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Thousands of fans and friends gathered at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, Thursday morning to say good-bye to flamboyant TLC singer/rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. Close to 10,000 mourners – including Lopes’ former TLC-mates Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas – made the trip to the Atlanta suburb for Thursday’s (May 2) funeral service for Lopes, who was killed in a car accident in Honduras last week at the age of 30. Usher, Arista Records CEO L.A. Reid, Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Timbaland, Mack 10, Da Brat, Raphael Saadiq and… Read more »

John Ondrasik and his band Five For Fighting will be touring with the Goo Goo Dolls beginning June 7 in Atlantic City. The Goo Goo Dolls dates come on the heels of Five For Fighting’s headline tour which culminated May 1 with a sold-out show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. John Ondrasik has been winning kudos from critics for his live performances. Dan Aquilante, writing in the New York Post (March 14, 2002) praised Five For Fighting’s “… low-fi, high-energy show at Irving Plaza… this guy has a songbook full of tunes, many of which are as… Read more »

The body of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was shipped by jet Monday (April 29) from Honduras to Atlanta, according to Carlos Bakota, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Honduras. Lopes’ autopsy was completed over the weekend. “The ambassador [Frank Almaguer] made sure that the officials doing the medical work got it done as quickly as possible,” Bakota said. Bill Diggins, who manages TLC, released a statement Monday saying that there will be a memorial Wednesday in Atlanta for the pop star’s loved ones, and that Left Eye’s funeral will be held on Thursday in the New Birth Missionary Baptist… Read more »

When Dick Clark first pitched “American Bandstand” to ABC as a national series in the 1950s, network executives yawned. “I still have the letter, still have it framed in my office, which in effect said ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you. Thank you, and it’s nice to see your dance party,’” Clark recalls. When he proposed a 50th anniversary special, Clark found out how little television had changed. Despite the show’s iconic place in pop culture, he had to argue the case of “American Bandstand” all over. An idea that was once ahead of its time was now hopelessly behind… Read more »

Of the many fans and musicians devastated by Layne Staley’s death, his former Alice in Chains bandmate Jerry Cantrell was perhaps most affected upon receiving the news. The pair formed the backbone of the seminal Seattle grunge band in 1987, and it was their dichotomy – the tension of Cantrell’s hardened riffs that plodded along as Staley’s sinister vocals crept behind at a skulking pace – that gave the band its appeal to metalheads and grunge punks alike. Cantrell and Staley remained the group’s creative force until their swan song, 1995’s Alice in Chains. In the wake of Staley’s death,… Read more »

Twelve hours, four stages and more than 40 bands marked the end of the three-day Skate and Surf Festival on Sunday. Held at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, the second installment of the now annual event featured performances from Bouncing Souls, Face to Face and the Descendents, among many others. While the Warped Tour travels from town to town with many of skateboarding and BMX culture’s best-known athletes and favorite artists, the stationary Skate and Surf tends to be more down-home, offering quarter-pipes and rails to anybody bold enough to show up with a bike or a board and a… Read more »

Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake love each other very much and have not broken up. At least that’s still the “official” stance a spokesperson for the couple takes when asked of the status of their relationship. And if you believe that, some might think you were born yesterday. The official media statement is in direct opposition to a month’s worth of unconfirmed reports and anonymous eyewitness accounts that say the king and queen of the teen-pop prom have ended their reign. While public opinion favors the notion that the romance is kaput – gossip columnists citing Britney shakin’ it with… Read more »

Canadian rock outfit Cowboy Junkies has lined up a 26-date spring tour and finalized details for its first DVD, a companion to last year’s Zoe Records release “Open.” The tour kicks off May 9 in Detroit and wraps Aug. 7 in Peterborough, Ontario. A couple of low-key dates at California wineries are sprinkled throughout, as well as a number of festival appearances. The DVD, entitled “Open Road,” is culled from the first leg of the band’s 2001 tour. The three-hour long video will feature an eight-song live performance filmed for a Canadian television special at the Quebec City Summer Festival,… Read more »

The Backstreet Boys are planning to shock fans with their next album. Though a spokesperson for the group says a title and release date have not been set, the members are making a concerted effort to transcend the their trademark pop boy-band sound, according to member A.J. McLean. McLean discussed the record Sunday (April 14), when arriving at the taping of MTVIcon: Aerosmith. “It’s not anything like it was before,” he revealed. “It’s a whole new direction. We’re going to be doing rock, we’re going to be doing R&B, we’re going to be doing pop, probably going to be working… Read more »

With its drums of vehemence and old-school claps, there is no “bling” in the Neptunes’ sound on their latest beat offering, the Clipse’s “Grindin.’ ” “We just wanted to strip it down,” Chad Hugo said last month of the beat he and his Neptunes partner Pharrell Williams created. “Just a break[beat] and a rapper. That’s how hip-hop was born. We just wanted to bring that element back to the music scene.” Signed to the Tunes’ new label venture with Arista, Star Trak Entertainment, the Clipse, composed of brothers Malice and Pusha T, have been grinding on the music scene for… Read more »