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7/01/01
A Champion Of Punk Rides Off Into The Sunset

Neumu's Michael Goldberg writes: He was the champion of punk rock, back in '76 when no one quite knew what to make of it. He helped The Ramones and Blondie play a San Francisco club, showed The Clash and the Sex Pistols around when they hit town, introduced Romeo Void, Translator and Wire Train to the world and brought Lou Reed to the White House. For the past six years he's been president of Reprise Records, the AOL Time Warner label with such credible artists as Neil Young, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Green Day, Chris Isaak and Wilco. Next Friday is his last day at Reprise. His name is Howie Klein, and for the music business, his departure is not a good thing. As far as I know Howie, who will be a "consultant" to the Warner Music Group, has no plans to run another label.

My sense though I could be wrong is that he's had his fill of the music business. Howie is a friend of mine. We first met in 1975, as I recall, when he was working as a publicist, promoting an experimental album by former Monkee Mike Nesmith. We became friends then, and 26 years later we're still friends. To see Howie now, you might not realize that he's the guy who played singles by Crime and The Nuns on the punk radio show "The Outcaste Hour," which he once hosted on San Francisco radio station KSAN (back in the day when KSAN was a pretty good "progressive" rock station). When KSAN went country, Howie headed for college radio; at KUSF he continued to play punk singles. In 1978 he co-founded 415 Records, ran it out of his 16th Street apartment (the one my wife and I passed on to him when we moved), and managed against all odds to score a hit with Romeo Void's "Never Say Never." He was an unmistakable figure on the San Francisco scene in the late '70s with his shaved head, shades and black leather jacket. You'd find him hanging at the Mabuhay Gardens, talking it up with Sally Mutant or Avengers singer Penelope Houston (who he signed to a Reprise contract as a solo artist two decades later).

Based on the success of Romeo Void, Columbia Records did a deal with 415, and suddenly Romeo Void, Translator, the Red Rockers and Wire Train had a real shot at success. That's when Howie got his first taste of working with the corporate music business. If working the business is an art, Howie is a master artist, because even though none of the 415 acts broke through in a big way, by the time the Columbia/415 deal had run its course, Howie was seen as one of the key rising young record guys. He soon had a new job as General Manager at the very cool Sire Records, the label that had signed Talking Heads, The Ramones, Depeche Mode, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Dead Boys, the Flamin' Groovies and others. At one point Howie and I, plus Neumu's Cinematronic editor Michael Snyder, collaborated on a Flamin' Groovies compilation CD, Groovies Greatest Grooves, which remains (in my very biased opinion) the single best representation of the Groovies' genius. Howie was one of the few people in the established music business who recognized the importance of the Internet, and he was unequivocally supportive when I came to him in 1994 and told him about a new thing I was going to start, an online magazine called Addicted To Noise. He immediately said he'd advertise, and proceeded to run an ad in ATN every month for the next two years until I sold the company.

One time when Neil Young was playing this bar just north of Half Moon Bay called the Old Princeton Landing, Howie flew up from L.A. and brought me along. There's nothing quite like seeing Neil Young and Crazy Horse rock a bar that holds maybe 100 people. I know it was particularly meaningful for Howie having Lou Reed on Reprise; Howie was a Velvet Underground fan going back to the '60s, when the Velvets' first albums were released. Howie was also a journalist for a time, in the mid-'70s, and he remains an excellent writer. In fact, he wrote a record review column for me in the early '80s, when I was managing editor of a city magazine called Boulevards.

When Joey Ramone died earlier this year, Howie sent out an email to express his grief, but also because he didn't want anyone to forget the import of The Ramones. This is what Howie wrote, and I think it says a lot about him, and the faith in the power of music that he's maintained through all his years in the business: "I can't overemphasize the importance of Joey Ramone in the history of rock 'n' roll. He was, in the truest sense of the term, a genuine revolutionary. By the time The Ramones stormed the music scene, the fun and meaning had been wrung out of rock 'n' roll. The excitement and courageousness of teenage angst and rebellion had given way to 'professionalism' and to a quantifiably controllable corporate assembly line. To pick up a guitar in front of an audience you had to try to be as good as Jeff Beck; you had to have been an 'expert' and a veteran virtuoso. Or you needed to cede all creativity to a proven producer. The idealism [and] excitement of FM Radio had already turned into complete shit all it had come into existence to defeat. And suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, The Ramones were causing a tremendously noisy stir on the NYC Bowery. Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy made it OK for fun-loving fans to get onstage again. Rock 'n' roll was being re-born again. And everywhere The Ramones went they were like the Johnny Appleseeds of the punk rock movement In the wake of a Ramones tour bands would pop everywhere. In many ways they were as important to Popular Music as Elvis, the Beatles and the Stones. That important."

-------------------------------------------------

Also leaving is Reprise "intern/contest-meister," Jack Mack, a Klein alter-ego which he used as a way of gauging fan reaction to Reprise releases.

6/14/01 - cdnow
New New Order News
New Order's long-waited warm-up show in England now has a place and time: July 18 in Manchester, from which the band hails. The venue for the show, which will include ex-Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan and ex-Marion guitarist Phil Cunningham on guitars, was still TBA at press time.

The band is using the date to prepare for its summer stint on Moby's Area: One tour, as well as a Japanese date. In other New Order news, the band has reportedly pulled two songs ("Nothing's Gonna Change" and "Run This River Dry") from the its upcoming new album, NEWORDERGETREADY, and added three more ("Rock the Shack" [with Primal Scream], "Close Range," and "Sabotage"). However, as the album is being mastered on Thursday (June 14) in England, an absolute final track listing is not to be expected until early next week, according to a spokesperson for the band at Reprise Records. NEWORDERGETREADY hits stores on Oct. 16 in the U.S.

-Kevin Raub

6/14/01 - launch.com
Disturbed Graduates To OzzFest Main Stage
Disturbed has been moved to the OzzFest main stage after its opening-day performance on the second stage in the group's hometown of Chicago Friday (June 8) prompted safety concerns over the massive fan turnout. The band will now appear fourth on the main stage, between sets by Crazy Town and Linkin Park, while Mudvayne will take over as second-stage headliner. Disturbed originally turned down the offer for the main stage in order to take advantage of the second stage's more intimate setting. The group regrets the change, according to a spokesperson, but "understands the need to appear on the main stage in order for their fans to see their show in a comfortable and safe environment."

A post on the OzzFest site (ozzfest.com) put Disturbed's Chicago show in perspective: "At least 15,000 people jammed the second stage area to watch their local heroes who, judging by their sterling songs and energetic showmanship, just keep getting better and better...It was a smothering effect of hell-bent anarchy and elation that made Disturbed, by my count, the darlings of this day-one OzzFest."

The current main-stage lineup features Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Crazy Town, and Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society. Second-stage bands will now rotate in and out of the tour's main-stage opening slot.

-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles

6/14/01 - launch.com
Eric Clapton Not Retiring, Only Scaling Back, Publicist Says
According to his publicist, reports of Eric Clapton's imminent retirement are greatly exaggerated, even if they're coming from Clapton himself. Responding to the firestorm of rumors and reports set off by Clapton's comments in a recent Rolling Stone magazine interview, wherein "Slowhand" said his current world tour will be his last, publicist Ronnie Lippin told AP that Clapton does not plan to retire from music.

"He will be recording in the future," Lippin said. "The only thing he won't
commit to doing again is 12 months on the road. The last time he did this was 10 years ago. He's in his 50s now, and he figures he's not going to want to be doing another of those tours 10 years from now. He probably will do smaller tours, and he's going to honor all the commitments he's made for 2001."

Clapton told Rolling Stone that he has two more albums remaining on his
contract with Warner Bros. Records, one of which he plans to be a
collaboration with the late Curtis Mayfield's vocal group the Impressions.

He'll be touring North America through mid-August and is expected to announce additional dates around the world soon. Clapton's next show in Friday (June 15) at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York.

-- Gary Graff, Detroit

6/11/01 - cdnow
Disturbed Moves To Ozzfest Main Stage After Overwhelming Response
As a result of the overwhelming fan turn-out for DISTURBED’s headlining
second stage Ozzfest performance at the tour kick-off in Chicago last Friday (June 8), the group have been moved to the main stage. Even the newly expanded second stage area couldn’t accommodate the number of fans on hand for the explosive group’s set.

Ozzfest organizers decided to move DISTURBED to the 5:05 PM slot on the mainstage after their second stage performance in their hometown Chicago, due to safety concerns. This new slot took effect on Saturday, June 10 in Milwaukee.

As previously announced, DISTURBED were originally offered a spot on the mainstage months ago, but turned it down because they wanted to perform up front and close to their fans. While the band--DAVID DRAIMAN (vocals), DAN DONEGAN (guitar), FUZZ (bass) and MIKE WENGREN (drums, programming)--regret not being able to perform in a more intimate setting, they understand the need for them to appear on the mainstage in order for their fans to see their show in a comfortable and safe environment.

6/11/01 - cdnow
Orgy's Jay Gordon Readies First Two Bands From Divison 1
Jay Gordon's record label is up and whirring. The Orgy singer and aspiring entrepreneur will soon have two bands recording for his Division 1 Records –- Two Hit Creeper and the Ex-Supermodels.

"Two Hit Creeper is like death accordion rock," gushes Gordon about the L.A.-based hardcore combine, fronted by a singer who plays the squeezebox and goes only by the name Michael. "I love the true psychosis of the band. It's intelligent and angry, if you can actually use those words in the same sentence."

Gordon will co-produce for the group when it begins recording at an L.A. studio in June. "We're gonna track about 30 songs in four days, and then overdub our asses off -- make everything sound perfect," he says.

The Ex-Supermodels, the first Division 1 signing, are currently in a New York studio with producer Paul Logus (Jennifer Lopez). Gordon describes that band -- which features House of Pain's Danny Boy O'Connor -- as "Crystal Method meets DMX." He says he may also co-produce a track or two.

Division 1 resides under the umbrella of The Firm Records, which is owned by The Firm Management company -- the same company fired by Orgy last year. "We're great friends," Gordon says. "We didn't have a nasty spill or anything. It was just a matter that certain things were conflicting. But we all get along great."

By hooking up with producer Jay Baumgardner last year to start his own imprint, Gordon follows the lead of Korn, Papa Roach, and his own Orgy partner, Amir Derakh, into a good hedge against rock's fickle future.

"I just want to do some things that I like to do -- produce some records, maybe write a screenplay or something like that," Gordon insists. "But I don't see myself being David Geffen just yet."

- Corey Levitan

6/7/01 - cdnow
Depeche Mode Treats Fans To Intimate Roxy Show
Fans at the front of the stage reached out and touched their faith as Depeche Mode played a special Monday (June 4) night at the Roxy nightclub on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.

Sponsored by L.A. area alternative radio station KROQ -- which gave tickets away every day of the previous week -- the performance was a rare opportunity to see an arena band in an ultra (pun intended) intimate setting.

Then again, Depeche Mode has had a special relationship with KROQ since the 1980s and especially with the L.A. audience, filling the Rose Bowl in 1988 and playing "fan appreciation" shows at the Universal Amphitheatre and Shrine Auditorium in the 1990s. Along with U2, Depeche Mode is the only '80s band that still has such drawing power.

For the most part, it was the fans (and hardcore ones at that), not the invited elite, who packed the club, which holds less than 500. Fans began lining up before noon, and that line eventually stretched all the way down the street. And that was just the wait for the box office to hand out special instant-souvenir laminate entry passes at 6 p.m. The doors did not open until 8 p.m.

The band took the stage almost an hour and a half later with, surprisingly, no introduction from any of the station's on-air personalities. After some brief vamping from Martin Gore on guitar and Andrew Fletcher on keyboards, along with the tour drummer and additional keyboardist (two backing singers joined in later), frontman Dave Gahan entered to deafening roars and wild screams. Wearing black tuxedo pants and a vest, shirtless underneath, Gahan joined the band as they moved into "Walking in My Shoes."

The hour-long set of a dozen songs included a handful of selections from the new Exciter album, as well as true fan favorites, such as the stomp of "Clean" and the pulsating "Halo," the audience shouting out to the opening line of "You wear guilt, like shackles on your feet."

A finger to his lips hushing the crowd for the delicate new ballad, "When the Body Speaks," Gahan's brow of sweat turned tearful around his closed eyes as he sang and swayed to the melancholy number. Gore stepped up to the center mike on electric guitar for "Breathe," a bluesy torch number, then picked up the acoustic again for the plucked tension-and-release of the current single, "Dream On," which gave way to ultimate Depeche in the dance beat and electric guitar lines cascading over synth blanketing for "Enjoy the Silence."

He didn't say much between songs, save a few "thanks yous" and a comment about the heat, but Gahan worked his flock, bumping and grinding, wielding the mike stand like a quarterstaff, and flashing smiles at the adoring throng just below him. He even shook the hand of one fan who was holding up a note announcing that it was his birthday. Another fan held up a Depeche license plate.

The band's song architect, Gore, played mostly guitars; so much for the group's misinterpreted-by-some image as a keyboard band. A throbbing "I Feel You" melted into "In Your Room" and the dance rhythm picked up again for "I Feel Loved," another big sing-along and the next single.

An encore found Gore solo, the rest of the band seated behind him on the amps, while he introduced "a country song." Gore sang an almost folksy version of "Bottom Line," and his guitar displayed a little insert that read "Basildon, Texas," (the band formed in Basildon, England). Hands were outstretched upwards, pushing towards the stage for "Personal Jesus," a final song of that fan faith and obvious devotion.

Depeche Mode set list:

1. "Walking in My Shoes"

2. "Clean"

3. "Halo"

4. "When the Body Speaks"

5. "Breathe"

6. "Dream On"

7. "Enjoy the Silence"

8. "I Feel You"

9. "In Your Room"

10. "I Feel Loved"

11. "Bottom Line"

12. "Personal Jesus"

- Darryl Morden

6/5/01 - launch.com
Clapton's Friends Talk About His Retirement Statement
Eric Clapton has announced that his current world tour would be his last major outing, but he's certainly not the first star to make such a declaration. Ozzy Osbourne and the Who have "retired" more times than anyone can remember. Other acts who've said goodbye and returned include Bad Company, the Doobie Brothers, the Cure, the Kinks, and David Bowie. With that in mind, LAUNCH asked two of Clapton's oldest and dearest friends whether they believed the guitarist would really stay off the road after his Reptile world tour ends. Singer-bassist Jack Bruce, Clapton's cohort in Cream, probably has had the most recent contact with Clapton, since the duo reteamed for new versions of Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love" and "White Room" on Bruce's upcoming album Shadows In The Air.

LAUNCH asked Bruce whether he thinks Clapton will really retire from the road.

"Well, I think it's possible. I mean, Eric--let's face it, hats off to him. He's been working very hard for a very long time, bringing a tremendous amount of pleasure to a lot of people. Maybe he has earned a bit of a rest, but he did tell me that a long time ago, before he embarked on this world tour, that he was never gonna do it again," Bruce said. "I think it's difficult for us old guys to give it up, because if you don't do it, you kind of think, 'Well, what do I do?', you know? Bruce added, "Maybe he won't want to do the very long world tours, but I'm sure Eric will continue to make his contribution and bring that pleasure to many people."

Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy, who's been a friend of Clapton's for more than 30 years, also weighed in on the subject. Guy, whose latest album, Sweet Tea, came out last month, said Clapton has been able to give things up before, so maybe he's serious about giving up touring.

However, Guy also told LAUNCH that not everyone has been happy about Clapton's "clean & sober" lifestyle. "He stopped some of the things he had been doing in his past life," he said. "The last time I talked to him, he said, 'I don't drink, I don't smoke no more.' He don't do anything. But I heard some people that was playin' with him, his sidemen, they say, 'I wish he go back on drinkin', 'cause he hard to get along with now."

-- Darren Davis and Bruce Simon, New York

6/4/01 - Neumu
Neumu Debuts With R.E.M. Interview, Original Animated Music Videos
Award-winning Internet pioneer Michael Goldberg (Addicted To Noise, SonicNet) and acclaimed designer Emme Stone (Elephantcloud, "Ottergirl") announce the launch of Neumu, a new kind of online magazine.

Updated daily, Neumu includes album and movie reviews, art and photography exhibits, comics, original music video pieces, music news, essays and opinion pieces, artist interviews and more.

"Neumu is an experiment based on my belief that there are intelligent people in the world, people who appreciate smart, challenging art, music and words," says Goldberg, who launched Addicted To Noise, the first online music site with original journalism, in 1994; Newsweek called him an "Internet visionary." This year his yearlong investigative project, "Playing With Fire: The Untold Story of Woodstock 99," received a Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for Web reporting.

"Neumu is for people who want writing and art and music that come from the heart, not commercially-driven Web site 'content,'" says Northern California resident Goldberg. "Neumu means revelation through art and music."

The current site is beta version 0.5. "We decided that rather than wait to get everything 'perfect'. We'd just get the site up and tweak it, fix the mistakes and bugs as we go," says Goldberg. Currently, the site is optimized for Explorer at 800 x 600 resolution.

Designed to be an oasis from the hyper-commercial "buy buy buy" mentality that's taken over the Web in recent years, Neumu will not include any advertising or sponsorships.

Showcasing musicians, photographers, artists, animators and writers, Neumu launches with an in-depth conversation with R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and the debut of "TwinklePop," an area that features original music-video pieces. In the coming weeks an exhibit of Charles Peterson's rock 'n' roll photographs of Nirvana, the Supersuckers and others will be featured in "Depth of Field."

Neumu will cover the musicians the contributors feel are making a true artistic contribution to the culture. "I have long been frustrated with the media's emphasis on commercial music, often to the exclusion of musicians making work of lasting artistic value," Goldberg says. "Neumu is all about the most exciting artists of our time, from Low, Sleater-Kinney and Guided By Voices to Mark Eitzel, Songs: Ohia and Spoon."

For the site's original design, a year in the making, Sydney, Australia-based Emme Stone created a post-rock visual landscape in which fragile illustrations that sometimes turn frenetic create the site's remarkable look and feel. "Neumu is all about human emotional expression and responses to such, and the interface needed to reflect this," she explains.

Neumu's film section, Cinematronic, is edited by former CNET movie critic Michael Snyder.

Neumu's album review section, 44.1 kHz, features the work of an outstanding group of contemporary music critics -- contributors include Johnny Walker (Black), Anthony Carew, Lee Tran Lam, Kembrew McLeod, Kevin John, John Darnielle, Jenny Tatone, Randy Reiss and Philip Sherburne -- and will provide coverage of a diverse mix of albums.

"Datastream," a daily music news section, will provide news and information about artists, mostly non-mainstream.

Neumu's animated music video area, TwinklePop, is curated by Annette Loudon of Dakar, Senegal. It features exclusive motion-design and Web-music clips from the likes of ioResearch and Tree-axis. "For the first time artists are free to make experimental animation pieces inspired by the music they love, with the assurance that their work will be seen, and presented in the appropriate context," says Goldberg.

Depth of Field, Neumu's monthly photography exhibit, is edited by Portland-based photographer Jim McGinnis.

In addition to acting as Creative Director for Neumu, Emme Stone is editing a weekly comics section called "Underneath."

Neumu Editor-in-Chief, Michael Goldberg, writes a daily essay, "The InsiderOne Daily Report," as well as his weekly column, "The Drama You've Been Craving." Additionally, each week the "Captured" section features one of his photographs. "With the photographs I'm exhibiting in 'Captured,' the idea is to reveal something of the spirit and the soul of this world," said Goldberg. "In most cases, they are anything but literal."

6/3/01 - CDNow
CDNow Reports The New Order Rumours
New Order has finally settled on a tentative track listing for NEWORDERGETREADY, its first album in eight years.

In addition to singer Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, drummer Stephen Morris, and keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, the follow-up to 1993's Republic features collaborations with a slew of top musicians including ex-Smashing Pumpkins ringleader Billy Corgan ("Turn My Way").

Primal Scream worked with the band on a track called "Rock the Shack," which at press time had not made the tentative track listing. The same goes for a track featuring the Chemical Brothers, according to a source
close to the band. "Crystal" will be the album's first single.

NEWORDERGETREADY was co-produced by Steve Osborne (Happy Mondays, Curve) and the band, and recorded mostly at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios outside Bath, England. The album is scheduled to be mastered on June 15.

In addition to his participation on the record, Corgan will also join New Order on guitar for its upcoming West Coast stint on Moby's Area: One tour. Ex-Marion guitarist Phil Cunningham, who has also worked with
Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner's Electronic, will also tour with the band.

NEWORDERGETREADY is due on Reprise Records in October.

Here is the tentative track listing for
NEWORDERGETREADY:

1. "Crystal"
2. "60 MPH"
3. "Turn My Way"
4. "Vicious Streak"
5. "Nothing's Gonna Change"
6. "Someone Like You"
7. "Run This River Dry"
8. "Player In the League"
9. "Primitive Notion"
10. "Slow Jam"
11. "Run Wild"

- Kevin Raub

5/30/01 - CDNow
Stevie Nicks Unveils Full Tour Itinerary
The rest of the itinerary for Stevie Nicks' 33-date U.S. tour has been confirmed. As previously announced, the tour kicks off on July 6 in Burgettstown, Pa.,

The tour, which is in support of Nicks' new album,
Trouble in Shangri-La, will cross the country and come to a close in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 1.

Stevie Nicks tour dates:

July 6, Burgettstown, Pa., Post Gazette Pavilion
July 7, Clarkstown, Mich., DTE Energy Music Theater
July 10, Rosemont, Ill., Allstate Arena
July 11, Cincinnati, Ohio, Riverbend Music Center
July 13, Hartford, Conn., Meadows Music Theater
July 14, Mansfield, Mass., Tweeter Center
July 17, Camden, N.J., Tweeter Center
July 18, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Blossom Music Center
July 20, Wantagh, N.Y., Jones Beach Theater
July 21, Holmdel, N.J., PNC Bank Arts Center
July 24, Virginia Beach, Va., Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 25, Raleigh, N.C., Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek
July 27, Charlotte, N.C., Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 28, Bristow, Va., Nissan Pavilion
July 30, Atlanta, Chastain Park Amphitheater
Aug. 3, Dallas, Texas, Smirnoff Music Center
Aug. 4, Houston, Texas, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Aug. 7, Albuquerque, N.M., Journal Pavilion
Aug. 8, Denver, Colo., Fiddlers Green Amphitheater
Aug. 11, Portland, Ore., Rose Garden Arena
Aug. 12, Seattle, Wash., Key Arena
Aug. 14, Concord, Calif., The Chronicle Pavilion
Aug. 15, Mountain View, Calif., Shoreline Amphitheater
Aug. 17, Irvine, Calif., Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Aug. 18, Phoenix, Ariz., Desert Sky Pavilion
Aug. 21-22, Universal City, Calif., Universal Amphitheater
Aug. 24, San Diego, Calif., Coors Amphitheater
Aug. 25, Las Vegas, Nevada, Aladdin Theater
Aug. 28, Bonner Springs, Kan., Sandstone Amphitheater
Aug. 29, St. Louis, Mo., Riverport Amphitheater
Aug. 31, Indianapolis, Ind., Verizon Wireless Music Center
Sept. 1, Columbus, Ohio, Polaris Amphitheater

5/30/01 - sonicnet
Morissette Previews New Album At Los Angeles Show
Alanis Morissette has returned to the jagged little sound that
made her famous.

The Canadian singer debuted eight new songs during a show Friday night, providing a generous preview of her next album, which is sitting in limbo while she fights a contract dispute with Maverick Records.

Much of the new material harked back to the edgier pop-rock of Morissette's 1995 smash, Jagged Little Pill, and steered away from the moody, Eastern-influenced sound of its follow-up, 1998's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.

Accordingly, the two-hour performance — the first of two consecutive nights at Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre — was almost entirely devoted to new songs and Jagged hits. Junkie tunes were hard to come by, with only the hit "Thank You" and "Sympathetic Character" making the cut.

Clad in a sleeveless peach shirt and a sheer slit skirt wrapped around black leather pants, the singer and her five-man band performed before a colorful backdrop picturing flowers and a yin-yang symbol, with the word "Artist" printed in the center. Morissette played guitar on most of the new songs, including the opening numbers "Unprodigal Daughter" and "21 Things I Want in a Lover."

"Wow, we're actually doing this," she said early in the set. "These are new songs I wrote in the last six months. Thanks for letting us try them on for size."

She then led the band into the chimey, flaring "Fear of Bliss," featuring the line "Sometimes I feel this is too good to be true."

On the softer side of the new material was the ballad "Flinch," for which
Morissette played acoustic guitar. "What are you, my dad/ You touch me like you are my dad," she sang. The lyrics, in typical Morissette fashion,
featured slight variations of the same line throughout the song, with the
singer substituting "kin" and "aunt" for "dad" in subsequent verses.

A couple of new songs recalled the confrontational angle that marked so much of Jagged, but traded the petulance of "You Oughta Know" for more reflective, mature sentiments. On the percussion-heavy "Bent 4 U," Morissette sang, "A million times, a million ways, I feast on scraps from you." On "Narcissist," which featured spoken verses set against melodic choruses, she sang, "I try to help you, but you really don't want me to."

Both "Purgatorying" and "A Man" carried a moody feel, the latter opening with Morissette's voice set against keyboards.

Though the crowd, which included Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, embraced the new material, Morissette effectively sprinkled her hits throughout the show to avoid chancing patience. Highlights came with the chilling rendition of "Uninvited" and the show-closing "Ironic."

Several of the new songs have already turned up on Napster and elsewhere on the Net.

The next stop for Morissette is the Rock Am Ring festival in Nürburgring,
Germany, on June 1.

— Teri vanHorn

5/29/01
Stevie Nicks Summer Tour Dates Announced
The high priestess of rock and roll STEVIE NICKS will embark on an extensive concert tour this summer with an itinerary that will take the superstar across the United States.

Nicks will perform material from her new CD TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA which entered the BIllboard album charts at No. 5 and has remained a Top 20 hit for the last three weeks. She will also cover material from her previous solo albums as well as her hits as a member of Fleetwood Mac.

Billboard Magazine hailed Nicks new album as "this years comeback equivalent to Carlos Santana and her strongest material since her landmark Bella Donna."

Check local venues for on sale dates and ticket prices.

The tour dates are as follows:

Date City Venue

July 6 Burgettstown, PA Post Gazette Pavilion
July 7 Clarkstown, MI DTE Energy Music Theater
July 10 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
July 11 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
July 13 Hartford, CT Meadows Music Theater
July 14 Mansfield, MA Tweeter Center
July 17 Camden, NJ Tweeter Waterfront
July 18 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
July 20 Wantagh, NY Jones Beach Theater
July 21 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
July 24 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Wireless Amph.
July 25 Raleigh, NC Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek
July 27 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amph.
July 28 Bristow, VA Nissan Pavilion
July 30 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amph.
August 3 Dallas, TX Smirnoff Music Center
August 4 Houston, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
August 7 Albuquerque, NM Journal Pavilion
August 8 Denver, CO Fiddlers Green Amph.
August 11 Portland, OR Rose Garden Arena
August 12 Seattle, WA Key Arena
August 14 Concord, CA The Chronicle Pavilion
August 15 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amph.
August 17 Irvine, CA Verizone Wireless Amph.
August 18 Phoenix, AZ Desert Sky Pavilion
August 21 Universal City, CA Universal City
August 22 Universal City, CA Universal City
August 24 San Diego, CA Coors Amphitheater
August 25 Las Vegas, NV Aladdin Theater
August 28 Bonner Springs, KS Sandstone Amph.
August 29 St. Louis, MO Riverport Amph.
August 31 Indianapolis, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center
September 1 Columbus, OH Polaris Amph.

5/29/01
Book Of Love - The Chaos Control Interview

check it out: [click here]

5/26/01 - rollingstone.com
Clapton Tour To Be His Last
Eric Clapton, who is two weeks into the U.S. leg of his Reptile Tour -- his first worldwide jaunt in a decade -- says that the tour will be his last.
"I was musing that it might be the last time," Clapton says about the planning stages of his current tour. "Now I'm going, 'This is definitely the last time.' It's hard. It's doesn't work for me anymore. I will leave the door open for a couple of projects, to play the odd theater, but I'd say this is near the end. Anyone I talk to about it goes, 'Oh, you'll never stop.' I won't, in truth. I will always want to express something. But I don't need to do it like this anymore."

Clapton, who has two albums left in his contract with Warner Brothers, does still plan to record. He claims to have two projects in mind: a collaboration with the Impressions, whom he first worked with at the funeral of their frontman Curtis Mayfield in late 1999 and who backed him on several tracks on his latest album, Reptile; he's also planning an album of "soulful rock blues, like an old Tony Joe White record."

Though Reptile is Clapton's first proper solo release since 1998's Pilgrim, the album is his second project in the past year, as he and B.B. King collaborated on and released the hit album, Riding With the King last year.

"Since I got sober, I've just been trying to develop . . . a career with dignity, records where I can say, 'I finished it, it's complete,'" Clapton said. "Whether or not it's up to the standard of the current thing, it's complete."

5/26/01 - reuters
King/Clapton Win Big At Annual Blues Awards
Blues legend B.B. King was a double winner at the 22nd Annual W.C. Handy Awards, taking entertainer of the year honors and the contemporary album of the year prize along with Eric Clapton for ``Riding
With The King.''

Blues belter Shemekia Copeland, 22, daughter of late blues great Johnny
Copeland, was also a double award winner at Thursday night's event for best contemporary female artist and for blues album of the year with ``Wicked.''

Etta James was inducted into The Blues Hall of Fame during the ceremonies and won a Handy as ``Soul Female Artist of the Year.''
New Orleans piano man Dr. John presided over the event held in the restored 1920's era Orpheum Theater.

The evening included included performances by award winners Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band (for blues band of the year), Eddy ``The Chief'' Clearwater (for contemporary male artist) and Clarence ``Gatemouth'' Brown (for instrumentalist/fiddle).

The Handy Awards are presented by The Blues Foundation, a Memphis-based organization dedicated to the preservation and promulgation of the music. The awards are named for Alabama-born William Christopher Handy, the composer of ``St. Louis Blues'' who is widely regarded as the father of the blues.

5/26/01 - allstar
Stevie Nicks Speaks Out On Fleetwood Mac's Plans
A new Fleetwood Mac album has been talked about and talked about, but it looks like Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks will finally put
their plans into action.

"When I get done touring for [Trouble in] Shangri-La, Fleetwood Mac will do another record," Nicks says in a recent interview conducted by Jon Wiederhorn and running June 8 on CDNOW.

"I've already given Lindsey [Buckingham] 17 demos of songs from the last 30 years," she continues, "and some that are newer -- two that I pulled off of this record that I decided weren't right for this record, and were very much right for Fleetwood Mac. Mick and I have made it our mission to make it happen. So it will."

The last time Fleetwood Mac was together was for its 1997 tour in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Rumours and the release that year of its live album, The Dance.

Meanwhile, Trouble in Shangri-La debuted on The Billboard 200 at No. 5 two weeks ago (allstar, May 9), and Nicks will kick off a solo tour on July 6 in Burgettstown, Pa.

-- Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna

5/24/01
Exciter Excites The Masses Worldwide
Depeche Mode's new album, EXCITER, entered the U.S. album chart at #7, with well over 100,000 over-the-counter sales. Generally, the album has done Top 10 almost everywhere in the world with #1 positions in Germany, France and several other countries. Among the first-week chart positions are:

1 (NE) - GERMANY*

1 (NE) - FRANCE*

1 (NE) - SWEDEN*

1 (NE) - GREECE*

1 (NE) - BELGIUM*

2 (NE) - ITALY*

2 (NE) - SPAIN*

2 (NE) - SWITZERLAND*

2 (NE) - FINLAND*

2 (NE) - ICELAND*

3 (NE) - CANADA*

3 (NE) - NORWAY*

3 (NE) - AUSTRIA*

3 (NE) - DENMARK*

7 (NE) - USA*

9 (NE) - UK*

11 (NE) - PORTUGAL*

13 (NE) - IRELAND*

15 (NE) - HOLLAND*

20 (NE) - AUSTRALIA*

5/24/01 - sonicnet
Two Ex-Smiths Sniffing For Record Deal
Drummer Mike Joyce and bassist Andy Rourke, one half of quintessential U.K. gloom troupe the Smiths, will make the Stateside debut of their new band, Specter, on Saturday in New York, according to a group spokesperson.

Five East Coast dates have been lined up to give the band, which takes its name from frontman Jason Specter and is rounded out by guitarist Will Carol, a chance to shop around their demo in hopes of securing a U.S. record deal. The band has previously played a handful of shows around their hometown of Manchester, England.

In what can either be viewed as a slap in the face for Joyce and Rourke or a blessed coming for diehard Smiths fans, Specter's Sunday show at New York's Don Hill's will be part of the second annual Smiths tribute night, titled "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" after the song of the same name which appeared on the Smiths' 1984 singles collection Hatful of Hollow. In March, former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr joined ex-Crowded House singer Neil Finn for a series of guest-star-studded gigs in New Zealand.

The Smiths' frontman Morrissey, meanwhile, has kept relatively quiet since being legally required to pay an estimated $1.7 million to Joyce for back royalties three years ago.

Specter tour dates, according to Mike Joyce's Web site:

* 5/26 - New York, NY @ CB's 313 Gallery
* 5/27 - New York, NY @ Don Hill's
* 5/29 - Washington, DC @ Velvet Lounge
* 5/30 - Boston, MA @ Milky Way
* 5/31 - New Haven, CT @ Tune Inn

— Joe D'Angelo

[buy smiths records]

5/23/01 - sonicnet
Depeche Mode Excited By Exciter's Contrasts
For Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, the band's new album, Exciter, is all about contrasts.

The contrast between the coolness of electronics and the warmth of the human voice. The contrast between upbeat tunes and downbeat lyrics. Even the contrast between the hopeful mood of "I Feel Loved" and the attack dogs threatening him in the song's video.

"They're real attack dogs, and I'm singing 'I feel loved,' and [the director]
told me whatever I do don't look into the dogs' eyes," Gahan said of the
video shoot, in which the band played a sweaty Los Angeles club that came under siege by police and their tooth-baring canine helpers. "I didn't feel scared, and that's not because I'm a tough guy. It was just like, 'The dogs are there. They're going to kill me. Just get the shot.'"

"The dogs are there. They're going to kill me." — Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan

"I Feel Loved" is the second video and single from Exciter, which came out May 15. The British group hooked up with producer Mark Bell, who worked on Björk's Homogenic and Selmasongs, and Gahan said Bell let the band explore its musical contradictions.

While the band's been known for its keyboard-based sound since 1981's debut LP, Speak & Spell, Gahan said he's most excited when the electronics are placed side-by-side with guitars or his own emotional vocals.

"I wanted to be human, and when you're working with a lot of electronics and stuff like that, I think there's a real contrast there that is exciting, and that's what's interesting to me about what Depeche Mode does," Gahan said. "A bit raw and rough on the edges, just as we all are, and then there are the electronics that Martin [Gore] likes to be perfectly in time and perfectly in place."

Even though the album may be called Exciter, the music is often subdued and haunting, never getting into the uptempo, rocking territory of previous singles like 1990's "Personal Jesus" or 1993's "I Feel You."

Instead, Depeche Mode offer plenty of ballads, such as the gently yearning "When the Body Speaks," alongside the stop-start tension of "Dream On" and "I Feel Loved," a song that harks back to the dance-pop of the group's early days.

"The song for me is a dance song," Gahan said. "Some twisted electronics I've written and the vocal melodies are quite dark, so it's a contrast to the music." Gahan said the band plans to perform about a half-dozen Exciter songs on its upcoming North American tour, which kicks off June 15 in Montreal and ends August 14 in Los Angeles (see "Depeche Mode Plan Summer North American Tour").

After the tour wraps, Gahan said he plans to start work on his first solo
album, which he said will have a different feel than Depeche Mode.
"It's song-based," he said. "It's about what's going on around me, my own experience, things that have happened to me in the last 10 years and the things that are happening to me right now. I'm excited about that."

— Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, with additional reporting by Meridith Gottlieb

5/23/01 - Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone Looks At 'Exciter'
Depeche Mode should be horribly burnt out or split up by now: They lost their initial songwriter, Vince Clarke, after their 1981 debut; their principal musician, Alan Wilder, after their eighth album; and their sanity in 1995, when singer Dave Gahan became a heroin addict and attempted suicide. It's easy to forget that these Essex, England, unlikelies have been around as long as R.E.M., U2 and Duran Duran. But unlike those titan troupers, they never made an embarrassing album (live discs aside) and never became so huge that they overstayed their welcome. Even at the peak of their late-1980s teeny-bopper popularity, these quintessential synth-poppers somehow remained punk. Lingering in gorgeously melodic, genuine sadness, Gahan, Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher still have the knack for turning a lifelong bummer into one big black celebration.

But even old reliables have their ups and downs, and Depeche Mode's tenth studio album ranks miraculously high. Produced by Bjork collaborator Mark Bell, Exciter glimmers like a gentle ambient doodle with vocals: The beats are mostly minimal, closer to early Kraftwerk than to current electronica. But because Gore's songwriting is so focused and Gahan's vocal presence is so commanding, the softest songs leap to the foreground like a whisper from a lover.

Although they integrate guitars and orchestrations with greater finesse, the skeletal arrangements leave Gahan no harmonic place to hide, no singalong choruses to coast. Lips pressed against the mike, the rehabbed frontman turns in his most physically intimate, emotionally masterful performances on unearthly ballads like "When the Body Speaks." Yet he also proves himself capable of summoning bygone sleaze on the album's hilariously sullied, sole industrial jam, "The Dead of Night." And on one of Gore's vocal cameos, "Breathe," his wounded choirboy tenor sounds grandly operatic in the Scott Walker lounge-troubadour tradition.

Recent landmark albums by kindred spirits Radiohead and Moby may have
rejuvenated their white machine soul, but the Modesters have never kowtowed to trends.

Exciter isn't nearly as catchy as hit-packed discs like 1987's Music for the Masses. But from the breathless a cappella opening of "Dream On" to the closing strains of "Goodnight Lovers," Exciter maintains an otherworldly mood and purity of purpose that today's angst-ridden rockers would trade their Jeff Buckley CDs to attain.

5/22/01 - launch.com
Joey Ramone's 50th Birthday Celebrated
Cheap Trick, Blondie, the Damned, the Independents, Bellvue, and Little Steven Van Zant helped the crowd celebrate the life of Joey Ramone, the late singer of the Ramones, Saturday night (May 19) at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. Richard Hell also made a guest appearance.

The event, billed at Ramone's 50th Birthday Bash, was put on by Ramone's mother, Charlotte Lasher, and his brother Mickey Leigh. Lasher and Leigh told members of the press that it was a happy occasion, marking Ramone's birthday, not a memorial or a tribute. Lasher told LAUNCH about the biggest obstacle. "Time I think. This was all done in a short amount of time with the most wonderful people. The whole crew."

Leigh said that Joey actually helped out with the ceremony. "These things have been tradition for him, these birthday bashes, and while he was in the hospital we were kind of getting the ball rolling from then," Leigh recalled.

"Hopefully he was going to get out, but we promised him that we would have a 50th birthday bash regardless and he said, 'No matter what, you're going to have a party, right?' We promised him."

The tribute opened with Little Steven Van Zant, who told the sold out crowd of 3,000, "If Joey were here, he'd love this." The guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band went on to mention Ramone's death as being on par with those of the Doors' Jim Morrison and the Beatles' John Lennon. He added in his New York/New Jersey accent, "Joey, wherever you are, you did good."

Backstage, Van Zant told LAUNCH the reason why he was hosting the event. "Joey and the Ramones were one of the most important things in the history of rock 'n' roll," he said. "They revolutionized music. They came up with an entirely original genre of rock music after everybody thought everything important had been done. They came up with something new and have been influencing everybody ever since--and will continue to influence the world of rock musicians for generations to come." The event also featured videos and video interviews of the Ramones, a taped musical tribute by Green Day, and several interview clips of Metallica. Whenever drummer Lars Ulrich hit the screen, the crowd booed mercilessly.

Taped remembrances by vocalist-guitarist James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett, were spared such a response.
At the end of the birthday bash, Ramone's favorite cake, Ring-Dings, were distributed and later thrown about the crowd.
In related news, U.S. Representative Gary Ackerman (D) of Long Island and Joey's home of Queens prepared a congressional proclamation, which declared May 19 "Joey Ramone Day."

-- Darren Davis, New York

5/18/01 - billboard
Depeche Mode In Classic Form On 'Exciter'
Depeche Mode's Martin Gore, Dave Gahan, and Andrew Fletcher are laughing. The tension of a long day of glad-handing on behalf of their new disc, "Exciter" (Mute/Reprise, May 15), has been broken by a spate of playful jibes and jokes.

Ensconced within the sunny, plush setting of L.A.'s Four Seasons Hotel, the band exudes a warm, almost familial air that seems uncharacteristic for an act that has amassed a 20-year catalog of songs about life's darker edges.

"We've seen each other through enough twists and turns over the past 20 years that we are a family," Gore says, referring to a headline-grabbing history that includes various band members' bouts of drug addiction, alcoholism, and near-suicidal depression. "We've invested as much in each other as blood relations."

The laughter that fills their hotel suite indicates that they've come out on the healing side of the personal drama. "There were days in the
not-so-distant past when I wondered if I was going to be able to proceed with this band," Gahan admits. "To be in a place where we're sitting here -- feeling happy and healthy -- and talking about a new record is extraordinary. It's quite humbling, actually."

The members of Depeche Mode may be happier in their personal lives, but "Exciter" shows the band in classic musical form. Their first collection of new tunes since 1997's "Ultra" (between sets, they issued 1998's "The
Singles: '86-'98," a best-of compilation) is typically moody, always
introspective, and often literate. Gahan continues to be the compelling vocal embodiment of Gore's hypersensitive, often haunting words.

If there's any significant sign of growth within Depeche Mode's music, it's
in the instrumentation. Although the band is wisely continuing to mine the searing synth-pop sound that sparked a string of hits ("Just Can't Get Enough," "People Are People," and "Personal Jesus") and helped to shape the electronica movement, it is now adding elements of traditional blues, retro funk, progressive rock, and orchestral pop to its arrangements.

For example, "Dream On," the first single, is distinguished by nicely
detailed guitar work as well as skittling, staccato beats, while "The
Sweetest Condition," a strong single option, layers languid slide guitar
lines into a mix of industrialized keyboards and swaying rhythms.

Produced by Mark Bell, "Exciter" also benefits from such potent tracks as
"When the Body Speaks," on which a quietly rumbling beat supports delicate guitar lines and an intimate, almost whispered vocal by Gahan; "I Am You," wherein futuristic instrumentation is offset by a hypnotic chorus chant of the words, "I am you/And you are me" and further enhanced by a sweet midsong symphonic interlude; and "Goodnight Lovers," a gospel-spiked ballad that closes the album on a pensive, meditative note.

"After 20 years, making a Depeche Mode record can be quite a challenge," Fletcher says. "You have to feed the monster, if you will, that demands very specific sounds and stylistic elements. But you also have to feed yourself. You have to feel like you're doing more than merely painting by numbers."

Gore, who remains the band's primary tunesmith, agrees. Yet growth didn't come easily this time, as he admits to hitting a dry spell while writing material for "Exciter." "I started working on songs about a year and a half ago, and I struggled. I spent the first six months doing nothing. I couldn't get motivated. I couldn't come up with an idea that worked for me. It was actually quite frightening."

Then Gore decided to break his typically solitary writing parameters and
invited Bell and the other band members into his process "just to bounce
ideas off," he says. "Having people there provided the pressure I needed to get rolling. It also pushed me to consider different ideas as I was writing, which was great -- if not a little tension inducing at times. I'm a naturally shy person about my music, so it was a challenge to let my ideas flow freely in such a raw state."

In the end, though, Gore notes that this batch of songs has greatly
revitalized his interest in Depeche Mode. "Some of my favorite songs of the past 10 years are on this album. I'm extremely proud of what we've
accomplished this time."

For Gahan, "Exciter" is a chance to prove that he's still "got the goods." He says, "Let's face it, when you've reached the unfortunate point where you've nearly ended your life -- and the world's been watching the entire time -- there comes a minor need to establish and affirm, if only to yourself, that you can still get the job done."

If anything, Gahan says he is at a point where he's "never felt stronger or more creatively alive." And, after years of performing Gore's material, he feels that it's "just about time to write and record some of my own songs." He adds that the forum for his creative expression is still being formulated and that it's not likely to surface until after Depeche Mode has put its latest project to bed.

And "Exciter" is not likely to be put to bed anytime in the near future.
"Dream On" is building a solid radio audience in the States. The track is
also a bona fide smash in Europe, where it's already topped the charts in
Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Germany. It's also reached the top-10 on charts in the U.K., Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Austria.

Among the choice bits of international promotion for the project is a special two-hour radio documentary on the band for BBC London Live. The show aired May 7, and it's now available in streaming form on the band's Web site (depechemode.com).

Depeche Mode will hit the road for a five-month, 24-country tour this summer. The trek will begin June 15 in Montreal and finish Oct. 30 in Istanbul, Turkey. Tickets for the tour went on sale in late March, and sales have been brisk.

This is the band's first road jaunt since 1998's The Singles tour, where it
played to more than 1 million fans in 18 countries, according to the label.
"That was a scary tour for me," Gahan notes. "The pressure was high. But this one is going to be great."

Fans can expect a typically elaborate show, with longtime artistic collaborator Anton Corbijn on board to provide stage designs. "Anton is almost like a member of the band," Fletcher says. "He interprets and dissects our music in a way that is staggering. He's full of brilliant surprises and lots of fun."

Right now, a round of brilliant surprises and a lot of fun is precisely what
the members of Depeche Mode are hankering for. "We're ready for anything," Gore says with a smile. "This time, we're all going to remember every moment, every step of the way -- and that's the most brilliant part of it all."

-- Larry Flick

5/17/01 - sonicnet
Exciter-- the SonicNet review
While Basildon, England's Depeche Mode began their career in the 1980s as slightly geeky, New Romantic electro-poppers, by 1993's classic Songs of Faith and Devotion they had emerged as electronic rock's answer to the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin — morphing, along the way, into a band whose taboo-breaking lifestyle had become intertwined with their music until there was little distance between the two.

Yet, as all Dionysian rockers eventually discover, the survival of such
trangressive questing presents unique problems. After you've died for your "art" — as Depeche Mode vocalist Dave Gahan just about did after a 1996 incident — what next? If 1997's eclectic Ultra pointed toward a number of possible musical (and philosophical) directions, then Exciter — whose very title seems a bit of an in-joke on the part of this ever-perverse group — settles with more certainty on an overall unity of mood and texture.

Indeed, the "excitement" here is of a more mature, psychological nature, with the Mode positioned as wily survivors who enjoy whispering salacious tales of temptation in your ear. Take the subdued single "Dream On," in which the band's lyricist, guitarist/keyboardist Martin Gore, warns via singer Gahan that "Paying debt to karma/ You party for a living/ What you take won't kill you/ But careful what you're giving." With its mix of Gore's acoustic guitars, muted electronic polyrhythms tweaked expertly by ace Björk producer Mark Bell, and Gahan's whispery vocal, the quietly sinister "Dream On" takes the Mode into new musical territory, and sets the tone for much of what follows.

Longtime fans will no doubt be initially thrown by the lack of "motorik"
beats and general rock action here. Yet after a couple of listens, many of Exciter's songs begin to worm their way into the subconscious. Gahan, his singing more delicate than ever, mines heretofore unexplored realms of emotion on "Shine," a laid-back invitation to sensual pleasure ("Forget the pictures on your TV screen/ We'll steal the visions/ That you keep for your dreams"), crooned in Bowie-esque fashion. And the mellow (!) highlight "When the Body Speaks" is a yearning lullaby in which straightforward sentiments like "Oh, I need your tenderness" are rescued from banality by the passion with which they are rendered.

Not everything works here: while the monster electro-mash of "The Dead of Night" is an effectively sardonic trip through Club Zombie that momentarily evokes the more raucous Mode of the early '90s, "I Feel Loved" comes across as a retread of past successes inserted to assuage those put off by the band's new direction. And even the new direction is subject to occasional lapses, as on the aptly named "Comatose," a pointless, uncentered ballad.

Still, by the time the Mode wrap up here with what might be called the
ambient R&B of "Goodnight Lovers" — which, with its references to "soul
sisters and soul brothers," sounds like something from Body Heat-era Quincy Jones — one is left impressed by these survivors' ability to ease so gracefully into middle age.

5/17/01 - JAM! Showbiz
Morissette rescues musical 'Jane Eyre'
The closing notice for Jane Eyre, the $6.5 million Broadway musical based on the Charlotte Bronte novel, was taken down yesterday after the singer came up with $150,000 to keep the show running, at least for another week.

"She is a good friend of Paul Gordon, the composer, and also a huge fan of the show," said Bob Fennell, a spokesman for the musical.

Jane Eyre was originally set to shut Sunday at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre after 185 performances, despite having received five Tony Award nominations, including a best-musical nod. When Morissette heard that the show was folding, she offered to help out. What will happen after next week is uncertain, Fennell added.

No angels have stepped forward to save Seussical, a $10 million-plus
production based on the stories of Dr. Seuss that will end its run Sunday
after 197 performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

5/16/01 - sonicnet
Stevie Nicks- the big SonicNet Interview
Stevie Nicks has always considered herself a songwriter first, performer
second, but try telling that to the acolytes who flock to New York's "Night of a Thousand Stevies" to honor the woman, her wondrous voice and last but definitely not least, her wardrobe. One of the most charismatic figures of rock and roll, Nicks has enchanted audiences for more than 25 years with her ability to convey both power and vulnerability. As a solo artist and as part of Fleetwood Mac, she writes songs that elevate the feminine to a sacred place without alienating the male contingent; everyone feels honored to share her secrets and spells. In the words of friend and collaborator Sheryl Crow, Nicks is "the woman men want to be with and women want to be."

Trouble in Shangri-La, Nicks' first solo record since 1994's Street Angel, features collaborations with Sheryl Crow, Macy Gray, Sarah McLachlan and Natalie Maines. A concept record that asks the question "what is paradise?," Shangri-La features songs from as far back as 1970 and from as recent as this year. From the title track to the driving "Sorcerer," Nicks has added a bluesy depth to her vocal repertoire. The five songs produced by Crow introduce looped drums and a light, country twang. The record also includes a guest appearance from Nicks' former lover, bandmate and sometime-nemesis Lindsey Buckingham, which is a good sign for all the Fleetwood Mac fans who've been wondering about a reunion.

Speaking from her California home, Nicks tells Steffie Nelson the process
behind her album, her determination to overcome stage fright and the creative bond she still shares with her Fleetwood Mac cohorts.

Sonicnet: The response to the new record has been great. Billboard said
you're in your finest musical form since Bella Donna.

Stevie Nicks: Really? Well, I am actually in my finest form since Bella
Donna. Bella Donna was made up of all the songs that didn't go on the
Fleetwood Mac records between 1975 and 1980 — which was many — because when you're in a group with three writers you only get two or three songs per album. It's the same with Trouble in Shangri-La — I started writing these songs in 1995 right after the big [1994] earthquake in California. And the other three were from the mid-'70s.

Sonicnet: In your bio you mention that you needed to replenish the creative well — go out and live your life for a while to get some new ideas.

Nicks: After the earthquake, in 1995 I went to Phoenix, and I never thought it was gonna take five years [to make an album]. So what happened is exactly what you said: In order to write the nine new songs on this record I had to really live. I can't just make up songs, I can't just make up poetry. I don't write a poem unless something catches my eye and I go home very inspired or I meet somebody that really impresses me in some way. I would love to have written these songs during the first year and put this record out and be on to my second record by now, but I couldn't. I wrote "Love Is" at the end of 1995 and I wrote "Trouble in Shangri-La" at the end of 1996, so it took one year to write those two songs. And I had to fit the three old songs and the new songs that I would come to write in between those two, because I wanted to stick to the concept of "trouble in Shangri-La."

Sonicnet: How do you define Shangri-La? Was that your time with Fleetwood Mac?

Nicks: Pretty much, yeah. You know, if you live in a huge house and have a fabulous car and lots of money for 20 or 30 years, pretty soon paradise becomes your world. And it's nothing special. And that's the saddest part of all. I think you must always have trouble in Shangri-La to keep yourself from becoming complacent. If you stop searching you'll get lost. Once you've attained paradise, people say, "Well, you don't have to write any more songs, you've got lots of money." It's like, but does that mean I'm finished? So you can never feel that your work is done. You can never say, "That was the best song I ever wrote," because hopefully you'll write an even better song.

Sonicnet: Did you do a lot of reckoning with the past while making this
record?

Nicks: I had just done the Fleetwood Mac reunion, which I loved, and then I did my Enchanted box set. With Trouble in Shangri-La, I really felt that I was making a step away from the past. The box set really was all about the past, and the Fleetwood Mac reunion was all about the Rumours songs. I really felt a necessity to go into the future because when you're in a great old band that still exists, you can always live on that ... you can always be that. Or you can go ahead and do your own thing along with doing that.

Sonicnet: It seems like you've really embraced the role of rock 'n' roll
matriarch, inspiring and collaborating with a younger generation of female
artists.

Nicks: It's awesome for me, it really is.

Sonicnet: There's some interesting production on the record, and you delve into country and reggae a little bit as well. Were a lot of your new sounds inspired by working with Sheryl Crow and Macy Gray and Sarah McLachlan?

Nicks: Actually, for the five songs I did with Sheryl Crow [as producer] we used her people. And so yes, she was very responsible for the instrumentation of those songs. "Candlebright" was written in 1970; it was one of the demos Lindsey and I moved to L.A. with, and so I have an incredible demo of just me and Lindsey. And it's exactly like what's on the record except that it's me and Sheryl. Singing with Sheryl is very much like singing with Lindsey — she's a real great duet singer, and so we had a great jumping-off point from the beginning. I went in, it was her band and a couple of extra people that she brought in for different sounds — violins, Chamberlin, all her little visions. I pretty much let her run with it. I said, "Here's the demo, now you put your magic on it. All you have to do is make it so that we both think it's better than the demo." And we did.

Sonicnet: How did it feel to have Sheryl Crow write "It's Only Love" for you and about you?

Nicks: Well, she came up the stairs carrying her guitar, and she just sat
down and played it for me. And she told me, "I went home and I just was
really thinking about all your stories and all the stuff you've been through" — because now that we've been friends for four years I've just about told her all the great stories, she knows them all — and that's really what she wrote the song about, all my different relationships and the men that I was with and the men that I'm still good friends with and really care about. They're all still out there and around me, and she finds that pretty amazing. I think that's what inspired her to write the song — you know, "sometimes lonely is not only a face that I have known." And she sees my life: I am not married, I don't have children, and I made that choice. I knew if I had children I would have to take care of them and I couldn't hand them over to a bunch of nannies. So I knew if I had a baby I would stop making music and I would start being a mom. And I decided in my life, that my mission was to make people happy. It was more important. I only just got a dog two years ago, and trained her myself. And that's the motherliest thing I've ever done.

Sonicnet: What about the song "Sorcerer"? Although it was written many years ago it feels like it comes from the perspective of a wise woman.

Nicks: "Sorcerer" was written in 1974, a year before we joined Fleetwood Mac. It was really about the city of Hollywood and how strange it was to us. It was all about models and rock 'n' roll and drugs and scary people. I was a very, very prudish little girl from San Francisco who had strict parents, I had not had a lot of freedom, and coming into this town was freaky. "All around the black ink darkness, and who found the lady from the mountains." The lady from the mountains was me. I did a [nude] photo session for the Buckingham Nicks album and I was horrified about that cover. I did not want to do that, and I was really made to feel like, "Don't be a child, don't be a baby, this is art, this is your future." And I did do it, and I never forgot that. It was the one time in my life that I did something that I felt was not morally right for me to do.

Sonicnet: How did the Natalie Maines duet, "Too Far From Texas," come about?

Nicks: That was a song that a friend of mine sent me a couple years ago, and when I first heard the Dixie Chicks I marked it in my brain that this was a song that I could probably sing with this girl Natalie Maines. I didn't know her; I wrote it in my journal, turned the page down, put a little star by it and never thought about it again. In the studio I told Sheryl about it and that I thought it would be incredible [to cut it] with the girl from the Dixie Chicks. We recorded it live. Sonicnet: Do you have a favorite song?

Nicks: My personal favorite is "Bombay Sapphires." When it says, "I can see past you to the white sand," that sentence right there is the whole reason for "Bombay Sapphires." It means that I'm really trying to get over
something, and though I'm freaked out about it I'm looking to the green ocean and can see past all of these problems to the incredibly beautiful white sand and the ocean beyond it. I'm gonna be OK because I am movin' past you. And when "Bombay Sapphires" almost got pulled off the record because it wasn't recorded right, I was horrified that one line was not gonna be on the record. It's really important for me to tell people that if they're in an unhappy situation they should not stay forever and be miserable.

Sonicnet: How was it producing the song yourself and singing with Macy Gray?

Nicks: It was easy, because it was exactly what I wanted to do. It was done in one night. I really did have a vision for that song, and [on earlier attempts to record it] nobody else saw my vision. The first time it was too R&B, the second time it was too Wagner, dirgelike. The third time it was back to its little funky reggae self. I'm managed by the same people who manage Macy, and in the spur of the moment I just said, "You know, I bet Macy could sing the high part on that chorus." Two days later she was in the studio. So none of this was very thought out. It was all perfect accidents.

Sonicnet: You used seven producers on this record. Was it your intention to work with so many people?

Nicks: Well, I couldn't really find one producer who could do the whole
record. The whole idea of the concept record is pretty much gone, and I
really wanted to keep my concept going even though there were different producers. When I recorded, say, "Fall From Grace" with John Shanks, Sheryl Crow was there that night at the studio. So it was like, all the producers kind of blended a little bit and became friends because they all really cared about this record and they all really wanted it to be great. I told Chris Lord-Alge, who mixed it, "You have to be the master seamstress here, because I don't want the mood to be changed." So he really worked hard on that.

Sonicnet: Sheryl Crow has said, "There's always a male producer who wants to make [Stevie] into something that is maybe not as intimate as what she sees her music as being."

Nicks: Sometimes people want to change things just for the sake of change. Not because they need changing. That's a problem that I have. It's like, we're all in the studio rockin' out, everybody loving the track, and then [after a break] I come back in and the drumbeat has been changed. What is that? You have to be very tough with these producers or it will be their record. I decided that there was not gonna be a song on this record that I did not love. There were two that didn't come out right; I pulled them and gave them to Lindsey. We're gonna put 'em on a Fleetwood Mac record, probably next year.

Sonicnet: Could you talk a little about that?

Nicks: Sure. Lindsey and Mick were here two weeks ago. I went back through the song vaults and I pulled 17 songs from a hundred years ago all the way up to now. We listened to Shangri-La, and we listened to the 17 demos, and Lindsey was knocked out. He really hadn't heard all these songs; I guess I just never really played them for him. He had no idea that I was going to present him with 17 songs; he thought maybe we were gonna work on a song. So he called me the next day and said, "I'm driving up the coast and I'm taking notes and I'm very happy with all these songs." So that's about the nicest thing he ever said to me, really. "I'm very happy with all this music" was like, "Oh my God, I can't believe he said that!" So you know, I will follow my Trouble in Shangri-La through as long as it goes, and Lindsey and Mick will work on [the new Fleetwood Mac songs] when I'm gone, and I'll come back and we'll go in the studio and polish it all up. And hopefully a Fleetwood Mac album should be out by the end of next summer. It's very easy to sit down and plan this all out because you never know what's gonna happen. But in the perfect plan that's what I would like.

Sonicnet: How did it feel to have Sheryl Crow write "It's Only Love" for you and about you?

Sonicnet: What about the song "Sorcerer"? Although it was written many years ago it feels like it comes from the perspective of a wise woman.
Nicks: "Sorcerer" was written in 1974, a year before we joined Fleetwood Mac. It was really about the city of Hollywood and how strange it was to us. It was all about models and rock 'n' roll and drugs and scary people. I was a very, very prudish little girl from San Francisco who had strict parents, I had not had a lot of freedom, and coming into this town was freaky. "All around the black ink darkness, and who found the lady from the mountains."

The lady from the mountains was me. I did a [nude] photo session for the Buckingham Nicks album and I was horrified about that cover. I did not want to do that, and I was really made to feel like, "Don't be a child, don't be a baby, this is art, this is your future." And I did do it, and I never forgot that. It was the one time in my life that I did something that I felt was not morally right for me to do.

Sonicnet: How did the Natalie Maines duet, "Too Far From Texas," come about?

5/16/01 - sonicnet
KRS-One Kicks Off Hip-Hop Appreciation Week
If KRS-One has his wish, members of the hip-hop community will form a tighter bond during the next seven days, and the general public will better understand the culture as well.

The fourth annual Hip-Hop Appreciation Week, KRS-One's brainchild, kicked off Monday (May 14) in New York. Produced by the rapper's Temple of Hiphop Kulture, the eight-day series of events (May 14 - May 21) — ranging from lectures to independent movie screenings and taking place in New York and New Jersey — is meant not only to celebrate the hip-hop community, but also to raise money for charity, heighten social consciousness and "decriminalize hip-hop's public image."

"In a time when our youth are in such an immediate need of moral guidance, concerned men and women cannot sit back and hope someone, someday, will offer such guidance," KRS said in a statement. "We have the ability and the resources to productively guide our youth, today! What we don't have is enough people that care. Everyone can do something."

Hip-hop notables KRS-One, Chuck D and DJ Ralph McDaniels will lecture during the week. Members of New York's political realm, including Reverend Al Sharpton, have also been scheduled to come out in support. Most of the activities are free and open to the public.

Among the week's highlights are a screening of the groundbreaking b-boy flick "Wild Style" on Wednesday night, with the movie's director Charlie Ahearn and legendary rap troupe the Cold Crush Brothers on hand to answer questions from the attendees. On Thursday, Chuck D and Poor Righteous Teachers' Wise Intelligent will be among the MCs expressing their views on the rap game at a town meeting with members of the Harlem community.

Sunday is shaping up to be Hip-Hop Appreciation Week's most anticipated day, with McDaniels hosting a block party in Brooklyn and KRS getting inducted into the Bronx Walk Hall of Fame earlier that morning. The Blastmaster joins the company of former inductees and Bronx natives such as Rita Moreno, Red Buttons and Stanley Kubrick.
Later that night, the Teacha will speak and perform at club SOB's as part of a fund raiser. The proceeds from the benefit will be going to the urban arts programs at Long Island City, Queens' Robert F. Wagner Secondary High School of the Arts.

Students at Wagner have the option of enrolling in the school's elevated arts program, where professionals in the music industry hold workshops to teach kids subjects such as video directing, graphic design, graffiti drawing and breakdancing. When a lack of funds threatened to end the program, one of the school's teachers tracked down KRS and asked for help. He agreed to make the benefit a part of the week's activities.
Plans for next year's Hip-Hop Appreciation Week are already underway. KRS founded the Temple of Hiphop in 1997 in order to promote and protect the nine elements of hip-hop, which he described in his statement as "Breakin, Emceein, Graffiti Art, Deejayin, Beatboxin, Street Language, Street Knowledge, Street Fashion and Street Entrepreneuralism." KRS said the membership in his non-profit organization has grown to 25,000.

KRS and his organization have put into action a voter registration drive, and in 1999 a Temple of Hiphop Kulture compilation album was released featuring artists such as Xzibit, Big Daddy Kane and Ras Kass.

[buy the Temple of Hiphop Kulture album]

— Shaheem Reid

5/15/01 - launch.com
Steely Dan Goes Back To Old School For Honorary Doctorates
Steely Dan singer-guitarist Walter Becker and singer-keyboardist Donald Fagen were awarded honorary doctorates Saturday (May 12) by Boston's Berklee College of Music, where Fagen was a student for a time in 1966. Fagen, who broke his musical vow to never go back to his old school, got a standing ovation when he told the audience, "I just want to say, from a blues verse from Mose Allison, 'When you move up to the city, there's just one thing I hope/When you move up to the city, there's just one
thing I hope/You don't take money from a woman/and don't start messin' around with dope,'" according to The Boston Globe.

Becker was a bit more philosophical in his acceptance speech, before echoing the thoughts of his partner of more than 30 years. "If I had any advice based on my career so far that would be worth sharing with you, it would be two things: number one, as you go into your musical careers, people will try to refocus you on their goals and their artistic aspirations. And it's always best to stay focused on your own. It's the only shortcut that really is available," Becker told the crowd before adding, "And number two, the blues. Playing the blues. Play the blues--it works over everything."

On Friday night (May 11), Becker and Fagen were on hand as Berklee College students performed many of the duo's signature hits in a tribute concert. Cover versions of classic Steely Dan songs including "Peg," "Deacon Blues," "Do It Again," and (of course) "My Old School," along with newer numbers like "Cousin Dupree," moved the usually acerbic Becker to say, "It was great. It was awesome. It was all so good," while his partner in crime Fagen added, "The kids did a great job. They sounded better than we did."

It's been an amazing couple of months for Steely Dan, what with its big
Grammy wins in February and its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in
March.

Earlier this year, LAUNCH asked Fagen and Becker if they felt like the group was finally getting its due:

(Becker) I think we've been getting our due right along.
(Fagen) I don't think we've ever looked for a due. We have a lot of great fans. We've sold records steadily, pretty much, for 25 years.
(Becker) Neither one of us has had a real job since, you know, the '60s. (Fagen) And the, you know, when we do concerts, you know, the audience gets all excited and they really like it and we all have a lot of fun, so that's pretty satisfying, you know? So the awards thing is kind of a...let's face it, it's mostly a sales pitch, to a large extent."

-- Bruce Simon, New York
-- Gary Graff, Detroit

5/15/01 - launch.com
Depeche Mode Returns After Four-Year Layoff With 'Exciter'
Depeche Mode returns today (May 15) with Exciter, the
group's first album of new material since 1997's Ultra. While fans might
think four years is a long time in between albums, the group's keyboard
player Martin Gore says otherwise.

Gore tells LAUNCH, "Four years seems like a long time for people waiting for a record, but it doesn't seem like a long time to me. That seems to be the sort of cycle we're in at the moment. You know, we put out the greatest hits, you know, two-and-a-half years ago; we went on tour with that, then, you know, sort of bummed around a bit I suppose. But, you know, we were working on this record for a year and a half anyway, and the greatest hits out, and the tour, that's not a lot of time off."

Exciter features the single, "Dream On," currently ascending multiple
Billboard charts, including Modern Rock Tracks (Number 16), Adult Top 40
(Number 30), and the Billboard Hot 100 (Number 85).

Depeche Mode will kick off a 33-date North American tour in support of Exciter in Montreal June 15.

-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles

5/15/01 - sonicnet
Stevie Nicks Confirms North American Tour
Stevie Nicks will tour North America this summer and fall in support of her
new Reprise album "Trouble in Shangri-La." The full itinerary is not yet
finalized, but according to Nicks' official Web site, the trek will begin
July 6 in Pittsburgh and keep her on the road through late September.

"Trouble in Shangri-La" debuted at No. 5 on The Billboard 200 earlier this
month, earning Nicks her highest album chart showing since 1983, when "The Wild Heart" bowed at the same position. First single "Every Day" is No. 21 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart this week.

Don't expect Nicks to drench her live sets with songs from the new album. "I learned an important lesson back during the first 'Rumours' tour with Fleetwood Mac," she told Billboard in January. "You can't shove new songs down your audience's throat. You can do three or four at the most.

"On that 'Rumours' tour," Nicks added, "we did most of that album, and people didn't want any part of it. They want familiarity. They want the comfort of songs that feel like old friends. You can't exploit your fans by forcing them to embrace songs they don't know yet."

Here are Stevie Nicks' confirmed tour dates:
July 6: Pittsburgh (venue TBA)
July 7: Clarkston, Mich. (DTE Energy Music Theatre)
July 14: Mansfield, Mass. (Tweeter Center)
July 21: Holmdel, N.J. (PNC Bank Arts Center)
July 25: Raleigh, N.C. (Walnut Creek)
Aug. 3: Dallas (Smirnoff Music Centre)
Sept. 4: Noblesville, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Music Center)

-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

5/14/01 - sonicnet
Alanis To Prep For European Trek With U.S. Dates
Alanis Morissette will play two intimate Los Angeles shows before she heads to Europe for a summer tour.

The shows, at the 700-capacity El Rey Theater on May 25 and 26, will serve as a warm-up for a six-week jaunt that kicks off June 1 at the Rock Am Ring Festival in Cologne, Germany, according to the singer's publicist. Tickets for the L.A. gigs will go on sale Sunday via Morissette's Web site. The concerts will include new material that "may be included on her next release," according to a statement. The album is done, but Morissette is refusing to deliver the tapes to her label — the Madonna-run Maverick — because of a contract dispute, according to Reuters. A label executive who requested anonymity would only say that Morissette and the label are "in negotiations."

Morissette will fly back to Ottawa for her only other North American date on July 1.

— Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen

5/7/01 - toronto sun
Stevie Nicks And Destiny's Child To Collaborate
Toronto Sun Stevie Nicks and Destiny's Child may have
released brand new albums last Tuesday, but collaboration, rather than
competition, is on their minds.

Nicks, in Toronto yesterday to promote her first solo disc in seven years,
Trouble In Shangri-La, returns to L.A. today after Destiny's Child requested she play the guitar in the video for their next single, Bootylicious, which samples Nicks' 1982 solo hit, Edge Of Seventeen.

"We're trying to attempt this wild collaboration -- really we've only spoken for five minutes," said the 52-year-old singer, whose mystical songs, throaty voice and distinctive style helped propel the popularity of Fleetwood Mac's 1977 landmark album, Rumors, and her own successful solo albums.

"I can only get there Monday night and go Tuesday and see if I want to do it. I can play guitar. I just don't play it in front of people, so it's an
interesting concept for me to actually stand up there and be the Led Zeppelin girl."

Nicks whose high-heeled suede boots, flowing dresses and feathered hair
inspired generations of wannabes, already has her wardrobe picked out: "I think I'm going to wear pants, long, long, and really high shoes and a little velvet tunic that's real fitted you know, so I'll look just totally wild. I hope it happens -- I really do."

Nicks also confirmed some other major news yesterday: Fleetwood Mac, who regrouped for a successful reunion tour in 1997, are heading back into the studio in the fall sans keyboardist-vocalist Christine McVie. They will follow the new album up with another band tour. But Nicks, who begins her own solo tour on July 6 in Pittsburgh (so far there's no confirmed Toronto date), probably won't be able to join drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and guitarist Lindsay Buckingham in the studio until December.

"I gave Lindsay 17 demos from 1970 to 1999, basically," she said. "I had two songs that were going to go on this record that I pulled for Fleetwood Mac because I felt they were better Fleetwood Mac songs than they were Stevie Nicks songs. So that's a very exciting premise for all of us because if you take Chris out of the mix and you also take her out of the trio, it leaves us with Buckingham-Nicks. And it leaves Mick and John and Lindsay in a much more of a guitar-oriented thing."

Despite relationships with both Buckingham and Fleetwood -- among others -- Nicks never married or had any children. She said she got close a couple of times but in the end her songs -- and now a Yorkshire terrier named Sulamith, who greeted visitors at the door of her panoramic-viewed presidential suite yesterday -- became her offspring. Ultimately, she didn't want to be an absentee mom.

"I didn't even get a dog until two-and-a-half-years ago and raised her myself and that's when I really realized that I had really made the right decision. And she is really my baby and she's the light of my life. So I know if I had a little girl or a little precious boy, you know, I would have stopped doing this and I wouldn't be here now."

And if Trouble In Shangri-La doesn't sell, Nick said she'll simply move into
animated features and children's books. "I'm a very creative person, so there's so much more that I want to do before I die," she said. "So in order for me not to be hurt, I have to look at it that way because this record is really my heart. So if it were to be a huge bomb, then I would have to not look at it that my work was terrible. I would have to go, 'Well, this is just not the right time.' "

Nicks, who has certainly been a major influence on younger female artists, has many of them on Trouble In Shangri-La. Among them are Sheryl Crow, who Nicks met years ago at the premiere party for the film Boys On The Side. Crow co-produced six tracks and wrote It's Only Love. There's also a piano-playing Sarah McLachlan who appears alongside her producer Pierre Marchand on Love Is. Nicks wound up in Vancouver for a week after Marchand couldn't get into the U.S. due to green card problems.

5/5/01 - launch.com
Stevie Nicks Says Fleetwood Mac Reunion Is A Go
In interviews earlier this year, Mick Fleetwood promised another Fleetwood Mac reunion in the near future. The drummer and band founder said that after singer Stevie Nicks and singer-guitarist Lindsey
Buckingham finished their respective solo projects, they were committed to another Fleetwood Mac album and tour, albeit without singer-keyboardist Christine McVie, who has left the band.

Nicks, who this week released her first new solo album in seven years,
Trouble In Shangri-La, tells LAUNCH that Fleetwood's comments weren't just wishful thinking. "Mick and I are gonna make this happen. We're the strong ones, and we're gonna push this through if it kills us," she says. "We really want to do another record. Christine doesn't want to do it--she doesn't--and bless her heart, if that's what she wants, then that's what she's gonna get. She moved back to England. She wants to be an Englishwoman living in England, and you cannot make people do stuff."

Nicks says Fleetwood Mac will probably reconvene in early 2002. She'll be
spending most of the rest of this year on the road to promote Trouble In
Shangri-La, with a tour slated to start in late June.

- Gary Graff, Detroit

5/5/01 - launch.com
'Chris Isaak Show' Granted Extended Engagement
The Chris Isaak Show will rock on for a second season.

The behind-the-scenes look at the life of rocker Chris Isaak recently
received an additional 17-episode commitment from Showtime and will continue mixing reality-based storylines and characters with comedic and fictional twists.

The series features real-life people such as Isaak, his bandmates Kenney Dale Johnson, Hershel Yatovitz, and Rowland Salley, and guest stars like Stevie Nicks, Joe Walsh, Vince Neil, and Lisa Loeb. Part of the show's intrigue is figuring out how much of the real Chris Isaak is in his television
incarnation. Kristin Dattilo, the actress who plays Isaak's manager Yola,
explained some of the differences and similarities between the two Isaaks to LAUNCH: "He's [the real Chris] a very smart guy. He's very intense. He's very opinionated--he's a perfectionist. He's just awesome and his character, I think, is kind of like this easygoing, passive nice guy. He's funny like he is in the show. I mean, he writes a lot of his own stuff and he's very funny. He has a great sense of humor, but he's much more intense than his character."

Isaak gave LAUNCH his own opinion on the subject. "They try to make me nicer on TV and hopefully they've made me a little bit cheaper on TV than I am, although my band says I'm cheaper in real life."

The Chris Isaak Show airs Monday nights on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET.

-- Sofia Fernandez, New York

5/4/01 - cdnow.com
Barenaked Touring News
The Barenaked Ladies are uniting with Ticketmaster for a special promotion that will make half the tickets for their summer tour available online before they go on sale to the general public. Fans must first register at bnl.ticketmaster.com (http://www.bnl.ticketmaster.com), where they will receive a password good from May 10 at 7 a.m. to May 11 at 10 p.m. PST. Whatever tickets are leftover will be sold through regular Ticketmaster channels. The Ladies' tour begins July 12 in Toronto
and runs for six weeks.

-Allison Stewart

4/30/01 - launch.com
Green Day Dominates California Music Awards
Green Day dominated the California Music Awards Saturday night (April 28) at the Henry J. Kaiser Arena in Oakland by earning so-called "Bammies" in all eight categories in which the group was nominated; including artist of the year, outstanding group, and outstanding album for Warning.

Bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool both bested all comers in their individual instrument categories, while frontman Billie Joe Armstrong earned outstanding male vocalist honors and songwriting props over Neil Young, Aimee Mann, and others. The group also grabbed the award for outstanding punk/ska album for Warning.

Other winners at the 24th annual celebration of California music included Santana (Arthur M. Sohcot award for excellence), Incubus (outstanding modern rock album, Make Yourself), No Doubt (outstanding pop/rock album, Return Of Saturn), and the Deftones (outstanding hard rock/heavy metal album, White Pony).

Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello earned outstanding guitarist while veteran rocker Sammy Hagar grabbed the spirit of rock award.

Huey Lewis hosted the event.

Here is the complete list of winners:
ARTIST OF THE YEAR:
Green Day
OUTSTANDING GROUP:
Green Day
OUTSTANDING ALBUM:
Warning -- Green Day
OUTSTANDING SINGLE:
"Last Resort" -- Papa Roach
OUTSTANDING MODERN ROCK ALBUM:
Make Yourself -- Incubus
OUTSTANDING PUNK ROCK/SKA ALBUM:
Warning -- Green Day
OUTSTANDING HARD ROCK/HEAVY METAL ALBUM:
White Pony -- Deftones
OUTSTANDING ROCK/POP ALBUM:
Return Of Saturn -- No Doubt
OUTSTANDING HIP/HOP RAP ALBUM:
Bridging The Gap -- Black Eyed Peas
OUTSTANDING R&B ALBUM:
That's My Partner -- Elvin Bishop & Little Smokey
OUTSTANDING JAZZ ALBUM:
Shake It Up -- Boney James & Rick Braun
OUTSTANDING LATIN ALBUM:
2012 e.d. -- Orixa
OUTSTANDING DEBUT ALBUM:
Mer De Noms -- A Perfect Circle
OUTSTANDING SONGWRITER:
Billie Joe Armstrong -- Green Day
OUTSTANDING MALE VOCALIST:
Billie Joe Armstrong -- Green Day
OUTSTANDING FEMALE VOCALIST:
Gwen Stefani -- No Doubt
OUTSTANDING GUITARIST:
Tom Morello -- Rage Against The Machine
OUTSTANDING BASSIST:
Mike Dirnt -- Green Day
OUTSTANDING DRUMMER:
Tre Cool -- Green Day
SPIRIT OF ROCK AWARD:
Sammy Hagar
CALIFORNIA GOLD:
Little Feat
ARTHUR M. SOHCOT AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE:
Santana

-- Neal Weiss

4/24/01
Stevie Nicks To Appear On Letterman
Check Stevie Nicks out on The Late Show With David Letterman: Thursday, May 3 on CBS : [click here for more info]

4/23/01 - washington post
London Calling, With Telephone Tunes
You can have Eminem ringing your phone all day long. If that prospect is just too shocking, you might wind up listening to a tune from Mick Jagger. Or Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Madonna, or just about any other pop star. It happens all the time in Europe, a continent that's gone crazy for cell phones. With mobile phone usage here two or three times greater than American levels, the cell phone has spawned a wave of spinoff industries -- and one of the most successful is the booming business in specialized "ring tones."

The snippets of song, known here by the German word "Klingeltöne," have become so common that trains, stadiums and pubs regularly turn into impromptu karaoke centers as soon as a phone rings. If Eric Clapton's "Layla" beeps out from someone's phone on a train, people all over the car start singing. When a phone rings "Who Let The Dogs Out?" in a pub, the whole bar bursts into rapping and barking; the effect gets increasingly raucous as last call approaches. In Scandinavia, arguably the world capital of cell phone use, ring tones are so popular that bands now release each new song in five formats: CD, cassette, video, MP3 and Klingeltöne. On new pop CDs, the album cover provides Web addresses and telephone numbers where listeners can buy the ring tones for each song on the record. High school and college students in Western Europe started the fad. No state-of-the-art teenager would dream of using the drab, predictable ring tones that Nokia, Ericsson and other manufacturers build into their equipment.

Instead, they surf to the Web sites of IconaPhone.com or Mobiletones.com and choose a new song, often every day, to ring when somebody calls. "Lots of Eminem, lots of dance hits, that's what selling now," said Jonathon Cox, a representative of Mobiletones, a British company that offers hundreds of rings. "And, of course, the theme from 'Mission: Impossible' -- that's always been popular." The ring-tone trade started last year among a few spunky start-up companies. But now the major cellular operators are jumping on the bandwagon. Klingeltönes have proven far more popular than other heavily promoted cellular ventures, like the vaunted "wireless Internet" that has been a flop so far. When the immensely popular Nylon Beat, Finland's home-grown version of the Spice Girls, plays the opening bars of a song at its rock concerts, fans by the hundreds hold up their phones and ring along with the singers. Nylon Beat released its last single, "Not Guilty," as a ring tone even before the CD came out; this teaser proved so effective that "Not Guilty" hit No. 1 in Finland on the first day of sale.

You might think the next logical step would be pop songs written specifically for the cell phone. If you think that, you're right. Vodafone Group PLC, operator of Europe's largest cellular phone network, recently commissioned an exclusive ring tone composed by Boy George. "We've had deejays and radio stations promoting it," said Bryony Clow, a Vodafone spokesman. "It's been very popular." There are wildcat operators who sell ring tones without authorization, but most dealers pay a license fee to the singer for each tone sold. It is common fare on European editions of MTV to see an announcement that a phone company has just signed an exclusive deal with the likes of Boyzone or Oasis.

Pop ring tones have also swept like a tsunami through Japan, another place where mobile communication is a central element of youth culture. In the United States, where traditional phone service is far cheaper and cell phones are more of a luxury, this new wave in ring tones is just starting to build. "It's going to hit here, probably by the end of this year, and it's going to be very big," said Kate Danaj, research director at the Chicago-based consultancy Teenage Research Unlimited. "Most of the cell phone crazes come to us from overseas, and we can see already the most avant-garde group of [American] teens are picking up on pop ring tones." Some U.S. wireless operators are gearing up. Atlanta's Cingular Wireless said it plans to offer 20 rings, including Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" and the "Lion King" theme, "Hakuna Matata." Miami-based Nextones.com offers a selection of tones, but only for phones built around the GSM technology standard, which is dominant in Europe but makes up a small share of the American market.

There may be a particular jump in U.S. demand next fall, when a new episode of "ER" is to include a segment with a teenager who uses a customized ring. " 'ER' is using one of our tones," Mobiletones' Cox said. The easiest way to buy a new ring tone in London is to call a telephone number and pick the song you want; the tone is then automatically sent to your phone. The price, from 50 cents to $3.50, is added to your monthly phone bill. Another approach is to go to a Web site, such as www.mobiletones.com, listen to the songs available, pick one, and enter your phone number and a credit card number. A minute later your phone shows the message "Ring Tone Received." But neither of these billing methods is suited to teenagers, who often have neither credit cards nor telephone bills.

One of the key reasons for the explosion in cell phone use among the young in Europe is the widespread availability of pre-paid calling cards, which means teenagers can buy cell phone time with their allowance money. To get a ring tone, the teenagers call a toll-per-minute number, listen to the tones, and pick one for downloading. Since the ring-tone supplier makes its money by keeping customers on the line, these calls can last a while. The British firm IconaPhone, for example, charges $1.15 a minute. But most IconaPhone tones end up costing two or three times that because consumers have to go through so many menus to make a purchase.

There are also Web sites offering tones for special interests, including the "Football Hooligans" ring-tone home page and another called "Beachbums' Ring Tones." Certain pop songs seem perfectly suited to conversion into ring tones, such as Mary J. Blige's "911" and No Doubt's "Spiderwebs" (sample lyric: "Leave a message and I'll call you back . . ."). In fact, though, the most popular ring tones generally turn out to be the same songs that top the weekly pop charts. A recent top 10 list from Mobiletones included three Eminem songs, plus two by Destiny's Child and Kernkraft 400's "Zombie Nation."

4/19/01 - launch.com
Green Day's Billie Joe On Joey Ramone's Legacy
The passing of Joey Ramone on Sunday (April 15) has prompted many artists to reflect on what his band, the Ramones, meant to them on both a personal and an artistic level. Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, who spoke to Ramone three weeks ago, told LAUNCH he is still shocked by
Ramone's death.

"When people die, especially people that mean something to you, it takes a year to suss out in your brain and make sense of it. I guess I'm still
kind of in shock. It's weird to listen to his voice, and knowing that he's
not around anymore, his songs sort of take on a new meaning. It's sort of difficult to think about, really."

As for the Ramones' legacy, Armstrong told LAUNCH one has to look no
further than his band, Green Day. "I think the Ramones have influenced anything that you hear that is somewhat...anything from like watered-down alternative rock to the most hardcore punk-rock band you can think of. They have pretty much influenced everything that could come after them. If it wasn't for them my band wouldn't exist. They're one of those bands that definitely had a direct influence or impact on the way we even look at songwriting."

After a service in his hometown, Ramone was laid to rest in Hillside
Cemetery in Woodhurst, New Jersey, as a rabbi read the Mourner's Kaddish. In attendance was Joan Jett, Blondie members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, former Ramones drummer Tommy Erdelyi, and other friends and family. A memorial event is being planned to celebrate what would have been Joey's 50th birthday in May.

-- Darren Davis, New York

4/18/01 - JAM! Showbiz
Nick Cave Tops Anti-Hit List
Check It Out:
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusicAntihit/apr18_anti-can.html

4/17/01 - cdnow
Sonicnet Evaluates New Nick Cave
On their long-awaited new album (the first featuring new material since
1997's The Boatman's Call), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Mick Harvey
and Blixa Bargeld on guitar, Thomas Wydler on drums, Martyn Casey on bass, Conway Savage on organ, and Warren Ellis on violin) are joined by Kate and Anna McGarrigle (who contribute backing vocals), as well as a host of strings - all helping to shape the strange darkness that the all-too-appropriately named Cave's songs inhabit.

Cave and his Bad Seeds are masters at blending simple arrangements,
instrumental delicacy and baroque lyrics to create music that is as distinctive as it is haunting. And while Cave is obsessed, weary and
theatrical, he never takes himself that seriously; his humor is often
sly, and that's one of the things that hooks you. "As I Sat Sadly by Her
Side," the album's first track, opens with a warm acoustic guitar, which is
joined by delicately ominous piano, and then by Cave's voice (disconcertingly, he sings in a higher register than usual, which weirdly suits this off-kilter song). Both the clarity of the piano and the delicate arcs of the in strumentation provide fine counterpoint to the murkiness of Cave's voice, as well as to a storyline that features kittens and a woman arguing on behalf of God: "Nor does he care for you to sit/ At windows in judgement of the world/ He created/ While sorrows pile up around you/ Ugly, useless and over-inflated." Who's going to argue with that?

A similar tone runs through the album's title track, though its mood is
more in the doldrums, with a few swinging punches let loose at the song's end via the warmth of the McGarrigles' brief harmonies, an upbeat note reined in after just a few bars. Such restraint is, in fact, one of Cave's strengths. On "Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow" a more familiar kind of Bad Seeds tune, in that it revolves around murder, mayhem and madness , he snarls and bites off his words, while Jim Sclavunos' percussion kicks out with the song's chorus, then gets reeled back in, helping to make the song a triumph of unresolved tension.

"God Is in the House," Cave's acute take on fundamentalism, is searingly funny (and again features kittens!): "Well-meaning little therapists/ Goose-stepping twelve-stepping/ Tetotalitarianists/ The tipsy, the reeling and the drop-down pissed/ We got no time for that here." A whine of strings and guitar, it's a cathartic maelstrom. And "Hallelujah" has some aching, lonely violin that becomes menacing as Cave repeats phrases ("all its teeth bared," "like a shroud") that turn the song into a frightening babble of voices.

Not that everything here is manic. "We Came Along This Road" is simple yet theatrical, all plinky piano, stagy violin and unanswered questions.
And the album's closer, "Darker With the Day," is a stunning rumination over alienation and loneliness. Yes, the kind of things millions of songs
are written about, but only Nick Cave's are redolent of smoke and
magnolias.

4/12/01 - cdnow
Green Day Announces Summer Tour Itinerary
Green Day has announced its summer tour itinerary, set to begin June 17 at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Minneapolis, according to the band's official Web site (www.greenday.com).

The tour will be preceded by an April 27 visit to The Late Show with David Letterman. After trekking across the U.S. through July 3 in Pittsburgh, Green Day will take part in some European festivals, including Reading on Aug. 24, Leeds on Aug. 25, and Glasgow Green on Aug. 26. The Living End is rumored to be the openers for the U.S. jaunt.

The band, which will be touring in support of 2000's Warning, will be in Los Angeles shooting a video this weekend (April 14-15) for the song "Waiting."

Green Day tour dates:

June 17, Minneapolis, Roy Wilkins Auditorium

June 18, Milwaukee, Eagles Ballroom

June 19, Chicago, The Aragon

June 20, St. Louis, The Pageant

June 22, Lowell, Mass., Tsongas Arena

June 23, Wilmington, Del., Kahuna Concert Hall

June 24, Washington, D.C., Bender Arena

June 26, New York, Hammerstein Ballroom

June 27, Asbury Park, N.J., New Jersey Convention Center

June 29, Mississauga, Ontario, Hershey Arena

June 30, Pontiac, Mich., Phoenix Plaza Amphitheatre

July 2, Cleveland, Nautica Stage

July 3, Pittsburgh, Iron City Light Amphitheatre

Aug. 24, Reading, England, Reading Festival

Aug. 25, Leeds, England, Leeds Festival

Aug. 26, Glasgow, Scotland, Glasgow Green

- Tony Bogdanovski

4/12/01 - cdnow
Depeche Mode Reveals Venues For North American Tour
Armed with a highly anticipated album on deck and a single that's rapidly spreading at alternative radio, Depeche Mode is putting the finishing details on its North American tour with the announcement of the outing's venues.

As previously reported, the Exciter tour will kick off on June 15 in Montreal and run through Aug. 14 in Los Angeles.

This is the group's first trek since 1998's tour in support of Singles 86-98. The only changes to the schedule released in March is the addition of a Santa Barbara, Calif., show on Aug. 5 and the San Francisco (Aug. 4) and Concord, Calif., (Aug. 3) dates flip-flopped. While most of the venues are 15,000-25,000 sheds, one lucky city gets to see the band in a club -- Las Vegas at the Joint on Aug. 10.

If the band's success in selling tickets in Europe is any indication, this tour should sell out quickly as well. Already, the band has sold out two-night stands Germany in Berlin (20,000 each night), Cologne (18,000 each night), and Munich (17,000 each night), as well as the much larger Hamburg's Trabrenbahn stadium (50,000 plus) and Leipzig's Festwiese stadium (over 60,000 plus).

Meanwhile, "Dream On," the first single from Exciter (coming May 15, Mute/Reprise), was the most added new song at alternative radio last week, and the video for the song has been added to MTV2, which is sponsoring the tour, and VH1.

Depeche Mode's North American tour itinerary:

June 15, Montreal, Molson Centre

June 16, Toronto, Molson Amphitheatre

June 19, Minneapolis, XCEL Energy Center

June 20, Milwaukee, Marcus Amphitheater

June 22, Chicago, World Music Theatre

June 23, Detroit, DTE Energy Music Theater

June 24, Cleveland, Blossom Music Center

June 27, New York, Madison Square Garden

June 30, Philadelphia, First Union Center

July 1, Boston, Tweeter Center

July 5, Washington, D.C., Merriweather Post Pavilion

July 7, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., National Car Rental Center

July 8, Tampa, Fla., Ice Palace

July 9, Atlanta, Hi Fi Buys Amphitheater

July 13, New Orleans, UNO Lakefront Arena

July 14, Houston, Cynthia Wood Mitchell Pavilion

July 15, San Antonio, Texas, South Texas Amphitheater

July 17, Dallas, Smirnoff Music Center

July 19, Las Cruces, N.M., Pan American Center

July 20, Albuquerque, N.M., Journal Pavilion

July 21, Denver, Fiddlers Green Amphitheater

July 23, Salt Lake City, E Center

July 27, Portland, Ore., Rose Garden Arena

July 28, Vancouver, British Columbia, Pacific Coliseum

July 29, George, Wash., The Gorge

Aug. 1, Sacramento, Calif., Sacramento Valley Amphitheater

Aug. 3, Concord, Calif., Chronicle Pavilion

Aug. 4, San Francisco, Shoreline Amphitheater

Aug. 5, Santa Barbara, Calif., Santa Barbara Bowl

Aug. 8, Las Vegas, the Joint

Aug. 10, Phoenix, America West Arena

Aug. 11, San Diego, Coors Amphitheater

Aug. 14, Los Angeles, Staples Center

- Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna

4/11/01 - reuters
Australian Punk Rockers The Living End on a "Roll"
One day Australia's hottest new rock exports are opening for heavy metal heroes AC/DC, the next day they are sharing the bill with race horses.

Bands that want to make it big sometimes have to swallow their pride. During the 1960s, rock acts appearing on Ed Sullivan's prestigious TV variety show were squeezed in between chimpanzees and circus clowns.

In 2001, Australian punk-rock trio The Living End recently played for several thousand fans at a Los Angeles racetrack. But their afternoon set was punctuated by a 10-minute break so the horses would not panic as they galloped past the makeshift stage. The absurdity was not lost on the band.

"I reckon the horses should get on the arses of the jockeys and give
them a bit of a (expletive) hiding," proclaimed singer-guitarist Chris Cheney, returning to the stage after the enforced tea break.

The fans cheered, and resumed tossing water bottles and goading women into baring their breasts. Scott Owen performed a delicate balancing act standing on his upright bass as he plucked its strings, and drummer Travis Demsey defied the heat to pummel his kit.

The Santa Anita Park stop was just one on a brief U.S. tour to prepare
fans for a new album, "Roll On," the second of their career. A certified
platinum act at home, where the band opened for AC/DC earlier this year, the Living End created some U.S. radio airplay buzz in 1998 with "Prisoner of Society," a furious punk anthem from the group's self-titled debut album.

CRACKING AMERICA

"Roll On," released March 27 in the United States via Reprise Records,
is the band's attempt to crack the American market -- at least as far as the label is concerned. The band is a little more cagey.

"The good feeling in some of the songs and stuff will definitely work over
here," Cheney told Reuters during a recent interview at the band's
Sunset Strip hotel.

"But I still think of us as a Melbourne band. We're not writing stuff that we go, 'This is going to be huge in the States!' I just don't know what
we'd do to predict that. I wouldn't know."

Not unlike compatriots Midnight Oil, who won international fame by
singing about Aboriginal rights and the nuclear arms race, the Living End takes a political tack on some of its songs too.

The title track revolves around a crippling waterfront strike in the band's
Melbourne hometown; "Don't Shut the Gate" is a plea for looser
immigration laws; "Revolution Regained" is about the independence struggle in neighboring East Timor.

But the band's members are wary of being perceived as political
ideologues.

"We don't want to be a political band. We just want to be a good rock
'n' roll band, and that's hard enough to do in this day and age without
getting antsy-pantsy about issues," said drummer Demsey, the outspoken, gung-ho member of the group.

Added Cheney, who writes the group's songs, "It's just nice to tell stories, and to get it across, and hopefully send over a positive message."

All three grew up in working-class families where the big issues of the
day took second place to job security and putting food on the table.

SETZER MEETS STONES

Cheney and bass player Owen, both 26, became friends as teen-agers, and formed the Living End in 1994. Cheney and Owen shared a love of acts like English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello and American swing-rocker Brian Setzer. Demsey, 28, a devotee of the Rolling Stones and the Who, brought a more mainstream rock attitude to the band when he joined in late 1996.

After landing support slots on tours by American punk bands Green Day,
Blink 182 and the Offspring, the group released its debut album in 1998. It went to No. 1 in Australia and yielded five hit singles.

"Roll On," which was released in Australia last November, expands the
group's musical palette. Whereas the group proudly bared its rockabilly/ska/punk influences on the first album, the new one is less derivative and more sonically adventurous.

When punk bands win mainstream acceptance, they often suffer a backlash from the hard-core fans who were cheering for them right from the start. So far, the Living End seems to have escaped being pilloried.

"I think people can see that ... we haven't really sold out any of our
ideals to become what we've become," Owen said. "It's generally just been an organic progression for us."

The hard-core fans at home will be lucky to see the Living End this
year. The band will be on the road virtually non-stop, spreading the punk gospel.

The travel and the glad-handing gets tiresome, but the band feels it is on a mission.

"The hard yards are hard yards," Demsey said. "AC/DC did it that way,
so we have to do it too. We're from Australia."

4/10/01 - launch.com
Eric Clapton Announces Second Round Of North American Dates
Eric Clapton wraps his European tour tonight (April 10) in Moscow, and it may be his last trip to the continent until much later this year. The singer-guitarist has announced the second leg of his NorthAmerican tour in support of Reptile, an outing that will see him criss-cross the continent until mid-August.

Clapton kicks things off on this side of the pond on May 10 in Dallas,
and will go until June 23 in New York City. After a short break, "Slowhand" resumes the tour on July 17 in St. Paul, Minnesota, before wrapping up on August 18 in Los Angeles.

Clapton began his Reptile tour with six shows at the Royal Albert Hall
in London, and he's devoted the entire year to a world tour in support of
the album. Still to come are dates in South America and throughout the
Pacific Rim nations.

The Eric Clapton tour itinerary (subject to change):

May 10 - Dallas, TX - Reunion Arena
May 12 - San Antonio, TX - Alamodome
May 14 - Houston, TX - Compaq Center
May 15 - New Orleans, LA - N.O. Arena
May 18 - Sunrise, FL - National Car Rental Center
May 19 - Tampa, FL - Ice Palace
May 21 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
May 22 - Memphis, TN - The Pyramid
May 24 - Nashville, TN - Nashville Arena
May 25 - Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Coliseum
May 27 - Washington, DC - MCI Center
May 30 - State College, PA - Bryce Jordan Center
June 1 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
June 2 - Indianapolis, IN - Conseco Fieldhouse
June 4 - Cleveland, OH - Gund Arena
June 6 - Detroit, MI - Palace Of Auburn Hills
June 9 - Toronto, ONT - Air Canada Centre
June 11,12 - Boston, MA - FleetCenter
June 15 - Buffalo, NY - HSBC Arena
June 16 - Albany, NY - Pepsi Arena
June 17 - Philadelphia, PA - First Union Center
June 21-23 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
July 17 - St. Paul, MN - Xcel Energy Center
July 19 - Fargo, ND - Fargo Dome
July 21 - Milwaukee, WI - Bradley Center
July 22 - St. Louis, MO - Savvis Center
July 24,25 - Chicago, IL - United Center
July 27 - Moline, IL - Mark Of The Quads
July 28 - Kansas City, MO - Kemper Arena
July 30 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center Arena
August 1 - Salt Lake City, UT - Delta Center
August 2 - Boise, ID - Idaho Center
August 4 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena
August 5 - Vancouver, BC - GM Place
August 7 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden Arena
August 11 - Oakland, CA - Oakland Coliseum
August 13 - Las Vegas, NV - Thomas & Mack Center
August 15 - Phoenix, AZ - America West Arena
August 17,18 - Los Angeles, CA - Staples Center

-- Bruce Simon, New York

4/6/01 - launch.com
Barenaked Ladies To Tour And Appear In Claymation
The Barenaked Ladies have announced dates for their North American summer tour, starting July 12 in Toronto and running through August 25 in Clarkston, Michigan. The band appears with Vertical Horizon July 13 through 22, and the Proclaimers August 6 through 26.

Meanwhile, Barenaked Ladies will be appearing as themselves on the
claymation UPN show Gary & Mike on April 13. The band recorded its voices to be synched up to the clay figures. The BNL members can be heard on the show commenting on their disastrous road trip across America.

Speaking of road trip, Blockbuster has the exclusive of the Barenaked
Ladies documentary Barenaked In America, and it is currently available for rental exclusively through the video chain for three months. After the
three-month window, the Jason Priestley-directed documentary will be offered for sale.

Barenaked Ladies tour dates (subject to change):

July 12 - Toronto, ONT - Molson Amphitheater
July 13 - Darien Center, NY - Darien Lake Performance Art Center
July 14 - Columbus, OH - Polaris Amphitheater
July 16 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center
July 17 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Theater
July 18 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Center
July 20 - Hartford, CT - Meadows
July 21 - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center
July 22 - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center
July 24 - Burgettstown, PA - Post Gazette Pavilion
July 27 - Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach Amphitheater
July 28 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center
July 29 - Columbia, MD - Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 30 - Virginia Beach, VA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
August 3 - Atlanta, GA - Lakewood Amphitheater
August 6 - Maryland Heights, MO - Riverport Amphitheater
August 10 - Englewood, CO - Fiddler's Green Amphitheater
August 11 - Albuquerque, NM - E Center
August 13 - Chula Vista, CA - Coors Amphitheater
August 14 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
August 15 - Marysville, CA - Sacramento Valley Amphitheater
August 16 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheater
August 18 - George, WA - Gorge
August 21 - Minneapolis, MN - Xcel Energy Center
August 22 - Milwaukee, WI - Marcus Amphitheater
August 24 - Tinley Park, IL - New World Music Theater
August 25 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theater
August 26 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theater

-- Darren Davis, New York

4/6/01 - launch.com
Steely Dan Still Tweaking The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Steely Dan has been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, don't think for a minute that the group's longtime tweaking of the organization is going to end any time soon. Steely Dan principals Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have posted a number of messages on their website regarding their seeming exclusion from the Rock Hall since 1997, the
first year the group was eligible for induction. The latest dig comes in the
form of a mock auction of Becker's trophy, which can be found on "SD-Bay" under the sub-heading "Depraved Spectacles:Televised:Morally Bankrupt Vainglories:Figurines."

The seller, using the screen name "moodybastard," describes the award
as being "Cheaply made and intrinsically worthless in all important ways,"
before adding that "this little baby will nevertheless be obscenely expensive to its next owner - making it the ultraperfect collectible icon of its age."

He goes on to write, "A companion piece (identical but inscribed to
owner's colleague) may possibly become available in conjunction with this
statue to the discriminating and well-heeled collector whose bid demonstrates that 'price is truly no object.'" Prospective buyers are instructed to "contact your conscience to resolve any moral ambiguities before bidding."

"Moodybastard" stresses that he wants to move the piece quickly:
"Representing as it does a craven lapse of taste, judgement and self
respect on his part, the owner is eager to be rid of this appalling artifact
ASAP."

To view the item and make a bid, go to steelydan.com and click on either the picture of Becker with the trophy or on "serious offers only."

-- Bruce Simon, New York

4/5/01 - insiderone.net
The Insider Loves Nick Cave
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, No More Shall We Part (Reprise):

Nick Cave returns after a four-year silence, during which rumors
regarding his already mythological existence were rife: according to who you listened to, he was either hooked on smack again, happily married with kids, or some combination thereof. No More Shall We Part, however, provides no easy answers to any of those propositions. A work superior in almost every way to the previous Bad Seeds release, the only-partially realized, Leonard Cohen-inspired The Boatman's Call, Cave's latest finds the singer in perhaps the finest voice of his career, armed with a set of melodic ballads and mid-tempo rockers which exemplify his dedicated, traditionalist's approach to the songwriter's craft. And yes, Cave may indeed now be married with children, but don't expect to find any fat and lazy, "Tupelo Honey"-type proclamations about the joys of domesticated life here.

On the surging, piano-led ballad "Oh My Lord," for instance, Cave's imagery takes on an increasingly hallucinatory tone, as he envisions the "Sword of Damocles" hanging over his wife's head, and panics over criticism that he's gone soft and lost the plot entirely. Images of drug addiction, meanwhile, pervade the mid-tempo rocker "15 Feet of Pure White Snow," in which the singer describes a dead-end domestic scenario and "the worst day I've ever had"; like the somber "Hallelujah" (not the Cohen tune, but an original), violin-laden courtesy of the Dirty Three's Warren Ellis, "15 Feet" also features recurring images of nurses and doctors.

While the prevalence of religious-sounding song titles here might suggest that Cave has undergone some kind of conversion, a closer listen reveals a profound ambivalence even in this area: "God Is in the House," for instance, while it pokes fun at modern urban society and its politically correct foibles, also ultimately suggests, Samuel Beckett-like, that the God the country people fervently await in their tiny chapel may not be there at all. And in the gentle "Gates to the Garden," Cave uses a JohnDonne-like sexual metaphor to suggest that religious ecstasy and sexual ecstasy might indeed be one and same thing. Overall, now as ever, No More Shall We Part ”as emotionally intense a recording as anything he's ever released” proves that there are still no easy answers in the world of Nick Cave. As he screams at the conclusion of "15 Feet of Pure White Snow": "Save yourself” "Help yourself!"

-Johnny Walker (Black)

4/5/01 - CDNow
Stevie Nicks Added To Blockbuster Awards
This year's Blockbuster Awards is taking shape nicely, as Stevie Nicks with Sheryl Crow, Creed, LeAnn Rimes, and Joe with Mystikal have signed on to perform on the show on April 10.

As previously announced, Ricky Martin will also be strutting his stuff on the stage at the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles (allstar, April 2).
While no presenters -- or a host -- have been announced yet, the list of celebrities expecting to attend the seventh annual event now includes Sandra Bullock, Dylan McDermott, Benjamin Bratt, and others.

The awards will air on Fox on April 11 from 8-11 p.m. EST/PST.

- Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna

4/4/01 - AP
Enya Exploring Rare Concert Tour
When life gets tense, Enya soothes herself with a stroll in the hilly, green countryside outside her home near Ireland's Wicklow Mountains.

"I love to just go for a walk because as soon as you step outside
nature helps take away whatever problems you have,'' the New Age songstress says.

Now the 39-year-old Grammy winner is planning a much larger trip: a
concert tour of the United States.

The willowy, raven-haired performer, one of nine siblings, performed
regularly in Europe with her musical family back when she was known by
her Gaelic name, Eithne Ni Bhraonain. But she hasn't played a major concert
since achieving worldwide fame as Enya during the late 1980s.

"I find it's something I truly miss,'' she says. "When you go on a
stage the feedback is tremendous and you really get a sense of how you're
affecting people.''

Although her first solo album, 1988's ``Watermark,'' became a quick
success, a major tour seemed impossible because she played and sang virtually every note in her complex, multilayered songs.

"At that point, I didn't know about the longevity of my career, so we
weren't thinking about hiring a full orchestra and choir to play all
the different parts,'' Enya says. "So I just dedicated myself to making
music in the studio.''

Enya's immersion in her work produced two other top-selling albums,
1991's "Shepherd Moons'' and 1995's "The Memory of Trees.''

Few public appearances, meanwhile, propagated her reputation as a sort
of J.D. Salinger of New Age music - talented, yet reclusive.

"I do promotions and (album) signings, but a lot of people still say,
'Well, we don't know much about Enya,''' she says. ``So I say just listen.
It's there. I think the music actually says by itself, stronger than me,
what feelings I have.''

Not surprisingly, the performer - known for such serene, choral melodies as "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)'' - describes herself as generally "mellow'' and "relaxed.''

She talks softly, laughs easily and the rise and fall of her Irish
accent adds a delicate musical quality to her speaking voice.

After selling more than 44 million albums worldwide, she no longer
questions the "longevity'' of her career.

Although no dates have been set for her tour, Enya welcomes the chance
to travel, especially after spending the past two years in near seclusion
while working on her latest best-selling album, "A Day Without Rain.''

The writing and recording process, which she shares with two longtime
collaborators, producer Nicky Ryan and lyricist Roma Ryan, is long and
painstaking because the compositions are so highly detailed.

None of Enya's music is electronically produced, so each individually
performed part of her complex, rhythmic chants and lilting melodies
evolve over a series of months.

When I go to the studio and I sit down to write music, I pour what
I'm really feeling at that moment into the song. And when we start
recording I like to give 100 percent each time. That can get very ...'' She pauses to select the words. "Very tiring,'' she says finally.

Her fans connect with the music passionately, flooding the musician
with letters detailing personal stories of sadness and triumph that they
have inexorably linked with her voice.

The missives come from listeners who range from ''8-year-olds to
80-year-old men, women and teen-agers,'' Enya says. ``They are touched somehow, and that, to me, is quite incredible.''

On her official Web site, Enya.com, fans share testimonials about the
singer's effect on their lives and pose such queries as ``What colors
do Enya's albums make you imagine?''

"The first time I heard 'Orinoco Flow' I actually felt a little
embarrassed because I thought the music was too personal. Fact is, it was hitting me at a very profound level,'' says Elliot Hunt, 53, of Perth, Ontario.

The Canadian says Enya's work inspired him to express his own feelings
through painting.

"Enya has infuenced me in my art,'' Hunt says. "I don't waste time doing paintings that don't come from that deep personal place, and she has
helped to give me the courage to do this.''

To some listeners, Enya's music inspires them to strive for long-held
dreams, others say her songs have carried them through the devastation of
romantic breakups or the deaths of loved ones.

Perhaps the ethereal quality of her harmonies evokes a sense of
spirituality in them, Enya says, or maybe the music just calms jangled nerves.

"When you open yourself to people through your music, they feel they
can open up to you, and talk about something very personal to them,'' Enya
says. "You go very deep within yourself when you're writing music.''

During a recent album-signing engagement in Japan, ``the first lady in
line walked up and just broke down in tears,'' Enya recalls. ``She never
said a word. It was incredible.''

4/2/01 - reuters
Stevie Nicks Returns To Spotlight In Private Gig
Admitting to being "a little nervous, but I'm going to hang in there," Fleetwood Mac member Stevie Nicks unveiled several new songs at a private concert Saturday, attended by radio station employees from around the country, people who work for Reprise and Warner Bros and friends and fans of Nicks including Hollywood luminaries like Kid Rock, actor David Spade, Geocities founder John Rezner and Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray.

Nicks, who turned 53 last Monday, is on the promotional trail for
"Trouble in Shangri-La" (Reprise), her first new solo album since 1994. It is due in stores on May 1.

Rocker Sheryl Crow, who produced some of the songs, put in a guest
appearance as Nicks and her seven-man band played 12 songs for about 300 record industry types at a Hollywood rehearsal studio.

Inevitably, Nicks dusted off some of her Fleetwood Mac gems, including "Dreams," "Gold Dust Woman, "Rhiannon" and "Landslide," and solo hits "Stand Back" and "Edge of Seventeen."

She introduced Crow as a "really, really good friend and she saved my life on this record." They performed the new song "Sorcerer," which Nicks said she wrote in 1974 when she was a "prim" new arrival in Los Angeles.

They also performed a duet on the Crow-written song, "It's Only Love."

Nicks told Reuters after the show her nervousness passed after the second song. "Thank goodness, because if it didn't go away then that would really be a drag."

She said her personal highlight was performing the new song "Fall from Grace," which she described as a "rockin' drivin' blues song" in the style of 1960s rock duo Delaney and Bonnie.

Playing the old Fleetwood Mac stuff was also a thrill, Nicks said.

"Every time it's a different bunch of people that are in the band and in the audience, it makes the songs different. It brings different things out of the songs every time, otherwise I could never still be doing 'Dreams' and 'Gold Dust Woman,' and (be) totally enjoying it."

Nicks said she will begin a U.S. tour on June 29. She was on the road with Fleetwood Mac when the Anglo-American supergroup reunited with the 1997
concert album "The Dance." Plans for a new Fleetwood Mac album have been put on hold because the members were unable to lure Christine McVie out of retirement in England.

Nicks' last studio album was 1994's "Street Angel." She released a boxed set, "Enchanted," in 1998.

3/27/01 - reuters
Nick Cave Kinder And Gentler? Not Quite.
Sitting at a piano, chain smoking and deflecting
audience requests with a mordant wit, Nick Cave displayed his gentler side at the Wiltern Theatre Sunday night.

But it would be a mistake to assume that the 43-year-old musician has gone
soft; while this tour lowered the volume (and forsaken the guitar squalls
that characterized the Birthday Party and Bad Seeds albums), Cave's 90-minute set did not stint on intensity or drama.

"I don't do happy," he chided the crowd. "I only do angry or sad." True to
his word, the set emphasized the melancholic aspect of his career, showcasing his affinity with the shadowy emotional terrain of Scott Walker, Jimmy Webb and Leonard Cohen.

That strain has always been present in Cave's music, but it has usually been
more of a garnish than the main course. Cave has always been the most
literary of gothic rockers, and his flayed pathos proved to be the perfect
fit for the more adult, loungy style he assays on his new album, "No More
Shall We Part" (Reprise/Mute).

With his black suit, extruded limbs, long pompadour and stiff walk, Cave
could be a Dickensian undertaker; he comes off as mournful even when singing a love song. Backed by members of Australia's Dirty Three, Cave structured the evening as a series of mini-sets, moving from hushed solo numbers (the new album's title track and "Henry's Dream") to thundering maelstroms such as "The Mercy Seat" (which he slyly introduced as a Johnny Cash song) and the Birthday Party's "Wild World," which found Warren Ellis sawing away at his violin like a latter-day John Cale.

It's a riveting show that could very easily have veered into parody. But Cave
walks the knife-edge, embodying the seeming contradictions of passionate
conviction and humor. His take on the classic murder ballad "Stagger Lee" is
sung with a straight face, while the new song "God Is in the House" builds
its case with an avalanche of horrific details, only to end with a tossed off
"and he's not coming out."

It's a side of Nick Cave that should be aired out more often.

3/27/01 - rollingstone.com
The Living End "Roll On" Review - FOUR STARS!
With punk pop's day in the sun fast turning into a distant memory, the Living End's second album is the perfect record to take you back to that time when Green Day did it all for the Dookie. But Roll On is actually closer kin to an even hoarier antecedent: the Clash's London Calling.

The Living End, a trio from Melbourne, Australia, stomp all over the boundaries between punk, reggae, rockabilly and plain old rock & roll - and it still sounds like a revelation, twenty-two years after the Clash did it. The pupils don't quite outpace the masters here, but the Living End live up to their promise in the title song to "roll on with our heads held high," barreling through the album with both audacity and ability.

As a singer, Chris Cheney makes the most of that tiny window between a smirk and a sneer; as a guitarist, he broadcasts his versatility in the twisted psychobilly lines of "Don't Shut the Gate," the wanky hard-rock breaks in "Carry Me Home" and the choppy reggae strumming in "Blood on Your Hands."

The Living End's thirst for variety can make them sound quadrophrenic. But the band is obviously having such a riotously good time that you'd be a sucker not to stomp your foot and join the party. (RS 866)

-Jenny Eliscu

3/25/01 - sonicnet
Neil Young To Play Roskilde Festival
Despite the tragic deaths at last year's Roskilde Festival, the Denmark show
will go on this year, with several major artists set to perform at the June
28–July 1 event.

Guns N' Roses, Tool, Beck, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Robbie Williams and Nick
Cave and the Bad Seeds are all on the bill, according to festival organizers.
Sweden's Hammerfall and Hâkan Hellström, Denmark's Filur, Ireland's JJ72,
Norway's Mayhem and England's Ski Oakenfull also are tapped for the event, to be held at a field 30 miles from Copenhagen.

This year's festival follows one of the most disastrous concerts in history —
nine people were crushed to death during a performance by Pearl Jam.
There were reports of poor communication among volunteer security guards at the front of the stage where the trampling occurred. Roskilde officials held
several investigations, and festival organizers were not found responsible
for the incident.

Promoters have promised to improve safety at this year's event and have
outlined their plans on their official Web site (www.roskilde-festival.dk).
First staged in 1970, the Roskilde Festival is the world's longest-running
outdoor music event and has attracted as many as 90,000 people.
— Corey Moss

3/21/01 - sonicnet
Clapton To Enter Songwriters' Hall Of Fame
Three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Eric Clapton will find himself
in the company of yet another pantheon of greats in June, when he's inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Clapton, who penned such hits as "Layla," "Wonderful Tonight," and "Tears in Heaven," released his latest album, Reptile, earlier this month.

Country icons Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson and hit-maker Diane Warren will
also be inducted during the June 14 ceremony in New York, where Billy Joel
and Gloria Estefan will receive special awards.

"This event represents such a special night in the music industry, where
great songwriters get to honor their peers," former Burt Bacharach
collaborator Hal David, CEO of the hall, said in a statement.
At last year's ceremony, Paul McCartney inducted Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson, and Sean "Puffy" Combs inducted James Brown. McCartney, Brown, Hanson, Jill Sobule and Ben E. King all performed at the ceremony.
Performers for this year's event have not yet been announced.

— Brian Hiatt

3/21/01 - launch.com
Moby On Inducting Steely Dan Into Rock Hall
Moby ushered in Steely Dan into the Rock And Roll
Hall Of Fame Monday night (March 19) in New York City. The New York resident was asked how he was chosen to induct the jazz-rock band.

"To be honest with you, I don't know how or why I was chosen to induct Steely Dan," he said. "I was very flattered and honored. I assume that the choice came from them, but as I said in my induction speech I always kind of assumed that they hated everybody. So, when I got the phone call asking me to induct them I was like, 'Is this for real? Did I, like, maybe I sleep with one of their ex-girlfriends and this is their way of getting revenge?'"

Moby added, "Although there's a visceral quality to their work, I wouldn't
consider them to be a brainless, balls-to-the-wall rock band. That they do
embody a more analytical and intellectual position in pop culture, which is
wonderful and it was one of the reasons why I was so flattered to be asked to induct them. "

-- Darren Davis, New York

3/21/01 - insiderone.net
Chris Isaak: So Much Promise
HIf you've been to Chris Isaak's San Francisco apartment, as I have, or hung
out with his mother, Dorothy, at the ranch-style house in Stockton where
Isaak grew up, you too would find it a strange and surreal experience to
watch the first episode of "The Chris Isaak Show," which premiered Monday,
March 12.

The weekly hour-long Showtime series is fictional, but based (loosely, to be
sure) on Isaak's real life. Some sets, such as his apartment and Bimbo's 360
Club, are duplications of the real thing; Isaak, his bandmates (drummer
Kenney Dale Johnson, bassist Rowland Salley, saxophonist Johnny Reno and
guitarist Hershel Yatovitz) and his mother play themselves.

"The Chris Isaak Show" draws lightly on such past pop-music sitcoms as "The
Monkees," and of course the Beatles film "A Hard Day's Night," with nods to
"I Love Lucy" (reference Desi Arnaz) and "The Adventures of Ozzie and
Harriet" (reference Rick Nelson). Of course this being 2001, and on Showtime,
nudity and some lowbrow vulgarity make the show not ready for prime-time
network television. And that's all right.

I can imagine Isaak sitting around with the guys in the band, going: "Let's
see, we'll have a show with all of us in it, playing ourselves, basically
doing nothing. Plus naked girls. They'll go for that. Me and naked girls, on
TV! We're going straight to the top with this, baby!"

Plot? What's A Plot?

That Showtime went for the concept is something else. But they did, and
they've apparently committed to 17 episodes. The first episode's plot was
just short of invisible. Isaak has girl trouble; Isaak turns to a beautiful
naked seer, his bandmates and even his therapist mom for advice; Isaak
doesn't resolve his girl trouble. There are subplots, including one in which
his management company is trying to secure Isaak a spot on a big TV special,
and another in which a ex-girlfriend's martial-arts-expert current boyfriend
is jealous of Isaak. Nothing major.

All this non-action lets Isaak get himself, his offbeat sense of humor and
his winning personality (he can come across as sweet, non-threatening and
wholesome, even when lying in bed straddled by a girlfriend in black bra and
panties) in front of viewers for nearly an hour. The key to this show's
success is, naturally, Isaak himself. He's hoping that you and I will like
spending an hour each week with him, and I bet quite a few of us will.

"Your Boy's Gone, Rockin' Gone"

I first met Chris Isaak at the beginning of his professional career, right
after he'd begun to work with the legendary hit-record maker (Lovin'
Spoonful, Norman Greenbaum) Erik Jacobsen. I had heard some amazing demos by a band called Silvertone (after the Sears brand of cheap guitars) — "Cold Dream" and "Blue Hotel" — on college-radio station KUSF. That brought me to the now-defunct Berkeley Square, where I stood next to Jacobsen and watched Silvertone rock the half-empty club one weeknight in 1982.

Even then Isaak's life seemed to have a sitcom dimension to it. I mean, James Calvin Wilsey was the guy who did sound at the San Francisco punk club where Silvertone sometimes played. He started showing Isaak some guitar riffs, and before long Isaak asked him to be in the band.

Post-punk and new wave were in gear, but Isaak hearkened back to another
time. There was a touch of Elvis (and of course Roy Orbison) in his voice,
some Duane Eddy and Beatles in his sound. With the help of then-new guitarist Wilsey (replaced in the early '90s by Yatovitz), he ran reckless through the history of rock 'n' roll, taking from it the bits and pieces he needed to fashion something of his own.

From the start he had the songs. But over the years, first on Silvertone.
then Chris Isaak and Heart Shaped World, he built, song by song, an amazing repertoire of ballads and rockers. When he finally broke through, it was with "Wicked Game," a song that condensed his artistic worldview to four minutes, 46 seconds of dreamy, timeless pop.

Hipster Tales

He was always funny, although you didn't get that from the records. From
those, you got the loner, the boy with the broken heart, the victim of love,
the guy on the end of a losing streak in the wicked game of love. Chris Isaak
lived at the "Blue Hotel," where love never stayed for long.

Actually, in those days Isaak lived in a dark, cramped one-room garage
apartment a block away from Ocean Beach, where he would go to surf. His bed was in the closet — really! The room was mostly filled with two clothes
racks, jammed with vintage gear he'd found in thrift shops: Hawaiian shirts,
old gabardine suits, leather jackets, ties, vests ... and the records. Lots
and lots of old records.

In person, Isaak made you laugh. He could be self-deprecating and was
sometimes the butt of his own jokes. Or he'd make use of his bandmates. On
stage, in front of a hometown crowd in a small club like the Nightbreak on
Haight Street or the South of Market hotspot Club Nine, he would preface
songs such as "Wild Love" with long, semi-improvised hipster tales.

Surreal Sitcom?

With "The Chris Isaak Show," Isaak has three months in which he can do
something really special, make an impact, perhaps create the first truly
surreal sitcom — or just give us a racy, ultimately forgettable TV series.
The first episode gave us a little of both. Somehow, the scene where Isaak
sits before the naked seer, seeking help with his love life, took us
somewhere new. It was funny and strange and engaging. It was offbeat the way Isaak really can be offbeat. I mean, once, back in 1985, I asked him what he'd do if he was successful, and he told me he might buy one of those
curved, silver, '50s-style trailers. Not the answer you'd get from most
rock-star hopefuls.

Few musicians, no matter how successful, get the chance to star in a TV
series, let alone one based on their own life. Now the question I have is,
what will Chris Isaak make of the opportunity?

Michael Goldberg is the president of insiderone.net. He founded Addicted To Noise in 1994.

3/21/01 - launch.com
The Living End "Roll On" Review
With the pumped-up fury--and attitude--of '80s punk-pop, the Living End is on the fast track to duplicating the huge success it's had at home in Australia. With a nod to seminal British bands like the Sex Pistols, the Members, and the Clash, this three-piece rocks--and rocks hard.

Although songs like "Revolution Regained," "Blood On Your Hands" and "Roll
On" (the band's anthemic single) all deal with social ills, there's a
pleasant lack of posturing and posing, and few pretensions. While Clash-style chanted vocals and close harmonies provide the hooks, the band offers much more than crunching guitars and breakneck tempos. "Staring At The Light" is a rocker filled with chiming chords and melody to spare and "Pictures In The Mirror" mixes guitar rock with the solid powerpop of the Buzzcocks.

Throughout, Chris Cheney delivers impressive bursts of guitar
pyrotechnics--which helps set TLE apart from the pack of retro punks--notably on its paean to New York, "Riot On Broadway" and the frenetic "Carry Me Home," while the instrumental hook of "Revolution Regained" is like a frenzied Dick Dale surf tune. With tough, two-fisted tracks like "Killing The Right" and my favorite, "Uncle Harry," the band puts to rest any vestige of its early rockabilly days--and seems to be better off for it.

3/19/01 - reuters
King of Gloom Nick Cave Says Dark Days are Over
He's happy, calm and open to the world -- hard
to believe perhaps for the fans of Nick Cave who know him as the Indie icon
with a penchant for gloomy ballads laden with dark lyrics of love destroyed.

But with a new album and his collected lyrics due out in April, Cave says his
wild and dark days are over, largely thanks to having found the "right
person" in Englishwoman Susie Bick, whom he married in 1999.

"I used to feel that I was just clinging on to something, which was primarily
about my work, but also about the relationships I was in," he said in an
interview with London's Daily Telegraph magazine published on Saturday.

"There isn't that horrible sense of panic that I used to have about
everything. I felt that I was hanging on by my fingernails to everything, and
that it was all just slipping away."

Domestic bliss includes twin sons, Earl and Arthur, a house boat and a
terraced house in southwest London.

"It's the realization at 43 years of age that a relationship isn't just
something that blazes with fire for two months and then hits the
decline...I've discovered that things go up and down and you can actually
work through things and love the person more," Cave said.

An unlikely musical alliance with fellow Australian and pop queen Kylie
Minogue proved to be a commercial success for Cave and his band, the Bad
Seeds. But they are best known for the sultry songs of albums such as the
1997 The Boatman's Call.

Recorded after he suffered a string of unhappy relationships Cave now finds
it difficult to listen to.

"My lyric writing reached some sort of hysterical crescendo about the time of
The Boatman's Call, reporting what was going on in my life in the most
melodramatic way; ordinary stuff magnified to heroic proportions," he said.

The new album, No More Shall We Part, recorded in London's Abbey Road
studios, is a world apart from the brooding prowl of previous recordings, but
still no sickly ode to love.

Songs such as Love Letter, the title track, reflect his happier lifestyle but
the majority of tracks still explore the darker side of life.

Cave and the Bad Seeds return to the stage with an extensive European tour,
kicking off in Stockholm on April 18. Penguin is publishing his collected
lyrics next month.

3/16/01 - NME
Touched By The Hand Of Corgan
PETER HOOK has confirmed that ex-SMASHING PUMPKINS vocalist BILLY ORGAN will appear on the forthcoming NEW ORDER album - and the band plan to tour with MOBY following the record's release.

Speaking in a recent interview, Hook said Corgan will feature on one as-yet-untitled new track, which is currently being completed. He told the unofficial New Order website www.worldinmotion.net: "We're in Reading mixing at the moment, everything going really well, touch wood. Billy Corgan is guesting on a track which we are finishing today. [Producer] Steve Osbourne has been fantastic and is really hard working, so me and Bernard [Sumner] can take it easy!"

Hook has described the recording of the forthcoming record, which is also rumoured to feature a collaboration with The Chemical Brothers, as "natural and exciting".

He said 'Crystal' will be the first single off the album, released in "June or July". Other track titles include 'Dream On', 'Shipwreck Of A Man' and 'Slow Jam'.

He added that the band are planning to play live again around this time, possibly at the forthcoming Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. Also, they are lining up a tour with Moby.

A UK spokesperson for the band confirmed that the interview was authentic, but was unable to confirm any live dates.

Elsewhere, Hook described the forthcoming Manchester movie '24 Hour Party People', in which Ralf Little plays a youthful Hook, as "weird".
He said: "It is weird, but the night at the 'new' Hacienda made me forgive them. Steve Coogan is funny. The second biggest asshole in Manchester playing the first! [Coogan plays Factory Records boss Tony Wilson] It is nice to be remembered. We did achieve a lot and it's nice that it's recognised."

3/15/01 - insiderone.net
Wilco Album Coming
The tentative title for the next Wilco album is "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel,"
according to a source close to the band. The bandmembers have been producing
themselves, recording at their loft studio in Chicago. Many songs have been
recorded, but the track listing has not yet been solidified. The group's last
album, Summer Teeth, was released two years ago. According to our source,
"Heavy Metal Drummer," a song bandleader Jeff Tweedy has been performing,
will "likely be on the album." The album could be out by mid-July, or "early
August at the latest." Don't expect the new one to sound like Summer Teeth,
though. "The idea on this record is maybe have a lot more holes of landscape
for people to get inside," Tweedy told Spin. "We all get really bored with
things quickly. What we made then is almost the opposite of what we think
sounds good now."

3/15/01
Do They Like Orgy In Germany?
Germany's biggest and most influential industrial rock magazine, SONIC
SEDUCER, ran a commentary on Orgy in their new issue. The results (in
English):

Orgy
Soundcheck commentaries/ Issue April 2001

(9.5) Dreams in Digital, the right kick at the pulse of time. More
melancholic, and melodically more splendid than their first work: Next big
thing!

(9.5) Everything stays different with the L.A. cybertech-gothics from the
Korn squad. More aggressive and melodic than the debut. Goth-tech for the
next millennium.

(10) The band itself calls their style „deathpop", which is presented on
„Vapor Transmission" with an infectious roughness. The future mega-stars!

(7) Some of the electro-beats and melodies are definitely convincing. Even
some hit potential emerges.

(7) Sounds like a fusion of 80s Wave and modern alternative rock. Seems to be
removed and extraterrestrial somehow.

(7) Rarely I had to listen to an album so many times in order to make up my
mind, which is indirectly already a point in Orgy’s favour. Not all of the
tracks have the same single-potential as „Fiction", but Orgy has promising
depths to be plumbed out.

(9) A must for anybody who likes well-made, massively groovy and forcefully
produced industrial rock. Marilyn Manson and Co, you are going to have a
worthy addition to the family...

3/15/01 - cdnow
Kenny Wayne Shepherd On The Road Again
The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band is ready to get into some serious trouble as it hits the road with Double Trouble, rhythm section for the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, and singer-songwriter Lizzie West for the Trouble Is Double Tour.

The first leg of the tour will commence April 10 at Atlanta's Tabernacle, and work its way across the U.S. to a two-nighter, April 23-24, at the House of Blues in
Anaheim, Calif.

Although his last album was 1999's Live On on Reprise, guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepard drops his skills on Double Trouble's Been A Long Time, released on Tone
Cool Records earlier this year. Lizzie West will be touring in support of her 2000 self-release Holy Road.

A second series of Trouble Is Double shows will begin mid-May and run into June. No stops for the second leg have been confirmed as of press time.

Tickets for the first leg of the tour are expected to
go on sale shortly through Ticketmaster.

The confirmed Trouble Is Double Tour dates are:

April 10, Atlanta, Tabernacle
April 11, Augusta, Ga., Imperial Theater
April 12, Jacksonville, Fla., Florida Theater
April 13, Orlando, Fla., House of Blues
April 14, Mobile, Ala., Sanger Theater
April 16, Houston, Ariel Theater
April 17, Dallas, Deep Ellum
April 19, Tucson, Ariz., Rialto Theater
April 20, Agoura Hills, Calif., Canyon Theater
April 21, Las Vegas, House of Blues
April 22, San Diego, Calif., 4th & B
April 23-24, Anaheim, Calif., House of Blues

- Tony Bogdanovski

3/14/01 - music goes on
Nick Cave Announces Two Extra UK Dates
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds have announced extra London and Dublin shows following the sold out date at Brixton Academy. The extra shows will take place at Brixton Academy and Dublin Olympia on 6 May and 30 April respectively.

A single, As I Sat Sadly By Her Side will be released on 19 March, with an album, No More Shall We Part released on 2 April, both through Mute Records.

A book, The Complete Lyrics of Nick Cave will be published by Penguin on 26 April, it brings together for the first time all the lyrics throughout his career.

The full European tour is now:

* 18 April Stockholm, Circus
* 19 April Oslo, Spectrum
* 22 April Madrid, La Riviera
* 24 April Lisbon, Colosseum
* 28 April Dublin, Olympia
* 29 April Dublin, Olympia
* 30 April Dublin, Olympia
* 1 May Glasgow, Barrowlands
* 2 May Manchester, Academy
* 5 May London, Brixton Academy
* 6 May London, Brixton Academy
* 9 May Dusseldorf, Phillipshalle
* 10 May Berlin, Columbiahalle
* 11 May Berlin, Columbiahalle
* 24 May Budapest, Basketball Hall
* 25 May Katowice, Spodek Hall
* 26 May Prague, Fair Palace
* 28 May Paris, Olympia
* 29 May Paris, Olympia
* 31 May Vienna, Libro Music Hall
* 1 June Munich, Colosseum
* 2 June Ljubljana, Hala Tivoli
* 4 June Milan, Palavobis
* 6 June Zurich, Xtra Limmathaus
* 8 June Lyon, Transbordeur
* 10 June Leuven, Brabathalle
* 11 June Tilburg, O13
* 2 July Athens, Rockwave Festival

3/14/01 - cdnow
Mono Sidelines Remaining Orgy Tour Dates
Orgy has been forced to cancel the remaining five dates on its current headlining tour, beginning with Monday (March 12) night's gig in Louisville, Ky., as well as its slot on the Raid the Nation tour, due to an illness in the band.

Synth guitarist Amir Derakh has been diagnosed with a severe case of mono and has been ordered by doctors to cease touring and rest for the next five to six weeks. In addition to Louisville, affected dates include March 14 in San Antonio, Texas; March 15 in South Padre Island, Texas; March 15 in Corpus Christi, Texas; and March 17 in New Orleans. The band is currently looking into rescheduling these dates.

"The members of Orgy regret the cancellations and appreciate the tremendous response they have received from fans during this current tour," said a statement
from the band's management, the Left Bank Organization,on Tuesday (March 13). "Amir is expected to make a full recovery, and the band plan on continuing touring in May and June after Amir has recovered."

Perhaps even worse, however, is the band has now been forced to drop off Papa Roach's Raid the Nation tour with Alien Ant Farm, set to begin on March 18 in
Pensacola, Fla.

- Kevin Raub

3/13/01 - reuters
Jeff Tweedy Revisits Recent Wilco Tunes
Closing out a short solo tour before his band, Wilco,
returns this summer with its fourth album, Jeff Tweedy didn't so much expose
where he's going as much as celebrate the emotionally dark place he has
explored in the past.

The songs, many of them droll yet illuminating, were given dead-center focus;
Tweedy clearly put plenty of effort in making sure they were arranged for a
one-man band and not just a random demo-quality sampling. He proved to be a
compelling performer without his "alternative country" mates.

A healthy portion of the material in the 105-minute show came from Wilco's
last disc, "Summer Teeth" (Reprise), which is now a full 2 years old and,
like a decent wine, hits the palette with considerably more flavor than it
did upon its first uncorking.

"She's a Jar," "A Shot in the Arm" and "Via Chicago" were among the tunes
that displayed Tweedy's balanced assimilation of the wordplay of Bob Dylan
and the simple straightforwardness of Hank Williams; when you throw in the
older drinkin' 'n' travelin' tune "Passenger Side," the recklessness of Paul
Westerberg (the Replacements) colors the uniqueness of Tweedy.

Tweedy, who jokes with his audience and wound up getting one-liners shouted
back at him, offered only two new songs, one of which was the laugh-out-loud
"Heavy Metal Drummer."

The achingly beautiful "Remember the Mountain Bed," from his two-volume
collaboration with Billy Bragg on unfinished Woody Guthrie lyrics, posited
Tweedy as an extension of the pioneering folk singer. Much more than the Brit
Bragg, Tweedy echoes Guthrie's spirit -- it's one of those intangibles that
comes from growing up alongside the Mississippi River instead of the Thames.

Armed with just three guitars, one of them a 12-string capoed low on the
neck, Tweedy removed the Midwestern twang that has put his work at the
forefront of the alternative country movement and replaced it with a host of
well-executed styles. His music is defying categorization as he and Wilco
better manipulate the studio, now to the point whereby he subverts an older
lyric of his: "I don't need rock 'n' roll." Truth is, rock 'n' roll could
sure use him.

3/13/01 -
Barenaked Ladies E-Town Taping
From the very beginning of the show you can tell that this will not be your average E-Town gig. Host Nick Forster informs the crowd at the Boulder (Colo.) Theater that this is a taping of the E-Town radio program and not a concert but that, yes, the group everyone is here to see will perform six or more songs -- depending on what they feel like playing. You see, it's not everyday that one gets to see the Barenaked Ladies at an 870-seat theater.

E-Town, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in April, is a program that combines environmental awareness and great music, and is heard coast-to-coast on public radio. Shows are taped live at the Boulder Theater or at the various locations the crew hits when they take the program on the road. The diverse palette of past guests includes Richard Thompson, Little Feat, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Ben Harper, and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. BNL were also featured on E-Town long before they started selling out arenas in an hour.

After an introduction by co-host Helen Forster and a sound check to set audience levels, the Barenaked Ladies came out to applause that must have given fits to the sound-people. Comically stylish in matching black shirts and jeans, the band quipped about how glad they were to be back at their real hometown, E-Town. They then kicked into "Sell Sell Sell," from their newest release, "Maroon." With Steven Page on vocals, the song was a powerfully performed slow-tempo start to the band's performance. After a few more jokes, including talking about how they had taken time off to back Bruce Springsteen as the E-Town band, the Ladies launched into "Hidden Sun," the bonus track from "Maroon," with keyboardist Kevin Hearns on vocals -- a rare but not unwelcome treat.

After more banter with Nick Forster, guitarist/vocalist Ed Robertson took over on vocals as the band picked up the tempo with the band's Grammy-nominated hit single, "Pinch Me," which featured a guitar solo by one
of the band's guitar techs.

During the next segment with Forster, the band endured memory-lane photos of
their first E-Town performance and answered question from the audience. In
response to a question about preferring small or large venues, Page
half-jokingly replied that he liked the large venues for the staging that
helps him feel like Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora. He also referred to the band's
moniker as something he's been "bummed about since he was 18." They then
finished off their first mini-set with the punchy love song "Go Home."

The Forsters then gave out the "e-chievement" award -- which recognizes
"individuals and organizations around the country who have found positive
solutions to problems and challenges in their communities" -- to a couple in
Colorado that rescues large animals from inhumane conditions. Chantal
Keviazuk, also a Canadian native and Barenaked Ladies' current tour mate,
came out for a strong four-song set including "Dear Life" and "Before You"
from her 2000 release "Colour Moving And Still," "Surrounded," from her first
album "Under These Rocks And Stones," " and the brand new "Brenda's Song,"
written for a cousin who recently passed away.

After some more announcements, Barenaked Ladies returned to the stage. In
response to questions about "Maroon," the band revealed that it was inspired
by the album "Colors," by spoken-word and voice-over legend Ken Nordine. The
band began its last portion of the show with "Tonight Is The Night I Fell
Asleep At the Wheel," a dark ballad from "Maroon" sung by Page. As that song
ended and the first notes of "Brian Wilson" followed, the crowd exploded. The
song has become something of an anthem, but is still a well-loved piece in
the band's canon. Page danced around in near mosh-pit style and he and
Robertson acted out some of the band's comic impulses by doing synchronized
leaps before each chorus.

As is customary for E-Town, everyone took the stage for the finale, which
prompted Nick Forster to joke that they would play a classic Wham! song that
he didn't realize was a classic. With that, BNL and Kreviazuk launched into a
searing version of "Careless Whisper." And indeed it was classic. Powerful
duets by Kreviazuk with both Page and Robertson were punctuated with
remarkably fresh solos by all three. The crowd gave them a standing ovation,
no doubt a first for a Wham! cover.

The show had ended but the crowd wanted more. BNL finally acquiesced and came
back onstage to thunderous applause and ripped into "The Old Apartment," a
favorite off of 1996's "Born On A Pirate Ship." The lone encore was followed
by the obligatory souvenir pick toss and another standing ovation that didn't
end until the E-Town staff finally turned up the house music to end the rare,
intimate, and entertaining evening.

This episode of E-Town show will be broadcast in April. See the show's Web
site for details.

-- Bryce Edmonds, Boulder, Colo.

3/12/01 - sonicnet
Depeche Mode Plan Summer North American Tour
Depeche Mode fans have something to smile about — the seminal synth-pop trio
are launching a North American tour beginning June 15.

The band — singer Dave Gahan and keyboardists Andrew Fletcher and Martin Gore — will embark on its first road trip in more than three years to support
May's Exciter, kicking things off in Montreal and winding through the United States before wrapping up August 14 in Los Angeles.

Produced by Mark Bell, best known for his work on Björk's Homogenic (1997) and Selmasongs (2000), Exciter is the band's first studio album since 1997's Ultra. "Dream On," the first single from the band's 11th full-length album, is expected to surface at radio in April.

"[The tracks] could have been songs from various different years of Depeche Mode. It's almost like a greatest hits of songs that haven't been released yet." — Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan

"It still has darkness," Gore said in a statement, "but I find it more
uplifting."

Gahan, meanwhile, said he thinks fans of the band's previous work will feel at home with the new material. "[The tracks] could have been songs from various different years of Depeche Mode," he explained in a statement. "It's almost like a greatest hits of songs that haven't been released yet. I'm not saying they're all going to be very big hits or anything like that. I just feel it is very strong in that way."

Depeche Mode's Exciter tour itinerary, according to their publicist (venues
to be announced):

* 6/15 - Montreal, QC
* 6/16 - Toronto, ON
* 6/19 - Minneapolis, MN
* 6/20 - Milwaukee, WI
* 6/22 - Chicago, IL
* 6/23 - Detroit, MI
* 6/24 - Cleveland, OH
* 6/27 - New York, NY
* 6/30 - Philadelphia, PA
* 7/1 - Boston, MA
* 7/5 - Washington, DC
* 7/7 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
* 7/8 - Tampa, FL
* 7/9 - Atlanta, GA
* 7/13 - New Orleans, LA
* 7/14 - Houston, TX
* 7/15 - San Antonio, TX
* 7/17 - Dallas, TX
* 7/19 - Las Cruces, NM
* 7/20 - Albuquerque, NM
* 7/21 - Denver, CO
* 7/23 - Salt Lake City, UT
* 7/27 - Portland, OR
* 7/28 - Vancouver, BC
* 7/29 - Seattle, WA
* 8/1 - Sacramento, CA
* 8/3 - San Francisco, CA
* 8/4 - Concord, CA
* 8/5 - Santa Barbara, CA
* 8/8 - Las Vegas, NV
* 8/10 - Phoenix, AZ
* 8/11 - San Diego, CA
* 8/14 - Los Angeles, CA

— Joe D'Angelo

3/12/01 - launch.com
Dwight Yoakam's "Panic" Back On Track
Dwight Yoakam is happy to be back at work doing the only thing he loves as much as making music--acting. Yoakam has returned to the set of his latest movie, The Panic Room, which was put on brief hold due to a last-minute cast change.

"It's been an interesting experience because we kind of started and stopped
and began again," he tells LAUNCH. "We had a cast change due to Nicole [Kidman] having an injury from the Moulin Rouge movie and not being able to do The Panic Room with us, but Jodie Foster has taken the role and I'm excited about
working with David Fincher and Forest Whitaker and Jared Leto and David's crew. We're in the middle of shooting The Panic Room now."

The new movie is being filmed in Los Angeles, and is scheduled to wrap up
sometime in June. According to Yoakam, the film centers around three men who
put a woman in peril.

Yoakam is considering touring this summer to promote his latest album,
Tomorrow's Sounds Today
.
-- Margy Holland, Nashville and Neal Weiss, Los Angeles

3/12/01 - cdnow
Minnie Driver Joins Chris Isaak Onstage
Chris Isaak performed a two-hour set for a VIP-only audience on a soundstage at L.A.'s Paramount Studios Thursday (March 8) night in celebration of his new Showtime comedy. The Chris Isaak Show, starring the 44-year-old singer, premieres March 12 on Showtime.

Prior to the performance, an episode of the show was screened in which Minnie Driver plays a brief squeeze of Isaak's. During Isaak's performance, Driver -- a guest at the party, as was Stevie Nicks and Lisa Loeb-- dueted with Isaak on his "Somebody's Crying," the standard "La Vie en Rose," and Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man."

Driver, who used to perform jazz standards in London clubs before she became a movie star, proved in possession of an excellent set of pipes.

Near the end of his set, Isaak called Loeb up to the stage for a duet, only to be told that she had split earlier. "Ah, damn," Isaak said. "She was my ride."

- Corey Levitan

3/12/01 - launch.com
Eric Clapton Announces First Leg Of North American Tour
Eric Clapton is set to bring his current tour to North America this year. He'll open the first leg on May 10 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, with shows scheduled for the South, Midwest, and East, before ending this portion of his world tour with shows June 21 and 22 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. More dates are expected to be added later this year.

Clapton kicked off this latest outing, in support of his new album Reptile, on February 3 at London's Royal Albert Hall. His next gig is March 20 at Le Bercy in Paris, and the current European itinerary sees him finish at Russia's Moscow Convention Center on April 10.LAUNCH asked bassist Nathan East, who's been a member of Clapton's band for more than 15 years, to describe what it is about "Slowhand" that makes him so special, and he said: "Eric is just a one-of-a-kind. There's Eric, and then there's every other musician. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold, you know? He has a beautiful voice, and I've never met anyone who plays with such passion. Music is such an expression of passion and all the things that have happened to you and whatever--and Lord knows he's been through a lot in
his life--but the way it flows through him musically is like something I've never ever seen."

Clapton's new album, Reptile, comes out tomorrow (March 13).

The Eric Clapton North American itinerary includes (subject to change):

May 10 - Dallas, TX - Reunion Arena
May 12 - San Antonio, TX - Alamodome
May 14 - Houston, TX - Compaq Center
May 15 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Arena
May 18 - Fort Lauderdale, FL - National Car Rental Center
May 19 - Tampa, FL - Ice Palace
May 21 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
May 22 - Memphis, TN - The Pyramid
May 24 - Nashville, TN - Gaylord Entertainment Center
May 25 - Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Coliseum
May 27 - Washington, DC - MCI Center
May 30 - State College, PA - Bryce Jordan Center
June 1 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
June 2 - Indianapolis, IN - Conseco Fieldhouse
June 4 - Cleveland, OH - Gund Arena
June 6 - Auburn Hills, MI - The Palace Of Auburn Hills
June 9 - Toronto, ONT - Air Canada Centre
June 11,12 - Boston, MA - FleetCenter
June 15 - Buffalo, NY - HSBC Arena
June 16 - Albany, NY - Pepsi Arena
June 17 - Philadelphia, PA - First Union Center
June 21,22 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden

-- Bruce Simon, New York

3/9/01 - reuters
The Living End On A New Roll
Australia's The Living End is regarded as one of the very best of the "punkabilly" bands, combining political and/or musical elements of punk outfits such as Green Day and the Clash with the rockabilly sense of groups such as the Stray Cats, with a bit of AC/DC-style guitar-slinging thrown in, for blood-stirring results.

The Melbourne threesome also has a knack for consistently delivering well-written anthemic songs, with lots of tight turns and sharp hooks, that reveal a host of rock influences. At the packed Roxy on Wednesday -- the first date of a U.S. tour that comes right on the heels of a Japanese tour -- the band had all its guns blazing during a boisterous 15-song, hourlong performance.

Tattooed frontman Chris Cheney takes many of his guitar nods from such
players as Brian Setzer and Angus Young, and his six-string mastery, aided by
venue's crisp sound mix, often was the center of attention. As well, his bracing vocal delivery effectively forwarded the songs' sense of frustration and passion, as on opener "Save the Day" ("We do a lot of work, and we don't get paid"), and the antidiscrimination rally "Don't Shut the Gate."

Bass player Scott Owen, a former piano player in his youth, rocked his upright instrument for all it was worth, climbing onto it and swinging it around the stage while he banged out his rhythmic assault. Drummer Trav Demsey proved an incredibly consistent and propulsive timekeeper.

Other song highlights included manylifted from Living End's ace new album, "Roll On" (Reprise), which is in stores March 27, including the aptly named "Riot on Broadway," a fight song in true Stray Cats tradition, and the hard-rocker "Carry Me Home," a bawdy tale of latenight revelry.

A mid-set take on U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," featuring a clever rearrangement, was a crowd fave, as was the show-closing tandem of "Second Solution" and the band's 1998 breakthrough song "Prisoner of Society." The mosh pit got a bit out of hand during "All Torn Down," sparking at least one fight and causing Demsey to leap over his kit, stop the song and lecture the combatants.

3/9/01 - launch.com
Chris Isaak Takes His Live Show To Showtime
Not only does singer-songwriter Chris Isaak play himself on The Chris Isaak Show, he and his Silvertone bandmembers Kenney Dale Johnson, Rowland Salley, and Hershel Yatovitz perform live numbers as a regular feature of the series. The group--with the help of faux-keyboardist, actor Jed Rees--has a standing engagement on the show at Bimbo's, a real-life San Francisco club that was recreated, complete with a sound system, for the show.

Isaak told LAUNCH that playing live for the cameras entails the same elements as a regular live performances: "We probably are approaching it kind of the same way, which is we try to make sure that we're on pitch and swinging and, you know, you get the fundamental music right, and then just having fun. You can't forget to have fun--all the practice and stuff goes before you do it and then, when you're on stage, it's just don't forget to have fun. We play in a, like, a replica of a nightclub, so we have a real audience there. It's a great sounding nightclub that we're playing in and it sounds good. There's an audience in front of us, and it's kind of very easy to forget that you're doing a TV show."

Isaak also jams with guest performers such as Joe Walsh, Stevie Nicks, Junior Brown, and Minnie Driver throughout the season. The Chris Isaak Show premieres Monday (March 12) on Showtime.

-- Sofia Fernandez, Los Angeles

3/8/01 - sonicnet
Jeff Tweedy Describes Wilco's Evolution
Wilco's Jeff Tweedy stands up, walks over to a hotel room end
table, pulls one home-burned CD out of the mini-stereo and slips in another
disc. He's looking for a particular mix of a new song called "Heavy Metal
Drummer."

After cueing up the track, the singer, songwriter and guitarist returns to
the floor of his room at the upscale Roosevelt, sits cross-legged near a
coffee table topped with books by William Burroughs and John Cage and
continues filling an ashtray with a string of American Spirits.

"'Heavy Metal Drummer' is kind of an anomaly on the [upcoming Wilco] record,
as far as the linear-ness to it, the song-ness of it," Tweedy, 33, said
earlier in the day, after a soundcheck at the Crocodile Cafe during his
current solo acoustic tour. "It has a very distinct song shape that a lot of
the other material on the record doesn't have, lyrically or musically."

Back at the Roosevelt, a computer-generated dance beat jumps from the
speakers and Tweedy's voice slides in to reminisce about cover bands and
losing girlfriends. "I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands/ I used to go
see on the landing in the summer."

For over a year now, Tweedy has played the song acoustically, and in that
setting, the word "sincerely" anchors that opening lyric — as if he needs it
to ward off suspicions that his professed affection for metal groups might be
ironic. On this studio take, however, there's no chance of misunderstanding.
With a harpsichord dancing behind the chorus, the song sounds as fresh and
genuine as the youth he's singing about: "I miss the innocence I've known/
Playing Kiss covers, beautiful and stoned."

The country roots that Wilco still carried after emerging from the
disintegrated Uncle Tupelo in the mid-'90s are barely even memories in the
music slated for their fourth album, titled either Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or
Here Comes Everyone and due in July. The creative trajectory that sent them
into pop experimentation on songs such as "A Shot in the Arm"and "Via
Chicago," from Summerteeth (1999), has now clearly flung them beyond the
gravity of traditional song structure.

Though Tweedy cautions that the material he's previewing at the hotel is not
complete, he adds that further tweaking won't polish off the raw or airy
qualities. "I don't think I'd want to hide that, or know how to."

The take he plays of "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" floats like a magic
carpet sitting in neutral, held aloft by currents of random bells, harp
sounds, off-kilter percussion and scratchy drum loops. "I am an American
aquarium drinker," Tweedy sings in a line that's appreciation for the sound
of words, over their meaning, is typical of the new work.

During a recording of "Ashes of an American Flag," fingers tiptoe down the
neck of an alternately-tuned guitar, a snare drum sounds wide open enough to
be made of disposable cardboard and a sampled choir singing Stravinsky shows
up to close the tune.

If the words are taken for more than just creative noises, they depict
someone lost ("All I can be is a busy sea of spinning wheels," goes a line on
"I'm the Man Who Loves You"), but at times reassuring. "Reservations" seems
to capture both impulses: "I got reservations about so many things/ But not
about you."

Wilco — Tweedy, guitarist/keyboardist Jay Bennett, bassist John Stirratt and
new drummer Glenn Kotche — have recorded more than 20 songs and have about a dozen uncut tracks waiting in the wings, Tweedy said. The album will likely
include 10 to 14 numbers.

"Early on in Summerteeth we focused on a smaller body of songs," he said.
"And this one we've just been recording for like a year. There's like six
versions of some songs. There's just a ton of, ton of stuff recorded. A whole
minivan full of two-inch tape."

Meanwhile, the year ahead is shaping up as a busy one. A documentary by Sam
Jones tentatively titled "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" charts the making
of the album, manager Tony Margherita said recently.

Tweedy's score for the film "Chelsea Walls," which he wrote and recorded in
three days with Kotche, should come out this year, and Tweedy has also cut
material with guitarist/composer Jim O'Rourke.

Changing CDs again in his hotel room, Tweedy describes the recently announced
exit of former drummer Ken Coomer as a "band decision" that had nothing to do
with personality differences. Coomer, interviewed recently about his new band
Swag, declined to talk about the departure.

Tweedy, however, credited Kotche (who has also performed with O'Rourke) with
playing an integral role on the new album. "He's got a real musical approach to being in the band," Tweedy said. "His melodic ideas on vibes have translated into parts for other people. He's setting up a different drum kit every time we go to track a song. If it doesn't need cymbals, we just set up two drums or a kick and snare, and he's happy to play a song like that."

— Chris Nelson

3/5/01 - sonicnet
Juno Awards
Nelly Furtado and Barenaked Ladies were the big winners at the Juno Awards
Sunday night, with the "I'm Like a Bird" singer winning four awards and the
quirky pop-rockers taking home three.
"I'm Like a Bird" won Best Single, while Furtado won Best New Solo Artist,
Best Songwriter and a share of the Best Producer award at Canada's version of
the Grammys, according to the Toronto Sun. Furtado's debut, Whoa, Nelly!, has
been slowly climbing the Billboard 200 albums chart since its release in
October.

Barenaked Ladies won both Best Album and Best Pop Album for Maroon, which
spawned the hit "Pinch Me." The band also won Best Group.
The Tragically Hip, which have been one of Canada's biggest-selling groups
despite their inability to crack the U.S. market, won Best Rock Album for
Music@Work, while Neil Young scored the Best Male Artist award.
Singer/songwriter Jann Arden won the award for Best Female Artist.
The New Pornographers — a power-pop group including country singer Neko Case
and Zumpano singer/guitarist Carl Newman — picked up Best Alternative Album
for Mass Romantic, while Eminem beat out 'NSYNC for Best Selling Album
(Foreign or Domestic) for The Marshall Mathers LP.
Barenaked Ladies joined Arden, singer/songwriter Sarah Harmer and country
singer Terri Clark in a tribute to politically outspoken folk-rocker Bruce
Cockburn, who was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

— Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen

3/4/01 - launch.com
Go-Go's Explain The Hookup With Green Day's Billie Joe
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong co-wrote the
first single from the upcoming Go-Go's reunion album, God Bless The Go-Go's,
with the members of the group after he made an impromptu appearance onstage
with the band. Titled "Unforgiven," the song is set to arrive at radio on
March 20.

Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine told LAUNCH that the collaboration was
spawned by the quick thinking of guitarists Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin
: "He came to see us play. We were in Northern California, and he came to our
show. Jane had lost her voice and invited him up to sing the part, 'Hush my
darling' part, in 'Our Lips Are Sealed,' and he came running out on stage and
did that part. It was really neat. We were all excited. He kind of came
again. We were fans of Green Day, and I didn't even know it, but apparently
Charlotte and Jane were talking to him and said, 'Hey, if you have any song
ideas that would be good for the Go-Go's, send 'em down.'"
God Bless The Go-Go's is set to arrive in stores May 15.

-- Darren Davis, New York

3/3/01
Disturb-ing News
Disturbed frontman David Draiman will be on the panel on the ABC late
night talk show Politically Incorrect on March 7. Just back from Europe,
Disturbed will headline another round of U.S. shows in March and April
before toplining Ozzfest's second stage this summer.

3/2/01
The Living End
Reprise has been deluged with requests for information about The Living End,
since the word is out that the new album is being released this month.
The single, "ROLL ON" went to radio in the USA this week, resulting in 30
adds at alternative radio and 14 at active rock. It was the second most added
song at radio, and included the influential KROQ (LA), WXRK (NYC), Q101
(Chicago), The End (Seattle), The Point (St Louis), Live 105 (San Francisco)
and WHFS (DC).

Almost 300 college radio stations are also spinning "ROLL ON," maintaining
it's #6 position in the CMJ TOP 20 for 3 weeks straight.

The album will be released Tuesday, March 27th, and the band is scheduled for
appearances on CONAN O'BRIEN on Tuesday, March 20 and DAVID LETTERMAN on Thursday, April 12.

Currently playing sold out shows in Japan the band head to the USA on Tuesday
to begin a headline tour of the USA and then Europe. Due to the LA show
selling out first day, the March Boston show has been rescheduled to April,
to allow an extra KROQ show in Santa Anita, where the boys will play to
30,000 people. For all dates, check out www.thelivingend.com.au

Speaking of the website, February statistics revealed a record 750,000 hits -
50% of which was from the USA, 25% Australia, 20% Europe, 5% Asia

TV & Media have also been kind this week. The Australian-made and directed
clip for ROLL ON was added to M2, complimenting the Billboard ARTIST OF THE
DAY, LA Weekly's PICK OF THE WEEK and Spin Magazine's ON THE VERGE for 2001

3/2/01 - billboard
Jeff Tweedy Plays NYC
Most musicians would probably cringe if a fan handed them a page from one of
their grade school yearbooks -- especially when it's carrying a goofy photo
of their formerly awkward self. But not Wilco's Jeff Tweedy.

"I was a real cut-up back then. I was wearing 3-D glasses," he told his
Irving Plaza audience Monday (Feb. 26), while holding the page. "But I'm not
embarrassed. That's back when I was inventing alternative country. You can
see the wheels turning. 'Hmm, you take three parts George Jones and one
part...'"

The sarcastic dig on his critical acclaim as a genre-bending pioneer wasn't
lost on the sold-out audience, which was treated to a 24-song set that
spanned Tweedy's career and provided a glimpse of four new Wilco songs. The
most notable of the new tracks were the engaging ballad "Ashes Of American
Flags" and the hilarious romp "Heavy Metal Drummer."

This rare, solo acoustic set not only touched on his former (Uncle Tupelo)
and current (Wilco) bands, but also treated fans to material from his side
projects Golden Smog, and the two "Mermaid Avenue" albums, on which Wilco
collaborated with Billy Bragg, Natalie Merchant, and others in writing and
performing music to Woody Guthrie lyrics.

Tweedy opened the show with new song "If Not For The Seasons," following with
Wilco's "Sunken Treasure" and "A Shot In The Arm," before previewing another
new tune, "War On War." Standing, his knees slightly bent as he sang into the
microphone, Tweedy seemed at times bored, tired, angry, and even stoned, as
he played his way though slower numbers like "Remember The Mountain Bed," and
more up-tempo material like "Christ For President," which included a portion
of "Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" -- found on Uncle Tupelo's "March
16-20, 1992" album.

Tweedy's takes on his more delicate songs -- such as "Please Tell My
Brother," his ode to far-away family members from Golden Smog's most-recent
effort, 1998's "Weird Tales," "She's A Jar," and especially "Ashes Of
American Flags" -- served as probably unnecessary reminders of the power of
his remarkable storytelling and the beauty and depth of his truly sad songs.
He did try to make up for the absence of his bandmates by delivering
rollicking versions of "Hoodoo Voodoo" and "Casino Queen." At the end of "I'm
Always in Love," from Wilco's 1999 album "Summerteeth," Tweedy asked the
crowd to "picture a band playing loud at the end of that song."

"New Madrid," from Uncle Tupelo's 1993 album, "Anodyne," was received like a
pop anthem, drawing hoots and whistles upon the delivery of the song's
references to New York.

Later, he again rubbed the crowd's funnybones with "Heavy Metal Drummer,"
which reflected on the days when he played Kiss songs "beautiful and slow."
Pandering to the crowd, he replaced Kiss with fellow metalheads Trixter, Iron
Maiden, and Poison -- and even Uncle Tupelo -- during the song's final verse.
"Is goofy cool now?" he asked the audience afterwards. "Because for a long
time I was goofy and it wasn't cool. But I've been feeling pretty cool
lately."

Tweedy was no doubt a little goofy Monday, but very endearing, charming --
and yes, very cool. After seeing an audience member in a Grateful Dead
T-shirt, he stopped halfway through "Passenger Side" to express his dislike
for the band only to end up sharing a story from his childhood that, he says,
was an example of how "disillusioned with music" he was as a youngster. "In
fourth grade, for show and tell, I brought in 'Born To Run.' I brought it on
an unmarked cassette and I played it. And I told them it was me. I honestly
thought they'd believe me." Goofy? Yes. Cool? Definitely.

After 22 songs, he waved goodbye, returning for "Acuff Rose" and "California
Stars," and leaving the audience clapping until the house lights illuminated.

-- Wes Orshoski, N.Y.Here is Jeff Tweedy's setlist:

* "If Not For The Seasons" (new song)
* "Sunken Treasure" (from "Being There")
* "A Shot In The Arm" (from "Summerteeth")
* "War On War" (new song)
* "Hesitating Beauty" (from "Mermaid Avenue, Vol. I")
* "I'm Always In Love" ("Summerteeth")
* "Remember The Mountain Bed" (from "Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II")
* "New Madrid" (from Uncle Tupelo's "Anodyne")
* "Christ For President"/"Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down" (from
"Mermaid Avenue, Vol. I" and Uncle Tupelo's "March 16-20, 1992," respectively)
* "She's A Jar" ("Summerteeth")
* "I'm The One Who Loves You" (Curtis Mayfield)
* "Airplane To Heaven" (from "Mermaid Avenue, Vol. II")
* "Heavy Metal Drummer" (new song)
* "How To Fight Loneliness" ("Summerteeth")
* "I'm Trying To Break Your Heart" (new song)
* "Passenger Side" (from "A.M.")
* "Casino Queen" ("A.M.")
* "Hoodoo Voodoo" ("Mermaid Avenue, Vol. I")
* "Should've Been In Love" ("A.M.")
* "Please Tell My Brother" (from Golden Smog's "Weird Tales")
* "Ashes of American Flags" (new song)

Encore:

* "Acuff Rose" ("Anodyne")
* "California Stars" ("Mermaid Avenue, Vol. I")

3/1/01 - launch
Neil Young And Crazy Horse Set To Open For Dave Matthews Band
Neil Young & Crazy Horse have been announced as the
special guests of the Dave Matthews Band at a show on April 21. Matthews is
the headline act at the University of Virginia's Scott Stadium that day, and
the proceeds from the show--the band's first hometown performance since 1994,
and the first gig on its 2001 tour--will benefit the Bama Works Foundation,
the Dave Matthews Band's charitable organization that distributes funds to
select non-profit groups in the area. It's expected that a third act will be
added to the bill, but that information was unavailable at press time.
Tickets for the show go on sale Saturday (March 3) at 10 a.m. ET through
Ticketmaster and at the Scott Stadium box office. Buyers are limited to four
field tickets or six in the stands, and all seats are $46.50.

Young and the Horse play a benefit at the Hollywood Palladium tonight (March
1) for Los Angeles-area drug counselor Gloria Scott. Also on the bill are Red
Hot Chili Peppers, guest DJ Perry Farrell, and the band Thelonious Monster.

-- Bruce Simon, New York

3/1/01 - cdnow
Steely Dan Gets Huge Sales Boost From Grammy Awards
Steely Dan's GRAMMY Awards-winning album, Two Against Nature, re-entered The Billboard 200 at No. 54 for the week ending Feb. 25 -- a direct result of the album's showing at the 43rd Annual GRAMMY Awards last week. Two Against Nature, which took home coveted Album of the Year honors as well as Best Pop Vocal Album (the track "Cousin Dupree" grabbed the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal as well), was boosted by a whooping 747 percent increase in sales from last week.

Other GRAMMY Awards winners/performers whose albums benefited by appearances on music's biggest night include Best New Artist Shelby Lynne's I Am Shelby Lynne, which jumped back onto the chart at No. 165 with a 243 percent increase in sales over last week; nominee/performer Paul Simon's You're the One, which moved up 89 spots to No. 108 with a 93 percent boost; and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance winner/performer Macy Gray's On How Life Is, which jumped 76 spots to No. 89 on an 88 percent increase. And, there's more: U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind jumped from No. 35 to No. 11 with a 75 percent sales increase (the band grabbed three awards and performed on the show); controversy-riddled Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP hopped 27 spots to No. 32 with a 59 percent boost; performers Destiny's Child enjoyed a modest increase of 23 percent with its The Writing's on the Wall landing at No. 46; and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, winner Dr. Dre sat back and watched his Dr. Dre 2001 enjoy a 12 percent sales enhancement. Surprisingly, Faith Hill, who won three awards, held steady at No. 31 with Breathe, but saw a 9 percent decrease in sales.

- Kevin Raub

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