| CMU Daily - on the inside 8 Nov 2002 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Old charges catch up with Brown as he’s arrested in Atlanta,
• Minnelli hits back at VH1,
• Mrs Osbourne gets chat show,
• Harrison album posher than he would have liked,
• Missy Elliot’s mobile million dollar give away,
• Isle of Wight Festival takes on Glastonbury,
• Review: Various - The Future Is In Your Hands,
• Rockers donate gifts to charity auction,
• Timberlake too busy to tour until next summer,
• Review: Russ Gabriel - Into The Unknown,
• Britons biggest music spenders in Europe,
• Grandaddy have April return planned,
• US media giants calls on opening up of TV ownership in the us,
• Elton makes Blue gold
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What were Toploader the last British band to do in August 2000?
Answer on Monday
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OLD CHARGES CATCH UP WITH BROWN AS HE’S ARRESTED IN ATLANTA
Bobby Brown is back in trouble with the law. He has been arrested while driving in Atlanta, charged with the possession of marijuana, no proof of insurance, speeding and no drivers' license. He was granted bail of $1500 for the new charges, but immediately taken to police in DeKalb Country where he was wanted for failing to appear in court back in 1997 when he was charged for driving under the influence, speeding, failing to maintain a lane and having no proof of insurance. There he received a $10,000 bail on the condition he attended court to face the five year old charges later today.
Both Brown and wife Whitney Houston have had drug or alcohol-related legal problems in the past. Brown spent 26 days in a Florida jail in 2000 for violating parole on a 1996 drink-driving conviction by not submitting to a drug test. Houston was charged for marijuana possession in 2000, though her misdemeanour charge was dismissed. All that said, Atlanta police chiefs admitted Brown was in possession of only one ounce of dope when arrested yesterday, and there are no new allegations of drink driving.
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MINNELLI HITS BACK AT VH1
Liza Minnelli has hit back at VH1 after they cancelled her Osbournes style reality show. The official line for axing the project was that TV producers "were not given the co-operation promised", though rumours suggest the control-freakish behaviour of her new husband David Gest made the production untenable
But Minnelli has argued she let the channel record 60 hours of footage, giving cameramen access to some of her most intimate moments. "I even let them follow me to my AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting. We didn't hide anything," she says in an interview with American magazine.
VH1 are yet to respond to Minnelli’s complaints
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MRS OSBOURNE GETS CHAT SHOW
Despite telling reporters she was tiring of her reality show, Sharon Osbourne still seems to be interested in a TV career - she has reportedly signing up as host of a syndicated talk show in the US. Word is she has signed a deal with Telepictures Productions to front a show that will begin in Autumn next year.
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HARRISON ALBUM POSHER THAN HE WOULD HAVE LIKED
Musician Jeff Lynne, a former member of ELO, has admitted the posthumous George Harrison album, which he has completed on the former Beatle’s behalf, is less raw than Harrison himself would probably have wished. Lynne finished the collection of songs Harrison had begun before his death with the help of George’s son, Dhani.
"George and I talked about it,” Lynne has told reporters. “He said that he didn't want the album to be posh. What he wanted, really, was kind of like demos. But the songs deserved more than that because they were great. I thought if I left them as rough as he would have liked, they wouldn't come over as well. I wanted to make them as good as they could be, and I think we struck a balance. So, sorry George, I made them a bit posher than you might have wanted. But I felt I was only doing them justice."
Dhani Harrison played guitar and added some of his father's parts after he died. He’s described working on the album as a "surreal" experience. "I kept turning around, looking for my dad, 'er, is that all right?' and there's no-one there to tell you. You couldn't cram more of my dad's real, true self into one album.”
The new album ‘Brainwashed’, which also features the talents of Jools Holland and Joe Brown, is released on 18 November on EMI.
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MISSY ELLIOT’S MOBILE MILLION DOLLAR GIVE AWAY
Warner label Elektra and London-based marketing company not13 are offering a $1 million prize in a mobile phone based promotion in the US for the new Missy Elliott album ‘Under Construction’ – released here on Monday, and in the States on Tuesday.
Record buyers need to text the word "Missy" to a central number – they will then be entered into a lottery style competition where the top prize is no less that $1 million.
The promotion, which has been labelled ‘Missy $Million’ will be promoted heavily across America – while a website with lots of mobile phone related Missy features is online at missymobile.com.
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ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL TAKES ON GLASTONBURY
The new look Isle of Wight Festival which relaunched this year, is coming back with a two day event next year, hoping to steal some of Glastonbury’s thunder. Although not as big as the flagship UK music festival it will precede it by three weeks, which organisers hope will help gain their event some prestige.
Organiser John Giddings told NME: "Our new dates (7 and 8 June) are at the end of the exams and still long way away from the Reading and V festivals. The intention is to go ahead of Glastonbury. I will be spending a lot more on headline acts this year, and I am in negotiations with acts at the moment, but I don't want to say who."
Although not as established or big as Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight Festival does have a heritage to fall back on like the Somerset event – the three Isle of Wight Festivals in the late sixties – climaxing in the 1970 event – were seminal events in the history of British rock ‘n’ roll.
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REVIEW: Various - The Future is in Your Hands (EMI)
Oh joy of joys. It's all the upcoming EMI single releases compiled on one handy compact disc, a bit like XFM without any of the egotistical DJ nonsense. However, on a listen through to what you'd think was the cutting edge of the current music scene, it's a bit disappointing really. There's an overwhelming feeling of dreariness, from Coldplay's misery-by-numbers, to the Doves' over-produced pomposity. Even the Audio Bullys fail to live up to the promise of their debut single, 'Real Life', with new track 'We Don't Care', coming across as Oi-meets-Earl-Brutus. In fact, the only redeeming feature of the exercise, making up for the faux-posturing of the BRMC and the sheer irritatingness of Athlete, is the glorious, CillaBlackesque majesty of McAlmont and Butler's 'Bring It Back'. Shimmy! LA
Release date: n/a
Press contact: EMI IH
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ROCKERS DONATE GIFTS TO CHARITY AUCTION
A range of premier league musicians – including Oasis, Coldplay, Fatboy Slim and the Rolling Stones – have donated items to an online charity auction in aid of the NSPCC. Bids for the goods – which include signed Oasis and Rolling Stones artwork, a signed Coldplay guitar and a Fatboy Slim Brighton Beach DVD and deck chair – can be made at www.amazon.co.uk. All profits will go to the NSPCC’s Full Stop campaign. The charity’s Georgina Hennessey told reporters: "We are delighted that the NSPCC's Full Stop campaign is set to benefit from the auction. We're extremely grateful to all those involved in raising funds, taking us one step nearer to ending cruelty to children."
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TIMBERLAKE TOO BUSY TO TOUR UNTIL NEXT SUMMER
Nsync member Justin Timberlake has said he will tour to promote his debut solo album ‘Justified’, though his record label reckon it won’t be until late next summer. The delay is because Timberlake is due back in the studio – though its unclear if that’s to record more solo material or to work on a new album with the rest of Nsync.
Timberlake himself was very vague about future projects saying: "I'm working on some stuff right now, but I don't want to say too much about it, just in case. You know, sometimes legal stuff gets in the way of that. I've been working with a lot of people, though."
One future project that has been confirmed however is this year’s Smash Hits Poll Winners Party which he will co-present with Kelly Osbourne. Organisers of the reader voted awards event have confirmed both presenters will also perform a song, joining a pop bill that also features Atomic Kitten, Liberty X, Sugababes, Holly Valance and Westlife. The awards take place at the London Arena on November 24 and will be aired live on Channel 4 at 4.30pm.
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REVIEW: Russ Gabriel - Into The Unknown (Out Of The Loop Recordings)
Russ Gabriel, former owner of the defunct Ferox records, is best known for his techno excursions, but here he takes a side step fusing broken beat and jazz electronics, and he has come up trumps. From the Ian Pooley-esque latin tinged ‘Second Summer’ to harder strings amid broken beat funk in ‘Offenbach West’ there’s lots worth your attentio here. ‘We Will Be Turning’ takes us to the leftfield with chants and orchestral components, title track ‘Into the Unknown’ is arranged in the style of 4hero’s ‘Page One’, the slow melancholy ‘People Of The World Today’ features meaningful poetic lyrics from Jimmy Nelson, while the pure jazz trumpet workout that is ‘Live At The Nugget’ really peppers things up. Awesomely crafted this album gets better with each listen. A fine album by this highly underrated Brit. PV
Release date: 11 Nov
Press contact: Trailer Media [all]
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BRITONS BIGGEST MUSIC SPENDERS IN EUROPE
Britons are spending more on books, music, videos and DVDs than any other nation in Europe new research suggests. In a report by Mintel they reckon we spend an average of £117.74 each on books, videos and music each year, compared to £101.10 in Germany and £71.03 in France.
And while UK music sales have dropped in the first half of this year – our total music spending last year (£2.2 billion) showed a year on year rise of 5% - the highest in Europe.
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GRANDADDY HAVE APRIL RETURN PLANNED
The excellent Grandaddy are set to return with a third album next April. The band are still in the studio preparing the album – though they reckon they already have enough material to fill two CDs. Talking to Rolling Stone they said: "I think we're going to do two CDs, but in no way will it be a double album. That is the biggest fuckin' rock overambitious cliche in the world. The record is probably going to run about 55 minutes. There's the making-dinner section, and there's the you already made dinner and you're home from the bar and you want to rock your ass for the 45 minutes before you go to bed and everyone wants to dance in the living room section."
According to the NME Grandaddy will launch their own Sweat of the Alps label before the new album is released – it will be an Internet-only imprint that will issue two records a year.
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US MEDIA GIANTS CALLS ON OPENING UP OF TV OWNERSHIP IN THE US
Sumner Redstone, chairman and controlling shareholder of Viacom, the world's fourth largest media group and owners of, among other things, MTV and VH1, has said America should change its media ownership laws so that British companies can buy shares in TV and newspaper operations over there.
Redstone was in the UK to talk to Tony Blair about proposed legislation change here that would allow American media giants to buy into ITV or Channel 5. After his meeting with the prime minister he told members of the Royal Television Society: "I told Tony Blair I agreed with the proposed bill because I believe in deregulation. So if your government decides to open the market to American media companies, then America should consider extending a similar spirit of openness."
That said, he confirmed his company had no immediate plans to buy into British TV just now: "We have no plans for an acquisition of ITV, or any other UK broadcast asset, at the moment. But we'll continue to monitor development very closely. So, as we say in our business - stay tuned."
The speech was important because the American government is against foreign ownership of its television networks – Australian Rupert Murdoch famously had to get American citizenship in order to launch Fox TV. But Redstone reckons the government has little to worry about – especially about British companies getting involved in US television because, he says, British broadcasters have a long history of producing quality television the US audience enjoy.
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ELTON MAKES BLUE GOLD
Elton John has presented the members of Blue with personally engraved gold chains prior to the release of their joint single ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word’ out on 9 Dec. Elton apparently distributed the gifts when he arrived at the video shoot for the track. A spokeswoman for Blue told the Daily Mirror: "The boys are currently walking around and showing off their gold non-stop. They will be wearing their chains in the video."