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Washington, D.C., probably hadn’t seen anything like it since 1985, when Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider and punk provocateur Jello Biafra testified before Congress during the height of the obscene lyrics witch-hunt: Tatted and pierced pop-punkers holding court on Capitol Hill. Members of Sugarcult and Hawthorne Heights took part in a press conference held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Wednesday to announce the kickoff of the fifth annual Take Action Tour, and to raise awareness – and federal funding levels – for teen-suicide prevention programs across the country. “It’s one thing when you’re promoting your band, because you feel… Read more »

The Take Action Tour (www.takeactiontour.com) kicked off in DC with an evening of hard-hitting music from Sugarcult, The Early November, Hawthorne Heights, Hopesfall and Gym Class Heros. The event is the brainchild of Louis Posen, president and founder of punk/hard-core label Hopeless Records. In 1998, five years after forming Hopeless, Posen formed Sub City Records, an offshoot label that donates 5 percent of its prof- its to charity, according to the Web site. In 1999, Sub City took its socially conscious act on the road. The idea of the Take Action Tour is to connect Sub City bands – and… Read more »

Musicians and record companies have spent years in court trying to quash free music file sharing, which they claim has hurt sales and infringed on their copyrights. In the race to shut down free P2P sharing systems, however, 54 top recording acts and their labels are running out of road. According to Billboard.com, The Recording Artists Coalition (RAC), along with The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and other music groups, have signed a brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn an opinion by the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that unauthorized P2P systems, like Kazaa and Morpheus, are… Read more »

New York – In 2001, Martin Amis, Rick Moody and other authors and artists gathered in New York to honor a peer they regarded as a giant of the times. They compared him to Walt Whitman, Mark Twain and Arthur Rimbaud. They called him a bard, a shaman and a master of “art as revenge.” That man was Bob Dylan. Had he lived in England, he’d be Sir Bob Dylan, maybe even Lord. Scholarly books have compared him to Dante and Keats; admirers lobby for him to get the Nobel Prize. At a 1997 Kennedy Center ceremony, where fellow honorees… Read more »

Los Angeles – Though the new outing that Vans Warped tour founder Kevin Lyman is launching this February is called Taste of Chaos, the event is moving forward like a well-oiled machine. “To get a second year on this project, we have to have at least 3,000 people per market,” Lyman says. “I think we will do more.” Taste of Chaos will take place at indoor venues and feature such hard rock acts as the Used, My Chemical Romance, Killswitch Engage and Senses Fail. There will also be sponsored booths and activities prior to each show. Major partners include Nintendo,… Read more »

SAN ANGELO, Texas – The drummer for the Los Lonely Boys was arrested Thursday along with his wife on a marijuana possession charge after police searched their home, authorities said. Ringo Garza, 23, and Lenora Garza, 24, were booked on $1,000 bail Thursday morning and released shortly after, according to jail records. Authorities said the search was conducted after two women filed a police report a day earlier after a night of drinking at the couple’s home. The women filed the report at a hospital. Further information about the report wasn’t available. Garza and his wife each face a misdemeanor… Read more »

New York – The year began with the Super Bowl halftime show fiasco and ended with aftershocks from Howard Stern flipping his detractors the bird and taunting the Federal Communications Commission with a just-try-and-get-me-now move to satellite radio. Between those two seismic events, the FCC levied a record number of indecency fines, responding to an avalanche of complaints carefully orchestrated by conservative zealots and election year political pressure. The results from the government crackdown were widespread. Top-rated personalities were fired. Zero-tolerance edicts were issued. On-air delays and indecency tutorials became commonplace. Warhorses like Pink Floyd’s “Money,” Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer”… Read more »

Most viewers of “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” see the show’s cast as nothing more than a group of spoiled, plastic rich kids. Some don’t even think they’re real people at all. So one of the show’s stars, 18-year-old Dieter Schmitz, decided to change the public’s perception of him and his fellow OC-ites. And he’s enlisted some pop-punk all-stars to help him do it. Schmitz, now a freshman at San Diego State University, created Running Home 4 Teens, a charity event designed to raise money for teenagers suffering from depression and chemical dependency. His idea was simple: people could… Read more »

Los Angeles – Chicago rapper Kanye West, who survived a near-fatal car crash to record a debut album that ranked among the year’s biggest sellers, led the field of Grammy Award contenders with 10 nominations, organizers said on Tuesday. R&B singers Alicia Keys and Usher picked up eight nominations each, followed by late “Genius of Soul” Ray Charles with seven, and punk rock band Green Day with six. Jazz pianist Norah Jones, country veteran Loretta Lynn, funk musician Prince and engineer Al Schmitt each earned five. “If I get any nominations, I’m good,” West told Reuters after a press conference… Read more »

December 07, 2004 01:53 PM US Eastern Timezone Ray Charles’ Multi-Platinum “Genius Loves Company” Nominated for 10 GRAMMY Awards, Including Best Album of the Year BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Dec. 7, 2004- Music Legend’s Final CD is Best Selling Recording of His Career; First Ever GRAMMY Nominations for Starbucks Hear Music; CONCORD Nominations Now Tally Over 100 Genius Loves Company, the final recording from music legend Ray Charles, has been nominated for 10 GRAMMY® Awards; it was announced today. The “Genius” received nominations for Best Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year (“Here We Go Again”… Read more »