Zappagram #99: Spring brings lotsa tours and new releases

Heyo,

We’re coming up on spring which means everyone’s allergies are driving them crazy. I haven’t stopped sneezing since last week. There’s a ton of tour news this week and a lot of great new releases coming up soon. Let’s get into it.

Ground control to reader: Take your protein pills. Put your helmet on.

This newsletter ain’t gonna read itself.

“Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.”
—Miles Davis

MUSIC NEWS

:: WHAT’S GOING ON

Sting Announces “Sting 3.0” North American Tour

The Avett Brothers Announce New US Tour Dates in 2024

Circle Jerks and Descendents Release Split Covers EP Ahead of Spring 2024 US Tour

Wilco Announce 2024 Spring and Summer Tour Dates

Dweezil Zappa Announces 2024 Tour Dates Honoring Frank Zappa’s Roxy & Elsewhere and Apostrophe

Neil Young Announces His Unenthusiastic Return to Spotify

Violent Femmes to Play First Two Albums in Full on Spring 2024 Tour

Indigo Girls Documentary to Be Released in Theaters in April

Eric Carmen, Raspberries Frontman and Power Pop Hitmaker, Dead at 74

World Party and The Waterboys’ Karl Wallinger Dead at 66

“This Is Spinal Tap” Sequel Begins Filming

Z-REX

:: ZAPPA’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Punch Brothers. Live at House of Blues. Incredible performance.

NEW RELEASES

:: RECENTLY DROPPED MUSIC

The Black Crowes: Happiness Bastards
Dan Boeckner (of Wolf Parade): Boeckner!
The Dandy Warhols: Rockmaker
Kacey Musgraves: Deeper Well
Lenny Kravitz: Blue Electric Light
Miles Davis: Volume 2 (Vinyl Reissue)
Nina Simone: Nina’s Back (Reissue)

RELEASE RADAR

:: UPCOMING RELEASES

- MAR 22 -

A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Failure: Cinquanta
Adrianne Lenker: Bright Future
Alice in Chains: Jar of Flies EP (30th Anniversary Reissue)
The Cure: Paris (30th Anniversary Edition)
Elbow: Audio Vertigo
Illiterate Light: Slow Down Time EP
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Glasgow Eyes
Julia Holter: Something in the Room She Moves
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol: Big Dumb Riffs
Sierra Ferrell: Trail of Flowers
Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood
Wye Oak: Shriek: Variations

- MAR 29 -

The Church: Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers: Revelations
Sheryl Crow: Evolution

- APR 5 -

The Black Keys: Ohio Players
Khruangbin: A la Sala
The Libertines: All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade
Lizzy McAlpine: Older
Novo Amor: Collapse List
Old 97’s: American Primitive
Phosphorescent: Revelator
Vampire Weekend: Only God Was Above Us

- APR 12 -

Eagles: To The Limit - The Essential Collection
Maggie Rogers: Don’t Forget Me
Mark Knopfler: One Deep River
Nia Archives: Silence Is Loud

- APR 19 -

Bruce Springsteen: Best of Bruce Springsteen (Expanded Edition)
Hozier: Wasteland, Baby! (Vinyl Reissue)
The Melvins: Tarantula Heart
Pearl Jam: Dark Matter
Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon (Remastered Collector’s Edition)
Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department

- APR 20 -

Record Store Day 2024!

- APR 26 -

Iron & Wine: Light Verse
Justice: Hyperdrama
Laufey: Bewitched: The Goddess Edition
Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Fu##in’ Up
Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless
St. Vincent: All Born Screaming

ON THIS DATE

:: MUSICAL HAPPENINGS OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

- MAR 18 -

Birthdays: Wilson Pickett (1941) • Irene Cara (1959) • Vanessa Williams (1963) • Jerry Cantrell (1966) • Queen Latifah (1970) • Lykke Li (1986) • American singer, guitarist, and songwriter John Phillips of Mamas and The Papas died of heart failure aged 65. (2001) • Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Eddie Vedder. (2002) • Chuck Berry died aged 90. (2017)

- MAR 19 -

Birthdays: Ricky Wilson of The B-52s (1953) • Bruce Willis (1955) • Terry Hall of The Specials (1959) • Randy Rhoads, guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, was killed in a plane crash. (1982)

- MAR 20 -

Birthdays: Lee 'Scratch' Perry (1936) • Jimmie Vaughan (1951) • Slim Jim Phantom of The Stray Cats (1961) • Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand (1972) • Chester Bennington of Linkin Park (1976) • John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar. (1969) • Kenny Rogers died, aged 81. (2020)

- MAR 21 -

Birthdays: Solomon Burke (1940) • Eddie Money (1949) • Roger Hodgson of Supertramp (1950) • Leo Fender, the inventor of The Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars died from Parkinson's disease. (1991)

- MAR 22 -

Birthdays: George Benson (1943) • Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948) • Susanne Sulley, singer, The Human League (1963) • Bob Dylan released his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home. (1965) • Pink Floyd's “Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)” started a four-week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart. (1980) • Dave Grohl leapt to the defense of a teenage heavy metal band from Cornwall, England, after their city council said they were too loud. The Black Leaves of Envy were told they would have to stop practicing in a family garage after noise complaints from neighbors. Grohl penned an open letter to the council after the band contacted him, asking Cornwall Council to “reconsider the restrictions.” (2016)

- MAR 23 -

Birthdays: Ric Ocasek of The Cars (1944) • Chaka Khan (1953) • Damon Albarn of Blur & Gorillaz (1968) • Producer, Ariel Rechtshaid (1979) • Billy Joel married model Christie Brinkley on a boat moored alongside the Statue Of Liberty. (1985)

- MAR 24 -

Birthdays: Carol Kaye (1935) • Nick Lowe (1949) • Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers (1964) • Pasemaster Mace of De La Soul (1970) • Ethel Cain (1998) • During a Lou Reed show in Buffalo, New York, a fan jumped on stage and bit Lou on the ass. (1973)

Peace and love to all,

🤘🏻🖤