George O'Dowd [a.k.a. Boy George], 47, was
sentenced today (Friday) to 15 months in jail for falsely imprisoning
male escort Audun Carlsen. George was convicted of the crime
last month. Several of the lawyers were surprised as they
expected judge David Radford to sentence the former Culture Club
vocalist to about 3 months. The judge said, "This offense is
so serious that only an immediate sentence of imprisonment can be
justified for it." He also said that he took into account
"the aggravating and such mitigating factors" in his
sentencing. O'Dowd's lawyer expects that he will remain
behind bars for 6 or 7 months but declined to say if an appeal was
coming. Boy George's latest single was, "Yes We Can," his
Barack Obama-inspired song which went to #1 in Slovenia in October.
El Universal newspaper in Venezuela has reported that Aerosmith have
canceled their scheduled concert in Caracas on Feb. 1st because
guitarist Joe Perry fractured his knee in an accident in
Boston. Perry had to undergo emergency surgery and has been
advised by doctors to refrain from performing for 3 to 4 months to let
his knee properly heal.
The Golden Globe awards were announced and Bruce Springsteen's "The
Wrestler" from the film The Wrestler won for Best Original Song -
Motion Picture. Meanwhile, his 24th studio album, Working On
A Dream, will be streamed exclusively at NPR.org/music from Jan. 19th
until the Jan 27th official release.
Metallica, Run-D.M.C., Jeff Beck and Bobby Womack are among the acts to
be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Apr. 4th.
Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain was inducted into the Guitar Center's "Drum
Legends" Hall Of Fame on Jan. 10th.
The Twilight soundtrack fell a place to #5 on the Billboard 200 albums
chart on sales of 43,000 copies. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack
climbed a spot to #11. Metallica's Death Magnetic dropped 4
places to #36. AC/DC's Black Ice retained the #37
spot. Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy fell 10 places to #40.
Bette Midler's The Best Bette climbed 4 places to #25 on the U.K.
Albums chart. Kylie Minogue's Boombox: The Remix Album
2000-2008 debuted at #28. Simply Red's 25: The Greatest Hits
re-entered the chart at #29. ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits
retained the #34 spot.
Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook has been working on a new album.
Glen Tilbrook And The Fluffers will release Pandemonium Ensues via
Townsend Records shortly following the first single, Still, on Feb. 2nd.
The Spongetones plan to release a new album this year and have a
documentary in the works with early videos and interviews with the
band. Their first 3 albums were recently remastered and
released in Japan with several bonus tracks and they plan to undertake
their first tour there this spring.
Paul McCartney will be part of a special interview with Howard Stern on
Sirius XM Radio this weekend. The special will feature and
discuss music from his new Fireman album Electric Arguments among a
wide range of topics.
Neon's Piero Balleggi and Andi Sex Gang of Sex Gang Children have been
recording in Bologna for their forthcoming Dirty Roseanne album.
Former Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has recorded a guest appearance on
Bruce Kulick's new solo album, tentatively titled BK3. Gene
Simmons and John Corabi are also scheduled to make guest appearances on
the release. Meanwhile, his former bandmate David Paich has
been working in the studio on a new project.
Suicidal Tendencies have announced that their new studio album, Year Of
The Cyco, is on its way. The album is currently available via
their official Web site, SuicidalTendencies.com, before it heads to
stores.
ABC has pushed back the upcoming Samantha Who? episode, that will
feature Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, again to Jan. 26th.
U2 are expected to perform their new single, "Get On Your Boots," from
their upcoming album, No Line On The Horizon, during the BRIT Awards
ceremony on Feb. 17th in London with the single being released two days
later. The Pet Shop Boys are also expected to perform during
the ceremony and receive the outstanding contribution to music award.
Former Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske will see the release of his
second album with Place Vendome on Feb. 20th via Frontiers Records.
Ozzy Osbourne returns to television with his new variety-style show,
Osbournes Reloaded, which is due to air on Fox in the spring.
Meanwhile, The Sun tabloid has apologized to Sharon Osbourne for a
story they published claiming she was overworking her
husband. The paper has agreed to pay Osbourne's legal costs
as well as damages.
If you watched CBS' NCIS this week, you may have noticed a featured
song entitled "Promises." The song is one of the latest
recordings by the reunited Nitzer Ebb. If you didn't catch
it, you have some options. You can try to catch the show at
the CBS Web site or you can purchase the NCIS: The Official TV
Soundtrack in stores on Feb. 10th.
Sepultura have announced that their new studio album, A-LEX, can be
pre-ordered at NewburyComics.com before the Jan. 27th release date.
Depeche Mode have announced that their new studio album, Sounds Of The
Universe, will be released on Apr. 21st preceded by the single
"Wrong." According to an interview with Billboard.com, Andrew
Fletcher mentioned a lot of extra tracks were recorded during the
sessions and they will appear on a deluxe version.
Despite having their 40th anniversary last year, Tower of Power will
celebrate it this year with a new album, The Great American Soulbook,
and DVD (filmed during their 40th anniversary show.)
According to a report by the Las Vegas Review Journal, Cheap Trick are
finalizing a deal that would see them performing the entire Beatles
album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, live with a full
orchestra at the Las Vegas Hilton. Meanwhile, there is
another take on the album on the way from the Easy Star All-Stars which
will be recorded under the title Easy Stars' Lonely Hearts Dub Band
when it hits stores on Apr. 14th. The album includes vocals
by Ranking Roger, and members of Black Uhuru, Third World, Steel Pulse
and Matisyahu. "With A Little Help From My Friends" will be
released as a iTunes exclusive single on Feb. 10th.
Grandmaster Flash will release his new studio album, The Bridge, on
Adrenaline City Entertainment via Strut on Mar. 3rd.
New York City-based pop rock act Balance plan to release their new
studio album, Equilibrium, on Feb. 20th. This will be their
first album since 1982's In For The Count. Their biggest hit
was a 1981's "Breaking Away" which peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot
100 chart.
The new 30-track anthology, White Punks On Rap: A History Of Boys Don't
Cry 1983-1999, has been released and can be purchased at iTunes,
Lala.com and Amazon.com. Meanwhile, the group have been
finishing up work on their new studio album, Just Thinking About Sex At
The Time, which is due out later this year and supported by tour dates.
Annie Lennox's delayed retrospective, The Annie Lennox Collection, has
been given a Feb. 10th release date. This is her final
release in her deal with Sony BMG allowing her some creative
possibilities for releasing her next project.
Debbie Deb has released a new single, "Everytime You Come Around," via
AmazonMP3 and iTunes.
Meliah Rage will release, Masquerade, their first new studio effort
with returning frontman Mike Munro later this year.
The Flaming Lips and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons are among the acts that
have contributed songs to Covered, A Revolution In Sound: Warner Bros.
Records due out on Feb. 24th. Gibbons performs a cover of his
band's "Just Got Paid" with Mastodon while Madonna's "Borderline" gets
re-imagined by the Flaming Lips with Stardeath and White Dwarfs.
Sonic Youth have been working on their currently-untitled Matador debut
due out in June and have been inspired by punk act The Wipers as well
as black metal bands.
Y&T have plans to celebrate their 35th anniversary this year by
getting out their first new studio album (of all new material) in over
12 years.
Steve Martin releases his new album, The Crow: New Songs For The
Five-String Banjo, on Jan. 27th exclusively via Amazon.com.
The album features guest appearances by Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Earl
Scruggs and several others
Frontiers Records are scheduled to release 'luxury package' reissues of
Jeff Scott Soto's 2002 album, Prism, and 2004's Lost In The Translation
on Feb. 20th including at least 5 bonus tracks each. A CD+DVD
version of Soto's 2008 album, Beautiful Mess, will also be released the
same day.
The Cure's Trilogy will be released on Blu-ray DVD on Feb.
3rd. Recorded during 3 straight nights in 2002, the band
performed their 1982 album, Pornography, 1989's Disintegration and
2000's Bloodflowers in their entirety and with a running time of 223
minutes also includes an interview with the band and a two-song encore.
A new Charles de Goal tribute album, Expositions, in on the
way. The 19-track disc (with 3 bonus MP3s) will be a
co-production of 3 record labels and 21 French and international acts.
Wynonna is expected to release her 7th studio album, Sing: Chapter 1,
via Curb Records on Feb. 3rd which includes a multi-genre collection of
songs that have formed the soundtrack to her own life.
Riot vocalist Mike DiMeo has announced that he is leaving his other
band Masterplan. This still has him working with The Lizards
and he has a few other projects planned for 2009 including work with
the Australian band Ilium.
The Beautiful South's David Hemmingway, Alison Wheeler and David Stead
are reuniting under the name The New Beautiful South. The
band had split up after a meeting on Jan. 30th of 2007. Dave
Rotheray (who has released 2 albums with his band Homespun), Paul
Heaton (who has released his second solo album) and Sean Welch have
decided to not take part.
Husker Du frontman Bob Mould plans to release his 8th solo studio
album, Life And Times, in April via Anti- Records.
Napalm Death will release, Time Waits For No Slave, their follow-up to
2006's Smear Campaign on Feb. 3rd. The album can currently be
pre-ordered at CMDistro.com.
David Sanborn's 1984 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival will
head to DVD for the first time via Eagle Rock Entertainment next month.
Serious music producers will have a chance to purchase a sample pack
entitled Sound Science created by Coldcut (composed of previously
unheard and unreleased material) at Loopmasters.com.
Duff McKagan's Loaded have announced that they will release their
full-length debut album, Sick, in March via Century Media Records.
Doro will release their new studio album, Fear No Evil, on Jan. 30th.
Performances have been announced for the live HBO special, We Are One:
The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, on Jan. 18th
starting at 2:30 PM ET (repeating on Monday at 1 PM and 9:30 PM ET) and
be made available free to all cable and satellite customers.
Participating in the event will be Bono, Garth Brooks, Herbie Hancock,
Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, James Taylor, Queen Latifah and
many others to be confirmed later. Meanwhile, Ashford
& Simpson have updated their 1984 hit, "Solid (As A Rock)," in
a new expanded version in tribute to next President. "Solid
(As Barack)" will be released as a digital download single by the duo
on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20th.