What is Afro-punk? When Matthew Morgan and James Spooner joined forces in 2002, their focus was giving a voice to thousands of multi-cultural kids fiercely identifying with a lifestyle path-less-traveled. Morgan, a visionary with 18 years in the music industry, instinctively understood that the indie rock/punk/hardcore scene had powerful appeal beyond the predictable Caucasian audience; the passion evident in writer-director Spooner's hours of riveting hand-shot footage was the indisputable proof. The result: 2003's Afro-Punk, the seminal cult classic film spotlighting Black Punks in America.

It was a rock'n'roll era that will never be forgotten. This one city, at this one time, captured the hearts and souls of a generation like never before and none since. San Francisco. The late 1960s.

TheVegasEye reports the guys who just bailed Jacko out of Neverland debt may be angling to put him on stage in Vegas.

"With beautiful echoes of the great harmony groups like Poco, Eagles, even The Beach Boys; One Flew South are the new kids in town," says legendary songwriter J.D. Souther who contributed his collaborative songwriting talents to One Flew South's debut Last of the Good Guys and who co-wrote such Eagles' classics as "Best of My Love" and "Heartache Tonight." Adding "It's been my good fortune to work with excellent writers and singers and these guys are right in that vein of turning good melodies into the harmonic adventures you hope for when you write these kinds of songs."

Fans can check out the hard-hitting new album that produced by guitarist Steve Holt, The Tide and Its Takers is the band's Ferret Music debut.

Topics include Dan's bands, Soundgarden, KISS, Jeff the Drunk from the Howard Stern Show, and the Plasmatics.

"After spending so much time last year in the studio, it's good to be back on the road taking the stage every night and seeing the fans again," states singer/guitarist Matt Friction.

It also garnered the #1 spot on the Top Hard Music Chart, #2 on the Top Alternative Album Chart and #3 on the Top Current Rock Album Chart rallied by their soaring hit single "Beautiful." The single was launched at radio in early February and was the #1 Most Added single at Alternative and Active Rock radio.

According to the announcement on their website they third show will happen on June 17, at the Espacio Movistar in Barcelona, Spain. Details of how to get tickets will be announced on Coldplay.com soon.

The Edward Scissorhands-esque plants took 18 painstaking months to grow, only to have Ringo's head chopped off last week.

Soundcheck arrives in San Jose for an exclusive audience with Tennessee pop punks Paramore. Fronted by enigmatic lead singer Hayley Williams, the buzzed-about new band get candid about crossover sounds and the Deep South - and perform tracks from their critically acclaimed album, 'Riot!' Check out their full performance on Soundcheck

Alanis Morissette has just released a new video for her single "Underneath." This video follows Alanis on a journey that shows the parallels between saving the world and saving the heart [the press releases wording, not ours]. "Underneath" will appear on the forthcoming Flavors of Entanglement due out in the US on June 10th.

As of midnight Spiritualized's new album Songs In A&E is up for streaming on the band's myspace page in its entirety. Go and make sure you check it out for it's only going to be up for the next week. The album is in stores May 27th.

The FADERtoday announced the second edition of the quarterly digital-only F2 series. To be available as a free download on iTunes and at TheFADER.com, each F2 supplement will focus on one genre and five of the emerging artists who serve as the genre's modern day emissaries. This second edition focuses on the "New Rock" genre highlighting emerging artists such as Jay Reatard, White Denim, Russian Circles and more.

Crystal Gayle will perform at the Red Skelton Gala on Saturday, June 14, 2008 at the Red Skelton Performing Arts Center in Red's hometown of Vincennes, Indiana. Crystal, who is known for her signature hit "Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue," will be accompanied by her full touring band and will provide an evening of timeless music and entertainment to benefit the completion of the Red Skelton Museum and Education Center. Once completed, the Red Skelton Museum and Education Center will strive to bring much needed revenue to Knox County, Indiana. ticket info

Now comes a soundtrack to a show we never heard of: iCarly - Music From and Inspired by the Hit TV Show will debut four original songs performed by iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove, including the iCarly theme song, "Leave It All to Me" (featuring Drake Bell), which recently charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The album includes three additional new tracks performed by Miranda Cosgrove, including future singles "Stay My Baby" (written by Max Martin), "About You Now" (written and produced by Dr. Luke) and "Headphones On". iCarly - Music From and Inspired by the Hit TV Show also will feature songs from top artists like Avril Lavigne, Natasha Bedingfield, Good Charlotte, Sean Kingston and a brand-new, exclusive song from The Naked Brothers Band, stars of the Nick hit live-action series of the same name. "Leave It All to Me" stream

BLABBERMOUTH.NET has received word that former PHANTOM BLUE guitarist Michelle Meldrum � who has spent the past few years as the leader of her own band called MELDRUM � has died as a result of possible cerebral/brain hemorrhage (although the exact cause of death has not yet been determined/revealed). more

Bowie Plans Musical? Not So Much. Turns out that Gigwise report from the other day which they said was based on "reports" was actually based on "a report" from The Sun. And as such turned out to be bollocks. We do apologize for posting that bit of misinformation. It looked legit but had we known the source we would have warned you so you could take it with a pound of salt. With that said, the BBC has the follow up: David Bowie has denied reports he has given permission for his songs to be used in a musical version of his 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth. The Sun said last week Bowie was teaming up with "top director" Peter Schaufuss on the project. But Bowie's record company RZO Music said on his website it had licensed "absolutely no material" to the Danish theatre impresario. more

In other news, the winner of the latest edition of Dancing With The Stars is... who gives a damn? But prosecutors played the sex tape at the center of R. Kelly's child pornography trial in open court Tuesday, just hours after opening statements in which they accused the R&B singer of choreographing and starring in a video featuring "vile, disturbing and disgusting sex acts" with an underage girl. more

Wonder just how screwed up the House of Representatives is? They can't even get a simple thing like declaring a Frank Sinatra Day right. House members didn't get around to voting until Tuesday on a resolution supporting May 13, 2008 � last Tuesday � as the day honoring the late singer and Academy-Award-winning actor. Making up for lost time, the House voted 402-3 to do just that. Great job! Now let's vote every last one of them out of office and start fresh. more on the house of fools' vote

Speaking of government incompetence, try this one on for size: Drug charges against Whitney Houston stemming from a marijuana-related incident in 2000 have reportedly been dropped. The misdemeanor possession charges had been pending for eight years, since police allegedly caught the singer carrying marijuana at a Hawaiian airport. more

Actress Scarlett Johansson's debut album, released on Tuesday, is drawing fire from music critics. And rightly so, is she even singing on it? Or is she just talking with too many effects on her voice, which is then buried in the mix. If she can't sing then what's the point? She shouldn't feel too bad, Rolling Stone gave her 2.5 stars more than she deserved. Then again, RS did call the insipid and illiterate "music" of Missy Elliot genius and trashed Led Zeppelin's debut. If you want an album by a talking actor, then go buy William Shatner's album. It is far superior and actually enjoyable. Plus he doesn't try to con you by alluding to it being "art". more of the trashing of Scarlett