2006

Apparently outside the boardroom, Donald Trump likes to let his freak flag fly.

“The sound of booing filled New York’s Beacon Theatre last night when Donald Trump announced that Bob Weir was unable to perform and that he would instead be taking his place fronting Ratdog. It was, of course, a ruse, and the band, with Bobby in tow, took the stage to thunderous applause.” read more

Widespread Panic, the wildly popular standard bearers of rootsy American rock, are readying for the release of their audacious new album Earth To America (June 13, Sanctuary/ Widespread Records). Their 9th studio CD, Earth To America captures the band at a new creative peak in collaboration with producer Terry Manning, the first time they’ve worked with the famed studio master whose credits stretch back to Stax days.

Beginning with the eerie, ambitious 11-minute plus epic “Second Skin,” (a staple of their live shows), the album twists and turns through 10 tracks of time-honed classic rock. Other standout tracks include the boisterous barroom rocker “Goodpeople” and the toe-tapping, blues tinged “Time Zones”. Extended workouts like “You Should Be Glad” give the band a chance to show off their chops, while the tender closing benediction “May Your Glass Be Filled” highlights the band’s delicate touch on a down tempo ballad. Also noteworthy is the band’s hard charging cover of Bob Dylan’s “Solid Rock” from 1980’s ‘Saved’.

The album will be available in four formats- digi-pack, jewel case, double Vinyl LP, and digital download. The vinyl includes two bonus songs not available on the CD. The fans who pre-order the disc through widespreadpanic.com before June 13th will have access to 6 bundles of digital extras including home video from the recording at Compass Point studios, exclusive band interviews, unreleased concert footage, artwork, and more.

Widespread Panic will perform 4 spring concerts this year, 2 in Raleigh, NC and 2 Atlanta, GA at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. The May 9th Fox Theatre show will be simulcast through select movie theaters nationwide in association with National Cinemedia. Plans are in the works for a full summer tour to be announced soon.

After playing multiple shows wearing a brace and taking anti-inflamatory injections, Tommy Lee

Hot off their sold-out tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Hollywood/Kemado recording artists ELEFANT are returning to the road with a headlining club tour that begins May 3rd at The Social in Orlando, Florida. Opening for Elefant, from Orlando to Austin will be Austin, TX-based SOUND team and Boston

Following the June 3 close of the first leg of Pearl Jam’s North American tour, the band will return to the road June 23 in Pittsburgh. Fourteen dates are set for the second leg through a July 22 show at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash., with more to be expected.

The Gorge show will be “an evening with” Pearl Jam and won’t feature an opening act. Sonic Youth will support on all but the first two second leg shows, which will boast a performance by former Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard.

As tipped here last month, Pearl Jam will also team up with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for a June 26-27 stand in St. Paul, Minn., and a July 2-3 engagement in Denver. In most cases, the summer shows will be available for download immediately after their completion from Pearl Jam’s Web site.

Pearl Jam is touring in support of its self-titled debut for J, which arrives May 2. First single “World Wide Suicide” is No. 1 for a third consecutive week on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart, which will be posted tomorrow (April 6) on Billboard.com.

Fans who preorder the album through Apple’s iTunes Music Store will receive exclusive video footage of the band in the studio plus a bonus audio track of “Why Go,” drawn from a Dec. 31, 1992, show in New York. That full concert is included as a bonus CD for preorders submitted via the Pearl Jam site.

The band has also confirmed an April 15 return to “Saturday Night Live” (its first appearance on the NBC show since 1994) and an April 20 club gig at London’s Astoria.

Here are Pearl Jam’s tour dates:

April 20: London (Astoria)
May 9-10: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
May 12: Albany, N.Y. (Pepsi Arena)
May 13: Hartford, Conn. (New England Dodge Music Arena)
May 16: Chicago (United Center)
May 19: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Van Andel Arena)
May 20: Cleveland (Quicken Loans Arena)
May 22: Auburn Hills, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)
May 24-25: Boston (TD Banknorth Garden)
May 27-28: Camden, N.J. (Tweeter Center)
May 30: Washington, D.C. (MCI Center)
June 1, 3: East Rutherford, N.J. (Continental Airlines Arena)
June 23: Pittsburgh (Mellon Arena)
June 24: Cincinnati (US Bank Arena)
June 26-27: St. Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center)
July 2-3: Denver (Pepsi Center)
July 6: Las Vegas (MGM Grand)
July 7: San Diego (Cox Arena)
July 9-10: Los Angeles (Forum)
July 13: Santa Barbara, Calif. (Santa Barbara Bowl)
July 16, 18: San Francisco (Bill Graham Civic Auditorium)
July 22: George, Wash. (the Gorge)
Aug. 25: Leeds, England (Leeds Festival)
Aug. 27: Reading, England (Reading Festival)

Source billboard.com.

Three vintage Rush home videos will make their DVD debut as part of the boxed set “Rush Replay X 3,” due June 13 via Mercury/UME. The collection will include 1982’s “Exit … Stage Left,” 1985’s “Grace Under Pressure” and 1991’s “A Show of Hands,” plus a previously unreleased audio CD version of “Grace Under Pressure.”

As previously reported, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson created new stereo mixes for the releases, which are presented in 5.1 Surround Sound. Tour booklets from the three concerts have also been reprinted for the set.

Filmed in 1981 in Montreal, “Exit … Stage Left” spotlights Rush in its early career heyday as it performs such tracks as “Red Barchetta,” “YYZ,” “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight” and “Closer to the Heart.”

“Grace Under Pressure” was taped in Rush’s Toronto homebase and blends hits like “New World Man” and “The Spirit of Radio” with more uncommon fare like “Witch Hunt,” “The Enemy Within” and “The Weapon.” The latter track is accompanied by a video featuring actor Joe Flaherty as his “SCTV” character Count Floyd.

“A Show of Hands” was taped in 1988 in Birmingham, England, and was issued in tandem with a live album of the same name. Peart’s nightly drum solo appears here for the first time on an official release. Other highlights include “Turn the Page,” “Marathon” and a closing medley of “2112”/”La Villa Strangiato”/”In the Mood.”

Rush is in the early stages of work on its first studio album since 2002’s “Vapor Trails.”

Source billboard.com.

Gov’t Mule has returned to the studio to record the follow-up to its 2004 ATO Records release D

MerleFest 2006, the 19th annual festival in celebration of the music of the late Merle Watson and his father Doc Watson, will once again share its performers with some 12,000 members of the local community through the Outreach program. Sponsored by Sprint, Outreach will facilitate performances by MerleFest artists on April 27-28 at 32 different locations.

Artists will appear in all twenty-one Wilkes County K-12 schools, Ashe County High School, Alexander Central High School, Wilkes Development Day School, Montessori Learning School, the Wilkesboro Methodist Church After-School Program, Camp E-Ma-Etu, and several nursing and assisted living facilities. The Outreach performances, designed to expose students and seniors to different kinds of Americana music live, are not open to the general public.Some of the artists scheduled to participate in the Outreach Program include Richard Watson & Charles Welch, the Alison Brown Quartet with Joe Craven, John Cowan Band, Feufollet, David Holt & the Lightning Bolts, Jim Lauderdale & his Bluegrass Band, Chatham County Line, Laura Love Band, the Wilders, the Avett Brothers, the Biscuit Burners, and Darrell Scott.

Repeat artists are rotated to different venues than prior years. Every effort is made to match performances to the ages of the audiences. More than 3000 Wilkes County school students also attend MerleFest as part of organized school groups admitted without charge each year on Friday.

Wilkes Community College will present MerleFest 2006 on April 27 30, 2006 on its campus in Wilkesboro, NC. Among those previously announced as joining Doc Watson and Merle

Columbia Records announced that innovative rock band Coheed and Cambria have elected to hit the road for a spring co-headlining jaunt across North America with Avenged Sevenfold. The band will be using their full live production and lights during their shows, which are now legendary for their progressive dynamics, and high-energy post-punk drama.

The stage props and projections used during the shows will include images borrowed from singer Claudio Sanchez’s 124-page graphic novel that reveals the story behind their current, internationally successful third record, “Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness.” The album was released late last year to glowing reviews, widespread radio airplay and strong sales. The NY Times proclaimed that “no other band is better at turning hard rock into something so wild and sweet,” while Blender gave the record four out of five stars and said that Coheed and Cambria are “an ambitious band that get to balance their charismatic music with a biblically epic take encompassing all human experience.” Alternative Press put the band on their cover and rewarded the record five out five stars, while Rolling Stone hailed: “Good Apollo” is “so over the top, it’s damn near awe-inspiring.” Guitar World said that with the new record, “Coheed and Cambria take prog-rock to the outer limits.”

The dates for the spring tour with Avenged Sevenfold are below:

Date City Venue
Fri. 4/7 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic Center
Sat. 4/8 Providence, RI Dunkin Donuts Arena
Sun. 4/9 Asbury Park, NJ Convention Hall
Tue. 4/11 Norfolk, VA Convocation Center at ODU
Thu. 4/13 Louisville, KY Louisville Gardens
Fri. 4/14 Atlanta, GA Hi Fi Buys Amphitheatre
Sat. 4/15 Orlando, FL UCF Arena
Mon. 4/17 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless Theatre
Tues. 4/18 San Antonio, TX Freeman Coliseum
Wed. 4/19 Dallas, TX Nokia Live
Fri. 4/21 Denver, CO Magness Auditorium
Sat. 4/22 Salt Lake City, UT The Great Salt Air
Mon. 4/24 Sacramento, CA Memorial Hall
Tue. 4/25 Reno, NV Lawler Events Center
Thu. 4/27 San Jose, CA SJSU Events Center
Fri. 4/28 San Diego, CA San Diego Sports Arena
Tue. 5/2 Phoenix, AZ Mesa Amphitheatre
Wed. 5/3 Albuquerque, NM Albuquerque Convention Ctr
Fri. 5/5 Kansas City, MO City Market
Mon. 5/8 Minneapolis, MN Myth
Tue. 5/9 Milwaukee, WI Eagles Ballroom
Wed. 5/10 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
Fri. 5/12 Detroit, MI Cobo Arena
Sat. 5/13 Cleveland, OH Tower City Amphitheatre
Sun. 5/14 Pittsburgh, PA Chevy Amphitheatre
Fri. 5/19 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom