A federal appeals court has claimed that a lower court judge in Florida was wrong to dismiss a negligence claim
by the son of Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson against the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the security manager on duty at the
time of the Dec. 31, 2003, altercation where their party were ejected from a black-tie New Year's Eve party. Other
appeals claims were dismissed.
TMZ has reported that Richie Sambora has pled no contest to driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher
in his DUI case. In a plea bargain with prosecutors, the charge of driving under the influence was dismissed and
child endangerment charges were not filed. Sambora will pay a $390 fine plus penalties which may total $1,600,
be placed on 3 years informal probation and must attend an alcohol education course. Meanwhile, a concert by Bon
Jovi in Florida was delayed for almost two hours due to a bomb scare.
Richie Ramone's lawsuit claiming he was cheated out of royalties when he was with the Ramones from 1983 until 1987
has been thrown out of court. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the recording contract he signed
had defined phonograph records and contained the words "now or hereafter known" when referencing reproduction
and future technologies.
Ronald Washington, an eyewitness to the 2002 death of Run-DMC member Jam Master Jay, has been sentenced to 17 years
in prison for several robbery offenses.
George Strait's Troubadour has fallen 4 places to #6 on the Billboard 200 album chart selling 39,000 copies. R.E.M.'s
Accelerate dropped 4 spots to #9 on sales of 30,000 copies. Rush's Snakes & Arrows: Live debuted at #18 selling
21,000. Alan Jackson's Good Time fell 7 places to #33. Asia's Phoenix debuted at #73.
R.E.M.'s Accelerate retains the #1 spot on the Top Rock Albums chart and Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters
does the same for the Top Contemporary Jazz chart.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake climbed a spot to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles
chart. George Strait's "I Saw God Today" gained a place at #33.
Def Leppard's new single, "Nine Lives," featuring Tim McGraw is currently #1 on the Classic Rock chart
and #14 on the Mainstream Rock radio chart. New U.S. tour dates have been announced for August as Joe Elliot is
recovering from a upper respiratory tract infection.
Whitesnake's Good To Be Bad debuted at #7 on the U.K. Albums chart. Chris De Burgh's Now And Then also debuted
on the chart at #12. R.E.M.'s Accelerate fell 5 places to #13. Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 dropped 3 spots to
#17.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake held off all comers this week retaining the #1 spot
on the U.K. Singles chart.
Phil Collins announced in an interview with The Times newspaper that he has no plans to tour again and that any
future writing was unlikely to become an album.
Due to unexpected staff changes at Ye Olde Records, Juliana Hatfield's new studio album, How To Walk Away, will
now be released on Aug. 19th.
Lou Reed reportedly married his long-time girlfriend Laurie Anderson in Colorado on Apr. 13th. Anderson had her
biggest hit with 1981's "O Superman."
Nine Inch Nails have released their new single, "Discipline," as a free download at discipline.nin.com.
Multitracks of the song are also up at remix.nin.com to allow fans to create remixes.
The second single to be released from R.E.M.'s Accelerate will be "Hollow Man." The video made it's premiere
on the group's MySpace page last week.
New Kids On The Block member Danny Wood has released his new solo studio album, Coming Home, via iTunes.
According to Nitzer Ebb's Bon and Douglas, "Tracks are nearing completion and Flood has come on board to twist
some of the knobs in the mixing process." They have been working with their old friend Jason Payne on the
first new Nitzer Ebb album in over a decade.
John Hiatt will release his new studio album, Same Old Man, via New West on May 27th. Hiatt is expected to be honored
with a lifetime achievement award by the Americana Music Association on Sept 18th.
Metal Mind Productions plan to release Artillery's first DVD, One Foot In The Grave, The Other One In The Trash,
on Aug. 5th (and June 16th in Europe.)
AC/DC have reportedly finished recording their new studio album and have started mixing the tracks with a late
2008 release date in sight.
The new U2 album will be delayed a little. The group have decided to discard the material they have been working
on over the 12 months and start fresh. According to an interview with CMUMusic.com the Edge said, "We went
into this project allowing ourselves the indulgence of making music without thinking about where it was going to
end up. We're starting to get serious now."
Chris Cornell will be the featured artist at BodyByMilk.com for two weeks starting today (Apr. 28th.) You can download
music, watch an exclusive interview, grab other goodies and enter to win an autographed guitar.
Spandau Ballet's hit single "True" will be reissued on May 5th in the U.K. to mark the 25th anniversary
of the original release. The single will be released as a downloadable EP that will include the original single,
a new mix, the remastered album version, a live version and also a live version of "Gold." Later in the
summer a new CD/DVD entitled Sight & Sound will be released containing their hits and videos.
The Offspring will see their Epitaph debut album, Ignition, and Smash disc remastered and re-issued on June 17th...
the same day as their new studio album, Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace.
Einsturzende Neubauten will release Jewels on May 13th. The disc is a collection of songs that were originally
made available as a monthly download to the supporters of Neubauten.org.
Madonna's live performance at New York's Roseland Ballroom on Apr. 30th will be presented via Control Room, MSN
and Verizon Wireless live and after the show at music.msn.com/inconcert
Ian McLagan & The Bump Band have released their new studio album, Never Say Never, via ManiacRecords.net. The
album is available at the label's official site as well as iTunes and CDBaby.
Night Ranger plan to release their first new studio album in a decade, Hole In The Sun, on July 1st.
My Bloody Valentine will curate the upcoming All Tomorrow's Parties festival this September. The Meat Puppets and
Thurston Moore have been tapped among the featured acts performing a classic album in its entirety.
A 3-CD Whitesnake compilation will be released in the U.K. on June 9th to commemorate the group's 30th anniversary.
Over 50 remastered tracks will be included that feature hits and some songs from David Coverdale's side projects.
Metal Mind Productions will release a limited edition digipak edition of Pestilence's 1988 debut album, Malleus
Malificarum on July 8th via MVD (and in Europe on May 19th.)
According to a source close to Michael Jackson, he has banned his children from the recording studio as he understands
how important this new album is and doesn't want any distractions.
Sixx: A.M. have announced that they will follow their hit single, "Life Is Beautiful," with "Pray
For Me." A video for the second single from, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack, has also been released.
It seems the Goo Goo Dolls' Greatest Hits Volume Two will be buffer for the next studio album. John Rzeznik started
writing for the new album in February with plans to release it later this year.
New Order: Live In Glasgow will be released on DVD on June 2nd. The footage is culled from their two night residency
at the Glasgow Carling Academy in 2006 and features 4 Joy Division tracks.
Tim Finn is currently in Auckland, New Zealand, working on his new studio album.
The new single, "Surrender Me," by Tony Moran & Warren Rigg present Debby Holiday has been released
exclusively via Perfect Beat.
Eagle Records plans a U.S. re-release of Gary Numan's Exile and Pure albums in June.
Paul Davis, 60, died of a heart attack at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Mississippi, on Apr. 22nd (the
day after his birthday.) Davis had recently returned to singing and songwriting prior to his birthday finishing
two new songs ("Today" and "You Ain't Sweet Enough.") After just more than a decade of recording,
he retired from making records (except for three duets released from 1986 to 1988 -- two of which went to #1 on
the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts.) Davis' biggest solo hits of the decade were 1981's "Cool Night"
and "'65 Love Affair."