Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson has announced a 24-city amphitheater trek this summer dubbed the Addicted Tour. The singer will launch the outing on June 30 in West Palm Beach, FL and wrap it up on August 6 in Auburn, WA, according to MTV.com. She plans to preview some new material on the road. Then, once the tour is finished, Clarkson will return to the studio to finish her third record. She is eyeing a late 2006 or early 2007 release date.

Evans Blue is touring in support of their debut album on Hollywood Records, The Melody And The Energetic Nature Of Volume, and the band will open various shows for Taproot, Trapt and Shinedown as well as headline some of their own shows. The road trip kicks off April 14 in Nashville and runs through July 2 in Atlantic City, NJ.

June Pointer, the youngest of the Pointer Sisters singing group, has passed away at the age of 52 from cancer. She had been hospitalized at University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center in Santa Monica since late February. "[June died] in the arms of her sisters Ruth and Anita, and [with] her brothers, Aaron and Fritz, by her side," the Pointer family said in a statement. "Although her sister Bonnie was unable to be present, she was with her in spirit."

Don't call Jack White's new band The Raconteurs a "side project." The White Stripes' main man tells MTV.com the band is a legitimate full-time endeavor. "The only way to show you're a band is to be a band, and that's what we're doing," he said. Referring to the other band members' gigs, he adds, "Of course, there's going to be more White Stripes records, more Greenhornes records, more Brendan Benson records, but for right now, it's time for the Raconteurs."

On the strength of the new single "Our Truth," Lacuna Coil's latest album, Karmacode, debuted at #28 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and sold 34,000 copies in its first week. The album also debuted at #5 on the Hard Music chart. Lacuna Coil is currently on tour with Rob Zombie and they will appear on the mainstage of Ozzfest this summer.

Anberlin will join Story Of The Year and Hawthorne Heights for a Canadian trek that begins July 13 in Quebec City and wraps July 25 in Vancouver. In addition, the band will join Hawthorne Heights for a handful of U.S. shows that will be announced soon. Anberlin has been on a roll lately as their latest CD, Never Take Friendship Personal, has now sold over 100,000 copies.

Judas Priest

Judas Priest is reportedly working on their first concept album that will tell the story of French prophet Nostradamus. Singer Rob Halford recently told Billboard that the band is already writing the opus. "The ideas are just so strong - we've already been putting down the music. It's incredibly exciting and inspiring to be involved. We're getting incredible results at these early stages... There's going to be some new dimensions of sound brought into this. We're trying to cover a lot of territory, but this has got to be seamless." Halford also said that the band hopes to play the whole album live on stage when they go on tour in 2007. Meanwhile, Priest will be honored along with KISS, Queen and Def Leppard at VH1's Rock Honors. The show will be taped May 25 at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay and will air six days later.

With the Riverboat Gamblers new album, To The Confusion Of Our Enemies, coming out April 25 on Volcom Entertainment/East West, Rolling Stone has named them one of the Top Five Breakout Bands of this year's SXSW. The band will be touring from April 25 in Austin, TX until May 31 at New York's CBGB, with stops at the Bamboozle festival and Baltimore's HFStival in between. Furthermore, check out the Gamblers' Q&A with Volcom's Michael Nobrega in FMQB's April 21 issue.

O.A.R. has announced a summer tour in support of Stories Of A Stranger, and it will kick off June 8 in Phoenix. Support on the majority of the dates will come from Jack's Mannequin, a band featuring Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate. In addition to O.A.R.'s headlining tour, the band will also join Dave Matthews Band on some scattered dates throughout the summer.

Legendary Glam Rockers The New York Dolls will release a new album, their first in 32 years. One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This will be out July 25 on Roadrunner Records, reports Billboard. R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, Bo Diddley, Iggy Pop and Tom Gabel of Against Me! all make appearances on the new record.