2005

Elvis Costello is slated to head into the studio the week of Thanksgiving to begin a collaboration with songwriter/arranger/pianist Allen Toussaint. Joe Henry will produce the album for Verve Records.

Henry likens the project to Costello’s 1998 pairing with Burt Bacharach, “Painted from Memory” (Mercury/Universal). “That project was a very legitimate collaboration between the two artists, and this will feature Elvis as a singer doing both classic songs that Allen has written as well as new material [the two are writing],” Henry tells Billboard.com.

New Orleans veteran Toussaint recently performed with Costello at a number of New York benefits for the victims of hurricane Katrina. Toussaint, who has written such songs as Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time” and Lee Dorsey’s “Workin’ in a Coal Mine,” appeared as a pianist on some of Costello’s early 1980s albums.

“Elvis, like a lot of people, re-committed himself to the importance of the legacy of [New Orleans] music,” Henry says. “I was talking to Allen about doing a solo record, and Elvis had appeared with Allen on stage at various benefits in New York, and the wheels were turning.”

Henry, who has toured with Costello in support of his own solo releases, recently produced Bettye LaVette’s “I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise” for Epitaph’s Anti- imprint, as well as the multi-artist “I Believe to My Soul” for his newly formed Work Song label. The latter was released via a partnership with Rhino Records and Starbucks’ Hear Music, and features Toussaint, Billy Preston, Mavis Staples, Ann Peebles and Irma Thomas.

Henry says he and Costello have discussed working together for a few years now, and Henry had been prodding Toussaint to record a solo effort for Work Song. “Elvis and I talked off and on about working together,” Henry says. “He’s been a big booster of ‘I Believe to My Soul’ and he’s a big a Bettye LaVette fan. After the hurricane, it brought home to him how significant that relationship with Allen was.”

Source billboard.com.

Motley Crue is taking their Carnival of Sins Tour back on the road in 2006. Tour dates and pre-sale information will be announced via Ticketmaster this Monday, November 14th. Presale begins Tuesday, November 15th @ 7am local time and ends Friday, November 18th @ 6pm local time. Tickets go on sale to the general public Saturday, November 19th @ 10am local time.

Coming off the heels of the epic “Red, White and Crue” reunion tour, which turned into one of the biggest concert events of 2005, Motley Crue is poised to continue their assault on North America. Having sold more than 40 million records worldwide and coming off last year’s Pollstar Top 10-grossing extravaganza, expect Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee and Mick Mars to continue their domination in the year to come. The brand-new edition of their acclaimed “Carnival of Sins” will be seen by several million people around the country and the world in 2006, as the band performs all its greatest hits, with the spectacular production and pyrotechnics providing that patented Motley mayhem fans have grown to love.

With his next studio album not due until next year, Ray LaMontagne will tide fans over with a live EP and short run of tour dates. Due Dec. 6 via RCA, “Live From Bonnaroo 2005” features six tracks recorded at this summer’s incarnation of the Tennessee festival, including “Burn”, “Trouble” and the previously unreleased “Empty.”

The artist will hit the road beginning Nov. 30 in Portsmouth, N.H., with support from Brandi Carlile. As previously reported, LaMontagne will also appear at Warren Haynes’ 17th annual Xmas Jam, to be held Dec. 17 in Asheville, N.C.

Here are Lamontagne tour dates:

Nov. 30: Portsmouth, N.H. (Music Hall)
Dec. 1: Montreal, Quebec (Outremont Theater)
Dec. 2-3: Boston (Berklee College of Music)
Dec. 5: New York (Town Hall)
Dec. 7: Chicago (Park West)
Dec. 8: Minneapolis (Pantages Theater)
Dec. 10: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
Dec. 12: Keene, N.H. (Colonial Theater)
Dec. 17: Asheville, N.C. (Asheville Civic Center)

Source billboard.com.

Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will release his studio debut, “Youth,” Jan. 31 via Epic/Or Music/J Dub. As previously reported, the majority of the project was overseen by noted producer Bill Laswell. Three other tracks were co-produced by Jimmy Douglass and ill factor.

Matisyahu has been touring all year in support of the concert set “Live at Stubb’s,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart and No. 14 on the Top Heatseekers survey. The album has sold 87,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Youth” will feature two songs from “Stubb’s”: “King Without a Crown” and “Warrior.”

The artist’s busy touring schedule will continue through the end of the year, having just announced a six-show Hanukkah tour that begins Dec. 24 in Philadelphia.

Matisyahu is also tipped to appear on two songs from P.O.D.’s new album, “Testify,” due early next year via Atlantic.

Source billboard.com.

Hal Abramson, promoter of this summer’s Shakedown Festival in Oregon, has resurfaced and given Pollstar his side of the story. The jam band event was canceled just hours before gates were to open, leaving a lot of fans and concert insiders scratching their heads.

Lowell MacGregor, owner of festival site Columbia Meadows near the city of Saint Helens, has been fielding calls all summer, giving his side of the story. Abramson, on the other hand, left the area soon after the would-be August 26-28 concert collapsed and could not be reached. His side of things showed up online at the Shakedown’s Web site.

Abramson says he’s quit the music biz and is living at his mother’s house. The experience left him destitute and he’s now under the care of a psychiatric clinic. He recently fired off a screed to the Columbia County board of commissioners, detailing MacGregor’s alleged mishandling of the festival.

To read more, visit pollstar.com.