If you don’t read Monitor Mix, the National Public Radio blog by Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, you should start now. Today’s item has a touch of scintillating news, if anything regarding the penultimate jam band the Grateful Dead, defunct but forever-rolling-away-the-dew in some mushroom patch or another, can be described as scintillating.

According to Brownstein, who posted a mix of songs today featuring the Small Faces and Television, the Grateful Dead refused to give her one of its tunes for posting “unless we promised to do a piece on them on All Things Considered. In addition, we would need to run a feature on The Dead on the site that they would write for us.”

She continues to rant, good-naturedly: “Here’s a sentence I’ve never written: Someone needs to take a bong hit and chill out. Just a simple ‘no thanks’ would have sufficed. Are The Dead really in need of publicity?”

Good question. We’re used to such tricks from publicists who want to promote some starlet clinging to the bottom of the B-list in exchange for five minutes with Clooney, but this, from the Grateful Dead? Phil Lesh and friends have never shied away from making a buck, but hustling NPR for stories seems rather desperate. Isn’t that preaching to the choir anyway?

Brownstein does not identify the song she wanted (update: she asked for “Friend of the Devil”) but here’s betting it wasn’t one of the biggies. For “Uncle John’s Band,” what would the price be? A lunch with foreign correspondent Corey Flintoff? For “Sugar Magnolia,” perhaps a morning hike with “All Things Considered” host Robert Siegel? For “Truckin’,” it seems no less than a skiing trip to the Alps with Terry Gross and Ira Glass, holding hands with the remaining Dead members as they cut through powdery slopes, could be accepted.

Anyway, we tease the Dead, as Bill Maher would say. We have not heard the band’s side of the story yet. A call to longtime publicist and official biographer Dennis McNally reveals that he “knows nothing about it.” We’ve put in a few other calls, so stay tuned.

UPDATE: Browstein, in the last hour or so, posted this clarification on the blog. Although she doesn’t identify the label, Rhino Records manages the band’s intellectual property: “The Grateful Dead were not involved with the decision regarding the requested track. It was the band’s label who would not give permission for the track to be used in its entirety. The label also suggested that it might be easier to get permission if we did a piece on the band on All Things Considered and on the NPR website.”

– Margaret Wappler

Photo: The Associated Press

All right, we get why Tom Waits passed us by (he’s a third city kind of man) but Coldplay, so far, ain’t coming here. Today, the British post-ballad balladeers announced their North American tour for “Viva La Vida,” their new album due June 17. This is in addition to the free shows June 16 at Brixton Academy in London and June 23 at Madison Square Garden. The contest is still open for winning tickets to those blow-outs; in the meantime, we LA folk without enough Jet Blue or Virgin miles will sit here twiddling our thumbs. Keep checking for updates — something tells me Chris Martin will be here, if only to pick up some cupcakes for Gwynie at Joan’s on Third.

–Margaret Wappler

Listen: “Violet Hill” on the band’s website; “Viva La Vida” is an exclusive on iTunes, available with pre-purchase of the album. Read more about “Violet Hill” and “Viva La Vida” at Extended Play.

Photo by Stephan Craneanscki

Proving the adage that old pop stars don’t ever really retire (they just fade away until the time is right for a comeback), iconic soul-R&B diva Tina Turner has announced that she will return to the road for the first time in eight years. The 68-year-old Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee will embark on a North American tour scheduled to reach Staples Center on Oct. 13 (tickets on sale Monday).

In 2000, Turner, one of the most dynamic performers of her generation, played a farewell world tour marking the end of her career as a live performer. But her part in a well-received duet at this year’s Grammys lured the singer back to the touring circuit.

“After performing with Beyoncé at the Grammy Awards, the response was overwhelming,” Turner said in a statement. “Everywhere I went people were asking me when I was going back on tour. So after a lot of thought and planning, I can answer the only way I know how: See you in Kansas City, where we’ll kick the tour off!”

– Chris Lee

Photo of Turner at the Grammys by Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times

“I’m Not There” hits DVD shelves today and, in keeping with the film’s theme of the “many faces of Bob Dylan,” we offer you one of the more unexpected performances in the prodigious YouTube archive of Zimmy’s stagework: Dylan perfoming “Hava Nagila” with Harry Dean Stanton. Really. We’re not joking.

And is it just us, or does the Spokesman for a Generation look eerily like a brunet Harpo Marx in this clip?

Some “Hava Nagila” trivia: Julie Andrews, Twisted Sister, Anthrax, Dick Dale and Harry Belafonte are some of the unexpected folks who have recorded the song or pinched its melody.

– Geoff Boucher

Photo: AP / DEA

For those of you still upset at Goldenvoice for failing to convince England’s My Bloody Valentine to play Coachella this year, it’s time to get over it. The noise-pop legends will play two dates, Oct. 1-2, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, which has a capacity of around 3,000.

Tickets go on sale Friday Saturday via Ticketmaster; you can buy six maximum. They will likely go very fast, as word is surely out to every scalper in the state. The SoCal engagements are part of a just-announced string of North American teaser shows, including a Sept. 27 date at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom and two nights at Roseland in New York in September.

This summer, the band will employ a similar strategy in Europe, playing sold-out smallish venues in London (including four nights in June at Camden’s Round House) and Glasgow, among other cities, for hardcore fans. In addition, Kevin Shields and company will hit a select festival or two, such as this event in Norway.

MBV is also curating and playing at the American edition of music festival All Tomorrow’s Parties in upstate New York this year, which takes place Sept. 19-21.

But before you start looking into pricey nonstops to Oslo or London, we suggest you start practicing your “refresh page” skills at Ticketmaster, which just posted the October L.A. dates. We’ll say it one more time: These tickets will go right quick.

– Charlie Amter

Alicia Keys is in town with her As I Am tour and she’s looking for a backup singer. Not for tonight’s show, per se, but tonight’s the deadline to upload a MySpace audition video. According to her pre-recorded introduction, she’s only looking for singers who can “blow the house down” and “tear it up.” She also promises to take the lucky gal to tour stops in Japan, China, Atlanta and Miami.

The criteria are a little strict, though, if you ask me: First, you have to be a woman between the ages of 21 and 30 (so you can get your drink on, I presume). Next, you have to have singing experience, plus record yourself singing an original song (MySpace Records has the deep pockets now to sign more talent). Finally, you have to have a valid passport so you can trot the globe with AK-47.

I don’t think the rules at “American Idol” are that strict.

If you got cut from “Idol” auditions earlier this year, you have until 11:59 p.m. to enter for a chance at background stardom with Keys’ troupe.

For a little background on Alicia, check out this profile written by The Times’ Richard Cromelin a few months ago when she was singing for protesting Hollywood writers, and here is his review of her show last night at the Honda Center (with Jordin Sparks and Ne-Yo on the bill).

And then there’s this interview with Blender that got her in trouble with 50 Cent.

Keys’ tour is planned to run through 2009.

– Camilo Smith

Photo: aliciakeys.com

With no fanfare, Nine Inch Nails posted a free download of their new album, “The Slip,” on the band’s official website early this morning, creating a global stir among fans of Nails auteur Trent Reznor and his dark, industrial soundscapes. The decision to post the album was meant as a gesture of gratitude to fans, Reznor said in a posting: “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years — this one’s on me.”

More than that, Reznor has jumped to the fore among major artists in the search for the best method to get their music to fans in the unsettled era of digital delivery and plummeting CD sales. “The Slip,” which has 10 tracks, is available at www.nin.com, in a variety of formats (including one billed as a “higher-than-CD quality” 24-bit 96k version), all of them free and delivered with album artwork, lyrics and credits as a PDF file.

Management for the band said it was the first time that an act of the Nails’ stature had released a DRM-free, no-cost digital download of a brand new studio album. Radiohead made headlines in October for a “pay what you want” model, when their album “In Rainbows” was sold on a so-called tip-jar model where fans picked the price, even if it was zero.

“The Slip” will be sold in CD and vinyl format in July. The album has Reznor leading a lineup of Josh Freese, Robin Finck and Alessandro Cortini. The Nails will be touring this summer and fall (including a just-announced L.A. gig at the Forum on Sept. 6), and fans who register at the band’s website will be able to access premium seats through ticket pre-sales.

– Geoff Boucher

Photo of Trent Reznor by Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times

In continuing his longstanding tradition of scheduling utterly incomprehensible tours, actor-musician-wandering eccentric Tom Waits announced a run of U.S. dates this morning via a YouTube “press conference.” Dubbed “The Glitter and Doom Tour” (an expression that could sum up the songwriter’s entire oeuvre), Waits will make stopovers at such seemingly random cities as Tulsa, Okla., Mobile, Ala., Jacksonville, Fla., and — in the tour’s farthest venture West — Phoenix. Seriously, at some point we’re going to start taking your refusal to play L.A. personally, Tom.

But there’s a method to the tour’s madness, which Waits explains in his signature style below. Doubt the power of “PEHDTSCKJMBA” at your peril. And take heart, Waits fans of the West, Phoenix should be lovely in mid-June, and with a little luck, still three to four weeks away from that typical desert heat that makes small animals spontaneously combust. No word from Ticketmaster as to when the tickets will go on sale, but I mean no offense when I say you won’t be hearing such details from me. With the Southwest’s entire contingent of Waits fans preparing to descend upon Phoenix for two increasingly rare shows, you have to take whatever advantage you can.

– Chris Barton

I can’t deny my love for Madonna. “Lucky Star” and “Borderline” still get regular rotation on my iPod. Her Madge-esty, rightfully so if you ask me, is expected to topple the competition when album sales for “Hard Candy” (not to be confused with that disturbing Ellen Page movie) are tallied next week. Here’s Ann Powers’ take on this hip-hop and dance-minded album.

Still, despite the excellence of the former Material Girl, there’s something slightly askew about her appearance today on 106 & Park’s Freestyle Friday. You have to consider that Warner Bros. is pulling out all the stops — this is their last hoorah with Madonna. They even splurged on a Madge widget and don’t forget that guys like Kanye and the Neptunes don’t come cheap.

At 49, Madonna is flirting with grandma age in the eyes of the show’s target audience but she can still make fans out of them. Her slick video with Justin Timberlake is taken from her lead single, “4 Minutes (to Save the World)” and it’s a hallucinatory dance scene with a little bit of strip-teasing and a funky bathing-suit outfit.

Read Full Story

“Everybody needs to bring their A-game,” Dave, a.k.a Plug Two, a.k.a Trugoy the Dove from De La Soul, hollered into his microphone during the news conference Tuesday in Claremont for Rock the Bells.
He was referring to the all-star lineup, representing the so-called golden age of hip-hop that will anchor this year’s annual concert.

Fans of that era, (late ’80s to the early ’90s) will no doubt be reminded of yesteryear when the South L.A. quartet the Pharcyde takes the stage this summer, consisting of MCs Fat Lip, Slim Kid Tre, Bootie Brown and Imani. The group, which split in the mid-’90s, only released two albums that yielded a handful of classics, including “Drop” and “Passing Me By.”

“We’ve always been doing music [since the breakup], but to do it up here,” says Imani, raising his hands up in the air, “as the Pharcyde, we haven’t done it in a while.”

When asked about the convergence of young and old that will see relative newcomers such as Washington, D.C.’s Wale and New Orleans’ Jay Electronica (for whom Erykah Badu created a record label solely to release his upcoming album), A Tribe Called Quest DJ and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad said: “Lyrically, they’re carrying the same flag we picked up … in bringing something that’s positive and uplifting. We all from the same root.”

– Camilo Smith

P.S. Also filling out the bill, which was rapped in a freestyle by MC Supernatural, are:
Co-host B-Real of Cypress Hill
Kid Sister
Flosstradamus
Amanda Blank
Kidz in the Hall
B.O.B
Santogold
Cool Kids
Dead Prez
Spank Rock
Immortal Technique
Ghostface Killah and Raekwon the Chef
Redman and Method Man
Rakim
Nas
Mos Def