The Who, Barbra Streisand and George Jones were
among
the honorees on Dec. 30th during the Kennedy Center Honors.
According to a survey by Quigley Publishing Co. of movie exhibitors,
Will Smith was voted the star who generated the most box office revenue
for theaters in 2008
The Twilight soundtrack climbed one spot to #6 on the Billboard 200
albums chart on sales of 148,000 copies. AC/DC's Black Ice
dropped 2 places to #11. Enya's And Winter Came... gained 2
spots to #14. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack climbed a place to
#17. Metallica's Death Magnetic gained 15 spots to
#20. Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy climbed 8 places to #25.
Celine Dion's My Love: The Essential Collection climbed 2 places to #13
on the last U.K. Albums chart of the year. Simply Red's 25:
The Greatest Hits fell 4 spots to #17. Bette Midler's The
Best Bette dropped 6 places to #27. Guns N' Roses' Chinese
Democracy fell 2 places to #28. Rod Stewart's Some Guys Have
All The Luck dropped a place to #29. Enya's And Winter
Came... fell 5 spots to #32. AC/DC's Black Ice climbed 3
places to #34. Status Quo's Pictures: 40 Years Of Hits
dropped 2 spots to #37.
The Pogues featuring Kirsty Maccoll's "Fairytale Of New York" dropped 7
places on the U.K. Singles chart to #19.
According to an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Prince has
announced he will release 2 new albums (tentatively titled MPLSOUND and
Lotus Flower) in 2009. Talks are underway with a "major
retailer" to release the physical copies while his official Web site
will sell the digital versions, avoiding the need for a record
label. Lotus Flower is said to be a more guitar-driven effort
while MPLSOUND is "electro-flavored" and "trippy, experimental pop
songs." Prince has also been working on the new album,
Elixer, from his protege, Bria Valente. About the project he
said, "We got sick of waiting for Sade to make a new album."
Bell Biv Devoe are making their return this year after a New Year's Eve
performance at Foxwoods, a planned performance in Houston on Jan. 18th
and a highly anticipated new project. They've also launched a
MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/officialbellbivdevoe
Buzz have announced that they will release their new album, Buzz Blitz
Klub Vol. 1: Dancefloor de la Mort, on Jan 21st.
Duran Duran's John Taylor has filmed a guest spot on the ABC series
Samantha Who that will air on Jan. 12th.
Megadeth are reportedly in the final stages of writing new material for
their next studio album due out this year via Roadrunner
Records. The disc will be the debut of their new guitarist
Chris Broderick.
Anne Clark begins the new year with the third and final stretch of her
tour supporting her latest album, The Smallest Acts Of
Kindness. She also has plans to release a live DVD from the
tour.
Guns N' Roses are reportedly getting ready to promote, "Better," their
new single from Chinese Democracy. A video for the song has
been put together but it has been reported that the only thing holding
it up is getting a release signed by Metallica drummer Lars
Ulrich. The video is said to feature some backstage and
onstage clips that feature Ulrich which would have to be
cleared. The video director's son had posted something about
the issue on MyGNRForum.com.
KMFDM will release their new studio album, Blitz, on Mar. 24th in time
to coincide with their 25th anniversary. Meanwhile, Sascha of
the band has been working with Tim Skold on a 22-track collaborative
effort entitled Skold Vs. KMFDM.
Jay Aston has been working on some new music with Francois Perez and
hopes to put something out soon. He had plans to record with
his former Gene Loves Jezebel bandmates (James Stevenson, Pete Rizzo
and Robert Adam) but Adam's father passed away recently. In
fact, Aston, Adam and Rizzo lost parents during the last month or
so. They do plan to get to the recording and some U.S. tour
dates in February. They have decided on a new name for their
band (which they have registered) and will make an announcement soon.
Lloyd Cole has announced plans to release a 59-track 4 volume
collection, Cleaning Out The Ashtrays, on Jan. 30th containing B-sides,
album outtakes, alternate mixes and almost every studio recording from
1989 to 2006 which was intended to be released commercially but never
wound up on an album.
The Beastie Boys will see their 1989 album, Paul's Boutique, reissued
in a digitally remastered version to commemorate the disc's 20th
anniversary on Jan. 27th. The reissue will also give fans
access to a free download of a "track-by-track" album commentary by the
group. Meanwhile, The Beastie Boys are working on a new album
due out as early as May.
Bjork has announced that she has partnered with venture capital firm
Audur Capital based in Reykjavik on a fund, bearing her name, that will
invest in companies that are socially and environmentally responsible
and that will help in the recovery of the Icelandic economy.
The fund is seeking investors to participate in the fund with
investments to close by March 2009. According to a post on
AudurCapital.is, the singer "has become a spokeswoman for innovation,
creative thinking and increased diversity in the Icelandic economy."
KissOnline.com reports that Gene Simmons has been doing voice-over
work, portraying himself, on an upcoming episode of the new stop-motion
Nick At Nite series, Glenn Martin DDS. Former Disney CEO
Michael Eisner is producing the series which is expected to launch in
the summer.
Despite there being a Tracii Guns version and Phil Lewis version of
L.A. Guns touring and recording, the former has filmed episodes of a
L.A. Guns reality show that their label paid for which is being shopped
to different networks. In a post on their Web site about the
project, "Once the show is sold, then we find out the air dates, then
we start marketing dollars for the release of the [band's new] record,
so as of now it's a waiting game." To avoid confusion, the
band's name for the show and album will not be L.A. Guns.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office announced today (Friday) that
Dr. Dre's son, Andre Young, Jr., died in August from an overdose of
heroin and morphine.
According to their family attorney, John Travolta and Kelly Preston's
16 year-old son, Jett Travolta, died suddenly today (Friday) at the
family's vacation home at the old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama
Island. Attempts were made to revive him after he suffered a
seizure. Access Hollywood has reported that he hit his head
on the bathtub at the hotel. Jett reportedly had a history of
seizures.
Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, 70, died in Sherman Oaks, California,
on Dec. 29th (over a month after suffering a heart attack.)
He performed with many jazz legends including Herbie Hancock, Ornette
Coleman and John Coltrane before heading toward a more commercial form
which saw the release of several albums in the 1980s (1981's Born To Be
Blue, 1981's Outpost, 1983's Sweet Return and 1983's Rose
Tattoo.) In 2006, Hubbard was honored with the National
Endowment for the Arts' Jazz Masters Award.