Investigator’s are currently waiting on the results of a toxicology report (I assume you watch CSI) to determine whether or not the late star was given a lethal dose of medication. Investigators still aren’t sure if Michael Jackson’s sudden cardiac arrest was the result of an accidental overdose or homicide but they are hoping the info on toxicology report will shed some light on the tragic situation.

Sparks The Rescue is currently on the road, headlining their The End of The World as We Know It tour. For details you can check out the band’s myspace. The remaining tour dates are:

After the groups April release of Fate to Fatal, The Breeders plan to kick of a solid month of touring this August. The tour is scheduled to start at Newport’s Southgate House and finish up in Columbus Ohio. The four track EP is available on iTunes right now.

Dates for the Breeders tour are as follows:

AUGUST
5 Southgate House, Newport, KY (Times New Viking supports)
6 The Vogue, Indianapolis, IN (Times New Viking supports)
7 Blueberry Hill, St. Louis, MO (Times New Viking supports)
8 Bottleneck, Lawrence, KS (Times New Viking supports)
9 Showdown, Omaha, NE (Times New Viking supports)
11 Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MN (Whispertown 2000 supports)
12 Majestic Theatre, Madison, WI (Whispertown 2000 supports)
13 Metro, Chicago, IL (Whispertown 2000 supports)
14 Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac, MI (Whispertown 2000 supports)
15 Lee’s Place, Toronto, ONT (Whispertown 2000 supports)
17 Paradise Ballroom, Boston, MA (Whispertown 2000 supports)
18 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY (Whispertown 2000 supports)
19 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY (Whispertown 2000 supports)
21 Black Cat, Washington, D.C. (Whispertown 2000 supports)
22 Diesel Club Lounge, Pittsburgh, PA (Whispertown 2000 supports)
23 Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH (Whispertown 2000 supports)

The Real You, with the help of Goodnight Sunrise, kicked off their Pop, Rock and Drop It tour today at Washington’s own Big Room Olympia. And despite a relentless tour schedule for this summer The Real You will also be doing “In-Store” sessions at Hot Topic’s all over the country. Their album Better Now Than Never is available on iTunes.

Jul 8 2009	The Big Room	Olympia, Washington
Jul 9 2009	Viaduct	Tacoma, Washington
Jul 10 2009	The Dome	Bremerton, Washington
Jul 11 2009	Moxies	Vancouver (Portland), Washington
Jul 12 2009	Club Retro	Orangevale (Sacramento), California
Jul 13 2009	Hero’s	Modesto, California
Jul 14 2009	Key Club	Hollywood, California
Jul 15 2009	Ignition	Palm Springs, California
Jul 16 2009	Hot Topic – Scottsdale Fashion Square	Scottsdale, Arizone
Jul 17 2009	The Unity Center	Roswell, New Mexico
Jul 19 2009	Six Flags over Texas	Arlington, Texas
Jul 20 2009	Bora Bora	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Jul 21 2009	Rock Island Live	Wichita, Kansas
Jul 22 2009	Club Roxbury	Omaha, Nebraska
Jul 24 2009	The Warehouse	La Crosse, Wisconsin
Jul 25 2009	Hot Topic – Maplewood Mall	St. Paul (Minneapolis area), Minnesota
Jul 26 2009	The House Cafe	Dekalb, Illinois
Jul 27 2009	CC’s Cyber Café	Marlette, Michigan
Jul 28 2009	Hi Fi Club	Lakewood (Cleveland area), Ohio
Jul 29 2009	Tuesday Tunes	Shamokin, Pennsylvania
Jul 31 2009	The Vibe Lounge	Rockville Centre (Long Island), New York
Aug 1 2009	Freehold VFW	Freehold, New Jersey
Aug 2 2009	School of Rock	South Hackensack, New Jersey
Aug 3 2009	Hot Topic – Deptford Mall	Deptford (Philadelphia area), New Jersey
Aug 5 2009	Alley Katz	Richmond, Virginia
Aug 6 2009	New Brookland Tavern	Columbia, South Carolina
Aug 7 2009	Hot Topic – Macon Mall	Macon, Georgia
Aug 10 2009	The Talent Farm	Pembroke Pines, Florida
Aug 12 2009	Hot Topic – Eastdale Mall	Montgomery, Alabama
Aug 14 2009	Fubar	St. Louis, Missouri
Aug 15 2009	Mainstreet Café	Kansas City, Missouri
Aug 16 2009	The Loft	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Aug 17 2009	Hot Topic – Citadel Colorado Springs, Colorado
Aug 19 2009	Sho (@Murray Theater)	Salt Lake City, Utah
Aug 20 2009	Muse Music	Provo, Utah
Aug 21 2009	The Icon	Pocatello, Idaho

In the days following Michael Jackson’s death a whole slew of rumors and odd truths came out about the late pop star and the people around him. Under the most speculation was the real father of Michael’s kids. It had been rumored, and widely held as truth, that his dermatologist was the biological father  of all three children. Dr. Arnold Klein has since made a public statement shutting down any and all pointed fingers. But all you really needed to do was look at his oldest son. The kid looks exactly like him.

STRAIGHT FROM THE PRESS-HORSES MOUTH:

Los Angeles, CA – July 8, 2009 — For nearly three decades, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, and drummer Dave Lombardo have proven over and over, whether in the studio or on the concert stage, that there is Slayer and then there’s everyone else. And they’re about to do it again, first with the band’s co-headline spot on this summer’s Mayhem Festival, and then with the late summer release of their ninth studio album, World Painted Blood (American Recordings/Columbia Records).

Some dozen new songs comprise World Painted Blood which was recorded in Los Angeles over two time periods, during October 2008 and then between late January and March 2009. World Painted Blood was produced by Greg Fidelman, who’s spent time in the studio with Metallica, the Gossip, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Slipknot and others, and executive produced by long-time Slayer colleague, Rick Rubin, who suggested Fidelman for the project.

Recording World Painted Blood was a unique experience for Slayer who has historically begun the recording process with all songs written and fully rehearsed. This time, in part to make sure they could work with Fidelman, they had ideas, but did the bulk of writing and song development while in the studio. “Writing in the studio was a new idea for Slayer,” said Fidelman. “I think the fact that the songs were still new and fresh to them, and they hadn’t been playing them for six months in rehearsal, kept the vibe and excitement in the studio very high.”

“There are two principal music writers in this band, so you’re going to get a combination of speed and heaviness,” said Araya. “Kerry’s writing is really aggressive and fast, while Jeff likes things to be fast, but with melodies and grooves. In making this album, we seemed to share the same vision from song ideas to titles; when we get together as Slayer, it just happens, nothing is contrived, it’s not thought out, we just do it, and we did that with this new album.”

The band members agree that Hanneman set a tone for the album early on. “Jeff’s coming in so early with three new songs really added an energy that got us all going,” said Lombardo, “and combined with what Greg brought to the equation, everything just fell into place and moved quickly. We had a great chemistry.

“On this album,” continued Lombardo, “Jeff’s gone back to this great punk energy, especially with ‘Psychopathy Red.’”

The track “Psychopathy Red” was inspired by the heinous Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, aka the Rostov Ripper, who confessed to brutally murdering 56 children. “Psychopathy Red” had leaked onto the Internet well before November 2008 and has been streamed more than a half-million times since; it was released as a limited edition, blood-red vinyl 7-inch in April for Record Store Day.

“The new music has an ’80s vibe to it, and I think that’s because of the way we wrote it,” said King. We were together during the writing process more than we had been before, and while my name will be on the songs I wrote, and Jeff’s will be on the ones he wrote, there was a lot of interaction between us while the songs were taking shape.”

Adds Lombardo, “On this record, we worked a lot more collectively, we were more attentive to each other’s ideas and willing to try them, which only benefited the album. I’m really excited about the new album because of its diversity, the different elements that all of us contributed to it. And that includes Greg Fidelman who brought the band out of its normalcy, he got a lot out of us. We tapped into some new drum rhythms and new guitar riffs, and some really exciting music developed in the Slayer camp.”

King, a close friend of the late “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, had the guitarist’s guitar in the studio during some of the recording (although he didn’t use it it during the sessions), still with the same strings that were on it the last time Dimebag played it. “The one thing that made me look at my lead playing a little differently was when Dimebag passed away,” revealed King. “Not that I’m going to fill Dime’s shoes because nobody can do that, but I paid more attention to my leads while recording this album. I wanted to make them more memorable in memory of Dime.”

As World Painted Blood is a Slayer album, it deals with topics such as death and destruction, war, serial killers, and the Apocalypse. In addition to “Psychopathy Red,” other tracks on World Painted Blood include “Beauty Through Order” (King: “one of Jeff’s songs, it has a very heavy ‘do me’ intro to it then explodes with a really cool vibe,”) “Unit 731,” “Playing With Dolls” (Dave: an awesome track, great song structure, great vibe”), “Public Display of Dismemberment,” and “Americon,” a King composition. King explains, “It’s about what I think the rest of the world thinks of America. We may not be big on a lot of people’s lists, but I don’t care what you think of my government, of my economy, or whatever. I live here and this is one of the best places that I’ve ever found to live. So fuck you if you don’t like it.”

This summer’s Mayhem Festival will mark the second time that Slayer and Marilyn Manson have co-headlined a tour together. “I had fun when we toured with Manson two years ago,” said King. “Manson’s a friend of mine and Twiggy’s [Ramirez] back in the band, so it can only be that much better. We’ll probably play two new songs, ‘Psychopathy Red’ being one of them – not sure what the other one will be. And, I’m curious to see Manson’s set, I love watching him play because there’s always something going on. It’s going to be a great summer tour, a lot of fun for everyone.”

Six Gold albums, three Grammy nominations and two wins, and countless other awards including being named “Best Live Band” in Revolver, SPIN, and Metal Hammer…after nearly 30 years, what is it about Slayer that continues to connect them with consecutive generations? Fidelman explains it this way: “Each guy has to be here for this to be Slayer. Individually, they are all really good at what they do, but when you put them in a room together, it creates something really unique – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. What those parts are, I’m still not sure, but when when you hear it, you know it.”

Tour dates for the Mayhem Festival are as follows:

July
10 Sleep Train Amphitheatre, Sacramento, CA
11 Shoreline Amphitheatre, San Francisco, CA
12 San Manuel Amphitheatre, San Bernardino, CA
14 White River Amphitheatre, Seattle, WA
17 Cricket Pavilion, Phoenix, AZ
18 Journal Pavilion, Albuquerque, NM
19 Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, Denver, CO
21 Capitol Federal Park @ Sandstone, Kansas City, MO
22 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, St. Louis, MO
24 Lakewood Amphitheatre, Atlanta, GA
25 Verizon Wireless Music Centre, Indianapolis, IN
26 First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL
28 Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, ONT CANADA
29 Toyota Pavilion, Scranton, PA
31 Blossom Music Center, Cleveland, OH

August
1 Post Gazette Pavilion, Pittsburgh, PA
2 DTE Energy Music Theatre, Detroit, MI
4 Comcast Center, Boston, MA
6 Virginia Beach Amphitheatre, Virginia Beach, VA
7 Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
8 Comcast Theatre, Hartford, CT
9 Nissan Pavilion, Washington, D.C.
11 Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa, FL
12 Cruzan Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach, FL
14 AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
15 Superpages.com Center, Dallas, TX

“Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine, and I just wanted to say that I love him – so much”

“ The title ‘King of Pop’ will no longer suffice. He is simply the greatest entertainer who ever lived”

– Berry Gordy

Bad news scene kids, one of todays most interesting bands (I usually overlook Pretty.Odd) is breaking up. As per usual, the details are vague but artistic differences are usually the culprit. On a lighter side though, the band is still expected to tour with blink 182/No Doubt and continue recording. The remaining members ( Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith) had this to say on the band’s news feed:

“We just wanted to let you know, that the news of Ryan and Jon leaving the band is unfortunately true. It’s been an amazing journey being in a band with them, but sometimes individual tastes take friends in different directions and you can’t ignore it. They are some of the most talented guys we know, and we’re sure that whatever they do next will be great. That said, Panic At The Disco is alive and very very well. We are working on new songs that we are excited for you to hear. Our dates
with Blink and No Doubt start in a little less than a month, and we wouldn’t miss those for the world. We know everybody has a lot of questions at this point with everything being so out of the blue, most of those should be answered in the coming weeks. We appreciate every one of you, and hope you continue with us on this incredible ride.

Pay attention we have a surprise in store for you.

-Brendon and Spencer”

Paramore has released their latest single “Ignorance”. There’s a shitty live version of the new track below but you can here the full studio version at Perez Hilton’s site.

Radiohead’s manager Brian Message is starting up his own record label with Polyphonic dealing, exclusively, with online distribution. Although no bands have reportedly signed with the unique record label, this IS the next big step in the music industry. Especially given that the groups are know allowed to keep upwards of 50% the total profits.

Yet another way in which Radiohead plans to take control of the world. In Rainbows’ release was the most astonishing, jab at mainstream music distribution, event since mp3’s (or Blu-Ray). The group’s marketing genius and adventurous sales techniques have been for more substantial than initially thought, and more importantly, intended.