Search Results for: north carolina

Bad Boy impresario Sean “P. Diddy” Combs was ordered by a North Carolina superior court judge to pay $2.45 million in damages to a man who claimed he was injured by bodyguards hired by Combs for a 1995 Mary J. Blige concert, according to a spokesperson for the court. Cedrick Bobby Lemon, a limousine driver who was working at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on the night of the concert, said he was beaten by two bodyguards employed by Combs, who was acting as Blige’s manager at the time of the show. Forsyth Civil Superior Court Judge William… Read more »

U.S. lawmakers have asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to go after Internet users who download unauthorized songs and other copyrighted material, raising the possibility of jail time for digital-music fans. In a July 25 letter released late Thursday, some 19 lawmakers from both sides of the aisle asked Ashcroft to prosecute “peer-to-peer” networks like Kazaa and Morpheus and the users who swap digital songs, video clips and other files without permission from artists or their record labels. The Justice Department should also devote more resources to policing online copyrights, the lawmakers said in their letter. “Such an effort is increasingly… Read more »

Rapper Eminem’s success is a sign that whites will take over hip-hop in the same manner they took over jazz and rock and roll, according to an outspoken North Carolina minister. Reverend Paul Scott says he’s worried that the white influence on rap music will weaken the culture. Scott said, “Malcolm X once said that when you have a cup of coffee that is too black and too strong you add cream to make it weak, and the thing that used to wake up now puts you to sleep.” Scott is calling for a new “black power movement” within the… Read more »

Dirty Vegas hooks up with Moby on Sunday (July 14) in Dallas to serve as the main support act on his current headlining tour, which kicked off Thursday (July 11) in Kansas City. The British trio, known for its hit single, “Days Go By,” tours with Moby through late-August, with new dates recently added in Charlotte, North Carolina (August 24); Portsmouth, Virginia (August 25); and Pittsburgh (August 26). Moby joins the tour amid continued success with its single “Days Go By,” which remains in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart while recently cracking the top 30… Read more »

Having a song on the successful “Spider-Man” soundtrack hasn’t gone to Corey Taylor’s head. Actually, “Bother” has deflated the Slipknot frontman’s ego… or superego, as it were. Taylor has forgone using Superego as the moniker for his now-unnamed side project, who hope to release their debut in late summer or early fall, according to a Roadrunner Records spokesperson. Taylor’s Slipknot bandmate Jim Root (guitar) joins him in the endeavor, as do two members of their previous band, Stone Sour, and an acquaintance from the group’s hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. The quintet has recorded 16 songs that run the gamut… Read more »

After finishing their opening slot on the Green Day/Blink-182 Pop Disaster tour, Jimmy Eat World will embark on another trek, this time with their own name atop the marquee. The Mesa, Arizona, quartet will launch a headlining tour July 16 in Columbus, Ohio, according to their publicist. Eleven dates follow, and then it’s off to Europe for a few weeks of shows and festivals that culminate in the U.K. Reading and Leeds festivals on August 24 and 25. The Promise Ring, on the heels of the release of their fifth album, Wood/Water; Desaparecidos, the side project of Bright Eyes mastermind… Read more »

Sheryl Crow and Train are among the first acts confirmed for the inaugural Jeep World Outside Festival 2002. The five-week, 23-city trek gets in gear July 10 in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the tour’s publicist. Following a path that hits the West Coast later that month, the trek returns to the East Coast to wrap up in Philadelphia on August 18. The trek marks Crow’s first set of dates to promote her fourth and latest album, C’mon, C’mon, which was released Tuesday. Train, meanwhile, continue to support last year’s Drops of Jupiter, which has sold more than 2.1 million… Read more »

British pop singer Elton John, testifying before Congress Thursday, said America has an obligation to use its vast resources to stop the spread of AIDS around the world. “No nation, corporation, foundation or individual has the money you have,” Sir Elton told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “No one even comes close.” “This is the government of the richest nation in history, and I’m here asking you for more money to stop the worst epidemic in history.” John said 8,000 people are dying every day from AIDS. “You have the power to end this epidemic,” he told… Read more »

Showing his deep admiration for Ryan Adams, Sir Elton John addressed the young rock and roller as “fabulous one” during a taping Tuesday night for “CMT Crossroads.” In Studio A at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, John told an invited audience how Adams’ 2000 solo debut, Heartbreaker, prompted him to reassess his own approach to recording. “If I hadn’t heard Heartbreaker, I’d probably be lost in overproduction somewhere,” John said during a question-and-answer segment of the show, which explores the common country music roots of artists from diverse backgrounds. “I was completely and utterly floored by the simplicity… Read more »

Toward the end of Ben Folds’ tour last fall in support of his Epic solo debut, “Rockin’ the Suburbs,” the jumpy piano player decided to take the stage solo for a few dates at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. As the artist tells Billboard.com, what transpired on stage was magical, which made the decision to go on the road for his first ever solo tour that much easier. “All of my old songs and everything I’ve ever written, I’m just playing them at the piano and realizing that they’re giving me the same chill that caused them to be written in… Read more »