Search Results for: slow joy

Hollywood – There was no questioning where the love was Friday night as star-studded functions leading up to Sunday’s Grammy Awards continued around Los Angeles. Artists such as the legendary James Brown, Justin Timberlake, Pink, Carlos Santana and the Black Eyed Peas came together for a old-fashioned jam session at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub. Half tsunami-relief concert, half party to celebrate the launch of the Peas member Will.I.Am’s new label, I.Am.Music, the show started off with enough energy to light up Times Square for weeks and ended with an even more electric charge. The Peas kicked the night off with… Read more »

It’s a good day for pop-punk as Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan and Billy Talent are all up for a handful of Juno awards. This year’s Juno nominees were just announced and leading the charge is Lavigne, one of Canada’s biggest international exports. She’s up for five awards including Artist Of The Year. Toronto rapper K-OS, West Coast jazz star Diana Krall and 2003’s Juno host, Shania Twain, join Simple Plan and Billy Talent with three noms each. Single Of The Year: River Below, Billy Talent; One Thing, Finger Eleven; Crabbuckit, k-os; Not Ready To Go, The Trews; Party For Two,… Read more »

Los Angeles – Pearl Jam has begun work on its eighth studio album in its Seattle homebase. “We’re recording but not really putting any pressure for something to actually come out of it,” frontman Eddie Vedder told former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on his Friday radio show, Jonesy’s Jukebox, which emanates from Los Angeles radio station KDLD-FM (Indie 103.1). Asked if he still enjoys the recording process after 15 years of making music with Pearl Jam, Vedder answered, “Depends (on) what day it is or how much sleep you’ve had. We’ve been getting together as a whole group, all… Read more »

Milwaukee – Guitar legend Les Paul can use only his left thumb and pinkie to perform at his weekly nightclub gigs in New York. The 89-year-old takes no medication for his painful arthritis and permanent injuries from a car accident 56 years ago, because it exacerbates his ulcers. But twice every Monday night, the renowned musician also known for his innovations on the solid-body electric guitar and multitrack recording gets on stage with his trio at the Iridium Jazz Club. “It’s quite a challenge but I enjoy it,” the Waukesha, Wis., native said in a recent phone interview from his… Read more »

For the first time, the No. 1 album in the United States is loaded with anticopying protections, marking a clear step into the mainstream for the controversial technology. According to figures released by Nielsen SoundScan, Velvet Revolver’s “Contraband” was the top-selling album in America last week, despite being prominently labeled on its cover as being “protected against unauthorized duplication.” The success of the album is likely to prompt more experiments from BMG, the band’s label, and other record companies, industry watchers said. “It’s too soon to tell whether the rest of the industry is going to be heartened by this,”… Read more »

Though U.S. album sales were down last year for the third year in a row – the longest stretch in 20 years – Nielsen SoundScan numbers still contain some bright spots for 2003. For the full year, album sales declined 3.6% to 667.9 million units from the 693.1 scanned in 2002. But when looking at the fourth quarter, album sales rose 4.7% from the October-December period in 2002. That has caused some executives to proclaim that the industry has hit bottom. Indeed, at mid-year, sales were down 8.6%. That gap was closed by the fourth-quarter surge. What’s more, 2004 is… Read more »

Ozzy Osbourne has been many things throughout his multi-platinum career: lead singer of Black Sabbath, successful solo star and a veteran touring artist. But as Ozzy marks the 35th anniversary of his career, there is no doubt that his starring part in MTV reality series “The Osbournes” ushered in a most unlikely role for him: that of mainstream pop-culture icon. Much has already been said about Ozzy and his family in the saturation media coverage that followed the success of “The Osbournes,” which documents the lives of Ozzy; his wife/manager, Sharon; and two of their children, Kelly and Jack (the… Read more »

“‘Paul Doesn’t Like Friendster Because It Involves Putting In An Effort’ there, there you go, that’s your headline!” says Paul Hawey, drummer of one of Canada’s most loveable and danceable bands, Hot Hot Heat. Hawey offers me the teaser line to this story because he and his mates, consisting of singer Steve Bays, guitarist Dante DeCaro and bassist Dustin Hawthorne, have been way too busy to concern themselves with that uber-popular online community for friend-making. There is a reason for that, actually there are many reasons keeping the Victoria, B.C. natives occupied and one of them has to do with… Read more »

Robert Palmer, the well-tailored British rock singer who created one of the first iconic music videos with the look-alike models of “Addicted to Love,” has died of a heart attack. He was 54. A two-time Grammy winner in the 1980s, the star behind the hit “Simply Irresistible” died of a heart attack Friday at a Paris hotel during a stopover after a promotional tour in Britain, manager Mick Cater said. Sporting designer suits and a thick mane of hair, Palmer shot to fame in the mid-’80s with two videos featuring a “backup band” of dark-haired women in black miniskirts strumming… Read more »

There’s been no stopping Three Days Grace these past few months. Their first single “(I Hate) Everything About You,” is on every rock radio station’s hit list, the accompanying video is currently #2 on the Muchmusic countdown and they’re playing a whack of shows across the United States. They recently stopped off in Toronto for one day to shoot their new video, “Just Like You,” and were greeted with plaques and a photoshoot. Their self-titled debut album has gone gold in Canada. “I kinda knew they were going to do this,” drummer Neil Sanderson confides. The video set itself looks… Read more »