Search Results for: NeX GEn

Rock legend Neil Young has written and recorded a song about the passengers who fought back against their Sept. 11 hijackers – a song described by one record company executive “as so chilling you feel like you are on that plane.” The song, a salute to heroism called “Let’s Roll,” was shipped to radio stations this week but will not be sold in stores, Young’s recording company Reprise Records said Wednesday. It was inspired by the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11 who apparently decided to fight back against their hijackers after hearing by telephone of the… Read more »

XM Satellite Radio today announced that it placed 10 million shares of its common stock in a public offering underwritten by Morgan Stanley resulting in gross proceeds of $112.5 million to the company. In addition, XM has granted the underwriter an over-allotment option to purchase an additional 1.5 million shares of common stock. The offering is expected to close early next week. Separately, XM today also announced that it has closed a $66 million funding package with Boeing announced in October. The financing package included $35 million in new debt financing with Boeing Capital Services Corporation and $31 million in… Read more »

Jerry Levin, Chief Executive Officer of AOL Time Warner, announced a senior management succession plan for the Company and said AOL Time Warner will begin to implement a six-month transition to a new leadership team. The plan, which Mr. Levin proposed to the Board of Directors and Mr. Case endorsed, grew out of ongoing discussions with the Board over the past year on succession planning. As part of this plan, Mr. Levin announced that after long and careful consideration, he has decided to retire at the time of the Company’s annual meeting in May 2002. Under this succession plan, which… Read more »

Indian officials on Wednesday played down reports Beatles guitarist George Harrison’s ashes were to be immersed in India’s holy Ganges river. “I think the whole story is a creation of the media,” Varanasi city police Inspector-General Vikram Singh told Reuters. “You are running a wild goose chase.” Harrison’s last rites have been shrouded in secrecy since a Hare Krishna official said on Monday the musician’s family was expected to visit the holy city of Varanasi for the ritual symbolizing the journey of his soul to eternal consciousness. “As far as the administration is concerned, I don’t think there’s anything happening… Read more »

VARANASI, India (Reuters) – Secrecy surrounded on Monday plans by George Harrison’s family to immerse the ashes of the Beatle guitarist in the sacred Ganges river. A spokesman for the Hare Krishna movement of which Harrison was a longtime devotee told Reuters that the musician’s widow, Olivia, and son, Dhani, were headed for the bustling holy city of Varanasi to carry out the rites. But the timing of the ceremony for the “Quiet Beatle” who died last week in Los Angeles after battling cancer was unclear and some officials said it might have taken place already. Hare Krishna spokesman Mahamantra… Read more »

Columbia Records and Music Choice are announcing the line-up for the December episode of “Street Team,” the next generation of rock & roll television. Episode Eight, airing from December 3, through December 16, features segments with Xzibit, John Mayer, Blaque, and Cypress Hill. Nine young Street Team hosts take television viewers on a first hand trip to a place previously off-limits to most music lovers: backstage, on tour, on stage and in the studio shooting music videos with top artists. Viewers now get a chance to find out what it’s all about from the perspective of their peers: the Street… Read more »

Music service provider Listen.com is set to flip the switch on its new music subscription service Monday, connecting consumers to legal, digital versions of tunes ahead of long-awaited efforts from the major labels. Listen.com said its new digital music service, dubbed Rhapsody, will offer music fans features such as unlimited streams of music, access to more than 50 commercial-free Net radio stations, and a playlist-sharing program that lets people create mixes and send them to friends. But for now, Listen.com says it lacks major-label content that would give it a broad mix of songs from well-known musicians. Sources close to… Read more »

The head of Bertelsmann’s e-commerce arm became the latest victim of the German media giant’s restructuring on Wednesday when the group announced a major shake-up of its music distribution interests. Bertelsmann said Andreas Schmidt was leaving the company as the German-based group unveiled plans to fold its e-commerce arm into BeMusic, a new unit that will house its record club, music retailer and other music distribution businesses. Guetersloh, Germany-based Bertelsmann is sprucing up its sprawling media empire ahead of an expected stock market flotation in the next two to three years, and has been reviewing its business for possible cost-saving… Read more »

It’s a long way from playing rock ‘n’ roll shows to hobnobbing in the rarefied world of international art auctions. But Mick Fleetwood, the lanky drummer of veteran rock band Fleetwood Mac, has made the transition in several quick strides, co-founding an auction house that specializes in the lucrative field of music and movie memorabilia. Prestigious sales of Picassos and Warhols now compete for investors’ dollars with rock paraphernalia like a John Lennon piano or a Jimi Hendrix guitar. Fleetwood Owen Ltd., which Fleetwood co-founded with veteran auction broker Ted Owen, aims to compete with giants like Sotheby’s Holdings Inc.… Read more »

For certain punks, there was no Bad Religion from 1996 through 2001. During that dark period, co-songwriter Brett Gurewitz split the seminal act he co-created with his pals in high school. He was disenchanted with the band’s major-label deal (at Atlantic), overwhelmed by the sudden hugeness of Epitaph – the label he founded to release Bad Religion records and eventually home to Rancid and the Offspring – and increasingly strung out on smack. The band would release two albums in his absence, both guided solely by the vision of Gurewitz’s estranged collaborator, Greg Graffin. Both records – 1996’s Gray Race… Read more »