Search Results for: no cure

Tom Hanks is in negotiations with DreamWorks to topline and produce the studio’s project “Comrade Rockstar,” based on the life of the late rocker Dean Reed. Born in Denver in 1938, Reed moved to Hollywood at a young age and landed a recording contract with Capitol Records by the time he was 20. However, he never rose to the kind of fame in the United States that he found in other countries, prompting him to move to South America, where he became known as “the Red Elvis.” After several albums, movies and television appearances, Reed moved on to Rome and… Read more »

The tension is palpable at Universal Studios as USA Networks CEO Barry Diller considers merging his media empire with the studio’s Vivendi Universal parent. “All we know for sure is that Barry Diller is going to be a helluva lot richer a week from now,” said one senior studio executive who was about to attend the Universal Christmas Party. Vivendi Universal, seeking an elusive U.S. distribution outlet for its array of television and film assets, said on Tuesday it was in talks to buy the entertainment assets of USA, which is about 40%-owned by the French company. Whatever Diller does,… Read more »

Tap the kegs and round up the groupies – two of the biggest champions of rock and roll excess will take the same stage for the first time later this month. Spinal Tap and Tenacious D will play the House of Blues in West Hollywood on December 20, a sure-to-be-memorable evening that will bring together such classic anthems as “F– Her Gently” and “Sex Farm.” The show is a benefit for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, according to the D’s spokesperson. Mitochondrial diseases are hereditary disorders that affect a cell’s ability to produce life-sustaining energy. The UMDF’s mission is “to… Read more »

For the first time, consumers can access MusicNet, a digital distribution platform for streaming and downloading music, through RealOne(TM) Music starting today. In development for more than a year, MusicNet combines the music catalogs of major and independent record labels – which now include Warner Music Group, BMG Entertainment, EMI Recorded Music, and Zomba, with media delivery technology from RealNetworks ® to create a subscription-based technology platform. MusicNet will continue to add music to the service over time, providing customers with a broad selection of content. MusicNet is based on RealNetworks’ RealSystem(TM) iQ and RealSystem Media Commerce Suite which provide… Read more »

With only days to go before the top music companies start selling music online, they appear unwilling, at least initially, to support most of the digital music players currently sold. Analysts have dim expectations for the new ventures because their music will remain largely chained for now to the computer desktop – and only for as long as subscribers pay to “rent” it. “What’s the use if I’m going to have it on my desktop and I can’t take it with me?” says Jackie DeLeon, 26, a student housing coordinator at the University of Illinois-Chicago who uses her portable MP3… Read more »

In his only Los Angeles radio interview, Paul McCartney called in to Peter Tilden and the KZLA Morning Show today to talk about his new album “Driving Rain” and his charity single “Freedom.” “It was a dream come true,” says KZLA Morning Host Peter Tilden. “He was so forthcoming about everything with his music and his life. Think about it, here is the most influential music artist of all time and he was having fun cutting up on me. It was great, I am still in awe.” In a recent interview posted on his website, www.paulmccartney.com, Paul was quoted as… Read more »

In the downtime between their recently wrapped Pledge of Allegiance tour with Slipknot and a series of December radio festivals, System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has recorded a full-length collaboration with noted Armenian multi-instrumentalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan. The tentatively titled “Serart” is slated for release next year on Tankian’s own Serjical Strike Records. Fans who dug Tuncboyaciyan’s curious noisemaking on System’s newly platinum Toxicity will surely enjoy “Serart,” a collection Tankian says is a marked departure from that band’s prog-metal barrage. “It’s really crazy world, jazz and experimental,” he says. “With some rock and hip-hop, beats, dance beats, electronic… Read more »

“Shhhhh!” is printed across the front of one of the T-shirts Ryan Adams is hawking during his current tour in support of his fabulous second solo disc, “Gold” (Lost Highway). It suggests that fame is the intention of least value for this 27-year-old singer-guitarist, an artist who has managed to fly ever so slightly above the radar as a solo artist and, previously, as leader of Whiskeytown, making one impressive artistic statement after another. On a night when a Mick Jagger performance was the hottest celeb-filled event in town, Adams’ show was the hottest ticket – the House of Blues… Read more »

And the beat goes on in the online music sector as Listen.com Wednesday become the third Web upstart in about a week to sign a key licensing deal by reaching a pact with music publishers for songs on the Rhapsody music subscription service it plans to launch on Dec. 3. Under the deal, Listen will pay the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)’s Harry Fox Agency licensing arm a $500,000 advance for use of its clients’ music over two years until rates are determined. Harry Fox is an agent for more than 27,000 publishers who represent more than 160,000 songwriters. Once… Read more »

Madonna may be the bitchiest and bossiest woman in pop music or the most beloved. She may be an emotionally insecure manipulator – who (shock! horror!) uses men and throws them away. Or she may be just an old-fashioned girl looking for the traditional twosome: love and marriage. But one thing she doesn’t do is kiss and tell – that’s left for the biographer. Two unauthorized biographies published this month both tout supposed fresh new insights into the life and love life of the pop and cultural phenomenon who has reinvented herself with almost every one of her 14 hit… Read more »