for sale via Apple’s iTunes download store. The “Moroccan Role” EP boasts the songs “Ah, Life,” “I’m Coming Over” and “Don’t Even Know Her Name.”

In addition, Adams’ two recent “Love Is Hell” EPs will be combined onto a single 15-track disc to be issued May 4 by Lost Highway. The EPs debuted late last year on The Billboard 200 at No. 78 and No. 171, respectively.

Adams has been sidelined since injuring his wrist in a Jan. 22 fall from a Liverpool, England, stage. “[I’m] currently doing stuff but its none of anybody’s business and get out of my yard before I hit you with a rake,” Adams says by way of an update on his official Web site, which also features post-operative pictures of his injury.

Source billboard.com.

On May 25, the Grateful Dead will release Rockin’ the Rhein with the Grateful Dead, a three-CD set that features the band’s complete concert on April 24, 1972 in Dusseldorf, West Germany.

Norah Jones, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam are among the artists who will take part in a pair of California concerts remembering late country rock pioneer Gram Parsons. Dubbed Return to Sin City: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, the shows are set for July 9 at the Santa Barbara Bowl and July 10 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.

Jones, Yoakam, Williams, Steve Earle and Jim Lauderdale are confirmed to perform. Artists who have been invited to take part include Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Beck, Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, Ben Harper, Starsailor and the Old 97s.

Jointly produced by House of Blues Concerts and Nederlander West Coast, the Return to Sin City concerts are being organized by Parsons’ daughter, Polly.

Tickets will go on sale May 8 via Ticketmaster. A portion of the proceeds from the shows will be donated to the Musicians’ Assistance Program. For more information, visit gramparsonstribute.com.

The legendary tale that followed Parsons’ death from a morphine and tequila overdose in September 1973 is the subject of the film “Grand Theft Parsons,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The movie relates the heist of the artist’s coffin from Los Angeles International Airport by his road manager, Phil Kaufman, and the subsequent a pilgrimage to the Joshua Tree desert to incinerate his body, according to Parsons’ wishes.

Starring Johnny Knoxville as Kaufman, as well as Christina Applegate, Michael Shannon and Marley Shelton, the film was released earlier this month in the United Kingdom and Ireland. For more information, visit its official Web site.

Source billboard.com.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

Wynton Marsalis, Natalie Cole, Lyle Lovett and David Byrne are among the artists confirmed to take part in the Janus Jazz Aspen Snowmass festivals this summer. The first of the events will take place June 24-27 in downtown Aspen, Col., while the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend (Sept. 3-6) festival will be staged at the foot of the nearby Elk Mountains.

The 14th annual June festival will feature Marsalis and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on June 24; Cole on June 25; Al Green, Lizz Wright and Yerba Buena on June 26; and Buddy Guy, Medeski, Martin & Wood and Yerba Buena on June 27. Additional free concerts will be held in Aspen’s Wagner Park, while small venue shows under the JAS After Dark banner will be held throughout the weekend.

At deadline, Lovett and Byrne were the only confirmed artists for the September Jazz Aspen Snowmass event.

In addition, weekly free concerts will be staged at the base of the Snowmass Ski Area, with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, C.J. Chenier, Marcia Ball, Kermit Ruffins, Otis Taylor and Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Boys confirmed to take part.

Daily and weekend festival tickets are already on sale to JAS Club members, and will go on sale Monday (March 29) to the general public via the event’s Web site.

Source billboard.com.

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Copyright 2004 Billboard

The surviving three MC5 members — guitarist Wayne Kramer, bassist Michael Davis and drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson — are planning to tour as DKT/MC5 with guest vocalists including Evan Dando, Marshall Crenshaw, Mudhoney’s Mark Arm, Radio Birdman’s Deniz Tek and the Hellacopters’ Nicke Royale.

The tour comes amid a ripe period of discovery of the politically minded, legendary pre-punk band. The Motor City rockers — singer Rob Tyner died in 1991 and guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith passed in 1994 — are at the heart of a pair of upcoming DVDs. First up is Sonic Revolution: A Celebration of the MC5, filmed at a London concert last year when the remaining MC5 members were joined on stage by Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, Ian Astbury, Royale, the Damned’s Dave Vanian and others. Also included on the DVD, due July 6th, is a thirty-minute documentary that includes interviews with Jack White and members of Primal Scream and Death in Vegas, along with footage taken by the U.S. Department of Defense, which kept tabs on the band during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

A second DVD, the documentary MC5: A True Testimonial, was scheduled for release in May, but it was recently put on indefinite hold because of publishing clearance issues. Testimonial includes film and television footage of the band, as well as interviews and testimonials from the likes of Cheap Trick, Blue Oyster Cult, Primal Scream and Kilmister.

The tour will kick off in June and make several North American stops (including a hometown gig in Detroit) before visiting Europe, Australia and Japan.

Source rollingstone.com.

Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, and Sammy Hagar have set June 11th in Greensboro, NC as the kick-off for America’s top rock band historic reunion, marking their first concert tour in more than nine years. Tickets will go on sale for select concerts of the nationwide tour on Saturday April 3, 2004, with pre-sale ticket information to be announced shortly. Additionally, Warner Bros. Records will be releasing “It’s About Time,” a newly recorded Van Halen track from the upcoming, best of Van Halen album scheduled for release this June.

Sammy Hagar was the Van Halen front man from 1985-1996. During that period, all Van Halen studio albums, 5150, OU812, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and Balance, as well as Best of Van Halen Volume I, went straight to #1 on the Billboard charts.

Van Halen has teamed up with iloveallaccess.com to offer the ultimate fan experience featuring a variety of premium ticket packages. Packages for the Greensboro, Hershey, Philadelphia, Worcester, East Rutherford, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Auburn Hills, St. Paul, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Las Vegas concerts will be available starting Tuesday March 30 at 10am ET.

For more details go to the band’s Web site at www.van-halen.com. Additional concerts will be announced shortly.

Rolling Stone Magazine has named their list of The Immortals

Elvis Costello will write a pair of books to be published by Simon & Schuster. The first will be “a series of intimate narrative chapters taking their cue from the styles, themes and characters found in a number of Costello’s lyrics,” according to the publisher. The as-yet-untitled volume is due in fall 2005.

The second book, a release for which is not yet targeted, will be “a work of comic philosophy.” That tome is already titled: “How to Play the Guitar, Sing Loudly and Impress Girls…or Boys.”

“There are few musicians with the range of Elvis Costello,” Simon & Schuster executive VP/publisher David Rosenthal says. “We’re excited about his unique and eclectic approach to present his life and artistry to the public.”

Source billboard.com.

Ireland’s most prominent West Coast-obsessed pop-rockers, The Thrills, are visiting the object of their desires once again. They’re raising eyebrows on both sides of the Atlantic with their catchy vocal harmonies and laid-back, country-rock feel, drawing less comparisons to countrymen U2 and Thin L

The band’s travels begin March 27 at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. They’ll sprint through most every region of the U.S. over the next two months, with several detours to Canada and a May 2 stop at the Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif.

They’ll appear with Phantom Planet on several April dates, and with Spymob in late April and early May. Just two days after finishing up their U.S. jaunt May 29 in Providence, R.I., they’ll head to the Netherlands for the Pinkpop Festival.

The Thrills’ debut album, So Much For The City, was recorded in San Diego and finds the band paying homage to many of their favorite West Coast locales on songs like “Big Sur,” “Santa Cruz (You’re Not That Far)” and “Your Love Is Like Las Vegas.”

Source pollstar.com.

Page McConnell’s side project, Vida Blue, featuring the Spam Allstars, will be playing three select dates on the West Coast in the beginning of June before their appearance at Bonnaroo. The dates are as follows:

Thurs, June 3 4th and B, San Diego, CA
Fri, June 4 House of Blues, Los Angeles, CA
Sat, June 5 The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA

The Jazz Mandolin Project featuring Jon Fishman will open all three dates.

Source phish.com.

Theta State Productions has organized Mediate: Collaborative Multi-media Art for a Cause to be held April 2nd at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Inman Square, Cambridge, MA., to benefit the Community Art Center, Inc. of Cambridge.

Based on a concept initially developed by Boston producer/musician/multimedia artist, Brian Knoth, this night integrates the work of many talented and creative friends. Scheduled performances include Slam Poetry, featuring Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo and The Cantab Revue, Theta State (w/members of Nikulydin) – Multimedia Performance Art and Boston’s Amun Ra will play a special acoustic set.

All of the performers are proud to be presenting the night at the Zeitgeist Gallery, a space that uniquely provides an alternative venue for collective projects and benefits such as this.

The Community Art Center is a 72-year old agency whose mission is to nurture children and young adults with limited access to financial resources so they achieve personal and cultural growth and have a positive impact on their world through joyful experiences in the arts. They provide comprehensive, year-round after school programs for over 125 youth annually who live primarily in public housing.

Details: Mediate: Collaborative Multi-media Art for a Cause

Hollywood Records has announced a July 13 release date for Together We’re Heavy, the highly anticipated second album from The Polyphonic Spree. In stark contrast to The Spree’s debut, The Beginning Stages Of…, which was recorded in two days and only intended as a demo to help the young group book gigs, Together We’re Heavy is the result of over a year’s work in the studio by the band and producers Eric Drew Feldman (Frank Black, Sparklehorse, Tripping Daisy) and The Speekers. The substantial advances in songwriting and production on songs that have emerged as live favorites in the last year, including the anthemic “Two Thousand Places” and “Hold Me Now,” “Diamonds/Mild Devotion To Majesty” and the epic “When The Fool Becomes A King” mark the realization of this incredible ensemble. See below for a full track list.

Audiences will get a sneak preview of the new record during their upcoming tour with rock legend David Bowie. The much-talked-about road show begins March 29 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Dates have recently been added to the tour in New York, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Santa Barbara and Anaheim, California; see below for the full itinerary.

The group will also perform on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno on April 21 and will perform “Light & Day” during their appearance on the April 20 episode of the hit NBC-TV sitcom “Scrubs.” “We’re all huge music fans on ‘Scrubs’ and are always looking for interesting, organic ways to incorporate music into the show,” says “Scrubs” supervising producer Neil Goldman. “When a bunch of us got a chance to experience The Polyphonic Spree live, we immediately sparked to the idea of not only featuring their music, but the band itself. We’re a show that loves to push the envelope creatively, and obviously so does the group, so it seemed like a perfect match for us.”

Tour Dates Opening for David Bowie:

March 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Wachovia Center
March 30 – Boston, MA – FleetCenter
March 31 – New York, NY – Angel Orensanz Center *
April 1 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
April 2 – Ottawa, QC – Corel Center
April 4 – Quebec City, QC – Pepsi Coliseum
April 7 – Winnipeg, MB – Winnipeg Arena
April 9 – Edmonton, AB – Rexall Centre
April 11 – Kelowna, BC – Skyreach Place
April 13 – Portland, OR – Rose Garden
April 14 – Seattle, WA – Key Arena
April 16 – Berkeley, CA – Community Theatre
April 17 – Berkeley, CA – Community Theatre **
April 19 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl **
April 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre **
April 23 – Anaheim, CA – The Pond **
April 25 – Denver, CO – Budweiser Events Center
April 27 – Austin, TX – The Backyard
April 29 – Houston. TX – Woodlands
April 30 – New Orleans, LA – SaengerTheater

* headline date
** new Bowie date

See thepolyphonicspree.com for more info.

The top musicians, promoters, managers and media companies in the live music community have all pledged their support to HeadCount, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization that aims to register 100,000 new voters.

With the presidential election nearing, voter participation has become a unifying cause among musicians and their followers. Artists such as Bob Weir, a HeadCount board member and guitarist for The Dead, are calling on fans to exercise their fundamental rights as Americans to go to the polls.

“If every Dead Head in the state of Florida had voted in the last presidential election, it would be a very different world today,

Aretha Franklin was hospitalized over the weekend with an undisclosed ailment and remains hospitalized Monday, her publicist said. The hospital where she was taken was not disclosed. She turns 62 on Thursday.

“No other information on her illness is available at this time,” her publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn, said in a statement.

The Queen of Soul has energized audiences for more than four decades, is best known for her 1960s smash hit “Respect,” but she has had countless other hits, including “Chain of Fools” and “Baby I Love You.”

Franklin has won 16 Grammy awards, including a lifetime achievement award in 1990 and most recently, an award this year for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for the single, “Wonderful.”

Source cnn.com.