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Green Day to Begin North American Tour in April


Los Angeles – Punk trio Green Day, up for six prizes at the Grammy Awards on Sunday will launch a five-week North American arena tour on April 15, the group’s Reprise Records label said. The 27-date trek, heavy on college towns, begins in Coral Gables, Fla. at the University of Miami’s Convocation Center, and wraps May 20 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary. Green Day will perform during the Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will then play New Zealand, Australia and Japan in March. Their Grammy nominations include album of the year and rock album… Read more »

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Lenny Kravitz Announces North American Tour


Miami, Florida – Following the announcement of his first ever tour of South America, Lenny Kravitz has released the details of the US leg of his world tour. Lenny Kravitz’s ELECTRIC CHURCH: ONE NIGHT ONLY! tour is scheduled to kick off in Dallas, TX on April 5th and will feature the artist performing a series EXCLUSIVE theater dates in 27 cities across the US and Canada. These one-time-only shows promise to be a must-see experience for fans in the US, who have never been able to catch him perform live in such a raw and intimate setting. Tickets will go… Read more »

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Ian MacKaye To Rock The Rock


To many touring bands, the East Coast of Canada is uncharted territory due to logistical and financial reasons. Some bands manage to make it to the Maritimes, but few are able to extend their tours over to Newfoundland. Even many Maritime bands have never been over to The Rock. And in reverse, some Newfoundland acts have never performed outside of their home province. The St. John’s music scene continues to thrive, but longtime scene veteran Liz Pickard says that it’s time for local bands and labels to get their respective acts together and to get some national exposure. As a… Read more »

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Collective Soul Try Being Young Again


The only thing on Ed Roland ‘s 41-year-old mind these days is getting younger. In fact, the entire Collective Soul crew has found a way to combat the aging process. “It feels like we’re 20 again,” says Roland, leader of the glossy grunge group. Collective Soul haven’t taken a magic anti-aging pill though. Instead, the group have returned to rock ‘n’ roll after a four year absence with their latest disc, Youth. Roland, who looks the same kind of youthful as Bono, is bundled up in a heavy winter coat and dawns dark sunglasses, even though it’s too dark to… Read more »

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Ruben, Clay in Sick Bay


That’s the word from Ruben Studdard’s rep after the second-season American Idol champ otherwise known as the Velvet Teddy Bear checked himself into a Birmingham, Alabama, hospital Monday night. Studdard’s Los Angeles-based publicist, Liz Morentin, says the silky-voiced 26-year-old is suffering from exhaustion. Per doctors’ orders, Studdard is expected to remain hospitalized for the remainder of the week, forcing him to cancel several gigs in support of his new gospel-flavored disc, I Need an Angel, which hit stores Tuesday. “All promotion for his new album this week has been canceled along with his concert dates in Atlantic City on November… Read more »

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Jerry Wexler, Unwitting Inventor of 'R&B' – Interview


New York – Jerry Wexler is the classic record business guy. For more than three decades, Wexler, as co-owner of Atlantic Records and later senior VP at Warner Bros. Records, signed and worked with scores of vocalists and instrumentalists, and produced some of the greatest rock and soul records ever made. Now 86 and long retired, Wexler is still applauded as an insightful producer, crafty deal-maker and promoter, divining rod of hit songs and occasional writer of songs and liner notes. “He is one of my greatest heroes,” Sire Records founder Seymour Stein says. “Jerry is a consummate record man… Read more »

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Levert Switches Labels, Expands Themes


Los Angeles – Given such song titles as “Baby Hold on to Me,” “Can You Handle It,” “The G Spot” and “U Got That Love,” the general theme of Gerald Levert’s music is easy to divine. His brand of sensuous R&B has provided romantic sustenance to a devoted fan base ever since his 1991 solo debut, “Private Line.” But Levert takes an unexpected turn on his eighth solo outing, “Do I Speak for the World?” As the title implies, the Nov. 30 release finds the 38-year-old singer/songwriter/producer pursuing more socially conscious topics: patriotism, activism, religion and the future of mankind.… Read more »

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Simple Plan Achieve Highest Rock Debut This Week


New York, Ny – Punk superstars Simple Plan saw plenty of action as their new album Still Not Getting Any…soared to the top of the charts. The band’s sophomore album entered the Billboard Top 200 at #3 (trailing closely behind hard core rappers Jay Z/R. Kelly and Trick Daddy.) The album, with sales of 139,928, marks the band’s highest chart position to date and the highest rock debut this week. In addition to their monstrous success stateside, Still Not Getting Any…topped the chart in their native Canada at #2 and was the #3 top selling album in Japan. “Simple Plan… Read more »

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Brandy Bails on Record Label


Brandy is bidding adios to her longtime record label, Atlantic Records, her publicist said Monday. The news might have something to do with the “Top of the World” chantuese no longer being, well, on top of the world. Once a staple of MTV and urban radio, the 25-year-old R&B singer has recently been eclipsed by a new crop of teenage divas. Despite solid reviews and a huge promotional push from Atlantic this past summer for her fourth release on the label, Afrodisiac, the disc quickly disappeared from the upper echelons of Billboard ‘s pop charts after a number three debut… Read more »

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Labels' Tour Support Slows, But Still a Big Factor


Record labels have historically invested significant financial resources toward new acts’ touring efforts, whether it be $20,000 for a regional van trek or $200,000 for a national bus outing. But in today’s world of shrinking revenue and tight budgets, tour support funds – though almost always recoupable against album sales – are becoming harder to come by. “There’s not as much money at any level, whether it’s signing bonuses, (recording) albums, tour support or anything else,” says Tim DuBois, senior partner of Nashville-based record label Universal South, home of such ascts as Pat Green and Joe Nichols. “But even in… Read more »

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