By Alex Shapiro

It's only February, but music lovers across the country can already start planning their summers: After months of speculation surrounding Coachella and Bonnaroo, the initial lineups for both have been announced, and they are amazing!

The Coachella lineup is made up of some heavy hitters: Former Beatle Paul McCartney will kick off the fest, followed by '80s goth-rockers the Cure, with synth-rock group the Killers closing it out on the last day. The other 116 announced acts make up a smorgasbord of techno, rock and rap acts that will prevent anyone from saying, "There isn't one band there I'd pay to see." If I was anywhere near Indio, California, I wouldn't miss this one. Read more...

By Joseph Patel

The best four hours of live music I've ever experienced took place at the Coachella festival in 2004. It was a Pixies/ Radiohead/ Kraftwerk/ TV on the Radio back-to-back-to-back-to-back string of sets that only Coachella or a European festival could have offered. The Empire Polo fields in the California desert have been sacred ground for U.S. music festivals ever since Coachella's inception in the fall of 1999, and that spring afternoon in 2004 — my fifth time at the festival — was so epic, I have yet to return.

My day started much earlier than the Pixies' set but that's what I remember kicking off my "Afternoon Not to Be Forgotten." The Pixies' reunion tour had started about two weeks earlier, and I had already seen them three times, having flown myself to Minnesota to catch their first reunion show. (Yes, I know I have a raging battle with the concept of moderation.) I needed to see them with 40,000 people, and it was wonderful. Not a bad appetizer for Radiohead, who took the stage just as the last bits of purple sunset were ducking out of site in the desert sky. They made a majestic offering to the gods. They're one of the best live bands in existence right now and, fan or not, they're worth seeing. I suspect that is why they're performing on the Grammys, to give those who have never seen them a little taste.
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It's beginning to feel like I write this same thing every single year (and, lo and behold, I have), but, wow, the lineup for Coachella 2009 is super underwhelming. Again.

Perhaps it's due to the inflated expectations from previous years, or the constant stream of hype, speculation and false-starts that accompanies the unveiling of the lineup each and every winter, but once again, I am let down by the spate of bands the promoters at Goldenvoice have lined up for Coachella '09. For the second year in a row, there are no big-ticket reunions (long a 'Chella staple), no "Man-I-gotta-see-'em" headliners (Paul McCartney, probably playing stuff from his crummy electronic side-project! The Killers! The Cure!). There is Franz Ferdinand. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And, Amy Winehouse, provided she makes it until April. Oh, and there is Leonard Cohen, who should actually be pretty rad now that I think of it.

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Scarlett Johansson, you are a lovely young actress. Why is it also your mission to prove to the world that you are a singer?

First, you sang at Coachella with the Jesus and Mary Chain, which was OK because you were hardly audible, and it was that song from "Lost in Translation." Then you released that Tom Waits cover album — because you have a deep voice? Some people thought it was OK, but I just don't think someone new to music should tackle anything that weighty.

When we spoke to you in December, you said you probably wouldn't want to do another album of covers. Instead, you'd tackle your own original material. That might be interesting, since your life certainly can't be boring, and you might have some insights to share about being a hot young Hollywood star. Read more...

If it's mid-January, then it must be time for the fake Coachella lineups to begin fluttering down like so many synthetic snowflakes. A combination of pure speculation, delusion, outright lies and fifth-hand inside information from a-guy-who-knows-a-guy-who-dated-the-promoter's-cousin, the premature lineups for the fest (held April 17-19) are typically more wish list than reality, but they always make for a good laugh. (Read our roundup of other music-festival rumors here.)

As we await the actual announcement, which is reportedly due this morning on Los Angeles' KROQ FM, here's who is not playing (or not yet, officially):

Faith No More: The 1980s alt-rockers will, alas, not reform for the fest, but leader Mike Patton will perform with Rahzel the human beatbox, according to Billboard.com. So that's something.

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The announcements for 2009's music-festival season are fast approaching, and rumors are flying all over about who's playing where.

Through some smart Net sleuthing (on artists' MySpaces, etc.), many artists' festival appearances have already been identified. LAist.com, for example, has determined that the Killers, No Age, Girl Talk, Hold Steady and Fleet Foxes will be at Coachella.

But what about the more outlandish rumors? The juiciest one for Coachella is clearly Britney Spears. Many speculated earlier this week that it's well within the realm of possibility for the pop star to drop by the fest (as Madonna did in 2006). She just happens to be performing in Los Angeles that same weekend, and the Coachella grounds in Indio are just a few short hours' drive away.
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So I am sitting here at my always cluttered desk and on it, oddly and appropriately sitting next to one another, are “Peace: The Biography of a Symbol” (a book marking the 50th anniversary of the peace symbol), and a press release from Columbia Records touting the fact that their breakout band MGMT will be playing the Big Three US festivals this summer: Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza. Plus, in June, they’ll play Glastonbury and open for a little band by the name of Radiohead. But I digress. Back to the peace symbol book being next to MGMT --

"Hippie" is, I think, a much-maligned and none-too-fashionable word -- one that probably has never applied to me, but I wouldn't mind if it were. And it’s a term that's been thrown liberally about in describing Ben and Andrew of MGMT, as well as folks like their erstwhile tourmates Yeasayer. (Ohio punk band Psychedelic Horses--- even dedicated a not-so-flattering song to Yeasayer called "New Wave Hippies." But more on that indie beef another time...)

Now, certainly there are psychedelic elements to MGMT, and certainly they have politically lefty roots (Wesleyan U, plus Andrew’s dad Bruce VanWyngarden is the editor of Memphis alt paper The Memphis Flyer). The press release calls MGMT "mind-bending" and "futurist" -– OK, but what about the "h" word?

How does the band feel about the term? Find out after the jump. Read more...

· The Newsroom's Lika Kumoi will be bummed to know that My Chemical Romance’s Frank Iero is off the market. He reportedly married longtime girlfriend Jamia Nestor on Sunday, according to a MySpace bulletin sent out by the band, Bouncing Souls. "Yesterday, we all enjoyed celebrating the wedding day of our good friend Frank from My Chemical Romance,” the band wrote. “It was a fine family gathering which ended up in us singing a couple of Frank’s favorite Souls songs. Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio jumped up to sing along to an acoustic version of 'Night on Earth.’”

· Speaking of wedding bells, one of the wires are reporting that Kanye West got married to his girlfriend, designer Alexis Phifer, in a secret ceremony in Europe last month. We are making the calls right now...

· Aphex Twin, Goldfrapp, Kate Nash, Serj Tankian, Redd Kross and Adele have been added to the lineup for this year's Coachella festival, set for April 25-27 in Indio, CA. While they all join previously announced groups -- like Portishead, Roger Waters, Kraftwerk, Death Cab For Cutie, the Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket and The Breeders -- it still doesn't make up Jack Johnson.

· Hatebreed and Type O Negative will headline this spring’s edition of "The Jagermeister Music Tour" with more acts to be added in coming days. The trek gets underway May 16 in Providence, Rhode Island, and runs through June 28 in New York.

· And finally, venues for this year's Warped Tour have been announced. Pre-sale tickets for the tour, which kicks off on June 20th in Pomona, California, starts this Friday, March 14.

In addition to their appearance at this year’s Coachella Festival on April 25, the Verve will also be playing two other U.S. dates – one in Sin City, and the other in the Big Apple. The band plays Las Vegas’ Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms on April 26, and New York’s WaMu Theater at MSG on April 28 and April 29.

Faith No More’s Mike Patton has teamed up with Dan the Automator to form a new project called Crudo. While little is known about the band or its sound, Crudo will be making their live debut during the Sasquatch! Music Festival in Seattle in late May.

After the jump, more news on Radiohead, All Points West, Rocket From the Crypt, Kittie and Michael Jackson. For serious.

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