Search Results for: lenny kravitz

The Backstreet Boys were congregating backstage at Saturday’s Wango Tango On-Air festival when a herd of security guards nearly tumbled them. “They were like, ‘Move out of the way, get up against the wall,’” Nick Carter recalled later, smiling and likely embellishing a bit. “And then William Hung came through.” “Who?” Kevin Richardson asked. “Well Hung?” Joke or not, on a bill that included Janet Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Jessica Simpson and a dozen other acts, William Hung was the headliner. After 14 hours of pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B and everything in between, the “American Idol” reject, dressed in a paisley… Read more »

The big question as we enter 2004 is simply “Do you want some?” The answer will come when Liam Gallagher and elder brother Noel return to the fray with the new Oasis album later this year. Although to some the Mancunian brothers’ group may be too tied up with the hangover of ’90s Britpop to ever be a potent force again, they are still undoubtedly one of the biggest rock groups in the country. They do like to tread water, however, and a much-needed change in direction may finally come with the introduction of Death In Vegas man Richard Fearless… Read more »

Just when some old-school Metallica fans were ready to write the band off for crafting St. Anger – which prominently features a snare drum that sounds like a screwdriver hitting a trashcan – and for playing snippets of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and Lenny Kravitz’s “Are you Gonna Go My Way” at the VMAs, the band has redeemed itself. OK, they were doing fine before the VMAs. Few who attended Metallica’s Summer Sanitarium concerts walked away disappointed. The tour featured the band in peak form, bashing out its oldest and heaviest songs. However, a show on Friday for fan club… Read more »

Sheryl Crow, Lenny Kravitz, Jakob Dylan, Willie Nelson and T-Bone Burnett have leant a hand to the debut album from Rusty Truck, the brainchild of former Rolling Stone photographer Mark Seliger. Coda Terra Entertainment will release the 12-song effort on Sept. 24. Seliger met the artists while working for Rolling Stone, but Rusty Truck only began to take shape when a pair of Wallflowers encouraged Seliger’s musical endeavors. Band leader Dylan invited Seliger into the studio to cut a demo. Later, keyboardist Rami Jaffee asked Seliger to play a show with him in Los Angeles. Seliger agreed and later relocated… Read more »

R.E.M. is in the midst of preparations for its upcoming world tour, and according to a post by frontman Michael Stipe on the group’s official Web site (http://www.remhq.com), the band has already rehearsed 70 songs. The tour starts June 27 at the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival and will wrap Oct. 11 in Atlanta, about 70 miles west of the group’s Athens, Ga., homebase. R.E.M. is working with new drummer Bill Rieflin, an industrial/metal stickman who has manned the kit for the likes of Ministry, KMFDM, and Nine Inch Nails. R.E.M.’s three original members – Stipe, bassist Mike Mills, and guitarist Peter… Read more »

In a year fraught with political turmoil, turbulence and insecurity, music fans turned to their favorite songs to take them away from many of their problems and help them come to terms with others that were impossible to escape. Whether it was Eminem rapping, “Lose yourself in the music,” or Bruce Springsteen singing, “Come on up for the rising/ Come on up, lay your hands in mine,” the messages of unity were universal. At the 45th annual Grammy Awards, held Sunday (February 23) at New York’s Madison Square Garden, apolitical hedonists and social activists alike rallied together to celebrate the… Read more »

Pop heart-throb Robbie Williams has signed the biggest record deal in British music history, The Sun newspaper said Wednesday. The shares of EMI Group Plc climbed five percent in London after tabloid reports that the record company had signed a $125.5 million deal with the former Take That singer hailed as the new Frank Sinatra. The deal, thought to be for four albums, will give the performer unique control over his work and includes a commitment to try to make him a star in the United States, a market he has failed to break into, the newspaper reported. EMI representatives… Read more »

The world’s largest record companies sued major Internet service and network providers on Friday, alleging their routing systems allow users to access the China-based Listen4ever.com Web site and unlawfully copy musical recordings. The copyright infringement suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks a court order requiring the defendants to block Internet communications that travel through their systems to and from the Listen4ever site. The suit says the plaintiffs have not been able to determine who owns the Web site. Plaintiffs in the suit include such major labels as UMG Recordings, a unit of Vivendi Universal, Sony Music Entertainment, a unit… Read more »

In the city of sin, Britney Spears behaved. There was no dissing of Justin Timberlake during the opening night of the second leg of the Dream Within a Dream Tour. No cigarette smoking. No… whatever vice the rumor mills have her doing this week. Things may have changed in Britney’s well-chronicled life since the last time we saw her onstage – and that’s only if you believe the gossip – but there were no signs of it Friday at Mandalay Bay. The 20-year-old headliner was the same pop princess she was at 19. Nearly every part of Spears’ 90-minute show… Read more »