Ronald Isley's 37-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion has been upheld by an appellate court. Isley's
lawyers appealed the sentence arguing that 37 months was unreasonable due to his age (66), poor health (minor stroke
in 2004) and lack of proof that the federal prison system can provide him adequate health care. Isley is projected
for release from Terre Haute Federal Corrections Institution in Indiana in April 2010.
Lenny Kravitz, 43, was admitted into a Miami hospital on Tuesday due to a bout of bronchitis. Kravitz' European
tour was expected to begin this week but he has been forced to postpone it. According to a statement by his spokeswoman,
he had been struggling with severe respiratory tract infections and the flu since January which progressed into
bronchitis. "Due to extreme dehydration and fatigue, doctors were unable to control it with outpatient treatment
and advised the singer to check into the hospital."
Black Francis held an impromptu outdoor concert on Feb. 9th at Dublin's St. Stephen's Green when it was halted
by the police officials who became concerned about overcrowding as the attendees hit 1,000.
Velvet Revolver were forced to cancel the 5 remaining dates of their Australian tour recently due to their frontman
Scott Weiland checking into rehab.
Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills have been working behind closed doors on a divorce settlement but the most
recent reports claim that the two parties have failed to reach such an agreement. As a settlement wasn't reached,
a High Court judge is currently working out how much the former model will be awarded. The most recent reports
claim Mills could be getting about $100 million.
Clear Channel Broadcasting has tentatively agreed to pay $22 million in a settlement with relatives of those killed
and survivors of the 2003 Station nightclub fire. Clear Channel's role in the lawsuit was due to one of it's radio
stations sponsoring the concert by Great White with ads run on-the-air.
Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall and The Statler Brothers have been announced as the 2008 Country Music Hall of Fame
inductees.
Dwight Yoakam and Crystal Gayle have been named among the 2008 inductees of the Kentucky Hall of Fame. The ceremony
will take place on Feb 21st.
Stevie Wonder was inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame on Feb. 14th during the 39th NAACP Image Awards.
Lenny Kravitz' It Is Time For A Love Revolution has debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 album chart with sales of
73,000 copies. The various artist compilation, 2008 Grammy Nominees, holds the #5 spot for a second week with sales
of 52,000 copies. k.d. lang's Watershed debuted at #8 selling 41,000. Kenny G's Rhythm & Romance debuted at
#14 on sales of 31,000 copies. Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits fell 4 places to #16. The Eagles' Long Road Out
Of Eden fell 3 spots to #26. Sarah Brightman's Symphony plunged 15 places to #28.
"Into The Night" by Santana featuring Chad Kroeger fell one spot last week on the Billboard Hot 100 to
#28. The song has been certified gold (for over 500,000 paid downloads) by the RIAA.
Janet Jackson's new single, "Feedback," surged 15 spot on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart to
#11 in its second week. Celine Dion's "Taking Chances" dropped 3 places to #16. Taylor Dayne's "Beautiful"
jumped 11 places to #18. Mick Jagger's "Charmed Life" gained 7 spots to #23.
Tom Petty holds the #1 spot this week on the Billboard Hot Singles Recurrents chart with "Free Fallin'."
One may say that Petty is feeling a resurgence from his half time performance at the Super Bowl. More evidence
of this is his Greatest Hits album is now #1 on the Top Pop Catalog chart (which it has been on for 625 weeks)
and Anthology: Through The Years debuted at #6 on the same chart.
Kenny Chesney's duet with George Strait, "Shift Work," fell a spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs
chart to #6. Alan Jackson's "Small Town Southern Man" retains the #7 position on the chart after 14 weeks.
Strait also has new song debuting on the chart, "I Saw God Today," at #19 (the highest debut of his career.)
Taylor Dayne's new studio album, Satisfied, has been doing well on the Billboard charts (#22 on Billboard Indie
Chart and #178 on the Billboard Top 200.) Her single, "Beautiful," has climbed as high as #18 on the
Billboard Dance Club Play chart and #29 on the AC Radio Chart. Dayne has decided to shoot a video for her next
single, "Crash."
Michael Jackson's 25th anniversary edition of Thriller made its debut at #3 on the U.K. Album chart. Morrissey's
Greatest Hits debuted at #5. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand fell 5 places to #12. Billy Fury's
His Wondrous Story: The Complete Billy Fury dropped 5 places to #15.
Kylie Minogue's latest single, "Wow," climbed one place to the #19 spot on the U.K. Singles chart.
The RAH Band's latest single, "Turn My Love Around," climbed 8 spots to claim the #6 spot on the Music
Week Club Charts.
The RIAA has announced that The Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden has sold over 7 million copies (certified as 7x platinum.)
Garth Brooks' new retrospective collection, The Ultimate Hits, has been certified 5x platinum.
Charlie Dore has recorded a cover of "Roll Along Kentucky Moon" as a duet with Beth Nielsen Chapman for
her upcoming album, The Hula Valley Songbook.
Nikki Sixx has responded to recent rumors, "Motley Crue has not signed any deals. Any information reported
to the contrary is false and misleading." The rumors stem from a post on Robin Leach's blog which mentioned
the band signing a more than $100 million deal with Live Nation to produce 3 albums and a world tour following
each release.
Seasons 1 and 2 of The Henry Rollins Show are now available on iTunes. The seasons include an interview with Ozzy
Osbourne and musical performances by Slayer, Dinosaur Jr., Ani DiFranco, Iggy Pop and Frank Black.
Dan Fogelberg's widow Jean has decided to share a song he wrote for her, "Sometimes A Song," with his
fans as a way to also raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Fogelberg wasn't able to be with his wife
on Valentine's Day of 2005 so he sent her a dozen long stemmed roses and a CD containing the track. The song is
now available at iTunes, Amazon, Walmart and Rhapsody.
Sheila Vega has returned to Sweet Sensation after 17 years. The group now includes Vega, original member Betty
Dee and Jenae' (who joined in '91 when Sheila and Margie left.)
An auction organized by Bono and artist Damien Hirst has raised nearly $43 million in the global fight against
AIDS. The pre-sale estimate of the items was one-sixth of the final amount raised. The proceeds will go the the
United Nations Foundation to support HIV/AIDS relief programs in Africa.
Steel Pulse will release their new DVD, Door Of No Return, to stores on Mar. 18th. The disc is an in-depth documentary
about the U.K. reggae act which features interviews and a concert performance.
A new compilation, Hopeless Romantic: The Best Of Billy Vera & The Beaters, has been released via Shout Factory
at Amazon.com. The disc includes the original version of "At This Moment" and other album favorites as
well as 3 previously-unreleased tracks.
Camouflage's Heiko Maile has composed a film score for Dennis Gansel's Die Welle which opens in German theaters
on Mar. 13th. The film recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Replacements will see their 1981 album, Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash, 1982's Stink EP, 1983's Hootenanny
and 1984's Let It Be re-released on Apr. 22nd with unreleased tracks and home demos. Sire is also expected to similarly
reissue the group's later albums.
Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple has started work on a documentary about Bon Jovi during their U.S.
tour behind their Lost Highway album. Some archival material including interviews and performance footage is expected
to join the newly filmed segments.
Vancouver glam rock/metal act Thor have released their new studio album, Into The Noise, via Sudden Death Records/Fathom
Records. The physical release includes 3 bonus tracks not available on the digital version.
R.E.M. will perform on Mar. 13th at this year's annual SxSW Music Conference. The show will be filmed for the 34th
season of PBS' Austin City Limits television series. The group have also launched SupernaturalSuperserious.com
which has the video for their new single as well as high definition footage from their video shoot for fans to
manipulate into a new video to post on a YouTube page.
Voivod have plans to bring in band members from the past and present "together to participate in a homage
to the guitar legend Piggy and the legacy of 25 years of brotherhood forged by exploring metal, rock and punk ethics
with an other worldly premise." The band plan to work this spring in the studio on 13 songs that Denis "Piggy"
D'Amour had written with the band before his death in 2005 for what will be their final album.
In June, Aerosmith will get their own installment of the Guitar Hero franchise -- becoming the first time the series
has dedicated a whole game to one band. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will arrive in the summer and feature about 30 of
the group's songs as well as some from acts that have opened for the band. The last video game to feature the band
was Midway's Revolution X in 1994 (which even had some of their songs in the soundtrack.)
Tim Finn has been working on his new solo album. Although a title hasn't been announced he has posted a demo of
his new song "Every Good Boy" on his MySpace page.
Ringo Starr has announced his 10th All Starr Band tour which will include a line-up of himself, Men At Work's Colin
Hay, Billy Squier, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright and the Average White Band's Hamish Stuart.
Was (Not Was) will release their first new album in 16 years, BOO!, on Apr. 8th via Rykodisc (Apr. 7th in the U.K.
and worldwide.) The album features a guest appearance by Kris Kristofferson (on "Green Pills In The Dresser")
and "Mr. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" which was co-written with Bob Dylan.
Isaac Hayes has joined the cast of Malcolm Lee's upcoming comedy film Soul Men. The film will also star Bernie
Mac and Samuel L. Jackson with a theatrical release planned for as early as October.
A new Clash documentary DVD is on the way chronicling the band's performances (in 1978, '79, '80 and '82 in an
assortment of venues). PBS will premiere the film, The Clash Live: Revolution Rock, in March prior to the Apr.
15th release.
Colonel Abrams has plans to release a new album entitled Tribute To My Brother later this year. He also has a new
project called Classics Vol. 1 which contains dance tracks that he has produced.
Sources close to the Police have told Billboard.com that the trio will perform another 30 dates or so in North
America (as well as some previously announced European shows in June) before calling it quits for good.
Meat Beat Manifesto will be releasing their 10th studio album, Autoimmune, on Apr. 8th via Metropolis Records.
A U.S. tour is expected to follow this spring.
A post on Tom Jones' official Web site has denied recent rumors published by the Daily Mirror about him insuring
his chest hair for $7 million. He said, "no such insurance policy has ever been considered."
Veteran black metal act Venom plan to release their new 13-track studio album, Hell, in May via Universal.
A new 14-track single-disc retrospective, Come And See The Show: The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, will be
released by Shout! Factory on Apr. 8th.
Dokken will see their new studio album, Lightning Strikes Again, released via Frontiers Records in Europe on Apr.
11th.
Last week we mentioned John Mellencamp asking John McCain to stop playing his songs during his campaign for the
Republican presidential nomination. McCain has stopped using the tracks since. This week, Boston's Tom Scholz sent
a letter to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee complaining that he is using his song "More Than
A Feeling" without his permission. Fred Bramante (who was chairperson of Huckabee's New Hampshire campaign)
has called the allegations ridiculous. Bramante has said that he has attended dozens of Huckabee rallies in other
states and never heard the song, except for one -- in which former band member Barry Goudreau appeared in Iowa
at a campaign event and played the song with Huckabee's band, Capitol Offense.
Andi Sex Gang of the Sex Gang Children has recorded voice overs for the upcoming independent film Dark Delicacies.
The film is likened to other horror anthologies as Tales From The Crypt and Creepshow.
Adam Ant has been working with Essential Works on a new deluxe, illustrated book, provisionally titled Adam Ant
Art. The very personal book will celebrate his artistic influences and inspirations, both musical and visual, and
will include words and pictures on his musical and artistic heroes. It will feature some of Ant's unpublished original
artworks, storyboards for videos, sketches, collages and original hand-written lyrics and lyrical ideas. The book
will be sold exclusively online at AdamAntBook.com and fans are being asked to register their interest in pre-ordering
the book to guarantee themselves a copy in its limited run.
Paul Weller is planning to release his ninth solo album, 22 Dreams, in the U.K. in June. The double-disc set will
come just following his 50th birthday.
Britny Fox has posted to their MySpace page that they are "no longer associated with Chris "Big Poppa"
Hogan or Metal Edge Entertainment." Meanwhile, Big Poppa and Metal Edge Entertainment have issued a press
release stating that they have "suspended Britny Fox and will be seeking legal remedies as our parent company
owns the Britny Fox logo." It also mentions that the band "is now for the present defunct and will be
doing no shows in the future" until those legal and monetary issues are resolved. Yet, the group's MySpace
page does currently list upcoming tour dates.
Sonic Youth are planning to start work on their follow-up to 2006's Rather Ripped soon. The album would be their
21st and is expected to be released in 2009.
A line of jewelry, Made In Heaven: The Freddie Mercury Collection, inspired by the late Queen singer has been launched
by designer Udi Behr.
Prodege LLC, in conjunction with Ted Nugent, have announced a sweepstakes to win a chance to go on an outdoor hunting
trip with the guitarist. The giveaway is only available to users of searchwithtednugent.com (a search engine similar
to Google but it rewards Nugent fans with prizes.) The winner will be announced on Dec. 31st.
Former Bad Seeds member Barry Adamson plans to release his seventh album, Back To The Cat, on Apr. 22nd.
Eagle Rock Entertainment plan to release a CD and a separate companion DVD of Albert Collins Live At Montreux 1992
on Mar. 4th. The performance was one of his final shows before succumbing to cancer in late 1993.
Rush are expected to release their new 27-track double-disc live album, Snakes & Arrows Live, on Apr. 8th.
French post-punk/electronic act Buzz have posted a new song, "Une Fascination," to their MySpace page.
The song isn't on their new album, Minimal & Electronique, which heads to French stores on Feb. 23rd. They
will also be the featured artist on Talking 80s Music this week.
Debbie Harry's new single, "If I Had You," is being used during WE TV's Go Bridal Week.
Prolific Australian country music pioneer Smoky Dawson, 94, passed away on Feb. 13th. His recording career spanned
more than 6 decades and his latest album, 2005's Homestead Of My Dreams, made him the oldest recording artist in
the world. He received the Honor Award of the Grand Ole Opry, in 1983 he was named on the Australian Country Music
Roll of Renown and in 2005 he was inducted into the Australian Record Industry Association Hall of Fame.