Twenty eight years ago today, the first of what would turn out to be two multi-day US Festivals — envisioned by their organizer, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, as ‘Woodstock West’ — opened in blistering 110-degree heat at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernadino County, Calif.

The seminal debut from Mick Jones’ post-Clash outfit Big Audio Dynamite is set to be reissued tomorrow in an expanded 2CD package — and to mark the occasion, Slicing Up Eyeballs spoke to drummer Greg Roberts about B.A.D.’s origins, the recording of ‘This Is Big Audio Dynamite’ and his current group, Dreadzone.

This week’s new releases include ‘Your Future Our Clutter,’ the 28th album from The Fall, plus the 2CD ‘This is Big Audio Dynamite: Legacy Edition,’ a new EP from James, a KMFDM remix disc, a best-of from The Triffids and a Robs Records compilation.

Fans who can’t be in Indio, Calif., this weekend — or bands trapped in the U.K. by an angry volcano — can watch much of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival via free streaming webcasts on Facebook, MySpace and Verizon V Cast Video on Demand (for those with Verizon phones) beginning tonight.

With a new reissue due this month, the two key figures in Big Audio Dynamite — former Clash member Mick Jones and DJ/filmmaker Don Letts — have broached the idea of reuniting the ’80s cross-genre act, Letts tells Billboard.

This week’s new releases include the Gorillaz’s ‘Plastic Beach’ — featuring a reunion of The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon — plus reissues of Spandau Ballet’s first two albums and a new early-’80s best-of from The Fleshtones.

In some ways it’s the antidote to the schmaltzy, celeb-soaked remakes of “We Are the World” and R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts”: a new Haiti benefit single recorded by iconic punk and post-figures such as The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan, Nick Cave, Mick Jones of The Clash, the Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie.

It’s not much, but this 30-second promo for the Gorillaz’s forthcoming Plastic Beach is kind of exciting: It offers an all-too-fleeting glimpse of The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon recording together for the first time since 1982’s Combat Rock.

[tweetmeme]The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon have reunited on record for the first time since 1982’s Combat Rock, each contributing to the title track of the forthcoming Plastic Beach, the just-announced third album from Damon Albarn’s cartoon-fronted Gorillaz.
The 16-track disc — which also features guest turns by The Fall’s Mark E. Smith and [...]

[tweetmeme]The expanded 2CD reissue of This Is Big Audio Dynamite — the 1985 debut from Mick Jones’ post-Clash project, Big Audio Dynamite — will feature 12 bonus remixes, dub versions, B-sides and outtakes, including the previously unreleased track “Electric Vandal,” according to the tracklist from Sony/Legacy.
However, the release of This is Big Audio Dynamite: Legacy [...]

[tweetmeme]Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, reissues and/or box sets.
ARTIST: Public Image Ltd.
RELEASES: Metal Box, Plastic Box
BACKSTORY: Virgin Records this week marks the reunion of John Lydon’s epic post-punk act be reissuing the band’s seminal second album in a CD edition split across three discs to mimic the original vinyl. The label [...]

[tweetmeme]There was a bit of a hubub a few weeks ago when the NME reported that  The Clash’s classic 1979 double album London Calling would receive a new 30th anniversary reissue in December — just five years after the release of a bonus-packed 25th anniversary edition.
While some fans griped about being conned into re-buying the [...]