Tomorrow sees the start of the annual three day Lollapalooza festival in Chicago’s Grant Park. The organizers have put together a stellar lineup full of superstars. Stay tuned to both Rock Daily and Rock ‘N’ Roll Diary over the weekend for complete coverage of the festival from all angles, from the live sets to the backstage shennanigans and the awesome afterparties. Click the jump for the five acts that promise to be the highlights of the weekend. (more…)

After a year in the works and countless debates over what albums and tracks should make the cut, Universal Music Catalog has launched Lost Tunes, a U.K. download store with a seemingly bottomless catalog and rare, exclusive and “overlooked” tracks (one caveat: people in the U.S. won’t be able to purchase anything until later 2008). The site will tap into artists on the Trojan, Fiction, Decca, Verve, A&M, Motown and Stax labels. Individual tracks are priced at $1.96, with albums starting at $11.85.

“Think of us as your small local record store run by a team dedicated to helping you find the very best music,” a statement from the store reads. “Alongside the rarities, we’ve also picked what we think are unmissable albums for you to add to your collection, and we’ve pulled together articles and reviews to help you discover music that we know you’ll love.”

In all, Lost Tunes has eight categories including rock, pop, dance, reggae, soul, jazz/blues, roots and spoken work, plus an extensive 28 sub-genres. (more…)

Rolling Stone caught up with Matisyahu in the shadow of the Port-A-Potties at last weekend’s Pemberton and asked everyone’s favorite Jewish reggae MC about playing big festivals and the progress of his new album. Matisyahu chatted about the kosher food he was served at the remote fest (”I don’t know where it came from”) and how he keeps politics out of his music — and why. Click above to watch the interview.

For more Pemberton Festival coverage, visit rocknrolldiary.com

[Video: Pete Maiden]

Def Leppard return to play some more Songs From the Sparkle Lounge, Widespread Panic continue their jamming ways and Yelle embarks on her second U.S. tour this year. Follow the jump for the complete set of dates for each trek.

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Next week marks the release of the best comedy of the summer in Pineapple Express, which was produced by Judd Apatow and stars Seth Rogen and James Franco. Click below to hear stories from the Freaks and Geeks days and to find out how Franco is spending the rest of his summer.

• Killer Buds: How James France and Seth Rogen Made This Summer’s Great American Stoner Movie: “Pineapple Express”

As a bonus, Peter Travers has compiled a stoner film hall of fame. Did The Big Lebowski make the cut? Is Half Baked worth a hit? Click below for the complete list, including clips.

• Peter Travers’ Stoner Movie Hall of Fame

[Photo: Dale Robinette/Columbia Pictures]

Queen and Paul Rodgers revealed that their new album The Cosmos Rocks, their first studio album with Rodgers on vocals, will be released October 14th. For the band, it’s their first studio album since 1995’s Made In Heaven, which collected the last remaining songs by Freddie Mercury. Among the songs expected to be included on Cosmos are “Say It’s Not True” (initially available as a free World Aids Day download) and “C-lebrity.” The album will also feature a cover song (perhaps Del Shannon’s “Runaway”) for the first time in Queen’s recording history.

More Queen:

• In the Studio: Queen

[Photo: Getty]

Every Thursday on the Breaking blog, Hype Monitor collects the juice from all the most talked about bands on the Internet and serves up only the tastiest cocktails. Click below for this week’s dose, lead by French remix kings Spitzer.

• Hype Monitor: Spitzer, Air France and Kasai All-Stars

“I’m the lucky one, because I’m still playing music,” says virtuoso guitarist and songwriter Alejandro Escovedo about his surviving Hepatitis C. “I learned the hardships of falling short. But I can look back and not be ashamed by any of it.” Escovedo has just released one of the best albums of his career and is currently playing to some of the biggest crowds of his life while opening for Dave Matthews Band. Click below for more on Escovedo, including the story behind the song “Chelsea.”

• Alejandro Escovedo Mines His Glam Punk Past

The Mayor of Los Angeles has declared today, July 31st, “Mötley Crüe Saints of Los Angeles Day” in the California city. The band will mark the occasion by joining a partnership with the Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd. to give back to local artists. So why are Motley Crue getting their own day? Anyone who’s read about the band’s debauch exploits in their biography The Dirt — which the band drew from for their new album Saints of Los Angeles — can attest to how much the band has contributed to the City of Angels. Tommy Lee and the gang better not enjoy Crüe Day that much, however, as the band is scheduled to play a concert in Phoenix, Arizona tonight.

Music fans are notorious petition starters, and a few months ago the spirit of grassroots activism — or more likely a hormonal explosion of Jonas Brothers love — moved six teens and tweens in Missouri to kick off a campaign to get the wholesome threesome on the cover of Rolling Stone. After written pleas and e-mails were sent, they brought in the big guns — a dance-off on YouTube, of course.

The video, titled “Official Let’s Get JB On Cover of Rolling Stone,” was directed and edited by Lauren Bode, 17 and features Mariah Bode, 11, Kendal Kamman, 10, twins Ashley and Grayson Nickolaison, 10, and Melanie Thorne, 17. Over the course of three days in May, the crew shot and edited the six-minute clip, making sure to insert as many Jonas references as possible. “We tried to make the video as Jonas as we could without going too Jonas, but I don’t think there is …” Thorne explains, before Lauren Bode interrupts, “There is no such thing as too Jonas.”

For the girls, the Jonas phenomenon has meant a lot more than music, videos, concerts and crushes. (more…)

“There’s nothing that the road cannot heal,” goes a line from “Moab,” the lead song from last night’s Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band tour opener at Seattle’s Neumo’s. In Oberst’s case, it might be true: He appeared more lucid and vital than ever. Maybe it was the intimate setting, but Oberst seemed to have allayed his demons and arrived at some of his strongest songs to date.

Backed by a loose-but-tight five-piece band, Oberst and crew ran through every song from their upcoming eponymous album. They took cues from Americana icons like the Heartbreakers and the Band, often letting longtime Bright Eyes member Nate Walcott lead on churchlike organ while coloring the spaces with a three-guitar palette.

Aside from a few squealing declarations of love, the crowd maintained a reverential silence throughout the hour-and-a-half set, soaking up the new material as willingly as the band played it. (more…)

With the release of Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James made the switch from a full beard to a mustache, inducting him into an exclusive club that features members like John Oates, Freddie Mercury, the Killers‘ Brandon Flowers and the Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles. So it was only natural that the American Mustache Institute would want to interview James to discuss his new facial hair look. “I have always been a fan of the wisdom and power of the mustache,” James said. “Having only a mustache is a feeling unlike any other. A feeling of deep pride and sophistication.” James said his father (who “will always rock the ’stache till his dying day”), James Brown and his desire to look like “a top rate T-ball coach” were all inspirations for his new look. James even offers some grooming advice: “I feel every man looks best with his god-given facial hair, as long as it’s not a beard with no mustache. The ’stache must be present at all times.”

[Photo: Getty]

Shock jock and self-proclaimed “King of All Media” Howard Stern is turning his sights back on films with a planned remake of the classic teen flick Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. Often on his radio show, Stern discussed his love of the original 1979 film, which was about a group of punk-rock-loving students who — with an assist from the Ramones — rebel against the school’s oppressive administration. Stern is set to produce, with Alex Winter (Bill from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, now a director of music videos and TV) on tap to write the screenplay. Winter is also reportedly working on a script for MTV Films about Napster founder Shawn Fanning. As for Stern, he’s also producing another ’70s remake in Porky’s, with production possibly beginning in the fall. So, who should fill the Ramones’ role in the Rock ‘n’ Roll High School remake? Rock Daily’s early vote goes to Black Lips.

• Alicia Keys‘ concert in Jakarta was protested by an anti-smoking group due to Philip Morris’ tour sponsorship. As a result of the complaints, the tobacco company agreed to pull all promotional material from the tour stop.
• Jacob the Jeweler is suing Wyclef Jean, saying the rapper owes him $319,680. Jacob was recently sentenced to two and a half years in prison for his role in a money laundering operation.
• The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. was forced to cancel his entire Australian tour due to a severe throat infection.
• Add Tyga to the list of rappers who have crafted pro-Obama verses, as evidenced by the freestyle that Pete Wentzposted on his website.

[Photo: Getty]

Ne-Yo unveiled a pair of new songs yesterday, one with the New Kids on the Block and the other his theme for Wrigley’s Big Red gum. Ne-Yo’s hook-up with the NKOTB is a new single called “Single” and shockingly enough it’s all about rolling stag. The song will be available on iTunes August 12th, and will be featured on NKOTB’s upcoming album The Block, out September 2nd. The new record also features collaborations with New Edition and the Pussycat Dolls. As for Ne-Yo’s Big Red jingle, the R&B singer took a different approach than Chris Brown. (more…)