The 80s Nuts
Loudness drummer Munetaka Higuchi was diagnosed with liver cancer earlier this month. The co-founder of the Japanese
metal band has been undergoing radiotherapy. A replacement drummer will fill in for 3 previously announced dates
in Japan and then go on hiatus until Higuchi is back to full strength.
Coney Hatch singer/songwriter Carl Dixon was critically injured on Apr. 14th in a head-on collision in Australia
while returning from a recording studio. Dixon early reports claimed he suffered head, limb and severe internal
injuries but other reports claimed bumps, bruises and broken bones. The driver of the other vehicle also suffered
serious injuries.
Deborah Gibson has filed a restraining order against Bassas Jorge Puigdollers claiming he is an obsessed fan. According
to an interview with TMZ, Gibson claims that he has been sending her letters for more than 6 years and during one
week turned up in front of her home several times. The push to get a restraining order came when he drove to her
show in Texas on Saturday night and was outside her home in Los Angeles within an hour of her plane landing.
Happy Mondays' dancer Bez [a.k.a. Mark Berry] has filed for bankruptcy for the second time despite winning celebrity
Big Brother and rejoining the group for their new album, Uncle Dysfunktional. He filed for bankruptcy previously
in 2004.
George Strait's Troubadour fell a spot to #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart. R.E.M.'s Accelerate dropped 3 places
to #5. Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV debuted at #14. Alan Jackson's Good Time fell 6 spots to #26. The Rolling Stones'
Shine A Light soundtrack dropped 23 places to #34.
George Strait's Troubadour holds the top spot on the Top Country Albums chart. R.E.M. tops the Tastemakers, Internet
Albums and Rock Albums charts. Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 reigns on the Top Pop Catalog chart. Nine Inch Nails'
Ghosts I-IV tops the Electronic Albums chart. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters still has a stranglehold
of the Top Contemporary Jazz chart.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake fell 4 spots to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
George Strait's "I Saw God Today" climbed a place to # 34.
R.E.M.'s Accelerate fell 5 places to #8 on the U.K. Albums chart. The Rolling Stones' Shine A Light soundtrack
dropped 9 spots to #11. Sarah Brightman's Symphony debuted at #13. Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 fell one place
to #14.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake holds the top spot on the U.K. Singles chart.
The CMT Awards were handed out and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss won CMT Music Awards Wide Open Country Video
Of The Year for "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)." Bon Jovi and LeAnn Rimes won CMT Music Awards Collaborative
Video Of The Year for "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore."
The Smithereens have announced that they will release a new live disc, Live In Concert - Greatest Hits And More,
on May 27th via Koch Records. Along with the hits, the 18-track set includes two brand new songs ("Any Other
Way" and "Since You Went Away") and live favorites (Buddy Holly's "Well Alright" and their
interpretation of the "Batman" theme.)
The Goo Goo Dolls will release Greatest Hits - Volume 2 on June 17th. The second disc of the set will contain videos.
Poison's Bret Michaels' will release his new solo album, Rock My World, on June 3rd. He will also be appearing
on a celebrity edition of Fox's Don't Forget The Lyrics on May 1st.
John Mellencamp will release his new studio album, Life, Death, Love And Freedom, on July 15th followed by a tour.
Chris Cornell has postponed his upcoming European tour as he his holed up in the studio with producer Timbaland.
They are working on his third solo album due out in September on Interscope Records.
X singer Exene Cervenka has signed a worldwide multi-album deal with Bloodshot Records. The first album in the
deal will be released next year. She is currently on the road with the 13 X 31 Anniversary Tour 2008 and she is
expected to start recording this fall.
Eric Clapton, Vince Gill, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Buffett and Dr. John are among the artists guesting on Sonny Landreth's
ninth album, From The Reach, due out via his own Landfall Records label on May 20th.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have released the exclusive iTunes Live: London Sessions EP as a digital download.
The 5 track EP was recorded on Mar. 2nd in London's Air studios and includes their new single, "More News
From Nowhere." That single is due out on May 12th and will include a non-album bonus track "Fleeting
Love."
Hot off his work with Coldplay, Brian Eno has started work with David Byrne on a new album (their first since collaborating
on My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts 27 years ago) due out next year.
Van Halen made their return to the stage for the first time since an abrupt halt was called to their tour recently
for Eddie Van Halen's health issues. The performance at Tiger Jam XI in Las Vegas on Saturday helped raise over
$1.5 million for the Tiger Woods Foundation. The band personally gave $200,000 to the charity.
And Also The Trees have released their new studio album, (Listen For) The Rag And Bone Man, in the U.S. at Amazon.com,
CDUniverse.com and independent record stores.
Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash recently told Billboard that they plan to audition potential singers online and
that they aren't sure what they want in a singer yet. He also said that the group are talking about building a
Web site where some auditions can be done.
Starbucks will release the exclusive Sonic Youth compilation, Hits Are For Squares, in early summer. The songs
have been chosen by friends of the band and span from 1981 to present.
AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson has confirmed that the group are recording their new album in Canada and that it is
due out later this year. He has also been busy as executive producer of the new Salient Media comedy film Totally
Baked which heads to stores this week. He has included 3 original songs for the film's soundtrack. A trailer can
be seen at www.totallybakedmovie.com
Jane's Addiction's Eric Avery will join his former band mates for a one-night-only performance at the first-ever
U.S. NME Awards.
According to The Sun, Madonna is finalizing negotiations on a nearly $25 million deal that would see her close
her upcoming world tour in support of Hard Candy with two shows in Dubai in November. Her new single, "4 Minutes,"
has extended her record in the U.K. becoming her 13th #1 single (a record for female solo artists on their charts.)
Kylie Minogue is second with 7 #1's. Meanwhile, a ruling on her and husband Guy Ritchie's adoption of son David
Banda has been moved from Apr. 22nd to May 15th as she will be in the U.S. promoting her new album.
Green River will reunite to perform at the 20th anniversary of Sub Pop Records with Mudhoney and several other
label acts on July 12th and 13th in Seattle.
Testament are streaming their new studio album, The Formation Of Damnation, on their MySpace page until Apr. 24th.
MySpace Metal will be featuring the band from today to Apr. 27th. The album heads to stores in North America on
Apr. 29th via Nuclear Blast Records.
Grace Jones will release her new studio album, Eternity, in the U.K. in May. She is also among the performers scheduled
for the Meltdown Festival in June.
Motley Crue's countdown clock to "one of the biggest music announcements of the year" concluded on Tuesday.
"Motley Crue, the world's most notorious rock band, has revealed that this summer they, along with Buckcherry,
Papa Roach, SIXX:AM and Trapt, will head out on the road for what will undoubtedly be the hottest ticket of the
year for rock fans - 'Crue Fest '08'. The tour, produced by Live Nation, kicks off on July 1st and will hit over
40 major North American and Canadian cities by the end of August... Motley Crue also announced the upcoming release
of Saints Of Los Angeles, their first new studio album recorded with all of the original band members in over a
decade, hitting stores on June 17th." There is a little controversy over the touting of the tour as the "first
ever Crue Fest" (which doesn't appear in the press release) as a group of Motley Crue fans started Crue Fest
in 2001, have established it as a charity event for the Skylar Neil Foundation, members of the band have participated
in the event and Vince's son Neil Wharton has headlined several of the events with his band. Meanwhile, the title
track and first single will be released via Motley Records as a download for the computer game Rock Band for $0.99
from Apr. 15th via Xbox Live Marketplace and on Apr. 17th via the PlayStation Store. At each stop on the tour,
Rock Band fans will get to chance to battle it out in their very own Rock Band for the opportunity to take the
Crue Fest concert stage between acts and become the local Rock Band champion.
The new Queen + Paul Rodgers album, The Cosmos Rocks, is still in production and plans are to release it on Sept.
1st with a 28-date tour in 14 countries to follow.
The original line-up of Krokus (Marc Storace, Fernando Von Arb, Chris Von Rohr and Freddy Steady) have reunited
and plan a single 2008 concert in their Swiss homeland before heading to the studio to work on a new album.
Tori Amos will release a book of art based on her songs entitled Comic Book Tattoo due out July 23rd.
Rob Moratti has been selected as the new vocalist for Saga. Currently, Moratti is working on his new solo album
due out via Escape Music.
Matthew Sweet will release his new studio album, Sunshine Lies, on July 22nd via Shout! Factory/Sony/BMG. He also
has the upcoming Under The Covers Vol. 2 with Susanna Hoffs in the pipeline as well as Limits Of The Sky, which
he produced for The Bridges, due out June 10th.
April Wine will see their 1981 performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon released on DVD on June 10th via MVD under
the title I Like To Rock: Live In London 1981.
Joe Cocker will release his new studio album, Hymn For My Soul, on May 13th via Fantasy Records.
Killing Joke's first new studio album with their original line-up since 1987 will be released to coincide with
their world tour. A release date and title have yet to be announced.
Metallica fans are being offered a chance to "experience the album... before it's done" this May at the
newly launched MissionMetallica.com Web site.
A tribute album to former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent is in the works for this summer under the title Kiss My
Ankh: A Tribute To Vinnie Vincent.
A book of R.E.M. photos taken by David Belisle since 2001 entitled R.E.M.: HELLO will be released in June via Chronicle
Books.
Swervedriver plan to launch their reunion at Coachella with their first performance since 1999. Several other dates
are planned. The band includes former Shake Appeal members Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge.
Guns N' Roses were apparently caught "a bit off-guard" when guitarist Robin Finck decided to rejoin Nine
Inch Nails as they are "in negotiations" to release the long-awaited Chinese Democracy (according to
a post on their official Web site.) They've also shot down any chance of a reality series around the release.
The Bob Dylan biopic, I'm Not There, will be released on DVD on May 6th. Meanwhile, Dylan is working on a children's
book entitled Forever Young due out Oct. 6th.
Deicide vocalist/bassist Glen Benton recently told Terrorizer magazine that he believes that he saw 'the Florida
Sasquatch.' He says that he called Florida Wildlife and they checked for and found tracks. His experience was documented
as an official sighting. Meanwhile, the band release their new studio album, Till Death Do Us Part, on May 13th
(Apr. 28th in Europe.)
King's X have placed a sample of the music they are working on up in their MySpace page. The song, "Alright,"
is expected to be the first single from the new album.
Keyboardist Danny Federici, 58, of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band has lost his 3-year battle with melanoma on
Thursday. His last on-stage appearance with the band would be on Mar. 20th in Indianapolis.
Accordion-player/guitarist Chris Gaffney, 58, passed away from liver cancer on Apr. 17th in an Orange County hospital
in California with his wife by his side. Gaffney suffered a fall the prior night and died in his sleep after being
admitted to the hospital. Further details were unavailable but he was in the process of undergoing chemotherapy
for the cancer. Gaffney recorded a solo album in 1986 entitled Road To Indio and would appear on Lucinda Williams'
1988 self-titled album and Lonesome Strangers' 1989 self-titled album during the decade. He would continue to be
a steady studio musician while releasing 1990's Chris Gaffney & The Cold Hard Facts, 1992's Mi Vida Loca and
2003's Loser's Paradise. He was also an active member of The Hacienda Brothers and Dave Alvin & The Guilty
Men. The Hacienda Brothers have a new studio album, Arizona Motel, due out on June 24th.