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KRAFTWERK MAN QUITS BAND -------------------------------------------------- COURTNEY LOVE ALBUM NOT RELEASED Sort of clarifying the situation (but not quite), the aforementioned administrator explained that a 1 Jan release was the original plan, but says "guess what kids, that obviously did not happen", and then continues: "Some of you guys have expressed your utmost disappointment and I don't blame you for feeling let down, some angry and sad, and as Courtney's Myspace administrator, I felt the need to come on and address the matter. The fact is, Courtney Love is a true artist, and as most true artist, the true artist simply communicates from within. That special place that Courtney holds so deep, especially for her fans is a really honest haven that exhibits skill, versatility, self-discipline, formal and conceptual rigour, and a commitment to excellence. A commitment to giving you guys the best she has and will give you". All of which presumably means she didn't manage to get around to finishing it on time. It's now expected to be out later in the year. -------------------------------------------------- JACKSON, NOT DEAD, MAYBE LEAVING MACCA BEATLES TUNES IN WILL The story goes that it was McCartney who first suggested to Jackson that he use some of his mounting fortune to buy publishing rights to songs because that, the former Beatle reckoned, was the safest investment in music. What Macca did not expect, however, was that Jacko would follow that advice and promptly counter-bid against McCartney and Yoko Ono when they tried to buy ownership of the Beatles catalogue when it came up for sale in 1985 (the Fab Four having long since lost control of their songs by that point). Jackson bid higher and won ownership of the catalogue, eventually merging it with Sony's publishing company to create SonyATV. McCartney's been a little bit bitter about it ever since, and was once quoted thus: "You know what doesn't feel very good, is going on tour and paying to sing all my songs. Every time I sing 'Hey Jude', I've got to pay someone". You can see his point, it must be a bit gutting. McCartney's bitterness towards Jackson was back in the news over Christmas after rumours the BBC had had to cut a bit of an interview they'd done with the former Beatle because when Jacko was mentioned in a question Macca responded in a high-pitched Jackson style voice which the Beeb thought might be considered a bit offensive. Or something like that. The Daily Mail quoted a source thus: "McCartney started to reply in this high-pitched Jacko voice, and apparently it was very funny. But the BBC - deeply nervous, perhaps because of the Jonathan Ross-Russell Brand affair - has declined to broadcast the interview. They say it's a 'trans-racial impression' - that's what they say in a memo - and even by Macca that is beyond the pale". It should be noted a BBC spokesman denied the story to Gigwise, but it shows that Jackson/McCartney tensions are still newsworthy. Which brings us back to Jackson's will. The Daily Mirror reports that Jacko will leave his estate to his three children, but that his stake in the Beatles songs will go to Macca. Another source is quoted, this time saying: "Michael told his lawyers he was sad he no longer talks to Sir Paul and said he wanted to make things right". It's not clear if Jackson intends to leave McCartney all of his 50% stake in Sony/ATV, or just his half of the Beatles catalogue. Either way McCartney (or his children if he were to die before Jacko) would only actually get Jackson's half of the Lennon/McCartney classics and maybe not even that, given the constant rumours Jacko will at some point be forced to sell some or all of his share of SonyATV to pay off his reportedly substantial debts. Still, any share of the Beatles publishing rights is not to be sniffed at. And of course, if nothing else, the McCartney family having even a minority interest in those songs would really piss of Yoko, which would be amusing. Given how other-worldly Jackson looks these days we probably shouldn't be surprised that he, a 50 year old man, is leaving things in his will to McCartney, a 66 year old man. Though I'm sure Jacko's people would like me to point out that, even though rumours of his will are being reported, the singer is not dying, as was also rumoured over Christmas. Those rumours were along the lines that Jackson had some sort of rare lung disease and was at death's door. Jacko's people quickly issued a statement telling us that those rumours were a "total fabrication", adding: "Mr Jackson is in fine health, and finalising negotiations with a major entertainment company and television network for both a world tour and a series of specials and appearances". -------------------------------------------------- ALLEN TO BE NEW DR WHO SIDEKICK? Executive producer Piers Wenger told the Daily Telegraph: "Having got the casting of the Doctor out of the way, the companion role is where we will be looking next. Someone terribly exciting like Billie Piper, who was at the beginning of her acting career but who had a profile for other reasons, would be great. We are looking for someone whose light can burn brightly." Responding to the suggestion that Allen could be that someone, he continued: "We would never cast anyone on the basis of their celebrity, but if Lily wanted to audition we would be delighted. It would be a lot of fun". DMX PLEADS GUILTY As previously reported, some of the charges stem from a raid on the rapper's Phoenix home in August 2007, during which sheriff's deputies discovered three dead dogs, guns, ammunition, drugs and drug paraphernalia. The theft charges arose after DMX gave a false name and Social Security number following treatment at a Scottsdale hospital. Arrest warrants have twice been raised for the star after he failed to show up for court appearances. As part of the plea agreement, DMX is now not allowed to own animals or firearms and is required to attend an animal offender treatment programme. He is also expected to serve a 90 day prison sentence and will not be given credit for time served between his December arrest and sentencing on 30 Jan. If (when?) he violates any of the terms of his release, DMX could face up to 10 years in prison. -------------------------------------------------- WINEHOUSE CALLED TO NORWEGIAN COURT Winehouse is now expected to stand trial in Norway on 12 Jan. Prosecutor Rudolp Christoffersen said: "I was informed by British police on 23 Dec that [Winehouse] has been legally summoned, and we expect that she will be there when the trial opens on 12 Jan". Christoffersen said that a summons had also been sent to Fielder-Civil, who is currently in prison in London, of course, and that British police were attempting to locate the whereabouts of Winehouse's hairdresser. -------------------------------------------------- MANSON CALLS REZNOR TO TRIAL As previously reported, Bier claims that Manson told him that the band was not making much money, cutting off his salary, credit card access and refusing to pay his medical bills for work-related problems, before embarking on a two year spending spree between 2004 and 2006, buying items including a $2 million house, coat hangers used by Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun's handbag, African masks made of human skin, the full skeleton of a four-year-old Chinese girl, the full skeleton of a 17th Century male in a wheelchair, a $450,000 engagement ring for Von Teese, drugs and drug treatment. It's also claimed Manson used money from the band's coffers to fund the production of his upcoming film, 'Phantasmagoria: The Visions Of Lewis Carroll'. Manson, who fired Bier from the band in 2007, countersued in December 2007, saying that Bier had breached his contract by not participating fully in recording, performing live or selling band merchandise. Manson also claims that the partnership between the original band members, of which Biers is one, was dissolved in 1996. But Biers maintains that he is entitled to a share of the group's revenues and is seeking over $20 million in damages. EARTHA KITT'S DAUGHTER ON LAST DAYS Shapiro, who nursed Kitt around the clock for the last weeks of her life, is quoted as saying: "I had the most amazing mother. She was not afraid of dying. She was in pain, but funny right to the end. One of the last things she said when I was talking loudly to her - like you do to a sick person - was: 'I'm dying. I'm not losing my hearing!'" Kitt died on Christmas Day at the age of 81, after suffering with colon cancer for several years. Born Eartha Mae Keith in South Carolina, she began her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company before achieving renown in the fifties with hits like 'Santa Baby' and her version of 'Let's Do It'. She was also active in the film and TV world in addition to her singing career, and took a number of roles on Broadway. Her career suffered in the sixties, however, mainly as a result of her public opposition to the Vietnam war. BONO BORED OF HIMSELF Bono told Q: "I'm bored of Bono and I am him - I'm sick of me. I felt it was a little limiting to be in the first person". Characters on the album include a war correspondent and a French police officer who goes AWOL. back to top WILLIAMS GETS ADVICE FROM JONES Jones told The Mirror: "With Robbie he asked me: 'How do you keep going? I'm starting to wonder about it whether it's for me'. It's because I love it I told him. But Robbie says sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he gets a bit down and said once 'sometimes I don't feel like I'm any good'. I told him to just enjoy it, don't worry about it and stop taking it so seriously". On the new material they recorded together, Jones says he does not know if it will appear on Robbie's next album. He explained: "I live just down the road from him so he said, 'Do you fancy coming over and recording some stuff with me?'. He's got a portable recording studio in his bedroom so that's where we did it. He was writing with some English mates of his. We did a song, he was rapping on it and I was singing on the chorus but I don't know what he wants to do with it". -------------------------------------------------- SLIPKNOT FRONTMAN TO GO SOLO He said: "It's something that I'd like to do purely for myself. It's something that I need to release before I can think about moving on to anything else. In both Slipknot and Stone Sour I'm slightly limited to how I can write and indeed what I can write about. The beauty of doing a solo album is that I can write whatever type of song I want". -------------------------------------------------- PRINCE LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE TO PREVIEW NEW MATERIAL WILLIE AT THE WHEEL, NAKED -------------------------------------------------- EFTERKLANG AND SLARAFFENLAND RELEASE FREE EP The Efterklang-owned label Rumraket explains: "Slaraffenklang is the mutant band of Efterklang and Slaraffenland. There are 12 musicians on stage, all men, and the songs performed are covers of Efterklang and Slaraffenland. Sometimes just louder and more rumbling versions and sometimes in new slightly new arrangements". Download the EP here. -------------------------------------------------- WHITEST BOY ALIVE ALBUM -------------------------------------------------- ROYKSOPP ALBUM NEWS Here's the tracklist. Happy Up Here GUNS N ROSES TO TOUR? NO WAY! In a statement, Fortus said: "Okay, it seems that I am being misquoted once again. I never said that GNR would be playing St. Louis, nor did I say that we will be doing free shows or that we are starting a two year tour in March! Selective hearing. Never said it". The band are, in fact, going to be heading out on a 15 year tour to make up for lost time. Possibly. -------------------------------------------------- GRATEFUL DEAD TO TOUR The group, who now call themselves just The Dead, have revealed to Rolling Stone that they are back on friendly terms again, after working together on a benefit concert for Barrack Obama back in October. They will be joined by Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band's Warren Haynes on lead guitar and Ratdog's Jeff Chimenti on keyboards for the live dates, which will begin on 12 Apr in North Carolina. JAIL GUITAR PROJECT HEADS FOR SXSW The prison scheme, which is operating in twenty UK institutions and which gets prisoners involved in music projects in an attempt to reduce rates of reoffending, is to begin in two US jails in 2009. The scheme's Geoff Martin says of their invite to SXSW: "We are dead chuffed that South By South West, one of the biggest of the global music festivals, have given us the nod to bring our blend of great music and social justice campaigning across the ocean." Elsewhere in SXSW news, a number of acts have been announced for the March event in Austin. Primal Scream are amongst those set to appear, as are, Ben Harper, Relentless7, Ra Ra Riot, Friendly Fires and Courteeners. RECORD SALES DOWN, UNIVERSAL STILL TOP Insiders estimate that overall UK record sales, which have seen somewhat less decline than in other territories in recent years, slumped 10% last year. If that's true, the Times reckons UK record sale revenues, including download sales income, would be down for the year to about £1.33 billion. Reports suggest a big part of that slump is down to a fall in profit margin. The market is down 2% in terms of units shifted (albums are down just over 5%, but singles, as in single-track downloads, are up 35%), but price cutting on the high street and the net has had an impact on wholesale prices. In the US the number of units shifted is down even more steeply - 8.5% according to the Times - which would presumably result in overall revenues in that market being down more than the 10% we've seen over here. A result of these trends is that the industry is more and more reliant on a handful of major releases, because the big albums are selling at consistent and occasionally record breaking levels, while the slump tends to affect middle-selling albums. So in the UK Duffy's 'Rockferry' and Take That's 'The Circus' ensured the slump wasn't as bad as it could have been, while Lil Wayne provided a boost for the US market. All of which is good news for Universal, who distribute all those artists' music, and who maintained their position as the biggest music company of them all last year (though with a marginal drop in market share in the US). In terms of market share, the Times estimate the UK market is split up as follows, in reverse order (last year's figures in brackets)... Universal 33.9% (31.6%) In the US we have Neilsen Soundscan stats to mull over, who tell us that album market share was as follows... While the digital download market split up as follows... -------------------------------------------------- RIAA END RELATIONSHIP WITH NET MONITORS The move comes as the RIAA changes its approach to combating online piracy, rejecting excessive litigation in favour of trying to find a way to work with internet service providers on the issue, as in the UK. That said, according to the Wall Street Journal, the RIAA has engaged a Copehagen based IT firm called DtecNet Software ApS who will assist with any future online monitoring. Some have mused that the RIAA's break away from MediaSentry was a response to claims that the IT firm's methods were legally questionable, though the RIAA's Jonathan Lamy stressed to Digital Music News that the decision was "a simple business decision" and not related to any allegations made against their former partners. CHINA TO STEP UP NET CENSORSHIP Officially China's Ministry of Public Security and six other government agencies yesterday announced a campaign "to clean up a vulgar current on the internet and name and expose a large number of [websites] violating public morality and harming the physical and mental health of youth and young people". It named 19 internet operators, including popular search engines Baidu and Google, which it said had failed to "swiftly purge vulgar content and ignored warnings from censors". Official censors are expected to get more power and resources to aid their fight against such content and companies, with threats that persistent offenders will face closure being hinted. While officially designed to combat "vulgar" content on the net, it is widely thought officials will be able to use their increased power to step up political censorship. Alas, for the record and movie companies in the West more bothered about the rampant internet piracy in the country - aided by Baidu and Google search engines which specifically link to illegal content sources - the country's net regulators seem less concerned about violations in that domain. -------------------------------------------------- STEVE JOBS THIN NOT DEAD The announcement follows previously reported news that Jobs would not give his traditional keynote speech at the Macworld conference in San Francisco this week, for a few years now an important annual event in any Mac-fan's calendar. That announcement led to more worries about the health of Jobs - who has previously had to overcome cancer - though the computer company stressed the CEO's decision not to speak was part of their partial withdrawal from the Macworld-magazine-organised conference which, they say, is no longer a major part of their marketing activity. In an open letter Jobs said he had lost weight during 2008 but that his doctors had now diagnosed that the hormone imbalance is the cause. He has already begun treatment for the condition, and his doctors say he should start to regain weight in late Spring. Following on from the letter, Apple issued a statement telling reporters: "As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties as Apple's CEO, you will know it". UTV RADIO LOCAL NETWORK MD STEPS DOWN Confirming his departure, part of "ongoing restructuring" at UTV's radio division, Hurst told reporters: "I have had the pleasure of working alongside some very talented individuals and we have had some tremendous high points... I wish everyone at UTV all the best for the future". UTV said in a statement: "Chris has been a longstanding and popular member of the team and all at UTV wish him the very best with his future endeavours". Hurst will continue to be Chairman of Chester radio station Dee 106.3 in which UTV Radio has a stake (it carries UTV programming overnight) though which isn't officially part of the UTV local radio network (at least I don't think it is). TOTAL ROCK WORLD ALBUM CHART 1. Nickelback - Dark Horse (Warner/Roadrunner) BIG BOPPER'S COFFIN TO BE SOLD ON EBAY Richardson settled into his new grave in a new coffin, and the old one has since been on display in the Texas Musicans Museum in Hillsboro, Texas. His son, Jay, who was still unborn when his father died, told the Beaumont Enterprise newspaper: "I have no personal use for the casket. When you get down to it, it is just a metal box. More important is what this particular metal box represents. In another 200 years, will people care about rock 'n' roll? Who knows? But why would I want to destroy it? Even though it was Dad's resting place for 48 years, it's also a unique opportunity to learn more about the early years of rock 'n' roll". -------------------------------------------------- WENTZ DOESN'T READ BLOGS ANYMORE On the subject of anxiety, he added: "I'm paranoid pretty much all the time. I can take three Xanax and not feel a thing". Which can't be good. -------------------------------------------------- RADIOHEAD, BLUR RUBBISH, SAYS HAINES He describes Radiohead as the "most heinous of creatures", adding that they're "a heavy rock outfit, fright-wig and all", calls Oasis "mindless northern bluff", and adds that Blur are "habitual bandwagon jumpers" who presented "a masterclass in media complicity". I don't think he's out to make friends with this, to be honest. |
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