Search Results for: stephen king

It was the year when “King of Pop” Michael Jackson cried at the Oxford Union, pop teen queen Britney Spears performed on stage with a snake and Icelandic singer Bjork turned up at the Oscars dressed as a swan. British showbiz writers searched for tittle-tattle on Robbie Williams’ love life and speculated endlessly about the demise of the hit girl band The Spice Girls. But the story that grabbed the most headlines in 2001 involved a Hollywood power couple who out of the blue announced they were ending what many considered was a rock-solid marriage. The divorce of Tom Cruise… Read more »

Neil Young may be Canadian, but the veteran rock star was honored Tuesday for promoting freedom and justice in his adopted country. People for the American Way, a free-speech advocacy group formed 20 years ago to combat the so-called “religious right,” presented Young with its Spirit of Liberty lifetime achievement award during its annual fundraising dinner in Beverly Hills. Young, in turn, raised a few eyebrows among the liberal crowd by defending anti-terrorist measures that have angered civil rights groups. But he urged the audience to ensure the controversial measures were only temporary. “Never let America forget that these are… Read more »

Napster, Inc. has licensed the entire catalog from influential independent record label Matador Records for its upcoming membership-based file-sharing service. The deal, which also covers future Matador Records releases, contributes significantly to the quality music that will be available for sharing through the new Napster service. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Matador Records is currently home to premier indie artists including Belle & Sebastian, Stephen Malkmus, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, Mogwai and Cornelius. Napster will compensate these and all other artists, songwriters and rights holders whose music is made available through… Read more »

If the Who, Elton John and Abba can be glorified on the theater stage, Gene Simmons sees no reason why he and Kiss can’t get a piece of those Broadway bucks. He plans to work with some of the top names in musical theater to put together a musical about Kiss. Next week, the Kiss bassist will meet with “Beauty and the Beast” director Rob Roth and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” co-writer Stephen Trask about creating a story for the musical. At this point Simmons is unsure whether Kiss will pen new songs for the project, whether someone else… Read more »

“It’s kinda hard to know what song to play these days ’cause every word sounds different than it did before,” said Neil Young, following a perfectly chosen and rendered rendition of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” during his show-closing set with Crazy Horse at Saturday’s 15th Anniversary Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountainview, California. Referring to the events of September 11th, Young used every bit of his allotted time onstage this year – from his two-song opening to the all-star jam bookending the day’s entertainment – to deliver his unwavering, though not necessarily popular, peacenik message… Read more »

“Analyse,” the premier video from the Cranberries’ new MCA album, “Wake Up And Smell The Coffee,” has been temporarily pulled from video channels around the world as well as from the band’s web-site in the wake of last week’s tragic events in the United States. The video, which was directed by Australian Keir McFarland, was filmed in London’s Canary Wharf district this past August. The video features scenes of the band’s singer, Dolores O’Riordan, performing the song on the top of a building. In the distance behind her are two skyscrapers with a plane flying over the scene. Additional scenes… Read more »

Though they’d rather be making their own movies, Sonic Youth are back in the studio laying down atmospheric music for a French film and noisy dinosaur rock for their next album. “We’re improvising and getting into these long, elaborate stretches of music and keeping an ear for soundtrack cues but at the same time listening for how they would work for song elements,” singer/guitarist Thurston Moore said last week. “We sit around drinking iced coffee, and then we start getting it together and playing and all hell breaks loose and it just becomes like a creative mosh pit for a… Read more »

“We’ve got Billy Corgan playing with us, we’re doing a lot of old stuff, new songs that nobody knows, and we’re reaching a lot of young people,” New Order bassist Peter Hook says. “It’s got all the recipe for complete disaster, to be honest.” It’s a week before he and reunited band mates Bernard Sumner (vocals) and Stephen Morris (drums), as well as keyboardist Gillian Gilbert and guest guitarist Corgan, join up with Moby’s Area: One tour for a few dates in the U.S. (beginning Tuesday, July 31st in Mountainview, California). And Hook – who says, “The excitement in Get… Read more »

Thousands turned out Saturday for the opening of a city festival despite calls from some black activists for a boycott of the event to protest a police shooting that ignited days of rioting. Small groups of demonstrators moved through the crowds at the 22nd annual Taste of Cincinnati festival event passing out leaflets and chanting, “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.” The demonstrators said a boycott would pressure city officials to address racial tensions heightened by the April 7 shooting of a black man, 19-year-old Timothy Thomas, by a white officer. But the demonstrators were… Read more »

Douglas Adams, the cult author who wrote “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” has died suddenly at the age of 49. Adams died of a heart attack on Friday at his home in Santa Barbara, California, his personal assistant Sophie Astin said. “It was a very sudden and unexpected death,” Astin told Reuters. Adams’ science fiction saga, about a group of galactic travelers who survive the demolition of earth to build a space by-pass, began life as a 1978 BBC Radio series. It was turned into best-selling novels, a TV series, record album, computer game and adapted for stage.… Read more »