Search Results for: Missio

The Federal Communications Commission has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the indecency case over Janet Jackson ‘s breast-baring performance at the 2004 Super Bowl . The FCC this week appealed a ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, saying that court was wrong to throw out the case and a $550,000 fine against CBS Corp. in July. The appellate court cited the FCC practice of not considering objectionable images indecent if they are “fleeting.” In Jackson’s halftime show at the 2004 Super Bowl, which spawned the case, she briefly flashed a breast as she… Read more »

The pressure had been building up behind the scenes for longer than most music fans realized. But when the teen-pop explosion burst onto the charts in early 1999 it felt like the music world had been blindsided overnight by a flood of squeaky-clean acts who would dominate the charts for years to come. And in some cases, those ripples are still being felt today. It’s hard to believe it now, but over the course of a few months between late 1998 and early 1999, radio and MTV were inundated with the debuts and breakthroughs from Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, ‘NSYNC,… Read more »

These days, the old west rail hub of Las Vegas, New Mexico, is little more than a dusty economic dead zone amid a boneyard of bare mesas. In national elections, the town overwhelmingly votes Democratic: More than 80 percent of all residents are Hispanic, and one in four lives below the poverty line. On February 5th, the day of the Super Tuesday caucus, a school-bus driver named Paul Maez arrived at his local polling station to cast his ballot. To his surprise, Maez found that his name had vanished from the list of registered voters, thanks to a statewide effort… Read more »

Britney Spears' new single "Womanizer" made a record-breaking leap to top spot on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart on Wednesday, underscoring her musical comeback after making headlines with her personal woes. Billboard said the song, the first from a new Spears album due for release in December, jumped from No.96 to No.1 in the past week and returned Spears to the top of the list for the first time since her 1999 debut single "Baby One More Time." "Womanizer" is also No. 1 on iTunes charts in Canada, France, Spain and Sweden, Spears' record company Jive said. Billboard said the… Read more »

Shannon Halligan checks JuicyCampus.com quite a lot — but not because she’s obsessed with gossip. She wants to make sure her name doesn’t pop up when her classmates dish the dirt in online posts. “That’s what I’m scared of,” Halligan, a junior at Syracuse University, said recently. “Some of the ones just say peoples’ names and then they’ll say, ‘Discuss.’ And then they’ll just bash them.” She’s in Delta Delta Delta, one of the many sororities at SU whose members said they have been targets on what is becoming one of the most popular — and most controversial — Web… Read more »

Jon Bon Jovi and Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan will perform at this year’s Live Earth concert, when the music extravaganza aimed at raising awareness of climate change heads to India. Last year’s Live Earth spanned four continents and 150 acts were performed over a 24-hour period. But organizers Al Gore and Kevin Wall decided this year to stage only one event in India, in the hopes of bringing their message to the developing world. “India is not the country that created the climate crisis, but it is a developing nation and we need to open doors for local environmental organizations… Read more »

A Cuban punk rocker whose songs have ridiculed the Cuban government was fined for public disorder on Friday after prosecutors reduced a more serious “social dangerousness” charge that could have sent him to prison for four years. Gorki Aguila, 39, was ordered to pay 600 Cuban pesos, or about $30, for playing his music too loud during rehearsal, his father Luis Aguila said. The bushy-haired rocker was arrested on Monday as his band,  Porno para (for) Ricardo, was recording its latest album. News of the arrest quickly spread through the blogosphere and on Friday a crowd of foreign diplomats, foreign… Read more »

Cuba has ordered jailed punk rocker Gorki Aguila, an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro and the communist government, to stand trial on Friday for “social dangerousness,” a charge that could carry up to four years in prison. Authorities arrested the 39-year-old lead singer of Porno para Ricardo at his Havana home on Monday, shortly after the band had completed work on a new album. Cuban law defines “social dangerousness” as behavior contrary to “communist morality,” and police use it to detain offenders before they have a chance to commit a crime. Performing songs with angry lyrics that poke fun at… Read more »

The first time Arcade Fire performed in Paris, Mathieu Saura stood outside the venue with his girlfriend, holding up a sign that read, “Please, we want to come to the show.” The band’s bassist, Richard Reed Perry, got them in, and ever since, Saura might as well have not left. Under the name Vincent Moon, he’s gone from a fan begging for tickets to an in-demand filmmaker who has revolutionized music video. His films are stripped down, intimate videotaped performances – shot in one take, often of an act simply strolling down a street or playing in a parking lot.… Read more »

While millions around the world spent Sunday watching the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, 7,000 fans lucky enough to score a ticket to Radiohead’s show at the Hollywood Bowl witnessed not only a band at the top of its game but also an act that at times seemed to be the best on the planet. Certainly that’s high praise, but during its two-hour set — the first of two sold-out nights at the Bowl — the quintet from Oxford, England, managed to cast a spell over the crowd without resorting to fist-pumping anthems like U2, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam… Read more »