Search Results for: thursday

U2 singer Bono says he has a new nickname around the White House: “The Pest.” The Irish rocker met with President Bush in the Oval Office on Thursday to discuss AIDS and Bush’s new initiative on U.S. aid to poor countries. Afterward, he accompanied Bush to a speech, then had another session with White House officials. “I am a pest, I am a stone in the shoe of a lot of people living here in this town, a squeaky wheel,” he told reporters. “It is much easier and hipper for me to be on the barricades with a handkerchief over… Read more »

South by Southwest, Austin’s annual music conference that usually showcases the best new artists coming down the pike, kicked off, oddly enough, with a plea to go back. The call came from Robbie Robertson. The onetime leader of the Band expressed mild alarm at the state of the music business during his keynote address Thursday morning. Go back, he suggested, to that first moment of musical discovery. “Music took us on a journey, and we’re still on that journey,” he told a packed ballroom at the Austin Convention Center, noting that his own first impressions came during childhood visits to… Read more »

Southern California punk rockers Sugarcult gave new meaning to the saying “bring down the house” in Detroit on Wednesday when their performance at St. Andrew’s Hall was cut short because the floor was caving in. Just after performing their third song and latest single, “Bouncing Off the Walls,” Sugarcult were ordered to halt their set when a manager in the room below the club noticed the ceiling caving in as concertgoers, well, bounced off the walls. St. Andrew’s Hall, a historic building that has hosted the likes of Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, was evacuated and the concert was canceled.… Read more »

Slipknot singer Corey Taylor has moved on up in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. He sealed a deal on Friday (March 15) for a new home in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. However, some neighbors have some reservations about Taylor joining the community, reports the Des Moines Register. The Linden Heights Neighborhood association learned of the purchase last week. One member of the association hoped the musician “was a clarinetist,” reports the paper. When asked how his neighbors should react, Taylor told the Register, “Horror first, then desperation, and a deep need to buy me out.” He joked,… Read more »

Music CDs equipped with copy protection will, if Rick Boucher gets his wish, soon be as obsolete as eight-track cassettes. The feisty Democratic congressman from Virginia says he plans to introduce legislation banning, or at least regulating, compact discs outfitted with anti-copying technology. Few discs sold in America currently feature the controversial scheme – but the recording industry expects that as worries over digital piracy grow, the technique will become widespread. “Suffice to say, there probably will be a legislative response to ensure that consumer rights will be protected,” Boucher said in an interview. Boucher’s complaints are twofold: Americans may… Read more »

Two former Destiny’s Child members filed a federal lawsuit against the group, contending the hit song “Survivor” made derisive comments about them. “Survivor” won a Grammy for R&B performance by a duo or group on Wednesday night. LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson contend the song is in violation of a previous settlement, which precludes either party from making “any public comment of a disparaging nature concerning one another.” A line in the song, quoted in the lawsuit filed in a Houston federal court Wednesday, states: “You thought I wouldn’t sell without you, sold 9 million.” Tom Fulkerson, an attorney for… Read more »

CenterSpan Communications Corp. on Thursday said it struck a deal to distribute Sony Music Entertainment’s music on its peer-to-peer service, marking the first time a major record label has licensed its content to a file-sharing company. CenterSpan agreed to pay Sony Music, a unit of Sony Corp., about $2 million in cash plus 283,556 shares and a warrant to buy 189,037 additional shares of its common stock at an exercise price at $8.11 per share, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. CenterSpan’s stock on Thursday closed up almost 41 cents at $8.75 on Nasdaq. Internet content… Read more »

Former Beatle Paul McCartney will kick off his first North American concert tour in nine years in Oakland, Calif. on April 1, his publicist said on Thursday. McCartney, 59, will play 20 shows in 19 cities, including a two-night stand at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Hotel where the top ticket price will be $350, according to tour promoters. Tickets for the other cities on the eight-week trek of indoor arenas will be priced between $55 and $250, they said. McCartney has been off the road since December 1993, when he wrapped his year-long “New World Tour” of 19 countries. His… Read more »

British punk legends the Sex Pistols are to reissue their anarchic song “God Save the Queen” to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 50 years on the throne, their record company said Thursday. “(The record) is to be reissued around the Golden Jubilee celebrations on May 27,” Virgin Records said in a statement. “It will feature the original artwork.” The single’s anti-royal lyrics and cover image of the queen with a safety pin through her nose caused outrage on its first release in 1977. The song includes the verse: “God save the Queen/She ain’t no human being/There is no future/In England’s dreaming.” While… Read more »

With a leading eight Grammy nominations and a history of Grammy awards, U2 might seem to be in position to sweep the awards on Wednesday. This is one of those years, however, in which no group is considered a clear favorite, neither the Irish rockers nor other multiple nominees like India.Arie or Alicia Keys. “There’s not an obviously clear-cut winner,” said Rick Krim, executive vice president of talent and programming at VH1. “I’m kind of hoping it gets spread around, because there are so many deserving nominees this year.” Some recent ceremonies have been coronations for the year’s most successful… Read more »