Pearl Jam 20 Destination Weekend ~ In celebration of their 20th anniversary, Pearl Jam will host and headline an unmissable 'destination weekend' on September 3-4 2011 at Alpine Valley, East Troy (Wisconsin, USA). In addition to Pearl Jam, many friends and colleagues will perform over the weekend, including The Strokes, Queens Of The Stone Age, Mudhoney, Glen Hansard, Liam Finn, John Doe, Joseph Arthur, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, David Garza, Star Anna and the young talents The Young Evils and thenewno2 (feat. George Harrison's son). More special guests will be revealed in the coming months. The first batch of tickets, fan club members only, went on sale a few days ago on the band's official website during a fierce pre-sale which caused the whole site to crash several times. Other tickets will be made available by Ticketmaster starting June 4. A dedicated website has also been created for all the info related to the event (www.pj20.com).

Canada tour in September ~ After the "Pearl Jam 20 Destination Weekend" the band, accompanied by their friends Mudhoney, will embark on a ten-date Canadian tour starting Sept. 7 in Montreal and ending in Vancouver on Sept. 25. More info about the pre-sale and the complete schedule of the Canada tour can be found here.

"Pearl Jam Twenty", Cameron Crowe's film about Pearl Jam ~ As previously anticipated, Cameron Crowe’s “Pearl Jam Twenty” will be released in September. The documentary originated from more than 1,200 hours of rarely and never-before-seen footage, over 24 hours of recent interviews with the band, as well as live footage of their concert performances. "Twenty Pearl Jam" will enjoy a unique, simultaneous worldwide theatrical release in select cities and venues in September and thereafter will roll out in an accelerated fashion. It will also be presented at the 68th annual Venice Film Festival (as anticipated by Crowe himself on his blog) and, probably, at the Toronto Film Festival. The film’s U.S. television premiere will be Friday, October 21st at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), as part of the prestigious PBS “American Masters” series, airing during the first-ever PBS Arts Fall Festival. Pearl Jam is also releasing a "Pearl Jam Twenty" soundtrack and book of the same name, to accompany the film. The soundtrack is comprised of a selected track listing by Cameron Crowe. The soundtrack and DVD of the film will be released worldwide by Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment, with the soundtrack released simultaneous to the film in September and the DVD following with a release in October. The "Pearl Jam Twenty" book, compiled and written by veteran music writer Jonathan Cohen with Mark Wilkerson, will include a foreword by Cameron Crowe (and material from all his own band interviews) as well as original interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Dave Grohl.

Pearl Jam in studio with Brendan O'Brien ~ Mike McCready, via his Twitter account, has revealed that Pearl Jam is currently in the studio with Brendan O'Brien to begin working on their new album (photo). Tom Morello (guitar for Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave) made a short visit to the band (as evidenced by this photo posted by Mike).

"Water On The Road" trailer and "Ukuele Songs" pre-listening ~ A short trailer of the forthcoming DVD/Blu-ray "Water On The Road" by Eddie Vedder has been posted on Pearl Jam's official YouTube channel:

"Ukulele Songs" by Vedder is available for pre-listening at the following link.

UPDATE 06/03/2011: "Can't Keep", the new video by Ed Vedder is available here:

‎Vedder's “Ukulele Songs” has debuted #1 on the iTunes Top 10 Albums chart in Italy and in US!

Stone Gossard & Matt Cameron news ~ After producing the new album by Priestbird, Stone Gossard is currently busy recording the new Brad album, which will probably be released in October. Matt Cameron, along with his bandmates, is putting the finishing touches on the new Soundgarden record before embarking on their U.S. tour in July.

In support of his second solo album, scheduled for May 31, Ed Vedder has announced an American tour that begins on June 15 in Providence and ends at the Benaroya Hall in Seattle on July 15. Glen Hansard (The Swell Season, The Frames) will be supporting Vedder on all US tour dates.

Below are the scheduled dates :

15 June Providence, RI, Providence Performing Arts Center (PAC)
16 June Boston, MA, The Wang Theatre
18 June Hartford, CT, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
21 June New York, NY, Beacon Theatre
22 June New York, NY, Beacon Theatre
25 June Philadelphia, PA, Tower Theatre
26 June Detroit, MI, Fox Theatre
28 June Chicago, IL, The Chicago Theat
29 June Chicago, IL, The Chicago Theatre *
1 July St. Louis, MO, Fox Theatre
2 July Minneapolis, MN Orpheum Theatre
5 July San Diego, CA, Copley Symphony Hal
6 July Long Beach, CA, Terrace Theater
8 July Los Angeles, CA,The Wiltern
9 July Santa Barbara, CA, Santa Barbara
11 July Oakland, CA, The Paramount Theatre
12 July Oakland, CA, The Paramount Theatre *
14 July Portland, OR,Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
15 July Seattle, WA, Benaroya Hall
16 July Seattle, WA, Benaroya Hall *

* recently added dates

Full details on pre-sales are available on pearljam.com. (Photo credit: Danny Clinch)

*UPDATE* "Ukulele songs" cover art revealed:

Ed Vedder soon releasing a new solo record? ~ Here's what Ed Vedder said during an interview with radio AM 1300 The Zone in Austin (Texas) on January 27: "I’ve been playing ukulele – actually it was the first instrument I ever picked up when I was a little kid because someone was nice enough to give me one at a flea market or something. Now it’s evolved into a whole bunch of songs [...] and I’ve been trying to put together a batch of songs to put out on a real release, and that might even happen soon."

Vs/Vitalogy artwork & tracklist ~ Amazon.co.uk revealed what apparently could be the artwork of the Vs/Vitalogy reissue box set (link). Amazon.com has published the tracklists: "Vs" should include the previously unreleased "Hold On" (maybe from the 4/11/1994 Boston show? - watch it here), "Cready Stomp" (an instrumental?) and the well-known Victoria Williams' cover, "Crazy Mary". "Vitalogy" will contain a guitar/organ version of "Betterman", an alternate take of "Corduroy" and the "Nothigman" demo. Both albums have been remastered last year by Adam Ayan. As already mentioned a few days ago, the long-awaited box set could be out March 29, 2011. We await confirmation from the band's official website.

Tour, tracklist & television appearance for Tres Mts. ~ "Three Mountains", the first album by Tres Mts., the new side project involving Jeff Ament, Doug Pinnick (Kings X) and Richard Stuverud (Three Fish, Fastbacks), will be available March 8 in digital format, March 15 on CD and March 22 on vinyl (all three versions are available for pre-order on pearljam.com). The band will play a few U.S. tour dates supporting this release (show dates, locations and prices available here) and will be the musical guests of the TV program Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 24. Mike McCready, who has played guitar on the band's debut album, will also join them on tour.

TRES MTS "Three Mountians"

1. My Baby
2. Oh Lord!
3. God Told Me
4. Makes Me Feel
5. Holes in the Road
6. In the Middle
7. Life
8. Afrosheena
9. She's My New Song
10. Utah
11. Break
12. Mystery
13. She's My New Song (Reprise)

Pearl Jam's 20th anniversary ~ In the past few days, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready disclosed other details on Pearl Jam's plan for the 20th anniversary, via radio interviews (Trail1033 and Triple M) and press (Rolling Stone). Here's what they had to say:

- Pearl Jam's manager Kelly Curtis began to think about Pearl Jam’s plan for the 20th anniversary of their first album during a drunken night in Las Vegas on Pearl Jam's 10th anniversary,
- Pearl Jam were initially reluctant to celebrate their twentieth anniversary but Kelly Curtis slowly persuaded them. “It’s not something they normally think about,” says Curtis. “They’re always thinking about the next record – not old stuff.”
- A box set with deluxe editions of "Vs." and "Vitalogy" (Amazon already lists a release date: March 29) will include previously unheard bonus tracks (including an alternate version of “Corduroy” and a guitar-and-organ version of “Betterman”), an entire 1994 Boston show (probably the historic April 12 show) and a cassette from their Monkeywrench radio series,
- The band has been working with Cameron Crowe on his "Pearl Jam Twenty" documentary. Jeff Ament saw a rough cut and defined it “Cameron’s love letter to us – but it’s equal parts complimentary and really painful." The movie also chronicles the Rosklide tragedy. "It was just really hard to watch,” said Ament,
- Pearl Jam are planning a massive “weekend bash,” as Curtis calls it, somewhere in the middle of the country with the help of their friends and bands they love. Jeff Ament said: "We’ve been working on trying to do something like this for a few years but it’s still in the infancy stage. I think we’re going to do some shows this fall, not really sure where we’re going to do the shows but I think we’d like to include at least kind of the first version of what this festival could be like. I think we’re going to try to include that in with that group of shows. But it’s a full on work in progress right now there’s lots of hurdles to get over at this point to get it right. I think we want it to be semi right before we do it.” It will probably be a two-day event involving multiple bands and Pearl Jam headlining both nights,
- The group plans special sets at the festival, but they aren't plannign to perform any of their classic albums straight through. "We once did 'Ten' start to finish and it didn't work very well," said Jeff,
- Pearl Jam are currently working on new songs,
- Jeff Ament will release his second solo album when he will be free from his current commitments with Pearl Jam,
-McCready said the following regarding Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron: "We are now complete with him. He’s made us last longer for sure." On March 22, Matt Cameron's other band,Soundgarden,will release a live album documenting their 1996 tour, entitled "Live on I5" (more details here). The band led by Cornell was recently sighted at Pearl Jam headquarters recording new material (photo on the right - to see more, click here).

Tres Mts. ~ "Three Mountains", the first album by Tres Mts., Jeff Ament's new side project with Doug Pinnick (Kings X) and Richard Stuverud (Three Fish, Fastbacks), will be available March 2011. The album was recorded over the past seven years. Check out Tres Mts. on FaceBook to get a free track, "My Baby".

Pearl Jam 20th anniversary ~ 2011 will be a big year for Pearl Jam, as it will be entirely dedicated to the celebration of their first 20 years together. Their official site has started to unveil plans for the activites that are taking place in the coming months:
- "Live On Ten Legs," a live album recorded between 2003 and 2010 (more info here), will be released on January 18. A live promo video for "Got Some" (link) and a short commercial with voice over by Ed Vedder (link) have just been released;
- Deluxe editions of the second and third album of the band ("Vs" and "Vitalogy") will finally see the light;
- Cameron Crowe's film, titled "Pearl Jam Twenty," will be released (supposedly in September 2011). It will document their first twenty years of activity and will be accompained by a soundtrack and a book. Amazon is already listing the book's release date: September 13, 2011;
- A '20th anniversary destination weekend bash' should take place 'sometime in late summer'. At the moment there is no further information about either if it will be the 'ultimate concert' or a smaller, not so definitive event. If we hear of any updates, we will inform you as soon as possible;
- During 2011 there will also be 'a number of special events' and 'new, unexpected releases'.

Ten Club membership: digital or analog? ~ The Ten Club has announced a new, double option for those who subscribe to the band's official fan club. The first option, named "Analog" (US $40 / INTL $50), consists of:

- Full Website Access
- PJ Radio Access (Streaming only)
- Holiday Single MP3
- Deep Magazine PDF
- Members-only Contest Eligibility
- Members-only Merch Discount Events
- Access to Members-only Merch
- Access to Fan Club only Ticket Pre-sales
- Free Bootleg Download
- Limited Edition Vinyl 45 Holiday Single
- Limited Edition Hard Copy of Deep Magazine
- Limited Edition Ten Club T-Shirt - New Design Each Year

The secondo option, named "Digital" (US/INTL $20 ), consists of:

- Full Website Access
- PJ Radio Access (Streaming only)
- Holiday Single MP3
- Deep Magazine PDF
- Members-only Contest Eligibility
- Members-only Merch Discount Events
- Access to Members-only Merch
- Access to Fan Club only Ticket pre-salesA

All memberships purchased in 2010 will keep the same benefits until it's time for a 2011 renewal.

Pearl Jam back to studio in spring 2011? ~ In an interview with thecomet.com, Stone Gossard said that Pearl Jam 'are working on an album', while Jeff Ament, interviewed exclusively by Italian magazine Jam (January 2011), revealed that the band is considering to return to the studio in spring 2011, having already prepared 15/20 new songs.

Ed Vedder on the soundtrack of Cameron Crowe's new film? ~ Ed Vedder, along with Neil Young, could be on the soundtrack of Cameron Crowe's new film, called "We Bought A Zoo." In an interview with MTV, the movie's leading male protagonist Matt Damon revealed that he received a compilation of the soundtrack attached to the script featuring 'a lot of Eddie Vedder, a lot of Neil Young'. At the moment we do not know if Vedder and Young wrote new songs specifically for the movie or if the material was taken from their back catalogue (actually, neither artist is confirmed to be on the soundtrack to the final film, and the songs were more likely given to Damon to suggest the tone that Cameron Crowe is aiming for).

Ed Vedder for Club Hot Pad ~ Ed Vedder, along with several other artists, has designed a set of potholders for the Club Hot Pad. More info can be found here.

Mike McCready contributes to Hawaii Five-0 Score ~ Mike McCready, already familiar with this kind of projects, contributed to the score of an episode entitled "Ke Kinohi" of American television series Hawaii Five-0 that was broadcast on January 3, 2011.

Jeff Ament's 2010 Top Ten ~ The website of US indie store Easy Street Records has posted Jeff Ament's 2010 personal Top Ten. Here's the list: