| CMU Daily - on the inside 24 Oct 2002 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Elliot disappoints the crowd with Aaliyah tribute,
• Leslie takes time off,
• NME plan Nirvana week,
• Review: Fischerspooner – The 15th,
• Fame Academy Nashville style,
• Presley estate blocks unofficial DVD,
• Blur on new technology and faraway places,
• Glastonbury play cancels Manchester dates,
• Teen entertainment mags merge,
• Xfm goes in print,
• Review: Teenage Fanclub - Four Thousand Seven Hundred And Sixty Six Seconds…,
• Oasis add Nottingham dates,
• REM work on album 13,
• Liverpool’s audioslave profit from namesakes,
• Live Jamiroquai DVD due,
• Swansea club storms Welsh Music Award nominations,
• The S Club movie
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Last real names question – promise. John Osbourne, John Ravenscroft and John Mellor - what stage names do we know these three by?
Answer tomorrow
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ELLIOT DISAPPOINTS THE CROWD WITH AALIYAH TRIBUTE
Missy Elliott failed to impress fans on Tuesday night as she took part in an Aaliyah tribute at a benefit gig as part of the Vanity Fair In Concert Series in New York. Missy’s performance, where she was expected to perform some of her own new material and a number of classic Aaliyah tracks, was set to be the highlight of the evening. Audience reaction was immense as she walked on stage, but enthusiasm fell when she forgot the words to her forthcoming single ‘Work It’ telling the crowd she still wasn’t used to performing her new material. But she wasn’t very good at remembering the lyrics to Aaliyah’s songs either, even stumbling on ‘One In A Million’, an Aaliyah track Missy wrote. After the dancers and backing band has gone through a few songs and Elliott had shouted a few remembrances of her times with Aaliyah, Missy announced: "That's our show, goodnight!". The crowd weren’t impressed by the short set and started calling out for Elliot to come back on and perform some of her own hits – but when the band start playing ‘Get Ur Freak On’ Elliot called it off saying she didn’t know the words! She apologized again, threw a signed t-shirt into the crowd, which was immediately thrown back on stage by unhappy fans.
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LESLIE TAKES TIME OFF
ITV have announced John Leslie will take some time off its daytime show ‘This Morning’ after revelations he was the man accused of date rape by Ulrika Jonnson. Jonnson talked about the date rape, alleged to have taken place in the late eighties, in her new autobiography and on a TV documentary last week. It became apparent over the weekend the man involved was now a mainstream TV presenter, and rumours as to which one spread like wildfire as two more women made rape accusations in the press, while friends of the mystery man denied the allegations. John Leslie’s name was made public seemingly by mistake on Matthew Wright’s Channel 5 show yesterday morning. While some print and most broadcast media are still not naming Leslie the Evening Standard in London and Evening News in Leslie’s hometown Edinburgh splashed with the story last night, and the Media Guardian have run the story this morning. Leslie, who has helped This Morning double its viewing figures since he took over from Richard and Judy, will not be on the show today. He is understood to be taking advice from lawyers and publicists on how he should handle the allegations.
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NME PLAN NIRVANA WEEK
NME are planning a ‘Nirvana Week’ to coincide with the release of the new Nirvana track ‘You Know You're Right’, the only new track to appear on the forthcoming Greatest Hits album. The music paper will publish extracts of Kurt’s diaries, currently being serialised in the Observer, a summary of the diaries and, for Kurt fans everywhere, some Nirvana posters. As part of the special week they are asking readers to email in their favourite Nirvana memories, stories and tracks to [email protected] – the best will be published in the NME out on 5 Nov.
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REVIEW: Fischerspooner – the 15th (Ministry/FS Studios)
With hype the way it is, it seems like ages ago that everyone was discussing what Electroclash is (was) and how it was going to ‘blow up big time’. And in fact it may still happen – with a pending remix for Kylie the mainstream may still pay respect to the odd new wave New York pair. Stranger things have happened. The Radio edit is, as you might expect, a stripped down eighties electronica work out that reminds one of the Pet Shop Boys more than some hipper-than-thou NY eighties outfit. A fairly Bronski Beat remix comes from Felix Da Housecat, the ‘Sono Dub Mix’ isn’t worth talking about, but the Tommie Sunshine mix is an interesting blend of rigid digital drums overlaid by layers of guitars: filtered, muted, chords, lead roles are all played. Worth it for this mix. JC
Release date: 4 Nov
Press contact: Cool Delta [all]
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FAME ACADEMY NASHVILLE STYLE
The man behind MTV’s ‘The Real World’ - George Verschoor – is launching a country music pop idol in the US which will base itself on the BBC’s critically panned Fame Academy. Auditions began in Nashville yesterday with some 400 wannabe country stars competing for a place on the show. Ten finalists will be selected from 30 auditions around the US. Like the Fame Academy the finalists will then live together in a Big Brother style house where they will meet, write, and work with people from Nashville's country music industry. Here’s hoping the show gets a better reaction than Fame Academy when it gets aired.
Elsewhere in the world of pop idol TV – 2000 hopefuls showed up to the Detroit auditions for the second series of American Idol earlier this week, Shania Twain has led a masterclass in the BBC’s Fame Academy house as she does the media rounds in the UK promoting new single ‘Gonna Getcha Good’, and the Mirror has said the five girls who make it into the final Popstars band in the UK will release a cover of the East 17 song ‘Stay Another Day’ in their bid for the Christmas number one. It will double a-side with an original song and will be released on 16 Dec. Bookies still have the Popstars boy band as favourites for Christmas number one, oblivious of who wins the TV show overall.
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PRESLEY ESTATE BLOCKS UNOFFICIAL DVD
The estate of Elvis Presley has won an injunction against US company Passport Video which will stop them selling their eight-DVD collection ‘The Definitive Elvis’. The estate claim the collection includes copyrighted performances, such as appearances Presley made on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and ‘The Steve Allen Show’, as well as making unlicensed use of Elvis songs ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and ‘Loving You’.
Talking about the decision Andrew Solt of SOFA Entertainment, which owns the rights to ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ told reporters: "We, with the estate of Elvis Presley and the songwriters of some of Elvis’ songs, have won an important battle against those who believe they can simply hijack our intellectual property while demonstrating total disdain for the law.”
Passport’s attorney Michael R. Blaha says the company plans to appeal. "Over 99% of 'The Definitive Elvis' consists of original footage created and owned by Passport International, including over 230 interviews which Passport conducted over a two-year period. Moreover, Passport made very limited, transformative, and we think under the law, fair use of the remaining less than 1% that constitutes [the alleged] copyrighted material. For the estate of Elvis Presley to describe Passport's use of their material as 'unlawful' or 'piracy' under these circumstances is ludicrous and ignores the important First Amendment considerations present here."
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BLUR ON NEW TECHNOLOGY AND FARAWAY PLACES
Blur’s Alex James has been talking about the recording of the band’s new album, which he says is more or less complete. Writing on the band’s website he said: "The way we make music has changed. Now all you need to make an album is a laptop, one decent microphone and a cool haircut. For that matter swap the microphone for a camera and you can make a feature film. Technology is getting cheaper and more accessible, to such an extent that you can completely lose yourself in it. You have to make sure that the equipment, which is now cleverer than you are, is doing what you want it to do and not the other way round. It takes a while to work that out."
Talking about the band’s decision to record the album in Morocco, even though it meant leaving estranged guitarist Graham Coxon in London, he said: “Sunset takes about three hours there. People from the local villages climb the hills and watch it like we watch the telly. It seems to serve a similar purpose. In order for it to work you need good company or something important to think about. Mind you, we didn’t come here to go up our arses talking about sunsets; we came here to make a kick ass record. In rural Africa everything is stripped to its essence. By leaving the clutter of our lives behind we’ve managed to set ourselves free. That’s all you can hope to do as a musician. Africa is a long way from home. Further than Australia. It’s another country and they do things differently here. Different God and everything. Making music takes you to all the great cites of the Western World, but you never really leave the bubble of Western Civilization; it’s a real effort to do that but aren’t all the best things?"
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GLASTONBURY PLAY CANCELS MANCHESTER DATES
Keith Allen’s tent based Glastonbury play, which was due to move on to Manchester’s Whitworth Park yesterday, has had to cancel its North West outing because of ‘licensing difficulties’. The show’s producers told reporters: "The production will no longer be staged in the marquee at Whitworth Park. The producers still plan to tour the production to Manchester and will be announcing a new venue for later in November, in due course. The company apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience caused to those who have already booked to see the show this week in Manchester. All tickets will be valid for the forthcoming performances in November." The cancellation means the show will stay on its first location - Pontcanna Fields in Cardiff - for a second week.
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TEEN ENTERTAINMENT MAGS MERGE
French publishing giant Hachette Filipacchi is to merge its two teen entertainments magazines - CD:UK and TV Hits! - as sales continue to fall. The company took over the two titles as part of its acquisition of Attic Futura last year. The new merged title will be called TV Hits, losing the ITV music show tag. Hachette Filipacchi UK MD Vivien Cotterill told the Media Guardian: "The merger of CD:UK with TV Hits! sees Hachette Filipacchi UK consolidating its share of the highly competitive teen pop market, which has suffered a further decline of 20% this year.”
The whole teen magazine sector is slipping. Even the leading BBC title Top of the Pops magazine saw a 16.5% drop in readership in the last year. Insiders blame increased competition for teenagers cash – especially from text messaging and jukebox tv channels – as well as high internet literacy among their target market.
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XFM GOES IN PRINT
Xfm and Sleaze Nation publishers Swinstead today launch a new music magazine aiming to fill the gap between NME and Q. The new A5 title takes the music policy of the London station, but roles it out into a stand alone title – although DJ’s Christian O’Connell, Rickey Gervais and John Kennedy contribute the magazine is designed to stand alone, especially outside the capital.
The magazine is not completely new of course. Xfm has published a magazine called X Ray for a few years now. A free magazine it was primarily a tool for marketing the station, though editorial content increased when Swinstead got involved two years ago. Now the magazine will be a fully fledged newsstand title – published monthly from February - cover price is £2.50.
Cover stars of issue one are the Foo Fighters, while the accompanied CD includes numerous exclusive Xfm sessions, including The Flaming Lips, The Hives and Aqualung.
Talking about the magazine editor Rich Sutcliffe said: “We have put X-Ray together to allow our readers to experience new stuff and make up their own minds. It reflects the new generation of consumers who like a wide variety of music.”
Press info on the title from Shilland Communications on 020 7439 2559.
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REVIEW: Teenage Fanclub - Four thousand seven hundred and sixty six seconds… (Sony/Columbia)
Greatest hits albums are generally an utter waste of money. More often than not they’re released by bands who’ve managed to keep their heads above water for all of two albums and, as a bit of a pat on the back for their ‘life time’ achievement they package their clutch of hits in a vain attempt to drag out their flailing career for another album. Happily, there are exceptions to every rule and Teenage Fanclub’s upcoming greatest hits album made up of much loved singles and album tracks from the bands past five albums as well as three new and previously unreleased songs, is one. As the title suggests, you get a whole lot of the Scottish long-stayers for your money (four thousand and sixty six seconds to be precise) that covers all their history pretty darned comprehensively with everything that you would expect (‘Mellow Doubt’, ‘Sparkey’s Dream’, ‘Everything Flows’, ‘I Don’t Want Control of You’ and so on) all present and correct. TM
Release date: 11 Nov
Press contact: Rocketscience [CP, RP, NP] Columbia IH [CR, RR, NR]
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OASIS ADD NOTTINGHAM DATES
Oasis have added two extra shows to their sell-out UK tour – they will play Nottingham Arena on 10 and 11 Nov. The band played Nottingham’s Rock City venue way back in 1994 and are telling die hard fans that anyone who can produce an original ticket stub from that gig will get an Oasis T-shirt! The new dates mean the UK leg of Oasis’ tour kicks off two days earlier – hitting Nottingham on 10 Nov, then heading up to Glasgow on 13 Nov.
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REM WORK ON ALBUM 13
REM are back in the studio working on their thirteenth album. In a statement on their website a spokesperson told fans: "Great to be starting work on music again. The guys plan to work in bursts on this record - a few weeks here, somewhere warmer in the winter, different in the spring, possibly some shows next summer. Peter, Mike and Michael are doing great individually and collectively, and all seem supercharged to be back in the studio, writing, playing, trying things out, getting sounds, working with engineers/producers Pat and Jamie (McCarthy and Candiloro).” They expect the album to be completed and released “sometime next year”. The album release is expected to be followed up by a full scale world tour.
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LIVERPOOL’S AUDIOSLAVE PROFIT FROM NAMESAKES
An unsigned band in Liverpool has been paid a reported $30,000 for agreeing to share their band name. The group were called Audioslave – the name being used by the latest project from Tom Morello, Soundgardens’s Chris Cornell and other RATM members. The Liverpool four piece were approached by US lawyers when the American Audioslave discovered their UK namesakes.
The Liverpool band’s singer Christopher Price told the NME: "We'd had a few messages posted on our website from fans telling us that an American band was trying to steal our name - but we didn't take them seriously at first. Then, one day, our manager got a call from the US to say they were interested in negotiating a deal - and it was then we decided we should get a solicitor involved. But we're all big fans of the American rock scene anyway, and we felt quite chuffed they wanted our name."
The band's manager, Dave Hession, continued: "When the Americans first contacted us they made us an initial offer of $5,000 and said they wanted exclusive use of the name, but we thought this wasn't enough for the effort for we'd put into the band. So, eventually, they upped the offer to $30,000 and agreed that both bands could use the name Audioslave - which is an indication of the respect they had for us."
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LIVE JAMIROQUAI DVD DUE
Jamiroquai will release a live DVD next month – ‘Live In Verona 2002’ was recorded at the Verona Amphitheatre on their Funk Odyssey World Tour and includes tracks ‘Virtual Insanity’, ‘Little L’ and ‘Deeper Underground’ plus a guest appearance from Beverley Knight. The live show is supported by documentary footage and extra features including multi-camera options. It hits the shops on 11 Nov.
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SWANSEA CLUB STORMS WELSH MUSIC AWARD NOMINEES
DJ Danny Slade, a resident at Swansea club venue Escape venue, has been nominated to receive an award for his Contribution to Dance Music at the Welsh Music Awards. The awards, organised in association with Music Academy Wales, were launched last year to recognise musicians and music in Wales – separate ceremonies take place for rock and dance music. The Swansea club has been nominated for a record 15 awards, including Best Venue (over 500 capacity), Best Urban (UK Garage) night and Best Special Event.
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THE S CLUB MOVIE
Well – here’s something to look forward to – the S Club (Six) will be hitting the big screen with their debut movie ‘S Club Seeing Double’ next April. Filmed in Los Angeles and Spain it involves the band being cloned. Though presumably they fail to clone Paul, who left the band earlier this year to pursue his rock ambitions.
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Answer to Wednesday's pop quiz:
James Todd Smith, Shawn Carter and Artis Ivey - what stage names do we know these three by?
LL Cool J, Jay Z, and Coolio respectively