MusicNewsTidBits.com

Motley Crue’s Vince Neil opened up a little bar & grill in Las Vegas.  It’s titled ‘Feelgood’s Rock Bar and Grill’ and will have its grand opening on August 2nd.  It also has a nice 30-foot stage with a huge sound system.  Now if you can just keep Vince off of it, everything should be OK.

Jay-Z is adding yet another item on his impressive resume.  He is now going to be an author.  He’s putting out a book based on his lyrics from his biggest songs.  The title of the book is ‘Decoded’ and Jay-Z says “I named it Decoded because I’m decoding all the lyrics from my records.”

Geez, more money!

I know I’m a little late on this but the blogger who leaked nine unreleased Guns N’ Roses songs from Chinese Democracy was finally sentenced.  Kevin Cogill got one year of probation, two months of home confinement and will have to record a public service announcement for the RIAA.  Man that really sucks but at least he didn’t have to pay anything.

Christopher O’Riley, the highly acclaimed concert pianist, has released a new album titled ‘Out of My Hands’.  But this album isn’t just classical music, its interpretations of songs by Nirvana, Radiohead, Portishead and many others.  I guess this could be interesting.  The release date for it is August 18th.

Barbara Streisand and Diana Krall will be working together for Streisands next album which will be released on September 29th.  Streisand may not be my type of music but c’mon, she IS the winner of 10 Grammy’s.

D12 will be going on tour after recently being reunited.  It’s doubtful that Eminem will join any of the shows.  Who will be joinging them on tour will be California’s own Potluck

Aug16 – Scottsdale AZ @ Martini Ranch
Aug 17 – Solana Beach CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Aug 19 – Pomona CA @ Glass House
Aug 20 – Tucson AZ @ DV8
Aug 21 – Lake Elsinore CA @ Trevi Entertainment Center
Aug 22 – Orangevale CA @ Boardwalk – CA
Aug 23 – Arcata CA @ Arcata Community Center
Aug 27 – Seattle WA @ El Corazon
Aug 28 – Bellingham WA @ Wild Buffalo
Aug 29 – Portland OR. @ Wonder Ballroom
Aug 31 – Salt Lake City UT @ Murray Theater
Sep 01 – Denver CO @ Cervante’s Ballroom
Sep 02 – Lawrence KS @ Granada Theater Kansas
Sep 03 – Tulsa OK @ The Marquee
Sep 04 – Denton TX @ R. Bar
Sep 05 – Houston TX @ House of Blues
Sep06 – New Orleans LA @ House of Blues
Sep 08 – Atlanta GA @ Apache Cafe
Sep 09 – Charlotte NC @ Amos’ Southland
Sep 10 – Washington DC @ TBD
Sep 11 – Scranton PA @ Clarion Hotel
Sep 12 – Worcester MA @ The Palladium
Sep 13 – New Haven CT @ Toad’s Place
Sep 19 – Indianapolis IN @ Music Mill
Sep 26 – Detroit MI @ TBD

Last year Avril Lavigne launched her own fashion line called ‘Abbey Down’ and now she is venturing into childrens clothing.  If you are interested, the line will be available at Kohl’s stores along with her original line for teens.

Not like this is a big surprise but Jay-Z has been awarded as the biggest earning hip-hop artist of the last year.  Forbes publication stated he earned a whopping $35 million in the past 12 months.  Back in June, I posted about him being on the Forbes 100 most powerful celebrities in the world at #32.  Here is the top 10 earning hip-hop artists according to Forbes:

1. Jay-Z – $35 million
2. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs – $30 million
3. Kanye West – $25 million
4. 50 Cent – $20 million
5. Akon – $20 million
6. Lil Wayne – $18 million
7. Timbaland – $17 million
8. Pharrell Williams – $15 million
9. T-Pain – $15 million
10. Eminem – $14 million

Bummer for Brandy since she’s been dropped by her label and management.  No word on what she’s going to do now.

So we’ve seen Justin Timberlake on the golf course here and there and now there’s word that he is hoping to release a book . . .on golf.  Yep, after playing in all those charity golf tournaments, he ended up buying his own golf course in Tennessee.  The book is just an idea right now but I’ll keep you posted on it.

Alright for the fans who grew up watching Soul Train like I did are going to be excited.  Last year host/producer/owner Don Cornelius sold Soul Train and all its rich history to MadVision Entertainment and now they will be distributing all those amazing Soul Train episodes.  We’re talking about icons such as Al Green, Aretha, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Elton John, Whitney and many others.  More than 1,100 hours of this stuff.  No release date yet but you can check out some clips at

Moby has announced his US tour dates to support his latest album ‘Wait For Me’.  Here are his dates.

September
17 – Baltimore, MD – Ram’s Head Live
18 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
20 – Philadelphia, PA – TLA
21 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
24 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
29 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
30 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre October
1 – St. Paul, MN – Myth
3 – Houston, TX – Warehouse
4 – Dallas, TX – Palladium
12 – San Diego, CA – House Of Blues
14 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
15 – San Francisco, CA – Warfield Theatre
18 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
19 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom

Back on October 19, 2008 Deep Purple played a concert in Russia and it should have been just another concert.  However, they didn’t gain permission from the NGO which is the ‘Russian Authors Society’ who issues licenses to publicly perform songs.  Now they are fined for illegally playing their own songs.  WTF.  So they will probably have to pay royalties . . . TO THEMSELVES!  But of course the NGO will be getting their cut.  What a bunch of shit!

Here’s a couple great songs from the great Marc Stretch of Foreign Legion

I’m really excited for this.  I’m a big fan of Fiona Apple and she is finally putting out two new songs.  Even though they aren’t original songs, I still get to hear her beautiful haunting voice.  She’s contributing two songs to ‘The Best Is Yet To come’ which is a compilation honoring Cy Coleman, who is a famous composer who did some works for Frank Sinatra.  The songs will be ‘I Walk a Little Faster’ (Tony Bennett) and ‘Why Try to Change Me Now’ which is from Cy Coleman.  Nice!