2004

Sirius Satellite Radio has signed a deal with Phish, granting the service airplay rights to Phish’s extensive LivePhish.com archives of live music over their CD quality national satellite radio network.
Every note the band (and some of their assorted side projects) has played since LivePhish.com was launched on 12/31/02 (and every note they play in the future, as well as some old archival shows) will now be eligible for play on their jam channel, 17 Jam_ON. This includes full sets of music, which DJ Adam Foley plays every weekday at 6PM ET in a one-hour program called “Gone Phishin’.”
The LivePhish.com downloads make their debut on Gone Phishin’ next Friday, February 6th.
Listen online or subscribe to Sirius at Sirius.com. Purchase LivePhish downloads at LivePhish.com.

BADLY DRAWN BOY has completed his new album for release in April.
The Mancunian singer-songwriter, aka Damon Gough, went back to his roots for his third full-length album, to be called

In a message posted on the Wilco website – multi instrumentalist Leroy Bach has decided to leave the band.Amongst the departure of Wilco guitarist/keyboardist Jay Bennett in 2001, Bach began to play an important role in the band on rhythm guitar and various keyboards. Wilco is currently wrapping up work on their next record, their is no word on a replacement.

Soul singer James Brown was arrested Wednesday on domestic violence charges, authorities said.
Brown, 70, was booked into the county jail and was to appear at a bond hearing, said jail supervisor Nicholas Gallam.
Brown, who lives in South Carolina, served a 2 1/2-year prison term after a 1988 arrest on drug and assault charges and was convicted of a drug-related offense in 1998. He was granted a pardon by the state in May.
Known as the Godfather of Soul, Brown was honored last month at the Kennedy Center as “one of the most influential musicians of the past 50 years.”
Source CNN.com.

Keller Williams has added a simple way for fans to request specific tunesfor upcoming shows. By visiting kellerwilliams.net and fill out the little form, including date of the show you’ll be attending, and send it on through, you probably have as much control in setlist as Keller himself.

R.E.M.’s July 19, 2003, concert at Bowling Green in Weisbaden, Germany, is captured in its entirety on the DVD “Perfect Square,” due March 16 from Warner Bros. The 23-song set sports such performance rarities as “Maps and Legends” from the 1985 album “Fables of the Reconstruction” and the ancient non-album track “Permanent Vacation.” Prior to the 2003 tour, the former had not been played live since 1989, while the latter hadn’t been unearthed since 1984.
Also featured are “Bad Day” and “Animal,” the two new songs included on the recent best-of “In Time,” plus such R.E.M. favorites as “The One I Love,” “Orange Crush,” “Country Feedback” and the show-closing “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).”
“Perfect Square” is bolstered by the documentary “A Stirling Performance,” which chronicles the set-up for R.E.M.’s summer 1999 three-night stand in the small Scottish town of Stirling. The film features performance footage, behind-the-scenes clips and interviews with the band.
Meanwhile, work continues in earnest on R.E.M.’s next studio album, extensive sessions for which have already taken place in Vancouver. According to a post on the band’s official Web site, group members are in Athens, Ga., writing songs and revisiting some of the previously recorded material. Working titles include “Around the Sun,” “Wanderlust,” “Magnetic North” and “I Wanted To Be Wrong.”
“The band will be heading into the studio in the next few weeks,” the post continues. “We’re hoping for a fall record and hopefully will be touring some of the places we didn’t on the ’03 tour (and some of the ones we did).”
Source billboard.com.

The legacy of Seattle rock act Alice In Chains will be celebrated on a two-disc retrospective, “The Essential,” due March 16 from Columbia/Legacy. The 29-track album features the most well-known hits from the Layne Staley-led group, a stalwart of rock radio in the 1990s and an undeniable influence on such recent acts as Staind and Godsmack, the latter of whom is named after an Alice In Chains song.
Beyond familiar songs such as “Them Bones,” “Rooster,” “No Excuses,” “Heaven Beside You,” “Would?” and “I Stay Away,” the set sports two contributions to the 1993 “Last Action Hero” soundtrack (“What the Hell Have I,” “A Little Bitter”) that have been remixed by producer Toby Wright. Also included are two cuts from the group’s 1996 “Unplugged” release and the 1999 boxed set “Music Bank.”
Staley’s struggles with drug abuse had derailed Alice In Chains by the release of its 1995 self-titled album, the last it would record. He was rarely seen in public in the ensuing years and was ultimately found dead of a drug overdose on April 19, 2002, in Seattle.
Here is the “Essential” track list:
Disc one:”We Die Young””Man in the Box””Bleed the Freak””Love, Hate, Love””Am I Inside””Brother””Got Me Wrong””Right Turn””Rain When I Die””Them Bones””Angry Chair””Dam That River””Dirt””God Smack””Hate To Feel””Rooster”
Disc two:”No Excuses””I Stay Away””What the Hell Have I” (remix)”A Little Bitter” (remix)”Grind””Heaven Beside You””Again””Shame in You””Over Now” (unplugged)”Nutshell” (unplugged)
Source billboard.com.

Former Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan leader Billy Corgan has begun work on his solo debut, according to posts by the artist on his official Web site. “I am excited to work on this music, because for the first time in my life it will be my tunes with no compromises to anyone or anything,” he writes. “It’s gonna be loud and beautiful and poetic and dumb. Just the way I like it.”
While Corgan will be guiding the project, he alluded to participation from other artists. “I come in with no songs but maybe one or two, no lyrics, no band (but a few Santa’s helpers lined up) and no dairy,” he said. Perhaps in reference to long-standing rumors that he erased the studio work of his Smashing Pumpkins bandmates in favor of re-recording their parts himself, he said, “some would argue that it’s not my first [solo album], and I wouldn’t argue with you there.”
Zwan broke up less than a year after the early 2003 release of its Warner Bros. debut, “Mary, Star of the Sea.” This time around, Corgan says he is looking forward to “starting over from such a fresh perspective that there is nothing to rely on but my good name. I am being honest when I say I am ready for that and love the challenge and relish the mustard.”
Source billboard.com.

With a nomination for best score and two nods in the song category, “Cold Mountain” dominates the musical contenders for the 76th annual Academy Awards. Composer Gabriel Yared earned his third nomination for his score for the Civil War epic, while Sting and the team of T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello each earned song nominations.
Sting’s nomination for “You Will Be My Ain True Love” is his third Oscar nod. Burnett and Costello’s collaboration, “Scarlet Tide,” gives each his first nomination. Both songs are performed by Alison Krauss on the film’s DMZ/Columbia soundtrack.
Also nominated in the song category is “Into the West,” written by first-time nominee Annie Lennox in tandem with veterans Fran Walsh and Howard Shore, who have been nominated seven and three times, respectively. The Lennox-performed theme of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won the comparable honor at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards.
Rounding out the category is “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” from the folk music parody “A Mighty Wind.” The song was written by the film’s co-star and “Spinal Tap” alum Michael McKean and his wife, Annette O’Toole, and is the first nomination for each.
In the score field, Yared will go up against Shore’s formidable “Lord of the Rings” work, which won him the Golden Globe. Also nominated are Danny Elfman’s “Big Fish” score, Thomas Newman’s “Finding Nemo” work and James Horner’s music for the film “House of Sand and Fog.”
The final installment of director Peter Jackson’s trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” leads all films with 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and director. The seafaring epic “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” is close behind with 10 nominations, also netting best picture and director nods.
The best picture category is rounded out by “Lost in Translation,” “Mystic River” and “Seabiscuit.”
ABC will broadcast the Academy Awards Feb. 29 live from Los Angeles. Actor/comedian Billy Crystal will take his eighth turn hosting the ceremony, which will be held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Kodak Theatre.
Source billboard.com.