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** Editor's Note** Because of the holiday, yesterday was a pretty slow news day (with the exception of metal sites). So we got plenty of metal news for you today. 

Priest Drummer Denies Rape
Blabbermouth reports: Former JUDAS PRIEST drummer Dave Holland (photo) revealed in a British court Monday (January 19) that he was bisexual, but denied claims he attempted to rape a special needs teenager while giving drum lessons, according to a British Broadcasting Corporation report. 

Holland, 55, of The Green, Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire, told Northampton Crown Court that he had thought the teenager was bisexual and had told him of his own bisexual background, but denied having any sexual motives for befriending him. 

Holland said: "He was aware that I am bisexual. I believed that he was of the same persuasion as myself. 

"He was very fond of me, the same as I was of him. 

"He would even tell me I was his best friend. He would tell me that he loved me. It wasn't a sexual thing, it was affection. 

"There might have been the odd hug or something like that. 

"I know it is politically incorrect nowadays but kids like to be shown a bit of affection." 

His co-accused, Spiros Laouitaris, 22, of Bourne Crescent, Kings Heath, Northampton, denies four charges of indecent assault. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Newsted Goes Punk
Blabbermouth reports: PAPA WHEELIE, the "stoner punk metal" crew consisting of former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted (a.k.a. Jaylor) on guitar/vocals, Steven Wiig (a.k.a. Swiiglor) on drums and Joe Ledesma (a.k.a. Joefus) on bass, have posted three new tracks recorded at Newsted's The Chophouse studio in October 2003. 

Commented Jason: "The noisiest metal on two wheels is alive and well. Eight years on the trail and counting, session after session, ride after ride, stronger every time. The wheels continue to roll one way...uphill...faster. Here's a taste of where the WHEELIE has been treading most recently." - Click Here for the Full Story 

Click the full story link to hear some real audio of the songs

Amen May
Shoutweb reports: Amen have set a May 18th release date for their forthcoming third album, Death Before Musick. The effort will be released through Daron Malakian of System Of A Down's eatURmusic/Columbia Records imprint. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Bono MLK
Much Music reports: A year after Bono was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to relieve Third World debt and promote AIDS awareness, the U2 frontman has accepted another high honour. The Salute to Greatness Award, presented by the Martin Luther King Centre for Charitable Works, went to Bono this weekend for his vision and humanitarian work. "When Dr. King spoke about having a dream, he wasn't just talking about an American dream. It can be an African dream, an Irish dream," Bono said. "That's why I'm excited to be here." 

Bono credits the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. with getting him through the troubles in Northern Ireland when he was a teenager. In 1984, U2 wrote Pride (In the Name of Love), about the slain civil rights leader. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Coke Isn't It
Ananova reports: Coca-Cola's foray into the world of online music sales got off to a bad start when its website failed to launch. 

Users who visited mycokemusic.com expecting to access its 250,000 tracks were left disappointed. The site still carries the banner "mycokemusic.com goes live on Monday 19th January" across the screen. 

Technical glitches were blamed for the failure. A spokeswoman for the site said: "We have been experiencing some minor technical problems. We are confident it will be up and running by tonight. 

"People who have entered their details will be emailed a link to the site as soon as it goes live. We just want to get everything perfect - although obviously we had hoped to get it done before the launch day." - Click Here for the Full Story 

The site was up and running by the time DIR went to press. But they do offer some confusing pop-up notes about the Microsoft player working on one day and not the next? You can now return to iTunes. 

Cold Truth
I Ate Your Microphone reports: Cold's vocalist Scooter Ward has revealed his thoughts regarding the weekend's reports of the break-up of his band in an official posting to the group's online forum. The message has been left in it's original format to display the full feelings behind his words: 

" SO ITS OFFICIAL.TERRY HAS LEFT US FOR EVENESCANCE.I DONT KNOW WHY AND I DONT WANT TO.I ALSO DONT KNOW WHY AMY THREW MY LIFE OUT THERE LIKE SHE DID.I NEVER DID ANYTHING BUT TREAT HER WITH RESPECT.BUT THIS IS THE LIFE I CHOOSE AND I UNDERSTAND NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE A SECRET.I JUST WISH SHE WOULD HAVE LET ME TELL MY STORY WHEN I WAS READY.AS FOR COLD WE ARE REALEASING WASTED YEARS SOON.WE ARE LOOKING FOR A NEW GUITARIST AND WE WILL BE STARTING ON OUR NEW RECORD WHEN WE GET OFF THE ROAD.TERRY WAS AND IS A GREAT PERSON AND I DONT THINK ANYONE SHOULD EVER SPEAK ILL OF HIM.I LOVE HIM AND HE WAS ONE OF MY BEST FREINDS AND IT HURTS MY HEART TO LOOSE HIM.SORRY EVERYONE." - Click Here for the Full Story 

Win Beck's Pet
Ananova reports: Beck fans are being offered the chance to adopt his pet rabbit. 

The contest is being held in honour of the DVD release of his most recent album Sea Change, says NME.com. 

The package ties a different video to each of the tracks on the album, and the rabbit, Rocket, appears in the clip for Lonesome Tears. 

Fans willing to offer Rocket a good home are being asked to write an essay explaining why Beck should allow Rocket into their custody. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Warped Vandals
RIFTrock reports: The Vandals have confirmed that they will be playing the mainstage of the Vans Warped Tour from June 25th to August 3rd. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Premature Obituary?
Metal Underground reports: Legendary Florida death metallers OBITUARY are in the process of reforming with a view towards releasing a new CD in late 2004 or early 2005. "[Drummer] Donald [Tardy], [guitarist] Allen [West] and I have been working on some new stuff and are thinking about a new album," singer John Tardy told BLABBERMOUTH.NET. "We are just getting started and I know [Donald] has talked to [ex-OBITUARY guitarist] Trevor [Peres] about it, too. Right now we have no timeline or record deal set up, but we are writing songs. If all goes well, [the reunion] would be with all 'original' members [John, Donald, Allen, Trevor and bassist Frank Watkins]." 

Although the reformed OBITUARY would likely perform select live shows before and after the recording of a new studio album, there is no truth to the reports that the band will make an appearance at the Sun N' Steel festival in Tampa in early March. "I don't know anything about a Sun N' Steel show...never heard of it," John said. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Evanescenc-axe
Launch reports: Evanescence lead singer Amy Lee has told Australia's UndercoverNews website that former Cold guitarist Terry Balsamo is now a permanent member of Evanescence. Balsamo stepped in as a temporary replacement late last year for founding axeman Ben Moody, who abruptly departed in the middle of a European tour last October.- Click Here for the Full Story 

Maiden, Jane's Prop Up Biz
Guardian reports: Live music's return to popularity helped Sanctuary Group, one of the world's largest independent music companies, buck the downbeat trend set by the industry last year. 

The group, which counts Iron Maiden, Robbie Williams and Jane's Addiction among its bankable live acts, saw sales for the year to end September leap to £152m from £118m in 2002 and profits rise 5% to £10.8m. 

The group's artist services unit, which covers everything from full scale band and producer management to event booking and merchandising, saw sales almost double to £64m - about £5m more than analysts expected. 

The strong performance helped offset a relatively poor result from Sanctuary's recorded music division, which suffered delays in implementing a distribution deal with BMG and the late release of albums from New York rockers The Strokes and indie favourites Belle & Sebastian. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Quiet Dio
BW&BK reports: Germany's Rock Hard magazine (www.rockhard.de) is reporting on rumors that bassist Jimmy Bain is no longer part of the DIO line-up and has teamed up with drummer Vinnie Appice (Dio, BLACK SABBATH) and guitarist Carlos Cavazo (QUIET RIOT) in a new "still-singerless" project. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Dream More Theatres
BW&BK reports: DREAM THEATER (www.dreamtheater.net) have added more dates to the North American leg of their upcoming tour, dubbed An Evening With Dream Theater/Train Of Thought 2004 World Tour. The dates will have no opening act and will consist of two sets, separated with an intermission. 

Confirmed dates now include: 
March
2 - Seattle, WA at Moore Theater
3 - Portland, OR at Roseland Theater
5 - San Francisco, CA at Warfield Theater
6 - Los Angeles, CA at The Pantages Theater
11 - Denver, CO at Paramount Theater
18 - Milwaukee, WI at Eagles Ballroom
19 - Chicago, IL at Riveria Theater
25 - Toronto, Ontario at Massey Hall
26 - Quebec City, Quebec at Capital Center
27 - Montreal, Quebec at Metropolis
April
1 - Boston, MA at Orpheum Theater
2 - Philadelphia, PA at Tower Theater
3 - New York City at The Theater at Madison Square Garden
- Click Here for the Full Story 

Looks like Monarch is gonna have to drive to LA.

In Stores
RIFTrock reports: Hitting stores on January 19th: 
Limebeck - Hi Everything Is Great
Rocket Science - Contract High
Kevin Devine - Make The Clocks Move

On January 20th: 
Blue Sky Mile - Sands Once Seas
Special Goodness - The Land, Air, Sea
Statistics - Leave Your Name
Black Keys - The The Moan 4 track CD
Boyskout - School of Etiquette
Lost Patrol - The Song About Running Away
Harkonen - Dancing EP
Red Tyger Church - Free Energy
- Click Here for the Full Story 

Corgan, Jackson Browne Benefit
Billboard reports: Billy Corgan, Jackson Browne and Los Lobos are among the artists who will contribute to the tribute album "Por Vida," which will help singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo (news) pay his Hepatitis C medical bills. 

The latest in a series of U.S. benefit concerts for Escovedo will take place Jan. 25 in Charlotte, N.C. Whiskeytown alumna Caitlin Cary leads the bill of more than 15 acts that will perform at the Double Door Inn. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Pennywise Road
Billboard reports: Veteran California punk rock band Pennywise will return to the road in Atlanta Wednesday for the first of 19 shows in the eastern half of the U.S. 

The tour comes in support of Pennywise's seventh album, 2003's "From the Ashes." Released in September, the Epitaph set debuted at No. 54 on the Billboard 200. It has sold 68,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Worthless News: Kravitz Flies Away
Herald Sun reports: NICOLE Kidman has split from boyfriend Lenny Kravitz after a row about the singer's excessive partying and womanising. 

The couple separated after the rock star cancelled a holiday to Australia with Kidman and her two adopted children. 

Kravitz, who gave Kidman a solitaire diamond two months ago, was due to meet her family but instead went to Miami. 

Kidman, 36, decided to end the relationship after she discovered the singer had been flirting with actor Michelle Rodriguez at a party in Miami. - Click Here for the Full Story 

A rock star partying and womanizing? I'll be damned.

Them Damn Yankees
KNAC.com reports: Ted Nugent will return to touring this year, and there is a possible Damn Yankees reunion � which would feature Ted, guitarist/singer Tommy Shaw (Styx) and bassist/vocalist Jack Blades (Night Ranger), in which Styx and Night Ranger would open. More info on that as it is confirmed. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Yes, this was reported by VH1 last week, KNAC is a little slow in the news department sometimes and we missed it in the middle of the whole chainsaw thing. 

Get Up Preview
Vagrant Records reports: Get Up Kids and listen... Vagrant Records is giving fans a full preview of the new album by The Get Up Kids'. 

Click on the full story link below to check out streams from the CD. The album "Guilt Show" will be in stores on March 2nd. - Click Here for the Full Story 

Sex Pistol Reality TV
AP reports: As Johnny Rotten once snarled, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" 

To the dismay of aging punk fans, a British television company announced Monday that the former Sex Pistols singer and angry punk icon � now known by his real name, John Lydon � has agreed to appear in the reality show "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" 

"I'm gobsmacked," said Tony Wilson, a British journalist and music entrepreneur who knows Lydon. "I'm shocked, but I have faith ... I'm sure he's doing it for the right reasons." 

Other punk fans were appalled. 

"The announcement made me feel instantly old. ... If it has come to this for the prince of punk, then mediocrity really does get us all in the end," wrote Lee Randall in The Scotsman newspaper. 

In The Guardian, rock critic Charles Shaar Murray said "minds boggled" when rumors of Lydon's participation surfaced. "Whatever happened to punk rock, maaaaan?" 

"I'm a Celebrity," which begins its third latest run Jan. 26 on the commercial ITV network, strands C-list celebs in the Australian jungle, subjects them to a series of icky trials involving spiders and snakes and allows the public to vote them off the show one by one. 

The show has proved a hit in Britain, drawing up to 14 million viewers � nearly a quarter of the population. A U.S. version on ABC last year fared less well. - Click Here for the Full Story