BITS & BOBS

A band you should be hearing about soon enough, OK TOKYO, have been asked to play Glastonbury this weekend! OK TOKYO are yet another band to emerge from the bulging Reading (UK) scene - some up there are calling it the new Seattle.

SMALLWHITELIGHT - tipped in FS27, will also be playing the Chill Out Tent at Glastonbury. NEW CASSETTES (FS27) play the BBC introducing stage on Saturday.

Very dear friends of mine, THE POSIES’ Ken Stringfellow has started a new band called THE DISCIPLINES and on June 27 are opening for Snow Patrol at the 02 Arena. That isn't to say the Posies are done, they actually never stop playing in one formation or the other (Posies> REM > Big Star > Oranger> Solo), Jon & Ken *will* be playing together at the Down on the Farm Festival in Norway in August.

DUST & BLOOD are tearing up Phoenix, Arizona right now, getting weekly spins at THE EDGE and playing shows all over Arizona. Playing “Sing To Your Demons” from Future Sounds 25. Watch this space, things happen daily with this band.


THE COCO B’S (FS26) got hit up in NME this week– “Best Demo We’ve Been Sent This Week”.

THE FIERY FURNACES (FS09) sign to Thrill Jockey.

A great local band signed to a great local label > DIVISION DAY signed to EENIE MEENIE RECORDS. Reiko and the EM team are on fire, and were the smart ones that got what a fun band SCISSORS FOR LEFTY truly are.
DD has a show this week: Friday June 22 - The Switch & Division Day @ Safari Sam’s

In one of the coolest promo ideas in some time, leave it to THE WHITE STRIPES to do something creative that makes it fun to be a fan. They are scheduled to do a free show on Wednesday at the former site of Tower Sunset on Sunset Avenue in Los Angeles. A mock store called Icky Thump Records has been created for the occasion. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show will be made available to the first 200 people who buy the Icky Thump album at the Icky Thump store after midnight on Monday. Damn, I wanna go to the Icky Thump Record Store, makes me feel like a kid going to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Sadly, PUNK PLANET will no longer exist as a magazine. Citing distribution and financial woes, this great piece of music culture passes on. Nuff' respect due.

For all my Bay Area friends, Elise from Soma FM is putting together some really cool free panels and discussion groups for artists coming up – here’s the first one:

Thursday June 28th
7:15 - 8:15pm
Innovation Salon II : Guitar Heroes- How are Bay Area Companies Coming to the Rescue of the Music Industry?
Panel at the Apple Store
One Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Open to the public

Elise Nordling, DJ & Techie Music Guru, Soma FM
Steve Bronstein , Chief Operating Officer, IODA
Jessica Stoner Steel , Vice President of Business Development, Pandora
Dusty DiMercurio, Marketing Manager, Digidesign
Gabriel Benveniste, Founder and CEO, Sonic Living
Moderator: Lydia Popovich, General Manager, Quannum Records
Mixed sounds by DJ Gadget afterwards!