March 2004

One of the East Coast’s longest running and most important festivals, Smilefest, is celebrating its 10th anniversary with another diverse and impressive lineup. The 2004 edition, which takes place July 22-25 at Van Hoy Farms in Union Grove, North Carolina, features performances by the Derek Trucks Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, Steve Kimock Band, Burning Spear, Keller Williams, Tony Rice Unit, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Garaj Mahal, and many others.

Once again, Smilefest comes complete with a wide range of activities to complement the three stages of music. An expanded and improved children’s area fosters a family-friendly atmosphere, while the late night cartoon and film corral add entertainment possibilities for the grownups. Community activism also plays an important role at Smilefest, where structures will be built on-site for Habitat for Humanity and voters will be registered in an effort to increase participation in the democratic process. The annual campsite decoration contest will once again be in place, except this time it will be judged by campers themselves. Look for Smilefest’s expanded Web site to launch in the coming weeks. Union Grove, North Carolina, is located on I-77, 12 miles north of Statesville and 60 miles north of Charlotte.

The full list of confirmed acts can be found at www.smilefest.com.

A stellar lineup is in store for one of the biggest roots music events of the year, coming up this spring. This year’s Doheny Heritage Music Festival boasts headliners James Brown and Los Lobos, as well as a staggering array of living legends and contemporary stars.

Taking place May 22-23 in Dana Point, Calif., the affair will feature multiple stages and a delicious assortment of thematic food vendors. In addition to the aforementioned acts, Etta James, Lucinda Williams, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, The Robert Cray Band, Keb’ Mo’, Charlie Musselwhite, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Koko Taylor, John Mayall and more are confirmed for the weekend fest.

Source pollstar.com.

Tributes to musician Horace Silver and producer Tommy LiPuma will play a special role in the 25th annual Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, set for April 14-25 at venues around the city. A jazz and hip-hop experiment, as well as performances by Regina Carter, Joe Zawinul and Brian Auger, will figure in the event’s silver anniversary.

David Sanborn, Al Jarreau, Joe Sample and others will perform the music of hard bop pioneer Silver, who early in his career played with the likes of Stan Getz and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, April 16 at the Allen Theatre. The next night, the same venue will host “The Art of LiPuma,” with Diana Krall, George Benson, Dr. John and Jimmy Scott paying tribute to the Verve chairman and legendary producer.

Drummer Bill Ransom and DJ Logic will ream up with saxophonist Mike Phillips to present “Jazz Meets Hip-Hop, Part 2,” April 19 at the Beachland Ballroom.

The Sam Rivers Trio will perform April 15 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Carter’s April 22 show will be staged at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Joe Zawinul Syndicate’s April 23 show will inhabit the CCC Metro Auditorium, while Auger’s April 25 concert will take place at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

In addition to the many ticketed Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland events, the festival will also present free concerts at Tower City, the Beck Center for the Performing Arts and Karamu House.

Source billboard.com.

Musician David Crosby was arrested on marijuana and gun possession charges early Saturday at a Times Square hotel, police said.

Crosby, 62, a two-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had checked out of the hotel but left a piece of luggage behind, police said.

A hotel worker found the bag and went through it looking for identification, and called police after finding marijuana, a .45-caliber handgun and two knives, authorities said.

Crosby was met by police when he returned to pick up the bag, investigators said.

Crosby, a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, had been performing at the B.B. King Blues Club off Times Square and at Shea Auditorium in Wayne, New Jersey.

In 1985 he was convicted of drug possession in Dallas and spent a year in prison before his conviction was overturned on appeal.

Calls seeking comment from Crosby’s management company were not immediately returned Saturday.

Source CNN.com.

Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt principal Jay Farrar has begun selling the album “Live in Seattle” for download via his official Web site. The 15-track collection was taped July 24, 2003, at Seattle’s Showbox club and is available in both MP3 and FLAC formats. Downloadable artwork is included in the purchase.

Meanwhile, Farrar’s Transmit Sound label will on June 8 release “Stone, Steel & Bright Lights,” encompassing 19 live tracks from the artist’s 2003 tour. The album will feature two new originals and covers of Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane” and the early Pink Floyd staple “Lucifer Sam.” A bonus DVD will boast footage from a live show at Slim’s in San Francisco.

Farrar will begin a two-week European tour March 15 in Trondheim, Norway, to be followed by five May dates in Australia and New Zealand. He will be accompanied by the Blood Oranges’ Mark Spencer at all shows.

Source billboard.com.

Apple has a smash hit on its hands with the new iPod mini digital music player. The little cousin of the full-size iPod is virtually sold out after less than two weeks in stores, with nearly 100,000 snapped up.

“I’ve never seen a product line sell like this,” says Jack Wahrman, senior merchandising manager at New York’s J&R Music World. “The iPod is a phenomenon.”

The $249 mini is the business-card-sized market extension of the regular iPod, which, while larger, also easily fits into a pocket.

The bigger iPod starts at $299 with a 15-gigabyte hard drive – enough for 4,000 songs. The mini, which comes in green, pink, silver, blue and gold, is just $50 less. It has less storage room, 4 gigabytes – or about 1,000 songs – leading critics to charge initially that it was overpriced.

“Consumers have a different view on pricing,” says Mike McGuire, an analyst with tech research firm GartnerG2 and a mini owner himself. “When you actually see it and feel it, it’s amazing. It’s the size of a cool little mobile phone and really compelling.”

Bel-Air Camera, near the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, sold its allotment in one day, says sales manager Gregg Burger. “It’s frustrating. Everyone wants to buy it, and we can’t sell it.”

“The demand is incredible,” says Wahrman at J&R, who had 25 of the silver minis left in stock Thursday. Best Buy and Amazon, on their Web sites, said they were sold out. Savvy entrepreneurs were auctioning minis on eBay with starting bids ranging from $299 to $310.

On its Web site, Apple tells shoppers to expect a one- to three-week wait. “We’re asking people to be patient with us,” says Greg Joswiak, Apple marketing vice president.

It’s not a component shortage that’s causing the backlog. “We’re making and shipping them as fast as we can,” Joswiak says. He says teens are taking to the cool colors. And the mini is appealing to athletic fans, who like exercising with an ultralight device.

It took Apple six weeks to sell 120,000 of the original iPod when it came out in 2001. Apple has now sold over 2 million and has a 70.4% share of digital music player revenue, according to market trackers NPD Group.

Being sold out “creates a lot of buzz for Apple,” says NPD analyst Steve Baker. “But they can’t leave retailers hanging for too long.” Competitors Creative Labs and Rio Audio both have similar small MP3 music players selling for $199 and can benefit, Baker says.

Wahrman calls Creative’s MuVo2 “the iPod mini killer.” Like the mini, it also has 4 GB of storage. The Rio Nitrus is 1.5 GB. “I just got in the MuVo2 and sold my entire order the first weekend, all 540 of them,” he says.

Source yahoo.com.

Lenny Kravitz will return to the spotlight this spring with his seventh studio album, “Baptism.” The set is due May 18 via Virgin and will be preceded by the single “Where Are We Runnin’?,” which will be delivered March 29 to U.S. radio outlets for airplay consideration. “‘Baptism’ marks a musical and spiritual rebirth,” the artist says. “That’s what this album is all about.”

“Baptism” is largely a solitary undertaking for Kravitz, who wrote, produced, arranged and played nearly all of the instruments on the set’s 13 tracks. In his first foray into a hip-hop crossover, the artist teams up with rapper Jay-Z on the track “Storm.” Lionel Richie guests on the track “Destiny.”

Kravitz has tour dates lined up through July, including previously announced appearances on April 30 and May 1 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. From there, he heads to Europe for Holland’s Pink Pop festival on May 31 and 19 further headlining shows on the continent. The North American portion of the trek will begin in August and run through October.

Source billboard.com.

Sonic Youth has wrapped work on its next album, “Sonic Youth Nurse.” The set is due in June via DGC/Interscope and is the follow-up to 2002’s “Murray Street.” Like that album, it was recorded at the band’s Echo Canyon studios in lower Manhattan and produced by the band with Jim O’Rourke.

According to a source, the record makes further inroads into the classic-rock sounds Sonic Youth explored on “Murray Street,” which was recorded in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Sonic Youth has a handful of tour dates on the horizon, including a March 16 appearance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, and a previously announced benefit concert April 30 at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. The group will also be on hand April 3 for the U.K.’s annual All Tomorrow’s Parties festival.

The group is continuing work on its SYR series of experimental LP releases, with the next edition set to include a recording from the 2001 All Tomorrow’s Parties fest. An expanded reissue of Sonic Youth’s 1990 album “Goo” is also in the offing.

Source billboard.com.