Friday, December 13, 2002

Thanks to the miracle of expediated shipping, there's still time to use The Rocktober.com Gift Guide!

• Roth Sues Former Van Halen Bandmates
  David Lee Roth has filed a lawsuit against his ex-Van Halen bandmates, alledging the band signed a deal with Warner Bros. in 1996 without his knowledge or authorization for increased royalties from sales of albums. He claims that his financial losses were estimated to be at least $200,000 at the end of 2001. Dave could use the cash-- I guess that summer tour with Sammy Hagar didn't pay off so well.
  
  
• Bids Scrapped in Eminem Home Auction
  The infamous auction of Eminem's childhood home continues to go through paces, having weeded out fake bids that drove the price up to 12 mil. The highest real bid seems to be for $75,000. The house has been valued at $91,000, so the seller does't have to sell it at that price.
  
  
• Group Finds Brain Center for Liking Music
  A new study by researchers at Dartmouth College suggests that recalling that melody is the job of a part of the brain known as the rostromedial prefrontal cortex. It is the part that remembers music and is even able to recognize a sour note in the midst of a familiar tune. So the next time a memory is triggered by hearing some cheesy song from your youth, you know what part of your brain to blame.
  
  
• Techno Fest May Change Hands, Skip A Year
  The Detroit Electronic Music Festival, which has brought 1.5 million visitors to downtown Detroit to dance to techno music, has some serious drama going on behind the scenes. Two potential producers have submitted DEMF proposals to the City of Detroit Recreation Department-- one led by festival promoter Pop Culture Media and another led by dance music luminary Kevin Saundersonand former DEMF creative director (and techno legend) Carl Craig. Pop Culture Media has the experience (but they stiffed some artists last year), while Saunderson and Craig have the artistic integrity. There's also the festival might not happen at all-- the festival has yet to make any money for the city.
  

posted by Randy on 11:14 AM | permanent link to this entry

Thursday, December 12, 2002

Dude, seriously. Peep game and check out The Rocktober.com Gift Guide

• Feds Bust NY Music Piracy Ring
  It's good to see the R.I.A.A. gang going after folks who are actually costing them money instead of folks like me who download music to get stuff that is rare, out-of-print, live, bootlegged and so on-- namely getting stuff they aren't selling anyway. About 35,000 pirated CDs, 10,000 DVDs and the equivalent of 421 CD burners were confiscated.
  
  
• Moby Says Area Festival Probably Won't Return In 2003
  Bummer. He's says it's because it's too much hard work-- for his people. "For me, it's easy. I do a few interviews and I play concerts, and it's not the most difficult job in the world. But everybody who's involved with the logistics of planning the tour, it's a lot of hard work. So I think that we've decided to maybe take the year off.". I hope it comes back-- it was a good variety and a fun show.
  
  
  
  Apparently, though, I'm not the only one who is upset about it, since Moby was attacked by three men outside a Boston club last night.. He was maced and punched, but will be okay. How does someone run up on a pacifist vegan and attack 'em? Where's the thrill in that?
  
  
  
  By the way-- if you're one of the millions who liked Moby's Play but have not yet picked up 18, you're missing an album that is just as good.
  
  
  
• Wilco Scares Up New EP, Far East Tour
  I tried really hard to like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but I just couldn't get all crazy about it like my fellow critics did. I put this item here for them. Early next year the group will release an EP which features outtakes from the YHF sessions. No definte release date yet-- but "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" is scheduled for release on video/DVD on Feb. 18.
  
  
• Hip-Hop, Soul Divas Will Waltz to 'Tango'
  Queen Latifah, Lil' Kim and Macy Gray have teamed to record a version of "Cell Block Tango" for the soundtrack to the upcoming filmed version of "Chicago". They're hoping to capture the same audience who went ga-ga for the Christina Aguleria, Pink, Mya & Lil' Kimversion of "Lady Marmalade" from the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack. "Chicago" hits the top 20 markets Dec. 27 and then expands wider on Jan. 3, while the soundtrack is due in stores on Jan. 14. You can pre-order your soundtrack by clicking here, or check out this yet-to-be-spectacularly-helpful official soundtrack page.
  

posted by Randy on 11:09 AM | permanent link to this entry

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Have you checked out The Rocktober.Com Gift Guide yet? What are you waiting for?

• Jermaine Dupri's Cars, Furniture Carted Away By IRS
  "To hell with the price/'cause the money ain't a thing" Jermaine Dupri rapped on "Money Ain't A Thing." Apparently, he was wrong. Dupri owes $2,541,866 to the feds and they recently swept into his home and took furniture, computers and cars to get what was due to them. You can help out Jermanie and celebrate this holiday season by picking up his by picking up his Jermaine Dupri Presents: 12 Soulful Nights Christmas, which features "Little Drummer Girl" by a super young Alicia Keys. In other Dupri related news, So So Def label will now be distributed under the Arista umbrella, but Jagged Edge and Lil' Bow Wow will remain at Columbia.
  
  
• Stereolab Singer Killed After Being Struck By Car
  Mary Hansen, the keyboardist and vocalist for futuristic-retro-pop group Stereolab, was killed in East London on Monday afternoon after being struck by a car while riding her bicycle. She was 36. Hook yourself up with a copy of Emperor Tomato Ketchup in her memory.
  
  
• Aerosmith Contemplating OzzFest-Style Tour For 2003
  Nothing is set in stone yet, but guitarist Brad Whitford says the group is considering an "event" summer tour instead of their usual round of arena shows. I guess it'll give the heshers something to look forward to if Ozzy Osbourne lives up to his promise to not do another OzzFest.
  
  
• Rykodisc Assembles Morphine Favorites, Rarities
  Feb 18. will bring the release of The Best of Morphine, 1992-1995 on Rykodisc. Compiled and sequenced by the band's surviving members, the 16-track retrospective will feature the 1993 rarity "Sexy Christmas Baby Mine" along with two previously unreleased tracks recorded during the band's post-Ryko DreamWorks period. Unfortunately, there won't be anything on it from Like Swimming, which is the home of my fave Morphine song "Early To Bed." Liscencing issues like this are the reasons why we have file trading and CD burners, I suppose.
  
  
• Jam Master Jay Update: New Suspects Being Investigated
  Okay, so maybe it wasn't a sour drug deal turned even worse. Police are allegedly now looking into Jam Master Jay's business partner, Randy Allen and his sister, Lydia. Apparently, Lydia was the person who let the unknown assaliant in and all the people in the studio were Randy Allen's "people." Clikc the above link for the full twisted details-- there's a lot of 'em. Most telling-- Before Jam Master Jay was gunned down, an insurance policy was allegedly taken out, stipulating that if either Jay our his business partner were harmed in the studio, the other partner would collect.
  
  
• L.A. Names Post Office After Nat King Cole
  The former Oakwood Postal Station, serving an area of small shops, apartments and upscale homes in Hancock Park, officially was crowned The Nat King Cole Post Office on Tuesday. when Cole moved his family to the neigborhood, he was the object of scorn becuase of his race. And now they named the post office after him. Never let go of your dreams, kids!. If your looking for a great gift for your grandparents or for the jazz/swing music fan in your life, The Nat King Cole Capitol Records Box Set is a great freakin collection of tunes!
  
  
• Celebrity I-Pods
  How devoted to your favorite artist are you? Enough to get their autographs etched onto your I-Pod? Prove your love to Madonna, Beck or Tony Hawk by picking up their custom enscribed I-Pods.
  

posted by Randy on 12:14 PM | permanent link to this entry

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Don't Panic! There's still plenty of time to check out The Rocktober.Com Gift Guide for the musical obsessive on your shopping list!

• Pictures and Audio From The Philadelphia Guns N' Roses Riot
  When Axl Rose and the gang cancelled their show, the Philly crowd got a little upset. Just a bit. Peep the pics on roadie.net and the RealAudio report from 99x A note to metal show promoters-- in the future, folding chairs are a bad idea.
  
  
• R.E.M. Recharges For 2003 Tour
  R.E.M. has begun announcing dates for its first extensive world tour since 1998. Starting June 27 at the U.K.'s long-running Glastonbury Festival, the trek will hit 18 European festival and headlining dates and will hit North America by the fall. The group is currently is in Vancouver working on its next album, due sometime next year. Also due next year will be some sort of career retrospective set, though you can get the best of the early days by picking up Eponymous.
  
  
• Courtney Love And Winona Ryder's Doc Loses Liscence
  Dr. Jules Lusman had his license revoked by California's medical board for overprescribing narcotics to patients, many of them celebrities. Among his clientelle-- Winona Ryderand Courtney Love. The above link takes you to revocation order which details many of his transgresions.
  
  
• The Who Guitarist Townshend Is Going Deaf
  Not only did The Who's last swing through the U.S. kill John Entwhistle, but it also further sent Pete Townshend down the road towards deafness. "My right ear, which encounters my own edgy guitar and the machinegun strokes of the drums, has suffered badly. I've no idea what I can do about this.," Townshend told The Sun. "I am unable to perform with in-ear monitors. In fact, they increase the often unbearable tinnitus I suffer after shows." Here's something you could do, Pete-- stoping going out on tour and raping your group's legacy. That's a good place to start. You youngstas should pick up a copy of The Who: The Ultimate Collection to hear what you'll be missing-- though the full live guitar assault can be heard best on Live At Leeds.
  
  
• Rehab Diary
  When your fave celebs very publically check into rehab, the good people at Rehab Diary publish their diaries. They're 100% fictional, of course, but freakin' hysterical. Current diaries entries on the site: Melanie Griffith, Robert Downey Jr., Paula Poundstone, Diana Ross, Billy Joel and David Hasselhoff.
  

posted by Randy on 11:52 AM | permanent link to this entry

Monday, December 09, 2002

Don't Panic! There's still plenty of time to check out The Rocktober.Com Gift Guide for the musical obsessive on your shopping list!

• Guns N' Roses Tour Canceled
  After a second no-show by Axl Rose and friends (this time due to an alleged illness) led to a riot, concert promoter Clear Channel Entertainment has cancelled the rest of Guns N' Roses' 2002 tour dates. Reviews and (most importantly for CCE) ticket sales for this tour had mixed results, so CCE apparently decided to cut their losses. In my humble opinion, GN'R should've played killer shows in smaller venues to build a buzz and then hit us off with a kick ass arena show once Chinese Democracy hit store shelves. Appetite for Destruction is still an awesome album after all these years, you should put it in your collection if it isn't already there.
  
  
• Houston's Father May Drop Lawsuit
  ...if she pays him the money he alleges she owes him for negotiating a $100 million contract with Arista Records and getting her out of pot possession charges in Hawaii. Help Whitney out, pick up her Just Whitney album, which hits store shelves tomorrow.
  
  
• BET Cancels Ed Gordon’s Show, “Lead Story” and “Teen Summit”
  I could give a rats ass about "Lead Story" and "Teen Summit," but the cancelation of "BET Tonight with Ed Gordon" is a real cultural loss. It was the only place on television where black artists could discuss their work intellegently without having to awkwardly joke with a white comedian host. It also was the only place that not-quite-as-popular black artists had a chance at televised exposure. Seriously, this sucks. If you never watched exept for that R. Kelly interview, you missed out.
  

posted by Randy on 12:22 PM | permanent link to this entry