Tom Verlaine, the frontman of foundational late-’70s New York City art-punk quartet Television, and a dazzling and hugely influential guitarist, died Saturday.

R.E.M. will continue its deluxe album reissue series this fall with an expanded 25th anniversary edition of New Adventures in Hi-Fi, the record the band made while touring 1995’s Monster and the final LP recorded before co-founder Bill Berry left the band. Full details and tracklists right here.

Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe performed a pair of new songs during a short opening set for Patti Smith at New York City’s Webster Hall, performing the electronics-backed “Your Capricious Soul” and “Drive to the Ocean” with help from Andy LeMaster of Now It’s Overhead. Watch them here.

No stranger to interpreting other artists’ work, Patti Smith in recent weeks has taken to covering Midnight Oil’s 1987 crossover smash “Beds are Burning” in concert, leading up to the familiar song with her own 3-minute spoken-word intro about the Aboriginal people of Australia. Watch it here.

On Thursday night, New Order’s Bernard Sumner — joined by bandmates Phil Cunningham and Tom Chapman — re-teamed with the legendary Iggy Pop for a short three-song set at the annual Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. See footage from that performance here.

Just weeks after revealing “I think I will sing again” in a TV interview, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe took to the stage Monday night in New York City as the unannounced opening act for Patti Smith at Webster Hall, performing a six-song set that included two numbers by his old band and four covers.

New Order returns to American soil this March to perform at the 24th annual Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert, joining Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Joe Walsh and more at New York City’s Carnegie Hall to raise money for the nonprofit educational institution that’s dedicated to preserving Tibetan culture.

Siouxsie will return to the concert stage this summer after a five-year absence to perform at the Yoko Ono-curated Meltdown festival at London’s Southbank Centre, an event that also will feature sets by Patti Smith, Iggy & The Stooges, Boy George, and both Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore.

Simple Minds today revealed the tracklist for the new best-of collection it first announced last fall, confirming that the band’s career-spanning ‘Celebrate — The Greatest Hits+’ will be released this spring in a 2CD, 36-song format as well as a 3CD, 50-song edition with each version featuring a pair of new songs.

Seemingly out of the, uh, blue, R.E.M. this week debuted a music video for the song “Blue” off swan song ‘Collapse into Now.’ The clip, posted here, is directed by actor James Franco and features a hodge-podge of visual imagery, including shots of Lindsay Lohan.

Morrissey today unveiled a new U.S. tour next year that includes 24 dates rescheduled from his postponed fall tour (two shows are not being made up) plus eight newly added concerts in New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. Plus, Moz’s big L.A. arena show now features Patti Smith as guest rather The Stooges.

BBC Four next month will follow up its excellent documentary ‘Synth Britannia’ with the new three-part ‘Punk Britannia,’ a look at the ‘historic cosmology, meteoric impact and smouldering aftermath of the most genuinely transformative force in British popular music history.’ The three parts air Friday, June 8 and June 15.

Members of Depeche Mode and Glasvegas each have revealed that their bands have recorded new U2 covers that appear to be connected to the Irish megaband’s 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Achtung Baby,’ which arrives in November in a variety of formats including a $660 ‘uber deluxe’ edition stuffed with CDs, DVDs, vinyl and more.