Search Results for: LIGHTS

Hannah Montana fans are getting the best of both worlds, leaving the less entertaining aspects to the show’s lawyers and publicists. A lawsuit brought against the Disney Channel by an award-winning comedy writer who claims he pitched the original idea for Hannah Montana and was never compensated for his efforts was referred Friday to mediation in the hope that the two sides can cut a deal. Buddy Sheffield sued parent company ABC Cable Networks Group on Aug. 23, alleging breach of implied contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment. He is seeking unspecified damages. ABC Cable has denied… Read more »

Las Vegas lore is littered with many end-of-an-era instances. The dissolution of the Rat Pack. The razing of the Sands Hotel. The annulment of Britney Spears and Jason Alexander’s 57-hour quickie marriage. And on December 15, 2007, Sin City bid yet another bittersweet goodbye: to Celine Dion, who ended her historic five-year, 717-show, $400 million-grossing run at Caesar’s Palace. Yes, apparently not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, as Celine has finally decided to move on after five years. (After all, she does have a new pop album, Taking Chances, to promote.) But it seems like only yesterday… Read more »

Morrissey has identified his latest quarry. The singer is suing British music magazine NME for defamation, claiming the publication twisted his words in a recent interview to make him appear racist. Morrissey was quoted by the magazine as saying he would no longer live in Britain because an “immigration explosion” was stripping his native land of its identity. “The gates are flooded and anybody can have access to England and join in,” he reportedly said. “Other countries have held on to their basic identity yet it seems to me that England was thrown away.” The singer’s representatives claimed the magazine’s… Read more »

Former Smiths frontman Morrissey is suing music magazine NME for defamation after it printed an article in which he discussed his views on immigration in Britain. The magazine criticized the 48-year-old singer for allegedly saying Britain had lost its identity as a result of higher levels of immigration than other European countries. “We can confirm we have received two writs from Morrissey’s legal representatives pertaining to NME and its editor Conor McNicholas,” a spokesman for NME said on Friday. “NME takes this matter — and the issues it highlights — extremely seriously and we are currently in discussion with our… Read more »

With an emphasis on the visual over the audio, MTV from its inception has never been “about the music.” But after seeing interest in its signature trophy show wane in recent years, the network put the spotlight where it belongs for a music awards show: on the concert stage. The result of this brainstorm, and a few other format changes to its Video Music Awards? The most watchable show in many a Moon Man outing. Even if that isn’t saying much. And this despite opening with an onstage career suicide by Britney Spears. More on that later. The 2007 VMAs… Read more »

Early in July, Rusty Shaffer, the founder of Optek, a small music company in Reno, Nev., visited Salon’s offices to show me his invention, the Fretlight guitar. Though it looks and feels like a standard, rock ‘n’ roll-ready instrument, the Fretlight contains a set of LEDs invisibly embedded inside its fretboard — connect the guitar to a computer and the lights spark up to indicate where to put your fingers in order to play a chord. Shaffer is certain that his guitar is a great leap forward for the normally tech-averse guitar industry; the Fretlight, he says, will transform guitar… Read more »

New York-based buzz band Just Surrender are set to release their second full-length album, “We’re In Like Sin,” through Broken English Records on August 21st. The highly-anticipated record was produced by John Naclerio (My Chemical Romance, Brand New, Senses Fail, Armor For Sleep) and delivers 11 hook-filled tracks. In celebration of the release, Fuse TV will be hosting a listening party for “We’re In Like Sin” on “The Worm” (www.fuse.tv/theworm). The full-album stream will launch at 3 pm EST on August 14th and run up until the August 21st release date. With over one million plays on both their PureVolume… Read more »

Dave Grohl has been in the rock business for more than 20 years now, and during that time, he’s seen many so-called “musical movements” come and go. Thus, he’s particularly amused by the current generation of emo-punk acts bounding across stages worldwide. After all, he’s been doing this for so long that he remembers emo the first time it came around.”I have a funny relationship with emo,” he said. “I’m from Washington, D.C., and in the mid-’80s, the hardcore scene changed from what it was – Bad Brains and Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedys and MDC – to a… Read more »

Nineteen million people tuned in to watch the Live Earth concerts on NBC and cable channels affiliated with the network, according to Nielsen Media Research. The total audience of 18.995 million includes viewers who watched at least six minutes of the telecasts on NBC, CNBC, Telemundo, the Sundance Channel, Bravo, MSNBC and Universal HD. NBC’s Saturday-evening telecast – which featured three hours of highlights from the 24-hour global concert series to raise awareness of climate change – captured 2.7 million viewers. The event was also broadcast online at LiveEarth.MSN.com and on XM satellite radio. Organizers for Live Earth, backed by… Read more »

Some of the world’s biggest names in music were all about Saving Our Selves this weekend. SOS, of course, referring to the campaign being touted Saturday across the globe at the seven-continent, 24-hour Live Earth concert extravaganza, a worldwide shout-out to individuals, political leaders, corporations and every other entity capable of helping put a stop to the environmental scourge that is global warming. In a partnership with Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection and other U.S.-based and international organizations, Live 8 executive producer Kevin Wall put together a bill that included the Police, Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica,… Read more »