Link-O-Rama …

Sean Levert’s family asks FBI to investigate singer’s jailhouse death – Associated Press

Are Beyoncé and Jay-Z getting hitched? – People

Longtime New York nightclub booker, concert booker, bandleader and producer Jerry Kravat dies at 72 – The New York Times (registration may be required)

Is Samsung’s Instinct an iPhone killer? Sprint hopes so – Associated Press

Press release trumpeting History Channel special titled “Peyote To LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey” is latest example that mass media can’t cover hallucinogenic substances without mentioning The Grateful Dead. – PRNewswire / History Channel / press release

Jean Michel Jarre talks about Oxygene – The Sydney Morning Herald

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

Singer / songwriter Vance Gilbert updates today with new listings for July, August, September, January and next March. Vance’s touring calendar now includes a multi-day appearance at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, NY, July 24 – 27, a Mount Tabor, New Jersey show on August 2, Skokie, IL, on September 28, Austin, TX, on January 10, Ann Arbor, MI, on January 17, and Hamilton, OH, on March 28.

Sea Wolf adds to the June concert traffic with new shows on the West Coast. Included are engagements in Portland (June 17), L.A. (June 19) and San Diego (June 20).

The Unseen hits the heartland with shows in Omaha on May 26, Iowa City on June 4 and Bloomington on June 5. Other new dates include Casper, WY (May 30) and Cincinnati (June 7).

Finally, we have a few new listings for Josh Gracin – September 14 (Williamsburg, VA), September 20 (Neosho, MT), September 27 (Marietta, GA) and October 9 (Tulsa, OK).

During the past couple of hours we also did our part for world peace by updating the schedules for Kaskade, Hydrogyn, Eddie Money, Donita Sparks, Deadbolt, Eric Idle, David Spade, Finger Eleven, Jason Isbell, Kenny Rogers, Less Than Jake, Mobius Band, The Aquabats, Styx, The Fray, TSOL, TobyMac, Yo Yo Ma and Type O Negative.

And that’s the skinny at the halfway mark. More concert dates and hard data coming up in Your Latest Update, scheduled for around 3 pm (PDT), from Pollstar.com!

This Day In Music History … (from Associated Press)

In 1957, Elvis Presley played two concerts at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. They were two of only four shows Elvis ever performed outside the U.S. – the others being the same year in Ottawa and Vancouver.

In 1987, Canadian country rocker k.d. lang made her Los Angeles debut at The Roxy nightclub.

Also in 1987, legendary jazz drummer Buddy Rich died in Los Angeles of a heart attack at age 69. He had surgery for a brain tumor two weeks before. After playing with many big bands in the 30’s and ’40s, Rich joined Harry James after the Second World War for $2,500 a week – then the highest salary for a sideman.

In 1990, Lou Gramm departed as lead singer of Foreigner. Gramm had already begun a solo career several years earlier, scoring a top-five hit in 1987 with “Midnight Blue.”

In 1992, country singer Wynonna Judd began her first solo tour in Midland, Texas. Her mother Naomi left their Grammy-winning duo several months earlier because of a liver disease.

In 1996, Grammy-winning rapper M.C. Hammer filed for bankruptcy, owing his creditors $10 million. After his 1990 debut album, Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em, Forbes magazine estimated his gross earnings at $33 million.