Search Results for: Fame On Fire

The more time Wes Borland spent in Limp Bizkit, the more things around him turned black. First his wardrobe – draping cloaks that brought to mind one of his favorite characters, Darth Vader. Then his eyes – gripping contacts that, next to his flaring nostrils, made him look like a guitar-toting monster. His heart was the next to go. “Bells start going off, like, ‘This is what it feels like to sell out,’” Borland recalled. “I’m enjoying all the perks of [Limp Bizkit], but I feel my heart is going black, because this is not what I’m called to do.… Read more »

Paul McCartney and Rolling Stones singer-guitarist Keith Richards are among those paying tribute to Johnny Cash on an upcoming two-disc career retrospective. The Essential Johnny Cash, due February 26 from Columbia/Legacy Records, features more than 30 testimonials to Cash from artists including McCartney, Richards, Bono and the Edge of U2, Elvis Costello, former Vice President Al Gore, and even Shawn Crahan of the heavy metal band Slipknot. The Essential Johnny Cash, part of a campaign to celebrate the ailing Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer’s 70th birthday on February 26, compiles 36 digitally remastered tracks recorded not only for Columbia… Read more »

Sam Phillips demurs when it’s suggested that rock ‘n’ roll was invented at his Sun Records label during the 1950s. But he does acknowledge there was a whole lotta shakin’ going on in Memphis thanks to the music he created there with the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and others. “I do know this – it changed the world and it opened up a lot of doors,” Phillips said in a recent interview. “I’m happy we were able to contribute, at least in my opinion, to what music has done and is… Read more »

“Shhhhh!” is printed across the front of one of the T-shirts Ryan Adams is hawking during his current tour in support of his fabulous second solo disc, “Gold” (Lost Highway). It suggests that fame is the intention of least value for this 27-year-old singer-guitarist, an artist who has managed to fly ever so slightly above the radar as a solo artist and, previously, as leader of Whiskeytown, making one impressive artistic statement after another. On a night when a Mick Jagger performance was the hottest celeb-filled event in town, Adams’ show was the hottest ticket – the House of Blues… Read more »

Hundreds of rock music fans went on the rampage at a free concert in Hollywood on Monday night, trashing the stage and raining rocks and bottles on police, who replied with tear gas and rubber bullets, officials said. Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Jason Lee, describing the scene as “a small disturbance,” said about 10,000 people were at the event, which was a promotion for fast-rising local rock band System Of A Down. When several hundred fans were unable to gain access to a fenced parking lot enclosure where the concert was due to take place for 3,500 people, they… Read more »

Crazy Town, Rob Zombie, One Side Zero, Shuvel, and current Guns N’ Roses members Tommy Stinson and Robbin Finck were among the capacity crowd at a massive party for charity at producer Rick Rubin’s famed Hollywood Hills mansion Saturday night (August 25). Others appearing included actors Andy Dick, Milla Jovovich, and Nastassja Kinski. One Side Zero, Shuvel, and Crazy Town turntablist DJ AM performed. The event was to raise money for Schools On Wheels, a Los Angeles-based charity providing education for homeless children. Crazy Town frontman Epic Mazur tells LAUNCH that he was there to support the cause. “When the… Read more »

With a new wife, new twin sons and even a new band, veteran pop troubadour James Taylor is spending most of the next few months touring the amphitheaters of North America, a summer ritual as dependable as sunscreen and inflated concession stand prices. “I’m kind of grooved in on that kind of evening and a sort of summer-night experience,” says Taylor, 53, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who in February this year married Boston Symphony Orchestra publicist Caroline Smedvig. The couple’s sons were born in early April, via in vitro fertilization of a surrogate mother. The veteran singer-songwriter… Read more »

Influential guitarist Chet Atkins, who helped modernize country music in the 1960s, paving the way for the massive commercial force that it is today, died in Nashville Saturday. He was 77. In 1973 and in 1997, Atkins had fought both colon cancer and brain cancer, surviving a number of surgeries. Atkins, enjoyed a multi-faceted career: as a sought-after session musician for the likes of Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers; as a prolific recording artist in his own right; and as a veteran Nashville talent scout. His discoveries included Charley Pride and Waylon Jennings. Atkins was one of the most… Read more »

Grammy-winning rapper Eminem received one year of probation Thursday for a weapons charge authorities say stemmed from a dispute with a rival Detroit rap group. The 28-year-old star could have gotten up to five years in prison. “Poor judgment is an understatement for what you did,” Circuit Judge Denise Langford Morris said. Eminem, who has come under fire for his violent and anti-gay lyrics, was accused of pulling a 9mm semiautomatic gun in a Royal Oak parking lot during an argument last June with associates of the rap group Insane Clown Posse. Witnesses said Eminem did not point the gun… Read more »

‘NSYNC just keep digging deeper into the dance music community. First they recruited BT to produce Celebrity’s first single, “Pop,” and now they’ve hired Deep Dish to remix it. The Washington, D.C., house duo, who remixed Madonna’s “Music” and were nominated for the Remixer of the Year Grammy, sought to give the song a wide range of emotions. “It sounds like Basement Jaxx on estrogen,” Deep Dish’s Sharam Tayebi said Thursday (June 14). “It has all these crazy elements, but it’s tough. It has dark elements to it, but it’s kind of a happy song.” Deep Dish’s remix, which was… Read more »