Link-O-Rama …

Universal Studios back in business one day after tragic fire – Associated Press

It’s not their party but they’ll play if they want to – How more and more rock and pop stars are playing private parties – The Times Online U.K.

TV and radio advertising featuring music from well-known artists and bands is cutting into the commercial jingle-writing biz – AdWeek

Six suspects arrested in U.K. for distributing unreleased music via BitTorrent – The Register U.K.

Music distributor blames drop in CD sales for getting out of the North American market – Detroit Free Press

Shining the spotlight on the often-forgotten rhythm guitarist – The Sydney Morning Herald

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

“Flashback – The Classic Rock Experience” is all about mixing classic rock with today’s light and sound technologies in order to create show like no other concert tour on the road today. Dates for this arena tour include August 29 in Tampa at St. Pete Times Forum; September 5 in North Charleston, SC, at North Charleston Coliseum; September 20 in Baltimore at 1st Mariner Arena and October 11 in Atlantic City at Boardwalk Hall.

Sex Pistols keep loading up on summer dates for Europe. The band’s latest update shows them in Madrid on July 18, Riga (Latvia) on August 20, Tallinn, Estonia, on August 22 and Helsinki on August 23.

Aaron Tippin fills in a few openings in his August calendar. Newly added show listings include August 3 in Cripple Creek, Colorado; August 15 in Oswego, New York; August 22 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and August 29 in Ladson, South Carolina, where the singer will play ever- ambiguous “TBA.”

And Pam Tillis updates today with a few December gigs – August 11 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigian; August 14 in Saint Michael, North Dakota; and August 15 in Regina, Saskatchewan.

During the past couple of hours we also updated the schedules for Reverend Horton Heat, Jon Shain, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, Mark Farner, B.J. Thomas, Blue Mountain, Exile, Panic At The Disco, Slayer, The Band Of Heathens, Todd Snider, Tift Merritt, The Calling and Five Finger Death Punch.

And that’s the story so far at the halfway mark. More concert 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 1896, in England, Guglielmo Marconi was awarded the first radio patent. He had succeeded the previous year in sending long-wave radio signals over a distance of about two kilometres. And in 1897, Marconi formed a wireless telegraphy company to develop its commercial applications. In 1901, he sent the letter ”S” across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to a receiving station in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

In 1988, former Temptations singer David Ruffin was sentenced in Detroit to two years probation and 50 days of community service for cocaine use. A bag containing cocaine residue was found with Ruffin’s personal papers when police raided a house the previous July. Ruffin would die of a drug overdose in Philadelphia on June 1st, 1990.

In 1989, Rolling Stones bass guitarist Bill Wyman, age 52, married 19-year-old Mandy Smith in Bury St. Edmonds, England. The couple divorced in 1991 after Wyman said they’d spent only five days together as man and wife. Wyman agreed to an 800-thousand-dollar divorce settlement.

In 1991, Larry Gatlin announced the Gatlin Brothers Band would break up after their current tour. The Gatlins had 15 top 10 country hits, beginning with 1979’s “All the Gold in California.”

In 1992, k.d. lang publicly declared her homosexuality in an interview with the Advocate, a U.S. gay and lesbian publication. The Alberta-born singer talked frankly about her lesbian lifestyle and her unrequited love for a married woman.

In 1998, a publicist for Anne Murray confirmed the singer and her husband, Bill Langstroth, had separated after 23 years of marriage.