Pitchfork

Photo by Nilina Mason-Campbell

Stephen Malkmus and his jammin' Jicks are all set to take out their Trash. The band kicks off the U.S. leg of its tour tonight (March 19) in Minneapolis. (That MySpace secret show in Portland a couple weeks ago doesn't count.) The first half of the North American tour features support from John Vanderslice, with the Joggers picking up the slack on the back end.

In May and June, the band heads to Europe. And smack dab in the middle of all of it, Matador will release the "Cold Son" 10" single in independent record stores on April 19, aka Record Store Day.

Normally, we'd be ecstatic that Malkatraz & co. are hitting the road again, but the timing of this tour raises some serious issues for a committed fantasy baseball owner^* such as SM. For instance, how will he update his lineup? Will the distractions of travel keep him from properly attending to the waiver wire? Will the fact that the band is playing Milwaukee before the Brewers' season starts throw him into a deep depression that causes him to stop making music forever? Inquiring minds want to know.

* Don't miss Matador owner/founder Gerard Cosloy's hilariously technical clarifying statements in the comments.

Malkman cometh:

03-19 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue *
03-20 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater *
03-21 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre *
03-22 Indianapolis, IN - Vogue Theater *
03-23 Newport, KY - Southgate House *
03-25 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge *
03-26 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse *
03-28 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
03-29 Philadelphia, PA - The Fillmore at the TLA *
03-31 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
04-01 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom *
04-02 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
04-03 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club *
04-04 North Adams, MA - MASS MoCA *
04-11 Portland, OR - Jupiter Hotel (Malkmus with James Mercer) (Buckman Bash)
04-20 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa #
04-21 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre #
04-23 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad #
04-24 Tucson, AZ - Plush #
04-26 Indio, CA - Coachella
04-27 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore #
04-28 Sacramento, CA - Harlow's #
04-30 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall #
05-01 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom #
05-02 Victoria, British Columbia - Sugar #
05-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards #
05-24-26 George, Washington - The Gorge (Sasquatch!)
05-29-31 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
06-05 London, England - Shepherd's Bush Empire
06-07 Manchester, England - Academy 2
06-08 Glasgow, Scotland - Oran Mor
06-09 Dublin, Ireland - Tripod

* with John Vanderslice
# with the Joggers