According to Russia Today, Deep Purple have been
fined
by a Russian court for illegally performing their own songs.
The band played in Rostov-on-Don on Oct. 19th last year but they didn't
gain permission to publicly perform the songs by the NGO (Russian
Authors' Society) which issues licenses to performers. The
NGO reportedly represent the rights of foreign performers in the
country, whether or not the performers give the NGO permission to
represent them.
Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has told CNN that police are
waiting for the coroner's report before ruling out any possibilities in
their "comprehensive" investigation into the sudden death of Michael
Jackson. Detectives are looking at his prescription drug
history and are trying to talk with many of his former
doctors. Some 18,000 people attended the 2-hour public
memorial for Michael Jackson in Los Angeles' Staples Center on
Tuesday. The star-studded event was broadcast live on U.S.
national TV networks and via the Internet. 1.6 million people
applied online for a chance at 2 tickets for the memorial.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has asked fans to give
tax-deductible donations to the city of Los Angeles to help cover the
roughly $3.8 million spent by the police department for public safety
during the event. The top 4 spots on this week's music video
sales chart belong to Jackson, and cash registers (online and in
stores) continue to register unprecedented sales for the late
singer. Meanwhile, during a recent interview Michael's father
Joe Jackson stated that he believes his son's death was foul play.
Frank Welcker of Shakers Management Group has released a
statement. "Due to personal and creative differences, Shakers
Management Group truly regrets to say that the Headless Cross tour will
be canceled. All ticket refunds will be handled by the
venues. All parties involved express their deep sadness that
we couldn't come to terms and we wish to apologize to all the fans and
venues for any inconvenience this may have caused." Former
Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin was planning to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the release of the band's Headless Cross album by
touring under the name.
Nine Inch Nails have announced their final 10 tour dates.
Their shows will see an expanded playlist and several guest
appearances. Exclaim.ca reports that Eric De La Cruz, the
person Trent Reznor was helping raise funds for a much needed heart
transplant, passed away on July 4th at the age of 27. While
enough money was raised for the transplant and De La Cruz was approved
for Medicare, his condition deteriorated too rapidly.
Chickenfoot drummer Chad Smith's injuries will need a little more time
to heal. An MRI revealed that Smith re-injured himself
tearing various tendons in his shoulder and upper arm/biceps.
He played a few shows during the weekend and was sore afterwards and
urged to rest until he sees specialists in London. Sold out
performances in Hamburg, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark have been
canceled.
Chickenfoot's self-titled debut fell 6 places to #21 on the Billboard
200 albums chart. The Twilight soundtrack dropped 8 spots to
#30. Levon Helm's Electric Dirt debuted at #36. The
various artist compilation Now That's What I Call The 80s Vol. 2
debuted at #37.
Michael Jackson's Number Ones kept the top spot on the Billboard
Comprehensive Albums chart. Jackson's Thriller climbed 1
place to #2. Jackson's The Essential Michael Jackson dropped
3 spots to #5.
Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" climbed a spot to #2 on the
Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart. Jackson's "Billie Jean"
stayed at #4. Jackson's Thriller fell 3 places to
#5. Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" dropped one spot to
#7. Jackson's "Beat It" fell 3 places to #10.
Michael Jackson's The Essential Michael Jackson climbed 19 spots to #1
on the U.K. Albums chart. Jackson's Number Ones dropped 2
places to #3. Jackson's King Of Pop gained 9 spots to
#5. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's Greatest
Hits fell 3 places to #9. Jackson's Off The Wall climbed 7
spots to #10. Ali Campbell's Flying High debuted at
#13. Jackson's Thriller 25 re-entered the chart at
#18. Jim Reeves' The Very Best Of Jim Reeves fell 7 places to
#20. Michael Jackson & The Jackson 5's The Very Best
Of Michael Jackson & The Jackson 5 debuted at #25.
Neil Sedaka's The Music Of My Life dropped 12 spots to #27.
Jackson's HIStory: Past, Present And Future: Book 1 debuted at
#33. George Harrison's Let It Roll fell 23 places to #35.
Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" climbed 9 spots to #2 on the U.K.
Singles chart. Jackson's "Billie Jean" gained 15 places to
#10. Jackson's "Thriller" climbed 11 spots to #12.
Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" gained 15 places to #13.
Jackson's "Beat It" climbed 11 spots to #19. Jackson's "Black
Or White" re-entered the chart at #25. Jackson's "Dirty
Diana" re-entered the chart at #26. Jackson's "They Don't
Care About Us" re-entered the chart at #32. Jackson's "Earth
Song" gained 5 spots to #33. Jackson's "The Way You Make Me
Feel" re-entered the chart at #34. Jackson's "You Are Not
Alone" re-entered the chart at #35. Jackson's "Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough" re-entered the chart at #38. Jackson's
"Bad" re-entered the chart at #40.
George Strait will release his latest studio album, Twang, on Aug. 11th
featuring his new single, "Living For The Night."
Aerosmith have been tapped to provide the WWE (World Wrestling
Entertainment) with the theme song for this year's Summerslam
pay-per-view event. That song will be "You Gotta Move" from
their 2004 album, Honkin' On Bobo. Reuters reported that
Steven Tyler seemed to have pulled a leg muscle during their June 29th
performance leading to the postponement of recent additional shows in
Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Viva will be the title of Bananarama's new studio album due out at the
end of August. The first single will be, "Love Comes."
Rhino will release a 10-disc set, Genesis Live 1973-2007, on Sept. 29th
containing the band's 6 official live albums, unreleased material and
material from their Live Over Europe album from their 2007 reunion tour.
Lyle Lovett is working on a collection of original songs and songs by
some of his favorite Texas singer-songwriters to be released on Oct.
20th.
Spear Of Destiny have released the new live CD, One Eyed Jacks Live,
(recorded at Nottingham's Rockcity) and the 3-disc DVD set, Westworld
Weekend 8. Fans can purchase the products online via links at
their www.myspace.com/spearofdestinyuk page.
Metal Church have announced that their performance at Rocklahoma will
be their last show. "We regretfully announce that Metal
Church is calling it quits. There has been far too much
frustration and disappointment in trying to keep moving
forward. The collapse of our record company, SPV, has made it
next to impossible for us to continue in any kind of professional
manner due to lack of tour support. This decision was not
made lightly. We do have unfinished business in the studio,
and with any luck we will have something that will be of interest to
Metal Church fans in the near future."
Bruce Hornsby plans to release his new 12-track studio album, Levitate,
via Verve on Sept. 15th. He has also been working on a
Broadway play and will make his film debut on Aug. 21st in World's
Greatest Dad with Robin Williams and Bobcat Goldthwait. His
song, "Invisible," from the album appears in the film as well.
Metallica will release a new live DVD (filmed at their concert in
Nimes, France on Tuesday) on Oct. 19th and will be made available via
the band's site, French music stores and online shops.
Imagination vocalist Leee John releases his new single, "Sensuality,"
via iTunes in July. You can hear clips of the song as well as
view a video at his new Web site www.SensualityLJ.com. The
song peaked on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart this year at #32.
Def Leppard and Poison will launch the new 6-week VH1 series Live
& Loud Fridays. The bands filmed songs during a
recent tour date for the show. The series starts on July 17th
with each 30-minute episode showing the bands performing 3 of their
biggest hits.
Chris Cornell recently told Rolling Stone that Soundgarden have been
talking about putting together an album of B-sides and possibly a box
set of unreleased material. According to Cornell, "We did so
many B sides, and we were always miffed by the concept that the largest
part of our audience was in the U.S., and yet, we were always churning
out B sides for other territories, so they would buy the local release
instead of the import. That's what I am the most excited
about, to get that collection out so everyone knows its there and has
access to it. I think a box set would be good,
too." Don't expect a reunion quite yet.
Twisted Sister fans that purchased the Stay Hungry 25th Anniversary
edition are being told by the band to hold onto their purchase and send
an email to Dr.Rhino@Rhino.com with Twisted Sister in the subject
line. A set of instructions will follow. The band
were told that a few thousand copies of the first disc in the set have
an audio problem creating poor sound quality.
Dinosaur Jr. fans picking up the European CD version of their new
album, Farm, should stop by and read a posting at www.dinosaurjr.com as
it will have return information. During the duplication
process, the software doubled the sound layers increasing the overall
sound volume 3dB.
The Truth's 1985 album, Playground, and the 2-for-1 Laughing Dogs' 1979
self-titled and 1980's The Laughing Dogs Meet Their Makers will be
re-released on Aug. 11th.
Danger Danger have announced that they will release their new studio
album, Revolve, in Europe on Sept. 18th.
Living Colour will release, The Chair In The Doorway, their first new
studio album in nearly 6 years on Sept. 15th via Megaforce Records.
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions release their second studio
album, Through The Devil Softly, on Sept. 1st.
Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes recently told Talking 80s Music that
plans are in the works for a second studio album by the reunited
original Asia line-up.
Lynch Mob will release their come back studio album, Smoke And Mirrors,
on Oct. 13th in the U.S. and Sept. 18th in Europe via Frontiers Records.
Lynyrd Skynyrd will release their new album, God & Guns, via
Loud & Proud/Roadrunner Records on Sept. 29th. The
disc has been called "a tribute to the past and to the future of this
band, too," by frontman Johnny Van Zant. The first single,
"Still Unbroken," heads to radio stations later this month.
My Robot Friend has worked on a new song with Alison Moyet entitled
"Waiting" which will appear on their upcoming album, Soft Parts, due
out in September. Meanwhile, Moyet has several tour dates
scheduled to celebrate her 25 years as a solo performer.
Mr. Big's recent comeback tour in Japan was recorded for the new DVD
and CD, Budokan - Reunion Tour 2009. Plans are to release it
in Japan on Sept. 9th and in Europe (on a date to be determined.)
Marshall Crenshaw has released his new 12-track studio album,
Jaggedland, via 429 Records. Crenshaw has said about the
album title, "It's a good word to describe the world these days; it's
getting pretty jagged out there."
Pearl Jam have announced tour dates in support of their self-released
9th studio album, Backspacer, due out on Sept. 20th in an exclusive
deal with Target. "The Fixer" will be the first single
released to U.S. radio and digital retailers on July 20th.
The Undead has released their new 3-track EP, I Made A Monster at
GaustenBooks.com. The 7-inch vinyl EP is available in several
colors and are packaged in a special Mad magazine-style fold-in cover.
During a recent interview with the El Paso Times, Ian Astbury told Doug
Pullen, "There will be no new album. I don't think we'll ever
see a Cult album. Albums are dead. The format is
dead. iTunes destroyed albums. The whole idea of an
album. Albums were established in the '70s and '80s and into
the '90s, but they've been dead for a long time. Nobody buys
albums. It's been proven. It's an arcane format, as
much as the 78 rpm or writing sheet music for an orchestra.
It's an old form and, for me, it's much more about if we have a great
song we really believe in, then we'll record it and release it."
Richard Hell has been working with several guitarists to re-record the
1982 Richard Hell & The Voidoids final album, Destiny
Street. Hell mentioned in a press release, "At the time of
the original recording I was so debilitated by despair and drug-need
that I was useless. The record ended up being a high-pitched
sludge of guitar noise. It was a shame because the songs were
clean, simple, and well-constructed, but those values were sabotaged by
the inappropriate arrangements and production." Destiny
Street Repaired will be released in multiple formats on Sept. 1st via
Insound.
The Soulsavers will release their third album, Broken, digitally via
Columbia Records on Aug. 18th. The album includes guest
appearances from Mark Lanegan (of Screaming Trees), Jason Pierce (of
Spiritualized), Mike Patton (of Faith No More) and Gibby Haynes (of the
Butthole Surfers.)
Retrofitness founder Eric Casaburi has secured the rights to the phone
number 867-5309 and recently inked a deal with former MTV veejay Martha
Quinn to voice their fall radio campaign. The health club
chain has over 50 locations in Florida, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
with plans for 100 more in other major markets. Their
locations are decorated in neon yellow, black checkered tiles and
workout areas include a "retro cardio" movie theater that plays many
John Hughes films (Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc.)
Buzz will release their next studio effort, Vaudou 'electrique, next
year. They recently released Buzz Blitz Klub Vol. 1:
Dancefloor de la Mort. The band also announced another
project, Buzz Blitz Klub Vol. 2: Daddy Was A Sex Pistol, to be released
a bit later.
Founding Crimson Glory singer-songwriter Midnight [born John Patrick
McDonald Jr.], 47, passed away from "total kidney and liver failure" on
the morning of July 8th with his family by his side. A
memorial service will be held on July 11th at 6:30pm at Siesta Key
public beach. The band parted ways with the singer in early
2007 due to the singer's "personal crisis," state of mind and his
physical condition. The band released their self-titled debut
in 1986, 1989's Transcendence and 1992's Strange & Beautiful
before McDonald left the band.