In Brief: Wu-Tang, Elton

The WU-TANG CLAN will release the live album recorded during their performance at the July's Rock the Bells hip-hop festival in San Bernardino, California, on September 28th. Dubbed The Disciples of the 36 Chambers, the CD will be followed by a DVD of concert footage, which hits stores October 5th. The set captures a rare reunion of all nine members of the Staten Island crew . . . ELTON JOHN will release Peachtree Road, his follow-up album to 2001's Songs From the West Coast, on November 9th. The twelve tracks include this week's single "Answer in the Sky" and "All That I'm Allowed," to be released on November 1st. John returns to Las Vegas' Caesars Palace from October 12th through the 31st . . . LINDA RONSTADT and CAROLE KING will discuss why they support presidential candidate JOHN KERRY at an upcoming Democratic event in Tucson, Arizona. Ronstadt took heat from her audience during a July show in Las Vegas when she praised Michael Moore's decidedly anti-Bush Fahrenheit 9/11. King has been campaigning for Kerry in thirty states since January . . .

With the second season of Fox's The O.C. set to premiere on November 4th, the next volume of the teen drama's soundtrack, Music From the O.C.: Mix 2 will be released on October 26th. The alternative-music friendly compilation will feature tracks by INTERPOL, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, the KILLERS, NADA SURF, KEANE, the EELS, the THRILLS and the WALKMEN. The third installment, entitled Mix 3: Have a Very Merry Chrismukkah in honor of both the Christian and Jewish throwdowns, will hit stores in time for the holidays . . . HOTHOUSE FLOWERS will drop their first U.S. release in ten years on October 5th, along with a month-long U.S. tour kicking off on October 4th . . . The BURDEN BROTHERS (featuring former members of the TOADIES and REVEREND HORTON HEAT) launched a five-week tour on Thursday night in San Marcos, Texas. The five-piece band from Texas will also play a series of radio shows next month with VELVET REVOLVER.

THOM YORKE climbed onstage with R.E.M. Wednesday night at London's St. James' Church for a rendition of "E-Bow the Letter," a song the band originally recorded with PATTI SMITH . . . On September 18th, RUSSELL SIMMONS will host the "Make a Difference" fundraiser for the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, which encourages young people to register to vote. The event -- co-hosted by MACY GRAY, NELLY, SHAKIRA, ZIGGY MARLEY and others -- will include performances by CHAKA KHAN and INDIA.ARIE and include the auctioning off of a Swarovski-crystal-encrusted PlayStation 2 console . . . Wednesday night, the World Music Awards, which recognize this year's international bestsellers, were broadcast from Las Vegas. Winners included best overall male artist, male pop artist, and male R&B artist USHER, and best overall group, pop group and rap/hip-hop group OUTKAST . . .

KRIST NOVOSELIC and HENRY ROLLINS will speak at the New York Public Library on October 2nd as part of the New Yorker Festival . . . Ex-MINUTEMEN bassist MIKE WATT kicks off a sixty-five-date North American tour in California on Thursday night to promote his new autobiographical album The Secondman's Middle Stand. At each date through November, the hard-working Watt -- who spent the summer as bassist for the STOOGES' European tour -- will perform the album in its entirety . . . LIMP BIZKIT are at work on their next album with ROSS ROBINSON (KORN, SLIPKNOT), who produced their debut Three Dollar Bill, Y'All...

The release of BECK's next album, originally slated for October 26th, has been pushed back to early 2005. The mysterious, as-yet-untitled record is being produced the DUST BROTHERS, TONY HOFFER (Midnite Vultures) and DAN "THE AUTOMATOR" NAKAMURA, and includes a collaboration with the WHITE STRIPES' JACK WHITE. In the meantime, Beck can be heard on the DANIEL JOHNSTON tribute album The Late, Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered, to hit stores on September 21st . . . ROBERT PLANT and LOS LOBOS will lead a concert in honor of late blues singer LEAD BELLY on November 7th in Cleveland as part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's ninth annual American Music Masters series . . .

Country artist MARK CHESNUTT is suffering from severe laryngitis, and has indefinitely postponed shows to promote his new album, Savin' the Honky Tonk, out September 21st . . . PHIL SPECTOR has managed to postpone the hearing in his trial to December 16th. It will take place in Los Angeles Superior Court. The producer is a suspect in the death of actress LANA CLARKSON at his estate . . . FEAR FACTORY kick off a five-week North American tour with LAMB OF GOD on October 7th in Charlotte, North Carolina . . . Canadian rock darlings the TRAGICALLY HIP will launch their thirty-city U.S. tour for their latest album In Between Evolution on September 18th in Detroit . . .

"COWBOY" JACK CLEMENT, the former Sun Records producer who worked with JERRY LEE LEWIS, ROY ORBISON and JOHNNY CASH, released his second solo album this Tuesday, Guess Things Happen That Way. The album is named for the 1958 country Number One that Clement wrote for Cash, and features vocals from the late legend recorded shortly before his death last September. The record also includes "Every Place I've Ever Been," a song co-written by Georgia senator and fiery Republican convert ZELL MILLER . . . CHRIS MARTIN made a surprise appearance Tuesday night at London's Make Trade Fair benefit. The COLDPLAY frontman climbed onstage to join headliner R.E.M. in a rendition of "Man on the Moon." Martin has kept a low profile since the birth of his and actress GWYNETH PALTROW's daughter, APPLE . . .

DAVID BYRNE and Brazilian tropicalia master GILBERTO GIL will perform together at New York City's Town Hall on September 21st. The concert will benefit Creative Commons, a non-profit promoting a more flexible interpretation of copyrights for artists' works . . . The NEVILLE BROTHERS have recorded a version of TOM WAITS' "Way Down in the Hole," which will serve as the new theme for HBO's The Wire. The cop drama's new season premieres September 19th. The Nevilles will release Walkin' in the Shadow of Life, their first album in five years, on October 19th . . .

The Vote for Change tour will make its grand finale on October 11th at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, R.E.M., PEARL JAM, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, JAMES TAYLOR, JACKSON BROWNE, JOHN MELLENCAMP and the DIXIES CHICKS will all play the final show, which was originally scheduled for Miami on the 8th. The tour, which will hit thirty-six swing-state cities, kicks off on the 1st in Pennsylvania . . . SNOOP DOGG will host the second annual Spike TV Video Game Awards live from Santa Monica, California, on December 14th. The Doggfather's new solo album R&G: (Rhythm & Gangsta) The Masterpiece, produced in part by the NEPTUNES, is due November 23rd . . . U.K. rabble rousers SUPERGRASS will play their first U.S. show in years in Philadelphia on September 28th, to coincide with the release of their album Supergrass Is 10. The tour will wrap up in Los Angeles on October 7th . . . TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS' six-week tour for their fourth album, Shake the Sheets, gets underway on October 21st in Baltimore, with opening acts the NATURAL HISTORY and MARY TIMONY . . .

WYCLEF JEAN and EDIE BRICKELL have been added to the lineup of the American Civil Liberties Union Freedom Concert on October 4th at New York City's Avery Fisher Hall. The bill already includes music and spoken-word performances by the likes of MOS DEF, LOU REED, PAUL SIMON, ROBIN WILLIAMS and SEAN PENN, along with a tribute to late comedian LENNY BRUCE . . . San Diego rockers SWITCHFOOT will kick off a two-month tour for their platinum album The Beautiful Letdown on October 7th in Anaheim. The HONORARY TITLE and the FORMAT will open . . .

The Partnership Against Child Abuse is auctioning off a guitar signed by MAROON 5 and lunches with MELISSA ETHERIDGE and American Idol runner-up DIANA DEGARMO at ebay.com/paca through September 24th . . . Sub City Records will release Take Action! Volume 4, a two-CD compilation to benefit the National Hopeline Network suicide hotline, on October 5th. The set features tracks from neo-punk bands NOFX and TAKING BACK SUNDAY and indie fave TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS . . . Grunge heavyweights HELMET have rescheduled their reunion tour, which was postponed after singer/guitarist PAGE HAMILTON broke his collarbone in a mountain-biking. The band's first tour in seven years, behind its new album Size Matters, will launch in Vancouver on October 20th . . .

U2 guitarist the EDGE penned and recorded the theme song to the new cartoon The Batman. The series, airing on the WB network, features actress-turned-rocker GINA GERSHON as the voice of Catwoman . . . R&B singer ALICIA KEYS has cancelled October shows in Jakarta, Indonesia, due to last week's suicide strike on the Australian Embassy. The attack, which has been linked to an al-Qaeda affiliate, killed nine and wounded more than 170 . . . MODEST MOUSE are acting as curators for this year's All Tomorrow's Parties festival, set for November 6th and 7th in Long Beach, California. The SHINS, FLAMING LIPS, LOU REED and the WALKMEN are among the artists scheduled to perform . . .

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE designed a character for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 videogame, due October 21st. Called "the Hustler," the Timberlake look-alike sports a fedora, two-tone suit and a scar under one eye . . . BLINK-182 will play "Stand Up for Skateparks," an event benefiting the Tony Hawk Foundation. Hosted by Hawk, Sean Penn and David Spade in Studio City, California, the October 3rd show will raise money to build safe skate parks in low-income neighborhoods . . . BRIGHT EYES plan to release two new albums, I'm Wide Awake It's Morning Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, early next year through Saddle Creek Records.