September 2006

Two months after dropping off a co-headlining tour with Guster, Ray LaMontagne has announced a new round of theatre concerts.
LaMontagne will travel the U.S. for more than five weeks starting November 9 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. He’ll head up the coast, making a single Canadian stop in Vancouver, and then cover the Midwest, South and East Coast.
The tour will wrap December 18 at a different Orpheum Theatre – in Boston.
Two concerts at London’s Union Chapel are scheduled prior to the U.S. tour, and LaMontagne will be back in the U.K. for a lengthy tour in January and February.
The Maine-based musician released a new album, Till The Sun Turns Black, in late August. The disc is the follow-up to his 2004 debut, Trouble.
LaMontagne toured with Guster for several weeks this summer but announced in late July that he would not be on board for the second leg, due to “unforeseen conflicts in his schedule.”

Source pollstar.com.

Wolfmother has cut short its current U.S. tour after bassist/keyboardist Chris Ross’ partner gave birth a month early to a son in Sydney. The band played in Pittsburgh on Friday and at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore on Saturday (Sept. 23), forcing Ross to endure a 23-hour flight back to Australia on short notice.

The turn of events has necessitated the postponement of a Virgin Records in-store today in Chicago as well as a show on Thursday in Hollywood, which will be made up on Dec. 12. A Friday appearance in San Diego will not be rescheduled; refunds are available from points of purchase. Also scrapped is a Saturday set at the Download Festival at Shoreline Amphitheatre outside San Francisco.

Wolfmother had already planned to spend October at home in Australia before resuming North American roadwork Nov. 21 in Philadelphia. That tour will be preceded by a brief European run earlier in the month.

Source billboard.com.

2006 has been a great year in the Disco Biscuit’s 11 year history. They welcomed a talented new drummer, Allen Aucoin, into the Bisco fold and tour highlights included stops at the Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza Festivals as well as numerous tour dates and their highly successful Camp Bisco V which featured The Roots, Thievery Corporation and Brazilian Girls.

Now they announced some fall dates to continue to spread their unique musical smorgasbord style which fuses rock, electronic and classical music around the country. New Yorkers get to celebrate the Turkey Day holiday with some hot fresh Bisco.

10/19/06 Washington and Lee S&A Lexington, VA
10/31/06 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA
11/01/06 State Theatre Ithaca, NY
11/02/06 Water Street Music Hall Rochester, NY
11/03/06 Calvin Theatre Northampton, MA
11/04/06 Sonar Baltimore, MD
11/09/06 The Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY
11/10/06 Bogart’s Cincinnati, OH
11/11/06 Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
11/12/06 House Of Blues Cleveland, OH
11/14/06 Bluebird Bloomington, IN
11/15/06 Blue Note Columbia, MO
11/16/06 Canopy Club Urbana, IL
11/17/06 Grenada Lawrence, KS
11/18/06 Fillmore Denver, CO
11/19/06 Fox Theatre Boulder, CO
11/24/06 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY
11/25/06 Hammerstein Ballroom New York, NY

HeadCount, the non-partisan, non-profit voter registration organization run by grassroots-oriented musicians, fans and promoters announced that it has eclipsed its voter registration goals for the recent

With his second album of the year on the way, it’s obvious that Robert Pollard is taking his solo career seriously.
The prolific musician has shown no signs of slowing down since the dissolution of Guided By Voices, releasing From A Compound Eye in January and touring throughout spring.
Pollard’s latest album, Normal Happiness, is due out October 10 on Merge and he’ll embark on a brief tour in mid-November in support of it. He’ll be accompanied by his Ascended Masters band – Tommy Keene, Jon Wurster, Jason Narducy and Dave Philips.
Tour dates run from November 9-18, starting in Bloomington, Indiana, and finishing in Northampton, Mass.
As on the previous album, Pollard and producer Todd Tobias played all the instruments on Normal Happiness.

Source pollstar.com.

More than nine months after its originally scheduled release via Columbia, Nellie McKay’s sophomore album, “Pretty Little Head,” will finally arrive Oct. 31 on her own Hungry Mouse label. The 23-track, two-disc set, which will include a 44-page color booklet, will be marketed and manufactured by spinART Records, with distribution by Ryko.

As previously reported, McKay voluntarily left Columbia in late December, reportedly after both parties reached an impasse over the length of the project. McKay insisted the label release her 23-song, 65-minute version, while Columbia sent out promotional copies of a 16-song, 48-minute album, which was reviewed by several music magazines.

Source billboard.com.