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For The Record: Quick News On Ashlee Simpson, 3 Doors Down, Blink-182, Axl Rose, Deftones & More

Ashlee maps out club tour; Blink prep hits LP; Axl fires back at Duff and Slash.

Ashlee Simpson has mapped out nine club shows this fall to help generate some buzz for her forthcoming LP, I Am Me, which lands in record stores on October 18. The first of those dates, according to Simpson's Web site, is set for September 21 in Portland, Oregon. The trek will end in New Orleans on October 9. ...

This fall, after a three-week break from the road, 3 Doors Down will head back out for 14 more gigs, according to the band's Web site, this time with Shinedown and Alter Bridge as the opening acts. The tour kicks off in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on September 29 and wraps in Columbus, Georgia, on November 9. ... On November 1, Blink-182 will drop a Greatest Hits album, with 16 classic Blink cuts, including "Dammit," "What's My Age Again?," "All the Small Things," "Adam's Song" and "Rock Show." The disc will also include a live version of "Man Overboard" as well as a previously unreleased cover of the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet." ...

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has fired back at his former bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan, through his attorney. Two weeks ago, Slash and Duff filed a federal lawsuit against the singer, charging that Rose transferred the publishing rights to the band's back catalog without their permission and knowingly pocketed royalty payments that were owed to the rest of the band. But on Monday morning (August 29) Axl's attorney, Howard Weitzman, issued a statement characterizing the lawsuit as "frivolous" and "premature." He claims the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which collects money for songwriters, issued a check for the band's collective royalties to Axl's publisher -- a clerical error, he said. The check was returned and ASCAP was notified of the mistake. "Rather than pick up the telephone and contact Axl or his representatives, his former partners scurried to file a lawsuit that contained false statements about Axl rather then making an effort to learn the truth regarding ASCAP's mistake," the statement reads. "Slash and Duff have an unfortunate pattern over the past few years of filing sensational but baseless lawsuits for the purpose of generating anti-Axl propaganda." ...

The Deftones' forthcoming B-Sides & Rarities, a CD/DVD package that drops on October 4, will feature several previously released and hard-to-find covers, including versions of the Cocteau Twins' "Wax and Wane," Helmet's "Sinatra," Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur," Jawbox's "Savory," the Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" and the Cure's "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep." The disc will also boast a previously unavailable acoustic version of "Digital Bath." ... Garbage have canceled the European leg of their current tour, deciding instead to wrap things up at the end of September in Australia. Dates had been scheduled for October in France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. According to a statement from the band's label, Garbage have "been constantly on the road since the beginning of March" and "feel they have somewhat overextended themselves and have mutually decided to conclude their tour at the end of September. The band wishes to extend their apologies to all Garbage fans in the territories involved and thank them profusely for their support." All tickets will be refunded. ...

Don't worry, it doesn't mean Erasure are breaking up, but frontman Andy Bell is going the solo route with his upcoming album, Electric Blue, due October 4. Bell is planning to support the album, which includes a duet with Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters, with live dates in late 2005 and early 2006. ... You Hear It First alum Nellie McKay is graduating to her next album, the follow-up to her 2004 debut, Get Away From Me. Pretty Little Head, due January 3rd, features duets with Cyndi Lauper ("Beecharmer") and k.d. lang ("We Had It Right"), as well as songs about gay marriage ("Cupcake") and tenants' rights ("The Big One"). ...

Live will release their first Epic Records album, Songs From Black Mountain, in mid-November. The first single, "The River," will hit radio stations in mid-September. ... The law firm representing Patricia Santangelo -- the New York mother of five who is countersuing the RIAA over a file-sharing accusation -- has started a blog called "RIAA vs. the People." The site (recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com) will track the case as it progresses and has already posted a number of legal documents and a host of links to stories about Santangelo. According to lawyer Ray Beckerman, "We have set up this blog in order to collect evidence and input about these oppressive lawsuits." The recording industry has filed 13,000 lawsuits against Internet users since September 2003, with nearly 3,000 of those accused settling for an average of $4,000-$5,000. ...

08.26.2005

The soon-to-be-disbanded Destiny's Child have been confirmed to appear at Sunday's 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. The group joins 50 Cent, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, Usher, Jessica Alba, Orlando Bloom, Coldplay, Kirsten Dunst, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Good Charlotte, Ciara, Alicia Keys and a host of others on the roster of artists set to appear at the show. ... Snoop Dogg will release a 19-song greatest-hits album on October 4, The Best of Snoop Dogg. Among the classics on the collection are "Still a G Thang," "Gin & Juice II," "Down 4 My N's," "Woof!," "Just Dippin'," "Snoop Dogg (What's My Name, Pt. 2)," "Lay Low," "Beautiful" and "Hell Yeah." ...

Steven "Stevo" Jensen, who was the original singer for punk band the Vandals, died over the weekend at his home in Maui, Hawaii. The cause of death has not been determined, according to a statement issued by former Vandals guitarist Jan Nils Ackerman. "Stevo was an inspiration to me and was always our friend ... always," the guitarist wrote. Jensen fronted the group from 1980 to 1984. ... Simple Plan are turning their recent "Hard Rock Live" performance into a live album, due at the end of the year. "A bunch of fans have been asking for a live record, so it just makes sense," singer Pierre Bouvier said, adding that the LP will include acoustic versions of some of their songs. ...

Beck, Sleater-Kinney, the Arcade Fire, Devendra Banhart and Talib Kweli have been added to the lineup for the inaugural Vegoose festival at Las Vegas' Sam Boyd stadium on October 29-30. The acts join a bill that already boasts Dave Matthews, the Flaming Lips, Digable Planets and others. ... Coheed and Cambria's Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness will hit record stores on September 20 ... and so will the band's first album, The Second Stage Turbine Blade. Equal Vision plans to reissue the disc, with one new track ("Elf Tower New Mexico") and two demo cuts ("Junesong Provision" and "Everything Evil"). ...

Doctors for Glassjaw frontman Daryl Palumbo have cleared him for a single concert next week, at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on Wednesday with the Used. "It sucks that my health did not permit me to do the whole tour but I am excited to be able to play a Glassjaw show in my hometown," Palumbo said in a statement. "I am working hard on getting better and look forward to doing more touring with Head Automatica and Glassjaw in the future." ... Hanson's album Live and Electric, due October 11, features the brothers playing all their hits -- recorded live last year in Melbourne, Australia -- as well as covers of Radiohead's "Optimistic" and U2's "In a Little While." The trio have also produced a documentary, "Strong Enough to Break," about why they decided to set up their own record label. "Our choice to become independent again was about our belief between us and our fans," Taylor Hanson said. "We're passionate about the future of independent music." The documentary will be screened at colleges in each market on their upcoming tour, which kicks off October 18 in Atlanta and runs through November 23 in their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. ...

Helmet have lined up nine East Coast gigs for the fall, the first on September 22 in Providence, Rhode Island. The band -- featuring original frontman Page Hamilton, guitarist Chris Traynor, drummer John Tempesta and bassist Jeremy Chatelain -- will wrap things up October 2 in Baltimore. ... Covers of the Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper" (by Liz Phair), Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" (the Indigo Girls) and the Candi Staton-popularized "Young Hearts Run Free" (Gloria Estefan) are among the highlights on the soundtrack to "Desperate Housewives," due September 20. Joss Stone, Macy Gray and Shania Twain, whose "Shoes" is the first single, are also included on the album. ...

To commemorate the release of the Beatles' Rubber Soul LP, indie label Razor & Tie will release This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul on October 25. The 14-cut disc features contributions from Sufjan Stevens, the Fiery Furnaces, Ben Harper, the Donnas, Ted Leo and others. ... Late Beatles guitarist George Harrison's landmark 1971 all-star benefit show, "The Concert for Bangladesh - George Harrison and Friends," will make its DVD debut on October 25. The DVD of the first rock benefit concert to bring together huge names for a cause features sets by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar (a.k.a. Norah Jones' father) and Harrison, who banded together to help the victims of massive flooding in Bangladesh. The two-disc package will include the original 99-minute film, 72 minutes of extras and a 45-minute making-of documentary. A double-disc CD of the show will be released on the same day, with an unreleased recording of a Dylan soundcheck. All artist royalties will go to aid UNICEF. ...

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