2003

More than two months before its planned June 10 North American release by Capitol, Radiohead’s upcoming album, “Hail to the Thief,” began appearing online in its entirety last weekend. Radiohead’s past two albums, “Kid A” and “Amnesiac,” were also were available online several weeks before street date, despite the fact that no advance copies were circulated and journalists were required to listen to them at the office of the band’s publicist.Early listens to “Hail to the Thief” reveal it to be just as experimental as “Kid A” and “Amnesiac,” which debuted at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on The Billboard 200. The band continues to dabble in electronic music on such tracks as “Backdrifts” and “The Gloaming,” but veers back slightly to the more guitar-centric sound of its earlier work on such cuts as opener “2+2=5” and “There There.” The latter track is due to arrive May 26 as commercial single internationally.
Radiohead begins a U.K. tour of theater-sized venues May 17 in Dublin.
` Source Billboard.com.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse have announced that their US summer tour will be with Lucinda Williams as the opening act. 26 dates are planned for the US tour with 16 confirmed right now, as the tour will launch in June and go through August. Noteworthy shows include a July 4th visit to Saratoga Center for the Performing Arts and a June 26th date at Madison Square Garden. Lucinda

Former Pavement front man and lyrical genius Stephen Malkmus will be hitting clubs across the US in support of his most recent release Pig Lib with his band

For anybody who wants to hear energy up close and personal, get ready for this. The Beastie Boys have announced that they will play a club show at the House of Blues in Las Vegas on April 25th. The show will serve as a warm up to the band

In case you missed getting tickets to the Tennessee Bonnaroo, there will be another one on the East wing of Long Island near the Hamptons. Superfly and AC Entertainment have announced Bonnaroo NE will take place August 8-10 at Enterprise Park at Calverton – Riverhead, New York. Bonnaroo NE is modeled after the original Bonnaroo, as it will be a camping-and-music festival, featuring several performance stages, and a unique lineup of major headline artists and high-quality emerging acts. The festival will be similar in purpose and set-up to the original Bonnaroo, with its own individual character.
More details, including confirmed artists, ticket prices, and the on-sale date, will be announced soon. Stay tuned to the mailing list and www.bonnaroo.com for updates.
Source Bonnaroo.com.

If you thought that drum circle in Golden Gate Park was big, time to step it up a notch as some big name drummers are ensembling a full scale drum event of a different kind.
Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick), Alan White (Yes) and Michael Derosier (Heart), are calling all drummers to Tacoma Narrows Airport in Tacoma, Wash., March 29 to make an attempt at setting a world record for simultaneous drumset playing.The event takes place from 1-3 p.m. and hopes to break the previous Guinness world record of 120 drummers drumming at one time. Each drummer is responsible for bringing his/her own equipment, which consists of at least a bass drum, snare drum, drum throne, hi-hat with cymbals and at least one tom, and a carpet or rug for the floor. In addition to their world record goal, the group is also raising money for the Rotary International’s Polio Plus program. All money collected will go to the program, which seeks to rid the world of Polio by 2005. Check out the rotary8.org Web site for full details and how to register for the event. There is a $10 entry fee.
Source Pollstar.com.

The White Stripes, whose upcoming release Elephant was given an illustrous five stars by Rollingstone will be making a small residency at the Late Night With Conan O

Singer-Songwriter Warren Zevon, who was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer last August with a warning of just a few months left to live, is making the most of his final days. He is currently putting the finishing touches on his final studio album, “My Dirty Life and Times.” Zevon plans to ad some more vocals over the next couple week to this record featuring a vast lineup of all-star talent. Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Emmylou Harris, and Joe Walsh have recently added their names to the list of contributors to the record. Other musicians on the album include: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Ry Cooder, Dwight Yoakam, Timothy B. Schmit, Jim Keltner, John Waite, David Lindley and Billy Bob Thornton. Capitol Records will reissue three of Zevon

Aston “Family Man” Barrett, the longtime bassist with Bob Marley & the Wailers, received the green light from London’s High Court to mount a claim over the band’s royalties, potentially worth millions of pounds.Barrett is suing Universal-Island Records Ltd and Island Def Jam Music Group, claiming that both he and the estate of his late brother, drummer Carlton Barrett, have not been paid years’ worth of royalties due to them under two recording agreements made in the 1970s. In the ongoing claim, Barrett says he and his brother, together with other members of the Wailers at various times, entered into partnerships with Marley on the basis that profits would be shared equally between Marley, on the one hand, and the remaining partners on the other.Therefore, he claims that Marley entered into recording agreements in 1974 and 1975 as their agent and they were party to those agreements, but Island and its parent Universal Music Group have failed to account to them for any share of the royalties they are due on the albums made under those agreements: “Natty Dread,” “Live!,” “Rastaman Vibration,” “Exodus,” “Kaya,” “Babylon by Bus,” “Survival,” “Uprising,” and “Confrontation.”
Source Billboard.com.