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![]() NO. 11: STEVE LAMACQ Anyway, a reader writes: "A good ten years or so ago, a friend of mine was playing drums in one of those up-and-coming band things. At one gig of theirs that I went to, they were being supported by another such band, who went by the name of Idlewild. My friend spied Steve Lamaq standing by the stage early in the evening, and being the excitable sort, bounded up to him and said, 'Hi, Steve!" Lamacq turned, looked at him, and said, 'Fuck off, I'm here to see Idlewild'". So, there you go. Have you ever been told to fuck off by a pop star, DJ, presenter, or other public face of the music industry? Send us your stories to [email protected] |
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MORE ZAVVI STORES GO The latest stores to close are in Aberdeen, Blackpool, Camberley, Carlisle, Chester, Coventry, Denton, Derby, Harlow, Hemel Hempstead, Hereford, Loughborough, Sheffield (Meadowhall Centre), Shrewsbury, Swindon, Walton-on-Thames and York. Confirming the latest closures, and updating reporters on the likely fate of the remaining 31 stores, joint administrator Tom Jack said yesterday: "We will continue to trade the remaining 31 UK stores and remain hopeful that a sale of some or all of these stores can be achieved. We are in detailed discussions with two interested parties and it is our intention to continue to trade all remaining UK stores with a view to their sale as a going concern". -------------------------------------------------- AMANDA PALMER VIDEO BANNED FOR HAVING A POINT Palmer wrote on her blog: "It isn't a simple issue, obviously. But the fundamentals seem clear to me. I sat down one day in or around 2002 and wrote a tongue-in-cheek, ironic up-tempo pop song. A song about a girl who got drunk, was date raped, and had an abortion. She sings about these things lightly and joyfully and says that she doesn't care that these things have happened to her because Oasis, (her favourite band) has sent her an autographed photo in the mail. And to make things even better (!!), her bitchy friend Melissa, who told the whole school about the abortion, is really jealous. If you cannot sense the irony in this song, you're about two intelligence points above a kumquat". She goes on to suggest that perhaps the song would be better received if she played it in a minor key and cried while performing it, adding: "The song isn't even so much about those topics, it's about denial, it's about a girl who can't find it in herself to take her situation seriously. That girl exists, everywhere. You probably know her. You've probably met her. You might be her". Read Amanda's full post here: blog.amandapalmer.net/post/75463717/on-abortion-rape-art-and-humor Watch the video for 'Oasis' here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vVnhBqKXSQ -------------------------------------------------- AXL, HAPPY WITH BEST BUY, LESS SO WITH INTERSCOPE Rose, it seems, is predictably bitter about the way the Universal division handled the release of his long awaited comeback album, possibly because of the reports - possibly initiated by Interscope - that the reason 'Chinese Democracy' didn't score the level of US sales that some expected was because Axl refused to do any promotion and went AWOL around the album's release. But in an unusually lengthy interview with Billboard, Rose hits back, saying the decision to not do excessive media promotion was a strategic one, with the band preferring to promote the album initially through the exposure delivered by the Best Buy tie-up, and subsequently through relentless touring. He told the trade magazine: "The opinions expressed or 'jumped' on publicly regarding promotion seem to be [about] my or our involvement with mainstream media - talk shows, rock magazines and dot-coms - which have generally held negative public stances toward myself or the band for years, [and they] unfortunately have not been resolved. Efforts are being made to understand the relationships and evaluate how best to proceed. Our approach, for better or worse, has always been to work the record over the course of the following tour cycles, with attempts to forge new or better and hopefully redefined relationships with the different forms of media that may be interested along the way". He continued: "In regard to our promotion, it was based around certain agreements with Universal, Interscope, our management and legal [teams] that unfortunately never happened. I won't get into specifics but am beginning to address some of those issues in my own way as opposed to 'working together', and we'll see how that plays out". He proceeds to have a mini-rant about Interscope - in general and more specifically regarding their involvement in 'Chinese Democracy' - which you can read at the link below. Though, for those Universal UK people out there who worked on the album, he seems to be OK with you guys, because after saying: "I've asked for information regarding their role in working the record but that hasn't come yet so I'm not able to tell what Universal has or hasn't done. Though whoever's behind the international efforts, is doing great. It's more than appreciated and a welcome relief". So there you go, well done you guys. Now back to the ranting - here's the link... www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/axl-speaks/interview03.shtml LUTFI NOT SUING BRITNEY TO PAY DEBTS, OK? Following news Lutfi was suing the Spears family, some canny reporters discovered the former manager is facing foreclosure on his California home after allegedly defaulting on $12,000 in payments - hence the claims the defamation action was motivated by a need for cash. But Lutfi's lawyer said yesterday that the litigation was about principle, not money, adding that the debts on his client's Californian property were the result of an admin error rather than Lutfi being in dire straits. Legal man Bryan Freedman told E!Online: "[These claims are] nonsense. The homeowners association misplaced two cheques. The cheques were paid. This is just more lies and misrepresentation about a guy who is a great caring human being". The Spears family, of course, don't reckon Lutfi is a "great caring human being" at all, and continue to allege he drugged Britney in a bid to control her life and finances during her mental breakdown last year. And, according to The Sun, not only is Britney's father - who legally controls her affairs - planning on defending the defamation lawsuit, he's also looking into pressing criminal charges over the drugging allegations. The relatively short-lived Britney/Lutfi relationship was always an interesting one, and one way or another we could get the whole affair analysed in detail in either the civil or criminal courts, or both. I suspect there's a studio in Hollywood considering bidding for the film rights to the affair as we speak. -------------------------------------------------- SATRIANI'S PEOPLE TO BUG COLDPLAY AT GRAMMYS -------------------------------------------------- FIDDY'S EX'S EARNINGS CLAIM THROWN OUT OF COURT As previously reported, there is no love lost between Fiddy and Tompkins. When the Long Island home that he owns and where she and their son lived burned down she accused her ex of arson and of trying to kill her, and sought a restraining order against him. He's sued her for defamation. But this lawsuit related to claims made by Tompkins that her ex had made a verbal agreement with her when they were a couple that he'd give her half of everything he earned ever, which is how she'd managed to work out he owed her $50 million. But the New York judge hearing the case wasn't impressed with her claim. Fiddy's lawyer told reporters: "Ms Tompkins's claims pertaining to a $50 million verbal contract were entirely frivolous. In dismissing the case before trial, the court is sending a clear message. This is a complete and total victory for 50". OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT DRUMMER IN ROAD ACCIDENT The band are currently supporting The Rakes, and the rest of the band will play the remaining dates on the tour, which ends on Sunday, without MacKenzie. However, doctors are apparently confident that he will be able to rejoin them for their upcoming European tour. Official Secrets Act's second single 'The Girl From The BBC' is set for release on 16 Mar, with their debut album, 'Understanding Electricity', following on 30 Mar. BLINK 182 TO REUNITE FOR GRAMMYS -------------------------------------------------- BORLAND WILL NOT REJOIN LIMP BIZKIT Borland told MLive.com: "I have no plans on working with Limp again. It's better for me, for sure. I'm having a great time doing [Black Light Burns]. I can write a song and know what it's about and tailor the music about the intensity of the vocals. It all makes sense together, instead of random lyrics on top of music that sounds cool. It makes more sense". Black Light Burns recently released an album of covers, of which Borland said: "It was probably the most fun I've ever had making a record before. The hard part was done. The songs were written. So it was just having our take on the songs, having our way with the songs and having fun with it. Some of them are more similar to the original. We didn't change that much. And some of them are way different and those were the most fun - adding new parts and taking parts out and try to change them so it would sound like we wrote them, in a way". RONSON TO WORK WITH ROBBIE AGAIN Ronson told 6music: "That is a track I gave Robbie about two or three years ago when we were working on his last album. He was always fascinated with it so it's not really a new thing. I am planning to go out to LA so we can finish it together". Williams is also thought to have enlisted his former songwriting partner Guy Chambers, from whom he split fairly acrimoniously in 2002, to work on the album, which is pencilled in for release at the end of this year. BB KING TO RETURN TO UK 24 Jun: Manchester MEN Arena PJ HARVEY TO HEADLINE CAMP BESTIVAL If you want to hear the line up direct from Su 'Peggy' Pollard yourself, go check the Camp Bestival website at www.campbestival.net -------------------------------------------------- METALLICA AND LINKIN PARK TO HEADLINE KNEBWORTH SINGLE REVIEW: Wavves - So Bored (Young Turks) Buy from iTunes CITY TYPES PLEASED WITH WARNER FINANCIALS DESPITE FALLING REVENUES The major label's top man, Edgar Bronfman Jr, seemed upbeat, though I'm assuming his admission of having to face "difficult economic conditions and tough prior-year comparisons" mean it's not all good news. But he told investors: "We executed on our strategy and remain confident in achieving our long-term goals. We continue to develop new music business solutions and maintain our digital leadership position, while managing costs, gaining share and delivering strong returns on A&R investments". So, what have we got? Well, in the first quarter of the current financial year revenues were down year on year 11.2% to $878 million, though the scale of the slide can be reduced a little when you take currency fluctuations into account, and consider that US sales in the same quarter in 2008 were above average thanks to Josh Groban's hit album 'Noel' shifting 4 million units. Digital revenues were up in the last three months, obviously, though the growth of digital is slowing. They now account for about 19.5% of Warner's overall sales. But what about profits? Well, based on operating income they would have made a loss, though less than many city types expected. And when you take into account the sale of the major's stake in Front Line Management to Ticketmaster they go into profit, which is more than can be said than this time last year. All of which means, despite the various declines in revenues and overall losses in terms of actual operations, investment types responded well to Warner's report and therefore probably shared Bronfman's optimism. Certainly the major's share price went up 9%, which is nice. -------------------------------------------------- GREENWALD GETS CHAIRMAN TITLE AT ATLANTIC US Confirming the rejig, Warner Music boss Lyor Cohen said this: "With Craig's brilliant A&R vision and tireless entrepreneurial spirit and Julie's thoughtful, cutting-edge approach to artist development, we are fortunate to have one of the pre-eminent executive teams in today's music business. Now, if you'll excuse me, the stock's in the toilet and I've got another earnings report to spin". -------------------------------------------------- DECCA NOT CLOSING, THOUGH MORE MAINSTREAM ARTISTS GO TO UCJ But Universal issued this statement yesterday: "Decca remains active as a label in the UK, signing and recording artists, with its London office continuing as a creative centre. Decca's classical crossover and other signings will be assigned to UCJ, the UK's longstanding No. 1 classical label. UCJ took 55% of the UK classical market in 2008, with 7 of the top 10 classical albums. Decca Label Group in the US is unaffected by this realignment". While it's pretty easy to guess from Decca's roster of classical performers who will be heading to UCJ because of their 'crossover' appeal, it will be interesting to see what happens to those Decca signed artists who aren't classical at all, including Morrissey and Donny Osmond. Meanwhile, some cynics are sure to say Universal's decision to move Decca's more bankable mainstream acts to UCJ is a way of reducing the division's easy revenues, so it can be shuttered on financial grounds at some point in the future. But there's no room for such cynicism round here thank you very much. -------------------------------------------------- VIAGOGO SECURES NEW INVESTMENT Anyway, whatever, here's a quote from Viagogo boss Eric Baker and then some words from his new celebrity backers. Baker told CMU: "This new funding further cements our position as Europe's leading secondary ticketing company, and is a huge endorsement of our future plans and aspirations. This capital will allow us to accelerate the growth of our business, as we continue to expand and innovate". Andre Agassi, meanwhile, phoned in to CMU HQ to tell us: "I am very impressed with Viagogo's experienced management team and I look forward to working with them to help build upon their success. I am happy to share my relationships in sports and my experience in the industry to help Viagogo achieve new growth". Steffi Graf was waiting outside the office when we got in this morning, keen to let us know that: "Viagogo's growth throughout Europe is very impressive and I am happy to support its efforts. It is especially meaningful for me to get involved with a business that is filling a need in the European marketplace". U-MYX RELAUNCHES AS GOMIX I'll let the company's founder, Olly Barnes, explain: "Our decision to reposition ourselves as GoMix is about establishing a new environment and revenue model for an acclaimed and recognised product, which in turn will enable us to generate significant revenue for rights owners and artists without compromising either artistic integrity or existing sales. We have proved on numerous occasions that integrating GoMix enabled music into existing artist marketing campaigns can have a very positive effect on sales and believe that by developing applications that enhance the social media experience we can play a major part in the way music is marketed and consumed online". You can see the revamped tool in action on the Noisettes MySpace - www.myspace.com/noisettesuk PRS BACK SKY SERIES CELEBRATING SONG WRITERS Confirming their support for the new series, PRS boss Steve Porter said this: "Although the singer often takes the limelight it is the writer at the heart of every great song. Songbook profiles some of the best of these, the men and women [though mainly men] behind the songs that have shaped the UK music scene and done so much to place music at the heart of our cultural life. PRS for Music represents 60,000 creators and we hope that this series will help educate and inspire the creators of tomorrow's music". -------------------------------------------------- BBC NEEDS TO DO MORE TO CUT OTT PRESENTER COSTS The report, which follows that recent confirmation by BBC bosses that it would look to reduce the fees it pays presenters when their contracts come up for renewal, noted that the Corporation was already committed to cutting the costs of its radio programmes, and had already made £11.7 million in savings, beating a target of £11.6 million. However, it said the Beeb should be more aware of what is being achieved in terms of cost savings in the commercial sector, and apply that to its own radio operations. -------------------------------------------------- ABSOLUTE RADIO GO BACKWARDS FOR FILM RELEASE ETTA'S NOT IMPRESSED THAT BEYONCE STOLE HER SONG As previously reported, Beyonce sang 'At Last', which James first recorded in 1960 and which Knowles sings as Etta in the new movie, for Obama's first dance with his wife on inauguration day. The Prez proceeded to dance to other renditions of the song at nine other balls that night, apparently. But James ain't thrilled that the former Destiny's Child girl has been grabbing the limelight with her song. Or at least that's what an audio clip circulating online seems to suggest. The clip seemingly features the 71 year old James chatting to her audience at a recent concert in Vancouver, and she says: "The great Beyonce ... I can't stand Beyonce. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day, gonna be singing my song that I've been singing forever". Neither James nor Knowles' people have commented on the clip. -------------------------------------------------- FITNESS MAG DIDN'T DROP CURVY SIMPSON FROM COVER But the magazine's editor has denied that is why Simpson is not on her magazine's cover as planned. Editor-in-chief Lucy Danziger told Access Hollywood: "Self would love for Jess to be on our cover. We've had discussions about it but we couldn't find a date... she's very busy". Responding to media interest regarding her sister's weight gain, Jessica's pop star sibling Ashlee said she was "disgusted" by some of the headlines and comments published, adding they were "belittling to all women". And say what you like about the Simpson sisters, but she's surely right on that point. -------------------------------------------------- CRAMPS MAN'S PREVIOUS DEATH EXPERIENCE Shortly afterwards, Lux told the LA Times: "At first, I thought it was kind of funny, but then it started to give me a creepy feeling. We sell a lot of records, but somehow just hearing that you've sold so many records doesn't hit you quite as much as when a lot of people call you up and are obviously really broken up because you've died". |
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