Trent Reznor, halfway to an EGOT

Wow. Last night, this guy:


won an Oscar.


Looking awfully cleaned-up with that tux, Trent.

Hole covers Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails

Back from hibernation, with news that Hole (which, recall, is Courtney Love and some people you've never heard of) has been covering Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" and Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" at some of its European tour dates.
Here's "Jeremy"


And here's "Closer,"


And with that, I'm pretty sure the '90s just collapsed upon themselves.

This week in break-ups... Nine Inch Nails, Live, and more

* Nine Inch Nails have announced their "final shows" later this year, though it's not clear if this means they're breaking up. Plus, could Trent Reznor break up with himself?

* In the "staying broken up department," Soundgarden are apparently not getting back together, no matter what the lead singer of Shinedown tells people. They may, however, be working on a b-sides album or a box set, Chris Cornell says.

* Ex-Cranberry Dolores O'Riordan has a new album out August 25, and will be touring in the U.S. this fall. And even though the band got back together for a one-off recently, don't expect a larger reunion. That's probably an OK thing; as good as some of the singles off the first two albums are, the Cranberries had really worn out their welcome by the time they broke up.

* Speaking of wearing out your welcome, Live, who are lucky they have any fans left after the abomination that was 2001's V, are going on a two-year hiatus. Ed Kowalczyk's doing a solo album, and some of the guys are rumored to be doing some sort of side project with the lead singer of Candlebox. While still huge in Belgium and the Netherlands, Live's been dealing with diminished returns in the US for a decade now, and super-fan Chris Daughtry's public support wasn't able to goose their career that much a few years back.

This week in reunions... Jesus Lizard

* The Jesus Lizard are back, and playing the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer. If you're like me, and only vaguely remember the band, get a primer (and a couple of YouTube videos) here.

* Jason Newsted rejoined Metallica for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction a few weeks ago.

* Jane's Addiction have recorded two new tracks which were originally demoed in 1987, with Trent Reznor producing. They're on a new box set.

*The three guys in Soundgarden who aren't Chris Cornell got up on stage with the dude from Tad (remember Tad?), and played a couple of songs in Seattle last month. Since it's 2009, you can of course find grainy YouTube videos of the performance here.

Chris Cornell vs. Trent Reznor

In feuding news, Trent Reznor posted on twitter that Chris Cornell's new album is embarrassing, and then Chris Cornell responded with a Jesus reference.

The fact that two men in their late 30s are using Twitter to have a fight is neither here nor there, I guess.

This week in reunions... Limp Bizkit

* Limp Bizkit have returned... somewhere in South Dakota, there's a guy throwing a party because of this news.

* Jane's Addiction are back together for sure, and are spending the summer touring with Nine Inch Nails, this according to Trent Reznor.

* No Doubt have announced a 45-city reunion tour, beginning May 3. Expect to hear the hits, as there's no word that a reunion album will be out by then.

* Faith No More (minus original guitarist Jim Martin) are reuniting for a European tour, their first major run of shows since the band petered out in 1998. No US dates, though.

* Just to whet the appetites of everybody for this summer, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon appeared on stage together at the NME Awards last week and performed "This is a Low," their first joint appearance since 2000. This makes a great excuse to post "The Universal":

Scott Weiland gets incoherent

Click here if you want to watch Scott Weiland struggle to answer simple questions and generally come off as a lost, broken individual. Sad. Oh, and his new album comes out next week.

UPDATE: Happy is actually getting fairly decent reviews. Spin liked it.

UPDATE 2: Weiland was a little incoherent on the American Music Awards:


In other '90s stars-struggling news, click here if you want to see photos of Nine Inch Nails playing in front of a half-empty arena in Columbus, Ohio. Anecdotal evidence suggests this has been pretty common on the fall tour.

More '90s acts hit the road

None of these really warrant their own post, but there are a glut of '90s acts hitting the road this fall. Some of those recently announced:

* Bad Religion, touring across Canada from Sept. 14 to Oct. 1.

* Everlast, touring the U.S. Sept. 12 to Oct. 29. Did you know he scores the TNT show Saving Grace now? Since it's set in Oklahoma City, they really should have gotten Wayne Coyne, or perhaps Zac Maloy.

* Nine Inch Nails, extending their mammoth summer tour into the fall with a ton of new dates, Oct. 18 through Dec. 13 in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

* Ben Folds, touring all over the US solo after his one-off reunion with the Five, Sept. 24 to Nov. 14.

* Weezer, touring the US (with two dates in Canada), Sept. 23 to Oct. 25.

* Matthew Sweet, doing a very short US run in support of his 10th album, Oct. 20-30. He is coming to Atlanta, though... I just may go.

* And playing the same venue in Atlanta the night before... the Squirrel Nut Zippers! They're doing a short southeastern run Oct. 23-30.

Lots of '90s acts on tour this fall

I've been out of town, and my inbox has filled up with lots of tourdates. So here's a round-up:

* Alanis Morrisette (still not fat), September-November, US and Canada
* Less than Jake w/Rancid and Reel Big Fish, September, Pacific Northwest and Canada
* Nine Inch Nails, now through October, US and Mexico
* Cake, September and October, Canada and the Northeast
* Counting Crows, on tour through October with Maroon 5, US (plus Toronto)
* Jackopierce, September-November, US
* Beck, August 21-October 3, US
* Everlast, August 15 - October 29, US
* Juliana Hatfield, September, major US cities
* Smashing Pumpkins' "20th anniversary tour," August 8-20, Midwest and Southeast
* Liz Phair, performing Exile to Guyville in its entirety, August 27-29, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston
* Everclear, August and September, Midwest and Northeast

In brief: Seven Mary Three, Filter

* Filter's new album is going to be called Anthems for the Damned, and comes out in May. You can listen to the first single, "Soldiers of Misfortune," here.

* Seven Mary Three have a new album, Day & Nightdriving, which came out last month. Check out an interview with them here.

* Early word is that Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails will be headlining Lollapalooza this August in Chicago. Don't expect Thom Yorke to come and sing "Wish" with NiN the way he did "E-Bow the Letter" with REM at the Tibetan Freedom Concert in '97.

* Cool piece over at I am Fuel, You Are Friends about the effort to restore the mural featured on the cover of Elliott Smith's album Figure 8.

*And in the biggest shocker of the year so far, Dave Matthews Band will be touring this summer. (gasp!)