The lead singer and harmonica player for Blues Traveler, John Popper, was arrested after being pulled over in his vehicle, driven by a Brian Gourgeois, 34, of Austin, Texas, after it was clocked by Washington State Troopers doing 111 miles an hour. After a search of the vehicle turned up an astonishing 4 rifles, 9 handguns, a switchblade, and a small amount of marijuana in hidden compartments throughout the black Mercedes SUV, Popper and Gourgeois were taken into custody, booked, then released on their own recognizance. No word on whether any harmonicas were confiscated in the incident.

With all the hooha surrounding the SXSW event in Austin one might accidentally overlook it's young cousin NXNE in Toronto. Like SXSW it is a music and film fest that attracts 450 bands from around the world, occurring in the warm glow of the late Ontario spring, June 7,8, & 9th this year. Although it is too late to submit your band to this years event, its not too late to buy a badge. Stop by their web site at http://www.nxne.com for details.
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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

SXSW has listed Perry Farrell's Satellite Party to the lineup on Friday, March 16 playing at 10:30 p.m.
Stubb's (confirmed), The Stooge's instore at Waterloo at 6pm on the same date promises both to be a special event for those that can squeeze in, and a frustrating bummer for those that can't. No word on whether or not Rage Against The Machine will play a secret set at SXSW. Zack de la Rocha was pretty firm on the "Only for Coachella" but now that Tom Morello and Audioslave have parted ways with Chris Cornell, it leaves the opportunity open. Tom Morello is slated to be both a panelist and solo performer at SXSW, so keep your fingers crossed and your blackberrys on.
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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

Well looks like the Vegas oddsmakers were right.

Once again they didn't even make it out of the starting gate. This year's planned reunion tour of David Lee Roth and Van Halen will apparently NOT occur. Rolling Stone is reporting that employees of the promoter Live Nation have been informed that "the Van Halen tour has been shut down." Good news for David Lee Roth, however, as this will allow him to pursue the lead in the sequel to the 2006 Matthew McConaughey film Failure To Launch.
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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

Texas band The Toadies has just announced a 2 night re-union gig at Austin's Stubb's BarBQ on March 12th & 13th, right before the opening of the huge SXSW music festival on March 15th. With Snow Patrol's sold out show on March 10th and Iggy and The Stooges performing at Stubb's during SXSW, it is rapidly becoming the hotspot for the big bands this year. Look for more SXSW updates as we get closer. Tickets are available at http://Stubbs.frontgatetickets.com

According to news on the AP wire this morning, former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell has left the band Audioslave citing personality conflicts and musical differences. Tom Morello will re-unite with the remaining members of Audioslave to re-form as Rage Against The Machine for a "one shot" concert at this years Coachella.

Rumor mills have been speculating that the newly re-united Police also may make an appearance at this years Coachella and sources have told our staff that their current 14 date tour will be extended to as many as 41 North American venues. The Police will be performing at this years Bonaroo festival for sure, as well as a number of sports stadiums and arenas.

Graham Williams of Emo's has confirmed they will be hosting the Buzzcocks and the Meat Puppets shows during this years SXSW during a podcast interview with club.kingsnake's own Jeff Barringer (see the post below this one) as well as some of the other bands on their schedule. Mystery still surrounds who this years late booking big names and "secret" SXSW shows will be.

ZZ Top hits the road in March with a tour that starts in Biloxi Mississippi and ends in Pala California. While playing a number of casinos, they will play Houston's Reliant Stadium on March 18th and Austin's The Backyard on April 14th.

It seems like just a short time ago that we were up to 10,000 photos in the concert photo gallery, but looking at the numbers today, just more than 18,000, its hard to believe that we didn't start the gallery til after SXSW06.

Now the big question - can we make it to 20,000 photos before next month's SXSW?

Galactic will perform at Jazz Fest file photo by staff photographer jeff barringer

The 2007 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will be held on April 27-29 and May 4-6 at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans Louisiana. A partial list fo the over 500 artists and bands scheduled to perform appears below.

This years festival will be closed out by headliner Harry Connick Jr. This will mark the second year in a row that hometown favorites The Neville Brothers have declined to participate.

Harry Connick Jr., Rod Stewart, Steely Dan, Norah Jones, ZZ Top, John Legend, Van Morrison, Brad Paisley, Jill Scott, Ludacris, Dr. John, Bonnie Raitt, New Edition, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Irma Thomas, Jerry Lee Lewis, Counting Crows, Allman Brothers Band, Allen Toussaint, George Benson, Pharoah Sanders, George Thorogood, Stephen Marley featuring Jr. Gong, Better Than Ezra, Joss Stone, Banda el Recodo, Calexico, Taj Mahal, Johnny Rivers, Lucinda Williams, Branford Marsalis, Richie Havens, Soulive, Cowboy Mouth, Percy Sledge, Tony Joe White, Gillian Welch, Bobby Jones & the Nashville Super Choir, T-Bone Burnett, Rebirth
Brass Band, Galactic, Mose Allison, Marcia Ball, Roy Hargrove, Chuck Leavell, Arturo Sandoval, The Holmes Brothers, Snooks Eaglin, Dr. Lonnie Smith, The New Orleans Social Club, James Carter, The Radiators, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lucky Peterson, Darrell McFadden, Sonny Landreth, Danilo Perez, Ivan Neville,
Dottie Peoples, Davell Crawford, Ba Cissoko of Guinea, George Porter, Jr., Joseph "Zigaboo" Modeliste, Tab Benoit, Les Amazones of Guinea, World Saxophone Group, John Mooney & Bluesiana, Buckwheat Zydeco, Anders Osborne, Elder Baab & the Madison Bumble Bees of Winnsboro, Eddie Bo, Steve Riley & the Mamou
Playboys, Rosie Ledet, Amanda Shaw, The Iguanas, Marva Wright, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Deacon John, Donald Harrison, Nicholas Payton, Terence Blanchard, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews & Orleans Avenue, Bob French, Elysian Fieldz, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers, Ellis Marsalis and over 500 more groups.

To see the whole lineup go to http://www.satchmo.com/nolavl/jf2007prelim.html


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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

This must be the year of improbable reunions. The Meat Puppets, Iggy & The Stooges, the Police, and now Van Halen? Breaking a 20 year standoff, Billboard is reporting that Van Halen will re-unite with David Lee Roth for a 40 city tour this summer. Eddie Van Halen's son Wolfie will step in on the bass for the shows. The tour will open in, of course, Las Vegas. Hopefully Dave can pull himself away from the Liberace museum long enough to grace us with his customary " I'm so drunk I forgot the words to this song...". Dave, good to have you back, feathers and all.

Chris and Ollie of the Zico Chain have confirmed to the staff here that they will be playing Austin's SXSW music festival in March, and will be touring the U.K. in support of their new album due out on Hassle Records later this summer. They promised to bring us a good balty and some nan bread if they can get it through customs. Other SXSW announcements include Mastodon, I Am X, Mike Aiken, The Moaners, The Village Green, The Pipettes, Interpol, The Octopus Project, Ghostland Observatory, Thunderbirds Are Now! ....(only 1490 +/- bands left to go...) Still no word on that nagging Chili Pepper rumor that is circulating.

Willie Nelson, who is currently touring Europe, has announced a U.S. Tour billed as the "Last Of The Breed" showcasing Willie, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price. The tour kicks off in Prescott Arizona on March 9th, making it back to Austin in time to collide head on with SXSW for 2 nights, though it's not a SXSW show, before ambling off up the east coast, ending in the midwest on March 25 at the Rosemont Theater just outside of Chicago. Tickets are going fast

Happy 25th birthday to Metal Blade Records, big friends of club kingsnake. They have a bunch of artists heading out including Unearth who is opening for Slayer on their tour which starts this weekend. Psyopus is also out on tour for Metal Blade now, working their way from Texas, up the east coast, ending in Arlington Heights, Illinois on February 25th. Finally Travis and the guys from Cattle Decapitation will headline a 3 show tour in Mexico in February.

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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

Authorities have confirmed that former Social Distortion bassist Brent Liles was struck and killed on January 18 as he attempted to bicycle across southern California's Orange Freeway in Placentia California.

Liles was bass player for the band from 1981 to 1984, quitting, along with drummer Derek O'Brien, during a New Year's performance in 1983. Liles later played in a number of punk bands including Agent Orange. Brent played on the band's Mommy's Little Monster album. Brent Liles was 43.

Marshall has always been an oddity in the music business. They seldom offer signature model amplifiers, and have rarely given amps to artists for free.

At Winter NAMM in Anaheim, Marshall announced the new JCM800 2203KK Head, inspired by and built to the specifications of Slayer's Kerry King. Kerry joins the elite ranks of Jimi Hendrix, Slash and Zakk Wylde as one of the few artists to have a signature Marshall amplifier.

Marshall has also announced a second Zakk Wylde signature amp. The Limited Edition MG15MSZW is a 15 watt micro stack with vintage style grill cloth and bullseye graphics that set this amp apart from its stock counterpart.

See Slayer in our Concert photo gallery.
See Black Label Society in our Concert photo gallery.

Heaven & Hell, the band put together by Ronny James Dio, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, and Vinny Appice, will kick off their tour season with eleven Canadian shows, along with a one-night-only performance at New York's Radio City Music Hall, starting March 11 and ending March 30. Further shows in the U.S., Asia and Europe have yet to be announced. Megadeth as well as Down with Phil Anselmo will be opening.

Rage Against the Machine, Bjork, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers have all been confirmed to headline this year's Coachella festival. Also at Coachella this year are Peaches, Sonic Youth, Interpol, Ozomatli, Roky Erikson and the Explosives, Kings of Leon, Willie Nelson and a rare appearance by Crowded House. The huge list of other bands reads like an all-star indie lineup. Club kingsnake will try to send at least one of our staffers to cover this year's expanded three-day event - the first time Coachella has ever scheduled over three days.

Finally, Crosby, Stills, and Nash will also be touring down under with a nine date tour of Australia and New Zealand.
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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

I Hate Sally announced today that they will be dropping out of several upcoming East Coast dates with Cancer Bats.

Apparently frontwoman Dee Prescott had her foot accidently stomped by Bassist Dan Vokey. " Dee had her foot x-rayed this morning and it turns out that 3 toes are broken and her foot is fractured which means she has to get a cast, or a cast-like boot, and can't walk on it for 6 weeks minimum." said a statement from the band.

The band does hope to participate in four shows later this month in Montreal, Ottawa, London, and Toronto.

Here's wishing Dee a speedy recovery.

Linea 77 at SXSW 2006 photo by staff photographer jeff barringer

No, we aren't giving away tickets, but the SXSW festival organizers have made their annual call for volunteers. Every year the SXSW show employs approximately 1200 volunteers to handle a bewildering variety of tasks. SXSW is looking for people to help put on Austin's biggest entertainment event, and is looking for volunteers willing to work on either the conference crews or music production crews.

Volunteers must work either a minimum of 30 hours on a conference crew or 4 nights on a music crew. People interested in helping may volunteer to work on either crew, but not both. For more information on how you can be a part of this year's SXSW event in Austin, or to submit an application online, visit the SXSW website at http://2007.sxsw.com/volunteer/
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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

This years inductees include Van Halen, The Ronettes, R.E.M., Patti Smith, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The induction ceremony will be at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York on March 12, 2007. The ceremony will also honor the late Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, and one of the founders of the museum.

This years finalists who did not make the cut included The Stooges, Chic, The Dave Clark Five, and Joe Tex. The list of finalists was released in October of last year and the inductees were selected by 600 music industry professionals. Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record.

Still unknown - which of Van Halen's lead vocalists will attend. Currently the Vegas money is on Dave. R.E.M. will also have to re-unite if they plan on performing, though they are currently working on a new album together and played a re-union show last year.
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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff

Tom Araya of Slayer at Freeman Coliseum in 2006 photo by jeff barringer - staff photographer

Slayer will be hitting the road with a North American tour that starts in Tucson on January 24 and ends on February 24 in Ft. Lauderdale, with Metal Blade artists Unearth opening.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are also touring, starting in Dallas on January 12 and ending back in Texas in Houston on March 9th. Rumors that they will make a "surprise" appearance at Austin's SXSW for a secret show have not been confirmed at this time, though the next leg of the tour begins in Osaka Japan and doesn't start until March 19th, after SXSW has ended, leading to speculation.

Confirmed for SXSW so far, however, is rocker Pete Townsend who will be performing and is a keynote speaker, also confirmed to perform so far is Iggy Pop & The Stooges. The annual "Morrisey is coming" rumor is also afloat but details of the remaining 1498 acts has yet to be released. We will bring you more SXSW 07 news as the showcase list starts to gel.

Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails will launch a 40 date European tour February 10 in Lisbon, Portugal, and ending April 10 in Helsinki, Finland, with multiple dates in some cities. No U.S.tour dates have been announced as yet.

Finally Lamb of God is headlining a North American tour starting in Dallas on February 16 swinging all the way up into Canada before ending in Cincinnati on April 5th. They will then head down under for 5 dates in Australia ending on May 1st.

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news, rumors, and buzz compiled from around the web by the club.kingsnake staff