Grammy Award winning musician, rapper, producer and ex-Fugees member Wyclef Jean has teamed up with New Zealand’s hip-hop star, Scribe, to produce a remix of ‘Fast Car’, a track from Wyclef’s latest album, Carnival Vol. II Memoirs Of An Immigrant. Scribe was invited to join Wyclef in the studio within a day of meeting him at the Australian MTV Awards, which Wyclef hosted in April this year.

The original track features the great Paul Simon, but the big names don’t stop there. Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones, Shakira and Serj Tankian of System Of A Down have all contributed to the album, which is available digitally now. Meanwhile, you can hear the remixed ‘Fast Car’ on Scribe’s Myspace

Work this out.
I’ve just got off the telephone to Ticketmaster and they were trying to sell me tickets to next Monday’s cancelled Timbaland concert at Brisbane’s Riverstage despite the promoter saying it’s been put back a month.
The Showtime Touring Group announced on its website last Friday, that’s right LAST FRIDAY, that ALL of his shows had been put back until August.
His Brisbane show is August 16, not next Monday night.
Yet over the phone and online, Ticketmaster are selling tickets for the original dates of his concerts.
They told me they have no word of him changing shows other than the Perth gig which has been put back until August 20.
Is that right? Blow me down as that’s the exact date that is being posted on the official promoter’s website.
I pointed that out to them, that the same website has Brisbane marked as August 16.
Were there any bells ringing at Ticketmaster, where they charge a $5 handling fee.
“Yes that’s right but they have not told us that. We will inform anyone who buys a ticket that there has been a change if it happens.”
Maybe reissuing tickets to shows that have been postponed costs them $5.
Ticketmaster said they had no official word from the promoter but agreed the dates on the website were different from theirs.
Why have the show changes not been explained or revealed to the public?
Why are tickets being sold to a concert that does not exist?
Please explain! Someone.

Sick of the ARIA charts being dominated by international acts. Want to know which local bands and solo artists are selling and how they stack up against each other. Well each week we’re going to bring you the top five Australian singles and albums without the overseas crap. An international free zone. Yes!
It’s the same top five as last week on the singles chart with a few of the minor placings changes position but Gabriella Cilmi is still Numero Uno.
It’s good timing for Vanessa Amorosi as she’s in Brisbane this week, playing the Troubador tomorrow night and the Kedron Wavell RSL on Thursday night.
Laid back solo artist Pete Murray pushed Gabriella from top spot on the album charts and TZU’s release debuted at No.5.

Singles:
1: Sweet About Me - Gabriella Cilmi
2: Perfect - Vanessa Amorosi
3: Black & Gold - Sam Sparro
4: Are You With Me - The Potbelleez
5: This Boy’s In Love - The Presets

Albums:
1:  Summer At Eureka - Pete Murray
2: Lessons To Be Learned - Gabriella Cilmi
3: Apocalypso - The Presets
4: Somewhere In The Real World - Vanessa Amorosi
5: Computer Love - TZU

ARIA winning band Sneaky Sound System have been forced to apologise to the residents of the country Victorian/NSW twin towns Albury-Wodonga after calling their cities boring and a one-hotel town. The words spilled out of the mouth of lead singer Connie Mitchell during an interview with the London produced Aussie mag TNT. She also said the only entertainment around was a sheep shearing festival. She has since retracted her statement. “I am sorry, it was never my intention to upset anyone,’’ Connie said. The main FM station in the region has blacklisted their songs and local music stores were about to send back all the unsold albums. To read more go here.
Sneaky Sound System are touring next month.
They’ve got two shows at The Tivoli and a couple of gigs in Sydney and Melbourne and go nowhere near Albury-Wodonga.
Sneaky Sound System (with Dukes of Windsor)
When: August 16 & 17
Where: The Tivoli
Tickets: $55.50

Honeymooning must have taken the wind out of the multi-talented Timbaland as he’s pushed back his Australian tour.
The music composer, producer, rapper and singer has changed his touring schedule completely and will now begin in Brisbane in August.
He was supposed to have been here on July 14 after first taking to the stage in Perth for his opening show on July 12.
The Showtime touring group, which is bringing Timbaland to Australia, has posted new dates on their website and also the reason for the recently married US star had to postpone his tour.
NEW TIMBALAND DATES
August
16 - Brisbane, River Stage
17 - Adelaide, Entertainment Centre
20 - Perth, Challenge Stadium
21 - Sydney, Entertainment Centre
22 - Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
23 - Auckland, Vector Arena

Eighties all girl band The Bangles will tour Australia in October. They’re locked in for a couple of Melbourne and Sydney shows and as for now the closest they’ll get to Brisbane is Twin Towns Services club at Tweed Heads. The Bangles, which had hits like Walk Like An Egyptian, Manic Monday and Eternal Flame, will perform at Twin Towns on Saturday, October 4. Ticket prices have not been set.
In the meantime refresh yourself with Walk Like An Egyptian.

Electro rockers Dukes Of Windsor have scored a prized support slot with Sneaky Sound System. Riding on the popularity of their latest single It’s A War, The Dukes of Windsor will play six shows with Sneaky Sound System in August including two at The Tivoli.
Sneaky Sound System (with Dukes of Windsor)
When: August 16 & 17
Where: The Tivoli
Tickets: $55.50

Luke Steele will embark on his first ever national solo tour. The enigmatic frontman of The Sleepy Jackson will take in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and places in between throughout August. He’ll perform an intimate acoustic guitar show, playing songs from both Sleepy Jackson albums Lovers and Personality, as well as a selection of new tunes from current projects. His tour kicks off in Melbourne on August 5 and he plays the Sol Bar at Coolum on August 8 and his Brisbane show is at The Globe on August 9.

Sydney-based band Something With Numbers, which played to a sell out crowd last Friday at The Zoo in the Valley, posted a video clip today for their single Stay With Me Bright Eyes. It’s directed by Toby Angwin who also was in charge of Kisschasy’s Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night. Stay With Me Bright Eyes is being added to radio play lists around the country and is sure bring the band even more fans. For those who can remember Split Enz in their prime, Something With Numbers’ lead singer Jake Grigg’s hairstyle is very similar to Tim Finn’s frizzy do.

Hard working solo artist Francesca de Valence will take over the Rotunda in the Valley Mall on Saturday night (outside Ric’s). She’s there to promote her EP From The Outside In which is a polished production with plenty of potential. Besides playing tunes off the EP, she’ll have to play a few more songs as she’s performing for two hours. To get a taste of her style and sound listen here.

Melbourne boom band The Galvatrons have at least picked up a return Queensland show following their support tour with Def Leppard and Cheap Trick. They play the Brisbane Entertainement Centre with the two retro US bands on November 8 and are then expected to sell-out Hard Rock Cafe on the Gold Coast on November 25.
Tickets for the Galvatrons at HRC are $25.
The Hard Rock Cafe is one of the few live venues in the heart of Surfers Paradise that has live bands every Friday night.
Tomorrow night A Name Will Come, Neokin, Eyes Fire Down are the bill.
Cost: $10.

On July 4th, five Brisbane bands will show their support for Tibet by performing at a benefit concert in celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 73rd birthday.
The event will raise awareness of the current situation in Tibet as well as encourage patrons to remember the victims of the recent earthquake in China.

The five bands are Speed of Purple, Tenzin Choegyal, Ranger, Guy Webster and Doch.

When: Friday July 4th, 8pm
Where: The Zoo
Cost: $15

Buy tickets online here.

Sydney band Sparkadia have scored a prized support gig with Faker. However, the Queensland part of Faker’s tour only extends to the Coolangatta Hotel on September 19. No other shows have been scheduled for the Sunshine State - at this stage anyway. Look here for more info and to buy tickets.

Brizbands attended an Austrade conference on How to Tour The USA and gathered tips from some of the more influential people on the US music scene. We picked the brains of booking agent Donovan Hebard (The Agency Group), talent buyer Brian Smith (The Troubadour), marketing rep Brant Weil (WB records), manager Brian Klein and Peter Cohen, business development manager for Austrade in LA. There are plenty of ideas for you to work with and starting points for establishing contacts and building a fan base.

Part 3:
Music friendly ears:
* Which radio stations you send your music to is far more important than how many you send it to.
* There were two college radio stations that were stand outs.
* One was KEXP in Washington, Seattle.
* KEXP (90.3 FM) is a public radio station, specialising in independent and alternative rock.
* The major reason that it’s a good ‘’-to station is because the music is programmed by the DJs.
* If you’re going to send off your music, then send it with a bio (of say 100 words) that’s sharp and snappy and gets to the point.
* Rather than send to the station, send it addressed to the DJs.
* Also if you have a great story include it on your bio and you may just get someone to listen to your music purely out of curiosity.
* The other radios station mentioned was KCRW which is more talk and news but still has a free form music format and is broadcast through LA’ suburbs.
* To get you started try KCRW on Wikipedia as it has the names of the presenters and the show times.
* The Wikipedia site even has the presenters backgrounds and their own personal websites.
* One draw back with public or college radio stations is they may want you to become a member of the station or campus.
* It will set you back some dollars and get you discount cards to places, like some random coffee shop in downtown LA, which you can’t even use.
* But then it could be a tax deduction although get that advice from your accountant.
* Target specialty radio programs, such as those that are broadcast on Sunday nights where it’s more likely they’ll play a random or obscure track from Australia than a prime time slot.
* One of the biggest radio stations in LA was KROQFM which is a commercial station.
* It was termed the Kiss Of Death for young bands.
* The panel said it was more a station you seek out when you’re more established and already have an audience than one you would use to start attracting die hard ticket buying fans.
* When you get around to sending the music, email it and make sure it can be downloaded.
Donovan Hebard was adamant about not sending CDs to anyone in the US.
`` Make it easy for them to access it and allow them to download a track or two,’’ he said.
``There is no reason for any physical product.
``All you need is an email account and a MySpace link.
``That’s all I want.’’

HowTo Tour The USA - Part 1 (Where do you start).

How To Tour The USA - Part 2 (Friends with benefits).

Vanessa Amorosi. Who could forget the emotionally deep lyrics “You can bang your head or you can drown in a hole” from her single ‘Shine’?  Anyway, she’s reinvented herself, got some ink on her arm, is sounding much better than I would have imagined and is playing in Brisbane next week. Maybe even with the little blonde wig from her latest video clip.

When: Tuesday 8 July 2008 (opening 8pm)
Where: The Troubadour
1st Floor, 322 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
Cost: About $28 and you can buy tickets online here.