Check out this computer generated clip for “Californication,” a relatively new downtempo rocker from LA alt-funk up-and-comers Red Hot Chili Peppers.

As we told you about two months ago, Woodstock promoter Michael Lang was in search of a spot to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. And after scoping out Prospect Park’s Long Meadow for the event, it has now been confirmed that the festival will instead be getting back to its roots; taking place at its original location in Bethel Woods, with a handful of the original performers added on to the roster.

According to the Associated Press [via The Daily Swarm], the event will once again take place at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on August 15. The arts center was built upon the dairy farm which hosted over 400,000 people at the festival in 1969. Among the performing acts for this year, The Levon Helm Band, Jefferson Starship, Big Brother and the Holding Co., Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Mountain, and Country Joe McDonald, will all be performing as veterans from the original Woodstock line-up.

Woodstock ‘09 will be the first big Woodstock festival since 1999, when bands like Insane Clown Posse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock all performed, and riots, looting, fires and reports of rape all took place. Lang wanted to steer clear of riot-mentality the bands at the ‘99 festival seemed to instigate, which took away from the free peace and love mentality of the original festival.

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.

They announced their formation barely a month ago and their debut album doesn’t come out for another five weeks, but apparently the buzz around “supergroup” Chickenfoot is so great that they’ve managed to sell out all nine road-test shows they had planned for the month of May.

Maybe it’s a fascination with that weird name, maybe it’s faith in the group members’ collective history (Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, suing Coldplay) or maybe it’s just the desire to fork over large sums of money to see bands whose music you’ve never even heard. We can’t really be sure. All we know is that from Seattle to Toronto to Philly, Chickenfoot tickets were a hot commodity.

In fact, tickets for the shows were in such high demand that the band has laid down a strict anti-scalping policy, requiring each ticket to be presented with ID at the door of each show. Apparently members of the band’s fan club were even shut out. (Fan club? Based on what? We know.)

Their debut album comes out June 9, and they’re promising fans they’ll be back on the road at bigger venues in August and September for a major North American tour. You can also check out a very informative introductory video here.

Sold-out Chickenfoot dates
05.14.09 – Seattle, Wash. (El Corazon)
05.15.09 – Vancouver, BC (Commodore Ballroom)
05.17.09 – San Francisco, Calif. (The Fillmore)
05.19.09 – West Hollywood, Calif. (The Roxy Theatre)
05.22.09 – Chicago, Ill. (Park West)
05.24.09 – Toronto, ON (The Mod Club Theatre)
05.26.09 – Cambridge, Mass. (Middle East Upstairs)
05.28.09 – New York, NY (The Fillmore)
05.29.09 – Philadelphia, Penn. (TLA)

Forgive us for posting this on Good Friday, but when we saw the cover of the forthcoming Spinnerette record, we thought to ourselves; this is going to turn out to be a dude doing that Silence Of The Lambs tuck thing. It just doesn’t look like the crotch of someone who marries people to further her musical career.

C’mon, we love Tim Armstrong, we deserve that one shot. In case you didn’t already know, Spinnerette is the new band fronted by ex-Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle. Having assembled former bandmate Tony Bevilacqua, Alain Johannes from Queens of the Stone Age and The Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Jack Irons to create her new band, the press release that came with the cover image only read:

Can you guess who this is a picture of?? Maybe the back cover will help…

It also included a note that said the back cover is coming soon. If there’s a bulge, we swear we’re going to be pissed (after we throw up).

In the shadows of the recently formed Tinted Windows, yet another supergroup is taking form, featuring members of Van Halen, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mr. Joe Satriani. 

The new group is going by the name of Chickenfoot (yeah we don’t get it either. Maybe they were stuck since Bumblefoot was already taken), is comprised of Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and sue-happy Satriani. Chickenfoot will release their self-titled debut LP on June 5, and will be doing a promotional tour this summer. According to NME the debut album is going to have a “heat sensitive” sleeve that will reveal the artwork when touched (big ups to everyone who remembers Hyper Colors!).

Chickenfoot formed accidentally at Hagar’s club Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where the musicians had a series of “jams” together. With the new album out in early June, we’re interested to see how it will compare to Tinted Windows new release, which will be out at the end of April. 

Chickenfoot track list
01. Avenida Revolution
02. Soap On A Rope
03. Sexy Little Thing
04. Oh Yeah
05. Runnin’ Out
06. Get It Up
07. Down the Drain
08. My Kinda Girl
09. Learning To Fall
10. Turnin’ Left
11. Future In The Past