Pete Townshend didn't reveal who his guest was going to be at his ragged-but-right intimate solo appearance at New York's Supper Club Wednesday night, but given that the Who vet had taped a performance with Eddie Vedder on The Late Show with David Letterman earlier in the evening, it's doubtful many folks in the invite-only crowd were surprised when the bleached Pearl Jam singer and die-hard Who fan came out for six songs, including his own "Better Man."| Highlights (not counting Townshend's broken down, solo piano version of "Slit Skirts"), included two songs from Townshend's 1977 collaboration with Ronnie Lane, Rough Mix: "Till the Rivers All Run Dry" (written by country artist Don Williams) and "Heart to Hang Onto," the latter of which will appear (with Vedder) on a bonus disc complementing Pete Townshend Live, due out Sept. 21. Proceeds from the album, recorded last year at Chicago's House of Blues, will benefit the Windy City's Maryville Academy for abused and neglected children . . .

Despite the fact that the Smashing Pumpkins revealed earlier this month that their new album was sixty per cent completed, and said they were sifting through twenty-one songs for the new album with an eye to finishing the opus by early August for a fall release, Virgin Records announced today that the band's latest won't see the light of day until February 2000. "They just needed more time with it," said a Virgin spokesperson . . .

Retro-swing troupe Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will resume their relentless touring schedule following the release of This Beautiful Life, due out in October. Produced by the same team that shaped the group's self-titled major-label debut, the new album "touches on more musical styles but keeps with the same thread as the first one," according to manager Gary Stamler. "It's not so much a swing album as the first one but [still] keeps those roots with the band." Songs on the twelve-track record include "What's Next," "Big and Bad," "I Wanna Be Just Like You" and "I'm Not Sleepin'." . . .

It looks like Victoria's Secret is not the only company that Metallica is gearing up to sue. On the band's Web site there is a questionnaire asking fans if they have ever bought "Metallica"-colored lip pencils sold by Victoria Secret, nail files with the Metallica name on it, or clothing sold by Gianni Sport with the Metallica name on the hang tags. If so, the metallurgists want you to get in touch with their lawyer, Jill Pietrini, by email. . .

Suicidal Tendencies singer Mike Muir is recuperating at home after being stricken with a bout of pneumonia during the band's July 25 Warped Tour show in Detroit. Muir checked into a Detroit-area hospital, where he was treated and released. Muir's illness has forced the band to forego the remaining Warped Tour dates. . .

BILL CRANDALL, JENNY ELISCU, BLAIR R. FISCHER, RICHARD SKANSE and JAAN UHELSZKI
(July 29, 1999)