Music News Page 1066

The principals of rock group Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon plus their daughter Coco, will all make an appearance on the season finale of the WB drama "Gilmore Girls". There they reportedly will perform an acoustic version of the new song "What a Waste", which can be found on the band's next album "Rather Ripped," which will hit market June 13 via Geffen.

The show, taped Friday April 7, 2006 in Los Angeles, will be aired May 9 later this year. In related news, Moore also has been chosen to curate the Nightmare Before Christmas edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, held December 8-10 later this year in Somerset, England. Set to perform at the event is Iggy Pop and The Stooges, with full lineup will be announced in the coming months.

For their very first time ever, Wu-Tang Clan will have a DVD featuring videos from throughout their career. The project, dubbed "Legend of the Wu-Tang: The Videos", will be released June 13 via CMV/Loud/RCA/Legacy.

More on the DVD, it also features a previously unreleased 21-minute documentary, "Enter the Wu-Tang," which was taped in 1994. And in addition to such classic clips, as "C.R.E.A.M.," "Triumph" and "Protect Ya Neck," the set includes a previously unreleased alternate version of "Method Man" and the Masta Killa video "Old Man," which features the late Ol' Dirty Bastard and RZA.

Picked up the next best thing is just a smart idea Motley Crue has done when drummer Tommy Lee was unable to perform for the band concert due to tendonitis in his right wrist which makes it difficult for him to perform. And the lucky person is Harvey Warren.

A Starbucks manager, Warren apparently had displayed such a successful performance with Motley Crue Wednesday April 5th, 2006 at the Enmax Center in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. As of Lee, he is expected to return for Friday's concert in Prince George, Alberta. There are six dates left on the tour.

American Idol winner Carrie Underwood picks one more award that will surely becomes an additional to her many honors. The singer has on Wednesday April 5th, 2006 at the 37th annual Dove Awards picked Country Recorded Song of the Year award thanks to her single "Jesus, Take the Wheel" from album "Some Hearts".

Track down the many award recipients, Underwood is just one among some other famous artists, like Casting Crowns who picks Group of the Year prize and Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year award for "Lifesong".

Has yet completed the first leg of their North American tour, which will take place June 3rd later this year, Pearl Jam has set additional tour schedule. The music act has planned to return to the road June 23 in Pittsburgh with fourteen dates are set for the second leg through a July 22 show at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash.

The latter gig reportedly will be "an evening with" Pearl Jam and thus won't feature an opening act. However, fans will be treated with performance from Sonic Youth who is slated to support on all but the first two second leg shows, which will boast a performance by former Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard.

In a recap of the Top 10 albums on the US pop album charts for the week ended Sunday, there's something interesting that people could obviously see. It's the new chart-topper which debuts on its very top position.

The top spot on the Billboard 200 surprisingly is seized by Atlanta rapper T.I., whose album "King" sold almost 522,000 copies, such amount enough to push last week chart topper Prince's "3121" aside to No. 8 with only 75,000 copies. Checking in at No. 2 in the meantime is Tim McGraw's "Reflected: Greatest Hits Vol. 2," which sold 242,000 copies.

Who says Snoop Dogg is no longer active? To show public worldwide that he in fact is still working on his music career, the rapper has reunited with Daz Dillinger and Kurupt to record a new album. The set dubbed "Cali Iz Active" is slated to be released June 27 later this year on his label, Doggy Style Records, in conjunction with Koch Records.

Also featured on the album are B-Real, David Banner, Soopafly and RBX. Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg was quoted as saying on the Web site http://www.allhiphop.com "I'm letting everybody know that the West Coast is definitely making a strong comeback. It's a beautiful thing for me to be able to work with them, and when we drop this album it's gonna shake the whole game up."

In somewhat a brief news, it is reported that longtime country music singer Kenny Rogers will perform live on the American Idol results show Wednesday, April 5 (9:00-9:32 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) on Fox.

As for everybody to know, there are still nine remaining "American Idol" contestants, all of whom surely won't be able to perform better then the American music legend. So don't miss his performance guys.

Fans you better get yourself ready to meet superstar Madonna. The pop diva has revealed that she's going to embark on a world tour this summer.

It was announced Monday April 3rd, 2006 that the so-called material girl will open the "Confessions Tour" in Los Angeles on May 21, work eastward through North America and jump to Europe on July 30 in Cardiff, Wales.

Minus guitarist Damon Albarn who goes separate ways, music act Blur keeps moving on and is looking forward to have a new album slated to be released by the end of the year.

Bassist Alex James told London's XFM radio that the remaining members of Blur have already reconvened to start work on a new album and will have it wrapped up by the end of the year.

Virgin Urban president Jermaine Dupri told Billboard that the first single from Janet Jackson's upcoming album will be released to radio in May. Elsewhere, the album itself will then be released at the end of September.

Janet reportedly is once again working with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on the new set. "It's a milestone year for us and for the collaboration," Jam said while adding "It'll be 20 years since the release of (Jackson's 1986 album) 'Control,' so there's definitely a little bit of a nod to that on the new album."

British band Coldplay has topped the 2005's global charts with their album "X&Y" sold 8.3 million copies around the world, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reports. Such attainment leads the music act to top some other famous musicians, like Mariah Carey whose album "The Emancipation of Mimi" sold 7.7 million to be at 2nd position.

Top the 2005's global charts at No. 3 is 50 Cent's "The Massacre" which has been sold 7.5 million worldwide. The Black Eyed Peas' "Monkey Business" (6.8m) is 4th, followed by "American Idiot" by Green Day which sold 6.4 million copies. Madonna's "Confessions on a Dance Floor" is next, just one place ahead of Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" at No. 7.

Q magazine has recently conducted a poll on the Worst Albums of All Time. Involving almost 2000 people, including professional guitarists and music teachers, Duran Duran's 1995 album "Thank You" comes on the very top position of the poll.

The set, a collection of covers featuring songs by artists who have influenced Duran Duran throughout the years, was claimed as "abysmal on every level". That's according to Gareth Grundy, Deputy Director of Q, who commented "Sometimes these things are redeemed by some sort of kitsch value, but it didn't even have that".

"After contact with Wembley, it is evident that the stadium will not be ready for the Bon Jovi shows in June," the rock band said in a statement released Thursday March 30th, 2006 on their Web site.

Due to such fact, the music group has changed the venue for two live shows in Britain, held June 10-11 later this year, to the nearby Milton Keynes Bowl.

While the US pop album chart is dominated by Prince, the US singles chart is topped by Canadian singer/songwriter Daniel Powter who with his "Bad Day" wins the top position, earns his first ever No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Thus, there's changes on the chart which subsequently drags Sean Paul's "Temperature" drops one place to No. 2.

Rounding out the Top 5 is Ne-Yo's "So Sick," James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" and Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" all of which sticking to the No. 3 to No. 5. Securing the 6th place on the chart is Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten", just one place ahead of Dem Franchize Boyz' "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" at No. 7.