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Early in July, Rusty Shaffer, the founder of Optek, a small music company in Reno, Nev., visited Salon’s offices to show me his invention, the Fretlight guitar. Though it looks and feels like a standard, rock ‘n’ roll-ready instrument, the Fretlight contains a set of LEDs invisibly embedded inside its fretboard — connect the guitar to a computer and the lights spark up to indicate where to put your fingers in order to play a chord. Shaffer is certain that his guitar is a great leap forward for the normally tech-averse guitar industry; the Fretlight, he says, will transform guitar… Read more »

The lead singer of punk band Against Me! was arrested Monday night on a battery charge after he allegedly smashed a Tallahassee man’s head against the counter of a coffee shop, according to the Tallahassee Police Department. Tom Gabel, 26, walked into the All Saints Cafe, 903 Railroad Ave., with his girlfriend to get some tea. After he ordered a lemon ginger tea, he headed to the bathroom and saw an article about his band on the wall, which was clipped from the Tallahassee Democrat. Someone had drawn over the article. Gabel told police it had obscene words scribbled on… Read more »

50 Cent believes his new album will outsell Kanye West’s upcoming disc, and he’s betting his solo career on it. Both 50 Cent and West have albums due out Sept. 11. 50 Cent, who has sold better than West, has been riled by forecasts that sales of West’s “Graduation” could rival those for his “Curtis” CD. “Let’s raise the stakes,” the 31-year-old rapper told hip-hop Web site SOHH.com in an interview posted Friday. “If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I’ll no longer write music. I’ll write music and work with my other artists, but… Read more »

There’s something to be said for consistency – go to Farm Aid and you see John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Dave Matthews. For this year’s inaugural show in New York, they’ll be joined by Counting Crows, the Allman Brothers Band, Montgomery Gentry and the Derek Trucks Band, among others, Farm Aid announced Wednesday. The concert will be held Sept. 9 on Randalls Island, an island just east of Manhattan. “I’ve always felt we should do it in New York because New Yorkers consume so much food,” Mellencamp told Nelson, Mellencamp and Young organized the first Farm Aid in… Read more »

Warner Music Group Corp., one of the world’s largest recording companies, said Tuesday its fiscal third-quarter loss widened as more people bought digital music, rather than CDs. The loss for the quarter ended in June was $17 million, or 12 cents per share, versus a prior-year loss of $14 million, or 10 cents per share. Excluding nonrecurring items related to a corporate restructuring and settlement, the loss in the 2007 quarter was $29 million, or 20 cents per share. Revenue declined 2 percent year over year to $804 million from $822 million. On a constant-currency basis, revenue fell 5 percent.… Read more »

Justin Timberlake and Beyonce lead the pop parade of nominees for the MTV Video Music Awards with seven nods apiece, it was announced Tuesday. Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” was nominated for video of the year, as was Timberlake’s ambitiously cinematic “What Goes Around … Comes Around,” which co-starred Scarlett Johansson. Also competing in the category are Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab,” Kanye West’s “Stronger,” Rihanna’s “Umbrella” (featuring Jay-Z) and Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E.” Timberlake was also nominated for male artist of the year and “most earth shattering collaboration” for pairing with Timbaland for “Sexy Back.” Beyonce was nominated for female artist of the year and for… Read more »

Busta Rhymes was sued in New York State Supreme Court on Monday by a Bronx man who alleges he was roughed up by The Big Bang rapper and his posse last summer after spitting on Rhymes’ SUV. The plaintiff, Roberto LeBron, 20, claims he was repeatedly punched and kicked in the body and face by the 35-year-old Rhymes during the wee hours of Aug. 12 as the hip-hopster’s nine bodyguards stood by and watched. LeBron was treated at a nearby medical center for a concussion, split lip and injury to his wrist and later released. Rhymes, whose real name is… Read more »

KT Tunstall’s apparently tireless capacity for work makes even her laugh. “I feel like a camel,” the Scottish singer-songwriter says with a giggle. “Because I had 10 years of nothing, it does give me an enormous capacity for embracing what’s going on and remembering all that time when I was really wishing things would happen.” That’s why, after two straight years of touring and promotion behind her multiplatinum debut, “Eye to the Telescope” — first released in the United Kingdom at the end of 2004, although its U.S. release was not until February 2006 — Tunstall is, eagerly, right back… Read more »

Dave Grohl has been in the rock business for more than 20 years now, and during that time, he’s seen many so-called “musical movements” come and go. Thus, he’s particularly amused by the current generation of emo-punk acts bounding across stages worldwide. After all, he’s been doing this for so long that he remembers emo the first time it came around.”I have a funny relationship with emo,” he said. “I’m from Washington, D.C., and in the mid-’80s, the hardcore scene changed from what it was – Bad Brains and Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedys and MDC – to a… Read more »

Pop-punk band Plain White T’s led the U.S. pop singles chart for a second week Thursday with “Hey There Delilah,” while Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” rose one to No. 2, swapping places with R&B starlet Rihanna’s former chart-topper “Umbrella.” Timbaland’s “The Way I Are” featuring Keri Hilson rose one to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, trading places with Shop Boyz’s “Party Like a Rockstar.” At No. 6, the “High School Musical 2” onslaught began as the cast single “What Time Is It” entered the chart after selling 87,000 physical singles and 31,000 downloads.… Read more »