The Winter Dew Tour today announced that hip hop star and two-time Grammy winner Common will headline the Verizon Wireless music stage on Friday, Feb. 20, at the Toyota Championship, the third and final stop of the Winter Dew Tour, in Truckee, Calif.

Common burst onto the hip-hop scene in 1992 with his debut album “Can I Borrow a Dollar” and hasn’t looked back. In 2006 his hit record “Be”, produced mostly by superstar rapper Kanye West, was nominated for four Grammy Awards and won the coveted honor for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the hit single “Southside” featuring West. Cannon, who is set to release his highly anticipated album “’09”, also boasts a burgeoning acting career. The Chicago native held significant roles in blockbuster films “Smokin' Aces”, “Street Kings”, “American Gangster”, “Wanted”, and the upcoming “Terminator Salvation”.

“I’m a huge Common fan so I’m pumped to see him perform live,” said Tanner Hall, currently first in the Freeski Superpipe Dew Cup points standings. “Common is the perfect performance to end the successful inaugural season of the Winter Dew Tour.”

Progressive/Psych-Rock band Tweak Bird features a tandem of brothers, guitarist Caleb and drummer Ashton Bird. Tweak Bird’s debut EP “Reservations”, released in September ’08, is filled with instrumental-style jamming and the high-energy sound the Los Angeles based Bird brothers have become known for.

All music from the Verizon Wireless music stage is free to the general public including the Friday night concert with Common and Tweak Bird.

The third and final stop of the inaugural Winter Dew Tour season, Northstar-at-Tahoe, will be broadcast LIVE on NBC with additional broadcasts on USA Network.

TV Schedule

NBC Saturday, Feb. 21th 2:30pm-4:00pm EST SKI Slope Men Finals

NBC Sunday, Feb. 22st 4:00pm-6:00pm EST SNB Pipe Women/ Men Finals

USA Network Friday, Feb. 20th Midnight-1:00am EST SNB Slope Women/ Men Finals

USA Network Saturday, Feb. 21th Midnight-1:00am EST SKI Pipe Men Finals

Similar to the Dew Tour’s summer competition structure, the Winter Dew Tour is based on a cumulative points system as the top snow athletes battle it out for a piece of the $1.5 million prize purse and the chance to take home the Dew Cup at the conclusion of the season in February.

The complete 2008/09 Winter Dew Tour schedule is as follows:

Stop 1: Dec. 18-21, 2008 Breckenridge, Colo.—Breckenridge Ski Resort

Stop 2: Jan. 8-11, 2009 West Dover, Vt.—Mount Snow Resort

Stop 3 (Toyota Championship): Feb. 19-22, 2009 Truckee, Calif.—Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort

Winter Dew Tour

The Winter Dew Tour consists of three major, multi-sport events spanning across the country, with a cumulative points system, and a $1.5 million competitive purse. Each event features men and women’s snowboard (superpipe and slopestyle), and men’s freeskiing (superpipe and slopestyle). At season’s end, the overall point’s leaders in the six disciplines are crowned year-end champions and awarded the prestigious Dew Cup. As part of an Alli property, key lifestyle elements compliment the competitions at each Tour event including the Festival village, specialty competitions, and live cutting edge music. The Dew Tour is broadcast live on NBC Sports with additional competition and lifestyle broadcasts on MTV, MTV2 and USA. Dew Tour is also distributed on Fuel TV, Universal HD, Rush HD, and internationally on Eurosport, Fox Australia, Extreme Channel and Allarco superchannel. The Dew Tour partners include Mountain Dew (tour title sponsor); Toyota (event title sponsor). Associate partners include Ball Park, Nike 6.0, PlayStation®, Wendy’s, and Verizon Wireless. More information can be found at http://www.allisports.com.

NBC Universal

NBC Universal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates the No. 1 television network, the fastest-growing Spanish-language network, a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.

MTV Networks

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, LOGO, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.