Guitar-playing angel Kurt Cobain floats with a devilish Hunter S. Thompson; 50 Cent, Johnny Cash, Tom Cruise and Gwen Stefani back up Jimi Hendrix, Madonna, Elvis Presley and Bruce Springsteen; the Beatles mix it up with Muhammad Ali and Eminem; Eddie Vedder, Sid Vicious and Kenny from "South Park" all peek over an imposing Run-DMC; Britney Spears stands alongside John F. Kennedy; and James Hetfield pals around with E.T. Those rockers, rappers and pop-culture icons are among the more than 150 superstars collected Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band-style on the cover of Rolling Stone's 1,000th issue, which hits newsstands Friday. ([article id="1529964"]Click to see the 1,000th cover and other notable front pages from the magazine's run.[/article]) ...

Fat Joe, Memphis Bleek, Freeway and Don Omar are among the guests on reggaetón star Hector Bambino's new album, Roc La Familia & Hector Bambino "El Father" Present Los Rompe Discotekas, due June 20. Jay-Z appears on the first single, "Here We Go Yo." ... John Mayer will be honored with the Starlight Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards June 15 in New York. Rob Thomas and Alicia Keys are past winners. ...

Hold up, Janet Jackson fans. That new track you may have heard on her Web site wasn't a preview of her new album -- it was just a "gift." The singer recently released the song "Weekend" via her site, but now she's posted a message on JanetJackson.com saying that the song was just something extra for the fans -- don't expect it to appear on the forthcoming 20 Years Old LP. Jackson's official first single is titled "Call on Me" and will be released to radio July 19. The singer says fans can expect a tour to accompany the album. ... Bullet for My Valentine have been tapped to open the four sold-out New York Guns N' Roses shows. Axl Rose and his band will perform at the Hammerstein Ballroom on May 12, 14, 15 and 17. ...

Former 98 Degrees singer Jeff Timmons was arrested for drunk driving and driving without a valid license on April 23 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to a police report that The Associated Press discovered Wednesday (May 3). According to the report, Timmons was pulled over for speeding and first told police he had a lot to drink, then backtracked and said he had drank two beers. He posted a $500 bond that day. ...

The Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America sent letters Thursday to the presidents of 40 universities in 25 states, asking them to take action on music and movie piracy through campus computer networks. The organizations say college students with access to these networks use programs like Direct Connect, MyTunes and OurTunes to knowingly engage in illegal trading of material without signing onto the Internet. "We cannot ignore the growing misuse of campus [networks] or the toll this means of theft is taking on our industry," RIAA President Cary Sherman said. The letters encouraged the use of blocking and filtering software to stop the illegal activity. ...

What do indie rockers and a cartoon about "children who are more like adults" have in common? Maybe it's that late-night "Adult Swim" humor. Whatever the link, Modest Mouse and the Shins will be among the artists contributing commentary to the fourth-season DVD set of the cult Cartoon Network series "Home Movies." Staff members from parody newspaper The Onion also have their say on the final season, which will be released May 16. ... Thursday are playing a free show Wednesday at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, as part of the MySpace Free Shows Series. Paulson will open. There's no charge for admission, which will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors for the all-ages show open at 7 p.m. ...

Wolfmother, who will be on the road for much of this month, will next take the stage Saturday in Dallas. Dates for the Australian band's current tour run through June 14 in Los Angeles. ...Taking a break from recording the follow-up to 2004's A Ghost Is Born, Wilco will be hitting the road again this June and July to play shows throughout Canada as well as a few U.S. dates. The Chicago band will finish off its tour in August at Lollapalooza. Wilco will also hit "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" on May 12, during the talk show's Chicago stint. ... "The Proposition," a drama written and scored by Nick Cave, opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend before going to select cities next weekend. Guy Pearce and Emily Watson co-star in the film, set in Australia's Outback frontier in the 1880s. ...

Organizers have announced the partial lineup for the first-ever Desdemona Music Festival, set for June 23-25 in Cincinnati's Sawyer Point Waterfront Park. The Walkmen, Fiery Furnaces, the Stills, Annie, Radio 4, Heartless Bastards, Small Sins, Richard Swift, Captain of Industry, Paper Airplane and the Turnbull ACs are in for the fest, with 15 more acts expected. ... MSTRKRFT, the side project from Death From Above 1979's Jesse F. Keeler and producer Al-P, are releasing their debut electronic album, The Looks, July 18. MSTRKRFT are currently on tour in Canada and will hit the States in June to play seven dates, including stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle and Chicago. ...

Punk Core Records will issue a Casualties retrospective culling material from the influential New York punk band's earliest days. Titled Best of the Punk Core Years, the disc is expected to surface later this year. Fans are asked to vote for their favorite Casualties songs at Punk Core's Web site, PunkCore.com. Poll results will help shape the final track list. ... The third outing by singer/songwriter Butch Walker -- this time with his new backing band, the Let's Go Out Tonites -- will hit stores July 11. The Rise & Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's Go Out Tonites is the follow-up to 2004's Letters and will be released on Powerballad/ Epic Records. ...

05.02.2006

Pink's no "Stupid Girl," but she's the first to admit she's "extra good at making myself look stupid," especially when it comes to the "typical backstage bloopers" found on her upcoming DVD, "Live in Europe," due May 23. The film chronicles a 2004 concert in Manchester, England, during her Try This tour. "God, it feels old now," Pink laughed. "It's really good. It's fun." The track list includes "Lady Marmalade," a cover of Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" and a medley of the Janis Joplin favorites "Summertime," "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Piece of My Heart." ...

Eminem's one-time and possibly future ex-wife, Kimberly Mathers, has filed a response to the divorce papers the rapper filed in early April. Mathers is asking for financial support -- including mortgage, insurance and utilities for the couple's home -- and to share joint custody of the couple's 10-year-old daughter. ...

Diddy had a new reason to break out the champagne Monday night. The music mogul held a party at New York nightclub Cain to celebrate singer Cheri Dennis' self-titled debut, due this summer. A plethora of Dennis' labelmates were also on hand for the festivities. ... One of music's other top magnates, J Records' Clive Davis, greeted giddy fans with 1,000 doughnuts at New York's Tower Records late Monday night, minutes before the official release of the rock band's self-titled J debut. Some fans had been waiting in line for more than two days to nab tickets to a stealth PJ show -- plus the new record, of course, which marked Tower's strongest midnight sale ever, according to the label. ...

A study released Tuesday (May 2) by Pursuant Inc. suggests 73 percent of "American Idol" voters are women. The research also concluded that Simon Cowell's opinion is valued twice as much as Randy Jackson's and nine times as much as Paula Abdul's. ... Fox spokespeople aren't commenting yet, but Variety is reporting the long-expected news that the "American Idol" franchise will start selling individual performances through its own Web site. Like iTunes, songs will go for 99 cents and videos for $1.99. Chances are that not all performances will be available due to rights issues, but some could hit the Web as soon as this week. ...

No Doubt will release "Live in the Tragic Kingdom" for the first time on DVD June 13. Previously found on VHS only -- who uses those anymore? -- it has concert footage from the band's hometown concert in 1997 and is directed by Sophie Muller (Coldplay, the Killers). The DVD will also feature home videos from '92-'97, an alternate version of the "Don't Speak" video as well three live performances. ...

Sorry bro, looks like those Sevendust tickets you're holding are null and void. Thanks to a broken bone in guitarist John Connolly's left hand, the band has been forced to cancel all its early May gigs. Sevendust will be back on the road May 13 for a show in Corpus Christi, Texas, and complete the tour May 25 in Charlotte, North Carolina. But as for fans who planned to go to the earlier shows, the band is asking them to return their tickets to the original point of purchase. For more information, check out Sevendust.info. ... A group of prominent Canadian musicians has banded together to demand a say in the push to toughen copyright legislation north of the border. The acts wanting a voice in how the legislation is drafted include Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan and members of Broken Social Scene, according to a Canadian Press report. Among the provisions the artists are most adamant about fighting are lawsuits against people who share music illegally online and digital locks that restrict how a digital song can be used or shared. ...

Mike Doughty will hit the road beginning Thursday in Madison, Wisconsin, and wrapping up at the Basilica Block Party on July 8 in Minneapolis. The former Soul Coughing singer is also recording his next solo record, which will include "I Wrote a Song About Your Car" and "How to F--- a Republican." ...

Guster and Ray LaMontagne are teaming for a summer tour that begins July 11 in Baltimore and finishes August 19 in Portland, Maine. Guster will be promoting their fifth album, Ganging Up on the Sun, due June 20. ... Also due June 20 is a new live album from the Counting Crows called New Amsterdam: Live at Heineken Music Hall 2003. The set will include several favorites and one new song, "Hazy," written by Adam Duritz and Gemma Hayes. The Counting Crows will be on the road from June 21 in Portland, Oregon, to September 9 in Dallas. ...

Jonathan "Big Hawk" Hawkins, a beloved member of the Houston hip-hop scene, was shot and killed in his hometown Monday night. Hawk, the brother of late H-Town MC Fat Pat, was featured in "My Block: Houston" and was a member of DJ Screw's legendary Screwed Up Click. Houston police do not have any suspects. ... Fashion designer Marc Ecko got some good news on Monday when a judge in New York backed his challenge to the city's new anti-graffiti law. According to a Reuters report, a judge granted a temporary order rescinding a new rule that raised the age for buying and carrying spray paint and broad-tipped markers from 18 to 21. The temporary lifting of the new restrictions is tied to the outcome of a suit by seven young artists who said their constitutional right to free speech was violated by the new law. The ban still applies to those under 18. ...

The first five, previously out-of-print albums by Scottish alt-rock luminaries Jesus and the Mary Chain will be re-released -- each with a bonus DVD -- July 11. Included in the bunch is the band's 1985 debut, Psychocandy. ... Apple Computer has won the download price war. The computer maker revealed Monday that it had renewed contracts with the world's four biggest record companies to sell their songs on iTunes for 99 cents each. The agreement came after months of bitter bargaining in which the labels -- Universal, Warner Music, EMI and Sony BMG -- advocated for a variable pricing method that would have raised the cost on new downloads while lowering it on older catalog songs. iTunes accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. digital download market. ...

Rhino's four-disc Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk & Rockabilly box will feature 101 songs recorded between 1954 and 1969 by Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. The June 27 collection will also have song-by-song commentary, liner notes and 33 songs previously unreleased in the U.S. ... Old-school soul also returns next month, in the form of Atlantic Unearthed: Soul Brothers and Soul Sisters. The June 6 releases will revolve around soul greats from the '60s and '70s, with Soul Sisters including cuts by Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Esther Phillips, and Soul Brothers drawing on Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway and Percy Sledge. B-sides and previously unreleased tracks will also be included.