September 2004

Beginning October 12, Nickel Creek and Howie Day are heading out on a co-headliner.

That’s right: the bluegrass phenoms are going to match forces with the pop sensibilities of Day. How in the heck did this creative packaging come about?

As it turns out, Creek got to see Day play last year at Boulder, Colo.’s Fox Theatre. The band’s mandolin player, Chris Thile – himself an awesome musician – stood at the front of the stage, watching in awe.

That’s not uncommon. Day recently mesmerized the audience at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, creating his own percussion by basically pounding on his acoustic guitar and playing back the recorded sound.

It also happens that Nickel Creek and Day are booked by William Morris Agency and the respective agents, Jay Williams in Nashville and Aaron Pinkus in Los Angeles, are friends who have talked about putting their bands out on the same bill.

It’s a hit already: both agents are reporting brisk ticket sales. The ticket price is at $25 or less in most markets, which is less than Nickel Creek charges on its own.

The tour should introduce the artists to new fans. Nickel Creek has a hipster bluegrass following and Day appeals mostly to the college set.This could be a battle of the musicians, and Pinkus speculated that these ringers might find themselves stepping up to the next level because of it.

The tour ends November 3 because Nickel Creek needs to go back to the studio to record their next album. If things go well, though, there may be another road trip in the summer.

The tour covers much of the East Coast, including Portland, Maine; Pittsburgh; Newport News, Va.; Philadelphia; Nashville; and Kansas City, Mo.

Source pollstar.com.

Tracks from 15 albums nominated for the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize will be culled for the first compilation stemming from the annual contest. Due Nov. 2 from Razor & Tie, “MTV2 Presents: 2004 Shortlist Music Prize Nominees” will include cuts from each of the 10 finalists for the honor, as well as tracks by “longlist” nominees Muse, Jem, Secret Machines, Caf

Although details were scant at deadline, Simon & Garfunkel are eyeing a Nov. 23 release for a DVD and deluxe CD chronicling their wildly successful Old Friends reunion tour. The sets will be issued by Warner Bros., which previously released Simon & Garfunkel’s landmark 1981 “Concert in Central Park.”

The Old Friends tour ended in Rome on July 31; no announcement has been made regarding the possibility of future dates. Paul Simon is at work on his next solo album with producer Brian Eno and will, as previously reported, perform Monday (Oct. 4) at the ACLU-sponsored Freedom Concert at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall.

Source billboard.com.

Ween has tacked on additional dates to its fall North American tour, with a new leg scheduled to begin Oct. 31 with a Halloween show in Boulder, Colo., and wrap Nov. 10 in Bloomington, Ind. The seven-date first leg runs from Oct. 8 in Girdwood, Alaska, to Oct. 17 in San Diego.

In the meantime, a post on the band’s official Web site reveals, “We have slowly started to prepare to begin thinking about talking about working on the new album and are very excited by the prospect of the talks. We’ve basically written and recorded a few songs and are moving forward on the record at our typically slow pace.” The next installment in the group’s self-released live series is also in the planning stages.

Here are Ween’s new tour dates:

Oct. 31-Nov. 1: Boulder, Colo. (Boulder Theatre)
Nov. 3: Tulsa, Okla. (Cain’s Ballroom)
Nov. 4: Lawrence, Kan. (Liberty Hall)
Nov. 5: Omaha, Neb. (Sokol Auditorium)
Nov. 7: Des Moines, Iowa (Val Air Ballroom)
Nov. 8: Madison, Wis. (Orpheum Theater)
Nov. 9: Cincinnati (Bogart’s)
Nov. 10: Bloomington, Ind. (Axis)

Source billboard.com.

U2 has confirmed the full track list for its upcoming album, “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” due Nov. 23 via Interscope. The set does not include the tracks “Tough” or “Full Metal Jacket,” which band members had previously mentioned as possible selections. Among the newly announced titles are “Miracle Drug,” “One Step Closer” and “Love and Peace or Else.”

The album’s first single, “Vertigo,” is already making a bomb-size impact at U.S. radio outlets. After just three days of airplay, the cut is expected to debut this week in the top 20 of Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top 30 of the Mainstream Rock Tracks tally.

At present, “Vertigo” is exclusively available for download via Apple’s iTunes Music Store. According to a spokesperson, the track ascended into the service’s top 10 within 24 hours and is now No. 1 on the list of most downloaded selections.

U2’s official Web site is hosting clips of the band performing “Vertigo” in its Dublin recording studio plus other exclusive footage of a recent photo shoot.

And while the band is not expected to begin touring until next spring, tidbits have begun leaking out about specific stops. According to Ireland’s Sunday Business Report, U2 will play Dublin’s Croke Park on June 26-27, with the possibility of a third show depending on demand.

Here is the track list for “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”:

“Vertigo”
“Miracle Drug”
“Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own”
“Love and Peace or Else”
“City of Blinding Lights”
“All Because of You”
“A Man and a Woman”
“Crumbs From Your Table”
“One Step Closer”
“Original of the Species”
“Yahweh”

Source billboard.com.

Following a brief European tour, Tom Waits has scheduled a lone U.S. concert date this year. The Oct. 18 show at Seattle’s Paramount Theater will be one of only two North American shows the artist has planned in 2004, the other coming Oct. 15 in Vancouver.

Because Waits has rarely toured in recent years, word of his performances has been met with overwhelming response from fans. The Vancouver show sold out in just nine minutes, according to a representative for the artist, while requests for tickets greatly outpaced availability for European theater stops in London, Antwerp and Berlin. Tickets for a Nov. 19-21 stand in Amsterdam will to on sale Saturday (Oct. 2).

Along with Waits’ new Anti- studio album, “Real Gone,” tickets for the Seattle show will go on sale as the clock strikes midnight on Oct. 5 at the city’s two Tower Records locations. Remaining tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. that day via Ticketmaster and the 2,800-capacity venue’s box office.

Waits, who will make a rare television appearance tomorrow (Sept. 28) on CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman,” will be backed on the road by bassist Larry Taylor, guitarist Marc Ribot and percussionist Brain. All three appear on “Real Gone,” Waits’ 20th album and fourth for Epitaph Records imprint Anti-.

As previously reported, the album was recorded in an old Mississippi schoolhouse and boasts appearances by Primus founder Les Claypool, Shotgun Messiah’s Harry Cody (guitar, banjo), as well as Waits’ son, Casey. It was written and produced by Waits and his wife/longtime collaborator Kathleen Brennan.

A larger U.S. tour in support of the set is possible in 2005, although nothing is yet confirmed. Waits last toured the country in 1999 in support of his Anti- debut, “Mule Variations.”

Source billboard.com.

Record producer Phil Spector was charged in an indictment unsealed today (Sept. 27) with murder in the shooting death of a B-movie actress at his mansion last year.

Spector, 64, leaned on the arm of his attorney as the indictment in the slaying of 40-year-old Lana Clarkson was read, but showed no emotion. Outside the Los Angeles court, he railed at prosecutors, comparing District Attorney Steve Cooley to Adolf Hitler.

“The actions of the Hitler-like DA and his storm trooper henchmen are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable,” said Spector, who remains free on $1 million bail.

He spoke only briefly in court, answering, “Yes, your honor,” to Judge David S. Wesley’s questions. Lesley set Dec. 16 as the earliest possible trial date.

Spector, creator of rock music’s “Wall of Sound” recording technique in the 1960s, suggested in an interview with Esquire magazine that Clarkson shot herself.

If he had been allowed a preliminary hearing, Spector said, his attorneys would have called to the witness stand three of the foremost forensic scientists and coroners in the world and each would have testified that Clarkson shot herself. Prosecutors avoided a preliminary hearing by taking the case directly to a grand jury, which returned the indictments.

District attorney spokesperson Sandi Gibbons said that was done in part to avoid any further delay in bringing Spector to trial for the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting. “It’s been almost two years since Ms. Clarkson was killed in Mr. Spector’s home and it’s time for a trial,” she said. “We believe there is a crime. We charged a crime. And that crime is murder. Nothing is politically motivated in this case.”

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. Spector could receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole if convicted.

The judge agreed to keep the trial in Los Angeles rather than move it to Pasadena, closer to Spector’s home in Alhambra. Attorneys for both sides expressed concern about the crush of reporters expected to attend it, and the courtrooms in Los Angeles are bigger.

Clarkson starred in Roger Corman’s cult film classic “Barbarian Queen.” She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip and went home from there with Spector the night she was killed.

Source billboard.com.