Archive for October, 2009
Rapper Lil Wayne is now facing up to one year in jail after pleading guilty to weapons possession.
Lil Wayne — or Dwayne Carter III to his mom and the judge — appeared in a New York City courtroom Thursday morning to answer to charges originally put against him in July 2007, when a loaded gun was found on his tour bus by police. The rapper was then arrested on charges of criminal weapons possession and criminal possession of a loaded weapon.
Another hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 15, E! reports (which, coincidentally, is the same date his already much-delayed album, Rebirth, is scheduled to drop). Sentencing is expected to take place in February. Wayne remains free on $30,000 US bond, although he has been required to surrender his passport, E! reports.
This case is just one of Wayne’s current troubles. The rapper also faces trial for drug and weapons possession charges stemming from 2008, says Rolling Stone.
Regina Spektor took the Saturday Night Live stage over the long weekend to perform two numbers from this year’s excellent Far backed by a drummer, cellist and violinist: the quirky, upbeat “The Calculation” and the wistful, building “Eet.” (Check out “Eet” above and “The Calculation” after the jump.)
More demure than Lady Gaga’s theatrics on last week’s episode and U2’s explosive set on the season opener, Spektor’s vocals sounded stellar against the often unfriendly acoustics of studio 8H. She channeled retro-’40s fashion with red lipstick and her hair in ringlets, and sported a polka-dot dress for her second number. The Russian-born singer-songwriter — who was introduced by host Drew Barrymore — seemed totally absorbed in her craft, only breaking from her piano to offer a shy “Thank you” at the end of her performance. Next week, Shakira unleashes her “She Wolf” on the SNL stage.
Earlier this month, a leaked Jay-Z track called “Crispy Benjamins” featured a sample of “Chemo Limo” off Spektor’s 2004 disc Soviet Kitsch. The track is rumored to be released later this year as a part of an unconfirmed Jay-Z greatest hits collection. Spektor is also confirmed to be contributing songs to an upcoming musical called Beauty, which is based on the Sleeping Beauty story and slated for a debut during the 2010-2011 theater season.
In the meantime, Spektor is keeping busy on the road — she kicked off her fall tour last night in Massachusetts, and returns to New York tomorrow to play the city’s famed Radio City Music Hall before heading out west and then overseas through the end of the year.
Garth Brooks said he was retiring way back in 2001. He was on top of the country music scene and showed no signs of slowing down, but he had a bigger picture in mind. He wanted to raise his kids the way he chose. He wanted to be there when they needed him, and not just the superstar dad that they could tell their friends about. Garth said when that job was done he would return.
The triumphant return of Garth Brooks has finally arrived, and a bit earlier than the superstar himself, thought. This past week Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts and Garth Brooks announced a series of shows at The Encore Theatre at Wynn Las Vegas. Garth joins the likes of Elton John, Celine Dion and Wayne Newton, who all turned successful recording careers into extended engagements at resorts throughout the Nevada desert town.
The series of concerts is scheduled to begin on December 9, 2009 and is sure to please country fans and Garth fans in general. Garth Brooks is not only a star in country music, but has engaged fans across several styles of music. His crossover appeal was never more apparent than in 1997, when fans filled Central Park in New York City to see Brooks perform a special concert that included Don Mclean of “American Pie” fame and the “Piano Man” Billy Joel. There were reports of nearly three million fans, who flooded the park. In some cases they were only able to catch a glimpse of Garth on one of several big screens established throughout the park. In other cases they were only able to hear the music and celebrate with friends, but everybody still enjoyed the show.
“Everything about Garth’s performances—his artistry, the range of his voice and connection with his audience—is something that I haven’t seen since the Rat Pack.” said Steve Wynn. “I watched a man create instant love in real time, right before my eyes. Now we have the privilege at Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas to share this extraordinary, intimate experience with everyone.”
Wynn was able to put together a deal that will allow Garth to perform in Las Vegas without compromising the promise he made to himself. “Steve Wynn has done what I thought was impossible. He has given me a chance to sing again for the people, while at the same time never missing a day with my children,” says Garth. “I am naturally nervous, but it feels good to be out from under the low ceiling of ‘retirement’ I put on myself.”
It was a low ceiling of retirement indeed, as Garth has returned to the spotlight from time to time since his 2001 retirement. He released a Pink Edition of “Garth Brooks: The Ultimate Hits” to benefit Susan G Komen For The Cure and a performed a benefit concert to aid victims of California brush fires, both in 2007. Garth received the ultimate honor in 2008, being presented with The Academy of Country Music Crystal Milestone Award during the 43rd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards.
For more information on Garth Brooks and his upcoming shows in Las Vegas, check out his website at www.garthbrooks.com or the Wynn Las Vegas website at www.wynnlasvegas.com.
Post-mortem results announced on Tuesday concluded that Gately had died from natural causes, and a judge said his body could now be returned home from Majorca.
The Irish singer was found dead on Saturday on the sofa in his apartment in Port Andratx on the island after a night out with his ‘husband’ Andrew Cowles.
Gately was born and bred in the Sheriff Street area of Dublin and his funeral is being planned for St Laurence O’Toole’s Church.
Lawyer Gerald Kean, a spokesman for Gately’s family in Ireland, said: “The family are pleased that the post-mortem has been completed. They are pleased that the results of the post mortem indicate exactly what they said all along, that Stephen died as a result of natural causes.
“They would like to thank the authorities in Spain and Ireland for doing everything in their power to complete formalities as quickly as possible to get Stephen’s body home.”
Mr Kean said the family was planning the funeral to take place at noon on Saturday.
A court official in Majorica said the singer suffered a pulmonary oedema, an accumulation of fluid on the lungs. The underlying cause was not revealed.
Louis Walsh, the X Factor judge and Boyzone’s manager, has paid tribute to Gately.
”We’re all in shock. Nobody can believe it – the guys, me, nobody. We are in shock,” he said.
Walsh, who put Boyzone together in the mid-1990s, was with Gately and the rest of the band last week in London to discuss the final 10 tracks for the comeback album.
He said he had never seen the 33-year-old West End star in better health or better form.
”The boys are devastated. It’s like they have lost their very, very best friend, and me too,” Walsh said. ”His best friend was his sister Michelle – I don’t know how she is coping.
”The boys are like his family now. The four boys where like four daddies for him.”
Speaking of Gately’s upbringing in Dublin, he said: “He came from Sheriff Street. He was a very working class kid. All he wanted to do was sing and go to the West End and he loved Disney, that was Stephen.
”Of all the people I’ve worked with I don’t think anybody thanked me as much as Stephen. He used to always say to me ‘if I wasn’t in Boyzone I don’t know where I’d be today, thank-you’. A great, great, great professional kid.”
Walsh and the remaining Boyzone bandmates have been in close contact over the last few days. They are expected to gather together for the funeral.
Usher’s back at it again!
His latest song “Papers” was released on October 5th and is already getting much airplay. The song expresses his emotions towards his divorce with “soon-to-be-ex-wife” Tameka Foster-Raymond, although producer Sean Garrett states otherwise.
Sean Garrett stated to MTV News that the lyrics for this song were written before Usher filed for divorce and the song was not based on any real life situations.
Usher is currently going through the process of divorce with Tameka Foster-Raymond.
When horrorcore killer Richard ‘Sam’ McCroskey performed songs like “Murderous Rage,” and “Evil Voices,” it sounded like the work of a disturbed kid aiming for shock value.
Or is it possible he made the music after the fatal bludgeonings? Some ‘Syko Sam’ videos were posted on YouTube after the September 18 killings, apparently not by McCroskey himself but someone with the screen name ”SykoSam666.”
Whenever fans of a fringe musical genre–from black metal to Marilyn Manson–commit a crime, we question whether the violence was influenced by the music or whether violent kids, along with more harmless fans, are just more likely to seek it out.
Horrorcore and similar genres may frighten outsiders–which is what they’re supposed to do–but most fans are drawn to the theatrics and understand it’s all fiction. Adults were horrified when Alice Cooper sang about necrophilia and staged mock hangings back in the 1970s. But now we can recognize him as the campy showman he really was. Menacing acts like Gwar and Slipknot will probably look the same in another 20 years.
Horrorcore is a deeply obscure, goth-influenced subgenre of rap. So far, attempts to define it in the light of McCroskey’s alleged killings have been nebulous.
But if your kid was into it, you’d be worried. Bands have names like Dismembered Fetus and fans chat online about the occult. In horrorcore, the grotesque imagery has a quality of one-upmanship, as if the artists were saying, ‘you think that’s evil, well what about THIS?’
Were the slayings of Neiderbrock and her family McCroskey’s bizarre attempt to gain credibility with other horrorcore artists and fans?
In the annals of ‘devil music’ murders, this one seems different. It’s rare that homicidal fans are performers themselves. And how many shock rock fans have carried out crimes they foretold in their songs? Not many.
Because of Richard McCroskey, parents now have to ask themselves whether extreme entertainment–from gory rock to homemade slasher films– could ever become reality.
When the creepy garage band next door starts posting morbid fantasies on YouTube, you have to wonder whether any of it has happened, or is about to happen, to your family.
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In the torrent of reaction to the death on Sunday of the legendary Argentine folk singer Mercedes Sosa, the words of René (Residente) Pérez, the Puerto Rican rapper from the duo Calle 13, stand out.
The 31-year-old Pérez and the 74-year-old Sosa would seem to have little in common, yet he is one of 21 artists who sang with “La Negra” on her last album, “Cantora,” released in the U.S. last week.
Their song “Canción Para un Niño en la Calle” (“Song for a Child on the Street”) is a devastating tribute to homeless children. Sosa’s iconic vibrant voice contrasts powerfully with Pérez’s rapping in Spanish.
On Sunday, Pérez wrote a letter about the legacy of Sosa, whose music decried injustice — from hunger and poverty to the notorious civil rights abuses of Latin America’s military regimes, which led to the disappearance of thousands of civilians in the ’70s.
“Her voice connected me to everything that school didn’t want to teach me. Revealed what they tried to hide,” Pérez wrote.
“With her voice, ‘the disappeared’ appear and hug their mothers,” he continued. “She got folk music heard louder than a Madonna song. She gave substance to the young.”
“Cantora” is a compilation from “Cantora 1” and “Cantora 2,” which were released earlier this year in Latin America. Volume 1 is up for three Latin Grammys at the Nov. 5 ceremony in Las Vegas.
“Cantora” features duets with many Spanish-speaking music greats, including Shakira, Argentine rockers Charly García and Gustavo Cerati, Spaniards Joan Manuel Serrat and Joaquín Sabina and Mexicans Lila Downs and Julieta Venegas.
Listening to the CD’s 18 tracks, we may yearn to hear more of Sosa’s voice, but this collaboration album gives comfort that the torch has been passed.
“Today she dies but her voice remains as reference for future voices,” Pérez said. “Mercedes Sosa was a woman who dared talk like no man has been able to. Her voice is as real as the needs of Latin America.”
Rapper Nas wrote an open letter to Chicago youth shortly after the incident, this is a small piece:
Dear Young Warriors fighting the wrong war! I know that feeling, that frustration with life and needing to take it out on someone, any one.
“We chose the dumbest things to go the hardest for. I remember seeing deaths over 8 ball jackets, Fila sneakers, and name plate chains. Deaths over “he say, she say”!!!!! “I’m from this block or I’m from that block”, or “my moms n pops is f*cked up now the whole world gotta pay”!!!
I remember feeling like I was the hardest “n*gga” breathing. And I couldn’t wait to prove it. But let’s think. What are we really proving?? And proving what to who??
When we see each other why do we see hatred? Why were we born in a storm, born soldiers, WARRIORS….and instead of building each other up we are at war with each other.. May the soul of this young person find peace with the almighty. I’m with you young warriors. You’re me and I’m you. But trust me! you are fighting the wrong war.”
After writing the letter, Nas took it upon himself to make the rounds in the media, stopping by BET and CNN to talk about his letter and what he wants to see done in the inner city. But instead of putting a primary focus on solutions, CNN chose to rehash the “are rap lyrics responsible for all of this?” argument to lead off their interview with Nas.
Where are all the rappers who used to be in gangs (or have claimed to have been in one)? Their voices should have already been heard on this topic as soon as the news broke. Snoop Dogg? The Game, Young Jeezy, Jim Jones, Lil Wayne, Mack 10 etc… I could go on and on.
Artists from Chicago in particular should have spoken out, Common, Kanye West, Twista, Lupe Fiasco, R. Kelly, once again… I could go on and on. These people in particular could have very well been raised in the neighborhoods in which this happened.
Wednesday was “Born To Run” night at Giants Stadium, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band playing the entire landmark album, in order.
But with other album-themed nights planned — “Darkness On the Edge Of Town” on Friday, “Born In the U.S.A.” on Saturday and Oct. 9, and “Born To Run” again on Thursday — keep in mind that the album segment ended up being less than a third of this show.
Springsteen played 29 songs, staying onstage for more than three hours and ten minutes. “Born To Run” has eight songs, and takes less than an hour to play. Even without “Born To Run,” this concert would have been longer than most rock headliners’ sets.
“Born To Run” was one of the many special things about this show, which kicked off the last concert series ever at Giants Stadium.
“Join us tonight to shut the old lady down … we’ve had a lot of great nights here … let’s make this another one,” Springteen said after taking the stage.
He opened with a song written for the occasion: “Wrecking Ball.” It’s a rousing anthem about longevity, and resilience.
“Through the mud and the beer and the blood and the cheers/I’ve seen champions come and go,” Springsteen sang, before paying tribute to the venue itself: “My home is here in the Meadowlands/Where mosquitoes grow big as airplanes/Here where the blood is spilled and the arena is filled/And Giants play the game.”
The defiant chorus was directly inspired by the stadium’s upcoming demolition: “You take your best shot/Let me see what you’ve got/Bring on your wrecking ball.”
The song set the tone for the evening perfectly. At times, Springsteen gazed into the heart of darkness (“Seeds,” “Johnny 99,” “Hard Times”), but he also performed some of the brightest, catchiest pop songs he has ever recorded (“Hungry Heart,” “Waitin’ On a Sunny Day”) with manic energy and crowd-pleasing stunts. During “Hungry Heart,” for instance, he ran around the arena floor, making a circle around the huge “pit” area in front of the stage, singing and pressing flesh the whole way.
Other highlights included oldies “Growin’ Up” and “E Street Shuffle” (both requested via fan signs), the show-closing “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight),” and “Into the Fire” with an powerful addition: an intro of eerie wailing by Springsteen.
The “Born To Run” songs — arguably the richest and most majestic of Springsteen’s career — were a treat to hear in their original order. “Thunder Road,” coming first, served as an invitation. The romantic vision of the frenzied “Night” complimented the romantic vision of the slower but more emotionally cathartic “Backstreets.” The atmospheric, gritty story-song “Meeting Across the River” set up the gritty closing epic “Jungleland.”
Late in the evening, Springsteen added a spoken-word segment to “Growin’ Up,” talking about “the weirdest dream I ever had.”
There were a lot of relatives at his house, he said, and a cake. “This is the part you won’t believe,” he said. “There were 60 (expletive) candles on it.”
It was easy to forget at every other point in this show, but Springsteen turned 60 on Sept. 23.
It was a wet, wild and muddy second day of the eighth annual Austin City Limits Music Festival, with the first drizzles coming about half an hour after the gates opened at 11 a.m. Saturday and growing stronger and more irritating throughout the day. But the sellout crowd of 65,000, many of whom had endured record-breaking heat in previous ACL Fests, initially seemed more invigorated than annoyed by the rain.
When the first downpour came at 2 p.m., just as !!!, a band whose name looks almost like raindrops, took the Livestrong stage, the poncho-wearing crowd cheered the wet stuff.
By late afternoon, however, as the air got chillier and the deluge remained relentless, the thought of a hot shower was no doubt as appealing to many as the anticipation of a hot band.
“I thought I could tough this out,” said a drenched Melanie Young, 37, about half an hour into a downpour. “I didn’t think this would be more miserable than the heat, but it’s impossible to have fun when everybody is this cold and huddled over.”
Not that there wasn’t fun in the Zilker swamp. Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights got a rare ACL encore on the BMI stage Saturday with their psychedelic redneck boogie. Dallas native Tyler, a tireless entertainer always covered in sweat by show’s end, told the crowd, “It’s not often that the audience is as wet as I am.”
Benefiting from the rain were the acts scheduled for the covered Wildflower Center stage, with reggae veteran Eek-a-Mouse drawing a packed house.
Making a splash this year at the festival known for indie rock, singer-songwriters and roots music were soul and hip-hop, with rapper Mos Def getting a huge crowd response Saturday. On Friday night, neo-soul performer John Legend said, “I know you don’t get a lot of R&B acts here, but I feel very much at home tonight.” Another first-day highlight was Raphael Saadiq, formerly of funksters Tony! Toni! Toné!, who underlined ACL’s meld of rock and soul by covering “Search and Destroy” by Iggy and the Stooges.
This was the year that big bass was as prevalent as guitar solos, with the DJ they call Bassnectar pumping such massive bottom-end that he probably knocked squirrels out of trees three blocks away.
During Thievery Corporation’s set Friday, Brazilian singer Karina Zeviani referred to Austin as “an island of tolerance and peace.” But a war of words and stares continued between fans who brought chairs and those who chose to wander and were often prevented from getting closer to the stage by parked chairs.
“I wish they would push the chair lines back,” said Jana Loeb, 26, who said she was blocked from getting close to Phoenix on Friday. “They form these walls right on the line, and you can’t break through even though there’s space. In a big crowd like Phoenix, they’re keeping everybody from seeing who they want to.”
But 44-year-old Rob McCann, who arrived at 11 a.m., spoke up for his right to set three chairs up on a teal blanket at the Dell stage. “It’s just a long time” to stand, he said. “You can’t ask people to do that all day, and we paid the same ticket price as everyone else.”
However, when the rain stopped for a while about 6 p.m., the seated and standing crowds were united in their appreciation. Many took the time to go home and change into dry clothes for a night of headliners including Dave Matthews Band and Austin’s ACL Fest faves Ghostland Observatory. Others simply went home. After the rain began anew about 7 p.m., there was a mass exodus.
Tonight’s headliner, Pearl Jam, has been in town for the entire fest, taping an episode of the Austin City Limits TV show Saturday with a star-studded audience that included Meg Ryan, Laura Dern and Lance Armstrong. Singer Eddie Vedder also made a vocal cameo with Kings of Leon on Friday night.
A perfect day Friday was not without its hitches, at least for some Barton Springs Road vendors who were issued citations for not having temporary use permits. Kimberley Weaver’s antique and Western clothing stand was shut down at 11 a.m., but it was back in business after five hours at the city permits office and a $50 fee.
Meanwhile, the rain did not delay many scheduled performances Saturday evening. It also didn’t seem to hurt the secondary ticket market, one scalper said after refusing to take less than $150 for an $80 one-day ticket. “If they’ve come all the way down here, some folks from all over the country, they want to get in no matter if it’s raining or not,” he said.
Showers and thunderstorms are expected to ease after 1 p.m. today.
John Lennon told the story many times of how Julian had come home one day from school with a drawing of a girl. Who’s that? asked his dad.
That’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds, said Julian. In recent years Lucy Vodden had contracted Lupus, a disease in which the immune system attacks body tissue.
Julian Lennon had reached out to Lucy Vodden again. But at the age of 46 this week, Lucy passed away. Immortalized though in music and — oddly — in the name given to a 3-million-year-old skeleton kept in a glass case in Ethiopia.
