Westerberg to release CD set

Former Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg will release a double-disc set on April 23.

One disc, “Stereo,” was recorded in stereo, and will be a collection of acoustic Westerberg material.

The other disc, “Mono,” was recorded in mono, and will feature fresh material from Westerberg’s side project, Grandpaboy.

Tom Waits songs on new soundtrack

Tom Waits will have a pair of new tunes, titled “Long Way Home” and “Jayne’s Blue Wish,” on the forthcoming “Big Bad Love” soundtrack, due Feb. 19.

Other soundtrack contributors include Steve Earle, R.L. Burnside, Kenny Brown and Robert Belfour.

The songs will be Waits’ first offering since 1999’s lauded “Mule Variations.”

Also due this spring are two new full-length Waits albums, “Alice” and “Blood Money.”

Bono to speak at African summit

Bono will travel to Malawi to attend and speak at the Southern African Development Community summit next week.

The U2 vocalist plans to address trade relations, debt relief, poverty and AIDS prevention.

Bono will be accompanied by Jeffrey Sachs, a Harvard University professor, who will present a World Health Organization report at the summit.

The report indicates that spending more money on healthcare for the world’s poorest nations would help to stimulate economic growth.

– Information gathered by Bethany Kohoutek from billboard.com