2005

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s founding in San Francisco, as well as the 10th anniversary of the death of the band’s reluctant leader, Jerry Garcia. Monterey Video will commemorate the milestones with concert and documentary DVDs, due July 5.

“Truckin’ Up to Buffalo” captures the band on July 4, 1989, at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, N.Y., in the midst of a tour that was arguably the peak of the band’s latter era career. The nearly three-hour Independence Day show is preserved in its entirety, and includes a host of classics, including “Deal,” “Ship of Fools,” “Bertha,” and an apropos encore performance of “U.S. Blues.”

One song from the show was previously officially released; “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” appeared on guitarist Bob Weir’s 2004 retrospective “Weir Here” (Hybrid Recordings).

The video portion of “Truckin'” utilizes the original master tape from a six-camera shoot at the venue, while the DVD’s audio includes 5.1 Surround and stereo mixes taken from multi-track soundboard tapes. A two-disc CD version of the show due from Grateful Dead Records was mastered in HDCD.

Monterey’s second offering, “The End of the Road,” is a documentary about the Grateful Dead’s final tour. Begun three months before Garcia’s death, the filmmakers planned to capture life on the road with the enduring act but ended up witnessing the outpouring of grief and celebration of his life at the public memorial held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The film includes appearances by late Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, organist and frequent Garcia collaborator Merl Saunders and 1960s counter-culture figure Wavy Gravy. Bonus features include uncut footage of the memorial and extended interviews.

Source billboard.com.

Sam Beam’s Iron And Wine alter ego will hit the road this June with dates throughout the East Coast and South.

The trek will start off, conveniently enough, in Beam’s home state of Florida with a performance at Tallahassee’s Beta Bar June 8. Then it’s up through Louisiana and ol’ Miss. on the way to Bonnaroo. Iron And Wine will do a June 11 set at the three-day Manchester, Tenn., festival.

After taking a day off to recover – or perhaps just to enjoy Bonnaroo – Beam will head up to Ohio and back across the East Coast. He’ll play two nights in a row at New York City’s Webster Hall before making his way down the seaboard, winding up in Florida once again by the end of the month and closing the tour with a June 24 show in Jacksonville.

Horses will open on all dates.

Iron & Wine’s latest release, the Woman King EP, dropped in February.
Last year, Beam went into the studio with members of Calexico to record a collaboration EP called Lays In The Reigns. The disc is scheduled for a fall release on Overcoat, and tour dates are expected to follow.

Tour Dates

Wed 06/08/05

Snoop Dogg, the White Stripes, 311, the Black Eyed Peas and the Pixies are among the acts confirmed for the 2005 edition of the San Diego Street Scene festival. Set for July 29-30 at an area adjacent to the city’s Qualcomm Stadium, the event will feature more than 30 artists.

Others on the bill are Garbage, the Used, Flaming Lips, Method Man, Unwritten Law, Flogging Molly, Dashboard Confessional, Social Distortion, Death Cab For Cutie, Kasabian, Hot Hot Heat, Rise Against, Louis XIV, the Adolescents, (International) Noise Conspiracy, Autolux, Von Bondies, Swollen Members, Morningwood, the Locust, West Indian Girl, Mixmaster Mike and Hard-Fi. More artists are expected.

Source billboard.com.

Nas, Redman, the Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon and Ghostface (performing material from their 1995 album “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx”) and Gang Starr MC Guru lead the lineup for the Rock the Bells festival, to be held July 30 at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernadino, Calif.

The show will be hosted by Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA, Cypress Hill’s B-Real and the Beat Junkies’ Mr. Choc. Pre-sale tickets go on sale Friday (May 27) and will gradually increase in price as the show date approaches.

The Rock the Bells lineup will also boast performances by Sage Francis, Q-Bert, Cut Chemist, Living Legends, Heiroglyphics, Supernatural, DJ Muggs and Nonphixion.

At last year’s show, the Wu-Tang Clan reunited with all of its principal members, including the now deceased Ol’ Dirty Bastard, for the first time in years. That performance will form the basis of the film “Rock the Bells (The Documentary),” which will hit theaters and DVD later this year.

Source billboard.com.

In support of their new live album, Live In Japan, The Bad Plus will be touring the world. The jazz trio will kick things off in Norway, with dates planned through early 2006.

Tour Dates

Wed 05/25/05

Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will release his next album this fall via a new deal with Epic. Having recently demoed two songs with noted producer Bill Laswell, Matisyahu and his band plan to hit the studio in the next two weeks to begin work on the follow-up to last month’s “Live at Stubb’s” (Or Music/JDub), which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart.
Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will release his next album this fall via a new deal with Epic. Having recently demoed two songs with noted producer Bill Laswell, Matisyahu and his band plan to hit the studio in the next two weeks to begin work on the follow-up to last month’s “Live at Stubb’s” (Or Music/JDub), which reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Reggae Albums chart.

“We have material ready, but a lot of the way we write material is to just come together in a room and someone will have an idea that forms into a song,” the artist tells Billboard.com. “It happens pretty quickly.” As for why Laswell was chosen to produce, Matisyahu says, “We thought Bill would get the dub thing and the reggae thing.”

While he’s out West in the coming days to perform at the Sasquatch! Festival outside Seattle, Matisyahu will also record a track intended to appear on rap/rock outfit P.O.D.’s next album, due later this year via Atlantic.

Source billboard.com.

Nine Inch Nails is the first headlining act set for the seventh Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans, Billboard.com can exclusively reveal. Festival executive producer Steve Rehage says the Oct. 29-30 event will feature upward of 80 bands spread across seven stages. The full lineup will be announced June 24.

Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor owns a home and studio in the Big Easy, which has long made him a target of Voodoo organizers. “With Trent’s history with New Orleans, we’re looking for a big homecoming,” Rehage says. “He’s been to the festival for years, and we’ve always approached him about performing. We’re very excited about it.”

This year, Voodoo will be held on a golf course within City Park, and the previous festival grounds will be converted into space for tent and RV camping. Rehage also says ticket prices will be reduced. “The weekend pass will be $60, and $35 for camping,” he says. “So for under $100, you can be in the midst of New Orleans during Halloween. It’s absolutely insane.”

The 2004 edition of the festival featured performances by Beastie Boys, Green Day, Velvet Revolver and the Pixies, and drew 55,000 fans over the course of two days.

Rehage says “every second” of past festivals has been filmed, and that some kind of commercial release is “something we’re definitely looking into.” For more information on the festival, visit its official Web site.

Source billboard.com.