weekly music news

[FH]

A Jimi Hendrix tribute disc being spearheaded by the rock icon's half-sister Janie will feature a previously unreleased Stevie Ray Vaughan medley, as well as newly recorded covers from Prince, George Clinton and Bootsy Collins, Eric Clapton, Musiq and several others.

Titled "Power of Soul," after Hendrix's song of the same name, the disc will benefit the United Negro College Fund. Due May 4 by Los Angeles-based Image Entertainment and in conjunction with Experience Hendrix, the album contains a 1983 live Vaughan medley of "Little Wing" and "Third Stone From the Sun," Musiq's cover of "Are You Experienced?," Eric Gales doing "Foxy Lady" and Prince's reimagination "Red House" as "Purple House."

Songs from Sting, Santana, John Lee Hooker, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Kahn with Kid Rock guitarist Kenny Olson, Sounds Of Blackness, George Duke, Cee-Lo and Robert Randolph and the Family Band are also due for inclusion.

"Power of Soul" is certainly not the first Hendrix tribute. Aside from smaller, more independent celebrations, Warner Bros. issued in the early 1990s a high-profile Hendrix tribute titled "Stoned Free," with covers from Soundgarden, the Cure, Clapton, Buddy Guy, Seal and Belly.

"A lot of the tribute albums that have come out have concentrated on Jimi's rock side. This is really more of the soul, R&B feel," Janie tells Billboard.com. She says it's a project she's envisioned all her life, noting that it was in R&B where Jimi really paid his dues. "He was in chitlin-circuit bands and playing with Diana Ross, the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, all them. So, I'm just trying to shed that light, too."

All songs, with the exception of the Hooker's previously issued version of "Red House," are new. Janie says that she had approached Hooker about recording a new cover prior to his 2002 death, but he was physically unable to because of his declining health.

She adds that a major Hendrix DVD is in the works for late next year, but declined to give details.


-- Wes Orshoski, N.Y.

[FH]

Are the DeLeo brothers from STP trying to form a new supergroup with former Black Crow's singer Chris Robinson?

*Thanks to lovemachine97(Version2)

[FH]

JASON NEWSTED Comments On OZZY Departure - Dec. 9, 2003

Former METALLICA/current VOIVOD bassist Jason Newsted has issued the following statement regarding his recent departure from OZZY OSBOURNE's band:

"I would like to thank the Osbournes for including VOIVOD in their tours this year. I am honored to have had the privilege to share the stage with Ozzy, [guitarist] Zakk [Wylde] and [drummer] Mike [Bordin] through a very successful summer. It was a blast playing old BLACK SABBATH songs with this band!

"My agreement with the Osbournes was to play bass for the gigs that Ozzy had committed to through December 2003. I wish Ozzy the best as he continues to fly the flag for metal!

"I am excited to be back making new music with VOIVOD. The Chophouse studio is fired up and ready for the creation of the next album.

"In the meantime, keep yourself tuned in to Voivod.com and ChophouseRecords.com for all the latest.

"Keep It Heavy!

"Jason"

[FH]

Update: OZZY 'Stable' After Quad Bike Crash - Dec. 9, 2003

icBirmingham is reporting that Ozzy Osbourne was described as "stable and comfortable" after breaking eight ribs, a collarbone and a vertebra in his neck in a quad bike accident.

Osbourne was taken to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough yesterday after the accident at his Buckinghamshire estate.

The hospital's medical director Dr. Dick Jack said that he had spent the night in intensive care after emergency surgery which restored the blood flow to a blood vessel damaged in the accident.

Dr. Jack said that the fractured vertebra was "entirely stable" and added that blood supply to his left hand and arm, which had been impeded by the damage to the blood vessel, had been restored.

He was unable to confirm whether other members of the Osbourne family were expected at the hospital today.

Speaking outside the hospital, Dr. Jack said: "First of all, may I confirm that Mr. Ozzy Osbourne was brought in yesterday following an accident at home.

"When he was admitted, he had a fractured left collarbone, he had some damage to the blood vessel that is underneath it, he had eight fractured ribs on the left side and, in addition to that, an entirely stable fracture to one of the vertebrae in his neck. This is not a major problem."

Dr. Jack added that Osbourne was "resting", with doctors due to reassess his situation this morning.

[FH]

METALLICA: Official Book To Surface Next Summer - Dec. 11, 2003

METALLICA have signed with Broadway Books to publish the group's first-ever official book, a lavishly illustrated scrapbook of the band's spectacular journey.

Charlie Conrad, executive editor of Broadway Books, acquired world and serial rights. The project is represented by Lydia Wills of Writers and Artists Agency International, which also provides personal appearance representation for METALLICA. Publication is set for August 2004, when METALLICA will be in the middle of a more-than-80-city North American and European tour.

Tentatively titled "So What! The Metallibook by Metallica", the book will be issued as an over-sized hardcover and will include more than 1,000 photographs, band members' handwritten entries, drawings, and reflections, and roundtable discussions with the group at its most revealing. Archival materials, including band photos and exclusive interviews and features, will be compiled from "So What!", the official METALLICA fan club magazine. Current band members James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo will add new material, including an introduction and hand-written notes and comments throughout. The book will be edited by Steffan Chirazi, full-time chronicler of the band and editor of "So What!" magazine, a quarterly that is mailed to 20,000 members of the METALLICA fan club.

"METALLICA has proved to be one of the most popular and enduring rock acts of all time," said Charlie Conrad. "We are tremendously excited to be publishing the band's very first official book and believe that the humor, quality, and inside nature of the material will make 'So What!' a must-have for die-hards and casual fans alike."

[FH]

ROB ZOMBIE Says He Is 'Thinking About The Next Album' - Dec. 11, 2003

Despite a recent web posting from one of his forum moderators which indicated that Rob Zombie had already begun work on a new record, the singer has told Rolling Stone magazine that plans for him to record and release the follow-up to 2001's "The Sinister Urge" are murky at best. "I am thinking about the next one," he said. "That's how it always starts, thinking about how it's gonna be. But I have talked to Scott Humphrey [who produced all of Zombie's solo records]. We talked about hooking up at some point in December. But there's really not enough time for everything. It seems like the sun comes up and the sun goes back down, and I'm just like, 'Oh boy.'"

Zombie is also working on the sequel to "House of 1,000 Corpses", which he hopes to begin shooting next spring for a tentative late 2004 theatrical release. "It's not going to be 'House of 1,000 Corpses II' or anything like that," he said. "I wanted to so something like 'Star Wars', where you have that first film and then you have 'The Empire Strikes Back'. You get a totally different thing. It's truly the sequel to the movie, but it's a continuation of the story, not just the same story again."

As previously reported, Rob Zombie and writer Steve Niles have partnered up to form Creep Entertainment International, a Los Angeles-based production company that will develop feature films, comics, books, video games and music, with their shared love of horror as the common thread.

The first projects from the Los Angeles-based company will be three comic books — "The Nail", "Bigfoot" and the comic book/music hybrid "The Lords of Salem". All three are co-written by Zombie and Niles.

[FH]

As Pearl Jam moves ahead with self-releasing its first music since parting ways with longtime label Epic, guitarist Mike McCready says the band could return to the studio as early as April.

"Now that we're free from our contract, we're just going to see how things go from here," he reveals. He adds that the band is exploring a number of ways to get music to its fans, whether it is self-released or issued through a deal with an existing label willing to approach the projects adventurously.



As first reported here last month, Pearl Jam's official Web site is selling a commercial single for "Man of the Hour," which will appear as the end-title song in Tim Burton's upcoming film "Big Fish." The cut also appears on the Sony soundtrack, due Dec. 23.

Pearl Jam has been toying with the idea of starting its own label, possibly through Sony, but McCready says it's not likely.

"We've thought about it," the guitarist says. "But the problem is [that] we don't want to become a record company, we still want to be a rock band. To get into that aspect of starting your own label and worrying about distribution, it turns into way more of a business than any of us want to deal with. It's intriguing, but I think the five of us don't want to be [those] kind of businessmen. We want to rock and play music."

McCready adds that the band has not decided how to release its next studio album. "Everything can be sold online now," McCready says. "It's completely changed from where we were when the band started. I would not want to be in a band trying to get signed right now; it would be pretty tough."

As far as illegal downloading is concerned, McCready says it has affected the band's overall record sales, but artists need to find a way to embrace and monetize it. "[Downloading] is part of life now, and I think people have to adapt," he points out. "It's not going away. We have to adapt, and the record labels have to adapt and embrace it and figure out creative ways to sell music through iTunes and [others]. It forces everyone to think out of the box."


-- Tamara Conniff, The Hollywood Reporter

[FH]

Rush will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a 2004 tour of North America and Europe. The veteran Canadian rock trio -- bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer Neil Peart -- will hit amphitheaters beginning in June, for approximately 30 dates. In September, the group will visit Europe for the first time since 1992.

Sixty-three shows from Rush's 2002 tour in support of its latest Anthem/Atlantic album, "Vapor Trails," grossed more than $27 million, according to Billboard Boxscore. That outing, the band's first since 1997, was chronicled by the "Rush in Rio" live CD and DVD. The album recently debuted at No. 33 on The Billboard 200, while the DVD bowed at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Music Video chart. It has already sold 83,000 units in the U.S., according to Nielsen VideoScan.



In other Rush news, the newly launched Rounder Books will in May release "Rhythm & Light," a photography volume focusing on Peart. The drummer's own "Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road" was published in 2002 by ECW Press.


-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. and Ray Waddell, Nashville