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When you think music and New Jersey, one name comes quickly to mind: Bruce Springsteen. Yet few people inside or outside New Jersey are making better music or rocking out more these days than local boys Bon Jovi. The only 80s hair band to not only survive but thrive in the new millennium, Bon Jovi showed a continuing maturity and veteran stage presence as they brought their “Bounce” tour to Continental Airlines Arena on Monday. The show, the second stop on the tour, opened with three huge satellite dishes rotating onstage as the band – lead singer Jon Bon Jovi,… Read more »

Sheryl Crow, an activist for recording artists’ rights, brought her own message against a possible war with Iraq to Monday night’s American Music Awards. Crow accepted her award for pop-rock female artist wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the message “war is not the answer” in black sequins. She had the V-neck shirt specially made. “I just think there’s a really vital, sweeping peace movement out there that’s not getting covered in the press, so I just kind of try to do my part,” she said backstage. “I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions… Read more »

Sony Music chairman and chief executive Tommy Mottola, who was responsible for building the careers of Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and other superstars, announced Thursday he was leaving the company to start his own music label. The departure ends Mottola’s 14-year tenure at Sony, though the new label is being created in partnership with Sony. Mottola joined the company back when it was CBS Records in 1987. Sony is letting him out of his contract two years early. “I have been thinking about taking up this new challenge for about a year, and really made the decision to go forward… Read more »

Kelly Osbourne proved she’s every bit her father’s daughter at her first full-fledged concert on Tuesday. Any questions about her authenticity – that recording her album, Shut Up, was simply the easiest way to boost her celebrity – were wiped away soon after she emerged beneath a giant pink neon sign that read “Kelly Osbourne,” visibly moved at the enthusiastic applause. Unlike her previous live performances – at a radio-sponsored festival and a “Tonight Show” gig – on Tuesday the crowd was all hers (the “I love you, Kelly” cries might have given it away), and she grabbed the reins… Read more »

“Surreal” is about the only word to describe it when that kid you remember from “Gremlins” and “Goonies,” all grown up now, is rocking out in the middle of a record store. And surreal it was when Corey Feldman and his band played for a bewildered crowd numbering less than a hundred recently at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard. As fans and curious shoppers waited (and waited), a drummer, a guitarist, a bassist named Pharaoh and a keyboard player (none of whom would look lost at a construction site) along with two backup singers crowded onto a makeshift stage, where… Read more »

Once again, Public Enemy is fighting the power. This time, the subject of the pioneering, politically-minded rap group’s ire is a little network called MTV. The Chuck D-led hip-hop icons have had their latest rap, “Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need,” banned by the music channel because of a lyric deemed too political by the suits at MTV, the Los Angeles Times reports. As is standard procedure with MTV, PE submitted the clip for review earlier this summer. However, the network’s standards division balked at airing the track-the first single off the recently released Revolverlution-because it contained the phrase… Read more »

A gun-toting musician forced a southern Brazilian radio station to play his debut album for more than an hour on Wednesday after apparently having no luck opening the doors of show business, the man’s father said. Marcus Vinicius dos Santos, 27, the vocalist for the rock group ACC – a Portuguese acronym for “Beyond the Gray Sky” – stormed disc jockey Marcio Paz’s booth at Atlantida FM in the city of Porto Alegre and forced him to play his album “Phases of Life.” “He is a quiet boy,” his father, Getulio dos Santos, told Reuters. “I’m surprised by what happened.”… Read more »

In the late 1970s, Elvis Costello wore a punk snarl to go along with his sharp suits and horn-rimmed glasses. Twenty-five years later, the prolific troubadour has replaced it with something more subtly sinister. Cruel Smile, a companion LP to Costello’s latest studio album, When I Was Cruel, features B-sides, rare cuts and live versions from that album, as well as a handful of fan favorites. Due October 1, the 14-track enhanced CD also includes the video for When I Was Cruel’s “45,” according to an Island Records spokesperson. Costello selected the tracks himself, most of which were previously unavailable… Read more »

No Doubt, Sum 41 and Nappy Roots are among the acts lined up for this year’s Voodoo Music Experience. The fourth annual event, which boasts three stages, over 20 acts and 12 straight hours of music, will take place in New Orleans City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana, on November 2. This year’s lineup also features the Crystal Method, 311, Garbage, Counting Crows, (hed)pe, Macy Gray, the X-ecutioners, Galactic, DJ Z-Trip, Jurassic 5, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Jack Johnson, the North Mississippi Allstars and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Last year’s Experience also featured a diverse lineup that included Tool,… Read more »

Guns N’ Roses’ surprise performance at Thursday’s 19th annual MTV Video Music Awards was easily the night’s highlight presentation, even though P. Diddy, Eminem and Justin Timberlake had more pizzazz and Bruce Springsteen and Sheryl Crow had more heart. Click here for the complete 2002 MTV VMA Winners List. The group – which included longtime GN’R keyboardist Dizzy Reed and a batch of new faces like ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, ex-Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck and guitarist Buckethead – kicked off its medley with “Welcome to the Jungle,” the song that had thunderingly announced GN’R back on their first… Read more »