Chile earthquake shifts Earth’s axis, shortens day
The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 shifted hundreds of kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the planet.
The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 shifted hundreds of kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the planet.
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 »
People’s all-star, pre-Grammy concert with Timbaland ended with a resounding crash when the superproducer and rapper delivered a foul-mouthed tirade against the magazine because some of his friends were apparently left outside the venue. With a blinged-out cross dangling from his neck, a sweaty Timbaland addressed the crowd at the Avalon Club just after finishing a high energy set with longtime muse Missy Elliott, capping a night of performances from acts such as Chris Cornell, Grammy-nominated band Paramore and One Republic in front of a crowd that included Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Ludacris. “Next time I have one of… Read more »
Icelandic pop singer Bjork attacked a news photographer in New Zealand, ripping his shirt in half after he ignored a request not to snap any shots, the New Zealand Herald reported on Monday. The incident took place at Auckland International Airport on Sunday, after the musician had flown in for a concert later in the week, the paper said. It echoes an outburst at Bangkok’s airport in 1996, when Bjork unleashed her fury on a journalist. Glenn Jeffrey, a photographer with the Herald, told the paper Bjork was accompanied by a man who asked him not to take photographs. “I… Read more »
Los Angeles – Punk trio Green Day, up for six prizes at the Grammy Awards on Sunday will launch a five-week North American arena tour on April 15, the group’s Reprise Records label said. The 27-date trek, heavy on college towns, begins in Coral Gables, Fla. at the University of Miami’s Convocation Center, and wraps May 20 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary. Green Day will perform during the Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will then play New Zealand, Australia and Japan in March. Their Grammy nominations include album of the year and rock album… Read more »
Los Angeles – Vanessa Carlton is realistic. She knows today’s musical environment is not always friendly toward pop-oriented artists who play their instruments and write their songs, as she does. In fact, Carlton says she is gladly straddling the fence between “being true to myself as a musician and being embraced commercially” with her sophomore album, “Harmonium,” due Nov. 9 from A&M/Interscope Records. “It’s nice to be back and be the alternative to the more calculated, poppy acts out there,” the 24-year-old artist says. “I feel lucky that I’m able to appeal to real music lovers, and it also somehow… Read more »
Blink 182, Green Day, and Filter are among the artists featured on an upcoming album saluting Fender musical instruments. The Players: Powered By Fender comes out April 22nd, and it also includes songs played on Fender instruments by Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette, Remy Zero, the Goo Goo Dolls, Smash Mouth, Third Eye Blind, the Gin Blossoms, Sugar Ray, Collective Soul, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith, and the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band. The full tracklisting for The Players: Powered By Fender includes: Sheryl Crow, “Steve McQueen”; Eric Clapton, “Superman Inside”; Aerosmith, “Just Push Play”; Alanis Morissette, “Surrendering”; Blink 182, “All The Small Things”;… Read more »
The Grammy Awards return to New York for the first time in five years on Sunday, with songs influenced by the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks on the city in the running for the music industry’s top annual prizes. Veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising” and country singer Alan Jackson’s emotional “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” are both nominated for Song of the Year. Young singer and pianist Norah Jones with her mellow mix of jazz, blues and country song and album “Come Away With Me,” is among eight stars most frequently mentioned by music critics as… Read more »
‘Tis the season for holiday radio shows. As much a tradition as eggnog, mistletoe and broken resolutions, December always brings a bumper crop of all-star shows in which bands give back to their fans (and the radio stations that play their music) by jetting around the country and serving up short hit-heavy sets. The month of December will be especially star-packed for those living near Indianapolis, San Diego or Philadelphia. If you love Good Charlotte, Coldplay, Destiny’s Child and Queens of the Stone Age, you might want to cash in some frequent flyer miles, because those bands are among a… Read more »
The second annual “Plea for Peace: Take Action” tour, which benefits National Hopeline Network 1-800-SUICIDE, features different lineups on different legs of the trek. The D.C. show is headlined by Thursday, which is apt, since the New Jersey quintet derives its anguished post-hardcore sound – which one wag has dubbed “screamo” – from such D.C. trailblazers as Rites of Spring. If anything, Thursday’s “Full Collapse” is even more morbidly sensitive than the work of its inspirations. “I think it’s going to rain, rain down/ Here in this collapsed lung of a borough,” muses singer Geoff Rickly midway through “Paris in… Read more »