Indie singer-songwriter Stew’s musical Passing Strange has been nominated for 7 Tony Awards. [NYTimes]

The war of words between Jay-Z and Oasis’ Noel Gallagher continues. [Stereogum]

David Byrne is going to turn a Manhattan building into a musical instrument. [Spinner]

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The cinematic sounds of Arcade Fire will score the next film by Richard Kelly, who previously wrote and directed “Donnie Darko.” [The Guardian]

Tony Kostrzewa, founder of Red Rhino — a vital shop, label, and distributor that emerged during the punk era — has passed away. [The Independent]

In other sad news, Larry Levine — the recording engineer who helped build Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound in the 1960s — died last Thursday. [The LA Times]

A live-action musical film of “Fraggle Rock” is in the works, with Ahmet Zappa serving as executive producer. [Variety]

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Carrie Underwood was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry by Garth Brooks on Saturday. [countrystandardtime.com]

Speaking of American Idol, David Archuleta’s father Jeff has been banned from the show’s rehearsals. [The Huffington Post]

Snoop Dogg collaborated with Willie Nelson on his upcoming “My Medicine” video, and worked with composer Lalo Schifrin on a new album, tentatively titled Malice in Wonderland. [VH1.com]

Meet Neil Young, a trapdoor spider that lives in a burrow and lines its nest with sticky silk. [msnbc.com]

Oasis doesn’t go through drummers as quickly as Spinal Tap did, but Zak Starkey is out of the band after a “falling out” with Noel Gallagher. Beats spontaneous combustion, anyway. [NME.com]

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Joseph Arthur’s fans can download free music from his latest project, Bag is Hot, at the songwriter’s Tumblr site. “Like fresh popcorn for all the kids to grab,” Arthur explains. “Digital hands eating the digital popcorn.” [Billboard.com]

Thom Yorke doesn’t approve of Radiohead’s upcoming Greatest Hits album, which will be issued by the group’s former label, EMI Records. [NME.com]

The recently reunited Gang of Four is now a gang of two, with bassist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham announcing their exit from the group. [CMJ.com]

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The rumors are true: the next in what seems to be a trend of sneak release attacks, Beck is putting out a new album sometime soon, and Danger Mouse is producing it. [Billboard.com]

Heralding the inevitable decline of the festival, Vegoose has been canceled this year. [Pitchfork]

That hasn’t stopped the Siren Music Festival from announcing its initial line-up, however. [Village Voice]

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Kudos to The New Yorker for delivering the most deserved (and most surprising) magazine feature of recent years. In its April 28th issue, Burghard Bilger writes about searching for real folk music in an age when no area in America is so remote that it remains untouched by the broad culture. (It stands to reason that the oddest and most interesting folk music is created in a cultural vacuum.) Bilger does so partly by relating the histories of two of folk music’s biggest fans nowadays — Dust-To-Digital label founder Lance Ledbetter and field-recording expert Art Rosenbaum. –>

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Broken Social Scene and others are to play the 8th Annual Village Voice Siren Music Festival. [Village Voice]

Legendary Scottish pop duo the Vaselines are reforming for their first shows since 1990! First up a gig at Scotland’s Tigerfest on May 16th, then they’ll be playing Sub Pop’s 20th Birthday bash in July. Also newly announced for SP20’s lineup are Eric’s Trip and Les Thugs. [NME/Sub Pop]

The Police will play the last show of their reunion tour in NYC. [NME]

Italian conductor Ricardo Muti named music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. [Sun Times]

Neil Young unveils his Java/Blu-ray multi-media archive. [CNet]

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Lily Allen is writing a TV comedy with help from the stars of BBC3’s “Gavin and Stacey.” [NME.com]

You should really buy Elvis Costello’s Momofuku. But if you can’t, you can still stream the entire album at Lost Highway Records’ website. [Stereogum.com]

Beck is rush-releasing his new album, which was produced by Danger Mouse and features collaborations with such artists as Cat Power. Look for the record in the next 4-6 weeks. [MTV.com]

A Clockwork Orange was a very different film project before Stanley Kubrick climbed aboard, with Mick Jagger vying for the lead role and the Beatles offering to record the soundtrack. [Guardian.co.uk]

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