November 13, 2003

Hawaiian singer/songwriter Jack Johnson will headline a benefit concert on Jan. 3 in Oahu, Hawaii. The event will also feature performances by Michael Franti & Spearhead, DJ Logic, Makana and Amy Hanaiali’I & Willie K.
The goal of the concert is to raise funds for the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, which works to preserve Hawaii’s natural environment. Some funds have been earmarked to start school recycling and gardening programs on Oahu, in the hope that similar programs will eventually be implemented throughout the state.
As previously reported, Johnson has two releases on the horizon for Nov. 25 via his Brushfire label. The first is a DVD of the surfing film “Thicker Than Water,” which will be accompanied with a 14-track soundtrack featuring two newly recorded songs.
Johnson is in the midst of a tour of Australia and New Zealand, which hits Christchurch on Friday (Nov. 14).
Source Billboard.com.

Fans of veteran modern rock act the Cure will get a late Christmas present on Jan. 27, when Fiction/Elektra/Rhino releases the four-disc boxed set “Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years).” Frontman Robert Smith personally supervised the project, which will feature a 76-page booklet with track-by-track commentary from Smith and bassist Simon Gallup.
The 22-track first disc spans 1978-1987 and includes “Another Journey by Train” (the B-side to “A Forest”) as well as a version of “Lament” which was only available in 1982 on a single inserted in copies of the magazine Flexipop. Disc two is highlighted by “Sugar Girl” (the B-side to “Just Like Heaven”), alternate mixes of “Icing Sugar” and “How Beautiful You Are” and three different versions of the Doors’ “Hello I Love You.”
The third disc, collecting 15 tracks from 1992-1996, sports tunes contributed to soundtracks for “The Crow” (“Burn”) and “Judge Dredd” (“Dredd Song”), “Halo” (the B-side to “Friday I’m in Love”) and covers of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and David Bowie’s “Young Americans.”
Disc four rounds up 15 cuts from 1996-2001, such as an acoustic version of “Just Say Yes,” the import-only “Coming Up,” a cover of Depeche Mode’s “World in Your Eyes” and alternate mixes of “Wrong Number,” “This Is a Lie” and “Strange Attraction.”
Source Billboard.com.