Madonna, the Beastie Boys, the Dave Clark Five, Leonard Cohen, Afrika Bambaataa, John Mellencamp, the Ventures, Donna Summer, and Chic have been nominated for induction into the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Metallica's absence from the list of nominees is downright shocking. Every act nominated today deserves their nomination, although I’m not sure what took so long for Donna Summer to receive her's. Unfortunately, only five of the acts will actually get inducted. Here are the acts that I think should be inducted this year:1. Madonna: This will cause a lot of debate among her detractors, who have been trying to convince the rest of the world that Madonna is irrelevant every year since 1983. A string of top ten singles – which started with “Borderline” in 1984, and has continued all the way to “Hung Up” in 2005 –  will most likely win the voters over. “Live to Tell,” “Like a Prayer,” “Ray of Light,” and “Don’t Tell Me,” all records that Madonna co-wrote and co-produced, remain some of the best crafted pop singles ever recorded. The only thing going against Madonna is her influence on creating such disastrous pop-tarts as Stacie Q, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Gwen Stefani.  2. Donna Summer: Donna Summer may not have had Madonna's longetivity, but her musical output remains solid. “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” “Last Dance,” and “Bad Girls” remain some of the most orgasmic hits ever made. Besides the production on her hits, nobody could deny Ms. Summer’s amazing vocal ability. Both of these factors should get her inducted in 2008. The only thing Ms. Summer has going against her is the fact that disco music still isn’t taken seriously and Donna Summer has always been considered the Queen of Disco.3. The Beastie Boys: The group released their first album in 1982, opened up for Madonna’s Virgin Tour in 1985, and scored their breakthrough album, Licensed to Ill, in 1986. Songs such as “Fight for Your Right,” “Sabotage,” and “Intergalactic” remain some of the best party songs of the past two decades. They are also a significant crossover group who have enjoyed success on the pop, dance, and R&B charts. Unlike Madonna and Donna Summer, I can’t think of a reason they wouldn’t be inducted.4. John Mellencamp: In 1982, when he was simply known as “John Cougar,” he released two of the greatest singles of all time back to back: “Hurt So Good” and “Jack and Diane.” He continued to release a string of great (and successful) singles including “Pink Houses” (1983), “The Authority Song” (1984), “Small Town”(1985), “Paper in Fire” (1987), “Again Tonight” (1992), “Wild Night” (1994), and “Key West Intermezzo” (1996). The only thing going against John Mellencamp is the fact that some music critics still give him the cold shoulder after all these years.5. Chic: If Madonna and Donna Summer are going to get inducted, then so is Chic. Perhaps they should just move the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to West Hollywood this year! Besides producing such memorable hit singles such as “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” they introduced the world to one of the greatest vocalists of all time, Luther Vandross. Like Donna Summer, they were part of the anti-Disco backlash and this could make them wait even another year. Chic has been nominated in 2003, 2006 and 2007 but still hasn’t been inducted.

Radiohead could be on the verge of a big announcement tomorrow morning (September 29) - or is just an elaborate hoax? Radioheadlp7.com has appeared on the internet simply displaying a countdown that is set to end at 8am (BST) on Saturday. The implication is clear that the site will reveal information about the band’s new album. Following days of coded messages on the band’s official website and admissions that they have finished the album, there is some plausibility that an announcement could be due. However, Radiohead fans have sounded a cautious note across messageboards, with many suggesting that the site could be everything from a hoaxer, to an attempt to trick fans into giving away online passwords. Whatever the site’s true purpose, it’ll all hopefully be revealed in the morning.

“You’re going to see some tears when they hit that stage,” said Modesto, California’s Matt Caramella as he waited for Van Halen with David Lee Roth to hit the stage for the first time since 1984 in Charlotte, North Carolina, last night. Sure enough, tears streamed down his face as the lights went down and Eddie Van Halen appeared on the darkened stage, shirtless and wearing faded green Army fatigue shorts and white sneakers, cranking out the first few riffs of the band’s reconstituted Kinks cover “You Really Got Me.” By the time Roth came out, wearing tight black leather pants, a polka-dotted shirt and white sports jacket with gaudy black embroidery, Caramella was in fist-pumping ecstasy. “These guys are my heroes,” he shouted over the din, “the gods of rock & roll.” (Click here for photos from last night’s Van Halen reunion tour kick-off show.) And for more than two hours, the gods delivered. From “You Really Got Me” to “Runnin’ with the Devil,” “Dance the Night Away,” “Oh, Pretty Woman,” “Unchained,” “Hot for Teacher,” “Ice Cream Man,” “Panama,” guitar-god solo “Eruption,” “Ain’t Talkin’ �?Bout Love,” “Jump” and about thirteen more classic Van Halen tunes, the band was in top form for their long-overdue reunion. “I’m not going to waste time BS-ing around tonight,” Roth told the delighted, sold-out crowd of predominantly middle-aged guys in white- and blue-collar work clothes and gals who’d retrieved their Eighties bustiers for a night of original hair-metal nostalgia. But he was lying: Roth was at his BS best. His hair may be shorter and crow’s feet longer, but Diamond Dave is every bit the Vegas showman that he was two decades ago, when he left Van Halen for an ill-fated solo career that took him from cheesy bad to train-wreck worse. He showed his gift for gab — and flamboyant duds — from the get-go, imitating Mick Jagger and martial arts moves, smiling like a clown, riding a giant microphone. And despite old wounds, his bandmates seemed charmed by their new old lead singer. Eddie Van Halen, switching from his signature Peavey “Wolfgang” guitar to his old, red- and white-striped “Frankenstein,” nuzzled up to Roth several times. And drummer Alex Van Halen, sporting his trademark white headband, pounded his kit with a constant smile. If original bassist Michael Anthony was missed at first, it wasn’t long before Eddie’s sixteen-year-old son, Wolfgang Van Halen, had the crowd in the palm of his hands. The teenaged slap-style bass player held his own with style, grace and grit, throwing out picks to the audience as he walked the catwalk into the crowd, his bass in hand, during “Atomic Punk.” There were some bumps along the way, including a few times when Roth missed his vocal cues, but the audience could not have cared less. All four members looked healthy and fit, particularly Eddie, who has gone from drug-addict weird to middle-age handsome since the original band’s aborted reunion of 1996. Even young Wolfgang seemed to have lost some of the baby fat he showed in earlier photographs with the band. And then there was Diamond Dave, who has evolved from rock & roll cool to old-Vegas hip with style, grace and his eternally smart sense of flamboyant irony. “Did this really happen?” Matt Caramella shouted as the house lights went up following the encore, “Jump.” By then, his tears had mingled with the sweat running down his face from his buzz cut. “Man, that was like a fucking dream.” Related Stories: Fired Van Halen Bassist: “I Found Out on the Internet” Van Halen Reunion Tour Dates Announced: “This Is Like a Brotherhood Like It Never Was Before” Exclusive: Diamond Dave Spills His Guts About Van Halen Reunion

Christmas may be months away, but for the record business it actually began a few weeks ago. The opening shots of what is the most crucial time of year — for an industry that could use all the help it can get right about now I might add — were actually fired with the much ballyhooed release, and subsequent competition, between Kanye West and 50 Cent. Now, nobody actually believes 50 Cent is going to retire, even though Kanye looks to be wiping the floor with him at the moment. But you can bet the record industry was watching the numbers of those two releases — as well of those of country boy Kenny Chesney — that week, and will continue to do so right up until Santa comes down the chimney in December. So, let the games begin. You see, the record industry — and by that, I mean the people who still actually sell CDs — does most of its retail business for the year in the last quarter during Christmas time. This year is especially crucial, since pretty much everybody seems to sense that change (to say the least) is in the air, as far as the future of the CD is concerned. So that means, for the next several weeks leading into Christmas, you are going to see the labels rolling out all their big guns as far as new releases are concerned. Next week it’s Springsteen, the week after that it’s Neil Young, the next it’s — well, you get the picture. This week however, it’s all about Joni Mitchell, who releases her first album of brand new material in nearly a decade with Shine. This is also Mitchell’s first album for Starbucks Records — err, I mean Hear Music — where she joins labelmate Paul McCartney on the coffee counter’s new music imprint. I’ve actually been sitting on a review copy of Shine for about a week, but was waiting for a special moment to sit down with a nice glass of wine (or at least a cold microbrew), to properly savor it. I also for some reason thought that it wasn’t coming out until October. Which means I better order up that microbrew pronto, since today’s actual release means the review was technically due something like yesterday. So I haven’t heard Shine yet, but it has a real pretty cover and the buzz is that Mitchell was artistically invigorated when she recorded it. I’ve also been told that her voice sounds better here than it has in years. I do know that it has an updated version of her classic song “Big Yellow Taxi.” Personally, I’ve always liked Mitchell’s so-called “jazz period” best, when she was making albums like The Hissing Of Summer Lawns and Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, in the seventies with people like Jaco Pastorius and The Brecker Brothers. For that reason, I’m pretty excited about this week’s release of Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters, where the jazz keyboard great does an entire album of music either written or inspired by Mitchell. Hancock is joined on the album by musicians like Wayne Shorter, as well as vocalists Norah Jones, Leonard Cohen, and even Joni herself. A week or so ago, Pico wrote such a great review here of this week’s Miles Davis boxed set release of The Complete On the Corner Sessions, that there really isn’t a lot I can add to it. Judging by what I read there, this sounds like an absolute must for any Miles Davis, or any serious jazz fan period for that matter. But don’t take my word for it, just read Pico’s very insightful and comprehensive review instead. The advance word on Chaka Khan’s Funk This, is that this is a return to her seventies funkified greatness, that has Chakaholics around the world salivating for it’s release today. Chaka is said to sound better than she has since the days of Rufus here. The Foo Fighters are reunited with producer Gil Norton (who produced their 1997 hit The Colour And The Shape) for Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Dave Grohl and company once again mix up the rockers with more acoustic sounding folk-rock here, continuing the musical expansions they began exploring on their last album, which was a two record set. Finally, Kanye West and 50 Cent may have to make room at the top of the charts for will.i.am’s Songs About Girls, which is the hip hop artist and producer’s first solo outing for a major label. The album is led by the humorous, and quite hooky single “I Got It From My Mama.” Here are all of this week’s new album releases courtesy of All Music Guide: Devendra Banhart Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon XL Lo-Fi, Alternative Folk, Acid Folk Miles Davis The Complete On the Corner Sessions Sony Legacy Jazz-Rock, Fusion, Jazz-Funk, Free Funk, Funk Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace RCA Post-Grunge, Alternative Pop/Rock Herbie Hancock River: The Joni Letters Verve Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Jazz, Jazz-Pop, Pop, Modern Creative Iron & Wine The Shepherd’s Dog Sub Pop Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Indie Rock Joni Mitchell Shine Hear Music Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Jazz will.i.am Songs About Girls Interscope Pop-Rap, Party Rap, Contemporary R&B, Urban, Hip-Hop Athlete Beyond the Neighbourhood Astralwerks Alternative Pop/Rock, Post-Rock/Experimental The Bird and the Bee Please Clap Your Hands Blue Note Indie Electronic, Indie Pop Michael Ian Black I Am a Wonderful Man Comedy Central Observational Humor, Standup Comedy Chris Botti Italia Sony Smooth Jazz, Standards, Instrumental Pop, Crossover Jazz, Contemporary Jazz Birdie Busch Penny Arcade Bar None Singer/Songwriter, Indie Pop The Cave Singers Invitation Songs Matador Neo-Traditional Folk, Folk-Rock The Cheetah Girls TCG Disney Teen Pop Keyshia Cole Just Like You Geffen Urban, Contemporary R&B Damon & Naomi Within These Walls 20/20/20 Dream Pop, Indie Rock Natalie Dessay Bellini: La Sonnambula Virgin Classics Romantic Opera Dethklok The Dethalbum Williams Street TV Soundtracks, Heavy Metal, Death Metal/Black Metal Pat DiNizio Pat DiNizio Famous Monsters Pop/Rock, Hard Rock, Power Pop Steve Earle Washington Square Serenade New West Alternative Country, Americana, Singer/Songwriter, Roots Rock Melissa Etheridge The Awakening Island Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Folk-Rock Bill Evans The Interplay Sessions Milestone Modal Music, Cool Amp Fiddler Afro Strut [US Version] Play It Again Sam Us Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B, Funk, Soul Kevin Fowler Bring It On Equity Contemporary Country, Honky Tonk Freezepop Future Future Future Perfect Rykodisc Synth Pop, Dance-Pop Georgie James Places Saddle Creek Indie Pop, Indie Rock José González In Our Nature Mute Sadcore, Indie Pop, Alternative Singer/Songwriter The Heliocentrics Out There Now Again Post-Bop, Jazz-Funk, Modern Creative, Funk Billie Holiday Lady Day: The Master Takes and Singles Legacy Vocal Jazz, Traditional Pop, Swing, Standards, Torch Songs, Ballads, Classic Female Blues Charlie Hunter/Bobby Previte as Groundtruther Featuring John Medeski Altitude Thirsty Ear Free Improvisation, Avant-Garde Jazz, Experimental, Free Jazz, Post-Bop, Modern Creative The Intelligence Deutoronomy In The Red Experimental Rock, Noise-Rock, Lo-Fi Jagged Edge Baby Makin’ Project So So Def/Island Urban Music Urban, Contemporary R&B Janine Jansen Bach: Inventions & Partita Decca Baroque Orchestral Music Donell Jones The Best of Donell Jones LaFace/Zomba Contemporary R&B, Urban Chaka Khan Funk This Burgundy/Sony BMG Contemporary R&B Rahsaan Roland Kirk Pre Rahsaan Prestige Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Modern Creative Kites Hallucination Guillotine Load Electronic, Post-Rock/Experimental Bettye LaVette The Scene of the Crime Anti Northern Soul, Soul Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Brazil [Hybrid SACD] Telarc Modern and Contemporary Music for Guitar Quartet Magik Markers Boss Ecstatic Peace Experimental Rock, Noise-Rock Matt Pond PA Last Light Altitude Chamber Pop, Indie Pop, Indie Rock Nellie McKay Obligatory Villagers Hungry Mouse Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Cabaret, Alternative Pop/Rock Múm Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy FTC Indie Electronic, IDM, Electronica Meshell Ndegeocello The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams Emarcy/UMGD Post-Bop, Psychedelic Pop, Contemporary R&B, Neo-Psychedelia, Urban, Funk, Soul, Fusion, Downtempo New York Polyphony I Sing the Birth Avie Music for Vocal Ensemble Office A Night at the Ritz New Line Indie Rock, Pop Underground, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock Martin Rost Organ Landscape: Estonia MDG Estonian Music for Organ William Stromberg House of Frankenstein [Complete 1944 Score] Naxos Film Music Original Soundtrack The Darjeeling Limited ABKCO Indian Folk, Film Music, Soundtracks, Indian Art Film Music, Pop/Rock, Folk-Rock, British Invasion Rahsaan Patterson Wines & Spirits Artistry Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B Queen Latifah Trav’lin’ Light Verve Labels American Popular Song, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary R&B Rascal Flatts Still Feels Good Lyric Street Contemporary Country Red Krayola/Art & Language Sighs Trapped by Liars Drag City Experimental Rock, Indie Rock, Experimental Jimmy Reed Best of the Vee Jay Years Shout! Factory Blues Revival, Electric Harmonica Blues, Electric Chicago Blues, R&B Jill Scott The Real Thing: Words and Sounds, Vol. 3 Hidden Beach Neo-Soul, Contemporary R&B Brian Setzer Orchestra Wolfgang’s Big Night Out Surfdog Retro-Rock, Retro Swing, Rockabilly Revival Billy Joe Shaver Everybody’s Brother Compadre Americana, Outlaw Country, Honky Tonk, Singer/Songwriter, Country-Rock, Progressive Country Shocking Pinks Shocking Pinks Astralwerks Indie Pop, Indie Electronic, Dream Pop Rob Sonic Sabotage Gigante Definitive Jux Underground Rap, Hip-Hop Soul Asylum Welcome to the Minority: The A&M Years 1988-1991 Hip-O College Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Hard Rock

Photos by Nilina Mason-Campbell That whole "indie kids don’t dance" thing seems about as outdated right now as "Walk the Dinosaur", what with Girl Talk, Dan Deacon, M.I.A., Spank Rock, and this guy, Wesley "Diplo" Pentz, touring pretty much non-stop. For this gig late last week at Seattle’s Neumos, Diplo was joined by a couple more terpsichorean-friendly acts, including tourmate Switch and Simian Mobile Disco (who were giving their skinny varicolored Stonehenge lighting setup a rest and rocking this one as a straight DJ duo). And in case you haven’t seen it before, do scope Diplo’s namesake diplodocus tattoo above and below. Tight! Dates and photos aplenty lie just ahead. DIPLO SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO Backstage DIPLO SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO SWITCH Diplo: 09-26 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom *! 09-28 Baltimore, MD - Sonar * 10-05 New York, NY - Hiro Ballroom # 10-17 Buenos Aires, Argentina - Zizek 10-18 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Multiplicidade 10-27 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - TIM festival 11-04 Austin, TX - FunFunFun Fest * with Switch ! with Blaqstarr # with Nick Catchdubs Simian Mobile Disco: 09-26 Leeds, England - The Cockpit 09-27 London, England - Scala 09-28 Marseilles, France - Marsatac 09-29 Strasbourg, France - Ososphere 10-05 Sheffield, England - The Plug (DJ set) 10-06 London, England - Wang (DJ set) 10-18 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg % 11-17 Manchester, England - Warehouse Project 11-21 Osaka, Japan - Zepp ^ 11-22 Osaka, Japan - Zepp ^ 11-24 Tokyo, Japan - Makuhari Centre ^ 11-25 Dublin, Ireland - Ambassador * 11-26 Manchester, England - Apollo * 11-27 Edinburgh, Scotland - Corn Exchange * 11-28 Newcastle, England - Academy * 11-30 Southampton, England - Guildhall * 12-01 Leeds, England - University * 12-02 Cardiff, Wales - University * 12-04 Birmingham, England - Academy * 12-05 London, England - Brixton Academy * 12-06 Manchester, England - Apollo # 12-07 Birmingham, England - NIA # 12-09 Liverpool, England - Aintree Pavillion # 12-11 Brighton, England - Brighton Centre # 12-13 London, England - Brixton Academy # 12-14 London, England - Brixton Academy # 12-15 London, England - Brixton Academy # % with Crystal Castles, Invisible Conga People ^ with Underworld * with Klaxons # with the Chemical Brothers

Nobody sets out to make a cult film, right? Flicks like “Fight Club,” “Heathers” and “Donnie Darko” were meant to appeal to mainstream audiences, but complex story lines and quirky sensibilities sank them at the box office. If not for the rise of video and DVD, they might have been forever damned to Hollywood limbo — the domain of films that lose money but aren’t bad enough to become tongue-in-cheek guilty pleasures (à la “Showgirls”). But if it is possible to predict the next cult classic, you might want to bet your life on “Wristcutters: A Love Story” — an endearing little gem that deals defiantly in another kind of limbo: the gray area between life and death. Following buzz-heavy screenings at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and a lengthy struggle to find distribution, this offbeat slice of suicidal celluloid will finally begin building its cult next month. “It’s a love story that takes place in the place you go after you commit suicide,” said Courtney Solomon, the head of After Dark films, who snagged the rights earlier this year. “It’s a dark comedy, or a really dark comedy, if you will.” The flick hits theaters October 19 on about 20 screens before expanding. Smiling, he added: “It’s a movie you haven’t seen before.” He ain’t kidding. “It takes place in the suicide afterlife, where people are physically incapable of smiling,” said “Almost Famous” star Patrick Fugit, who kicks off the film with a trippy sequence in which his character Zia slits his wrists, depositing him in a bizarre afterlife that is neither heaven nor hell. “[The afterlife in the movie] is all bleached out. All the colors are crappy. It’s basically the real world, just crappier. You still have to pay rent. You still have a job and all that stuff.” In this version of purgatory, people walk around with holes in their heads, bloody wrists and other eternal reminders of how they offed themselves. As Zia takes in his new surroundings, he meets a Russian rocker (Shea Whigham) who lives with his family of suicidals; a beautiful woman convinced she’s there by mistake (Shannyn Sossamon); an eccentric veteran of the realm (Tom Waits); and a cult leader (Will Arnett) trying to convince his followers that if they drink the Kool-Aid with him again, they’re bound to eventually end up in the Promised Land. To further complicate things, Zia learns that the original cause of his grief, his girlfriend Desiree, has also made the jump. “We have a relationship that goes bad, and I commit suicide over it,” he said, grinning at his co-star Leslie Bibb (”Talladega Nights”). “I’m living in this afterworld for a while, and then I find out that she’s committed suicide too, and she’s looking for me in this afterlife. So I go looking for her.” Bibb explained that beneath all of these dark trappings is a love story. “People have tried to broach the subject of suicide and the afterlife before, but Goran [Dukic], our writer and director, broached the subject matter in such an original way,” she said. “It’s the quirkiest, most fun trip.” Whether he meant to or not, first-timer Dukic’s movie is so cult-ready, it could have been crafted in a test tube: Mix in the dark subject matter of “Heathers,” eccentric young actors and cred-heavy veterans, gruesome characters who’ll become instant Halloween costumes, and extremely quotable lines. It might be highly doubtful that “Wristcutters” will open with “Transformers”-like numbers, but it’s easy to imagine art-house specialty screenings of the film for years to come. “People do actually quote the lines, and it’s gotten such an underground following just from doing the festival circuit,” Solomon said of the response so far. “It’s a great movie to show at midnight.” It’s also an easy movie to root for since, quite simply, it shouldn’t even exist. “These people have sat with this for two years, done festivals all over the world, and showed people their film,” Solomon said of Dukic and his hard-working team. “I love helping them out. That makes it a lot more fun for us.” Fugit’s got some not-so-fond memories of the ultra-low-budget shoot that took place some three years ago. “When we first got into filming it, it was really crappy,” he said. “None of your clothes fit, it was really hot, the car we were in had no interior — it was just an all-metal cage. But now, watching the movie, I really miss it.” But Bibb remembered having too much fun at the time. “You’d find yourself laughing, but in this afterworld if you’ve killed yourself, you’re incapable of smiling,” she recalled. “Which was the hardest thing because we’re all big dorks, and all we do is laugh and goof off. So, you’d be in the middle of your scene and say, ‘Shoot! I just smiled. OK, take three.’ ” Believe it or not, “Wristcutters” gave the actors lots to smile about, from the big, offbeat laughs in the script to the sweet, Capra-meets-Bergman message that lies beneath. “Once you’re out of a relationship, you think it was so wonderful, but maybe it wasn’t that great. And it certainly wasn’t worth killing yourself over,” Bibb observed. “It’s about appreciating what you have now.” Right now, the people behind “Wristcutters” are appreciating exactly what they have: a release date. Quite possibly, they also have a movie that could sidestep Hollywood limbo to become the next great cult classic.

Many moons ago, we posted a track from Lebanese oud player Marcel Khalifé. Khalifé seems like a good dude: in addition to really wailin’ on the oud, he’s a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization "Artist for Peace". Not even Bono can say the same. Khalifé has a sizable number of North American tour dates ahead of him over the next few months at places like the Kennedy Center and Boston’s Berklee College of Music’s Performance Hall. In other words, Khalifé ain’t no dimestore oud player, and venues who regularly host Lebanese classical music ought to be honored by his interest. That’s not the case for San Diego’s Joan B. Kroc Theatre at the Salvation Army’s Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, who have forced Khalifé to look elsewhere for a place to play in the area. It’s not so much that the Kroc Theatre folks don’t like the cut of Khalifé’s jib: rather, they feel the show would be "divisive" and "unbalanced" without an Israeli performer taking the stage the same night, according to a press release issued by Khalifé’s camp. It’s tough to tell if this is political correctness run amok (soon to come at the Kroc: all Swiss music, all the time!) or– Khalifé being Arab and this being a Christian-run venue in George Bush’s America– something potentially more sinister. A quick glance at the Kroc Center’s schedule of events finds several Christmas events on the docket with nary a Jewish/Islamic/Buddhist/snakehandling/what-have-you alternative offered. Long live hypocrisy. Kudos to the Birch North Park Theater for stepping in and giving Khalifé a gig in San Diego. The full tour roster is available after the jump. Marcel Khalifé: 09-28 Montreal, Quebec - The Metropolis 09-30 Toronto, Ontario - Toronto Centre for the Arts 10-02 Ottawa, Ontario - Centrepoint Theatre 10-04 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall 10-05 Edmonton, Alberta - Citadel 10-06 Vancouver, British Columbia - Centennial Theatre 10-07 Seattle, WA - Town Hall 10-10 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theatre 10-13 Los Angeles, CA - Wilshire Ebell Theatre 10-14 San Diego, CA - Birch North Park Theater 10-18 Denver, CO - The Oriental Theater 10-19 Minneapolis, MN - The Cedar Cultural Center 10-20 Austin, TX - Hogg Memorial Auditorium 10-26 Houston, TX - Stafford Centre 10-28 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater 10-30 Albuquerque, NM - KiMo Theater 11-01 Washington, DC - John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 11-02 Washington, DC - John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 11-04 Atlanta, GA - Ferst Center for the Arts 11-09 Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater 11-10 Dearborn, MI - Ford Community & Performing Arts Center 11-11 Westlake, OH - Westlake City Schools Performing Arts Center 11-16 Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Hall 11-18 New York, NY - NYU Skirball Center

It's pretty hard to believe that it's been a little more than 30 years since the Sex Pistols released Never Mind The Bollocks their first and last studio album. In spite of bands like the Ramones, The New York Dolls, and others playing a similar type of high energy rock and roll, it was the Pistols who garnered all the publicity and became the face of Punk Rock for the media and everybody else.England of the mid to late 1970s was in a horrible state with unemployment running rampant among the young. Facing the prospect of a life of poverty and a series of dead end jobs until death, is it any wonder that they were more then a little bit angry and very nihilistic? When Johnny Rotten was singing "no future" the majority of the audience related to the statement personally. If you went to see the Pistols live, you didn't expect to hear many of the lyrics, but the music was another story. It was loud, abrasive, aggressive, and best of all angry, which not only summed up how the audience felt but gave them the means to express it as well by pogoing with wild abandon. (Pogoing was dancing by jumping up and down and flinging yourself around at the same time.) In Canada, the punk movement started around the same time that it did in England. As early as 1977 bands like The Viletones, The Diodes, and others played on a regular basis in a number of small clubs that opened in Toronto Ontario. Out on the West Coast in Vancouver there was a similar out break with bands playing in any number of small venues. Unlike in England where bands were actually signed to record contracts, in Canada there was very little money around to sustain a band for any length of time; by 1980 most of the bands were no more. In fact, The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, home to punk music for a few years, was host to an event called "The Last Pogo" in 1980 to officially mark the end of Punk as they saw it.There is one band though that has managed to hang together all these years, and that is the Vancouver outfit D.O.A. From the early years back in the 70s until today, they are still out there railing against the system. With their own label, Sudden Death Records, they are able to regularly produce CDs as well as provide a home for another bands who are too alternative for other companies.In an effort to let people today know what the band was all about back in their earlier days they have compiled footage of the band performing at various locations along the West Coast. The final result, Smash The State: The Raw Original D.O.A. 1978-81 has been put out in conjuncture with MVD Visual on a new DVD. The DVD contains excerpts from five separate gigs, a T.V. shoot, and some Bonus Shit. Of the live gigs the first one recorded in 1980 at On Broadway in San Francisco and The Anarchist Anti-Canada Day concert in Stanley Park Vancouver in 1978 have the best sound and video quality. Of the other three, neither the sound nor the video quality is good enough to be anything more then annoying. In one case, the vocals are lost completely, in another, the sound is like mud and you can't distinguish the individual instruments, and in the third, you can barely discern the band the video quality is so bad.The two live gigs that are good, and the two songs shot in studios (one being the video for the song "World War 3" included in the Bonus Shit) give an indication of what the band is capable of. What's interesting is the Anarchist Picnic is from early in the Band's career – in fact it marked their first appearance as a four-piece band – and the contrast between that gig and the one in 1980 at On Broadway shows you how quickly they developed into a polished and effective band.In 1978 they were a high energy punk rock band but they lacked the cohesion to be completely effective. Joe Shithead's vocals were mainly just shouted out and he wasn't able to do much more in terms of modulating his voice. You could see the potential they had to be a really good punk band if they were to stick together and keep working at it.Two years later, the results are obvious – they are tight musically and although Joe's vocals are still less then comprehensible, here it is more of a deliberate effect. His voice becomes like a fourth instrument that adds to the barrage of sound the band is making in an effort to express their disillusionment with the current state of world affairs. It's only on the TV studio outtakes that we hear crystal clear sound and perfect video quality. However, because of a lack of live audience there seems to be something a little off in their performance. High-energy music like punk needs an audience to bounce off or it sounds like it's being played in a vacuum. Technically everything is fine with these performances, but they are missing the extra edge the music gets when played for an audience.D.O.A. was one of the original punk bands in Canada, and the fact that they are still around speaks volumes to their durability and quality as a band. Unfortunately Smash The State: The Raw Original D.O.A. 1978-81 doesn't give that complete a picture of their capabilities as there are too many problems with sound and video quality. On the other hand it sure was nice to see them again, pounding away on some old favorites. This is a disc that will best be appreciated by people who already know the band, not someone hearing it for the first time. They'd be better off buying one of the band's CDs and getting to know the material first. Better yet, head out to Vancouver and catch them live – then you would get the real D.O.A. experience.

All-American Rejects frontman Tyson Ritter has had silver-screen dreams ever since he was a kid. The only problem was that his ultra-successful rock band got in the way of him actually realizing them. “I just wanted to be on a stage when I was a kid, and I did all this little dinner-theater stuff, like ‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ all that stuff,” he laughed. “But then I realized that the only way I was going to get onstage was by being in a band, so I was like, ‘I don’t care, I’ll do it.’ ” Seems like a pretty fair tradeoff to us, but it turns out that Ritter has never quite let those Hollywood fantasies go. So while his AAR bandmates continue working on the hotly anticipated follow-up to their massive 2005 record, Move Along (see “All-American Rejects Want To ‘Rot Your Brain,’ Might Tweak Rejected Gwen Stefani Tune”), he was able to slip away for a few days to film a part in the Adam Sandler-produced “I Know What Boys Like” — a.k.a. “the Anna Faris/ Katharine McPhee vehicle formerly known as ‘House Bunny’ ” (see “Katharine McPhee Gets Knocked Up — In ‘House Bunny,’ Her First Film”). “I play Colby, who is the love interest of Natalie, the sidekick to Shelley, who is Anna Faris. I don’t even think you can follow that,” he joked. “To be honest, I like doing dramas more — I never thought of myself as the super-duper cutup. I definitely see myself doing stuff like dramadies, you know. I’d like to do ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ because Burt Reynolds was the chief in that one. Or the next ‘Deliverance,’ only without the squealing.” Sounds like a plan. But do Ritter’s future endeavors mean that the Rejects are taking a back seat? Not in the slightest. “My band rules, and we are now writing our next record. The guys are so nice that they’ll give me a break to take 10 days to go shoot a movie,” he said. “It’s really cool that next year, our record will come out, and I’ll also be in a movie.” And just what will that record sound like? Well, Ritter said fans can expect “a departure” from the hook-heavy Rejects rock of old, including a duet in the vein of Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” — he’s hoping to land one of the gals from Tegan and Sara for that one — and a pair of new songs, “Mona Lisa” and “Damn, Girl.” “We’re gonna take a step in a different direction. I’m not gonna say we’re sacrificing any pop, but you’re gonna get a lot more variety out of us. Some aspects are gonna be disco, some are gonna be more straight-up rock, and some are gonna feel like you could be listening to a really good old folky song,” he explained. “Our manager told us that ‘Mona Lisa’ is the best song we’ve ever written. It’s about, like, ‘If the world ends, I just want you to be next to me.’ And ‘Damn, Girl,’ … I’m not gonna lie, it’s the sh–.” In keeping with his newfound Hollywood stardom, Ritter claimed that the record is going to carry a handle that’s suitable for the big screen — and for Ray Parker Jr. too. And we’re only 75 percent sure he’s joking about it. “I want to call the record Zuul from ‘Ghostbusters’ because that was like the king of Gozer, and that was like the top of what you can get,” he snickered. “So, I don’t know, maybe, like, Ghostbusters? Or All-American Rejects: Ghostbusters: The Album. That would be badass. I don’t know, it’ll probably be called Remember Us? because it’ll probably take another year before we make it.”

(New York City, USA) - Made at Pacha continues to bring in top-flight talent with Markus Schulz & Rank 1 touching down at Pacha New York on Friday, September 21st. Markus Schulz’s star is in ascendance after being ranked an impressive #19 in the DJ Mag Top 100 2006 Poll. His stunning second artist album, Progression, offers listeners a slice of his trademark dark, melodic trance alongside beautiful chilled tracks, guitars, and sublime vocals.Last week Markus’ debuted his first Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 with a blockbuster set from Northern Ireland’s biggest dance festival, Planet Love. His weekly radio show, Global DJ Broadcast can now be heard on over 30 stations worldwide with a very special Ibiza Summer Sessions debut this summer in conjunction with his hugely successful residency at Amnesia nightclub.Rank 1 were propelled into the spotlight with their 1999 #1 hit Airwave. Currently they are working on their second album. Rank 1 has a very tight schedule. In the weekends Piet is travelling around the world for the Rank 1 DJ-sets. Meanwhile Benno is creating new sounds. So when they meet up during the week they have lots of inspiration for new records to come! After the electric debut at McCarren Park Pool this summer, Rank 1 is back to ignite the dance-floor at Pacha New York.