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On Friday, May 30, Musicians Institute holds an exclusive live concert competition for bands vying to perform on the 2008 Vans Warped Tour. The event, held in conjunction with Skinnie Magazine, is limited to bands that include MI students and alumni, with the winner going on to compete against other LA bands at the Key Club on June 12. The champion of that round takes the grand prize: a slot on stage at the June 22 Ventura Seaside Fairgrounds stop of the Vans Warped Tour. Bands participating in the MI round include Hollywood’s own Stella Vicarious and Among the Infected,… Read more »

Not such a rapper’s delight, this. Kanye West, Common, Method Man and Redman, along with their respective Universal Music Group record companies, were sued Thursday by the daughter of late jazz musician Joe Farrell for sampling his music sans permission. Adding further unoriginal insult to copycat injury, each of the rappers used snippets from the same tune, Farrell’s 1974 composition “Upon This Rock.” The lawsuit, filed by scorned offspring Kathleen Firantello, claims West sampled the tune in 2005 on Late Registration’s “Gone,” Common in “Chi-City,” a bonus track on his 2005 album Be, and Method Man and Redman in their… Read more »

A judge has reinstated a wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G., reversing an earlier decision to dismiss the case. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper threw out the lawsuit March 21 after determining the family missed a state deadline for bringing a claim against the city and two former police officers. The lawsuit was originally filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, then moved to federal court. The family appealed, and the judge reversed her decision after finding federal claims in the case can proceed, according to court papers obtained Thursday. Cooper gave the family 20 days… Read more »

As Portishead finished its meticulously sparse evening performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the typically reticent Beth Gibbons suddenly leapt off the stage and ran a 100-yard dash along the fenced-in crowd, exuberantly shaking their hands. Percussionist Geoff Barrow and guitarist Adrian Utley soon exited more quietly. Barrow, though, paused in front of a microphone to say, simply, “Thanks for waiting.” After a ten-year hiatus, Portishead is back. This is not a reunion bow, though, but rather an energized reboot of a band that ten years ago found itself burnt out from a rock ‘n’ roll life… Read more »