Archive: 2003

Star Wars: Clone Wars, a series of animated shorts featuring the epic battles often mentioned but never seen in the Star Wars films, is being prepped for its fall premiere on the Cartoon Network.
The first installment in the series, a collaboration between the AOL Time Warner-owned cable net and Lucasfilm, was previewed earlier this month at the Television Critics Association meeting, and buzz is building online for the ‘toons, which are being helmed by Genndy Tartakovsky of Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory fame.
Each Clone Wars adventure will run two-to-three minutes and focus on Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and their cohorts as they lead the Galactic Republic against evil armies of cloned troopers created by the Separatists. Put together, the strip tells one continuous story and includes tangents into minor characters’ stories as well.
Clone Wars is expected to debut November 9 and each episode will arrive at regularly scheduled intervals.
She says network programmers are discussing various options for how to roll out the ‘toons, but the likeliest scenario will see the cable channel present the first 10 episodes in the fall and another 10 in the spring.
The Cartoon Network is also talking with Lucasfilm about extending their partnership to include the possibility of creating a stand-alone Star Wars animated series.
Source yahoo.com.

Record producer Sam Phillips, who founded Sun Records in Memphis in 1952, helped launch the career of Elvis Presley, and usher in the rock ‘n’ roll revolution, died Wednesday of respiratory failure. He was 80.
Phillips produced Presley’s first record, the 1954 single that featured “That’s All Right, Mama” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” and nine more.
“God only knows that we didn’t know it would have the response that it would have,” Phillips said in an interview in 1997. “But I always knew that the rebellion of young people, which is as natural as breathing, would be a part of that breakthrough,” he said.
Phillips was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2000, the A&E cable network ran a two-hour biography called “Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock and Roll.”
Source yahoo.com.

A union stagehand from Auburn was seriously injured in the second major accident during preparations for Phish’s two-day concert taking place this weekend.
Douglas Born, 42, was working Tuesday night on the second-floor roof of some staging when he stepped off the side and fell 35 feet to the ground.
He sustained extensive internal injuries and was airlifted to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, said Stephen McCausland of the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Born, who was working for Great Northeast Productions Inc., producers of the Phish concert, was in serious condition Wednesday, according to Tammy Howes, a hospital spokeswoman.
The accident is being investigated by the Limestone Police Department and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
On Sunday, James Willox, a 43-year-old concert organizer from Dedham, Mass., died when his car struck an embankment. Police said speed and driver fatigue were the likely causes.
Source Boston.com.

You can call it Sarstock, as hundreds of thousands of revelers gathered Wednesday at a star-studded outdoor bash

Cypress Hill is eyeing a fall release date for their first Columbia album since 2001’s “Stone Raiders.” Taking a quick break from the studio, the group is out on its first headlining mini-tour of the U.S. in nearly four years. Cypress Hill is playing several club gigs under Miller Genuine Draft’s “Pure Night Out” banner.
The group spoke to reporters before the show about a wide range of topics, including the new album, its recently-concluded supporting slot on the European leg of Eminem’s Anger Management tour and recent FCC rulings that aim to further deregulate radio station ownership. Speaking out about media conglomerates, Cypress Hill’s B-Real said, “We understand it’s a business, but it makes it harder for bands to get out there and do their thing.”
DJ Muggs said the group’s live sets will feature a lot of old material, including some favorites fans haven’t heard in years. But don’t expect to hear a sneak peak of the forthcoming album. “It doesn’t seem like hip-hop audiences are up for that,” he said.
The group added that it was listening to a lot of mix tapes and hip-hop as it puts together the new record, but didn’t go into any detail about potential guest MCs. “We’re just making the same phat product using the chemistry that got us here,” Muggs said.
Source Billboard.com.

By Christmas this year, Napster’s enigmatic cat logo will again lure consumers into downloading music. But this time it will discard its file-sharing heritage and be entirely legal, with a wealth of new capabilities.Chris Gorog, chairman and CEO of Napster’s parent company Roxio, said the completely revamped service will launch under the name Napster 2.0 to emphasize the changes.
Users will be offered their choice of how to access the company’s 500,000 tracks, including buying individual downloads, paying for professionally programd Internet radio and subscribing to receive unlimited monthly access. These options and others can be mixed to suit personal preferences.”Napster 2.0 is being built from the ground up to reflect the essence of independence and innovation that the brand is known for,” said Gorog. “Consumers want flexibility, and for the first time they will not have to choose between downloads or subscriptions.”
He thinks the two different business models are “synergistic,” although Napster’s marketing strategy was likely to emphasize individual downloads in the beginning, he said. “They’ll get involved, and after downloading 10 or 12 songs they’ll realize a subscription is far greater value,” Gorog added. “That will be especially true once people realize they can drive their home entertainment system with this product.”
He said the service also will offer a significant amount of original programming unavailable elsewhere. “We’re talking about the best ways of bringing artists into the Napster studios in Los Angeles, having them do video interviews and laying down exclusive live tracks just for our customers.”Additionally, Napster 2.0 will include several features to help in the music discovery process and to build communities.
Source etonline.com.

The Stereophonics are back with their fourth – and some say most rocking album – and are out to make good on its title. You Gotta Go There To Come Back pretty much sums up the Welsh band’s tour schedule, which finds the trio taking on Japan, North America, Europe and the U.K. all before year’s end.
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Pearl Jam recently wrapped its Riot Act world tour, but a host of live releases are on tap for the coming months. On Sept. 16, the band will release complete concerts from July 8-9 at New York’s Madison Square Garden and a two-set, 45-song blowout taped July 11 outside of Boston.
As previously reported, Pearl Jam released CDs of each show from the tour exclusively via its Ten Club fan organization, although three performances were later made available through traditional retailers. The deadline to order individual shows from the Ten Club is Aug. 20; afterward, the CDs will only be sold in complete sets from the tour’s three legs.
Both Madison Square Garden shows featured 30 songs. The July 8 concert, which ran just shy of three hours, sported a guest appearance by Ben Harper on “Daughter” and “Indifference.” The July 11 gig was another Pearl Jam first, as the group played a 12-song, largely acoustic set prior to opening act Sleater-Kinney, then returned for a 33-song set packed with rarities.
On the visual front, a DVD of a March 1 show in Yokohama, Japan, is “incubating,” according to the band’s official Web site. The site says Pearl Jam is also compiling a comprehensive DVD of the Riot Act tour, shot by the same crew members who worked on the 2000 DVD release “Touring Band.”
Pearl Jam’s lone shows for the rest of the year will come in late October at Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit outside San Francisco. The band is considering going back on the road in 2004, including a trip to Europe, “but nothing is firm at the moment,” according to the site.
Source Billboard.com.

moe. has announced a number of new fall tour dates that wrap around the Southeastern United States, including two nights at the Orange Peel in Asheville, North Carolina.
The band will be playing two nights at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on October 31 and November 1, billed as “The Headbangers’ Left Ball: An Evening of Heavy moe.tal.

R&B singer/songwriter Erykah Badu will release her third studio album, “Worldwide Underground,” Sept. 16 through Motown Records. The set will be the follow-up to 2000’s “Mama’s Gun,” which has sold 1.2 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.
“Worldwide Underground” will be preceded by the lead single “Danger,” which will officially ship to radio in early August. The track was produced by Badu and co-written with R.C. Williams. Also set for the new disc is a collaboration with Lenny Kravitz titled “Back in the Day” and a remake of the girl rap trio Sequence’s classic hip-hop tune “Funk You Up.” The latter features Badu rapping with Queen Latifah, Angie Stone and Bahmadia.
Source Billboard.com.

Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, one of the crowned jewels of the National Park system, is in the midst of a sever forest fire. as firefighters started a defensive backfire Sunday in an effort to save buildings at Glacier National Park headquarters and more than 500 homes and summer cabins threatened by a 9,300-acre fire.
Evacuation plans had been prepared for residents of the park entrance town of West Glacier and for remaining workers at Glacier National Park’s headquarters.
The blaze near West Glacier was one of three major blazes in and around the park that had blackened 44,500 acres by Sunday.
Source CNN.com.

Perhaps arguably, the greatest sports feat ever, Texan Lance Armstrong equaled the record of five consecutive wins in the Tour de France when he crossed the line maintaining his overall lead in Paris Sunday.
The cyclist, who has come back from cancer, has vowed to go on for a record sixth consecutive victory.
He beat German rival Jan Ullrich by 61 seconds after 2,1125 miles staged over 23 days. He had never won by less than six minutes in his previous victories.
Armstrong smiled broadly and chatted with other riders as they rolled into Paris. The race’s final stage is traditionally a ceremonial ride where no one challenges the overall leader. Armstrong insists the problems that nearly cost him the Tour title this year will not be repeated.
“I don’t plan on being this vulnerable again next year, I really don’t,” Armstrong said Saturday, relieved to have scraped through a Tour that pushed him to the limits of his physical and mental strength.
Ullrich, the Tour winner in 1997 is a five-time runner-up in the race, including twice to Armstrong.
Ullrich’s challenge effectively ended when he crashed on the wet surface trying to trim Armstrong’s 65-second lead during Saturday’s individual time trial.
In that 19th stage, the 31-year-old Texan all but guaranteed himself a record-tying fifth straight Tour win, matching the mark set by Spain’s Miguel Indurain.
Source CNN.com.

Veteran Canadian rock trio Rush will release the triple-disc live album and double-disc DVD “Rush in Rio” in September via Anthem/Atlantic. The label is eyeing a Sept. 23 release for the sets, although the release date for the DVD may move.
“Rush in Rio” was recorded last Nov. 23 on the last show of the band’s Vapor Trails tour. The disc features 28 songs, ranging from staples such as “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight,” “The Spirit of Radio” and “YYZ” to newer album cuts like “One Little Victory,” “Earthshine” and “Secret Touch.” Said bassist Geddy Lee on his official Web site, “It was quite an evening with another incredible crowd and we managed pull off a pretty darn good performance to boot.”
The DVD version of “Rush in Rio” includes all 28 songs from the CD, augmented with a documentary with footage from other shows in the Brazilian cities Porte Allegre and Sao Paolo. Fans will be able to view the action from multiple cameras, and, according to Lee, will be treated to “extra stuff like pictures of Big Al [guitarist Alex Lifeson] at home in his pajamas and some other unusual things hidden in there somewhere.”
Rush has been inactive since the end of its last tour, but will regroup Wednesday (July 30) to play the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto benefit, alongside the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and Justin Timberlake.
Source Billboard.com.

The comedy duo – Cheech and Chong is reuniting after 20 years for a new feature set up at New Line Cinema that will catch up with Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong’s wacky stoner personas in the present day.The untitled project is in the early stages of development at New Line. Marin and Chong already have worked out a story line and will pen the script along with an additional writer to be recruited by New Line. Robbi Chong, one of Chong’s daughters, will serve as a producer on the project.”The world is ripe and ready for a new Cheech & Chong movie, especially considering they have a whole new generation of fans out there,” said New Line senior vp production Kent Alterman, who is overseeing the project alongside New Line production president Toby Emmerich. “They came in and told us that they’re ready to do something again, which we think is a great idea.”After parting company in the mid-1980s, Marin and Chong started talking about working together again about a year ago when they realized that there was a lot of Cheech & Chong-related merchandise being sold — particularly through the Internet — that they weren’t profiting from at all.
Source etonline.com.

Weezer is reportedly about to head back in the studio working on the follow up to 2002

Steve Winwood has announced plans for a fall U.S. tour, kicking off Sept. 18 in Austin, Texas, and wrapping Oct. 12 in Philadelphia. The outing comes in support of his first solo album in seven years, “About Time,” released on his own Wincraft Music label.
Visit Glide’s exclusive interview with Steve Winwood’s drummer Walfredo Reyes in our July issue.
Here are Steve Winwood’s tour dates:
Sept. 18: Austin, Texas (Stubb’s)Sept. 19: Austin, Texas (Austin City Limits)Sept. 20: Dallas (Granada Theatre)Sept. 22: Phoenix (Celebrity Theatre)Sept. 23: Temecula, Calif. (Pachanga Resort)Sept. 25: Los Angeles (Wiltern Theatre)Sept. 26: Las Vegas (the Joint)Sept. 27: Lake Tahoe, Nev. (Caesars Tahoe)Sept. 28: San Francisco (Warfield)Sept. 30: Salt Lake City (Kingsbury)Oct. 2: Denver (Fillmore)Oct. 3: Kansas City, Kan. (Uptown)Oct. 4: Chicago (House of Blues)Oct. 5: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Theatre)Oct. 8: Boston (Orpheum Theatre)Oct. 9: New York (Beacon Theatre)Oct. 11: Washington, D.C. (9:30 Club)Oct. 12: Philadelphia (Tower Theatre)

Rhino’s upgrade of Elvis Costello’s back catalog will continue with a staggering expansion of three early 1980s albums. Due Sept. 9 are two-disc versions of 1980’s “Get Happy,” 1981’s “Trust” and 1983’s “Punch the Clock.”
A total of 73 additional tracks have been added across the three titles, which only comprised 47 songs in their original incarnation. All were recorded with the Attractions — keyboardist Steve Nieve, drummer Pete Thomas and bassist Bruce Thomas — as Costello’s core backing band.
Each disc substantially grows from the mid-1990s Rykodisc reissues of the same albums. Those were part of a program to internationalize the titles in Costello’s catalog, making U.S. and European versions the same. Rhino’s distinguish themselves not only with additional bonus material, but keep the remastered original album on one disc, while adding a second to house outtakes, demos and live tracks.
Source Billboard.com.

In just under three years, Robert Randolph is already breaking new ground within music circles that thrive on forging ahead. His unique playing style is certainly bending the rules of the pedal steel guitar, and his live shows are often powerful occasions, but his gifts go further than the notes. By taking the celebratory spirit of his church beginnings, and moving it from the pews into the clubs, Randolph, along with the appropriately entitled – The Family Band- is unleashing a fresh brand of “positive soul rock,” that strives on making people feel good.

Welsh rock act Super Furry Animals, whose sixth album “Phantom Power” is due July 29 from XL/Beggars Group, will link with Modesto, Calif.-based rock outfit Grandaddy for a fall U.S. tour, due to kick off Sept. 18 in San Francisco.
Grandaddy’s fourth album, “Sumday” (V2) debuted last month at No. 84 on The Billboard 200. The critically acclaimed four-piece will co-headline with Super Furry Animals on the trek, which stretches through an Oct. 3-4 stand at New York’s Irving Plaza.
For a complete list of tour dates, visit the article at Billboard.com.

Air guitar has gone high-tech, as Hollywood Records is using CD entertainment technology from MusicPlayground to bring karaoke into a whole new sphere. “The World’s Greatest Air Guitar Album” is the first full-length commercial release to offer the bonus, which enables consumers to play an instrument along with 24 different anthems, including Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water,” Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Boston’s “More Than a Feeling.”
What makes this experience different from holding a tennis racquet while posing is MusicPlayground. Using either a computer keyboard or a separately available V-Pick “interactive guitar pick,” fans can play along with what the company calls an onscreen Rhythm EKG. This display shows cues and lyrics, turning consumers into a guitarist the same way a karaoke machine would make them a vocalist.
Source Billboard.com.