The Killers' Brandon Flowers (file)
Photo: Getty Images

After last year's false start, Lollapalooza has stacked the deck for its return. Among the acts who will headline the now-sedentary two-day affair in Chicago on July 23 and 24 are Weezer, the Killers, the Pixies, a reunited Dinosaur Jr., Widespread Panic and Dashboard Confessional.

The show will take place at Hutchinson Field in Grant Park with around 30,000 fans expected each day. Also on board are former Chicagoan Liz Phair, the Dandy Warhols, Cake, the Arcade Fire, Billy Idol, Kaiser Chiefs, the reunited Digable Planets, Tegan and Sara, Kasabian, the Bravery, Louis XIV and the Walkmen.

Organizers are promising 60 bands on five stages. According to the festival's producers, 2,000 $35 tickets offered for presale recently sold in about 80 minutes, with regular tickets priced at $85 for a two-day pass. Ticket prices will eventually rise to between $100 and $115. Children under 10 will be admitted for free when accompanied by a paying adult, and some kid-friendly activities are promised on site. Through the festival's official Web site, producers are asking visual artists and inventors of "man-made machines" to submit works for use during the show. In addition the usual array of art, vendor booths and food, non-music diversions on tap include a runway fashion show.

Lollapalooza's organizers are also planning on shooting a movie of the event and have asked fans to submit stories and photos to a historical area on the Lolla Web site.

The rest of the lineup announced on Friday includes G. Love & Special Sauce, Blonde Redhead, the Black Keys, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Z-Trip, Los Amigos Invisibles, M83, VHS or Beta, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Soulive, Ambulance Ltd., Shout Out Louds, Blue Merle, the Warlocks, DeSol, World Leader Pretend, the Redwalls and the Changes.

The revival of Lollapalooza comes one year after the festival was canceled due to poor ticket sales for a bill that was to feature Morrissey, PJ Harvey, Modest Mouse, String Cheese Incident, the Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth (see "Lollapalooza Canceled; Organizers Cite Poor Ticket Sales"). Its resurrection comes at a time when two-day "destination" festivals such as Bonnaroo and Coachella have become increasingly popular.

• Weezer
• The Killers
• The Pixies
• Dashboard Confessional
• Dinosaur Jr.

Cake (file)
Photo: Jay Blakesburg for Sony

Over the next two weeks, Cake will play seven cities in Europe, then return to the U.S. to tour well through next year in support of their fifth album, Pressure Chief. And frontman John McCrea is about as excited to be back on the road as most people are at the thought of having their spleens surgically removed.

"Long live your fantasies about being in a touring rock band, but it's actually really rootless and depressing," McCrea said a day before heading to England. "Saying goodbye to friends and family for two years at a time has created a lot of chain-smoking, alcoholism and heroin addiction in musicians."

This is a typical comment from McCrea, a man who finds intense dissatisfaction in things others only strive for — such as hit videos, soundtrack offers and collaborations with top-notch producers. What the Cake founder loves, however, is writing and recording music, which may explain why his songs are frequently jaunty and spirited, buoyed by bleating horns, singing violins, quirky guitar lines and spectral keyboards. By contrast, McCrea's lyrics address isolation, romantic disillusionment, rampant consumerism and the destruction of the environment.

"I like to have sadness sitting on the same couch as humor," he said. "A lot of my favorite books and movies have elements of opposing emotional extremes housed within the same narrative. And that's not irony or sarcasm. It's more about hopelessness. When you're a creative person and you have to play the same song over and over every night and live on a bus and eat truck-stop food, that's not a very creatively fulfilling lifestyle."

Road fatigue wasn't the only motivation for Pressure Chief's disconsolate lyrics. The war in Iraq, terrorism and the sinking U.S. economy played a role as well. Still, McCrea emphasized that Cake are not a political band, adding that neither the album title nor its cover art — two hands shaking in front of a globe — were meant as commentary on world events. "I wanted to depict the menacing mood in America when we were making the album but not really make judgments about it," McCrea said. "People seem to almost be enjoying fear right now. There's a lot of relevance to the Joseph Goebbels quote that if you keep the populace afraid, you can get them to do anything. It's certainly a very interesting time to be alive if you're a writer."

Even though it exists outside of the reach of most current rock, Pressure Chief has been embraced by rock fans; it debuted at #17 three weeks ago and is now at #79 on the Billboard albums chart. Cake's originality and craftsmanship surely have a lot to do with their appeal, but don't tell that to McCrea, who shrugs off the band's success as fleeting and transitory.

"I don't think we're building our fanbase with this album; I just think our pre-existing fans are deciding to buy another album," he said. "Culturally, we're totally not right for the time, and I'm sure next week we'll have, like, zero more records sold."

McCrea isn't just skeptical about Cake's ability to prosper in the contemporary rock landscape. He also doubts that any artist can survive in what he calls a "self-hating culture."

"Things that become popular have a mandatory expiration," he explained. "When too many of your neighbors know about something, it's no longer cool. Things have to reinvent themselves, whether it's rock bands or a new flavor of dishwashing detergent. There's this endless appetite for new inducements to buy, sometimes unnecessarily. And I think strident rejection of gratuitous innovation has made us culturally irrelevant."

Cake haven't just refused to change with the times: They've consciously adhered to the same types of themes and formulas since their 1994 debut, Motorcade of Generosity. All of their album art has been similar, and their sound has evolved only gradually over the past decade. Even their new video for "No Phone" is incredibly reminiscent of the well-received clip for their 2001 hit "Short Skirt/Long Jacket," in which the song is played on headphones to various people, who provide a running commentary (see "Cake Concoct New Versions Of Hit Video").

"In our strident and obstinate refusal to engage in gratuitous innovation, we decided to do what the record company calls 'the same video again,' " McCrea said. "We went around with a camera on the street and got people to put headphones on, and instead of talking over the song, we just got them to dance however they felt like dancing. So far, the label has been kind of resistant, so we may try to do another edit of it. We'll see what happens."

Cake worked on Pressure Chief in a house in Sacramento, which they converted to a studio. They decided to produce the record themselves to avoid the discomfort of outside intervention. They brought in a bunch of modern recording equipment but didn't have a lot of experience operating the machinery, which accounts for the disc's rough sound.

"There are a lot of imperfections because the so-called 'rules of the studio' were broken on this album," he said. "A lot of bands try to do that in order to sound exactly like 1967 late autumn New York or something. We ended up sounding the way we did because we didn't know what we were doing. But it ends up being an album that's more aligned with music I like to listen to, in terms of production values. It's not a slick album, but it's also very open-faced."

• Cake

A show on D12's current tour, scheduled for July 13 in Boynton Beach, Florida, has been canceled in the wake of a melee at the host club last weekend. Two patrons were stabbed and three others injured after several fights broke out at Club Ovation. The promoter has denied that the incident is the reason for the cancellation, citing a D12 "scheduling conflict" instead. ...

Axl Rose has been unable to obtain a preliminary injunction against Cleopatra Records to prevent the release of the album Hollywood Rose - The Roots of Guns N' Roses. On Tuesday, a United States District Court judge decided that no trademark infringement, violation of rights in name and likeness or unfair competition had taken place. Hollywood Rose features five 1984 songs from the band Rose and Izzy Stradlin formed with Chris Weber and Johnny Kreis before Guns N' Roses. ... The "Got Milk?" magazine ads featuring milk-mustached Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are being retracted, out of "sensitivity to their current situation," i.e. Mary-Kate's treatment for an eating disorder. The ads were supposed to run through the end of the month and could still run in the future, according to the director of the Milk Processor Education Program. ...

So you think Britney Spears is pregnant? Care to make a wager on that? Online sports betting site WagerOnSports.com has announced odds on the sex of Britney's firstborn, and odds on when Spears and Kevin Federline will get married. The odds that the pop star will have either a boy or girl are set at 10-11. All bets are off, however, and your money will be refunded if Spears is not pregnant by April 1, 2005. If you'd rather bet on the pop singer's wedding date, the odds that she'll say "I do" after October 31 are set at 1-6, while the odds that she'll tie the knot before Halloween are 4-1. ... Following in the footsteps of Drew Barrymore, Claudia Schiffer and Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton is a now a Guess girl. The hottie hotel heiress can be seen in a series of ads for the Guess subsidiary Marciano. ...

Everyone's favorite talking aardvark is getting some star power. The voices of Clay Aiken, Kelly Ripa and Kevin Bacon can be heard on "Arthur Celebrity Audiobook," available on Amazon.com. Most of the proceeds from the sale of the audiobook for children will benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. ... Singer Syreeta Wright, ex-wife of Stevie Wonder, died Monday after a long struggle with breast cancer. Wright and Wonder were married in 1970 and split up two years later but remained close friends and collaborators. Among the many songs she co-wrote with Wonder was his 1970 hit "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours." ...

With more free time this summer than they'd expected due to the cancellation of Lollapalooza, the Flaming Lips have recorded two new songs, tentatively titled "Mr. Ambulance Driver" and "Space Bible," as well as a contribution to the upcoming soundtrack for "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie." ... Problems continue to plague the Vines. After having to cancel their North American tour with Incubus due to exhaustion, the Australian band is unable to participate in the U.K. Reading and Leeds festivals, August 28-29, because the last few months have been too physically and mentally demanding. ...

3LW have delayed their first album on Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Records until the fall. "We want it to be perfect," explained Kiely Williams, who said almost every recorded song so far has been considered as a single. "The problem is, when we fall in love with a song we're so obsessive that we'll listen to that song straight for a month and then hate it after that." ... Sevendust and Nonpoint will launch a summer tour Thursday night (July 8) in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dates run through July 30 in Weedsport, New York. ...

Cake will release their fifth album, Pressure Chief, on October 5. The band made the record in a rented house in its hometown of Sacramento, California. ... Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders gave Procter & Gamble employees an early morning earful this week, when they found a message from the rock icon in their voicemail. The animal-rights activist asked for their help via an automated dialing service in getting P&G subsidiary Iams to stop conducting tests on dogs and cats that she considers to be cruel. "Don't think these tests are necessary or required by law. They aren't," she said in the message. "Other companies test in other ways. So, please, urge your employer to end laboratory tests and, instead, adopt in-home testing and humane studies in cooperation with veterinarians whose patients already have diseases Iams is interested in." ...

Madonna's third children's book, "Yakov and the Seven Thieves," debuts at #7 on The New York Times best-seller list, just three weeks after its release. This is the singer's third book in a row to hit the list in the children's picture book category. Her fourth book, "The Adventures of Abdi," is due out November 8. ... Hip-hop journalist Ronin Ro just sold his latest book, "Raising Hell: Run-DMC, Jam Master Jay and the Birth of the Hip-Hop Industry," to Amistad/Harper. Ro's book will detail how Run-DMC's commercial and artistic success forever transformed the expression of American pop culture, creating a multibillion-dollar industry and foretelling the evolution of hip-hop. Ro's editor said the book should be out by next fall. ...

Irish indie rock group the Thrills will release their sophomore album, Let's Bottle Bohemia, on September 14. The follow-up to the band's debut, So Much for the City, features an appearance by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. "Not for All the Love in the World" will be the first single. ... Free said she has put her album on hold until former Elektra head Sylvia Rhone has a new home for her to jump to. In the meantime, she's preparing to launch a makeup line in December. ...

07.07.04

Outkast have come under fire in the U.K. for a poster promoting their latest album, Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below. An image of Andre 3000 holding a smoking pink gun has been targeted by the U.K. advertising watchdog organization Advertising Standards Authority for being "irresponsible" and glorifying gun use. The image is also in the album's CD booklet. Outkast's U.K. record label, BMG, said the poster was meant to be ironic. ...

Though R. Kelly was due back in court on child-pornography charges August 13, he got the date pushed back to September 27, so that he could go on tour. ... First season "American Idol" finalist Tamyra Gray will join the third season's singers as a special guest on the American Idols Live Tour. Gray, promoting her recently released debut album, The Dreamer, will hit 42 of the 49 cities with Fantasia and the gang. ...

Farnsworth Bentley is finalizing the designs for his umbrella line, due in the fall, which he said will include a lot of fuchsia. "Fuchsia is the new pink. For those of you who have 64 crayons with the sharpener in the back, you know what I'm talking about." ... While he's on tour in England, Usher will receive an honorary diploma from London's Newham College of Further Education. On Thursday, the R&B star will be awarded for helping the school out with a program to aid troubled students find success in the music industry. ...

Will the real dog-snatcher please stand up? A suspect in a dognapping incident in Trenton, New Jersey, has been described as an Eminem look-alike. A 6' tall white male, with bleached-blond hair, tattoos and a T-shirt emblazoned with the word "Shady" (Eminem's clothing company), walked into JP O'Neill's kennel and snatched a Pomeranian-Chihuahua mix selling for $450. Police acknowledge that the suspect closely resembles the megastar rapper and hope that will help in his apprehension. ... 3 Doors Down bassist Todd Harrell is starting his own label, Imprint Records, and he's looking for a few good Southerners. So he's holding a contest in six Southeastern states, and the final 11 bands will compete in a talent show for a record contract. The label will produce and coordinate distribution of the winning band's album and will put the group on tour. The finals will take place in Gulfport, Mississippi, August 13 and 14. Interested bands should log onto www.3doorsdown.com for more information. ...

Live footage of Staind, Shinedown and Sevendust will be included in a DVD of last year's Locobazooka! festival, which comes out July 20. Proceeds will be donated to Home for Our Troops, which constructs handicapped-adjusted houses for severely disabled soldiers. Locobazooka! 2004 took place September 28 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, at the city's Municipal Airport and drew 15,000 fans. The show also featured Smile Empty Soul, Powerman 5000, Lacuna Coil, Lo-Pro and others. ... Songs by Kid Rock, Cypress Hill, Fu Manchu and Down will be featured on the soundtrack to the movie "Motorcycle Mania 3," which comes out July 27. Jesse James, the CEO and chief designer for West Coast Choppers and the host of Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage," handpicked the tracks for the album, which also includes songs by Lou Rawls, Corrosion of Conformity, New Bomb Turks, the Supersuckers, Danzig and others. ...

The final act has been booked for the Cure's Curiosa Festival. Joining second-stage acts Thursday, Muse, Cursive, Melissa Auf Der Maur, Cooper Temple Clause and Head Automatica will be Sympathy for the Record Industry act Scarling. The Curiosa Festival kicks off July 24 in West Palm Beach, Florida. ... Paris Hilton isn't going to have to worry about people trying to figure out which perfume in stores is her brand — it'll simply be called "Paris Hilton." Parlux Fragrances is planning a soft launch for the line in November, and will start promoting it soon after for an official Valentine's Day release. ...

The last time Ready for the World had a hit record out, kids were clamoring to watch "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" on TV, the Mets were the baddest baseball team in New York and nobody would laugh at you if you sported a jheri curl. Well, get ready for some nostalgia. The Flint, Michigan, collective, which scored the hits "Oh Sheila" and "Love You Down" in the '80s, is trying to come back and reclaim the spotlight with the July 20 release of She Said She Wants Some. ... Gavin Rossdale, Gwen Stefani's hubby and former frontman of '90s rock band Bush, has formed a new group called Institute. Rossdale recorded 14 tracks with the band in Los Angeles, and plans to travel to New York in August to complete three more songs before releasing a full album. ...

Brides of Destruction/ Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx says he will sue Dragonfly Clothing for breach of contract as the company has reneged on payments to Sixx for his clothing line. In a post on his Web site, Sixx said that the company grossed "millions of dollars in sales" on his clothing line, but has offered the rocker "hardly a dime." ... Although Hoobastank's original treatment for their second video for "Same Direction" had a guest-star spot for the mom of the fictional lost member of their band, Joan Jett's cameo in the clip was altered in the final version so that she's now playing a sister, not a mother. ...

• D12
• Guns N' Roses
• Britney Spears
• Clay Aiken
• 3LW

Tom Waits
Photo: Marina Chavez

Tired of Teletubbies? Ragged on Raffi? Maybe you're just plain sick of kids' music that only kids can enjoy.

If so, don't be snowed by the title of the new children's music compilation For the Kids. True, the just-released disc features artists such as Cake, Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan, Guster, John Ondrasik (Five for Fighting) and Tom Waits singing a mix of original songs, "Sesame Street" classics and toddler standards. But it works just as well in mom's office as it does in the rumpus room.

Released by Nettwerk America Records, the album is a fundraiser for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, the five-year-old initiative aimed at restoring music programs in public elementary and middle schools.

Though VH1 Save the Music has been helped by royalties from the series of VH1 Divas Live albums, For the Kids is the first album created specifically to raise funds for the program. "We wanted to have a CD that would be great for kids and that parents could enjoy as well," said Bob Morrison, executive director of the foundation. "The challenge was to find contemporary artists doing songs that were great for kids."

Some, like Cake, decided to put their unique spin on such "Muppet Show" classics as "Mahna Mahna," turning the silly song into a guitar-rocking, funky South-of-the-Border jam. Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson and Steven Page are natural Bert and Ernie manqué on their cover of the "Sesame Street" song "La La La La Lemon."

For several of the artists, the album was a chance to uncork original songs inspired by the births of their own kids, who no doubt rock a bit more than the average toddler. Former Del Fuego and current kiddie song superstar Dan Zanes gets his zydeco on in "Wonderwheel" from his Family Dance album, and Toad the Wet Sprocket singer Glen Phillips sings of the joys of being a play-at-home dad on a song he wrote especially for the album, "Have a Little Fun."

Like Semisonic singer Dan Wilson — whose wistful acoustic fantasy "Willie the King" envisions a world where moms and dads don't cry anymore — John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting was inspired to write an original tune using memories of childhood innocence.

In Ondrasik's case, it was the birth of his son, Johnny, that led to the creation of "The Hoppity Song," a pointedly silly romp.

When Sixpence None the Richer found out their first choice was already taken, they were thrown for a loop.

"We were envious that Sarah [McLachlan] took 'The Rainbow Connection,' " said Sixpence singer Leigh Nash. "We were at a loss and it took us a while to find a new song." Nash discovered her band's contribution on a CD of children's lullabies from the 1930s. "We were going to do 'Teddy Bear Picnic,' which is one of my favorite songs from that era," she said. "But it turned out to be too much of a stretch and, well, the lyrics are kind of creepy."

On that same CD they found a song they'd never heard of called "Goodnight Children Everywhere," which they arranged to create the sweeping majesty of an animated Disney classic. Other tracks on the album made sense for more personal reasons.

"I think Darius [Rucker's] version of 'It's All Right to Cry' was a particularly nice touch from someone who is a relatively new father," Morrison said of the Hootie & the Blowfish singer's take on the 1972 song from Marlo Thomas' celebrated Free to Be ... You and Me album.

Morrison says that to date, VH1 Save the Music has donated $21 million worth of musical instruments to 900 public schools.

For the Kids track list:

• Cake - "Mahna Mahna"
• Barenaked Ladies - "La La La La Lemon"
• Sarah McLachlan - "The Rainbow Connection"
• Guster - "I've Got to Be Clean"
• Dan Zanes - "Wonderwheel"
• Glen Phillips - "Have a Little Fun With Me"
• John Ondrasik - "The Hoppity Song"
• Billy Bragg w/Wilco - "My Flying Saucer"
• Darius Rucker - "It's All Right to Cry"
• Ivy - "Sing"
• Remy Zero - "Bright Eyes"
• Dan Wilson - "Willie the King"
• Bleu - "Snow Day"
• Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk - "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
• Sixpence None the Richer - "Goodnight Children Everywhere"
• Tom Waits - "Bend Down the Branches"

• Tom Waits
• Sarah McLachlan
• Cake

Melissa Auf Der Maur performs at Edgefest.
Photo: Nathan Lichtman

BARRIE, Ontario — With temperatures soaring into the 90s before the gates even opened, it became all too clear that the annual Edgefest was going to be a test of patience and endurance for both the fans and performers.

With nowhere to hide from the scorching sun, the lethargic and eclectic attendees slowly filled Molson Park, hoping for something to get their minds off the heat. They didn't have to wait long.

When a planned 3:20 p.m. set by Sevendust was postponed due to a problem with the band crossing Canada's border, Jerry Cantrell was asked to swap spots with the metal quintet. The seemingly simple flip-flop of set times ended up creating a rift that echoed throughout the large crowd for the remainder of the day.

Taking the stage in blue jeans with black leather accents, a wallet chain and a black T-shirt, Jerry Cantrell exuded the spirit of a carefree man ready to share material from his former band Alice in Chains and his latest solo release, Degradation Trip, with an early afternoon crowd.

For Cantrell, things got off to a good enough start, but quickly lapsed into a series of frustrating mishaps. Opening with the thick, rolling fuzz of "Them Bones," Cantrell performed a faithful version of the Alice in Chains hit. The tightly packed crowd around the stage chanted "Jerry, Jerry!" in response.

Things started to fall apart at the beginning of another Alice in Chains classic, "Would?," in which Cantrell's guitar shorted out before the deep opening bass groove even had a chance to finish. While an apologetic Cantrell rushed to fix his equipment, he acknowledged his chanting supporters by saying, "If you can bear with us, we'll try to get through as much as we can for you."

Midway through "Right Turn," Cantrell was reunited with a working guitar to close out a mellow rendition of the Sap EP track. After tripping on a microphone cable moments before launching into his latest single, "Anger Rising," it was clear that Cantrell was not happy with the direction of his set.

"Anger Rising" would prove to be the last song in his abbreviated set list, but not before Cantrell threw his guitar to the ground and left the crowd with a disparaging remark toward Sevendust. Cantrell omitted the "dust" in Sevendust and substituted a four-letter obscenity in letting the crowd know who was up next.

Crossing the stage shirtless and in black, shiny pants, Sevendust frontman Lajon Witherspoon not only brought music from the quintet's latest release, Animosity, to the Edgefest crowd, but didn't hide his animosity toward Cantrell.

"When Jerry Cantrell says f--- Sevendust, I say f--- you, Jerry Cantrell," Witherspoon proclaimed before reiterating the message by saying, "I hope you heard me, Jerry Cantrell." With no love lost between the apparently now-feuding parties, Sevendust ripped into an aggressive cut, "Waffle," before leaving the stage in an equally disturbed fashion as Cantrell.

The festival's four stages proved to be too great of a distance apart for many to hike more than once in the overwhelming heat. "I came here to see Jerry Cantrell, and now that he's upset, that took a little bit of the fun out of the experience for me," attendee Hal Sultani of Windsor, Ontario, remarked.

The young, predominantly college-age crowd crossed the grounds of Molson Park in everything from practical bathing suits to jeans and winter stocking caps. Of course, many were draped in Canadian flags in celebration of the national holiday, Canada Day. What little shade was available was immediately filled with exhausted fans who slept or drank as much water as they could at nearly four bucks a bottle.

Melissa Auf Der Maur rattled the second stage crowd with her Black Sabbath tribute band, Hand of Doom, which churned out new takes on a slew of tracks from the classic catalogue, including "Paranoid," "Sweet Leaf" and "War Pigs." Sporting a near-transparent white outfit and a Canadian flag as a cape, Auf Der Maur wished the intrigued crowd a "happy Black Sabbath day every day this summer," before her exit.

Headliners Nickelback brought straight-ahead rock to a climax after a mildly received Cake, with a tight, one-hour set that pulled a wealth of material from their breakthrough album, Silver Side Up, and maximized speaker wattage on the cuts "Too Bad" and crowd sing-along "How You Remind Me." At the end of the day, though, the tired, somewhat frustrated fans filed out of Molson Park just as quietly as they had entered, hoping to find refuge in air-conditioned cars and to pull up a seat at their kitchen sinks for a long night of drinking water.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the world, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

• Jerry Cantrell
• Sevendust
• Nickelback
• Auf Der Maur
• Cake

Wu-Tang Clan will perform with Mobb Deep, Fat Joe and Redman on May 17 at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, as part of a literacy tour to raise money to buy books for children, according to a spokesperson for the RZA. There is no word on how long the tour will last or which, if any, of the other acts will participate for the remainder of the outings. ... Cake, Flaming Lips and De La Soul are among the artists slated for the Unlimited Sunlight 2002 tour, scheduled to launch in mid-July. Other groups participating in what is being planned as a five-week trek are Modest Mouse and the Hacksaw Boys. ...

While Pink's music isn't just for kids, her song "Get the Party Started" was named Favorite Song at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on Saturday. Usher received Favorite Male Singer, Baha Men took Favorite Band and Destiny's Child won Favorite Singing Group at the event. ... Rock City honored hometown darlings the White Stripes at the 2002 Detroit Music Awards by handing over nods for Outstanding National Album (White Blood Cells) and Outstanding National Single ("Hotel Yorba"). ... If Backstreet Boy Nick Carter doesn't sing a victory song following the American Power Boat Association Super Vee Race next Sunday in Daytona Beach, Florida, at least he'll sing before the event. Carter will croon the national anthem moments before his 43-foot offshore racing powerboat (piloted by his dad) revs off. ...

Mandy Moore's hit movie, "A Walk to Remember," will be released on DVD and VHS on July 9. Moore is currently shooting her next film, "Try Seventeen" with Elijah Wood, in Vancouver through the end of the month. ... Buckcherry singer Josh Todd plays a small role in "The Salton Sea," a thriller starring Val Kilmer and Vincent D'Onofrio due in theaters this summer. Classic rocker Meat Loaf also appears in the flick. ...

Genre-bending singer/songwriter/rapper Citizen Cope, who recently finished a 42-date tour with Nelly Furtado, is in a San Francisco studio this week with Carlos Santana recording a possible collaboration for the guitar legend's upcoming album. Cope also just shot a video for his new single, "If There's Love." ... Tesla, Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil, Jackyl and Skid Row will join forces for the 40-date Rock Never Stops Tour, scheduled to kick off May 17 in Maryland Heights, Missouri, and wrap up August 10 in Kelseyville, California. Headliners Tesla are promoting their new double album, Replugged Live. ...

04.19.02

Janet Jackson is being celebrated yet again, this time as the recipient of the first Essence magazine readers' choice Entertainer of the Year Award at the 2002 Essence Awards ceremony at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on May 31. Alicia Keys, India.Arie and longtime Jackson collaborators James "Jimmy Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis will also be honored at the event, which Fox will air on June 6. ... The battle is on for diva suprema as Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera and Shakira duke it out for Outstanding Female Performer and Outstanding Music Video at the 2002 American Latino Media Arts Awards. Enrique Iglesias, Fat Joe, Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin are all in the running for Outstanding Male Performer at the ALMA ceremony, which is scheduled to take place on May 18 at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium and air June 1 on ABC. ...

Ashanti, Ja Rule, Pink and No Doubt will hit the stage at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on June 15 along with Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Alanis Morissette, O-Town, the Calling, Michelle Branch, India.Arie, Aaron Carter, Marc Anthony, Paulina Rubio and Craig David as part of the day-long KIIS-FM Wango Tango festival. Listeners can win tickets through the station starting Friday (April 19) or purchase them after April 27. ... Before they head West, Pink, Mary J. Blige, Alanis Morissette, Craig David, Michelle Branch, Celine Dion, Aaron Carter and Marc Anthony will appear at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on June 2 as part of Z100's Zootopia 2002. Bon Jovi, Shakira, P. Diddy, Goo Goo Dolls and Aaron's big brother Nick Carter will join them for the East Coast date. ...

Scarface — now known as just Face, according to Def Jam — begins work on the first clip from his upcoming The Fix. "My Block" rolls out May 12 and 13 in Houston with director Marc Klasfeld (Nelly, Alien Ant Farm) at the helm. ... The flag flown over the Woodstock stage in 1969 may proudly wave in some lucky bidder's home when the cultural artifact, displaying only 46 stars arranged in a peace sign, hits the Sotheby's auction block on May 23. Additional information on the flag, which was found on a farm adjacent to the one owned by Max Yasgur, can be found at sothebys.com.

• Wu-Tang Clan
• P!nk
• Nick Carter
• Mandy Moore
• Cake

Considering that Cake frontman John McCrea has bashed chest-thumping arena rock in the past, it's strange to see his band sharing a bill with Stone Temple Pilots at the Rock For Roses concert April 12 in Austin, Texas. The show will jumpstart the 2002 Ride for the Roses Weekend, a fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. ... Following Sunday's show, the Damned have withdrawn from Rob Zombie's Demon Speeding Tour to the surprise of no one who thought the pairing of the 26-year-old punk band with Zombie's B-movie horror shtick was odd to begin with. "Unfortunately, from the very first show it was apparent that the Damned's subtle blend of gothic punk was lost on the predominately metal crowds," guitarist Captain Sensible wrote on the band's Web site. ...

Cher will play "a heavenly character" in the one-hour season finale of the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace," according to USA Today. The episode airs May 16. ... Sludge kings the Melvins have lined up nine dates (with more to come) in support of their Hostile Ambient Takeover beginning April 8 in Las Vegas. After jaunting 'cross Australia with Tool through the latter half of the month, they'll restart their Stateside outing on May 13 in Spokane, Washington. ...

Rabblerousing rocker Andrew WK, whose I Get Wet hits stores next Tuesday, will "Party Hard" as musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" April 13. The episode will be hosted by WWF superstar the Rock ... Tricky, Richard Dorfmeister and other DJs have remixed classic jazz tracks from Verve's back catalog for the upcoming album Verve Remixed. Tricky revamped Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and Dorfmeister updated Willie Bobo's "Spanish Grease." ...

03.19.02

Sevendust will begin their spring tour with Reveille and Breaking Point on April 3 in Plainview, New York. The last date of the 23-date jaunt is July 27 at the Rolling Rock Town Fair in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. ... A rare acoustic performance by Alanis Morissette that includes "Hands Clean," "Utopia" and "Thank U" will be posted on Warner Bros. Online's Live Concert Series Web site beginning March 19. ... A spokesperson for Lil' Bow Wow says the teen rapper is planning a tour with B2K and IMX to kick off in July. Bow Wow's last big outing, aptly titled the Scream Tour, also featured B2K as an opening act. ...

R.E.M. speak out on the way paper is made in a new series of public service announcements for the Paper Campaign. "Insist that the paper you use is tree-free," singer Michael Stipe says in one the forest preservation ads. ... Oasis will release a new album this summer, and singer Liam Gallagher has told NME the disc will be called Heathen Chemistry. Confirmed songs include the title track, the single "The Hindu Times," "Force of Nature," "Songbird," "Little by Little," "Better Man," "Born on a Different Cloud," "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" and "Hung in a Bad Place." ... English goth-punk legends Siouxsie and the Banshees have reunited for a handful of U.S. shows. The group will open its six-date tour on April 17 in Washington, D.C., and wind up 10 days later at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. ...

Pop singer Robbie Williams recently became ordained so he could officiate a wedding between Cult bassist Billy Morrison and his fianceé, Jennifer Holliday. Williams joined Los Angeles' nondenominational Universal Ministries, where he is now known as the Rev. Robert Williams. ... After celebrating 20 years with Soul Asylum, singer Dave Pirner will release his debut solo album in June on Ultimatum Music, home of former Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis. Pirner wrote and produced the still-untitled album over a three-year span and has described it as having an R&B feel. ...

Former Eels member Tommy Walter's Abandoned Pools have signed on to open for Garbage on their upcoming North American tour, beginning April 19 in Toronto and ending June 1 in Los Angeles. ... Pete Yorn will re-release 2001's Musicforthemorningafter on April 23 with a bonus disc featuring a new version of "Strange Condition" with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck; covers of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" and "New York Serenade," the Smiths' "Panic," and David Bowie's "China Girl;" and videos for "Strange Condition," "For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is)," "Life on a Chain" and "June." Yorn kicks off a headlining club tour on April 2 in Santa Ana, California, before joining a Weezer trek that begins April 23 in Edmonton, Alberta. ... Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will head out on the road for their first tour in four years. The 17-date trek starts April 16 in Los Angeles and wraps up May 8 in Austin, Texas. ...

• Stone Temple Pilots
• Cake
• The Damned
• Rob Zombie
• Cher

Cake
Photo: Jay Blakesburg for Sony

Cake, Pete Yorn, the Strokes, Perry Farrell and a Siouxsie and the Banshees reunion are among the additions to the third Coachella Music and Arts Festival.

Organizers for the two-day concert, scheduled for Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California, on April 27 and 28, have also added dozens of electronic music acts, including Sandra Collins and Pete Tong.

Cake, Yorn and Siouxsie and the Banshees join previously announced acts Björk, the Chemical Brothers, Sasha and Digweed, Groove Armada, Jurassic 5, Queens of the Stone Age and KRS-One on April 27. Jack Johnson, the Beta Band, G. Love and Special Sauce, the Charlatans UK, Cornershop, Folk Implosion, Jimmy Van M, Lee Burridge, International Noise Conspiracy, Z-Trip, Pharcyde, the Vines, Citizen Cope, Kosheen, Forest for the Trees, Princess Superstar and Saul Williams will also perform on Coachella's first day.

The Strokes, Farrell (as DJ Peretz), Collins and Tong will join Oasis, Foo Fighters, the Prodigy, Paul Oakenfold, Belle and Sebastian, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Mos Def, Dilated Peoples, Ozomatli and DJ Tiesto on April 28. New acts for the second day include Cornershop, BT, Saves the Day, Galactic, Christopher Lawrence, DJ Dan, Zero 7, Blonde Redhead, the Mars Volta, Elbow, Triple Threat, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Fairview, Ping Pong Bitches, Rock Steady Crew, Medusa and Cut Chemist.

Basement Jaxx and St. Germain (see ) are no longer confirmed for the festival, organizers said Tuesday (February 26).

Tickets for Coachella, which cost $75 each day, go on sale Saturday. Two-day passes will be sold for $125. Nearby camping sights and other information can be found on the festival's official Web site.

• The Strokes
• Perry Farrell
• Cake
• Pete Yorn
• Siouxsie and the Banshees

Cake
Photo: Jay Blakesburg for Sony

Never before has Emeril Lagasse been so challenged by Cake.

That's Cake the band, whose tasty new video provides a little competition for Emeril's cooking show. Quirky frontman John McCrea, who was behind the lens on the comical "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" video, recently brought his band to the New School of Cooking in Culver City, California, to direct the clip for "Love You Madly," off Comfort Eagle (2001).

The video spoofs the cult Japanese cooking show "Iron Chef" and features Cake drummer Pete McNeal and trumpeter/keyboardist Vince Di Fiore facing off over a pumpkin dish.

Cake's Columbia Records publicist said McNeal and Di Fiore really cooked the dishes and were not acting when they watched carefully as judges critiqued their finished products.

Only one of the judges, however, is an actual food expert: "The Frugal Gourmet" Jeff Smith. The others were actress Phyllis Diller and "Super Freak" singer Rick James.

Cake shot the video while passing through Los Angeles on their current tour with Beulah, which plays Wednesday in St. Louis and wraps November 19 in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Sacramento, California, rockers will perform "Love You Madly," an aching love song with a disco groove, on the "Late Show With David Letterman" on November 29.

• Cake

Black Crowes' Chris Robinson
Photo: V2

SEATTLE — More than 200,000 music fans braved rainy patches and crowded performance areas to pour into the multivenue Seattle Center grounds Friday through Monday for the 31st annual Bumbershoot festival. The $16-per-day ticket price — for such acts as David Lee Roth, Cake, Guided by Voices and Mos Def, along with scores of smaller-caliber bands and a plethora of artists in nearly every creative medium — proved a bargain.

The weekend kicked off with a Memorial Stadium hip-hop showcase featuring Mos Def, Jurassic 5 and Dilated Peoples. Dilated kicked out the jams with a high-energy set of favorites and a sneak preview of their upcoming album, Expansion Team. Seeming loath to release the stage to the next act, they led the massive crowd in a bouncing call-and-response session of hip-hop aerobics.

The energy came down a notch when J5 hit the stage. Although they delivered an easygoing vibe, the Los Angeles collective demonstrated less SoCal chill and more urban grit in person than they do on record. Turntablists DJ Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist pumped addictive beats and the audience responded appropriately.

Perhaps the night's biggest surprise was headliner Mos Def, who Mos Definitely ran half an hour late. The reason became apparent when he hit the stage. The artist sometimes considered hip-hop's conscience has begun playing more rockcentric shows, and this one required a full backing band. Once the beats-happy crowd got used to the idea, wah-wah guitar and all (the less enthusiastic headed for the exits), hundreds jumped for classic tracks off last year's Black on Both Sides filtered through a Hendrix/Chili Peppers/Rage Against the Machine kaleidoscope. Mos' band contained members of black rock groups Funkadelic, Living Colour and Bad Brains.

A different sort of rock emerged from the same stage Saturday, when the bluesy, whisky-soaked Black Crowes played to an equally packed stadium. Frontman Chris Robinson is an anomaly in the current climate of shoegazers and Fred Durst-y nü-metallers: a reborn, Southern-fried Jagger, all sexy prancing and dirty lyricism. Barefoot and clad in a voluminous red scarf, unbuttoned-to-the-navel shirt and second-skin bell-bottoms, Robinson (and band) delivered a hard-charging selection of tracks from the Crowes' recent Lions before pleasing the crowd with older favorites such as "Remedy" and "Hard to Handle."

Lines snaked around the Key Arena for joke-rockers Ween, who indulged their astonishingly enthusiastic fans with such inspiring ditties as "Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down)," "Waving My Di-- in the Wind" and the always-endearing, country-tinged "Piss Up a Rope."

Many shows saw as many as 500 ticket holders left grumbling in line as venues reached their capacity, a problem the festival tried to alleviate by requiring free, limited-number wristbands (available at kiosks) for the more popular shows.

On the other end of the Center, quietly elegiac rockers Low and the aching, otherworldly cult figure Cat Power played to a rapt audience in the Opera House. Even the notoriously skittish Power was buoyant, running through gorgeously stripped-down covers of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Free Bird." Power posed the rhetorical question "What would Keith Richards do?" as she exited the stage with Richards-esque hip swivels.

David Lee Roth whiplashed a full arena straight back to 1984 as the festival hurtled forward Sunday, proving himself just as loud, lewd and double-jointed as ever. Rock's long-reigning showman doused the audience in Jack Daniels and belted out Van Halen classics while showcasing his genital area and undiminished mid-air toe-touching abilities.

On Monday, a far more subdued Cake followed G Love and Special Sauce with a solid set of new and old. After enlisting a large portion of the high-energy crowd as backing singers, the group introduced "mountaineer dancers" Project Bandaloop, whose acrobatic Spider-Man antics above the band provided the set with its finale.

High-wire acrobatics like these — not to mention underground heroics, top-40 hall-of-famers and surprise guests, including former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who joined Los Angeles rockers Bluebird for three songs on Friday in the Liquid Lounge — are what keep Bumbershoot fans coming back for more after three decades.

• The Black Crowes
• Mos Def
• David Lee Roth
• Jurassic 5
• Guided By Voices