Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza Hitting The Road

6/08 - Elk Grove Village, IL - Elk Grove VFW
6/09 - Evansville, IN - Boney June's
6/10 - St. Louis, MO - Rockstar Nightclub
6/11 - Claremore, OK - King of Clubs
- more dates

North by Northeast Fest

PR reports: The North by Northeast (NXNE) Music & Film Festival and Conference is getting ready to take over Toronto once more. Running June 12-15, 2008, NXNE invites fans to feast on some of the freshest, coolest music and film being produced today. NXNE is three events in one: a music festival, a film festival and an industry conference.

The Music Festival: Indie isn't a style of music – it's the only way for artists and audiences to connect directly. At NXNE, more than 500 indie performers rock the fans, agents, talent buyers, label reps, promoters and press who come to hear the best of what's next. Whether your passion is rock, punk, folk, hip-hop, dance, metal, roots, electronic, R&B, alternative, or something way outside, you need to be at NXNE. Acts include Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, The Besnard Lakes, The French Kicks, These New Puritans, Carina Round, Afterhours, ok city ok and Semi Precious Weapons.

Among hundreds of amazing showcases, one of this year's key events is The MuseBox NXNE Showcase on Saturday, June 14th at The El Mocambo which will feature Paper Lions, Kakkmaddafakka, The I Spies, The Two Koreas, The High Dials, We Are Wolves and Black Diamond Bay. - http://www.nxne.com

Rock Legend Dies

House of Rock reports: British drummer Mickey Waller has died from liver failure aged 66. Waller was a much in demand session musician during the 1960s and toured and recorded with many of that era's seminal bands including Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Brian Auger, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and the Jeff Beck Group alongside Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood.

Waller was an intregal member of the early Jeff Beck Group, playing the drums on the classic 1968 album 'Truth'.

The instrumental, "Beck's Bolero", with Jimmy Page on rhythm guitar, The Who's Keith Moon on drums, and bassist John Paul Jones combined with Waller's own fiery playing on the remake of The Yardbirds' hit "Shapes of Things" to set the template for Heavy Blues. - more on this story

Kanye Made Executor of his Mother's Estate

TMZ reports: Kanye West now has the control over his late mother Donda's scratch, and can spend it where he sees fit.

TMZ was in an LA court this morning where a judge granted a petition to make Kanye and Shawn Gee (West's money guy) co-executors of Donda's estate.

Which means they now control her cash, which it turns out, is less than $250,000. Donda died without a will. - Latest TMZ Celeb Justice stories

Catherine Wheel Solo Tour

PR reports: In support of his forthcoming double disc re-release Fresh Wine For The Horses + Nude, former Catherine Wheel frontman Rob Dickinson has announced North American tour dates.

The long-awaited solo debut from the voice of Catherine Wheel - Rob Dickinson's Fresh Wine for the Horses (deluxe 2-CD set) - will be released June 10, 2008 on Fontana International.

Following more than two years of successful touring, Fresh Wine for the Horses has now been enhanced with the addition of a majestic new song, "The End of the World", plus a second disc featuring six highly-sought, newly recorded acoustic Catherine Wheel classics including the epic "Black Metallic." - more on this story

Richie Kotzen To Rock Against Diabetes

PR reports: Rock Against Diabetes, the first of it's kind in delivering a HD interactive worldwide internet broadcast of a charity concert festival has announced Richie Kotzen has been added to the roster, as well as launching a competition to find a band to take the opening slot at the August 23rd, 2008 worldwide broadcast, and perform with greats such as Karenval (featuring Dario Lorina), MagnETICO(featuring Rafael Moreira – Paul Stanley, Rock The Cradle), and Bumblefoot (Ron Thal, Guns N Roses) at the Rock Against Diabetes 2008 pre-show kickoff party August 22nd at Club ROX in Las Vegas. New Blade Guitars endorsee Steve Brand (Rock Against Diabetes Music Director) will also be taking part in the pre-show party gun-slinging for Thal.

You can now fully support this event, and become part of concert history by attending this one of a kind, fully interactive LIVE concert broadcast FREE. You get 8 hours of LIVE music, online only auctions, interactivity with host Evel Dick Donato, the bands and a ton of other surprise guests, for FREE and the opportunity to donate any amount, if any, that you wish.. AND you can invite your friends FREE when you grab your ticket. - more on this story

Next Gretsch Greats

PR reports: The Gretsch Company, one of the world's most well-known drum and guitar manufacturers, is inviting music fans everywhere to help choose the 10 finalists in the Next Gretsch Greats, the company's online search for the world's best unsigned artists. The competition is the centerpiece of Gretsch's 125th anniversary celebration.

To participate, music lovers simply visit the contest site to listen to unsigned acts from around the globe and vote for their favorite songs. Users can cast one vote per day every day from June 15-July 16.

The 10 bands with the most votes will make it to the finalist round, where they will be judged by an expert panel which includes Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for The Rolling Stones; Steve Ferrone, drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; Keith Scott, guitarist for Bryan Adams; and Fred W. Gretsch, president of The Gretsch Company and great-grandson of the company's founder. The panel will determine the grand, first and second prize winners - contest site

Sunny Day Sets Fire To The Road

PR reports: Sunny Day Sets Fire has announced a very limited stateside engagement in late June, when the band of musicians from many lands and backgrounds will perform a handful of shows surrounding the premiere party for American Teen, a documentary on seniors in an Indiana high school and their various cliques.

The Paramount Pictures release features songs by Sunny Day Sets Fire, which the band will perform at a private launch party as well as select venues and radio appearances around Los Angeles. See complete show details below. These will be the band's only U.S. dates until the fall 2008 CMJ New Music Festival.

Ostensibly a band founded in London, Sunny Day Sets Fire is a group with many homelands, many talents and many sounds. The quintet's unique brand of hummable surreal pop is a perfect soundtrack to summertime that could perhaps best be compared to artists like Blonde Redhead, The Flaming Lips, Architecture in Helsinki and Band Of Horses. The mid-summer release of its IAmSound full length debut Summer Palace will certainly establish Sunny Day Sets Fire as a reference point unto itself. - more on this story

Release for Hip Hop Nerds

PR reports: N*E*R*D* is set to release Seeing Sounds, their third album on June 10th, 2008. You already know the story of the Neptunes, Grammy Award winning producers and songwriters Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, but the N*E*R*D* trio consists of Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and longtime friend and creative wunderkind, Shae Haley.

The album is a blistering mash-up of booming hip-hop beats and rollercoastering rock riffs, rumbling crunk rhythms and scintillating soul music. Whereas their first album, In Search Of..., was an imaginative, exploration of identities, and their second album, Fly Or Die, sought out the range of genres and sounds that have influenced the group, Seeing Sounds grinds everything together, evoking a sound that is un-tethered by preconceptions and convention. It is also an album that amplifies the style and attitudes that have made Pharrell, Chad and Shae transcendent cultural icons.
- more on this story

Jem Soph

PR reports: Welsh recording artist Jem will release her sophomore album, Down To Earth, this September on ATO Records. The follow-up to her acclaimed 2004 debut, Down To Earth is a collection of twelve infectious new songs that feature Jem's ethereal vocals, hip-shaking beats, bright melodies and introspective lyrics. "It's Amazing," the first single off the album, is featured on the original soundtrack to the highly anticipated feature film version of the beloved HBO television series Sex And The City.

Jem co-wrote Down To Earth with cohorts old and new including hip-hop producer Jeff Bass, one of the two brothers credited with discovering Eminem, and producer Lester Mendez (Shakira, Santana and Nelly Furtado). The album reflects the singer/songwriters far-ranging influences including Brazilian percussion on the title track, Detroit Gospel choirs, a Stevie Wonder inspired 'Crazy' complete with funky banjo, and the tempestuous Latin-flavored track "I Want You To…" a collaboration originally earmarked for a solo album by turntable whiz Cut Chemist (Ozomatli, Jurassic 5). - more on this story

Californication Soundtrack

PR reports: ABKCO Records which had digitally released a series of sequential "track packs" during the first season run of the hit SHOWTIME series Californication will now offer TEMPTATION: Music from the Showtime Series Californication as a physical CD collection next month.

The June 3 release includes both classic and newly recorded songs by the Rolling Stones, The Doors, Bob Dylan, Elton John, My Morning Jacket, Warren Zevon, Steve Earle and others.

On that same day, TEMPTATION: Music from the Showtime® Series Californication, a digital version of the package, including all of the original "track pack" content plus bonus tracks, will be available through all major digital retail outlets.
- more on this story

Tribute to Deadhead

PR reports: NYC singer/songwriter Emory Joseph pays tribute to the songwriting team of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, the principal songwriters for the Grateful Dead, with his upcoming release, Fennario - Songs by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter (street date August 19 on Iris Records).

At the time of Garcia's passing, the Grateful Dead had been together for 30 years and were the highest-grossing touring act in the world. For Fennario, Joseph carefully selected and recorded material that had never been released on studio albums and re-interpreted some of the best-loved Garcia/Hunter material.

The wide range of music on Fennario draws from the same American palette that inspired Garcia and Hunter, from the sweet country of "It Must Have Been the Roses" to the Memphis rock and roll of "Tennessee Jed" to the Muscle Shoals soul of "Sugaree." - more on this story

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