2005

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry will release his self-titled solo album on May 3rd. The thirteen-track blues-rock effort is Perry’s first under his own name since 1984’s Once a Rocker, Always a Rocker, the third and final release under the Joe Perry Project moniker.

Perry admits that his own mortality was an impetus for finishing the new record. “I had this pile of riffs, but a song really isn’t a song until you get lyrics and a melody on it,” he says. “I thought, ‘If my motorcycle hits a tree, my wife’s gonna have nothing to put out.'”

After using three different lead vocalists for the Joe Perry Project albums, the guitarist took on the challenge of singing many of the Joe Perry songs himself. By writing in a lower register, he came up with songs that fit his deep voice, but he doesn’t think Steven Tyler’s job as Aerosmith singer is in jeopardy. “A lot of my riffs were originally written with Steven in mind,” he says. “I work with one of the best rock & roll voices in the world, and my voice isn’t anywhere near that.

The album — which includes eleven Perry originals, including the uptempo single “Shakin’ My Cage,” plus covers of the Doors’ “The Crystal Ship” and Woody Guthrie’s “Vigilante Man” — was recorded in the guitarist’s home studio in Boston, a.k.a. “the Boneyard.” Engineer Paul Caruso, who has worked on recent Aerosmith records, also served as drummer and co-producer.

Perry does not have plans for a tour to support the album, but that might be good news for Aerosmith fans. “I may end up not having the time,” he says. “We’re talking about going on the road with Aerosmith in September.”

Source rollingstone.com.

The 36th annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has announced the musical line-up for the April 22 – May 1 cultural extravaganza.

Billed as “the ultimate celebration of Louisiana culture and heritage,” this year’s Jazz Fest will offer an eclectic variety of bands and artists including Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Nelly, B.B. King, Juanes, Trey Anastasio, Elvis Costello, The Roots, Randy Newman, Ozomatli, Los Lonely Boys, and dozens more.

“Think of New Orleans as the center of the music universe,” Quit Davis, Jazz Fest producer/director, said in a statement. “Gospel, jazz, blues, funk, rock, Cajun, zydeco, Latin, R&B, jam, Mardi Gras, hip-hop, African, and a whole lotta music you can’t put into any category will be presented in the powerful way that only Jazz Fest can serve up.”

Jazz Fest will be held at the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course, and will feature 12 performance stages all going simultaneously, along with more than 100 varieties of Louisiana and international foods. The event will also feature several crafts fairs.

This year’s Jazz Fest will also present El Dia Latino (Latin Day), April 24, featureing a stage with non-stop all-Latin entertainment.

In addition, a new festival stage will be devoted to bastions of traditional and contemporary New Orleans culture: brass band music, second line dance clubs, Mardi Gras Indians, and other indelible features of the coty

This year, however, Jazz Fest has scrapped its evening concert series, according to the city’s Times-Picayune.

Tickets for the seven-day festival went on sale January 31. Daily tickets for the Heritage Fair are $20 through February 22. On February 23, advance daily tickets will be $25. Tickets at the gate will cost $35, while daily ducats for children under 12 are $5 in advance and at the gate.

Source pollstar.com.

The Black Keys have announced a series of U.S. tour dates to follow their upcoming run in Australia. The blues rock duo, touring in support of 2004

The reunited Black Crowes have been added to the bill for the Bonnaroo festival (June 11 in Manchester, Tenn.) and New Orleans’ annual Jazz and Heritage festival (April 22). In addition, the group has added two additional shows, March 29-30, to its previously announced five-night run at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom.

Those gigs sold out within minutes of going on sale to the general public over the weekend. Tickets for the newly added dates, which will feature support by North Mississippi Allstars, will be available via an Internet pre-sale starting Thursday (Feb. 10) and to the general public on Saturday.

According to the band’s official Web site, the majority of the tickets for the March 29-30 shows will be up for grabs during the Internet presale.

It is still unknown which musicians will be joining principal Crowes members Chris and Rich Robinson at the shows, which will be the band’s first since later October 2001.

Source billboard.com.

A little more than four months after Monterey Video reissued “The Grateful Dead Movie” on DVD with a host of bonus footage and music, Rhino will release a five-disc box set soundtrack to the landmark 1977 concert film. Recorded during a quintet of shows at the storied San Francisco venue Winterland in 1974, the new set will boast 20 recordings not included in the original film or the DVD reissue.

In addition to the first-time inclusion of such favorites as “Not Fade Away,” “Wharf Rat” and “Dark Star,” several songs and lengthy jams that had been edited for the movie are restored to their full glory on the box. Most notable is an hour-long exploration of “Sugar Magnolia,” “He’s Gone,” “Caution Jam,” drums/space, “Truckin’,” “Black Peter” and “Sunshine Daydream” that consumes most of the fourth disc.

Rounding out the box is a 24-page booklet that includes rare photos and memorabilia associated with the film.

Source billboard.com.

Los Lobos will release its first concert album on March 15 via Mammoth/Hollywood. “Live at the Fillmore” was taped last year at the famed San Francisco venue, during shows that previously produced a DVD of the same name, released in November. The disc will feature three tracks (“What’s Going On,” “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Neighborhood”) that did not appear on the DVD.

A limited number of copies of “Live at the Fillmore” will include a bonus disc featuring three acoustic tracks, “Maricela,” “Guantanmera” and “Saint Behind the Glass,” which will be featured during Los Lobos’ upcoming Cancionero tour, which will be the band’s first largely acoustic outing in more than 15 years.

That tour will begin Feb. 27 in Medford, Ore., and run through March 25 in Chicago.

Here is the track list for “Live at the Fillmore”:

“The Big Ranch”
“I Walk Alone”
“Maria Christina”
“Luz De Mi Vida”
“Rita”
“Neighborhood”
“Maricela”
“Tears of God”
“Viking”
“How Much Can I Do?”
“Kiko and the Lavender Moon”
“Good Morning Aztlan”
“Don’t Worry Baby”
“What’s Goin On”

Here are Los Lobos’ tour dates:

Feb. 27: Medford, Ore. (Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater)
March 1: Arcata, Calif. (Humboldt St. University)
March 2: Petaluma, Calif. (McNears Mystic Theatre)
March 3: Carmel, Calif. (Sunset Cultural Center)
March 4: Los Angeles (University of California at Los Angeles)
March 6: Santa Barbara, Calif. (University of California at Santa Barbara)
March 8: Phoenix (Celebrity Theatre)
March 10: Santa Fe, N.M. (Lensic Performing Arts Center)
March 11: Durango, Colo. (Fort Lewis College)
March 12: Park City, Utah (Eccles Center)
March 19: Telluride, Colo. (Sheridan Opera House)
March 20: Crested Butte, Colo. (Center for the Arts)
March 21: Englewood, Colo. (Gothic Theatre)
March 22: Boulder, Colo. (Fox Theatre)
March 23: Minneapolis (PantageS Theatre)
March 24: Milwaukee (Pabst Theatre)
March 25: Chicago (Sympony Center)

Source billboard.com.

Galactic has announced dates for their 2005 Midwest Tour which will span the Southeast and Midwest beginning at the end of March. Some very special supporting acts are scheduled to join the band throughout. For the opening dates, Galactic will be joined by New Orleans underground hip hop collective, the Media Darling showcase. On April 8 and 9th the band will return for their now customary two-night stand at Denver, Colorado’s Fillmore theatre. As in the past, these shows will feature incredible supporting acts as Galactic will welcome Toots and the Maytals for the first night and then Maceo Parker on the second. Please stay tuned to the Galactic web site for additional tour support announcements.

Galactic Spring 2005 Tour:
3.29.05 | Headliner’s | Louisville, KY
3.30.05 | Blue Cat’s | Knoxville, TN
3.31.05 | The Orange Peel | Asheville, NC
4.01.05 | The Odeon | Cleveland, OH
4.02.05 | Vic Theatre | Chicago, IL
4.03.05 | The Vogue Theatre | Indianapolis, IN
4.05.05 | Barrymore Theatre | Madison, WI
4.06.05 | Cabooze | Minneapolis, MN
4.07.05 | Rococo Theatre | Lincoln, NE
4.08.05 | The Fillmore | Denver, CO
4.09.05 | The Fillmore | Denver, CO
4.10.05 | Granada Theater | Lawrence, KS
4.12.05 | Mississippi Nights | St. Louis, MO
4.13.05 | Cain’s Ballroom | Tulsa, OK
4.14.05 | Juanita’s | Little Rock, AK
4.15.05 | Workplay Theatre | Birmingham, AL