Search Results for: Japanese

Japan’s probably feeling a little psychic right about now. The week after Velvet Revolver announced the Japanese leg of its tour was off because the Asian nation had “tak[en] exception with the backgrounds of various band members,” lead singer Scott Weiland was busted for DUI. The Nov. 21 arrest, the latest for the oft-arrested, oft-rehabbed rocker, was uncovered Monday by TMZ.com. Weiland, 40, is due in a Los Angeles court Dec. 13 to answer to the misdemeanor charge. It was on Nov. 16 that Weiland’s band announced it had been denied visas for four scheduled Japan dates, Nov. 26-30. “The… Read more »

Nick Haley took just 30 minutes to pluck the Brazilian band CSS from obscurity and hurl it into the national spotlight. In September, Haley paired the band’s dance-pop song “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” with his 30-second amateur video, displaying the capabilities of Apple’s new iPod Touch. The video ends with the lyrics, “My music is where I’d like you to touch.” “I was like, ‘This song is too perfect,’ ” said Haley, 18, by phone from the University of Leeds in England, where he studies politics. “It’s punchy, loud, fast and naughty.” Marketers at Apple headquarters in Cupertino… Read more »

A Hempfield Area High School sophomore spent 12 days in juvenile detention after authorities in Westmoreland County mistakenly charged him with making a March 11 bomb threat, in part because the district had not changed its clocks to reflect daylight-saving time. Cody Webb, 15, of Hempfield, was arrested March 12 and charged with a felony count of threatening to use weapons of mass destruction and misdemeanor counts of making false alarms to public entities, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and making terrorist threats. Webb, an honors student involved in student council, tennis and the Japanese Club, was immediately taken to the… Read more »

When Avril Lavigne released album No. 2 in 2004, the spunky teen pop star announced to the world that she was growing up. Gone were the baggy pants and skater-chick image that first earned Lavigne the media-christened nickname of “the anti-Britney.” On that year’s “Under My Skin,” punky anthems like “Sk8er Boi” were replaced largely with grammatically correct, midtempo teen-angst rockers. The album was released a few months shy of Lavigne’s 20th birthday, and the black-and-white Goth imagery made it clear that Lavigne was dealing with some intense late-teen issues. Today, Lavigne is done with all that. On April 17,… Read more »

By all accounts, Gachapin didn’t need this. After all, he’s already got millions of adoring fans and superpowered “energy balls” on his wrists. But when the Killers came calling, offering him a starring role in the video for their new single, “Read My Mind,” there was no way he could say no. After all, who else could serve as the band’s unofficial Tokyo tour guide? By now, you’ve probably seen the “Mind” clip, in which the Killers engage in various Tokyo-related shenanigans – directing traffic near Shinjuku Station, playing “DrumMania” in one of the city’s mega-arcades, getting down with an… Read more »

Warner Music Group Corp., home to recording artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, James Blunt and Daniel Powter, said Thursday its first-quarter profit fell 74 percent due to fewer albums released during the period and soft domestic and European sales. Its shares fell nearly 5 percent. The New York-based recording company said net income declined to $18 million, or 12 cents per share, from $69 million, or 46 cents per share, during the same period a year ago. Total revenue fell 11 percent to $928 million from $1.04 billion during the prior-year period. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected… Read more »

OSAKA (Kyodo) Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products Co. and inventor of instant ramen, died of heart failure Friday evening at a hospital in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, his family said. He was 96. Born on March 5, 1910, in Taiwan, Ando initially ran clothing companies in Taipei and Osaka while he was a student at Ritsumeikan University. In 1948, he founded the precursor to Nissin and in 1958 unveiled Chicken Ramen, the world’s first instant noodle product. Ando was inspired to develop the instant noodle after coming upon a long line of people on a cold night shortly… Read more »

“SYNERGY AND OTHER LIES” would be a good first reading assignment for Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s new chief executive, to be followed by “The Synergy Myth.” Then Sir Howard should recognize that the Sony he inherits is constitutionally incapable of making one (electronics) plus one (entertainment) equal three. Both books were written by Harold Geneen, the number cruncher who directed International Telephone and Telegraph during its heyday in the 1960’s. He engineered 350 mergers and acquisitions, which brought such names as Hartford, Avis, Sheraton and Madison Square Garden under one roof. Mr. Geneen, however, harbored no illusions that ITT’s individual… Read more »

Maybe Velvet Revolver can use that Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy as a hood ornament on their tour bus on the upcoming Electric Wonderland Show Tour. The veteran rockers will kick off their latest round of North American stops on March 22 in Montreal, with arena dates currently slated to run through a May 25 show in Miami, according to a spokesperson for the group. More dates are expected to be added. Hoobastank will open the West Coast swing of the tour; no other openers have been announced. The group recently released the third video from its multiplatinum debut. “Dirty… Read more »