Rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix's life and music will be celebrated beginning June 7 in the late musician's hometown of Seattle, when the Jimi Hendrix gallery opens at the Experience Music Project (EMP). The exhibit is an expanded version of the EMP's 3-year-old Hendrix Gallery with a number of artifacts and memorabilia donated by Experience Hendrix, the company formed by Hendrix's later father Al.The new gallery will include the stage costumes Hendrix wore at his performances at the Isle of Wight and the Rainbow Bridge festival in Hawaii, the guitars he played at Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival, effects pedals, amplifiers, handwritten lyrics, drawings, and more.
As previously reported, Experience Hendrix is also helming a Hendrix tribute album, due later this year on MCA. Musiq, Santana, Chaka Khan, Bootsy Collins, Seal, and Earth, Wind & Fire are expected to participate.
-- Troy Carpenter, N.Y.
Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye has been added to the lineup for this weekend's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, where he will give a spoken-word performance and answer questions from fans. Ursula Rucker, Medusa, and Spearhead's Michael Franti will also be on hand to give spoken-word performances.In related news, Dischord Records will on June 16 release an eight-song demo tape from MacKaye's legendary pre-Fugazi band Minor Threat. The set, which will be released on CD and 7-inch vinyl, includes the tracks "Minor Threat," "Stand Up," "Seeing Red," "Bottled Violence," "Small Man, Big Mouth," "Straight Edge," "Guilty of Being White," and "I Don't Want To Hear It." Dischord is also eyeing a fall release for a Minor Threat live DVD.
-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Modern rock outfit Fiction Plane will make its TV performance debut May 22 on CBS' "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn." The group will play the track "Hate," the first single from its MCA debut album "Everything Will Never Be OK." The cut goes to U.S. modern rock radio outlets on June 23 for airplay consideration.Fiction Plane is in the midst of a U.S. tour with Lifehouse that hits Clifton Park, N.Y., tomorrow (April 22) and runs through May 3 in Baltimore. From there, the group will play a handful of dates with the Samples, and will also perform at Boston radio station WXRV-FM's May 24 festival, which features Johnny Marr & the Healers, Ben Folds, and Rhett Miller.
-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
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