Beck Tours the O.C.

Wanna hear the latest from Beck? Well, then you’ve got to visit The O.C. - the television show, that is. The indie-friendly Fox drama has decided to pay tribute to Beck on the show’s March 10 episode, when five tracks from Beck’s upcoming disc, Guero, will make their network TV debut on what’s being called “The Beckpisode.” The five tunes you’ll hear will include “Que Onda Guero,” “Girl,” “Missing,” “Scarecrow,” and the album’s first slated radio single,
“E-Pro” - and Beck’s actual full-length Guero album will hit stores both in and out of The O.C. on March 29...

John Travolta’s seminal ’70s movie, Saturday Night Fever, featured a scene in which Travolta struts his stuff on a dance floor of over 300 flashing colored lights. Well, that same dance floor is now set to be sold at auction - hey, it’ll make the perfect accessory for those Saturday night karaoke parties with your pals! Formerly part of the 2001 Odyssey Nightclub in Brooklyn, New York (where part of the movie was shot), the entire floor will go on sale on April 1, to be auctioned on EBay as part of a live sale. The soundtrack from that same movie, by a ’70s trio called The Bee Gees, was one of the best-selling albums of that decade - the Bee Gees’ “latest,” a greatest hits collection called Number Ones, hit stores last fall...

In another blast from the past, Sanctuary Records are getting set to release the double CD Teenage Kicks on April 4 - an album that rounds up over two dozen of punk and new wave’s top hits. Included in this musical chronicle of the late ’70s-early ’80s are tunes from Blondie, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, The Boomtown Rats, Madness, The Undertones, The Jam, and many more...

L.A. band Ima Robot, currently on tour with Duran Duran through April, have jettisoned an offer to continue on the road with the five Duran boys, instead heading back into the studio to work on their own sophomore album. With more than 100 songs written according to singer Alex Ebert, Ima Robot are “road-testing” several of the new songs during their Duran gigs (including “Voodoo Love” and “Disconnect”), and, if all goes well, the plan is to have their new album out this upcoming fall, preceded by a North American tour. Taking over for Ima Robot’s recently-exited Oliver Goldstein will be former Junior Senior bass player Filip Nikolic, who will transfer his musical duties to keyboards and guitar for his studio work with the band. Ima Robot will leave the Duran Duran tour in mid-March; no word yet as to who will be replacing them in the opening act spot...

MINI BUZZ:
Dave Matthews Band have unveiled yet another summer’s worth of tour dates for this year, including stops in Chicago (6/2), Columbus OH (6/7 and 6/8), Boston (7/9 and 7/10), and San Francisco (8/12 and 8/13); the tour will, in part, promote the upcoming new as-yet-untitled DMB album, which is due on shelves in May...
Good Charlotte and Simple Plan will join forces for a summer tour of their own, kicking off May 3 in Kansas City and travelling across the U.S. through early June...
The Kills are another band hopping on the tour bus this spring, for a short UK tour in May to promote their new album,
No Wow...
Also in the UK, cult fave ’90s alt-rockers Dinosaur Jr. will make an appearance at this year’s Download Festival in June in Leicestershire, along with additional performances from The Used, My Chemical Romance, Garbage, Feeder, and Velvet Revolver...
Speaking of Velvet Revolver, they’ve just added 15 new dates to their upcoming North American tour, which will kick off March 22 in Canada and will include stops in Reno (4/17), Denver (4/26), Detroit (4/30), Orlando FL (5/7), and Cleveland (5/17)...
Kelly Osbourne will play a French New Wave film noir spy in the music video for her latest single, “One Word”...

And there’s more than just one new disc in stores for you this week... check out these new releases... ON CD: Doves visit Some Cities... Jennifer Lopez has a Rebirth... Mars Volta release Frances the Mute... Lily Holbrooks sings of when Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt.. Regina Spektor sings of Soviet Kitsch... and Soel digs up a Memento... ON DVD: Soulfly’s The Song Remains Insane... Sun Ra: The Magic Sun... Music In High Places - Craig David Live in Costa Rica... and Genesis’ The Video Show... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves about this column or your fave artists? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com!

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