Overnight Sensation …

Let us tell you about our overnight crew. We give them a home. We feed them, pay their bar bills and provide them with hot water for showers and soup. And they repay us by writing about music. Like the following two news items scheduled to post between now and sometime tomorrow morning. Not a great deal for them, but it works for us. And that’s all that matters.

The Ocean Jumps The Pond – The German metal 15-piece plays North American stages for the first time.

Stay Positive With The Hold Steady – The Brooklyn-based band hits the road in anticipation of its upcoming release.

Link-O-Rama …

Chicago man sues Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz for allegedly beating him after a show last summer – Chicago Sun-Times (registration may be required)

Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger loses his driver’s license for a year and must pay a $588 fine for drunk driving conviction – Associated Press

Bank customers in the U.K. are warned about the “iTunes card con” – The Herald U.K.

Boyzone’s Keith Duffy rushed to hospital with unknown ailment – The Mirror U.K.

Remembering James Brown – New York Post

Dolly Parton through the years – a cool pictorial by the folks at The Chicago Tribune

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

Our overnight crew has prepped a special feature about The Ocean, but right now we want to talk about the band’s new dates. Like Europe during the first half of May, then on to Canada, and the U.S.A. Individual stops include Belgrade (May 10), Montreal (May 23), Austin (June 6), El Paso (July 10), Fresno (July 13) and San Francisco (June 14). By the end of June the band goes back to Europe and the U.K. Among those listings are stops in Munich (June 24), Prague (June 26) and London (July 1).

The Robert Cray Band dropped a few more new shows on our doorstep this afternoon. Like Barcelona, Spain (June 5), Baraboo, Wisconsin (June 26), Calgary, Alberta (June 28) and Tulsa, Oklahoma (September 19).

Larry Coryell brings the jazz to London (June 9 – 11), Oakland (July 31 – Oakland 3) and San Diego (September 12 & 13).

And Social Distortion’s Mike Ness fattens up his summer solo tour with new shows for New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. New listings include June 29 in Tucson, July 2 in San Francisco and July 9 – 10 in Seattle.

During the day we also updated the schedules for The Black Angels, Jonny Lang, Teddy Thompson, They Might Be Giants, Todd Snider, Wilco, Kate Nash, Dave Mason, Los Lobos, The Hold Steady, Los Lonely Boys, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, The Roots, Gov’t Mule, The Queers, Stone Temple Pilots, Eddie Money, Ricochet, The Manhattan Transfer, John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band plus thousands and thousands of bands and artists. If you don’t believe us, you’re welcome to count them all yourself.

And that’s a wrap for this fine, fine Thursday. The weekend is almost upon us and our court-ordered attitude adjustment seminar down at Rock’s Bar, Grill and Rifle Range is about to begin. In other words, we’re outta here. See ya tomorrow!