They Might Be Giants' first children's book is flying off shelves at one store. According to an article in the
Riverfront Times, the bookstore, the Subterranean, doesn't stock Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman because people
took the title literally. What they didn't expect was that recently "the most stolen is Bed, Bed, Bed by They
Might Be Giants." "I wouldn't think They Might Be Giants fans would normally be thieves," said store
owner Kelly Von Plonski.
A photographer for the New Zealand Herald reported to his country's Press Association news agency that he was attacked
by his latest subject. Glenn Jeffrey had been trying to get a few shots of Bjork at the Auckland International
Airport. "As I turned and walked away she came up behind me, grabbed the back of my black skivvy and tore
it," said Jeffrey. "As she did this she fell over, she fell to the ground." "At no stage did
I touch her or speak with her." According to an airport spokeswoman, there is video footage of the incident
in case police request it (although, it is now up on YouTube.) The photographer has spoken to police but it currently
isn't known if any further action will be taken. Bjork was arriving in town to perform in the annual Big Day Out
music festival. Her latest single is "Declare Independence" from her Volta album. A comment about the
incident hasn't been made by the singer at this time.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, 60, is reportedly recovering at home from a hernia operation he underwent
last week. A spokesperson for Wood has said, "He doesn't know exactly the moment it happened, just that it
happened while he was on tour and that it got progressively more uncomfortable." Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese's
film about the band, Shine A Light, will head to theaters on Apr. 4th.
Charlie Pride is scheduled to receive the Mississippi Arts Commission's lifetime achievement award during the Governor's
Awards for Excellence in the Arts ceremonies held on Feb. 8th.
Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits held onto the #7 position on the Billboard 200 chart this week with sales of 41,000
copies. The Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden fell four places to #10 selling 36,000. Led Zeppelin's Mothership slid
3 spots to #16. Celine Dion's Taking Chances dropped ten places to #30. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising
Sand plummets 16 spots to #34.
"Into The Night" by Santana featuring Chad Kroeger dropped two places to #32 during their 14th week on
the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand shot up the U.K. Album chart this week 16 places to #6. Led Zeppelin's
Mothership fell 3 spots to #19.
Celine Dion's "Taking Chances" climbed 4 spots to #3 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart. Dave Gahan's
"Kingdom" fell two places to #5.
Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Into The Wild was honored as Best Original Song at the half-hour press
conference that served as the Golden Globes award ceremony. During the same 'ceremony', Queen Latifah's performance
in HBO's Life Support won for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television.
According to People magazine, Lionel Richie is a grandpa now that his daughter, Nicole, gave birth to her (and
boyfriend Joel Madden of Good Charlotte) baby girl, Harlow Winter Kate Madden.
The Underworld have plans to release their new single, "Beautiful Burnout," on Jan. 14th. The song comes
from their latest studio album, Oblivion With Bells. A video for the song has been filmed and is currently up at
their MySpace page.
Duran Duran and Iggy Pop have been named for Playboy's second annual Rock the Rabbit initiative which fuses rock,
hip-hop, art and fashion in conjunction with Playboy magazine's annual March music issue (due on stands Feb. 12th.)
The acts will put their twist on the iconic Playboy logo (the rabbit head) by creating limited edition t-shirt
designs to be auctioned off with proceeds going to Rock The Vote. A special collection of Rock the Rabbit t-shirts
will be available at Bloomingdale's locations nationwide and ShopTheBunny.com.
Members of New Model Army and the Levellers are going on tour for 6 U.K. dates in February for live performances
of Freeborn John (Rev Hammer's musical biography of John Lilburne, leader of the Leveller movement.)
Aerosmith vocalist Steven Tyler has signed a deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing. The deal is set up as a strategic
partnership that includes the acquisition of an interest in copyrights to about 160 songs Tyler has written or
co-written. According to Tyler, "It's the perfect place for my catalog. I love the passion and commitment
that Larry (Mestel partner/CEO of Primary Wave) and his team put into marketing songs." Stage Three Music
controls part of the Aerosmith catalog and EMI Music Publishing administers the remainder of Tyler's interests
in the band's songs. Primary Wave will be working with the Stage Three and EMI, bringing marketing ideas and opportunities
to them. The $50 million deal was first reported by the New York Post and later confirmed by the band's publicist.
Primary Wave Music Publishing has a stake in the Beatles songs of John Lennon and the publishing catalogs of Kurt
Cobain, Steve Earle and Daryl Hall and John Oates.
Deborah Gibson will celebrate her 20 year anniversary in the music business with a 3-week run in May at Harrah's
in Atlantic City. The show entitled Pop Goes Broadway features her biggest hits as well as songs from Chicago,
Evita, Grease and Cabaret.
Sepultura have released a video for their new single, "Ostia," from their recently released Dante XXI
album. They have posted it at their MySpace page ( www.myspace.com/sepultura).
Run-D.M.C.'s Reverend Run has signed a new worldwide recording deal with independent label Craze Productions for
the release of his new album due out in the next few months. Simmons has been recording the album in New York (which
features a guest spot by Kid Rock). Later this year, he will tape a 5th season of his MTV series Run's House.
A 25th anniversary collector's edition of ZZ Top's classic 1983 album, Eliminator, will be released on Mar. 25th
and include bonus tracks, previously-unreleased tracks as well as videos for the album's singles and rare live
performances. The set will sell for a suggested retail price of about $25 while a digital version that includes
all the CD content will be released that same day for under $12. The album was the trio's eighth studio effort
and was among the first group of albums to be awarded diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of over 10 million
copies.
Collector's Choice subsidiary label Noble Rot will release three new reissues (Wednesday Week's What We Had (1987),
Ben Vaughn's Beautiful Thing (1987) and Jim Carroll's Praying Mantis (1991) in digi-paks with liner notes) on Jan.
29th.
According to a recent interview with Metal-rules.com, Rob Halford has said that the mixing is about to begin on
the new Judas Priest album. Plans are to release it this year with a tour to follow.
Image Entertainment will be releasing a 2-disc deluxe set of Yes: Classic Artists, "Their Definitive Fully
Authorized Story" on Jan. 15th. Exclusive interviews of Yes members past and present explain the twists and
turns of the group's career for the first time.
Vince Neil will open his Dr Feelgood's Rock Bar & Grill in West Palm Beach, Florida on Jan. 19th. Neil will
perform a free show with his solo band for the event.
A 90-minute special, How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites Live From The Grand Ole Opry, will be recorded live on
Jan. 20th with Ronnie Milsap, Loretta Lynn and the Charlie Daniels Band. The special will air on the Great American
Country channel on Feb. 9th.
Sammy Hagar launched CaboWaboRadio.com on New Year's Eve with a plan to expose great new cutting edge music as
well as play just a few great rock songs from the past.
U.K. rock act Shy have been working in the recording studio on their new album. According to a post at their MySpace
page, drums and heavy rhythm guitar tracks have been completed. Lee Small is due to lay down his vocal tracks this
week with Roy Davis doing the same for bass tracks.
It seems that Meat Loaf has found his next career as a game show host. The singer hosts a new show called Rock
& A Hard Place that premieres exclusively on DirecTV channel 101 on Jan. 23rd. The trivia game show pits celebrity
musical acts against each other in a variety of subjects -- from music history to current events with the contestants
representing a charity of their choice. Scheduled during the first 10-episode season: Grandmaster Flash, Eddie
Money, 38 Special, Shiela E., The Pointer Sisters, Tiffany, Warrant, Berlin, Thelma Houston and many others.
Bauhaus and Love And Rockets' bassist David J has written and directed a stage production based on the life of
Andy Warhol's muse Edie Sedgwick. Silver For Gold (The Odyssey Of Edie Sedgwick) will have a world premiere at
The Met Theatre in Hollywood, California, beginning an exclusive two-week engagement on Mar. 6th.
Former Ratt bassist Juan Croucier has released his first solo album, Liquid Sunday, via CD Baby. It can be purchased
online at http://cdbaby.com/cd/liquidsunday
Paula Abdul is reportedly in talks that would see her joining Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers during the Super
Bowl XLII halftime performance. According to TV Guide, she has a song, "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow,"
with American Idol co-judge Randy Jackson that will be the lead single from his album, Music Club Vol. 1, due out
Mar. 11th and she has been rehearsing for a video to be filmed for the track. Richie Sambora also appears on the
album on the track "Willing To Try."
The Lotus Eaters are working on an album of new material and have posted one of their new tracks, "Can't Help,"
on their MySpace page.
New Edition and Bell Biv Devoe's Michael Bivins was recently interviewed by Essence magazine. The Q&A appears
in the article New Edition Turns 25 which can be read at Essence.com.
Heaven And Hell plan to to begin songwriting sessions in April for a studio album. Drummer Vinny Appice has a busy
year planned as he will be working on that album and also doing a little reunion tour with his first band Derringer.
Black Francis (a.k.a. Frank Black) will release his new 7-track mini-album, Svn Fngrs, on Mar. 3rd.
Madness' new single, "NW5," will be released this week in CD, DVD, 7inch and digital download versions
via Townsend-Records.co.uk.
Frontiers Records has announced more details about White Lion's new studio album, Return Of The Pride. Four new
samples from the album have been posted to their MySpace page. The 11-track disc will include a bonus track ("Take
Me Home") on the European release. The album is due out on Mar. 14th via Frontiers Records and King Records
will release the disc in Japan.
A new DVD heading to stores, Bursting Circuits And Ringing Ears, on Feb. 19th documents the rise and disintegration
of Seattle's grunge act Tad. The film contains archival footage from the group's career as well as many interviews
with their peers including Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Mudhoney's Mark Arm and Nirvana's Krist Novoselic and Chad
Channing.
Snoop Dogg recently told MTV.com, "I want to work with Madonna, Bono or Mick Jagger. I'm on some rock s**t,
man. Snoop Dogg, Man!" The rapper is seeking an edgier sound as he feels uninspired by his hip-hop peers.
Reba McEntire's new collection of love songs, Love Revival, has been released in all Hallmark stores and be sold
through Feb. 29th.
Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon is set to appear in a currently-untitled film project by director Alia Raza. Gordon's
recent acting stints included the Kurt Cobain biopic Last Days and a spot on the Girlmore Girls.
King Records plans to release Night Ranger's double-CD Live In Japan in Japan in April. Future regions that it
will be released in have not been confirmed.
Two fans have started a campaign to erect a life-size bronze statue of Pantera/Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell
Abbott in his hometown of Dallas, Texas. They have a page set up at www.myspace.com/dimestatueindallas and in December
raised $1,063 in donations for the project.
Johannes Schmoelling plans to release a double-CD career retrospective, Images And Memory, on Jan. 18th. The set
will include album tracks as well as rare and unreleased songs.
Morrissey's new Greatest Hits album will be released on Feb. 11th on CD and double-vinyl. A limited run of the
album will include a bonus CD containing 8 songs recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl last year.
According to a report by the Independent, Billy Bragg's Jail Guitar Doors project (which gives jail inmates instruments)
has seen the rate of reoffending by participants drop from a national average of 61% to around 10% to 15%.
Joe Jackson has been working on a musical about Dracula author Bram Stoker entitled Stoker that is being written
by Raymond Hardie and directed by Tony Award-winner Judith Dolan.
Dave Sharp makes his debut with his new band, The Hard Travelers, on Jan 22nd during a concert series marking 40
years of "The Spirit of Woody Guthrie." They will make available a free "official bootleg"
copy of that performance to all who attend the show. They will start work on their debut EP on Jan. 20th with a
spring release expected.
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds have announced that they will release their new studio album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!,
on Apr. 8th (Mar. 3rd in the U.K.) A video for the title track has been filmed and has been posted online at NickCaveAndTheBadSeeds.com.
The song will be the first single in the U.K. The disc will be their 14th studio album.
Ritchie Blackmore will reportedly head back into the studio this month to continue recording songs for the new
Blackmore's Night album.
Shelby Lynne will release her 10th studio effort, Just A Little Lovin', on Jan. 29th via Lost Highway Records.
The 10-track disc will include 9 songs from the Dusty Springfield songbook produced by Phil Ramone and the Lynne-penned
"Pretend."
Dan Baird and Homemade Sin plan to release a double-disc live album, Fresh Outta Georgia Live Like A Satellite,
culled from their October 2005 performance that yielded a DVD last year.
And Also The Trees have released their new studio album, (Listen For) The Rag And Bone Man, via Normal Records.
Some tracks from the disc are up for preview on the MySpace page.
There are rumors that Axl Rose has handed-in the completed Chinese Democracy to Geffen and the only thing holding
it up is that they can't agree on how to market the album. Remember... just a rumor. Meanwhile, former guitarist
Slash is asking for help in finding his 43 year-old brother-in-law, Ivan Pablo Padilla, who disappeared in Hollywood
in December of 2001. He urges anyone who knows of his whereabouts to email searchforivan@yahoo.com.