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According to Hits Daily Double, RUSH’s “Snakes & Arrows” is poised to sell around 110,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release to land at No. 3 on next week’s The Billboard 200 chart. Def Jam Urban star NE-YO is on target to hit No. 1 with sales of around 250,000, while Reprise crooner MICHAEL BUBLE is on track to sell just under 200,000 copies of his latest CD, enough to make it No. 2 next week.

“Snakes & Arrows” is the Canadian band’s first new collection of original material in nearly five years. RUSH — Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart — will trumpet the release of “Snakes & Arrows” with a full-scale 48-city North American amphitheater tour, the renowned trio’s first since 2004’s “An Evening With Rush: 30th Anniversary Tour”. The tour begins mid-June and is slated to traverse the continent through the summer.

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Former GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Izzy Stradlin’s official web site, ChopAway.com, has been updated with the following message:

“Izzy Stradlin would like to inform all fans that a new album is on the way. Expect to see ‘Miami’ cropping up on iTunes sometime between May and June 2007.

“The album, featuring 11 tracks recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, is described by guitarist Rick Richards as being ‘a bit of a departure from ‘Like A Dog’ but still quite a rocker!’

“Izzy will be trying his best to keep the fans informed of the pending release, stating ‘I’ve just finished sending new CD ‘Miami’ to iTunes.’ Izzy has also offered to share one song with the fans directly through ChopAway.com adding: ‘…to share with the fans until it is actually up on iTunes, there is a ragga song. It’s called ‘fso ragga’.’

“The album is an exclusive ‘iTunes-only’ release, which will be available in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe simultaneously. As no physical CD release is planned, that we know of anyway, we are strongly suggesting that all fans download a copy of iTunes in order to get the album. ‘Miami’ features the regular lineup of Izzy Stradlin on vocals and guitar, Rick Richards taking lead guitar, and Taz Bentley on drums. JT Longoria, who appeared on several ‘Like A Dog’ tracks returns to cover bass duties on the album, and friend Joey Huffman takes keyboards.

“Taz Bentley, who appears on all of Izzy’s solo albums dating from 1998 – 2007 recalled the recording sessions for ‘Miami’: ‘We had such a good time recording this one. We did it before Christmas and when we got back home decided it was so much fun that we should go back and do some more.’ Describing the sound of the forthcoming album Taz added: ‘This recording is more loose. We spent time jamming the songs out a pinch more than normal. I was in a great place mentally so I think that carried over into the recordings. Izzy, Rick and I found a hole in the wall cuban restaurant that we would walk to every day for lunch. The vibe was relaxed and the songs are as strong and diverse as always.’

“To keep the fans happy before the album is officially released, Izzy sent along the following message: ‘In a few days I’ll be sending more clips. Probably from the songs ‘Buildings In The Sky’, and ‘Let Go’.’ Izzy has also included the album artwork, for fans to take a look at, whilst he also mentioned the origin of the artwork, with Izzy saying: ‘Picture with no print….cool!…I shot it in an abandoned steelmill in Ajo, Arizona last week…’

“‘Miami’ continues Izzy’s prolific run of album releases. Starting in 1998 with the scorchin’ ‘117°’ on Geffen Records, he followed up with ‘Ride On’ in 1999, ‘River’ in 2001, On ‘Down The Road’ in 2002, and finally ‘Like A Dog’ in 2005.”

You can listen to the track Bomb from Izzy’s last disc Like A Dog below:

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Evanescence has released a new video for their track Sweet Sacrifice. Check it out! It is a cool video!