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If there were any doubts that the White Stripes — consisting solely of guitarist Jack White and his “big sister” drummer Meg — could rock out the cavernous Madison Square Garden, the duo erased them with their debut there Tuesday night. “I don’t believe we’ve played this barn before,” joked the guitarist toward the end of their blistering set. Touring to promote their critically acclaimed new release, the explosive “Icky Thump,” the White Stripes made no concessions to the size of the venue. They played sans special effects for much of the set, save for a giant disco ball hanging… Read more »

New York City symbolically banned use of the word nigger on Wednesday, the latest step in a campaign that hopes to expunge the most vile of racial slurs from hip hop music and television. The City Council unanimously declared a moratorium that carries no penalty but aims to stop youth from casually using the word, considered by most Americans to be the most offensive in the English language. The New York City measure follows similar resolutions this month by the New York state assembly and state senate, and supporters of the ban are taking their campaign to The Recording Academy,… Read more »

The two main satellite radio providers, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius are expected to announce a long-awaited merger on Monday, according to the New York Post. The newspaper said the two companies were negotiating over the weekend to merge the companies, a deal that is expected to be structured as a “merger of equals.” Representatives of the two companies could not immediately be reached for comment.

The upcoming closure of New York’s famed punk-rock club CBGB is lamented by locals as the loss of a legendary venue; for others it symbolizes another Manhattan neighborhood becoming corporate and bland. Standing underneath the club’s red awning on Thursday evening, several young musicians smoked cigarettes and bemoaned the loss of the dank, grimy club that began in 1973 and will have its last show on Sunday, featuring Patti Smith. The venue — its full name is CBGB & OMFUG, or Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers — spawned the Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie, whose lead… Read more »

Despite being a major label band since the get-go (not unlike The Ramones or The Sex Pistols ), Southern California ska freaks Goldfinger really do understand punk rock. Singer/guitarist John Feldmann, drummer Darrin Pfeiffer, bassist Kelly Lemieux and guitarist Brian Arthur have been around the block. And even though their latest album Disconnection Notice takes a decidedly poppier turn this time, they’re sick of being alienated from their colleagues. In fact, that’s part of the reason for the album title. They don’t want to be “disconnected” anymore, hoping that fans will find solace in the band’s understanding of feeling disenfranchised… Read more »

One week after a fan was shot outside a Ja Rule afterparty in Peoria, Illinois, a man was killed and another wounded Monday morning outside a New York club where the rapper was hosting a party. Ja’s after-Christmas bash at the LQ club was interrupted at 3:45 a.m. Monday when shots rang out across the street from the nightspot, killing an as-yet-unidentified 39-year-old man and wounding his friend in the stomach, according to Detective John Sweeney of the New York Police Department. The shooter and a friend reportedly ran out of the club after an argument and opened fire on… Read more »

Arthur Kane, original bass guitarist for the 1970s-era punk rock group New York Dolls, has died of complications related to leukemia. He was 55. Kane died Tuesday after being admitted to a Los Angeles hospital and diagnosed with leukemia, said band manager Darren Hill. “He didn’t even know,” Hill said Thursday. “It wasn’t until he went into the hospital that afternoon that they diagnosed that.” The New York native had been suffering from severe flu-like symptoms for several days, forcing him to back out of a July 11 reunion show in Manchester, England, Hill said. In a statement on behalf… Read more »

Whisps of fake fog spilled from the stage and dissipated into a light breeze rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean as 7,000 satisfied fans shuffled toward Nathan’s Hot Dogs, the Wonder Wheel or the D-train. So ended the beginning of the end for Phish, who performed Thursday and Friday at Coney Island’s baseball stadium beside the sea, KeySpan Park. The shows launched the band’s farewell tour, which will culminate August 14 and 15 at a festival in Phish’s home state of Vermont. But fans didn’t let any sadness show at these gigs: Even when the sky opened up and drenched… Read more »

Fans of safe and sentimental melodic pop-rock were treated to the best of both worlds Thursday, when Something Corporate and Yellowcard hit the Roseland Ballroom stage near the end of their six-week co-headlining tour. Where Something Corporate mostly played amidst an air of soul-baring and introspection, Yellowcard’s cheer and bravado helped dissipate any gray clouds that may have hovered overhead. With three flags marked by upside-down hearts hanging from the rafters and spotlights almost always fixed on Andrew McMahon’s upright piano at center stage, Something Corporate’s set alternated between songs about being in and out of love from their 2002… Read more »

Slipknot’s lighting guy deserves a raise. His chaotic visual display so accurately complements the band’s turbulent music that even with the sound turned off, Slipknot’s punishing assault would come across loud and clear. At Monday’s stop of the Jägermeister Music Tour, which began March 30 in Orlando, Florida, whirring red emergency lights translated the dizzying guitar lines of Jim Root and Mick Thompson. Blinding white strobes pulsed in time with Joey Jordison’s unrelenting bass drums. The sickly green hues that backlit the nine masked bandmembers manifested the music’s creepy, menacing tones, while reality-distorting black lighting frequently bathed the stage, suggesting… Read more »