December 15, 2004

Beth Orton, Fatboy Slim, Mavis Staples, Billy Idol and, as previously reported, Aimee Mann, are among the first confirmed acts for the 2005 South by Southwest music festival. The event will be held in mid-March in Austin, Texas.

As previously reported, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant will deliver the keynote address and perform his first show in the United States since the summer of 2002. Staples will sit for a one-on-one interview in addition her performance. R&B vocalist Erykah Badu is also confirmed to speak.

Among the first discussions set for the conference portion of the festival are panels on digital rights collection, ringtones and satellite radio.

Source billboard.com.

Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes will launch two separate winter tours for their two upcoming full-length releases, I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (both due January 25th).

The first of the dates — beginning January 14th in Oberst’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska — will be in support of the largely acoustic I’m Wide Awake, which Oberst says is packed with tunes about “drinkin’, travelin’, love gained and love lost.” These include the tearjerker “Lua” and the gorgeous “Land Locked Blues” — one of three songs that feature Emmylou Harris. “We sent her the songs, and she said she liked ’em, and we were like, ‘No way!'” explains Oberst. “A few weeks later, we flew to Nashville and did it in one day. She’s super-rad.”

Dates for the second tour, also featuring Saddle Creek labelmates the Faint, is set for early May, with dates to be announced. These shows will focus on Digital Ash, which Oberst describes as the darker of the two records, dealing with “the fear of death and trying to move past that.” The album features string arrangements, heavy guitar from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner and electro synths on the single “Take It Easy (Love Nothing).”

Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning tour dates:

With Tilly and the Wall:

1/14: Omaha, NE, Sokol Auditorium
1/15: Minneapolis, State Theatre
1/16: Milwaukee, Pabst Theatre
1/17: Chicago, Riviera Theatre
1/18: Ann Arbor, MI, Michigan Theatre
1/19: Columbus, OH, Wexner Center for the Arts
1/21: Toronto, Phoenix Theatre
1/22: Montreal, Spectrum de Montreal
1/23: Burlington, VT, Higher Ground
1/24: Cambridge, MA, Sanders Theatre (Harvard University)
1/25, 1/26: New York, NY, Town Hall
1/28: Philadelphia, Academy of Music
1/29: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
1/30: Norfolk, VA, Norva Theatre
1/31: Raleigh, NC, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
2/1: Atlanta, Variety Playhouse

With Neva Dinova:

2/3: Miami, Olympia Theatre at Gusman Center
2/4: Tampa, Tampa Theatre
2/5: Orlando, House of Blues
2/7: Fort Worth, TX, Ridglea Theatre
2/8: Austin, La Zona Rosa
2/10: Phoenix, Celebrity Theatre
2/11: San Diego, Spreckles Theatre
2/12, 2/13: Los Angeles, Orpheum Theatre

Source rollingstone.com.

Advance ticket sales have been announced for a Ben Fold’s peformance at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on May 31st, 2005. Fans can buy tickets on Ben’s website starting Wednesday, December 15th — at 10:00am london time (that’s 5:00am new york time).

So far 13 dates have been confirmed through June 17, 2005 including shows in Germany and Scotland.

Tour Dates

6/04/05 berlin, germany columbia halle
6/05/05 koln, germany live music hall
6/07/05 glasgow, scotland royal concert hall
6/08/05 dublin, ireland vicar street
6/10/05 southampton, england guild hall
6/11/05 manchester, england lowry
6/13/05 sheffield, england octagon
6/14/05 leicester, england de montford hall
6/16/05 cambridge, england corn exchange
6/17/05 warwick, england arts centre

Thousands waited in line in near-freezing temperatures Tuesday night to pay tribute at a memorial service for slain rock star “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott.

Security was tight; guards used screening wands on grieving fans as they arrived for the public mourning of the former guitarist for the heavy metal band Pantera.

Messages such as “RIP Dime” and “Honk, honk for Dimebag, Peace in the after life” were scrawled on cars in the convention center parking lot. A high-pitched guitar solo blared from a pickup.

“A legend died on Wednesday night. I guarantee I’ll be telling my kids about this day and the day that he died,” said Skyler Smith, 18. “My heart was broken.”

Abbott, 38, was shot to death in Columbus, Ohio, while performing with his new band, Damageplan. Three others also were killed before police killed 25-year-old gunman Nathan Gale, described as an obsessed fan.

Fans cheered the arrival of flower arrangements in the shape of guitars and a display with the words “Crown the Moment, Crown Royal,” a reference to Abbott’s favorite brand of whiskey.

Michael Schaefer, 21, of Garland, and his wife both wore black Pantera concert shirts. “It’s still a real shock, the fact that it actually happened and the fact that someone would want to hurt him,” Michael Schaefer said.

Rick Cunningham, 48, a former lead singer for the Dallas band “Rage,” was among those who waited in the long line for the service — and one of a few who wore a suit and tie. He said he’d known Abbott for 20 years.

“It’s terrible, man. He was the nicest fella you would ever want to meet,” he said.

Abbott had formed Damageplan with his brother and drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott; the guitarist lived in nearby Dalworthington Gardens.

Source CNN.com.

After nearly waiting four year between their last set of albums, 2003

Sonic Youth will head to Japan for a five-date swing in March, beginning March 16-17 in Tokyo. Tickets go on sale Dec. 25. The group is also working on a host of projects for hopeful 2005 release, including a double-disc reissue of its 1990 major label debut for DGC, “Goo,” loaded with previously unreleased tracks.

Additional releases on tap include an expanded edition of the group’s 1982 self-titled EP, the next installment in its experimental releases for its SYR label and the first DVD appearance of the 1992 film “1991: The Year Punk Broke,” which chronicles Sonic Youth’s 1991 European tour with Nirvana.

Source billboard.com.