Former Great White tour manager Dan Biechele was sentenced
to 4 years in prison and 3 years of probation for setting off the pyrotechnics that started the Station nightclub
fire in February of 2003 which took the lives of 100 fans and injured twice as many. Club owner Michael Derderian's
trial is tentatively scheduled to begin on July 31st. Brother and co-owner Jeffrey Derderian has not been scheduled
for a trial date.
Keith Richards was released from the Ascot Hospital in Aukland, New Zealand, on Thursday after undergoing head
surgery on Monday. The cause of the Rolling Stones guitarist's mild concussion and headaches remains unconfirmed.
Richards will remain under outpatient observation. His publicist has denied rumors that he has suffered brain damage
and had a second surgery.
Fats Domino was briefly hospitalized after feeling ill when he woke up which forced him to cancel his closing set
at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler has filed a lawsuit against Monica Beltran for $540,000 in compensation for
7 months he wasn't able to work after she allegedly swerved her car and knocked him off his motorbike in central
London in 2003.
According to US Weekly, Kylie Minogue is expected to marry her boyfriend of 3 years, French actor Olivier Martinez,
by next spring. Minogue recently began some of her first recordings in New York with the Scissor Sisters after
a yearlong battle with breast cancer.
Alice Cooper will be inducted into Fargo, North Dakota's Walk Of Fame on May 15th while there to play at the Civic
Center. He will also be given the key to the city of Alice, North Dakota.
Lynn Anderson was recently arrested on suspicion of careless driving and aggravated DWI after rear-ending another
automobile in Espanola, New Mexico.
Bananarama release their first new studio album in a decade, Drama, this week. The album includes the hit U.K.
single "Really Saying Something (Solasso mix)" and a remix of "Venus" by Soft Cell vocalist
Marc Almond as bonus tracks.
Alabama's Randy Owen and Reba McEntire have signed on to appear on, She Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool, a
Barbara Mandrell tribute album due out Oct. 10th. Owen is featured on "Years" while McEntire duets with
Kenny Chesney on the classic "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool."
The Pet Shop Boys will release their new studio album, Fundamental, on June 27th. A limited-edition version of
the album entitled Fundamentalism will feature remixes as well as 3 non-album tracks. The first single from the
album is "I'm With Stupid" and "Minimal" has been tapped as the follow-up. "I'm With Stupid"
debuted at #8 on the U.K. Singles chart last week becoming their 22nd U.K. top 10 hit since 1985's "West End
Girls" topped the chart.
Huey Lewis has recorded vocals for the track "Women, Wine And Song" with Chicago jam band Umphrey's McGee
for their upcoming studio album, Safety In Numbers.
"And Do You Feel Scared?" a new Eric Prydz mix featuring vocals by Howard Jones from Jones' classic "Things
Can Only Get Better" will be released as single this summer (and is featured on the EA Games 2006 FIFA World
Cup Game.) Meanwhile, Jones' 20th Anniversary DVD was released on May 2nd. The double-disc pack contains 29 songs
from his Sept. 20th 2003 performance and includes guest appearances by Midge Ure, Nena and Jed Holie.
Camouflage has reportedly finished work on their new studio album, Relocated. "Motif Sky" is expected
to be the first single from the album.
Frontiers Records has announced that they have signed Winger for a brand new reunion studio album. Kip Winger and
Reb Beach started writing new music earlier this year for the possibility of a reunion. The new album is expected
out in October.
Tony Bennett has been in the recording studio with Bono, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Barbra Streisand, James Taylor,
k.d. lang, Elvis Costello and Sting performing duets of some of his biggest hits for a new album due out on Sept.
26 paying tribute to the singer's 80th birthday. The crooner also has a few television specials in the works for
this year.
The Fixx, The Knack and Tommy Tutone will hit the road together on The Rock N' Roll Funhouse Tour starting May
27th and is being presented by Edge Management and VH1 Classic.
Scritti Politti's follow-up to 1999's Anomie & Bonhomie entitled White Bread, Black Beer will now be released
this summer.
Weird Al Yankovic's 1997-1998 13-episode television series, The Weird Al Show, will be released on DVD on Aug.
15th featuring commentary and guest commentary. Yankovic has also completed work on his follow-up to 2003's Poodle
Hat with expected summer release.
The Legendary Pink Dots will see the re-release of 1984's Tower, 1996's Faces In The Fire EP and 2000's A Perfect
Mystery album on May 30th. Meanwhile, bandmember Neil VanHoorn's new band Strange Attractor will release their
debut CD, Everything Is Closer.
Eagle Vision will release Culture Club: Live In Sydney on DVD on May 16th. The 15-song set was filmed in 1984 for
a live Australian-televised concert and includes a television 'featurette' on the band. Meanwhile, Boy George has
announced some solo performances and is expected to perform some new material from his forthcoming album.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California" has held the #1 spot on the Mainstream Rock chart for a
second week and top spot of the Modern Rock chart for a fourth week. Their new album, Stadium Arcadium, became
their third to take the top spot on the U.K. Album chart.
Bjork is scheduled to release a new career retrospective box set entitled Surrounded on June 27th which will contain
every solo album starting with 1993's Debut to the 2005 Drawing Restraint 9 soundtrack and include a video collection.
Jerry Lee Lewis will release his first retrospective box set, Jerry Lee Lewis: A Half Century Of Hits, on June
13th.
Songs by Mark Eitzel, Tracey Thorn, Richard Thompson, PJ Harvey, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Nick Cave & The
Bad Seeds, Lou Barlow & His Sentridoh, Kristin Hersh and Nick Lowe are among those being released on a new
38-track double-disc compilation entitled Rough Trade Shops: Singer Songwriter 01 due out this summer.
Slayer will reportedly release a preview of their first new studio album in 5 years in the form of an EP exclusively
available at Hot Topic stores. The disc will include the new song, "Cult," which they plan to play during
their upcoming Unholy Alliance tour. The tour was recently postponed due to bassist/vocalist Tom Araya's minor
gallbladder surgery last week.
Front Line Assembly will release their new studio album, Artificial Soldier, via Metropolis on June 20th. Front
242's Jean-Luc De Meyer is a guest vocalist on the song "Future Fail."