November 7, 2005

British singer and songwriter Phil Collins said on Sunday he would be open to a reunion of his old band Genesis, a day before he is set to perform in Israel as part of his what he calls his final tour.

“I’m open for it,” said Collins, 54, the most prominent international music star to perform in Israel since the start of a Palestinian uprising more than five years ago.

“I’m happy to sit behind the drums and let Peter (Gabriel) be the singer. If (a reunion) happens, I’ll be there. If it doesn’t happen … it would just be because there are too many things in the way,” Collins told reporters in Tel Aviv.

Collins’ concert on Monday in Jaffa, a quarter of Tel Aviv, is part of his “First Final Farewell Tour.” He said that he would stop touring “soon” in order to be able to spend more time with his family, but would like to continue to record music.

Collins said he wasn’t afraid in Israel, where Israeli-Palestinian violence has raged for more than five years, although attacks have largely decreased during the past year since a February truce. He performed in Lebanon a day earlier.

“I wish it wasn’t like this,” Collins said of the conflict. “I sit and watch stuff on the television, I think, ‘Why, why, why.”‘

Groups like progressive rockers Jethro Tull, boy band Westlife and metal bands Megadeth and the Scorpions, have performed in Israel during the uprising. Other artists, such as Madonna, have canceled planned concerts, though she visited Israel last year on a Kabbalah pilgrimage.

The progressive rock group Genesis formed in 1967 and were internationally successful for more than 30 years. Collins, the band’s first drummer, took over as singer after Gabriel quit the group in 1975 to become a solo artist.

Collins left in 1996 to concentrate on his own solo career having already scored solo hits in the 1980s with “Against All Odds” and “In the Air Tonight.”

After a shuffle of band members, including an Israeli drummer, Genesis finally called it quits in 1998.

Source yahoo.com.

Vorcza is set to release their second album, Corner of the Morning, at Higher Ground in South Burlington, VT on Dec. 9. The instrumental trio based out of Burlington, VT features Ray Paczkowski on keys, Gabe Jarret on drums and Rob Morse on bass. Corner of the Morning marks the recorded debut of Paczkowski as a singer and lyricist and also features Trey Anastasio on several cuts as well as other guests.

Vorcza will be playing a release party at the Higher Ground in Sout Burlington, Vermont on Dec. 9 which is also a benefit for Burlington- based homeless support organization COTS (Committee On Temporary Shelter). Vorcza will also be playing at least one support date for 70 Volt Parade, starting with an opening slot at the Chevrolet Theater in Wallingford, CT on Nov. 19. Vorcza will tour in support of this new release starting in the new year.

For more information, visit vorcza.com.

The owners and operators of the Grokster peer-to-peer (P2P) network–the lead and most well-known defendants in one of the Supreme Court’s seminal decisions this year–agreed today (November 7) to shut down operations to settle the three-year-old piracy case with the nation’s major record companies, motion picture studios and music publishers.

The settlement includes a permanent injunction prohibiting infringement–directly or indirectly–of any of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works. This includes ceasing immediately distribution of the Grokster client application and ceasing to operate the Grokster system and software. An RIAA spokesperson also said Grokster is to pay the plaintiff companies $50 million in damages.

Full story: billboard.biz

Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy kicked off his fall solo tour Friday in Madison, Wis., treating the crowd to songs recent (“Spiders (Kidsmoke)”), vintage (“Sunken Treasure,” the Uncle Tupelo-recorded traditional “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down”) and rare (“Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard”). His young son Spencer also joined him on drums for “I’m the Man Who Loves You,” the first song of the encore.

In addition to an as-yet-unnamed song from Tweedy’s upcoming album with his side band Loose Fur, the show also featured four songs with Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche to close the evening, including “The Late Greats” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding.”

“By the nature of playing by yourself, my repertoire gets a lot bigger than what it is with the band, that’s for sure,” Tweedy tells Billboard.com of the shows. “The band is capable of playing everything in the catalog, but at any given point you can’t just pull something out and expect everybody to know it. With this band, we have to take time to revisit things.”

“Going out by myself, I really only have myself to worry about, and I know most of the songs,” he adds with a laugh.

Prior to Tweedy’s sets, Kotche is performing material from his upcoming Nonesuch solo album. Wilco guitarist Nels Cline will fill the opening slot for a lone gig on Nov. 16 in New York. “Glenn will probably come out and do a few songs with me, but I kind of like to keep it a surprise if it is going to happen,” Tweedy says.

The solo tour runs through Nov. 22 in London, after which Wilco will continue work on their next studio album, which Tweedy is hoping to release sometime next year. As previously reported, the group has been working on 13 songs at its Chicago rehearsal space, including “I’m Talking to Myself About You” and the tentatively titled “On and On and On and On.”

Source billboard.com.

The White Stripes will on Dec. 6 release the EP “Walking With a Ghost” via Third Man/V2, featuring a cover of Tegan & Sara’s title song plus previously unreleased live versions of “Same Boy You’ve Always Known,” “As Ugly As I Seem,” “The Denial Twist” and “Screwdriver.” “Ghost” will debut Nov. 14 via Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

Meanwhile, the duo is also planning to sell a live download of “The Denial Twist” from every show on its current U.K. tour via the Web site for XL Recordings, its U.K. label. At each show, fans can pick a blank CD to burn the tracks as well as artwork specific to the performance.

The studio version of “The Denial Twist,” taken from the group’s latest album, “Get Behind Me Satan,” will be released next week as a single in the United Kingdom, backed by a cover of the Greenhornes’ “Shelter of Your Arms.”

On Wednesday, the Stripes will also play a private show for 35 fans at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios in London. The group’s U.K. tour will run through Nov. 17 in Manchester, and extended with a Nov. 20 gig in Reykjavik.

After a holiday break, the band will be back on the road beginning Jan. 12 in Tokyo, leading up to their run on the annual Big Day Out festival tour of Australia and New Zealand later that month.

billboard.com.

Provocative West Coast duo Xiu Xiu will tour the U.S. into mid-December on its latest outing.

Starting November 27 in Tucson, Ariz., Jamie Stewart and Caralee McElroy will take their assortment of guitars, keyboards and percussion instruments through the South and back through the Midwest to California. The tour wraps at The Troubadour in West Hollywood December 15.

A November 9 one-off in New York City will precede the tour.

The prolific group released its latest full-length album, La Foret, this summer on 5 Rue Christine / Kill Rock Stars. According to the band’s official Web site, Stewart and friends are already at work on a follow-up.

Source pollstar.com.