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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

Having dated dudes whose music taste would make even the non-snobs cringe (one specific guy comes to mind who just loved the Blue Man Group -- and not in an ironic, Arrested Development way), I can see the appeal of matchmaking based on good taste. But something about Rocknrolldating.com screams Hot Topic more than it does hot 'n' heavy. Then again, I've never really needed a guy who was into "Goth Rock / Industrial" ... although, ok, easily ignoring the entire "jam band/Deadheads" pool of single guys in flip-flops could save many ladies a whole lotta trouble.

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.

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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

Earl Dax, the promoter behind the Manhattan cabaret "Weimar New York" (a musical/theatrical performance that showed at the SF MOMA in Feb.) is now trying to remake the Bubble Lounge over as a low-key cabaret of sorts -- at least on the last Wednesdays of every month, when he brings his Tingel Tangel Club to the North Beach bar. Like "Weimar," TTC is the West Coast outpost of his very New York ideas: having musical performers mingle with theater types in a loungy setting. The May 28 edition of Tingel Tangel Club is emceed by "Nuyorasian sensation" Kate Rigg (Chink-O-Rama, Slanty-Eyed Mama) and features an act Dax is very excited about: Brooklyn’s Novice Theory. Also on deck: novelist and performer Kirk Read ("How I Learned to Snap") with musician Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney, chanteuse Veronica Klaus (Tuesdays at Enrico's) and burlesque performer Alotta Boutté (Harlem Shake). – Jennifer Maerz

(Photo Credit: Novice Theory)

As I squint out over the net waves for any sign that Neko Case will come back to me, hopefully to reprise the loving four nights she performed for me at Bimbo's in '06, I find this instead: Esopus, a magazine (print!) about the creative process. Which obviously could be a big pile of suck, but isn't.

The annual publication includes a CD called Good News, on which musicians write songs about anything they consider to be good news. You can listen to some of it on the site. Neko's contribution, written and recorded with New Pornographer Carl Newman, is about the resurgence of ferrets in Kansas. It's got a bit of heavily reverbed Neko laughter on it which I'm pretty sure is a secret message from her to me saying "I love you too, fan! I remember the $50 heart-shaped box of chocolates you gave me at the Paramount in Oakland when I opened for Merle Haggard!"

Other musicians include Man Man, the Real Tuesday Weld, Busdriver, and Gowns. Go out thee, and purchase at an independent bookstore this good cultural product, which includes items of interest other than Neko Case, such as the truly genius photography of Dulce Pinzón. --Hiya Swanhuyser

Is there anything more tragic-turned-funny than Kermit the Frog (or, ahem, Sad Kermit) covering Elliott Smith (and referencing a scene from The Royal Tenenbaums)? No, I don't think there is. -- Jennifer Maerz

Sometimes I like my rock 'n roll like I like my chicken -- southern fried. Get ready for finger lickin' good guitar riffs when My Morning Jacket plays the Greek Theatre on Sept. 19. Ticket info soon to come. --Oscar Pascual

If you love the sounds of a Moog synthesizer, then I'll venture a guess and say you're a Stereolab fan. If I'm right, then you should jump for joy when the electro rockers take up a two-night residency at the Fillmore on Oct. 21 and 22, in support of their upcoming Chemical Chords album due Aug. 19. Ticket sale info will be announced soon. --Oscar Pascual

Name: Mike Relm

Home base: San Francisco, CA

Style of music you spin: Dance/Rock/Hip Hop

Name of the last track you couldn’t get out of your head: an unreleased Morningwood track

City producing the hottest new music right now: Miami, I believe that's where Timbaland lives.

Dream DJ partner: The Sideshow

Favorite DJ experience: Playing last year's Coachella festival. It was a gorgeous setting with an awesome crowd.

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Madonna just can't stop, won't stop recording and touring. Her latest album, "Hard Candy," debuted at #1 in a gagillion countries, and she's about to embark on her gagillionth tour this fall. And no, gagillion isn't a real number, if you were wondering. Watch the material girl get all sticky and sweet at the Oracle Arena on Nov. 1. Tickets go on sale Sunday, June 1, at 10 a.m. Click 'More' for further info. --Oscar Pascual

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It's that time of the year to pit the best Bay Area high school bands against each other in an ultra-mega Battle of the Bands. 20 bands will take stage at the Sleep Train Pavilion for the May 9 and 10 semi-finals, and only ten will advance to the May 17 finals. Click 'More' for a list of all bands competing, as well as ticket info. --Oscar Pascual

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