Search Results for: Disney

The king of rock ‘n’ roll was no businessman. When Elvis Presley died, his finances were in such sad shape that the managers of his estate considered selling Graceland. His white-columned, Georgian-style home was just too expensive to maintain. But instead the house was opened to tourists, and 25 years after his death on Aug. 16, 1977, Graceland attracts 600,000 visitors a year and has made his sole heir, daughter Lisa Marie, a very wealthy woman. Sell Graceland? Don’t be silly. “Every few months, a tabloid somewhere in the world will come out with a screaming headline that Lisa Marie… Read more »

The people who tried to take away your VCR are at it again. Hollywood has always dreamed of a “well-mannered marketplace” where the only technologies that you can buy are those that do not disrupt its business. Acting through legislators who dance to Hollywood’s tune, the movie studios are racing to lock away the flexible, general-purpose technology that has given us a century of unparalelled prosperity and innovation. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed the “Content Protection Status Report” with the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, laying out its plan to remake the technology world to suit its… Read more »

Veteran rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has parted ways with its bass player of 20 years, citing his “ongoing personal problems.” Howie Epstein, who got into trouble with the law last year, will be replaced on tour by Ron Blair, the original member he subbed for in 1982, the band said in a statement on Thursday. The group’s management firm declined to comment any further on the personnel shift, the first since drummer Stan Lynch left in 1994 after a blowout with bandleader Petty. The band, which formed in 1975, is best known for such hits as “American… Read more »

Matt Sharp, founding bassist for Weezer, has filed a lawsuit against his former bandmates, their ex-manager and a slew of band accountants seeking compensation and credit for songs on Weezer’s first two albums. At the heart of the lawsuit lies a catalog of some of Weezer’s most beloved songs, including their first single, “Undone (The Sweater Song),” as well as most of their album Pinkerton (“Tired of Sex,” “Getchoo,” “No Other One,” “Why Bother?,” “Across the Sea,” “The Good Life,” “El Scorcho,” “Pink Triangle,” “Falling for You”) and a handful of B-sides (“You Gave Your Love to Me Softly,” “I… Read more »

R.E.M.’s Peter Buck says he has no recollection of behavior on a Seattle-to-London flight that now finds him facing charges, including assault, in a London court, the BBC reports. Testifying on Wednesday (March 20), Buck claimed that after taking a sleeping pill on the April, 2001 flight, he felt “woozy” and “fear[ed] I had had a heart attack and was in a weird hospital in Disneyland.” When asked if he remembered details for which he is charged, the guitarist told the jury: “None whatsoever.” What Buck does remember is being in a police cell at London’s Heathrow Airport, saying he… Read more »

Singer Celine Dion says she’s not afraid of moving to Las Vegas, where she will begin a three-year, 600-show engagement at Caesars Palace hotel next year. Dion told a news conference Wednesday that her 1-year-old son, Rene-Charles, “is not going to be raised between a craps table and a slot machine. He will not even be in school by the time we leave Las Vegas.” The 33-year-old Canadian singer, who is from Quebec, said Las Vegas has become “more family-oriented – like Disney World, it has everything, water, mountains and golf.” Her husband-manager, Rene Angelil, said the Las Vegas show,… Read more »

A mohawked Eddie Vedder put the regal Waldorf-Astoria hotel in a punk rock state of mind Monday night when he inducted the Ramones into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nearing the end of his 17-minute speech, Vedder said, “After this, I’m sure the evening will move quickly, but it’s the Ramones and it’s punk rock and I’m just about finished and I hope you’re OK with that.” The crowd’s response included some jeers and boos. “Apparently you’re not. F– you,” he replied. But overall, the night was filled with special moments – including a Talking Heads induction and… Read more »

The new Goo Goo Dolls album Gutterflower is due in stores April 9, but that’s not the only project the band’s singer-guitarist Johnny Rzeznik has been involved in. Rzeznik worked outside the framework of the band to score tracks for a forthcoming animated feature for Disney. Rzeznik revealed he worked on two solo songs for the project. “It’s a movie called Treasure Planet, which is basically the story of Treasure Island in space. It’s really an awesome movie, such a cool movie, man. I was like freaking out when I saw this movie. Because I was like, ‘Oh, Disney thing.… Read more »

“Queen of the Damned,” co-starring the late pop singer Aaliyah as an ancient vampire, debuted as the top weekend movie with $14.8 million. The hospital-hostage drama “John Q” slipped from first place to second with $12.5 million in its second weekend. Kevin Costner’s supernatural love story “Dragonfly” opened at No. 3 with $10.2 million. The top 20 movies at North American theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. and ACNielsen EDI Inc. are: 1.… Read more »

Life is making rocker Steven Tyler pinch himself these days. With his band Aerosmith receiving four Grammy nominations, including best rock album, and his daughter, Liv, co-starring in the box-office hit “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” Tyler is thrilled. “Am I surprised that things have turned out like this? I have to pinch myself every day,” the 53-year-old Tyler told the Los Angeles Times for Sunday’s editions. “Life is really beautiful.” Tyler said he’s also happy that for the first time in Aerosmith’s nearly three-decade career, the group had control over production of their latest… Read more »