Search Results for: Not My Weekend

Sam Phillips demurs when it’s suggested that rock ‘n’ roll was invented at his Sun Records label during the 1950s. But he does acknowledge there was a whole lotta shakin’ going on in Memphis thanks to the music he created there with the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and others. “I do know this – it changed the world and it opened up a lot of doors,” Phillips said in a recent interview. “I’m happy we were able to contribute, at least in my opinion, to what music has done and is… Read more »

VH1 has removed a Mariah Carey-mocking segment of its My Music Awards rebroadcast. According to the network, the editing decision was made because of re-airing time constraints, but the show’s producer and the segment’s writer cite pressure from Carey’s representatives as the reason. The awards show – which took place Sunday, December 2nd, at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium – included writer/comedian (and former Daily Show correspondent) Brian Unger’s “Music 2001: What The Hell Was That?” interludes, in which he lampooned Carey, as well as Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando, Wayne Newton and others. Unger’s Carey cracks targeted a July 19, 2001… Read more »

Five artistic legends sat alongside President Bush in Washington’s top theater on Sunday night, and were starry-eyed themselves as political and Hollywood heavyweights paid tribute to their glittering careers. Actress Julie Andrews, pianist Van Cliburn, music maestro Quincy Jones, actor Jack Nicholson and opera singer Luciano Pavarotti received the Kennedy Center Honors for their contributions to American culture. “The recipients for 2001 make quite a collection…. As one newspaper put it in the headline, this year’s honorees can carry a tune and then there’s Jack,” Bush told them at a White House reception before the gala. “Perhaps it’s a nice… Read more »

Britney Spears, a former Mousketeer, is at the center of an aggressive drive into the movie business by a handful of young pop stars molded by the music industry and MTV. Not since the 1960s, when singers like Elvis Presley, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Johnny Cash crooned their way onto movie screens, have studios produced as many star vehicles to showcase the hip-shimmying musical talents of the day’s teen idols. Their holy grail is “The Bodyguard,” starring Whitney Houston, which grossed $122 million and relaunched a pop song that became a perennial hit. The soundtrack is one of the best… Read more »

The back-to-back debut of new video game consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo is expected to fuel strong sales of home entertainment goods as jittery Americans opt to spend more time at home after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, analysts said. They said the launch of Microsoft Corp’s Xbox on Thursday and that of Nintendo Co. Ltd’s GameCube – three days later – could even help lift third and fourth-quarter profits for some of the nation’s top consumer electronics stores. The big boost, the analysts said, will also come on a jump in customer traffic to stores… Read more »

“It’s kinda hard to know what song to play these days ’cause every word sounds different than it did before,” said Neil Young, following a perfectly chosen and rendered rendition of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” during his show-closing set with Crazy Horse at Saturday’s 15th Anniversary Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountainview, California. Referring to the events of September 11th, Young used every bit of his allotted time onstage this year – from his two-song opening to the all-star jam bookending the day’s entertainment – to deliver his unwavering, though not necessarily popular, peacenik message… Read more »

Singer, musician, composer, actress, dancer, businesswoman, role model and leader – Aaliyah had accomplished incredible things by the time she turned 22. But Aaliyah Dana Houghton, the reigning Queen of Urban Pop, wasn’t sitting still. She was hard at work, shooting her next video, when a plane crash ended her life on August 25 – leaving her family, friends and fans to ask “How?” and “Why?” “Behind the Music: Aaliyah” traces the all-too-brief life story of this soaring young superstar when the latest episode of VH1’s Emmy-nominated hit series debuts on Sunday, October 14 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT). “Behind the… Read more »

A decade ago, Tori Amos made a musical breakthrough with an autobiographical tale of rape called “Me and a Gun.” On her new album, Strange Little Girls, she again addresses the subject of female victimization – this time by turning Eminem’s fantasy about killing his wife inside-out. She does so without changing the lyrics to “’97 Bonnie & Clyde,” but by adopting the voice of his dead wife in the trunk of the car, just before her body is thrown in Lake Michigan. “‘Bonnie & Clyde’ is a song that depicts domestic violence very accurately, right on the money,” Amos… Read more »

Teenage pop idol Britney Spears has canceled her promotional tour of Europe and South America, Australian Associated Press reported on Saturday. “After much thought and deliberation it is with great regret that I have decided to cancel my planned European and Latin American promotion trips,” AAP quoted a weekend statement from her record company Jive as saying. Spears arrived here last week on the last flight to leave the United States for Australia just before the devastating attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Her announcement meant she would not take her promotional tour… Read more »

‘NSYNC, Britney Spears, Destiny’s Child, Alicia Keys and Ja Rule are among the artists who are lending their voices this week to an all-star remake of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” to benefit AIDS research. U2 frontman Bono and hip-hop/R&B producer Jermaine Dupri are organizing what Dupri has called a “We Are the World”-like project. Backstreet Boys, Wyclef Jean, Christina Aguilera, No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani and the Roots’ ?uestlove are also participating in the recording, according to organizers. Jennifer Lopez, Radiohead, Jagged Edge and Usher may also contribute, Dupri told MTV News last week. Hundreds of artists are in… Read more »