Kid Rock (file)
Photo: Atlantic

No $575,000 lawsuit is going to keep Detroit badass Kid Rock down. The rocker is set to perform "America the Beautiful" at the Palace of Auburn Hills Sunday night, before Game 5 of this year's NBA Finals between the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs. Naturally, Rock is a hardcore Pistons fan. ... Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, Ice Cube, India.Arie, Ciara, Chingy and Twista are among those scheduled to attend the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards on June 27 in Beverly Hills. Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis will be presented with the Heritage Award at the event. ...

In anticipation of Don't Quit Your Day Job, his first album on Kanye West's new label, Consequence is releasing a retrospective mixtape called A Tribe Called Quence 1995-2004. Consequence, a protégé of A Tribe Called Quest, will also be heard in the coming weeks alongside Andre 3000 on the Q-Tip single "Sexy," with Cam'ron on West's "Gone" and on his own single, "Clockin' My Style." ... Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan have recorded a new song called "Unplayed Piano" that will be available exclusively through iTunes beginning Tuesday with all proceeds going to the U.S. Campaign for Burma and Burma Campaign U.K.'s crusade to free Aung San Suu Kyi on her 60th birthday, June 19. The only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient led an international movement to end over 40 years of brutal military rule in the Southeast Asian country of Burma. ...

Pennywise have set an August 9 release date for their eighth album, The Fuse. The first single, "Disconnect," which lambastes a media-obsessed culture, will arrive at radio stations next week. ... Canadian rockers Our Lady Peace, who'll be appearing at the Live 8 show in Toronto, will release Healthy in Paranoid Times on August 30. The album is the group's first new studio release since 2002's Gravity. In additional to the conventional CD release, a DualDisc edition will also hit stores, featuring an in-depth look at the making of the LP. ... Stellastarr* are putting the finishing touches on their sophomore album, Harmonies for the Haunted. The New Yorkers are planning a September release. ...

Less than a month after they announced they'd be going on indefinite hiatus, three members of Floridian beard-core pioneers Hot Water Music have forged a new group called the Draft. According to Hot Water Music's Web site, the band features guitarist and singer Chris Wollard, bassist Jason Black and drummer George Rebelo. They've lined up their first gig, which goes down July 4 at Common Grounds in Gainesville. Hot Water Music's other member, singer/guitarist Chuck Ragan, has "decided to concentrate on life off of the road." ... Cee-Lo and Sean Lennon are among the guests on Esthero's new album, Wikked Lil' Grrrls, due June 28. The Canadian singer will promote the album with a tour kicking July off 2 in Seattle and wrapping up July 31 in Detroit. ...

Taking a break from recording their fifth studio album, Ganging Up on the Sun, in Nashville, Tennessee, Guster will return to their hometown of Boston to perform two shows with the Boston Pops. The orchestra will play classical pieces that have influenced the band, including "G Major" and "Dear Valentine," before joining the group on Guster tunes. The shows are scheduled for June 22 and 23, while the album is due in early 2006. ... O.A.R. have enlisted former Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison (who has produced No Doubt and Live) to oversee their second major-label album. Parliament's Bernie Worrell will guest on the material, which the band will debut on tour this summer. ...

Boston's Irish punkers the Dropkick Murphys will release The Warrior's Code on June 21 before heading out on the road as the co-headliners on this summer's Vans Warped Tour. The record will include the songs "Wicked Sensitive Crew," "Your Spirit's Alive" and "Last Letter Home." ... Brothers Dean and Gene Ween are prepping Shinola, a collection of "scraps, throwaways and outtakes," according to the band's Web site. No release date has been set. ...

06.16.2005

Destiny's Child will make one of their last television appearances at the 15th annual ESPY Awards, The Associated Press reports. The sports awards show, hosted by Matthew Perry, will tape at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on July 13 and air on ESPN July 17. The multiplatinum group stunned fans earlier this week when it announced it would disband at the end of its Destiny Fulfilled ... And Lovin' It world tour, which wraps in September. ...

More dates have been released for this summer's System of a Down/ Mars Volta tour. The 'fro-heavy trek, which kicks off August 4 in Long Beach, California, will now also hit Atlanta on August 19; Hampton, Virginia, on August 21; Baltimore on August 22; East Rutherford, New Jersey, on August 23; Philadelphia on August 26; and Toronto on September 1. ... Want to listen to what's on P. Diddy's playlist? Here's your chance — the rap mogul, along with Katie Holmes, Mary J. Blige, Renée Zellweger, Cyndi Lauper, Mischa Barton, Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy and Hype Williams, have created playlists for custom-designed iPods to be auctioned off for charity. Style & Sounds: A Case for a Cause, which runs through Wednesday and benefits breast-cancer research, features cases decked out in fur, jewels, beads, belts and brass, designed by the likes of Betsey Johnson, Cynthia Rowley, Vivienne Tam, Max Azria of BCBG, Judith Leiber and Donna Karan, among others. The auction is live at ebay.com. ...

The judge who presided over Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial ruled on Thursday (June 16) that he's going to release almost every sealed court document in the case, since he had kept much of the material highly edited, even secret, in the interests of providing a fair trial. Since the amount of documents — from search warrants at the onset of the case to questions asked by the jury during deliberations — is so great, Judge Rodney Melville said, it will probably take a month. He told lawyers that he would consider their requests, if submitted by June 23, to keep any specific material unreleased. Melville is still considering whether to extend his decision to include releasing videos shown during the trial, and said he would issue a ruling later. ... JC Chasez is in the final few weeks of recording his second solo album. "In my heart it's the best stuff I've ever written," the 'NSYNC singer said. "This record is more focused, more about my heart. The last one was more sex, sex, sex; this one is more love, love, love." When asked if former flame Eva Longoria inspired any of the lyrics, Chasez tensed up and answered, "No ... maybe ... I don't know. They come from wherever they come from." ...

Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are overseeing a Luther Vandross tribute album that will include Mary J. Blige, Celine Dion, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard and others. "We got a call from Clive Davis, who thought it would be appropriate to put together his great music with a lot of great artists from today," Jam said. "Mary J. does 'Never Too Much' and really makes it her own. Celine does 'Dance With My Father,' and she lost her father earlier in the year, so she sings it with a lot of passion." ... Jam and Lewis are also working on the next record by longtime collaborator Janet Jackson. The producers recently left their Minneapolis studio to join Jackson in Jermaine Dupri's Atlanta studio. "Us and Janet always are busy with a ton of projects, and the chance to go to Atlanta was a chance to go back to the way we did the Control record 20 years ago, where we all sat in a room and vibed and came up with stuff," Jam said. ...

Mya is taking two months off from recording this summer to teach inner-city kids through a charity she founded in Washington, D.C. "My background is dance, so we're gonna have a ball," she said. Mya is still looking at a late summer release for her next album, Control Freak, featuring Dr. Dre, Lil Jon and "just about every damn body." For the first single, Mya is leaning toward a dance track called "Let It Go." ... Ex-Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch is founding what he's calling a Head Home in India, where he will house leper children. "My eyes have been opened to children on the street and I feel like that is who I want and need to help," he said in a statement. Footage of his efforts can be viewed at headtochrist.com before it is turned into a documentary on his life. ...

The lives of 1960s folk-rocker Tim Buckley and his son, '90s not-quite-folk rocker Jeff Buckley, may soon be playing out on the big screen. A script about the famous father and son has been making its way around Hollywood, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The screenplay is based on music critic David Browne's 2001 book, "Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley." Both musicians made a mark on the musical landscape before their untimely deaths: Tim died of a heroin overdose in 1975 at 28, while Jeff accidentally drowned in the Mississippi River during a late-night swim in Memphis in 1997, at age 30. ... The Pixies, Bright Eyes and Elvis Costello have all been confirmed for the Newport Folk Fest, which takes place August 4-7 in Newport, Rhode Island. Emmylou Harris and Jim James of My Morning Jacket are also scheduled to perform. ...

If you couldn't make it to England for two recent reunion shows by '90s psychedelic rockers the Olivia Tremor Control, don't despair — the trippy troupe is planning a trio of Stateside gigs. The group will play Chicago's Subterranean on July 29 and hit the Bowery Ballroom in New York for a two-night stand (August 2-3), all with support from the reunited New Zealand pop group the Tall Dwarfs. The OTC-affiliated Cloud Recordings will reissue two classics from the Dwarfs, Weeville and Fork Songs, in late summer. ... "Bewitched" casts a spell with the Cars hit "Magic" in its TV spots, but the song isn't making the official soundtrack, out Tuesday. A slew of other magic-minded numbers will appear on the album, though, such as the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," Frank Sinatra's "Witchcraft," Ella Fitzgerald's rendition of the "Wizard of Oz" classic "Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead," and original "Wicked" Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth's take on the Eagles' "Witchy Woman." Also on the soundtrack are songs by Talking Heads, R.E.M., Natalie Cole and Persephone's Bees, who have the first single with "City of Love." ...

After getting their start opening for Ashlee Simpson, You Hear It First artists the Click Five are moving on to open for Jesse McCartney for a series of dates at the end of June. After that, the suit-wearing pop-rockers will warm up the crowd for the majority of the Backstreet Boys' upcoming tour, starting July 22 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and ending August 14 in Boston. ...

• Kid Rock
• Janet Jackson
• Damien Rice
• Pennywise
• Our Lady Peace

<I>For the Lady</I>
Photo: Rhino Records

U2, Avril Lavigne, R.E.M. and Pearl Jam are among the artists donating tracks to a benefit album for Aung San Suu Kyi, an imprisoned Burmese humanitarian known to some as "Asia's Nelson Mandela."

For the Lady: Dedicated to Freeing Aung San Suu Kyi and the Courageous People of Burma, due October 26, features previously released tunes by Lavigne, Coldplay, Bright Eyes and Travis, while Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Damien Rice and Better Than Ezra contribute live cuts unavailable anywhere else. Also exclusive to the album is "Let Freedom Ring," a studio track by Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello's solo incarnation, the Nightwatchman.

U2 dedicated their contribution, "Walk On," to Aung San Suu Kyi on All That You Can't Leave Behind, the album on which it first appeared. The double album's final track, "Tempest of Blood," was written by a jailed student activist for democracy in Burma (which is also known as Myanmar).

Aung San Suu Kyi is the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient. For her efforts to promote democracy and human rights in Burma, she has garnered the support of President Bill Clinton, Senator John McCain, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Desmond Tutu, among others. For the past 14 years, she has been under house arrest by Burma's repressive junta.

Proceeds from the sale of the album will benefit the nonprofit organization U.S. Campaign for Burma.

For the Lady track list, according to the album's publicist:

Disc 1:

• U2 - "Walk On"
• Pearl Jam "Betterman" (live)
• Coldplay - "In My Place"
• Ani DiFranco - "In the Way"
• Bright Eyes - "No Lies, Just Love"
• R.E.M. - "Drive" (live)
• Avril Lavigne - "Complicated"
• Talib Kweli featuring John Legend - "Around My Way"
• Lili Haydn - "Unfolding Grace"
• Peter Gabriel - "Here Comes the Flood"
• Natalie Merchant - "Motherland"
• Maná - "Cuando Los Angeles Lloran"
• Rebecca Fanya - "Paper Airplanes"
• Ben Harper - "Oppression" (live)

• Paul McCartney - "Freedom" (live)
• The Nightwatchman - "Let Freedom Ring"
• Eric Clapton - "Wonderful Tonight"
• Sting - "Fragilidad"
• Bonnie Raitt - "Angel From Montgomery" (live)
• Damien Rice - "Lonely Soldier" (live)
• Travis - "The Cage"
• Guster - "Keep It Together"
• Hour Cast - "Memories and Lies"
• Indigo Girls - "Perfect World" (live)
• Better Than Ezra - "Get You In" (live)
• Matchbox Twenty - "So Sad, So Lonely"
• Mun Awng - "Tempest of Blood"

• U2
• Avril Lavigne
• Coldplay
• Pearl Jam
• Bright Eyes

Dave Matthews (file)
Photo: RCA

Dave Matthews, Maroon 5, Kings of Leon and former Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson are among the dozens of artists slated for the three-day Bonnaroo festival.

Part of one of the most eclectic lineups of the summer concert season, they join Bob Dylan, the Dead, Wilco, Damien Rice, Grandaddy, Cut Chemist, David Byrne, the Black Keys, Willie Nelson, moe., Ani DiFranco, Yo La Tengo, My Morning Jacket and String Cheese Incident at the third annual festival, which will again be held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville, on June 11-13.

Thirty other artists are confirmed thus far, according to a tour spokesperson. Additions are expected to be announced in the coming weeks to bring the total number of acts to more than 60.

Matthews is being billed as "with friends," a crop of pals that will include Trey Anastasio, who's also on board as a solo act. The Phish guitarist played with Matthews on his most recent outing.

More than 80,000 fans came out for last year's festival, 2003's second-highest-grossing concert at a single venue. Its more than $11.5 million was second only to the $38.6 million that Bruce Springsteen raked in from his sold-out 10-show run at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

As in previous years, the show will be filmed for a "Live From Bonnaroo" DVD, expected to drop this fall.

Tickets for the event go on sale February 21.

• Dave Matthews
• Maroon 5
• Bob Dylan
• Wilco
• Damien Rice

Damien Rice accepts the third annual Shortlist Music Prize
Photo: MTV News

LOS ANGELES — Damien Rice got Shorty.

The Irish singer/songwriter won the third annual Shortlist Music Prize on Sunday, stealing the award's new gold statuette, the Shorty, from higher profile nominees like Floetry and Interpol.

Rice, whose passionate performance earlier in the night entranced the sold-out Wiltern Theatre (click for exclusive photos), was so certain someone else would win that he was on his way out of the venue after the five-hour concert when an organizer suggested he stick around.

In his awkward acceptance speech, Rice set the Shorty on the ground and said the night was about celebrating people who are working really hard on music.

"I felt like the record we made was selfish and really just for us," Rice explained, sitting with his band after the event. "It's odd being selected or nominated, but very nice, I guess. The main thing for me that I want to continue is to forget about everybody else and make the next record that we're making just for ourselves again, because there's something about being in a space where you're not thinking of other people. You're just in a moment creating music and emotion and in a space with people you feel comfortable with. And that for me is the essence of what it is that we've done and what it is we do."

The Shortlist Music Prize — which carries with it a $5,000 check and went to N.E.R.D. last year (see "N.E.R.D. Win Shortlist Prize") — is modeled after the U.K.'s prestigious Mercury Music Prize, except the judges are fellow musicians and artists rather than simply journalists.

This year's panel included the Neptunes, Chris Martin, Flea, Erykah Badu, Perry Farrell, Dave Matthews, Josh Homme, Mos Def, the Chemical Brothers, Tori Amos, Tom Waits and directors Cameron Crowe and Spike Jonze, all of whom voted by absentee ballot at Sunday's Listmaker dinner, where the winner was chosen. Past Shortlist supporters Beck, the Roots' Ahmir
"?uestlove" Thompson, Macy Gray and Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, along with newcomer Musiq, attended the dinner.

Since the Shortlist Prize is designed for emerging artists, any album that has sold more than 500,000 copies is ineligible when the long list is compiled in the summer. The original list, which consists of about 100 albums, is narrowed down to 10, the coveted Shortlist. Before the award was presented, eight of the 10 acts on the Shortlist performed. Sigur Ros, who won the inaugural Shortlist Prize, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were nominated but could not perform because of other commitments.

In his five-song set, Rice played four songs from his winning O before closing with the B-side "Woman Like a Man." The single "Volcano," which showcased Vyvienne Long's cello chops, was a standout, but the crowd favorite was certainly "Cold Water." Before the song, Rice explained it was about breaking off an imaginary relationship, but the laughs ended as soon as Lisa Hannigan's satin voice began. The mood changed again when Rice took over, exploding in a rage that was both frightening and inspiring.

The Streets opened the show with British rapper Mike Skinner rhyming over DJ tracks in between sipping on a bottle of champagne. The perpetual partier seemed a bit out of place in the early time slot, but the crowd danced along. Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power, looked a little uncomfortable as well, her issue being the size of the theater. The club veteran made things more comfortable, however, when she meandered out into the crowd as she sang old soul standards.

Bright Eyes were the first full band to take the stage, destroying the barebones vibe with a loud, sometimes chaotic blend of 13 performers, including two drummers. Even with all that going on, singer Conor Oberst managed to keep all attention on his distinct croon. Before ending with a show-stealing "Let's Not Sh-- Ourselves," Oberst went on a rant about playing in a Clear Channel-owned venue, something the band tries to avoid. "I'd like to draw a line in the sand and say you're either with us or against us," he said. His fans answered by screaming every word to the song. One even crashed the staged and bowed on his knees until security removed him.

The Black Keys' show looked smaller, which just guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney onstage, but the sound was just as huge, blending elements of traditional blues with Jimi Hendrix-style guitar rock. Chestnutt followed with a spirited set of rock and soul, featuring "The Seed" and other tracks from his Headphone Masterpiece. Floetry's show was equally soulful, but with a hip-hop flavor similar to the Fugees.

Interpol closed the show with six songs from the band's acclaimed debut, including favorites "NYC," "PDA" and "Obstacle 1." The Joy Division-inspired tunes had fans dancing, but after nearly five hours of music, some showed a look that seemed to say, "Just announce the damn winner already."

"I don't think you can call it the Shortlist anymore, 'cause we've all been here for four f---ing hours now," Macy Gray joked at one point.

A more condensed version of the evening, including interviews and a sneak peak into the Listmaker dinner, will air October 25 on MTV2.

• Damien Rice
• Floetry
• Interpol
• The Black Keys
• Cat Power

Bonnaroo 2007 Performances

• The National
• Lily Allen
• Damien Rice
• Regina Spektor
• Damian "Junior Gong" Marley

The Shortlist Concert

• Floetry
• Bright Eyes
• Cat Power
• The Black Keys
• Damien Rice