Madonna's Rochester Hills (a Detroit suburb) childhood home burned down during the week in a suspected arson.
Thankfully, the house wasn't occupied when it was destroyed. Meanwhile, more rumors of her splitting with Guy Ritchie
surfaced and U.S. Weekly published an article about her and Alex Rodriguez. This led to her representative flatly
denying the couple are divorcing.
The headstone of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis was stolen this week according to BBC reports. The Cheshire police
have no apparent leads to those responsible for the theft but are asking for any information regarding the taking
of the memorial stone.
The Triffids, Max Merritt and Dragon were among the 2008 inductees into the Australian Recording Industry Association
Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
The BBC has reported that Kylie Minogue will be formally appointed an OBE by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
She was named in the New Year Honours List in December.
Motley Crue's Saints Of Los Angeles has debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 album chart selling 99,000 copies. Journey's
Revelation dropped 5 places to #17. The Offspring's Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace fell 13 spots to #23. Judas Priest's
Nostradamus plunged 29 places to #40.
Madonna's "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake fell 6 places to #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles
chart. New Kids On The Block's "Summertime" gained 4 spots to #39. Further down on the chart, a cover
of Dream Academy's "Life In A Northern Town" by Jake Owen debuted at #43.
"What's Victoria's Secret," the first single from Rick Springfield's new studio album, Venus In Overdrive,
is available for download at iTunes. The album is due out on July 29th via Universal Music.
Crown of Thorns will release, Faith, their follow-up to 2002's Karma on Sept. 19th. The band is fronted by former
Plasmatics bassist Jean Beauvoir.
Lou Reed, Elton John and Tony Bennett are among the first guests that have taped episodes of, Spectacle: Elvis
Costello with..., Costello's new variety show. The 13-episode series is being co-produced by Canada's CTV, the
U.K.'s Channel 4 and the Sundance Channel in the U.S.
XYZ have compiled, The Best Of XYZ, a new collection containing tracks from their first and second CDs and the
new song "Falling In You." The disc can be pre-ordered via their MySpace page and only 500 copies will
be printed. They will also hit the road this summer.
The new Akon song, "Hold My Hand," is in the running to be the first single from his new studio album.
The song features vocals by Michael Jackson and will appear on both Akon and Jackson's upcoming albums.
The double-CD version of the Waterboys' 1990 album Room To Roam will be released by EMI on Aug. 11th. Disc 1 has
the original album and Disc 2 includes 17 bonus tracks recorded from 1989-1991. Meanwhile, Mike Scott, Steve Wickham
and Anto Thistlethwaite reunited in the recording studio last week to record a cover of their "Saints And
Angels" for Sharon Shannon's upcoming album due out next year.
Masters Of Reality have announced a tentative Aug. 28th date for the release their sixth studio album, Pine/Cross
Dover, via Brownhouse/Mascot Records.
Don Dokken has recently posted information about why Lightning Strikes Again took so long to finish. Acccording
to him, the producer was wasted all the time and... he was the producer. He checked himself in to Las Encinas hospital
to help break 17 years of addiction. He says that he goes into his upcoming tour dates with Poison "with a
clear mind, repaired vocal chords and some great new songs to sing from" Lightning Strikes Again. During the
same post, Dokken mentioned having surgery on his sinuses as he unknowingly had been suffering from a sinus disease
for years.
MTV has announced that Run's House (featuring Run-D.M.C.'s Reverend Run a.k.a. Joseph Simmons) will return for
a new season on July 16th.
Will Smith's latest film, Hancock, debuted at the top of the box office this week and is expected to surpass the
$100 million mark by Sunday.
The Flaming Lips plan to contribute their new song, "Cosmic Trigger 2," to the soundtrack to the fishing
documentary Okie Noodling II. The song is a nod to the song, "The Southern Oklahoma Cosmic Trigger Contest,"
which the band contributed to the soundtrack of 2001's Okie Noodling. Meanwhile, the band have finally finished
work on their film, Christmas On Mars. The group are currently screening the film at several festivals.
A digital-only EP of tracks culled from Bruce Springsteen's tour will be released on July 15th under the title
Magic Tour Highlights. Each performance on the set will be available as a downloadable video. All of the royalties
earned from the project will benefit the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. (Federici's final performance with the band
closes the EP.)
CMT's Crossroads have had some intriguing pairings over the history of the series. In October, Def Leppard will
join Taylor Swift on a Nashville stage to record an episode of the show scheduled to premiere on Nov. 8th.
Captain Sensible has posted a message at his MySpace page that he is in the studio with The Damned working on a
new album.
Bad Company plan to reunite for a one-off performance on Aug. 8th in Hollywood, Florida. The show will be dedicated
to the memory of their long-time attorney Steve Weiss. The show will be recorded for a DVD that will be part of
a Bad Company compilation due out later this year. It seems another reason for the show is that another version
of the band reportedly has plans to tour and according to Paul Rodgers' interview with Billboard, "By doing
this one-night stand with Bad Company, we will be cementing our right to the trademark 'Bad Company' for touring,
and anyone who attempts to challenge us and tour misusing our trademark and mislead the fans will be liable to
legal action."
Jody Watley has posted her new song, "Everlasting," to her MySpace page as a preview of her new studio
album to be titled Chameleon.
Bon Jovi have been mulling over their next projects at the end of their Lost Highway tour. A possible second Bon
Jovi greatest hits album in the future has been tossed about (with two newly recorded songs.) Jon Bon Jovi has
even been entertaining the idea of a new solo album.
Repo! The Genetic Opera is gathering steam. The rock opera-styled film based on a live show from the same creators
has Sarah Brightman and Skinny Puppy's Nivek Ogre in the cast. A trailer can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHFOvaoD6-g
ZZ Top has signed a new record deal with Columbia's American Recordings imprint. The group plan to head into the
studio with Rick Rubin soon to work on the album. Rubin just so happens to own American Recordings. Meanwhile,
ZZ Top's Live From Texas 2007 debuts this week on top of Billboard's Top Music Video chart.
Dead Can Dance has reissued their catalog as a 9-disc box set via 4AD in the hybrid-SACD format. The 9 albums will
also be released in the standard CD format later this year.
Guns N' Roses' former bassist Duff McKagan is the first Velvet Revolver member to release something from a side-project
as the band search for a lead singer. Duff McKagan's Loaded have released their new studio album, Dark Days, as
a free download at www.idolmanagement.com
Mastercard's Priceless.com launched a new campaign last week called 'Roots of Rock' which is offering cardholders
free downloads from the entire Universal Music Group catalog. Once 100,000 songs have been downloaded, they plan
to offer the catalog titles for $0.80 per track. Those purchasing tracks up to Aug. 31st will be entered into a
sweepstakes with a grand prize of having a meet and greet with Jon Bon Jovi or Eric Clapton.
According to Donnie Vie of Enuff Z'nuff, the band's new album, Dissonance, has been mixed and artwork completed.
Right now they are working on a major label deal for the release but a 2000 limited edition run will be sold at
their upcoming performance at Rocklahoma.
"Before The End" will be the next Levellers single released on July 28th. The single will be chart eligible
as it will be released on 7" single. Their new studio album, Letters From The Underground, will be released
on Aug. 11th in the U.K.
Front 242 will soon release an 18-track CD, Moments..., via their shop at www.alfa-matrix.com. The disc is a collection
of "the very best of Front 242's compositions recorded during the band's worldwide 'Vintage Tour' that is
still running strong today."
BJ Thomas has been working with producers Allan Swartzburg and Bob Mann on a new Brazilian album which will include
duets with 4 of the countries most talented musicians.
Former Trapeze and Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley, 60, lost his battle with esophagus cancer on July 1st. Galley
spent 1982 to 1984 in Whitesnake releasing the albums Saints & Sinners and Slide It In. He was forced to leave
the band in the spring of 1984 after breaking his arm in an accident at a German fairground. A surgery following
the accident resulted in nerve damage that side-lined him until he started using a specially-developed spring and
wire device fitted to his hand affectionately called "The Claw." He would rejoin former Trapeze member
Glenn Hughes in a project called Phenomena and release 3 albums during the end of the decade.