Category: Newswire

Organizers of the Sunset Strip Music Festival have confirmed that The Smashing Pumpkinsf will headline the street festival on Saturday, August 28, with a live performance on the legendary Strip, which is being closed to traffic for the second time in its history. The iconic band will wrap up the third annual SSMF, set to include a special tribute event for SLASH at House of Blues on August 26; live performances in The Roxy Theatre, the Whisky A Go-Go, Viper Room, Key Club, Cat Club and House of Blues on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights; plus more than 50 bands, two outdoor stages and a full day of music in the venues on Saturday, August 28.

The Smashing Pumpkins — who have created one of the most acclaimed bodies of work in musical history and sold more than 30 million albums–are touring this summer in conjunction with their <em>Teargarden by Kaleidyscope</em> project. It’s a collection of 44 songs being released online for free one at a time as well as in installments of specially packaged four-song EPs for sale in record stores. In late May, the Pumpkins released the project’s first EP <em>Teargarden by Kaleidyscope VOL.1: Songs for a Sailor</em> (Martha’s Music/Rocket Science Ventures) to critical acclaim, with Jerry Shriver of <I.USA Today</em> hailing the music as "a delicious swirl of howling psychedelic rock and melodic ballads (5/25/10)." Look for leader Billy Corgan and his band mates–guitarist Jeff Schroeder, drummer Mike Byrne and new bassist Nicole Fiorentino–to hit the road for an array of intimate shows across the U.S. beginning July 6 in Cleveland, to be followed in August by two headline festival appearances in Tokyo and Osaka.

As in year’s past, the SSMF will honor a figure who is synonymous with The Sunset Strip for their contribution to the history of The Strip as well as the music industry. This year’s honoree: Slash. Previous recipients of this honor have been Ozzy Osbourne (2009) and Sunset Strip club owners Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and Elmer Valentine (2008).

Last year’s street fair drew 10,000 people to The Strip, which was closed between San Vicente Boulevard and Doheny Drive and filled with two full-scale stages, fans, food vendors and a VIP beer garden. "We are ecstatic to be able to bring this caliber of talent to the street and create what will undoubtedly become the ultimate end-of-summer music festival experience for our attendees," says SSMF Festival Managing Director Karmen Beck. Following the Smashing Pumpkins’ show, bands will continue to play into the night in venues within the street closure, all of which will be free of charge to SSMF attendees.Learn more at .sunsetstripmusicfestival.com.

Elixir Strings announces that it is joining the Nashville Musicians Association (NMA) in the ongoing Nashville flood relief efforts. Like many of its peers at this year’s Summer NAMM show, Elixir Strings (Booth 728) is doing its part to help restore the Nashville music scene after the recent flood, believed to have caused nearly $1 billion in damage throughout the city.

Efforts by Elixir Strings include a direct donation of one thousand 15-foot instrument cables to the NMA’s flood relief fund, which will be provided to musicians who lost gear in the flood. The company is also providing additional motivation for its fellow retailers and other Summer NAMM attendees to join in the relief efforts. Hoping to raise funds for the NMA, Elixir Strings will be offering a free cable to anyone who provides a suggested donation of $20 or more to the organization. Donations will be collected at the Elixir Strings booth and presented to the NMA at the close of the show.

"We appreciate the efforts of Elixir Strings to help our brother and sister musicians try to recover from this devastating event," says Craig Krampf, secretary and treasurer of the NMA, American Federation of Musicians Local 257.

"We are glad that we could find our small way to help restore the great musical community in Nashville," says Craig Theorin, Elixir Strings product manager. "We hope that our combined efforts with the NMA, and all of our friends in the industry, will enable the city and its musicians to experience a quick recovery."

Mountain Jam, the three-day music festival held at the base of Hunter Mountain in Upstate New York, co-promoted by Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers Band, The Dead) and local radio station WDST, came to a close on Sunday with Levon’s Helm’s 70th Birthday Celebration, a nearly 3 hour set of music which included guests such as Haynes, Steely Dan’s Donald Fagan, Ray LaMontagne, Alison Krauss, Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan’s band), Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers and his dad, bassist for the legendary Muscle Schoals rhythm section, David Hood, Steve Earle and Jackie Greene joining the legendary Band drummer and local Woodstock icon and his Ramble on the Road band.

Record numbers made their way to Hunter Mountain for the festivities, making Mountain Jam VI the most attended edition of the festival yet. Highlights of the weekend included Gov’t Mule’s two powerful, epic headlining shows. The band dove deep into their catalog and welcomed guests such as Les Claypool, Derek Trucks, Grace Potter, Matisyahu and many more to the stage on Friday and Saturday night. Both shows are now available for download through the band’s Mule Tracks site http://www.muletracks.com

Alison Krauss &amp; Union Station, Michael Franti &amp; Spearhead, The Avett Brothers, The Derek Trucks &amp; Susan Tedeschi Band and Grace Potter &amp; The Nocturnals were among the 40+ acts who performed over the weekend.

Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews Band, and Kid Rock have entered into agreements with Seven45 Studios to provide songs for Power Gig: Rise of the SixString, a new video game for which the guitar peripheral is a functioning six-string electric.

Power Gig: Rise of the SixString uses a real six-string guitar as controller. The guitar features Seven45’s proprietary technology that can distinguish and recognize gamers’ input all along the guitar, making the guitars as easy to pick up and play as any other band-game button controllers. They also include all the guts of an electric guitar so players can plug it into any standard amp. In addition to traditional beat-matching that will be familiar to fans of the band game genre, Power Gig also introduces the option to switch on chording, which presents the added challenge of playing the game using chords that require specific finger placement on the strings. As players progress through the game, becoming more comfortable with a genuine guitar and potentially choosing to play real power chords, they will find that the byproduct of playing the game is coming away from it with an understanding of real guitar fundamentals.

The game will be available for the PlayStation and Xbox 360 this October. Learn more at powergig.com.

Daisy Rock Girl Guitars continues to celebrate its 10-year anniversary with seven new guitar models and finishes, including the redesigned Rebel Rockit Supernova, the Rock Candy, the Rock Candy Xtreme, and the Atomic Green and Platinum Sparkle Rock Candy Classic electric guitars.

The Rebel Rockit Supernova has a 22-fret 24.75"maple neck and a fixed bridge. The sycamore body is five percent smaller than previous Supernovas and the rosewood fingerboard featuring dot inlays sports a 9.5" radius to facilitate easier rhythm and lead playing.

The Rock Candy guitar has a pair of Daisy Rock humbuckers controlled by a three-way selector and a master Tone control, Daisy custom tuners, and an adjustable tune-o-matic-style bridge with stop bar tailpiece.

The Rock Candy Xtreme has a mahogany body, 16" fretboard radius, Floyd-Rose-licensed vibrato, Daisy Custom tuners, EMG H4/A4 pickups, master Volume and Tone controls, and a three-way pickup selector. For more, visit daisyrock.com.

As one of the most successful rock bands in the world with over 100 million records sold, the Scorpions announced this year that they will leave it ALL on the stage after 40+ years of entertaining fans worldwide. The band is currently out on their "GET YOUR STING AND BLACKOUT" farewell world tour and will hit the states Friday, June 18 to kick off the North American leg in Holmdel, NJ.

The German rockers will be bring their heavy, full-on, electrically charged energy to major cities across the U.S. including Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Denver and many more as they celebrate the success of their latest and final album <em>Sting in the Tail</em>. Special guests on the tour will include Vince Neil, Cinderella, Great White, Dokken, Ratt and Tesla supporting along the way. The full tour itinerary is below.

Released March 23 via Universal Music Enterprises, <em>Sting in the Tail</em> entered the <em>Billboard</em> Top 200 charts at #23, marking the band’s highest chart debut in over 20 years. In their home country of Germany the album has reached Gold status. "Raised on Rock"–the album’s anthemic first single–claimed the #1 spot at classic rock radio for weeks and adds to their remarkable list of hits including "Rock You Like A Hurricane," "Wind of Change" and "No One Like You." The band’s next single "Sting in the Tail"–going to radio June 21–is all about attitude. Lead singer KLAUS MEINE wails "I’m driving out of town, just follow my heart/I think I’m gonna be a rock ‘n’ roll star/The girls would go mad, I’d give ’em all I can give/If I had a cheap guitar and one dirty riff."

Thus far the Scorpions–MEINE (vocals), MATTHIAS JABS (lead guitar), RUDOLF SCHENKER (guitar), JAMES KOTTAK (drums) and PAWEL MACIWODA (bass)–have taken the "Get Your Sting and Blackout" farewell world tour to Germany, Switzerland and France and received rave reviews. Of the in-progress European tour, the German daily paper <em>Bild</em> said, "Farewell Scorpions-you were sensational!…Why do they want to call it quits? The Scorpions rocked the sold-out arena…there were elaborate video animations, fantastic light effects and a perfect sound–it was a show of superlatives!" Munich’s paper TZ said, "It was very emotional early on: 45 minutes after the Scorpions took the stage in the fully sold out Olympia Halle and sang their opener ‘Sting in the Tail’ from their final, hit album, the five musicians approach the forestage, while the crowd renders homage. The band then begins to play a marvelous acoustic version of their Nineties ballad ‘Send me an Angel.’ It seems as if the fans do not want to stop applauding -pure emotions…A brilliant, two-hour long, rock show. The musicians illustrate why they rank among the most successful German bands in the world: they are a momentum on stage." Frankfurt, Germany’s <em>Frankfurtonline</em> said of Meine’s voice: "It still sounds just as young and fresh and easy-going as it did from day one: powerful and flexible."

In other exciting news, the rockers were honored at the World Music Awards at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club on May 18th, in presence of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Back in 1992 and again in 1994, the band proudly accepted the award for "Best International Selling Artist from Germany." This time, the Scorpions were awarded with the World Music "Rock Legend Award" for their outstanding contribution to rock music. The show aired in over 160 countries around the world to more than 100 million viewers. And earlier this year the group were honored in Los Angeles at Guitar Center’s "Rock Walk," where they were inducted alongside other artists who have made a significant impact and lasting contribution to the growth and evolution of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Blues and R&amp;B.

MEINE continues to thank their loyal fans and invite them out to the biggest party of the year. "We are so incredibly happy about the fantastic feedback we have been receiving from around the world on <em>Sting in the Tail</em>. We can’t wait to see our fans soon!" See more at the-scorpions.com.

<em>Electric City<em> is the 7th solo release from guitar virtuoso Mike Campese. The 14 song, over 76 minute Cd is filled with some of the most blistering guitar work Mike has ever recorded. The CD kicks off with a bang with the tune "Eleventh Degree" featuring some intense melodic shredding and jazzy harmonies. Just when you thought you heard some crazy guitar playing, Campese takes it up another notch with "Shred Machine", which is just pure non stop shredding done very tastefully. This is defiantly Mike Campese’s most heaviest CD to date, with the down tuned song "Heavy Thing" and the in your face progressive vocal tune"LandShark". Mike Campese really shows off his versatility with the indian inspired tunes like"Cruisin Across the Mojave" and "Camelryde". Like each Mike Campese CD there is something for everyone, Campese does some pretty intense over the top guitar work, especially on the demonic arpeggio blistering tune "Over The Top", which Paganini fans would love and the face melting tune "Napali Coast". Mike does sing on a few tracks on this disc like on the epic tune "Kauai Blue", which is loaded with lush harmonies. Mike can really shred but he has a strong sense of melody that he is known for which can be heard on his catchy ballad "Closer To The Sun" that has some beautiful haunting melodies. Campese even gets a little funky on the tunes "Butterfingers" and "Punk Ass", featuring some hip sassy melodies. The Mike Campese fans are going to love this CD and it should bring him over the top.

Jeff Beck performed last night at New York’s Iridium Jazz Club in a tribute to the late Les Paul on what would have been his 95th birthday. Beck performed with Imelda May for invited guests, as well as celebrity friends. Brian Setzer joined Beck onstage.

Jakob Dylan has announced plans to extend his current nation-wide tour into the summer with this band Jakob Dylan and Three Legs. The band, which will feature new member Nora O’Connor as well as veteran Kelly Hogan on vocals, will be back on the road starting June 19th in Morton, Illinois, with dates running through July.

Dylan’s US tour kicked off in April and is happening in support of his critically acclaimed sophomore album <em>Women and Country</em>. The album debuted at #12 on the <em>Billboard Top 200</em> chart, marking his highest chart debut to date. Striking and ripe with sublime beauty, Jakob reaches new majestic heights on this release with his distinct voice and unparalleled songwriting. Recorded in Los Angeles, CA, Women and Country finds Jakob reuniting with acclaimed Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe winning producer T Bone Burnett (Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Crazy Heart), who produced the Wallflowers’ 1996 breakthrough album <em>Bringing Down the Horse</em>. Jakob is also joined by Neko Case and Kelly Hogan on the release, who provide back-up vocals on 8 of the album’s 11 tracks.

Tim Sipprell, Edina, Minnesota, was the lucky winner in the Team Josie guitar raffle, held prior to Saturday’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life event in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Tim’s was one of 164 entries for the guitar, which was custom-built by Jason at Schroeder Guitars, Redding, California.

Team Josie, founded by the family of VG publisher Alan Greenwood, raised $12,000 this year for the Cancer Society, bringing its three-year total to more than $25,000. This was the first year the group raffled a guitar.