Search Results for: against the current

Who is Osama bin Laden? What does he want? What is the United States’ relationship with the Middle East? Who are our allies and our enemies? How and why did the events of September 11 happen, and what do they mean for Americans in the future? Last week’s surprise terrorist attacks on the United States broadsided the American public, raising an endless stream of questions about our personal safety, our national security and our global affairs. Perhaps no segment of our population has more questions – or more at stake – than young people. Premiering on Friday, September 21 at… Read more »

Hoping to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic claiming 5,000 African lives each day, artists including Bono, Wyclef Jean, Britney Spears, ‘N Sync, Fred Durst, Missy Elliott, Gwen Stefani and Mary J. Blige have come together to record an all-star rendition of Marvin Gaye’s protest anthem “What’s Going On.” While the organization hopes to release the re-vamped Gaye single on December 1st, Global AIDS awareness day, they are currently without a record label. Recorded at a New York studio in early September, the collaboration was the brainchild of Leigh Blake, head of Artists Against AIDS Worldwide. Blake also co-founded the… Read more »

Courtney Love and Don Henley will lead a charge of pop artists at a hearing in the California state legislature on Wednesday to denounce what they claim are corrupt business practices by big recording companies. The hearing takes place against the backdrop of several bitter lawsuits against major labels by acts like Love and the Dixie Chicks, who allege “unconscionable” contracts and accounting practices by the recording conglomerates. The hearing at the Select Committee on the Entertainment Industry in Sacramento will focus specifically on California’s so-called “seven-year statute,” which restricts entertainers from being tied to any company for more than… Read more »

Zomba Records, the powerful independent record label that is home to the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, said Thursday it had settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with online music company MP3.com Inc., a unit of Vivendi Universal. “The parties have settled the litigation between them and resolved their differences to their mutual satisfaction and have entered into a licensing arrangement for the My.mp3 service,” Zomba said in a statement. The terms were not disclosed. The settlement with Zomba comes just about a week after more than 50 music publishers and songwriters, including country artist Vince Gill’s publishing companies filed yet… Read more »

It is Friday night in the San Fernando Valley and the regulars at Paladino’s, a tiny biker bar, are out in full force. Hell’s Angels gun their engines in the parking lot while lines of leather-clad rock fossils straighten their acid-washed jeans, run combs through their mullets and get ready to rock. Most of the crowd has come to catch the Atomic Punks, a blue-ribbon Van Halen tribute band. But there’s another contingent on-hand. Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, actor/singer Jack Black, and porn queen Jenna Jameson are in the house, and it’s unlikely they made the trek… Read more »

Internet song-sharing software is downloaded and enjoyed by millions of music fans and becomes the talk of the nation. Record labels complain and seek to punish the program’s creators for allegedly encouraging music piracy. So it goes for Soribada, or “Sea of Sound,” South Korea’s answer to Napster. Except instead of facing a lawsuit, the two U.S.-educated brothers who authored the file-swapping program are in deeper trouble. Yang Jung-hwan, 28, and his 32-year-old brother Yang Il-hwan were indicted Sunday on criminal charges of copyright violation. The Yang brothers, who face up to five years in jail and up to $38,500… Read more »

Punk as an aid for getting in touch with one’s feelings has superseded the other modes evident at this year’s Warped Tour. As in their ordinary lives, these fans had too many options. Thirty bands played on eight stages, and the event also included professional skateboarding and mountain- biking displays, a wrestling ring, a Playstation tent, numerous ways to spend money or learn about political causes and of course the chance to peruse one another’s concertgoing finery. So most fans locked into a perambulatory pattern, meandering around the festival’s circular layout as the fairground grew dusty, then muddy, from the… Read more »

Epic Records, is proud to announce the signing of Flickerstick, winner of VH1’s 2001 “Bands On The Run” contest. Flickerstick, an emotionally charged, melodic five-piece rock band from Dallas, TX, competed for several months against three other talented, unsigned bands for the top prize in VH1’s Emmy nominated and critically acclaimed series (currently being re-run in its entirety). In the end, Flickerstick was left standing as the victor in both the main contest and the on-line competition, which was decided exclusively by viewers of the show. “We think it’s great that the exposure from “Bands On The Run” has lead… Read more »

When it comes to riding the boy-band wave in pop music, nobody has done it better than Lou Pearlman. The Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync and O-Town are just a few of the groups the Orlando-based impresario and his company, Trans Continental Entertainment, have launched on the road to hormone-fueled success. But in the past few months, Pearlman has hit some sour notes. About 15 key executives and staffers, including company vice presidents, the chief operating officer, a tour manager, accountants and publicists, have left or been laid off. O-Town, Pearlman’s latest breakout success, recently left for a management firm run… Read more »

The Dixie Chicks have been clucking loudly about their record deal. And it’s apparently ruffled some feathers at Sony. The music label has filed a federal lawsuit against the Grammy-winning pop-country trio, claiming the superstar gals are making “sham” claims about being underpaid in order to break their recording contract. The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, seeks to enforce Sony’s current contract with Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Seidel, saying they still owe the label up to four more albums. Sony’s lawsuit also seeks an injunction preventing the Chicks from recording with another label.… Read more »