GARAGE INC IS PLATINUM
Sales, by week, for Garage Inc:

• 1st week: 426,500 sold, #2 on Billboard
• 2nd week: 205,650 sold, #5 on Billboard
• 3rd week: 191,300 sold, #10 on Billboard
• 4th week: 175,600 sold, #11 on Billboard
• 5th week: 170,000 sold, #12 on Billboard
• 6th week (current): 144,700 sold, #18 on Billboard

CHARTS AND ROLLING STONE
Garage Inc. was nominated # 1 in this weeks Rolling Stone Readers Top 20. The first single from the album, "Turn the Page", also maintained it's #1 position up top the Mainstream Rock Singles category.

In Billboards charts, the album still is pulling strong at # 11 (Billboard stats are from when the album was 4 weeks old, currently it is in it's sixth week), down one from the previous week, but still not too shabby for an album comprised completely of cover material.

Also in the magazine, Metallica was included in RS's article entitled METAL: The Next Generation - The ten most important hard and heavy bands right now, along with such acts as Korn, Meshuggah, Pantera, Candiria, Queens of the Stone Age, Soulfly, Black Sabbath, Soilent Green, and Morbid Angel. Says RS - "Shred Style: Van Cleef and Arpels metal, Hardness scale: 7, The Deal: Up until the turn of the Nineties, Metallica stood at the terminus of everything heavy metal was about, including its side streams of punk and thrash. Since then, James Hetfield and company have become full fledged rock stars with a fat, comfortable, limousine sound. They lost some orthodoxy, gained a lot more fans and did it all with consummate grace. Currently in a retrograde hard-rock bag for its original material, the band flirts with everything from hardcore to Bob Seger to the speed metal in its own back catalog."

Finally included in the issue was Metallica's position on Forbes Magazine's List of the 40 Highest Paid Entertainers, which was # 38, at $32 million.

METALLICA SIGHTING
According to a certain radio station, last week Metallica attended the Black Sabbath concert in San Jose, CA on January 8 at the San Jose Arena. They were watching the show from the soundboard area and apparently smoking cigars, even though the building is smoke free. No word on if they were invited guests or not :)

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT & PICS
Rocklove.com has posted a complete transcript with pictures of January 6th's press conference detailing the "Symphonica" shows.

Special thanks to the cool people at: http://www.rocklove.com.

AUSTRALIAN WHISKEY
According to Polygram Australia, special Australian singles will be released for Whiskey in the Jar. These new singles are scheduled to be released on February 15th and will consist of three parts, all Australian exclusives. Here are their tracklistings:

CD 1

• Whiskey In The Jar (album version)
  PLUS enhanced footage of the Garage Inc. EPK (Part 1)

CD 2

• Whiskey In The Jar (album version)
  PLUS enhanced footage of the Garage Inc. EPK (Part 2)

CD 3

• Whiskey In The Jar (album version)
• The Small Hours (Live from the Ballroom dates in the USA 1998)
• Killing Time (Live from the Ballroom dates in the USA 1998)
• The Prince (Live from the Ballroom dates in the USA 1998)
• Last Caress / Green Hell (Live from the Ballroom dates in the USA 1998)
• Whiskey In The Jar (Live from the Ballroom dates in the USA 1998)

GARAGE BOX?
Amazon.com is reporting the release of (an import) Metallica box set called the Garage Box on January 26th. They have no other info on this, other than the nearly $130 (US) price tag.

GRAMMY NOMINATIONS
Metallica is nominated for the following Grammy awards:

Best Hard Rock Performance

• Metallica - "Fuel"
• Kiss - "Psycho Circus"
• Marilyn Manson - "The Dope Show"
• Jimmy Page & Robert Plant - "Most High"
• Pearl Jam - "Do The Evolution"

Best Metal Performance (For solo vocals, or Duos/Groups with vocals. Singles or Tracks only.):

• Metallica - "Better Than You"
• Judas Priest - "Bullet Train"
• Nashville Pussy - "Fried Chicken and Coffee"
• Rage Against The Machine - "No Shelter"
• Rammstein - "Du Hast"

WHISKEY TRACKLISTS
Here are the tracklists for the Whiskey in the Jar singles, to be released January 25.

CD 1

• Whiskey In The Jar
• Last Caress/Green Hell (live)
• Whiskey In The Jar (live)

CD 2

• Whiskey In The Jar
• Small Hours (live)
• Killing Time (live)

CD 3

• Whiskey In The Jar
• The Prince (live)
• Blitzkreig (live)

KING ON GARAGE INC.
Tim Henderson of Hard News reports that Kerry King, guitarist for Slayer, is not to pleased with Metallica's latest effort, Garage Inc. He told The Rock Radio Network in London that "in his opinion James Hetfield should retire." Pretty strong words...

DVD RESOURCE'S TOP DVD'S
DVD Recource named their top DVD's for 1998 including...

"Metallica: Cunning Stunts will certainly not be everyone's cup'o'tea musically, but as a DVD, it impresses. On top of the ear-blistering Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, this two-disc live concert set pushes the DVD envelope by including three songs filmed and presented with multiple angles. The 5.1 mix on the intro to One is as impressive as I have ever heard. There is ample behind-the-scenes interview footage, almost a thousand still photos (autoplaying and set to music), and one very cunning stunt. From Elektra Entertainment and Warner Home Video."

'ZINES
Jason is featured as one of the "The Decade of Bass: 10 Innovators Who Shaped The 90's", an article in the January issue of Bass Player magazine. Also, James is featured on the cover of December's Kerrang! along with Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory. Inside there is an article entitled "The Four Horsemen", an interview with James and Lars, who talk about the Aragon Ballroom Show on December 19, among other things. Other info included was that Jason has started his own record label, Chophouse, which he talked a little about, as well as pictures of Kirk's scar from his appendectomy.

GARAGE INC. TOPS CHARTS IN EUROPE
Metallica's Garage Inc. tops the album charts in 4 European countries:

• #1 in Germany
• #1 in Finland
• #1 in Norway
• #1 in Sweden
• #3 in Austria
• #8 in Holland
• #9 in France
• #10 in Switzerland.
• #2 on Billboard

PLANS 'TILL THE YEAR 2000
In an Wall Of Sound interview Jason said that Metallica is off 'till April '99. In April there's a special thing happening. It involves about 100 musicians + Metallica, and it'll be done in Metallica's home town.

Then they're gonna start World Tour in Central America, around the last day of April in Panama City. Then they move on to eight shows in South America. Then it's time for bunch of cool European Festivals through the summer, and maybe come to the States for a couple of things (it's not sure).

Then Metallica will start working on new record by the end of the year, hopefully.

Metallica is gonna do a big New Year 2000 show in Michigan. Big pyrotechnics and everything. They are gonna blow a hole right in the middle of Michigan!

NEW SHOWS
Metallica will headline the Dynamo Open Air Festival in Mierlo, Holland.

Dynamo Open Air festival will be held on May 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.

ROLLING STONE
Garage Inc. was the #1 album in January 21st's Rolling Stone's readers poll of the top 20 albums, while Kill 'Em All came in at #20...

Also, Metallica was named as the honorable mention in the Hard Rock/Metal band of year as voted by Rolling Stone readers, losing out to Korn.

Finally, included in the issue were the top five albums of various musicians, including Lars. His top 5?

• 1. "LEAVE THIS ONE BLANK"
• 2. JERRY CANTRELL, BOGGY DEPOT
• 3. ALANIS MORISSETTE, SUPPOSED FORMER INFATUATION JUNKIE
• 4. OASIS, THE MASTERPLAN
• 5. THE OFFSPRING, AMERICANA

TURN THE PAGE #1
Turn The Page is Billboard's #1 Rock Track in issue volume 109, number 52, it also earns the band a "Hot Single." Although in the US it is not available in that format, this is due to a change in Billboard's method of reporting singles rankings. Now, Billboard takes radio play and other factors into account when reporting the most popular songs in the US. Congrats to the band on having the #1 rock single in the US!

VOTE FOR METALLICA
Vote for Metallica's Re-Load as album of the year for Billboard magazine by clicking here! Currently the Spice Girl's hold the lead and Re-Load is at #10.

"SYMPHONICA" DATES SET
Metallica will perform 2 dates with the San Francisco Orchestra on April 21 and 22 1999 at the Davies Symphony Hall.

On Janaury 6th, a press conference will be held by the band announcing and detailing these very special shows with the San Francisco orchestra.

Working with the band on this project will be Michael Kamen, who previously worked with Metallica on Nothing Else Matters.

Kamen has also worked with bands like Pink Floyd, Aerosmith Def Leppard and Queensryche, he is also widely recognized for his many soundtrack scores. Also rumored to be involved is the Finnish cello quartet Apocolyptica.

UPDATE ON '99-'00 GIG
The show set for New Year's Eve 1999 will be part of Ted Nugent's Whiplash Bash 1999. The Whiplash Bash was a yearly New Years event held in Detroit by Nugent until recently (the contract with the venue was not renewed). It will also be part of a worldwide "24 hour party," that will be broadcast in yet to be established methods, also participating will be U2, REM and other bands, although at other venues. The show will be held at the Pontiac Silverdome which can hold at least 80,000 persons. It is expected, but still unclear on if Metallica will headline the event.