Following are just a few of the Music News stories which visitors to our website have enjoyed in the past few weeks:

Coldplay Buy Bakery
STP Frontman Plans Solo Album and Autobiography
Radiohead Takes on Sweatshops, Human Trafficking
Dylan, Stooges, Berry Join Baltimore Festival
Coldplay Gives it Away
UC Gets Grateful
Keith Richards May Donate Guitars
Smashing Pumpkins Ditch CD Plans
Top Ten Green Artists
Bowie to Release Classic Concert CD
E Street Band Mourns One Of Its Own
Springsteen Backs Obama
U2 Reissues Early Works
John Mayer Tour and Media Package Announced
Maroon Five and Counting Crows to Co-headline Tour
Bob Marley's Mother Passes Away
Weiland Weighs in on Velvet Revolver Split
Norah Jones adds "Actor" to Resume'
Bob Dylan Wins Pulitzer
Weezer to release third self-titled album in June
Stone Temple Pilots Plan Extensive Tour
Tom Petty Leans on Mudcrutch
John Lennon's Last Interview DVD
Corinne Bailey Rae’s Husband Found Dead
Costello skips CD format on next album
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss go platinum
Neil Young Headlines New Festival
Springsteen Fan Kills Husband Over Boss Dispute

Coldplay Buy Bakery

Coldplay have bought an old bakery. The band think the 'ugly' building, in London’s Primrose Hill, is the perfect place for their new headquarters away from fans and paparazzi.
Singer Chris Martin explained: 'For years I used to walk past this building everyday and think, 'What an ugly place.’ 'Then one day a [for lease] sign appeared outside. I thought, 'Hmmm that place is so ugly, I bet no one would bother us if we move in there.’
It will be the band’s first 'home’ together since their university days, and they plan to be based there while promoting their new album, 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends’.
The LP has had its release date brought forward and will now hit shops across the world on June 12. Coldplay have announced they will play two free shows, in New York and London, to support the album’s release.
Fans must keep checking the band’s website to find out how to attend.

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STP Frontman Plans Solo Album and Autobiography

Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland has used his MySpace page to update fans on his plans. Apparently the rocker will be very busy with a full Stone Temple Pilots reunion tour, an autobiography, and he revealed that his new solo album will be a double CD feturing rock, punk and R&B.
He said "I felt the need to check in and let everyone know what the latest and greatest is...as you know, my original band, STP, have reunited and are gearing up for our 4 month tour of the U.S. this summer. I'm really excited to be back in cohoots with my old buddies and share that tingly feeling when we perform.
"I've been crazy busy since coming off tour and never get the chance to sleep in anymore! I have been working on my solo record, which will be a double album due for a November release. It's gonna be awesome, with many different musical influences like rock, punk, R&B as well as an eclectic blend that we've come up with over the years. Can't wait for everyone to hear it. I'm also in the process of writing my autobiography along with famed writer David Ritz, also due out toward the end of the year. It will be a collection of stories, experiences and lessons throughout my life. Definitely a good read."

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Radiohead Takes on Sweatshops, Human Trafficking

Radiohead has lent one of its songs to an MTV campaign to raise awareness about sweatshop labor and human trafficking. The group has allowed the international music network to produce a video set to "All I Need" from its latest hit album "In Rainbows" which MTV will air from Thursday and make available to broadcasters.
The MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) Campaign (http://www.mtvexit.org) has made a video shown in split screen, one side depicting a day in the life of an affluent young child and the other of a child forced to work in a sweatshop.
Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke said he saw some irony in the campaign being led by MTV, one of the world's most recognized brands which has spread ideas and ideals of the West and its consumer culture to the rest of the world.
"I think it's really cool that it comes full circle and that they wake up one morning and go 'Well, hang on a minute, we want to do something about this'," Yorke said in an interview.
Like other acts concerned about climate change, Radiohead has struggled to justify touring, which involves moving crews and equipment around the world as well as encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to travel to see gigs "In terms of the environment for example, the touring thing, there's two ways we could have gone with that," Yorke explained. "We could have just ... given it up or we could have brought it up as an issue and held up our hands and said we do not have the answers to all this ****, but we're making it an issue. Actually, that is starting to have an effect now. It's become something that is talked about within the industry."
He also believed fans were becoming more responsible in how they got to concerts, using public transport and sharing cars.

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Dylan, Stooges, Berry Join Baltimore Festival

Bob Dylan, Iggy & the Stooges, and Chuck Berry have joined the lineup of the third annual Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore on August 9-10. They join previously announced headliners Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots.
The lineup also includes Paramore, the Black Keys and Wilco.
In addition to two main stages, there will be a dedicated dance tent featuring electronic music, including a Moby DJ set. The event takes place at Pimlico Race Course. Tickets go on sale on Saturday, starting at $97.50 for single-day admission and $175 for two-day tickets. VIP options are also available, priced at $250 and $450, respectively.

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Coldplay Gives it Away

Coldplay will give away the first single from their new album for free over the Internet, the British band said on its Web site. A note posted on www.coldplay.com says that fans can download "Violet Hill," from the album "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends," free for one week starting on Tuesday. The album will be launched in the US on June 17.
The giveaway is the latest attempt by musicians to win fans and media exposure through new marketing initiatives. A seven-inch vinyl version of "Violet Hill" will also be given away on the cover of the music weekly NME on May 7. As bands seek new ways to sell their music and connect with fans, particularly over the Internet, record labels are struggling to keep pace and have lost a number of top acts from their rosters as a result of the industry shakeup.

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UC Gets Grateful

Jerry Garcia can rest assured knowing that this is a match made in heaven. The late Grateful Dead rocker's former bandmates, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, announced Thursday they will be donating the group's extensive archives to the University of California at Santa Cruz, a town famous for its easygoing vibe and liberal politics.
The massive stash of memorabilia, documenting the band's journey from its Haight Ashbury-influenced inception in 1965 to the present, will be housed within the University Library's Special Collections, in an area to be specially designated "Dead Central."
"We looked around, and UC Santa Cruz seems the best possible home," Weir said at a press conference at the famed Fillmore Auditorium—one of the Dead's old haunts—in San Francisco. "If you ever wrote the Grateful Dead a letter, you'll probably find it there!"
If you were to thumb through—or, considering all the loot, shovel through—the treasure trove, you'll find everything from never-before-seen photographs and unreleased videos of interviews and TV appearances to promo items like posters and T-shirts to entire stage backdrops from live performances.
"It will provide extraordinary opportunities for researchers and the public to examine the music of one of the most influential bands in history, as well as explore the cultural phenomenon of Deadheads—the most dedicated and celebrated fans in music," said Christine Bunting, head of the university's Special Collections.

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Keith Richards May Donate Guitars
Keith Richards says that he might donate some of his 3,000 guitars to a museum.
Richards recently said in an interview, "I've probably got too many. I have 3,000 guitars and only one pair of hands. It's an incredible collection of beautiful instruments but I only play about ten of them, and guitars have to be played. Maybe I will give them away or make a museum."
He admitted that he's surprised that he's racked up so many instruments as gifts, joking, "I don't know what I've done to deserve that. I've been one of the biggest a**holes in the world!"

Meanwhile, The Stones are promoting their Martin Scorsese-directed documentary, Shine A Light, which hit theaters earlier this month.

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Top Ten Green Artists
Happy Earth Day!
Going green has become a focus in recent years for many artists who are trying to help save the environment with everything from carbon offsets, to giving away autographed compost bins, to philanthropy. It seems that many of the country's top green artists can all be found on 95.3 WLKR!
To mark the anniversary of the modern environmental movement, music publication Billboard published a list of 10 acts that have tried to make a difference to the environment over the past 12 months. Artists include:
Jack Johnson: Recently built a recording studio insulated with used denim and powered in part by solar panels at the Los Angeles HQ of his Brushfire Records, a cozy single-family home. Trucks and coaches on his 2008 tour will run on biodiesel, and venues are required to comply with his rules on cutting waste and recycling.
Willie Nelson: Country music star Willie Nelson's BioWillie biodiesel fuel, which is already sold in about six U.S. states, will add a key location when Willie's Place at Carl's Corner, Texas, opens this year. The truck stop, off the truck route from the Mexican to Canadian border, is billed as the biggest green truck stop in the United States with all fuels having some percentage of biofuel.

Dave Matthews Band: The U.S. rock band, through environmental nonprofit Reverb, has calculated the CO2 emissions from every stop on its upcoming summer tour and purchased the renewable energy credits to make up for the footprint left by each venue, hotel, flight, tour vehicle and even fan travel. Fans can sign up online for a carpool.

KT Tunstall: Last September, Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall partnered with record label Virgin to create a 100 percent post-consumer waste recycled and chlorine-free booklet for her CD "Drastic Fantastic." She also began work on the greening of her London home, as well as completing a carbon-neutral U.K. tour.

Pearl Jam: Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron last year played a January benefit for flood victims in Central Washington, while guitarist Stone Gossard helped plant vegetation in a Seattle park ravaged by English Ivy.

Radiohead: Delivering their album "In Rainbows" as a price-optional digital download before putting a physical product in stores last year prevented the manufacture and disposal of thousands of CDs. The British band travels unwillingly and when they do leave home, Thom Yorke and his bandmates partner with consulting firm Best Foot Forward to help reduce their carbon footprints.

Visit Billboard.com for a short video showcase.

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Weiland Weighs in on Velvet Revolver Split
We Broke the story last week- Scott Weiland is back with the Stone Temple Pilots and heading on an extensive tour this summer… But what about his other project, Velvet Revolver, with ex-Guns n Roses guitarist, Slash? The status of the supergroup had been under scrutiny for several months, but now it has officially decided to continue on without the troubled STP singer.
During a recent interview, Weiland addressed his departure from Velvet Revolver. He said, "This happened very organically. It wasn't people trying to angle and beg. It just happened the way it sort of happened… this last tour, things just disintegrated really badly. I just came to the point where I decided that ... if I'm going to commit the next 10 years of my life to touring ... then I want to do it with people I want to make music with. People who I get inspired by making music with. 

...I have to start weeding out stuff. It's kind of like going through your closet going, 'Eh, I don't need this anymore. It takes up too much space.' Certain things don't feel good, although it may put money in your bank account, but it doesn't feel good at the end of the day. It became one of those situations. This feels good, it feels right. It's always inspiring. It's always that high."
The Stone Temple Pilots will headline the Rock on the Range Festival on May 17 in Columbus, Then they will play the State Theater at Playhouse square in Cleveland On May 20.

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Norah Jones adds "Actor" to Resume'

"So Norah, do you want to act?" A simple question posed by Hong Kong director, Wong Kar-wai to the 29-year old musician was greeted with a simple "Why not?”
My Blueberry Nights will be appearing in theaters in limited release, expanding further in coming weeks. It’s also War-kai’s first English-language film, and Jones’s acting debut. Jones plays a waitress traveling aimlessly after a breakup. Jones says she still has no idea why Wong wanted her for the part.
"I listened to her music and then I decided to meet her," says the director. "What really impressed me about her was her face, her voice and also her character."
"I thought, `If I say no, I might regret it,'" Jones said in a recent interview. "And if I say yes, I'll have an experience. If I stink, whatever! I'm a musician — I've got a day job. What can I lose here?"
Making the film, she says, "…helped my confidence, making music videos and doing this last tour. ... I enjoyed it so much more. I was so much more confident. I see that side of me as something that hopefully will just get better with age and practice."
Jones acknowledges taking a handful of acting lessons several years ago when a few filmmaker friends wanted to make "tiny" independent movies with her. But Wong told her not to take any lessons, to preserve her naturalism.
"He makes films like a jazz musician," says Jones, who didn't see a script until just a few weeks before shooting. "I just had to blindly trust him."
So can we expect any more acting appearances from Jones?
"I'm not trying to break into the movie business," she says. "I just wanted to have a cool experience."

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Bob Dylan Wins Pulitzer

Thanks to Bob Dylan, rock 'n' roll has finally broken through the Pulitzer wall.

Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, cited for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."

It was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favored classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive.

Dylan's victory doesn't mean that the Pulitzers have forgotten classical composers. The competitive prize for music was given to David Lang's "The Little Match Girl Passion," which opened last fall at Carnegie Hall, where Dylan has also performed. "Bob Dylan is the most frequently played artist in my household so the idea that I am honored at the same time as Bob Dylan, that is humbling," Lang said.

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Corinne Bailey Rae’s Husband Found Dead
Jason Rae, the musician-husband of soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae, was found dead Saturday in a London flat of a suspected drug overdose. He was 31. According to British media reports, police have arrested an unidentified 32-year-old man for allegedly "supplying controlled substances." He was subsequently released on bail. Rae was a saxophonist with a funk band, the Haggis Horns. No word on his more famous wife's whereabouts or whether she was with him when he died. An autopsy was inconclusive and police are currently waiting on the results of toxicology tests before making a final determination on cause of death. Corinne Bailey Rae shot to fame two years ago with her self-titled debut album which spawned the hit, "Put Your Records On." The songstress reportedly met Jason Rae when she attended the University of Leeds and worked as a hat check girl at a local jazz club, occasionally sitting in with various groups when business was slow. The two fell in love and eventually tied the knot in 2001 after which she added his last name to her own.

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Springsteen Fan Kills Husband Over Boss Dispute
Who doesn't like The Boss, right?
An Australian woman has taken her passion for The Boss to the extreme. She has pleaded guilty to manslaughter for stabbing her husband to death after an argument over her hero.
Karen Lee Cooper was sentenced to eight years in prison for stabbing Kevin Watson in the chest whilst drunk at their home in July 2006.
She told police she tried to play a Springsteen CD and Watson turned it off. The police record quotes Cooper as saying, "I mean, who the hell doesn't like Bruce Springsteen, for God's sake?" She says, "I just picked up a knife and I went 'boom."'
Her lawyer says Cooper called an ambulance and tried to kill herself by swallowing painkillers, and she believes Watson did not deserve to die.

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