For those who have been dying to buy tickets for the long-awaited Pharcyde reunion at this year's Rock the Bells, die no further. Tickets are available this Saturday. The scenario:

ON SALE SATURDAY, MAY 17th AT 10:00AM!

ROCK THE BELLS
featuring:
A TRIBE CALLED QUEST
NAS
MOS DEF
RAKIM
METHOD MAN & REDMAN, RAEKWON & GHOSTFACE, IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE, DEAD PREZ, MURS, SPANK ROCK, WALE, JAY ELECTRONICA, B.O.B., KIDZ IN THE HALL, AMANDA BLANK
with special guests: THE PHARCYDE
hosted by: SUPERNATURAL & SCRATCH (of The Roots) and DJ LATERN
Saturday, August 16, Doors 10:00am/ Show 11:00am
Shoreline Amphitheatre
Tickets are $75.00, $59.50 for reserved seats and $35.50 for general admission plus applicable service charges
Special 4 pack of lawn tickets available $99.00
VIP tickets available for $175.00 (details at LiveNation.com)

--Oscar Pascual

Prepare for twice the amount of peroxide blonde hair and bad-ass sneering, because Billy Idol is now playing an additional Fillmore show. Rock the cradle of love:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SECOND BILLY IDOL SHOW ADDED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND- ON SALE NOW

BILLY IDOL
Thursday, June 26, Doors 8:00 PM/Show 9:00PM
and Friday, June 27, Doors 8:00 PM/ Show 9:00PM - JUST ADDED! ON SALE NOW!
The Fillmore
Tickets are $49.50 for general admission plus applicable service charges

--Oscar Pascual

I doubt they'll record Lalo Schifrin's classic TV theme song, or feature any Scientologist hack actors on the album, but Metallica have launched a website dedicated to their new album: Mission: Metallica

More info from the Voice of Corporate Music Worldwide. -- John Graham

The music lovers' dating site, which launched last week, includes one interesting bit of trivia: it's the brainchild of Daniel House, who played in O.G. grunge band Skin Yard (which included legendary Seattle producer Jack Endino) and who also launched C/Z records (once the home to NW acts like Built to Spill, 7 Year Bitch, the Gits, and Nirvana). Now there's a guy who had some good taste in music once upon a time. Check off the "grunge/stoner" category and per chance Daniel (or the rockers he inspired) will be just your type. -- Jennifer Maerz

By Andrea Pflaumer

(Check out some video from their website. They look like they're on “Pakistani Idol.” Amina is the blonde with the white head-wrap sitting behind Tahir.)

If you happened to catch Pakistani television last year (and hey, who didn’t?) you might have seen camera crews following a group of young American kids sporting some serious dreadlocks. That group, Fanna Fi Allah, make up what is called a Qawwali party, musicians who perform devotional music to the words of Sufi saints like Rumi, Baba Farid and Mouinniden Chisti. Typically, a Qawwali group includes 6-8 musicians: a lead singer, two harmoniums, some pretty bombastic tabla playing and an accompanying hand-clapping chorus. On May 17, Fanna Fi Allah performs at Yoga of Sausalito at 7:30 pm.

Fanna Fi Allah’s leader, 28-year-old Tahir Qawwali, (born Geoffrey Lyons in Nova Scotia), began exploring Eastern music as a teenager, influenced by the Beatles’ use of Indian instruments. “A lot of (young) people look to alternatives,” he explains. “I really got into the Upanishads and studied Sanskrit and traditional classical Hindustani music.” At the age of 16 after studying tabla for two years, Tahir took himself off to India to apprentice as a student of voice and theory with his first musical guru, Pundit Pashupati Nath Mishra. While there, he also taught himself Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. Eventually he moved to Pakistan to become a student of Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan [nephew of the world’s most famous Qawwali singer, the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan] and Muazzam Ali Khan.

Like London's the Duke Spirit, San Franciso's Love Like Fire offers a rush of angsty alt rock that merges melodic come-ons with anxious verbal knockouts. Singer Ann Yu is a strong seductress, her vocal range setting the emotional tone for the band as she glides between a soft romantic tremble and a firm adminitions that she's unwilling to save the weak hearts that surround her. Today's MP3 of the Day is "From a Tower," a track that swirls atmospheric effects around Yu's wistful warble. -- Jennifer Maerz

Cloud Cult, Kid Dakota, Love Is Chemicals, 9pm, $10
Bottom of the Hill - 1233 17th St. at Missouri

Much like fellow indie chamber-rock groups the Arcade Fire and Polyphonic Spree, Minnesota-based Cloud Cult delivers cathartic, emotional climaxes and transcendent orchestrations. Principal songwriter Craig Minowa has unleashed a flood of intricate miniature symphonies as a form of creative therapy since the 2002 death of his infant son. Cloud Cult's latest, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), further explores the band’s unusual intersection of heartfelt existentialist lyrics, lush arrangements, and glitch-heavy beat programming. With Minowa planning an indefinite hiatus for the group following its current tour, fans who want to experience Cloud Cult’s soaring melodies and unique live show (complete with onstage painters and screen projections) should hightail it to the Bottom of the Hill on Tuesday, May 13, at 8:30 p.m. Admission is $10; call 621-4455 or visit www.bottomofthehill.com. --Dave Pehling

Mike Patton (Faith No More, Fantômas, etc.) and Dan the Automator (Dr. Octagon/Kool Keith, Deltron 3030, Handsome Boy Modeling School, etc.) have a new collab project called Crudo, and they're making their first-ever live appearance next Thursday, May 22, at the Great American Music Hall.

Originally deemed a "secret" show to precede their "official" world debut at the Sasquatch Festival on Saturday the 24th -- they're playing the "Wookie Stage" at that Washington State fest -- the GAMH gig gives the City first dibs on hearing just what these two iconoclasts have cooked up. Peeping Tom, the previous Patton/Dan collab (with Kid Koala, Amon Tobin, and the Roots' Rahzel), shifted from trip-hop chillers to rawkin' killers without a moment's warning, so Crudo could be just about anything: jokey sci-fi-cartoon electro, avant-thrash with raps about obscure Roman senators, or fizzling bleeps and car-crash beats and grunts that sound like a cow being anal-probed by Venusians.

To unshroud the mystery a little bit, we contacted Patton's regular PR queen, who in turn contacted Mike's manager, and he described Crudo thusly: "Avant-garde hip-hop is a great description -- more hip-hop than Peeping Tom, but quirky and electronic as well."

So there's a teaser for you. In the meantime, peep the video for Peeping Tom's song "Mojo." --John Graham

Radiohead is fine and dandy, but I wish that they'd put down the multi-layered musicianship once in a while to record some nice, sappy love songs. Waitaminute, I forgot we have Coldplay for that. Check them out at San Jose's HP Pavilion on July 24. Tickets go on sale Sat., June 14, at 10 a.m. --Oscar Pascual

Don't you wish comedians had the same aesthetics and values as indie rock? Then check out Eugene Mirman. He's signed to Sub Pop and tours with the Comedians of Comedy, which means the dude's got a ton of indie cred to spare. Mirman plays the Mezzanine on May 20. Get your tickets here. --Oscar Pascual

(Photo Credit: Novice Theory)

Remember that Moldy Peach whose music wasn't in Juno? That skinny dude who dueted with Kimya Dawson back in the day and now is getting caught up in her brand new buzz? Adam Green was his name. And Sixes & Sevens is the name of his new album. Check out the video for "Morning After Midnight," off "Sixes and Sevens," above, and the audio for that song here. Adam performs on Tuesday, May 20, at Rickshaw Stop with Tim Fite -- Jennifer Maerz

Friday night took us to The Independent, where the B52s gave the packed house a one-way ticket back to 1982 with "Planet Claire," "Rock Lobster," and "Private Idaho." We grabbed some video of that last song, snapped some photos of Fred Schneider III's Swarovski-studded ear piece and Kate Pierson's jellyfish moves and flickering ring - all for you, dear readers. Check that out over here.

Elsewhere, Music Editor Jennifer Maerz wrapped up her Friday with booze and art. What better way to kick-start the weekend? Read her dispatch and see her photos after the jump...

Click the photo for a full Jell-O Wrestling slideshow by Gretchen Robinette.

How sweet life would be if everyone could wrestle in a giant kiddie pool filled with slippery Jell-O on occasion and not be held accountable for it when their day job rolls around. Especially on a sunny Saturday at SOMA's End Up Bar, where $15 got you in to watch the ladies of the SF Fog Rugby Team in round three of their ongoing Jell-O Wrestling Competition -- with all the free beer you could drink, cheap Jell-O shots you could handle, and funds from the event going directly into the team's coffers.

If you were at The End Up between 4pm and 7pm, hopefully you knew to dress for a cafeteria food fight; the sticky red slop flew well over ten feet in all directions as the wrestlers slammed and slipped all over the pool. Unfortunately many of the competitors asked not to be photographed during their moment of Jell-O glory. . .back to that day
job thing again.

The ladies were nice enough to let me shoot a few moments of the Jell-O battle, followed by an announcement that anyone attempting to grab shots with even a cellphone camera would get "punched in the face." Don't doubt a lady rugby team, whether the setting is a Jell-O pool or football field.

Jell-O wrestling may be one of the only human battles where both competitors can't help but laugh at themselves falling face first in a pool of slime. I asked one of the wrestlers how she felt, climbing out of the pool post battle. "I feel great!" she said.

For more about the SF Fog Rugby Football Club visit: www.sffog.org --Gretchen Robinette