Count Portland, Ore. as the latest of Marilyn Manson's hot spots. The

shock rocker's July 22 show at La Luna has been canceled -- but not due to

any controversy per se. It turns out that insurance premiums for the

event made it unfeasible to hold, said Anthony Rhodes, spokesperson

for Monqui Presents, the show's promoter. According to Rhodes, Reliance

Insurance (a primary entertainment insurer) intended to charge the band

$41,500 for this one-off American date before the band's upcoming Canadian

tour. Rhodes said that Monqui could have obtained its own insurance for

the performance, but that would have still cost $10,000, or 40 percent of

the concert's gross. Rhodes said he spoke with Manson's representatives

about the show at the 1,050 seat theater. "The band views it as an

economic boycott, not orchestrated at the venue level -- because they've won

those battles in court -- but from boardrooms." Marilyn Manson has run into trouble throughout his North American tour with several venues trying to back out of their agreement, citing the band's offensive stage show as the motive behind the cancellation...

Scotland's Primal Scream have been forced to postpone their UK tour due to what their management has called "health reasons." Their U.S. publicist, Sioux Z. of Formula, confirmed that the tour had been postponed for three weeks, but said she did not know which band member had fallen ill or with what illness...

The U.S. Navy Office of Information has granted permission for Mike Watt to include a Navy photograph of his father in the artwork for his upcoming concept album, Contemplating the Engine Room. According to his label, Columbia, Watt's father served on the USS Long Beach in 1967 and the album is, in part, a tribute to the elder Watt...

Kula Shaker are set to release a limited-edition EP entitled Summer Sun EP on July 29 that features six tracks never before released in the U.S. The Eastern-inspired group, which will play two weeks of H.O.R.D.E. dates starting Aug. 1 in Minneapolis, will offer up a remixed version of "Govinda," a song called "GoKula" that was co-written by band leader Crispian Mills and his idol, ex-Beatles' guitarist George Harrison, for which Harrison gave unprecedented permission to re-interpret his song "Skiing," a non-album track, "Dance In Your Shadow" and a raga song called "Raagy One" that appeared only on the Japanese version of Kula Shaker's debut, K. Also on the EP are the non-album tracks "Moonshine" and "Troubled Mind"...

Some moldy oldies from The Doors will surface this fall when Elektra Records celebrates the band's 30th anniversary with a four-CD box set. Co-produced by the living members of the band, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore, the set will feature more than 80 rare photos, track-by-track commentary from the band members, and the piece de resistance, an unfinished track entitled "Orange County Suite," that features a never-heard-before recording of late singer Jim Morrison accompanying his vocals on piano. The set, which covers the band's career from their first demo in 1965 to their final recorded live show, at 1970's Isle of Wight festival, promises to have more rarities and unheard tracks, including an Anthology style exhumation of a track that Morrison wrote for his wife, Pamela Courson Morrison, that the living members are writing music for...

The movie Hype!, a chronicle of the Seattle music scene that features early interviews and performances from Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and dozens of world-renowned and not-so-renowned artists, will hit video store shelves on Sept. 16. The Doug Pray-directed movie, which traces the Seattle scene from its quiet, unassuming inception to its crass worldwide commercialization, features a number of rare footage, including Nirvana's first-ever performance of their breakthrough hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at Seattle's OK Hotel, a history of the label that brought "grunge" to the world, Sub Pop, and rare performance footage from the bands Blood Circus, Mono Men, Young Fresh Fellows, The Posies, The Gits, Love Battery and The Fastbacks...

Finally, the attack of the deadly conservative retail outlets strikes again, as aged German metal band The Scorpions have been forced to alter graphically depicted cover art for their upcoming 2-CD greatest hits set, Deadly Sting -- The Mercury Years (July 15). The 33-track CD, which compiles songs from the band's seven studio albums and two double-live albums from the years 1979-1993, will now be released in two versions, one with the depiction of what has been described as a half-naked woman "with her arm strategically placed to cover her breasts, sitting on her knees on the ground amid a swarm of scorpions, some crawling up her thighs and presumably toward the shaded area between her legs." Fearing that more conservative retail outlets, which in the past have ordered changes in artwork and song titles from bands such as Nirvana, White Zombie and John Mellencamp, wouldn't stock the album, the group's label decided to change the artwork before a fuss could be made. The artwork was originally intended for the Scorpions' 1988 Savage Amusement album, but was held back for similar concerns. A censored version of the cover will be released on Sept. 9.

(ATN's Senior Writer Gil Kaufman and Staff Writer Chris Nelson compiled this report.)