Talib Kweli has recorded vocals for Les Nubians upcoming single, "Temperature Rising," which will be on their new album One Step Forward, due March 25th . . . John Doe will kick off a U.S. tour on February 14th in Los Angeles . . . Hip-hoppers the Diplomats -- Cam'ron, Jimmy Jones, Freekey Zekey and Julez Santana -- have recorded their debut album, tentatively titled "Diplomatic Immunity," due out March 4th . . . Widespread Panic's John Bell will host the fourth annual Hannah's Buddies Charity Classic and FightSMA Benefit Bash on January 18th in Orlando, Florida . . . Styx, Kansas and John Waite will kick off a tour January 28th in Orlando, Florida.

Limited editions of Zwan's debut album, Mary Star of the Sea, will be released with a bonus DVD, featuring thirty-five minutes of behind the scenes footage of the band recording the album and an interview with each member . . . John Bon Jovi helped raise over $30,000 dollars for a local medical clinic in Red Bank, New Jersey with a concert at Rumson-Fair Haven High School. Bon Jovi will begin a North American tour on February 8th in State College, Pennsylvania . . . The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea will appear on the debut album from Mars Volta, due April 29th. Volta will open for the Chili Peppers on their European tour through March . . . Lisa Ling will host the new series "Rocktalk" on the Women's Entertainment network. The show will feature interviews with Pink, Alanis Morissette and Macy Gray . . .

Ron Sexsmith will open the first leg of Coldplay's North American tour, which kicks off on January 21st in Orlando, Florida . . . Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney, Tony Crow of Lambchop and Margaret White of Sparklehorse are among the guests on the upcoming album by Portastatic, due April 8th . . . Interpol will kick off an eight-city tour on January 10th in Columbus, Ohio, before heading to the U.K. as part of the NME Awards Tour with the Datsuns, the Thrills and Polyphonic Spree . . . The Hives, the Hellacopters, New Bomb Turks, the Donnas, the Flaming Sideburns, and the Pattern are among the bands featured on the Gearhead Records' compilation Smash-Up Derby due in January . . .

(December 24, 2002)