A group of Israeli human rights activists have asked the Pixies to cancel their June 9 concert in Tel Aviv to protest ‘the military occupation the Palestinian people have been living under,’ urging the reunited band to ‘refuse to perform in Israel until there is freedom here.’

The canonization of the Pixies’ beloved Doolittle continues with Beggars Archives’ just-announced plans to release an “Omnibus Edition” of the 1989 album, with a new surround mix, the record’s demos and possibly a Blu-ray included in the expanded box set.

[tweetmeme]Pixies frontman Black Francis will delve into the recording of1989’s Doolittle during a “classic album dissection” on this week’s “Sound Opinions” radio show, aka “the world’s only rock ‘n’ roll talk show.” The episode featuring the rocker also known as Frank Black — hosted by Chicago music critics Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis — [...]

[tweetmeme]Six years into the Pixies’ reunion, the band still hasn’t delivered a new album — yet frontman Black Francis has been madly prolific, and this spring will deliver a new solo album dubbed NonStopErotik even as he begins work on a second Grand Duchy record with his wife, Violet Clark.
The 11-track NonStopErotik, reportedly due out [...]

[tweetmeme]This Thursday, Radio New Zealand will broadcast part of a concert staged last June by reformed indie heroes The Chills to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their breakthrough single “Pink Frost.” The show, airing at 11:06 p.m. New Zealand time (you can find out what time that’ll be in your neck of the woods here), [...]

[tweetmeme]Last night in Los Angeles,  Black Francis hosted a benefit concert called Winston Calling that featured appearances by most of the Pixies — Kim Deal was absent, so Kim Shattuck of The Muffs and Flea filled in on bass — as well as Love and Rockets’ David J, Michael Penn, Tenacious D, OK Go, She [...]

[tweetmeme]Nearly three weeks after playing Doolittle’s “Here Comes Your Man” on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” the Pixies brought their U.S. tour to New York and stopped by “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to perform that album’s opener, “Debaser” (shown above), on last night’s broadcast, and “Hey” for the show’s Web site after it [...]

[tweetmeme]As promised, the Pixies appeared on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” last night to perform the closest thing the band ever had to a pop hit, Doolittle’s “Here Comes Your Man.” It’s a fairly subdued performance — it might have been more fun to rile up the audience with a ferocious tear through “Tame” [...]

[tweetmeme]Midway through the band’s concert in Los Angeles tonight, the Pixies slipped fans a treat via Twitter and Facebook: a free, four-song downloadable live EP of tracks recorded during its ongoing Doolittle 20th anniversary tour.
The band’s Doolittle 20th Anniversary Live Sampler features 320 kbps MP3s of “Dancing the Manta Ray” (a “Monkey Gone to Heaven” [...]

[tweetmeme]With the Pixies set to open the U.S. leg of their Doolittle 20th anniversary tour Wednesday in Los Angeles, we thought we’d offer American fans a bit of a preview of the band’s newly produced on-stage visuals.
For the trek — during which Black Francis and Co. are playing all of their classic 1989 album and [...]