Search Results for: NeX GEn

Mike Patton probably owns a Blackberry. The former Faith No More and Mr. Bungle frontman has always juggled his many musical whims like the finest project manager, but in 2005 his personal digital assistants might need their own personal assistants. The 37-year-old musician has recruited Oakland, California, DJ crew the X-ecutioners for his latest project, General Patton Vs. the X-ecutioners. Released February 22, Vs. is a characteristically varied affair, featuring the general’s vocal acrobatics, skittish needle-dropping and quick cut-and-paste genre changes. And, like a growing number of musical collaborations, most notably the Postal Service, the songs were all completed via… Read more »

New York – A woman who says she is a former girlfriend of KISS rocker Gene Simmons is suing him for slander, saying the bass guitarist made her sound like a “sex-addicted nymphomaniac” during a “rockumentary” on VH-1 television. Georgeann Walsh Ward, 53, of Chester, N.Y., says in court papers that a photo of her appeared 11 times during the report on KISS, shown on the network several times in July and August, while Simmons claimed to have had sexual encounters with 4,600 women. In the documentary, “When KISS Ruled The World,” Simmons commented that “there wasn’t a girl that… Read more »

Rick James passed away this morning at 9:20 AM in his sleep of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, per his spokesperson. He was 56 years old. He is survived by his 3 children (Ty, Rick Jr., Tazman) and 2 grandchildren (Jasmine and Charisma). Last month, he performed his hit “Fire & Desire” with Teena Marie at the BET Awards. He had finished an album and was preparing for its release next year. He was also in discussion with various studios for a movie based on his life. Born in Buffalo, NY, known as the King of Punk Funk,… Read more »

Leland Cobain spreads a few yellowing pieces of art across his dining room table. The Aberdeen Museum of History, in the next town over, has asked him to contribute to an exhibit about his grandson, late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. One adorable Christmas card Kurt made for his grandparents at age 13 shows a hapless toddler, fishing, who has hooked the back of his shirt. There are radiant watercolor seascapes and depictions of Disney characters. Then there are the other paintings, in an apartment 55 miles northeast of Leland’s trailer. They are surrealistic, stark and powerful, revealing skeletons, aliens and… Read more »

Britney Spears is no longer an aspiring actress – having already starred in “Crossroads” – but for her next film role the singer is going to recall the days she was just starting out. Spears has signed on to star in and produce an adaptation of author Tobi Tobin’s “Door to Door,” in which she’ll play an ambitious teenager who tries to make it in Hollywood.. The story’s narrator, like the author, is named Tobi. She leaves her small hometown of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, at the age of 17 to model in New York. Unsuccessful there, she finds her way… Read more »

Ozzy Osbourne fractured several bones including a neck vertebra in an all-terrain vehicle accident but the injuries are “not a major problem,” a doctor said Tuesday. Osbourne, 55, was “stable and comfortable” after emergency surgery that restored the flow to a blood vessel damaged in Monday’s accident, said Dr. Dick Jack, the medical director at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, west of London. “When he was admitted, he had a fractured left collarbone, he had some damage to the blood vessel that is underneath it, he had eight fractured ribs on the left side and, in addition to that, an… Read more »

Hanson, who parted ways with Island Def Jam in May, announced on Wednesday the formation of their own 3CG Records label, which will issue their new album, Underneath, in the spring. Underneath will contain several songs that Zac, Isaac and Taylor Hanson have already issued on their Underneath Acoustic EP, currently on sale via their Web site. The fresh-faced trio’s first single will be “Penny and Me,” produced by Don Henley associate Danny Kortchmar. Michelle Branch and Matthew Sweet also appear on Underneath, whose title track was co-written by Sweet. “In general, records these days tend to be overproduced,” guitarist… Read more »

Johnny Cash, “The Man in Black” who became a towering figure in American music with such hits as “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line,” and “A Boy Named Sue,” died Friday. He was 71. “Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure,” Cash’s manager, Lou Robin, said in a statement issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville. He said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT. “I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult time,” Robin said. Cash had been released… Read more »

Marred by fiery riots a year ago, the Leeds leg of Britain’s Carling Weekend made a sold-out, subdued and sunny return this weekend. Metallica, Linkin Park, Staind, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, AFI, the Polyphonic Spree, Hot Hot Heat, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, the Libertines, Blink-182, the Cooper Temple Clause, Death in Vegas, the Streets and many others played the open-air arena and three tents at the festival’s new site, Bramham Park. Fifty thousand people were on hand each of the weekend’s three days, but police reported that only twenty-seven arrests were made this year – in contrast to the chaos… Read more »

If some Michigan residents have their way, Ted Nugent will be running for governor of the state in 2006. Following the recent election of Jennifer Granholm as Michigan governor, radio station WOOD-AM in Grand Rapids asked its listeners who they’d like to see oppose her in four years. The survey is still going on, but Nugent has been named in about 90 percent of the responses every day, beating out others such as speaker of the Michigan House Rick Johnson and former Lieutenant Governor Dick Posthumus. The singer-guitarist issued this statement to LAUNCH, “I’ve always taken my ‘We The People’… Read more »