N.E.R.D., the Deftones and Box Car Racer have contributed songs to the soundtrack for the video game "SX Superstar," due this summer . . . Evan Dando will begin a fourteen-date tour behind Baby I'm Bored on June 10th in Providence, Rhode Island . . . Cheap Trick will release Special One, their first album of new material in six years, on July 8th. Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and Steve Albini are among the album's producers . . . Former Faith No More frontman Mike Patton will release Mit Gas with his new band, Tomahawk, on May 6th . . . Wilco and the Minus 5 will perform at New York City's Bowery Ballroom on April 29th in support of their collaboration, Down With Wilco . . .

Bjork is planning a live box set for release this summer. Three documentaries about the singer are also being put together for an upcoming DVD release . . . The Sea And Cake will release Glass, featuring remixes by Stereolab, Broadcast and Carl Craig, next month . . . Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will release their new album, Save My Soul, on July 8th . . . The first leg of Dismemberment Plan's farewell tour will begin on May 28th in Washington, D.C. . . . Bill Mallonee, formerly of Vigilantes Of Love, will release a solo album, Perfume Letter, on August 5th . . . Robert Cray will release his next record, Time Will Tell, on July 1st. The album features horns by Sly and the Family Stone's Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini . . .

Bob Marley's family has found some cassette recordings of unreleased material, with plans to release it by next year . . . Kid Rock has produced "Find My Way," a new single by Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, due this summer . . . Cholly Atkins, who did choreography for the Supremes, Gladys Knight and the Pips and other Motown acts, died on April 19th in Las Vegas; he was eighty-nine . . . Bruce Springsteen has placed a message on his official Web site defending the Dixie Chicks, calling radio station boycotts of the band "un-American." In other Chicks news, the trio will appear on ABC's Primetime Thursday with Diane Sawyer to address their controversial comments about President George W. Bush . . .

The Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie will release his first solo album, Imperial, later this spring . . . Michelle Branch will begin a fourteen-date tour in support of the upcoming Hotel Paper, starting May 14th in San Francisco . . . After a sixteen-year split, Twisted Sister will reunite for a USO tour in South Korea in May, followed by dates in the U.S. and Europe later in the summer . . . Tiesto will headline an eight-hour, non-stop DJ performance at the Gelredome Stadium in Holland on May 10th before 25,000 fans . . . A funeral service will be held for Nina Simone in Marseille, France, tomorrow . . .

A previously unreleased version of Paul McCartney's "A Love for You" will be included on the soundtrack to The In-Laws, due May 20th. The album will also include songs by the Bee Gees, Badfinger and ELO . . . Earth Wind and Fire will release The Promise, their first new album in seven years, in May. The band will begin a twenty-nine-date tour on May 23rd in Boca Raton, Florida . . . Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks will begin a tour in support of Pig Lib starting April 29th in Los Angeles . . . King's X will release Black Like Sunday on May 20th. The band launches a twenty-four-date tour on May 2nd in Tallahassee, Florida; all dates except two will include Fishbone on the bill . . .

Jazz saxophonist/composer Teddy Edwards, who had worked with Tom Waits, died of prostate cancer at his home in Los Angeles on April 20th; he was seventy-nine . . . Fugazi's Ian MacKye will perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, this weekend . . . Luther Vandross, who suffered a stroke last week, is listed in "critical but stable" condition at a New York City hospital . . . George Clinton will release Six Degrees of P-Funk, a new compilation spanning 1979 to 1996, on May 13th . . . Bon Jovi will begin a sixteen-date summer tour on July 11th in Tinley Park, Illinois . . .

Whitney Houston will make a guest appearance and sing on the season finale of Fox's Boston Public on May 12th. American Idol finalist Tamyra Gray will also appear in the episode . . . The Experience Music Project museum will open a new Jimi Hendrix exhibit on June 7th . . . Dan "The Automator" Nakamura is producing Galactic's first new studio album in three years . . . Tori Amos is accepting video ideas by fans for "Taxi Ride" on toriamos.com . . . The Yardbirds will begin a twenty-two-date tour on June 1st in Boston . . . Kathleen Edwards will launch a twenty-nine-date tour on April 25th in San Francisco . . .

Liz Phair will play seven, solo acoustic dates opening for the Flaming Lips, starting May 23rd in Portland, Oregon . . . Brian Wilson will receive an honorary degree from Northeastern University at Boston's Fleet Center in June . . . Detachment Kit will hit the road for a twenty-eight-date tour with My Morning Jacket and Burning Brides starting April 23rd in Nashville . . . R&B songwriter and guitarist Earl King died on April 17th of complications from diabetes; he was sixty-nine . . .

(April 24, 2003)