Michael Cappetta is more likely to have his nose behind a camera on location than buried in a book at the library.

At this time last year, as a high school senior, he was working nine-hour weekdays and from opening to closing time on the weekends at his own business at Beachwood Place.

With a creative mind and entrepreneurial skills, he might be found shooting video scenes at the Chagrin Falls Fire Station or on the crew of a major motion picture. The young businessman, who has represented the national franchise Kids Idol for the last several years in Ohio and sells the personalized compact discs and digital videos at his own Kids Idol Music kiosk and through the Internet, has a new venture.

Earlier this year, he proposed the idea of a personalized video to Mediak, a producer of children’s products based in Louisville, Ky. “The ‘You Can Do Anything’ DVD is a collection of eight personalized music videos, each having a specific education and motivational message to the child,” Mr. Cappetta said. “In one song, the child is in charge of the zoo, and the song teaches him or her about animals.”

Last spring and summer, some scenes were shot at the fire station in Chagrin Falls, where children posed as firefighters, wearing Chagrin Falls uniforms. Other scenes were shot at Chabam in Woodmere for a Simon says-style song with each child’s name dubbed in place of Simon.

The motivational and educational digital video disc stars children from the original cast of the Fox television show “Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” It includes Alana Ethridge and Jacob Hays, who appears as Sonny Raines on “The Super Short Report” on the Disney Channel.

Thousands of copies of the eight-original-songs video, which is personalized and contains each child’s name more than 105 times, have been delivered to kids around the world, Mr. Cappetta said. Kids Idol has seen immense growth through the year, he said. “My biggest obstacle is that Kids Idol is a fourth-quarter holiday gift item, but, through different marketing approaches, we have changed that” to be a viable gift throughout the year, he said.

Mr. Cappetta was responsible for all video compositions and images on the screen for “You Can Do Anything” videos, and Mediak was responsible for the audio production of the personalized music.

Chabam, an educational center for young children, provided an exceptional background and lent itself well to a production like the “You Can Do Anything” video, Mr. Cappetta said. “The Chagrin Falls Fire Department was equally as helpful in allowing us to film in their fire station and teach children they can do anything, with a dream.”

Earlier this year, Mr. Cappetta worked on a crew for the soon-to-be released Dreamworks Pictures movie “The Soloist,” starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. He also worked on the “The Biggest Loser,” which airs on NBC.

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Philly’s Dr. Dog will return with their sixth album on April 6. Titled Shame, Shame, the album will be the rock band’s debut for Anti- Records. Dr. Dog bassist Toby Leaman spoke about the 11-track album with PopMatters.com, revealing that the band’s busy schedule is reflected in the album. “It’s hard when you spend half your time away from your friends and family to feel like you’re as connected as you could be to the people around you. I think that’s a lot of what this album is about,” Leaman said. The quintet will perform songs like “Stranger” and “Shame, Shame” off the album on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon the same the day album arrives.

Dr. Dog has a major gig lined up before Shame, Shame drops, however, as the band will perform at Austin, Texas’ South by South West concert. The band’s SXSW performances will take place on Friday, March 19 at Cedar Street Courtyard and Saturday, March 20 at Stubb’s Restaurant. From there, Dr. Dog’s current tour will see the band travelling to cities like Toronto, ON; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Chicago, Ill.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Aspen, Colo.; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco, Calif.; Dallas, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; Boston, Mass.; Philadelphia, Pa. and New York, N.Y. Get your Dr. Dog tickets from StubHub.com.

Dr. Dog’s Leaman and drummer Scott McMicken met in eighth grade and were both part of a more traditional indie rock band called Raccoon before branching off to form Dr. Dog. After recording the ambitious 35-track effort The Psychedelic Swamp as a duo, Leaman and McMicken recruited guitarist Doug O’Donnell, keyboardist Zach Miller and drummer Juston Stens to join the lineup. Dr. Dog recorded the poppier album Toothbrush in 2003, and My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James invited the band to open for MMJ on their tour in support of It Still Moves. Former Raccoon bassist Andrew Jones replaced O’Donnell, and Dr. Dog began recruiting various Philly artists to guest on tour and in the studio.

Indie label National Parking picked up 2005′s Easy Beat for distribution, and Dr. Dog supported the album on tour with My Morning Jacket and M. Ward. After making stops at SXSW and other events, Dr. Dog released the stopgap EP Takers and Leavers in September 2006, followed by We All Belong in early 2007. Throughout the remainder of 2007 Dr. Dog posted previously unreleased songs on their website and eventually the songs were released as Passed Away, Vol. 2 in March 2008. Fate followed that summer and is the predecessor to Shame, Shame.

In a recent interview with Spinner, Leaman described Dr. Dog’s writing process. “There [are] two of us that write and we pretty much write on our own. Scott will write his songs and I’ll write my songs and then when we get together to record, that’s when anybody can do whatever they want to a song. We’re pretty diplomatic, nobody is so married to their own song that they can’t hear somebody else’s opinion,” said Leaman, who also revealed that if he had to choose between recording and performing he would choose the latter—lucky for fans!

Hallelujah! My Morning Jacket is back from their hiatus and ready to hit the road beginning with an April 20 gig in Birmingham, Ala. My Morning Jacket will weave its way throughout the nation until late August, which means <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/my-morning-jacket-tickets/”>My Morning Jacket tickets</a>, which are available at <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/”>StubHub.com</a>, will be some of the hottest tickets of the summer. MMJ will also support Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers on select dates in Boston and East Rutherford, N.J. in August.

Since emerging out of Louisville, Ky. in the early 2000s, My Morning Jacket has garnered a reputation for not only touring extensively but for delivering marathon performances. Case in point: in 2008 the band performed for four hours at Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn.! MMJ drummer Patrick Hallahan, for one, doesn’t even think he could sit through one of his band’s lengthy performances! Hallahan recently confessed to Spinner, “I can’t understand how people can stick around for a long show like that. I don’t really have the attention span for it. I could not stick around for a My Morning Jacket show. I would leave after an hour and a half.” Fans of the band likely disagree!

My Morning Jacket’s frantic touring pace took its toll on the band, as two members—Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash—exited the lineup in 2004. Hallahan told Spinner that My Morning Jacket decided to take a break last year rather than get burnt out from performing. “Life was throwing little warning signs in front of us that we were touring too long. Up until that point we hadn’t really stopped touring in nine years, so in retrospect, it was a really, really good move. I’m happy we did it,” said Hallahan.

Although My Morning Jacket hasn’t released a studio album since 2008′s Evil Urges (two live efforts—Celebration De La Cuidad Natal and Live from Las Vegas – Exclusively at The Palms—arrived in 2009), MMJ is slated to appear on the upcoming Shel Silverstein tribute album. Consequence of Sound reported that a tribute album titled Twistable, Turntable Man will honor the songwriting of Silverstein, who is perhaps more well-known for his books of children’s poetry. Along with MMJ, Dr. Dog, Lucinda Williams, Andrew Bird, Kris Kristofferson and John Prine are among the artists covering Shel Silverstein’s songs on the album, which is due out June 8.

My Morning Jacket frontman Yim Yams (aka Jim James) will be performing at the 2010 installation of the legendary Newport Folk Festival, which will take place at Fort Adams in Newport, R.I. from July 30 through Aug. 1. The 51st annual Newport Folk Festival will also feature performances by Steve Martin (with his bluegrass quintet Steep Canyon Rangers), the Swell Season, the Band’s Levon Helm, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Bird and more.

James has been busy performing with his supergroup Monsters of Folk, which wrapped up a U.S. and European tour toward the end of 2009. Along with James, Monsters of Folk features notable indie rock musicians like M. Ward (She & Him) as well as Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (both from Bright Eyes).

Gossip in the Grain artist Ray LaMontagne is returning to the stage once again in support of his latest studio effort. Surrounded by dates throughout the country, singer /songwriter LaMontagne is returning in April for another trek, earning some yelps and hollers from folk fans from sea to shining sea. The man, from Nashua, New Hampshire, has a husky voice that leads comparisons to Van Morrison and Tim Buckley, with a younger appeal via an unshaven face and flannel. Gossip in the Grain is his third set with RCA and features the talents of legendary producer and multi-instrumentalist Ethan Johns on the ten tracks. The beats feel so effortless as a modern twist brings back memories of old school pop tunes with trumpet motifs and a throwback to The Big Chill. While the lyrics, written by LaMontagne, still represent the ever so familiar longing and loneliness of love, the upbeat style via jazz instruments and funky folk make their true meaning nearly absolute. Though you may want to pick up a banjo yourself and start jamming with these seemingly approachable men, just wait for StubHub’s version of the next best thing – Ray LaMontagne tickets to see this indie, Reebok-wearing fellow jam out live on stage.

The singer’s jaunt begins April 2 in Montclair, NJ and will continue throughout April (specific dates are listed below). The album, recorded in Box, England, reflects the new image that LaMontagne constantly seems in need of repairing (though most would agree is quite appeasable). His first effort with RCA appeared in 2006 (Trouble) and was followed up by 2007′s Till the Sun Turns Black. Each and every album, though equally focused on the impressive vocals of this perennial traveler (after his parents split, his mother marched Ray and his six siblings across the country looking for work), is an entirely new platform of which LaMontagne is exploring. Perhaps the most explosively impressive from his latest album are “You are the Best Thing” and “Meg White,” named for The White Stripes’ drummer. “It was time to open up a little bit more, not be quite so reserved in my choice of songs that I wanted to record,” LaMontagne admits on his site. The album is the first not completely developed by LaMontagne himself, who saw bassist Jennifer Condos and guitarist Eric Heywood help out, while Johns provided his expertise in several instruments. Leona Naess, who opened for LaMontagne last fall, provided the backup.

LaMontagne’s family was raised around the country and when he finally finished high school began working in a shoe factory in Maine. It was thanks to the single “Tree Top Flyer” by Stephen Stills that the folk artist decided to begin making music, and before long LaMontagne had recorded a ten-track demo that reached Jamie Ceretta at Chrysalis Music Publishing. As if by magic, the demo was quickly approved and LaMontagne began recording with Johns.

Get tickets soon for these shows, try http://www.stubhub.com/ray-lamontagne-tickets for sold out dates.

April 2009
2 – Montclair, NJ – Wellmont Theatre
3 – Pittsburgh, PA – Palace Theater
4 – Philadelphia, PA – Tower Theater
6 – Albany, NY – The Egg
7 – Northampton, MA – Calvin Theatre
8 – New Haven, CT – Schubert Theater
11 – Portland, ME – Merrill Auditorium
12 – Burlington, VT – Flynn Center For The Performing Arts
14 – Montreal, Quebec – Metropolis
15 – Toronto, Ontario – Massey Hall
17 – Cleveland, OH – State Theatre
18 – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
19 – Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Theatre
21 – Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theater
22 – St. Louis, MO – Pageant Theater
24 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
25 – Louisville, KY – Brown Theater
27 – Birmingham, AL – Alabama Theatre
28 – Jacksonville, FL – Florida Theatre
29 – Tampa, FL – Tampa Theatre
30 – Miami, FL – The Fillmore @ Jackie Gleason Theater

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Dave Matthews Band is currently on their last Summer Tour before they take a year off in 2011. The 2010 US Summer Tour has seen a lot of old songs coming back like ‘Busted Stuff’, ‘Digging a Ditch’, ‘So Right’, and ‘Cry Freedom’. They also played ‘Break For It’, a new song which had been eagerly anticipated by hardcore fans. It might have had something to do with the band’s disappointing decision not to tour in 2011 or the heavy-handed police and security presence at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, but Friday night’s performance by the Dave Matthews Band started out slow and dragged for the first 90 minutes. Fortunately, things turned around for an energetic final hour. DMB recently announced that they will take a break from their relentless touring schedule in 2011, so this night’s kick-off gig was an opportunity for the band to dust off songs they hadn’t played in years. Matthews is an ideal standard bearer for his band, a font of unassuming dynamism that matches up well with the group’s trademark meshing of mainstream and jam band proclivities. In a live setting the formula comes to particular life, as when Matthews and his six cohorts dove into the roomy sway of the opener “JTR.” The current touring configuration of the band features heavy doses of Tim Reynolds on electric guitar, lines that were etched sharply across the bobbing rock groove of “Seven.” The rocking star Dave Matthews along with his eponymous band continue to embrace their unofficial title as music’s boys of summer. Keeping its annual tradition alive, DMB has revealed a 49-date national routing that will run from spring through late summer. This year’s tour launches with a May 28-29 stand at Comcast Theatre in Hartford, CT, and concludes nearly four months later on September 15 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. This year’s tour will continue to promote the June 2009 release “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.” The album, marking DMB’s seventh studio record, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and quickly racked up Platinum-level sales nationally. More Over to the opening engagement, the band’s calendar includes numerous other multiple-night runs. Some of the highlights include June 7-8 at Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA; July 3-4 at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Troy, NY; July 16-17 at Citi Field in New York, NY; and September 3-5 at Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, WA. A Bonnaroo highlight for Dave Matthews, another festival veteran musician, was when he met Bob Dylan. Matthews says, “We played right after Dylan played and he said, ‘I didn’t play ‘Watchtower’ because I thought you would play it.’ That was a high point for me. I suppose everybody is a crazy fan of Dylan so to have him acknowledge my existence in any way was kind of sweet.” Besides Bonnaroo, the DMB will also play the Hullabal.OU Music Festival on July 25 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., and the Mile High Music Festival on Aug. 15 in Commerce City, Colo. The group is currently scheduled to wrap the tour on Sept. 15 in St. Paul, Minn. Get your Cheap Dave Matthews Band Tickets

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Everyone might be buzzing about the newest winner of American Idol, Lee DeWyze, and runner-up Crystal Bowersox, but that doesn’t mean last season’s runner-up Adam Lambert is out of the spotlight! The Season 8 favorite (Kris Allen took home the grand prize) kicked off his Glam Nation Tour in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. June 3 and fans of the eyeliner-clad performer are hurrying to snatch up <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/adam-lambert-tickets/”>Adam Lambert tickets</a> to see him on his first headlining tour this summer. Lambert is brining opening acts Allison Irheta and Orianthi along for the ride and tickets are available at <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/”>StubHub.com</a>.

Although Adam Lambert shocked audiences at the 2009 American Music Awards when he delivered a sexually charged “For Your Entertainment,” the San Diego native told Billboard.com that he plans on putting on a “sexy” yet “tasteful” show this time around. “I definitely think they’ll be comfortable. That was kind of an experiment, the AMAs. I learned a lot from it,” Lambert told Billboard.com before adding, “I learned what my limitations are. I learned what my audience wants to see. The [Glam Nation] concert definitely is sexy, but I feel if anyone thought [the AMA performance] was not tasteful, this is tasteful.”

Lambert’s Glam Nation Tour focuses on his 2009 debut album For Your Entertainment, although the singer did reveal to Billboard.com that he is currently pondering his sophomore album. For Your Entertainment debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart in November and yielded three hit singles: the title track, the Top 10 single “Whataya Want from Me” and “If I Had You,” which is currently climbing the charts. As for when fans can expect Lambert’s sophomore set, he told Billboard.com, “I think that in the new year, after January, I’ll probably get to start working on it.” Lambert also hinted that he has collaborated with Nikka Costa, although on what remains unknown.

Lambert has been too busy to dedicate much time to another album lately, as the singer has put a lot of thought into his current tour. The American Idol alum told Billboard.com that his trek takes cues from artists like Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison and described it as “visually inspired by turn-of-the-century New Orleans â?¦ a kitschy, glam, voodoo, crystal ball, black magic kind of look [with] a lot of psychedelic, classic rock visual references.” Fans will just have to see Adam Lambert in concert to find out for themselves. His tour will stop in cities like Prior Lake, Minn.; Columbus, Ohio; Royal Oak, Mich.; New York, N.Y.; Mashantucket, Conn.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Baltimore, Md.; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; Louisville, Ky. and more through late September.

Although Lambert is sure to encounter his share of critics on his tour and throughout his career, the openly gay singer told Billboard.com that he holds onto some words of advice from pop veteran Madonna. “She basically said you can’t pay attention to all the extraneous crap. You can’t listen to the critics. You can’t be affected too much by what people want. You have to keep your eye on the prize, and even though your attention and goal is to entertain people, you have to kind of follow your instincts,” Lambert said. His instincts have gotten him pretty far this early in his career!

 

While the departure of lead vocalist/guitarist Steven Page shocked fans in and outside of the Barenaked Ladies’ native Canada, the quirky pop-rock act is simply looking ahead. The Barenaked Ladies have suffered their fair share of turmoil in recent years, which is why fans were happy to see the band performing during the festivities surrounding the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The Barenaked Ladies have a new album on the shelves—All in Good Time arrived March 23 in Canada and March 30 in the States—and are embarking on a tour in support of the album in April, reports Billboard.com.

Ed Robertson has stepped up to the plate in the wake of Page’s February 2009 departure, taking the reins as lead vocalist, and recently told Billboard.com, “It is absolutely a rebirth and reinvention of the band. It was something we’d worked hard at for 20 years—I wasn’t going to let it die away.” Page was arrested for cocaine possession in 2008, just before the Barenaked Ladies released their kids’ album, Snacktime!—awkward circumstances, to say the least. Snacktime! Has sold 111,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielson SoundScan.

Although many fans feared the Barenaked Ladies would wave the white flag after Page’s exit from the lineup, Robertson took the helm for the band’s new album, composing and laying down vocals for nine of the 14 tracks on All in Good Time. While Tyler Stewart remains glued to his drum set, the Barenaked Ladies’ multi-instrumentalist Kevin Hearn and bassist Jim Creegan even wrote and sang on some songs on the album. Billboard.com hails “Another Heartbreak” and lead single “You Run Away” standouts off the album, also saying that while the remaining members of the Barenaked Ladies may be candid about Page’s departure, “musically at least, the band doesn’t seem to be missing him at all.”

The Barenaked Ladies have undergone more internal changes lately, as they parted ways with Nettwerk Music Group CEO/manager Terry McBride in July 2009. McBride was the leading force behind the band’s 1998 fourth album Stunt, which managed to sell a whopping 3.6 million albums thanks to hit singles like the infectious “One Week.” The Barenaked Ladies signed with Cam 8′s Jordan Feldstein after splitting with McBride due to what Robertson described to Billboard.com as Feldstein’s “comprehensive vision for the band.”

Speaking about the Barenaked Ladies’ upcoming tour, Robertson told Billboard.com, “We’re promoting this album with a lot more concentration than we have in quite a while. We’re doing it because we’re really excited about the songs we’ve written and it’s fun for us to see people rooting us on.” The band’s tour begins in their native Canada at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia on April 6 and the Barenaked Ladies begin shows in the U.S. at Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City on May 8.

To get your hands on some <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/barenaked-ladies-tickets/”>Barenaked Ladies tickets</a>, head to <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/”>StubHub.com</a>. The Barenaked Ladies will be stopping in cities like Saskatoon, SN; Regina, SN; Edmonton, AB; Halifax, NS; Toronto, ON; Hamilton, ON; Nashville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Portland, Ore.; Santa Rosa, Calif.; Austin, Texas and more, so there are plenty of chances to see them live!

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Nashville, Tenn. may be the capital of country music, but Rascal Flatts escaped the long winter in the southern state to record their new album in sunny Santa Barbara, Calif. Guitarist Joe Don Rooney, one-third of the country trio, told Nashville’s Tennessean newspaper, “It relaxed us. We didn’t have the hustle and bustle of going back home from the studio and being in Nashville in the crazy traffic. We were pretty close to the studio in Santa Barbara and we got to spend 14 to 16 hours a day in the studio … It was a really cool experience!”

Even though Rascal Flatts returned to Nashville refreshed and relaxed, the group was still shocked by the recent announcement made by Disney that the band’s longtime label, Lyric Street, was folding. Lead singer Gary LeVox admitted to The Boot, “It just blindsides us. It was out of the blue. It’s still a little shocking. That was our family for 12 years. It’s just a sad deal.” Disney has yet to make a public announcement about where the country trio will now reside, although they will remain under the Disney umbrella as they prepare for the release of their new album.

LeVox assured fans via The Boot, “We’re still moving full steam ahead and we’re just pumped about the new stuff that we’re cutting.” The lead single off Rascal Flatts’ as-yet-untitled new album is set to arrive this June, the same month in which the group will embark on their Nothing Like This Tour. Rascal Flatts will kick off their tour in Raleigh, N.C. on June 25 and bring opening acts Kellie Pickler and Chris Young with them along for the ride, which wraps up in Boston on Sept. 19.

Fans can get <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/rascal-flatts-tickets/”>Rascal Flatts tickets</a> to see the trio in cities like Atlanta, Ga.; Stateline, Nev.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Indianapolis, Ind.; Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Ky.; Darien Center, N.Y.; Mountain View, Calif.; West Palm Beach, Fla. and more from <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/”>StubHub.com</a>.

While on tour, Rascal Flatts will stop by the Rockefeller Plaza studios of NBC’s Today in midtown Manhattan for the morning show’s annual summer concert series. Sponsored by Toyota, the 2010 Today summer concert series will also feature performances by Sting (May 14), the Script (May 21), Justin Bieber (June 4), Christina Aguilera (June 8), James Taylor/Carole King (June 25), Maxwell (June 25), Maroon 5 (July 2), Lady Gaga (July 9), Enrique Iglesias (July 16), John Mayer (July 23), Carrie Underwood (July 30), Train (August 6), Ke$ha (August 13), Keith Urban (August 20) and Katy Perry (August 27). The yet-to-be-determined American Idol winner and runner-up will perform on June 3, the morning after the show’s scheduled finale on Fox, as well.

Today senior producer Melissa Lonner chatted about the upcoming summer concert series with Billboard.com, revealing, “Acts like Rascal Flatts and John Mayer, I have been talking to them since last November and got their dates before the year’s end, because I wanted their date on the plaza to be scheduled into their tour schedule.”

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Headlining the Sasquatch! Festival this May, My Morning Jacket might have to cut their show short, as they perform alongside Massive Attack, Pavement, Vampire Weekend, the National and others during the Memorial Day weekend festivities. The Kentucky natives are notorious for playing extensive concerts – breaking records at 2008′s Bonnaroo Festival for putting on a four-hour show – that has earned them an international reputation.

But for drummer Patrick Hallahan, who is often captured in a hailstorm of hair as he beats down on the set, he doesn’t understand how his fans can do it. “I can’t understand how people can stick around for a long show like that,” he said to Spinner Magazine. “That last tour that we did was just us on the bill so we could play as long or as short as we wanted to. Usually, it ended up pretty long, just out of sheer love for playing. That’s why we got started in this whole thing in the first place – it’s just so much fun to get up there and emote for three hours.” Can you stand a three-plus hour show? Find out this season, as <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/my-morning-jacket-tickets/”>My Morning Jacket tickets</a> become available at http://www.stubhub.com.

Though they are headlining acts from way back, My Morning Jacket doesn’t mind when a stellar opportunity to open approaches them – which is what’s happening for three dates in support of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Though My Morning Jacket will probably have to cut their unusually long set short for the dates in August, it’s with extreme respect for veteran rocker Petty. The three dates are just a tasting of what’s already been showcased throughout the country, as the group rounds out their spring with dates alongside Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

The New Orleans jazz unit met My Morning Jacket’s frontman Jim James during a recording session last year in the Big Easy for the album Preservation: An Album to Benefit Preservation Hall & the Preservation Hall Music Outreach Program. The February release featured two tracks that James collaborated on, which he commented in a press release: “When I got the invitation to go to the legendary Preservation Hall – where so much of the music we now know and love on this earth found its early roots – I did not waste a minute.”

Since its inception in 1998, the group hasn’t wasted much time on creating a sound unlike any other. Promoting their Louisville, Ky. based outfit with extended road trips and studio time (they signed to Darla Records in 1999) through the 2000s, the group opened for Guided by Voices, the Foo Fighters and others before the 2003 major label release It Still Moves.

But performing three-hour shows nightly was an acquired taste for not only fans but band members, and Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash couldn’t cut it, leaving the band in 2004. Bo Koster and Carl Broemel replaced the band members on keys and guitar, reuniting even stronger for 2005′s Z. The quintet continued the power with the live album Okonokos and Evil Urges, the latest studio set from 2008. Evil Urges is still being promoted two years after its release.

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On May 10 the Zac Brown Band and Ram Truck Brand officially launched their Letters for Lyrics campaign. Created to rally country music fans to write one million letters for servicemen and women stationed abroad, the Letters for Lyrics campaign took off at a Ram dealership near the Zac Brown Band’s home base in Marietta, Ga. In return for writing a letter, each writer will receive a special compilation CD featuring three new Zac Brown Band songs as well as music from Southern Ground artists (Zac’s label) Sonia Leigh, Nic Cowan and Levi Lowrey.

The letters will be collected at U.S. Ram Truck dealerships (which will also serve as letter-writing stations) and fans with <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/zac-brown-band-tickets/”>Zac Brown Band tickets</a> can drop letters off at concerts.  The letters will be delivered to U.S. troops abroad by Soldier’s Angels, a volunteer-led organization that provides aid and comfort to the men and women enlisted in the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard (as well as veterans and their families).

Speaking of the troops receiving the postcards, Zac told Atlanta’s WGCL-TV, “A lot of them are over there for long periods of time, away from home, away from loved ones, away from all the things we take for granted. There’s a lot of really good people. A lot of young family people, a lot of folks that are over there serving our country. They’re willing to fight for it and die for it.” After performing for the troops several times in the past year, the Zac Brown Band was inspired to start the Letter for Lyrics campaign. “Our hope is that by combining our experience overseas, our music, and the good people at Ram Truck Band, we will be able to rally a movement of support for our brave service members abroad,” said the band’s namesake.

Fans will have plenty of occasions to drop off letters to the troops, as the Zac Brown Band is currently on tour and has dates lined up through September. Fans can get Zac Brown Band tickets from <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/”>StubHub.com</a> to see the country-fried band perform solo shows as well as dates with the Dave Matthews Band this summer. The Zac Brown Band will play several festival gigs in the coming months as well, such as the BamaJam Music and Arts Festival (in Enterprise, Ala. on June 3), the CMA Music Festival (in the country music capital of Nashville on June 12), the Bonnaroo Festival (in Manchester, Tenn. on June 13), at Country USA (in Oshkosh, Wis. on June 22), the Kingsport Fun Festival (in Kingsport, Tenn. on July 24) and at the Hullabalou Festival (in Louisville, Ky. on July 25).

The Boot reports that over Labor Day weekend (Sept. 2â??6) the Zac Brown Band will set for the high seas with the Sailing Southern Ground cruise. The Carnival Inspiration cruise will travel from Tampa, Fla. to Grand Cayman, and fans will be able to take in headlining performances by the Zac Brown Band as well as by artists like Michael Franti & Spearhead, Gaelic Storm, Sonia Leigh, Levi Lowrey, Oakhurst and Blackberry Smoke. Speaking about the four-day cruise, Zac said, “There will be awesome food and awesome music. The collaborations are going to be insane. We’re going to be really involved with the activities that are going on board.”

 

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