Search Results for: Will Ferri

Thanks to a uniform labeling system, you know what you’re getting into when you unwrap a candy bar, stick of gum or even the legendarily mysterious Twinkie. A CD bearing a parental advisory label, however, gives no description of what potentially offensive offerings lie within. That was the main concern of Senators Fred Thompson (R-Tennessee) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut), among others, at Wednesday’s Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the effectiveness of rating systems used by the entertainment industry. Though album stickers warn of “explicit content,” they don’t explain exactly what kind of content – violent, sexual or otherwise –… Read more »

Rob Thomas stepped off an airplane feeling like a bona fide rock star, with nearly 12 million copies of his band’s freshman album sold and the follow-up effort following closely behind. But when he handed his passport over to a control officer, she asked: “Are you Rob Thomas of Santana? The guy who sang ‘Smooth?”‘ “I was like ‘No! I’m Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty,”‘ he recalled during a recent interview. Thomas’ work on 1999 smash “Smooth,” which earned Santana record and song of the year at last year’s Grammy Awards, has gained him more celebrity than the success he’s… Read more »

For the first time in almost four years, one of Australia’s most successful rock bands, INXS, is playing a few shows in North America. But the crowd at their recent Los Angeles stop consisted of about 70 Rhino Records employees and a few reporters, just two of the band’s six members were on stage, and the bespectacled singer looked nothing like Michael Hutchence, the group’s charismatic vocalist. Hutchence committed suicide in November 1997, and his bandmates are having a hard time deciding whether to carry on. In the meantime, they have released a two-CD anthology, “Shine Like It Does,” via… Read more »

Melissa Etheridge may rank among the world’s most successful openly gay performers and a poster child for gay parenting, but until now the singer/songwriter has never directly referred to women in her songs. “Even though people know exactly what I’m singing about it, sometimes the gay community gets like: ‘When are you going to sing a song about a girl?”‘ Etheridge, 40, told Reuters in an interview at her favorite coffee house in Santa Monica, California. “And I think, haven’t I done enough already?” The musician from Kansas has sold more than 25 million records and has become an icon… Read more »

A Dallas radio station has fired two disc jockeys who sparked a panic among Britney Spears fans with a phony report that the teen pop star was killed in a car crash with boyfriend Justin Timberlake, the radio station said Tuesday. Police and fire officials in Los Angeles were deluged with phone calls after two San Jose-based deejays, known as Kramer and Twitch, claimed a source told them Spears was dead and Timberlake, a member of the teen heartthrob band ‘N Sync, was in a coma after a crash in Los Angles. They aired their fake report during a nighttime… Read more »

Flamboyant pop legend Elton John has failed in a multimillion-dollar legal challenge to reopen a case against his accountants over touring costs. High Court Judge Justice Ferris, who earlier this year threw out the 54-year-old singer’s $19.5 million claim against his accountants, on Wednesday refused leave for an appeal against the decision. The star’s legal bill in the case is estimated to run into millions of dollars. The singer and pianist, a tireless performer whose first album hit the charts in 1970, had earlier sued PricewaterhouseCoopers and his management company for charging him for overseas tour expenses. His legal team… Read more »

Stone Temple Pilots are vying to be the first band in space. They donned red astronaut suits on Thursday for their “Days of the Week” video, in which they play door-to-door salesmen who escape their monotonous lives by blasting into space and rocking out on an unidentified planet. “Who looks better in a spacesuit – me or Ben Affleck?” singer Scott Weiland joked during a break, referring to the actor’s astronaut role in the 1998 film “Armageddon.” The “Days of the Week” clip, directed by Kevin Kerslake – who also helmed STP’s “Interstate Love Song” and “Vasoline” videos – opens… Read more »

After nailing “Shiver” with his trademark falsetto two songs into last night’s opening show of Coldplay’s second U.S. tour, Chris Martin greeted the crowd. “Sorry we’re a bit later than expected, like three months or something,” the singer told fans stuffed into Boston’s Avalon Ballroom, referring to a date Coldplay scrapped due to Martin’s sore throat. “But it gives you a buildup.” Vaulted expectations probably aren’t the best measure of a band such as Coldplay, a group supporting a solitary CD, Parachutes, whose sublime pleasures tend to creep up on listeners. Martin’s cheeriness lent levity to the British quartet’s 80-minute… Read more »

The boys of Hanson will make their acting debut in a gig at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday (May 30) as part of the filming for Touchstone Pictures’ Frank McKlusky, C.I., due in theaters in 2002. The members of Hanson will play themselves in a concert scene in which the movie’s main character, Frank McKlusky, is chasing down an alleged insurance fraud culprit at a Hanson show. Frank McKlusky, C.I., is a comedy about an overenthusiastic insurance claims adjuster and includes appearances by Randy Quaid, Andy Richter, Adam Carolla, Chyna, Kevin Farley, Tracy Morgan, Scott Baio, Emmanuel… Read more »

Aimster vows to appeal the ruling in order to keep its popular domain names that AOL says violates its trademarks. A National Arbitration Forum panel ruled 2-1 last week that domain names registered by Aimster violate the trademark for America Online’s instant messaging system, AIM. But the company’s founder, Johnny Deep, said he will challenge the panel’s order to relinquish its domain names. At issue are the domain names aimster.com, aimstertv.com, and a1mster.com. The panel ruled that Aimster’s domain names were intentionally chosen for their similarity to AIM. Aimster contends that the name was inspired by Deep’s teen-age daughter, who… Read more »