Search Results for: free throw

With his spiky mohawk, cluttered canvas of tattooed skin and punk rock pedigree stretching back to childhood, Travis Barker isn’t exactly pleading to be taken seriously as a hip-hop head. A former drummer for the multi-platinum-selling power pop trio Blink-182 who also has done turns behind the kit for rock outfits including the Aquabats, +44 and Box Car Racer, he boasts impeccable Warped Tour credentials and critical props as one of modern rock’s most exciting, exacting percussion players. But a funny thing happened when Barker posted a video of himself on YouTube last September drumming thunderously in time with Southern… Read more »

Among the most notorious on-screen gaffes ever, Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction” on CBS during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show drew a $550,000 indecency fine from the Federal Communications Commission. Now a federal appeals court has thrown it out. A panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the FCC “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity, which it noted lasted just over half a second. An estimated 90 million people watching the Super Bowl heard Justin Timberlake sing, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this… Read more »

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger only survived an assassination attempt by Hells Angels members nearly 40 years ago because a boat carrying his would-be killers was swamped in a storm, according to a new BBC documentary. The details of a plot to kill the British rocker were revealed by an FBI agent as part of a series, “The FBI at 100,” which is to be aired on BBC Radio 4 on Monday. Tom Mangold, who presents the series, told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Jagger fell out with the Hells Angels after a member of the notorious gang killed a… Read more »

In the last month, two very different West Coast live music venues have met two very different fates. In Los Angeles, the resolutely DIY noise and punk outpost the Smell celebrated its 10th anniversary with a series of shows featuring scene stalwarts like No Age and Abe Vigoda. In Seattle, however, music fans mourned the sudden closing of the Crocodile Cafe; the 16-year-old space, which was heralded as the “living room of grunge,” closed unexpectedly December 16. In an age where clubs seem to come and go in the blink of an eye, one that remains open into its teens… Read more »

Back in 2001, Pennywise called their album Land Of The Free? (the question mark pointed out the inequities of modern existence). Now, in 2008, Pennywise–one of punk’s most credible and influential bands, who’ve sold over three million albums worldwide–will be giving away their next album for FREE. Beginning March 25, 2008, fans around the world will be able to obtain a high quality, DRM-free download from MySpace for a period of two weeks. Longtime PENNYWISE fan and seasoned producer Cameron Webb (Social Distortion, Motorhead, Sum 41) has signed on to produce and mix the upcoming CD. This music industry precedent… Read more »

After 2006 — a year when virtually no one managed to launch a digital music service in competition with Apple’s dominant iTunes — 2007 was a refreshing change of pace. Several fresh faces emerged onto the digital music scene this year, buoyed in part by record companies’ newfound willingness to experiment with different business models, but also by the departure of several high-profile competitors. By far the most visible service to throw in the towel this year was MTV’s Urge; now, a new entity called Rhapsody America joins Rhapsody’s technology with MTV’s editorial and music curation staff. Sony began the… Read more »

Late Friday night while driving to Calgary the members in National Product totaled their van. Luckily everyone in the band is fine. The following is written by singer Danny Casler: Long story short, we were driving from an amazing show in Regina to Calgary . We started to smell brakes burning and assumed it was the semi truck in front of us. As we were coming down the hill going about 70+ mph our driver mentioned that he felt we were losing power and not more than 30 seconds after that our van slammed to the pavement and we started… Read more »

There comes a time in the career of nearly every band when they officially stop listening to what critics have to say about them. For Interpol, you’d think that time is now.See, recently, Britain’s fabulously, er, bandwagon-leaping music publication, the New Musical Express, wrote a fawning review of a live performance by Editors, a band that could charitably be described as “Interpol-esque.” And while the review itself wasn’t exactly newsworthy, the fact that its author chose to kick it off by calling Interpol “the worst band on the planet, a tuneless, talentless shower of Joy Division copyist f—wits” is. Not… Read more »

Stress runs rampant among college kids this time of year, but the Door to Dorm tour, the College Mega tour and Campus Invasion Music Festival are aiming to give students some springtime musical relief. Hinder will headline the Door to Dorm outing, which hits 17 colleges and three music festivals starting April 13 at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown, Pa. The group’s drummer, Cody Hanson, jokes that nonstop worldwide touring for its 2005 album “Extreme Behavior” has made the quintet “severe alcoholics,” but that won’t prevent the Oklahoma City act from throwing a party for its hardcore college fan… Read more »