Jon Bon Jovi and his Philadelphia Soul arena
football
team partners are being sued for nearly $125,000 by their former sales
manager Joseph Krause. Krause alleges that the singer and
other team officials told employees that they would receive 2 weeks of
severance pay. The 2009 season of the Arena Football League
has been canceled as they create a better business model for tough
economic times.
The 1982 blockbuster album, Thriller, is being developed into an
"exclusive Michael Jackson authorized version of 'Thriller' and Jackson
will participate in every aspect of the creation process," according to
the Nederlander Organization which has acquired the rights to the
musical theater production. The musical is expected to
recreate the tale told in the 1983 John Landis-directed music video and
include music from the album as well as 1979's Off The Wall.
Yet, that may all be in doubt. Landis has filed a complaint
in Los Angeles Superior Court last week alleging "fraudulent, malicious
and oppressive conduct" as he owes the director $1 million in royalties
from the video.
The Twilight soundtrack climbed a place to #5 on the Billboard 200
albums chart on sales of 33,000 copies. The Mamma Mia!
soundtrack fell 6 spots to #21. NOW That's What I Call Motown
dropped 18 places to #31.
U2's new single, "Get On Your Boots," debuted at #37 on the Billboard
Hot 100 singles chart. The song also debuted at #1 on the
Billboard Triple A Tracks chart (which lists the most-played songs on
Adult album alternative radio.) Bruce Springsteen's "Working
On A Dream" fell from a spot to #3 on the Triple A Tracks chart.
Roger Whittaker's The Golden Age Of Roger Whittaker: 50 Years Of
Classic Hits climbed 3 places on the U.K. Albums chart to
#13. ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits gained 3 spots to
#28. Bette Midler's The Best Bette fell 5 places to
#33. Simply Red's 25: The Greatest Hits dropped a place to
#38.
Nitzer Ebb have announced that they are finalizing arrangements with
new partners and considering new partners for the release of their new
album. They also have DVD footage from their last world tour
that may be packaged in the release.
Yep Roc Records has announced that they will release the double-disc
career-spanning definitive collection, Quiet Please...The New Best Of
Nick Lowe, on Mar. 17th. Also, Lowe's performance on Austin
City Limits premieres on Jan. 31st.
Capitol Records is bringing the entire I.R.S. Records catalog to
digital formats for the first time. Over 100 albums and
tracks from bands (including The Fleshtones, Wall Of Voodoo, Concrete
Blonde, Oingo Boingo, The dBs, General Public, Stewart Copeland, Robbie
Krieger and Tom Verlaine) will be made available starting Feb. 10th and
continuing until Mar. 17th.
James Christian has started songwriting sessions for the next House Of
Lords studio album. The band are expecting a fall 2009
release.
Former Alarm guitarist Dave Sharp will see his 1991 solo debut, Hard
Travellin', reissued digitally in time to coincide with his second
album, Downtown Train, due out via Little London Records on Feb. 10th.
Sebastian Bach has announced that he plans to release two CDs in
2009. The country CD will be the first one and the other will
be a "hard ass rocker."
U2, Paul McCartney and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are among the
performers that have been announced for the 51st Grammy Awards to be
held on Feb. 8th in Los Angeles and broadcast live on CBS.
Meanwhile, McCartney has released, Amoeba's Secret, a 4-track
performance in 2007 at Amoeba Records on CD and digital media this
week.
Red Flag have signed to Sigsaly Transmissions for the release of their
new album due out in late spring. A preview track, "Run,"
from the new album can be previewed at their MySpace page.
Chris De Burgh will release his new album, Footsteps, in the U.K. on
Mar. 9th containing covers of some of his favorite songs and two new
originals.
Boy George plans to release a new single while incarcerated.
The song, "J'ai toujours porte Bonheur aux hommes," is a collaboration
with French artist Regine Zylberberg. The title translates to
"I've always brought luck to men" and the single should be released in
about 2 months.
Queensryche will release, American Soldier, their concept album
inspired by veterans' stories examining the consequences of war from
the soldiers perspective via Atco/Rhino on Mar. 31st.
Deborah Gibson has been working in the studio on material for what
could become her next album. She has been working with
Collective Soul drummer Ryan Hoyle and Vertical Horizon bassist Sean
Hurley.
Frank Black and wife Violet Clark plan to release, Petits Fours, an
album together under the name Grand Duchy on Apr. 14th.
Frontiers Records has announced that they will release, 3, the third
Wetton/Downes iCon studio album on Mar. 13th. New age harpist
Andreas Vollenweider makes a special guest appearance on the tracks
"Raven" and "Anna's Kiss." Plans are also underway to record
their Feb. 21st performance at London's Mary's LeBow Church for an
future live CD/DVD release.
Cheo Hodari Coker, who was the screenwriter that developed the
Notorious B.I.G. biopic, has been attached to adapt Bill Adler's book
Tougher Than Leather: The Rise Of Run-DMC -- The Authorized Biography
for an upcoming film. Run-DMC's former publicist, Adler, will
serve as executive producer.
U.K. rock act Thunder have announced that they will cease all recording
and touring activity as of this summer. "Dear All, As we
enter Thunder's 20th anniversary year, we've found ourselves becoming
increasingly busy with our various activities outside of the band, and
we've come to the conclusion that there are simply not enough hours in
the day to fit it all in. Having discussed it at length,
we've decided that this is a fitting time for us to hitch up our wagons
and ride into the sunset."
Jimmy Buffet plans to release a live acoustic CD later this year made
up of songs that he traditionally performs in the last encore of each
of his shows and re-recordings of "Margaritaville" and "Volcano."
LiveDaily recently talked to Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and the
former Suicidal Tendencies member mentioned that the band has already
been jamming on some new ideas and new riffs. Word is that
they have one album left on their Warner Bros. contract and they could
be itching to finish it up.
Kylie Minogue has recorded the song "Monkey Man" with The Wiggles for
their upcoming album, The Wiggles Go Bananas, due out Feb. 5th.
Dream Academy keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel has recorded a new album, The
Chapel, under the name The Chapel Of Dreams which is currently
available on iTunes. A new compilation for Dream Academy is
reportedly in the works as interest in the band has surged since
Sugarland, Jake Owen and Little Big Town's cover of "Life In A Northern
Town" was nominated for a Grammy award.
Siouxsie And The Banshees will see the remastered reissue of several
albums (1982's A Kiss In The Dreamhouse, 1983's Nocturne, 1984's Hyaena
and 1986's Tinderbox) on Apr. 6th.
Bandleader/composer Wynton Marsalis will release his new studio album,
He And She, via Blue Note on Mar. 24th.
The English Beat celebrate their 30th anniversary this year.
Leader Dave Wakeling has mentioned that the year will be busy with
recording and touring. The recording will include several
tracks they've debuted live with plans to release them as either a
series of EPs or a full album (accompanied by live tracks, acoustic
versions and remixes) this year.
Koch Records plans to release the soundtrack for Academy
Award-nominated film The Wrestler on Feb. 24th without the Golden Globe
award-winning Bruce Springsteen title track.
Angelmilk Records has announced that they have plans to release Alias'
long overdue never-released second studio album, Never Say Never, in
March.
Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Duff McKagan has expanded on his
columnist duties at the Seattle Weekly by writing on business issues
for Playboy.com.
Durutti Column will release their new studio album, Love In The Time Of
Recession, in the U.K. on Apr. 20th.
Graham Nash is reportedly in the early stages of working on a covers
album with producer Rick Rubin. He also has a 64-track
career-retrospective on the way entitled Reflections.
KMFDM's new studio album, Blitz, will be released via Metropolis
Records on Mar. 24th in celebration of their 25th
anniversary. The album includes a cover of the Human League's
"Being Boiled."
Arista Records plan to release the 14-track Annie Lennox Collection on
Feb. 17th. The disc will also be in a limited deluxe CD/DVD
edition.
Former Manfred Mann vocalist Paul Jones will release, Starting All Over
Again, his first solo album in decades on Mar. 10th. Eric
Clapton guests on two tracks. In 1979, Jones formed The Blues
band and released 19 albums.
Former Del Fuegos member Dan Zanes will be releasing his new CD, The
Welcome Table: Songs Of Inspiration, Mystery and Good Times, soon.
Anthrax plan to release, Worship Music, their first new studio album in
6 years via Megaforce Records in June. The album will mark
the debut of vocalist Dan Nelson.
Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" has been covered by The
Saturdays for this year's official Comic Relief single. The
song will be released on Mar. 2nd.
Los Lobos' David Hidalgo has recorded a guest appearance on Ramblin'
Jack Elliott's upcoming album, A Stranger Is Here, due out Apr. 7th via
Anti-.
Sarah Brightman's 2008 PBS special, Symphony - Live In Vienna, will be
made available for the first time on CD/DVD on Mar. 10th via Manhattan
Records.
Vocalist Tony Harnell has been working on a new acoustic solo album
tentatively-titled En Memoria Carinosa which will include reworked
versions of his past hits with Westworld and TNT.
Expectations are to release it via Frontiers Records in the summer.
U.K. singer/songwriter John Martyn, 60, died on Thursday according to
his official Web site. A cause of death has yet to be
confirmed. Martyn released many studio albums starting in
1967 (including 1980's Grace And Danger, 1981's Glorious Fool, 1982's
Well Kept Secret, 1984's Sapphire and 1986's Piece By Piece) and also
worked with Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Phil Collins and ex-wife
Beverly Martyn. He earned many accolades including a lifetime
achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards this year, appointed
to the Order of the British Empire earlier this month and was
celebrated in September with a new 4-CD boxed set, Ain't No Saint, to
mark his birthday.
Singer John McCarthy, 40, of punk/metal act Post Mortem has passed
away. According to a post on their official MySpace page,
John Alexander mentioned that the band had just finished recording the
music for their new album and John, who wrote most of the lyrics, was
planning to record vocals in February. They hope to find a
way to finish the disc and dedicate it to him.