2003

According to a vague message posted on drummer Frankie Banali’s website, the 80s metal band Quiet Riot have apparently called it quits, although a DVD is still slated for release next month.
“There may be many of you who have questions as to the breakup of QUIET RIOT. There is nothing more I wish to add at this time other than I am disappointed that the band no longer exists. Beyond that, unless in the future I am given reason to make further comments, there is nothing further for me to say on this subject as I believe it to be inappropriate. I’d also like to add that it is my understanding that the QUIET RIOT DVD will still be released on October 7, 2003. Thank you for understanding.”
Source frankiebanali.com.

Instant Live and Coca Cola have teamed up with moe. to present the band’s fall tour. Now, all fans will have the chance at the end of each show to purchase soundboard CDs and walk away with them minutes later. Fans may note that this will not effect their regular taping policy, and know the band is excited to be the first to try this technology on a full-fledged tour.
Please check the tour page for participating shows.

The Disco Biscuits are bringing their New Year

The Flaming Lips will release a seven song EP called Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell on November 18th. It will be their second EP released this year following Flight Test, which featured Beck, Radiohead and Kylie Minogue covers.
The EP will include remixes of “Ego Tripping” and “Do You Realize?” as well as four new tracks including “A Chance at Christmas (Say It Isn’t So).”
Source Rollingstone.com.

Widespread Panic has announced plans for a two-night New Years run in Atlanta to close out the year before going on a previously announced indefinite hiatus. Claiming to be the only time fans can see the band in 2004, tickets are sure to go quickly.
All info can be found at the band’s website.

Wilco will be appearing with Sonic Youth on the new PBS show “Soundstage” this weekend. Sonic Youth’s performance will deliver the usual part rock, part free-form noise, part avant-garde punk delivery, featuring a new song “Sympathy for the Strawberry.” Following Sonic Youth, Chicago-based Wilco will take the stage with their blend of idiosyncratic pop sounds from their most recent album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Highlights include “War on War” and “Jesus.”
Check your local listings or go to wilcoworld.net for further details.

Phish will play a four-show run beginning Thanksgiving weekend, culminating in a 20th Anniversary performance at Boston’s FleetCenter on December 2.
The Boston show comes twenty years to the day of Phish’s first performance, at an ROTC dance on the campus of the University of Vermont. While the exact date has been the subject of some dispute over the years, carbon dating, diligent research and a little common sense confirmed that December 2, 1983 was indeed the date of the band’s first show.
At the end of December, Phish returns to Florida for a four-night run at American Airlines Arena in Miami, including a three-set New Year’s Eve show. The shows are the band’s first performances in Florida since their millennium festival at the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in 1999.
ticket info can be found at [url]http://www.phishtickets.rlc.net

A Perfect Circle, whose second album, Thirteenth Step, arrived in stores Tuesday (September 16), has announced its fall North American tour. The current lineup which features Tool singer Maynard James Keenan, ex-Marilyn Manson bassist Jeordie White (a.k.a. Twiggy Ramirez) and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, made its live debut this past summer on a short club tour and some Lollapalooza dates.
October 31 – San Antonio, TX – Freeman ColiseumNovember 1 – Houston, TX – Reliant ArenaNovember 2 – New Orleans, LA – Voodoo FestivalNovember 4 – Pensacola, FL – Bay Front AuditoriumNovember 5 – Birmingham, AL – Boutwell AuditoriumNovember 7 – Tampa, FL – USF SundomeNovember 8 – Pompano Beach, FL – Pompano Beach AmphitheatreNovember 9 – Jacksonville, FL – Moran TheatreNovember 11 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock LiveNovember 13 – Knoxville, TN – ColiseumNovember 14 – Memphis, TN – Mid-South ColiseumNovember 15 – Nashville, TN – Municipal Auditorium
Source launch.com.

Stephen King, brand-name writer, master of the horror story and e-book pioneer, is receiving this year’s honorary National Book Award for lifetime achievement medal for Distinguished Contributions to American Letters. The prize, worth $10,000, was announced Monday by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization that sponsors the awards.
“This is probably the most exciting thing to happen to me in my career as a writer since the sale of my first book in 1973,” King said in a statement issued by the foundation.
“I’ll return the cash award to the National Book Foundation for the support of their many educational and literary outreach programs for children and youth across the country; the Medal I will keep and treasure for the rest of my life.”
King, who turns 56 next Sunday, will be presented the award at the annual National Book Awards ceremony, on November 19.
Source cnn.com.

Political singer/songwriters Steve Earle and Billy Bragg will join ex-Rage Against The Machine/current Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello next month for the Tell Us the Truth tour. Timed to coincide with the start of the 2004 presidential race, the three-week tour of U.S. clubs is slated to kick off in early November. Due to scheduling conflicts, Earle won’t join the others until Nov. 11.
Before extending to the Northeast, the tour — which will also feature Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothers — will dip into Florida in time for the forthcoming World Trade Organization meetings in Miami, Earle tells Billboard.com. According to Earle, Morello, famed for his innovations and often unusual technique on the electric guitar, will be playing acoustic sets.
Earle says the tour is looking, quite simply, for more honesty and accountability from the mass media in their coverage of elections and the wars in Afghanistan and, especially, Iraq.
Source Billboard.com.