Search Results for: stephen king

At the most recent Bionic show in Toronto, I had the pleasure of chatting with guitarist Ian Blurton for a few minutes. Not only does Blurton wail with Bionic, but he’s also got producer credit on the upcoming Weakerthans album, Reconstruction Site. Now, I had enjoyed a few beverages at this point, and I’m not going to try to quote Mr. Blurton, but the general gist was that he was pretty pissed off because the Weakerthans record was leaked onto the Internet well before its release date on August 26. For those of you who went and downloaded the album… Read more »

Stephen Glass, a writer who was fired from the New Republic magazine for fabricating stories, is being given another chance by Rolling Stone, another magazine he wrote for. Glass has been assigned a story on Canadian marijuana laws, Stu Zakim, a spokesman for the magazine, said Monday. The assignment was first reported by New York magazine. A previous story that Glass wrote for Rolling Stone resulted in a lawsuit. D.A.R.E, an anti-drug program, sued the magazine in 1999 over Glass’s story about the group, part of which he admitted making up. Zakim said Rolling Stone owner Jann Wenner felt it… Read more »

Assembling a promotional campaign for a veteran band that has been out of the spotlight is a tough enough feat. But Capitol Records is facing the daunting task of reintroducing a group that hasn’t released a new album in 13 years. Luckily, the campaign behind pioneering alternative rock outfit Jane’s Addiction’s “Strays,” due July 22, has had a huge prerelease boost from first single “Just Because.” The song is No. 4 on Modern Rock Tracks after four weeks, returning Jane’s Addiction to the top of the format at which it scored five top 15 hits between 1988 and 1991. The… Read more »

A federal court judge has surprised the entertainment industry by denying a request for a summary judgment that would shut down Grokster and Streamcast Networks. The precedent-setting ruling Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson is a major blow against a pillar of the film and music business’ strategy against online piracy, which is to hold the underlying technology companies responsible. “It is undisputed that there are substantial noninfringing uses” for Grokster and Streamcast’s Morpheus, Wilson wrote in his decision. He cited Sony Corporation of America vs. Universal City Studios, the 1984 milestone usually referred to as the Betamax… Read more »

Michael Jackson said Thursday he felt betrayed by a “terrible and unfair” TV documentary about his life, in which the King of Pop revealed he sometimes lets children sleep in his bed. In a statement issued Thursday by his London representative, Jackson said British journalist Martin Bashir broke the trust placed in him, and added he felt “more betrayed than perhaps ever before.” Bashir spent eight months making the 90-minute program, which was to be shown in the United States at 8 p.m. EST Thursday on ABC’s “20/20.” “I trusted Martin Bashir to come into my life and that of… Read more »

The owners of the KaZaA file-sharing network are suing the movie and recording industries, claiming that they don’t understand the digital age and are monopolizing entertainment. Sharman Networks Ltd. filed its counterclaim Monday in response to a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by several recording labels and movie studios. That lawsuit accuses Sharman of providing free access to copyright music and films to millions of Internet users in the United States. The latest filing came two weeks after U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson dismissed Sharman’s claim that it could not be sued in the United States because it is based in… Read more »

A judge has reduced a civil judgment against Sean “P. Diddy” Combs to $450,000, overturning $2 million in punitive damages against the rap-music icon. Judge William Z. Wood of Forsyth Superior Court said Combs still must pay compensatory damages to Cedrick Bobby Lemon, who sued Combs. Lemon alleged he was beaten by two bodyguards that Combs had hired to protect soul singer Mary J. Blige at a 1995 concert. The judge had ordered Combs to pay Lemon $2.45 million in damages in September, after Combs failed to answer the allegations in Lemon’s lawsuit within the time limit proscribed by state… Read more »

A federal judge considering an Internet copyright case said Monday he was inclined to allow U.S. record companies and movie studios to sue the Australia-based parent company of Kazaa, a popular online file-swapping service. Judge Stephen Wilson heard arguments on whether Sharman Networks, which is headquartered in Australia and incorporated in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu, is subject to U.S. copyright laws. “It is a difficult question, but it has to be resolved,” Wilson said. “The court will do its best to resolve it promptly.” Although Wilson did not indicate when he plans to issue a ruling, he appeared… Read more »

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 »

Linkin Park’s Reanimation is one step closer to coming to life. The album, consisting mainly of new versions of tracks from the group’smultiplatinum 2000 debut, Hybrid Theory, has gone through the mastering stage, and a final track list has been settled upon, according to the band’s manager. The 20-track LP is due July 30. Linkin Park are the prototypical rap-rock hybrid (in fact, the group’s original name was Hybrid Theory), and Reanimation doesn’t do anything to change their stance on crossbreeding genres. While Hybrid Theory employed looped beats, scratching and other DJ techniques, courtesy of Joseph Hahn, Reanimation puts a… Read more »