CMU
Daily - on the inside Wednesday
16th March
In
today's CMU Daily:
- Accuser completes testimony: Jacko trial update
- Prosecution allege previous Spector gun incidents
- Ian Brown arrested after onstage brawl
- Stereophonics download news
- Single Review: Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life
- Camden go to court for full time orders against flyposterers
- Swedish ISP air data protection concerns after piracy raid
- BPI get court backing to chase file sharers
- Cocteau Twins reunion off
- New Stevie Wonder track gets massive radio play
- Gambaccini quits Jazz FM
- Slipknot man launches label
- Ozzfest US line up announced
- Apple win rights to UK iTunes domain
- Album Review: Various - Danny Howells: Miami
- Basement Jaxx tour
- Madonna to pay tribute to NYC with new track
- Franti back in the studio
- Jacques Your Body gets post-ad re-release
- Tarantino is a Cowell fan
- Born again Korn guitarist has some words for 50 Cent
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CMU
PRESS ROOM>>
KILL
ALL HIPPIES RETURNS
After a short break, legendary rock night Kill All Hippies returns
in 2005 with a special music alliance with TuneTribe.com, fabulous
new artwork and two new rooms!! In 2004 Kill All Hippies introduced
some of the bands of 2005: Kasabian, The Duke Spirit, The Others,
The Rakes, 80's Matchbox B-line Disaster and Little Barrie,
to name a few. Watch out again because this year Kill All Hippies
will be the nurturing ground for another clutch of fabulous
British talent, destined for great things. This month the live
line up includes Planet Of Women, Youth Of Britain, Riff Random
and Elviss, with DJ sets from residents Eddy Temple Morris,
Jeff Automatic and Syrinx, plus the NME DJs. All take place
on Friday March 25th at Canvas, York Way, London, N1; 8.30pm
- late; tickets £5 (£3 in advance). Full press release
at:
http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/killallhippies
Advertise
your releases and events to CMU Daily's 6500+ readership - classified
ad and online press release package just £50 a year. Email
sales@cmumusicnetwork.co.uk for details, or check:
http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/info.pdf
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ACCUSER
COMPLETES TESTIMONY: JACKO TRIAL UPDATE
More Jacko nonsense for ya. Jackson's accuser Gavin Arvizo was
back in the witness stand yesterday facing nice questioning
from prosecutor Tom Sneddon and less nice questioning from Jacko's
defence lawyer Thomas Mesereau.
The
former gave the teenager a chance to explain why he had specifically
told a teacher that Jackson had never abused him as rumours
started circulating after the screening of that Martin Bashir
documentary. Arvizo admitted that he had told his teacher that
Jackson had not abused him under questioning by Mesereau on
Monday. When asked about that by Sneddon, Arvizo said that other
kids at his school had been giving him grief about his friendship
with Jackson after he was seen with the singer on the Bashir
documentary - leading to a number of fights after certain fellow
school students called him 'the kid that Michael Jackson had
raped'.
Arvizo:
"All the kids were already making fun of me at school and
I didn't want anyone to think it had really happened."
With
his questions, Mesereau returned to the allegations that Jackson
had given him alcohol (he accused Arvizo of stealing the alcoholic
drinks off the singer) and to the claims that the Arvizo family
were held hostage at the Neverland ranch in the fall out that
followed the screening of the Bashir documentary. Mesereau is
keen to show that the family had plenty of opportunities to
'escape' from Neverland in the weeks they claim they were forced
to stay there, in doing so rubbishing the 'being held hostage'
allegations. Arvizo admitted he liked being at Neverland because
it was like 'Disneyland', but said that his mother was more
concerned at their prolonged stay there.
Measereau
ended his questioning by discussing the money that Gavin and
his family could make if Jackson was convicted. Needless to
say the teenager was keen to distance himself from any potential
financial gain.
With
the testimonies of Jacko's accuser and the only witness to the
actual abuse allegations - his brother Star - now complete,
the two sides will now bring on a string of other witnesses,
the prosecution trying to show that Jackson has a long history
of behaving inappropriately with teenage boys, the defence aiming
to show the Arvizo family as a bunch of money grabbing crooks.
All good fun. Now bring on those celebrity witnesses.
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PROSECUTION
ALLEGE PREVIOUS SPECTOR GUN INCIDENTS
More from the pop courts, and in documents relating to the Phil
Spector murder trial released this week prosecutors allege the
legendary producer has a history of pointing guns at women,
and that he has been involved in other gun-related incidents.
As everyone must know, Spector stands accused of shooting dead
actress Lana Clarkson at his home back in 2003. Spector maintains
Clarkson killed herself.
In
the motion filed last month, the prosecution listed nine other
occasions when Spector allegedly pointed a gun at someone -
among those were women he dated. The prosecution say: "Spector
has a long history of gun-related violence, much of it directed
against women. It begins in 1972 and continues to the present."
Needless
to say, the prosecution are keen to talk the jury through those
nine other incidents when the case goes to court in Sep, to
back up their claims that Spector was more than capable of aiming
a gun at Clarkson (even if he actually pulled the trigger by
accident). The judge overseeing the case will decide whether
they can do that in May.
Just
as needless to say, Spector's lawyers are dissing the new allegations:
"Number one, he didn't do this in the past, and number
two, he did not kill this lady".
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IAN
BROWN ARRESTED AFTER ONSTAGE BRAWL
More pop stars in trouble with the law (or not, as the case
may be). Ian Brown has been arrested in San Francisco after
an on-stage bust up with a member of his audience. According
to the NME the incident occurred during a gig at the city's
Great American Music Hall. One fan told the paper that Brown
had been complaining about the sound quality at the venue, and
after three songs got so upset that he stopped a song.
Then:
"This guy in a white top jumps onto the stage from the
crowd, rugby tackles Ian Brown to the floor. Everything stops
and the band members run to the aid of their leader". The
specifics of the brawl that followed are unclear, though the
band left the stage for a good fifteen minutes before returning
to complete their set, with only a couple more sound problems.
Brown
was arrested and taken in for questioning shortly after the
gig, though a spokesman has told NME no charges have been brought
against him. More if and when we get it.
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STEREOPHONICS
DOWNLOAD NEWS
Time now for some Stereophonics download news. First, Kelly
Jones et al are releasing a never-before-available version of
one of their earliest tracks, 'Looks Like Chaplin', via charity
download site War Child. Good for them. More at http://www.warchildmusic.com
.
Next
up, we hear that V2 are somehow making the band's new album
'Language. Sex. Violence' available via Kazaa on a legit 99-cents-per-track
basis. Not sure how it works but Kazaa have long wanted record
labels to work with them to get legit download sales up and
running via their network, so it will be interesting to see
how V2's dabbling in that area works out.
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SINGLE
REVIEW: Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life (Saddle Creek)
The new Bob Dylan this, anti-Bush that. What more do you need
to know about Conor Oberst and co? It's no secret that Oberst
is the 25 year old who has achieved more than most musicians
many years his senior. And needless to say, another genius offering
here. 'First Day...' is a relaxing, sombre piece that again
reminds us all why we think this guy's a genius. Perfectly accentuated
with his lyrical wit and acoustic guitar is the voice of a man
whom speaks to many a college kid with more relevance than anyone
else today. YN
Release date: 21 Mar
Press contact: Hermana [all]
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CAMDEN
GO TO COURT FOR FULL TIME ORDERS AGAINST FLYPOSTERERS
Camden Council were back in court yesterday in their bid to
have permanent Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) issued against
four employees of ambient marketing firm Diabolical Liberties
for their involvement in the sinister-evil-and-occasionally-life-threatening
pursuit of flyposting.
As
previously reported at length, Camden Council began its new
campaign against the use of flyposting, especially in the music
sector, last year by threatening to issue ASBOs against any
marketing executive who sanction a flyposting campaign. An ASBO
essentially acts as a 'final warning' - once issued if those
execs are found to be involved in a flyposting campaign in the
Camden area they face immediate fines and a possible prison
sentence.
Most
of the record labels, gig promoters and media companies whose
employees were targeted by an ASBO quickly committed to stop
using flyposting as part of their marketing mix. However Diabolical
Liberties, the London based ambient marketing firm who have
coordinated flyposting activity for many music companies over
the years, let the matter go to court arguing flyposting did
not constitute 'anti-social behaviour' in the eyes of the law.
Last
year the courts initially sided with the council and issue a
temporary Order forbidding four of Diabolical Liberties' employees
from being involved in anyway in flyposting in Camden. Those
four employees were back in court yesterday where the Council
were aiming to have those Orders made permanent.
As
it happened three of the four Orders were dropped because of
changing circumstances since the last court case. Two of the
employees, James Heighway and Dominic Murphy, had left Diabolical
Liberties to set up their own agency, while a third, Anna McAree,
was now working in a purely administrative role, so the courts
agreed ASBOs were no longer required against them.
Which
means all eyes are now on Diabolical Liberties MD Tim Horrox
who, presumably keen to clear the way for his company to continue
coordinating flyposting activity in North London, continues
to allege that that the council is misusing anti-social behaviour
laws in the flyposting debate. Highbury Corner Magistrates Court
will again consider that argument today.
Outside
the court Heighway and Murphy took the opportunity to blatantly
plug their new business. "This episode has put us both
under considerable strain and stress and we are glad to put
it behind us and move on to future challenges. Both of us resigned
from Diabolical Liberties early last year and have since set
up Brotherhood Media Ltd, an independent media agency offering
creative alternatives to flyposting. In its first four months
Brotherhood Media Ltd worked with many major and independent
record labels delivering effective campaigns both in London
and across the country." So now you know.
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SWEDISH
ISP AIR DATA PROTECTION CONCERNS AFTER PIRACY RAID
Despite a compromise being reached between the music industry
and internet service providers in the Netherlands, elsewhere
in Europe relations between the two remain tense. In Sweden
authorities have raided the servers of Bahnhof, the country's
oldest and largest ISP, as part of a campaign by Swedish anti-piracy
organisation Antipiratbyran.
They
claim the company's servers hosted thousands of pirated movies,
music files and software and that they had resisted requests
to work with the content owners to tackle the problem. The Motion
Picture Association Of America, who are becoming increasingly
proactive in the battle against online piracy, described Bahnhof
as a "haven for high-level internet piracy for years"
and welcomed the raid.
Bahnhof,
however, have rejected many of the allegations against them.
While there are reports that they have suspended two of their
own staff over allegations they were using the company's server
to host pirated material, the ISP, like others in the sector,
stress that they cannot be held liable for any copyright violation
undertaken by their customers. As for working with the entertainment
industry to identify key violators, the company, again like
other ISPs, stress data protection concerns when accused of
not cooperating with the content owners.
In
that regard they have told reporters data involving as many
as 20,000 users has been seized in the latest raid on their
servers - the first such raid to come with no prior warning
- and that that may well be a violation of the country's strict
data protection laws. Latest reports suggest the Swedish Data
Inspection Board is now set to investigate those allegations.
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BPI
GET COURT BACKING TO CHASE FILE SHARERS
Talking of which, our very own BPI have used the courts to force
six ISPs to hand over the names and addresses of 31 more alleged
file-swappers. On winning the court's backing in tracing those
pesky file-sharing kids, the BPI's Geoff Taylor told reporters
that judges had dealt "a blow for illegal uploaders who
believe that the law simply does not apply to them".
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COCTEAU
TWINS REUNION OFF
Damn. The Cocteau Twins reunion planned for this year's Coachella
Festival in California is off. The festival's organisers told
reporters yesterday: "It is with regret that Cocteau Twins
announce they will not be performing at the Coachella Valley
Music Festival on April 30 as had been planned. Due to personal
reasons, member Elizabeth Fraser has decided that she is unable
to participate in the reunion, and apologies for any inconvenience
that this has caused."
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NEW
STEVIE WONDER TRACK GETS MASSIVE RADIO PLAY
The first single from Stevie Wonder's new album, 'A Time To
Love', due out via one or another of Universal's imprints in
May, is causing quite a spin in the US. The track, called 'So
What The Fuss', has received so much play since being serviced
to radio that it has gone in at 14 on America's R&R/Mediabase
AC Radio Chart - the highest new entry position ever. The track
in question is a bit of an all star affair featuring Prince
on guitar and En Vogue on backing vocals.
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GAMBACCINI
QUITS JAZZ FM
Paul Gambaccini is quitting London's Jazz FM following the station's
decision to go the Smoooooooooth FM route. Gambaccini had presented
the station's weekly jazz chart show for two years. The station
is also losing its lunchtime show host, Nicky Horne, who is
jumping over to Capital Gold.
Jazz
FM bosses paid tribute to both departing DJs, adding that they
had a number of high profile new appointments in the pipeline
as they go through the station's revamp.
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SLIPKNOT
MAN LAUNCHES LABEL
Slipknot drummer M Shawn Crahan - known to Slipknot heads as
Clown or #6 - has launched his own label under the Sanctuary
umbrella - Big Orange Clown Records. According to Billboard
his first signing is Gizmachi - a metal quintet from upstate
New York.
Commenting
on his A&R ambitions for the label, Crahan told Billboard:
"I'm always looking for that song - whether it's classical,
country, rap, hip-hop, hardcore, metal, whatever - I'm looking
for people who dig into their souls and they mean it. If they
do, I'm going to be involved, because they might write that
song that will for one minute make the world take a second to
think about it and maybe bring on change."
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OZZFEST
US LINE UP ANNOUNCED
Now that we've strayed into the world of rock, the line up for
the 2005 US Ozzfest tour is out - and we're talking Black Sabbath,
Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Black Label Society,
Rob Zombie, As I Lay Dying, Mastodon, The Haunted, In Flames,
Arch Enemy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Bury Your Dead, Soilwork,
Trivium, It Dies Today and A Dozen Furies, among others. More
at http://ozzfest.com.
As
previously reported, the UK edition of Ozzfest will appear as
part of this year's Download festival at Donington.
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APPLE
WIN RIGHTS TO UK ITUNES DOMAIN
Apple Computers has won the right to the itunes.co.uk domain
in the British courts. The UK domain for its digital music brand
was owned by former teenage dot-com millionaire and CyberBritain
CEO Benjamin Cohen. Web users who typed in the URL were taken
to Cohen's QuickQuid website with music offers always near the
top of the page.
Cohen
claimed that he had registered the domain prior to Apple registering
any trademark for the iTunes name. He also alleged that the
computer giant had been guilty of bullying tactics in their
bid to gain control of the web address. However the courts sided
with Apple and ordered Cohen to hand over the domain. The internet
entrepreneur is expected to appeal the decision.
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ALBUM
REVIEW: Various - Danny Howells - Miami (Global Underground)
The arrival of a new Global Underground compo is a pretty significant
event in any dance music fan's calendar - but for every anal,
trainspotting prog-fan it's a bona fide wet dream. Yes, as was
the 'hot-topic' of geek forums the world over for the last six
months, the twenty-seventh instalment in the uber-successful
series sees Brit jock Danny Howells accept the revered GU Challenge,
with his mix based on a recent set at the Space club in sunny
Miami. To save time I'll forgo the obligatory history lesson/profile
on Howells, bar to say that today he is one of the world's busiest
and most in-demand DJ's, having properly shed that hampering
'warm-up DJ' tag that was stuck on him in his early career.
Here we hear what Howells gets paid (a lot) for - warm, succulent
house music, seasoned with breaks in a sun-drenched sauce. Neither
of the two discs that come with this album can really be called
the warm-up or the more subtle, as both are pretty rocking -
at a push disc one could perhaps be considered the more summery,
housey performance, contrasting with disc two's slightly more
vigorous, warped electronic beats. Curiously, the beat-matching
is pretty off throughout both; leading me to believe this was
actually recorded live unlike every other GU comp, save their
first timeless release featuring the late, great Tony DeVit.
Nevertheless, what counts is that the actual 'mixing style'
of tracks and their programming is still first-rate and the
warm flowing currents of music are only slightly polluted by
the clashing beats of the mixes. Although I expected so much
more from our Danny, this release is still worthy of the success
I'm positive it will enjoy - even if it'll only be due to the
label's vast international fan club. OG
Release date: 11 Apr
Press contact: Get Involved [all]
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BASEMENT
JAXX TOUR
Basement Jaxx have announced a UK tour and some festival type
dates for Jun and Aug. Dates as follows:
17
Jun: Glasgow Academy
18 Jun: Manchester Apollo
19 Jun: Leeds University
21 Jun: Portsmouth Guildhall
22 Jun: Birmingham Academy
25 Jun: London Hyde Park Wireless Festival
20 Aug: Dublin Marley Park
26 Aug: Cornwall Eden Project
27 Aug: Liverpool Creamfields UK
28 Aug: Edinburgh Corn Exchange
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MADONNA
TO PAY TRIBUTE TO NYC WITH NEW TRACK
Madonna will pay tribute to New York on her next album with
a song called 'I Love New York' (which is exactly what the very
tasteful snow globe one of the CMU team brought back from his
recent trip to NYC says - except the 'love' bit is actually
a heart - perhaps Warner could pay us to use it for the cover).
As yet there is no release date for the follow up to the last
Madonna album - 2003's 'American Life'.
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FRANTI
BACK IN THE STUDIO
Politically inspired musician, poet and activist (and CMU hero)
Michael Franti is heading to Jamaica to work on his new album,
which he hopes to release later this year. The album has been
heavily influenced by recent trips to Iraq, Palestine and Israel,
so we can expect a typically politically charged offering. More
on the album when we get it.
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JACQUES
YOUR BODY GETS POST-AD RE-RELEASE
That very very fine 1997 Les Rythmes Digitales' track 'Jacques
Your Body' which the uninitiated may know better as "the
song from that transformer car robot ad", is getting a
re-release thanks to the ad's popularity. Although originally
released by Wall Of Sound, the re-release will come out via
Ministry imprint Data.
On the re-release, and the ad that has secured the track new
popularity, Wall Of Sound boss Mark Jones told CMU: "It's
really a seminal Wall Of Sound release that has never dated.
When the storyboard for the C4 advert came through we immediately
knew it would work but, like everyone who has seen it, we were
blown away when we saw the finished thing. Wall Of Sound have
been involved in a lot of very successful synchronizations over
the years but I have to say I think it's the most perfect music
and ad synergy we've ever worked on. Musically it shows once
again just how far ahead of the game young Mr Stuart Price really
is."
Press info from Darling.
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TARANTINO
IS A COWELL FAN
Gossip time, and Quentin Tarantino has told reporters he's a
huge Simon Cowell fan and that he never misses an episode of
American Idol: "He's why I watch 'American Idol'. I like
the singers, but I watch it to hear him. He's a good critic,
he's not rude, he's honest. I watch it with a bunch of black
girls and they're like, 'Simon's always right' and 'there's
Simon keepin' it real'".
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BORN
AGAIN KORN GUITARIST HAS SOME WORDS FOR 50 CENT
Korn guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch, who quit the rock band after
discovering God, has said that he wants to 'save' 50 Cent. No
really. Apparently the rocker has written a track which he describes
as a "personal letter to 50 from God". He plans to
show the lyrics to Fiddy himself. If the rapper is "willing
to talk" Welch won't release it. "But if the reaction
is not positive" Yahoo Music quote Welch as saying, "I'm
going to share it with the world". Can't wait.