Search Results for: a day to remember

The diminutive funk rocker will take over five channels at once Wednesday, when MTV, MTV2, BET, VH1 and VH1 Classic simultaneously broadcast a 30-minute concert special taped live last week before an audience in New York. The concert features songs from Prince’s latest album, Musicology, plus some of his classic hits. “This historic broadcast, going out simultaneously over the five most influential music networks, is a tribute to the music and artistry of one of the most singular talents of our time,” said Columbia Records exec Will Botwin. “With a fast-paced combination of brilliant performances and compelling interviews, this show… Read more »

People sometimes say Britney is the new Madonna, but then who’s going to be the new Britney? Ms. Spears had a hand in deciding that for herself recently, when she helped cast “Brave New Girl,” an ABC Family film adapted from the book she wrote with her mom. The story, adapted from Lynne and Britney Spears’ book “A Mother’s Gift,” is based on the singer’s life but is fictionalized a bit so that it becomes more about the relationship between the mother and daughter than the rise of Spears’ star. In the film, the Britney character, named Holly, wants to… Read more »

An 18th-century Italian-made violin reported missing earlier this week was found in an alleyway near the Manhattan bar where its owner had left it, police said. Odin Rathnam, the first-chair violinist for the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, had been in New York for a meeting and left the violin, along with a borrowed viola, at Yogi’s bar on the Upper West Side. The violin, valued at about $95,000, was made by Bartolomeo Calvaros of Bergamo, Italy, between 1750 and 1755; the viola belonged to a friend. Rathnam called himself “the luckiest man alive.” “This is like a reunion,” he told the… Read more »

Kurt Cobain and his band, Nirvana, spent only three years in the public eye, and they released only three studio albums. But what he accomplished before committing suicide 10 years ago Monday at age 27 – deciding it was “better to burn out than fade away,” as he quoted Neil Young in his suicide note – was remarkable. Beneath this bridge above the muddy banks of the Wishkah River, a troubled young Cobain would come to escape his unhappy home and the persistent gray drizzle of the Washington coast. Among the cracking concrete supports, he would smoke pot and drink… Read more »

“At the end of every show we’d grab handfuls of these stickers we made at Kinko’s with our name and website,” says Steriogram frontman Brad Carter. “We’d toss ’em to our fans from the stage, 300 or 400 stickers every night.” Carter laughs at the band’s ultra-humble approach to building fan loyalty. But it’s working. Steriogram’s homemade stickers, website and music videos, together with its enthusiastic courting of street teams and high school kids, helped launch the rock-hiphop group from obscurity in Auckland, NZ, to a major deal with Capitol Records. “Our goal was to play in America because our… Read more »

Anyone remember the ‘80s metal band Queensryche? They were a pretty popular band at the time, but tell that to the angry fans who basically shot down and pissed on the band night after night when they opened for Metallica. Playing with a variety of big name bands can help a smaller band raise their profile. But if they can’t deliver to the fans’ interest, then it’s like sending the proverbial lamb to the slaughter. Default have had the unenviable task of catering to different types of audiences ever since they broke on to the scene, but bass player Dave… Read more »

A jury Monday found in favor of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs in a lawsuit filed by a TV talk-show host who alleged he was roughed up by the hip-hop impresario’s entourage. Roger Mills said members of Combs’ entourage also stole the tape of the 1999 interview – breaking a camera in the process – after he asked Combs to comment on allegations he contributed to the death of rapper Notorious B.I.G. Mills said Combs immediately ended the interview. The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, died in a drive-by shooting in March 1997. Combs’ album “No Way Out” featured… Read more »

Just as sound bites get reworked into tunes that multiply over the Internet – Remember all the songs based on Howard Dean’s yelp? – a widely seen TV ad is getting the hack-and-slash treatment. The target is Pepsi’s current promotion giving away 100 million free song downloads from Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The company promises one in three bottlecaps on certain Pepsi products carries a code for a free iTunes download. Pepsi is airing a 45-second spot featuring 16 crestfallen music downloaders who have been sued by – and settled lawsuits with – the record industry for illegally snagging songs… Read more »

Two weeks after the Super Bowl, it’s already hard to remember the final score and who played. But Janet Jackson’s breast has taken on a life of its own. As shocking – shocking! – as the nation’s collective horror was over the episode, the script for this stunt was written long ago. You may recall: The year was 1958; it was Steve McQueen’s memorable movie debut. Still need another hint? It almost ate an entire town. That’s right, “The Blob.” A gigantic, gooey mass roars to earth from outer space and proceeds to terrorize Smalltown, USA, a hamlet filled with… Read more »

People respond to music in different ways. Some nod their head to the beat. Others like to tear it up in the pit. Then there are those who demonstrate their enthusiasm in their own special way. Linkin Park encountered one such fan at Montreal’s Bell Centre, where they recently played as part of their Meteora World Tour. Guitarist Brad Delson remembers it as if it were yesterday. “There was a 400-pound man who I guess had become so exhilarated with the show that he had taken off all of his clothes and he was dry-humping the floor,” he recalls. “It… Read more »