The Canadian rock trio of Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart and Geddy Lee or better known in the rock scene as Rush will be honored with the “Legend of Live” citation by Billboard in their annual Touring Awards as part of their annual two-day Touring Conference, now on its seventh year, on November 3 and 4 in New York.

Rush will be joining the likes of Sir Elton John, the Allman Brothers Band and Ozzy Osbourne to name a few who have made the art of live performance and touring more than just a night job by taking the industry to new heights with their sense of commitment, professionalism, creativity and innovation, thus “altering the course of rock music” as Billboard’s Ray Waddell would put it.  Waddell is the magazine’s director of content and programming, touring and live entertainment.

Waddell also added that Rush highly deserves the citation because the band continues to elevate the standards “as to what can be done onstage” and also because of their “continued commitment to playing live” and being the embodiment of “professionalism and the spirit of live rock n’ roll”.

For 2010, Rush’s “Time Machine”  tour managed to pull off 45 shows in North and South America alone, plus the countless shows they have performed abroad.  In the said tour, they have performed their 1981 release “Moving Pictures” from cover to cover.  In the last five years, the band has moved over 2 million tickets amounting to millions of dollars.  At present, the band is busy prepping for the release of their forthcoming studio set – their 20th – “Clockwork Angels” which is slated to come out next year.  Last season, the documentary “Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage” which chronicles the band’s four-decade stint in the biz, surfaced in the market.

Meanwhile, pop act and philanthropist Jack Johnson will also be honored at the same event as he receives this year’s Humanitarian Award, a citation which he also received last year.  The Hawaii based singer/songwriter has always been known to be a champion of environmental causes as such, he and his wife Kim have spearheaded the Kokua Festival six years ago and continues to gather financial support to oil the various programs and events laid out by the Kokua Hawaii Foundation which the couple also established.

Aside from the Kokua Hawaii Foundation and Festival, the “Upside Down” singer will also be donating his entire profits from touring behind his 2010 release “To the Sea” to local non-government organizations via his All at Once program and another of his humanitarian organizations, the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation.  He did the same for his 2008 tour.  At present, the said foundation has already raked in more than $750,000 from various benefactors and mostly from his tour.  It has also been said that Johnson utilizes sustainable eco-friendly methods during his recording sessions and his road work.

Waddell praised the musician’s efforts in advocating the practice of environment friendly methods in his everyday life as a musician and in spreading the word and becoming a role model of doing the same in our everyday lives.  He also acknowledged Johnson’s efforts in placing a higher priority over his environmental causes than earning millions from making music.  “When it comes to his career, Johnson never places profits over doing the right thing,” he said.

Johnson joins the likes of other popular music acts like Jon Bon Jovi and Dave Matthews who have also received the citation in 2008 and 2005, respectively.

Jack Johnson has been tuned to environmental conservation for a long time, well before “green” meant anything more than being a color or hybrid cars started to flood the highways. Johnson has always been an avid surfer, which is appropriate for someone who is a Hawaiian native. As a teen he joined Surfrider Foundation, a group focusing on protecting oceans and shorelines on a worldwide basis. In 2003, Johnson and his wife also established Kokua Hawaii Foundation, an organization that advocates that environmental education be brought into the schools. There were also conservation themes running throughout “Sing-A-Longs” as well as “Lullabyes”, the 2006 soundtrack for the Curious George animated film.

Johnson, continuing along similar lines, is planning his forthcoming tour to be green. The trek will promote “To The Sea,” Johnson’s latest album. The nature loving musician announced that he will be donating all of the tour’s proceeds to local non-profits with a green focus. It will be the second tour like this for the songwriter/singer. On his “Sleep Through Static Tour” in 2008 he raised $845,000 for nearly 200 environmental organizations. In addition, Johnson is asking the venues to agree to make recycling options available and also carbon offsets. Yet despite all of his conservation efforts Johnson is still reluctant calling himself an environmentalist. Several years ago in an interview with Outside magazine Johnson said, that is a big label. I just play music and draw a crowd.

Jack Johnson is resting his surfboard for the summer as he embarks on his first concert tour in two years. Johnson will kick off the 32-city trek in Hartford, Connecticut on June 9 and will go through the end of October with a two-night stint at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California on October 13 & 14. The tour will support his forthcoming album “To the Sea” which is slated to hit stores June 1. For a full listing of Jack Johnson tour dates, view the listing below.

Tickets will go onsale via Ticketmaster on April 10. Visit Jack Johnson’s website for presale opportunity information. Johnson has announced that all profits reaped from the coming tour will be donated to his All at Once social-action charity network.

The first single off of “To the Sea” entitled “You and Your Heart” will debut on radio stations next month. “Sea” will be Johnson’s follow-up to his 2008 platinum effort “Sleep Through the Static” which debuted number 1 on the Billboard Album Charts.

2010 Jack Johnson Concert Tour
July 2010
9 – Hartford, CT – Comcast Theatre
10 – Mansfield, MA – Comcast Center
11 – Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center
13 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
14 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
16 – Virginia Beach, VA – Virginia Beach Amphitheater
17 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
19 – Toronto, Ontario – Molson Amphitheatre
20 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
21 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center
23 – Noblesville, IN – Verizon Wireless Music Center
24 – East Troy, WI – Alpine Valley Music Theatre
25 – Somerset, WI – River’s Edge

August 2010
13 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre
16 – Bonner Springs, KS – Sandstone Amphitheater
17 – Dallas, TX – Superpages.com Center
18 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
20 – Atlanta, GA – Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
21 – Raleigh, NC – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion atWalnut Creek
22 – Charlotte, NC – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Charlotte
24 – Orlando, FL – Amway Arena
25 – Tampa, FL – Ford Amphitheatre
26 – West Palm Beach, FL – Cruzan Amphitheatre

October 2010
1 – Vancouver, British Columbia – General Motors Place
2 – George, WA – The Gorge Amphitheatre
3 – Ridgefield, WA – The Amphitheater at Clark County
5, 6 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre – Berkeley
8 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
9 – Chula Vista, CA – Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
10 – Phoenix, AZ – Cricket Wireless Pavilion
12 – Irvine, CA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
13, 14 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl

According to a recent press release, Taj Mahal and Ziggy Marley will be joining Jack Johnson for this year’s Kokua Festival on April 23-24 in Honolulu, HI at Waikiki Shell.

The festival held on Earth Day weekend will be featuring a Marley solo acoustic set as well as full band performances from Mahal and Johnson. The festival lineup is rounded out with two of the hottest acts in Hawaii: Jake Shimabukuro, ukele virtuoso, and Anuhea, singer/songwriter. “Right Love, Wrong Time,” Anthea’s song, was selected as the the iTune single of the week when the singer’s self titled album was released in April 2009.

This year will mark the sixth Kokua Festival, returning after skipping the event in 2009. All festival proceeds will once again be going to Kokua Hawaii Foundation. Kim and Jack Johnson founded the non-profit organization in 2003 for supporting environmental education programs for Hawaii’s communities and schools.

Kokua Festivals funds will go to support Oahu school recycling and sponsor field trips as well as expand the farm-to-school AINA in Schools program. Community outreach for the foundation has expanded as well for their campaign called Simplify the Holidays as well as their new coalition, Plastic Free Hawaii.

Once again the Kokua Festival will be trying to raise the bar in terms of environmentally friendly concert production using innovating greening practices. The eco-conscious efforts of the festival include zero waste sites for collection, festival vehicles and generators running on biodiesel that is locally made, eco-friendly merchandise, biodegradeable concession ware, carpool incentives and bike valet service.

Concert organizers along with Star 101.9, a local radio station, in another move for supporting the green lifestyle will be offering opportunities for pre-sale tickets to individuals participating in Maui and Oahu beach clean ups. The radio station’s website has details on times and clean up locations.

Tickets will be going on sale on February 20 to Hawaii residents at Hawaii Ticketmaster outlets as well as the online Ticketmaster website. Tickets will be available to the general public beginning February 21. Individuals purchasing their tickets online can add a $2 carbon credit on for offsetting travel to the concert.

In addition Johnson is heading out for a world tour after the release on June 1 of his new studio album. On June 16 the tour will kick off in Europe.

Jack Johnson, whose newest album for the third week in a row is on top of the charts, has announced his plans for a full summer tour.

Johnson, native of Hawaii, has signed on already with several of the large music festivals for upcoming months. The latest addition is the Outside Lands festival on August 22-24 in San Francisco. On the event’s final day Johnson will be the headliner. In addition, Johnson will have another headlining appearance on April 25 at Coachella in Southern California, and also have a slot on June 15 at Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee.

Johnson will be kicking off the summer tour in Noblesville, IN on June 13. The trek for June and August will visit 19 cities. This includes Johnson’s festival appearances.

The fourth studio album for Johnson, “Sleep Through the Static,” debuted last month at No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 chart. During the first week out it sold 375,000 copies. In subsequent weeks the set has continued to be a hot seller. It claimed the top spot for sales for one week at least in the US as well as Singapore, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

Johnson’s self-produced album follows “In Between Dreams” from 2005. The new album has spawned two singles, including the title track as well as “If I Had Eyes,” which was released on the MySpace page of Johnson’s.

The latest set from songwriter/singer Jack Johnson, “Sleep Through the Static,” during the first week it was out sold 375,000 copies, placing it in the No. 1 spot for the US album latest chart.

“Sleep Through the Static” follows “Curious George” from 2006 as Johnson’s second consecutive No. 1 album.

“Detours” from Sheryl Crows is No. 2 on Billboard’s 200 chart with 92,000 copies sold. “As I Am” from Alicia Keys fell two spots to No. 3 with 80,000 copies sold. The album chart of Billboard’s is based on retail reports from Nielsen sound Scan.

“It Is Time for a Love Revolution” by Lenny Kravitz debuted at No. 4 on the chart, selling 73,000 copies. In the No. 5 spot is the compilation album “2008 Grammy Nominees” with 52,000 copies sold.

The Top 10 is rounded out with the soundtrack from “Juno,” “Growing Pains” from Mary J. Blige, “Watershed” from K.D. Lang, “Hannah Montana 2” soundtrack from Miley Cyrus and the self-titled debut from Taylor Swift.

Dave Matthews will be joining Jack Johnson on April 19-20, Earth Day weekend, for Kokua Festival’s fifth annual benefit concert in Honolulu, HI at Waikiki Shell. Matthew, in his first appearance in Hawaii, will be performing an acoustic set along with Tim Reynolds, guitarist. Joining Reynolds, Matthews and Johnson will be local favorites Go Jimmy Go and Paula Fuga, along with Mason Jennings of Brushfire Records, who is based in Minneapolis but born in Hawaii.

Event proceeds will be going to Kokua Hawaii Foundation. The non-profit organization supports environmental education in Hawaii communities and schools. The annual festival has a commitment for environmental sustainability. Concert goers are encouraged to carpool bike or walk to the event.

Kokua Festival this year in addition will be offering online ticket buyers an opportunity for offsetting emissions that are generated from their travel to get to the festival by offering the opportunity for contributing $2 which will go towards carbon offsets to help reduce CO2 impacts on the event. The offset partner for Kokua Festival, Evolution Sage, will be using the purchased carbon credits to fund Hawaii’s renewable energy programs.

This summer Jack Johnson is planning to extensively tour in support of “In Between Dreams,” his latest album which earlier this month debuted at No. 3 on the U.S. chart.

The tour is set to visit around 30 cities in North America. According to a recent press release, tickets will be going on sale on March 19 for most markets.

Johnson, who has supported 1% for the Planet, a business alliance that donates a minimum of 1% of annual net revenues of the business to environmental organizations, will be undertaking several measures for mitigating the outing’s environmental impact.

All of the tour trucks and buses will be running on Bio-Diesel fuel. All beverage and food containers will be recycled by the tour’s catering crew, with any food leftover being donated to local shelters. Merchandise for the tour will be made with eco-friendly materials. One dollar from every ticket sold will be going to help offset CO2 emissions that are produced from fans traveling to get to the concerts.

Also local environmental groups at each venue will be provided with table space. Johnson will also be issuing an enhanced new CD/DVD. All the proceeds will be donated over to 1% for the Planet local organizations at the show.

Jack Johnson will be warming up for his trek by hosting Kokua Festival. It’s the second annual event and helps to raise money for several environmental causes. The shows will take place on April 13 in Kahului, HI at Maui Arts and Cultural Center and on April 16 in Honolulu at Waikiki Shell. Special Sauce, G Love, Ozomatli John Cruz, Jackson Browne, alone with Kawika Kahiapo, slack key guitarist, and the band Kaukahi are making appearances on both of the dates.

Johnson’s third album “In Between Dreams” follow two previous releases: “On and On” in 2003 and “Brushfire Fairytales” in 2001. Both are certified platinum.

Jack Johnson will be teaming with Donavon Frankenreiter and G. Love & Special Sauce for a North American late summer tour.

The outing will be kicking off on August 25 in Lake Tahoe. Dates have been set through the middle of September. The trek will focus on U.S. outdoor venues. There will also be one stop in Canada.

Pre-sale tickets will start on April 23, according to the website of Johnson’s. There is additional information available on the website.

Former professional surfer and native of Hawaii, Johnson released “On and On,” his latest album, in May. It follows “Brushfire Fairytales,” Johnson’s 2001 debut.

G. Love & Special Sauce is comprised of Garret Dutton on lead vocals, harmonica and guitars, Jeffrey “Thunderhouse” Clemons on drums and percussion and Jim “Jimmy Jazz” Prescott on the acoustic bass. The group is working on a follow up to their set “Electric Mile” from 2001. Their new album is expected to be released by Brushfire Records, Johnson’s labe, either in late summer or the early fall.

On May 11 Brushfire will be issuing the self-titled debut from Frankenreiter. The set was co-produced by Johnson and Mario Caldato Jr.