Search Results for: a day to remember

New York – It’s been a stunning year for Brian Wilson. The former Beach Boy released his rerecording of the group’s “SMiLE” album to critical acclaim, and staged a worldwide tour chock-full of standing ovations. The original “SMiLE,” recorded more than 37 years ago, was never released officially. The Nonesuch Records release bowed at No. 13 on The Billboard 200. The set, whose full title is “Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE,” has sold more than 300,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and has been nominated for three awards at the Grammys on Feb. 13. Two nights before that, he will be… Read more »

Los Angeles – Out of the blue comes an e-mail from my brother, Miles: “All confirmed. Rehearsals are next Friday, and your show with Andy Summers and Incubus at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas will be on Sunday.” Whaaaat? I dimly remember Miles mentioning something about this radio concert, months ago. At the time I said, “Wow, cool,” and then forgot about it. So I’m thinking about it now, a little panicked, and figure, what the heck? Of course, I had better dig out my drums and try to get some life into my wrists. I remember too vividly getting… Read more »

New York – When Casey Stratton was a struggling singer-songwriter a few years ago, he had idealistic notions about artistic integrity. High on his list of what would jeopardize it: licensing his music to television. “When I was younger, I used to be really weird about stuff like that, like, ‘I will not cheapen my work by putting it on TELEVISION!’” he recalls with a chuckle. That was before the producers of the teen-oriented drama “Tarzan” called and asked to use the bittersweet ballad “Hollow,” from his debut album, on the WB show. Stratton gave the go-ahead, and while the… Read more »

New York – Mark your %&.! calendars – the Ozzy Osbourne clan will be back Jan. 17 with the final season of their reality show, MTV announced Thursday. “The Osbournes” chronicles the lives of goth-rock star Ozzy, his wife, Sharon, and two of their children – daughter Kelly and son Jack. They first allowed MTV cameras into their Beverly Hills, Calif., home in 2002. The hit TV series showcases the offbeat antics of the family as Ozzy and Sharon deal with the complexities of running a household – usually with a slew of obscenities. “After three years, the MTV cameras… Read more »

Merchants are describing this year’s holiday-season sales as a roller-coaster ride. That could hardly be said about the full-year sales experience. At least a roller coaster offers the contrast of intermittent highs and lows. Album sales started with one long rise toward a hopeful tally for the first eight months of 2004, followed by a steep decline that stole back most of the year’s advances in just a few weeks, as if a thrill ride had been designed by a party pooper who did not fully grasp the concept. But maybe a better analogy – as Ludacris replaces Jay-Z and… Read more »

MARYSVILLE, Ohio – In a small town where people greet you by name at Maggie’s Restaurant and where the guy who runs the local pawn shop will do what he can with your wife’s wedding ring because he knows you need the cash for Christmas, Nathan Gale was a stranger in plain view. His apartment at 111 1/2 E. Fifth St., half a block from the downtown shopping district’s single stoplight, put him right in the heart of this close-knit community of 16,000 residents. But even though he spent hours every day hanging out at the restaurant and tattoo parlor… Read more »

Los Angeles – Kelly Osbourne has one word for you and, no, it’s not an obscenity. “‘One Word’ is a song about how one thing can change your whole perspective on life,” Osbourne explained of her new single. “And it has a little to do with Nostradamus and how he predicted all the things that were gonna happen and that did end up happening.” Kelly expects the song to surface in January, followed by her as-yet-untitled next album in March. Linda Perry, the former 4 Non Blondes singer who has reinvented herself as a producer for Christina Aguilera and Gwen… Read more »

DALWORTHINGTON GARDENS, Texas – For many fans who came to pay respects Thursday to slain rock star “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, the hand-painted red sign on the mailbox said it all. “You were the peoples rock-star. We love you bro!” The guitarist for the North Texas heavy-metal band Damageplan was shot to death Wednesday night during a concert at an Ohio nightclub. Authorities and witnesses said the gunman jumped onto the stage and also killed three others before he was fatally shot by police. Abbott – who along with his brother Vinnie Paul Abbott formed Damageplan last year after the breakup… Read more »

Los Angeles – Nearly 45 years after Stevie Wonder’s live harmonica workout “Fingertips, Pt. 2” topped the charts, the soul visionary’s musical charm still enthralls. From preteen wunderkind to adult visionary, his musical evolution embodies a “What’s next?” curiosity that still burns brightly as fans anticipate his first new Motown album in 10 years, which he hopes will come out in April. “Hopefully, that little boy will always stay in me,” Wonder said in a recent interview with Billboard. “The part of me that’s still eager to discover; who welcomes new, unbroken ground. When that ground is being broken, there’s… Read more »

Do they know it’s Christmas? Maybe, maybe not. The bigger question is: Do we care? Band Aid 20’s new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is selling at a record pace-in England, anyway. The story, though, is different on this side of the Pond. The updated take on the 1984 Christmas charity smash features some of Britain’s biggest names, including Dido, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Joss Stone, Paul McCartney and, for good measure, one Irish megastar in the form of U2’s Bono. The performers, checking their egos at the door (in theory, anyway), gathered together to help victims in… Read more »