Search Results for: This Wild Life

Alberta rockers Nickelback may have picked up a leading three trophies at the MuchMusic Video Awards last night, giving music critics across the country another reason to groan, but in the end it was all about Lady Gaga’s “flaming boobies.” The critically unpopular group, who picked up three Juno Awards back in March, went into the televised street-oriented awards show – which saw thousands of fans take over the blocks surrounding MuchMusic’s Toronto Queen and John Sts. headquarters – with a leading five MMVA nods, tied with R&B Toronto newcomer Danny Fernandes. Nickelback’s trio of trophies were for best video… Read more »

“As individuals, we’re misfits,” says Fergie, the sultry female singer of the Black Eyed Peas “Together, we’re like one big misfit. People are always questioning who the hell we are.” It is the day after the group’s May 6th performance, on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Chilling out in a small, sparsely furnished room at Center Staging in Burbank, California, she and fellow members of the multiracial group resemble a live version of a United Colors of Benetton ad. Fergie is dressed in black-and-white capri-length leggings set off by a hot pink shirt and a sharp pair of black ankle-strapped heels… 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 »

It’s been no secret of late that the imminent launch of the uSirius StarPlayr application has been teetering on the edge of an App Store debut. uSirius is the wildly anticipated app created by an ingenious gang of iPhone fanatics to deliver Sirius/XM Satellite Radio directly to iPhone via 3G, Wi-Fi and Edge. I spoke to NiceMac co-founder Todd Bruss, about making his January 31st deadline for submitting uSirius to Apple. Bruss was unable to contain his excitement over the phone when confirming that his epic StarPlayr app is finally in Apple’s hands for review. “We had it ready by… Read more »

Four years after a stroke, Dick Clark is relishing the prospect of another New Year’s Eve celebration determined to appear for his 36th year in Times Square And he’s hardly surprised by the current state of the music industry he helped build – he predicted this, after all. Clark, who turned 79 last month and has been in front of the cameras for 61 years, said in a recent interview by e-mail that his involvement in “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2009,” diminished though it may be, is a labor of love and “not really a… Read more »

This year’s transformation of the annual Grammy Awards nominations announcement into a full-blown prime-time TV special could help provide a badly needed boost in sales at a difficult time for the music industry. But the December 3 “Grammy Nominations Concert Live!” telecast on CBS fell short of being a ratings winner. The one-hour show finished fourth in its 9 p.m. time slot, averaging 7 million viewers, behind NBC’s “Life” with 8.1 million, Fox’s “Secret Millionaire” with 8.1 million and ABC’s “Private Practice” with 7.8 million, according to Nielsen Media Research The audience for the nominations special was also less than… Read more »

It may have been Super Bowl weekend, but the big event for thousands of mostly tween-age girls had nothing to do with football. Instead, all eyes at the Gibson Amphitheatre were focused on three relative rookies known as the Jonas Brothers, who played three sold-out shows there this weekend. After selling out their first show at the 6,000-seat theater in a two minutes — the fastest sellout in the venue’s 36-year history — the Jonas Brothers added two more shows that also sold out. Not quite as impressive as Garth Brooks’ recent five shows in two days at Staples Center,… Read more »

2007 was a year of duality for music. While the industry continued to tank, it was quietly a very good year for rock ‘n’ roll and indie music. The Boss returned with his old band, the Police actually got along and even Led Zeppelin reunited. The most exciting music was busy breaking down barriers. Arcade Fire played in intimate churches; Web site TakeAwayShows.com and the film “Once” returned music to the streets; and a certain British band eliminated a very big middle man. “In Rainbows,” Radiohead: The much-ballyhooed online release of “In Rainbows” in some ways obscured what an excellent… Read more »

Sony Music must pay the founder of a small record company $5 million for failing to put his company’s logo on reissues of Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” album, a federal appeals court ruled. Steve Popovich, 65, who started Cleveland International Records in 1977 and soon afterward signed the chubby singer named Marvin Lee Aday, persuaded Epic Records to release the wildly successful album. Epic was owned at the time by CBS. Sony, which bought out CBS Records, paid $6.7 million to Popovich and his former partners in 1998 to settle a lawsuit over royalties from the album. The… Read more »