HRS News

Saul Williams has just announced the destinations for his upcoming thirty-stop tour. The two-month jaunt will support his recent release The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! and kicks off March 12th at Austin’s SXSW. Most importantly, the trek dubbed “The Tar Spangled Banner Tour” will offer both live musical performances as well as spoken word events in select cities.

“The Niggytardust concept sets me free to do more on stage with costume, etc. than one might expect from a regular Saul Williams show,” the poet said. “It allows me to put my theatre training to use. I’ve also thought long and hard about all the discussion surrounding racial epithets etc. and chose this title as a means of furthering the dialogue while also showing how creativity will outlive and outshine hatred of any kind.”

You can visit www.niggytardust.com.where, like the recent RadioHead release, you have the choice to pay or download the tracks for free. All versions are 100% DRM free and include a PDF with artwork and lyrics.

Saul Williams Tour Dates
MARCH
12 SXSW, Austin, TX*
13 SXSW, Austin, TX*
17 Plaza Club, Vancouver BC*
18 Aladdin, Portland, OR*
19 Neumo’s, Seattle WA*
21 Slims, San Francisco, CA*
22 Club Mercy, Santa Barbara, CA*
24 Casbah, San Diego, CA*
25 Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA*
26 Clubhouse, Tempe, AZ*
27 Chandler Gilbert Community College, Phoenix, AZ?
28 Estrella Mountain Community College, Phoenix, AZ?
29 Launchpad, Albuquerque, NM*
31 The Loft, Dallas, TX*

APRIL
01 Warehouse Live Studio, Houston, TX*
03 The Parish, New Orleans, LA*
04 The Loft, Atlanta. GA*
06 Ramshead, Annapolis, MD*
07 930 Club, Washington, DC*
08 Paradise, Boston, MA*
09 Irving Plaza, NY, NY*
11 Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA*
12 Iron Horse, Northampton, MA*
13 La Tulipe, Montreal, QC*
14 Mod Club, Toronto, ONT*
16 Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI*
17 Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH*
18 Martyrs, Chicago, IL*
19 Varsity Theatre, Minneapolis, MN*
21 Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO*
22 Belly Up, Aspen, CO*
23 Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, UT*

* Musical performance
? Spoken word performance

http://niggytardust.com/

http://www.myspace.com/saulwilliams

The indie group is going on tour with Cali underground legends the Hieroglyphics. Check below for a partial list of upcoming dates.

Blue Scholars Tour information:
JAN.25.2008 SOLD OUT
Blue Scholars
Western Washington University
The Viking Union – Multipurpose Room
Bellingham, WA 98225
7:15pm :: All Ages :: $14/18
with: Common Market, Dyme Def

JAN.26.2008
Blue Scholars
Western Washington University
The Viking Union – Multipurpose Room
Bellingham, WA 98225
7:15pm :: All Ages :: $14/18
with: D. Black

JAN.31.2008
Blue Scholars
Evergreen State College
College Recreation Center – 2700 Evergreen Parkway NW
Olympia, WA 98505
7:00pm :: All Ages :: $10/15
Middle East Film Fest, Arab Summit

FEB.1.2008
Blue Scholars
Lewis and Clark College
Evans Auditorium – 0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd
Portland, OR 97219
8:00pm :: All Ages

FEB.2.2008
Blue Scholars
WOW Hall
291 W. 8th
Eugene, OR 97401
8:30 PM :: All :: $10/12
with: Animal Farm

FEB.6.2008
Blue Scholars
Media Club
695 Cambie St.
Vancouver, BC 0
9:00 PM :: 19+ :: $10/12
with: The Seed, Paper Chase

FEB.8.2008
Blue Scholars
Sugar Nightclub
858 Yates Street
Victoria, BC 0
19+ :: $12

FEB.9.2008
Blue Scholars
Native Sons Hall
411 Anderton Avenue
Courtenay, BC 0
All Ages :: $15

FEB.15.2008
Blue Scholars
The Mercury Lounge
217 E. Houston St.
New York, NY 10002
21+ :: $10
with: Kidz in the Hall, Cause

FEB.16.2008
Blue Scholars
Cornell University
Bailey Hall
529 Willard Straight Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
All Ages

FEB.21.2008
Blue Scholars
University of Utah Union Ballroom
200 South Central Campus Drive
200 South Union Room 234
Salt Lake City, UT 94112
All Ages
with: Hieroglyphics, Swollen Members

FEB.22.2008
Blue Scholars
The Black Sheep
2106 E. Platte Ave.
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
9:00 PM :: All Ages :: $15
with: Hieroglyphics

FEB.23.2008
Blue Scholars
Belly Up
450 South Galena Street
Aspen, CO 81611
8:00 PM :: All Ages :: $22 / 24
with: Hieroglyphics

FEB.24.2008
Blue Scholars
Marquis Theatre
2009 Larimer Street
Denver, CO 80202
8:00 PM :: All Ages :: $15
with: Hieroglyphics

FEB.25.2008
Blue Scholars
Fox Theatre & Cafe
1135 13th St.
Boulder, CO 80302
TBA :: All Ages :: $20 / 22.5
with: Hieroglyphics

FEB.26.2008
Blue Scholars
Sandbar Vail
2161 North Frontge Road
Vail, CO 0
9:00 PM :: 21+ :: $18/20
with: Hieroglyphics

FEB.27.2008
Blue Scholars
Sherpa and Yeti’s
320 South Main Street
Breckenridge, CO 80424
9:00 PM :: 21+ :: $18/20
with: Hieroglyphics

FEB.28.2008
Blue Scholars
Aggie Theatre
204 South College Ave.
Ft. Collins, CO 80524
8:00 PM :: All :: $15
with: Hieroglyphics,

MARCH.1.2008
Blue Scholars
Middlebury College
McCullough Student Center Social Space
Middlebury, VT 5753
All Ages :: $5

MARCH.8.2008
Blue Scholars
Oberlin College
Dionysus Night Club
Oberlin, OH 0
18+ :: $5

APRIL.5.2008
Blue Scholars
Grinnell College
Gardner Lounge
Director of the Forum
Grinnell, IA 50112
8:00 PM :: All Ages

www.bluescholars.com

Lupe Fiasco is about to hit the road for his 2008 tour much to the delight of both critics and fans. Supporting his sophomore release, Lupe Fiascos’s The Cool, the emcee’s itinerary also will include a series of in-store appearances in cities such as Portland, San Francisco, Encinitas, Las Vegas, Denver, Austin, and Dallas.

And while more dates will be added, there’s no word yet on on opening acts. Full details can be found at MySpace where he is still one of the site’s top 5 current artists.

TOUR DATES: (additional dates to be announced)

JANUARY
10 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
11 Seattle, WA Showbox at the Market
13 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
14 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
15 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
17 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
18 Las Vegas, CA House of Blues
19 Albuquerque, NM Sunshine Theatre
20 Denver, CO Gothic Theatre
22 Austin, TX Emo’s
23 Dallas, TX House of Blues
25 Atlanta, GA The Roxy
27 Baltimore, MD Sonar
28 Norfolk, VA The Norva
30 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
31 Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore at TLA

FEBRUARY
1 Richmond, VA Stuart C. Seigel Center
2 New York, NY Nokia Theatre

MARCH
1 New Haven, CT Yale University
25 Fredricksburg, VA Great Hall

www.myspace.com/lupefiasco
www.lupefiasco.com
www.youtube.com/lupefiasco

Kicking off the 2008 tour schedule is the hard-working Bay Area crew The Pack. In support of their latest release, Based Boys, the jaunt will kick off Jan. 11 in their homestate of California, and hit a number of major U.S. cities before wrapping up Feb. 13 in Philly. Opening will be Def Jam recording artist Pittsburg Slim & TYGA.

The Pack tour dates:

Friday Jan. 11th Orangevale, CA The Boardwalk
Sunday Jan. 13th Los Angeles, CA Knitting Factory
Tuesday Jan. 15th Reno, NV The Tonic
Thursday Jan. 17th Eugene, OR Wow Hall
Friday Jan. 18th Seattle, WA Chop Suey
Saturday Jan. 19th Portland, OR Hawthorne Theatre
Sunday Jan. 20th Tucson, AZ Tucson Convention Ctr. (W/ Lil Wayne)
Monday Jan. 21st Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
Thursday Jan. 24th Fort Collins, CO Aggie Theatre
Friday Jan. 25th Denver, CO Marquia Theatre
Saturday Jan. 26th Centennial, CO Lifesport
Sunday Jan. 27th Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep
Tuesday Jan. 29th Chicago, IL Schubas
Thursday Jan. 31st Toledo, OH Frankies
Friday Feb. 1st Lansing, MI Mac’s
Saturday Feb. 2nd Cheswick/Pittsburg PA Gravity
Tuesday Feb. 5th NYC Knitting Factory
Wednesday Feb. 6th Boston, MA Harper’s Ferry
Friday Feb. 8th College Park, MD Sante Fe
Saturday Feb. 9th Vienna, VA Jammin’ Java – Early Show
Sunday Feb 10th Hartford, CT Webster Theatre
Wednesday Feb. 13th Philadelphia, PA Kyber

The biggest news from the weekend’s activities during the taping of the BET Hip-Hop Awards had nothing to do with music (shocker). ATL rapper T.I. was arrested on Saturday, mere hours before his scheduled performance for the show.

According to the Associated Press, federal officials said T.I. (real name Clifford Harris) paid his bodyguard to buy weapons such as machine guns and silencers for him.

Must have been one hell of a performance he had planned.

Taped at the Atlanta Civic Center, the show shut down several major streets. Performances were offered by the likes of Common, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Nelly, Wyclef Jean, Kanye West and more.

Common performed his hit “Driving Me Wild” and along with West, who performed “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and the now incarcerated T.I., copped the most awards for the night.

Common won Lyricist of the Year, while his latest disc, Finding Forever, tied with T.I. for CD of the Year. He gave a shout out to T.I. in his acceptance speech, saying, “I salute my guy T.I., who also won, wherever he is.”

West won Best Live Performance and Best Hip-Hop Video for “Stronger,” and in an uncharacteristically gracious tone said of Outkast: “I didn’t deserve this award above them. They do instead of me.”

The 2nd Annual BET Hip-Hop Awards will air Oct. 17.

After The Brooklyn Papers reported (on Friday, September 28th) that the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival wasn’t returning to Empire Fulton Ferry State Park music fans wanted to know what was going on.

Due to a schedule conflict with a Polish language production of Macbeth, the festival was feared to be cancelled, but the good fest folks let us know it was all still a go.

“We will be moving the Festival date to early July, tentatively July 12th,” said Festival Chair Wes Jackson. “We sat down with the Conservancy and figured a way around the scheduling conflict. It actually may be a blessing in disguise as we are working on launching a BHF Tour in ’08. Moving the festival date to mid July allows us to use the Brooklyn date as the tour launch.”

And for those who thought that it was some weird racist anti-hip-hop thing, think again.

“Because of reasons fair and unfair when you say ‘Hip-Hop’ people get concerned, Jackson added. “In addition, we produce a large event that brought over 10,000 people over a three day period to a residential neighborhood. These are homeowners who may not want to hear Tony Starks [aka Ghostface Killah] outside their front window. This is why other large music festivals and concerts like Coachella and Rock The Bells are done in out of the way places. Our Festival is in Brooklyn, in the community. And that brings along with it a new set of issues. Thankfully we have not had a single incident in three years. Anyone who has been to the Festival can attest to the positivity and diversity. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation have worked with us to navigate these issues for the past two years and we will continue to do so.”

For more info, check www.brooklyn bodega.com.

Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings are readying the release of their album, 100 Days, 100 Nights due tomorrow, October 2nd. The eclectic group’s been written up across the country, from the LA Times to the New York Times. You can cop a download here and even check out a non-album track that covers Bob Marley. Brooklyn Vegan is giving away free tix to their upcoming Apollo gig on Oct. 6. Along with an Oct. 2nd performance at NYC’s Virgin Megastore, the gig kicks off their world tour. Check below for dates.

Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings 2007 World Tour Dates

Oct 2 – Virgin Megastore, New York, New York
Oct 6 – The Apollo Theatre New York, New York
Oct 16 – Theatre Du Vigean Bordeaux
Oct 17 – Sala Apolo Barcelona, Barcelona
Oct 18 – Ninkasi Kao Lyon
Oct 19 – L’elysee Montmartre Paris
Oct 20 – Nancy Jazz Pulsations Nancy
Oct 23 – Alter Wartesaal Koln
Oct 24 – Ancienne Belgique Bruxelles, Belgium
Oct 25 – Paradiso Upper Hall Amsterdam, Zuid-Holland
Oct 26 – Mandarin Kasino Hamburg, Germany, Hamburg
Oct 27 – Bohannon Soul Club Berlin, Germany, Berlin
Oct 30 – Schlachtof Weisbaden
Oct 31 – Supersonic Festival Vienna, Wien
Nov 2 – JazznoJazz Festival 2007/ Theatre Gessnerallee Zurich, Zurich
Nov 3 – Theatro Lino Ventura Nice
Nov 9 – Middle East Underground Cambridge, Massachusetts
Nov 10 – Higher Ground Burlington, Vermont
Nov 11 – La Tulipe Montreal, Quebec
Nov 13 – Lees Palace Toronto, Ontario
Nov 14 – Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
Nov 15 – Park West Chicago, Illinois
Nov 16 – First Avenue Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nov 17 – Turner Hall Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nov 18 – The Vogue Indianapolis, Indiana
Nov 20 – Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio
Dec 1 – Belly Up Tavern Solana Beach, California
Dec 4 – El Rey Theater Los Angeles, California
Dec 5 – Bimbo’s 365 Club San Francisco, California
Dec 7 – Doug Fir Lounge Portland, Oregon
Dec 8 – Neumo’s Seattle, Washington
Dec 9 – Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, British Columbia
Dec 10 – The Nightlight Bellingham, Washington
Dec 15 – Black Cat Washington DC, Washington DC

www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings
www.daptonerecords.imeem.com

Ghostface Killah is scheduled to headline the hip-hip phase of Adult Swim’s first nationwide concert tours. On October 1, a 12-campus hip-hop tour kicks off at the State University of New York campus in Albany, and will see the Wu Tang legend accompanied by Atlanta’s Dungeon Family veteran Witchdoctor.

Adult Swim, the Cartoon Network’s highly rated late-night programming block for young adults, will also sponsor a 12-campus heavy metal tour headlined by And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead.

Ghostface Killah, real name Dennis Coles and aka Tony Starks, Ironman, Ghost Deini, Pretty Toney, Wally Champ, GFK and Starky Love, last blessed us with his b-cut compilation Hidden Darts earlier this year and will drop a MF Doom collabo set in the near future.

Witchdoctor, also known as Eric Johnson, is a fixture of the Southern rap game who’s worked with fellow Dungeon Family members including OutKast and Goodie Mob. Witchdoctor’s new album, Diary of an American Witchdoctor, will drop October 23 on Adult Swim’s Williams Street record label.

Schedule for Hip Hop Tour Featuring Ghostface Killah and Witchdoctor:
10/01/07: State University of New York, Albany, N.Y.
10/03/07: University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H.
10/05/07: Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
10/06/07: Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.
10/07/07: University of Maryland, College Park, Md.
10/09/07: American University, Washington, DC
10/10/07: Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Ga.
10/11/07: University of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla.
10/14/07: University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla.
10/16/07: UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif.
10/17/07: Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.
10/19/07: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N.M.

“Rehab” singer, Amy Winehouse, was hospitalized Wednesday (Aug.8) after collapsing from extreme partying, um… we mean exhaustion.
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Ledisi has released her her brand new single, “It’s Alright.” Her album, Lost And Found, will drop Aug. 28. Listen.
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Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake led the way for artists nominated for the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards with seven nominations each. Kanye West and Rihanna received five nominations while Amy Winehouse received three nods. Timbaland, West, Fall Out Boy, Lily Allen, Winehouse, Chris Brown, Foo Fighters and Rihanna are all scheduled to perform at the gala scheduled to take place live (9 p.m. EST) September 9th at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Additional performers and presenters will be announced soon.

While I was not lucky enough to catch both shows at Rock The Bells in New York, [the June 29] performance is guaranteed to be remembered as the wettest and nastiest day in Hip-Hop history.



The status of the Rock The Bells festival has raised drastically since its single show in 2004 in Boston. That concert will always be historically remembered by Wu-Tang fans as the last performance of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Four months later, ODB overdosed from pain killers and cocaine in the Clan’s studio. R.I.P. Russell Tyrone Jones.
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