“American Idol” ratings are at their lowest since 2004, and Simon Cowell is moving on. As the season-nine finale approaches, a central question on many minds remains about the behemoth talent show: Can it stay dominant and turn its winners into stars again?
NEW YORK – Barely a year after it opened in Soho, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s New York annex is closing. The Cleveland-based parent Hall of Fame confirmed Friday that its New York affiliate, which required a $9 million investment and was part of a broader expansion plan, will shut its doors on Jan. 3.
The Used is proud to announce that its fourth album, Artwork, will be released on Sept. 1. Produced by Matt Squire, Artwork is a raw collection of 11 songs that not so delicately teeter between aggressively discordant and charmingly hooky. The first single, “Blood On My Hands,” premiered June 30; it sold over 5,000 copies in the first day and shot to No. 9 on the iTunes Alternative Chart. “‘Blood on my Hands’ sums up everything about The Used,” guitarist Quinn Allmann said. The single is confined chaos, brutally thrashing one moment and proffering a pop-driven, sing-along chorus the next.… Read more »
In early 1984, when Epic Records executives presented their slate of upcoming releases at the convention in Hawaii of parent company CBS Records they couldn’t resist playing up the success they were experiencing. So between the pitches for new albums, Epic inserted stock footage of semi trucks and a voice-over that thunderously announced, “There goes another load of Michael Jackson’s Thriller albums!” Trucks weren’t really leaving the warehouse every few minutes, but Thriller was still shattering expectations more than a year after its November 30, 1982, release. Epic was selling more than 1 million copies per month in the United… Read more »
The publishing rights to most of the Beatles’ biggest hits are owned by one entity, a joint venture between the late Michael Jackson and the music arm of Sony Corp called Sony/ATV. Sony/ATV also owns the rights to songs written by Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Taylor Swift and, oh yes, the Jonas Brothers. But Sony/ATV does not handle the recordings of Beatles songs. Two other companies do that, so whether you’ll ever download “Come Together” off of iTunes has nothing to do with M.J.’s death. Jackson was, according to reports, mired in some truly epic financial drama. Even the value… Read more »
Kanye West is back in the lab, and there’s only word to describe his new rhymes: “awes-mazing” (that’s supposedly a cross between awesome and amazing). “I kill that rap sh–, that’s what I do,” West said of his upcoming opus. “Lyrics right now, they’re awes-mazing. They’re basically untouchable. I’m about to take it to a whole ‘nother level. I’d be scared if I was not me.” Kanye said he is always making an album, because he comes up with lyrics just by having conversations with people. He still does not write his rhymes down and has not in six years.… Read more »
Meet Miley Cyrus’ new man. Her new onscreen leading man, that is. His name is Liam Hemsworth. “I got a hot boy,” said Cyrus at the MTV Movie Awards about the young Aussie actor. “I can’t say that too many times, but he is attractive. Not bad to look at for the summer.” The two will soon head to Savannah to shoot The Last Song, a new drama from Nicholas Sparks, the author of The Notebook. Miley plays a rebellious teen sent to live with her estranged dad. So, just how romantic does it get between Miley and Liam’s characters?… Read more »
“As individuals, we’re misfits,” says Fergie, the sultry female singer of the Black Eyed Peas “Together, we’re like one big misfit. People are always questioning who the hell we are.” It is the day after the group’s May 6th performance, on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Chilling out in a small, sparsely furnished room at Center Staging in Burbank, California, she and fellow members of the multiracial group resemble a live version of a United Colors of Benetton ad. Fergie is dressed in black-and-white capri-length leggings set off by a hot pink shirt and a sharp pair of black ankle-strapped heels… Read more »
On the first day of the Bamboozle only one group of unlikely special guest superstars could outshine much-adored headliners Fall Out Boy. Still riding a two-year wave of rediscovery, arena-rock diehards Journey appeared as the secret performers for a four-song set. Or “Journey” as it turned out – the group was really a stellar Long Island cover band called Evolution. Blasting out “Separate Ways,” “Faithfully,” “Any Way You Want It” and “Don’t Stop Believing,” Evolution cued a wildly mixed audience reaction, with some fans literally shrieking or running towards the stage and others angrily storming away en masse. But even… Read more »
MIAMI — The little girls who made the New Kids on the Block a boy band sensation in the late 1980s and early 1990s are all grown up, and now they’ve got disposable income. So what better way to show their love for Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, Donnie and Danny than spending three days with them on a Caribbean cruise? About 2,100 women, most in their 20s and 30s, paid more $1,000 each for a sold-out, three-day Carnival Cruise Lines trip that left Miami for the Bahamas on Friday. The voyage kicks off the band’s summer concert tour, when they’ll dust… Read more »
