HAPPY BIRTHDAY R.E.M.

Happy Birthday R.E.M. April 5th, 1980, marked the first time Bill, Peter, Mike, and Michael played in public and here we are in the years (see historical links just below). . . well done guys and we only hope for many more years of friendship, fun and music!

BBC
athensmusic.net (from the band's 25th anniversary)

To commemorate the occasion, we thought it would be fun to highlight some recent changes in the video viewing of R.E.M. on the internet. As many of you are probably aware, official Warner years R.E.M. videos have disappeared from You Tube due to a high-level battle over business terms between You Tube/Google and Warner Music. As the old African proverb goes: Wapiganapo tembo nyasi huumia (Swahili). When elephants fight the grass gets hurt (English). And as Neil Young recently wrote on his website, it is a fight worth fighting over the principle of fair artists compensation.

FRIDAY ROUNDUP: PETER TOURS WITH ROBYN HITCHCOCK

Throughout the month of April, Peter will be touring with Robyn Hitchcock and his Venus 3 compatriots--Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin--(click here for dates). The Washington Post has a nice article on the band which you can read here, and thanks to the power of the internet, you can watch some recent video footage of the RH & Venus 3 tour of Australia, from whence they just returned.

We also wanted to update everyone on musician Peter Case's ongoing recovery from emergency open heart surgery back in January. A benefit concert--Hidden Love Medical Relief-- is being organized to assist Peter, a longtime friend and colleague of the band, in covering his mounting medical expenses both from the surgery and his continuing physical rehabilitation (like many musicians, Peter did not have insurance). You can get involved by clicking here.

REMHQ also wanted to mention the support fund which has been established for rock critic Paul Williams, the founder of Crawdaddy! magazine and author of books on Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, and Jim Morrison among others. In 1995, Paul, hailed by many as "the father or rock criticism," suffered a traumatic brain injury in a bicycle accident. The injury led to the early onset of dementia, and according to paulwilliams.com, "a steady decline to the point where he now requires full-time care."

ROBYN HITCHCOCK AND THE VENUS 3 ON TOUR IN THE USA

Peter, never one to sit still for long, embarks this week on a tour of the U.S. with Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3. The group features Peter on trusty Rickenbacker and lots of 12-string too, fellow R.E.M. band-types Bill Rieflin on drums and Scott McCaughey on bass, and the inimitable master of entertainment Mr. Hitchcock himself singing, guitaring and pontificating when the spirit moves him. The group will be featuring plenty of selections from the recent Goodnight Oslo release, plus songs from Robyn's career all the way back through the Egyptians and the Soft Boys. The dates:

April 3 -- Antones, Austin TX
4 -- Granada Theater, Dallas TX
6 -- Exit/In, Nashville TN