2003

Since their debut with 2000

The estates of late Doors vocalist Jim Morrison and his wife, Pam Courson, have filed an 11-count trademark-infringement lawsuit against original band members Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger, among other. .
The suit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that a new touring incarnation of the Doors — which includes keyboardist Manzarek, guitarist Krieger, and vocalist Ian Astbury (formerly of the Cult) — has “wrongfully misappropriated” the band’s name and logo, including reciting Morrison’s poetry during performances. The suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, claims that the defendants are in “a deliberate scheme” to enrich themselves and “confuse the public.”
The complaint mirrors a suit filed earlier this year by John Densmore, former drummer and co-founder of the Doors. The group is also facing a lawsuit from former Police drummer Stewart Copeland, alleging breach of oral contract.
The Doors short tour continues with a date tonight in Boston at the Orpheum.
Source Billboard.com.

High-quality design and simplicity of use are expected to be the hallmarks of the new digital music service from Apple Computer, to be unveiled Monday (April 28).
Label sources mention that the service is an a la carte download store — not unlike that of rival Liquid Audio — that is built into Apple’s iTunes player. No subscription is required for the service, and tracks are expected to retail for an average of 99 cents. Once purchased, tracks are transferred to the consumer’s iTunes music library and are automatically synched to the user’s iPod portable player.
Content can also be burned to CD. Credit-card information is stored on file in the store’s shopping-cart system so the consumer does not have to re-enter the information for each purchase. The offering is expected to be made available initially only to users of Apple computers.
As part of its announcement, Apple is expected to unveil content-licensing deals with all five major labels. The Apple service is also expected to feature music from high-profile acts whose repertoire has not previously been available for digital distribution.
Source Billboard.com.

Janes Addiction is hoping to release its first studio album in 13 years, “Hypersonic on June 24th. This will be the group’s first new album since 1990’s “Ritual de lo Habitual.”
Lead singer Perry Farrell is working hard to make sure “Hypersonic” is released before the July 3 kickoff of Lollapalooza, which Jane’s Addiction will headline. “We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us,” he admits. “We’re going from zero to mach 8!” He says Jane’s will be featuring quite a bit of the new material in its Lollapalooza set and is “going to play a certain amount of shows around the country and in the clubs to get heated up” before the festival gets underway.
“Hypersonic” picks up right where Jane’s left off in the early ’90s, powered by guitarist Dave Navarro’s signature licks, Stephen Perkins’ octopus-armed drumming, and Farrell’s high-register yelps. Among the highlights are the intense rock assaults of “Just Because” and “Wrong Girl” and the groove-rooted “The Riches,” which Farrell says “is about all the things in life that are truly enriching — and none of the subjects are stacks of cash!”
Source Billboard.com.

Backing up last year

Epic/Legacy will on May 13 release a 15-track compilation that collects songs from George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars, as well as a number of artists who worked with Clinton, including Bootsy Collins, Walter “Junie” Morrison, Jerome Brailey’s Mutiny, and Micro Wave. The album, “Six Degrees of P-Funk: The Best of George Clinton & His Funk Family,” features four cuts from the P-Funk All-Stars, and contains nine songs that have never before been released on CD in the U.S.
The selections from Walter “Junie” Morrison (“Love Has Taken Me Over,” “Rappin’ About Rappin’ (Uh-Uh-Uh)”), Mutiny (“Funk’n’Bop,” “Lump”), Philippe Wynne (“Never Gonna Tell It,” “Breakout’), the Sweat Band (“Freak To Freak”), and Micro Wave (“Instant Reply,” “Misunderstood”), have been long out of print, at least stateside. The set is anchored by P-Funk classics “If Anybody Gets Funked Up (It’s Gonna Be You),” “Funky Kind (Gonna Knock It Down),” “One of These Summers,” and “Pumpin’ It Up.
Source Billboard.com.

The Denver area’s renowned Red Rocks Amphitheatre is the subject and benefactor of a new CD compilation to be distributed through Best Buy. All proceeds from “Red Rocks Volume I: Carved in Stone” — which features songs by Indigo Girls, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, the Allman Brothers Band, Blues Traveler, and more — will go to the Preserve the Rocks Fund, which is dedicated to the restoration and upkeep of the venue.
“Carved in Stone” features 10 songs recorded between 1994 and 2002 and also include contributions from Rickie Lee Jones, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, String Cheese Incident, and Little Feat. Seven of the album’s recordings are seeing their first-ever commercial release on the compilation.
Here is the track list for “Red Rocks Volume I: Carved in Stone”:
“Bittersweet,” Big Head Todd & the Monsters”The Best of What’s Around,” Dave Matthews Band”Ghost,” Indigo Girls”Simple,” Phish”Hate To Lose Your Lovin’,” Little Feat”Close Your Eyes,” String Cheese Incident”Give,” Widespread Panic”Alone,” Blues Traveler”Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” Allman Brothers Band”Company,” Rickie Lee Jones
Source Billboard.com.

Blues legend, BB King and his trusty sidekick Lucille are still going strong and will release Reflections, his first album in three years on June 10th. King celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of his first recording later this year. The 13 track recording contains 12 covers, including songs by Lonnie Johnson and Clyde Otis, as well as a remake of King

Dance clubs, concert halls and even outdoor festivals are in danger of being put out of business due to a new piece of legislation that passed in Congress on April 10th. According to the bill, any individual who owns or operates a venue where audience members are using drugs could be sent to jail or subjected to steep fines. The bill was tacked onto the Amber Alert Act, concerning child abductions

Wilco will be placing a new six-song EP available on their web site