JERRY GARCIA's five studio albums will be boxed with a bonus CD of outtakes as All Good Things by Rhino Records on April 6th . . . Hit-making production team the MATRIX (AVRIL LAVIGNE, LIZ PHAIR) have begun work on a debut album to be released o Columbia . . . An expanded version of JESSICA SIMPSON's latest album In This Skin will be released on March 2nd . . . The CHRIS ISAAK Show will air its final episode on March 25th . . . JAMES BROWN's classic concert album, Live at the Apollo, will be expanded as a deluxe edition on March 23rd . . . GODSMACK will perform at the February 23rd Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers hockey game in Boston . . . STAIND's AARON LEWIS makes a guest appearance on JIMMY'S CHICKEN SHACK's new album, Re.present, due April 27th . . .

BILLY CORGAN put a post on his Web site blaming guitarist JAMES IHA's departure for the breakup of the SMASHING PUMPKINS . . . A protest by Cheltenham, England, residents halted plans to name a street in the town after late ROLLING STONES guitarist BRIAN JONES . . . A travel agent is suing MICHAEL JACKSON for failure to pay $18,000 for the private jet he chartered from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara, where he was arrested last November . . . CASSANDRA WILSON, FEMI KUTI, ANGIE STONE and others will perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Cape Town, South Africa, on April 10th and 11th . . . SIMPLY RED will release Home Live in Sicily on DVD on March 30th . . .

OASIS are looking for photos and video footage for an upcoming DVD. In a Web post, the group said it was primarily seeking material from 1992 to 1995. The group is also at work on a new studio album . . . The RIAA filed another 531 lawsuits against "John Doe" computer users for illegally swapping music over the Internet. The organization filed 532 suits last month . . . SWITCHFOOT launch a twenty-one-date tour on March 15th in Anaheim, California. The group will release a new DVD, Live in San Diego five days later . . . RUSH will celebrate their thirtieth anniversary with a forty-date summer tour to begin May 26th in Antioch, Tennessee . . .

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and former ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND guitarist DICKEY BETTS will appear on Back in 20, GARY U.S. BONDS' new album, which true to its title will be his first new recording in twenty years. The set, due June 1st, includes Bonds' covers of songs by OTIS REDDING, KEB' MO' and DELBERT McCLINTON, along with several originals. Bonds will perform at the SXSW Music Conference in Austin on March 18th, with a national tour to follow . . .

The NEPTUNES PHARRELL WILLIAMS has recorded a voicemail message for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that can be downloaded at peta2.com . . . The COMMODORES, the TRAMMPS and PATTI LABELLE will appear on My Music: 70s Soul Superstars, which will air on PBS on March 6th . . . A fourteen-track GUNS N' ROSES compilation is being put together for a March 23rd release. The group is still at work on the long-awaited Chinese Democracy . . . RICHARD BUCKNER will begin a sixteen-date tour on February 26th in Houston . . . ELLIS PAUL begins a thirteen-date tour behind Side of the Road starting March 5th in Mahwah, New Jersey . . .

A bench warrant issued last week after Courtney Love failed to show for a felony hearing on two counts of drug possession has been recalled after the singer appeared in court today with an explanation. A preliminary hearing in the case has been set for March 16th . . . The DISTILLERS kick off a fifteen-date tour on March 25th in Chicago . . . Former NIRVANA bassist KRIST NOVOSELIC has decided not to run for lieutenant governor of Washington state, but will continue to work with Music for America, a voter registration organization . . . STING had to cancel tonight show in Oakland due to an illness that caused two previous cancellations. He also postponed his Las Vegas performance from February 15th to the 20th . . .

Former JUDAS PRIEST drummer DAVID HOLLAND was sentenced to eight years in prison for the attempted rape of a teenage boy . . . IRON AND WINE and HOLOPAW will begin an eight-date tour on April 2nd in Denver . . . Georgia musician MELVIN "PERCY" WELCH died on February 8th of kidney failure. LITTLE RICHARD, whose career Welch helped launch, attended his funeral on Saturday . . . TINA TURNER has signed on to appear in The Goddess, a new Merchant-Ivory film . . . MOTORHEAD will perform at London's Royal Opera House on February 22nd . . . Former NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK singer JOEY McINTYRE will release his next album, 8:09, on April 27th . . . The HIGH LLAMAS hit the road for a thirteen-date tour, starting Friday in Washington, D.C.

(February 19, 2004)