Seven Days of Rock
May 4, 2001 -- Welcome back to the column where video didn't actually kill the radio star, just wounded it really, really badly.
On Tuesday, Stevie Nicks released her first solo album of new material in eight years. Trouble in Shangri-La features high-profile cameos from Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Macy Gray, and one of the Dixie Chicks. In spite of all that, it's still a good record. Meanwhile, Destiny's Child's new disc, Survivor, features a cut, "Bootylicious," built around a sample of Stevie's classic "Edge of Seventeen." Seven Days eagerly awaits Beyoncé and Co.'s "Gold Dust Woman" — maybe it'll finally erase the memory of Hole's cover from our mind.
Radiohead announced it will follow the June 5 release of its new album, Amnesiac, with a North American tour. Meanwhile, the group has already serviced a two-song CD sampler of new material to radio programmers, journalists, and other music industry types. Careful boys, or somebody might mistake you for a pop band.
The makers of Law & Order are working on an episode inspired by the 1999 nightclub shooting involving Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. (Does anybody else feel silly writing "P. Diddy"? Isn't that what little boys do when they go to the restroom?) Reportedly, in the TV tale a character with a strong resemblance to Combs' real-life ex-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez pulls the trigger … after another patron makes a disparaging crack about her fashion sense.
Madonna has scrapped the June 5 and 6 opening dates of her Drowned World Tour in Cologne, Germany. The cancellations are being blamed on vague "technical reasons," but we think the Material Girl is just having second thoughts about kicking off her first tour since 1993 in a country where Right Said Fred is still able to crack the Top 20.
If the sound of taking in "Drowned World" sounds like a miserable night out, you can probably skip the even less inviting triple-header of Staind, Cold, and Puddle of Mud, which hits the road starting Tuesday, May 8 in Toronto. Staind with Mud — who's sponsoring this tour, Tide?
Phish fans who aren't too busy following the Disco Biscuits tour or, God forbid, seeking gainful employment during the band's extended hiatus will soon have six new live CDs to occupy their time. Meanwhile, a new two-CD tribute to the band is also in the works. Sharin' in the Groove: Celebrating the Music of Phish will feature covers by artists including Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffet, and Kajagoogoo. (Alas, only one of those is a joke.) The tribute is being produced by the non-profit Mockingbird Organization, the group previously responsible for the 928-page Phish Companion. Nine hundred twenty-eight pages about Phish? Makes Ayn Rand look like a slacker …
Officials in the Bronx, N.Y., are reconsidering a decision nixing christening the intersection of 163rd Street and Rogers Place "Big Pun Place" in honor of Christopher "Big Punisher" Rios. Despite initially being presented with a petition of more than 7,000 signatures in favor of the move, the politicos had underestimated the enduring spirit of the 700-pound MC in his old neighborhood. Hey, when the spirit of Big Pun sits around an intersection, it really sits around an intersection.
If Bono is so gung-ho about dropping the debt, why are U2 concert tickets so bloody expensive?