Archive: 2003

Cambridge, Mass., is going to be minus a venerable music venue come mid-September. House of Blues has announced the sale of their Cambridge location, throwing already scheduled concerts into a spin.
The venue will close on September 14, and thus the previously booked events will shut down with it. Although there is the possibility that some shows will be moved to other venues, nothing has been confirmed yet. Ticket holders can receive refunds at the point of purchase.
Affected shows include Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, The Bomb Squat Feat. Jen Durkin, Paranoid Social Club, Ari Hest, Dan Bern, Clumsy Lovers, Willie Porter, and Hot Tuna.
“The sale of our venue in Cambridge is a business decision that does not at all affect our commitment to the Boston area,” Dolf Berle of HoB said. “We have been in the Boston area for over 10 years and we will continue to have a very strong presence there.
“We are also actively looking for alternative creative spaces that will have the look, feel and scale that House of Blues fans have come to expect.”
Source Pollstar.com.

Producer and American Recordings head Rick Rubin is compiling tracks for a Johnny Cash box set that will consist largely of unreleased material the two have recorded together over the last decade. Operating under the working title Unearthed, the set could included Cash

Ratdog has announced the initial dates for their forthcoming fall tour. Featuring Bob Weir, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti, Mark Karan, Kenny Brooks and new comer

Primus has announced the dates of their fall tour, their first tour since winter of 2000. The tour begins October 15th in Las Vegas and runs through November 23rd in Toronto. This edition of Primus features Les Claypool, Larry LeLonde, and Tim Alexander.
For full fall tour date information visit Primussucks.com.

Over the course of four records, Sacramento, California based rockers Cake, have fashioned their knack by releasing intelligent, cynical, offbeat and one hundred percent eclectic rock and roll. From the hit singles, “The Distance” and “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” to their quirky arrangements of well known tunes, to continually surprising the ears of their listeners with novel sounds, Cake always remains fresh.

Rage Against The Machine’s final shows are the subject of the upcoming “Live at the Olympic Auditorium” CD and DVD, due Nov. 18 via Epic. The Sept. 12-13, 2000, gigs at the Los Angeles venue found Rage tearing through tracks from throughout its career, as well as covers of the MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams,” Devo’s “Beautiful World,” Cypress Hill’s “How Could I Just Kill a Man,” EPMD’s “I’m Housin'” and Eric B & Rakim’s “Microphone Fiend.”
“Live at the Olympic Auditorium” was originally intended as a companion piece to the 2001 DVD “The Battle of Mexico City,” but never saw the light of day.
Just a month after the Olympic Auditorium gigs, Rage frontman Zach de la Rocha quit the group, citing a “decision-making process [that] has completely failed.” He has been working on his solo debut with numerous collaborators ever since, although no release date has been set. The remaining members of Rage (guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Tim Commerford and drummer Brad Wilk) went on to join forces with Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell to form Audioslave.
The track list for the upcoming DVD is not yet finalized. A limited amount of CD/DVD combo packs will also be available.
Source Billboard.com.

The official Web sites of R.E.M. and Wilco will host a free Webcast of a concert by both bands Sunday (Aug. 31) in Missoula, Mont. The show is the first U.S. date on R.E.M.’s 2003 world tour, which kicks off its North American leg Friday (Aug. 29) in Vancouver.
The Webcast will begin at 9 p.m. ET and will be accessible to fans at Remhq.com and Wilcoweb.com.
Wilco is supporting R.E.M. through a Sept. 14 show at Morrison, Colo.’s Red Rocks Amphitheater. Other opening acts on the include Sparklehorse, Ed Harcourt and Pete Yorn.
Source Pollstar.com.

Beck is in the studio next month to begin working his eighth album, that is said to be a more aggressive follow up to his 2002 release

Late rock musicians Jimi Hendrix (news) and Duane Allman (news) lead the list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
Hendrix, who invariably tops such polls, received a glowing tribute from Who guitarist Pete Townshend (news), who wrote that he “made the electric guitar beautiful.”
Allman was hailed by the magazine for transforming “the poetry of jamming” with the Allman Brothers Band, the Atlanta rock group he founded with younger brother Gregg in 1969.
B.B. King, who turns 78 next month, came in at No. 3. “His string-bending and vibrato made his famous guitar, Lucille, weep like a woman,” the magazine said.
Clapton landed at No. 4, followed by Delta bluesman Robert Johnson. Rounding out the top 10 were Chuck Berry, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ry Cooder , Jimmy Page and Keith Richards.
The No. 100 spot went to Kim Thayil of defunct Seattle rock band Soundgarden. Townshend himself was No. 50. Two women made the list: Joni Mitchell (news) at No. 72 and Joan Jett (news) at No. 87.
The survey is featured in the next issue, which hits streets on Friday.
Source Yahoo.com.

Fans of seminal New York hard rock act Helmet will have a little something to celebrate later this year, when Universal releases a retrospective of the group’s three studio albums for Interscope. The set is due Nov. 4, although it’s unknown whether any rare or unreleased tracks will be included.
Contrary to a published report, the group, which split in 1999, has no plans at present to reform for a tour in conjunction with the retrospective. A management spokesperson for Helmet frontman Page Hamilton was unsure how the rumor began, but confirmed to Billboard.com that Hamilton is working on a new project with late period Helmet guitarist Chris Traynor, among others. The two musicians recently played together on tracks intended for Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale’s solo debut.
According to the spokesperson, Hamilton is no longer pursuing his band Gandhi, which featured former White Zombie drummer John Tempesta and Rob Zombie bassist Rob Nicholson.
Source Pollstar.com.