(thanks to Tuffgong at Ramparts forum!)

Aat 23:00, John and Michael Rother’s performance from 5th August will be shown during the “Tracks” on ARTE. You can get ARTE in German and French over satellite and cable in almost whole Europe.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Johnny Ramone, the lead guitarist with influential U.S. punk rock band the Ramones, died on Wednesday after a five-year battle with prostate cancer, a long-time associate told Reuters.
Ramone, 55, who was born John Cummings, died in his sleep at his Los Angeles home about 3 p.m. EDT, said Arturo Vega, the Ramones’ creative director.

At his bedside were his wife, Linda, as well as rock stars such as Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante and hard-rocker Rob Zombie, Vega said. They had participated in a Los Angeles concert last weekend celebrating the Ramones’ 30th anniversary. Ramone was too sick to attend, and instead spoke to the fans by phone.

Ramone will be cremated in a private ceremony on Thursday, and plans are being made for a public memorial, including the unveiling of a statue, at some stage, Vega said.

The Ramones, famed for playing their high-energy, unpolished songs at breakneck speed, rose to fame in New York City in the early 1970s, paving the way for such British punk rock icons the Sex Pistols and the Clash.

The band made its mark with nihilistic tunes like “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” but it never achieved the commercial success of groups that followed in its wake.

Ramones singer Joey Ramone — born Douglas Hyman — died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer, while bassist Dee Dee Ramone, who was born Douglas Colvin, died from a drug overdose the following year.

Thanks to official site and Universally Speaking…

John Frusciante fans around the world have come together to return a musical gift in their very own sweet way by composing a whole album’s worth of original music inspired by and for John Frusciante!

This “Tribute For John Frusciante by Fans” album will be sent as a real album complete with original cover art also produced by fans and title to the man himself, who is looking forward to listen to them all… but now it’s up to you, all the fans to decide what how this gift should be named and what it should look like!

The album can be downloaded here and you guys can vote on its title and cover here.

Kindly lifted from Michael Rother .de

German/French TV channel “ARTE” will show an interview with Michael Rother, John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer and excerpts of their LA concert at the Knitting Factory of 05 August 2004 in the music program “LIVE in Tracks” on 07 October 2004.

This website has also mentioned that 4th Dimension is offering an interview with mr. Rother as well as some photos from the performance #12…so, congrats to 4thD on getting mentioned :D

This was kindly lifted from Undercover and written by Paul Cashmere.

The second album in John Frusciante’s mammoth five album series will be released on August 10. The second album in the series ‘Automatic Writing’ will be released under the name Ataxia. It comes just two months after ‘The Will To Death’ was released in June by the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist. Ataxia is a collaboration with Josh Klinghoffer (Bicycle Theif) and Joe Lally (Fugazi). “I became friends with the members of Fugazi in Spring of 1999,” John said in a statement. “They were my favorite band in the world and I was going to see them play live as much as possible. I am lucky to have seen them as much as I have. They have had a hugely positive effect on me, both as a musician and as a person. Joe Lally moved to LA from DC in October of last year. Josh Klinghoffer and I had done two experimental electronic shows here in LA at the Knitting Factory, both of which Joe had attended. We scheduled two more shows, thinking we would play songs off the at that time unreleased “The Will To Death” and soon to be released “Shadows Collide With People.” We asked Joe if he would play bass for us, to which he said yes. But I started to realize, very much in the spirit of that period of time, that I was not interested in repeating things I had done, but wished to do things that were new”.

Ataxia is different to his previous solo work and his work with the Chili Peppers. “This record marks the first time I am extensively using the synthesizer in a way that has nothing to do with 80’s synthesizer sounds” he says. “I am using it to treat the vocals, the drums etc. as well as to make noise that has more to do with feedback and computer noise music (like Pita) than with anything people normally associate with the synthesizer. As I said in my bio for “The Will To Death,” I am drawing inspiration for how to approach my modular synthesizer from music that has no synthesizer, such as The Velvet Underground and Max Neuhaus, as well as synthesizer music that has no relationship to the way synths are used in pop music, such as Iaanis Xenakis and David Tudor”.

The third in the series of five records is DC EP, produced by Ian MacKaye. It will come out on September 14. Also this month, Red Hot Chili Peppers Live at Hyde Park featuring John will be released in territories outside the United States.

This was kindly lifted from the official site.

The next three releases after “The Will To Death” will be…

• Ataxia: “Automatic Writing”- Release Date: 10 August 2004

  Ataxia is the brain child of John Frusciante, Josh Klinghoffer of Bicycle Thief, and Joe Lally of Fugazi. The ATAXIA record is part of the John Frusciante solo record series that will continue to be released each month. Tracklisting is as follows:

  • 1. Dust
  • 2. Another
  • 3. The Sides
  • 4. Addition
  • 5. Montreal
• John Frusciante: “The DC EP”- Release Date: 14th September 2004 with the following tracklisting:
  • 1.Dissolve
  • 2. Goals
  • 3. A Corner
  • 4.Repeating
• John Frusciante: Title TBA - 26 October 2004
• John Frusciante: Title TBA - 23 November 2004

* TBA stands for “To be announced”, fyi

Right here, John is the featured artist on Record Collection. Enjoy the read.