2004

In the ever-evolving cast of the Dead, Joan Osborne (vocals) and Rob Barraco (keyboard/vocals) are out and jam band guitarist/singer extraordinaire Warren Haynes is in. The veteran player plans to remain active in both Gov’t Mule and the Allman Brothers Band in addition to performing with the dead.
In the midst of a Gov’t Mule tour, the new Dead lineup will debut Feb. 9 at the band’s second annual Winter Jam at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. The band is completed by Phil Lesh (bass), Mickey Hart (drums), Billy Kreutzmann (drums), Bob Weir (guitar), Jimmy Herring (guitar) and Jeff Chimenti (keyboards).
The Dead’s mail order ticketing (GDTS Too) offered a limited amount of tickets for the show, with orders closing yesterday (Jan. 20). Tickets go on sale Sunday to the general public through Ticketmaster.
The band’s official Web site says a summer tour will take shape in two legs, with the first launching in mid-June and lasting through July 4. The second leg will kick off late in July and run through August.
Gov’t Mule will kick off a tour Jan. 27 in Indianapolis, which will feature a mix of headlining shows and, as previously reported, dates opening for Kid Rock. In March, Haynes will be in New York for the Allman Brothers’ annual stand at the Beacon Theatre.
The Dead’s February 2003 show at the Warfield marked its official name change from the Other Ones. After several years estranged, the surviving principal members of the Grateful Dead — Lesh, Hart, Kreutzmann and Weir — reunited under that banner in summer 2002 with Herring, Chimenti and Barraco rounding out the lineup.
Contemporary blues artist Susan Tedeschi joined for several dates on the Other Ones’ 2002 fall reunion tour. Osborne signed on for the Dead’s 2003 Summer Getaway run, the second leg of which was a co-headlining bill with Bob Dylan.
Source billboard.com.

The nation’s record companies Wednesday sued another 532 people for illegally distributing copyrighted music over the Internet, stepping up their attack against online music piracy.
Record companies filed suits against 532 people for illegally distributing copyrighted music over the Internet. CNNfn’s Jen Rogers reports.
The move is part of an ongoing effort by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to protect the rights of record companies and songwriters, and to bolster the legal distribution of music online.
The U.S. recording industry filed 261 lawsuits last September against people it claimed have illegally downloaded and distributed copyrighted music.
Source CNN.com.

With the centuries-old revolutionary cry of “No taxation without representation,” a Vermont ski town wants to hop the border to neighboring New Hampshire. Town officials in Killington, Vermont, say they pay the state more than $20 million in taxes each year, and see only $1 million in state aid. New Hampshire, 25 miles to the east, has no income or sales tax.
“It kind of reminds us of colonial days,” Town Manager David Lewis told the Associated Press. “England wasn

Britain’s biggest-selling hiking magazine apologized Wednesday after its latest issue contained a route that would lead climbers off the edge of a cliff on Britain’s tallest peak.
The February edition of Trail magazine gives advice to walkers caught in bad weather on Ben Nevis in Scotland about how to make a safe descent.
But the magazine’s directions would instead lead readers off the north face of the 4,406-feet (1,322-meter) mountain, which is notorious for its changeable weather and has claimed the lives of several climbers.
Guy Procter, the editor of Trail, acknowledged the magazine had inadvertently erased the first of two crucial bearings needed to get off the summit. He said that happened during the editing process.
“I’m quite gutted at this mistake because we print up to 200 of these routes a year, and this is the first time we’ve got it wrong,” said Procter.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland issued an alert on its Web site about the mistake.
“Getting off Ben Nevis is probably one of the most infamous navigational tasks in the British Isles,” said council spokesman Roger Wild. Describing the mistake in the magazine, he said, “Anyone following that route in poor visibility and with snow cover could easily have walked straight off the edge.”
Procter said he was confident that the experienced walkers who make up most of Trail’s 36,000 circulation would not be endangered by the error.
“No Trail reader would countenance going out on any mountain without a map, and the route is given a high technical rating, serving further to deter the novice,” he said. “This gives me reason to be optimistic that our omission will swiftly be picked up by our readers.”
Trail was criticized by mountain rescue teams last year for claiming three popular hiking routes were snow-free in winter.
Source CNN.com.

Veteran West Coast rap outfit Cypress Hill returns March 23 with “Till Death Do Us Part” (Columbia), its seventh album and first since 2001’s “Stoned Raiders.” The set will be preceded next month by first single “What’s Your Number?”
“This is one of the first albums where everything just fell into place,” says front man B-Real in a statement. “Songwise, it just really came together,” he adds of the album, which features guest appearances by Mobb Deep’s Prodigy and Twin, Damian Marley and producer the Alchemist.
“What’s Your Number?” is a musical tribute to the Clash’s classic “Guns of Brixton,” with a backing track performed by a live band featuring Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. Other songs on the disc include “Can’t Stop the Gunshot,” “Latin Thugs,” “Smoke It Up,” “Street Wars,” “Last Laugh” and “Bang Out.”
Source billboard.com.

On the heels of a succesful collaboration late last year at Slim’s in San Francisco, John Popper is teaming up again with DJ Logic at a pair of shows in the New York-New Jersey area next month, billed as the “John Popper Project”. February 11th will be held at Suite 16 (127 8th Ave at 16th Street) and a February 12th show has been confirmed for The Conduit in Trenton, NJ.
Rounding out the lineup for the John Popper Project will be Tad Kinchla on bass and old friend Marcus Bleecker (of Mosaic) on drums in addition to Popper and DJ Logic.
Source bluestraveler.net.

After spending much of last year on the road – including several weeks with Neil Young – countrified folk-rocker Lucinda Williams is ready for more. She’s announced a new North American run, set to begin February 20 at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks, Nev., and continuing around the country through mid-March. Since 1998’s Grammy-winning Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, Williams’ popularity has skyrocketed, and she’s become significantly more prolific – releasing Essence in 2001 and World Without Tears in 2003, both on Lost Highway Records.
Source pollstar.com.

Always finding a way to keep busy, Warren Haynes is going to take Gov