MUSIC NEWS - The hip hop legends, The Beastie Boys have "booked " Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Jack Johnson and Ben Harper for a Get Out and Vote tour, beginning October 28 in Richmond, VA. Shows are also booked for St. Paul, MN on November 1, and November 2 in Milwaukee, WI in advance of the USA election day on November 4th. "This election is too important to stay at home," the rap trio said this morning (Oct. 10), adding that they are endorsing Barack Obama for president. "We hope that you can come out, have a nice night, dance, sing, get your freak on, and then wake up the next morning and get everyone that you possibly can to get out and vote." Crow, Jones, Johnson and Santogold are on the bill for the Richmond show, while Harper and Tenacious D will support in St. Paul. Harper, Tenacious D and David Crosby and Graham Nash will join the Beasties in Milwaukee.

UPDATE- 10/14/08 - Three additional shows have been added to the tour. The tour will now begin on October 27 in Charlotte, N.C., with Sheryl Crow and Santogold on the bill. Crow, Ben Harper and Norah Jones are on for October 29 in Youngstown, Ohio, while Crow and Harper will play Oct. 30 in Dayton, Ohio.

Update 10/24/08- The Beastie Boys are also at work on the follow-up to the 2007 instrumental album "The Mix-Up". "We're actually in the middle of recording it right now," group member Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz told Billboard Mag. "We hope to have it out sometime next year. It's a lot of vocals, a lot of words -- very wordy. And it's political, depending on what you call political. You know, if toilet talk and fart jokes are political, which they can be, in that sense yeah, very." MNN can't wait!