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Sirius XM will broadcast the Michigan homecoming of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Iggy and the Stooges as they perform at a benefit concert for their former bandmate, the late Ron Asheton at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. The sold-out concert will also feature punk rock icon, Henry Rollins as emcee of the event and Michigan native, and fashion designer and SiriusXM host John Varvatos will host SiriusXM’s exclusive broadcast.

Coverage of the event begins Tuesday, April 19 at 7:30 pm ET on Faction, Sirius channel 28 and XM channel 52. The concert will be rebroadcast on Wednesday, April 20 at 12:00 am ET, Sunday, April 24 at 9:00 pm ET and Thursday, April 28 at 8:00 pm ET.

Faction is the music of action sports — rock, punk, hop-hop and more. SiriusXM listeners will hear artists such as Rancid, Avenged Sevenfold, Ramones, Tupac, Pennywise, Dr. Dre, Sublime, Green Day, Beastie Boys, Metallica and Eminem.

For more information, please visit www.siriusxm.com/faction.

Iggy Pop gave an interview with the Metro Times about the upcoming sold-out tribute concert for Ron Asheton, scheduled for the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor on April 19th. “I’m going to be singing with the Stooges, and then I’m going to be singing a couple of numbers with some Stooges and also Deniz Tek from Radio Birdman on guitar,” he said. “There are going to be several orchestral elements to this thing, including a kind of symphonically slanted overture based on Ron’s works. …But there won’t be too much of it because one of the virtues of Stooge music is that we don’t make too much of it.”

“Also, I know that people, myself included, expect us to do what we do, which is to kick in doors,” he said. “I may do a couple of acoustic numbers, just James and I. There’s one we wrote, which is kind of a requiem to Ron. That was something James sent me shortly after Ron passed away. We screwed around with it a little and I wrote words for it. …The main thing we’re gonna do is that we’ll play: me, Watt, James, Rock and Steve, and we’ll play what we do — songs from Raw Power, Fun House and The Stooges.” Read more details at MetroTimes.com.

In an interview with AnnArbor.com, Scott Asheton said the Ron Asheton tribute concert, scheduled for next Tuesday April 19th, will be “an uplifting event.” The concert will be “a celebration of his life — film, art and, of course, all the music. … I’m sure Ron would appreciate (the show) very much.” Scott added, “I just want people to know I am very proud of my brother’s name. Most of the time, in interviews and print, I was always referred to as Ron Asheton’s brother. I am very proud of that.” You can read more of Scott’s interview at the AnnArbor.com website.

Iggy Pop is raising his voice against Canada’s horrific seal slaughter. Each year, sealers club hundreds of thousands of seals to death and sell the animals’ pelts on the international fur market. Iggy has joined forces with PETA to denounce the seal slaughter by starring in a public service announcement and spreading the word that “Canada’s club scene sucks.” You can watch the PSA video below. (Some of the images are violent.) For information on how you can help, please visit PETA.org.

In an interview with Billboard magazine, Iggy Pop said he enjoyed performing on “American Idol” last week. “I didn’t know what to expect, I had a good time and actually enjoyed singing the song and enjoyed the audience.” Iggy added that he and James Williamson have been working on new music, with parts of about 8 potential new songs that could be finished or scrapped. “James is like, ‘Come on, let’s go!’ but it feels to me like we’ll try to put it together in 2012 and get it out late then or in the next year, in 2013,” he said.

Before new music from the Stooges might be released, Iggy has recorded most of a new bilingual solo album which he plans to release for Christmas, or no later than January 2012. He is focusing on “classic tunes” including the Beatles’ “Michelle,” Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’ ” and songs by Serge Gainsbourg and Henri Salvadore.

Read more at Billboard.com.

Iggy Pop performed “Real Wild Child (Wild One)” on “American Idol” on April 7th, as part of the show’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame week. The Stooges were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010. You can watch Iggy rock the stage in the video below:

Iggy and the Stooges have confirmed three more festival concert dates in July and August this year. The dates include:

• July 23 at Patrimonio Nuits de la Guitare in Corsica, France
• July 27 at Festival de Carcassonne in Carcassonne, France
• August 20 at Parken Festival in Bodo, Norway

For more information about buying tickets to the shows, please visit each of the festival websites.

“The Stooges are one of Rock music’s most essential elements. Without the Stooges’ considerable contribution, the Punk and Independent music scenes that came after would not have been the same. The music of the Stooges is that crucial.

In the decades since their release, the Stooges albums have not lost an ounce of speed and remain constants in my listening.

In the beginning of 2009, Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton passed away. While family, friends, band members and fans all over the world mourned the loss, no formal tribute was made.

So, on April 19 in Ann Arbor MI, we address that. The Stooges, with James Williamson and Deniz Tek on guitar, will play. It’s going to be a great and memorable night.

I can’t wait for the show! To see the Stooges play in Michigan will really be something. I am honored to be a part of the evening’s proceedings.“

– Henry Rollins

Iggy and the Stooges have been confirmed to perform at the Guitare en Scene Festival on July 31st in St Julien en Genevois, France. Tickets can be purchased at Weezevent.com.

Along with the new Iggy Pop track “Milk Cow Blues,” this original piece of Vinyl Art by Daniel Edlen is now available at PledgeMusic to benefit the David Lynch Foundation’s “Download for Good” campaign. It is an exclusive offer painted especially for DLF Music and autographed by Iggy Pop. Vinyl Art by Daniel Edlen gives something physical back to those who’ve gone digital and online with their music. It celebrates the cultural creativity that comes together in the production of vinyl recordings.

Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus will celebrate its talented faculty and students at Chaos, Conflict and Controversy, the campus’ 19th Annual Arts and Letters Day, being held April 5-6, 2011. This year, rock-and-roll icon Iggy Pop, known for his influential contributions to punk rock, hard rock, and other styles of rock music, will be the event’s keynote speaker.

An edgy and intellectual figure, Pop will discuss his life and career with a question-and-answer period to follow. College officials don’t expect the music icon to dive off the stage and into the audience. Arts and Letters Day was created to foster artistic expression and to take learning beyond the classroom experience.

All activities will be held at MDC’s Kendall Campus and are free and open to the public. “Iggy Pop – Explorations on the Edge” will be held April 6th at the McCarthy Auditorium from 12-1 p.m EDT. For more details, visit the Miami Dade College website.

As part of the David Lynch Foundation’s partnership with PledgeMusic, Iggy Pop has contributed the track “Milk Cow Blues” to help raise money for the DLF’s work in teaching stress-reducing meditation to at-risk youth and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The song is now featured at PledgeMusic.com, where you can make your pledge and participate.

The track is part of a 17-track compilation download featuring other artists including Arrested Development, Au Revoir Simone, Ben Folds, Peter Gabriel, Mary Hopkin, Moby, Maroon 5, Neon Trees, Ozomatli, Heather Nova, Carmen Rizzo, Salman Ahmad, Slightly Stoopid, Dave Stewart, Andy Summers and Tom Waits. You can read more in the press release below:

David Lynch Foundation partners with PledgeMusic to release exclusive music tracks by star studded line up; Direct Artist to fan pre-launch activity has campaign over 50%

Arrested Development, Au Revoir Simone, Ben Folds, Moby, Neon Trees, Iggy Pop, Maroon 5, Peter Gabriel, Dave Stewart, Slightly Stoopid, and Tom Waits are among first featured artists

PledgeMusic, a leading international direct-to-fan platform for raising funds for musicians to record and tour, today announced a partnership with the David Lynch Foundation (DLF), to raise funds with the sale of exclusive unique tracks by the world’s top artists. All funds will go to support the work of DLF in their global outreach, including teaching stress-reducing meditation to one million at-risk youth and 10,000 veterans with PTSD.

In addition to supporting philanthropic efforts like PledgeMusic through his music, last week Lynch also unveiled his newly designed website, www.davidlynch.com which spotlights the growing catalog of releases from his David Lynch Music Company.

One of the most renowned avant-garde film directors and visual artists of his time, Lynch has always had a deep connection to music. Today, he combines those qualities with his Foundation’s partnership with PledgeMusic.

During the Pledge Campaign, supporters pledge for exclusive items from participating artists and are rewarded with Pledgers Only access to artist videos, music tracks, photos and blogs. Additional items include signed lyric sheets, albums and books from various artists (including David Lynch) and, one of the more unique items to date, the Neon Tree’s 2010 Tour Carpet!

At the end of the campaign, everyone who pledges receives the group of exclusive tracks from all the participating artists and other behind the scenes exclusives.

The artists involved have been so enthusiastic they generated a ground swell of support amongst their fans which thrust the campaign to over 50% before the official press launch had even begun.

“One of PledgeMusic’s core objectives has always been to raise money for charity,” said PledgeMusic founder, Benji Rogers. “Working with the David Lynch Foundation and the calibre of artists that have come together to support their mission is more than we could have hoped for. ‘Music for a change’ was our unofficial slogan throughout the founding of the company and today we have come together with a brilliant partner and a great cause.”

For more information, please visit www.pledgemusic.com or www.davidlynchfoundation.org.

About The David Lynch Foundation
The David Lynch Foundation was launched six years ago to bring the stress-reducing, health-promoting benefits of Transcendental Meditation to underserved populations, including at-risk inner city youth and veterans returning home from combat with post traumatic stress disorder, as well as American Indians, the homeless and prisoners. To date, DLF has provided scholarships for nearly 150,000 adults and students to learn to meditate, eliminating the traumatic stress that undermines academic achievement and fuels substance abuse and violent behavior. Independent published scientific research shows that meditating students have dramatically better test scores, grades and graduation rates, while dropout rates, suspensions, and expulsions greatly decrease.

About PledgeMusic
PledgeMusic was founded by musician Benji Rogers to give artists a DIY option for pursuing and augmenting their careers. The company was designed to be transparent and open, while benefiting artists and fans. Artists will get the funding and promotional support that they need, the fan will get the music and artist interaction that they want at the price that they want to pay, and charities who have scant fundraising resources will receive a percentage of the money raised.