Search Results for: Set It off

The show’s era as an icon ended with the death of Johnny Carson, but as long as his “hi-yo” sidekick, Ed McMahon, was still with us, some part of the era was as well. Tuesday, at age 86, McMahon died, taking what was left of the old Tonight Show with him. McMahon put himself through college pitching products on the Atlantic City boardwalk, which may have been a more useful education than college itself. In a way, that’s what McMahon did with startling success for 30 years: He pitched Carson to the public. His laugh made Carson’s jokes seem funnier;… Read more »

TV stations across the U.S. started cutting their analog signals Friday morning, ending a 60-year run for the technology and likely stranding more than 1 million unprepared homes without TV service. The Federal Communications Commission put 4,000 operators on standby for calls from confused viewers, and set up demonstration centers in several cities. Volunteer groups and local government agencies were helping elderly viewers set up digital converter boxes that keep older TVs functioning. Any set hooked up to cable or a satellite dish is unaffected. “When you’re alone like me, that’s my partner,” Patricia Bruchalski, 82, said about her TV.… Read more »

Not much rattles Apple. Disciplined and focused, the company lavishes attention on its own elegant products and rarely deigns to discuss rivals. Yet here was Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer and designated stand-in for ailing CEO Steve Jobs, erupting during an earnings call in late January at the mere mention of a pip-squeak competitor. The pest in question was Palm, the fallen pioneer of handheld digital organizers, which two weeks earlier had unveiled a new smartphone, the Palm Pre, to rave reviews. Not only did the Pre have features the iPhone couldn’t match – snazzy multitasking, universal search, a… Read more »

Call him the “dark horse,” the “Come-From-Behind Kid,” the humble crooner. Call him whatever you like. But from now on you also need to call Kris Allen your “American Idol.” After a historic tally of nearly 100 million votes, the shy 23-year-old singer from Conway, Arkansas, pulled off one of the most surprising wins in the show’s nearly decade-long history by taking the crown from the theatrical season-long frontrunner, Adam Lambert. After nearly two hours of anticipation, when the time came for host Ryan Seacrest to announce the results, Allen and Lambert stood arm-in-arm, their friendship looking much more like… Read more »

On the first day of the Bamboozle only one group of unlikely special guest superstars could outshine much-adored headliners Fall Out Boy. Still riding a two-year wave of rediscovery, arena-rock diehards Journey appeared as the secret performers for a four-song set. Or “Journey” as it turned out – the group was really a stellar Long Island cover band called Evolution. Blasting out “Separate Ways,” “Faithfully,” “Any Way You Want It” and “Don’t Stop Believing,” Evolution cued a wildly mixed audience reaction, with some fans literally shrieking or running towards the stage and others angrily storming away en masse. But even… Read more »

MIAMI — The little girls who made the New Kids on the Block a boy band sensation in the late 1980s and early 1990s are all grown up, and now they’ve got disposable income. So what better way to show their love for Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, Donnie and Danny than spending three days with them on a Caribbean cruise? About 2,100 women, most in their 20s and 30s, paid more $1,000 each for a sold-out, three-day Carnival Cruise Lines trip that left Miami for the Bahamas on Friday. The voyage kicks off the band’s summer concert tour, when they’ll dust… Read more »

Alice in Chains has signed with Virgin Records and will release its first album with new singer William DuVall, the Los Angeles Times reports. “I can tell you that some amazing songs were written and recorded. From the heaviest riff-dripping gut puncher to the most sadly beautiful song I think this band has ever recorded, I honestly believe that this album will return Alice in Chains to the top of the hard rock heap,” a post on the band’s official Web site reads. Earlier this month Alice in Chains revealed they had completed recording the new album. “Hopefully these new… Read more »

NEW YORK – The Dave Matthews Band kicked off its 2009 summer tour Tuesday night with a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. From opening track “Don’t Drink the Water” to final encore “Tripping Billies,” the crowd exuded an energy and noise level that even Rangers and Knicks fans would have envied. The set list included longtime DMB favorites such as “Raven,” “Granny,” “Recently,” “Corn Bread,” “Two Step” and “#41.” Each song started and ended with a roar. When it came time for classics like “Dancing Nancies” and “Ants Marching,” it was virtually impossible to tell who sang louder, Matthews… Read more »

The potential merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster will face off against the Department of Justice tomorrow as the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will decide whether the two concert industry superpowers can join forces or if whether the merger violates monopoly laws. The hearing will be titled “The Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger: What Does it Mean for Consumers and the Future of the Concert Business?” Confirmed witness include Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff, Live Nation president Michael Rapino, JAM Productions chairman Jerry Mickelson and the Center of American Progress’ David A. Balto, Pollstar reports. Live Nation and Ticketmaster… Read more »

Just what exactly does Barbadian R&B pop queen Rihanna have to do with the Super Bowl? About as much as Fall Out Boy. Yet there both acts were, playing to a hyped-up crowd on Thursday night at Tampa’s Ford Amphitheater for the VH1-broadcast Pepsi Super Bowl Smash show that served as the unofficial kickoff of Super Bowl XLIII weekend. The one-hour special, hosted for the second year by easily excited actor Jerry O’Connell and a series of NFL guests, kicked off with a mini-set from FOB. The band stormed out to play “I Don’t Care” with their new signature LED-flickering… Read more »