Search Results for: Alan Day

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 »

I spent 24 hours on the road with Good Charlotte recently. Most of what I saw I already knew from TV reports on tour-bus life, probably from episodes of “Diary”: You can’t do much in the bathroom, it’s eight grown men living in the space of a large bedroom, running water is a luxury and the food sucks. That’s not, however, what I went to report on. Good Charlotte are a band with punk values – they look it, they grew up on the music and they believe in the punk ethos. At the same time, though, their video has… Read more »

Vivendi Universal said third-quarter revenues for Vivendi Universal, excluding its utilities unit Vivendi Environnement, grew by 1 percent to $7.4 billion, despite revenue declines in its publishing and music divisions. The report, released Monday, comes as the media, entertainment and utilities conglomerate faces continuing pressure to improve its balance sheet and convince investors that its business is sound. For the three months ending Sept. 30, Vivendi’s Canal Plus subscription television group showed some improvement, with revenue growing 4 percent to nearly $1.2 billion in the third quarter. But Vivendi’s Universal Music Group saw revenues fall 9 percent to 1.3 billion… Read more »

Are they or aren’t they? Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck won’t say, but it sure looks like they’re engaged. The couple, who’ve been photographed kissing everywhere over the past few months, have been coy about whether they’re getting married. People magazine, quoting friends and sources, reports in its Nov. 18 issue that they plan to tie the knot on Valentine’s Day. The marriage would be the third for Lopez, 32, and the first for Affleck, 30. Lopez’s publicist, Alan Nierob, declined to comment on the report Thursday. Affleck’s publicist didn’t immediately return a phone call. The singer-actress has been wearing… Read more »

In an industry that obsesses over first-week album sales, heavy MTV rotation and radio airplay, the Shortlist Music Prize is trying to help offbeat or niche recording artists find a wider audience. Now in its second year, the contest taps successful musicians to champion the work of peers who have yet to make an impact on the charts. Among this year’s “listmakers” are India.Arie, Alanis Morissette (news), U2’s Larry Mullen Jr., and filmmakers Baz Luhrmann (news) and Spike Jonze (news). “Most of the attention that records get as far as awards and all that stuff is based on record sales,… Read more »

Concert tours to Southeast Asia have become the latest casualty of recent bomb blasts in Bali and the Philippines with veteran jazz guitarist George Benson and rock groups Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis canceling shows. “George Benson did cancel some dates that he had lined up for Indonesia,” promoter Nigel Peters said on Tuesday. “It’s obviously a direct relation to the Bali bombing. That’s the only reason this decision was taken.” A bomb attack at a nightclub on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali on October 12 killed more than 180 people, most of them Australian. Ten people were… Read more »

Mickey Mouse’s days at Disney could be numbered and paying royalties for warbling George Gershwin tunes could become a thing of the past if the U.S. Supreme Court sides with an Internet publisher in a landmark copyright case this week. The high court will hear the case Wednesday that could plunge the earliest images of Disney’s mascot and other closely held creative property into the public domain as early as next year. If upheld, the precedent-setting challenge could cost movie studios and heirs of authors and composers millions of dollars in revenue as previously protected material becomes available free of… Read more »

Record labels and artists were out in force Thursday to reiterate their blunt assessment of digital piracy’s effects on their financial well-being at a state government hearing in Sacramento. “I would like to begin with a simple proposition,” said Recording Industry Assn. of America president Cary Sherman. “The one-two punch of physical and digital piracy is threatening the livelihood of the music industry.” The hearing, convened by the California State Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism & Internet Media, was the second piracy gripefest in as many weeks for the industry, which is increasingly turning to the government for… Read more »

The five major record label groups and the three largest music retailers have agreed to pay $143 million in cash and CDs to resolve a long-standing class action price-fixing case. The settlement, announced Monday, brings to a close allegations that the major labels and retailers had violated antitrust laws and illegally inflated the cost of CDs. At issue was a policy called “minimum advertised pricing,” or MAP, under which the major labels would jointly pay for advertising if a retailer agreed to sell CDs above a certain price. This pricing practice began nearly a decade ago as a way for… Read more »

*NSYNC singer Justin Timberlake-who is prepping for the November 5 release of his debut solo album, Justified-recently admitted that he performed oral sex on his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears. The pop singer made the admission while visiting New York radio hosts Star And Buc Wild during the WQHT-FM morning show on Monday (September 23). Timberlake was pressed into making the admission after Star offered to provide the singer’s latest single, “Like I Love You” featuring Clipse, with 30 additional spins a week in exchange. When asked if he performed oral sex on Spears, Timberlake begrudgingly responded, “OK, I did it…I’m in… Read more »