Search Results for: the early november

All things must pass-including criminal sentences-and that has the family of the late George Harrison ticked off. The rocker’s wife and son are angrily objecting to the release last week of the deranged fan who broke into the ex-Beatle’s mansion in December 1999 and nearly killed him in a knife attack. An independent panel in England comprising a judge, a psychiatrist and a British citizen determined 36-year-old Michael Abram, a former drug addict who suffers from schizophrenia, was well enough to be released back into the community and set him free on July 4 from the Scott Clinic, a psychiatric… Read more »

Mega-nü-metal bands are kinda like Microsoft. Every time they unveil a product, it’s gotta be more advanced than the last, and each new offering is accompanied with a celebration that upstages the one before. On November 15, 1999, as Korn prepared to release their fourth album, Issues, the band played a rock show at the legendary Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, a site usually foreign to rock shows. On Monday night, to christen the release of their new disc, Untouchables, the band simulcast a one-hour concert from the Hammerstein Ballroom to 40 movie theaters across the… Read more »

Metallica have yet to settle on a Ramones cover to lend to a forthcoming tribute LP to the pioneering punks; perhaps “I Can’t Make It on Time” would be an apt selection. A contribution from the heavy-metal stalwarts is all that co-producer Rob Zombie is waiting on to sign off on the tracks for We’re a Happy Family, which he hopes will hit stores in August. “It’s almost done. We’re just waiting for Metallica to finish their song,” Zombie said while walking the red carpet Saturday at the MTV Movie Awards. Metallica’s delay is not for lack of enthusiasm. After… Read more »

In the city of sin, Britney Spears behaved. There was no dissing of Justin Timberlake during the opening night of the second leg of the Dream Within a Dream Tour. No cigarette smoking. No… whatever vice the rumor mills have her doing this week. Things may have changed in Britney’s well-chronicled life since the last time we saw her onstage – and that’s only if you believe the gossip – but there were no signs of it Friday at Mandalay Bay. The 20-year-old headliner was the same pop princess she was at 19. Nearly every part of Spears’ 90-minute show… Read more »

It feels like Ja Rule is just starting to make his mark on hip-hop, but the husky-voiced MC is already talking about calling it quits. “I’m going to retire after two more albums,” Ja said at Tuesday’s BET Awards press conference, where at least a few reporters thought he was joking. “I’m serious!” he insisted. The “Always on Time” rapper said he’ll deliver The Last Temptation and then a fifth and final album before leaving music to “do a lot of films.” Minutes later, however, Ja revealed that one of his biggest inspirations is basketball legend Michael Jordan, who “retired”… Read more »

The train keeps a-rollin’ for Aerosmith, the bad boys of American rock ‘n’ roll, who are working on a slew of projects before returning to the concert circuit in the fall. The veteran quintet, which wrapped up an eight-month tour of North America and Japan in early February, said last week that it will be the subject of MTV’s second annual mtvICON tribute concert in Los Angeles next month. Kid Rock, rapper Nelly and pop singer Pink were the first to commit to the show, which will be taped at a Hollywood movie studio on April 14 and air on… Read more »

With the surprise U.S. success of Kylie Minogue, Capitol Records is starting to regain its footing in the current release marketplace. The EMI-owned label certainly has to hope the Minogue revival – her album “Fever” has sold 250,000 copies in three weeks of release in the U.S., and the single “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” has sold nearly 3 million worldwide – portends a solid spring for its established stars. Paul McCartney, whose “Driving Rain” album was met with relative indifference upon its release in November, could see boosted sales coinciding with his 24-date tour of the U.S.… Read more »

A former keyboard player with the Backstreet Boys has filed a copyright suit claiming co-ownership of two songs on the group’s Jive album “Black & Blue,” Billboard Bulletin reports. The suit – filed Friday by Tommy Smith in U.S District Court for the Central District in Los Angeles -names group members Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean, Howard Dorough, and Kevin Richardson. Also named is Zomba Enterprises, the publishing arm of the Zomba Group, which has an undisclosed stake in the songs. Smith claims he co-wrote the songs “The Answer to Our Life” and “Time” with Carter, Littrell, and another… Read more »

George Michael’s latest single “Freeek” has been released, accompanied by a video featuring mating dogs, nudity and swearing, which has kept censors busy in both France and Britain. “I’ve realized that… starting with this single, I’ve actually written some fairly controversial stuff for this album,” the 38-year-old star told BBC radio. “Freeek,” which has been edited by both French and British broadcasters, is Michael’s first self-written single since October 1998. Michael said he had spent nearly five years working on a new album but could not say exactly when fans should expect its release. “For me to get it out… Read more »

Sony Music imprint Epic Records is maneuvering to cash in on the industry-defying growth in the gospel music scene, inking a reciprocal marketing and distribution venture with Integrity, the largest independent gospel music company in the U.S. Under terms of the deal, Epic will pipe releases from Integrity labels in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand through the major’s worldwide marketing and distribution machine. In turn, Integrity will market and promote select Christian releases from Epic and fellow Sony division Columbia Records specifically to the Christian bookstore market. The first release set for this treatment is… Read more »