• John Mellencamp announced a July 15th release date for his new, T-Bone Burnett-produced album Life, Death, Love and Freedom, which will be distributed by the Starbucks-run label Hear Music. The album will be the first released in a new high-def format called “CODE,” which will make the digital tracks sound as warm as the master tapes.
• According to Whitesnake frontman and former Jimmy Page collaborator David Coverdale says a full-scale Led Zeppelin reunion tour was “very likely” and could happen by the end of the year.
• The jury selection is underway in the R. Kelly trial in Chicago. If found guilty of fourteen counts of child pornography, he could face as much as fifteen years in jail.
• ’90s indie cult favorites Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (most famous for the single “Kill Your Television”) will reunite for a show at London’s Astoria in December, after more than ten years apart.

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