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Music News: The National announce six-hour Grateful Dead tribute album featuring basically everybody

by Staff

March 17, 2016

Who's on the Grateful Dead tribute album produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National? Well, let's see, there's Bob WeirWilcothe Flaming LipsJustin VernonJim JamesJenny LewisMumford & SonsTunde AdebimpeCourtney BarnettStephen Malkmus...the list goes on and on. The 59-song, five-disc, six-hour album, Day of the Dead, will be released on May 20, and many of the artists will perform a set of songs from the album at this summer's Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival. (Rolling Stone)

Lolla lineup leaked

Lollapalooza is bringing in the big guns for its 25th anniversary: RadioheadLCD SoundsystemRed Hot Chili PeppersLana Del Rey, and J. Cole will headline this summer's festival in Chicago, if mysterious sources cited by Consequence of Sound are to be believed. What, no Fishbone?

Goodbye to three music notables

Doo-wop singer Lee Andrews has died at age 79. Known for performing with the Hearts in the 1950s and '60s, Andrews fathered Roots leader Questlove. (Rolling Stone)

Frank Sinatra Jr. has died of cardiac arrest at age 72. The son of Frank Sinatra followed closely in his father's footsteps, making a career performing many of the standards made famous by the elder Sinatra and touring with his father as bandleader in Frank Sr.'s later years. (New York Times)

British authorities have confirmed that they have identified the remains of DJ Derek. The former accountant, who disappeared last July at age 73, was a U.K. icon known as "Britain's oldest DJ." (Billboard)

Bon Iver, on the stairs

The Staves have shared video of a stairwell rehearsal of "Flume," captured backstage before Bon Iver’s Hong Kong show on March 8. "Can't remember why we never did do that death metal ending live," write the band in a YouTube caption. (Pitchfork)

Wrens frontman reveals cancer diagnosis

"My prognosis is almost certainly not as dire as Googling might make it seem," says Charles Bissell. The Wrens frontman has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma; he says his therapy is progressing well, and while the cancer is not curable, it is treatable. Still, Bissell's condition complicates plans for a long-awaited follow-up to the Wrens' 2003 album The Meadowlands. (Rolling Stone)

Kanye announces pop-up shop

Kanye West has announced a "Pablo Pop-Up Shop" — actually, a "PABLO POP-UP SHOP" — this weekend in New York. It's unclear exactly what will be sold there, but some of Kanye's fashion designs and new merch are likely to appear. (Billboard)

Laurie Anderson performs for dogs on Colbert

Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform music written especially for dogs, as she's done in two past public performances. The dogs seemed into it. (Rolling Stone) Anderson will be at the Fitzgerald Theater on Saturday to perform her show The Language of the Future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku6cI5v70MQ

Today's hologram beef

A two-year legal fight over a Michael Jackson hologram performance at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards has ended, with three hologram-making entities resolving their differences over an alleged patent infringement. Other hologram-related litigation remains afoot, though, as various parties involved with the development of hologram technology fight over money and the rights to represent celebrity likenesses onstage. (Billboard)

Top St. Patrick's Day jams

YouTube has released a list of the 25 songs most popularly playlisted on St. Patrick's Day. Irish artists like U2Van Morrison, and the Cranberries predominate — though Metallica also make the list with their "Whiskey in the Jar," and Northwest hip-hop team Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have a March 17 hit with "Irish Celebration." (Billboard)

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