Search Results for: Will Ferri

Forget J-Lo’s naval and Eminem’s foul mouth. The 44th annual Grammy Awards Wednesday had weightier issues to contend with as artists and performers sought to soothe the nation with humor and song after a year of turmoil within the music industry and in the United States. From heightened security, to performers’ songs and to host Jon Stewart’s jokes, the devastating attacks on America of Sept. 11 hovered in the background of the music industry’s most glamorous night. When Stewart came onstage at the Staples Center, he walked through a dummy metal detector, which gonged off and sent huge security guards… Read more »

Having just left their label following 23 years and 11 albums, Van Halen’s career is in limbo and their future seems uncertain. The band severed ties with Warner Bros. Records last month, according to a source close to the group, who emphasized that the band willingly left the company. “There’s been a major housecleaning at the company over the last couple months, and anybody that was actually any part of anything when we were around is gone,” he said. “They’re all about taking care of their young bands now.” A publicist at Warner Bros. confirmed the band is off the… Read more »

A legal battle over 30-year-old Allman Brothers recordings is rambling through the courts due to “procedural stalling” by Universal Music Group, the band’s lawyer said Monday, pledging to appeal a bid to shift the case to federal court. The popular 1970s rock band, known for such hits as “Ramblin’ Man” and “Midnight Rider”, first filed suit against recording giant Universal, a unit of Vivendi Universal, in May claiming the label wrongly took possession of several live tracks and other recordings made between 1969 and 1980. The band asked the Los Angeles Superior Court to determine if the recordings were transferred… Read more »

An Australian firm said yesterday that it has purchased and restarted KaZaa, the Dutch-born Internet file-sharing program that the world’s biggest media companies have sued for becoming the new Napster. Sharman Networks Ltd., a privately held multimedia company, purchased certain assets of KaZaa BV, including the popular KaZaa Media Desktop file- sharing program, Sharman chief executive officer Nikki Hemming said in a news release. KaZaa stopped all downloads of the free Media Desktop program last week pending a Dutch judge’s ruling in a copyright infringement case filed against the company in the Netherlands. But Sharman Networks resumed downloads yesterday morning,… Read more »

Consumer electronics company SONICblue Inc. on Monday unveiled a high-end home entertainment hub that can store an entire music collection and furthers the company’s thrust into the budding market for digital audio and video entertainment. At about $1,500, SONICblue’s Advanced Digital Audio Center can become the centerpiece of a music enthusiast’s wired home. It features a 40-gigabyte hard drive that can record up to 650 hours of music. Through the system, available only via SONICblue’s Web site, music from a CD can be recorded to its hard drive, played back over receivers within the house, downloaded to an MP3 player,… Read more »

The minute he heard that Beatle George Harrison was dead, George Metropolis rushed to Hollywood Boulevard Friday to say goodbye – to his look-alike. There, Metropolis, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the “Quiet Beatle” who died on Thursday of cancer, joined teary-eyed fans, many of them middle-aged ex-hippies, who gathered near the Beatles’ star on Hollywood’s “Walk of Fame” to leave flowers, candles, and silently pray for the rock icon who was so much a part of their youth. “I met him once in 1979. He walked into this bar and saw me and said to his bodyguard, ‘That… Read more »

The board of the academy that presents the Grammys, the music industry’s highest honors, has approved a $650,000 payment to settle claims that its chief executive sexually assaulted and physically abused a female employee, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and representatives of academy president and chief executive, Michael Greene, had no comment on the report, which cited Grammy sources. “We don’t have a statement. Today, we’re focusing on the Latin Grammys,” NARAS spokesman Ron Roecker said, referring to the planned announcement Tuesday of the winners of the organization’s second annual Latin… 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 »

“This tragic event has awakened a new interest in news and information for 12-25 year olds that had never existed before,” says Cromwell Broadcasting’s “Czar of Programming” Brian Krysz, referring to the terrorist acts of nearly a month ago. And would anyone argue with his statement? This generation has had its defining moment, just as the Great Depression and World War II were for our parents or grandparents, or the assassination of JFK and the Vietnam War so clearly defined the next generation. After the events of September 11th, 2001, everything in our world, including radio programming, has entered a… Read more »

Forget Jennifer Lopez’ cleavage or surprises like “Soy Bomb.” Organizers of the 44th annual Grammy Awards on Thursday promised the top honors in music next Feb. 27 at the Staples Center will be a more secure and “meaningful” event following the Sept. 11 attacks, which have shaken the nation and disrupted other award shows like television’s Emmys. “Everything has changed. I think everyone is going to be concerned about a large aggregation of people being shown to many countries around the world,” Grammys chief Michael Greene told reporters at a news conference to announce the music industry award show’s date… Read more »