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They came not to bury him, but to praise the man who pioneered television sketch comedy. Sid Caesar, whose “Your Show of Shows” was a household name during its run from 1950 to 1954, recalls being amazed and profoundly moved when he received a 15-minute standing ovation during his recent appearance on Drew Carey’s improvisational series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” on ABC. The 79-year-old actor, who walks with a cane following recent surgery to both hips, told Reuters his biggest fear about returning to the small screen after an absence of more than 20 years was that no one… Read more »

The members of No Doubt are pleased to announce that fans will have one less week to wait for the arrival of the band’s new Interscope Records album, ROCK STEADY. The collection, which was recorded throughout 2001 with a variety of producers at a number of international locations, is now scheduled to arrive in record stores on December 11, 2001, seven days earlier than first planned. The release date has been pushed up in response to the overwhelming response that’s greeted No Doubt’s new single and video, “Hey Baby,” including an impressive 130 first-week adds on Top-40 stations. The pride… Read more »

It’s been well over a year since Dr. Dre first announced that a reunited N.W.A., with Snoop Dogg subbing for the late Eazy-E, had begun work on their first album in ten years, Not These Niggaz Again. Four members of the reformed gangsta squad – Dre, Snoop, Ice Cue and MC Ren – shared a bill on last summer’s Up in Smoke Tour, where they sketched beats and rhymes in a mobile recording studio. Last July, Dre said that the group’s lone absentee, DJ Yella, had signed on and that pending some legal issues with Priority Records – such as… Read more »

R. Kelly’s “The World’s Greatest” entered Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart last week at Number 75. The song is the first single from Ali, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, out today (November 27), which also features songs from Alicia Keys, Aretha Franklin, Angie Stone, and Everlast. R. Kelly, who auditioned for the role of Muhammad Ali, wrote “The World’s Greatest” before seeing the film, and penned “Hold On” for the soundtrack after previewing the movie, which stars Will Smith. The soundtrack also features Dionne Warwick’s son David Elliot singing Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me.” Al… Read more »

The world’s big record labels are finally rolling out online subscription services smack in the middle of the holiday season that caps the music industry’s worst year in at least a decade. In coming weeks, music fans – who have for years been pulling everything from Radiohead to Madonna off the Web for free from services like Napster – will be introduced to a new breed of money-for-music services like PressPlay and MusicNet, which have been developed by the major record companies. Several smaller independent firms like FullAudio and Listen.com will soon be launching subscription services too. Industry officials and… Read more »

Several weeks into shooting one film and with two others lined up after it, Ice Cube continues his gradual transition from rapper/actor to actor/rapper. Cube has just begun shooting Friday After Next, the follow-up to 2000’s Next Friday and third in the ghetto-fabulous series that began with 1995’s Friday. Cube again penned the screenplay and serves as producer. The director is Marcus Raboy, who, in addition to directing a host of Cube’s videos (“Guerillas in the Mist,” “Wicked” “You Know How We Do It”), has shot clips for Santana (“Smooth”) and Staind (“Fade”). Like the first two movies, Friday After… Read more »

In a world where artistic lifespans are often judged in terms of fads, most pop music acts last no longer than the trends that briefly catapulted them to fame. And those are just the ones that are lucky enough to end up in the “where are they now?” files. It’s rare to find a band like the Bee Gees, who started their musical career when nine-year-old brother Barry was joined by his six-year-old twin siblings Robin and Maurice. The group scored their first No. 1 hit in their native Australia back in 1966 and broke out to a world audience… Read more »

The stage where John Lennon met Paul McCartney all those years ago is up for sale, and Beatles fans wanting a slice of the world’s most famous pop group can also buy the Bechstein Grand Piano used on The White Album and to record “Hey Jude.” The church hall stage where pop history was made is expected to fetch up to $72,000 at a London auction on Nov. 27, auctioneers Fleetwood Owen said in a statement Thursday. Lennon was playing with his group the Quarrymen at St. Peter’s Church Hall in Woolton, in northern England, on July 6, 1957, when… Read more »

Demanding diva? Spoiled superstar? “Not me,” insists sultry Latin actress-singer Jennifer Lopez. She says she’s just a “cool, nice person” who wants to make people feel good, who behaves like a professional and who never does anything “that is going to make it hard for me to sleep at night.” Two hit albums, a handful of movies, her own fashion line, and a wardrobe of plunging outfits have powered Lopez, 31, to mega stardom in less than two years. She has just played her first live pop concert – “the fulfillment of probably my biggest childhood dream” – which will… Read more »

Nearly twenty-five years after the B-52’s formed in Athens, Georgia, the band’s career will get an overview with the January 15th release of the double-disc anthology Nude on the Moon. In addition to B-52’s standards “Rock Lobster,” “Roam” and “Love Shack,” the compilation will contain rarities, including a previously unreleased version of “Queen of Las Vegas” from sessions the group did with David Byrne for the Mesopotamia EP and a live version of “Is That You Mo-Dean?” recorded in the last year. Singer Fred Schneider says the B-52’s are actively involved in the set, pouring through pictures and assembling liner… Read more »