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Fans of “The Lord of the Rings” films know him as Frodo Baggins, but in plain technical terms, the cutest hobbit ever to shuffle onto the screen, in the guise of actor Elijah Wood, was essentially a storage transfer medium. Compact, sweet by design and capable of delivering precious goods to far-flung destinations, Frodo is to Middle Earth what Apple’s iPod is to modern-day digital media. Just as Frodo exists basically to transport that precious ring to where it needs to go, “Rings” master Peter Jackson found a way to make Apple’s iPod all about helping him get his digital… Read more »

Metallica and Godsmack are gearing up for a 2004 North American arena tour which could stretch as far as 80 dates, Billboard.com has learned. The trek will begin March 2 in Phoenix; other confirmed dates include March 8 in San Francisco and March 28 in Seattle. The first batch of ticket on-sales will begin Saturday (Dec. 20) via Ticketmaster. Metallica has already committed to the Big Day Out tour of Australia and New Zealand after the first of the year, plus European festival dates beginning in late May and stretching into July. The group is touring in support of its… Read more »

When they’re onstage, the members of a Perfect Circle perform in fluid synergy, but behind the scenes all they seem to agree on is when to disagree. Band founder and guitarist Billy Howerdel was uninterested in releasing the moody, melodic “Weak and Powerless” as the first single from Thirteenth Step, and he was against using the cover art of a slug crawling across a woman’s face, which is why he gave singer Maynard James Keenan credit for all artwork. Currently, the bandmembers are torn between releasing the melancholy “Blue” or the bruising “The Outsider” as the second single. Bassist Jeordie… Read more »

White Stripes singer/guitarist Jack White plays guitar on the debut single from Detroit alt-country act Blanche, called “Who’s To Say.” The seven-inch, 45 R.P.M. vinyl disc can be ordered directly from Blanche’s label at cassrecords.com. The White Stripes themselves covered the tune on the B-side of their single, “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself.” Blanche’s full-length debut album, If We Can’t Trust The Doctors… is due out in January of 2004. White is expected to show up on that release as well. The White Stripes will be touring Australia, New Zealand, and Japan through most of October.… Read more »

With a new single called “The Saddest Song” starting to pop up at radio stations, the Ataris are ready to move past the monster success of “The Boys Of Summer,” their accidental hit that was never supposed to be a single in the first place. Bassist Mike Davenport revealed that he doesn’t think the Ataris will end up a one-hit wonder. “I could see how that would be with some other bands, but I think with us, our fan base is so strong that they understand it, you know,” Davenport said. “But, you know, all the kids that are just… Read more »

The White Stripes rocker, banged up in a car crash last month, makes this perfectly clear on the band’s Website (www.whitestripes.com), posting actual footage from a surgery that inserted three screws into his broken left index finger. Really, a note from the doctor would have sufficed… But, no, White says he wanted fans who bought tickets to shows either canceled or postponed by the dinged digit to “better understand the complexity of the situation.” “A bone in the index finger of my fretting hand was shattered…making it absolutely impossible to play guitar,” White writes on the Website. “I’ve been instructed… Read more »

The San Diego rock group Switchfoot are continuing to make an extraordinary impact with their Columbia/RED Ink debut “The Beautiful Letdown.” The album debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #85 the first week of its release and is still currently on the chart at #187, with sales nearing the 100,000 mark. Switchfoot have embarked on a U.S. headlining tour over the last three months, selling out nearly every show well in advance, in top markets including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Nashville and recently in Los Angeles at both The House of Blues on June 13th as well… Read more »

Foo Fighters frontman/rock drummer extraordinaire Dave Grohl is showing up everywhere – his latest gig is as the drummer on the new Killing Joke album, Billboard reports in the April 12 issue. The project, which will be out in June on Sony worldwide, is tentatively titled “Axis of Evil.” Produced by Gang Of Four’s Andy Gill, the album is the veteran U.K. rock act’s first since 1996’s “Democracy.” It turns out that Grohl is a huge Killing Joke fan; he met the group’s leader, Jaz Coleman, in New Zealand recently and agreed to play on the album. They recorded the… Read more »

Concert tours to Southeast Asia have become the latest casualty of recent bomb blasts in Bali and the Philippines with veteran jazz guitarist George Benson and rock groups Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis canceling shows. “George Benson did cancel some dates that he had lined up for Indonesia,” promoter Nigel Peters said on Tuesday. “It’s obviously a direct relation to the Bali bombing. That’s the only reason this decision was taken.” A bomb attack at a nightclub on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on October 12 killed more than 180 people, most of them Australian. Ten people were… Read more »