2005

At Baltimore’s Harbor Court Hotel on Thanksgiving night, members of Los Angeles rockers 311, on a day off from their national tour, got into a fist fight with former Creed frontman Scott Stapp, in town to promote his solo debut, The Great Divide. 311 singer S.A. Martinez suffered a fractured knuckle as a result of the brawl, which the band says Stapp started.
“We had just finished dinner and were at the hotel bar to watch the Lakers game when Scott Stapp walked in being very loud and obnoxious,” Martinez tells Rolling Stone. “In fact, one of the first things he said was that he loved to fight. So he started doing shots and breaking the glass on the bar, almost hitting one of our crew guys. My wife and I moved to a table and eventually Scott made his way over and sat down. He was looking for attention. Even before that, he had wadded up a napkin that he lobbed in our direction. It was pathetic, and we tried to ignore him, but it was impossible. Then he made a pretty disrespectful comment to my wife, which I’d rather not repeat, but in no uncertain terms, the word ‘fuck’ was used. That’s when [drummer] Chad [Sexton] walked over.”

“I had run into Scott that day,” says Sexton. “We have some things in common, like the same producer, and we chatted for a few minutes. So knowing we got along earlier, I kindly asked him not to disrespect anybody and reminded him that we’re all friends. That’s when he sucker-punched me — hit me right in the face.”

To read more visit rollingstone.com.

Last week Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM) pulled all of the band’s free live music downloads from the popular Live Music Archive. Deadheads responded bitterly by circulating a petition calling for a boycott of the organization — including CDs and pay music downloads — until the decision was reversed. More than 5,000 fans signed the online petition. It was announced last night that the protest paid off: The decision was reversed. For the most part.

A November 30th statement posted on Live Music Archive reads: “We at archive.org now realize that our mistaken attempts to move quickly were based on what we thought the Grateful Dead wanted. For this we apologize to both the Grateful Dead and their community.” While all of the band’s live audience recordings — and there are thousands — are once again available for free download, soundboard recordings will now be available only in streaming format. Archive.org notes that there could be future changes and thanked the Deadhead community for “helping guide this process.”

Source: RollingStone

Festival season begins early in South Florida, and the Langerado Music Festival is the destination of choice for traveling music lovers ready to start the journey. The festival, now in its fourth year, is preparing to host a slew of fans from colder climates: music lovers, college spring-breakers and sun seekers who are aching for festival season to begin.

Voted “Best Music Festival” by City Link magazine, for 2006 Langerado announces its biggest and best line-up ever: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, The Black Crowes, The Flaming Lips, Wilco, The Meters, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Keller Williams, Burning Spear, G. Love & Special Sauce, Steel Pulse, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Drive-By Truckers, The Secret Machines, Umphrey’s McGee, The Disco Biscuits, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, MOFRO, Slightly Stoopid, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Brazilian Girls, Kid Koala, Lyrics Born, RJD2, Kinky, Rose Hill Drive, Brothers Past, Pnuma Trio, Lotus, Mike Relm and more!

visit langerado.com/artists for a complete list of performers.

The fourth annual Langerado Music Festival which will take place March 11 &12, will be held at Markham Park in Sunrise, Florida for the second year in a row. The gorgeous sprawling facility perched at the eastern edge of the Everglades Conservation Area will house multiple stages, food and crafts vendors including an extensive selection of micro-brewed beers, a children’s play area, limited on-site camping, art installations by LEBO www.lebostudios.com and more!

To ensure an intimate experience for all involved, only 15,000 tickets will be sold for each day. Music will play from 11 am to 9 pm, with Langerado Late Night shows to take place at multiple venues throughout Ft. Lauderdale.

Tickets go on sale Friday, December 9 at 10am EST through the festival’s online secure ticketing system at langerado.com

Jerry Garcia’s dishwasher, toilets and other home appliances will be auctioned by a nonprofit group hoping to raise more than $100,000. The items, which also include stereo cabinets, cupboards and a freezer, will be available for bidding on the online auction site eBay from Dec. 18-24.

Revenue will benefit the Sophia Foundation, a San Francisco Bay area nonprofit that aids children and families during marital separations and divorces, said the group’s chairman, Henry Koltys.

Koltys bought the Nicasio, Calif. home of Garcia, the lead singer and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, in 1997, two years after Garcia died of a heart attack. An appraiser has valued the items at about $75,000, but Koltys said he expects people will end up spending more.

“There’s a lot of Deadheads out there with money, and they want a piece of Jerry somehow,” he said.

Source billboard.com.