Trent Reznor has come up with a fan-friendly way to help Eric De La Cruz get a heart transplant. The Nevada resident and sister to former CNN anchor Veronica De La Cruz is unable to get on a transplant list because he receives his health insurance through a State that does not have an active transplant center.

In a letter posted today on the Nine Inch Nails website, Reznor is offering the chance to hang out with NIN and touring mates Jane’s Addiction at any of their upcoming tour stops in exchange for a donation to Eric’s fund. The letter reads:

This is for something important. Eric De La Cruz is dying and needs a heart transplant. He keeps getting turned down for a transplant list because he’s on Nevada Medicaid, and there are no transplant centers in Nevada. We want to get involved and hopefully so do you, so we’re extending a hand. His sister Veronica (former Anchor and Internet Correspondent for CNN) has started a campaign to save his life.

Sincerely, Trent Reznor

The post goes onto say that all donations must arrive by 5 p.m. (PST) at least 2 days prior to the show you want to attend. To make a donation and claim the opportunity to chill with some pioneering musicians, just go here.

To find out more about Eric’s situation, please go here or here.

There is always a faint feeling of apprehension at the thought of Radiohead covers — lets face it, not many people can deliver a performance quite like Thom Yorke. But Macy Gray’s cover of “Creep” at the Los Angeles premiere of the music documentary The Heart is a Drum Machine, wasn’t all that bad.

The r&b songstress was backed by Matt Sorum, former member of Guns N’ Roses, on drums, and Billy Morrison of The Cult on guitar at the event, which took place at the Nike Ricardo Montalban Theater in Hollywood. Along with Gray’s performance, Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction also played, covering The Rolling Stones‘ “Sympathy for the Devil”, and Juliette Lewis also performed. The event was part of the LA Weekend series of culture events.

The performances were done in celebration of The Heart is a Drum Machine’s release, which looks at the reality of music as a unique human expression. The film has a hoard of musical guests who discuss the idea behind the distinct musical/human relationship, including Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips, Andrew VanWyngarden of MGMT and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

At last, the Lollapalooza rumors are put to rest — Depeche Mode, Tool, The Killers, Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon and (of course) Jane’s Addiction will be headlining this year’s festival, along with an impressive cast of supporting bands, Lollapalooza organizers confirmed today.

More than 100 bands/artists/DJs will take the Lolla stage this year, including TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Arctic Monkeys, Fleet Foxes, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Crystal Castles, Los Campesinos! and Passion Pit. This year’s event will also introduce “Perry’s”, a nightclub style stage featuring dance and electronic music. The DJs set to spin include MSTRKRFT, Bassnectar, DeadMau5, Animal Collective and Bloody Beetroots.

After selling out last year for the first time since Lollapalooza took roots in Chicago, ticket sales don’t seem to be lagging. Early bird discount passes went on sale at the end of March for $195. Regular priced tickets are $205, and of course if you’re not like the rest of us, worrying about saving $10 on a $200 concert ticket, you can always check out the VIP options at Lollapalooza.com.

Lollapalooza 2009
Depeche Mode
Tool
The Killers
Jane’s Addiction
Beastie Boys
Kings of Leon
Lou Reed
Ben Harper and Relentless 7
Thievery Corporation
Snoop Dogg
Rise Against
Andrew Bird
TV on the Radio
Vampire Weekend
The Decemberists
Neko Case
STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9)
Animal Collective
Band of Horses
Of Montreal
Arctic Monkeys
Coheed and Cambria
Ben Folds
Fleet Foxes
Silversun Pickups
Kaiser Chiefs
Crystal Castles
Bon Iver
Santigold
Atmosphere
Dan Auberbach
Cold War Kids
Deerhunter
Lykke Li
Robert Earl Keen
Peter Bjorn and John
Heartless Bastards
Gomez
Glasvegas
Federico Aubele
Dan Deacon
Passion Pit
The Raveonettes
The Gaslight Anthem
The Airborne Toxic Event
White Lies
Ra Ra Riot
No Age
Asher Roth
Los Campesinos!
Bat For Lashes
Chairlift
Gang Gang Dance
The Virgins
Amazing Baby
Portugal. The Man
The Knux
Ida Maria
Delta Spirit
Friendly Fires
Manchester Orchestra
Constantines
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons
Hockey
Miike Snow
Alberta Cross
Hey Champ
Sam Roberts Band
The Henry Clay People
Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam
Cage the Elephant
Living Things
The Low Anthem
Blind Pilot
Langhorne Slim
Other Lives
The Builders and The Butchers
Eric Church
Joe Pug
Kevin Devine
The Green Cards
Carney
Thenewno2

Featured performers at Perry’s
Bassnectar
MSTRKRFT
Simian Mobile Disco
DeadMau5
Boys Noise
KiD CuDi
Crookers
A-Trak
Hercules and Love Affair (DJ Set)
The Bloody Beetroots (DJ Set)
LA Riots
Kaskade
The Glitch Mob
Hollywood Holt
Rye Rye
He Say, She Say
Car Stereo (Wars)
Dark Wave Disco
Moneypenny
Yello Fever
Animal Collective (DJ Set)

The early bird tickets for this years stacked Lollapalooza festival went on sale yesterday morning, and in the midst of all the hype of the reunited Jane’s Addiction, tickets are already selling fast — before the full line-up has even been announced. 

The complete line-up for the Chicago music festival will be announced April 21, but right now Lollapalooza fans have the chance to purchase the early bird three-day pass for $175 dollars on Lollapalooza.com. There are only a limited amount of these passes left for sale, and they are expected to go quickly.

After the festival is out of the $175 early bird tickets, the price for the three day festival will increase to $195. VIP Lolla Lounge tickets are also available for sale on Lollapalooza website, as well. According to Billboard, last year’s festival sold out in a mere three days, so in this economy we’ll be anxious to see how much hype this years show will be able to bring in ticket sales at nearly $60 a day.

This year at the ever-awesome, always impossible to get into Playboy/E3 party during SxSW, our deepest fantasies were truly brought to life — and not just by the Playmates strutting around in white bunny leotards. Rather, it was the emergence of Jane’s Addiction, in full original line up with Eric Avery back on bass, Dave Navarro ubiquitously shirtless, Perry Ferrell and Steven Perkins back in their element, rocking as hard if not harder than they did almost two decades ago.

Opening with the sprawling, psychedelic epic “Three Days”, Perry and team blasted through a set list that consisted of only tracks from the first three Jane’s albums (XXX, Nothings Shocking, and Ritual De Lo Habitual), and the band sounded and looked ever as limber as they did in the early 90s, although without the rubber gloves, dreadlocks and dresses.

No strippers or crazy lights or theatrics either, just down and dirty punk/alt/psych/hard rock that Jane’s Addiction invented, popularized and ultimately used to revolutionize a distinct musical era. Eric Avery’s scowl matched his blistering bass lines, and if this early classics set was any indication of what we’re going to get with the upcoming NIN/JA tour — check out the free digital EP available now — and what we can expect on the upcoming new Jane’s album, then label us psyched and fully relapsed.

Jane’s Addiction Playboy set list
Three Days
Whores
Standing in the Shower Thinking
Ted, Just Admit It…
Been Caught Stealing
Had A Dad
Mountain Song

Encore
Ocean Size
Stop

If you grew up in the 90s like some of us (no names will be mentioned), then you must be creaming your collective pants. Let’s see, we’ve had Jane’s Addiction, Blur, Faith No More, Sublime, Jesus Lizard, Pavement, Orbital and The Libertines all in the news in the past couple months about confirmed or rumored reunions. And that’s not even taking into account The Specials or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Well, add one more to your list. The already once-reformed and broken up Pixies are at it again three years after their 2004 reunion stint.

Earlier today, NME reported that the Pixies will be playing Isle of Wight Festival on June 14 before headliner Neil Young. Festival promoter John Giddings was quoted as saying, “It was hard to think of someone capable of complementing the musical talent of Neil Young, but once I had the idea it was blindly obvious and it will surely be a legendary day on the Isle Of Wight.”

The Isle Of Wight Festival line-up so far is:
The Prodigy
Basement Jaxx
The Ting Tings
Pendulum
Stereophonics
Razorlight
Neil Young
Pixies
The Charlatans

And in case you want some juice with your news, Pitchfork has reminded us that in 2007 Kim Deal said, “I think [a new Pixies album] is something to bring up whenever [Frank Black] needs press. That’s the only time I hear about it. I have no idea, dude.”

And in fact, Frank Black does have have somethings to promote, including a new album with his wife, Violet Clark, under the name Grand Duchy, out April 14 in the U.S. on Cooking Vinyl. He also produced Art Brut’s latest LP, Art Brut vs. Satan, and there may or may not be a new Breeders EP in the works.

Last week, Trent Reznor and the rest of Nine Inch Nails revealed the first set of North American tour dates they will be doing with newly-reunited Jane’s Addiction. So, to express the inner joy we are feeling over here from having two of the 90s most influential, alternative rock players coming together, we figured we’d give you a little taste of the stunning performances we are bound to see on the upcoming tour.

The video performance of the song “Burn” is from the band’s February, 25 gig in Australia and is shot from the band’s perspective — on stage.. If one thing stands erect over the mass swarm of fans in the crowd, it’s NIN’s ability to still shred their industrial riffs harder than anyone else after all these years. It’s obvious from this live performance, the band has withstood the test of time.

NIN – “Burn” Live From Melbourne Australia

The funny thing about Hopewell is that they have been sorely overlooked by those who like the psychedelic, dreamy pop being made by bands like Animal Collective, Dungen or to a lesser degree, Dirty Projectors, mainly because they brewed their cred in upstate New York versus Manhattan or Brooklyn. But that might change with the release of Good Good Desperation in May.

Hopewell was founded by Jason Russo, of Hopewell Junction who, at 19, joined Mercury Rev for a world tour before setting out on his own with a band named after his hometown. As their press release states, they do claim to be “purveyors of the new psych-rock scene,” boasting a resume that has seen them open for My Bloody Valentine on their recent reunion tour, work in the past with producer Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT), record a Peel Session live at Abbey Road Studio, and playing Reading and Leeds Festivals.

With Good Good Desperation — out May 5 on Tee Pee Records — Hopewell’s journey continues down their own noisy path. In between tours and throughout 2008 they set out to make a record that more captured their live sound. It was during this time that Jonathan Donahue invited the band to play a 30-minute segment of music on his WDST Woodstock radio program in upstate New York. For this show the group composed a structured improvisational piece, a composition loosely dubbed “The Opus”, which would become the progenitor for many of the songs on the album to come. Immersed in heavy doses of bands like This Heat, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music and early tribal Jane’s Addiction, Hopewell booked time in Brooklyn studios Seizures Palace and Seaside Lounge (Akron/Family, Psychic Ills). The result of which is Good Good Desperation.

Hopewell will also be releasing the 7-inch single version of the single “Good Good Good Desperation” (yes, there is an extra “good”) today on Tee Pee Records, and will be celebrating with a record release show this Friday at Glasslands in Brooklyn and further down in TX at SxSW.

Good Good Desperation track list
Side A
01. Preamble (pt II)
02. Island
03. Good Good Good Desperation
04. Worried Mind
05. Realms of Gold
Side B
01. 10,000 Black Masses (pt I)
02. Stranger
03. Seen the Light
04. Over the Mountain
05. Bury Me Standing

Hopewell tour dates
03.13.09 – Brooklyn, NY (Glasslands)
03.18.09 – SXSW Tee Pee Records Day Party (Skoot Inn)
03.20.09 – SXSW Day Party (Spiderhouse)
03.20.09 – SXSW Day Party (Guero’s)
03.21.09 – SXSW Live Music Capitol Day Party
03.21.09 – SXSW Showcase (Beauty Bar)

All those rumors about a Jane’s Addiction reunion for this years Lollapalooza might just be correct. Though it hasn’t been officially confirmed, industry sources have said that the original Lollapalooza band Jane’s Addiction, Depeche Mode, and the Beastie Boys will all be headlining this year’s festival.

This years Lollapalooza will be taking place in Grant Park on August 7-9, and will look and feel a lot like it did back in the 90s — both Jane’s Addiction and the Beastie Boys are veteran Lollapalooza performers. Along with the already stellar headlining acts mentioned, three more big-name bands are apparently in the works to be added to the list. The official line-up for the festival will not be released until next month, but the rumor mills are bound to be flying with speculation until then.

The Beatsie Boys played Lollapalooza back in 1994, and Jane’s Addiction split up soon after headlining the very first Lollapalooza back in 1991. Now, the original four members of the band have announced a national tour, and seem to be Lollapalooza-bound. This year will be Depeche Mode’s first go at the festival, if industry insiders are correct about the three headliners.

It’s a bit like running through razor blades then diving into a swimming pool full of rubbing alcohol when a band takes on groups like The Cure, Bloc Party, Jane’s Addiction, New Order and Franz Ferdinand: the chances of catastrophe and painful death are magnified by 47 million.

Many acts have tried to ape their heroes and have failed miserably (see Bauhaus doppelgangers She Wants Revenge). The Killers have attempted to mug U2, Springsteen and Joy Division for their sound and the results have, for the most part, been more lukewarm than killer. The one-time touted second coming of rock, The Strokes, attempted to borrow from the Television and Lou Reed songbooks and quicker than you can say “Marquee Moon” the band went the way of the dodo bird.

But sometimes, when the clouds part, the seas grow calm and beasts large and small live together in harmony, a band that covets their influences and shapes said influences into something all their own comes along. That band in this case is Kansas City, Missouri’s, Queens Club.

QC first began gathering attention through their expansive live shows and a strong push from Kansas City alternative rock radio station 96.5 The Buzz, specifically the Sunday evening local music showcase Homegrown Buzz. Early last year the newly formed band (Tyler Bottles – bass, Jake Ryan – drums/ programming, Daniel Eaton – vocals/guitars and Andrew Nichols – guitars/vocals/programming) became a local sensation with their debut single “Nightmarer” and word of mouth was so strong that late last year they did a showcase for the record label Tooth and Nail.

Though no deal is set as of yet, Tyler Bottles told me that they are optimistic. “We’re really hoping to get signed, every band that makes music wants to have their music heard. But if we don’t, we’ll release it ourselves and see what happens.”

The album, so far untitled, is a perfect storm of Euro dance rock, indie sophistication and a sprinkling of punk rock’s filth and fury snottiness (see the pummeling track “I’m American”); all aspects of the Queens Club dynamic fit together smoothly like cogs in a well oiled machine. It’s almost frightening to me that a band that’s only been together a little over a year can kick out a debut this tight, well written and infectious. Yes, the clouds have parted, dogs are living peacefully with their feline friends and the rock Gods have smiled on this Midwestern band. Take my advice: When they come to your town, go and see them in the club because soon enough, they’ll be selling out stadiums.

Listen to Queen’s Club here.

Don’t call it a farewell tour — Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails are going to get back to their roots with Jane’s Addiction this year, and then ride off into the sunset. Allegedly.

Reznor announced the collaboration in the forums on NIN’s web site yesterday.

Towards the beginning of my career in Nine Inch Nails, our biggest break came in the form of an invitation to perform a series of shows with Jane’s Addiction. These performances essentially created and defined the term “alternative” rock in the US, created an ongoing festival franchise that is still thriving (Lollapalooza), set the stage for Nirvana to shift popular taste a few months later, and were really fucking FUN to play and attend – truly the best times I’ve had. The shows were epic. So epic, they propelled NIN to the “next level” (whatever that means), but caused Jane’s to implode. The band broke up at the end of that tour.

Fast forward to the present. Corporate rock STILL sucks. A friend tells me they saw the original Jane’s lineup play a tiny show in LA that was unbelievable. I break out my Jane’s records and am amazed by how vital they sound. These guys were the real deal and in this current climate mostly dominated by poseurs and pussies it was refreshing to hear something that sounded dangerous, volatile, beautiful and SINCERE. Emails were sent, phone calls were made, dinner was arranged, ideas were discussed and the next thing I know we’re in the studio experimenting.

Reznor said that with 2009 marking the 20th anniversary of the first NIN releases, he’s been “thinking for some time now it’s time to make NIN disappear for a while.” And though that does sound a little bit like a death threat from the mob, who knows if NIN really will sleep with the fishes. Reznor refers to last year’s “Lights in the Sky” tour as a sort of culminating effort, but here we are culminating again — following the studio time, NIN decided to book a “last” run of shows for 2009 with Jane’s Addiction sharing the bill.

In the post, Reznor said dates for the tour should be up soon. We can’t deny that it’ll be pretty sick to see them together again; we’re just holding out some skepticism on the end of the road for NIN.

With most of this week’s news swirling around Animal Collective, there were few reference points to help us look back in time. So we just decided to run this classic video because for his entire life, our editor thought the line “she grabbed a razor for me” was “she gave a raisin to me.”

“Been Caught Stealing” was released on the1990 album Ritual de lo Habitual and was Jane’s Addiction’s biggest hit, spending 4 weeks at #1 on the U.S. modern rock chart.

From Wikipedia: The song exhibits the band’s strong funk influences. The funk sensibilities displayed on this and other Jane’s Addiction songs inspired the Red Hot Chili Peppers to recruit Dave Navarro after John Frusciante’s temporary hiatus. Some listeners suggest that the song deals with kleptomania, though others might contend that the lyrics of the song’s chorus — “when we want something and we don’t want to pay for it” — suggest instead an anarchic theme, with the song’s protagonist refusing to recognize private property rights. The song is notable for the barking dogs in the introduction, possibly suggesting the singer is escaping from watchdogs.

Jane’s Addiction – “Been Caught Stealing”