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An outdoor Beach Boys concert before thousands Saturday launched a series of musical concerts intended to entertain visitors and athletes at the Olympic Games. “Salt Lake City has been a tradition for the Beach Boys,” founding member Mike Love said in an interview with Reuters prior to the concert. Love, now 60, wrote the lyrics to the band’s first song, ‘Surfin’, released in 1961 and followed that by co-authoring eleven U.S. top 10 singles with cousin Brian Wilson. Crowds endured long lines, cold temperatures and laborious security checks before entering Washington Square where the City government complex is housed and… Read more »

Canadian punkers Sum 41 will begin tracking the follow-up to their 2001 breakthrough, All Killer No Filler, in late April. They have been writing and demo-ing new material during the Tour of the Rising Sum, the band’s first headlining jaunt. Following the conclusion of the tour – which finds the boys rocking the U.S., Japan and Europe – the foursome will enter the studio with plans for a late 2002/early 2003 release. Greig Nori – who manned the board on Sum 41’s debut EP, 2000’s Half Hour of Power – is expected to produce the album. He also serves as… Read more »

EMI, one of the world’s top music companies, pushed on with yet more restructuring when it reorganized its labels under two global brands-Virgin and Capitol-and streamlined its international management. Alain Levy, chairman of EMI Recorded Music, said the company will concentrate on two international labels – Virgin and Capitol.The move came two days after EMI Group issued its second profits warning in six months. Levy has been leading a strategic review aimed at identifying costs and boosting business in the US music market. The EMI name was created in 1931 when the Gramophone Company merged with Columbia to form the… Read more »

Paul McCartney is hitting the long and winding road again for the first time in nearly 10 years. The former Beatle announced in a statement Monday that he is to launch a North American tour in early April. The “Drivin’ USA” tour – from California to New York – will take in 14 concerts plus one show in Canada. “I’m very excited to be getting back on the road, playing with a new band and including in the show some songs that I haven’t played live before,” he said. The statement said that McCartney, who will then tour Europe in… Read more »

A week after paying Mariah Carey nearly $30 million to walk away from her contract, EMI Recorded Music CEO Alain Levy took the wraps off a massive restructuring at the top of the company’s North American unit, marking his most aggressive moves yet to yank the British music major out of a persistent financial slump. Levy’s plan infuses EMI’s U.S. executive suite with new blood: His longtime deputy David Munns becomes chairman and chief executive of EMI North America, overseeing the flagship Capitol Records and Virgin Records America imprints. Veteran producer Matt Serletic has been named chairman and CEO of… Read more »

Blink-182 guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge and drummer Travis Barker have used the band’s brief downtime to write and record a new record of more experimental material under the name Boxcar Racer. Rhythm guitarist Dave Kennedy, an old pal of DeLonge’s, and formerly of the San Diego straight-edge hardcore outfit Over My Dead Body rounds out the lineup. The side project’s debut is due out in mid-May on Blink’s label, MCA Records, and Blink’s other member, bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, sings on one track. Boxcar Racer will also tour shortly after the release. The album was recorded at Los Angeles’ Larabee East Studios… Read more »

Microsoft Corp. today announced that Linkin Park is slated to be the first music promotional partner for the popular Microsoft(R) Xbox(TM) video game system. Kicking off the partnership with the band’s first Projekt: Revolution tour, the two entities aim to expand their rapidly growing fan bases in a promotional campaign designed to reach each other’s core audiences nationwide. “We’re huge fans of Xbox,” said Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson. “We’ve been playing it since before it came out, and we’re excited about the opportunity to include Xbox in the first Projekt: Revolution tour.” The partnership follows the launch of Linkin… Read more »

Pop diva Mariah Carey was axed by record company EMI on Wednesday with a $28 million pay-off, as the British music group decided it could not justify her huge contract after a dismal year for the company. EMI severed its ties with the Grammy-winning American vocalist after signing her to its Virgin Records label only last year in one of the most expensive recording contracts ever. Carey’s first album for Virgin, “Glitter,” fell well short of her previous hits, selling just two million copies worldwide. EMI’s shares fell 0.72 percent to 344 pence in early trade in London, as the… Read more »

Pop star Janet Jackson, whose current North American tour got off to a rocky start last summer, said Tuesday she may retire from the road after the jaunt ends next month because of the exhaustion. Jackson, 35, launched her “All For You” tour in July, and several shows in the first few weeks were either canceled or postponed because of production or health problems. In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, she canceled the European leg, which was set to run from Oct. 31 to Dec. 17. She played four shows in Japan earlier this month, and will resume… Read more »

Midem kicked off with more flash than usual Saturday with a touch of Britneymania, a surprise appearance from Virgin mogul Richard Branson and the NRJ awards, France’s answer to the Grammys. Pop icon Britney Spears, braving the chill at the 36th installment of the annual music market in a skimpy floral dress, was on hand to promote her upcoming feature film, “Crossroads,” scheduled for Valentine’s Day release in the United States, as well as her third album, “Britney,” already approaching 8 million units worldwide At a packed Carlton hotel press conference, Spears expressed her hopes for her first foray onto… Read more »