NO ILLUSION: STAIND REALLY DOES DEBUT AT NO. 3!
Rock gods Staind's The Illusion of Progress debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, selling 92,000 copies of the record its first week in stores. As amazing as that accomplishment would seem, it could be considered a bit of a disappointment since the band's last three albums all debuted at No. 1, with 2001's Break the Cycle selling a staggering 716,000 copies in its first week out.

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Fall Out Boy has confirmed a November 4 release date for its fifth studio album, Folie a Deux. Appropriately enough, the Election Day release date was revealed Monday, the same day the group issued an online mixtape titled Welcome To the New Administration. The digital mixtape includes five demo tracks likely to appear in completed form on Folie: "ALPHAdog and OMEGAlomaniac," "America's Sweethearts," "Lake Effect Kid," "I Don't Care (27)" and "Catch Me if You Can/Proclamation of Emancipation."

NOT BLACK & WHITE: PIXIES COULD DUST OFF RUST!
Pixies mainman Frank Black tells UK music magazine NME he's not ruled out the possibility of the band recording its first all-new studio album since 1991's Trompe Le Monde. "It's just a waiting game right now," said Black. "Whatever we do in the future is gonna have to be fresh. I have to see if the band as a whole wants to go into the recording studio for a new record. That makes sense on some level."

SPEECHLESS: HILLARY, DNC HONOR BHTM!
Fans of Denver area-based Big Head Todd & The Monsters and Sen. Hillary Clinton were all pleased and proud Tuesday night when the New York Senator chose to use BHTM's "Blue Sky" off their current All the Love You Need album before and after her stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention. "I had no idea to what extent they were going to play the song," said frontman Todd Park Mohr. "I thought it sounded great, but more importantly we're proud of Hillary and thought her speech was truly historic. More than anything, it really was an honor." BHTM's never-ending tour continues tomorrow in Milwaukee.

STATE OF THE UNION: ROCKERS ROCK DNC!
A delegation of politically active rock acts, including Rage Against the Machine, State Radio, former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, The Coup and Denver's own Flobots rocked the Rocky Mountain mile high city yesterday during the Democratic National Convention. All the acts performed as part of the Tent State Music Festival to End the War held at the Denver Coliseum and sponsored by the Iraq Veterans Against the War Foundation. Meanwhile, as an extension of its DNC gig, State Radio announced it would launch its own 24-stop Take the Country Back Tour, starting September 13 in Waterville, ME and running through a November 29 show in New York. Visit www.stateradio.com or www.myspace.com/stateradio for full details.

SNOW FALLS, SUN RISES OCTOBER 28!
Snow Patrol's fifth studio album, A Hundred Million Suns, will hit stores on October 28. According to Billboard, the record's first single and video, "Take Back the City," will debut in the UK on October 13. Of Suns, singer Gary Lightbody shines, "Musically, lyrically and sonically the best record we've made."

CLASSIC ROCK NEWS

DEMOCRACY AT WORK: FEDS BUST GNR STREAMER!
The AP reports federal authorities have arrested a blogger suspected of streaming unreleased songs from Guns N' Roses' still unreleased Chinese Democracy album. On Wednesday, FBI agents paid Kevin Cogill, 27, a visit, immediately taking him into custody on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws. The U.S. government accuses Cogill of posting nine Chinese Democracy songs on his website in June.

RUNAWAY TRAIN: NEW AC/DC TRACK HITS RADIO!
It will be hard to avoid hearing "Rock N' Roll Train," the new AC/DC song, which arrived at radio stations nationwide last night at midnight. The song is the first off the band's highly anticipated Black Ice album, which will be available exclusively at all Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores as well as at www.acdcrocks.com on October 20. AC/DC will kick off its first world tour in 7 years this October.

MASSIVE BOX SET CLOSES BOOK ON GENESIS!
Rhino Records is ready to release a giant 13-disc Genesis CD/DVD box set of biblical proportions. Genesis: 1970-1975, due in stores November 11, contains 7 CDs and 6 DVDs packed with previously released material as well as never-before seen and/or heard music. The collection contains the fully remastered studio albums Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, all featuring Peter Gabriel on lead vocals, plus loads of rarities, previously unreleased tracks and previously unseen footage.

OYE COMO VAULT: SANTANA, DOORS SETTLE SUITS!
Santana and The Doors have reached tentative settlement agreements with the Bill Graham Archive website www.wolfgangsvault.com and its owner, William Sagan, over claims of copyright infringement. Both acts accused the website of violating their rights by selling merchandise and music without permission.

HOT WINGS: MCCARTNEY'S FIREMAN ANSWER CALL!
Paul McCartney will roll out the very first public performance of his electronica-infused outfit The Fireman next month on the second season premiere of UK's Later…With Jools Holland television show. Of the former Beatles newest music project, a source told the Times of London: "It sounds like [Canada's] Arcade Fire meets Led Zeppelin." In more McCartney news, he is scheduled to make his first-ever appearance in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 25.

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Celebrated director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) will take audiences back to 1969 with his upcoming film, Taking Woodstock. The Academy Award winning director will tell the real-life story of Elliot Tiber (played by Demetri Martin), a regular upstate New York resident who inadvertently played a key role in making the legendary music festival happen. The movie also stars Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) and Eugene Levy, among others. No release date has been set yet.