Iron Maiden [ tickets ] has announced two new midsize-venue shows for January, following the success of its U.K. arena dates in November. They are to play at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire on Jan. 6 and 7. Tickets go on sale on Saturday (11/11).

Pollstar reported that the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi has had its liquor license suspended for a week after a Korn [ tickets ] concert that included a cartoon depicting sex acts.

The surviving members of the Beatles, along with John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, will launch www.thebeatles.com on Monday (11/13), CNN.com reported. The site reportedly will host songs with "special interactive features."

The BoDeans have sued Boston Beer Co.--which has come out with BoDean's Twisted Tea, among other BoDean's products--in an attempt "to stop the company from capitalizing on the band's name or doing anything to give the impression that the drinks and band are connected," The Associated Press reported. AP quotes the lawsuit as saying that "One ad includes a representation of guitars hanging on defendant's BoDean's malt liquor bottles."

Webnoize reported that jazz label Unity Entertainment has sued MP3.com for copyright infringement.

Reprise Records will release Neil Young [ tickets ]'s "Red Rocks Live"--a concert recorded in September at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado--on VHS and DVD on Dec. 5.

From the Cleveland Free Times article on Landry Simmons, owner of Simmons Time Records:

[Simmons serves] what he labels "dry areas," broad swathes of the Midwest and Upper Plains from Iowa to Idaho that fall outside major-label marketing zones. Due to the spread-out populace of these regions, it’s difficult for majors to market these locales, and ultimately not very cost-effective; thus, they largely get ignored. To Simmons, these regions are his bread and butter. He hits all the towns that no one else does. ...

Three years ago, Simmons, a lifelong hip-hop fan, invested $300 to record an album by a trio of rappers--the Hellish Made Clique--that he heard rhyming in a friend’s living room. A deputy at the 1st District sheriff’s office, Simmons initiated the project as little more than a hobby. Disappointed by the production of the album, he decided to put it on the Internet, hoping that would mask some of the sound flaws. A year after the debut from HMC was finished, Simmons unexpectedly got a check in the mail for $4,700. Then a pile more. The next thing he knew, the band was getting over 1,500 downloads a week, mostly from people in [small towns], places where the Internet was the kids’ only access to rap.