The Vote for Change tour will make its grand finale on October 11th at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, R.E.M., PEARL JAM, DAVE MATTHEWS BAND, JAMES TAYLOR, JACKSON BROWNE, JOHN MELLENCAMP and the DIXIES CHICKS will all play the final show, which was originally scheduled for Miami on the 8th. The tour, which will hit thirty-six swing-state cities, kicks off on the 1st in Pennsylvania . . . SNOOP DOGG will host the second annual Spike TV Video Game Awards live from Santa Monica, California, on December 14th. The Doggfather's new solo album R&G: (Rhythm & Gangsta) The Masterpiece, produced in part by the NEPTUNES, is due November 23rd . . . U.K. rabble rousers SUPERGRASS will play their first U.S. show in years in Philadelphia on September 28th, to coincide with the release of their album Supergrass Is 10. The tour will wrap up in Los Angeles on October 7th . . . TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS' six-week tour for their fourth album, Shake the Sheets, gets underway on October 21st in Baltimore, with opening acts the NATURAL HISTORY and MARY TIMONY . . .
WYCLEF JEAN and EDIE BRICKELL have been added to the lineup of the American Civil Liberties Union Freedom Concert on October 4th at New York City's Avery Fisher Hall. The bill already includes music and spoken-word performances by the likes of MOS DEF, LOU REED, PAUL SIMON, ROBIN WILLIAMS and SEAN PENN, along with a tribute to late comedian LENNY BRUCE . . . San Diego rockers SWITCHFOOT will kick off a two-month tour for their platinum album The Beautiful Letdown on October 7th in Anaheim. The HONORARY TITLE and the FORMAT will open . . .
The Partnership Against Child Abuse is auctioning off a guitar signed by MAROON 5 and lunches with MELISSA ETHERIDGE and American Idol runner-up DIANA DEGARMO at ebay.com/paca through September 24th . . . Sub City Records will release Take Action! Volume 4, a two-CD compilation to benefit the National Hopeline Network suicide hotline, on October 5th. The set features tracks from neo-punk bands NOFX and TAKING BACK SUNDAY and indie fave TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS . . . Grunge heavyweights HELMET have rescheduled their reunion tour, which was postponed after singer/guitarist PAGE HAMILTON broke his collarbone in a mountain-biking. The band's first tour in seven years, behind its new album Size Matters, will launch in Vancouver on October 20th . . .
U2 guitarist the EDGE penned and recorded the theme song to the new cartoon The Batman. The series, airing on the WB network, features actress-turned-rocker GINA GERSHON as the voice of Catwoman . . . R&B singer ALICIA KEYS has cancelled October shows in Jakarta, Indonesia, due to last week's suicide strike on the Australian Embassy. The attack, which has been linked to an al-Qaeda affiliate, killed nine and wounded more than 170 . . . MODEST MOUSE are acting as curators for this year's All Tomorrow's Parties festival, set for November 6th and 7th in Long Beach, California. The SHINS, FLAMING LIPS, LOU REED and the WALKMEN are among the artists scheduled to perform . . .
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE designed a character for the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 videogame, due October 21st. Called "the Hustler," the Timberlake look-alike sports a fedora, two-tone suit and a scar under one eye . . . BLINK-182 will play "Stand Up for Skateparks," an event benefiting the Tony Hawk Foundation. Hosted by Hawk, Sean Penn and David Spade in Studio City, California, the October 3rd show will raise money to build safe skate parks in low-income neighborhoods . . . BRIGHT EYES plan to release two new albums, I'm Wide Awake It's Morning Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, early next year through Saddle Creek Records.
