Search Results for: The Promise Ring

President Barack Obama’s promises of change are falling short for one core Democratic constituency: gays and lesbians, whose leaders say Obama’s administration is not keeping up with the times. Gay rights campaigners, most of them Democrats who supported Obama in November, have begun to voice their public frustration with Obama’s inaction, small jokes at their community’s expense and deafening silence on what they see as the signal civil rights issue of this era. His campaign promises to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and the military ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers have not been fulfilled. And the news,… Read more »

California’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s gay marriage ban Tuesday but said the 18,000 same-sex weddings that took place before the prohibition passed are still valid – a ruling decried by gay rights activists as a hollow victory. Demonstrators outside the court booed, wept and yelled, “Shame on you!” Activists said they would go back to the voters as early as next year in a bid to repeal the ban. In a 6-1 decision written by Chief Justice Ron George, the court rejected arguments that the ban approved by the voters last fall was such a fundamental change in the… Read more »

Why be at odds when there’s music to be made? Back on the same page after months of legal wrangling over royalties, 30 Seconds to Mars is once again recording for longtime label Virgin Records. The Jared Leto-fronted rock band’s third studio album currently titled This Is War, is slated for a fall release following a truce between the EMI-owned label – which had sued the group for $30 million – and talent, who in turn had really lashed out at Virgin. “So here we are, after almost a year at war, and the time has come,” Leto wrote yesterday… Read more »

PARIS — Alternative act MGMT has beef with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. “No time to think of consequences/Take only what you need from it,” sings American psychedelic indie rock band MGMT in its popular anthem “Kids.” This was exactly what French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party did when it used the song without the band’s permission. Now the ruling UMP party, which faced the threat of a lawsuit, has agreed to pay a financial compensation to the band, MGMT’s French lawyer said on Tuesday. Asked if the settlement fee amounted to 30,000 euros ($39,050), a sum cited by France Info… Read more »

That’s no Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement – according to the Jonas Brothers’ official fan site and the band’s pre-order page, it’s the cover for the JoBros’ new album, Lines, Vines and Trying Times, out June 15th.  While the trio’s previous album, A Little Bit Longer, put the band in suits and a rain-soaked fluorescent-bulb-lit cityscape, Lines, Vines finds the casual Jonas crew leaning over what it is undoubtedly a pick-up truck. Essentially, they did a reverse Kings of Leon. These are “trying times,” as the title of the album and our wallets suggest, so the boys have scaled back on… Read more »

For anybody wondering why Microsoft and the top record labels continue to promote subscription music services, the answer was revealed Thursday. David Ring, executive vice president of business development for Universal Music Group’s digital arm, said at the EconMusic Conference that the recording industry simply can’t sustain itself with download sales alone. “If what we’re trying to do is one-by-one downloads…that’s not a business that can grow,” Ring told conference attendees during panel discussion he participated in. “It won’t be healthy for the industry.” Prior to Ring’s statement, Chris Stephenson, an executive in Microsoft’s entertainment unit, was ballyhooing the progress… Read more »

Two years after beginning his improbable quest as a little-known, first-term Illinois senator moves into the Oval Office as the nation’s fourth youngest president. A King once stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with dreams of equality and respect. Today, a president will stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, living out that dream in front of an entire nation and creating a new chapter in American history. It’s a chapter many didn’t think they’d live to see. But the day is upon us, and millions of spectators will watch this historic event unfold between those two… Read more »

Anchored from President-elect Obama’s official Youth Inaugural Ball, MTV and ServiceNation announced “Be the Change: Live From the Inaugural” on Sunday (January 11), which will celebrate the huge youth-voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election and ongoing youth community service. The show will feature live remarks from the newly inaugurated president as he addresses young people across the globe from the Youth Inaugural Ball, and call on them to continue to engage in national and community service. Obama’s remarks will be made available to viewers around the world, reaching a potential global youth audience of 1 billion people in 162… Read more »

“Change will come,” Patrick Stump sings on “(Coffee’s for Closers),” a typically excitable cut from the new Fall Out Boy album. Considering that the Chicago band’s original plan to release “Folie a Deux” on Election Day, that lyric was likely intended as a tip of the hoodie to Barack Obama Now it plays more like an acknowledgement of the evolution of FOB’s sound, which since 2005’s breakthrough ” From Under the Cork Tree ” has taken on new complexities without losing the fist-pumping qualities that made Stump and his bandmates mall-punk superstars. “Folie” is easily the group’s most adventurous outing… Read more »

The Warped Tour, the annual traveling festival that targets the Vans-wearing, emo-loving youth of America, has recently announced the lineup  for their 2009 caravan. As usual (and because the event is celebrating its 15th anniversary), the lineup combines older acts like NOFX, Less Than Jake and Bad Religion with newer artists like 3OH!3 and Black Tide. Other notables on the bill include the hard-rocking Gallows, the Ataris, Thrice, Underoath, Bayside and a bunch of other bands that are currently blasting on Hot Topic stereos. At first glance, the bill lacks the big names of past fests, the Paramores and Gym… Read more »