Search Results for: Thursday

One of Eric Clapton’s prize guitars sold for a record $959,500 at an auction that raised more than $7.4 million for a drug treatment center, auction house officials said. “Blackie,” the black-and-white Fender Stratocaster that served as Clapton’s sole stage and studio guitar from 1970 to 1985, was the most expensive ever sold at auction, Christie’s said in a statement. In 2002, a guitar belonging to Jerry Garcia sold for $957,500. The buyer of Clapton’s guitar – one of 56 he offered Thursday – was not disclosed. Proceeds will go to the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, an addiction treatment center… Read more »

Eric Clapton will auction off 56 of his guitars in New York on Thursday to raise money for a new drug treatment center in Antigua and Barbuda, a manager of his center said. Proceeds from the auction at Christie’s will go toward the recently completed 16-bed Bevon House, a center for recovering patients that is an expansion of Clapton’s Crossroads Center, said Kim Martin, the center’s marketing manager. More than $500,000 is need to finance the construction, and money raised through the auction also will go toward paying for patients who can’t afford the program, Martin said. Clapton, who overcame… Read more »

Whisps of fake fog spilled from the stage and dissipated into a light breeze rolling in from the Atlantic Ocean as 7,000 satisfied fans shuffled toward Nathan’s Hot Dogs, the Wonder Wheel or the D-train. So ended the beginning of the end for Phish, who performed Thursday and Friday at Coney Island’s baseball stadium beside the sea, KeySpan Park. The shows launched the band’s farewell tour, which will culminate August 14 and 15 at a festival in Phish’s home state of Vermont. But fans didn’t let any sadness show at these gigs: Even when the sky opened up and drenched… Read more »

For the first time, the No. 1 album in the United States is loaded with anticopying protections, marking a clear step into the mainstream for the controversial technology. According to figures released by Nielsen SoundScan, Velvet Revolver’s “Contraband” was the top-selling album in America last week, despite being prominently labeled on its cover as being “protected against unauthorized duplication.” The success of the album is likely to prompt more experiments from BMG, the band’s label, and other record companies, industry watchers said. “It’s too soon to tell whether the rest of the industry is going to be heartened by this,”… Read more »

Ray Charles, the Grammy-winning crooner who blended gospel and blues in such crowd-pleasers as “What’d I Say” and ballads like “Georgia on My Mind,” died Thursday, a spokesman said. He was 73. Charles died at his Beverly Hills home surrounded by family and friends, said spokesman Jerry Digney. Charles’ last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April 30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singer’s studios, built 40 years ago in central Los Angeles, as a historic landmark. Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, Charles spent his life shattering any notion of musical boundaries… Read more »

Despite their hackneyed interchangeability, there’s a difference between a rock concert and rock show. Anyone thinking of challenging this should check out a stop on Blink-182 and No Doubt’s monthlong co-headlining trek. Even though they recorded a song called “The Rock Show,” Blink’s set Thursday night at the PNC Bank Arts Center definitely fell on the concert side of the spectrum. Bassist Mark Hoppus and guitarist Tom DeLonge stood dwarfed by the vast, mostly barren stage, save for five trapezoidal video screens positioned behind them. Were it not for a shirtless, mohawked Travis Barker peering down from a massive drum… Read more »

Given the huge success of 2002’s Sticks and Stones, the members of New Found Glory aren’t expecting to top their previous high mark with Catalyst, which drops Tuesday. At the same time, they’re not letting its first single, “All Downhill From Here” dictate their future, either. “I try not to think ahead because I don’t want to jinx anything,” singer Jordan Pundik said. “I just want to let it ride out and see what happens.” Sticks and Stones, NFG’s third and most successful album so far, sold more than 91,000 copies in its first week and entered the Billboard albums… Read more »

David Bowie on Thursday scrapped a concert in Miami after a local stagehand was killed in a fall before the performance began, the rock star’s publicist said in a statement. Details of the accident at the James L. Knight Center, or of the stagehand’s identity, were not disclosed, but the statement said police were investigating. “A statement was read to the audience after the accident, informing them that refund or postponement information would be available shortly,” the news release said, adding that Bowie and his tour personnel were “deeply saddened” by the accident. Bowie is on the second North American… Read more »

An estimated 51.1 million people tuned in to watch Ross and Rachel get together on the final episode of “Friends” Thursday night, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research ratings. That was roughly two-thirds of the audience gathered by the “Cheers” and “Seinfeld” finales, but along the lines of what NBC had been predicting. Nielsen estimated that just under 36 million people warmed up for the last episode by watching highlights of the past 10 seasons during the hour preceding the show. Television’s most popular comedy provided the ending most of its fans were hoping for, with the on-again, off-again couple… Read more »

Fans of safe and sentimental melodic pop-rock were treated to the best of both worlds Thursday, when Something Corporate and Yellowcard hit the Roseland Ballroom stage near the end of their six-week co-headlining tour. Where Something Corporate mostly played amidst an air of soul-baring and introspection, Yellowcard’s cheer and bravado helped dissipate any gray clouds that may have hovered overhead. With three flags marked by upside-down hearts hanging from the rafters and spotlights almost always fixed on Andrew McMahon’s upright piano at center stage, Something Corporate’s set alternated between songs about being in and out of love from their 2002… Read more »