2004

Ratdog has added a number of east coast shows to it’s previously announced pring tour. These show will take place April 7-8 at Turning Stone Casino in Verona NY, April 9 at Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Mashantucket CT, April 11 at Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick MD, April 17 at, Westbury Music Fair in Westbury NY, April 22 at Hampton Beach Casino, Ballroom in Hampton Beach NH, April 23 at Orpheum Theatre in Boston, MA, and April 25 at Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield CT.

For more information and full list of dates visit ratdog.com.

R.E.M. will reissue their entire Warner Bros. catalog on February 15th, with each two disc set including the original album and a bonus DVD featuring the record remixed in 5.1 surround sound, as well as unreleased documentary and video footage.
The reissues span from R.E.M.’s 1988 Warner debut Green to this fall’s Around the Sun, and mark the band’s transition from indie favorites to one of the world’s biggest bands.

“These days, there are R.E.M. fans who think ‘Stand’ or even ‘Losing My Religion’ is the first song the band ever wrote,” bassist Mike Mills told Rolling Stone in 1991. “The people who listen to Top Forty are generally not R.E.M. record buyers — or they weren’t until the last year or two. It’s kind of surprising to listen to the fourteen-year-old girls call up and go, ‘How long have you been together? I like your first record.’ And it’s like ‘No, no. See, the first record came out when you were about one year old.'”

Typical of the bonus material is the extra disc for Out of Time, which includes the unreleased documentary Time Piece, a blend of band member interviews and commentary on songs from the album that made R.E.M. a household name.

R.E.M. finish their U.S. tour Sunday with a show at Albuquerque’s Kive Auditorium, before heading to Europe in January.

Source rollingstone.com.

Designed specifically for women and girls so their first day on a snowboard turns into a lifetime of riding fun, Women’s Learn To Ride (LTR) provides first-time riders with learning-specific equipment, smaller classes, personal attention and knowledgeable instructors that cater to the way girls learn. The goal of Women’s LTR is to make learning fun so girls return to the mountain and join the snowboarding lifestyle.

“The Women’s LTR Program is a perfect opportunity for women to add the fun of snowboarding to their lives in a comfortable, safe environment,” says Burton Global Team rider Victoria Jealouse. “For me, I need things explained and I want to fully understand something before I try it, and I think this might be a common thing for us girls. So, smaller instructor groups and more attention make a big difference. The chances are very, very high that after a day with Women’s LTR, women will be linking turns and laughing.”

Burton LTR products and programs have brought new riders to the sport since 1998, but have never catered specifically to women until now. To create this groundbreaking new program, Burton gathered a group of experienced women riders and girls who had never snowboarded before to help design and develop Women’s LTR. This season, Women’s LTR is offered at three resorts that will work with Burton to make sure girls and women have the best experience from day one.

Each of the three participating resorts will offer various promotions and special programs that will encourage women to get involved with the new Women’s LTR program. Every participant in women’s LTR will receive a journal, stickers and an issue of SG magazine to take home after her first day on the hill.

More specifics to come on each resort’s special offerings and launch plans surrounding this breakthrough new program for women.

Indie rock outfit Rilo Kiley just wrapped an extensive tour in support of its latest Brute/Beaute album, “More Adventurous,” but that hasn’t stopped frontwoman Jenny Lewis from keeping busy. The artist is at work on her as-yet-untitled solo debut, which will be released by Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst’s new Team Love label.

“Four days after we got back [from touring], I made this record in six days with [producer] Mike Mogis,” Lewis tells Billboard.com. “It’s a kind of soul record. I’m really excited about it.” According to a Team Love spokesperson, the set will likely arrive in the summer of 2005, as the fifth or sixth release on the imprint.

Until then, Lewis and Rilo Kiley have plenty on their plate. “We’re going to Europe with Bright Eyes in February, and I think to Japan with them as well,” she says. “We’ll come back and do another tour — we’re playing Coachella and Bonnaroo.”

“Then, hopefully my record will come out and I’ll tour with that before the year is over,” Lewis continues. “It’s a lot but it’s good. I get a little antsy when I have too much time off.”

As previously reported, guest spots by members of Rilo Kiley are sprinkled through Bright Eyes’ two new albums, “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.” Both sets arrive Jan. 25 via Saddle Creek.

Lewis also appears on singer/songwriter Ben Lee’s New West debut, “Awake Is the New Sleep,” due Feb. 22.

Source billboard.com.

With a mixture of hardcore punk, synthesizers, metal riffs, and dance-y noise-rock, Canadian duo Death From Above 1979 have teamed up with some of their label-mates for the Vice Records Tour.

But, the question remains as to why the pair have elephant trunks for noses in a drawing on the eerie cover of their debut album, You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine.

Answer: “We wanted our band to be like an elephant in your living room,” Jesse F. Keeler, DFA 1979 bass/synths player said. “That’s why we gave ourselves trunks.

And with that profound statement, Keeler and his partner, drummer and vocalist Sebastien Grainger, are trekking through North America with label mates the Panthers and Vietnam with dates spanning into early December.

The triple-threat will make several stops in DFA 1979’s homeland including, Quebec, Montreal and Ontario.

Following a break, the band will split from the Vice tour and resume dates in the U.K. scheduled through early February. They’ll end their stay in Britain with two dates at London’s Camden Palace and The Garage.

From there, the deadly duo has some Japan gigs on the books.
During a Canadian stint in October, the two-piece, along with Billy Talent and Metric sold out 12 shows in cities like Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and others.

DFA 1979 factoid: Besides the rumor claiming the two friends met in prison and now live in a Toronto funeral parlor, the guys apparently had a small run-in with a record label that put a cease and desist on their original name, Death From Above.

After Death From Above Records (aka DFA) – home to Black Dice and LCD Soundsystem – approached the band to change its name, the duo was forced to tack on the

Electronica veteran Moby will release his fifth studio album, “Hotel,” on March 14 internationally via Mute and March 22 in North America via V2. The 14-track set will be preceded by an as-yet-untitled single at the end of February. Moby played all the instruments on “Hotel” except the drums, and is joined on vocals by Lucy Dawn.

Two cuts are duets with unnamed collaborators, while two others are instrumentals. Moby is expected to tour in support of “Hotel” but no details have yet been unveiled.

Source billboard.com.