December 13, 2005

Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and bassist Andy Rourke will perform together for the first time since the legendary U.K. act split up in 1987 at th U.K. act split up in 1987 at the benefit Manchester v. Cancer, to be held Jan. 28 at the English city’s Evening News Arena.

Rourke is overseeing the lineup for the show, which will also feature New Order, Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Primal Scream’s Mani, Stephen Fretwell and other acts to be announced. Rumors have circulated that former Smiths frontman Morrissey will be involved in the show but at present there’s no indication he will participate.

“Andy told me about this project he was involved in and of course I literally stood up and applauded,” Marr says in an audio interview posted on the event’s official Web site. “I said I’d get involved if he needed any help. Absolutely glad to do it. It’s a privilege to do it. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to get something like this together, because it has to be on a fairly big scale for it to be significant.”

The Smiths’ unhappy breakup has of late been back in the news, after former drummer Mike Joyce attempted to sell unreleased Smiths material on eBay. Morrissey responded by posting a detailed account of the lawsuits Joyce has filed for back royalties in recent years on the fan site True to You.

“Somehow, he appears to believe that he should have equal financial status to both myself and to Johnny Marr, even though Joyce has done dramatically less than Johnny and I to attain the positions we now have,” Morrissey wrote.

Tickets for Manchester v. Cancer go on sale Saturday (Dec. 17) via Ticketmaster. “It will bring together people and bands that have made Manchester famous,” Rourke says. “The idea is that this will be the start of an annual event to raise money for charity whether it is helping cancer or arthritis.”

Source billboard.com.

Toronto four-piece Metric are excited to announce that they will open for The Rolling Stones on January 18th and 20th at Madison Square Garden. Following these dates, Metric will return to the US with a North American tour, kicking off March 7th at the Roxy in Boston and ending on April 15th at Detroit’s St. Andrew’s Hall, in support of
their new album, LIVE IT OUT, which was called “one of the year’s best” by Under The Radar. These dates, which include two shows for the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, follow an enormously successful 48-day tour this fall, where Metric sold out nearly all of their shows, including New York’s Bowery Ballroom, Los Angeles’ El Rey Theater, The Social in Orlando and Slim’s in San Francisco.

Sufjan Stevens, the Magic Numbers and Engineers lead the lineup for the upcoming tribute album “Dream Brother: The Songs of Jeff & Tim Buckley.” Due Jan. 31 via Rykodisc, the 13-track set also features contributions from the Earlies, Adem, Kathryn Williams, King Creosote and Micah P. Hinson.

Covering Tim Buckley tracks are Stevens (“She Is”), the Magic Numbers (“Sing a Song for You”), Engineers (“Song to the Siren”), Williams (“Buzzin’ Fly”) and Tungg (“No Man Can Find the War”), among others.

Jeff Buckley material receiving the interpretative treatment includes “Mojo Pin” (Adem), “Grace” (King Creosote) and “Everybody Here Wants You” (Matthew Herbert and Dani Siciliano).

“‘Dream Brother’ is a model tribute,” writes Buckleys biographer David Browne in the liner notes. “It’s clear that the British and American bands and singer-songwriters who’ve contributed to this unique, joint salute to the Buckleys love their music, but they’re happy (not sad) to shake things up as much as they can.”

Here is the track list for “Dream Brother”:

“Sing a Song for You,” the Magic Numbers
“Yard of Blonde Girls,” Micah P. Hinson
“She Is,” Sufjan Stevens
“Grace,” King Creosote
“I Must Have Been Blind,” the Earlies
“Dream Brother,” Bitmap
“Song to the Siren,” Engineers
“Mojo Pin,” Adem
“No Man Can Find the War,” Tunng
“Morning Theft,” Stephen Fretwell
“Buzzin’ Fly,” Kathryn Williams
“Everybody Here Wants You,” Matthew Herbert and Dani Siciliano
“The River,” Clayhill

Source billboard.com.

Legendary folk rocker Bob Dylan will start a new career as a radio DJ when he launches a new weekly music show on XM Satellite Radio next March.

The station said on Tuesday the show would feature music hand-picked by Dylan, writer of some of the enduring classics of popular music since the 1960s such as “Mr Tambourine Man,” “Like a Rolling Stone” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”

“Dylan will offer regular commentary on music and other topics, host and interview special guests including other artists and will take emails from XM subscribers,” XM said.

Now 64, Dylan’s anti-establishment folk songs were the anthems of a generation and he has released over 44 albums in a career spanning more than four decades.

“Songs and music have always inspired me. A lot of my own songs have been played on the radio, but this is the first time I’ve ever been on the other side of the mic,” Dylan said in a statement.

His memoir “Chronicles Vol. 1,” published in October 2004, was a huge best-seller in the United States.

XM Satellite and its main rival Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. are battling for supremacy in the nascent market for subscription radio and both have been luring high profile names to their stables to boost their profiles.

XM says it has more than 5 million subscribers.

Source CNN.com.