Search Results for: christmas

When Ronald Simmons first heard James Brown’s hit “Cold Sweat,” he was blown away, especially by Brown’s command, “Give the drummer some!” “When I was a kid I would go crazy when I heard that!” said Simmons, 53. “It did something to me: I’ve been drumming for the last 35 years.” Simmons was among thousands of fans waiting Thursday outside the Apollo Theater to pay their respects to Brown, who died on Christmas Day at age 73. As they stood in the cold, many spoke passionately about Brown’s impact on their lives. “He is our royalty, our music royalty,” said… Read more »

As 2006 comes to an end, Angels & Airwaves are looking back with a strong sense of pride. (We know, big surprise!) “I think we’ve all made the record of our lives,” singer and resident hype machine Tom DeLonge said, referring to We Don’t Need to Whisper . “It’s been a super-spiritual year for our band and for us personally, and I think we’ve offered something extremely imaginative and futuristic to rock and roll. I also think that I’ve become a good dancer along the way.” “Yeah, and you’ve also perfected the art of making the di– jokes seem really… Read more »

UNIVERSAL CITY, California – If you’re Panic! at the Disco, how do you end a year in which you went from relative unknowns to one of the hottest bands on the planet? “I might get a tattoo that just says ‘2006,’ ’cause it was such a big year,” bassist Jon Walker said. “Really, just the whole year in general has been amazing to us.” So a tattoo (maybe?) and “a little time off for the holidays,” added drummer Spencer Smith. “Then we’re going to start writing a new record over the winter and hopefully we have something out next fall.”… Read more »

Los Angeles – Rob Thomas jokes that his label, Melisma/Atlantic, is seeing a different side of him as it prepares for the launch of his solo debut, “… Something to Be.” In the multiplatinum group Matchbox Twenty, drummer Paul Doucette was the “bad cop. I was good cop,” Thomas says. “Now I’m good cop and bad cop. A lot of people who thought I was easygoing, pot-smoking Rob don’t think that anymore. Now they see I’m not so easy.” Fans of Matchbox Twenty will also hear a different side of Thomas on the album, which ranges from familiar Matchbox Twenty… Read more »

It seems that everyone has something to say about “American Idol” and MTVNews.com is no different. Here’s the first edition of our new weekly performance-night roundup: March 16 Surprise performance : Singing a Motown classic (“You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”) rather than a rock song, Constantine delivered his best performance to date, showing versatility and vocal range. Fashion hits and misses : Teen firecracker Mikalah took the judges’ advice and looked her age, but her pants were so low-cut she couldn’t even sit down next to Ryan. There was too much chest from the usually classy Anwar. Leather pants… Read more »

Maybe Velvet Revolver can use that Best Hard Rock Performance Grammy as a hood ornament on their tour bus on the upcoming Electric Wonderland Show Tour. The veteran rockers will kick off their latest round of North American stops on March 22 in Montreal, with arena dates currently slated to run through a May 25 show in Miami, according to a spokesperson for the group. More dates are expected to be added. Hoobastank will open the West Coast swing of the tour; no other openers have been announced. The group recently released the third video from its multiplatinum debut. “Dirty… Read more »

SANTA MONICA, California – It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Garbage, but don’t worry, they didn’t break up. Or maybe they did. “It depends on which one of us you ask,” bassist/guitarist Steve Marker said during a recent visit from their Madison, Wisconsin, home base to Los Angeles. “I think we took a break, but some of us think that we broke up, so we haven’t even resolved that yet. We should probably talk about that. It got pretty weird between the four of us, and the music wasn’t really happening, so we took a break. There were times… 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 »

Tokyo – Sony Corp. reported Thursday a 55 percent rise in earnings for the October-December quarter on home entertainment revenue from “Spider-Man 2,” although its core electronics sector was battered by sluggish sales and price declines. The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment giant said its group net profit for the fiscal third quarter totaled 143.8 billion yen ($1.4 billion), up from 92.6 billion yen a year earlier. Sales for the quarter dipped 7.5 percent to 2.15 trillion yen ($20.9 billion) from 2.32 trillion yen. Sony’s profits got a lift from improved results at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, its mobile phone unit,… Read more »

Las Vegas – Satellite radio providers XM and Sirius used the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show here to outline a bold agenda for market expansion. Both introduced new products and programming for the new year. XM unveiled a major push into the home audio market via its Connect and Play initiative, which consists of an XM-ready chip and data port. More than 10 major home entertainment equipment providers have agreed to incorporate XM’s technology and logo into such appliances as DVD players, stereos and boomboxes. Customers will have to connect a $50 XM home antenna to their devices to play… Read more »