Dolly Parton released a statement on Wednesday in response to a segment of Howard Stern's satellite radio show
which edited parts from her audio books into racist and sexually graphic sound bites. "I have never been so
shocked, hurt and humiliated in all my life," said Parton. "I cannot believe what Howard Stern has done
to me. In a blue million years, I would never have such vulgar things come out of my mouth. They have done editing
or some sort of trickery to make this horrible, horrible thing. Please accept my apology for them and certainly
know that I had nothing to do with this." She ended saying, "If there was ever going to be a lawsuit,
it's going to be over this. Just wanted you to know that I am completely devastated by this." Adult content
warning: You can hear the offensive segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grEx37St_XM and judge for yourself.
Michael Jackson's 1982 album Thriller has been included to this year's class of 25 recordings to be added by the
Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry.
Earl Scruggs has been named as one of the charter inductees for the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame in Wildesboro.
The ceremony will take place on June 13th.
Garth Brooks was honored with the first-ever Crystal Milestone Award on May 18th during the 43rd annual Academy
of Country Music Awards after performing a medley of his hits. The award is given to an artist or industry leader
to commemorate a specific, remarkable achievement. The Oak Ridge Boys, Brenda Lee and the late Conway Twitty and
Porter Wagoner have been named as this year's recipients of the Academy of Country Music's Cliffie Stone Pioneer
Award.
Russell Morris and Dragon are among the acts to be inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association
Hall of Fame on July 1st. Three more acts are expected to be announced for the 2008 induction.
The BET Awards '08 nominees have been announced. The Clark Sisters are up for Best Gospel Artist. Queen Latifah
is nominated for Best Actress. Chaka Khan is up for the BET J Award. Al Green will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement
Award and Quincy Jones will receive the 2008 Humanitarian Award. The event airs live on June 24th.
Neil Diamond has scored his first #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with Home Before Dark selling 146,000 copies.
Madonna's Hard Candy dropped 2 spots to #3 on sales of 94,000 copies. Luis Miguel has scored his highest charting
album, Complices, debuting at #10 selling 32,000 copies. George Strait's Troubadour climbed 4 places to #14. Carly
Simon's This Kind Of Love fell 8 spots to #23. Def Leppard's Songs From The Sparkle Lounge dropped 25 places to
#30. Alan Jackson's Good Time climbed 3 spots to #31.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake dropped a spot to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles
chart.
Neil Diamond's Home Before Dark debuted at the top of the U.K. Albums chart. Madonna's Hard Candy fell 3 places
to #5. Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back In Time: The Best Of Iron Maiden debuted at #14. Robert Plant & Alison
Krauss' Raising Sand climbed two spots to #15.
After 7 weeks on the U.K. Singles chart, Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake still holds
the #1 spot.
Lexus recently sent Paul McCartney a new Lexus LS600H as a gift to promote the $164,000 hybrid vehicle. Instead
of being sent by boat (as they expected) it arrived via Korean Air. According to CO2balance.com, the plane's journey
created a carbon footprint of 38,000kg compared to 397kg via boat. Lexus was a sponsor of McCartney's 2005 U.S.
tour and the singer has been a longtime advocate of vegetarianism and environmental activism. Speaking of vegetarianism,
Sir Paul has been nominated at the 2008 Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity and you can place your vote at Peta2.com.
XYZ vocalist Terry Ilous has recorded vocals in French for a new song that will be used by World Wrestling Entertainment
for former French Canadian Playboy centerfold Maryse Ouellet who has been training as a wrestler.
T'Pau vocalist Carol Decker will release a solo single, "Don't Stop Believing," on July 7th at iTunes
and Napster in both radio edit and house mix versions.
Guitarist George Lynch has been working on a new project called Souls Of We and have finished recording, mixing
and mastering their 13-track album, Let The Truth Be Known, to be released on May 27th via iTunes, Amazon and other
digital outlets.
Sammy Hagar has released his new single, "Open," to rock and classic rock radio stations. It will be
made available at iTunes and can be previewed on his MySpace page. Meanwhile, Hagar has been working with bassist
Michael Anthony on a new project.
Coney Hatch's Carl Dixon is recovering from his car accident from nearly a month ago. According to a post on his
Web site, he is not allowed to stand on his broken legs or feet, his right hand and forearm are broken and his
"very damaged and blinded right eye" has been removed for a prosthetic. He has also sent his thanks to
all of those who have sent messages which have aided in his recovery.
Frank Black is a father for the fifth time as he and his wife Violet welcomed in son Jude Oliver Francis Thompson
on May 1st.
Chante Moore will release her new studio album, Love The Woman, in stores on June 17th. The first single from the
album will be "Ain't Supposed To Be This Way."
Madness' new studio album, The Liberty Of Norton Folgate, is expected out in July or September. The group have
announced that they will showcase the full album live in London's Hackney Empire in late June.
Lou Reed launched his new Sirius satellite radio show, Lou Reed's New York Shuffle, on May 17th which features
"audio from all parts of the world that covers the whole musical spectrum."
Howard Jones has been working in the studio on new material for his next album with hopes to release it by Christmas.
He also went into the studio with The Young Punx to record vocals for their forthcoming remix, "And The Feel
Goes On," (which borrows and changes the line "and the fear goes on" from "Pearl In The Shell.")
Meanwhile, Jones' classic hit "What Is Love" has been covered by indie rock act Audio1.
The Blow Monkeys' reunion album will be titled Devil's Tavern when it is released in September in the U.K. A full
U.K. tour is expected to launch that same month.
According to reports, Elton John has signed on for a one-hour special private concert for a Russian businesswoman
that will earn him $5.2 million.
Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) will be releasing his next Fatboy Slim album, The PBA, later this year. The Sun
has reported that Cook plans to use a different moniker after the album is released.
Johnny Hates Jazz vocalist Clark Datchler has reportedly finished work on, Evolution, his follow-up to 2007's Tomorrow.
On June 2nd, The Levellers will released their new single, "Burn America Burn," as a free download at
their site. The song, according to a video post by the band, "It is about the rot. The rot that has set in
certain... especially young people's minds as they approach what is essentially a very scary world at the moment."
Motley Crue plan to record a song that was written during the rehearsals for their press conference performance.
This will push the release date of their new album, Saints Of Los Angeles, back to June 24th. Meanwhile, Tommy
Lee is reportedly teaming up with rapper Ludacris in a new reality TV series, Battleground Earth, that will see
them build small houses out of construction kits (composed of sustainable construction bamboo.) Guitarist Mick
Mars' palimony lawsuit (filed by ex-girlfriend Robbie Mantooth) has been pushed back to Sept. 15th. His lawyers
have filed a motion to suspend the payments until trial as he believes the delays could assure her of receiving
money that she might not get otherwise.
"Ring Road" will be the next single released from Underworld's latest album, Oblivion With Bells. A video
for the the single has been released as well.
On June 10th, Thomas Dolby and Invisible Hands Music will release a deluxe live CD and DVD entitled The Sole Inhabitant
culled from material filmed during his 2006 U.S. tour. The set was previously released in Europe and is now finally
being made available.
The Wolfmen have announced that their debut album will be titled Modernity Every Night when released in August.
The European release of Journey's new studio album, Revelation, will include the bonus track "Let It Take
You Back," when released on June 6th via Frontiers Records.
Brian Wilson will release, That Lucky Old Sun, his first new studio album since 2004's Gettin' In Over My Head
on Sept. 2nd via Capitol Records.
A musical bringing David Bowie's film The Man Who Fell To Earth with an infusion of his classic hits is in the
works. Plans are to open it in director Peter Schaufuss' native Denmark this autumn.
Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has a new project he has been working on that you will not see in stores
soon. He has been part of a project that has turned the Battery Maritime Building in New York City into a musical
instrument. The building has had devices added to the structure that can produce sounds when activated by wind,
vibration and striking. The exhibition in Manhattan will run from May 31st to Aug. 10th.
Australian rock act Matt Finish have reformed after the death of vocalist Matt Moffitt. Their new singer is David
Adams from Nebraska.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young will see the release of their politically charged documentary, CSNY - Deja Vu,
to theaters via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions in July. The DVD release is planned for shortly before the elections
with HDNet in talks to air the film around the same time.
Venice will release their first greatest hits collection, Home Grown, in England, Germany and Scandinavia shortly.
The disc will be bundled with their concert DVD, Live At The Royal Carre Theatre.
Van Halen are reportedly filming some of their shows during their current tour for an upcoming DVD.
Clare Grogan of Altered Images is writing a series of 3 children's books, Tallulah Gosh: Schoolgirl Popstar, that
will debut in October. The series is aimed at 8-11 year-olds and feature a girl whose adventures revolve around
being in a band.
Martin Atkins plans to release two DVDs on July 8th via his Invisible Records label. Tour.Smart, Part 1 will be
a companion to his similarly titled book and lecture series. 16 Days In China is a documentary of his recent trip
to China to work with underground bands in Beijing.
Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen will see his Man Raze side-project release their debut album, Surreal, on June
3rd via VH1 Classic Records.
Melissa Etheridge has recorded a holiday album, A New Thought For Christmas, due out this fall. The disc will contain
a 50/50 mix of originals and holiday standards. For some of those standards she has reportedly revised the lyrics
to five them "new spiritual meaning."
The original members of New Kids On The Block rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on May 15th
to celebrate their reunion tour and new single. According to NBC's Today, despite wet and soggy weather, the number
of fans that came out for their recent live performance rivaled those that came to see Bruce Springsteen in September.
Meanwhile, worth noting is the AGP management company that will work with band includes former Extreme drummer
Paul Geary.
A 90th birthday celebration was being planned by RCA Records prior to Eddy Arnold's death. The label's plan included
the release of the single, "To Life," from Arnold's 100th album and the label is urging stations to play
the song enough to place it on the charts.
Country and pop vocalist Jerry Wallace, 79, died on May 5th in Cororna, California, from congestive heart failure.
The singer (nicknamed "Mr. Smooth) charted 35 country singles since 1965. His final chart single would be
1980's "If I Could Set My Love To Music." He also had a successful career as an actor, narrator and voice-over
artist in commercials and television.