We don’t know who the next singer of Velvet Revolver will be, but he may want to avoid putting the Contraband song “Pretty Little Thing” on future set lists. The band has reportedly settled a plagiarism case with Tony Newton, bassist of the band Voodoo Six, that alleged VR stole the riff and melody of “Dirty Little Thing” from Newton’s own “Cyber Babe,” which he wrote for his previous band Dirty Deeds. “A couple of years back, a mate of mine in L.A. called me to say he’d heard what he thought was my song on the radio, and that he had been a bit shocked when he realized it was Velvet Revolver,” says Newton. “When I checked it out myself, I genuinely couldn’t believe it, because it wasn’t as if it was close… it was basically the same riff. Anyway, I called my publishers to check whether they knew anything — which, of course, they didn’t — and then basically left it with them. I never really expected to hear any more about it and was as surprised as anyone when I heard that Universal had settled with Velvet Revolver.” And what a settlement it was: Newton will receive 20% of all royalties from Contraband and the single dating back to 2004, plus all future royalties on the song from commercial uses, live performances, digital sales, etc. He’s essentially being paid like he’s a member of the band, even though he never picked up an instrument for them.

Related Stories

• Exclusive: Lenny Kravitz Tells RS “No Truth to the Story” About Joining Velvet Revolver

• Velvet Revolver’s McKagan Denies Band Hired Langdon as Frontman

• Velvet Revolver Reject Reality Show Plans, Prepare Announcement

[Photo: Getty]

We hope our Olympians fully-stocked their iPods before going to Beijing as China has reportedly cut off access to iTunes. As the story goes, China got wind that people there were using Apple’s music service to download the The Art of Peace Foundation’s Songs for Tibet compilation, featuring tracks by Alanis Morissette, Sting, Moby and 17 more artists. Profits from the album are being used to support “peace-related projects that are dear to the Dalai Lama.” As everyone already knows, China doesn’t take to kindly to people trying to free their Tibet. Exacerbating matters was the announcement that over 40 athletes at the Games had downloaded the compilation. Thus, the Great Firewall of China (we wish we can take credit for penning that) started restricting access to iTunes on Monday. The iTunes Store did open up a brick-and-mortar shop in Beijing right before the Games, but it’s doubtful they’ll be carrying Songs for Tibet. Some Chinese “netizens” are angry about Apple’s involvement with the Free Tibet campaign, calling for a boycott of not only Steve Jobs’ company, but also asking to prevent Sting, John Mayer, Dave Matthews and everybody else involved with the album from entering China.

Related Stories:

• Google Team With Yao Ming For Free Music Service in China

• Rock Tours Target China, Face Government Interference

• China Bans “Threatening” Musicians Following Bjork’s Tibet Outburst

[Photo: Getty]

Over on the Capri Lounge, RollingStone.com’s Kyle Anderson shares his thoughts about summer festivals that didn’t make the coverage on Rock Daily. What are his favorites, complaints and pet peeves? Click below to find out, be sure to check out the rest of the insights from Rolling Stone’s editors on the Capri Lounge and stay tuned to Rock Daily for coverage of Outside Lands, Bumbershoot, Austin City Limits and the rest of the season’s biggest festivals.

• Summer Festival Observations: Demos and B-Sides Edition

Robert Downey Jr. may be enjoying the top of the box office chart with Tropic Thunder, but his reign as Rolling Stone cover star is up. He makes room for an in-depth exploration of how George W. Bush managed to destroy the Republican party. Click below for an excerpt from the excellent cover story by Sean Wilentz, and stay tuned for more features from the new issue.

• How Bush Destroyed the Republican Party

• Table of Contents: Inside the New Issue

More George W. Bush

• Investigating Bush

• The Great Iraq Swindle

[Illustration: Victor Juhasz]

The Big News: As predicted, the Jonas Brothers’ A Little Bit Longer cruised to the top spot in its debut week, selling 525,000 copies, which was roughly 416,000 more copies than the week’s number two album, the Mamma Mia soundtrack. Also interesting to note was that the Jonas’s self-titled second album also cracked the top ten despite coming out last year, meaning Jonas Bros. fans are either really hardcore about supporting the band or really confused about which album was the new album. The surprise renaissance of Kid Rock’s Rock N’ Roll Jesus moved up to the three spot, Miley Cyrus’ Breakout grabbed four and Sugarland’s Love On the Inside rounded off our top five.

Debuts: After the Jonas, there wasn’t much. Daddy Yankee’s Talento De Barrio, the soundtrack of the film that Daddy Yankee is starring in, entered the charts at 13. Yung Berg’s Look What You Made Me made it to 20, while the New Kids on the Block’s new Greatest Hits inexplicably hit the charts at 22. And the Beer For My Horses soundtrack, starring the Obama-loving Toby Keith and the liberal-hating Ted Nugent, overcame the political differences of its stars to take 74.

Last Week’s Heroes: Not much change here, as last week’s top ten stayed mostly intact. It’s comforting to note, if you’re the music industry, that no albums in the top ten suffered more than a 27% sales decrease from the previous week — except Lloyd’s Lessons In Love, which dropped from seven to 17.

More Jonas Brothers

• Review: The Jonas Brothers’ A Little Bit Longer

• Ask a Rock Star: The Jonas Brothers

• The Jonas Brothers: Behind the Cover Story

• Call him the Anti-John Rich: Country star and Beer For My Horses actor Toby Keith is a Democrat and says Barack Obama is the best candidate he’s seen since Bill Clinton. “I thought it was beautiful the other day when Obama went to Afghanistan and got educated about Afghanistan and Iraq. He came back and said some really nice things,” said Keith.

• Another day, another 10 seconds of heavy riffing courtesy of a Death Magnetic snippet posted on the Metallica Website. If you’re keeping track, we now have a total of 20 seconds of new music, with the rest of the album due out September 12th.
• Scars On Broadway has recruited a big-time Hollywood director to helm their video “World Long Gone,” hiring The Lost Boys director and Batman movie franchise killer Joel Schumacher. Schumacher has also directed videos by Bush and Seal.
• Check out “Golden Age,” the surprisingly danceable first track from TV on the Radio’s upcoming Dear Science, out September 23rd. For our TVOTR album preview, click here.

[Photo: Getty]

Despite their brief reunion at the NME Awards earlier this year, don’t expect to see a full-on Jane’s Addiction reunion anytime soon. Asked recently if the Nothing’s Shocking stars are planning to get back together, singer Perry Farrell said “There’s as much likelihood of that happening as there being commercial space flights.” At least the Jetsons have something to look forward to. Talking about that one-off gig back in April, Farrell added “It was both fun and horrible. It’s like having a girlfriend that you have always been in love with and you’ll always be in love with but you don’t quite get along with. You’re still in love with her and every time you get together, you end up throwing food at each other.”

Farrell’s recent quotes are staggeringly more pessimistic than when we talked to him at Lollapalooza. There, Farrell said “I’m not opposed to it like I used to be… All that hell and effort and tumult still sounds worth it to me.” Bassist Eric Avery was never keen on a reunion either, saying at the time “I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around. The reason I started to even consider this is because it’s honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it.”

More Perry Farrell

• Perry Farrell Talks Lollapalooza Memories, Plus Backstage Photos

• Perry Farrell Talks Lollapalooza Slate, State of Jane’s Addiction

• Original Jane’s Addiction Lineup Reunites for Awards Show

[Photo: Getty]

• Dave Matthews Band’s LeRoi Moore Dies at 46
• Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke on Surprise LP
• On the Charts: Jonas Brothers Rule Top 10
• The New Issue: How Bush Destroyed the GOP
• China Blocks Olympic iTunes Access
• Perry Farrell Pessimistic About Jane’s Reunion
• Velvet Revolver Settle Plagiarism Case
• News Ticker: Toby Keith, Metallica, TVOTR

Top stories from the last three days:

• Muxtape Update: Good News and Bad News
• New Reviews: Byrne & Eno, Ra Ra Riot
• Miley, Mariah, Others “Stand Up”
• Daughtry Teams With CNN For Foreigner Cover
• Tegan Quin Talks Video, Side Project
• Roseanne Cash Corrects John Rich on McCain
• Teen Drops Out of School for “Guitar Hero”
• AC/DC Announce Total Black Ice Details
• Pandora Struggles to Pay High Royalty Rates
• Young Jeezy on The Recession
• Wilco Plot Spring ‘09 Release for Next Album
• Cold War Kids Get Darker on New LP
• Virgin/EMI Sue 30 Seconds to Mars
• In the Studio: Robin Thicke

Scroll down for full news stories, commentary and much more in Rock Daily.

You have to give Bloc Party this much: they can keep a secret. Just days after finishing a U.S. tour and releasing the apparently one-off single “Mercury,” the London post punks have trumped the Raconteurs and Radiohead by springing their new album Intimacy on the world with just three days’ notice. “There were lot of clandestine meetings in east London pubs,” laughs frontman Kele Okereke on the phone from England. “We referred to it as Plan ‘X.’ It was a bit of a giggle. I don’t think more than 10 people knew about the idea until the last few days. It was totally hush-hush but we didn’t want to go the whole In Rainbows route and give away for free. We live in a capitalist world and I do want to get paid and I do want to eat.”

If the release was unexpected, then the subject matter might prove to be even more so. Famously guarded about his private life, Okereke cagily admits that Intimacy finds the singer bearing his soul more than ever before, as its title implies. “I went through a breakup at the end of last year and I guess that’s what the record’s about really. I couldn’t help thinking about it or talking about it or writing about it. I wouldn’t want anyone to think it’s the clichéd breakup record but I haven’t written about true, personal experiences all that much in the past.” Okereke adds his favorite song on the album is “Ion Square” “because it evokes a really great time in a relationship when everything was going right.”

Fans that stump up $20 up front will be rewarded with the download and a physical release in October featuring extra material. But what? Even the band isn’t sure. “The CD will have extra songs but we haven’t decided on what they will be yet. We’re kind of just making it up as we can go along. You can do that these days and it’s pretty exciting I think.”

More Bloc Party

• Bloc Party Surprise Fans With New Album Intimacy

• Bloc Party Live at Lollapalooza

• Johnny Rotten Scraps With Bloc Party Singer Kele Okereke

[Photo: Getty]

LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, died suddenly in Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon after suffering complications from an ATV accident in June. Moore was 46. The June 30th accident on Moore’s farm in Charlottesville, Virginia, left him with broken ribs and a punctured lung. Moore was on the path to recovery, arriving in Los Angeles for an intensive physical rehabilitation program, but according to the DMB Website, he returned to the hospital last month due to complications. A representative for Dave Matthews Band confirmed Moore’s passing and in a statement the band indicated the musician died at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Since Moore’s accident, DMB has continued on with their U.S. tour with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones’ saxophonist Jeff Coffin filling in. Despite Moore’s death, the band still performed Tuesday night at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, which featured a setlist that contained a number of tributes to their fallen bandmate.

If you live in the Los Angeles area and don’t have plans for September 3rd, why not spend the night by hanging out with Slash? The GNR/Velvet Revolver guitarist will be at the Guitar Center in Northridge, California for “Guitar Center Sessions: An Evening of Dialogue and Insight with Slash.” Slash will provide hands-on tutorials, talking about crafting his greatest songs and riffs and give career advice to those in attendance. Plus, there’ll be a book signing of Reckless Road: Guns N’ Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction. The whole thing is free and open to the public, so maybe show up well before the 6pm PST start time on September 3rd.

[Photo: Getty]

For Neil Young’s fall tour, the Canadian troubadour will bring along opening acts Death Cab for Cutie from St. Paul to Omaha and then Wilco from Halifax to NYC. Plus, Nine Inch Nails announce the second leg of their own North American trek and Metro Station “Shake It” from coast to coast. The full list of dates is after the jump.

Neil Young
October 14 - St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
October 16 - Winnipeg, MN @ MTS Centre
October 18 - Regina, SK @ Brandt Centre
October 19 - Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome
October 22 - Vancouver, BC @ GM Place
October 29 - San Diego, CA @ Cox Arena
October 30 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
November 1 - Reno, NV @ Events Center
November 4 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
November 5 - Omaha, NE @ Qwest Center
November 29 - Halifax, NS @ Metro Centre
December 1 - Montreal, PQ @ Bell Centre
December 2 - Ottawa, ON @ Scotia Bank Place
December 4 - Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
December 7 - Detroit, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
December 9 - Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena
December 12 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Spectrum
December 15 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden

Nine Inch Nails
October 23 - San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
October 25 - New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Festival
October 28 - Orlando, FL @ UCF Arena
October 29 - Jacksonville, FL @ Veterans Memorial Arena
October 31 - Nashville, TN @ Sommet Center
November 1 - Greenville, SC @ Bi-Lo Center
November 3 - Greensboro, NC @ Greensboro Coliseum Complex
November 5 - Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
November 8 - Manchester, NH @ Verizon Wireless Arena
November 9 - Worcester, MA @ DCU Center
November 11 - Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place
November 12 - Montreal, QU @ Bell Centre
November 14 - Hamilton, ON @ Copps Coliseum
November 15 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena
November 17 - Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
November 18 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Memorial Coliseum
November 20 - Cedar Rapids, IA @ US Cellular Center
November 21 - Columbia, MO @ Mizzou Arena
November 22 - Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
November 25 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
November 26 - Council Bluffs, IA @ Mid-America Center
November 28 - Rapid City, SD @ Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena
November 29 - Billings, MT @ MetraPark Arena
December 1 - Saskatoon, SA @ Credit Union Centre
December 4 - Kelowna, BC @ Prospera Place
December 5 - Victoria, BC @ Save On Foods Memorial Centre
December 7 - Portland, OR @ Rose Garden Arena
December 8 - Nampa, ID @ Idaho Center
December 9 - Missoula, MT @ Adams Center
December 12 - Sacramento, CA @ Arco Arena
December 13 - Las Vegas, NV @ Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino

Metro Station
October 15 - Nashville, TN @ Rocketown
October 16 - Cincinnati, OH @ WKRQ Radio Show
October 17 - Sauget, IL @ Pops
October 18 - Las Vegas, NV @ KMXB - Bite of Vegas
Ocotber 19 - Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Club
October 20 - Minneapolis, MN @ Epic
October 22 - Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
October 24 - Chicago, IL @ House Of Blues
October 25 - Pontiac, MI @ Clutch Cargos
October 28 - Foxborough, MA @ Showcase Live
October 29 - New York, NY @ Nokia Theater
October 30 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
Ocotber 31 - Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
November 2 - Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
November 4 - N. Myrtle Beach, SC @ House Of Blues
November 5 - Jacksonville, FL @ Plush
November 6 - St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Landing
November 7 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
November 8 - Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House Of Blues
November 9 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
November 11 - Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
November 12 - Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
November 13 - Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
November 14 - Tulsa, OK @ Cains Ballroom
November 15 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
November 16 - Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theater
November 18 - Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
November 20 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox
November 21 - Portland, OR @ Roseland
November 22 - San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
November 23 - Chico, CA @ Senator Theatre
November 25 - Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
November 26 - San Diego, CA @ Soma
November 28 - Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia L.A. Live
November 29 - Anaheim, CA @ The Grove

[Photo: Getty]

While Muxtape is temporarily shut down, sidelined with RIAA problems similar to that of Pandora, attorneys familiar with the territory say the make-your-own mixtape site may be on solid legal ground with a potential case against the RIAA. According to Fred Von Lohmann, Electronic Frontier Foundation’s senior intellectual property attorney, the site is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which provides for a so-called “safe harbor” for hosting material on behalf users, and the same defense used by user content sites like YouTube.

“I think they have a strong legal defense,” Von Lohmann told RollingStone.com. “The problem is if they might not have that money to go to court and take on the RIAA.” Von Lohmann said legal fees could cost around $2-3 million, an investment the Websites would likely rather spend on tech engineers.

An RIAA spokesman said it has made attempts to resolve the issue with Muxtape. “For the past several months, we have communicated our legal concerns with the site and repeatedly tried to work with them to have illegal content taken down. Muxtape was hosting copies of copyrighted sound recordings without authorization from the copyright owners. Making these recordings available for streaming playback also requires authorization from the copyright owners. Muxtape has not obtained authorization from our member companies to host or stream copies of their sound recordings.”

All this suggests RIAA is focusing on Websites who have the most buzz and popularity and trying to make deals, Von Lohman said. Last year they sued the popular music sites Imeem and Seeqpod. While Seeqpod is still in litigation, Imeem reached reached a deal with the RIAA. “It’s good news bad news. The bad news RIAA is tying to shut down sites fan love. Muxtape is not a direct threat. It’s streaming. The good news in the last year they’ve shown a willingness to work out deals rather than destroying these site. Imeem was that success story.”

Muxtape founder Justin Oullette did not respond for comments on the status of the Website, or whether he would strike a deal.

“Maybe they didn’t agree with financial terms,” Von Lohmann added. “Or maybe they might not have any money. But it’s a measure of success to be sued by the RIAA. Once you’re popular enough, that’s when they come calling.”

Every week, Rolling Stone hops in the wayback machine to take a look at the ghosts of magazines’ past.

Number One Album: Grease Soundtrack

From the Cover Story: “The tendency to self-destruct heightens when you become well known. I’m learning to cope…But I am capable of doing something to blow it.” — John Belushi

It’s no secret Big & Rich’s John Rich is a McCain supporter, as he’s written an ode to the Republican presidential candidate entitled “Raising McCain.” Rich recently lumped Johnny Cash into the fan club, saying “I’m sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around” in an article than ran on CMT.com. Unfortunately for Rich, Rosanne Cash disagreed with Rich’s assumption, saying in a statement, “It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined and to try to further their own agendas by doing so. Even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt. This is especially dangerous in the case of political affiliation. It is unfair and presumptuous to use him to bolster any platform.” The moral of the story is maybe Rich should stick to turning Julio Iglesias Jr. into a Nashville star rather than guessing the political leanings of dead country icons.

If you love Narrow Stairs but just can’t get enough Death Cab for Cutie, you’re in luck: head on over to Rhapsody to check out their exclusive live EP KFOG Private Concert. The five song set was recorded for San Francisco’s KFOG and includes stirring renditions of “Brothers on a Hotel Bed” and “I Will Possess Your Heart.” Click below to check out the full EP.

• Listen: Death Cab For Cutie’s Live EP

Tegan and Sara’s Tegan Quin dialed up Rolling Stone’s Jenny Eliscu from Los Angeles, where she’s prepping to film her appearance in the video for Against Me!’s “Borne on the Waves of FM Radio.” Quin shared some info on how she wound up on a punk track and her side project with AFI’s Hunter Burgan:

How did you first hook up with Against Me! ?
“When their first record came out, I loved them, and when they put out the next record, I interviewed them for Much Music during the Warped Tour. I gushed about how much I loved them and I think they thought that I was really weird. Then they told me they were making a record with Butch Vig and I was like, ‘You should have me on the record! I’ll play guitar.’ And then a month later they called and said they had a song they wanted me to sing on: It’s about a long distance relationship, and it basically summed up everything I was trying to say on The Con.”

How was it different from recording with Sara?
“Well, they had been in a really amazing studio and were joking they hadn’t seen a girl in months, so they were really nice to me. I’m used to just being in a ghetto studio with Sara going, ‘Get away from me!’ But I was at Warped Tour in L.A. yesterday, and I saw the Against Me! guys, and they were all sweaty and stinky. So I hope they smell better when I see them to make the video. I ran into my friend Hunter Burgan from AFI — we have a side project together.”

What’s the deal with this side project?
“We met like three years ago after he e-mailed me when we were on tour with So Jealous. I sent him a lot of B-sides and things and he started redoing the instrumentation and turning it into a dance electro thing. Sometimes it sounds like Kelly Clarkson, actually. I think it could make us both really rich. Sara and I just did a tour with Cyndi Lauper, and she co-writes on every song. That’s my retirement plan, to sit and write with really cool artists. It was funny writing with Hunter, though. Like, actually being in the same room. I’ve never written with anyone, because Sara and I don’t write together. He’s like, ‘Write lyrics,’ and I’m like, ‘With you watching?’ ”

Click here for more of this interview and the rest of Jenny Eliscu’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Diary.

[Photo: Getty]

The above clip is a perfect example of what would happen if we lived in a world without song leaks. After attending the video shoot for AC/DC’s Black Ice first single “Rock N’ Roll Train,” one fan was eager to show other AC/DC fans what the new song sounded like. But instead of just recording the song’s video playback on his cell phone like a normal person, this fan opted to get creative, dressing up like lead singer Brian Johnson and attempting his own YouTube version of the song. The result is a four-minute screech fest which in no way can possibly help Black Ice album sales. Right around when the guy starts air-guitaring Angus Young’s solo, we switch to our next video, made by another AC/DC fan. This video below is the by-product of what happens when a guitarist’s friend who attended the video’s filming “hummed” the riff to the guitarist, who was not at the video shoot. The guitarist’s interpretation sounds like a pretty kick-ass combination of Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Hold Back the Water” and KISS‘ “Firehouse,” but it’s slightly more tolerable than the Brian Johnson impersonator. As reported yesterday, we’ll all be able to hear the proper version of “Rock N’ Roll Train” when the single hits radio August 28th.

Jonas Brothers, “Love Bug”
Joe Jonas croons his pain in a ballad that begins as an acoustic ode to first kisses, then erupts into a full-blown rocker.
[Listen] [Review]

Ra Ra Riot, “Dying Is Fine”
With Arcade Fire-style strings, Vampire Weekend’s pop sense and lyrics from E.E. Cummings, it’s every indie-rock kid’s dream combo.
[Listen] [Review]

One Day as a Lion, “Last Letter”
Jamming on his keyboard with full force, Rage frontman Zack de la Rocha proves he hasn’t lost his fire.
[Listen] [Review]

Lykke Li, “I’m Good, I’m Gone”
Swedish chanteuse shows off her munchkin pipes over a chilled-out pop groove. Watch out, Feist!
[Listen] [Review]

Loudon Wainwright III, “Motel Blues”
Rufus‘ dad revisits his folk classic about a schlubby guy wooing a woman to bed. Like a Seth Rogen film set to music.
[Listen] [Review]

David Byrne’s first collaboration with producer Brian Eno in over two decades leads this week’s big batch of new reviews. Will Hermes says Everything That Happens Will Happen Today “recalls the three Talking Heads records that Eno produced, played on and/or wrote: 1978’s More Songs About Buildings and Food, 1979’s Fear of Music and 1980’s Remain in Light…a radiantly tuneful set.” Click below for the full review of Everything, as well as the rest of this week’s new reviews, including Ra Ra Riot’s excellent debut, the catchy new album from the Academy Is…, Ice Cube’s surprisingly great Raw Footage and Lykke Li’s buzzworthy Youth Novels.

• Review: David Byrne & Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (4 stars)

• Review: The Academy Is…, Fast Times at Barrington High (3 stars)

• Review: Ra Ra Riot, The Rhumb Line (4 stars)

• Review: Ice Cube, Raw Footage (3.5 stars)

• Review: The Dandy Warhols, Earth to the Dandy Warhols (2.5 stars)

• Review: Staind, The Illusion of Progress (2.5 stars)

[Illustration: Arthur E. Giron]