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Headbangers of the world will unite once again this summer at Ozzfest, the annual road show of hard rock bands organized by America’s first couple of reality TV, the Osbournes. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and son Jack opened their Beverly Hills house to journalists on Tuesday to announce the lineup for the eighth annual outing of Ozzfest. Dressed in his best pair of tracksuit pants and a black T-shirt, a typically befuddled Ozzy slurred his way through the news conference while a svelte Sharon, as usual, took charge of proceedings, firing off insults at her guests and husband. Ozzy Osbourne,… Read more »

The surviving members of the cult band The Grateful Dead have decided to scrap their short-lived moniker “The Other Ones” and rename themselves what everyone was calling them anyway: “The Dead.” An icon of 1960s California that has long attracted those embracing alternative lifestyles, the band lost its leader Jerry Garcia in 1995 when he died in a drug rehabilitation clinic. The band then retired the name “Grateful Dead” in tribute to Garcia. The bands remaining members gave their first major concert together last August as “The Other Ones” featuring Phil Lesh on bass, Bob Weir on guitar and Bill… Read more »

We know Metallica and Limp Bizkit will headline the Summer Sanitarium Tour, but what we don’t know is who will be in those bands. Or do we? “We got Yngwie Malmsteen,” Fred Durst deadpanned Wednesday at a press conference to announce the tour, which also features Linkin Park, the Deftones and Mudvayne. “Oh man, he was next on my list,” Lars Ulrich said of the Swedish metal guitar virtuoso. “I’ll take Steve Vai and give you him,” Durst shot back. Of course, Durst and Ulrich were joking. Metallica’s bassist slot and Limp Bizkit’s guitarist slot remain vacant. The latter band… Read more »

With nary a Hells Angels member or flying pool cue in sight, the Rolling Stones played their first free concert in 33 years on Thursday, as a celebrity crowd headed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton looked on. The event at the Staples Center was a considerably more sedate affair than their last free show, at the Altamont Speedway near San Francisco in 1969. Then, security was handled by the local Hells Angels chapter, who clubbed fans with pool cues while the band looked on helplessly. A teenager was stabbed to death as he appeared to point a gun at… Read more »

Michael Jackson said Thursday he felt betrayed by a “terrible and unfair” TV documentary about his life, in which the King of Pop revealed he sometimes lets children sleep in his bed. In a statement issued Thursday by his London representative, Jackson said British journalist Martin Bashir broke the trust placed in him, and added he felt “more betrayed than perhaps ever before.” Bashir spent eight months making the 90-minute program, which was to be shown in the United States at 8 p.m. EST Thursday on ABC’s “20/20.” “I trusted Martin Bashir to come into my life and that of… Read more »

Hip-hop impresario Sean “P.Diddy” Combs is within a hair’s breadth of inking a worldwide distribution deal for his Bad Boy Entertainment imprint with Universal Motown Records Group. The partners haven’t put pen to paper yet, but the pact is 80% to completion, said a source close to the situation. The deal, which carries a fairly short term of between two and three years, is said to be worth roughly $10 million – a fraction of the $100 million Combs was seeking when he first cut Bad Boy loose from BMG last year. However, it does allow Combs to retain 100%… Read more »

Record producer Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson, the actress found slain in his mansion, reflected the two sides of success that exist within Hollywood’s pop culture landscape. Spector, 62, the music industry wunderkind who struck it rich in his teens and changed the face of pop music, became an eccentric millionaire with a castle home in the suburbs. Clarkson, 40, a B-movie actress who sold her pinups on the Internet and modeled herself after Marilyn Monroe, was a success within the exploitation movie world. She was nearly 6 feet tall, blonde, buxom and gorgeous. She was discovered by B-movie king… Read more »

Phil Spector, the legendary record producer whose “wall of sound” helped change the sound of pop music in the 1960s, was arrested Monday for allegedly shooting a woman to death at his suburban mansion. Spector, 62, was seized at the castle-like estate around 5 a.m. after someone in the home called authorities. He was released shortly after 7 p.m. after posting $1 million bond, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Rich Pena. Attorney Robert Shapiro, whose clients have included O.J. Simpson, was representing Spector. “I don’t know answers to any of this,” Shapiro said by telephone from the Alhambra Police… Read more »

A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld as constitutional a law that barred a pirate broadcaster from ever obtaining a license for a low-power FM radio station or from being involved with a station. The court, by a 7-1 vote, ruled the law and the government regulations implementing it do not violate free-speech rights under the First Amendment. The full court reversed a ruling last year by a three-judge panel of the appeals court that struck down the law. Acting on a mandate from Congress, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules in 2001 that banned anyone who had been a… Read more »

California lawmakers want the Grammy Awards to stay in Los Angeles, where they have been held for 34 of the last 44 years. A resolution formally making that request of the Natl. Academy of Recording & Sciences has been unanimously approved by the State Assembly’s Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism & Internet Media Committee. Its backers plan to push the measure through the State Legislature prior to the Feb. 23 Grammys, being held this year in New York City. “Los Angeles is renowned worldwide for its entertainment industry, and it’s appropriate that the Grammy ceremonies remain there,” said Assembly member Rebecca… Read more »