Forro In The Dark Festive Summer Plans

Dia de Roda is a five-song collection that kicks off with a reggae inspired jam, whips through some sweat-inducing Brazilian backcountry grooves, and ends up with rockabilly-inflected forró finale, the perfect soundtrack for warm weather hi-jinks. - more on this story

Jacko A National Treasure

Reuters reports: Librarian of Congress James Billington on Wednesday announced the 25 additions to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress as part of its efforts to preserve the nation's aural history by archiving recordings deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."

The inductees range from Michael Jackson's 1982 all-time best-seller "Thriller" and T-Bone Walker's "Call It Stormy Monday but Tuesday Is Just as Bad" to the 1977 record of Earth sounds that flew aboard the spacecraft Voyager in the event alien life forms encountered the craft.

Other recordings added to the registry include works by Roy Orbison, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Kitty Wells and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and the original cast recording of "My Fair Lady." - more on this story

Martha Wainwright Joins KT Tunstall Tour

PR reports: Martha Wainwright will be touring with KT Tunstall starting August 4 in Northampton, MA. The tour will be in support of Martha's forthcoming album, I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too which Zoe/Rounder will release on June 10.

The album has her working with some of the biggest names in music including Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), Pete Townshend (The Who), and Garth Hudson (The Band) plus members of Martha's family including mother Kate McGarrigle and brother Rufus Wainwright.

In addition to the dates with Tunstall, Martha will be doing three shows: June 12 at Joe's Pub in NY, June 19 at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and July 23 at the Highline Ballroom in NY. - more on this story

Sophomoric Release from Hit The Lights

PR reports: Hit The Lights will release their sophomore record Skip School, Start Fights July 8th on Triple Crown Records. Skip School, Start Fights is the follow up to 2006's This Is A Stickup...Don't Make It A Murder which put Hit The Lights on the map and saw them tour with New Found Glory, Paramore, Cute Is What We Aim For, Cartel and Boys Like Girls. The band will be on the road all summer with Set Your Goals, All Time Low, I Am The Avalanche and more.

Skip School, Start Fights was produced by Rob Freeman (Hidden In Plain View) at Pilot Studios in New Jersey and mixed by Zach Odom and Kenneth Mount (Mayday Parade, All Time Low, Cartel).

Hit The Lights went through a lineup shuffle before they recorded Skip School, Start Fights. When former lead singer Colin Ross left the band last summer to pursue the quiet life, HTL decided it was time to unleash their secret weapon...it was time for their guitar player, Nick Thompson, to step into the limelight as lead singer. - Tour dates

Simple Minds Won't Forget About Deacon Blue

PR reports: To add further excitement to Simple Minds' highly anticipated 30th Anniversary tour, the band has just confirmed 'Deacon Blue' as very special guests. Deacon Blue will perform all concerts with the exception of the Glasgow SECC on 4th December. Simple Minds will perform 'New Gold Dream' in its entirety for the very first time.

With six million album sales under their belt, Deacon Blue's first album 'Raintown' set the precedent, spending 77 weeks in the album chart, and with five top 5 UK albums (of which 2 were number 1) under their belts they have chalked up an impressive 4 years in the British album charts. - more on this story

GNR Releasing Comp CD

Gigwise reports: Guns N Roses are to release a greatest hits compilation on June 2nd, it's been confirmed.

The retrospective will contain hits from all their albums, including 'Paradise City' and 'Welcome to the Jungle'.

It's the first of two albums the band are expected to release this year, the second being their long-awaited new studio album 'Chinese Democracy'. - more on this story including the tracklisting

Zeppelin Snaked

antiMusic reports: Whitesnake enjoyed probably more press this past week than they've received in two decades. The problem is it was all about quotes attributed to frontman David Coverdale about another band. The Mirror posted a quote reportedly from Coverdale alluding to an upcoming Led Zeppelin world tour that Whitesnake might open. Forget for a moment that Zeppelin traditionally didn't have an opening act and the joking tone of the quote, now Coverdale claims he had no idea where this came from.

Blabbermouth has the story: Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale has contacted UK's Classic Rock magazine to set the record straight about his band's so called plans to go on tour with Led Zeppelin. Earlier in the week Coverdale was quoted as saying: "I'm expecting a call from Jimmy [Page] any day asking my band Whitesnake to support them on their world tour. Am I on board? You bet. Probably worth billions."

In an e-mail to Classic Rock's Geoff Barton, Coverdale requested: "May I call upon your assistance, if needed, ol' cock, to help put out this sh*tstorm that be gathering steam about me supposedly saying I'm awaiting Lord Page's call to invite me to be the supporting act on the forthcoming Led Zeppelin world tour. What f**king world tour, we ask ourselves? We're already out on our Good To Be Bad world tour, thank you very much!" Coverdale continued: "I have no idea where this started, Geoffers. But, with the wildfire of the internet, my poor ol' German publicist is fighting them off with her rusty, but trusty, Luger." - Smells a bit like the ol' publicity stunt? The mystery continues here

Charles Manson Monkee Business

antiMusic reports: Gibson has an interesting article about some of the people that were turned down for the 60s wanna-be-atles show The Monkees. They also address a long running rumor and learned what we've known for a long time: Rodney on the Roq is full of crock. But here is the tale:

Rumors also circulated for years that convict/cult figure Charles Manson had been an unlikely participant in the Monkees auditions as well. Now serving a life sentence in San Quentin for organizing the infamous Tate-LaBianca killings that terrorized Los Angeles in 1969, Manson was indeed a fringe figure in Hollywood's music scene during the '60s, a wannabe songwriter who eventually manipulated his way into the circles of Columbia producer Terry Melcher and Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. Wilson not only briefly played host to Manson and his "family" of outcasts, but convinced the Beach Boys to record one of Charlie's songs, "Never Learn Not to Love," for their 1969 20/20 album and the B-side of their "Bluebirds Over the Mountain" single.

Manson's persistently rumored Monkees connection likely comes courtesy of longtime KROQ radio personality Rodney Bingenheimer, the veteran L.A. scenemaker/male groupie who'd also failed his Monkees audition, yet remained close enough to the band to be cast as Davy Jones' double in an episode of the show. Bingenheimer claimed that Manson was a part of the Monkees auditions so frequently that the story even made it into Eric Lefcowitz's biography of the band, Monkees Tale. But a quick review of Manson's extensive criminal record puts the kibosh on Bingenheimer's oft-told legend: Charlie served time at the U.S. Penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington and Terminal Island prison from 1961 until March, 1967. - You might be surprised who else tried out for the band

Lohan and Kanye Are Nerds, Kill Death Cab for Cutie, Nikki Sixx, Oasis Replace Ringo Jr, Feral Download, Bonus for Ratheads, Sinatra, Disturbed

antiMusic reports: Here are some quicks to get you started this morning. Lohan and Kanye are nerds! N.E.R.D. just release a new video for the track "Everyone Nose" and it features cameos from Lindsay Lohan and Kanye West. Check it out at AOHell
We've been known to give Nikki "Dude, I died! Dude" Sixx a hard time from time to time for being... well, Nikki Sixx. But when he does something good we also like to pass on that news as well. So here you go: Nikki was recently honored at Covenant House California's 9th annual Awards Gala held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The highlight of the evening was a check presentation of $250,000 to Covenant House by honoree Nikki Sixx. Sixx is donating a portion of proceeds from his New York Times best-selling book The Heroin Diaries: A Year In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star to benefit Running Wild In The Night, a creative arts program he created for Covenant House California at their youth shelters in Los Angeles and Oakland.

For those waiting for your chance to kill members of Death Cab for Cutie, this one's for you! Three days after their new album, Narrow Stairs, hit the stores, Nick Harmer and Jason McGerr of the band Death Cab for Cutie will play Xbox LIVE members in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on Friday, May 16, 2008. Xbox LIVE Gold members can get a chance to play with Death Cab for Cutie by sending a friend request to the below Gamertags and be online half an hour before (7:00 P.M. ET) the Game with Fame session starts at 7:30 P.M. ET on Friday, May 16. Gamertags: GWF DCFC Nick / GWF DCFC Jason **please note the space between GWF and DCFC and band members name** link

For those that care which American Idols will go on to make an album no one will buy and get dropped by RCA next year, AP has this: Syesha Mercado was voted off "American Idol" Wednesday night, paving the way for the expected showdown between David Archuleta and David Cook. more

And we thought all conductors were robots. Classical music enthusiasts long have sought to drum up support for the musical genre among young people, and now they have a secret weapon: the 4-foot-3, childlike robot ASIMO.more

We're running this one in the off off off off chance that The Mirror printed something factual: Chris Sharrock, Robbie Williams' drummer, is to replace Zack Starkey as the drummer in Oasis, according to reports. more

Feral Children's debut album, Second To The Last Frontier, will be released July 8 on Sarathan Records. But they were kind enough to send over a link for a free MP3. Who are the Feral Children and why should download this song. For one the song is free and as for who the band is, their publicist sent us this blurb "Feral Children are a high-energy Seattle-based experimental-rock band with a wide range of sonic explorations and an explosive live show. Their debut album draws upon and expands from their diverse set of influences Comparisons to Animal Collective and early-era Modest Mouse are good starting points, but don't fully recognize Feral Children's complete range." go here to download the "Spy/Glass House" mp3 already

Robyn is the latest artist to be featured in the Zune Ignition program, and has released the track "Konitchiwa Bitches (Menta Mix)" exclusively on Zune Marketplace as a bonus track to the full album download of her latest release Robyn. During May Zune Marketplace will also be offering fans the free track "Be Mine (Wasted Youth Mix)", an exclusive Guestlist featuring tracks hand-picked by Robyn herself, and a track-by-track breakdown of the self-titled album. (then maybe you can figure out why she needs two drummers for such simple beats) rat heads click here

Now we know why everyone and their brother are putting out Sinatra related releases this spring. What were the chances we'd be seeing Frank Sinatra on a U.S. postage stamp? Well, he competed against 50,000 others — and won. That's how many annual proposals are made for new stamps. On Tuesday, the late crooner's face appeared on one of them. Gene Simmons can still brag that he was stamped before the Chairman of the Board. more

In today's installment of Sun Studio Sessions, Backyard Tire Fire demonstrates why they are a great live band with a smokin' romp through "Jimmy & Bob & Jack." This is definitely a band to catch on tour. They are currently out now with Reverend Horton Heat and play around 200 dates a year so keep your eye out. Check it out here

Disturbed will be releasing their fourth album, Indestructible on June 3rd. The multi-platinum rockers are giving their hardcore fans a special bonus if they pre-order the album from iTunes. Each pre-order will include 4 exclusive live tracks recorded at Chicago's Riviera Theater. Disturbed has also released a new, all-performance version of their intense new single, "Inside the Fire" which you can check out at their official
- YouTube channel

Denny's Adopting Bands

PR reports: Times are tough for touring artists and Denny's wants to help. Denny's restaurants has just launched a unique new music program entitled Adopt-a-Band to provide free meals, promotional support, and concert after-parties to "adopted" bands on tour across the U.S.

The preferred choice of late-night dining crowds across the country and strongly entrenched in the after-hours lifestyle culture, Denny's is not only supporting local bands on the road, but also enhancing its menu with new late-night options.

Inaugural adopted bands include EndeverafteR, Forever The Silliest Kids, Foxy Shazam, Saving Abel, Switches and Take The Crown. Denny's is also a proud sponsor of the 2008 Sasquatch! Music Festival May 24 – May 26 in George, Washington. To feed hungry bands and music fans, Denny's is constructing a Denny's Lounge in the campground featuring favorite late-night and breakfast standards. - more on this story

10 Years Week: Day 5 "Proud of You"

antiMusic reports: 10 Years' sophomore album, Division, hits stores this week. We spoke with drummer Brian Vodinh to get the lowdown on his favorite tracks from the album. Here he is with today's song:

Proud of You: This is probably the most emotionally heavy song on the whole album. Jesse and I were in Los Angeles for a writing session when this song came about. Jesse had gone out for the evening with his late cousin Brad. I stayed back and decided to work on a song that I had been kicking around a little bit but never really took the time to finish.
- the rest of the story

. Emmanuel Jal - Warchild

Emmanuel Jal is an atypical rapper, and Warchild is an atypical rap album. Jal, a former Sudanese child soldier, mixes hip-hop with soul and traditional African music to tell his story. (4.5 stars) - Read the full Emmanuel Jal - Warchild review

. Pete Francis - Iron Sea and the Calvary

While never a fan of Francis' old band Dispatch, I have been strangely drawn to his solo albums as they have a sort of pull to them I didn't find in Francis' previous endeavors with his old band. Francis has managed to create a totally separate sound from what he was doing with Dispatch. (3.5 stars) - Read the full Pete Francis - Iron Sea and the Calvary review

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