The World Trade Organization’s top arbitrators upheld a ruling that China is illegally restricting imports of U.S. music, films and books, and Washington pushed forward with a new case accusing China of manipulating the prices for key ingredients in steel and aluminum production.
Last month at the MTV Video Music Awards, Pete Wentz decided to play a joke on his pal, Cobra Starship frontman Gabe Saporta, by revealing his phone number live on the show.
Superfans often compare listening to their favorite band to a religious experience. A church in Florida is taking that sentiment to the next level by introducing its congregation to a Sunday service that features the music and lyrics of Bono and Co., reports Twenty Four Bit. The rockin’ First United Methodist Church of Pensacola, Fla. will host the U2charist – a play on the word Eucharist – which includes U2’s “One,” “With or Without You” and the service-opening prayer of “Beautiful Day.” The debut U2charist in Pensacola took place August 23rd at First Methodist. The U.S. Episcopal Church first developed… Read more »
Paris Hilton hated her 2006 movie “Pledge This!” and refused for months to make promotional appearances for it despite a contract requiring her to do so, lawyers for the film’s investors said as trial opened Thursday in an $8 million lawsuit against her. “During the six-month period, at no time would she take 10 minutes to do a phone interview,” said attorney Bryan West, who represents the investors. With Hilton nodding vigorously from her defense table seat, her attorney Michael Weinstein insisted she did numerous appearances for the movie but was unavailable to meet many requests by the film’s producers… Read more »
Vans Warped Tour kicks off its 15th year of rocking up summer in Pomona, Calif. on June 26, and this year Fearless Records has four acts heading out for two months of punk rock mayhem. The Maine continues a killer year with a headlining slot on The Hurley Stage, while both A Skylit Drive and Breathe Carolina will play the entire tour on the SmartPunk Stage. Also joining them on select dates will be Every Avenue, which is set to take Warped by storm for a second year from July 24 – August 23. The Fearless tent will be… Read more »
Britney Spears’ “Circus” tour is getting an encore. Holly Shakoor, Spears’ publicist, confirms that concerts will be held in several U.S. cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The shows will kick off August 20th in Canada. Concerts are also scheduled for North Carolina, Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas. They will follow Spears’ concerts in London and several other European cities. The 27-year-old singer also announced this week that her tour will go to Australia in November. Spears’ “Circus” tour reached second place in recent box-office gross rankings by Pollstar.
Eminem has come clean, saying that he knew what was in store when bare-buttocked comedian Sacha Baron Cohen crash-landed on him at the MTV Movie Awards television broadcast. Eminem stormed out of the awards ceremony after Baron Cohen, in the role of the main character from his new movie, “Bruno,” landed on his lap after a flying mishap, leaving the audience wondering if the rapper really was furious or if it was a stunt. The Detroit rapper said he knew full well what was about to happen and that it was all staged, right down to his disgust when Baron… Read more »
Linkin Park co-frontman Mike Shinoda said the band’s fourth studio album is going to be so unique, “they’re going to have to come up with a new genre name for what this record is.” Shinoda wants to shake things up in the rock world with the follow-up to 2007’s Minutes To Midnight. Linkin Park is about halfway through the writing process and hopes to have the album ready for an early 2010 release. But chief among Shinoda’s concerns is the quality of the tunes, something that could impact the release date. “If we need to take a step back and… Read more »
Apple’s iTunes online music store may reach more customers throughout Europe after the body tasked with collecting artist royalties in France agreed to allow counterparts elsewhere to license its catalog. SACEM, which collects royalties for about 128,000 artists, said it would be willing to drop territorial restrictions and allow national counterparts to license its repertoire, European antitrust regulators said on Tuesday. If pan-European licensing becomes a reality, Apple, which controls slightly more than half of global digital music sales through iTunes, may look at broadening access to the system, European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes added. “If iTunes was readily able… Read more »
“As individuals, we’re misfits,” says Fergie, the sultry female singer of the Black Eyed Peas “Together, we’re like one big misfit. People are always questioning who the hell we are.” It is the day after the group’s May 6th performance, on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Chilling out in a small, sparsely furnished room at Center Staging in Burbank, California, she and fellow members of the multiracial group resemble a live version of a United Colors of Benetton ad. Fergie is dressed in black-and-white capri-length leggings set off by a hot pink shirt and a sharp pair of black ankle-strapped heels… Read more »
