Arts bites: While you were out

John Frusciante leaves the Chili Peppers (a year ago)

While rumours of his departure had surfaced beforehand, on Dec. 16 guitarist John Frusciante announced that he was no longer a part of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Frusciante confirmed via his MySpace page that he had in fact left the band nearly a year earlier while the RHCP were on hiatus after extended touring in support of Stadium Arcadium.

Frusciante had returned to the band after leaving amidst drug problems in the mid-‘90s in time to record 1999’s Californication. Prolific as a solo artist, Frusciante released his latest album The Empyrean in January 2009 and plans to focus on his solo work.

Flight of the Conchords ends after two seasons

The HBO TV series Flight of the Conchords¸ a show chronicling the lives of struggling New Zealand folk musicians in New York City, will not return for a third season.

The real-life group who play fictional versions of themselves in the show announced Dec. 10 on their website that “we won’t be returning for a third season. We’re very proud of the two seasons we made and we like the way the show ended.”

The duo Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement who make up the real life Flight of the Conchords remarked in the Post that, “While the characters Bret and Jemaine will no longer be around, the real Bret and Jemaine will continue to exist.”

Pavement add dates to 2010 reunion tour

‘90s indie legends Pavement, who confirmed reunion shows for 2010 in September, added a European and Japan leg to the existing tour that included a show in Australia and five U.S. dates in the fall.

The band, which broke up in 1999, will play a total of 36 shows from March until September of this year, with the latest scheduled shows in 11 European nations, including Spain and the Netherlands. They will also serve as curators for the All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) festival in Minehead, U.K.

The band has confirmed that no new material will result from the tour.

Weezer bus crash

A tour bus carrying Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and his family hit black ice on a highway near Albany, N.Y. on Dec. 6 and plunged nearly 10 feet into a ravine. Cuomo sustained rib, back and minor internal injuries to his spleen and a punctured lung in the crash which left him in hospital for six days.

The band canceled all remaining December and January dates in its U.S. tour. There is no word on whether Weezer will continue to sell its own version of the “Snuggie” – the “Wuggie” – at shows when they resume touring or if Cuomo wearing such a garment in the accident prevented further injury.