| CMU Daily - on the inside 14 Nov 2002 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Media hint at clues to Jay’s killer,
• MTV awards beckon,
• Idlewild bassist turns DJ,
• Cash covers rockers,
• Review: TLC – 3D,
• Jackson in court over cancelled gigs,
• Joni quits the industry,
• INXS join Bali benefit gig,
• BDB fans look for the fish,
• Gus Gus play live,
• Review: Various - GDM,
• Capital cut workforce,
• Death In Vegas add date,
• DJ and former boy band star among celeb Big Brother contestants
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Since 1990 only three British acts have managed to simultaneously hit the top of the album charts in both the US and the UK. Which bands and which albums?
Answer tomorrow
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MEDIA HINT AT CLUES TO JAY’S KILLER
While the New York Post has reported that an associate of Jam Master Jay may well have tipped off his killer of his whereabouts, police in NYC will only say that their investigation continues, and that they have yet to name a suspect. According to the Post the alleged associate tipped the killers off when Jay arrived at his 24/7 studio in Queens. He then waited outside while the perpetrators committed the crime. The man, described only as a “convicted drug dealer”, is believed to be hiding out in Washington. They went on to claim that Jay may have been killed in a dispute over money and that the prime suspect was a man named Curtis Scoon.
On Tuesday, Detective Bernard Porter Jr of the 103rd Precinct told reporters he could not confirm the report about Scoon, and that police still did not have any suspects. "We're always interested in hearing what the streets are talking about who may have been involved," he said. "It's our job to prove or disprove what the streets are saying."
A new reward has been pledged to anyone who supplies evidence that leads to an arrest and conviction. Charles Fisher, founder and chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council, has confirmed his organization has received an anonymous donation of $250,000 to be used as reward money. This compensation is independent of the $62,000 that has already been put up by the New York Police Department and a coalition spearheaded by Russell Simmons.
Meanwhile the Youth Council has launched a hip-hop peace summit in New York in memory of Jay. It has established a code of principles for artists to follow and a mediation board to deal with conflicts in moves to clean up the music's image. Key artists and music industry figures will be asked to sign a memo of understanding to indicate they support the project.
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MTV AWARDS BECKON
A 12,000 strong crowd will join Eminem, Robbie Williams, Whitney Houston and Enrique Iglesias in Barcelona tonight for the MTV Europe Music Awards. It is hard to predict if any one act will steal the night with no less than seven artists holding four nominations - Eminem, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Pink, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira and Royksopp.
Host P Diddy, himself up against Slim Shady for best hip-hop artist, was gallant in potential defeat when he predicted that it would “Eminem's year”.
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IDLEWILD BASSIST TURNS DJ
Former Idlewild bassist Bob Fairfoull will take to the decks this weekend in his first public performance since quitting the band. He is set to DJ at the Barfly club in Glasgow on Friday night. He’s told NME his set is likely to reflect his passion for the heavier side of rock. "There will probably be a bit of Dillinger Escape Plan, some pretty brutal metal noise-core, and then if people are leaving I'll hit them with something pleasant like Queens Of The Stone Age. It'll be a nice eclectic mix of stuff." He will join Beat 106’s Jim Gellatly and BBC Radio 1’s Vic Galloway at the regular Gigantic club night.
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CASH COVERS ROCKERS
Johnny Cash has chosen some unlikely tracks to cover on his new album 'America IV : The Man Comes Around', including Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Hurt’ and Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’.
Talking about his choice in songs he described ‘Personal Jesus’ as “a very fine, fine evangelical song, although I don't think that's why it was written. It's where do you find your comfort, your counsel, your shoulder to lean on, your hand to hold to, your personal Jesus."
The album also features guest vocals from Nick Cave, and guitar from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Fruciante.
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REVIEW: TLC – 3D (BMG/Arista)
This, TLC's fourth album, is the last to feature Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, who died earlier this year of course. On 'Turntable', Chilli and T-Boz pay tribute to her in simple, guitar-driven harmonies and it works pretty well as a celebration of their friend (rather than just mourning her death). 'Girl Talk', the first single, is funkier in an En Vogue kind of way but isn't quite up to the glam-polish of Destiny's Child or the veiled threat of the Sugababes. 'Quickie' is more like it, assertive and don't-mess, while the Timbaland/Missy Elliott produced 'Dirty Dirty' is, well, not particularly dirty but reminds me, somehow, of The Longpigs' 'On and On' (though I don’t imagine there are many people who own both!)... Elsewhere, the Neptunes-produced 'In your Arms Tonight' could be Prince, and there's something great about the phrase "get my grub on", from 'Hands Up'. The problem is, by this stage, the tracks have begun to blend into one another - there's not much here to attract new converts to the TLC cause. 'So So Dumb' takes an interesting angle to the old playing away theme, and then, a few minutes later, it's over. A good album, just not a brilliant one.
Release date: 11 Nov
Press contact: Beatwax [CP, CR] BMG IH [RP, R, NP, NR]
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JACKSON IN COURT OVER CANCELLED GIGS
Michael Jackson was in court in California yesterday where concert promoter Marcel Avram is suing him for an alleged $21 million which Avram claims he lost when Jackson cancelled two millennium concerts (he was due to perform two midnight concerts – one on each side of the dateline). Jackson's testimony was brief, limited to ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers.
In the lead up to the trial both sides blamed the other for the cancellation of the concerts. Attorney Louis ‘Skip’ Miller told the court that Avram was left with hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses after Jackson backed out of the shows. Jackson attorney Zia Modabber countered by saying Avram wanted out of the shows after two charity concerts also involving Jackson failed to make a profit.
While Avram confirmed that his contract with Jackson covered two for-profit millennium concerts and two charity concerts, and that the charity shows lost money, he says that far from wanting to cancel the millennium dates, he expected to recoup his losses through them.
It’s not the first time Avram and Jackson have been in court together. In 1994 Avram's promotion firm sued Jackson for $20 million after the singer failed to complete his 1993 Dangerous world tour (the tour was cut short as Jackson faced those child molestation charges, though the official reason for the cancellation was that Jackson was being treated for addiction to painkillers). The lawsuit was settled when Jackson guaranteed the promoter the rights to forthcoming Jacko tours. When Jackson started shopping round for a new promoter for a proposed Invincible tour (that never happened) Avram sued him again – that suit is still pending.
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JONI QUITS THE INDUSTRY
Joni Mitchell – a musician not known for holding back when it comes to slagging off people in the music world – has announced her latest album will be her last. "These are my last two records," she has said talking about the new double album ‘Travelogue’. "I'm quitting after this because the business has made itself so repugnant to me.
Mitchell has been increasingly critical of the music biz of late, recently descibing the record industry "the most corrupt one of all. They try not to pay you whenever possible."
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INXS JOIN BALI BENEFIT GIG
INXS will perform a benefit to for the Australian Bali Relief Fund in New York next week. They will play alongside Gloria Gaynor, and Australian singer songwriter Hugh Wilson at the benefit show, which will be hosted by Aussie MC Gordon Elliot and feature director Baz Luhrmann and designer Catherine McCarthy. The Bali Relief Fund was established to provide a way that residents of the United States can directly help those affected by recent tragedy.
INXS are currently working on their first album with newly appointed lead singer Jon Stevens.
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BDB FANS LOOK FOR THE FISH
Badly Drawn Boy will record songs or poems by five of his fans in a new online competition to promote his new album ‘Have You Fed The Fish’. He has hidden four ‘small golden fishes’ in copies of his new album, and has posted one of the internet somewhere. Anyone who finds a fish can put forward a song. Confused? Well, yes, so are we. Full info, plus some new recordings of live performances, on BDB's page at www.www.xl-recordings.com.
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GUS GUS PLAY LIVE
Gus Gus are promoting their first release with Darren Emerson’s Underwater label by performing a live set at London’s Fabric club on 6 Dec. It will be their first live performance in the UK for over two years, and will showcase tracks from new album ‘Attention!’.
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REVIEW: Various - More GDM (Tiger Sushi)
From this rather odd Parisian Label comes this rather odd 15 track compilation. Cashing in on the electroclash vibe this includes tracks from 1974 to the present, and some of them are well far out. From the slow ranting about lesbians in Gina X’s ‘No GDM’ from 1981 (where GDM is revealed as Great Dark Man) to the absolute bullshit of Silver Apples ‘Salad’ to the rather poor 80’s rock of the Bush Tedras, to the nauseating 1980 ‘Swinging Pool’ by Tokow Boys - there are some real duds here. But there are at least three passable tunes too – Max Berlin’s 1978 downtempo jazz in ‘Elle and Moi’, the late 80’s sounding house cut ‘Love’s Got Me High’ by SGHA from 1995 and John Tejada’s stealthy dub breaks with ‘Present Pretence (also worth a mention is Chapter Three’s ‘Smurf Trek’ – some 1983 jocular old skool hip-hop). It all comes with a nice booklet inside about the tracks with pixelated cartoon depiction of the artists which is good– it’s just a shame about the mixed quality of the tunes on this hugely awkward sonic trip. PV
Release date: 27 Jan
Press contact: Rocket Science
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CAPITAL CUT WORKFORCE
Capital Radio has axed 10% of its workforce meaning 60 people will lose their jobs. Chief Exec David Mansfield told reporters the downsizing followed a revamp of the group in the summer, which saw Capital's businesses folded into its four main radio brands - Capital FM, Xfm, Century FM and Capital Gold. But he admitted advertising revenues were still dropping. "The outlook is not particularly positive and it would be wrong of us to spot an upturn. We don't see it. We believe it is prudent to run our company over the next few months on the basis of less revenue, not more, coming in".
Putting the revenue slump down to general advertising trends, he denied the fall in advertising income was a reflection of the fall in overall audience share for its flagship London station Capital FM (Capital FM's overall share of the London audience has fallen to 8.8%, while main rival Heart 106.2FM has risen to 6.3%). "The last Rajar figures were a bit disappointing, but the new start to the financial year has got nothing to do with those. We will only trade on those figures in the first quarter of next year".
He confirmed much of the £2m saved in the downsize would be thrown into marketing the stations.
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DEATH IN VEGAS ADD DATE
Death in Vegas have added an extra London date to their current tour – they will now play The Forum on 21 Dec with support from Electrelane. The gig will shortly follow the release of the Liam Gallagher fronted track 'Scorpio Rising', which hits the shops on 16 Dec.
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DJ AND FORMER BOY BAND STAR AMONG CELEB BIG BROTHER CONTESTANTS
DJ turned actor Goldie and former Take That member Mark Owen are among the people lined up for Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother which kicks off next Wednesday. Les Dennis, Caprice and Mel Giedroyc (of Mel and Sue) are also likely to appear. Coronation Street actress Denise Welsh has pulled out after her son fell ill – so one more celeb is yet to be added. All those inside the house will be hoping their time on reality TV will do to their careers what the first Celeb Big Brother did for Claire Sweeney, and what Get Me Out Of Here has done for Tony Blackburn.
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Answer to Wednesday's pop quiz:
Which disco performer said “I hate disco music”?
Barry Gibb