Oh, how we CANNOT wait for this. There's an article in Billboard today about the current happenings of Ben Folds. Folds' new solo album was originally scheduled for release this summer, but has recently been pushed back to 2005. Why? Because Folds is busy co-writing, producing, and releasing the first new album in umpteen years from WILLIAM SHATNER. Yes, THAT William Shatner. And, in addition to guest appearances by Folds, Aimee Mann, and Henry Rollins, the album should be notable for two other reasons -- the first being that one of the tracks is a composition co-written by Folds and "High Fidelity" author Nick Hornby... which is only topped by the news that another of the tracks will be a duet between Shatner and Joe Jackson -- and it's a cover of Pulp's "Common People."

More news on the upcoming releases front: BEN FOLDS FIVE are set to release their new album, "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner" in the states on April 27. The first single, "Army" will hit radio a couple weeks before that. We've got Ben Folds Five tour dates for April up in Tours. Also, the first proper album from THE BETA BAND is said to be nearly complete. Clocking in at just under two hours, the album is likely to come out in a double-disc format sometime later this year.