Search Results for: stephen king

Former Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby died at his Los Angeles home on Thursday morning following a long battle with AIDS. He was 42. The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to Craig Harvey, operations chief for the Los Angeles coroner’s office. One of the original members of the ’80s metal rockers known for hits such as “Round and Round” and “Lay It Down,” Crosby began speaking out several years ago about his drug use in the band’s heyday and how it led to his contraction of the deadly virus nearly eight years ago. Ratt formed in the… Read more »

Twelve hours, four stages and more than 40 bands marked the end of the three-day Skate and Surf Festival on Sunday. Held at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, the second installment of the now annual event featured performances from Bouncing Souls, Face to Face and the Descendents, among many others. While the Warped Tour travels from town to town with many of skateboarding and BMX culture’s best-known athletes and favorite artists, the stationary Skate and Surf tends to be more down-home, offering quarter-pipes and rails to anybody bold enough to show up with a bike or a board and a… Read more »

Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley was found dead in his Seattle home on Friday evening. The King County Medical Examiner positively identified Staley’s body on Saturday (April 20), following an autopsy. Exact time and cause of death are pending, as laboratory results could take several weeks, a spokesperson said. Staley was 34. Police responded to a call to check on a person’s well-being at Staley’s address in Seattle’s University District at 5:41 p.m. PT on Friday, according to the police report. Upon discovering the body, which is presumed to have been there for several days, officers called investigators from the… Read more »

SESAC, the nation’s fastest growing performing rights organization, and the Television Music License Committee have negotiated a new industry-wide licensing agreement for commercial local television stations across the United States. The SESAC/TMLC-negotiated blanket license, which covers the period January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2004, reflects the strategic growth SESAC has achieved over the past few years. “SESAC has experienced dynamic growth since my partners and I acquired the company in 1992,” says SESAC Chairman Stephen Swid. “Having said that, this deal with the TMLC represents a defining moment in the evolution of SESAC. This agreement was possible because renowned… Read more »

If Republicans, “Dukes of Hazzard” reruns and an abundance of heavy metal weren’t enough to convince you, No Doubt’s Rock Steady road show leaves little doubt that the 1980s are back. On the tour’s opening night, the Orange County ska-popsters mined flavors from across the retro-’80s spectrum, mixing driving hardcore and rasta riddims with slap-bass funk, new wave synth and pop queen balladry. With a punked-out rhythm section, two dread-stylie horn players, a guitarist straight out of a Duran Duran video and bare-bellied, necktie-wearing Gwen-just-wanna-have-fun-Stefani up front, they even looked the part. The drum set glowed under the Memorial Auditorium’s… Read more »

If you’ve tried to download a song using Morpheus lately, you probably know that the most popular file-swapping software doesn’t work. Although an operable preview of a new version was made available Saturday, the shuttering of Morpheus on February 26 shattered the commonly held belief that file sharing without the use of a central server couldn’t be stopped. Software like Morpheus, Kazaa and Grokster was thought to be shielded from the kind of plug-pulling that brought down Napster in July. Unlike Napster – which cataloged its available files on a central server that, if disabled, rendered the program impotent –… Read more »

The following is a complete list of winners at the 44th annual Grammy Awards, which took place at the Staples Center on Wednesday. Categories marked with an asterisk were handed out during the main, televised ceremony. * RECORD OF THE YEAR “Walk On” – U2 * ALBUM OF THE YEAR “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” – various artists * SONG OF THE YEAR “Fallin”‘ – Alicia Keys, songwriter (Alicia Keys) * NEW ARTIST Alicia Keys * FEMALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE “I’m Like a Bird” – Nelly Furtado MALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight” – James Taylor… Read more »

MTV: Music Television will premiere its most recent original movie for television, “Wasted.” The movie, directed by Stephen Kay (The Last Time I Committed Suicide), stars Summer Phoenix [The Laramie Project, The Believer], Nick Stahl [In the Bedroom, Bully], and Aaron Paul [“Judging Amy”, Whatever It Takes]. Based on extensive research, “Wasted” chronicles the resurgence of heroin use among young people in recent years. With a cheap price tag and an enhanced purity-enabling users to snort the drug and do away with the stigma of the needle-heroin proved irresistible to high school students with money to spend, time on their… Read more »

While on the road last year filming his latest independent movie, director Ludi Boeken and his relatively unknown cast decided to stop at Hooters for lunch. It would have been no big deal except that one of his stars looks almost identical to Britney Spears. And, of course, he (yes, he) was dressed in character as the pop icon. “We were so used to seeing Robert as Britney, we didn’t think anything of it,” Boeken recalled. “All of a sudden we had like 800 people looking at us. He fled, and they chased him. From then on, we just brought… Read more »