Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters was given a full and unconditional pardon from New York governor David
Paterson on May 23rd for the 1991 attempted murders of two men and weapons possession. Walters served nearly 5
years in prison for the crime but since his 1997 release he has been in a legal battle due to the federal statute
mandating the removal of a lawful resident alien upon conviction of an aggravated felony or a weapon offense. Walters
could still be deported to the U.K. despite the pardon but the move is expected to slow down the process.
Poison drummer Rikki Rockett has been cleared of a felony rape charge filed in Mississippi. A woman claimed that
Rockett forcibly raped her on Sept. 23rd, 2007. The Neshoba County District Attorney refused to prosecute the case
(which carried a potential life sentence) after determining that Rockett was not the person who committed the alleged
rape.
The marijuana charges against Whitney Houston, that the singer faced after she was caught with the an ounce of
the substance at a Hawaiian airport in 2000, have been dropped.
Sweet Sensation lead vocalist Betty Dee has reportedly been ill for almost two months now. Her condition has yet
to be diagnosed by doctors but it is bad enough to keep her in bed. Fans are encouraged to write to her (her address
is up on the group's MySpace page), send their prayers and positive thoughts.
Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist Billy Powell underwent emergency partial revision hip replacement surgery on May 21st.
He is expected to spend up to 6 weeks in recovery and wear a hip brace for at least 3 months before being able
to rejoin the band on tour in July.
According to TMZ.com, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler checked into La Encinas Hospital in Pasadena on Wednesday.
Celebrity addiction specialist Drew Pinsky practices there and it is believed that the singer is making a rehab
attempt after months of excessive partying with girlfriend Erin Brady. Band representatives have not released a
statement at this time.
Europe have been forced to cancel their May 31st performance at Norway's Kopevik Festival due to the sudden passing
away of Michelle Meldrum, wife of lead and rhythm guitarist John Norum, from a cystic growth on her brain that
had restricted oxygen and blood flow rendering her brain-dead. Meldrum was the leader of a band (bearing her surname)
that had just finished writing and recording their new album.
Covenant House California's 9th annual Awards Gala was held on May 9th and Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx was honored
during the event. Sixx presented the Covenant House with a $250,000 check which was raised from sales of his book,
The Heroin Diaries, and other donations. Meanwhile, bandmate Tommy Lee has a new project in early stages of development
at Fox. The Life And Times Of Jimmy Jaxx will be a half-hour cartoon based on his life and he will lend his voice
to the series.
Daryl Hall and John Oates have been honored as BMI Icons at the 56th Pop Music Awards in Los Angeles. Previous
honorees include Paul Simon, Dolly Parton, the Bee Gees, Carlos Santana, Brian Wilson and Isaac Hayes.
Sir Paul McCartney, 65, has been awarded an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Yale University.
The Dead Kennedys have announced that their 1987 compilation, Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death, has been certified
gold in the U.S. and the U.K. 1981's In God We Trust, Inc. has been certified gold in the U.K. 1982's Plastic Surgery
Disasters, 1985's Frankenchrist and 1986's Bedtime For Democracy have been certified silver in the U.K. All of
the albums were independent releases. The band plan a 10 date tour to celebrate the accomplishments.
Released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the passing of Frank Sinatra, Nothing But The Best debuted at
#2 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Last week's chart-topper, Neil Diamond's Home Before Dark, fell to #7. Madonna's
Hard Candy dropped 5 places to #8. Keith Sweat's Just Me debuted at #10. George Strait's Troubadour fell 15 spots
to #29. Luis Miguel's Complices plunged 24 spots to #34. Carly Simon's This Kind Of Love dropped 14 places to #37.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake retains the #7 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles
chart. The song dropped from the top of Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart to #2 followed by Paula Abdul &
Randy Jackson's "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" at #4, Michael Jackson with Akon's "Wanna Be Startin'
Somethin' 2008" at #7 and George Michael & Mutya's "This Is Not Real Love" at #8.
Neil Diamond's Home Before Dark dropped a spot on the U.K. Albums chart to #2. Madonna's Hard Candy fell 2 places
to #7. Neil Diamond's The Best Of Neil Diamond has jumped onto the chart at #8. The Osmonds' Very Best Of The Osmonds
has debuted at #11. Mick Hucknall's Tribute to Bobby debuted at #18. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising
Sand fell 6 places to #21. Willie Nelson' Legend: The Best Of Willie Nelson gained a spot to #29. Frank Sinatra's
Nothing But The Best fell 20 places to #30. Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back In Time: The Best Of Iron Maiden dropped
19 spots to #34.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake didn't make it to 8 weeks on top of the U.K. Singles
chart and fell to #3. Kylie Minogue's "In My Arms" holds the #32 spot.
Madonna is pretty much a chart favorite right now as her "4 Minutes" with Justin Timberlake is the #1
single on the World, European, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Belgium charts. Hard Candy is the #1 album on the
World, European, Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark and Czech Republic charts.
It seems that the effort to get the late Eddy Arnold one last hit single, "To Life," on the Billboard
Hot Country Songs chart worked. The song makes him the only person in country music history to chart a single in
career of 7 decades that saw 85 million albums sold. "To Life" was his 147th single.
Cyndi Lauper will release her new studio album, Bring Ya To The Brink, this week which features her latest single,
"Set Your Heart."
Re-recorded versions of Tangerine Dream's 1980 album, Tangram, and 1983's Hyperborea have been made available as
limited-edition releases via EastGate Music Shop. Pre-orders are being taken now and shipping begins June 20th.
UB40 plan to release "Dance Until The Morning Light" / "Lost And Found" as a double A-side
single on June 9th.
Anything Box's Paul Rijnders has released the second album, It Was Dark For So Long, We Thought We Were Dead, with
his Goodbye July solo project via Amazon.
Morrissey has pushed back the release date of his latest single, "All You Need Is Me," from May 19th
to June 2nd. The single will only be available for a week. Meanwhile, he is currently working on his new studio
album due out this autumn.
The third annual VH1 Rock Honors will be held on July 12th in Los Angeles and will air on July 17th. This year,
they will honor only one act, The Who, who will also perform at the event with tributes by Pearl Jam, Flaming Lips
and Foo Fighters. Proceeds from the benefit will go to the Teenage Cancer Trust, VH1's Save The Music Foundation,
the Double O Charity and VH1 Classic Rock Autism. Meanwhile, Billboard reports that an animated version of the
Who's "Wire & Glass" will premiere on June 1st at their Web site.
German metal act Rage will release their 18th album, Carved In Stone, on June 10th. This will be their first album
with new drummer Andre Hilgers.
Eddie Money has been recording country versions of his songs with producer John Ford Coley for an album to be released
by Big 7 Records this year. Vince Gill has guested on Money's re-recording of "Gimme Some Water" which
has been released as an online single. Don't expect him to dive head-first into country though as he's also shopping
a musical he's written titled Two Tickets To Paradise. He will also be performing his 1982 album in its entirety
during shows this summer.
MC Lyte's Almost September project release their debut album on May 27th via iTunes. The disc features the singles
"Beautiful" and "Love" (featuring KRS-One.)
The Happy Mondays are working in the studio on a follow-up to their 2007 album, Uncle Dysfunktional, with a tentative
release date early next year.
.38 Special have some songs that they left off of their recent Drivetrain album (due to their more pop orientation)
that they may use on their next release. They also are planning an acoustic album which will re-work some of their
classic songs.
The Ronnie James Dio-era of Black Sabbath will be celebrated by Rhino with a new 5-disc boxed set, The Rules Of
Hell, (which will contain all three of their studio albums -- Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules and Dehumanizer -- and
their double live set, Live Evil) on July 22nd. Meanwhile, under the name Heaven & Hell, the band have been
recording their new studio album to be released early next year.
Former Heart guitarist Howard Leese is nearly finished working on his new album with plans to release it shortly.
Janet Jackson is asking fans for some feedback. She is asking you to call (323) 622-8139 and let her know what
songs you want to hear her perform during her Rock Witchu Tour (her first tour in 7 years) and she may even call
you back.
Go West have announced that their new studio album will be titled Futurenow when released on June 30th in the U.K.
You may recognize a new version of "Rio" being used in the promotion of Caress Brazilian Exotic Oil Infusions
body wash. The Duran Duran classic has been covered by Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls. If you miss the
commercial, it can be heard at CaressBrazilian.com.
Richard Marx has released an album entitled Duo with Vertical Horizon's Matt Scannell. The 10 tracks include the
new song, "Always On Your Mind," and reinventions of hits by both artists. Marx is still working on his
solo album but, until then, the disc can be purchased at the store link at RichardMarx.com.
Good Morning Universe: The Very Best Of Toyah will be released on June 30th in the U.K. The collection spans from
1979 to 2003 and includes 39 tracks.
Gary Numan plans to release, Jagged Edge, the double album alternative version of his 2006 album, Jagged, on June
23rd.
The 3-disc Genesis reunion tour set, When In Rome 2007, will be released exclusively via Wal-Mart on June 10th.
David Bowie's record company RZO Music has denied the report by The Sun tabloid about a musical and has said that
they have licensed "absolutely no material" to the Danish musical director named in the article.
John Mellencamp has announced the release of the book John Mellencamp: The Concert At Walter Reed. The book about
his Apr. 27th, 2007, performance with photos and in-depth interviews written by Jim Bessman, in association with
Mellencamp, is available exclusively via his official Web site.
Hanoi Rocks will release their first single with new drummer George Atlagic (nicknamed Jolle) entitled "Teenage
Revolution/Self Destruction Blues" on May 28th. ("Self Destruction Blues" was previously unreleased
by the band in Europe.)
LL Cool J plans to release his new studio album, Exit 13, on July 18th via Def Jam. This is the last and 13th release
in his contract with the label. The first single, "I Cry," featuring Lil' Mo has been released.
According to a recent Billboard interview with Mick Jones, a new Foreigner studio album is in the plans "hopefully
sooner than later." "Everyone's committed to the long-haul here."
Solitaire (a.k.a. James Callahan) has resurfaced on a synthpop compilation disc out of Germany entitled Echoes
From Our Past. It can be ordered at annaloguerecords.com. More recently, James has been busy with his Retrophaze
project with Paul Demme and they are currently recording their next CD.
Lenny Kravitz will debut the video for his latest single, "Love Love Love," during TRL First Look on
MTV on June 3rd.
It seems there are now two versions of the band Sweet. Guitarist Andy Scott has been touring in the U.K. (since
1993 as Andy Scott's Sweet) and bassist Steve Priest has launched a version that will tour in Canada and the U.S.
The new Billy Idol hits collection, Idolize Yourself, will be released on June 23rd in the U.K. The CD will feature
2 new songs ("John Wayne" and "New Future Weapon") and the DVD includes the uncensored version
of "Hot In The City."
A new documentary celebrating the life and career of Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister is in the works for a 2009
release. Tentatively-titled Lemmy, the film will include interviews with past and present bandmates as well as
peers and admirers (including Alice Cooper, Steve Vai, Mick Jones of the Clash, Slash and Dave Grohl.) A site for
the film including a teaser clip is up at LemmyMovie.com.
Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Keidis has told Rolling Stone magazine, "We're disbanded for the moment."
A year-long band hiatus is expected.
Vixen have announced that they are hard at work writing new material for their new studio album. Pre-production
starts soon with studio time booked this fall in hopes of a spring 2009 release.
Phish's Mike Gordon will release his solo album, The Green Sparrow, on Aug. 5th. His bandmates Trey Anastasio and
Page McConnell make guest appearances on the disc. Meanwhile, Trey Anastasio has received a reduced sentence of
3 years probation (for a drug conviction) after successfully completing a counseling and treatment program.
Joan Baez will release her new Steve Earle-produced studio album, Day After Tomorrow, on Sept. 9th via Bobolink/Razor
& Tie Entertainment.