2005

An exclusive track featuring Tom Waits and the Kronos Quartet leads the lineup for an upcoming double-disc compilation from clothing retailer Urban Outfitters and Filter magazine. The project will be available in mid-October in 80 Urban Outfitters stores and through the company’s Web site. Proceeds will be donated to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

The compilation also features rare or previously unreleased tracks from Death Cab For Cutie, TV On the Radio and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It will also offers remixes of songs by Beck, Gang Of Four and Calexico, plus album tracks from Grandaddy, Sigur Ros and British Sea Power. Only 10,000 copies will be made available, from which the companies hope to raise $150,000 for the American Red Cross.

The benefit sprang from another Filter/Urban Outfitters partnership earlier this year, when the two companies released a double-disc for tsunami relief, featuring Hot Hot Heat, Wilco, Franz Ferdinand and Interpol.

Waits’ “Little Drop of Poison,” sans Kronos Quartet, also appeared on the “Shrek 2 Soundtrack” (2004).

Here is the “Filter Magazine/Urban Outfitters Hurricane Benefit Compilation” track list:

“Little Drop of Poison” (previously unreleased), Tom Waits w/ the Kronos Quartet
“Dry Drunk Emperor” (previously unreleased), TV On the Radio
“Natural

Immediately following his performances at the Vegoose festival (October 28th

After nearly fifteen years of promises, Neil Young is now confident that a slew of material from his vaults will begin to see the light of day in 2006. With his latest album, Prairie Wind, out next week, the rock legend is planning several eight-disc sets packed with outtakes, home recordings, album tracks, live cuts and DVDs.

“It starts with my earliest recordings in 1963,” says Young. “Then several recordings with a group called the Squires, into the earliest Buffalo Springfield stuff. Then there’s a live record culled from a week’s worth of performances at the Riverboat in Toronto.”

Fans can expect a 1970 show at Toronto’s Massey Hall, featuring material from Harvest a year before its release, as well as Crazy Horse live at the Fillmore East. “It’s got a sixteen-minute ‘Cowgirl in the Sand,'” Young says of the Fillmore gig, “and a super-long ‘Down by the River.'”

One live performance, the rock vet is convinced, trumps the original recording: the entirety of Tonight’s the Night, recorded live at London’s Rainbow Theatre. Says Young, “It’s better than the record.”

Source rollingstone.com.

Dave Matthews, Norah Jones and Bright Eyes lead the lineup for the 19th annual Bridge School Benefit concerts, to be held Oct. 29-30 at Shoreline Amphitheatre outside San Francisco. Event founder Neil Young will also perform with his CSNY bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash.

Among the other acts set to appear are Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmylou Harris, Good Charlotte and Los Lobos, as well as guests to be announced. Tickets go on sale Sunday (Sept. 25), according to the show’s official Web site.

The shows traditionally feature stripped-down performances and rare collaborations from some of rock’s biggest names, including Bruce Springsteen, the Who, Paul McCartney, Elton John, David Bowie and Pearl Jam. Sources say several of these artists are being asked to perform at the Bridge School’s 20th anniversary, which will be held in October 2006.

The Hillsborough, Calif.-based Bridge School, which Young founded with his wife Pegi, assists children with severe physical disabilities. Students from the school can routinely be found taking in the concerts from the stage each year.

Source billboard.com.

Dave Matthews Band has scheduled a short run of dates to close out 2005. The trek will begin Nov. 26 in Minneapolis and run through Dec. 15 in Boston. Opening acts include Soulive, Gavin DeGraw and former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty.

Before the tour, Matthews will play solo Oct. 28 at the Vegoose Festival in Las Vegas and Oct. 30 at the Bridge School Benefit concert in Mountain View, Calif.

Nov. 26: Minneapolis (Target Center)
Nov. 27: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center)
Nov. 29: Madison, Wis. (Kohl Center)
Nov. 30: Champaign, Ill. (Assembly Hall)
Dec. 3: Detroit (Joe Louis Arena)
Dec. 4: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
Dec. 6: State College, Pa. (Bryce Jordan Center)
Dec. 7: Rochester, N.Y. (Blue Cross Arena)
Dec. 9-10: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Dec. 12: Manchester, N.H. (Verizon Wireless Arena)
Dec. 13: Philadelphia (Wachovia Center)
Dec. 15: Boston (TD Banknorth Garden)

Source: billboard

Rock act Garbage will take “an indefinite break” after its Australian tour ends Oct. 1 in Perth. “We’re taking a hiatus — I don’t know if we’re calling it a day,” singer Shirley Manson told the Melbourne Herald Sun. A group spokesperson had no comment on the developments.

Rumors have been circulating that things were not right in the Garbage camp after the band cancelled European dates scheduled after the Australian tour.

Band members admitted Garbage almost broke up during the making of its latest album, “Bleed Like Me,” but later insisted they were thrilled with the finished product. “Because we were on the verge of losing it all, we made the album of our career,” drummer Butch Vig told Billboard. “We feel completely rejuvenated.”

The set debuted in April at a career-best No. 4 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 245,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It spawned the band’s first top 10 Modern Rock hit since 1998 with “Why Do You Love Me,” which reached No. 8.

“We’ve not stopped for 10 years,” Manson told the newspaper. “We always swore if it wasn’t 100% fun, we’d stop it.”

Source billboard.com.