Winwood, Richards, Garfunkel, Gabriel and more...
Mood:  loud
Now Playing: Various

Winwood Eyeing Rock Hall Traffic Reunion

After wrapping a just-underway European tour with the Funk Brothers, Steve Winwood will be back on the road with his own band for an eight-date U.K. trek that runs from March 1-10. He will then head to New York to perform with his former band, Traffic, at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Winwood is expected to be joined by fellow founding members Jim Capaldi (drums) and Dave Mason (bass) for the one-song performance, which looks likely to be of "Dear Mr. Fantasy." Later Traffic member Randall Bramblett will replace keyboardist Chris Wood, who died in 1983.

"I'm very pleased the many members of Traffic over the years have got a well-earned place on a wall in Cleveland," Winwood tells Billboard.com. "I'm very grateful to the powers that be for putting Traffic in this prestigious institution."

Meanwhile, an augmented version of Winwood's latest album, "About Time," will be released March 1 by Sanctuary internationally and his own Wincraft label in the U.S. The new version adds three bonus tracks: live versions of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and "Why Can't We Live Together" recorded in Northampton, Mass., on his 2003 tour, plus a new studio version of "Voodoo Chile," associated with Winwood since he played keyboards on the Jimi Hendrix original in 1968.

Additionally, a live DVD from Traffic's most recent tour, in 1994, is planned for the end of April, featuring a guest performance by Jerry Garcia, one of the last live outings by the Grateful Dead member before his death the following year. (Billboard)


Your Inner Richards

A new fashion line by designer Michael Houghton - who has created custom clothes for Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith and some of the boys from Lynyrd Skynyrd - was inspired by the likes of David Bowie, Keith Richards and other bad ass rockers. The rock inspired collection will be unveiled in New York on February 8th. "It's all about clothes that will help bring out the inner Keith Richards in all of us," Michael says of his new line, which includes slick suits, punk-style denims and pieces made of alligator skin. Personally, I don't need an alligator jacket to communicate with my inner Richards - or my "little Keith" as I like to call him. (Arrow FM)

Art Garfunkel Fighting Charge

Art Garfunkel is apparently contesting a marijuana possession charge he faces in upstate New York. Settling the matter yesterday (Jan. 28) in Hurley, N.Y., could have been as easy as paying a $100 fine, but instead a judge set a Feb. 11 hearing after Garfunkel's attorney Michael Federoff appeared in court.

Federoff declined to discuss the case and a call to a publicist for Garfunkel was not immediately returned.

Garfunkel, 62, of Manhattan, was charged with marijuana possession Jan. 17 after state police stopped his limousine for speeding in Hurley, 55 miles southwest of Albany.

Police said a trooper smelled marijuana when he approached the limo and found 6 grams of marijuana in Garfunkel's jacket pocket. Garfunkel faces up to a $100 fine, unless he has had a criminal conviction in the past three years. Authorities won't say whether he has a prior record.

Garfunkel recently completed a U.S. concert tour with Paul Simon, their first in 20 years. As previously reported, Simon and Garfunkel have tentative plans to launch a summer leg of the tour. (Billboard)

Petty Rocks For AIDS

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will play a special concert in Orange County on Saturday, February 7. Arts for AIDS III: The Concert For Stephen will feature such guests as Cher, Carrie Fisher, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Merv Griffin and Barry Garfunkel To Fight Marijuana ChargeManilow. The concert will be dedicated to the late Stephen Cy Costick, the brother of Petty's wife Dana, who passed from the disease in 1993. Art For AIDS III: The Concert For Stephen will take place at the beautiful St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa. (Arrow FM)

Gabriel, Eno Launch Musicians Alliance

Veteran rock artists Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno are launching a provocative new musicians' alliance that would cut against the industry grain by letting artists sell their music online instead of only through record labels.

With the Internet transforming how people buy and listen to songs, musicians need to act now to claim digital music's future, Gabriel and Eno argued Monday as they handed out a slim red manifesto at the Midem conference in Cannes, France.

They call the plan the "Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists" - or MUDDA, which has a less lofty ring to it. "Unless artists quickly grasp the possibilities that are available to them, then the rules will get written, and they'll get written without much input from artists," said Eno, who has a long history of experimenting with technology.

By removing record labels from the equation, artists can set their own prices and set their own agendas, said the two independent musicians, who hope to launch the online alliance within a month.

Their pamphlet lists ideas for artists to explore once they're freed from the confines of the CD format. One might decide to release a minute of music every day for a month. Another could post several recorded variations of the same song and ask fans what they like best.

Gabriel, who has his own label, Real World Records, said he isn't trying to shut down the record companies -- he just wants to give artists more options. "There are some artists who already tried to do everything on their own," he said, adding that those musicians often found out they didn't like marketing or accounting. "We believe there will be all sorts of models for this."

Gabriel previously co-founded a European company, On Demand Distribution, which runs legal download sites in 11 European countries. The company would provide the technology for MUDDA, though Gabriel and Eno are looking for online partners.

Because both legal and illegal digital download sites offer tunes a la carte, many in the industry believe they'll make albums less important by putting the focus on catchy singles. But Eno and Gabriel both suggested they'd welcome a chance to make songs that stand alone.

"I'm an artist who works incredibly slowly," Gabriel said. "If some of those [songs] could be made available, you don't have to be so trapped into this old way of being confined only by the album cycle."

Gabriel adds that he is interested in putting multiple versions of the same song online. He's also looking forward to being able to hear unfinished music from other artists. "We tend at the moment ... to try to find a moment when a song is right. You stick the pin in the butterfly and put it in the box and you sell the box," he said. "Music is actually a living thing that evolves." (Billboard)


Ireland's Hardest Rockers

St. Patrick's Day is not meant for Enya or even Annie Lennox. As talented as those Irish lasses may be, St. Patrick's a day for drinking and drinking calls for rocking and rocking calls for Irishmen like U2, Van Morrison or Thin Lizzy. So, with the greatest holiday in the world coming up, don't walk, but run and pick up Greatest Irish Bands, a new CD featuring songs from such acts hailing from the Emerald Isle. The set includes U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," Van Morrison's classic "Brown-Eyed Girl" and Thin Lizzy's blistering cover of the pub ballad "Whiskey In The Jar." More importantly, the CD comes with a bonus DVD of the seven-minute short film Sightings of Bono, a student film about a girl who sees the U2 singer everywhere until she runs into him at a shop she works in. If you're not a fan of student films, watch it drunk!
(Arrow FM)