News Roundup: The Pixies, Bruce Springsteen, Ticketmaster/Live Nation, Michael Jackson

--The Pixies have announced the dates for their Doolittle 20th anniversary tour, where the alt-rock legends will play the album in its entirety. The band will play nine cities, including three New York gigs: November 23, 24, and 25 at the 3,000-capacity Hammerstein Ballroom. We recently talked to Frank Black.

--Speaking of playing classic albums in their entirety, the Boss is apparently planning to do it with Born to Run in Chicago (though we'd vote for The River, personally). Rolling Stone also reports, "Completely unsubstantiated Internet rumors that should be taken with a huge grain of salt claim that Springsteen will do one album a night during his five-night stand at Giants Stadium this September and October." Sounds like a sure thing to us.

--The proposed merger of modest mom-and-pop retailers Ticketmaster and Live Nation is being criticized by politicians, namely the chair of a Senate antitrust committee and 50 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, chair of the antitrust committee, wrote in a letter to the Justice Department that the deal would create "an enormous, vertically integrated entertainment giant, which will control everything from artist management, concert promotion, concert venues, and merchandise sales to primary and secondary market ticket sales."

--The Associated Press is reporting that Michael Jackson's personal doctor Dr. Conrad Murray administered the powerful drug propofol to help Jackson sleep, and that authorities believe the drug is what killed the pop star. This is been the speculation for weeks, but to have it finally be reported by the AP rather than the Us Weekly/Star/TMZ's of the world gives it a little credence. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone just published a cover story on Jackson's last days, including the detail that Jackson's prothetic nose was missing at the morgue, which revealed a "small, dark hole surrounded by bits of cartilage." We're gonna go take a shower now.