Search Results for: midtown

Even though Nick Carter has sold more than 36 million records as one of the Backstreet Boys, he thinks of himself as just another new artist with the debut of his “Now or Never” album. “I’m really… like somebody who hasn’t sold a record,” says Carter, the youngest member of the group and the first to release a solo album. But he’s got one advantage over other aspiring singers: an instant fan base. Some two dozen fans waited outside his midtown Manhattan hotel recently, hoping to see him. “These are the small things that mean so much to me,” says… Read more »

Fans growing impatient for the release of the Ramones tribute album We’re a Happy Family now have a good reason to turn that frown upside down. The track list for the LP, which is currently being mastered, and a tentative street date of November 5 were announced via a posting on the Web site of Rob Zombie, who is serving as co-producer along with guitarist Johnny Ramone. Although Zombie himself vouched for the accuracy of the most specific details concerning the album since he first announced plans for it in November, a spokesperson for Columbia Records, the label which intends… Read more »

Trey Anastasio spent 17 years ripping genres apart and sticking them back together at odd angles with the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink uber-jam band Phish. So maybe it’s no surprise he’s whipped up another unusual concoction: a jam/swing hybrid dotted with sugary-sweet love songs and chamber music. The self-titled release has the elements you’d expect from Anastasio, from the drawn-out, frenetic jams to the catchy guitar riffs. But it’s also a departure: It’s got horns, it’s got soul, it’s got more horns. It’s clearly not a Phish album hiding under a different name. “I’ve been listening to a lot of big band music,”… Read more »

The first family of metal turned reality TV darlings the Osbournes hit midtown Manhattan to unveil a new album Wednesday and conjured up the requisite amount of vulgarity and bickering. Between f-bombs and friendly put-downs, patriarch Ozzy (greeting the press via satellite from London), matriarch Sharon, daughter Kelly and son Jack introduced The Osbourne Family Album, a collection of tracks handpicked – and in some cases recorded – by the family. The compilation, due June 11, runs through more mood changes than your average Osbournes holiday dinner, slamming tracks from System of a Down, the Kinks and Ozzy himself against… Read more »

Arista recording artist Butch Walker hits the road in advance of the release of his debut solo album later this spring, “LEFT OF SELF-CENTERED,” as he plays a series of solo warm-up dates in Chicago and his hometown Atlanta prior to heading out for a month of shows with Lit, it was announced today by Antonio “L.A.” Reid, President and CEO, Arista Records. The dates with Lit are set to begin at home in Atlanta on May 19th at Earthlink Live and conclude at the San Joaquin County Fair in Stockton, California on June 12th. (Please see complete itinerary attached.)… Read more »

Women rule the roost on next week’s Billboard 200 albums chart, as females lord over the top three spots. First up is Ashanti, whose self-titled debut remains the #1 album in the country for the third straight week. She moved over 190,000 albums last week, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday (April 24). Behind her is Sheryl Crow, whose C’mon, C’mon debuts at #2 with almost 185,000 copies sold. And in third place is Celine Dion’s A New Day Has Come, which moved over 160,000 units. Fourth place goes to the ninth volume of the popular compilation CD Now That’s… Read more »

Twelve hours, four stages and more than 40 bands marked the end of the three-day Skate and Surf Festival on Sunday. Held at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, the second installment of the now annual event featured performances from Bouncing Souls, Face to Face and the Descendents, among many others. While the Warped Tour travels from town to town with many of skateboarding and BMX culture’s best-known athletes and favorite artists, the stationary Skate and Surf tends to be more down-home, offering quarter-pipes and rails to anybody bold enough to show up with a bike or a board and a… Read more »

Incubus kicks off its largest tour to date at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon on Thursday (April 11). The tour, in support of its current album, Morning View, will visit arenas in 49 cities in North America through early July, with open dates on the calendar expected to be filled with yet more shows. Incubus’s hometown friends and soundalikes Hoobastank serve as the opening act from April 11-May 15, while the group’s Epic Records labelmates Phantom Planet sign on May 24-July 3. Frontman Brandon Boyd said that playing in such large venues offers its own unique challenges. “When we… Read more »

You may never have washboard abs like Britney Spears, but soon you can fill your belly at her restaurant. The pop singer is opening an American bistro in midtown Manhattan called Nyla – for New York, Spears’ new home, and Louisiana, her home state. Nyla will occupy space in the Dylan Hotel that formerly housed Virot, an upscale French restaurant that closed shortly after Sept. 11. It’s scheduled to open in May. “Virot didn’t have the hipness I was looking for,” Morris Moinian, owner of the Dylan Hotel and a partner in the restaurant, told The New York Times for… Read more »

Riddlin’ Kids, the ferociously melodic powerpunk band from Austin, Texas, are preparing to start touring in earnest in anticipation of the June 4 release of Hurry Up And Wait, their album debut on Aware/Columbia Records. They will be part of the Warped Tour starting mid-July; preceding the Warped dates, the group will tour with Mest and Dynamite Boys beginning in early April. The first single from their upcoming album is “I Feel Fine.” The music video for “I Feel Fine” is being filmed by Smith N Borin of Geneva Films on April 1 in Los Angeles. Last summer, the band… Read more »