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Janet Jackson will perform on one of the world’s biggest stages, the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. The National Football League championship football game is set to air Feb. 1 live on CBS from Houston’s Reliant Stadium. MTV is producing the Super Bowl halftime show, having previously produced the segment in 2001, which featured Aerosmith, ‘N Sync and Britney Spears. Last year’s halftime event saw Shania Twain, No Doubt and Sting perform at halftime. Jackson is working on her still-untitled follow-up to her 2001 album “All For You.” It is set for release sometime in 2004 on Virgin Records. Her… Read more »

The members of Fountains Of Wayne were just as shocked as the rest of the world at last week’s Grammy nomination in the Best New Artist category. Lead singer Adam Schlesinger revealed he’s thrilled about the nod, but finds it ironic considering the band has been around for more than seven years. “I was told that it has to do with, defining it as the record that sort of gets you into the larger public consciousness or something,” Schlesinger said. “So I guess, in that sense, maybe it’s a fair definition. Yeah, this is our third record. Our first record… Read more »

Composer, conductor and arranger Michael Kamen, who led the San Francisco Symphony in its collaboration with Metallica for the band’s 1999 S&M album, died at home in London of an apparent heart attack Tuesday (November 18), according to his publicist. He was 55. Known for being something of a rock and roll classicist, in 1974 Kamen served as musical director for David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs tour, and he’s worked on orchestrations for Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Queen, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan. In 1991 he arranged an orchestral version of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” for MTV’s 10th anniversary celebration, but it… Read more »

A Chicago-based web radio host claims he has video footage of both Hell On Earth’s performance, and what is purported to be the suicide that accompanied it, this past Saturday night (October 4), according to the St. Petersburg Times. Shane Bugbee, who hosts an Internet show called Radio Free Satan and has interviewed Hell On Earth frontman Billy Tourtelot, says he uploaded footage of both the band’s show and what appears to be a “sickly-looking” man committing suicide through “some sort of asphyxiation.” Bugbee revealed he won’t confirm the authenticity of the death without more proof. “You know, until a… Read more »

Beyonce Knowles fans will be surprised to see the Destiny’s Child frontwoman without make-up and high end fashion outfits in the new film, the Fighting Temptations, co-starring Cuba Gooding Jr., that hits theaters Friday (September 19). Knowles portrays Lilly, a singer in a small town in Georgia, who is recruited by Gooding’s character, Darrin Hill (her childhood sweetheart), to join the local church’s choir. In the event Hill can lead the choir into the national competition, he will receive an inheritance from his late aunt. Knowles said that her character was not supposed to look like a pop star. “It’s… Read more »

Arista Records and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment have joined forces to release music DVDs, beginning with the Nov. 4 launch of Avril Lavigne’s “My World,” featuring a concert, a behind-the-scenes featurette, five music videos, and a six-song bonus audio CD that includes four unreleased tracks. Next up, Fox and Arista have slated rapper Pharrell’s movie “Dude, We’re going to Rio” for a Dec. 9 DVD release, featuring music from Pharrell and fellow rapper Chad’s album “The Neptunes Present: Clones,” the former chart-topper that showcases more than a dozen artists produced by the duo. In addition, the DVD features a… Read more »

The Senate voted 55 to 40 today to wipe out all of the Federal Communication Commission’s controversial new media rules, employing a little used legislative tool for overturning agency regulations. The resolution of disapproval, sponsored by Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), is now put on the House calendar, where a tougher vote is expected. Even if passed by the House, the White House has promised a veto. Dorgan’s resolution is the most sweeping of several challenges to the FCC’s rules, which make it easier for media corporations to buy more newspapers and television stations but tighten radio ownership rules. On… Read more »

Rain and mud were no match for a crowd of thousands who flocked to the National Mall Thursday for a free concert featuring Britney Spears, Aerosmith and Aretha Franklin. The concert was staged by the NFL to create excitement about the start of football season – a game between the Washington Redskins and New York Jets. Six blocks of the Mall were filled with a crowd estimated at 130,000, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. The crowd was orderly and only two people were arrested, U.S. Park Police said. About 1,000 officers from the Park Police and 35 other… Read more »

A federal court Wednesday blocked controversial new Federal Communications Commission media ownership rules pending a full judicial review in a major blow to large media companies. In a loss for the Republican-led FCC, the three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia granted a stay order that prevented the new rules from taking effect as scheduled on Thursday. Critics argued that the FCC rules would concentrate too much power in the hands of media moguls. The new rules were backed by media giants including Viacom Inc.’s CBS, General Electric Co.’s NBC and News Corp. Ltd’s Fox… Read more »

Any effort to rewrite the latest federal rules for radio must include a broad investigation into such issues as “pay-for-play” and artist intimidation, according to music and artists’ groups. Michael Bracey, director of government relations for the Future of Music Coalition, says his group wants the Federal Communications Commission to examine “pay-for-play and vertical integration” in the radio industry. The group opposes FCC rule changes that were enacted June 7. And Jay Rosenthal, co-counsel of the Recording Artists’ Coalition (RAC), wants the commission to follow up on reports of artist intimidation. “The FCC can no longer ignore evidence of radio… Read more »