JUST announced:

07.16.06 – Denver, CO (Fillmore Auditorium on sale 5/20)
07.18.06 – Tempe, AZ (Marquee Theatre on sale 5/20)
07.19.06 – San Diego, CA (Soma on sale 5/20)
07.21.06 – Los Angeles, CA (Wiltern Theatre on sale 5/18)
07.23.06 – San Francisco, CA (Warfield Theatre on sale 5/21)
07.25.06 – Portland, OR (Roseland Theatre on sale 5/20)
07.26.06 – Vancouver, BC (Malkin Bowl on sale 5/19)
07.27.06 – Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre on sale 5/19)
08.03.06 – Minneapolis, MN (First Avenue on sale 5/19)
08.04.06 – Chicago, IL (Lollapalooza at Grant Park on sale 5/19)
08.05.06 – Ann Arbor, MI (Michigan Theatre on sale 5/19)
08.06.06 – Cleveland, OH (House of Blues on sale 5/20)

I know a secret about tomorrow night.

The Raconteurs are in town already and apparently the Irving show on the 7th isn’t the only one they’ll be doing. 20 lucky people have won tickets to a very secret show tomorrow night. I’m not sure if I can say where, but it doesn’t much matter as I have been assured that there were only 20 passes and they have all been given out. Not even press are allowed in.

Update: Since it is all over, and my chances of being wacked for opening my mouth have dissipated, I might as well say where it was last night. 8pm at the Hit Factory. It was given by XM Satellite Radio and seen exclusively by 20 of their contest winners. Apparently the old NYC Radio djs Opie and Anthony, whom now work for XM after they were kicked off public radio, hosted the show. Must be nice to afford satellite radio and go to exclusive shows.

“As Danny mentioned in his update yesterday, the Opie and Anthony Show will return live TOMORROW, April 4th, once Anthony gets his stranded arse back from Puerto Rico. In the meantime, we’re going to have tickets to giveaway for the exclusive RACONTEURS (Jack White’s new band) show tomorrow night at The Hit Factory at 7pm. There are only a handful of tickets (around 20 or so), so listen closely to the show tomorrow for your chance to snag some. Opie and Anthony will be presenting the six-song performance, which will follow an interview with the band.” from: FoundryMusic.com

News from an audience member was that they were insanely awesome and that in person, Jack White is much taller and very handsome. He also sports a bald spot which he covers over with a small comb-over. Yikes.

In other Jack White news, go check out Amrit’s tale of him being hugged by Jack on the LES. I laughed out loud when I read this. Amrit wasn’t the only one to see him hanging around, there was a Jack White and his bald spot sighting at Houston and Bowery as well.

Just wanted to point up that Blood on the Tracks has The Raconteurs’ performance in Newcastle last week…

You can find it here.

In case you haven’t seen, Jack White has a new side project going on called The Raconteurs along with Brenden Benson, Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence. The album, Broken Boy Soldiers, will be available May 16th. For now, the new single ‘Steady, as she goes’ is up for download on itunes. You can also check out the new video for the song on their site. It was directed by indie icon, Jim Jarmusch and is pretty cool.

The NME is raving about The Raconteurs and so am I. I think the single is fantastic; I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album. On March 20th, the band debuted to a sold out, and boistrous, crowd in Liverpool. Just wait until they hit NYC, now that is going to be some crazy shit.

Listen to the awesome track, ‘Steady, as she goes’ here.

Jack White and Brendan Benson have called their side project the Raconteurs and have nearly finished recording their debut album (NME.com). I can’t wait; Brendan Benson is a favourite of mine (since Lapalco, anyway) and a liking for the White Stripes needs no justification (although having said that, I haven’t heard the new album, and new single ‘Blue Orchid’ has left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed; although I did just listen to it again on BBC Collective’s playlist and quite enjoyed it; maybe it’s a slow burner. Talking of that playlist, the Coral’s ‘In the Morning just came on; damn, that’s good, and I don’t really like the Coral).

Download some free mogwai tracks, and bask in their joy(?)

Got a conscience? Got guilt? Buy your music from warchild.

Watch the video for the Shins’ So Says I at platesanimation.com and join me waiting pathetically for the awesome video for the Arcade Fire’s Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) which I’ve seen once before but can’t find again… (sob)

Athlete play for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic (streamed). Prompted by Q‘s article on Athlete this month, I had a listen to some of their second album Tourist on the way into work today. To be honest, I’d downloaded it and then it had got lost in the depths of my iPod, but had never really given it a decent listen (and to be honest, I still haven’t); after Vehicles and Animals, which I really enjoyed even if I thought it was a bit, well, inoffensive, I’d thought that Tourist was just a bit… dull, to be honest. More Coldplay-lite. However, I think I was probably a bit unfair to damn them to the same brain-compartment as post-Good Feeling moan-rockers Travis, as Tourist has some lovely swooping choruses and a few decent hooks, although I don’t think there’s anything as good as the hooks of El Salvador and Vehicles & Animals.

*EDIT to say that after wasting much too much time looking for it, I finallly found the PlatesAnimation video for Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out); thanks go to the guys in the fora at Us Kids Know.*