Trent Reznor of nine inch nails stated in a recent interview: "I can't think of anything in rock that has excited me lately. The bands that are somewhat exciting seem to be playing it safe and repeating themselves. I'd say Rage Against the Machine is an example of that. They're a really good band, but they keep writing the same song. I hold them in high regard, but I don't hear anything that's really making people think." And the other opinion, from Trey Anastasio of Phish: "The only rock band I'm really interested in right now is Rage Against the Machine. I saw them in Japan, and they just completely floored me. I thought it was incredible. Other than that, someone I would follow would probably be (bluegrass artist) Del McCoury or (jazz trumpeter) Wynton Marsalis."

According to ShoutWeb.com, Rage Against The Machine and the Beastie Boys are planning to kick off their summer tour starting in early August. The Dead Prez are one of the bands who have been recently rumored to be opening for the tour. The site also says that Rage are potentially playing Australia's Big Day Out next January. And, according to pimprock.cjb.net, Rage recorded a cover of Wu-Tang Clan's "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' To Fuck Wit" for the compilation "Loud Rocks". It also said that a cover of Wu-Tang's "Protect Your Neck"� involves people from RATM, KoRn, Limp Bizkit, and RZA. Whether any of this is true remains to be seen.

Zack wasn't at the Mumia Rally held at Madison Square Garden, today. [email protected] talked to Pam Africa after the show, who said that Zack had an "emergency", the nature of which she didn't elaborate.

The live in Mexico City video and DVD that was supposed to be released recently, wasn't. Apparently the industry got a head of itself, and the information was not entirely accurate. I do not know when it will be released.

MTV.com says that DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill is releasing his next solo LP, "Soul Assassins Chapter 2", and guest MCs for the record include Zack de la Rocha. The record is due out this August. (Thanks to Muid)

Someone e-mailed me: Zack shares a mayan tzolkin calendar birthday with his most influential artist, Bob Marley. They are both 4 Wizards. Find out more about Mayan calenders and culture.

Tom spoke out about the LA Janitors April 24th victory: "Rage Against the Machine would like to congratulate the Janitors Union of Los Angeles on their victory in their struggle for better wages and dignity in the workplace. This win over management is a perfect example of what can happen when workers, students, and the community show solidarity in fighting for social justice."

For 21 days, some 4,000 janitors in the Los Angeles area walked out on their jobs and began picketing all over the city, causing disruptions for more than just the office workers in the buildings in which they were employed -- some striking janitors wreaked havoc on local traffic by blocking main thoroughfares through the Los Angeles area.

On Monday, the janitors voted overwhelmingly to ratify a contract offer which would include a 25% wage increase for workers in downtown L.A. and Century City, Calif. and a 26% increase for janitors working in outlying areas, as well as a paid sick leave clause and extended family health care benefits.

While Rage Against the Machine will not be performing at the Rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal on May 7th at Madison Square Garden, Tim Rodrigues noticed that the flyers around NYC promoting the event have recently been updated to say: "Appearing: Mos Def; Zack de la Rocha; Will Villainova." Since all are performing artists, and since Rage Against the Machine was already listed, it seems there's a chance that Zack will be performing. Time will tell.

Preliminary list of performers and dates have been announced for the spoken word "Spitfire" tour - which Zack de la Rocha helped put together as a 4 city tour in the fall of 1998. Thirteen more dates will be scheduled in the coming weeks, with the growing tour hitting venues with a capacity as large as 13,000. West Virginia, Ohio and Illinois are some new cities to the tour.

The line-up for some of the first stops include: Krist Novoselic (censorship), Michael Franti (racism), Andy Dick (drug abuse) and Rosie Perez (AIDS education). Indigo Girls Amy Ray (human rights) and Emily Saliers, as well as Moon Zappa ("The Flaws of Gravity"?) and activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill (deforestation), will be making their first appearances this year. More speakers will be announced as the dates near; Speakers from past years like Perry Farrell, Art Alexakis, Ice-T, Mickey Hart and Woody Harrelson are possible guests, though they are not confirmed. Check out the Spitfire website for more info.

The first seven Spitfire tour dates are:

3/9: Portland, OR, Reed College
4/3: Morgantown, WV, West Virginia University
4/4: Edwardsville, IL, Southern Illinois University
4/5: Bloomington, IL, Illinois Wesleyan University
4/6: Dekalb, IL, Northern Illinois University
4/25: Columbia, MO, University of Missouri
5/12: Cincinnati, OH, University of Cincinnati

Zack de la Rocha appears in the new Dilated People video, "The Platform". He's only in it for a few seconds; he lipsynchs the chorus. (Thanks to P.A. ROTH)

On the new Cypress Hill CD, "Skull & Bones,"�Brad Wilk plays the drums on "Can't Get The Best Of Me," from the "Bones Disc." If you buy the CD�at Wherehouse Music stores it comes with an extra CD, the song "Checkmate" is remixed by Tom Morello. (Thanks to [email protected])

Tim is probably funking it up in his spare time.

The 3 most important artists of the 90s, according to Chuck D:

1: Wu-tang
2: Rage Against the Machine
3: Tupac

Tom is quoted as saying that Rage will do an "extensive USA tour in August/September of this year."

From Chuck D: "Right now I�m finishing lyrics to three projects, a verse each for the Original Jazzy Jeff�s album, Kool Moe Dee, and a remake of BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN with RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and the ROOTS for SPIKE LEE�S new flick." (Thanks to [email protected])

Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello joined some 2,000 janitors in a downtown Los Angeles rally on Wednesday (April 12) evening in support of a 10-day-old janitorial labor strike over fair wages and improved working conditions. "Why should the people who clean the offices make less than the people making them dirty?" questions Morello from behind the rallying cries of "Si, se puede!" [Yes, we can do it!] at the rally. "If you're going to have a society that's based on democracy and human rights, that democracy should extend to the workplace as well. These are people who are just being shit on by management. If management could get away with it, they would pay them a dollar less an hour."

Morello presented the striking janitors, who are demanding a pay raise of $1 per hour each year over the next three years, with a check for $5,000 on behalf of Rage Against the Machine -- longtime activists against political and economical injustices in Los Angeles and around the world. In his brief speech during the candlelight vigil, Morello blamed management and greed as one of America's evil downfalls.

"In a time of record profits, janitors who work full time still must sometimes chose between food and medicine for their children," said Morello. "And in a time of record profits, the company managers have made insulting counter offers, hired scabs, and stood by smiling while striking janitors were pushed around and arrested by the cops. It's proof that we live in an economy where no matter how high the Dow Jones average goes, many Americans are left behind."

The rolling strike is affecting area buildings all across Los Angeles, as striking workers have scheduled rallies in front of prominent buildings from Beverly Hills, Calif. to Pasadena, Calif. and nearly everywhere in between. The strike began on April 3, three days after a five-year master contract covering some 8,500 L.A. janitors expired on March 31. Most janitors in the area make between $6-$8 per hour, even after years of service. Money magazine rates the cost of living in Los Angeles at 128.5 percent the national average.

"They are asking for a dollar an hour more to try to get their wages to the subsistence level while the people that are saying 'No' are making record profits," Morello told allstar. "Their cause is completely just." (From Allstar [story and photos by Kevin Raub] - thanks to Kenny Luong)

"Drum Media" (a local Australian music magazine) is reporting that Rage will be touring Australia in October, instead of May. The change is presumably due to the recording of Zack's solo album. (Thanks to Des Lau)

The new issue of Guitar One has an "AllStars 2000" section which categorizes and ranks different guitar players. Tom Morello was ranked 2nd in the "Innovative Guitar Playing" category (I think), but also had some comments on Tool's Adam Jones, who was ranked 3rd in the "Best Riff Architect" category: "Their music has an intensity and heaviness that takes the absolute best elements of hard rock/heavy metal and drains all the bullshit out of it."

Rage Against the Machine took home the following 5 BAMMIE Awards:

• Outstanding Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album Award: "The Battle of Los Angeles"
• Outstanding Group
• Artist of the Year
• The Arthur M. Sohcot Award for Public Excellence
• Outstanding Guitarist: Tom Morello

While accepting the awards, Tom Morello said that the Fraternal Order Of Police, the largest police organization in the country, proved ineffective in its attempts at several tour stops across the country to counter Rage's outspoken stance in favor of Abu-Jamal, whom the band believes to be innocent: "This police organization is trying to tell you what music is acceptable for you to listen to, what concerts are acceptable for you to go to, and what ideas are acceptable for you to be exposed to," Morello stated. "The reason why they called a boycott of Rage is not because they're afraid of us, but because they're afraid of you, because the more you know the more dangerous you are. But I think that you know a lot already, because despite the boycott, our shows sold out, our record went to number one, and we won a shitload of California Music Awards tonight."

Morello accepted the award on behalf of his bandmates and all the causes his band supports, including the garment workers' union, the Zapatistas, the Anti-Nazi League, and the United Farm Workers. He also thanked the fans, singling out those in the cheap seats at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, for their support: "Thank you very much for making their boycott a complete failure. And thank you very much for telling the pro-censorship forces in no uncertain terms, `Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me.'" (Thanks to Ian Mance among many others)

About 10 minutes into the film "Black and White", there is a scene at the home of the main character with a big screen TV displaying a 5-10 second clip from the video for "C.I.A. (Criminals in Action)", the song Zack recorded with KRS-1 and the Last Emperor for Rawkus Records Lyricist Lounge Compilation.

Here's some upcoming shows at which Rage will play:

• HFStival, Washington DC: May 28th.
• Rock AM Ring Festival: June 9-11
• Heineken Jammin' Festival in Imola, Italy: June 16
• Swedish Hultsfred Festival: June 17
• Provinssirock, Finland: June 18
• Reading/Leeds Festival, UK: August 25 (at Reading) and 27 (at Leeds)
• Neil Young's Bridge Benefit: October (an acoustic show)

Anything else will be posted to this same update, even if it gradually makes it's way down the page due to other news updates. Check back if you're interested. Also: The Beastie Boys website is holding a poll asking fans which band they'd like to see tour with the Beastie Boys. So far, Rage Against the Machine has recieved the most votes. A tour with Rage and the Beastie Boys has been mentioned more than once, so it seems likely for the summer.