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Los Angeles – Bon Jovi want to give love a good name. The New Jersey rockers recently finished recording their ninth studio record, and singer Jon Bon Jovi calls it their most upbeat album ever. “After these trying times in the States this last year, we’re trying to get back to some optimism, people accepting each other,” Bon Jovi said. Telling of their optimism is the title of the first single, “Have a Nice Day,” which the band performed at the American Music Awards last month. John Shanks, who has worked with Lindsay Lohan, Ashlee Simpson, Hilary Duff and Kelly… Read more »

There were two obsessions that fueled the recording process of 3 Doors Down’s new album, Seventeen Days : the band’s obsession with hard work and Bob Seger’s obsession with hot coffee. “We finished our tour on July 31, and we wanted to get this new album out by the beginning of 2005. So we just got to it, crammed, and wrote 13 songs in 17 days. Hence the name,” bassist Todd Harrell said. “By the middle of August, we had written the album. We all get stagnant when we’re sitting at home, so why waste a lot of time?” OK,… Read more »

New York – The Pixies wrapped their reunion tour Saturday with two shows at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, capping a trek that lasted nearly eight months and saw them play to sold-out audiences across the world. While it’s unclear if the influential alt-rock band plans to attempt a follow-up to its last studio album, 1991’s “Trompe le Monde,” which came out a year before it went on hiatus, there is new product on the way. A film crew followed the tour throughout the year for a documentary DVD. A separate DVD is also in the works culling on-stage footage. “I… Read more »

Los Angles – You only need one word to sum up the year in pop 2004: Usher. Clearly, it was his house. The rest of us were just overnight visitors. It began innocently enough, right at the beginning of the calendar year. On the Billboard Hot 100 dated Jan. 10, 2004 (coincidentally, the 55th anniversary of the introduction of the 45 rpm record), the highest new entry was “Yeah!” by Usher Featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris. Six weeks later, “Yeah!” had assumed pole position, and remained there for 12 weeks, tying it as the longest-running No. 1 (with “Lose Yourself”… Read more »

Hong Kong – Stanley Cheung has been named Managing Director, The Walt Disney Company (China), it was announced today by Andy Bird, President, Walt Disney International. In this capacity, Mr. Cheung will be responsible for driving the company’s strategy, coordinating all of Disney’s business efforts in China, including overseeing Disney’s global brands in the market, expanding existing businesses and seeking out new business opportunities. With Mr. Cheung’s appointment, Disney will now have its existing businesses in China managed locally, with all business segments reporting into Mr. Cheung, as well as their respective business units. Mr. Cheung will be based in… Read more »

Linkin Park has proved itself impervious to critics, genres and the rest of the competition on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, as the juggernaut of its “Meteora” album (Warner Bros.) continues its momentum from last year. Four songs from the band’s sophomore album charted on the year-end Modern Rock Tracks recap, with three finishing in the top 10. This earns the act the No. 1 spot on the year-end Hot Modern Rock Artists chart. “Numb” was the year’s second-most-spun song in modern rock, while “Breaking the Habit” and “Lying From You” came in at Nos. 8 and 9, respectively. “Faint”… Read more »

Merchants are describing this year’s holiday-season sales as a roller-coaster ride. That could hardly be said about the full-year sales experience. At least a roller coaster offers the contrast of intermittent highs and lows. Album sales started with one long rise toward a hopeful tally for the first eight months of 2004, followed by a steep decline that stole back most of the year’s advances in just a few weeks, as if a thrill ride had been designed by a party pooper who did not fully grasp the concept. But maybe a better analogy – as Ludacris replaces Jay-Z and… Read more »

New York – Dreams of world domination must be hard for MTV executives to avoid when they host a party at the Kremlin, with a Russian diva and Queen dueting on “We Will Rock You” and Russian soldiers performing a hip-hop dance routine. MTV Networks will reach a milestone in February when the turn of a switch starts an MTV outlet in Africa, the company’s 100th channel worldwide and first based on that continent. Most of its American audience is probably unaware of the extent to which MTV and its sister networks have blanketed the world in an aggressive expansion… Read more »

New York – As rap stars go, Jin has the typical look down cold: Hoodie, baggy sweats, chunky diamond stud earring, a Chinese character tattooed on his neck and a large blingy necklace. Not everything’s typical, though. “Yeah, I’m Chinese. And what?” he asks with mock exasperation. At just 22, the Miami-bred, New York-based rapper is something of a pioneer – the first Asian-American hip-hop artist to get a major solo record deal. At the same time, he worries that it’s his race, not his rhymes, generating all the attention. “Being Asian helps me so much,” he says. “It definitely… Read more »

Most viewers of “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” see the show’s cast as nothing more than a group of spoiled, plastic rich kids. Some don’t even think they’re real people at all. So one of the show’s stars, 18-year-old Dieter Schmitz, decided to change the public’s perception of him and his fellow OC-ites. And he’s enlisted some pop-punk all-stars to help him do it. Schmitz, now a freshman at San Diego State University, created Running Home 4 Teens, a charity event designed to raise money for teenagers suffering from depression and chemical dependency. His idea was simple: people could… Read more »