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Bowie Creates, Curates NYC Festival
DAVID BOWIE is set to curate the first-ever High Line Festival next spring, a ten-day extravaganza of music and art to be held in the neighborhoods underneath a newly created park on New York's West Side. Bowie, who said on his Web site that he will seek both up-and-coming talent and big-name artists to participate, will also take the stage at the outdoor concert -- his first official appearance in the Big Apple since 2003.
Robert Plant, Dolls Unite in the Name of Love
In a show of rock & roll charity, veteran music man ROBERT PLANT will lead a diverse group of artists -- including NEW YORK DOLLS frontman DAVID JOHANSEN, YO LA TENGO, and CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH vocalist ALEC OUNSWORTH -- in a June 23rd benefit concert to help one of their own. New York's Beacon Theatre will play host to the first in a series of fundraisers for ARTHUR LEE, frontman of the psychedelic Sixties band LOVE, who is battling leukemia. Proceeds will help the uninsured Love pay his estimated $100,000 medical bill. Tickets go on sale May 12th. For more information visit thelovesociety.com.
Mars Volta to Open for the Chili Peppers
Prog-rockers the MARS VOLTA will join the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS as they hit the road this summer in support of their new album, Stadium Arcadium. This won't be the first collaboration for the two groups, who are both known for their wild concert antics -- from psychedelic light shows to strategically placed tube socks. While the Volta joined the Chilis on their spring 2003 European tour, Chilis bassist FLEA also guested on the Volta's 2003 debut LP, De-loused in the Comatorium, and their latest, 2005's Frances the Mute. The joint jaunt kicks off August 11th in Portland, Oregon, and wraps on November 5th in St. Paul, Minnesota . . . In other Chili Peppers news, the band will be the first to perform a mid-race concert (of Arcadium tunes, of course) at the May 20th NASCAR Nextel Cup Series All-Star Challenge. The Peppers have never before played a sporting event.
Clapton Revisits "Clapton"
ERIC CLAPTON-ites, rejoice: On May 23rd, the legendary guitarist's 1970 self-titled solo debut will be reissued as a remastered, expanded double-disc set. While Disc One will remain true to its 1970 form, Disc Two will include a never-released mix of the album by longtime Clapton collaborator DELANEY BRAMLETT. Clapton is currently touring Europe through the summer -- with slide guitarist DEREK TRUCKS on board.
MC5 Bassist Davis in Motorcycle Crash
Former MC5 bassist MICHAEL DAVIS was hospitalized in Los Angeles earlier this week after suffering a fractured spine and bruised ribs from a motorcycle accident. Davis, most famous for his work with the Detroit-based punk pioneers, is expected to recover but was forced to cancel his appearance with DKT (his band with fellow ex-MC5-ers WAYNE KRAMER and DENNIS THOMPSON) at May 19th's JOEY RAMONE Birthday Bash at New York's Irving Plaza.
End Times Nigh! Britney Baby Confirmed
BRITNEY SPEARS put months of media speculation to rest Tuesday when she appeared on CBS' Late Show With DAVID LETTERMAN and told millions of viewers that she and husband KEVIN FEDERLINE are, in fact, expecting. This baby will make two for the twenty-four-year-old Spears. (Her first child, Sean Preston, was born in September.) The busy K-Fed -- who has two children from a previous relationship -- will check in at four.
Hot 97 Puts Kibosh on Peeps, Diddy Gets Dissed
New York hip-hop station Hot 97 was handed a bittersweet victory Tuesday when a state court removed a landlord-imposed ban on rappers visiting the station -- but stipulated that on-air guests' entourages be forbidden from accompanying them inside. The station's West Village building has been the site of three rap-related shootings since 2001, the most recent of which occurred last month when Brooklyn rapper GRAVY was shot moments before conducting an interview . . . In another installment of hip-hop court, SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS' child-support appeal was shot down on Tuesday in New York Supreme Court. The judge would not reconsider a 2005 ruling requiring the superstar hip-hop impresario to fork over more than $19,000 a month for Justin, his twelve-year-old son with ex-girlfriend Misa Hylton Brim. Diddy also pays child support for son Christian, his child with model Kim Porter.
School to Students: Ne-Yo Is a No-No
Somewhere in the suburbs of Detroit, Catholic schoolgirls are crying. Officials at the all-girl Mercy High School cancelled a scheduled concert Wednesday by R&B up-and-comer NE-YO after deciding that lyrics on the crooner's first album, In My Own Words, were sexually objectionable. Students had won the concert in a seatbelt-use contest jointly sponsored by a local radio station and auto-parts maker.
Recovering Pop Goddess Kylie to Get Hitched
After a yearlong battle with breast cancer, singer KYLIE MINOGUE is making a comeback in love and in music. The Aussie pop star, now sporting a post-chemo pixie do, is set to wed her beau of three years, French actor OLIVIER MARTINEZ, by next spring, according to Us Weekly. Minogue was also recently in New York to record with glam-rockers the SCISSOR SISTERS.
Raconteurs Do Manhattan: Play Late-Night TV, Tower Records
Rock foursome the RACONTEURS -- helmed by WHITE STRIPES frontman JACK WHITE and pop singer-songwriter BRENDAN BENSON -- will take the stage May 18th on Late Night With CONAN O'BRIEN. New York devotees can catch a live show that same night at the Greenwich Village Tower Records (4th Street and Broadway). Wristbands for the show will be given out beginning May 16th upon purchase of the band's debut album, Broken Boy Soldiers.