Search Results for: a loss for words

JC Chasez has more reason to rue the day that his ‘N Sync mate Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson’s right breast at the Super Bowl. The blossoming solo artist, who was banned from the Pro Bowl half-time show a week after “Nipplegate,” says radio stations are shunning his new single “All Day Long I Dream About Sex” because they are “terrified” of FCC fines. “When I go to radio stations to visit, they’re like, ‘Oh, man, it’s just so tough right now with the FCC cracking down,’” says Chasez, who is currently touring the U.S. in support of his debut… Read more »

When speaking this month to a representative from Soundscan, the company that provides much of the data for the Billboard Top 200 Chart, I learned things that would contradict reported statements by the RIAA. Mainly that US labels have had a significant reduction in sales over the past three years. Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, responded personally, put his rebuttals on the record and in the process exposed intriguing insight into the way the RIAA calculates “losses.” Soundscan is a service owned by Nielsen, the company that computes TV ratings. Soundscan uses the barcodes on CDs to register sales… Read more »

John Mellencamp has lashed out at PresidentGeorge W. Bush and America’s foreign policy. In an open letter he co-wrote with his wife Elaine, Mellencamp blasts the powers that be for demonizing as “anti-American and unpatriotic” anyone who questions the policies of the U.S. government and the war in Iraq. Mellencamp uses words and phrases like “systematically lied to,” “the political ‘hijacking’ of Iraq,” “this misadventure,” and “the globe’s leading bully. Arrogant and thoughtless” to describe the current situation, before writing, “Now, each day, as the dust settles and the truth slowly surfaces, more and more people come to the inevitable… Read more »

The pervading feeling between dueling former Van Halen frontmen David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar may never be love, but fans showed a lot of it Wednesday at Blossom Music Center. Vintage Van Halen T-shirts peppered the fiery crowd. Fortysomething women fashioned the Van Halen symbol with their hands as they shook their shoulders to songs such as “5150” and “Panama.” A group of teenage boys wrote with marker “f– Eddie” on their arms, referring, of course, to VH guitarist Eddie Van Halen. The admiration was mutual between the crowd and Roth and Hagar. Mop-haired Hagar opened the show at… Read more »

Bennett Zier has a fine idea for a new radio format. His eyes light up as he tells you about it. “We play Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Bobby Darin,” he says. “The great thing about it is what we call it. You ready?” He pauses. “Vegas Radio! Is that great or what?” Zier can imagine the whole scene – the deejays, the jingles, the ironic retro-swinger patter. It’s his music, the kind he plays in his car. He’s in love with this idea, and with his natural salesman’s charm, he’s making you love it, too. So why doesn’t… Read more »

Roughly one month after the tragic death of his close friend and former bandmate Layne Staley, Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell returned to the town that made them both famous, and despite the feeling that a big hole existed where his former partner once stood, it was a rocking, if bittersweet, trip back in time. With plenty of classic AIC material in tow, Cantrell took a sparse but enthusiastic audience at Key Arena on Friday back to the halcyon days of the early ’90s – a time of lank hair, big angst and bigger guitars, before the Bizkit and its… Read more »

The harsh realization that Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes is no longer with us is settling in with some of her peers in the music industry. Some are still expressing their words of mourning, and some are reflecting on fond memories. “We are saddened today, and we have suffered a true loss to our industry,” ‘NSYNC said in a statement on Friday. “Lisa was a wonderful person who always brought high energy and a great vibe when she walked into a room. It was a pleasure and a lot of fun to work with her. She will be truly missed.” “It… Read more »

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, the effervescent, sometimes volatile rapping member of the Grammy-winning trio TLC, was killed in a car crash in Honduras, her record company said early Friday. Lopes, who would have turned 31 next month, was in the Central American nation for a vacation, Arista Records’ senior vice president of publicity Laura Swanson told The Associated Press. Lopes was reportedly among seven people in the car Thursday night and the only fatality. “No words can possibly express the sorrow and sadness I feel for this most devastating loss,” said Arista president L.A. Reid, who helped shape the career… Read more »

Marilyn Manson has been accused of many things in his time, from corrupting the youth of America to (more recently) rubbing his crotch on the heads of security guards at concerts. Now he’s accused of contributing to a friend’s death. Maria St. John filed a wrongful death suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, accusing the rocker of supplying her daughter Jennifer Syme – girlfriend of actor Keanu Reeves – with cocaine and encouraging her to drive while inebriated. The suit claims that Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, hosted a social gathering at his residence on the… Read more »

It is a visual overload, this PopOdyssey tour starring the reigning champs of the pop music marketplace, ‘N Sync. There are films and explosions and dancers and mechanical bulls and more costumes than songs – it looks exhausting for performer and young viewer alike. It’s a feast of production values, a sign that every dime went into something the audience can see and, taken collectively, the show is a better marketing tool than a dozen videos. PopOdyssey is flat-out a vehicle to expose new songs to their hard-core audience and give a dynamic and visceral association to the bulk of… Read more »