As you can probably tell, we pay infinitely more attention to live music than studio work. We aren’t the ones that get all excited for a release date of a new album, but this week’s batch of releases is absolutely mindblowing.

The return of both Crowded House and Smashing Pumpkins is just the tip of the iceberg. Interpol and Spoon, both among my favorite indie bands, also released killer new discs yesterday. And, finally, our boy Patton Oswalt dropped Werewolves and Lollipops, his first disc of comedy for Sub Pop. Now compare that batch of all-star releases to next week’s, when the new Suzanne Vega, Rooney and Yellowcard albums bring us right back to the usual batch of bullshit.

• The Boredoms’ 77BoaDrum was a major success
• Confessions of a Bootlegger [via Largehearted Boy]
• Levon Helm is going for a younger audience
• Umphrey’s McGee’s Podcast #48 includes the best from February
• Will Kings of Leon survive the marriage of their drummer?
• Slash will be a character in Guitar Hero III
• Jesse Jarnow kicks down the 23rd edition of his Frow Show podcast
• Girl Talk took the crowd at the Montreal Jazz Fest out on the streets for a bonus show 
• Bruce Hornsby announced tour dates that run until May of 2008
• Neddy looks back at the H.O.R.D.E. Festival
• R.E.M. worked with their label and the fans to provide a unique view of the recent shows in Dublin
• Liborio’s Garage shares a tasty Zappa soundboard from 1984
• Heaven and Hell have added a few dates to their Sabbath-riffic fall tour
• Blondie is lending some songs to Desperately Seeking Susan, a new musical set to debut in London’s West End

And finally, make sure to check out some new (old) tracks from Big Red — one song from The Horseshoe Curve and one song from the The Lucius Beebe EP have been added to Trey Anastasio’s MySpace. This ain’t the shit you love to hate, this shit is the shit. Get on over there and remember the 10-piece.

Soul music legends including Issac Hayes, Booker T and the MGs and Mavis Staples are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stax record label tonight in Memphis. We’re not sure why, but tickets are still available for the show, which takes place at the legendary Orpheum Theater. Proceeds from the show will benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the world’s only soul music museum, located at the site of the old Stax headquarters on Memphis’ historic McLemore Avenue.

Otherwise, you can always count on the ‘net to provide many diversions:

• Zappa Plays Zappa will focus on material from Overnite Sensation and Apostrophe on their upcoming tour
• The Glastonbury Festival has gotten off to a rainy start
• The record companies are trying some new techniques
• Take the Discontinued Ben and Jerry’s Flavor or Band I Found On MySpace quiz
• Large Hearted Boy compiled Bonnaroo audio and video downloads
• Imeem announces a new partnership with a few of the majors
• Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney are appearing together on Larry King Live — Cleveland, you’re on!
• New Order is dunzo
• Girl Talk and Dan Deacon are touring together this fall
• Heaven and Hell added a bunch of September dates to their schedule
• Downtown Records signed Spank Rock to a four-album deal
• Jesse Jarnow kicks down the 22nd edition of his Frow Show podcast
• Rock Band, a video game from the makers of Guitar Hero, will feature a Stratocaster-shaped controller
• Umphrey’s McGee won over a new fan on their California trip

Have a great weekend, and join me in a round of singing Happy Birthday to HT’s fearless leader Ace Cowboy!

I learned it from snorting you! Turns out, Keith Richards’ longtime manager claims the skeletal rocker was totally kidding when he said “I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow.” Joke or not, the whole incident begs the question: Which dead person would you most like to cremate and snort? We’ll take Margaux Hemingway. Not sure why.

• Jack White: A to Z
• Paul Weller spits on Sting
• Rock Band: Guitar Hero folks branch out into other virtual instruments
• Springsteen set to release a live Seeger Sessions DVD
• Another new edition of Taper’s Section from the Grateful Dead
• They Might Be Giants are back with a new album and a tour
• An Aquarium Drunkard kicks down some CSNY demos from 1969
• A geography-related tour: Chicago and the re-united America 
• Some backstage stories from concert industry vet Bob Sullivan
• Thrillist reviews the new Highline Ballroom…briefly
• Heaven and Hell’s Radio City concert was recorded for a live CD/DVD
• Jake Krolick reviews the Cold War Kids recent Philadelphia performance
• Is GnR’s Chinese Democracy leaking? Probably not. Dicks.

Anyone catch this weekend’s bitchin’ Austin City Limits with Michael McDonald and Joss Stone (I’m told it’s pronounced ‘yoss’, like ‘yogging’)? There’s one more replay later this week, so set your TiVos. Serious Sweet Freedom action.  

Every week in Wednesday Intermezzo we throw you a link to the latest edition of the Grateful Dead’s Taper’s Section. If you haven’t been clicking on that link and downloading all the tracks on the page, you are truly missing out.

David Lemieux and the archive staff are releasing tasty rare nugget after nugget each and every week. For example, this week’s edition features the band attempting a take on John Lennon’s Watching The Wheels from a 1995 rehersal.

Everyone jumped on the Dead when the organization put the kibosh on downloading shows from Archive.org, yet nobody’s giving them credit for making chestnuts from the vault available free on a weekly basis. So we will… ::golfclap::

• Heaven and Hell have added a batch of US dates
• Blogcritics looks at songs to drive by
• Pitchfork talks to Bjork about her new album Volta
• Spoon has announced a Northeast run of shows towards the end of April
• The top 10 corporate moments in rock
• It appears the Black Crowes are putting together a summer tour with the announcement of their gig at Bethlehem’s Musikfest
• Abbey Road studios will be host to a new Sundance Channel TV show
• ZZ Top returns to the road after a two year hiatus (I bet they were looking for some Tush)
• Everyday Companion’s latest podcast examines the rarest of rare Widespread Panic tunes
• The National Post compares the music of Wagner, Meat Loaf, and Arcade Fire (via Large Hearted Boy)
• Superfly announces their Jazzfest lineup
• How to master your iTunes EQ

What do you got for us? Or are you just gonna sit there and take take take?

Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne yesterday announced their plans for the 2007 edition of Ozzfest. And so it is decreed: This year’s festival will be free of charge.

“Ozzy’s been touring for 30 odd years and he’s done very well, and just wanted to give something back,” Sharon said.

What’s the hustle, the con, the ruse? In this age of exorbitant ticket prices, how will the Osbournes be able to finance a major tour like this?

The tour starts in San Bernardino July 7 and will continue through 25 cities including San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Charlotte, Atlanta, West Plam Beach [sic] and Nashville. A final confirmed list of cities and dates is forthcoming.

How this will work logistically is unclear, but it will be a ticketed event and is a Live Nation tour.

Live Nation doesn’t even know the definition of the word free, so we’ll believe it when the tour and lineup are finalized in about two weeks. We’re guessing if it truly is free, the corporate sponsorship will be so rampant that you won’t be able to walk around the venue without getting hit in the face with a Verizon or Chevy sign. Or perhaps Sharon and Ozzy were just sick about hearing about how fucking sick the Heaven and Hell tour is going to be and wanted to steal some attention.

(Many thanks to The_Rick for the heads up on this story)

The Ronnie James Dio-led version of Black Sabbath has recorded an album and will embark on a world tour as Heaven and Hell. It’s a different type of H & H.

The newly named band today announced the first 12 dates of the tour: Ronnie, Tony, Vinny and Geezer will play 11 Canadian dates before heading to a real country to play Radio City Music Hall. Can you imagine what Radio City will look like when these guys are done playing? I’m envisioning shit-smeared seats on eBay.

Pollstar has further details on this reunion of sorts (yet another):

It looks a lot like a Black Sabbath reunion, but the band is called Heaven And Hell. Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice will tour together for the first time in 15 years under the new name. The trek kicks off with 11 Canadian shows, along with an exciting one-night-only performance New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

The 12 current dates start March 11 in Vancouver and end March 30 with the New York City show. The Heaven And Hell world tour will continue until the end of the year with shows in the U.S., Asia and Europe. New dates will be announced shortly. Megadeth will be on all dates, previewing new material from their upcoming release, United Abominations. The tour also marks the return of Down, featuring Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown of Pantera, as well as Pepper Keenan of Corrosion Of Conformity.

Heaven And Hell’s heavy metal icons are also scheduled to release a new anthology entitled Black Sabbath: The Dio Years. The release date is set for April 3.

Megadeth, Down and Heaven & Hell — that’s gonna be a fucking nasty show.

Related Video: Ronnie James Dio sounds off about Heaven and Hell