Veteran rocksteady singer Alton Ellis has been admitted to the hospital in London, U.K. Known for his soaring, soulful voice, Ellis penned the original “I’m Still In Love,” and was known as Mr. Rock & Soul. Ellis still occasionally records new tracks and regularly performs. We wish him a speedy recovery.

One veteran clash DJ will sit out the late-December Guinness Sting concert at Jamworld in Kingston. Moses Davis (a.k.a. Beenie Man) announced he will not be performing, likely due to the fact that he’d be an easy target for personal attacks from his most notorious foil, Bounty Killer. Davis recently separated from his entertainer wife, Killer’s former girlfriend D’Angel. “You can look out for Beenie Man on Pepsi Teen Splash once again. However, I will not be on Sting this year,” said David via a press release.

“Man, spliff fly like plane when the blue clothes dem touch the place,” remarked a patron in reference to a trio of police raids at Jamaican concerts over the weekend. The Riding West show in Savanna-la-mar, Rasta Bash in Negril, and Reggae Fever in Montego Bay were all subject to raids and searches of patrons and artists alike.

University of West Indies Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica will host the annual Global Reggae Conference 2008 February 18-24.

Veteran roots reggae vocal trio The Congos have placed their song “Children Crying” in a new Heineken beer advertising campaign. The song is taken from The Heart of the Congos, recorded in 1977 and reissued by the U.K.’s Blood & Fire Records in 1995. The trio has reunited and will tour in 2008.

YardFlex reports that roots singer Etana (pictured above), whose new album is due in 2008 on VP, has lined up a clutch of live shows for December. She’ll appear December 21 at the Welcome to Jamrock concert. On December 25, she will rock GT Taylor’s Christmas Extravaganza, and on December 26 Etana will grace Sting’s Singers Paradise stage. The roots woman recently shot a video for her new tune, “Warrior Love.”

Speaking of videos, 2007 breakthrough singer Tarrus Riley released his fourth video from the Dean Fraser-produced album Parables, for the song “Lion Paw–Live.” The video has the look and feel of a live Tarrus Riley performance.

The Bob Marley/Rita Marley Foundation’s global initiative, the Africa Unite concert, will be held in Jamaica for the first time, on February 23, 2008, at James Bond Beach, St Mary. Additionally, the feature documentary, Africa Unite, will make its Caribbean debut as part of the celebrations marking what would have been Bob Marley’s 63rd birthday.

Beenie Man, Munga Honorable, Bugsy Malone, and dancer John Hype, plus L.A.’s Tazmania Sound will hit South Central L.A.’s Shatto Ballroom (3744 W. Slauson Ave.) on Saturday, January 5, 2008.

Top Ten Reggae Albums
Sean Kingston Sean Kingston (Beluga Heights/Epic)
Duane Stephenson From August Town (VP)
Cocoa Tea Biological Warfare (Minor 7 Flat 5)
Wayne Wonder Foreva (VP)
Jah Cure True Reflections (VP)
Chezidek Inna Di Road (Greensleeves)
Steele The Love of Jah (Mobs Production)
Courtney John Unselfish (Fi Wi Music)
Shaggy Intoxication (VP/Big Yard)
Various Artists The Biggest Reggae One Drop Anthems 2007 (Greensleeves)

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Breakestra, Orgone, and The Bamboos may have caught the ear of today’s young funk fans, but those artists would be nowhere without Stax Records’ soul. The Memphis, TN label that gave the world Sam & Dave, Booker T & The MGs, The Staple Singers, Isaac Hayes (pictured above), and Otis Redding was recently reborn, signing new artists, including Angie Stone and Soulive. Three new feature DVDs, Respect Yourself: The Stax Story, Dreams To Remember: The Legacy Of Otis Redding, and Stax-Volt Review: Live In Norway 1967, highlight the label’s 50th anniversary (1957-2007) and mighty place in American music.

Stax broke racist taboos in the segregated ’60s south, bringing white and black musicians together; many of the label’s most famous hits were written at the nearby Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Later, Stax artists stood with pride at the 100,000-strong 1972 WattsStax music festival in L.A. For Stax, times changed, but the music never stopped.

This Monday, December 10, 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of soul genius Otis Redding’s death in a plane crash at age 26. Between 1965-67, Redding was the dominant U.S. soul artist, performing before 50,000 hippies at the ’67 Monterrey Pop Festival. After his death, and the death of King, many thought Stax and soul were dead. But as Respect chronicles, label head Al Bell and songwriter Isaac Hayes rebuilt Stax into a hit-making machine responsible for the Shaft soundtrack and dozens of radio favorites.

The three new DVDs feature restored live concert footage, rare interviews with Stax singers and artists, and artfully revives the Stax universe for a new generation. A soul museum and music academy now inhabits the lot where Stax Records forged its hits. Although times in America may seem bleak, Stax’s music, message, and resilience are a reminder that change is always blowing in the wind.

Oakland, CA-based producer and DJ Amplive has put together a Radiohead remix album entitled Rainydayz Remixes, available in digital-only format on January 10 and free to anyone that took the time to download the band’s original and highly publicized In Rainbows album.

From a recent press release:

“Unlike In Rainbows, Rainydayz Remixes has a set price: FREE. The digital-only collection will be available as a zip file including 320kbps MP3s, and hi-res artwork. But there’s a small catch. If you bought In Rainbows, you’ll most likely remember receiving an email or three from W.A.S.T.E, Radiohead’s web store, which handled the administration of the band’s digital-only, pay-what-you-want model. Well, the only way to receive a copy of Raindayz Remixes is to forward an email from W.A.S.T.E. to [email protected], proving participation in the band’s revolutionary approach to releasing their new record.”

Delivery methods aside, the remix album is shaping up to be as exciting as the original release, with contributions from Too $hort, Zion, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, and others. And if Amplive’s version of “Weird Flashes,” which we’ve had a listen to, is any indication, Rainydayz Remixes goes above and beyond your average remix album, and that’s definitely worth the extra time.

Stay tuned for further details and a complete tracklisting…