| CMU Daily - on the inside 8 Oct 2002 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Chapman Makes Bid For Early Release,
• Another Award For Bono,
• Asher D Is Out Of Prison,
• Review: Dzihan And Kamien - Gran Riserva,
• Foo Fighters Announce US Tour Dates One By One,
• Ash Clips Online,
• Coxon On His Blur Split,
• Young – Best Seller But Not Record Breaker,
• Review: Badly Drawn Boy – You Were Right, • Gorillaz Go DVD,
• Jay Z – Allstar Line Up For The Blueprint II,
• Bullseye Bowen Quits Radio Show After Racist Remark,
• Lombardo Back With Slayer,
• Bertelsmann Admit To Nazi Past,
• Tabloid Bits
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Why was the 1970 Kinks track 'Lola' initially denied radio airplay - and how did they overcome the problem?
Answer tomorrow
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CHAPMAN MAKES BID FOR EARLY RELEASE
Mark David Chapman, jailed for life after admitting to shooting dead John Lennon in 1980, is making another bid for an early release from prison. It is the second time in two years that Chapman has sought parole from Attica state prison. In 2000 he argued that he was no longer a danger to society and had overcome the psychological problems which led him to shoot the ex-Beatle – he claimed a voice in his head told him to shoot the star. Yoko Ono told the 2000 parole hearing that she would not feel safe if Chapman were released. The latest bid comes just two days before what would have been Lennon’s 62nd birthday.
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ANOTHER AWARD FOR BONO
Bono has been named the 2003 MusiCares Person of the Year by the Recording Academy for his ongoing humanitarian efforts. The honour will be officially made at a tribute dinner on 12 Feb in New York, an event which will feature a ‘silent auction’ in support of MusiCare’s Financial Assistance Program, which helps music professionals in times of financial, medical, and personal hardships.
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ASHER D IS OUT OF PRISON
Ashley Walters, aka Asher D of the So SolidCrew, was released from the Rugby Young Offenders yesterday morning. He was there serving an 18 months sentence for possessing a loaded gun. On announcing his release a spokesperson told reporters: "Asher has used his time in prison to think hard about his future and has been working on many new songs. He is looking forward to building on his already successful career as a musical artist and actor." He plans to release a solo album next year, and is considering some film offers.
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REVIEW: Dzihan and Kamien - Gran Riserva (Couch Records)
Returning from their two year hiatus after the excellent 'Freaks and Icons' LP, Dzihan and Kamien are cutting a downtempo path which is based in jazz but touches house. Taking influences from their musical fathers (who star on the album sleeve) they take reference from the 70's and the East (from their dads' experiences touring). A variety is on offer from the upbeat disco toasted with reggae rhyme of 'Sliding' to the Bjorkish 'Drophere' with its haunting lyrics of Ma Dita, and on to the Arabian strings of down tempo 'Ford Transit'. House is again shown with a top production of 'Deep Kitsch' which is nowhere as fluffy as the title suggests. The old bluesy vocal sample in 'Dundadeova' rips off Moby and the rather dull 'Airport' doesn't fair well. More chilled than their debut it makes good lounge listening. A good return from this talented Vienesse pair. PV
Release date: 11 Nov
Press contact: Zzonked [all]
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FOO FIGHTERS ANNOUNCE US TOUR DATES ONE BY ONE
The Foo Fighters are about to embark on a US tour where dates will be announced a few days before each gig, with priority tickets available to subscribers of Sirius Satellite Radio who are sponsoring the tour. Only two of the eight dates have been confirmed so far - they will play LA on 22 Oct and New York on 31 Oct. The tour, to promote new album ‘One by One’ will then head to Europe, where dates have already been published – it kicks off in Manchester on 16 Nov.
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ASH CLIPS ONLINE
Clips of Ash’s star studded horror movie which will feature on the band’s forthcoming DVD have surfaced on the internet, according to the NME. Two clips have been posted on the Ash fansite www.ash-unofficial.com. The first sees Coldplay’s Chris Martin being interviewed following a gruesome murder, while a second features a silhouetted Dave Grohl talking to Ash. Other stars appearing in the movie – called ‘Slashed’ - include Moby, The Hives, The Vines, Dave Grohl and Neil Hannon and Coldplay singer Chris Martin.
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COXON ON HIS BLUR SPLIT
Graham Coxon has been talking to the Scotsman about his split from Blur. "I haven't really been involved in anything with Blur since May," he confirmed. Talking about his alcohol problems, he explained his problems became worse when he tried to quit drink last year: "I think a lot of people thought I was easier to deal with when I was drunk, because I would do as I was told. I was quiet, I was in the corner." As Fatboy Slim said two months ago, Coxon hasn’t been working on the new Blur album, and as he told reporters last week, he was subsequently asked to leave the group by the band’s management. He has been spending more time working on his solo material.
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YOUNG – BEST SELLER BUT NOT RECORD BREAKER
Insiders are predicting that while pop idol Will Young’s new album, released yesterday, will be a best seller this Christmas it is unlikely to break any records. His debut single, Anything Is Possible/Evergreen, sold more than a million copies within its first week, going straight in at number one in the UK charts in February. "He has record-breaking status because of that," David Roberts, editor of The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, told the BBC. “But, although the album will sell well, Pop Idol's popularity is beginning to wane – I doubt he’ll break the record for the biggest-selling debut album by a solo male artist. Put it this way - if I was a betting man I think I would say no." Roberts reckons Young will maintain his big fan base for some time, but that he won’t beat Craig David, whose debut album ‘Born to do It’ sold a record breaking 1.8 million copies.
Kelly Clarkson, American Idol winner, scored the highest-selling single of any new release for three years in the US when ‘A Moment Like This’ sold 236,000 copies in its first week on full release last month. Clarkson’s album is expected next year, Gareth Gates debut LP will be released in a few weeks time.
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REVIEW: Badly Drawn Boy – You Were Right (Beggars / Twisted Nerve)
A magical number for Mr Drawn Boy which has something of a strange nostalgic feel - you can’t help thinking you’ve heard it before somewhere. Not because it’s all been done before (though it is very much that distinctive BDB sound), but because it has a clever familiar feeling from the first time you hear it. They’re doing one of those ‘release and delete on the same day to get maximum sales’ things, which is a devious marketing you might not expect from Beggars or Gough, but as he said himself, most singles these days have a one week life expectancy, so you might as well manipulate that fact. I can’t help thinking he were right. CC
Release date: 14 Oct
Press contact: Beggars [all]
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GORILLAZ GO DVD
Gorillaz are set to release a full length DVD called, simply, ‘Phase One: Celebrity Take Down’ on 11 Nov. It will feature animated promotional clips for five songs from Gorillaz' self-titled Parlophone debut – ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’, ‘Clint Eastwood’, ‘19/2000’, ‘Rock the House’ and ‘5/4’ - plus a mini documentary, a gallery, interviews, and interactive extras. A special edition release will include a 48-page booklet and sticker sheet and enhanced CD-ROM including games, screen savers, wallpaper, magazine articles, and more.
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JAY Z – ALLSTAR LINE UP FOR THE BLUEPRINT II
A whole host of guest stars will appear on Jay Z’s next album, ‘The Blueprint II’, the follow up to last Autumn’s 'The Blueprint'. Beyonce Knowles, Dr Dre, Rakim, The Neptunes' Pharrell Williams and Lenny Kravitz all feature. According to the NME The Beyonce track, '03 Bonnie & Clyde', is mooted to be the first single.
Talking about the album Jay Z said: "My whole thing was to record a whole lot of music coming off 'The Blueprint'. That was considered a classic as soon it came out. You know how people always compare an artist's last album to their latest? I knew that that was going happen, so I wanted to make sure it was extra tight."
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BULLSEYE BOWEN QUITS RADIO SHOW AFTER RACIST REMARK
Veteran entertainer Jim Bowen has quit his radio show on BBC Radio Lancashire after making a racist remark. During his The Happy Daft Farm show last Friday he referred to a female training officer as a ‘nig-nog’. Although he later apologised on air, and BBC Bosses only gave him a warning, he decided to resign from the show, and probably retire from his career in entertainment.
When asked by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph if he was planning on retiring he said: "Yes, although in this business you don't actually retire. What happens is that the phone stops ringing and sometimes little hiccups occur like this one. Basically you do as the business tells you." He went on: "No racial connotation was ever intended and, having said all that, I should have been sharp enough to correct the error. I almost immediately apologised for it as it was, to say the least, not clever. Sadly, when a 65-year-old is employed he brings with him a certain amount of baggage from his era and sadly sometimes this doesn't sit well in 2002.”
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LOMBARDO BACK WITH SLAYER
Slayer may well recruit their original drummer Dave Lombardo to take the place of Paul Bostaph, Slayer drummer since 1994, who has suffered an elbow injury. Lombardo, from the band’s original line up, has been taking drumming duty on a recent tour but word is both guitarist Jeff Hanneman and singer / bassist Tom Araya have asked Lombardo to drum when they record their next album. He told reporters: "I'm definitely in". That said it could be some time before recording begins – no new songs have been completed as yet. "This isn't going to be happening for a while," Lombardo confirmed. "They've taken two or three years to do records before, so I'm sure I can expect the same."
Lombardo, meanwhile, will head into the studios this December to record another album for the (very) experimental band Fantômas - a one-song album composed of 20 parts. "It's insane, like our first album [the eponymously titled 1999 release]," he said. "But the song's a bit longer. It's music put in a way that you feel it's unnatural, but when you listen to it time and time again, it's very natural. It's a real honor to do it."
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BERTELSMANN ADMIT TO NAZI PAST
German media giant Bertelsmann, who own the BMG music group, has admitted it lied about its Nazi past and that it made big profits during Adolf Hitler's reign in Germany using Jewish slave labour. The company set up a commission to look at its past – and in particular how, during the rise of the Nazi party in the thirties, it restructured itself from a religious and school book publisher to supply millions of anti-Semitic texts.
Independent Historical Commission Chairman Saul Friedlaender, an Israeli historian, told a news conference: "Bertelsmann published a variety of papers and books that clearly had anti-Jewish bias.” He confirmed that the company had targeted the youth market with its ‘Exciting Stories’ series and the ‘The Christmas Book of the Hitler Youth’ annual which pushed its sales up 20 fold. He also said that, while the Nazis shut down the company in 1944, this was probably because of war shortages and not because of subversive texts, as it was said at the time. "In 1945, the legend that C Bertelsmann was closed down because of resistance to the Nazis smoothed the way for the occupation authorities promptly granting the firm a new licence to publish.”
The company immediately issued a statement apologising for its wartime activities and false corporate history. Saying the company accepted the commission's finding the group’s chairman Gunther Thielen said: "I would like to express our sincere regret for the inaccuracies the Commission has uncovered in our previous corporate history of the World War Two era as well as for the wartime activities that have been brought to light.”
The 800 page report, which Bertelsmann plan to make public, was commissioned after media reports on Bertlesmann's Nazi past. About 6,000 German companies are contributing to a 5.1bn euro ($5bn) settlement with hundreds of thousands of Nazis slave labourers. Other companies, such as Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank have also set up commissions into history during the Third Reich.
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TABLOID BITS
Jarvis Cocker’s wife Camille Bidault-Waddington is expecting their first child. The Pulp singer told The Sun: "I'm delighted, really, really pleased. Camille had a bit of morning sickness for a while but she's fine now. I can't wait."
Robbie Williams, meanwhile, spoke about his split with songwriter Guy Chambers while at the premier of the 30th anniversary of the Rocky Horror Show, which stars his friend Jonathon Wilkes. He told reporters: "My mum says if you have not got anything nice to say about anybody, go to the News Of The World … I wish Guy all the best of luck. I don't mean that with any sarcasm. I love him to bits. He's great."
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Answer to Monday’s pop quiz:
Which rock star said: “I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to”?
Mr Elvis Presley