Beastie Boys Ad-Rock and MCA
Photo: MTV News

The Beastie Boys, making their first onstage appearance in more than two years, will headline a benefit concert October 28 in New York for charities helping those affected by the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

The show, titled New Yorkers Against Violence, will take place at the Hammerstein Ballroom and will also feature the Strokes, Cibo Matto, poet Saul Williams and DJ Stretch Armstrong, Beastie Boys MCA and Ad-Rock told MTV News on Tuesday (October 16). The B-52's, whose singer Fred Schneider was born in New Jersey, round out the primarily New York-area lineup.

The inspiration for the show hit the Boys almost instantly. "[The idea came to us] at about 11:00 on the 11th," Ad-Rock said. "We all watched it happen, and it was like, 'Man, we've got to do something.' The immediate reaction was, we've got to go down there — we could dig — what can we do to help? We're musicians. We know musicians. This is what we're going to do. This is how we can help out."

A second show is being discussed, possibly with post-hardcore vets Rival Schools, MCA and Ad-Rock said.

Tickets for the concert, priced at $50 each, go on sale Wednesday. Proceeds will be donated to a disaster relief fund established by the New York Women's Foundation, a nonprofit group that aids low-income women, and the New York Association for New Americans Inc., a group dedicated to helping refugees and immigrants rebuild their lives, families and communities.

"We're trying to do this in two parts," Ad-Rock explained. "First off, we're doing our part to raise money for the people who need help. While we're doing that, there's a lot going on right now. There's a lot of violence going on right now, and we feel like we need to talk about that."

The last time MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D passed the mic publicly was for 1999's Tibetan Freedom Concert in East Troy, Wisconsin, alongside Rage Against the Machine, Run-D.M.C., the Roots and Eddie Vedder. Plans for a 2001 TFC in London fell through earlier this year (see "Tibetan Freedom Concert In London Postponed").

Ad-Rock, however, embarked on a brief tour this spring in support of Simply Mortified, the second album by his BS2000 side project, released in February (see "Mike D Producing Spiritualist's Album While Ad-Rock Tours").

For more information on and audience reaction to the attacks, including tips on how you can help, see "9.11.01: Moving Forward."

• Beastie Boys
• The Strokes
• Cibo Matto
• Stretch Arm Strong
• The B-52's

Gorillaz
Photo: Gorillaz.com

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, but you might want to pay attention to the music he's making — especially if he's Blur frontman Damon Albarn or workaholic hip-hop producer Dan the Automator.

The duo's Gorillaz project — which includes such contributors as Miho Hatori from Cibo Matto, Talking Head Tina Weymouth, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and Buena Vista Social Club's Ibrahim Ferrer — will finally be hitting U.S. stores June 5.

A band only in the loosest definition of the word, Gorillaz is a high-concept collective of artists and musicians working behind the artwork of Jamie Hewlett, creator of the iconoclastic Tank Girl comic series (see "Gorillaz Project Partners The Automator With Damon Albarn").

Albarn, the Automator and their Gorillaz have been causing a stir on both sides of the pond. Upon its U.K. release two weeks ago, the group's self-titled debut bowed at #7 on the British albums chart, while the single "Clint Eastwood" climbed into the #5 spot. In the United States, their video for the single has been in rotation on both MTV and MTV2.

Gorillaz have just been confirmed for England's massive Creamfields festival, to be staged in Liverpool on August 25, according to a spokesperson from the band's label, Virgin.

Just how does a cartoon-based band go about performing live? Easy. The flesh-and-blood bandmembers stand behind a curtain, Wizard-of-Oz-style, while Hewlett's animation is projected onto the makeshift screen. This setup keeps the Gorillaz "shrouded in mystery," the spokesperson said.

Though there isn't a one-to-one ratio between the contributing artists and their animated counterparts, Albarn serves as unofficial head gorilla "2D," the spokesperson said. The rest of the monkey bunch includes bassist "Murdoc," drummer "Russel" and "Noodle" on guitar.

While she couldn't confirm any specific dates, the spokesperson did say Gorillaz have plans to tour both the U.K. and the States.

The track listing for Gorillaz, according to Virgin:

• Re-Hash
• 5/4
• Tomorrow Comes Today
• New Genious (Brother)
• Clint Eastwood
• Man Research (Clapper)
• Punk
• Sound Check (Gravity)
• Double Bass
• Rock the House
• 19-2000
• Latin Simone (featuring Ibrahim Ferrer)
• Starshine
• Slow Country
• M1 A1

• Gorillaz
• Blur
• Dan The Automator
• Cibo Matto
• Ibrahim Ferrer

Sonicnet Music News

New York City club Tonic played host to a pair of unique performances Monday night by musicians including Cibo Matto, Money Mark, Sean Lennon, and Arto Lindsay.

The evening, dubbed "Cibo Matto Presents John Zorn's Hip-Hop Cobra," was an experimental jam-fest, reined in by what can only be called structured chaos. There were as many as eleven musicians onstage at once, conveying messages to one another by flashing hand signals, putting on and taking off hats and headbands, and throwing their arms in the air. To the casual observer it may have appeared silly, but there was a method to the madness.

"Basically, there's a set of rules that are like the parameters within which you can make the music," explained Lennon, who performed on electric bass. "But then there's the 'guerilla tactics,' which are ways of subverting those rules. And that's when you put the hat on, and you raise your fist and you say, 'I'm a guerilla,' and at that point you can basically go against all the rules."

Cobra is the invention of veteran avant-garde jazz musician John Zorn, one of what he calls his "game pieces," dating back to the early '80s. Each performance, or game, features a different set of musicians who follow signals from a conductor who holds up colored cards to signify different actions. In this case, the conductor was Zorn himself.

"Cibo Matto was asked to do a Cobra," Lennon said, "and because [bandmember] Yuka [Honda] is friends with Zorn, she asked him if he would conduct, which kind of made it a big deal, because Zorn invented Cobra and is therefore the best conductor. He rarely does it, too, so it's an honor to have him conduct the game he invented."

The event was originally scheduled to take place at the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage on Friday, but was rescheduled "due to circumstances beyond anyone's control," according to a press release. As a result, Cibo Matto and Zorn could invite performers who hadn't been approached as of last week, including DJ Toshiro Kajiwara, who was asked to join the day of the show. Learning the rules so quickly and trying to keep up was confusing, Kajiwara said, but it didn't take away from the fun.

"We just asked some people to play," Lennon said. "It was kind of last minute with Mark, because he just happened to be here rehearsing. It just came together."

"John gave me a published list of what the rules are, so I studied that in one day, and kind of practiced with Cibo Matto and whoever else jumped onstage who knew the rules," said Money Mark (born Mark Ramos Nishita) between the evening's two sets. "We did a sound check where we went over the rules, and we may have played the game twice -- just a short game, so we wouldn't spoil the spontaneity of the performance."

As for Zorn's role as conductor, Nishita said, "He's manipulating the music, you could say he's mixing the music live.... But we can all do that. He just has to be the mediator."

The range of music produced bounded from live drum & bass to hard-edged instrumental hip-hop to funk to a cappella vocal exchanges between Lindsay (who only performed during the first set) and Cibo Matto members Miho Hatori and Duma Love.

Other performers included Soul Coughing's Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass, Ben Perowsky on drums, beatboxer Afra, and Cibo Matto drummer Timo Ellis.

In the end, despite the constant sense of focus and determination emanating from the stage, smiles and laughter resonated as much as, if not more than, the constantly shifting musical montages that washed over the room.

"The great thing," Nishita said, "is that people know it's a game and that anything can happen. There's really no pressure."

"It's totally, totally fun," Lennon said. "In fact, it's so much fun, I'm worried that we're having more fun than the audience."

• Cibo Matto

Luscious Jackson is currently in Europe, blazing the promotional trail to support its fourth full-length album, "Electric Honey," but the band is already prepping for a busy summer touring schedule that will include a stint on Lilith Fair and a joint outing with Cibo Matto.

• 7/23 - Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
• 7/24 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater
• 7/25 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
• 7/27 - Pontiac, MI @ Clutch Cargo
• 7/28 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
• 7/30 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music
• 7/31 - Cleveland, OH @ The Odeon
• 8/1 - Toronto, ON @ Opera House
• 8/4 - Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom
• 8/7 - Baltimore, MD @ Recher Theater
• 8/10 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
• 8/12 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza

• Cibo Matto
• Luscious Jackson

Perry Farrell continues to work on a new solo album, but he will take a break from the project next week to participate in a benefit show for the Jubilee 2000 program being held at the House of Blues in Los Angeles on June 14.

• Cibo Matto
• Perry Farrell
• Sean Lennon

Even though events carry on through to Sunday evening here in Austin, for most people Saturday represented the conclusion of SXSW '99.

• Asian Dub Foundation
• Cibo Matto

The 8th annual Tibet House Benefit took place at New York City's Carnegie Hall on Monday night, and featured performances from R.E.M., Patti Smith, Phish's Trey Anastasio, Shawn Colvin, Philip Glass, Cibo Matto with Sean Lennon, Tibetan musician Nawang Khechog and Tibetan dance troupe Chaksam-Pa.

• Cibo Matto
• Shawn Colvin
• Phish
• R.E.M.

April 3 [12:00 EST] -- The Anglo-Japanese techno-pop band Cibo Matto and Yoko Ono, who performed together at last June's Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco, are teaming up again to play a benefit show at Tramps in New York City on Thursday night.

It's a fundraiser for veteran New York drummer Dougie Bowne, who last fall was diagnosed with a debilitating neurological condition which has forced him to re-learn how to walk, talk, and coordinate his muscles.

Over the years, Bowne has drummed for acts ranging from Iggy Pop, John Cale, and Marianne Faithfull to Cibo Matto. Bowne also recently released his first album as a bandleader with the jazz effort "One Way Elevator."

• Cibo Matto

March 11 [14:00 EST] -- Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda, the diminutive duo better known as Cibo Matto, will grace the Internet this Saturday with a live cybercast of their concert at New York City's Tramps nightclub.

The show, which also features openers Railroad Jerk, will kick off at 10 p.m. at SonicNet (SonicNet.com) and will be carried in RealAudio.

Cibo Matto are one of those rare music hybrids that could only evolve in the wilds of New York City. Combining elements of rap, punk, and pop with the occasional dash of swing or steel drum, the group built a sound that drew a good deal of acclaim on their debut album, "Viva La Woman."

Hatori and Honda expanded on the convergence of styles with Russell Simins (of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), Rick Lee, and Mike Mills in the decidedly more poppy Butter 08 [

• Cibo Matto