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Imagine a “dream machine” on wheels. It’s easy if you try. But the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is no dream. A state-of-the-art multimedia studio packed in a bus, it’s a vehicle for opening the minds of aspiring young musicians. “Swing open the door, step inside, take three short steps into the main cabin and look around,” writes Mark Garvey in “Come Together: The Official John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Guide to Music and Video,” a recently published history of the bus by Garvey and Yoko Ono Lennon. “You’ve entered a different world. And whether you’re young or old, if… Read more »

Around the time Brett Gurewitz was launching Epitaph Records in 1981, his father was lecturing him to take guitar lessons. The Bad Religion guitarist and punk-rock entrepreneur never sat down for courses with a guitar instructor, although he did go to school to learn to be a recording engineer. However, no amount of schooling could have prepared Gurewitz for the next 25 years of his life. Epitaph Records brought a new era of punk rock to the masses in 1994 when the Offspring’s “Smash” turned into one of the biggest rock records of the decade. The success of the label’s… Read more »

New York – Radio’s playlist liberation movement hatched in late 2001 at a birthday party in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A radio was blasting when Howard Kroeger, director of operations and programing for CHUM Broadcasting’s Winnipeg stations, arrived at his friend’s 40th-birthday bash. It was a competitor’s classic rock station, and Kroeger used the occasion to conduct an informal focus group among the partygoers, most in their mid- to late 30s. Whenever Boston, the Cars, Meatloaf, Supertramp or some other ’70s staple came on, it got an overwhelming thumbs-up from the Molson-enhanced crowd. But there was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm when… Read more »

“Backstreet Men” doesn’t really have the same ring, but make no mistake, the Backstreet Boys are coming back more mature on their first album in five years. The group, which hasn’t released a collection of new music since 2000’s Black & Blue, just wrapped sessions for the as-yet-untitled album, which might surprise people expecting the same pop sound of old, according to member Howie Dorough. “We’ve been working on it for more than a year now, but it really started taking shape and changing over the past six months,” Dorough said. “It’s going in a more pop/rock direction, kind of… Read more »

Sixty years after his birth, one of the most important artists ever to emerge from Seattle is – at least officially – almost invisible here. There’s no Jimi Hendrix Boulevard, no Hendrix Arena, no Hendrix Elementary School. The only thing the city has done to recognize the man many consider the world’s greatest guitar player is to give him a rock – in the African Savanna exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo. Biographer Charles Cross of Seattle, who has spent years researching Hendrix for an upcoming book, called the oversight “almost criminal.” “The Seattle city government has never given any… Read more »

Bruce Springsteen grabbed the top of the U.S. pop charts Wednesday with the debut of his somber, Sept. 11-influenced album, “The Rising,” the first all-new recording with his E Street Band since 1984. The critically hailed LP sold about 525,000 copies in its first week in stores, Springsteen’s best album debut in at least a decade, his publicists said as the veteran rocker and his band prepared to launch a world tour at the Continental Airlines Arena in his native New Jersey. Springsteen’s publicity firm, Shore Fire Media, said “The Rising,” released July 30, also was expected to open at… Read more »

Britney Spears will release her 3rd album, Britney on November 6 worldwide. The first single, “I’m A Slave 4 U,” will impact CHR and Rhythm Crossover radio on September 24. The song was written and produced by The Neptunes. The video, directed by Frances Lawrence, will debut on MTV’s Making The Video on September 24. Britney Spears co-wrote 5 of the 12 songs on the album. Other producers/writers on Britney include Max Martin, Justin Timberlake, Wade Robson, Rami and Rodney Jerkins. The Britney World Tour kicks off in Miami, Fl. on October 26. The tour sponsored by Pepsi goes through… Read more »

Revolution Studios has acquired an untitled comedy pitch that will star Tony Hawk, arguably the most influential skateboarder of all time. Hawk will also executive produce the project alongside producers Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray, Ed Decter and John Strauss, the quartet behind Revolution’s upcoming Decter-directed feature “The New Guy,” which features Hawk playing himself. The pitch’s plot, to be written by Ralph Sall, is being closely guarded but is said to center on a road trip and will showcase Hawk’s skateboarding abilities in the hopes of bringing in an extreme-sports audience. Hawk’s production company 900 Films might also receive a… Read more »

Recording a song with boyfriend Justin Timberlake as a co-producer made Britney Spears “a little nervous,” she says. The song, “What It’s Like to Be Me,” was recorded during sessions for Spears’ third album, due November 6. A track listing for the still-untitled album is starting to shape up, as are plans for a tour, which is set to begin October 26 in Miami. At least three songs have made the cut and and are “definitely making the album,” according to Spears’ spokesperson at Jive Records. They include the first single, “I’m a Slave 4 U,” written and produced by… Read more »

In case you’re not convinced that Britney Spears really does love rock and roll, the pop princess, who covered the Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on her last album, has put another dime in the jukebox and come up with an even more telling rock classic for her next one. Spears has recorded Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ 1981 hit “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” with hitmaker Rodney Jerkins for a scene in her upcoming movie, “What Friends Are For,” as well as for her still-untitled third album, which a Jive Records spokesperson said is tentatively due November… Read more »