EXPERIENCED DANCE MUSIC PUBLICIST WANTED
Get In! is a tried and tested PR agency based in east London serving the GLOBAL electronic dance music industry and beyond. Our expanding roster means we're looking for a new publicist to join our young and dynamic team. You'll be enthusiastic, have a least one-year's experience in PR, a real passion for and knowledge of dance music and that 'something extra' that makes you the right person for the job. An ability to write exciting, engaging copy and generate creative PR ideas is essential. This is an ideal opportunity to work with the best people in dance music. Salary negotiable depending on experience. Interested? Send a creative email explaining why you'd be a great addition to the Get In! team, along with your CV, to: Jonathan Llewellyn, jonathan@getinpr.com. Closing date for applications is 27 Aug.

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FISHER WINS FINAL PALE DISPUTE APPEAL
So, the precedent set here is that there is no deadline for filing a copyright claim under English law. Which is good news if you've always wished you'd claimed ownership of a line of lyrics or three in some big sixties pop hit. Though more so if there's some validity to your claim, I suppose. I'm not sure there'll be much of a case for my claim to having written the second verse of 'Imagine', even if it doesn't matter that 38 years have passed since its release.

Anyway, this is a long winded way of telling you that the long running Procol Harum copyright dispute reached its conclusion in the House Of Lords yesterday, and the Lords reinforced a High Court ruling that said that the band's organist, Matthew Fisher, should be recognised as a co-writer of the outfit's biggest hit, 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale', overturned a Court Of Appeal judgement that said Fisher had left it too late to make his claim.

For those that fell asleep at some point during this long running legal dispute, here's a quick summary. The Harum's 1967 hit 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' has always been credited to the band's frontman Gary Brooker and lyricist Keith Reid. But in 2005 organist Fisher said that he had actually devised the song's haunting, distinctive and now rather iconic organ melody while the band worked on the track in the studio; Brooker's original musical score, he argued, did not include what is now the song's most famous bit.

If I remember rightly, when asked why he'd never made a claim previously Fisher said that back in the day he'd been told that, while he hadn't been given a songwriter credit on 'Pale', the band would make good the discrepancy by giving him a credit on future songs. I'm not sure whether they ever did so, though presumably Fisher's resentment grew over the years as he realised he had given up a royalty share on what turned out to be one of the most successful pop songs of the twentieth century.

From the outset Brooker was keen to play down Fisher's role in creating the organ melody in 'Pale', portraying his former bandmate as a jobbing musician who just played what he was told to play. But in 2006 the High Court said it believed that Fisher had devised the melody in the studio, and should therefore be given co-ownership of the track and 40% of all royalties. Though only 40% of royalties since the day he made his legal claim of ownership in 2005. Not quite what Fisher wanted, but not something to be sniffed at either given 'Pale's continued popularity.

Brooker appealed, his legal team arguing that Fisher's copyright claim came just too long after the song had been created, meaning that it was impossible for the court to ascertain what had actually happened back in 1967, not least because some key potential witnesses were no longer alive. The appeals court bought that argument and overturned the original ruling, the judges not saying they didn't believe Fisher had penned the organ melody, but that he had simply left it too late to make a claim.

A ruling which meant that the 38 years it took Fisher to make a claim was the key issue when the case finally worked its way to the ultimate court of appeal, the House Of Lords. And they, yesterday, rejected the Court Of Appeal's suggestion that there was a deadline after which copyright claims could no longer be made.

Though in his judgment, one of the five Lords who unanimously found in Fisher's favour, Lord Neuberger, did note that Fisher had made informal claims to the song on various previous occasions but was "rebuffed or ignored" by Brooker and Reid, adding: "He explained that he had not wanted to push his claim as he feared that, if he did so, he would be asked to say goodbye to a career in a number one pop group". That might mean that the precedent really is that there is no deadline for a copyright claim, providing there's a good reason for the delay.

Welcoming the ruling, which reinstated the 2006 judgement that gives Fisher a 40% share of post-2005 royalties, the organ man said the case "was never about money", adding "there will not be a lot of that anyway. But this was about making sure everyone knew about my part in the authorship". His legal man, Hugh Cuddigan, told reporters that the ruling should "reassure composers that their rights will be acknowledged and upheld by our courts".

Brooker's lawyer Lawrence Abramson, needless to say, criticised the ruling, saying it would now open the gates for countless claims by musicians who feel their contributions on songs recorded decades ago were overlooked, even though there may well have been agreements in place regarding such contributions, agreements which may have been unwritten and which are now hard to prove.

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"THIS IS ME, I UPLOADED AND DOWNLOADED MUSIC": TENENBAUM CASE UPDATE
When your defendant takes to the stand and basically says "yeah, I did all of that guvnor", you can't help wondering why everyone bothered showing up in court in the first place. Though Joel Tenenbaum's testimony in the last big RIAA v the file sharers legal battle yesterday confirmed what we already expected, that victory in this case will be measured not on whether or not a not-guilty verdict is given, but on what damages the guilty defendant is ordered to pay. And that depends on your definition of "wilful infringement", and given the judge's remarks on that topic yesterday, Team Tenenbaum could well be the losers in that domain too.

So yes, Boston-based student Joel Tenenbaum, who had already admitted sharing unlicensed music on the internet in a pre-trial deposition, yesterday confirmed in court that he had shared via Kazaa the thirty songs listed by the RIAA's legal men. He also admitted that he originally lied about this naughty file-sharing when first approached by the record industry. You wonder why the plaintiffs had previously gone to such lengths to prove Tenenbaum's file-sharing through technical means, given the admission, though, as we'll see, the RIAA's evidence that Joel continued to file-share as recently as last summer could prove to be key when it gets to damages.

According to Ars Technica, Tenenbaum told the court room: "This is me. I'm here to answer. I used the computer. I uploaded and downloaded music. This is how it is. I did it". The labels' legal man Tom Reynolds looked for clarification: "Are you admitting liability for all 30 sound recordings". "Yes", replied the defendant. Asked why he had initially lied when challenged about his file-sharing he said "it's what seemed the best response to give", admitting his mother, a family law attorney, had been advising him at the time.

Under cross-examination by his own defence team Tenenbaum expressed his love for music, and insisted he never meant to do any harm to labels or artists by accessing and sharing music for free on the net. Remembering when he first discovered the original Napster, he recalled: "It was great... It was like this giant library in front of you with all sorts of songs... It's all up there... It's like the Google of music... You have this list of songs, and you can get them really easily". Asked if he considered whether this huge free library of music was legal, he added: "I guess it wasn't foremost in my mind... Now I'm thinking a lot more about whether it's illegal".

Given Tenenbaum's admissions, the plaintiffs requested the judge rule in their favour on ownership, liability and wilfulness without passing any of the issues to the jury. Judge Nancy Gertner did just that on ownership - ie that the labels represented by the RIAA own the thirty songs in question - mainly because the defence have never objected to that claim. On the issues of liability - did Tenenbaum commit copyright infringement? - and wilfulness - did Tenenbaum infringe wilfully? - Nancy is still having a think. She admitted that, given Tenenbaum's admission, she may well rule on liability in the labels' favour, and leave the issue of wilfulness to the jury. She will confirm her decisions in that domain before the final day of court presentations begin later today.

As previously reported, whether or not Tenenbaum infringed 'wilfully' is important because it can have a big impact on damages, increasing them five-fold. The labels seem keen to get as big a damages figure as possible out of this case, even though Tenenbaum will presumably never be able to pay multi-million dollar damages, and such a conclusion to the case will probably see the victorious record companies again portrayed outside the court room as a bunch of money grabbing bastards who don't deserve the protection of the law.

The definition of 'wilful' infringement is a bit sketchy. Team Tenenbaum want the judge to define wilfulness as the file-sharer intending to profit from their infringement. But Gertner says she considers wilful infringement to mean infringement "with knowledge of or 'reckless disregard' for the plaintiffs' copyrights". While Tenenbaum said he didn't really consider the legality of Napster when he first discovered it, given he continued to file-share even once the RIAA's litigation against him had begun, under that definition the defendant probably is guilty of wilful infringement. Which could prove expensive damages wise, taking the labels' claim from $900,000 to a potentially staggering $4.5million.

After Tenenbaum's own testimony, the RIAA's team wheeled out two Warner Music execs, one to confirm Warner's ownership of some of the songs of the list of thirty shared tracks, another to discuss the efforts by the record industry to launch licensed digital music services - a bid to counter claims by Tenenbaum's main lawyer Charles Nesson that file-sharing could be justified because of the music industry's poor efforts in getting user-friendly licensed digital music services quickly to market.

I'd talk you through what Warner's Ron Wilcox said, but it included talk about the record labels' original efforts in launching their own digital music platforms - the fated MusicNet and Pressplay - and I'm not sure anyone who worked for a major label back in the early days of digital wants to think about them again.

The defence will present their case today, but are expected to be done and dusted by early afternoon.

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JACKSON'S MOTHER GETS CUSTODY OF JACKO'S KIDS
A lawyer for Katherine Jackson has told CBS News that she will get custody of her late son's three children, Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket.

As previously reported, Michael Jackson awarded custody of his kids to his mother in his will, but out of court discussions have been going on between the Jackson clan and the singer's ex-wife Debbie Rowe, the mother, in one way or another, of the eldest two children.

It was never clear if Rowe really wanted to apply for custody of Prince Michael and Paris - there were conflicting reports - but it did look at one point like she might make certain demands at a planned court hearing on the issue.

But that court hearing was twice postponed to allow more discussions between Mrs Jackson and Rowe, and according to legal man Londell McMillan when the custody hearing finally takes place next week both sides will tell the judge they have agreed to honour Jacko's wishes.

Asked if cash would change hands as part of the arrangement, McMillan told the TV network: "It's an agreement, an agreement for the best interests of the children. This is not a money deal - this is not about money. All of the parties are resolved - there is no situation better for these children than for them to be raised and reared in the loving care of Mrs Katherine Jackson".

As previously reported, Rowe gave up all custody rights to the couple's two children when they divorced in 2000, but later sought to alter that arrangement. A second agreement was reached in secret in 2006. Although Rowe had given up custody rights in the past, that may not have stopped her from seeking custody through the courts now - though TMZ claimed Rowe wasn't actually Prince Michael and Paris' biological mother, and had just been a surrogate who took another woman's eggs. It's not clear whether that is true and if so what impact it would have on any custody claim. But as it turns out, we're unlikely to now find out.

Elsewhere in Jackson offspring news, Joe Jackson has confirmed that Omer Bhatti is another of Michael's children, even though Bhatti himself denied that fact earlier this week.

As previously reported, it has been speculated that 25 year old the Norwegian-born Bhatti was fathered by Jackson during a one night stand in 1984. The speculation stemmed mainly from Bhatti being given a front row seat at the late king of pop's big memorial show in LA, though gossipers said that the fact Bhatti was Jackson's son was no secret, and Bhatti had spent many Christmases with his father at Neverland.

Now Jackson Senior has seemingly confirmed those rumours, telling News One: "I knew he had another son, yes I did. He looks like a Jackson, he acts like a Jackson, he can dance like a Jackson".

So there you have it. Though this is despite the Mirror quoting Bhatti himself earlier this week as saying: "Michael is not my father. He and I were just very, very close. He was my best friend. Michael always used to say I was like a son to him. But my true parents are here in Norway. The reason I was asked to sit with his family at the memorial service is because I was Michael's closest friend - not because I am his son".

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DUTCH COURT ORDERS PIRATE BAY CLOSEDOWN
A court in the Netherlands has ordered the owners of The Pirate Bay to stop web surfers from the country from accessing their service within ten days, otherwise they'll be fined $42,300 per day in penalties.

Though I'm not sure that's going to work, given that when the Swedish courts ordered the three founders and main funder of the rogue BitTorrent tracker to each serve a year in jail and pay a total of $3.6 million in damages, the four men (well, the three founders for certain) shrugged their shoulders and insisted they couldn't and wouldn't pay, in cash or jail time. And as far as I can see so far the authorities have sort of let that lie, possibly while the Bay Four's attorneys prepare their appeal.

The latest ruling was a result of that previously reported legal action taken against The Pirate Bay by Dutch anti-piracy organisation BREIN. None of the Bay Four - Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde Kolmsioppi and Fredrik Neij, and funder Carl Lundstrom - attended the Dutch hearing, and none of them have, as yet, responded to the latest ruling.

As previously reported, Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory is planning to buy The Pirate Bay and turn it into a legit digital content platform, though many reckon that deal will never go ahead because investors will not run the risk of taking on the old Bay's liabilities in return for a share in what is at best a questionable business model.

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MEN ACCUSED OF STEALING FROM GIRLS
Men At Work have been accused of stealing the melody of their 1983 hit 'Down Under' from Girl Guide campfire favourite 'Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree'. The claim has been made by publishing company Larrikin Music, who gained the right to fight the case in court yesterday when a judge ruled that they did own the copyright to song the band are accused of borrowing from - something that had been in question.

'Kookaburra...' was written by teacher Marion Sinclair in 1934, and remains a popular song with Girl Guides the world over (so I am told). Larrikin argue that Men At Work stole a flute riff from the song for 'Down Under'.

However, lawyers for the band's label and publishers, Sony Music and EMI Songs Australia, argued in court last month that the claim was irrelevant because Larrikin Music were not the owners of the rights in Sinclair's song, going as far as to claim the Girl Guide movement had a better claim to ownership. The judge thought otherwise, though, and yesterday ruled that the company had legitimately purchased the rights from her estate when Sinclair died in 1988.

Larrikin Music will now move to sue Sony and EMI for breach of copyright and compensation from royalties earned from the song by Men At Work.

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DANANANANANAYKROYD MAN BREAKS ARM
Dananananaykrod have been forced to cancel the last two dates on their Australian tour after drummer John Baillie Jr broke his arm on stage in Sydney on Wednesday. While jumping off stage to greet the crowd, he managed to snap one of the bones in his forearm and break a piece of bone off his elbow and is now receiving treatment in hospital in the city.

The band's Calum Gunn told CMU: "The details still aren't really very clear. I think he just kind of came off the stage a bit funny and has done something pretty bad to his arm. The latest I've heard is that he's taken a bit of his elbow bone off. We couldn't really go on without John and so we stopped the show and got him medical attention as soon as possible. There was a doctor in the audience which was really cool. Kind of clichéd 'is there a doctor here?' thing actually worked. She looked after John for a while until the ambulance arrived".

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COXON WANTS MORE BLUR
It's all over for Blur. Damon Albarn and Alex James have said they're happy to go out on a high, rather than risking the possibility that they might, in Damon's words, "ruin it". Oh, but wait, what's that you say Graham Coxon? "I'm up for it, doing another [album] - it would be a really interesting thing to do. I don't want it to be like 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' or nostalgic bollocks. I want it to be a development. There's nothing saying there's a great big 'No'. My gut feeling is, 'Why not?'" Oh right.

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NO NEW MATERIAL ON BLINK 182 TOUR
Blink 182 are back together again. All their fans are very excited about it, especially the new album they're recording. And what better way to really work them up into a frenzy than by not previewing any new material on their upcoming tour?

Actually, the band haven't finished writing any songs for their new album yet, and they're concerned that people might not like the one shit work-in-progress track they're currently knocking about. Bassist Mark Hoppus explained to MTV: "We might possibly play it, but probably not, though. We haven't finished recording it yet, and we really don't want the first time that people hear our new song to be a YouTube version of us playing it live. We want it to be the actual song, and we haven't gotten the chance to finish it yet, so we'll probably leave it out of the set until we actually release it".

Guitarist Tom DeLonge added: "It's an awesome song. We just haven't done a recording of it yet. But I don't even know if we would have room for it, we have so many songs in this set".

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STONES DO MERCHANDISING DEAL WITH UNIVERSAL
Universal's merchandising business Bravado has done a deal with The Rolling Stones, meaning the band's merchandising will be handled by the same major music firm as their recordings. As previously reported, Universal Music now controls all of the Stones' post-1971 catalogue.

Confirming their new deal with Jagger et al, Bravado CEO Tom Bennett told reporters: "Throughout their storied career, The Rolling Stones have created one of the world's most seminal and awe-inspiring bodies of work, and we are delighted to welcome them to the Bravado family. Moving forward, we are looking forward to integrating all of the resources we now have on hand - from their merchandising to all of their audio and video content - to create dynamic new opportunities that combine music and merchandise in unique exclusive formats, sold to not only existing retailers but to new exciting non-traditional outlets".

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GEFFEN SIGN THE POPE
Talking of Universal, the major's Geffen division has done a deal with, erm, The Pope. Yes, Pope Benedict XVI, now a label mate of Snoop Dogg, Guns N Roses, Ashlee Simpson and Nirvana, will release an album in which he sings and recites prayers to the Virgin Mary. The album is the result of a deal done by an Italian Catholic media group called Multimedia San Paolo and all profits will go to fund music education for underprivileged children around the world.

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MOUNTAIN GOATS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM AND DOWNLOAD
Yay, we like The Mountain Goats. You should too. Oh, you do. Good. Anyway, they (or he, depending on how you want to look at it) have recorded a new album, called 'The Life Of The World To Come', due for release in October. String arrangements on the album were handled by Final Fantasy/Arcade Fire man Owen Pallett, because it is now the law that he does all string arrangements on everything.

A quick glance at the tracklisting below will tell you that all the songs on the album are based on passages from the Bible. Here's what main goat John Darnielle has to say about all that: "I guess the obvious question is going to be: 'John, have you had some sort of religious awakening?' and while I guess lots of people might want to be coy about answering that, that's never really been my style, so: no. It's not like that. It's not some heavy-narrative-distance deal either, though, and it's not a screed. It's twelve new songs: twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of. More than that I'd want to wait to say until some people have heard it, which won't be long".

No, in fact, it'll be now. You can download 'Genesis 3:23' from here.

And here's that tracklisting we mentioned:

1 Samuel 15:23
Psalms 40:2
Genesis 3:23
Philippians 3:20-21
Hebrews 11:40
Genesis 30:3
Romans 10:9
1 John 4:16
Matthew 25:21
Deuteronomy 2:10
Isaiah 45:23
Ezekiel 7 And The Permanent Efficacy Of Grace

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ALBUM REVIEW: Various Artists - Soma Coma Volume 3 (Soma Records)
Glasgow's consistently good dance label hits us with the third volume of their electronic chill out compilation, in fine fashion. With tracks from Vector Lovers, Alex Smoke, Slam and The Black Dog there are some big hitters here. Martin Wheeler as Vector Lovers throws in the excellent 'Melodies And Memories', while TBD presents the haunting and chilling 'Ghost Vexations', scant piano, no bassline, just mood and atmosphere, it's sublime. So much so, it's a shame that TBD's other offering, 'Transmission Start', is a little too abstract and minimal. But the good outweigh the not so good. Skintrade's 'Psalm' is from 1994, and is an 11 minute epic lying between the softer parts of Autechre's 'Incunabula' album and Moby's 'Play' LP - it perhaps comes off as a little sugary, but is lovely chill nonetheless. Alex Smoke's 'Prima Materia' is harder, and more cinematic, with a sense of urgency in its string and horn segments, while Slam again employ Dot Allison on vox duty in 'We Medicate' to create a piece of slightly brooding menace. Slam's Stuart McMillan later offers up 'Total Toxic Tranquillity', which is slightly folky in its aspect. Although some are stronger than others, there is no bad track on this disc, and it all flows very well as a collection. It should be on the summer shopping list of anyone into decent down tempo, or chilled out electronica. Recommended. PV
Release Date: 3 Aug
Press Contact: Soma IH [all]

Buy from iTunes
Buy from Amazon

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TERRA FIRMA BACKERS APPROVE BOND SALE
Terra Firma's financial backers have reportedly approved plans to sell new equity in the still struggling music major EMI in a bid to raise up to £300 million to reduce the music company's debt obligations to Citigroup.

As previously reported, Terra Firma chief Guy Hands has been looking into various ways to restructure EMI's debts in recent months, reportedly asking Citigroup if they'd restructure their loans, and even inject some new cash into the flagging company. The issuing of high-yield bonds to other financial institutions in the City is seen as an alternative way of creating the cash flow needed if Citigroup won't play ball.

According to the FT, Terra Firma's have backed the bond proposals, even though it will reduce the value of their stakes in the music major. However, any such sale of high-yield bonds will probably not actually take place until the latter part of the year.

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GROOVESHARK PREPARE IPHONE APP
Sophisticated music search service Grooveshark, that lets users playlist and stream music content from across the net (quite a lot of it unlicensed) through one player, has an iPhone app ready and waiting, and now pending Apple approval. It will be interesting to see if Apple allow the app to be made available via its official store, not only because - like the Spotify app announced earlier this week - it provides serious competition for iTunes, but also because Grooveshark is currently subject to a copyright infringement lawsuit by EMI. It will be interesting to see if Apple, who is, after all, a business partner with the major record companies (if a reluctant one) will give the go ahead for a service to launch on its mobile device which at least one major thinks is infringing their copyrights.

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MIRROR TO LAUNCH 3AM GOSSIP WEBSITE
The Daily Mirror is launching a new website built around its 3am gossip column, possibly in a bid to replicate the success of TMZ.com in the US, the celebrity gossip site which, of course, has enjoyed growing success this year, not least as a result of it breaking the 'Jacko is dead' story. The Mirror Group hope their site will have a different voice to some of the existing gossip sites, more inline with the 3am column in the paper itself.

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DAB NETWORK TO BE LESS CHILLED
Global Radio's chill-out digital station Chill will disappear from the digital audio broadcasting network in a number of English regions, confining the service to London, the West Midlands, Scotland and online. The move is seemingly designed to allow Global to expand the digital output of its Galaxy network, though the reach of the service, originally launched in 2005, has been cut back previously for cost saving reasons.

In a statement, a spokesman for Chill said: "I am sorry that the DAB change couldn't be avoided. Our parent company has been great to us for years. They are facing the same credit crunch as the rest of us, and their business choices mean jobs and food for a lot of people. So please don't snow them under with letters!"

A Global Radio spokesperson, meanwhile, added: "Chill will continue to broadcast on digital radio in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh and will also be available online. As a result of a recent review of our digital services we're pleased to expand our popular Galaxy brand to many other areas via digital radio".

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REZNOR EXPLAINS TWEXIT
Trent Reznor has been discussing his decision to delete his Twitter account. As previously reported, the Nine Inch Nails man recently decided to take a step back from the social networking site, but after a brief return to regularly updating fans on it, he completely deleted his account earlier this month.

Writing on the Nine Inch Nails website, he said: "Yes, I deleted my account and I'll explain why since somehow someone apparently thinks this is newsworthy. Twitter seemed like an interesting way to quickly reach a large number of people, and people that seem to exist outside of the nin.com world of fans. Then... around the time news broke of my engagement, a faction of troublemakers showed up whose sole intent was to disrupt, harass, insult and incite...In a reasonably moderated community, these people can be made to vanish - on Twitter, it's a free-for-all - hence they flock there. It depresses me to think my art and life's work can attract this kind of scum... if that was your intention you trolling, cowardly pigs - you've succeeded".

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RIHANNA UPSET BY BROWN APOLOGY
Rihanna is apparently not best pleased about Chris Brown's video statement, released earlier this month, in which he publicly apologised for beating his ex-girlfriend unconscious in the street back in February.

A source told Now magazine: "She's in total shock. It was like he gave her another blow, albeit one of a different kind. All she knows is that it's in the news again and that's the one thing she didn't want. She's been trying to put it behind her and move on as fast as possible. They spoke [prior to the video going online] and Chris made no mention of any public statement then. She wishes he'd given her at least a heads-up about it. But that's Chris, always thinking of himself first and forgetting how this would impact on her".

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MITCH FAKED HEART ATTACK
Mitch Winehouse has revealed that he once faked serious illness and even a heart attack in an attempt to get his daughter (that Amy Winehouse, yeah?) to quit the drugs. Although that failed (she asked to see details of her father's condition), he said that she has now not taken any drugs since Christmas.

He told The Mirror: "I just didn't know which way to turn. I'd tried everything. I pretended I was seriously ill and even got our doctor to tell Amy that I was dying. Once I even started screaming and said I was having a heart attack, but it didn't work. Amy's not stupid".

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