Linkin Park are slated to release the follow-up to their 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory, in March. The rap rockers, who retooled their debut for this summer's Reanimation, are also in the process of lining up a world tour to support the as-yet-untitled album. ...

Redman will premiere his D*kazi clothing line in the pages of Playboy. The rapper-turned-actor will model his own gear in a fashion spread for the mag's March issue, which streets February 11. ...

In the 1984 Rob Reiner rockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap," vocalist and guitarist David St. Hubbins, guitarist Nigel Tufnel and bassist Derek Smalls, collectively known as Spinal Tap, vowed to go down in history. Now they will. The side-splitting rock spoof movie was recently nominated, along with 22 other films, to be preserved by the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. Also selected for the honor was the 1991 John Singleton gangster film "Boyz N the Hood," which co-starred then-novice-thespian Ice Cube. ...

On the heels of their Irony Is a Dead Scene EP collaboration, onetime System of a Down tourmates Dillinger Escape Plan will perform with ex-Faith No More singer Mike Patton as part of the eccentric vocalist's Ipecac Records New Year's festival. The event will take place in San Francisco over December 30th and 31st and is also scheduled to include performances by Queens of the Stone Age man Nick Oliveri's group Mondo Generator, the Melvins, Isis and more. ... Reformed thrash titans Celtic Frost are currently hard at work in Switzerland on a new album called Probe, their first LP of all new material since 1989. The band has described the new material, for which bassist Martin Ain will handle some vocals, as "dark, risky, adventurous, strange and heavy in a variety of ways." ...

12.17.2002

Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Nelly, Creed and Mya are among the artists scheduled to present trophies at the 30th annual American Music Awards live on ABC on January 13. Sheryl Crow, Shaggy, Common, 3 Doors Down, Paula Abdul, Jakob Dylan, Mekhi Phifer, Tyrese, Carmen Electra and Daryl Hall and John Oates are also among those presenting. ...

R. Kelly has announced the track list for his seventh album, Chocolate Factory, due January 28. The LP will feature "Showdown" with Ron Isley, the single "Ignition" and a remix of the track, and 11 other songs. A bonus CD containing six tracks, including the single "Heaven I Need a Hug," the title track and other material from the unreleased Loveland, will accompany the album. ... Roc-A-Fella Films' "Paid in Full" and its director, Charles Stone III, have been nominated in the Best First Feature category for the 2003 IFP Independent Spirit Awards. The urban drama, based on the true story of three Harlem drug lords, stars Roc rapper Cam'ron, and was produced by the hip-hop label's co-CEOs Jay-Z and Damon Dash, along with director Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour"). The Spirit Awards, which serve as an independent alternative to Hollywood's Academy Awards, will take place on March 22 in Santa Monica, California, with director John Waters ("Hairspray") performing emcee duties. ...

Influential Manchester punks the Buzzcocks, whose 1979 singles compilation Singles Going Steady, featuring the classic "Orgasm Addict," is among the best punk offerings of the era, will release their seventh studio album March 18 on indie label Merge Records. The eponymous LP, the band's first since 1999's Modern, will be followed by a tour in the spring. ... Pulp may have performed their last gig together Saturday in the U.K. at Rotherham's Magna Centre, though no one from the band's camp has given any official indication as such. Following an encore of "Common People," the band's biggest Stateside hit, singer Jarvis Cocker told the crowd that it would be the last time they would see the band for a while, though hinted that they may meet again. Pulp's last album, We Love Life, their seventh since 1983, was released in October 2001. ...

Industrial metal band Pitchshifter had to shift their rehearsal schedule after drummer Jason Bowld broke his wrist playing soccer over the weekend. The drummer, who sustained the injury in a fall, is currently wearing a cast, and expects to be fully recovered when the plaster comes off in early January. ... New York garage rockers the Mooney Suzuki were signed to Columbia Records on Friday. ...

R.E.M. took a break from recording in Vancouver on Sunday to play a three-song set during the intermission of a show by Minus 5, a side-project band featuring guitarist Peter Buck. The mini-show at Richard's on Richards was comprised of "She Just Wants to Be" from Reveal, the previously unreleased '80s song "Bad Day" and the new tune "Weatherman." ...

In the latest round in its war against piracy, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) issued letters to 78 small music retailers (convenience stores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.), warning them of the consequences of selling pirated CDs and tapes, and threatening litigation. The first phase will target stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and parts of Texas and Florida before expanding to the rest of the country. Retailers will pay $150,000 per artist pirated if sued, as part of a comprehensive anti-piracy campaign that began months ago. ...

• Linkin Park
• Redman
• Ice Cube
• Spinal Tap
• Dillinger Escape Plan

Dance pop star Paula Abdul launched her first full-fledged tour this week in 1991.

"This is probably the most exciting time in my life — I didn't realize that really until opening night," she said during her tour stop in Miami. "There's nothing like it. The first day, on the show day in Atlanta, I was kind of a nervous wreck, and right before the show, when the lights went down and I heard the crowd yelling, I didn't know what I was going to do. I thought I was gonna pee in my pants."

For 100 minutes before a sold-out crowd in Miami, Abdul played all her hits and showed off her nine-piece band, eight dancers and one of the most elaborate stage sets seen up to that point.

"It's a bi-level set," Abdul explained. "There's elevators and different things that happen that we are using for the first time. There's video walls. This show is physically demanding. There's a lot of dancing going on."

While the former Laker Girl was proud of all the vocal training she'd gone through and she did sing live throughout the show, backing tapes did turn up here and there — something she was up front about, given the big lip-syncing backlash that followed the 1990 Milli Vanilli scandal.

"There are a couple numbers where there's technical support, on some of the heavy dance choreographed numbers," Abdul said. "The singing for me is extremely important. The dancing I knew would be there, but I wanted to be able to project vocally so we had to change a lot of stuff. If it was up to me I'd be doing all the same choreography as my dancers, but there's no way [I can do that and sing at the same time]."

An early version of a Jermaine Jackson song called "Word to the Badd," which took potshots at his brother Michael, leaked to radio in Los Angeles and New York City.

In the version included on Jermaine's album, You Said, the song was a straight love ditty, but in this earlier rendition, the track made some pointed swipes at Michael Jackson's penchant for skin lightening, plastic surgery and general eccentricity.

The song included the lines, "Once you were made/ You changed your shade/ Was your color wrong?" and "Could not turn back/ It's a known fact/ You were too far gone."

While Michael Jackson wouldn't talk about that track, Jermaine Jackson said he recorded it as a message because he couldn't get through to his brother on the telephone. The point, said Jermaine, was that Michael had lost touch with reality.

"My song is an attempt to heal our relationship," he said.

The one and only Spinal Tap resurfaced in Los Angeles back in 1991 armed with a new recording contract and desperately in need of yet another new drummer.

"Right now we're looking for a new drummer," David St. Hubbins said, something he surely had uttered many times before given his band's bad luck with disappearing and spontaneously combusting drummers. "Our last one, Joe 'Mama' Besser, he disappeared under mysterious circumstances. We looked around and he was gone."

"The prime objective would be to have an optimistic outlook on life knowing that you'll be dead soon," Nigel Tufnel said.

Even Jane's Addiction's Stephen Perkins turned up to audition.

"Jane's Addiction split up and I heard Spinal Tap was looking for a drummer," he said. "And I'm not really afraid of death, actually. I figured what the hell, I'll give it a try."

For more "This Week In ...", check out the This Week In Archive.

• Paula Abdul
• Jermaine Jackson
• Michael Jackson
• Spinal Tap

The Folksmen (left to right: Jerry Palter, Mark Shubb, Alan Barrows)

With the stream of hilarious credits between them, no one would contest that Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean are three funny folks. And soon they'll have the opportunity to show even those unfamiliar with their 1984 comedy classic, "This Is Spinal Tap," just how folkin' funny they really are.

The trio, along with actor/comedian Eugene Levy ("American Pie," "Best in Show"), are working on a new movie, according to Shearer's manager, that trades Tap's heavy duty rock and roll creations for something a little softer but no less weighted in tuneful affectation: folk music.

Guest and Levy, who last teamed for the dog-show mockumentary "Best in Show," are writing the screenplay, which focuses on three folk musicians who reunite at a Carnegie Hall performance to honor the passing of a legendary folk manager. The quartet is also working on new music for the as-yet-untitled film, which has yet to be scheduled for release.

A similar reformation occurred at the famed New York venue last year — except the manager-dying part — when satirical living folk legends the Folksmen (who scored a fringe semi-hit with "Old Joe's Place" in 1962), opened for the titanic Tap (see "Spinal Tap Turn Carnegie Hall Into A Hell Hole").

Prior to the concert, which took place June 4, Folksmen bassist Mark Shubb, who with guitarists Alan Barrows and Jerry Palter bear an uncanny resemblance to Shearer, Guest and McKean (only much older and more musically steeped in tradition), offered his optimistic views on a renewed interest in the timeless folk genre.

"Folk revival? You know I hate those words," he bemoaned. "They burn my ears because we've heard them so often. Folk music never goes away. It's always here, so you can't revive something that's always here. Now the question is will it have more commercial potential? And that's up to the lords of the industry, as far as I'm concerned, because the people are ready for it. A good song and a good heart ... By golly, you tell me that that doesn't find a home in the hearts of the people."

• Spinal Tap

Tenacious D
Photo: HBO

Tap the kegs and round up the groupies — two of the biggest champions of rock and roll excess will take the same stage for the first time later this month.

Spinal Tap and Tenacious D will play the House of Blues in West Hollywood on December 20, a sure-to-be-memorable evening that will bring together such classic anthems as "F--- Her Gently" and "Sex Farm."

The show is a benefit for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, according to the D's spokesperson. Mitochondrial diseases are hereditary disorders that affect a cell's ability to produce life-sustaining energy. The UMDF's mission is "to promote research for the cure and treatment of mitochondrial diseases and to provide support to affected families," according to their Web site.

Tickets for the Tenacious D/Spinal Tap pairing are $50, or $100 for VIP passes. The Naked Trucker will open.

Tenacious D, the comedic acoustic duo of actor Jack Black ("Shallow Hal") and Kyle Gass, recently wrapped a fall tour with Weezer and Jimmy Eat World (see "Tenacious D: They Rock, You Don't").

Spinal Tap, the stars of the director Rob Reiner's cult heavy-metal mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap" and the inspiration for Tenacious D, last performed in June at the prestigious Carnegie Hall (see "Spinal Tap Turn Carnegie Hall Into A Hell Hole").

Tenacious D, whose shows are known for attracting celebrities and other musicians, from Beck to Dave Grohl, have also announced two concert dates for next year: January 22 at Roseland in New York and January 24 at the Guvernment in Toronto.

• Tenacious D
• Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap's David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls
Photo: MCA

The esteemed confines of Carnegie Hall have hosted cultured performances by the likes of Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, who christened the venue in 1891, opera singer Luciano Pavarotti and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. But after the demonic riffs of "Sex Farm" and "Christmas With the Devil" wafted through the auditorium Monday night, the hallowed Hall will never be the same. "Andrew Carnegie must be spinning in his grave," Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel said before Derek Smalls corrected his bandmate's statement. "Or at least rockin' in his grave," the bassist said, before launching into "Hell Hole." Tap opened the show, which was part of the ninth annual Toyota Comedy Festival, with that advocate for redundancy, "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight," a promise the band lived up to with the nearly 20 songs that followed.

"We're Spinal Tap from the U.K.," frontman David St. Hubbins announced early in the performance, one of the many humorous nuances that skewered three decades of heavy metal cliches. The band's attire followed the same comedic pattern: St. Hubbins' windblown blond tresses cascading over his equally poofy purple shirt, Smalls' furry pectorals framed by a leather vest and zebra-print spandex, and Tufnel's classic, no-frills ensemble of a red and black muscle T and tight black jeans. For all the hilarity of Spinal Tap's songs, the three bandmembers along with keyboardist Caucasian Jeffery Vanston and Skippy Skuffelton — a drummer with a deathwish considering Tap's past percussionists' untimely deaths — looked somewhat silly and bare on Carnegie Hall's vast stage. The ornately detailed room further enhanced the show's awkward setting. Three weak attempts at psychedelia — one kaleidoscopic pattern and two paisley prints — dangled in the background.

"Stonehenge," "a song that dates back to before you were born," according to St. Hubbins, was executed with the help of a miniature scale of the mysterious rock formation that hung from a wheeled garment rack and wore a jockstrap. Of course, a pair of dancing midgets served to make the scenario all the more eerie. Surprise guest Elvis Costello, looking subdued in a black suit and shades, joined the satirical heavy metal heroes midset for their early tune "Gimme Some Money" with little flourish, dutifully playing second fiddle to the group's over-the-top Flying V guitar. He left the stage with little more than a mumbled "thank you." Costello wasn't the only guest of St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and Smalls (Harry Shearer) last night. Paul Shaffer (who played Artie Fufkin in the band's 1984 mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap") bumped Caucasian Jeffery Vanston from the keyboards to pound the ivories on the final encore "Big Bottom," joined by "Late Show with David Letterman" bandmate Will Lee on bass. Jazz-fusion guitarist Hiram Bullock emerged for "Break Like the Wind," the title track of Spinal Tap's second album, and once more for the finale jam.

Tufnel wielded a double-necked guitar for Tap's first hit, "(Listen to the) Flower People," and broke into an absurdly emotive solo of orgasmic twitching to mix things up. Other concert highlights included "Back From the Dead," a new song penned by "master bassist" Smalls, "Rainy Day Sun," a tune hearkening back to the group's early days as the Thamesmen (formerly the New Originals after changing their name from the Originals).

The crowd, which included Oasis' Gallagher brothers, Jamie Lee Curtis and "Dawson's Creek" actress Michelle Williams, showed its approval of Spinal Tap's satanic underpinning by raising fists and replicating the horns on the head of the devil himself with index and pinky fingers throughout the show. Looking strangely familiar as an older, paunchier Spinal Tap, the Folksmen, a trio that claim to have almost diverted the British Invasion with their "most famous near-hit" "Old Joe's Place," opened the show. Their folksy cover of the Rolling Stones' classic "Start Me Up," strangely enough, closed their set.

• Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap's David St. Hubbins
Photo: MCA

Whoever said the way to Carnegie Hall was "practice, practice, practice" obviously never heard of Spinal Tap, the semi-fictitious heavy metal band that will take the boards at that hallowed venue on June 4.

The aging group, the subject of Rob Reiner's 1984 mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap," will take time out of its grueling five-date Back From the Dead Tour of the West Coast (see "Crank It Up To 11: Spinal Tap Returning To The Road") to headline the ninth annual Toyota Comedy Festival, according to a publicist for the event, which takes place at the Manhattan landmark.

Spinal Tap founders David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) are still searching for someone who's got what it takes to sit behind the drum kit: a death wish. Everyone who has drummed for the band has died under mysterious circumstances, including Mick Shrimpton (R.J. Parnell), whose death by midconcert explosion was caught on film for "This Is Spinal Tap." The band's last studio album was 1992's largely ignored Break Like the Wind.

• Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap's<BR>David St. Hubbins
Photo: MCA

Spinal Tap, the fictitious '60s, '70s and '80s rock band that served as the subject of Rob Reiner's 1984 mockumentary, "This Is Spinal Tap," have announced their first string of tour dates in more than seven years.

Taking a cue from their song "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight," the band promises to indeed rock you tonight ... that is, as long as "tonight" happens to fall on one of five dates in June. An additional night in New York is expected to be added to the itinerary, dubbed the Back From the Dead Tour: Live & Loud, according to the band's manager.

Though David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) and one very daring drummer (all the band's previous skinsmen are tragically deceased) have only five dates confirmed so far, they are fielding offers for a full-scale excursion, their manager said.

Spinal Tap tour dates, according to the band's management:

• 6/1 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
• 6/6 - Anaheim, CA @ Sun Theatre
• 6/8 - Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
• 6/10 - San Francisco, CA @ Warfield
• 6/12 - San Diego, CA @ Humphrey's

• Spinal Tap

When recounting rock music's most forward-thinking visionaries, certain names will invariably come up: The Beatles, David Bowie, and of course, Spinal Tap.

Now the same rock pioneers who gave the world the all-black album cover, the 14-inch stage set, and the musical divergence of "Jazz Odyssey" are offering Tapster, an alternative to the legally troubled file-sharing service Napster. Like Napster, Tapster.com allows users to download music for free in the MP3 format. However, unlike Napster, Tapster.com only offers one song.

"Napster's a bit complicated, really, what with all of the songs available," Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel (a.k.a. Christopher Guest) noted. "One of the brilliant things about Tapster is that there's only one song to choose from."

Yes, visitors to Tapster.com can download the previously unreleased "Back From The Dead." The launch of Tapster is timed to get fans primed for the September 12 rerelease of the 1984 film "This Is Spinal Tap," which gave rise to the fictitious metal outfit. The Rob Reiner-directed mockumentary will finally return to home video next month, and MGM Entertainment is rolling out the red carpet for the cult hit. The band has already turned up on VH1's "The List" and has been playing select live shows as well (see "Spinal Tap To Roar Again").

• Spinal Tap

Considering that the band has lost drummers to spontaneous combustion, asphyxiation, and a bizarre gardening accident, perhaps playing drums with Spinal Tap isn't the safest gig in the metal world.

However, the band is in the market for a new drummer to replace Mick Fleetwood (who has apparently escaped the gig with his health intact) and is looking to the Internet for help. The semi-fictional metal dunces have teamed with Listen.com to stage a search for a new Tap drummer and to promote the upcoming home video re-release of 1984's "This Is Spinal Tap," the film that introduced the world to rock's most hapless band.

Frontman David St. Hubbins, guitarist Nigel Tufnel, and bassist Derek Smalls are asking would-be drummers to submit a 50-word essay on why they should sit behind the kit for Tap as well as a photo or video of themselves in their best Tap-type duds to Listen.com (at www.listen.com).

One winner will wind up with a trip to Hollywood to meet the band, a drum kit, and VHS and DVD copies of the re-mastered movie "This Is Spinal Tap." Listen.com notes that the winner will not actually get to drum with Spinal Tap.

As we previously reported, "This Is Spinal Tap" will finally hit DVD and VHS on September 12 after being out of print for several years (see "Spinal Tap To Roar Again"). The new releases will boast new audio commentary from the cast, an hour's worth of deleted scenes, beefed up sound and video, and more.

• Spinal Tap

Within the hallowed halls of Hollywood's comedy elite, there is apparently room for Derek Smalls and his oversized cucumber.

Smalls and his fictional Spinal Tap bandmates landed on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American film comedies of all time. "This Is Spinal Tap," director Rob Reiner's 1984 mockumentary, landed at number 29 on the list, which was unveiled Tuesday night during CBS' "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs."

Conveniently enough, the news comes as MGM Home Entertainment is preparing to re-release the film (which starred Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer as a sublimely clueless metal band) on home video and in select theaters later this summer (see "Spinal Tap To Roar Again"). The film has been unavailable on home video for years, and the new edition will boast new audio commentary from the cast, an hour's worth of deleted scenes, beefed-up sound and video, and more.

If you're keeping score, "Tap" was sandwiched between 1984's "Ghostbusters" and 1944's "Arsenic and Old Lace" on the AFI list. The 1959 Jack Lemmon-and-Tony Curtis-in-drag flick "Some Like It Hot" topped the list, with "Tootsie," "Dr. Strangelove," "Annie Hall," "Duck Soup," "Blazing Saddles," "M*A*S*H," "It Happened One Night," "The Graduate," and "Airplane" rounding out the top ten. You can find a complete list of the AFI's top 100 comedies at www.afionline.org.

• Spinal Tap