| CMU Daily - on the inside 4 Jul 2002 |
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Morcheeba's new album, 'Charango' is out this July. Which seaside town did the trio admit the song 'By The Sea' from the 'Big Calm' LP was about?
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OZZFEST POSTPONED WHILE SHARON HAS CANCER TREATMENT
The Osbourne family’s publicist has announced that Sharon Osbourne, widely regarded as the woman behind Ozzy’s continued success, began surgery yesterday to heal an unspecified but treatable form of cancer. She is expected to make a full recovery. As a result of the treatment two dates of the US Ozzfest have been postponed. The first of Ozzy’s rock events was due to start this weekend in Bristow, Virginia and Pittsburgh. Ozzfest 2002 will now begin July 10 in Pennsylvania with the Bristow and Penn expected to be rescheduled.
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BBC AWARDED DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY
The post-ITV digital terrestrial broadcast license had gone to the BBC and BSkyB coalition. The Corporation, working alongside Murdoch and transmission business Crown Castle, took on a second bid from the ITV companies. The independent television commission, who decided who should get the new franchise, felt the BBC bid was most likely to encourage the population to move over to digital TV – perhaps enabling the government to turn off analogue signals in 2010 as it desperately wants to do. "The commission believes that the BBC/Crown Castle application is the most likely to ensure the viability of digital terrestrial television,” UTC chairman Sir Robin Biggam told reporters: “It will target those viewers who have not been so far attracted by digital TV and will help facilitate the move towards digital switchover." The new service will contain 28 free channels, so consumers have to pay only a one-off cost of around £100 for a digital set-top box. Ex-ITV Digital customers will be able to use their existing box. The licence runs for 12 years and the service should be up and running within months, including an as yet to be confirmed music channel.
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TLC BACK IN THE STUDIO
Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins and Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas are back in the studio completing their fourth album after mourning the death of fellow TLC member Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes. Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, producing the album, told reporters the duo have "held up pretty well. There will be ups and downs throughout, and there will be times when they'll feel it more than others." Recording has already begun on the album when she was killed – so her vocals will appear on three or four of the tracks when the LP is released in the US in the Autumn. “I know she would not have wanted us to stop recording,” Edmonds continued, “As for her being replaced - never. You can't replace a TLC girl."
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NEW CEO APPOINTEED AT VIVENDI
The 63 year old Jean-René Fourtou was last night appointed Chief Executive of the stuggling entertainment group Vivendi Universal. He immediately promised an immediate wide-ranging review of strategy and a solution to the financial crisis facing the business. Jean-Marie Messier, who resigned after the company plunged in to financial crisis following reports of false accounts, made no announcement on his official departure. Mr Fourtou told reporters he had "every confidence" in the company's ability to address the company’s cash crisis. The company’s share price on the Paris stock exchange continued to fall however. Mr Fourtou is also vice chairman of the drugs firm Aventis and has experience of restructuring troubled businesses. Whether this will be enough to prevent the much talked about break up of the group – which would put Universal Music (Mercury, Polydor and Island in the UK) up for sale is yet to be seen.
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PRINCE CHARMING PLEADS NOT GUILTY
Eighties star Adam Ant was in court yesterday facing his much publicised charges of criminal damage, assault causing actual bodily harm and possession of a firearm or imitation firearm with intention to cause fear of violence. Appearing under his real name Stuart Goddard, he pleaded not guilty to the events that occurred in a North London pub in January. Goddard faces his proper trial on 12 August with a pre-trial hearing next Wednesday. Meantime his bail was continued.
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MOBY SUGGESTS 11/09 TRIBUTE
Moby has suggested a New Orleans style event to mark the first anniversary of Setpember 11. Writing at moby.com he says "I think that the day should be like a New Orleans funeral, with the first part of the day devoted to mourning and commemoration, and the second part of the day (or evening) devoted to a celebration in honor of the people who were killed on September 11th". He goes on: "I envision a city-wide reading of the names of the people who were killed on September 11th. This reading could take place in churches, libraries, mosques, synagogues, and so on. Then at dusk there would be a city-wide minute of silence after which the entire city would sing 'Amazing Grace' in unison. They would then re-light the light-memorials, and a fireworks display would ring the city. Then street musicians would perform downtown, turning downtown into a joyful musical celebration, celebrating the memories and the spirit of the people who were taken from us.”
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Answer to Tuesday's CMU pop quiz:
What part of New York, nick-named by the Wu Tang Clan ‘Shaolin’, do Run DMC come from – and, for a bonus point, what university did they go to?
Run DMC come from Staten Island (as do the WU Tang), and went to St John's University there.