Search Results for: the early november

By all accounts, 2007 was a great year for the video game industry, driven largely by the rising popularity of music-based titles. Total video game sales (hardware and software) through October was $10.5 billion, compared with $7 billion for the same period last year, according to data from NPD Group. Much of the growth can be attributed to a more stable market for the new-generation game consoles: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. But another factor is the “casual game,” a segment that includes significant music-based titles. The rise of casual games — those that virtually anyone can pick up… Read more »

F. Scott Fitzgerald may have depressingly opined that “there are no second acts in American lives,” but Nada Surf is certainly making the case for second acts in indie rock. The band had an accidental alt-rock radio hit in 1996 with “Popular,” only to be signed and then summarily dropped by Elektra. This sort of rise and fall would spell the end for many bands, but Nada Surf kept on going, buying back and reissuing its shelved major-label album, “The Proximity Effect,” in 1998. Since then, the band released two records on Seattle-based indie Barsuk: 2003’s “Let Go,” which has… Read more »

Former “American Idol” contestant Corey Clark is facing up to two years in jail and a maximum fine of $150,000 after pleading guilty to a felony charge of harassment. Clark, 27, is scheduled to be sentenced in early November in Yuma County Superior Court although no date had been set as of Friday. In exchange for entering a guilty plea to one charge of aggravated harassment on Oct. 2, Clark had four other charges dismissed, said Roger Nelson, chief criminal deputy attorney for the Yuma County Attorney’s Office. Authorities said Clark violated a court order in August 2006 by placing… Read more »

KT Tunstall’s apparently tireless capacity for work makes even her laugh. “I feel like a camel,” the Scottish singer-songwriter says with a giggle. “Because I had 10 years of nothing, it does give me an enormous capacity for embracing what’s going on and remembering all that time when I was really wishing things would happen.” That’s why, after two straight years of touring and promotion behind her multiplatinum debut, “Eye to the Telescope” — first released in the United Kingdom at the end of 2004, although its U.S. release was not until February 2006 — Tunstall is, eagerly, right back… Read more »

Nearly five months after Britney Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline, the parties reached a settlement late Thursday (March 29) – though it’s not yet certain what the agreement entails. The settlement session took place Thursday at Spears attorney Laura Wasser’s office in Century City, California. Spears, Federline and their respective lawyers met for five hours, during which they came to terms on “all issues of their marriage and child custody,” according to a statement from the spokesperson for Federline’s attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan. “At one point, Kevin went down for a smoke and Britney followed him outside,” the… Read more »

Britney Spears is certainly not the first celebrity to go off the rails in full view of her once-adoring public. But hers is one of the most spectacular falls from grace in recent memory, meticulously documented by paparazzi and bystanders, and uploaded instantly for the titillation of the masses. At 25 she’s certainly young enough to resume her career after she regroups, and for perspective, we’ve compiled some of the most notorious celebrity flameouts of the past 10 years, along with the success (or not) of their efforts to get back on track. We’ve rated these 1-4 in ascending order… Read more »

Last week, Fall Out Boy’s Infinity on High usurped Norah Jones’ Not Too Late – the previous week’s #1 – as the nation’s top-selling LP, relegating the jazzy songstress to the chart’s #2 position and scoring the Chicago rockers the first chart-crowning debut of their careers. This week, Jones returned the favor. With nearly 211,000 copies of Not Too Late sold during the album’s third week of release, Jones reclaims Billboard‘s coveted throne, leaving Fall Out Boy in the proverbial dust. Sales of Infinity on High dipped by more than 50 percent, dropping FOB to the chart’s #5 slot with… Read more »

After toiling away for seven years and building a rabid fan base in the Christian market, Relient K broke through to mainstream success with the 2004 release “Mmhmm.” The band’s career illustrates that sometimes the least calculated of efforts reap the most rewards. “Our band’s philosophy is we do what we do and whatever happens around us, happens around us,” lead vocalist/songwriter Matt Thiessen says. “We write the songs we want to write and try to have fun with the band. It’s not like we went into the record saying, ‘This would be a great radio song.”‘ Relient K’s fifth… Read more »

The final curtain has fallen on this very public affair. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey have settled the division of their assets, according to court documents. While the ex-Newlyweds have technically been singletons and free to marry others since June, with great success comes great responsibility. For their lawyers and accountants, that is. Details of the settlement were not disclosed and each has agreed not to discuss the other’s financial holdings, but we can remember that Simpson, while we wouldn’t compare her situation to Britney’s, was reportedly raking in more money than her hubby during their three-year marriage. The comely… Read more »

You can’t blame U2’s concert promoter for wondering just how big the band’s Vertigo world tour could have been if it had simply kept on playing. After all, not one ticket went unsold for the 131 shows on the trek, which began March 28, 2005, in San Diego and wrapped December 9 in front of 47,000 fans at Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium. Having been on the road in fits and starts since March 2005, U2 was clearly in a celebratory mood in Hawaii, as Bono danced onstage with a woman from the crowd during “Mysterious Ways” and even pulled a lucky… Read more »