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With a new album dropping in June and a summer concert schedule in place, all seemed normal enough in the Phish camp as this week began. But the group shocked fans Tuesday with the announcement that it will break up following a two-day festival in Coventry, Vermont, on August 14-15. Frontman/guitarist Trey Anastasio wrote on the band’s Web site, “We all love and respect Phish and the Phish audience far too much to stand by and allow it to drag on beyond the point of vibrancy and health. We don’t want to become caricatures of ourselves or, worse yet, a… Read more »

Nine Inch Nails’ former manager John Malm has shot back at Trent Reznor, who filed a suit against him earlier this week seeking millions of dollars. Not only does Malm refute Reznor’s claim that he and former business manager/accountant Richard Szekelyi ripped off the rocker, he insists that Reznor actually owes him over $2 million in unpaid commissions. After numerous attempts to procure the payments, the manager sued Reznor in April, weeks before the suit against Malm and Szekelyi was filed. “Trent Reznor’s complete lack of loyalty and integrity is astounding,” Malm said in a statement. “After 20 years of… Read more »

When a pop artist leaves the shelter of a major-label nest, the stark reality of being on one’s own can be a sobering experience. But learning to fly solo can also bring tremendous rewards. Although many rock artists have self-released their music after leaving the major-label fold, most pop artists are so dependent on radio play that they have often sought the deep pockets of another major or a large indie label to foot the bill. But several acts – including Evan & Jaron, Sophie B. Hawkins and Alana Davisare forging their own path. Former Columbia duo Evan & Jaron… Read more »

Kurt Cobain and his band, Nirvana, spent only three years in the public eye, and they released only three studio albums. But what he accomplished before committing suicide 10 years ago Monday at age 27 – deciding it was “better to burn out than fade away,” as he quoted Neil Young in his suicide note – was remarkable. Beneath this bridge above the muddy banks of the Wishkah River, a troubled young Cobain would come to escape his unhappy home and the persistent gray drizzle of the Washington coast. Among the cracking concrete supports, he would smoke pot and drink… Read more »

Fans at a Puddle of Mudd show in Toledo, Ohio, got a lot less than they bargained for Sunday night when frontman Wes Scantlin cut the band’s set short, announced he was too wasted to play and eventually found himself in police custody facing a disorderly conduct charge. Those in attendance said that a scant four songs into the band’s performance at Headliners club Scantlin’s bandmates walked off the stage, leaving a stumbling, hostile Scantlin alone. According to concertgoers, Scantlin was, by his own admission to the crowd, “too f–ed up” to perform. Still, he remained onstage for half an… Read more »

The Grammy RSVPs are in and it looks like the boobylicious Super Bowl tandem of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are still on the guest list, but Luther Vandross will be MIA. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the group behind the Grammys, told E! Tuesday that “as of right now, Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake are still on the Grammys. “If we took everyone who is controversial off the show, no one would perform.” The remark came in the wake of CBS affiliates asking the network to broadcast Sunday’s Grammy Awards on a slight delay in case… Read more »

For the humdrum New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, putting on a show to match the glitz, glitter and star power of the rest of Super Bowl Sunday was no easy task. Typical of America’s biggest unofficial holiday, the game was only the icing on an over-the-top extravaganza. There was a gleaming new $450 million stadium to show off, a slew of pricey new ads, and Beyonce, Janet Jackson and P. Diddy to share the field. The biggest cliffhanger of the week wasn’t who would win, but whether Janet’s brother, Michael, would show up. He didn’t, but Justin Timberlake did,… Read more »

Time Warner Inc., the world’s largest media company, swung back to a profit in the fourth quarter of 2003 after reporting a $44.9 billion loss in the same period a year ago because of write-downs at its AOL unit, the company reported Wednesday. Time Warner posted net earnings of $638 million, or 14 cents a share, in the three months ending in December, just shy of the 15 cents per share that analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had been expecting. The year-ago net loss was equivalent to $10.04 per share. Revenues rose 6 percent to $10.9 billion from $10.25… Read more »

Members of the Nation of Islam have begun playing a role in Michael Jackson’s affairs, sources close to the Jackson camp tell The Associated Press, although the controversial group denies having any official part in the pop star’s life. Jackson insiders, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that Nation of Islam members have handled security at the singer’s Neverland ranch and have began taking over some of Jackson’s business affairs since he was accused of committing lewd acts on a child. The group, which in the past has been accused of anti-Semitism and inflammatory, separatist rhetoric, issued a… Read more »

Cris Kirkwood, former bassist for influential alternative rock band the Meat Puppets, remained hospitalized Monday after being shot in the abdomen on Friday. Kirkwood was shot outside a post office in downtown Phoenix by a security guard escorting him off the premises after he was involved in an argument with a woman over a parking space, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center in nearby Banner, Arizona, in critical condition and underwent surgery on the wound, a hospital spokesperson said. As the 43-year-old Kirkwood attempted to back into a… Read more »