• Rolling Stone went in the studio to get the exclusive scoop on the next Coldplay album, plus a first listen to Mariah Carey’s E=MC² and the early word on the Black Keys‘ Danger Mouse-produced new work.

• Dave Clark Five singer Mike Smith passed away, as did Band of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles.
• Panic at the Disco’s fans demanded to know the group’s favorite Beatles and shower songs. The band answered these questions and more in our Ask a Rock Star video feature.
• Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood teamed up in New York and broke out Hendrix covers, Blind Faith songs and more.
• Rock Daily pondered whether Perez Hilton could ever become the next Clive Davis.

  [Photo: Getty]

Jimmy Kimmel recruited an all-star chorus for his Ben Affleck-focused revenge video, plus Justin Timberlake made a cameo in Gnarls Barkley’s new clip for “Run,” Thom Yorke represented for the environment and Lil Wayne rocked the mike in New Jersey. For these photos and more, click here.

[Photo: ABC]

My Chemical Romance have added venues and a few stops to that original list of tour dates we reported on, OneRepublic and Fabolous are headlining the Crocs Next Step Campus Tour this spring and Ray Davies has plotted a short trek sans the Kinks. Full dates, after the jump: (more…)

This weekend’s rock list pays homage to one of music’s most celebrated subjects: Roy G. Biv. Let us know which song with a color in its title you prefer, and on Monday we’ll tally the votes to a form a rainbow we’ll call “‘Rock List: Readers’ Best Color Songs.” Before you go consorting the Crayola box, here are our preliminary picks:

Prince – “Purple Rain”
Weezer – “Pink Triangle”
The Velvet Underground – “White Light, White Heat”
The Kinks – “The Village Green Preservation Society”
New Order – “Blue Monday”

Emerging rapper Wale is mining some unconventional material for his upcoming mixtape. Rather than rapping about dealing cocaine (like the Re-Up Gang’s We Got It For Cheap, Volume 3) or aping Jay-Z (Jim Jones‘ Harlem’s American Gangster), Wale is gonna be spitting rhymes about Kramer, Newman, the Soup Nazi and the rest of the Seinfeld crew on his street-bound The Mixtape About Nothing. The Washington, D.C. rapper boasts, “I think I’ve seen every episode, like, thirty times,” a feat he shares with the entire population of Long Island. On one cut, dubbed “Hype,” the rapper utilizes a long sample from one of Jerry’s opening-credit comedy routines. But the biggest revelation is that Wale somehow successfully corralled Elaine Benes herself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, to lend a brief skit to the mixtape. No street date has been set yet, but that hasn’t prevented us from already dreaming up possible song titles. “Mr. Bookman?” “The Master of My Domain?” “The Bro vs. the Mansiere?” This mixtape might be the best, Jerry. The best.

• The Eagles and the Moody Blues will perform during a two-day opening celebration for the new Hard Rock Park. The amusement park features attractions like “Led Zeppelin – The Ride“.

• Amy Winehouse will not face charges in connection with her husband’s pending legal case. Blake Fielder-Civil is currently incarcerated for an attempt to “pervert the course of justice.”
• Bun B will release his second solo album, and first since the death of his UGK cohort Pimp C, on April 29th. Il Trill will sport guest spots from Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Rick Ross and Pimp C.
• Rock of Love star and Poison leader Bret Michaels will join the ranks of Slash, Nikki Sixx and Scott Weiland by penning an autobiography for release later this year.

The Fighting Irish
Iraq (United for Opportunity), by the New York Celtic-rock band Black 47, is an unashamedly topical wallop of the early-Seventies Jersey-bar E Street Band and the Combat Rock-era Clash, laced with the mourning siren of Uilleann pipes. The album is as blunt in its frontline detail as it is in title. “Much of Iraq is written from the viewpoint of Black 47 fans who have served over there,” according to the album credits, and the cordite and emergency-channel chatter confirm that. (more…)

Will.i.am has posted another star-studded video to show his support for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. This time the Black Eyed Pea has recruited Jessica Alba, Ryan Phillippe, George Lopez, Kerry Washington, Malcolm-Jamal Warner from The Cosby Show and more celebs to contribute uplifting spoken word passages to “We Are the Ones.” “I would like to see a cleaner Earth for my child that I’m bringing into the world very soon,” says Alba over a backbeat of “O-Bam-A, O-Bam-A.” This is the second time Will.i.am has drafted celebrities to help stump for Obama: The “Yes We Can” video, using samples from Obama’s speeches, featured Scarlett Johansson, John Legend and Common.

Related Stories:

• The “Thriller” Remixes: Kanye, Akon, Will.i.am and Fergie Try to Top the Chipmunks’ “Beat It”
• Will.i.am: “There’s No Racism Amongst People”
• Will.i.am Talks “Hip Hop Is Dead,” Getting It From His Mama: Exclusive Audio

I covered the Grammys the only honest way I could think of: I didn’t watch. Nobody did. It was the third-lowest-rated Grammy broadcast ever, despite the touching fact that people still want to care about the Grammys, with the ratio of live bloggers to actual viewers finally reaching 1:1. I thought about watching but got distracted by an emotionally needy half-empty bag of Utz Kettle Classic Smokin’ Sweet that required immediate attention. Instead, I watched YouTube clips of those sad-gasmic total-humiliation moments to see what my friends were having crying jags about. As a result, I enjoyed it more than any Grammys ever. Thanks, Grammys! Hence I feel fully qualified to evaluate the biggest winners and losers.

Alicia Keys: She got stuck with the necro-duet with Sinatra, getting grotesquely excited (”Yeah, Frank. . . . Tell ‘em!”) since the Academy was out of merely old people for her to sing with. (more…)

Carly Simon has joined Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Sia and her ex-husband James Taylor by signing with Starbucks’ Hear Music label. The coffee giant will release Simon’s new album This Kind of Love, the singer’s first album of new material since 2000’s The Bedroom Tapes, on April 29th. The thirteen-song album features a “Brazilian-heavy sound” and was produced by famed songwriter Jimmy Webb and Frank Filipetti. In other Simon news, the singer likely received a sales boost earlier this week when her “You’re So Vain” was performed by Brooke White on American Idol.

Related Stories:

• The Idol Countdown: Five Essential Moments From Last Night’s “American Idol”
• Starbucks/iTunes Partnership Will Kick Off With Millions of Free Downloads
• The 20 Best Angry Love Songs Ever

[Photo: Getty]

American Idol inched closer to its top twelve last night as Robbie Carrico, Alaina Whitaker, Alexandréa Lushington and Jason Yeager were voted out of the top twenty. Sixteen-year-old Whitaker took it the hardest, bursting into tears, crying, “I can’t sing!” Ryan Seacrest talked her off the ledge and the eight remaining girls surrounded her as she reluctantly sang the song that sank her, Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Yeager was destined for elimination after his cheesy performance Tuesday night, while Carrico struggled to prove his love of rock (and hair) are real. Spunky Lushington could have been a contender had she not stumbled on Wednesday, and though Whitaker failed to stand out, her devastation served as a reminder that Idol’s success is built largely on the backs of young, inexperienced talents.

In between farewells, Seacrest announced a huge roster of stars for this year’s “Idol Gives Back” anti-hunger campaign, which will air April 9th, including Mariah Carey, Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus (more…)

Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel says the band is already crafting new music despite just releasing Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in September 2007. “We’re already working on songs. Got a handful of ‘em already that we’re working on at soundcheck, which has never really happened, so we’re getting a headstart,” Mendel tells the Rock Radio. “The band’s in a good place. Everyone’s really excited about it, excited about making music, so we’re already getting going.” With the band on tour through the end of the year promoting Echoes, which won the Grammy for Best Rock Album earlier this month, the Foos’ next album likely won’t be out until mid-2009.

Related Stories:

• Foo Fighters Promise “Big Noise” and “Biggest Songs” on Tour With Jimmy Eat World, Against Me!
• Foo Fighters Sue Marvel Comics Over X-Men Cartoon
• Review: Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

Parts of the Nick Drake music video that actor Heath Ledger shot and starred in months before his untimely death have surfaced. The video, for Drake’s posthumously released song “Black Eyed Dog,” was filmed by the actor in late 2007 and included in a multimedia installment about Drake called “A Place to Be.” The project was only screened publicly twice before the actor’s death, and the Ledger family said the “Black Eyed Dog” video would not be released.

The video, a “pet project” of the actor’s, shows a despondent Ledger cast within a stark black-and-white environment filled with somber images. (more…)

Every Tuesday Single Minded highlights new tracks hitting stores (or the Web) this week. On Fridays, come back for rarities, remixes, mash-ups and more.

The Hold Steady, “Stay Positive” [Live]
Circuitous lyrics? Oblique references to drug use? A winning combination of nostalgia and anxiety? Can it be anything other than a new Hold Steady song?

Various Artists, A Whole Bunch of Mixtapes [Mixtapes]
A bounty for Friday: a whole bunch of mixtapes, rarities, promo tracks and remixes from legends (and semi-legends) like Kool G Rap, Jeru the Damaja, MF Grimm and J Dilla.

Stephin Merritt, “This Little Ukelele,” “The Nun’s Lament” [Live]
In this NPR performance, Merritt makes a convincing case for the ukelele as the saddest of all instruments. Sorry, tuba!

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, “Falling Slowly,” “If You Want Me,” “Once” [Live Videos]
The antidote to end-of-week exhaustion: three stirring performances from these newly minted Oscar winners.

The Mountain Goats, A Whole Slew of Covers [Covers]
More impressive than John Darnielle’s finesse with his own songs is finesse handling other people’s. We strongly urge you to download his take on “The Sign.”

[Photo: Getty]

• Britney Spears is reportedly getting ready to film a video for “Hot as Ice,” the third clip from Blackout. Spears will amp up the time she’s been rehearsing, and is “really getting serious about making a comeback.”
• In a response to recent Live Nation moves that will expand its reach beyond concert promotion, Ticketmaster and Cablevision (the owner of Madison Square Garden Entertainment) are reportedly planning a joint acquisition of 49 percent of AEG Live (the second-biggest concert promoter, which owns London’s O2 Arena and L.A.’s Staples Center).
• Public documents show Michael Jackson has failed to pay $153,910 on the mortgage for a Los Angeles home owned by his family, in addition to the debt he’s accumulated on Neverland Ranch.
• The Arctic Monkeys picked up three NME awards at last night’s ceremony, including Best British band. Though she had four nominations, Amy Winehouse only won Worst Dressed, and the Killers were named Best International Band for the second time.

[Photo: Getty]