2005

CBGB is hoping to host a 30-date festival of big-name acts this summer in a last-ditch effort to save the legendary punk rock club, founder and owner Hilly Kristal told the handful of journalists and supporters who turned out yesterday (May 16) for the start of a fund-raising push.

Kristal indicated that he would invite Patti Smith, David Byrne and many of the other one-time fringe acts who played the New York landmark on their way to mainstream stardom. “If the Beastie Boys are around, I think they’d play,” said Kristal. “Green Day came in one night and just played. Maybe they’d come back.

To read more please visit billboard.com.

Wilco will head back into the studio in August to begin recording the follow-up to 2004’s A Ghost Is Born. “For some reason, we’ve been digging a lot of dance music recently, like Fela Kuti,” says Wilco singer Jeff Tweedy, “so look out!”

First, the band will kick off a summer tour on May 28th in Washington. Fellow rockers My Morning Jacket and hip-hoppers the Roots will pop up along the way. “I read an interview where [Roots drummer] ?uestlove said he really likes A Ghost Is Born,” Tweedy says of the pairing.

Filmmaker Sam Jones, who directed the acclaimed 2002 Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, captured the band live during its recent four-night stand at Chicago’s Vic Theatre. A live DVD is due later this year.

Wilco tour dates:

5/28: George, WA, Sasquatch! Festival at the Gorge
6/11: Berkeley, CA, Greek Theatre
6/14: Los Angeles, Greek Theatre (with the Roots)
6/16: Telluride, CO, Telluride Bluegrass Festival
6/17: Morrison, CO, Red Rocks (with the Roots)
6/18: Lawrence, KS, Wakarusa Festival
6/21: Rochester Hills, MI, Meadow Brook Amphitheatre (with My Morning Jacket)
6/23: Philadelphia, Penn’s Landing (with My Morning Jacket)
6/24: Boston, Agganis Arena (with My Morning Jacket)
6/26: Columbia, MD, Merriweather Post Pavilion (with the Roots)
6/28: Montreal, Metropolis (with My Morning Jacket)
6/29: Buffalo, Albright Knox Art Museum (with My Morning Jacket)

Source rollingstone.com.

“I’m ready to shake it all up,” John Mayer says of his next studioalbum, Continuum, due in early 2006.

“They are tunes that live on guitar. When it comes out, I may never win a Grammy again, I may never sell a million records again, but the world will get where I’m coming from,” he tells Rolling Stone’s Smoking Section column. “I’m not afraid to lose it all.”

Meanwhile, Mayer has been an in-demand guest for his heroes: He has recorded with Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy for their upcoming albums, and he’ll be performing at Bonnaroo on June 10th with Herbie Hancock’s reunited Seventies funk-jazz group, the Headhunters. The group will play additional gigs on the 8th in St. Louis, on the 9th in Kettering, Ohio, and on the 11th in Memphis.

Mayer is also preparing to flex his new blues-based outfit, the John Mayer Trio, on the road and on a live disc. “I’m gonna go out in the fall with the trio and just play,” he says. “Power-rockin’, electric-guitar, in-your-face blues.”

Source rollingstone.com.

The Northeast

Run-DMC’s Reverend Run will open his home to MTV cameras for the new reality series “Run’s House.” The show will hit the airwaves at the end of the year and was brought to MTV by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy TV and Run’s brother, Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons.

“Run’s House” will chronicle the artist in the midst of recording his debut solo album while attempting to raise his five children, who range in age from nine to 21. The show is also expected to feature appearances by Simmons, who lives down the street from Run in Saddle River, N.J.

Source billboard.com.

To support its sophomore album, “Demon Days,” due May 24 via Virgin, the cartoon band is in the planning stages for how to present the material in a live setting. “As for the show itself, it would be one where the lights never come up,” group member Damon Albarn (aka 2D) tells Billboard.

“So, if [album guest star] Dennis Hopper were to walk on stage, you would know it’s him by his voice alone — as well as his silhouette,” he continues. “It will be like those old cutout silhouette portraits everyone used to get. Yes, it will all be done by silhouette.”

To read more visit billboard.com.

The official Bonnaroo 2005 schedule has been released, with all the bands filling their respective time slots. Amongst the attractive bills is a late night/Saturday morning 1:00-4:00 a.m. set by the Mars Volta and a late night/Saturday morning show by Sound Tribe Sector 9, alongside Galactic