2004

As expected, the Pixies have begun booking dates for a fall North American tour, which will begin Sept. 4 in Bend, Ore. Only six additional shows are so far confirmed through a Nov. 24 stop in Toronto, with more expected. Some of the announced shows will go on-sale Friday (April 9) via Ticketmaster.

Concerts booked so far include a Sept. 6 appearance at Seattle’s annual Bumbershoot festival and a Sept. 18 visit to the annual Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas. Other dates will include the 4,600-capacity Fox Theatre in Atlanta on Oct. 14, and the 4,500-capacity Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on Nov. 13.

The reunited alternative rock act kicks off its first tour in 12 years April 13 in Minneapolis. After a May 1 appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., the group will head to Europe for headlining and festival dates through July 11.

As previously reported, the Pixies will sell instant authorized live recordings from the upcoming spring North American shows via DiscLive. It is unknown if the same set-up will be employed for the fall tour.

Here are the Pixies’ confirmed fall tour dates:

Sept. 4: Bend, Ore. (Les Schwab Amphitheatre)
Sept. 6: Seattle (Bumbershoot Festival)
Sept. 18: Austin, Texas (Austin City Limits)
Oct. 14: Atlanta (Fox Theatre)
Nov. 11: Minneapolis (Wilkins Auditorium)
Nov. 13: Chicago (Aragon Ballroom)
Nov. 24: Toronto (Arrow Hall)

Source billboard.com.

Bob Dylan appears in a new series of commercials for Victoria’s Secret, his grizzled face intercut with shots of model Adriana Lima cavorting though Venice in a bra, panties and spike heels.

Don’t worry. The 62-year-old Dylan keeps his clothes on.

Dylan’s song “Love Sick,” from his Grammy-winning 1997 album Time Out of Mind, provides the musical backdrop for the spot, which airs in 15-, 30- and 60-second versions.

It promotes a new line of lingerie, the “Angels” collection

Get ready to get reggae. The Marley Family Presents: Roots, Rock, Reggae tour is coming this summer, featuring the legendary Bob Marley’s sons Ziggy, Stephen, Julian and Damien.

The outing marks the first time that the Marley family has officially presented and collaborated on a major tour under their father’s name. The brothers promise to fuse music, art and culture with infectious Rasta vibes.

The tour will play approximately 20-25 cities and run from late July through early September, although no specific dates have been confirmed. Support acts have yet to be announced, but organizers are promising “a dynamic mix of reggae, hip-hop, ska, blues, alt-country, electronic and soul music.”

Each of the brothers has been performing since childhood. Ziggy, the eldest, has won several Grammys with his band the Melody Makers. He released his solo record, Dragonfly, in the spring of 2003. Stephen, a member of the Melody Makers, is due to release an album on the Motown label this fall. Julian’s Time & Place was released on Ghetto Youths / Tuff Gong last November. The youngest of Bob’s children, Damien, received a Grammy for his last album, 2001’s Halfway Tree.

Not another wardrode malfunction … feisty rock singer Alanis Morissette poked fun at Janet Jackson’s notorious breast-baring episode by stripping on stage to reveal cartoonish fake nipples and pubic hair.

Morissette, hosting Canada’s annual music awards, said the stunt, in which she appeared in a provocative skin-hugging body-suit was intended to expose US “censorship.”

The singer, renowned for her angst-ridden lyrics, told the audience at the Juno Awards in Edmonton “we live in a land where we still think the human body is beautiful and we’re not afraid of the female breast.”

Morissette let a dressing gown fall to the floor to reveal her “nudity” after an announcer warned : “we can’t show nipples on national TV,” in an obvious dig at US outrage fanned by Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the Superbowl.

“I am proud to be able to stand here and do this,” Morissette said, to wild cheers from the audience at Sunday night’s show.

Morissette then blasted US radio stations which have forced her to change the word “asshole” in one of her songs.

“They’re in an era when they’re scared, when there’s lots of fear,” she said.

The awards, Canada’s answer to the US Grammy’s, were dominated by Montreal rocker Sam Roberts, who picked up three awards.

Songbird Nelly Furtado won best single for “What you want” while singer Sarah McLachlan scooped best songwriter and hard rock band Nickelback walked away with the Juno for best group.

Source yahoo.com.

When Wilco superfan Ronen Givony downloaded a copy of the band’s fifth album, A Ghost Is Born (not due for release until June 22nd), from the Internet two weeks ago, he felt simultaneously elated and indebted.

The Boston-based Web master of bemydemon.org — a Wilco lyric site that singer Jeff Tweedy has occasionally consulted backstage in moments of forgetfulness — the twenty-five-year-old Givony transcribed the new songs’ lyrics and sent them to Tweedy with an apology for having the album early, a promise to purchase it when it is commercially available and a solicitation for lyric corrections.

After Tweedy complied, Givony dreamed up a unique way of showing his gratitude: the just-launched justafan.org, a site set up specifically for fans who download copies of the new Wilco album and want to show their appreciation by making a donation to the band-selected charity Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres. In less than a day online, with nothing more than word-of-mouth publicity, donations exceeded $1,500.

“If you have a community or a fan base that is vocal and has real enthusiasm for the bands and music they love,” Givony says, “a project like this can really work.”

The fact that the album was in circulation so early surprised no one, including Wilco manager Tony Margherita.

“How do I feel about the record leaking on the Internet?” he says. “Well, that’s a little bit like asking me how I felt about the sun coming up today. It’s an inevitable thing and not something we ever perceive as a problem. We were — to be honest — surprised it took as long as it did [about ten days]. Basically, once the first batch of promotional CDs began circulating at record companies and in the media, we knew it was just a matter of days. It’s just something you plan for and assume at this point.”

Margherita’s matter-of-fact approach to the downloading issue stems in part from the success Wilco had after streaming their previous album, 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, while it was in limbo during Wilco’s well-documented exit from Warner Bros. At last count the album had sold 440,000 copies in the U.S. alone, Wilco’s best-selling release to date.

“The band and I think this idea is great because it just underscores something we believe very strongly: that real music fans are prepared, even anxious, to prove their loyalty and support their favorite artists,” Margherita says. “They want to participate. These people are not the enemy . . . They’re the backbone of what we all do. Plus, we get to support a charity that we think is very important, and I’m certain that a vast majority of the people who are downloading the record are going to want the real thing when it comes out in June.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Although all dates are subject to change, The Grateful Dead Almanac has published the summer tour dates for The Dead