| CMU Daily - on the inside Monday 14th August |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- CMU at the Edinburgh Festival
- George gets on with his sweeping
- US appeals court throws out James Brown rape case
- My Chemical Romance on show cancellation
- Kanye West may be a bit of a diva
- Yorke admits past Radiohead troubles
- POD quit Atlantic
- Gomez to release best of
- Tough Cookie to film backstage at Reading
- Speculation grows about the future of Tower Records
- Musicbrigade enters into pan-European deal with EMI
- Chart Update
- Jamelia samples Depeche Mode
- Rooster frontman is sexy, official
- James Bourne is a meanie, official
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CMU AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL>>
So, we're still very busy covering the largest arts festival on the planet - don't forget you can check out our full coverage at http://www.threeweeks.co.uk, or listen to our daily radio show every day at 11am at http://www.festivalfm.net. Music wise, it's all looking very good. CMU favourites Bell X1 play T on the Fringe tonight, and you can check out our interview with them on the ThreeWeeks site. Those other CMU favourites The Fratellis play later this week and we'll be publishing an interview with them tomorrow, while I was having a very nice chat with Jim Kerr from Simple Minds just this morning ahead of his T on the Fringe gig next week, again, look out for the interview on the ThreeWeeks site in the next few days. Meantime, here's the latest music reviews from the ThreeWeeks review team...
Shoo Shoo Baby at C Venue at Edinburgh Fringe (until 28 Aug)
As their name suggests, Shoo Shoo Baby do not take themselves too seriously. The show consists of a fabulous double act of glamorous cabaret singers and their gentleman friend on piano. They deliver an hour's worth of familiar songs, but with their own original 'delicious' arrangement. The women have outstanding voices and hold sing-offs against each other with wonderful competitiveness, whilst their rendition of 'Walk like an Egyptian' is an absolute hoot - and they throw some funky dance moves in for good measure. There are numerous costume changes and Shoo Shoo Baby dazzle in their glittering attires; the chat to the audience in between songs isn't quite as successful as the giggling during them, but, still, a delightful way to spend an afternoon. AH
tw rating: 3/5
Flanders And Swann at The Pleasance Courtyard at the Edinburgh Fringe (until 28 Aug)
Ladies, never drink Madeira with Tim FitzHigham. The talented duo of the aforementioned FitzHigham and pianist Duncan Walsh Atkins perform a cabaret style show of witty Flanders And Swann songs, combined with their own stylish banter. To be honest, I expected gentle, nostalgic comedy, but Tim surprised me with a realistic portrayal of an aging Casanova in 'Have some Madeira, m'dear', and had me laughing all the way to the police station. All the favourites were represented here. The audience joined in with 'The Hippopotamus Song', and my favourite was 'I'm a Gnu'. In fact, they must have taken Gnu classes at RADA, it was that good. The duo are the perfect example of a singer and accompanist in the perfect musical and comedy partnership. It was a real joy to hear these cleverly written songs performed again. LR
tw rating: 5/5
The Old Spice Boys at the Spiegel Garden at the Edinburgh Fringe (until 23 Aug)
Try resuscitating Noel Coward, send him off to Jamaica, build a raft and voila! The Old Spice Boys wash up on Australia's Byron Bay (somehow). These modern troubadours, in velour and parrot-bright attire, clearly know how to have fun - the ukulele takes the cake, but the home made double bass is a close second. Most songs were penned by the Boys but some were adaptations of Prince and Count Bassie. As they swaggered and jingled about stage, it made me think of them leading their own procession or jamming on their raft as they endeavoured to engage the audience. It's exciting to hear something new and I'm sure the audience won't have seen anything quite as colourful as this trio. KR
tw rating: 3/5
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GEORGE GETS ON WITH HIS SWEEPING
Boy George has started his five days as a street sweeper in New York. This, you'll remember, relates to his run in with the authorities last year after he was accused of wasting police time and possessing cocaine. He avoided prison time in relation to those charges by agreeing to do five days community service. George had suggested some voluntary work in youth or community groups involving music or fashion in some way, but the judge overseeing George's community service decided five days sweeping streets would be more fun. After initially expressing opposition to that idea, George finally agreed (albeit after a jail sentence was threatened if he failed to comply) and as a result the former Culture Club frontman will this week join fellow community service types to clean the streets of central New York. While the authorities wouldn't say where George would be doing his sweeping, the press there have already published photos of him fulfilling his duty to society, and we can presumably expect the media circus to run throughout the week. Despite his initial opposition to the sweeping task, George has more recently said: "I don't care about doing cleaning up. My mum was a cleaner. I've always been a scrubber".
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US APPEALS COURT THROWS OUT JAMES BROWN RAPE CASE
A US appeals court has thrown out the latest attempt by James Brown's former publicist to bring rape allegations against the soul star.
As previously reported, Jacque Hollander claims that Brown raped her at gunpoint in 1988, when she was working for the singer, and blames the incident for causing her to develop a subsequent thyroid condition, which is really the crux of the case (or, rather, why Hollander took so long to pursue the case - her doctor having told her that her state of ill-health was caused by the alleged incident, but not until twelve years later).
The suit, filed back in 2005, claimed that the usual statute of limitations of two years did not apply in this case, due to the fact that the publicist's 'injury' did not become apparent until ten years after it had run out. At the time US Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier dismissed the suit on the grounds that it had been brought fifteen years too late. Now the three judge panel of the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to uphold the lower court's ruling that the statute does in fact apply.
Brown's lawyers have, of course, denied the allegations.
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MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE ON SHOW CANCELLATION
My Chemical Romance have revealed why they cancelled an appearance in San Diego on Saturday, a cancellation which prompted internet rumour to the effect that the band had been seriously injured in a car accident. As it turns out, there were some injuries, but not in a car accident
The band have released a statement which reads: "There are tons of rumours and allegations floating around and we want to clear it all up for you. We also want to express our gratitude for the concern, care, and understanding all of our fans and friends have shown us in the past week."
The band continue: "Last week, while shooting a new video for our new record, 2 of us sustained some damage more than we normally would have. Gerard [Way, singer] tore multiple ligaments in his ankle and Bob [Bryar, drummer] received a bad burn to the back of his leg. These injuries were sustained on Thursday evening. On Friday morning we drove to San Diego to prepare for our performance at Street Scene that we were very excited about. After seeing doctors, we decided to give it our all and rehearse on Friday night. This proved impossible. The pain was overwhelming and we could not pull through without further injuring ourselves."
"We hate cancelling shows, especially now that we are done recording and just want to play. So there you have it, there were no car wrecks, monster attacks or alien abductions, but there were serious injuries that required this to be the way. We apologize for it coming down so last minute and never wished it to end up that way. We promise to be back in San Diego this year. We miss you all and will see you soon, MCR."
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KANYE WEST MAY BE A BIT OF A DIVA
According to reports, Kanye West had a bit of a strop at the recent Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago, because his sound got suddenly cut during his set, and was apparently so pissed off about it all that he later refused to attend a party that he had organised for production trio SA-RA
A 'source' told the New York Daily News: "He threw a hissy fit. When the sound didn't work, he started yelling that he came all the way out to Chicago and he couldn't believe he was being treated like this."
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YORKE ADMITS PAST RADIOHEAD TROUBLES
And you thought they were all so happy. Thom Yorke has told Pitchfork that there have been times when Radiohead have come close to splitting up. Asked if there were moments when the band didn't feel like getting back together, Yorke replied: "Yeah, we have them all the time. It'd be deeply unhealthy if it weren't like that. And that's not just instigated by me. Sometimes people just have enough - they just can't deal with it anymore."
He added, however, that the band had been glad to be together at a recent festival appearance, saying: "When we played Bonnaroo, we got such a nice vibe, a genuine good feeling from the first beat. Things like Bonnaroo give you hope that you can do it the other way."
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POD QUIT ATLANTIC
Rockers POD have announced they are quitting Atlantic Records, and have issued a statement dissing the current management of the Warner division. A statement from the band sent to their fans by email says: "We've been proud to be Atlantic recording artists, but it's not the same place anymore. For most of our stay, we were blessed by a staff that was gracious towards our vision, faith and love of music. It's time to dream again with a new staff and we leave with grateful hearts". Whether Warner are too bothered about loosing the band we don't know - their last album, 'Testify', only shifted half as many units as 2003's 'Payable On Death', so it's possible their relationship with the band had pretty much run its course anyway.
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GOMEZ TO RELEASE BEST OF
We're big fans of Gomez here at CMU, but even we're surprised they have enough tracks to fill a double CD best of collection - though the second CD is going to be all b-sides, so I suppose that explains it. For you tracklisting fans out there, here's what you will find on the best of when it is released next month.
CD1
Whipping Piccadilly
The Best In Town
Catch Me Up
Ping One Down
Tanglin
Bring It On
Champagne For Monkeys
ZYX
Step Inside
Blind
Pop Juice
78 Stone Wobble
Royalty
Old School Shirt
Air Hostess Song
Sweet Virginia
Mississippi Bo Weevil Blues
Old China
CD2
Rhythm And Blues Alibi
Silhouettes
Silence
Butterfly
Get Myself Arrested
Dire Tribe
We Haven't Turned Around
So
Shot Shot
Chickenbones
Flight
Pick Up The Pieces
Big Man
Sound Of Sounds
Pussyfootin
Coltrane
M57
Diskloadout
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TOUGH COOKIE TO FILM BACKSTAGE AT READING
Digital content company Tough Cookie have confirmed that they will again be filming content for internet service provider Tiscali backstage at this month's Reading Festival. The filming will take place in a special Tiscali Sessions Tent, with content made available via a special section on the Tiscali website.
It's the second year the company has filmed backstage at the festival for Tiscali. Last year coverage recorded included performances from and interviews with the likes of Graham Coxon, The Futureheads, We Are Scientists, Echo & The Bunnymen and Roots Manuva.
Confirming this year's recordings, Tough Cookie's Neil Sullivan told CMU: "It's a great opportunity for Tough Cookie to build on last year's success at Reading, at a time when our business is growing exponentially. A growing number of new media portals, agencies and brands are realising the importance of great content and the potential of creating communities of interest around it. We are at the forefront of making this a reality for our clients, like Tiscali."
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SPECULATION GROWS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF TOWER RECORDS
Speculation continues to grow about the future of US music chain Tower Records, due to rumours that the chain will shortly file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the second time the company has had to do so in just over two years.
As previously reported, the future of the music chain dominated conversations at the recent annual convention of US music retail trade body NARM after the major record companies confirmed they were no longer supplying Tower with new music just as the conference opened - a decision reportedly reached after Tower bosses let the majors know they wouldn't be able to meet their August payments.
Analysts now say the future of the company, which has been up for sale since the start of the year, will depend on decisions made by their bankers, CIT Financial. It is hoped a 'Chapter 11 deal' will be reached which allows some kind of takeover or ownership restructure (as happened when the group last applied for Chapter 11 protection), but some fear the bank might now push for all out liquidation.
Billboard quote one financial executive as saying: "Deep down, the industry is pulling for Tower, but a lot depends on how patient the bank is. If they start sweeping the cash [from Tower stores' nightly deposit out of the company's account] and say 'liquidate,' then there is nothing we can do."
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MUSICBRIGADE ENTERS INTO PAN-EUROPEAN DEAL WITH EMI
Stockholm-based Musicbrigade, which recently expanded from its video streaming origins to offer a wider range of digital music services, has announced a pan-European deal with EMI which will allow them to make EMI music and videos available via their online and mobile platforms in 23 European territories. The deal will also allow the company to make EMI music available to customers of their subscription service.
Confirming the new partnership, Simon Gooch, Musicbrigade's VP Of Content & Programming told CMU: "EMI were the first major label to endorse Musicbrigade and the company has been a long-standing partner and supporter of the company since 2000. This new agreement demonstrates EMI's commitment to us and to digital music in general. This deal is a key part of our ambitious agenda to become a major, pan-European player in the European digital music market. Having access to EMI's amazing music catalogue across both video and audio content will allow us to offer single-user, multi-device and multi-platform convergence and will allow Musicbrigade to present more choice to our customers which will considerably strengthen our offering."
EMI's VP Of Digital Distributions & Development, Doug Lucas, added: "This is another example of EMI working closely with partners to develop and encourage new business models, expand our digital reach, and give consumers yet another way to access and interact with our content. Musicbrigade has been one of the pioneers of the online music video market, and EMI is very pleased to be able to work with as they realise their vision of providing both audio and video music products to fans across multiple platforms."
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CHART UDPATE
The girls are still dominating the UK singles chart this week, with the top four containing the same four songstresses as last week - albeit in a slightly different order - so that's Shakira at 1, Cascada at 2, Christina Aguilera at 3 and Rihanna at 4. New entries don't kick in until number 12 where you find Michael Gray and Shelly Poole with 'Borderline'.
Other new entries run thus: the wonderful Mousse T/Dandy Warhols mash up 'Horny As A Dandy' at 17 (hurrah for Loo & Placido who came up with the original of this), Chamillionaire ft Krayzie Bone with 'Ridin' at 19, Cassie with 'Me&U' at 23, Orson with 'Happiness' at 27, David Guetta v The Egg with 'Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away) at 28, Tom Novy & Lima with 'Take It (Closing Time)' at 31, Peter Bjorn & John with 'Young Folks' at 35, Panic! At The Disco with 'Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have' at 39 and Primal Scream with 'Dolls' at 40.
Albums wise, little change at the top, where James Morrison is still number one, with Snow Patrol and Razorlight switching places at two and three. The new entries don't come until the bottom end of the Top 40 - in the form of Chamillionaire's 'The Sound Of Revenge' at 33 and Pink Floyd's 'Pulse' at 34.
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JAMELIA SAMPLES DEPECHE MODE
According to reports, Jamelia has sampled Depeche Mode's 'Personal Jesus' on an upcoming single. The singer apparently told The Sun: "I love a variety of music. People are sometimes shocked at how wide my taste is. I'm a bit of a closet rocker."
"I had finished my album and had left the track off because we tried five times to get it right but something was missing. But it was nagging at me as I knew it could be great. I knew that if I didn't try again it would drive me mad. That's why we had the idea of using Personal Jesus."
The track 'Beware Of The Dog', will be taken from forthcoming album 'Walk With Me', set for release on 25 Sep.
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LOSTPROPHETS SAY MONKEYS BOUNCED
Lostprophets have spoken out against the suggestion that Arctic Monkeys have 'broken' America. Lostprophet themselves arguably have 'broken' America, so perhaps their opinion matters, I don't know.
Frontman Ian Watkins said: "In the UK, the Arctic Monkeys connected with people singing about very introspective things that had to do with this country. Then they go to America and do Snl and everybody there was like, 'Woo, Arctic Monkeys, best band in the world.' And there's some guy in the Midwest going, 'Huh?'. That guy doesn't give a fuck about social commentary on the streets of Sheffield. They didn't break America, they bounced off".
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ROOSTER FRONTMAN IS SEXY, OFFICIAL
Rooster frontman Nick Atkinson is sexy, according to sex toy/lingerie retailer Ann Summers, which named the vocalist 'sexiest festival star' in its second annual 'sexiest awards'. I reckon it's the voice. It's certainly not the hair. Although I believe it may have been cut, recently.
Nick says: "I was flattered when I was nominated, I'm really shocked to have won. I never really think about what I look like on stage, I'm much more concerned with how we're sounding. I guess I should thank my mum and dad really - for passing on such good genes!"
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JAMES BOURNE IS A MEANIE, OFFICIAL
Alright, I don't know that for sure. But The Mirror reports that James Bourne of Son Of Dork (and more famously, possibly, the now defunct Busted) was really mean to members of another band, Switch 22, when they both appeared at an event in lovely Carlisle recently.
Switch 22 frontman Stefan D'Bart said: "We'd been getting on well with the band before the show, except James blanked us. After their set, our manager asked them for a photo with us. But James snapped: 'Look mate, I feel like shit. I'm not doing any fucking pictures for you or anyone!'"