Mar 31, 2006 6:04 PM

From Sufjan to Alicia

SUFJAN STEVENS is the first-ever recipient of the New Pantheon Music Prize. For the honor, the indie singer-songwriter, who was recognized for last year's Illinois, will receive $5,000 and a trophy. ELTON JOHN and JOHN LEGEND were among the elite music force that voted for Stevens over nominees including the ARCADE FIRE, FIONA APPLE, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, KINGS OF LEON and M.I.A.

John Mayer Trio Preps Other Projects

JOHN MAYER TRIO and JEFF BECK will headline this weekend's fourth annual Tempe Music Festival in Tempe, Arizona, celebrating guitar-maker Fender's sixtieth anniversary. The two-day event will also feature TRAIN, G.LOVE, ALIEN ANT FARM and LIT. This will be the Trio's final performance for the foreseeable future: Bassist PINO PALLADINO is set to tour with the WHO this summer, while Mayer gets ready to release his latest solo album, Continuum, this July. Mayer is ramping up for an August solo tour.

Russell and Kimora Part Glamorous Ways

Forty-eight-year-old hip-hop entrepreneur RUSSELL SIMMONS and his wife of seven years, KIMORA LEE SIMMONS, announced Friday that they have separated. Simmons, who founded Def Jam Records, and Kimora, a model and Baby Phat fashion designer, have two daughters together.

Los Lonely Boys Admit "Orale" Fixation

This summer, Tex-rock brotherhood LOS LONELY BOYS will release Orale!, the thirteen-track follow-up to their self-titled 2004 debut. The GARZA brothers have announced a handful of performances for this spring and summer, beginning April 5th in Laredo, Texas, and they are also slated to play Nashville's CMA Music Festival on June 11th. Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads, a documentary about the band, premiered earlier in March at Austin's South By Southwest Film Festival.

Miles, Thelonius Items Made Public

The families of MILES DAVIS and THELONIUS MONK donated objects from the late jazz legends' careers to the National Museum of American History on Thursday night in a ceremony that kicked off the Smithsonian's fifth annual Jazz Appreciation Month. Among the objects now available for viewing are Davis' Versace jacket, Monk's skull cap, and several music manuscripts. In addition, photographer Herman Leonard donated photographs of LOUIS ARMSTRONG, BILLIE HOLIDAY and DIZZY GILLESPIE to the collection. The museum already houses thousands of pages of DUKE ELLINGTON's unpublished music, ELLA FITZGERALD's famous red dress and BENNY GOODMAN's clarinet. Throughout April, the Smithsonian will celebrate jazz with concerts and special programming.

Black Rob to Serve Seven Years

After evading his warrant, rapper BLACK ROB was sentenced to seven years in prison for grand larceny on Thursday in New York. The Bad Boy rapper, who will begin serving his sentence immediately, had agreed to turn himself in by January 24th. Rob's last album, 2005's The Black Rob Report, peaked at Number Ten on Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart.

Shins, Calexico Polishing Off Albums

New Mexico's dreamy melodic-pop outfit the SHINS have pushed back the release of their as-of-yet-untitled third album to October. Originally, the follow-up to 2003's Chutes Too Narrow -- which has sold almost 400,000 copies -- was expected this summer. The band will appear at Washington's Sasquatch! Festival May 27th, at a July 6th show in Los Angeles with BELLE AND SEBASTIAN, and at Lollapalooza August 6th in Chicago . . . Fellow Southwestern indie rockers CALEXICO will release their fifth album, Garden Ruin, on April 11th. In support of the release, the band will appear for free in-store performances in select cities -- including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Chicago and New York. The initial pressing of Garden Ruin will include a code allowing fans to download exclusive tracks. The vinyl edition of the album will also contain a code giving fans access to an mp3 version of the entire album . . . Ohio rock trio the BLACK KEYS have completed work on their follow-up to their 2004 breakthrough Rubber Factory. The as-yet-untitled album will hit stores on September 3rd.

George Jones Hospitalized for Pneumonia

Country singer GEORGE JONES was hospitalized at Nashville's Baptist Hospital Thursday due to complications from pneumonia. Although the seventy-four-year-old Country Music Hall of Famer is expected to make a full recovery, his weekend performances in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee have been postponed.

Alicia Keys Gets Interactive

On April 4th, ALICIA KEYS and longtime production partner KERRY "KRUCIAL" BROTHERS are officially launching krucialkeys.com, an interactive Web site offering aspiring musicians and fans exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the Grammy-winning duo's creative process. Through videos, photos, interviews and audio clips, the site will show how Keys and Krucial compose lyrics and choose beats.

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