For more information on the Bridge School Benefit, please see:
http://www.hyperrust.org/Bridge/Benefit.html

For more information on getting tickets, please see the BASS website at:
http://www.basstickets.com

It must be noted, however, other rumors that have recently been circulating on the Internet and in the media are completely untrue.

For the record:
1) The band is *NOT* breaking up;
2) The reason for the departure of D'Arcy is *UNRELATED* to the return of Jimmy Chamberlin; and
3) The upcoming release, set for February, 2000 *WILL* still be coming out in February, 2000.

This info Taken from SPIFC

From the band's Chicago studio, singer/guitarist Corgan confirmed Chamberlin is back in the fold after a three-year exile and said the drummer brought back a booming, signature percussion style that the band lacked in his absence. But Corgan added that fans should expect the unexpected from the next Pumpkins project. "We have no interest in going backwards," Corgan said, referring to the 21 songs he and his bandmates — Chamberlin, guitarist James Iha and bassist D'arcy Wretzky — recorded at their studio this year. The still-untitled album is slated for a February release.

"When we released Mellon Collie, we told people that it was the end of the band as people knew it," Corgan said, referring to 1995's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the band's third album. "If you take all those things into context you can guess whatever you want. We really feel we're onto something new and something that's kind of very different."

"It does sound like Smashing Pumpkins 1999, not Smashing Pumpkins 1992, and if it did sound like Smashing Pumpkins 1992, it wouldn't come out."

During an April tour of U.S. clubs, the Pumpkins previewed 13 songs. But Corgan said the material unveiled on the tour was not representative of the new album's sound, since it was only one-third of the songs. He added that the band left out the most intricate compositions.

"We purposely chose not to play some of the more sophisticated material, because we just didn't think it would, not so much go over, but it would be hard for us to pull off," he said. "We just wanted to go and have fun and just rock."

From his seat in the studio, Corgan said he could look at a bulletin board with 10 of the new songs played on tour and see that seven of them had been completely reworked in the interim.

Guitarist Iha was equally vague about the album's sound when interviewed in March. "We're actually just recording in our practice space right now. ... It's going OK," Iha said. "It's actually going really well, and I don't really know what else to say other than it's good, and we're getting along, and it rocks."

Chamberlin, an original member of the group, was kicked out following the fatal July 1996 drug overdose of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin. The drummer was arrested for heroin possession in connection with Melvoin's death. After pleading guilty on the possession charge, he was ordered to attend a drug-rehabilitation facility.

The Pumpkins used a number of drummers for recording and touring afterward, including Matt Walker (Filter), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden), Joey Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.) and, on last year's Adore tour, ex-John Mellencamp percussionist Kenny Aronoff.

"The most notable thing about Jimmy coming back [is that the music now has] an explosive quality and the ability to move internally in a way only Jimmy can do," Corgan said. "I'm really excited, and I feel really good that we've managed to pull it together to make the Pumpkins what it's supposed to be."

Corgan recently completed the soundtrack to the upcoming thriller "Stigmata" (Aug. 24), including a collaboration with Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia on the song "Identify."

During an April 12 show at Bogart's in Cincinnati, the Pumpkins played nine new songs in a row. They ranged from the blistering, Black Sabbath-like heavy metal of "Glass' Theme" to the ominous, sludgy ballad "Speed Kills" to the reverb-drenched "Stand Inside Your Love." Other new tracks previewed during the show included the grinding "Dross" as well as "Wound," "Virex," "Blue Skies Bring Tears," "Home," "If There Is a God," "Glass + the Ghost," "With Every Light" and the cathartic "Cash Car Star."

Corgan said he felt torn by comments made last year by the group's ex-manager Cliff Burnstein, who promised the next Pumpkins album would be "the greatest f---ing rock album" ever.

"I don't know what to tell anybody," Corgan said. "I feel like I'm almost in a straitjacket. ... I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. Even the songs you might remember from the show you saw, if you heard the album in the state it's in now, you wouldn't even recognize. ... I don't want to create a false sense of what it is or isn't"

Formed in Chicago in 1989, the Smashing Pumpkins rose to stardom with their second album, Siamese Dream (1994), which spawned the hit "Cherub Rock". Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the multiplatinum two-CD follow-up, added to the Pumpkins' popularity with the hits "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "Tonight, Tonight."

Their next album, the quiet, electronica-inspired Adore (1998), was considered a relative sales disappointment, even though it sold more than 1 million copies.

The official Smashing Pumpkins website (www.thesmashingpumpkins.com) recently hosted a monthlong tribute to the group's stomping 1991 debut Gish, but Corgan warned against taking that as a clue to the direction of the upcoming album.

"The people that do care, they're guessing and wondering and trying to out-guess the Pumpkins," Corgan said. "I think if you take each album, subsequently, you really couldn't have guessed what the next album would have been about."

This article was taken from Sonicnet

During a career spanning over a decade, The Smashing Pumpkins have received countless accolades from critics and fans including two Grammy Awards, Rolling Stoneís 1997 Artist of the Year, Rolling Stone ís Readerís Poll 19996 Album of the Year and seven MTV Video Music Awards in 1997. Their most recent release, Adore, has sold over three million copies worldwide and was nominated this year for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album.

Joining the band once again in the studio is producer Flood, who worked with them on their multi-platinum double CD Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Also officially rejoining the band is Jimmy Chamberlin, who recently performed with The Smashing Pumpkins on their spring 1999 The Arising! tour. The surprise club tour garnered rave reviews from critics and adoration from fans who had the chance to see The Smashing Pumpkinsí blistering performances in intimate club atmospheres.

The press had some very good things to say:

"The quartet flat out rocked." --The Los Angeles Times

"Everything went atomic: the song, the crowd and the pumpkins, back in their original lineup, playing clubs in a nine-city road test of fresh Billy Corgan tunes and plainly loving every minute" --Rolling Stone

"The Pumpkins: simply smashing" --The Washington Post

"Bolstered by Chamberlinís return and confident in its new material, it looked and sounded like a band focused on reclaiming its standing as one of modern rock's most potent forces." --Chicago Tribune

If the club performances are any indication of what is to come in the year 2000 from The Smashing Pumpkins, fans across the globe can look forward to another extraordinary release.
Taken from The Official Pumpkins Website

Taken from smashingpumpkins.com:

"please let me express to you our gratitude for this honor….we take great pride in being citizens of the world, but as many know we are chicagoans in our heart of hearts…..choosing make a wish as the benefactor to our concert last summer was an easy choice because they embody the compassion that we wished all people could have towards each other…I know I am paraphrasing someone when I say that the mark of a great people is how they take care of their weakest…ironically the use of the word weak when it comes to the little angels that are the focus of make a wish are probably some of our strongest…nothing is more heartbreaking than the obstacles faced by these children, but that is exactly why they need our love and full support…so let me take this moment to thank you make a wish for the work that you all do, it is truly god’s work….we are so sorry that we cannot be there to accept this honor from you personally….but we are on tour wreaking havoc on our culture, hopefully some change for the better….so allow me to leave you with one final thought….love does not always have to be quiet and graceful, it can be boisterous and loud and even rude, to shout above the din to be heard sometimes…if only to bring a little peace….thank you"

additional fountain of hope awards were also presented to: sammy sosa of the chicago cubs, give kids the world, dr.ammar hayani, dr. karen hayani

Info taken from http://www.thesmashingpumpkins.com

Although the band had refused to confirm Chamberlin's long-rumored return, fans at Detroit's St. Andrews Hall Saturday were ready for him. Many carried signs that read, "Welcome Back, Jimmy."

"The crowd were going insane from the moment they stepped onstage until the moment they left," said Dianna Frank, manager of the 1,000-seat venue. "Seriously, the kids were going crazy, singing along. It was a sea of motion that never stopped."

Check out Sonicnet for the full story

Since Chamberlain's dismissal, the group has worked with a few awfully good drummers — including Filter's Matt Walker, Beck's Joey Waronker, and Kenny Aronoff, who's played with seemingly everybody in rock and earned strong reviews for his contributions during the Adore tour. Hard feelings? Aronoff says not at all.

"To bring Jimmy back in, hell, that's family," says Aronoff, who spent many years in John Mellencamp's band and whose latest sessions were for Garth Brooks, Melissa Etheridge, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Eddie Money, among others. "You can't replace a founding member of a band; you can physically replace them, but it's not the same."

Aronoff — who continues a friendly relationship with the Pumpkins — says he got an inkling Chamberlain might be back in the Pumpkins' patch last November, when he and Corgan were working on a track for Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi's upcoming solo album. Aronoff was introduced to Chamberlain in the bar of a Los Angeles hotel; the two hit it off, and when Aronoff told Corgan about the meeting, the Pumpkins' leader revealed he had recently had lunch with Chamberlain.

"I said, 'What was it like?'" Aronoff remembers. "He said 'It was like putting on an old glove.' That's when I knew. And, you know, Jimmy's a great drummer. I really respect him a lot. There's some magazines that want to turn it into this weird competition thing, but there's no competition at all. I came in and did my thing with the Pumpkins, and it was great. This is the course events have taken, and that's fine. It really is."

For more of the story see Wall of Sound

god bless
Billy C

Taken from www.smashingpumpkins.com

Queens of the Stone Age singer/guitarist Josh Homme, whose band will open for the Pumpkins, said the group's leader, Billy Corgan, told him -- when Corgan invited the hard-rock band to open the tour two months ago -- "Dude, Jimmy's back in the band."

Read the complete article on Sonicnet

For more info follow the links below :
Most Underrated Album of the Year - Smashing Pumpkins "Adore"
Producer of the Year - Billy Corgan
Trend of the Year - "Having Billy Corgan write your songs".

This info was collected from Sonicnet, Addicted to Noise, SPC

Info taken from Allstar Daily News 3/03

Peter Jeffrey, 45, is suing the members of the alternative rock band, the city of New Haven and the New Haven Coliseum, where the concert took place in January 1997.

Also named in the suit, filed in New Haven Superior Court, are the bands Fountains of Wayne and the Frogs, as well as earplug maker Siebe North Inc., lawyer Anthony Wallace told Reuters.

Jeffrey ``has chronic tinnitus (ringing or buzzing in the ears) and also suffers from sleep deprivation,'' Wallace said. ''He's a music professor at Princeton, so the effect on his research is (severe).''

The suit seeks an unspecified amount of damages.

``There's definitely a breach of duty by either the bands or the coliseum, so I think we've got a good case,'' Wallace said.

Smashing Pumpkins could not immediately be reached for comment, according to a spokeswoman for their label, Virgin Records.

Neither could New Haven officials or a representative of the earplug company.

Jeffrey, who specializes in Gregorian chant, attended the rock show for about 20 minutes to look for his son, Wallace said. He was wearing earplugs.

After leaving the auditorium, the professor felt a sharp pain in his left ear, followed by nausea and dizziness, Wallace said.

Jeffrey, who lives in Guilford, Connecticut, hopes his suit will make young people more aware of the dangers of loud music, Wallace said.
Wednesday March 3 6:34 PM ET from Yahoo! news Reuters/Variety
Also Read WTNH News Channel 8 / News Update / 1999

Info Taken from Q101.com

The trio -- leader/singer Billy Corgan, bassist D'Arcy Wre