"Grammy Award winning roots-rock band Los Lobos has decided to cancel their scheduled performance at The Talking Stick Resort on June 10th, 2010. The band has made this decision based on the current call to boycott Arizona in response to SB 1070.

Through their management, Los Lobos issued the following statement: "We support the boycott of Arizona. The new law will inevitably lead to unfair racial profiling and possible abuse of people who just happen to look Latino. As a result, in good conscience, we could not see ourselves performing in Arizona. We regret the inconvenience this may have caused the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, Casino Arizona, Talking Stick Resort and our fans, but we feel strongly that it is the right thing to do."

The members of Los Lobos are Steve Berlin, David Hidalgo, Conrad Lozano, Cesar Rosas and Louie Perez."

The Mexican-American band are longtime supporters of immigration rights: Their 2006 LP The Town And The City touches on the subject pretty directly. When that album came out, this is what the band's Louie Perez has to say about the immigration issue...

Well, I can't ignore it. I don't think anyone can not be affected by it. Of course, Mexican-American people are more sensitive to it, but you just turn on the news at 11, I don't care where you live, you're going to know about what's going on.

I didn't set out for the record to be about immigration, but it started to go into that direction. I always go back to my neighborhood when I write songs, and in this case it was tempered by what was going on in the news. I was also thinking of the sacrifices my parents made when they came to the U.S. and the fact that if they hadn't crossed the border, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. I wouldn't have a career. I wouldn't have Grammys. I wouldn't have all these things that have happened in the spirit of the American dream.

Los Lobos will be releasing a new album, Tin Can Trust, on August 3rd through Shout! Factory. That's the artwork above. On that same Tuesday, they will play a record release show at Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Tickets are on sale at noon.

Robert Plant is also coming out with a new album this year, a David Hidalgo-Louie Pérez song included...

Robert Plant takes an eclectic dive into Americana roots music on Band of Joy, his first new album since 2007's surprise hit, Raising Sand with Allison Krauss. The album was recorded in Nashville with an all-star group of musicians and is due Sept. 14 on Rounder Records.

Band of Joy finds Plant putting his unique stamp on a wide variety of source material, including versions of Los Lobos' "Angel Dance," "Silver Rider" and "Monkey," both by Minnesota indie "slowcore" band Low, and the Kelly Brothers' 1960s soul classic "Falling in Love Again." [The Star]

Los Lobos will be touring this summer across North America. All tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Los Lobos are releasing an album (Robert Plant too), playing a release show in NYC & other dates (but not in Arizona) "

Bob Lefsetz writes...

Seeing the decline in recorded music revenues, ticket prices soared. We can blame Live Nation, but let's first and foremost blame the acts. Who not only priced tickets exorbitantly, but scalped their own tickets. They were greedy.

What's the end result?

The club business has been devastated. Live music is about the special event, one doesn't go regularly. It's about paying top buck for a name brand. Take a chance? At these prices!

And now we've got Sarah McLachlan admitting that Lilith Fair tickets are "pretty soft" (the story is everywhere, but it originated on "Billboard": Sarah McLachlan says Lilith sales "pretty soft")

What Sarah says seems reasonable, that only 300 seats or so out of 16,000 are $250, and that there are 9,000 that are $25, until you click through and try to buy some.

At the local L.A. date at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre/Irvine Meadows, the first Ticketmaster choice is:

'Lilith Universe' - Diamond Package

The price? $750 a ticket.

Then we've got:

'Lilith Spirit' - Gold Spirit

The price is: $450 a ticket.

Then there's 'Lilith Spirit' - Silver Package. Prices there are $300 a ticket.

And then, fourth choice down, we come to "NEW FULL PRICE TICKET". Where the options are: $252, $101, $71.50, $41.50 and $31.50.

But it gets even worse. After that, there's a line for "Citi Cardmember Preferred Tickets". And then, at the very bottom, we've got "Lawn 4 Pack Offer". Those are only $14.25 apiece, but after service charges, aren't you just better off buying the ultimate DVD, which you can watch again and again in the privacy of your own home. up close and personal?

In other words, first and foremost, we've got a perception problem. No matter how many super-expensive seats there are, perception is you just can't get a good one unless you pay up, demoralizing potential attendees.

Furthermore, no one on the bill is "hot". There's no GaGa that makes people NEED to go. [Bob Lefsetz]

Lilith Fair 2010, back from a 10+ year hiatus, kicks off June 27th and runs into August. The maxi pad-sponsored tour comes to the NYC area for a July 31st show at PNC Bank Arts Center. Acts at that date include Cat Power, Chairlift, Carly Simon, Sarah McLachlan, Selena Gomez, Missy Higgins, Jill Hennessy, Indigo Girls, Sara Bareilles, Priscilla Renea and a "special guest" (other acts not playing NJ include Loretta Lynn, Metric, Gossip, Beth Orton, La Roux Erykah Badu and Tegan and Sara). Tickets are currently on sale with "no service fee."

The tour recently canceled its July 8th stop in Arizona for undisclosed reasons, but there's speculation that it's in protest of the state's controversial new immigration law.

"The GoGo's are encouraging Lilith to move this date to another state in protest of the new immigration law. We are NOT supporting the state government," [GoGo's Belinda Carlisle] wrote on her Facebook account a few weeks ago. "I don't mix business and politics but I'm afraid I have to this time."

Carlisle eventually deleted the post, but The Go-Go's released a press statement last week informing fans the show was cancelled and tickets could be refunded. But they also said the band had not been told why the show was cancelled. [ChartAttack]

Full tour schedule is below...

Continue reading "maxipad-sponsored Lilith Fair tour dates & soft ticket sales (happening in NJ, but not NYC or Arizona...)"