Search Results for: IN HER OWN WORDS

The Beastie Boys passed the mic on Sunday for the first time in two years while also passing along a message of worldwide peace and justice to their fans. Before a sold-out Hammerstein Ballroom crowd that had been jonesing for a B-Boys fix since 1999’s Tibetan Freedom Concert, their last public performance, MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D performed tunes mostly from their last two albums – Hello Nasty (1998) and Ill Communication (1994) – at the first of two benefit shows raising money for those affected by September’s World Trade Center disaster. The aim of the New Yorkers Against Violence… Read more »

More than 25 artists – from boys (of the Backstreet, ‘NSYNC and O-Town variety) to men (elder statesmen such as Aerosmith, James Brown and Rod Stewart), from vocal queens (Destiny’s Child, Mariah Carey, Carole King) to the King of Pop – took the stage Sunday at RFK Stadium for the all-day United We Stand – What More Can I Give benefit concert for victims of September’s terrorist attacks. Themes of unity and perseverance permeated every performance, with artists often thanking the sold-out crowd for the message they were sending to the rest of the country – that no matter the… Read more »

What do Osama bin Laden, Britney Spears, Bert from “Sesame Street” and the heavy metal band Anthrax have in common? They were all among the top searches on Internet Web sites for the last week, proving yet again the Internet is nothing if not a mix of serious news alongside a funhouse of wacky pop culture mania, boy bands and hoaxes. Web searches for anthrax, the deadly bacteria that has been mailed to some government and news offices, led many confused surfers to the Web site of the heavy metal band of the same name. “The boys of ‘the good… Read more »

Stevie Wonder was the surprise musical guest at the all-star Wave Of Peace smooth jazz fundraising show on Sunday (October 14) at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles. His appearance prompted an already highly charged audience to leap to its feet. Accompanying himself on piano during one of the last sets of the three-hour show, Wonder launched into some straight-ahead jazz variations on “Giant Steps” before playing compositions like “Overjoyed” and “Ribbon In The Sky.” Wonder was the only previously unannounced guest on a bill packed with smooth jazz greats. The event was organized by saxophonist Dave Koz and… Read more »

No Doubt began as a good-time ska-party band, full of California sunshine. But in the last few years, that’s been obscured by smog: bruised egos within the band, gloomy lyrics and weak record sales for last year’s Return of Saturn. The bad times are all gone on their upcoming album, Rock Steady, reports singer Gwen Stefani. “We’re not taking ourselves so seriously,” she says. “It’s like, get over it. We’re a fucking band and we’re really lucky to be doing what we do.” Rock Steady, out December 18th, is a sweet pop confection, made with arrays of keyboards, a dance-floor… Read more »

Elton John joined rock up-and-comer Ryan Adams on stage at New York’s Irving Plaza Wednesday (October 3) to perform a pair of songs. John took a seat at the piano to accompany Adams on the singer-songwriter’s “La Cienega Just Smiled” and then fronted the group for a version of his own classic, “Rocket Man.” John and Adams have struck up a friendship in recent months-the pop/rock legend even thanked Adams for “inspir[ing] me to do better” in the liner notes of his new album, Songs From The West Coast. Meanwhile, Adams responded on the notes to his own new release,… Read more »

Christina Aguilera’s golden locks, Fred Durst’s backward ball cap, Gwen Stefani’s rainbow makeup and Justin Timberlake’s freshly grown peach fuzz took a back seat Thursday to a look unprecedented even in popular music – blindfolds. “I feel like I’m playing pin the tail on the donkey,” Aguilera quipped in between takes during the first day of shooting proper videos for three all-star remakes of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” Many of the artists who contributed to the project – from Ja Rule to Staind’s Aaron Lewis to Alicia Keys – will don blindfolds for the video shoot, which heads to… Read more »

A host of performers paid a live, televised tribute on Tuesday to John Lennon, portraying the slain musician as an artist whose words have taken on renewed meaning since the attacks on the World Trade Center. Gathering together to play songs such as “Imagine,” “Give Peace A Chance” and “Come Together” were Dave Matthews, Marc Anthony, Natalie Merchant and more than a dozen others on the two-hour show on TNT. “This evening is now dedicated to New York City and its magnificent people,” said host Kevin Spacey of the tribute that had been in the works for more than a… Read more »

Beyonce Knowles of the glittery vocal trio Destiny’s Child is no dummy. She knows that as wrenching as it was to go through the acrimonious departure of two co-founding bandmates, the attendant furor sparked welcome publicity for the group. In fact, since the spring of 2000, the reconstituted Destiny’s Child, comprising Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, has become a dominant pop music force. Three multi-platinum albums and a string of hits – “Say My Name,” “Jumpin’, Jumpin’,” “Survivor” and the “Charlie’s Angels” film theme – have kept the threesome at the top of the charts and made them a… Read more »

Altering the title of Bush’s new single-“Speed Kills” to “The People That We Love”-might not be the only change Bush has to make on its forthcoming album Golden State. Another track on the October 16 release, “Head Full Of Ghosts,” contains the lyrics, “I’m at my best when I’m terrorist inside,” a line that Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale noted “is the worst line on the album in this time.” Bush’s Rossdale enacted his own preemptive strike for the song and its controversial line. He told LAUNCH what was behind the lyrics. “The fact that a lot of the time we’re… Read more »