December 10, 2003

Great White tour manager Dan Biechele and the Station nightclub owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian were indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter yesterday, stemming from the February fire that claimed 100 lives.
Each of the three faces 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter, and each pleaded innocent to charges, the first criminal counts handed down after the tragedy. The Derderians were freed on $5,000 bail each, Biechele posted $10,000 bail.
The fire started just moments into Great White’s February 20th show in West Warwick, Rhode Island, when the band’s stage pyrotechnics ignited soundproofing foam in the venue. The fire quickly consumed the Station; 200 fans were injured and Great White guitarist Ty Longley was among those killed. The band and the club’s owners offered differing stories as to whether the pyrotechnics were authorized.
Source Rollingstone.com.

My Morning Jacket are suiting up for a tour starting early January. Allowing themselves only a couple days to recover from New Year’s festivities, the Kentucky group will hit the road starting in Nashville and move on through the Southern and Midwestern states.
The Jackets join in the NME Awards Show fun February 5 in London when they, along with Junior Senior and Ima Robot, rock The Astoria. Other NME Award Shows taking place around the same week will feature Ryan Adams, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Thrice, Coheed & Cambria, Hundred Reasons, and Million Dead.
According to the band’s Web site, additional shows are expected to be added to the tour If you go to the band’s website, they’re offering tickets to U.S. shows in an effort “to reduce the high surcharges from other online ticket vendors and to offer more convenient ticketing options.” They also have presale information. The increasingly high-profile group signed with Dave Matthews’ ATO Records last fall and released their latest full-length album, It Still Moves, this September.
Source Pollstar.com.

Spring will bring what is said to be the last disc of previously unreleased recordings late Grateful Dead guitarist/singer Jerry Garcia made with his friend, mandolinist David Grisman.
Due March 23 from Grisman’s Acoustic Disc label, the 12-track “Been All Around This World” includes covers of songs by Bob Dylan, James Brown and Jimmie Rodgers’ “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest,” Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy” and Merle Travis’ “Dark as a Dungeon” and “Nine Pound Hammer.” Songs by George Jones, Freddie Hart and Mel Tillis are also featured, as are the traditionals “I’m Troubled,” “Handsome Cabin Boy” and the title track.
Source Billboard.com.