Dave Stewart Takes the Kitchen Sink Approach: Tour, Album, Book, Broadway, Cell Phones, Artists' Rights

Dave Stewart is rolling past, present and future into a handful of projects this year.
In August and September, Stewart and His 30-Piece Rock Fabulous Orchestra - that's his name for the band - will perform 18 concerts in North America, beginning Aug. 28 in Kettering, Ohio.
Tour will be in conjunction with the release of “Dave Stewart Songbook, Vol. 1,” an album consisting of new versions of his most celebrated material recorded with the full orchestra. Stewart’s company Weapons of Mass Entertainment and Surfdog Records will be releasing the album, which will be accompanied by a hard-cover book. The book will include a chapter dedicated to each song with the story behind the music and photos of collaborators, most of which were taken by Stewart.
Shows will feature songs from his Eurythmics catalog ("Sweet Dreams,” “Here Comes the Rain Again”) as well as his compositions for others -  Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” No Doubt’s “Underneath It All,” Mick Jagger’s  “Old Habits Die Hard” and Celine Dion’s “Taking Chances.”
Stewart has also penned "Zombie Broadway," a horror-comedy-musical graphic novel in which Broadway showtunes sedate violent citizens in the future.Down the road, Stewart says, he hopes to turn the comic into a Broadway musical. (He is currently writing "Ghost: The Musical" for the West End and Broadway with Glen Ballard and original screenplay writer Bruce Joel Rubin.)
"Zombie" was co-created and written by David Harris and Christine Schenley. The tag for the Virgin Comics release now in stores: Death, destruction, mayhem - and a chorus line.
Stewart is also working as a consultant for Nokia, where he has been given the title of Change Agent.
"It's about changing the way content creators get recompensed for their creations," Stewart said in a recent interview in which he spoke in broad yet convincing strokes, offering few specifics. "Obviously, from personal experience, I see that (the systems) are broken. Particularly in America, artists are at the end of a terrible food chain. Artists won't get a penny if the model continues.We have to disrupt the business paradigm.
"Nokia wants to create a music business. It's not about just being a marketing tool. If we can make sustainable (revenue-producing) environment for artists, that will be a powerful connection.
"It's kind of a Zeitgeist moment. I have spent seven years meeting with managers and new artists. I believe I have a solution."      

Tour Dates:
Aug. 28      Kettering, OH                Fraze Pavilion
29             Highland Park, Ill.           Ravina Pavilion
30             Nashville                      Wild Horse Saloon
31             Atlanta                       Chastain Park Amphitheater
Sept. 2       Dallas                        House of Blues
5               Cerritos, Calif.              Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts
6               Saratoga, Calif.             Mountain Winery
7               San Francisco              The Fillmore
9               Victoria, B.C.               Royal Theater
10             Seattle                       Moore Theater
11             Vancouver, B.C.        Center for the Performing Arts
13             Calgary                     Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
14             Edmonton                   Winspear Center
16             Minneapolis                  Pantages Theater
18             New York                    The Fillmore
19             Glenside, Pa.                 Keswick Theater
20             Westbury, N.Y.              North Fork Theater
21             Washington, D.C.          9:30 Club