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Thanks to Nic Close for sending these shots of Peter, Robyn Hitchcock, Bill Rieflin, and Scott McCaughey from their weekend performance at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee.

Peter made a surprise appearance Wednesday night at Radio City Music Hall where he joined The Decemberists for a rousing version of R.E.M. standard “Begin the Begin” during the Portland-based band’s concert at the venerable New York City venue.

Peter is currently on tour with

Chris Bilheimer, R.E.M.’s artistic design director, was honored last night for his exemplary service to the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation at the local preservation group’s annual awards ceremony. Chris was presented with the organization’s Volunteer of the Year Award for his outstanding contributions to “Heritage,” the Foundation’s quarterly newsletter.

In the past, R.E.M. have had countless unique logos and typography. From Ed Rogers’ handwriting on Out Of Time to the many hand-drawn song titles of Reckoning, typography has been an important part of R.E.M.’s artwork. Until recently, individual letterforms were made as needed, but for the last five years,

Peter returns to the road again next week with Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 with shows in Philadelphia, Annapolis, DC, Boston, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, June 6th-June 11th. The band will also play the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, on June 13 (read the HQ interview with Peter in

This Friday (5-29) Little Kings Shuffle Club on Hancock Avenue will showcase rare performances by legendary Athens bands Oh-O.K. (with members of Flash to Bang Time in tow) and Time Toy, as well as Linda Hopper and Ruthie Morris of Atlanta’s sonic

This past Friday night in Winston-Salem, Mitch Easter and Don Dixon (producers of R.E.M.’s Murmur and Reckoning) got together with former Rolling Stone writer Parke Puterbaugh to discuss the making of Murmur. The panel was part of the Revolve Film Music Festival’s music night and it was generously

On May 22nd, The Garage in Winston Salem will be the scene of a very special night of conversation and music featuring the acclaimed producers of R.E.M.’s seminal album, Murmur, Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. “The Making of Murmur” panel will be moderated by

As Paste.com and Pitchfork.com reported earlier this week, Peter and Mike recently recorded demos in Portland, Oregon, with producer Jacknife Lee (Accelerate) and engineer Tucker Martine (The Decembrists). The sessions yielded 14 instrumental tracks which Peter describes as running the sonic gamut from “pretty acoustic things,

As reported yesterday at Paste.com, Peter and Mike were in Portland, Oregon, this past week at Jackpot! Studios where, along with Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin, Jacknife Lee and engineer Tucker Martine, they recorded demos for R.E.M.’s next album. In an interview posted at Pitchfork.com today,

Thanks to Scott McCaughey for the following update:

The Minus 5, sporting yet another one-time-only line-up of Peter Buck, Scott, current M5 drummer Ezra Holbrook, Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Dave Depper (Norfolk & Western, Loch Lomond, Jolie Holland), and Rebecca Gates (Spinanes), performed at a benefit for the LEP (Leadership &

On June 23, 2009, Universal Music will release Reckoning – Deluxe Edition (I.R.S./A&M/UMe), a two-CD set, featuring the original album remastered, plus a bonus disc of a previously unreleased concert recorded during the band’s “Little America” tour at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom on July 7, 1984 (broadcast on WXRT) (see