Search Results for: Alan Day

C. Michael Greene has resigned as the head of the organization that hands out the music industry’s most prestigious award, the Grammys, following an emergency board of trustees vote to remove him from office. Greene resigned Saturday night at an emergency meeting attended by more than three dozen trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Greene, 52, had three years remaining on his contract and will receive a severance package of $8 million, much of which will be covered by insurance and includes his bonus from the CBS Grammy contract. He is… Read more »

Ticketmaster, the world’s leading ticketing and access company, announced today that Briggs Ferguson has been appointed to the position of president of Citysearch. Ferguson will assume responsibility for all aspects of the Citysearch business including the overall management and strategic direction of Ticketmaster’s national and international city guide business. Ferguson will report to John Pleasants, Ticketmaster’s president and chief executive officer. An experienced industry veteran, Ferguson joins Ticketmaster following his tenure as executive vice president, marketing and product strategy for Launch, the music division of Yahoo! Inc. In this role, Ferguson was responsible for several operating divisions including Launch.com, Warped… Read more »

AOL Time Warner Inc., the world’s largest media company, reported a net loss of $54.24 billion for its first quarter on Wednesday, the largest quarterly loss for a U.S. company, due to a massive balance sheet writedown mandated by new accounting rules. AOL took the write-off – the same amount as the net loss – because of a sharp decline in the company’s stock, which has fallen by more than half since the merger of America Online and Time Warner was announced in January of 2000. In the same period a year ago, AOL Time Warner had a net loss… Read more »

When Jacoby Shaddix (a.k.a. Coby Dick) was bashing his forehead bloody with the mic night after night on last year’s Ozzfest, it became pretty clear that Papa Roach were a tortured, turbulent group – one far removed from the cookie-cutter rap-metal bands to which it was frequently compared. As if to hammer home the point, the band has distanced itself even further from its former peers on Lovehatetragedy, which comes out June 18. Aside from a rapped section in the first single, “She Loves Me Not,” and a few half-spoken vocal lines in various other songs, there’s nothing on the… Read more »

For the second week in a row, Ashanti, the new princess of R&B, will lord over the Billboard 200 albums chart. Her self-titled debut sold nearly 250,000 copies, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (April 17), enough to keep Celine Dion’s A New Day Has Come at #2 on sales of more than 225,000 copies. Now That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 9, featuring songs by Pink, Ludacris and ‘NSYNC, moves up one spot to #3 after selling over 140,000 units. Entering at #4 are the Goo Goo Dolls, whose Gutterflower sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week.… Read more »

Chart-topping modern rock act Nickelback and jazz pianist/vocalist Diana Krall snared three trophies each at Canada’s Juno Awards last night (April 14) in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Nickelback grabbed Junos for best group, best single for “How You Remind Me” and best rock album for “Silver Side Up” (Roadrunner). Krall picked up Junos for best album and best vocal jazz album for “The Look of Love” (Verve), and the best artist honor. The event was broadcast on the nationwide CTV network. In winning the best artist trophy, Krall beat out Leonard Cohen, Nelly Furtado, Amanda Marshall, and Garou, a one-time busker… Read more »

Those WWF Smackdown spots just wouldn’t be the same without P.O.D.’s “Alive,” Creed’s “My Sacrifice” and Kid Rock’s “Cocky” blaring in the background. In many cases, shots of wrestlers powerbombing, chokeslamming and clotheslining one another are more captivating than the images in real rock videos. Let’s face it, loud rock and wrestling go together like salted bacon and farm-fresh eggs, the aggressive tones and violent visuals feeding off each other, creating a charged symbiosis of pumping testosterone. With over-the-top sound and sight, all you need is a sweat-and-blood-soaked rag under your nose to create the ultimate sensory experience. “Wrestling and… Read more »

Rap and R&B songs and videos often glorify sexy lifestyles without any safe-sex caveats. But on Tuesday, some of the genres’ biggest stars will perform at “UrbanAID2,” a benefit concert to raise awareness about AIDS among blacks and Hispanics. “Specifically in terms of AIDS, no one has done enough and we all could do more,” said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, co-chairman of the event with Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. The concert, to be held Tuesday night at the Beacon Theatre, will feature rappers Combs, Jay-Z, Fat Joe and Ja Rule, along with singers Musiq, Ashanti, Alicia Keys and the hip-hop… Read more »

Few bands have a résumé as extensive as the one belonging to They Might Be Giants, so it’s no wonder their music should make perfect fodder for a documentary. In their 20 years together, the quirky duo of John Linnell and John Flansburgh have successfully telemarketed themselves into underground celebrity, composed scores and theme music for television and film, and won a Grammy (for “Boss of Me,” the theme to “Malcolm in the Middle”), while recording seven studio LPs and a slew of EPs, live albums and singles. Flansburgh even found time to moonlight as a video director, helming clips… Read more »

A federal appeals court rejected a claim that entertainer Stevie Wonder violated a copyright with his recordings of a song titled “For Your Love.” The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that Derrick Coles, who claimed he had prior copyright ownership of the song, and Gwendolyn Daniles, who said Coles conveyed his interest in the song to her in 1991, failed to prove their allegations. The appeals court upheld a Cleveland federal judge’s July 2000 ruling that Coles and Daniles must pay $173,871 in attorney fees and $23,884 in other costs to Wonder and co-defendants Motown Record… Read more »