Search Results for: president

The drummer for The Police apologized to Chilean President Michelle Bachelet for comments decried as derogatory by the government and invited her to attend Wednesday’s concert in Santiago. Stewart Copeland, whose rock band is on the South American leg of a reunion tour, told Chile’s Mercurio newspaper in an interview published in October: “Look, the future President of Argentina would be good for one beer; yours (would be good) for four.” While it was not clear what Copeland meant with the comments, many Chileans took them to mean he found their first woman president, Bachelet, less attractive than Argentine president-elect… Read more »

Just before Sum 41 released “March of the Dogs,” a song from their upcoming Underclass Hero album, to iTunes, frontman Deryck Whibley posted a bulletin on the band’s MySpace page stating that, while the track is “lyrically … one of the more political songs on the album,” it was by no means indicative of Hero’s content, adding, “This will NOT be a political record.” And why would Whibley post such a caveat? Perhaps it has something to do with the intro to “Dogs,” a spoken-word bit in which Whibs declares: “Ladies and gentlemen of the underclass, the president of the… Read more »

Republican Senator John McCain confirmed his much-expected presidential run on “Late Show With David Letterman” Wednesday night – and was promptly caught up in fresh controversy less than a day later. “Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be,” McCain said on Letterman’s program, in regards to the Iraq war. “We’ve wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives.” That statement drew ire from Democrats, prompting the Democratic National Committee to demand on Thursday (March 1) that he apologize for using the term “wasted.” “Senator McCain should apologize immediately for his callous comments,”… Read more »

In a sobering, businesslike, 25-minute speech that aired during prime time Wednesday night (January 10), President Bush announced new plans for the war in Iraq. Those include the much-discussed addition of 21,500 troops, the demand that Iraqi forces take over major combat operations by November and the infusion of $1 billion to help build up the country’s infrastructure. “The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people and it is unacceptable to me,” Bush said during the speech, which had been delayed from late 2006 as he gathered more opinions and shook up his national security team . “Our… Read more »

Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America’s history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93. Ford had battled pneumonia in January 2006 and underwent two heart treatments – including an angioplasty – in August at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93. Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles. Ford was an accidental president, Nixon’s… Read more »

The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) today recognizes and congratulates over 21 million young voters 18-35 who participated in yesterday’s national elections. According to an analysis provided to MTV Network’s “Choose Or Lose” campaign by Circle Research, the young adult vote in 2004 shows a sharp increase when compared to the nearly 18 million 18-30 year old votes cast in the 2000 presidential election. Key battleground states saw a marked increase in young voter turnout with one out of every five voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin under the age of 30. Today’s New York Daily News, in… Read more »

Bad Religion bassist Jay Bentley is generally a pretty easy-going guy. Interviewing him is usually like sitting through a comedy routine where any and all taboos are duly mocked. On this occasion, though, Bentley isn’t so laidback – and you can hardly blame him. He’s consumed by the problems within America’s political climate. Fearing the ever-looming November 2 U.S. Presidential Election date (which takes place the day Bad Religion play in Montreal), Bentley doesn’t really want to talk about anything else. “My job right now isn’t to play music,” he grunts. “It’s to get a new president in office. Half… Read more »

Since his retirement, Jay-Z says he’s been courted by several labels. But not only to rap: They want to give the Jiggaman an executive position, and one such position could be the president of Def Jam Records. For the last few weeks, rumors have been running rampant that Jay will soon take the job, which is second in command to Def Jam CEO LA Reid. Some say the deal will be finalized in less than a week. Jay does acknowledge that he’s been getting offers, but says he hasn’t accepted anything yet. “It’s just talks in the air right now,”… Read more »

Antonio “L.A.” Reid, who took the helm at Arista Records nearly four years ago and oversaw platinum successes from acts including OutKast, Pink and Avril Lavigne, has left the label, it was announced Tuesday. Reid became president and CEO of Arista in May 2000 after the company’s founder and CEO, Clive Davis, left because of parent company BMG’s mandatory retirement policy. Reid was not available to comment, according to an Arista spokeswoman. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, chairman and CEO of BMG, called Reid “one of the music industry’s top record men.” “His passion for working with and developing some of the world’s… Read more »

Eminem might pose a threat to fledgling rappers, glittery pop stars and trash-talkin’ hand puppets, but he’s no threat to the president, the Secret Service determined after looking into some of his recently publicized lyrics. Lines from the song “We As Americans” caught the Secret Service’s attention last week: “I don’t rap for dead presidents/ I’d rather see the president dead”. It’s routine for the Secret Service to investigate anything that might be considered a threat against the president. But after further inquiry, the Secret Service felt there was nothing more to uncover, Secret Service spokesperson John Gill told the… Read more »