03.31.03

White Stripes drummer Meg White has broken her wrist, forcing the band to postpone a number of promotional work in the lead-up to the release of new album 'Elephant'.
However, the band insist that the arm will heal in time for their tour which will begin in the UK.
Meg slipped on ice in New York two weeks ago, falling heavily and fracturing her left wrist in two places. The arm is in a cast.

The Beastie Boys are busy recording in a New York studio it built last year. But don’t expect a new CD until 2004. According to the band, "it's about fifteen percent done." One completed track, however, was recently posted on the Beasties' web site. It the anti-war tirade called "In a World Gone Mad." "We wanted to offer out help in the war-protest arena," says Beasties member Adam Yauch. "It's a bit of a goof," says Yauch.

A pair of Ramones-related documentaries -- End of the Century: The Ramones Story and Hey! Is Dee Dee Home?, a profile of bassist Dee Dee Ramone -- will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival this May. End of the Century features interviews with members of the Clash, Blondie, Sex Pistols and surviving Ramones members. It begins with the pre-Ramones era in 1968 and holds a tight focus on the band's first years, concluding with the group's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and Dee Dee's death later that year. It features unseen live and studio footage, along with extensive interviews with the various incarnations of the group. The flick was independently financed, with the directors hopeful for a full theatrical release down the line. "It's a very dark movie," says Johnny Ramone. "It's accurate. It left me disturbed as I was watching it. I'm basically portrayed as a tyrannical monster, Dee Dee is on drugs, Mark is an alcoholic and Joey is an alcoholic and drug addict at various times." In gathering the footage, the directors walked a tightrope between the wary and occasionally warring factions of the group, causing delays in assembling the film and ultimately coming at the expense of getting singer Joey Ramone in front of the cameras. Joey Ramone died in 2001 after a bout with cancer. Hey! Is Dee Dee Home? features interviews with the bassist, who died last year, about his relationships with the Ramones, drugs and late New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders. Director Lech Kowalski had initially interviewed Dee Dee for Born to Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie, a film about Thunders. "I think [Dee Dee] was really in the mood to tell his story and to get something across," Kowalski says. "This was a point in his life when he was thinking about writing his book."

The Flaming Lips' most recent release Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots will be the focus of the bands’ upcoming fifteen-date U.S. tour. The Lips will launch the tour on April 15th in Athens, Georgia. Between the Beck tour and winning a Grammy last month, Pink Robots has proven to be the band's most resilient record in its two-decade career. "These little things that keep happening that make it interesting again," Coyne says. "Doing the thing with Beck got us a whole new level of people who are like, 'If you're on tour with Beck, I gotta listen to this thing.'" The upcoming Flaming Lips tour dates include nearby stops in Chicago (May 5 at the Riviera Theater) 5/4: Urbana, IL, Canopy Club. Hopefully, we will see them here in Columbia before the end of 2003.

Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has signed a book deal to release his autobiography titled Scar Tissue which is due in the fall of 2004.

The 3-CD box set mentioned in the last news update from Generation X titled Anthology will be released on Mar. 31st. The previously released Sweet Revenge album will be included along with all of Gen-X's singles and one live recording. Generation X is the former punk band led by a pre-Mtv Billy Idol.

After almost two decades with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, guitarist Blixa Bargeld will leave the band on good terms. Bargeld will now focus on his work with Einsturzende Neubauten, in film and theatre.

An new Lou Reed anthology, NYC Man: The Ultimate Lou Reed Collection, will be released on May 6th.

The Melvins release their album 26 Songs this week. Essentially it's a re-issue of their 10 Songs album with 16 bonus tracks that were all recorded in 1986.

Expect to see an onslaught of The Police CDs in stores. Remastered reissues of all their albums are hitting stores and there has also some talk of compiling a few DVDs featuring live performances and other bits they've been holding onto.