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She may put on a tough front, but surly teen pop star Avril Lavigne has once again enlisted the help of the courts to stop a persistent stalker boi from harassing her and her family. Prosecutors in Everett, Washington, have charged 30-year-old James B. Speedy with felony stalking for his overzealous and unwanted attention to the Lavigne brood over the past year. Speedy has allegedly been firing off letters to the singer and her family since 2003, and he recently violated the terms of a court order by trying to get in touch with her yet again. “He sent his… Read more »

The White Stripes have gone on the offensive against a filmmaker they say has released an unauthorized documentary about the duo. “Nobody Knows How To Talk to Children,” which was recently screened at the Seattle Film Festival, was shot by George Roca over the White Stripes’ four-night stand in 2002 at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. “He wanted to videotape the entire event, stage performance and backstage goings on for his demo reel,” the band writes on its official Web site. “We said yes to his request provided he and his crew agreed to the following conditions: 1) it had to… Read more »

Music fans in Britain, France and Germany downloaded more than 800,000 tracks from Apple Computer Inc’s iTunes online music store in its first week of operations in Europe, the company said on Wednesday. The strong start makes the much-heralded download service already a top player in Europe’s brutally competitive music download market. “In the UK alone, iTunes sold more than 450,000 songs in the last week – 16 times as many as OD2, its closest competitor,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement issued on Wednesday. Apple launched iTunes in France, Germany and the UK on June 15 to… Read more »

Ray Charles, the Grammy-winning crooner who blended gospel and blues in such crowd-pleasers as “What’d I Say” and ballads like “Georgia on My Mind,” died Thursday, a spokesman said. He was 73. Charles died at his Beverly Hills home surrounded by family and friends, said spokesman Jerry Digney. Charles’ last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April 30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singer’s studios, built 40 years ago in central Los Angeles, as a historic landmark. Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, Charles spent his life shattering any notion of musical boundaries… Read more »

With a new album dropping in June and a summer concert schedule in place, all seemed normal enough in the Phish camp as this week began. But the group shocked fans Tuesday with the announcement that it will break up following a two-day festival in Coventry, Vermont, on August 14-15. Frontman/guitarist Trey Anastasio wrote on the band’s Web site, “We all love and respect Phish and the Phish audience far too much to stand by and allow it to drag on beyond the point of vibrancy and health. We don’t want to become caricatures of ourselves or, worse yet, a… Read more »

Swedish rockers the Hives will bring their buzzy brand of garage rock back to the U.S. this summer. The group – frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, guitarists Nicholas Arson and Vigilante Carlstroem, drummer Chris Dangerous and bassist Dr. Matt Destruction – kicks off a thirteen-date tour on July 20th in Washington, D.C. That same day, the Hives will release the as-yet-untitled follow-up to their 2001 breakthrough Veni Vidi Vicious. “It’s a little bit different,” Almqvist told Rolling Stone of the group’s third album. “But the theme of the record is that we have more restraint in the rhythm section – sort… Read more »

No one is really more surprised about this success than me,” says Isaac Brock, lead singer of indie-rocker heroes Modest Mouse, who, after a decade of struggles, disappointments and near-breakups, finally have a hit record. The group’s fourth album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, debuted at Number Nineteen on the Billboard Album Chart in April, is still hanging tough at Number Twenty-three this week and has sold more than 300,000 copies. Modest Mouse’s video, “Float On,” is an MTV buzz clip, and they were one of the first bands announced for this year’s Lollapalooza. “We’ve been such… Read more »

This year is a milestone for the Vans Warped Tour, as the hard rocking fest enters its tenth year of carrying the post-punk banner. Footage of some of last year’s touring bands – including the Used, the Ataris, Sum 41, Glassjaw, Pennywise, Rancid, Thrice and Less Than Jake – will be included on Vans Warped Tour ’03, a DVD due on June 22nd. Shot over forty-five dates last summer, Vans Warped Tour ’03 includes twenty-three songs in 5.1 surround sound, an hour of interviews, backstage footage and a photo gallery. As for this summer’s Vans Warped tour, it is scheduled… Read more »

From Trustkill Record’s Website: It is official, the band that surely needs no introduction… TERROR has joined the Trustkill Family. We couldn’t be more stoked to have these guys on the label, as they are one of the hardest working hardcore bands ever. Their new album “One With The Underdogs” will be out in August and contains 14 of the most powerful, raw, and energetic Terror songs yet. Their good friends Freddy Madball, Jamey Hatebreed, and Lord Ezac even helped out with some guest vocals. Make sure to catch the band on the ‘Made Tour’ starting May 11 with Stretch… Read more »

Apple Computer apparently doesn’t want to sing the same tune as its Internet music rival RealNetworks. Seattle-based RealNetworks said Thursday that Apple chairman Steve Jobs had rebuffed an offer by RealNetworks’ chief executive Rob Glaser to meet and discuss forming an online music alliance involving Apple’s best-selling iPod portable players. Executives at Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple declined to comment Thursday. In an interview earlier this week with The Wall Street Journal, Jobs said Apple has little incentive to open its popular digital music player to others. “The iPod already works with the No. 1 music service in the world, and the… Read more »