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The scene onstage at Jimmy Z’s is unmistakable: the singer is screeching “Sin City,” right hand on the mic, left hand cocked at the side like it might just fire bullets from the fingers drawn in a heavy metal devil salute. Several feet away, the guitarist’s head is in a non-stop nod to the beat; a schoolboy necktie squirms under a burgundy Gibson SG. Uh, but wait a minute… this Angus Young is wearing a miniskirt. And the person rocking the spotlight isn’t a middle-aged Aussie man, but a twentysomething African-American woman. Ding dong, welcome to the world of Hell’s… Read more »

Depeche Mode, the influential British technopop band that flourished in the 1980s, kicks off a five-month tour in Canada this week with a new album and what one founding member said is a hard-earned feeling of serenity. “It is the first time for a long, long time, in about 15 years probably, that all three members of Depeche Mode are happy and stable in their private and working lives,” keyboardist Andrew Fletcher, 39, told Reuters in an interview. “It is enjoyable to be in Depeche Mode at the moment, and I would not have said that five years ago.” Fletcher,… Read more »

Russell Simmons says people have misconstrued his motives for inviting politicians, record executives and artists to a hip-hop summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York. The rap entrepreneur says his role in hosting the event is more that of a carpenter than of a cop. “Somebody asked me if I was trying to clean up rap. The answer is f no,” Simmons said this week. “‘F tha Police’ is still my favorite record. I’m not here to change what we have. It’s like if you built this great big, giant house, you might want to build a wing on… Read more »

Duet – a joint venture between music giants Vivendi Universal and Sony Corp – has quietly been lining up new leadership and negotiating with potential partners, including Microsoft Corp., sources close to the venture said Friday. Although rival online music service MusicNet stole the spotlight this week by striking a licensing deal with song-swap company Napster, Duet is expected to announce the appointment of Andy Schuon to head the year-old venture, a move that could come as early as next week, the sources said. Vivendi Universaland Sony Corpboth declined to comment on the expected appointment or on whether they are… Read more »

Grammy-Award winning artist James Taylor, who’s Summer Tour 2001 “Pull Over” kicked-off last week, is offering fans and concert goers a rare opportunity to receive a limited edition three-song sampler. This free limited addition disc will contain an as of yet unreleased track from Taylor’s forthcoming release and will only be available at “Pull Over” concert dates, Borders and on the web at www.yahoo.com. The limited edition three-song sampler will include a previously unreleased song “(I’ve Got To) Stop Thinkin’ ‘Bout That,” which was recorded on May 30, 1998, when James Taylor and his band took the stage of New… Read more »

Movie soundtracks, led by the cover-version-heavy Fox musical “Moulin Rouge,” gained significant ground in the nation’s album sales last week. “Moulin Rouge,” featuring the hit single “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Pink and Mya, moved up five spots on the pop album chart to No. 3 on sales of nearly 134,000 copies for the week ended June 3, according to data compiled from SoundScan. The Interscope album has moved nearly 450,000 copies in four weeks. The “Pearl Harbor” score (Warner Bros.) jumped 17 spots to No. 14, boosting its sales by 59 percent from the week before to… Read more »

When The Spinal Tap performed Monday night at Carnegie Hall, it was as if the thirty-four-year-old British heavy metal band was playing for the first time in three days. With the three founding Spinal Tap members – David St. Hubbins, on guitar and vocals; Nigel Tufnel, on lead guitar; and Derek Smalls, on bass – Spinal Tap played “Carnegie ‘Fucking’ Hall” as if they were the same band they have always been. And yet with accompaniment by longtime keyboardist Caucasian Jeffrey Vaston, and with Skippy Skuffelton accepting the suicide mission of drums, Spinal Tap actually are still the same band… Read more »

Haven’t seen Shaggy perform his smash single, “Angel,” yet? You can this coming Sunday night, June 10, on ABC-TV at 7 p.m. when the reggae pop star joins Sugar Ray, Dream, BBMak and Baha Men on the “Walt Disney World Summer Jam Concert” special. For his appearance on the “Summer Jam Concert,” Shaggy taped his performance at the Walt Disney World Resort earlier today, during a visit to Orlando to kick off a summer North American tour with the Backstreet Boys that begins this Friday. This year’s Jam-packed hour of entertainment and fun was filmed at three exotic ports of… Read more »

Mariah Carey launches fashion trends like other people change socks. Indeed, as she waited for a TV crew to get its lighting right during a recent interview, Mariah laid back on a chaise longue, kicked off one sparkly high-heeled shoe and had another inspiration. “Maybe I’ll do the interview with one shoe off, just to be crazy,” she said to her manager, who looked over and laughed. “Wouldn’t that be great, if it caught on and people started wearing one shoe?” Don’t laugh. It could happen, and Mariah would be OK with it. A different kind of biting recently did… Read more »

File-sharing service Napster has inked an exclusive pact to license the digital music technology of MusicNet, a nascent online distribution company backed by three of the five major record labels. However, the MusicNet founders – particularly Warner Music and EMI – stressed that none of their songs will come anywhere near Napster’s service until the file-swapper’s network includes iron-clad protection for their copyrights. Under the terms of the deal, users of the secure, next-generation Napster service will have access, for an additional fee, to the MusicNet platform, and will be able to trade files with other Napsterites who have signed… Read more »