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BAGHDAD, Iraq – While Saddam Hussein spent a second New Year’s Eve in a jail cell, a Southern California rock band known for such albums as “Hitler Bad, Vandals Good” and “Look What I Almost Stepped In” played in the heart of his former empire. The 3rd Brigade of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division got a one-hour show by punk perennials The Vandals during a modest Friday night party in the Green Zone. The show was one of the few entertainments provided for U.S. troops in Iraq on New Year’s Eve, a day marked chiefly by a relative lull in… Read more »

They had throngs of screaming fans, surging popularity and an album gaining chart momentum – but John Nolan and Shaun Cooper, formerly of Taking Back Sunday, left it all behind. “We were just more and more not on the same page as the rest of the band,” said Nolan, now Straylight Run’s frontman. “As time went on, we just had different ideas of what we wanted to do, and eventually it got to the point where it didn’t make sense for us to be in that band anymore”. So Cooper and Nolan ditched the emo-centric Taking Back Sunday and started… Read more »

New York – As rap stars go, Jin has the typical look down cold: Hoodie, baggy sweats, chunky diamond stud earring, a Chinese character tattooed on his neck and a large blingy necklace. Not everything’s typical, though. “Yeah, I’m Chinese. And what?” he asks with mock exasperation. At just 22, the Miami-bred, New York-based rapper is something of a pioneer – the first Asian-American hip-hop artist to get a major solo record deal. At the same time, he worries that it’s his race, not his rhymes, generating all the attention. “Being Asian helps me so much,” he says. “It definitely… Read more »

Los Angeles – None of the Grammy nominees was more surprised than Chris Morris, who was taking notes along with the rest of the press corps Tuesday morning when he heard his name announced among the luminaries. Morris, who joined The Hollywood Reporter as music editor in September, was nominated for the liner notes he wrote for “No Thanks! The ’70s Punk Rebellion.” That Rhino Records compilation of various artists gives an overview of the genre’s early days by gathering 100 songs in a four-CD boxed set. Morris contributed a definitive context for the music in a thoroughly researched 116-page… Read more »

The day filmmaker Joe Berlinger, co-creator of the documentary “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” asked the band permission to write a book about his experience working on the movie, he wasn’t even sure there would be a movie. The band had just been shown a rough cut of the film and was concerned about how intimate and personal some of the scenes were. Metallica had never really let their feelings out before and were unsure how much of themselves they wanted to reveal – and they had revealed plenty. During the film, Metallica are captured from the time bassist Jason… Read more »

Anyone who visited their Web site and thought that Hearts That Hate were the next big thing out of the emo scene is about to get a reality check from MC Lars. The fictitious band has a starring role in “Signing Emo,” the second single off Lars’ Laptop EP. The song, a send-up of the bandwagon-jumping that goes on in the music industry, finds a 40-year-old, overweight and out-of-touch A&R exec named Marty feeling pressure from his boss to ink an emo band – any emo band – to the label because the boss’ daughter likes Dashboard Confessional. Just before… Read more »

Los Angeles – Lucky eBay bidders will have the opportunity to purchase a luxury HUMMER H2 specially personalized with the winning bidder’s name and autographed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Proceeds from the sale of these one-of-a-kind sports utility vehicles will benefit After-School All-Stars, The Arnold Schwarzenegger Youth Foundation. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the new National Spokesperson for After-School All-Stars, will also be offering a pair of tickets to the premiere of his new movie Doom and exclusive time with the star to benefit this incredible organization. After-School All-Stars, The Arnold Schwarzenegger Youth Foundation, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3), provides comprehensive… Read more »

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The evolution of digital downloads marks another milestone on November 23, 2004, with the debut of UMe Digital, the world’s first all-digital download label from a major music company. UMe Digital product – individual songs, EPs, and full-length albums – will be distributed exclusively online. With its unparalleled music and video marketing capabilities and the power and scope of UMe to place songs in films and TV shows and commercials, UMe Digital offers unprecedented access and exposure for artists. The releases on UMe Digital will be consistent with UMe’s philosophy of marketing established acts and acts… Read more »

Saturday marks the second anniversary of the death of Jam Master Jay. As his family members have pressed on, they continue to keep their loved one’s name alive. A small gathering is planned in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Saturday (October 30), and in January they want to put on a benefit concert to celebrate what would have been the Run-DMC DJ’s 40th birthday. “Basically, we are doing fine,” Jay’s mother, Connie Mizell, said on Monday in New York. “We thank God we are doing as well as we are. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say… Read more »

If his bubble burst and all else failed, Benji Madden is sure there’d be more than a few regular jobs waiting for him. Flipping burgers, working in department stores, tending cash registers, living in small towns. That’s what Madden and his Good Charlotte bandmates were used to before rock stardom. “One thing I never worry about is money. Because I have my health and my family and I can always go back to work,” Benji said. “We’ve all had a million day jobs,” the 25-year-old guitarist/vocalist said during an interview at a Manhattan hotel. “We got by fine then. If… Read more »