Deborah Koons Garcia, the widow of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, filed a civil suit on Jan. 31st in
Marin County Superior Court against the limited liability corporation that oversees business involving his estate
(of which Koons Garcia is a member.) She claims that the corporation was scheduled to dissolve on Dec. 31st, 2005
but continues to exist. Koons Garcia wants to professionally restore what has been called the "Garcia Tapes"
but claims others in the L.L.C. have stalled the process. A hearing has been planned for Apr. 13th.
Tigertailz bassist Pepsi Tate has been forced to re-enter the hospital while the band is on tour due to an abnormal
growth found on his pancreas. A biopsy was planned on the 9th while they had a show scheduled for Feb. 10th.
Geauga County Coroner Kevin Chartrand announced the results of Gerald Levert's autopsy. Vicodin, Percocet, Darvocet,
Xanax and two antihistamines that can be purchased over-the-counter were found in the singer's bloodstream leading
them to believe his death last fall was an accident caused by a fatal combination of those drugs.
Convicted of the sexual abuse of two Vietnamese girls in March, Gary Glitter (Paul Francis Gadd) will see his 3-year
sentence lightened by 3 months. He is now expected to be released in August of 2008 but may be shortened more during
the next traditional nationwide Lunar New Year jail amnesty.
The winners were announced on Sunday at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. The Red Hot Chili Peppers won for best Rock
Album, Rock Song ("Dani California"), Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal ("Dani California")
and Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package (Stadium Arcadium.) Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder took home best
Pop Collaboration With Vocals ("For Once In My Life.") "For Once In My Life" also won arranger
Jorge Calandrelli best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists. Bennett also won for best Traditional Pop
Vocal Album (Duets: An American Classic.) Geoge Benson (& Al Jarreau) won for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
("Mornin'.") Peter Frampton won for best Pop Instrumental Album (Fingerprints.) The Flaming Lips won
for best Rock Instrumental Performance ("The Wizard Turns On...") Their album, At War With The Mystics,
also won best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for them and Dave Fridmann. Bob Dylan won for best Contemporary Folk/Americana
Album (Modern Times) and Solo Rock Vocal Performance ("Someday Baby.") Slayer won for best Metal Performance
("Eyes Of The Insane.") Madonna won for best Electronic/Dance Album (Confessions On A Dance Floor.) Ike
Turner won for best Traditional Blues Album (Risin' With The Blues.) Vince Gill won for best Male Country Vocal
Performance ("The Reason Why.") Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles won for best Country Music Collaboration
With Vocals ("Who Says You Can't Go Home.") Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder won for best Bluegrass
Album (Instrumentals.) Bela Fleck and the Flecktones won for best Contemporary Jazz Album (The Hidden Land.) The
late Michael Brecker won for best Jazz Instrumental Solo (Some Skunk Funk.) Brecker's album with brother Randy,
Some Skunk Funk, also won best Large Jazz Instrumental Album. Chick Corea won for best Jazz Instrumental Album,
Individual or Group (The Ultimate Adventure) and Instrumental Arrangement ("Three Ghouls.") John Williams
won for best Instrumental Composition ("A Prayer For Peace") and Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture,
Television or Other Visual Media (Memoirs Of A Geisha.) Randy Travis won for best Southern, Country or Bluegrass
Gospel Album (Glory Train.) Bruce Springsteen won for best Traditional Folk Album (We Shall Overcome -- The Seeger
Sessions) and Long Form Music Video (Wings For Wheels: The Making Of Born To Run.) Randy Newman (& James Taylor)
won for best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media ("Our Town" from Cars.)
Enya won for best New Age Album (Amarantine.) Ziggy Marley won for best Reggae Album (Love Is My Religion.) Donald
Fagen's album, Morph The Cat, won best Surround Sound Album honors for Darcy Proper. Lifetime Grammy achievement
awards were given to Joan Baez, the Doors and the Grateful Dead.
According to a statement made by Big Country's Tony Butler, he sees a possible future for the band that involves
playing and writing with his former bandmates. He plans to head into a rehearsal studio with Mark and Bruce for
a day with any decisions to be made with professional consultant Ian Grant.
Ralph Stanley of the Stanley Brothers is a featured vocalist on Josh Turner's current single entitled "Me
And God."
Keep your eyes on upcoming episodes of Extra as singer Sam Harris was supposed to appear on their Friday episode
(which wound up being pushed back due to Anna Nicole Smith coverage.) Harris is also slated to appear on E! after
4pm today but that may be pushed back for the same reasons.
The Police opened the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday and today they announced an 80-date 30th anniversary
world tour starting May 28th in Vancouver. Genesis have also announced their reunion tour, Turn It On Again, begins
on June 11th in Helsinki. Van Halen recently announced their 40-date summer tour.
While Blancmange have been busy working on their first new studio since 1985's Believe You Me, samples of new songs
from the duo are popping up. Their Wikipedia page hosts samples of the songs "Come On Now" and "Coffee"
while their MySpace page has an early version of a song called "There's A Man..."
According to his official Web site, Joe Jackson has been working on a theatre project based on the life of Bram
Stoker, the creator of Dracula. Stoker is expected to be a "Gothic melodrama with a strong undercurrent of
black humor."
Dr. Dre has signed a production deal through his Crucial Films production company with New Line Cinema. The multiyear
deal will focus on "dark comedies" and possibly move toward horror films.
Ade Fenton will release his new studio album, Artificial Perfect, on Apr. 30th which features Gary Numan on vocals
for 4 songs ("The Leather Sea," "Recall," "Slide Away" and the first single "Healing".)
The Pretenders will see their 1984 album, Learning To Crawl, and 1986's Get Close remastered this year. A live
performance by the band, recorded last April in London, is in the works as a live CD and DVD.
Pat Metheny's work with Brad Mehldau on their second album together has changed the duo into a quartet with the
addition of bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. Both of the new additions played on two tracks from
the Metheny/Mehldau album. The aptly titled second album, Quartet, will be released on Mar. 13th.
According to an interview with Motley Crue vocalist Vince Neil with Eddie Trunk on the Friday Night Rocks radio
show, he is rejoining reality TV with a new A&E series which will follow him and his family after his parents
have moved in with him. Neil also mentioned that the band has over 100 songs written for their next studio album
due out in 2008.
Josie Cotton is working on a new CD project, collecting B-movie theme song covers, entitled Invasion Of The B-Girls.
She also plans to head into the studio this summer to work on her next album. Her cult hit, "Johnny Are You
Queer?," recently popped up in the recent film, Jackass Number 2, and on the CD entitled A Date With John
Waters.
Rush plan to release their tentatively-titled new studio album, Snakes And Arrows, on May 1st and could hit the
East Coast with tour dates this summer.
Tuner have completed recording their new studio album, Pole, due out in May. They have set a track order for the
11 songs with mastering of the album later this month.
CBS has ordered a pilot for LL Cool J's new drama series, The Man. The show is written by CSI creator Anthony Zuiker.
Patti Smith plans to release her new covers album, Twelve, in the U.K. on Apr. 16th supported by a tour there and
in Ireland this spring.
Tommy Ramone and Claudia Tienan have formed a bluegrass duo named Uncle Monk. Their 14-track self-titled debut
album will be released on May 22nd via their own imprint, Airday Records.
Al Green has been working on his as-yet-untitled new studio album for the last two years. Album producer Ahmir
"?uestlove" Thompson recently told Billboard magazine that they hope to wrap up work in September.
An animated video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's latest single, "I'll Sue Ya," has been added into
rotation on the Fuse music video channel. The network is asking fans if they should keep it or lose it and votes
can be placed at their Web site: http://fuse.tv/ovenfresh
It seems that vinyl hasn't entirely died off. Depeche Mode's entire remastered catalog is scheduled to be released
in two batches (Mar. 12th and Apr. 2nd)
Masters Of Reality singer/guitarist Chris Goss has been working on the second album by his Goon Moon side-project.
The album, Licker's Last Leg, is due out on Apr. 28th via Ipecac.
A new Ratt video compilation DVD is in the works for release early this year. The disc will include their 1986
and 1991 video collections and possibly have new interviews and other videos that weren't released by their former
label Atlantic Records.
Rhino's new 16-track Black Sabbath compilation, The Dio Years, will be released on Apr. 3rd. The set includes newly
recorded songs "The Devil Cried," "Shadow Of The Wind" and "Ear In The Wall." A previously-unreleased
concert taped in December of 1981 in London will be released on May 1st in a limited-edition 5,000 copy run sold
through the Web site of Rhino Handmade.
San Francisco rock act Jetboy will regroup after 15 years. The group have got back together in 2005 to promote
their Hollywood Rocks audio companion box set with a performance. They have been in the studio working on tracks
for their new album via Cleopatra Records.
Sirius Satellite Radio's Disorder channel has performances and interviews with Paul Weller (on Feb. 13th) and The
Good, The Bad And The Queen (on Feb. 14th.) Their Faction channel will have Henry Rollins as a guest DJ on Hostile
Takeover on Feb. 16th.
According to Robin Leach, Michael Jackson has brought in a few more people to produce and promote his 'comeback'
album, Simon Fuller (of Pop/American Idol and Spice Girls fame) and Kenny Ortega (who directed High School Musical.)
Ortega did address the possibility of a Las Vegas-based show by saying, "We're talking business and looking
at lots of different possibilities."
The original members of Sacred Reich plan to reunite to perform two shows in their home state of Arizona in July.
The shows are expected to be warm-ups for their European festival dates.
Former Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson and former W.A.S.P. drummer Stet Howland have a new project called Temple
Of Brutality which will hit the road in March.
Paul Anka has signed a new deal with Decca for his new studio album, My Way -- Swings & Strings, due out May
1st. The disc will include new recordings of his own hits, guest artists and his versions of songs that include
Billy Joel's "I Go To Extremes" and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."
According to a post at his official Web site, Gene Simmons and long-time playmate Shannon Tweed did voice over
work for an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. Simmons played a Sea Monster and Tweed played a Sea Mom. The crew
from their A&E reality series, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, caught it all.
Dream Theater has signed a new deal with Roadrunner Records. The band's label debut, Systematic Chaos, will be
released in June.
Ska act Madness have enlisted U.K. hip-hop artist Sway for their new single, Sorry, which is due out on Mar. 5th
but can currently be heard at their MySpace page.
According to KNAC, Metallica are into the last few weeks of pre-production and expect to start recording their
new album on Mar. 12th. The group expect to take a break during the summer and perform some dates in Europe.
Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum (formerly of the Cult and Guns N' Roses) has teamed up with his friend Max Noce
to launch the Sorum-Noce clothing line.
"Wish Upon A Dog Star" will be the first single from Perry Farrell's new project, Satellite Party. Their
debut album, Ultra Payloaded, hits stores on May 15th.
Michelle Shocked will release her new Internet-only single, "Hardcore Hornography," tomorrow. The song
will be available free at her MichelleShocked.com homepage.
Manowar plan to release their new studio album on Apr. 3rd in North America following various dates in Europe starting
Feb. 23rd in Germany.
Former Poison frontman Bret Michaels will release a new single, "Go That Far," via online downloading
retailers shortly.
Guns N' Roses have announced the will launch their Chinese Democracy World Tour 2007 in April.
Willie Nelson is reportedly working on a song and an upcoming film with Mariah Carey.
SOS Records posted on their MySpace page blog that guitarist Nidge Miller of the U.K. Oi act Blitz was hit by a
car and killed following their performance on Friday night. Miller was a founding member of the influential punk
act.