Working for the weekend …

Let’s face it. There’s bound to be some boring Olympic moments this weekend. That’s when you’re going to need some music news in a hurry. Just watch for these gold-medal items scheduled to post during the weekend.

Saturday: Reasons To Love Meiko – Now that she’s officially retired from waiting tables, singer/songwriter Meiko is out on the road in support of her eponymous debut with folk-singer Joe Purdy. Free download!

Great Big Sea’s Great Big Tour – The Canadian folk rockers celebrate the release of album No. 10 with a six-week North American Trek.

Sunday: Gang Of Eight – Tiësto, Kaskade, Benny Banassi and five other heavyweights of the electronic and dance world have teamed up to celebrate the Beijing Olympics in song. (Check out this story to get a whopping eight free downloads! )

Monday: Kings Of The Night – Kings of Leon are gearing up to hit the road behind September release Only by the Night with help from We Are Scientists and The Whigs.

Launching The S.S. Sassy – Cobra Starship will follow a stint on the Warped Tour and opening gigs for Panic at the Disco with a fall headlining run.

Our HotStar next week is The Ting Tings

Link-O-Rama …

Oasis’ Liam Gallagher talks about … everything – The Times Online U.K.

The “communal vibe” that is this year’s “Rock The Bells” – San Jose Mercury News (registration may be required)

Is Trent Reznor’s “Year Zero” going to become a series on HBO? – Los Angeles Times / Hero Complex

A few minutes with Andrea Bocelli – The Australian

Kid Rock handles questions, gives answers – The Times-Picayune / nola.com

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

Lots of new dates for ZZ Top! We’re talking Kansas, Arkansas Oklahoma and Missouri in September, and Tennessee, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Missouri, South Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Colorado in October, and Texas in November. Too many dates to give you a feel for the routing by mentioning a few cities and venues. Instead, just look at the schedule!

Pendulum updates with theatre and club dates for October. Stops include October 3 in Chicago at House Of Blues, Detroit on October 5 at I-Rock Nightclub, October 9 in Denver at Bluebird Theater and October 25 in NYC at Webster Hall.

Steve Winwood lines up several October shows in the United Kingdom and Europe. Dates include October 5 in Glasgow at The Arches, October 7 in Wolverhampton at Wulfrun Hall, October 9 in Hamburg at Laeiszhalle and October 17 in Brussels at Ancienne Belgique.

And Phil Vassar makes the final update with new dates in Kentucky, Mississippi and Indiana. Stops include Louisville on September 17 at 4th Street Live!, November 8 in Robinsonville at Gold Strike Casino Resort and December 12 in Wabash at Honeywell Center.

During the day we also updated the schedules for Toadies, Iris DeMent, John Prine, Webb Wilder, Joe Nichols, Steve Lukather, Donavon Frankenreiter, Jason Ricci & New Blood, Tokyo Police Club, Man Man, Authority Zero, Booker T. & The MG’s, tobyMac, Queensryche, The Benjy Davis Project, Michael W. Smith, Slaid Cleaves, Three Dog Night, Bob Mould, Andrew “Dice” Clay, plus thousands of bands and artists. If you don’t recognize their names, then you have some catching up to do.

And that wraps up another week in the trenches of concert data research. Don’t forget to experience some live music this weekend. You’ll find it really does sound better when it’s not coming out of an iPod. G’night!