Link-O-Rama …

Dr. Pepper pledges to give everybody in the U.S. (except Slash and Buckethead) one free can of Dr. Pepper if Axl Rose releases Chinese Democracy in 2008 – PRNewswire / press release

Los Angeles Times orders internal review of documents the paper claims link assault on Tupac Shakur to Sean “Diddy” Combs – Associated Press

Court rules Doors insurance policy lawsuit should proceed – Reuters

Sometimes “new music” doesn’t necessarily mean music that’s “new” – The Australian

Heather Mills hires accountants to prove Paul is worth more than the court said he is – New York Daily News

Bands need health insurance, too – The Wall Street Journal / Health Blog

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

Dates for “Making The Band 4 – The Tour” are starting to trickle in. The tour stars girl-group Danity Kane and the very new band Day 26. So far dates, which take place in May, have been limited to House Of Blues venues in Cleveland, Chicago and Dallas.

Panic At The Disco plans to stir things up Down Under in August. New Australian gigs include Boondall on August 20, Sydney on August 22, Melbourne on August 23, Hindmarsh on August 25 and Perth on August 27. The band also plays Auckland, New Zealand on August 30.

Country singer / songwriter Ashton Sheperd fills out her calendar with new gigs for Michigan, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas, Illinois and Nebraska. New dates include May 10 (Detroit), June 5 (Enterprise, AL), June 28 (Manhattan, KS), and August 9 (Bloomfield, NE).

And we have a hefty update from Biscuit Burners, showing the bluegrass band playing all over the country this year. Dates include Chicago (April 12), Flat Rock, NC (April 19), Roanoke (May 15), Cambridge (May 22), Saratoga Springs (June 13) and Asheville, NC (Sept. 20).

During the past couple of hours we also updated the schedules for Donita Sparks, Edwin McCain, Feist, George Winston, Jimmy Buffett, Larry Keel And Natural Bridge, Qwiksand, Taj Mahal, The Lemonheads, The Wailers, The Neville Brothers, Throwdown, Tantric, Trevor Hall and The Yellow Belts.

And that’s the story as we pass the week’s halfway mark and start seeing that magical, mystical land known as “Friday” on the horizon. Don’t forget – there’s more concert data fresh from the oven coming up in Your Latest Update, scheduled for around 3 pm (PDT), from Pollstar.com!

This Day In Music History … (from Associated Press)

In 1982, The Bangles, still calling themselves the Bangs, played their first official live date at a party for a Los Angeles magazine.

In 1987, Elton John ignored doctor’s orders not to sing by performing “Your Song” for 71-year-old singer Nellie Lutcher in Hollywood. John had recently undergone throat surgery.

In 1995, rapper Eazy-E, who helped popularize the hardcore “gangsta” rap style, died in Los Angeles of complications from AIDS. He was 31. Eazy-E, whose real name was Eric Wright, had disclosed he had AIDS only 10 days earlier. Wright co-founded the rap group NWA with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, and they released a string of hit albums in the mid-80’s.

Also on this date in 1995, London’s Sunday Times reported that John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, visited Paul McCartney’s recording studio with her son, Sean Lennon. The newspaper also said Ono spent a weekend with the McCartney family, ending decades of hostility between McCartney and Ono. That ill feeling allegedly contributed to the Beatles’ 1970 breakup.