Ben Gibbard to launch solo tour Nov. 1 in Minneapolis

He's flying solo in his personal life, and now Ben Gibbard will be going out all by his lonesome on the road this fall – more or less starting with a Minneapolis date at the Women's Club on Nov. 1. The Death Cab for Cutie frontman and one-time Postal Service co-creator is about to release his first real solo album, "Former Lives," Oct. 16 on Barsuk Records. He's playing two one-off shows in Toronto and Big Sur, Calif., prior to the album's release and then starting a 10-city trek here two weeks later.

The Women's Club, which overlooks Loring Park in downtown Minneapolis, was an active venue a decade ago but hasn't seen many shows of late (Mike Doughty was the last one, in March). It's a great place for intimate shows. Pre-sale tickets go on sale to Death Cab fan-club members starting Wednesday, and the rest will be available via Gibbard's new site starting Friday. Advance Base, aka Chicago songwriter Owen Ashworth, will open the local date.

In addition to the new album, Gibbard just dropped a new charity single, "Ichiro's Theme," which pays homage to his favorite Seattle Mariners player who, sadly, was just lifted by the Yankees. He also is getting active in another left-leaning get-out-the-vote campaign and posted a rather personal opinion about gay-marriage rights at the "90 Days, 90 Reasons" site (Death Cab was also part of the big Vote for Change tour with Pearl Jam in 2004).