Nas
Photo: Peter Kramer/ Getty Images

It's difficult enough to sell albums these days without choosing a title that will automatically alienate certain retail outlets, not to mention consumers. Nas' decision to title his new album Nigger (expanded from his original title, Nigga) has set off all kinds of commentary, both pro and con, from many different quarters. But it's just the latest in a long line of albums to use those words.

Surprisingly, many artists have used the shortened version of the word in an album title before Nas. Most famously, there was late Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, whose 1999 solo album was titled N***a Please (with the word elided with asterisks in most uses). A quick scan of the term in All Music Guide's database brings up everything from N.W.A's Efil4zaggin (spell it backward) to the Gravediggaz's Niggamortis — that's what it was called overseas; in the U.S., it was renamed 6 Feet Deep — Tim Dog's Bronx Nigga and Yella's One Mo Nigga To Go and Heather B's My Kinda N*gga (all from the 1990s).

And though there are certainly fewer instances of it, even Nas isn't first in line when it comes to choosing Nigger as a title. The most well-known example is late comic genius Richard Pryor, who helped make the word mainstream by naming his 1974 album That Nigger's Crazy and then following it with 1976's Bicentennial Nigger. Decades before, white jazz clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow recorded an album in Paris that was released in 2002 under the name White Nigger, and former Beatle John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono openly courted controversy in 1972 with the single "Woman Is the Nigger of the World."

Unlike some of the controversy Nas is getting from such civil-rights leaders as Al Sharpton and the Reverend Jesse Jackson, at the time of the Lennon single, black comedian/ civil-rights advocate Dick Gregory defended the use of the epithet in the title and lyrics. The support was not terribly surprising, since Gregory titled his 1964 autobiography "Nigger."

Other songs that used the term include one by multiracial group Sly and the Family Stone, 1969's "Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey," which was reprised on the Lollapalooza stage in 1991 by rapper Ice-T and former Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell.

Album covers have spawned a great deal more controversies than titles. Those controversies largely began in the 1960s — when artists began having more say in the way their music was presented — and have spanned most genres of popular music. A few examples: the Beatles' original cover art for 1966's "Yesterday" ... and Today, which featured the group wearing white lab coats, bedecked with butchered dolls and chunks of meat; Guns N' Roses' graphic Robert Williams cartoon on the initial pressings of 1987's Appetite for Destruction; and the nude sculpture on the cover of Jane's Addiction's Ritual De Lo Habitual in 1990, which was replaced by a white cover with the text of the First Amendment. Even Nirvana's landmark 1991 album Nevermind, drew some protest due to the exposed penis of the naked baby chasing a dollar on the cover.

A number of album covers have drawn fire (and naughty-bit-eliminating airbrushing) for depicting nudity on their covers: Prince's Lovesexy, Ministry's Dark Side of the Spoon, David Bowie's Diamond Dogs, the British version of Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland, John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Two Virgins and the Black Crowes' Amorica, which originally featured an attention-grabbing image of a woman's bikini bottom.

There have also been bans and altered images on shelves for everything from showing the middle finger (Alice Cooper's Love It to Death and Moby Grape's self-titled 1967 debut) to a picture of the devil and Jesus (John Cougar Mellencamp's Mr. Happy Go Lucky) to Uncle Sam on a mortuary slab (Ice Cube's Death Certificate) to people smoking (Arctic Monkeys' Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not).

Song titles have also spurred debate and caused some changes when records hit mass-market shelves, such as Nirvana changing "Rape Me" to "Waif Me" on 1993's In Utero when Wal-Mart and Kmart refused to carry it.

The true test for Nas will be whether any of the major retail chains will insist he censor his album title, or possibly refuse altogether to stock it. A spokesperson for Wal-Mart, one of the largest music retailers in the country, did not return calls for comment at press time, but Amy Von Walter, a spokeswoman for Target, said the album could possibly make it onto shelves there.

"We respect the rights of our diverse guests in choosing to buy or not buy CDs in their originally intended version," Von Walter explained, citing the company's policy regarding CDs and DVDs with adult content. "We feel selling edited or sanitized CDs is a form of censorship. Therefore, Target does not edit or buy sanitized versions of CDs, screen the contents of the lyrics [or] review the art inside the CD book."

However, the company does check the song list and does not stock albums with song titles including the words f--- or sh--, and it does review artwork and the CD jacket and will not stock a title if it considers the art offensive.

• Nas Knows How To Get His Album Noticed — And You Can Follow His Lead!

• Warning: These Album Covers May Contain Explicit Content

• Nas
• The Beatles
• Jimi Hendrix

Zolar X
Photo: Epix1 Productions

You've seen some of the "talent" that doesn't make the cut on "American Idol." And if you've ever been down to the local indie-rock club on a Monday night, you know that some acts can rival William Hung on his best night. So, you can imagine the parade of wacky bands that lined up to get their moment in the sun on the "Idol" spinoff "The Next Great American Band," which debuts Friday night (October 19) on Fox.

"Band" follows a recipe similar to its benefactor: a pair of well-known judges and an unfamiliar-to-America wild card who plays the role of the, well, in this case, his name is revealing: Dicko. The latter is Ian "Dicko" Dickson, a tart-tongued former Australian "Idol" judge who will take his place alongside former Prince protégé Sheila E. and Goo Goo Dolls singer Johnny Rzeznik. After combing through more than 14,000 audition submissions, the judges sat through performances from 60 finalists during a hot couple of days in August in the Arizona desert, where they culled the group down to the final 12 band that will compete for a recording contract, with the winner based on audience voting.

Nigel Lythgoe, who produces "Band" as well as "Idol," answered one of the most pressing questions about the show in a recent interview with journalists: Will America be able to bond with a band versus the solitary-singer format of "Idol," and might audiences think it's too similar to another rock-band reality show, "Rock Star"? Lythgoe said no to both, explaining, " 'Rock Star' was about individuals. It was about individuals auditioning to be part of a band that had been successful years ago. This is not about that at all. It's about creating a market for a band that has been around for many years, to be honest, and it's about recognizing the talent that is so obviously ignored nowadays."

Unlike "Idol," the new show will not have a results program but will eliminate bands during its weekly one-hour time slot, with two acts going home the first two weeks. But each week's show will have a musical theme, similar to "Idol," with week one concentrating on Bob Dylan tunes.

Rzeznik, who Lythgoe described as a "deer in the headlights" when it first came to judging other people's music, said he was initially reluctant when he got the call about the show. "I like being in the recording studio and playing gigs, so when my manager called, I was like, 'I don't know, it's TV,' " Rzeznik said. "But then I met with the producers and they told me it would be real bands, not manufactured artists, and they would get to do their own original material, and I would get to give my honest opinion. And that sounded like fun."

Though Rzeznik could not reveal who made the final cut, he did say there were a few bands music fans might have heard of, such as Boston-area two-time major-label flameouts Damone and Detroit fuzz-rockers the Muggs. "The end game is a record deal, but I don't know how much of a prize that even is anymore," Rzeznik admitted. "It's interesting to me because it's a 21st-century battle of the bands at a time when it's getting harder and harder to sell records and to get noticed. A lot of record companies don't have the marketing budgets to push bands anymore, so this is a great way for bands to showcase themselves on a massive scale."

Rzeznik said he saw it all during the auditions, from polka to hip-hop played by bands featuring pre-teens, a group of women in their 80s doing old-time swing jazz, and a "Stomp"-like act that did a "performance piece" using trash cans and other unorthodox percussion. There were, of course, also bands who were just trying to get their few seconds of TV exposure, such as the group with a guitarist playing a Jimi Hendrix solo using a rubber chicken.

And then there were Zolar X. The glam-rock group, signed to former Dead Kennedys leader Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label, have been around since the mid-1970s and are best known for dressing in alien drag 24-7 and speaking in a manufactured alien language, and for a stint as the house band at famed Los Angeles DJ Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco club in the '70s. Self-proclaimed "Plutonian Midget" leader Ygarr Ygarrist (born Stephen Della Bosca) said the band's manager saw an ad for the show and submitted the name figuring it had nothing to lose.

No doubt due to its outlandish résumé and look, the group was invited out to Vegas for an audition, but Ygarr said its time in the spotlight was brief. "We only got to play 40 seconds, not even two songs, and we didn't even get to the hook of our song 'Retro Rockets,' " lamented Ygarr, who said one of the judges (OK, Dicko), clearly didn't care for them. "This was a strange ordeal. All I know is that it was nice the first two and a half days and they interviewed us twice as long as the other bands. They asked what we would do if we won, and they asked us to talk some Zolarian language."

Did Ygarr really think the band had a chance? Kind of. "There was a point after we did a whole day of interviews where they had us built up, we were feeling pretty good," he said. "But how can Zolar X be the next great American band when we're not from the planet?"

For Rzeznik, the ultimate appeal of the show might be the fact that bands will get to play original music, but Lythgoe said "Idol" has avoided that in the past because the prospect of a budding songwriter going up against a classic Motown hit might not make for particularly compelling television.

"It's not about a single artist getting up there and playing with a slick session band and doing vocal gymnastics," Rzeznik said. "Plus, it's 10 blocks from my house and I only work one day a week, which is a great job if you can get it. I think there's definitely going to be more than one band getting a record deal out of this."

• Goo Goo Dolls
• Jimi Hendrix
• Zolar X

Jimi Hendrix performs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival
Photo: Courtesy Experience Hendrix, LLC

Thirty-five years after his death, Jimi Hendrix is still The Man. The howling winds of his talent — his breathtaking guitar technique, his eloquent melodic gift, his astral songcraft and his wrangling of raw feedback into a revolutionary new kind of music — still surge and roar through the four studio albums he managed to record in the course of a solo career that lasted little more than three years.

For those who missed him in the flesh, there's not a lot of live Hendrix available on video, and what there is ranges in quality from the must-see (his scene-shaking 1967 U.S. debut in "The Complete Monterey Pop Festival") to the needn't-bother (pass up at any opportunity the 1971 pseudo-documentary, "Rainbow Bridge").

The iconic Hendrix performance, of course, is his bombs-away rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at the 1969 Woodstock Festival. (Click here to watch part of that performance right now.) But Hendrix played a full set at Woodstock; in the famous 1970 documentary of the event, "The Star Spangled Banner" is all that remains (with a bit of lyrical, minor-key improvisation edited on at the end). What happened to the rest of it?

Well, the missing footage turned up on an overseas-only DVD in 1999, and now it's finally been released here, in a two-disc set called "Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock," with the music remixed into Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. What took so long? And has it been worth the wait? Let's see.

Hendrix was supposed to close the three-day Woodstock Festival at midnight on Sunday, August 17. However, the event was so chaotically disorganized, and running so late, that he didn't actually walk out on stage until 9 a.m. the following morning, by which time much of the crowd of 400,000 people had departed, leaving behind a vast, blasted landscape of mud and garbage, and a much smaller contingent of blitzed fans clumped up around the front of the stage.

Hendrix and his group were announced as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but in fact only drummer Mitch Mitchell remained from that classic trio, which had erupted out of London just two years earlier. Now Mitchell was joined by not one, but two other percussionists (essentially conga players) and two of Hendrix's old Army buddies: Billy Cox, a bare-bones bassist, and Larry Lee, who had the thankless job of rhythm guitarist. The new band had only been rehearsing for about 10 days, and Mitchell says that when he arrived for the gig they were still pretty sloppy. Hendrix called them Gypsy Sun & Rainbows, and it's a blessing from the gods of musical history that they are audible here in only the most elementary way. It's all about Jimi, and his guitar.

"I see that we meet again," he says, stepping up to the microphone in that flamboyantly fringed white-suede shirt and blue velvet bell-bottoms. Then he cranks up the famous white Strat and takes off, starting with "Message to Love," a blazing funk exercise that was brand new at the time, and ripping on through the hits: "Purple Haze," "Foxey Lady," "Fire," "Spanish Castle Magic" and, as an encore, "Hey Joe." There's also a pretty fabulous rendition of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and of course "The Star Spangled Banner," during which Hendrix manages to keep playing while repeatedly reaching up over the neck of the guitar with his picking hand to adjust string tunings. (The Fender Stratocaster of that time was a famously hard guitar to keep in tune, and the wet, cruddy weather at Woodstock no doubt exacerbated the problem.)

The material Hendrix played at Woodstock was what you'd expect — as always, it was the execution that set heads spinning. The footage here is filled with close-ups of his outsize hands, and you can see him bend screaming strings from one side of the fretboard all the way across to the other. His fingers sail up and down the neck with supreme ease, and yet his soloing never devolves into cliché — it's put together and paced with lightning intelligence. And his rhythm playing is every bit as amazing: At one point, wailing all over the bedrock three-chord blues, "Red House," he lays back to let Larry Lee take a solo — an act of remarkable, if entirely unnecessary, generosity — and, since the camera stays riveted on Hendrix, we see him restlessly charging the song with high-flying chord inversions and rhythmic stings that are more fascinating than anything Lee could possibly be playing. (He's barely audible.) At another juncture, Hendrix gets so carried off into the music that he simply spirals away from the band, spinning off an ever-evolving series of genius riffs embellished with beautifully elaborated Eastern-tinged melodic motifs.

All of which is to say that, as woefully inadequate as the band here may be, Hendrix himself is an astonishment — there are times when you look at what he's doing and you truly can't believe your eyes. Or, more to the point, your ears.

So is "Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock" worth owning? Absolutely. There are problems, though, the worst being the glaring daylight in which it was shot. The stage, cluttered with equipment and crowded with wiped-out, gawking onlookers, has the ambience of a car-repair shop, so that no matter how many angles we get on the action (there were 15 cameras rolling at Woodstock, but by the end of Hendrix's set, only two were still functioning), the visual texture of the performance grows monotonous. I think we can also assume that the cameramen, after three long days of working in the most squalid and trying conditions, were exhausted, which would account for the languidly drifting pans, the sometimes shaky framing and the occasional focus problems. The filming of "Woodstock" was a pioneering enterprise, and under the circumstances, the filmmakers probably did as expert a job as was humanly possible. Only hindsight allows us the luxury of carping.

Basically, this film captures the most innovative guitarist in rock history surmounting a third-rate band and a dismal performance environment, and getting over on sheer, spectacular talent. If you've never seen Jimi Hendrix play before, then you've never seen anything like this. And chances are pretty good that you'll never see anything like it again.

— Kurt Loder

For more on Jimi Hendrix, check out the MTV News Archive.

For more of Kurt Loder's film reviews, check out the Kurt Loder on Film archive.

• Jimi Hendrix

Clothing designer Jean Paul Gaultier, who created the super pointy bras Madonna wore onstage for her 1990 Blonde Ambition Tour, will tailor the clothing for Marilyn Manson's trek to support his next album, The Golden Age of Grotesque, which comes out May 13. ...

Not only does Bone Crusher have an unofficial remix of his record "Never Scared" with the Diplomats getting burn on the radio and mixtapes, the Atlanta gargantuan has just completed an official reworking of his tune as well. This new version also features Cam'ron, in addition to Busta Rhymes and Jadakiss. ... Pearl Jam have had just about enough of their own hot air, so they've joined up with the environmental organization Conservation International to help reduce the damage caused by the estimated 5,700 tons of greenhouse-gas emissions caused by the trucks, buses, planes and cars used on their current tour. To balance the scales, Pearl Jam have bought the same amount of carbon from the Makira rain forest conservation project in Madagascar, thereby preventing it from burning and emitting more carbon dioxide. ...

The owners of a guitar that once belonged to Jimi Hendrix are free to sell the ax, despite a lawsuit by the late guitarist's family. Rock Stars Guitars claimed a former roadie gave them the 1967 Fender Stratocaster, which they then tried to put on the eBay auction block. The Hendrix estate questioned the authenticity, and filed suit to stop the bidding, but a judge ruled against them. Their lawyer said they'd appeal. ... A pair of Motörhead disciples in Portland, Oregon, have tracked down a black hat stolen from frontman Lemmy Kilmister last May, and returned the article to its rightful owner. The fans said they were at a party in Portland and saw Lemmy's chapeau on display. So they snatched the cap and snuck out before anyone noticed it was gone. They then drove three hours to Seattle to hand-deliver the headpiece. "I would like to thank from the bottom of my black heart two people who brought the hat. Thanks to you both," Lemmy posted on Motörhead 's Web site. ...

Opting for economy over verbosity, Louisiana metal band Superjoint Ritual have changed the name of their upcoming record from Striking Fear Into the Enemy: A Lethal Dose of American Hatred to A Lethal Dose of American Hatred. The album is due in June and is the follow-up to Use Once And Destroy, which came out last year. Superjoint Ritual is a side band of Pantera frontman Philip Anselmo. ...

04.25.03

50 Cent just keeps on giving. His fans who purchased his DVD "The New Breed" will be now be able to get even more extras: According to 50's spokesperson, if you have the DVD you can log onto www.50cent.com beginning next week and see the uncensored version of 50's "Many Men" video (which has not aired yet), hear unreleased music from the Queens MC and download a 50 freestyle to your mobile phone, among other perks. ...

Just what sort of homegrown horticulture is Blink-182 bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus into? Find out in October, when he appears on the Home and Garden Television special "Rock Gardens," which features musicians talking about and offering tours of their private gardens. Also confirmed for the show are Jefferson Airplane/Starship's Grace Slick and the Monkees' Micky Dolenz. ...

Guitarist Daron Malakian, who is spending his time during a System of a Down hiatus producing Bad Acid Trip (one the bands signed to Serj Tankian's Serjical Strike Records), is also putting together his own label through Columbia Records. Amen will likely be the first band he signs. ... Scott Weiland has co-produced nine of the 11 tracks on Florida rock band Cinder's debut album, Break Your Silence, due June 10, according to Stone Temple Pilots' Web site. Weiland also wrote lyrics and sings on a tune called "Lush." ...

A Tribe Called Quest will unearth "The Night He Got Caught" and some other never-before-released songs on Hits, Rarities and Remixes, due June 17. The album will also include classics like "Check the Rhyme" and "Scenario," and remixes of "Oh My God" and "Lyrics to Go." ... Rah Digga and Russell Simmons will be among the guest speakers at City Hall Park in New York on Wednesday at The Source Youth Foundation's second annual Campaign for Summer Jobs Youth Action Day. The organization works to ensure funding for a summer youth employment program. ...

Iron Maiden and their zombie mascot Eddie are returning to the road. The band's first U.S. date, July 25 in Holmdel, New Jersey, will follow a lengthy European tour. Two other New York-area shows and two California performances have been scheduled, the last of which is August 29 in Concord, California. Additional shows will follow. The Give Me Ed ... Til I'm Dead Tour also features Dio and Motörhead. ... Terence Trent D'Arby will release his first album since 1995, Jackpot, on June 3. The 19-track disc was produced by D'Arby (a.k.a. Sananda Maitreya), and features collaborations with Glen Ballard and Dallas Austin. ...

Cheap Trick will release their first album in six years on July 8. Special One, issued by the band's own Cheap Trick Unlimited Records, was recorded last year by producer Chris Shaw (Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow) with help from Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (Gorillaz, Handsome Boy Modeling School), Steve Albini (Breeders, Pixies) and Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, Alice Cooper). ... Sony Music is giving fans a crack at making the ultimate Bob Dylan record. The company is offering a long list of Dylan singles, rarities and live recordings to fans through www.custommixcd.com, and inviting them to pick 12 songs and one of numerous pieces of cover art to complete the package at a cost of $15 plus shipping and handling. ...

Call it your one-stop shopping tour for all your downtempo electronic needs. One-man lap-pop artists, comrades and labelmates Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) and Manitoba (Dan Snaith) will embark on a joint North American tour starting May 25 in Minneapolis in support of their new albums Rounds and Up in Flames, respectively. Snaith will leave the tour after the June 1 date in Philadelphia, and will be replaced by Cincinnati turntablist Boom Bip. Click-hop artist Prefuse 73 will join the gearhead friendly trek on select dates. After the tour, Hebden will work with Beth Orton on the follow-up to her 2002 LP, Daybreaker, and then remix the track "Scatterbrain" from Radiohead's upcoming Hail to the Thief. ...

Cocteau Twins co-founder Robin Guthrie will release his first solo album, Imperial, in time for summer. The influential ethereal guitar pop group's early albums Garlands, Head Over Heels, Treasure and Victorialand were recently remastered by Guthrie and will be released before the end of the year. ... Swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have recorded what they are calling a love letter to the music of New Orleans. Save My Soul is due July 8 and will be promoted with a national tour. ... Famed label Sire Records, which had released albums by the Ramones and Talking Heads before its partnership with London Records rolled over in 2001, will ride again with new signee the Von Bondies. The label had previously been around in name only on Warner Bros.-distributed releases of the Burning Heart/Epitaph imprint, such as LPs from the Hives and Distillers. ...

• Marilyn Manson
• Bone Crusher
• Cam'ron
• Pearl Jam
• Jimi Hendrix

Prince
Photo: Steven Parke

Since their songs have such a sensual flow, no one's ever questioned whether or not Prince or Musiq are experienced. Some folks may not know they're also experienced — as in fans of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Prince and Musiq will both be featured on the Hendrix tribute album this fall, and they'll probably both be excited to hear there's another album of previously unreleased Jimi material on the way.

For the tribute disc, titled Power of Soul, the Minnesota native with a penchant for purple recorded a version of "Red House," which he's renamed "Purple House," and Musiq reinterpreted "Are You Experienced?" (see "Musiq Likely Joining Forces With Prince For Juslisen Follow-Up").

The Hendrix love fest also includes Santana covering "Spanish Castle Magic," Parliament/Funkadelic singer George Clinton and bassist Bootsy Collins funkin' up "Power of Soul," and Earth, Wind & Fire turning on the heat for "Voodoo Chile."

A couple of collaborations will appear on the album as well. Kid Rock's guitarist Kenny Olson joins Chaka Khan on "Little Wing," and guitar virtuoso Jeff Beck and pop/R&B singer Seal take on "The Wind Cries Mary."

Power of Soul will include one of the last recordings by the late John Lee Hooker, the disc's second version of "Red House." And former Hendrix alumni also chime in; Band of Gypsies drummer Buddy Miles plays on "Manic Depression" and bassist Billy Cox performs on "Machine Gun."

The tribute record was assembled over much of the past year by Jimi's half sister Janie Hendrix and her husband Sheldon Reynolds, who played guitar in Earth, Wind & Fire and the Commodores. The project was delayed when Jimi's dad, Al Hendrix, passed away last April.

The goals for Janie were to show how many artists Hendrix influenced and to expose a new audience to his timeless music.

"Jimi's music is really universal, and we wanted to express that," she said. "The songs [on the tribute record] all have their own feel. It's not just a recreation of Jimi. It is Jimi's music, but woven in is the talent of each individual artist."

The way the musicians vibed off Hendrix parallels the way Jimi was inspired by the bluesmen who motivated him to pick up a guitar, Janie said.

"He took Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker, and expanded upon what they were doing and then gave it back to a new generation."

Proceeds from Power of Soul will go to the United Negro College Fund.

When the mobile Hendrix museum Red House swings by their locale, many artists on the record will likely take the stage with the company's tribute band, but no all-star concert has been planned, Janie said.

The buzz from Power of Soul should nicely set the stage for a brand new Hendrix album. The guitar hero's estate has a few legal hurdles to clear, but by year's end it hopes to issue a disc of previously unreleased songs, outtakes and live material, Janie said. If its plan falls through, the foundation has a backup: a previously unheard complete concert recording.

"We're very proud of these things [Jimi did], and we can't wait to share them with people," she said.

• Jimi Hendrix
• Prince
• Santana
• Musiq Soulchild

Ashanti, Fat Joe and B2K are among the artists scheduled to perform at a benefit for boxer Evander Holyfield's Main Event children's charity in Atlanta on February 15. Jadakiss, Baby and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are also on the bill. ...

Memorable "American Idol 2" semifinalist Frenchie Davis has been cut from the contest because Fox discovered she worked for an adult Internet site four years ago. Davis will be replaced on the show airing February 25. ... "Platinum," network television's first drama set in the world of hip-hop, will premiere on UPN April 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following a sneak peek at the series airing the day before. MTV will re-air each weekly episode seven to 10 days after UPN's broadcast. ...

Jane's Addiction are promising their long-awaited new album by summer. "We don't know a release date ... but we can guarantee it will be out before Lollapalooza," singer Perry Farrell said. ... A live version of Weezer's "Why Bother," Ben Kweller's previously unreleased "It's Not There" and songs from Phantom Planet and AM Radio are featured on A Benefit for Petra Haden, a fundraiser for the That Dog violinist who was severely injured when hit by a car in August 2000. Beck, Jack Black and Matthew Sweet have raised money in the past for Haden, who also recorded with Green Day, the Rentals and Luscious Jackson. ...

Aerosmith closed out a benefit party for three major charities at Boston's Charles Hotel Regattabar on Saturday by playing a 10-song set. Highlights came when Dan Aykroyd stepped onstage for a song and Michael J. Fox picked up a guitar and joined the band for a version of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," which Fox performed in the 1985 film "Back to the Future." The event was organized by Fox, Denis Leary and former NHL player Cam Neely. ... The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently wrote a letter to Aerosmith asking for permission to use the song "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" for an anti-meat TV campaign. If approved, the song would be featured in a commercial about fighting the condition gynecomastia, otherwise known as "man breasts," by becoming a vegetarian. Says PETA: "Gynecomastia is the accumulation of breast tissue caused by excessive qualities of estrogenlike substances that can be traced to meat, milk and eggs." ...

The surviving members of the Grateful Dead, who retired the group's name after the death of frontman Jerry Garcia and dubbed themselves the Other Ones, are now calling themselves the Dead, according to the Associated Press. Guitarist Bob Weir, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart will begin using their new moniker — which has served as their unofficial nickname for years — at a Valentine's Day benefit concert in San Francisco. ... The remains of legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix have been moved from their initial site to a new elaborate memorial in the same burial ground, Greenwood Memorial Park and Cemetery, just outside Seattle, according to the AP. While the first grave site was marked only by a simple flat stone reading "Forever in Our Hearts - James M. Jimi Hendrix 1942-1970," the new memorial features a granite dome nearly 30 feet high supported by granite columns trimmed in "rainbow" marble. ...

Former Black Flag singer Keith Morris appears on a track called "We've Had Enough" on the Alkaline Trio's new album, Good Mourning. Due May 13, the project was produced by Joe McGrath (Blink-182) and Jerry Finn (Green Day). ... O.A.R. are working on their fifth album, the studio effort In Between Now and Then, with producer John Alagia. The roots-rock quintet's major-label debut is set to drop May 27, with a bonus DVD that includes live versions of two new tracks, as well as a concert take on the gig staple "That Was a Crazy Game of Poker." The live material will be recorded at a February 18 show at New York's Irving Plaza. ...

Postpunk quintet Sense Field are working on their as-yet-untitled successor to 2001's Tonight and Forever in their Dense Flies studio, located in El Segundo, California. Produced by Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Pete Yorn), the LP is due in early August. ... Depeche Mode's Martin Gore and David Gahan have set spring release dates for their upcoming solo albums. Gore's Counterfeit2, a collection of covers of John Lennon, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop songs, is due April 28, while Gahan's as-yet-untitled debut is set for June 2. ...

02.11.03

P. Diddy, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Ice Cube and the Cash Money Millionaires are among the rappers who appear in "Hip-Hop Story: Tha Movie," the first production from NBA star Nick Van Exel's RapRock Films, due February 11. Smoot, the film's star and Van Exel's partner in the company, will release his debut on July 8 and will also appear on the movie's soundtrack, due April 22. ...

Avril Lavigne, Pink, Usher and the Clipse will be the first artists to participate in Arista Records' new DVD singles series. The DVDs, due March 11 and packaged in CD jewel cases, will feature two videos apiece, along with bonus material. ... On February 7, the third anniversary of Big Pun's death, his widow, Liza Rios, announced the establishment of the Big Pun Foundation at a press conference in the Bronx, New York. The non-profit organization will establish social programs for inner-city youth. ...

The debut album by the Mars Volta, the electronic-inspired offshoot of defunct At the Drive-In, is set for a June release. While the album remains untitled, its packaging will be designed by Storm Thorgerson, who's worked on classic covers such as Pink Floyd's The Division Bell and Wish You Were Here and the Cranberries' Bury the Hatchet. ... Professional wrestler Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig, who came to prominence in the late '80s and early '90s with the American Wrestling Association and the World Wrestling Federation, was found dead in his hotel room in Brandon, Florida, on Monday at the age of 44, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The cause of death has yet to be determined. In 1999, the Minnesota native embarked on a "West Texas Rednecks" gimmick with World Championship Wrestling that saw him team up with country artist Chad Brock against the No Limit Soldiers (including Master P and Silkk the Shocker) and record two songs, "Rap Is Crap" and "Good Old Boys." ...

According to his lawyer Robert Simels, former drug kingpin and Murder Inc. associate Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff remains in custody awaiting a February 28 court hearing in Baltimore for a gun-possession charge. He is also awaiting a hearing on another New York-based gun charge. In related news, Jon Ragin, McGriff's partner for his independent film "Crime Partners," who was arrested and indicted during last month's FBI Murder Inc.-related raids, will be arraigned in Brooklyn, New York, on February 14 for one count of money laundering. ...

... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have recorded five new tracks for an EP due March 25 on Interscope Records. Titled The Secret of Elena's Tomb, the album will feature a track called "All Saints Day" and another dubbed "Mach Schau." ... The Smoking Popes will finally release The Party's Over, the covers album recorded before their split in 1998 featuring songs by Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, the Byrds and others, on March 25 on Double Zero Records. The same label is releasing a Smoking Popes tribute album the same day with songs from the Ataris, Bad Astronaut, Death on Wednesday and more. ...

Jill Sobule, who "Kissed a Girl" in 1995, is on the verge of a comeback, recording her first album in three years and performing two songs on Wednesday's episode of "The West Wing." Creator Aaron Sorkin is apparently a fan of the singer/songwriter. ... Canadian indie-rock supergroup the New Pornographers will release their second album, Electric Version, May 6 through Matador Records in the U.S. The group, whose members include Neko Case, Carl Newman (Zumpano), Kurt Dahle (Limblifter), John Collins (Thee Evaporators) and cartoonist/filmmaker Blaine Thurier, have added guitarist/keyboardist Todd Fancey (Limblifter) in place of founding member Dan Bejar (Destroyer), whose singing and song contributions on Electric Version were limited. ... Aforementioned alt-twang chanteuse Neko Case has launched the second leg of her U.S. tour in support of her 2002 release, Blacklisted. The 15-date trek, which began on February 6 in Chicago, will end March 30 in Seattle at the Experience Music Project. ...

• Ashanti
• Fat Joe
• B2K
• Aerosmith
• Jane's Addiction

Jimi Hendrix
Photo: Don Nix/Authentic Hendrix LLC

Several performers from last year's gangbuster Jimi Hendrix jam session at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will get to re-Experience the magic at this year's Street Scene festival in San Diego.

Last September 12, an all-star concert featuring former Hendrix bandmates Billy Cox (bass) and Mitch Mitchell (drums) as well as members of Kid Rock, Double Trouble and Buckcherry celebrated the opening of the Jimi Hendrix Surround Sound Theater and Museum and the release of the box set The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

The Street Scene performance on September 8 will feature Hendrix's post-1969 rhythm section, the Band of Gypsys (Cox and drummer Buddy Miles), performing alongside a roster of guitarists including Kenny Olson of Kid Rock, Doyle Bramhall, Eric Gales and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos.

Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, Police guitarist Andy Summers, Jonny Lang and the Reverend Horton Heat may step onboard as well, according to the Band of Gypsys' manager, who is still confirming artists for the tribute.

Non-guitarists who will participate include Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section of Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums) and Living Colour vocalist Corey Glover, the manager said. He also said he hopes some of the artists already scheduled to play Street Scene — including Counting Crows, Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band, Soulive, G. Love & Special Sauce and the Long Beach Dub Allstars — will also show up.

"This kind of collaboration doesn't happen anymore," said event organizer John McDermott, catalog manager of the Experience Hendrix foundation. "So we're invoking Jimi's legacy to make it happen. The goal is to continue to reach out to music fans of all ages and make them aware of Jimi's music."

In addition to witnessing the all-star jam, Street Scene attendees can visit the Red House Exhibit, a traveling museum of Hendrix memorabilia.

Other acts scheduled to play the 2001 Street Scene include Outkast, James Brown, En Vogue, the Offspring, P.O.D., Burning Spear and his Burning Band, Cake, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Sugarcult, Third World, Eek-a-Mouse, Rollins Band, Cheap Trick, X, Social Distortion, Doug E. Fresh, Jurassic 5, Whodini, the Fixx, Berlin and Rufus Wainwright.

• Jimi Hendrix
• Kid Rock
• Los Lobos
• Buckcherry
• The Black Crowes

Madonna
Photo: Jean Baptiste Modino

One of the better ways to attract members of the opposite sex, many believe, is to cruise around in a fly ride. Strapping on a curvy, rad guitar and rockin' the paint off the walls is another time-tested method, especially for those lacking the green for a quality driving machine.

Guitar Center and the Petersen Automobile Museum, institutions that understand the allure of power steering and power chords, have joined forces to present an exhibition devoted to these ubiquitous 20th-century phallic symbols.

"Cars & Guitars of Rock 'n' Roll" will be on display June 15 to December 31 at the Petersen Automobile Museum in Los Angeles. The show features more than 35 hot autos and 40 axes lent by such artists as Madonna, Blink-182, Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, Flea, Creed, Coolio, Eric Clapton and Melissa Etheridge.

Standout wheels include Elvis Presley's 1971 DeTomaso Pantera, Jeff Beck's 1932 Ford Roadster, Elton John's 1949 Delahaye, Morello's 1971 Dodge Demon, Slash's 1936 Ford custom and '66 Lincoln convertible, Clapton's 1940 Ford coupe and Rod Stewart's 1983 Ferrari 400.

Beside the high-style vehicles, "Cars & Guitars" will exhibit memorable autos from music history such as the 1966 Monkeemobile from the pop group's TV show, the 1932 Ford gracing the cover of the Beach Boys' 1963 album Little Deuce Coupe, the 1932 Ford Phantom seen in Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" video and the Lincoln limo Madonna used onstage in her February Grammy Awards performance. Event organizers opted not to include the limo in which the Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed in 1997 while departing a Soul Train Award party at the Petersen Museum.

While the cars may prove the highlight of the exhibit, the show's axes are nothing to spit at. Prized guitars on display will include the only all-rosewood Fender Stratocaster made for Jimi Hendrix, a white Mosrite guitar owned by Johnny Ramone, a Paul Reed Smith signature model from Creed's Mark Tremonti, Flea's Music Man bass, Brian Setzer's 6120 Gretsch with hot rod flames, a custom Jack Daniels bass from Michael Anthony of Van Halen and the Martin acoustic guitar once owned by Ricky Nelson on which Jeff Beck first learned to play.

• Madonna
• Creed
• Elvis Presley
• Jimi Hendrix
• Joey Ramone

Jimi Hendrix
Photo: Andy Henderson

Members of '60s groups Jefferson Airplane, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Country Joe and the Fish will congregate June 15-17 at Monterey Pop Revisited at the Monterey Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The event will commemorate the legendary Monterey Pop Festival, which inspired the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair. The Monterey fest took place June 16-18, 1967, and united 200,000 music fans in a fiesta of flower power, peace, love and groundbreaking music. It helped make stars out of Otis Redding, the Who, Janis Joplin, Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, Eric Burdon and the Animals and especially Jimi Hendrix, who set his guitar ablaze at the conclusion of his fiery set.

Sponsored by the Monterey History & Art Association, Monterey Pop Revisited will both celebrate the original festival's musical wealth and examine its historical significance.

"We're looking at this as a course in pop culture," said Linda Jaffe, executive director of the Monterey History & Art Association. "But the instructors this time are the folks who made the history, not some musty old classroom professors." Which should be well and good, assuming the instructors didn't have too much fun to actually remember the event. Mamas and Papas singer Michelle Phillips — the ex-wife of original festival organizer and group founder John Phillips, who died in March — will speak at the reunion, as will renowned filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, who directed the 1969 movies "Monterey Pop" and "Jimi Plays Monterey." "Pennebaker is shooting the whole symposium digitally," said Jaffe, "because he wants to make the entire Monterey Pop anthology available on DVD, and this event will bring us full circle." Confirmed performers for Monterey Pop Revisited include Country Joe McDonald, Bruce Barthol, Barry Melton and David Cohen of Country Joe and the Fish; Steve Katz, Roy Blumenfeld and Andy Kulberg of The Blues Project; and Mark Naftalin of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady will also attend the event.

Other participants will include Tom Wilkes, who designed the original Monterey Pop artwork; photographers Elaine Mayes, Tom O'Neal and Lisa Law, who shot the 1967 event; and journalist Joel Selvin, author of the books "Monterey Pop" and "Summer of Love."

• The Who
• Jimi Hendrix
• Country Joe & the Fish

The Elephant 6-associated band Elf Power has already leapt into the top 15 of the "CMJ" radio chart with its just-released new album, "The Winter Is Coming," and is gearing up to launch a tour in support of the new LP on October 31 in Houston.

For "The Winter Is Coming," Elf Power -- composed of multi-instrumentalists Laura Carter, Andrew Rieger and Adrian Finch, along with bassist Bryan Poole and drummer Aaron Wegelin -- opted to trade in some of the lo-fi, indie-rock aesthetic that has typified most releases from the Elephant 6 Collective, a loose affiliation of like-minded bands such as the Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel and the Olivia Tremor Control.

The difference from previous Elf Power records, including 1999's "A Dream in Sound" and 1997's "When the Red King Comes," is obvious on the first "Winter" track, "Embrace the Crimson Tide," which features a lead guitar bit partially inspired by, of all things, Jimi Hendrix's "Third Stone from the Sun."

"It wasn't intentional," Poole said, "and we caught it pretty early on. [Frontman] Andrew [Rieger] brought it in and he started playing it, and it was either me or somebody else [who pointed it out]. I think I picked up the guitar and was like, 'Aw, I think I know this. What is it?' I kind of figured it out and I said, 'You know that's Jimi Hendrix?' And Andrew was like, 'Yeah, yeah. I thought it was, but I didn't mean to do it.' He only noticed it a couple of days after he [recorded] it, and we were just kind of like, 'Oh, screw it.'

"We lifted, kind of intentionally, for 'A Dream in Sound,' a bit of Captain Beefheart off of 'Trout Mask Replica,'" Poole continued. he said, laughing. "But I don't think anything is wrong with that, per se. It's not like we're ripping off 'Third Stone from the Sun,' but it is, yeah, that melody line for sure." [RealAudio]