Search Results for: Queen

An assault charge against rapper Capone of rap duo Capone-N-Noreaga was dropped Monday in Queens County Court due to a lack of evidence. Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt dismissed the second-degree assault charge on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to sustain a prosecution, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said. The motion to dismiss was raised by the district attorney after an investigation turned up a lack of evidence against Capone, according to the rapper’s lawyer, Robert Kalina. “The police were in a difficult situation and arrested the wrong man,” Kalina said. “There was an altercation [at a club],… Read more »

Dick Clark is suing the operator of the historic Queen Mary ocean liner, alleging that fraud and breach of contract prevented construction of a music-themed museum as part of a $150 million tourism project. The Superior Court lawsuit filed this month by Delaware-based Dick Clark Communications claims Queens Seaport Development breached an October 1999 agreement to develop and maintain Dick Clark’s Great American Music Experience. The project was to include the refurbishment of the adjacent Queen Mary Hotel and the development of nearby shops, restaurants and attractions, the lawsuit said, adding Queens Seaport agreed to give Clark’s firm $15,000 in… Read more »

While Alice in Chains – whose singer, Layne Staley, was found dead Friday – influenced an incalculable number of bands, perhaps no one echoes their legacy like Godsmack. From Tony Rambola’s jarring bursts of guitar to Sully Erna’s angry, impassioned vocal delivery, Godsmack have sonically followed Alice in Chains’ lead while adding their own distinctive edge. To Erna, Staley was more than just part of the grunge foundation on which bands like Godsmack, Creed, Tantric and Puddle of Mudd built their sound. The Alice in Chains singer’s raw urgency vaulted the former drummer front and center before one of today’s… Read more »

Starting next month, the Goo Goo Dolls will take their gig out of the gutter. Fresh off of their top five debut on the Billboard 200 albums chart, on which the band’s latest effort, Gutterflower, entered at #4 with over 100,000 copies sold, the Goo Goo Dolls will go on a 30-date tour in support of the LP. Information about opening acts is still forthcoming. The album, fueled by the first single, “Here Is Gone,” finds Johnny Rzeznik and company ridding themselves of the power ballads they have come to be known for – see 1998’s Dizzy Up the Girl… Read more »

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake love each other very much and have not broken up. At least that’s still the “official” stance a spokesperson for the couple takes when asked of the status of their relationship. And if you believe that, some might think you were born yesterday. The official media statement is in direct opposition to a month’s worth of unconfirmed reports and anonymous eyewitness accounts that say the king and queen of the teen-pop prom have ended their reign. While public opinion favors the notion that the romance is kaput – gossip columnists citing Britney shakin’ it with… Read more »

For the second week in a row, Ashanti, the new princess of R&B, will lord over the Billboard 200 albums chart. Her self-titled debut sold nearly 250,000 copies, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (April 17), enough to keep Celine Dion’s A New Day Has Come at #2 on sales of more than 225,000 copies. Now That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 9, featuring songs by Pink, Ludacris and ‘NSYNC, moves up one spot to #3 after selling over 140,000 units. Entering at #4 are the Goo Goo Dolls, whose Gutterflower sold more than 100,000 copies in its first week.… Read more »

Angst-ridden Mancunian rock quartet The Smiths have beaten off competition from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to be declared music bible NME’s most important rock group of the last 50 years. The band, renowned for its fatalistic lyrics and fronted by the misery-wallowing Morrisey, have not troubled the pop charts for more than a decade, but NME – the fanzine formerly known as New Musical Express – ranked them as more important than Elvis, the Sex Pistols and Madonna. Bands were assessed on the number of front covers, letters and features they generated as well as end-of-year polls. Beatle… Read more »

Even where she doesn’t speak the native tongue, Mary J. Blige still gets her point across. The queen of hip-hop soul didn’t cut back on her usual motivational speeches and minister-esque lectures during her concert Friday night at Columbiahalle, a converted gym in Berlin’s Tempelhof district. The crowd ate up every word, despite the likelihood that Blige’s rapid-fire chatter and sassy-sista slang baffled even the most advanced English students in the house. But M.J.B. communicates with everything she’s got. At the end of “Children of the Ghetto,” the singer – clad in a black D&G tank top, skintight pants and… Read more »

Imagine one of the biggest hip-hop outings in history taking shape this summer. It would be dubbed the Triple Threat Tour and feature multiplatinum acts Ja Rule, Jay-Z and P. Diddy. To top it off, each would bring with him his musical family. Representing with Ja Rule would be Ashanti and the rest of Murder Inc. Jay would “Roc the Mic” with his boys Beanie Sigel, Cam’ron and Memphis Bleek. And Diddy and his Bad Boy crew would do their thing. Keep imagining; although it was almost a reality, the tour has been called off. Last week, while promoting her… Read more »