April 29, 2005

Celebrating their fourth consecutive year, Bockman (formerly Bockman

Singer/songwriter Nellie McKay is making progress on her as-yet-untitled sophomore album for Columbia. The artist tells Billboard.com she is eyeing a September release for the set, which will feature a duet with Cyndi Lauper on a track titled “Bee Charmer.”

The new album will be the follow-up to McKay’s 2004 double-disc debut, “Get Away From Me,” which peaked at No. 7 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and has sold 100,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

A DualDisc version of “Get Away From Me” was released last month, the DVD side of which features eight songs taped in November 2004 in San Francisco, plus the previously unreleased audio tracks “Teresa” and “John-John.”

McKay says she may play some shows this summer, but at deadline, there are only two performance on her schedule: tonight (April 29) in New Orleans and a May 23 benefit at New York’s Irving Plaza with Lauper and Natalie Merchant. “I don’t want to promote the record before it’s ready,” the artist says.

Proceeds from the New York show will be donated to the family of former Elektra Records employee Theresa Wilson, who died March 20. The event will also feature performances by Chris Whitley, Steve Forbert, Dan Baird and Sandra Bernhard

In the meantime, McKay has just sealed up her debut film role in “Safety Glass,” which will also star Mandy Moore, Amanda Peet and Michelle Williams. “I play a girl named Sue, who has a bit of a ‘Children of the Corn’ thing going on,” she reveals.

Source billboard.com.

Patti Smith will headline this summer’s Meltdown Festival at London’s South Bank Centre, which will run from June 11-26. The event will be highlighted by a complete performance of her acclaimed 1976 album “Horses” on June 25 at Royal Festival Hall, on a bill that will also feature the set’s producer, John Cale.

Smith will perform with several of the acts throughout the event, including Sinead O’Connor, Beth Orton and Kristin Hersh on June 18 under the billing “Songs of Innocence, Protest Songs and Lullabies.” She will also join My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields and Cat Power for a June 22 show at Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Tickets go on sale Thursday (May 5) via the event’s official Web site.

The only other live activity on Smith’s schedule comes Sunday (May 1), when she will revisit New York’s CBGB, the club at the center of the ’70s punk explosion she led with the Ramones, Television and Blondie, among others.

Here is the Meltdown festival lineup:

June 17: Rachid Taha, Patti Smith (Royal Festival Hall); Yoko Ono (Queen Elizabeth Hall)
June 18: Patti Smith, Sinead O’Connor, Beth Orton, Kristin Hersh (RFH); Billy Bragg (QEH)
June 19: Steve Earle and Patti Smith (RFH)
June 22: Patti Smith, Cat Power, Kevin Shields (QEH)
June 23: Bertolt Brecht tribute with Patti Smith, Marc Almond, Neil and Tim Finn, Antony & the Johnsons, Dresden Dolls, London Sinfonietta (RFH)
June 24: Antony & the Johnsons (QEH)
June 25: “Horses” performance with Patti Smith and John Cale (RFH)
June 26: Jimi Hendrix tribute with Patti Smith, Jeff Beck, Flea, John Frusciante (RFH)

Source billboard.com.

G. Love & Special Sauce, The Black Keys, Donavon Frankenreiter, Medeski Martin & Wood, Gomez, Ray Lamontagne, Toots & The Maytals, Jurassic 5 and Galactic, are among the artists who have been announced for this summer