Chris Cornell Cancels Appearance at Made In America Festival
Chris Cornell won’t be appearing at this weekend’s Made in America festival in Philadelphia.
On Wednesday, a note surfaced on the Soundgarden frontman’s official website to give fans the news that Cornell won’t be able to perform at the event. It reads: “Unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict Chris Cornell is unable to perform at the Made in America festival in Philadelphia on September 2 as previously planned. Apologies for any inconvenience or disappointment.”
While the news was a shock to Cornell’s fans, it was also a shock to the singer himself as he claims that he had dropped out of the festival weeks ago. “Woke up to learn some people f**ked up,” wrote Cornell on his Facebook page. “I pulled out of the MIA Festival 2 weeks ago. I apologize to my fans that you were not told and bought tix. I will find a resolution and get back to u.”
Instead of performing at the Made in America festival on Sunday, Cornell will be appearing at a campaign rally for President Obama in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday.
The Black Keys, My Morning Jacket Among Artists Supporting Anti-Fracking Campaign
The Black Keys and My Morning Jacket are among the many stars who are supporting an environmental campaign launched by John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and sonSean. The Artists Against Fracking coalition seeks to put an end to hydraulic fracking, a method of extracting natural gas from deep in the earth that some say can potentially contaminate water supplies and release harmful chemicals into the environment.
The initiative was organized after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced recently that the gas companies may soon start fracking in the state. An online petition asking Cuomo not to allow the mining technique to be used in New York has been posted at the Artists Against Fracking website.
Others artists who are backing the anti-fracking campaign include MGMT, Polyphonic Spree, The Flaming Lips, The Strokes, Wilco, Beastie Boys, Beck and Bon Iver.
"Protecting our drinking water is fundamental to life," notes Sean Lennon in a statement. "And people worldwide know that as a species, we are near a tipping point…We all have a responsibility to preserve the planet's life-support systems for future generations."
Budweiser Made in America Festival to Stream Live on YouTube
Can't make it to the Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia this weekend? Not a problem. YouTube has announced that it will webcast select performances from the festival all weekend.
The Budweiser Made in America Festival will feature sets from more than 30 artists including Pearl Jam, The Hives, Passion Pit and Skrillex. You can tune in to YouTube’s Made in America Festival channel starting on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET to catch all the action.
Pearl Jam Bassist Ament Announces Side Project, RNDM
Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament has teamed up with singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur andFastbacks/Three Fish drummer Richard Stuverud to create a new side project calledRNDM. Ament says he got the idea to partner with Arthur while he was creating his recently-released solo album, While My Heart Beats.
“As I was finishing up my last little group of solo songs, there was one called ‘When the Fire Comes’ that just wasn’t working for me vocally,” Ament said in a statement. “I kept hearing his voice instead of mine. I sent Joe an email gauging his interest, and two days later, I got the track back from him. At that point, I knew there was something there -- some sort of creative connection.”
RNDM will release their debut album, Acts, on October 30. You can check out one of the singles, “Modern Times,” at RollingStone.com.
Shortly after the album arrives in stores, the band will hit the road to support it. That outing kicks off at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on November 2 and will make stops in Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, among other cities.
Here are the tour dates:
11/2 -- Brooklyn, NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg
11/3 -- Washington, D.C., The Black Cat
11/4 -- Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer
11/7 -- Boston, MA, Paradise Rock Club
11/8 -- New York, NY, Bowery Ballroom
11/9 -- Montreal, QC, Theatre Corona
11/13 – Chicago, IL, Lincoln Hall
11/14 -- Milwaukee, WI, Turner Hall Ballroom
11/15 -- Minneapolis, MN, First Avenue
11/16 -- Lawrence, KS, The Bottleneck
11/18 -- Boulder, CO, Fox Theatre
11/21 -- Los Angeles, CA, Troubador
11/23 -- San Francisco, CA, Great American Music Hall
11/25 -- Portland, OR, Doug Fir Lounge
11/26 -- Vancouver, BC, Biltmore Cabaret
11/27 -- Seattle, WA, Showbox at the Market
Linkin Park Uses Your Facebook Photos in Interactive Video for “Lost in the Echo”
Linkin Park has created something special for their fans, offering them the chance to star in the video for “Lost in the Echo,” the second single from the band’s latest album,Living Things.
By visiting LostInTheEcho.com and allowing the website to have access to your Facebook page, the website will incorporate your personal photos into the music video.
The video’s storyline centers around a young man in a post-apocalyptic world who passes around a number of photos -– provided by fans' Facebook pages -– to a gathering crowd before they turn to dust. A trailer for the video can be seen onYouTube.
Linkin Park is currently trekking across North America on their co-headlining Honda Civic Tour with Incubus.
Muse's Matt Bellamy: “We're Not Afraid of Our Eccentricities”
Muse isn’t afraid to take chances with their music. Frontman Matt Bellamy says that their upcoming album, The 2nd Law, will feature some tracks that fans might find a little silly.
"We don't care if people don't necessarily take songs like [“Survival”] 100 percent seriously," the singer tells U.K. magazine Q. "We're not afraid of our eccentricities. We're not frightened of going into almost Monty Python rock, but it's like opera. If you put a piece of opera on, it's ridiculous unless you've listened to the whole thing and really tried to go there with it.”
Shortly after The 2nd Law is released on October 2, Muse will hit the road for a two-month European tour to support it. The band is expected to launch a U.S. tour sometime next year.
Lamb of God Frontman Launches Online Auction for Legal Defense Fund
Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe has launched an online auction to raise money for his legal bills. From July 27 to August 2, the singer was imprisoned in the Czech Republic in connection with an incident that took place during the band's 2010 concert at Club Abaton in Prague. He was held on manslaughter charges after being accused of roughing up a fan named Daniel N. after the fan leaped onto the stage during the show. Czech Republic authorities allege that Blythe caused injuries that lead to Daniel's death 14 days later.
You can bid on a variety of memorabilia, including signed instruments from former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and Five Finger Death Punch and Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, among others.
It is expected that Blythe will return to Prague in the next few months to stand trial for manslaughter.
