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Music in Bars Not Free

PR reports: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) today announced that it has filed 29 separate infringement actions against nightclubs, bars and restaurants in 22 states and the District of Columbia.

In each of the cases filed today, the business establishment has publicly performed the copyrighted musical works of ASCAP's songwriter, composer and music publisher members without obtaining a license from ASCAP to do so.

ASCAP reached out to the owners of each of the establishments repeatedly over a significant period of time before taking legal action. In every instance, the establishment refused to obtain a license, but continued to perform ASCAP members' music without permission, resulting in the filing of the infringement actions. - more on this story

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20 Metal Fest Arrests

Blabbermouth reports: New Zealand's The Dominion Post reports that a dozen people were arrested on the second night of Wellington's hard-rocking music festival.

The arrests � which brought the Rock2Wgtn festival total to 20 in two days � were mainly for minor offences such as trespass, a Wellington police spokesman said.

Three people were also arrested for breaking into cars outside Westpac Stadium while OZZY OSBOURNE, POISON and WHITESNAKE played inside on Sunday night. - more on this story

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Don't Forget The Speedwagon

PR reports: Kevin Cronin recently took some time out of REO Speedwagon's rehearsal schedule to participate in FOX-TV's all-new, all-star episodes of DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS!, which kicked-off Thursday, Feb. 21 and airs on Thursdays (9:00-10:00 PM / 8 PM CDT). Kevin is competing for a chance to win a million dollars, playing for The Recording Academy�'s nonprofit MusiCares� charity and his episode date airs Thursday, March 27th.

March 27th also kicks-off the band's upcoming 2008 concert tour with Def Leppard in Greensboro, N.C. REO Speedwagon will be performing hits from their latest album, Find Your Own Way Home, including their new single, the title track from the album, as well as all the classic favorites. STYX is also scheduled to appear on the tour. - more on this story

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Rock Band Wii

PR reports: Harmonix today announced plans to release the award-winning music video game Rock Band on the Wii home video game system from Nintendo in the U.S. and Canada on June 22, 2008 for the suggested retail price of $169.99.

Rock Band for Wii will be released as a Special Edition bundle including the software, drums, microphone and a wireless guitar. Stand alone instruments will also be available on June 22nd for people who want to build their band one instrument at a time or want to play the drum versus drum game mode. The game will feature 63 songs including five bonus songs for Wii gamers to enjoy.

Rock Band is an all-new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music like never before. The game challenges players to put together a band and tour for fame and fortune � all while learning to master lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals. Featuring the most master recordings of any music game ever by the world's biggest rock artists, Rock Band includes tracks that span every genre of rock ranging from alternative and classic rock to heavy metal and punk. Rock Band has garnered over 40 awards this year including Game Critics Award: Best of Show E3 2007 and three awards at The 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Family Game of the Year, and Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack.

For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please visit - www.rockband.com

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Dead Kennedys Go With Poppunker

punknews.org reports: Ron "Skip" Greer, former vocalist of Easy Bay pop punk outfit The Wynona Riders has joined the Dead Kennedys as touring vocalist.

Greer will make his official debut on the band's upcoming tour in support of Milking the Sacred Cow. The band also noted:

"The bands previous singer, Jeff Penalty, has been unavailable because of numerous other projects he is working on, and the scheduling conflicts became impossible to work around." - more on this story

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Droid To Tour with Shadows Fall, Kataklysm, The Showdown, and Arsis

PR reports: Droid are pleased to announce a string of dates with Shadows Fall, Kataklysm, The Showdown, and Arsis.

The two-week tour kicks off in Buffalo at the Showplace Theatre and wraps up with a performance at the 10th Anniversary New England Hardcore and Metal Fest in Worcester, MA!

Vocalist James "Buddy" Eason commented on the upcoming tour: "We are so excited to be going out on tour with Shadows Fall, Kataklysm, Arsis and The Showdown. I love the fact that all the bands on this tour are all true metal bands, yet are all musically unique. We are big fans of all the bands on this tour and are looking forward to destroying every stage every night." - dates

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Devine Finds Second Chance on Brand New Label

punkbands reports: Brand New have formed their own record label, titled Procrastinate! Music Traitors. The first artist signed to PMT is longtime friend Kevin Devine, who was dropped last year by major label Capitol Records.

Devine will be re-releasing his only major-label album, 2006's Put Your Ghost To Rest, through PMT on April 20. There is no word whether or not the reissue will contain any new material or artwork

Devine has a handful of dates along the eastern seaboard next month, including a CD (re-)release show on April 20 in Brooklyn, a show which Devine has advertised as featuring "special guests." Put two and two together, kids - dates

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Metro Station Bamboozled

PR reports: Recently wrapping a quick UK stint with Panic At The Disco, Metro Station is gearing up to hit the road on this year's Bamboozle Road Show that starts Friday, March 28th in Seattle, WA.

The Bamboozle Road Show 2008 will include stops in over 30 cities, the Bamboozle LEFT Festival in Irvine, CA, as well as the Hoodwink Festival and Bamboozle Festival in E. Rutherford, NJ.

Metro Station's fellow label mates, Coheed and Cambria have also been announced for the Bamboozle LEFT Date on May 4th. - dates

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Robyn's US Flight

PR reports: Robyn has just announced the dates of her first full US tour.

Her self-titled album comes out APRIL 29th via Konichiwa Bitches/Cherrytree/Interscope.

And in other exciting news Robyn has been confirmed to join the All Points West Music & Arts Festival held August 8 -10 at Liberty State in Jersey City, N.J.

Apr 29 - Boston Paradise Rock Club
Apr 30 - Philadelphia Theater of Living Arts
May 2 - New York Grand Ballroom @ The Hammerstein - more dates

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125 Years of Gretsch

PR reports: The Gretsch Company, one of the world's most well-known drum and guitar manufacturers, will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2008. Throughout the year, Gretsch will celebrate by introducing new lines of limited edition anniversary drums, guitars, and other Gretsch products; conducting an online search for the world's best unsigned bands; and hosting a major concert event in New York City featuring an illustrious lineup of "Gretsch Greats."

"It's quite exciting to reach this remarkable milestone," said President Fred W. Gretsch. "We owe our many years of success to four generations of Gretsch owners and the dedicated men and women on their team who were � and are � passionate about great music and high-quality instruments."

According to research conducted by American Management Services, Inc., only three percent of American family-owned businesses survive to the fourth generation. The Gretsch Company is among that relative handful of fourth-generation companies.

More information about The Gretsch Company's 125th Anniversary celebrations can be found at - www.gretsch125th.com

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Presley Victim of Dr. Jiffy Lube

antiMusic reports: You've seen the expressionless faces of Law & Order guest stars this season, and now here is a cautionary tale about the insane amount of cosmetic "procedures" currently raging through La la land: TMZ has learned Priscilla Presley is the victim of a botched cosmetic procedure. What's worse -- it was at the hands of a gigolo who was sent to prison for perpetrating an injectable scam on Hollywood's elite.

Priscilla, whose face looks ... strange on "Dancing with the Stars," went to Dr. Daniel Serrano around 2003. Serrano was a good-looking doc from Argentina who hooked into Hollywood's social A list and started giving them what he claimed were miracle injections that worked better than Botox. In fact, Serrano was injecting industrial, low-grade silicone similar to what's used to lubricate auto parts in Argentina into the faces of these women.

But wait, it gets worse. Serrano wasn't even a licensed doc in the U.S. The injections caused lumps, paralysis and holes in the faces of some of the women (and some men) he injected. - more on this story

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Eyes Set To Kill Democracy

PR reports: Eyes Set To Kill have added more tour dates to their upcoming support slot on Otep's "Circus of Democracy" Tour, which also features Creature Feature and A New Revolution (ex-Unloco/Slaves on Dope).

Eyes Set To Kill are supporting their critically-hailed debut "Reach", which debuted at #29 on Billboard's Heatseekers Charts. The band built a solid fan base in the underground punk and hardcore communities before stealing the show opening tours with Papa Roach, Kittie, hardcore pioneers Walls of Jericho and Ozzfest alumni In This Moment. - more on this story

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Mickey Hart Revisits Planet Drum

PR reports: Shout! Factory is proud to present the re-release of Mickey Hart's Planet Drum and an extensive part of his discography. The Grateful Dead percussionist will do a national tour this fall in support of the release.

Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart's innovative Planet Drum CD convened some of the world's finest drum talent for a collaboration that won the very first GRAMMY for world music�bringing together Nigerian drum legend Babatunde Olatunji, Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, Nigerian talking drum ace Sikiru Adepoju, and Puerto Rico's master conguero Giovanni Hidalgo, among others. The 1991 album spent an unprecedented 26 weeks at #1 on the Billboard world music chart, and continues to sell as a perennial favorite. - more on this story

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Five Finger Death Punch Disturbed

PR reports: Five Finger Death Punch will join multi-Platinum act Disturbed on tour starting late April. Along with the Disturbed dates, there will be several special headlining club shows and radio festivals starting April 18th in Sayreville, NJ.

FFDP released their acclaimed album, THE WAY OF THE FIST, late last year and hit the road to headline the Guitar Hero II stage on the 2007 FAMILY VALUES TOUR. FFDP followed Family Values by joining Korn and HellYeah last fall, as well as FFDP's first headlining club tour.

The Spring tour dates with Disturbed will be a precursor to the MAYHEM TOUR which kicks off later this summer with Disturbed, Slipknot, Mastadon, Dragonforce and many others. - more on this story

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Crash Romeo Crash Zwinky

PR reports: Crash Romeo is trying to reach its teen fans by dropping its new album "Crash Romeo Gave Me The Clap" Tuesday in Zwinky, a teen virtual world that has 13.5 million registered users.

Crash Romeo's Zwinky Launch Party will be heavily promoted March 25th on the Zwinky homepageand on all Zwinky user's profile pages, as well as a blog post on the zWINK blog

Details on the Zwinky Launch Party: 1) Launch party will be held at Zwinktopia State University Dorm and be hosted by Crash Romeo's virtual avatar of Travis 2) Entire new album playing in the dorm 3) Crash Romeo poster on wall that links user to Crash Romeo Zwinky profile and leave Znotes for the band (page is not live yet) 4) iTunes kiosk that links user to Crash Romeo iTunes album page 6) Dorm is chat-enabled so users can communicate with each other during listening party, throw footballs, cakes, snowballs around, etc.
- http://www.zwinky.com/

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Hendrix Beats London Times

PR reports: Experience Hendrix LLC, the Seattle-based family company which owns and administers the Jimi Hendrix legacy of recordings and songs has, together with The Last Experience Inc., obtained summary judgment against the London Times. On September 10, 2006 that newspaper released a CD recording of the Jimi Hendrix Experience performing at the Albert Hall in London on February 24, 1969 as a "covermount" with its Sunday edition. That performance was the last time the band ever played performed in London, the city where an unknown Jimi Hendrix burst into prominence in late 1966. Despite warnings from Experience Hendrix prior to the CD's release, the London Times proceeded, citing a purported license of the material from an affiliate of Charly Records whose claims to this material have long been disputed by Experience Hendrix.

The Albert Hall concert was actually filmed and recorded on behalf of a joint venture between Jimi Hendrix, his manager Michael Jeffery, and filmmakers Steve Gold and Jerry Goldstein. Experience Hendrix is the successor to the Hendrix and Jeffery interests and The Last Experience Inc. is the successor to the Gold and Goldstein interests. A copy of the Albert Hall audio material was obtained in the 1970's by Bernard Solomon, who served as the accountant for Gold & Goldstein and their companies. Mr. Solomon then began to license the audio material through various companies he owned or controlled, all without license or approval from Hendrix, Gold or Goldstein. These unauthorized Albert Hall concert releases have continued over the past decades, most recently through Charly Records and its licensees. The most prominent of these bootlegs during the past few years have been the "His Greatest Hits" (Volumes 1 and 2) CDs released on the Legacy International label. Experience Hendrix has caused many major record distributors to remove these recordings from their bins and websites, but these releases continue to reappear at various retail venues.
- more on this story

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.... Wilco Live

One of the most ironic items about Wilco is that if they played it straight they could be one of the biggest arena bands in the land. Instead, they've gone down the cult road and as a result, they're the second biggest cult band in the world (with Radiohead being 1st). - Read the full Wilco Live review

.... Lima Charlie - It's Easy To Be Creepy

Lima Charlie is a wonderful band, although it's impossible to accurately categorize them. But then again, Lima Charlie doesn't need no stinkin' category.
(4 stars) - Read the full Lima Charlie - It's Easy To Be Creepy review

.... Neaera - Armamentarium

Overall, this release suffers from too much redundancy and uninteresting "filler" riffs, though the lyrics are somewhat redeeming. For the band, this is a step down and to the side, as they changed and digressed at the same time (no sh*t!). - Read the full Neaera - Armamentarium review

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