A 3-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled on July 21st that the Federal Communications Commission
"acted arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the $550,000 indecency
fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show "wardrobe
malfunction" by Janet Jackson. The court found the the FCC
deviated from their almost 30-year practice of fining indecent
broadcast content only when it was "pervasive as to the amount to
'shock treatment' for the audience."
Connie Francis is being treated at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in
New York after falling ill earlier this week. She was
expected to leave coronary care today and was diagnosed with
dangerously high blood pressure when admitted. Francis' last
hit singles were 1981's "I'm Me Again" and 1982's "There's Still A Few
Good Love Songs Left in Me."
Los Angeles-based business management and accounting firm London
& Co. filed a nearly $1 million lawsuit against Courtney Love
on July 22nd claiming that she failed to pay them a share of profits
from the 2006 $19.5 million sale of a portion of the Nirvana publishing
catalog. The company claims Love broke an oral contract to
share 5% of any of her earnings or those from her company, the End of
Music.
MTV has started the nomination process for the MTV Video Music
Awards... with your help. Fans have been going to their Web
site to nominate performers for 8 categories since July 18th.
Certain categories have already completed their nomination process.
John Lydon and 3 members of his entourage reportedly scuffled on Monday
backstage at Spain's Summercase festival with Bloc Party frontman Kele
Okereke. Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson and Foals lead
singer Yannis Philippakis got involved as well with festival security
breaking things up. The altercation was later reported to
U.K. and Spanish police. Lydon has denied claims that the
attack was racially motivated.
Widespread Panic will be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame
at the 30th annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards Show on Sept. 20th.
The soundtrack to Mama Mia climbed 4 places to #3 on the Billboard 200
chart selling 91,000 copies. John Mellencamp's Life, Death,
Love And Freedom debuted at #7 on sales of 56,000 copies (becoming his
4th top 10 album.) Randy Travis' Around The Bend debuted at
#14 selling 31,000 copies. Journey's Revelation retained the
#18 slot. Alan Jackson's Good Time climbed 4 spots to
#33. Motley Crue's Saints of Los Angeles fell 12 places to
#35.
Alan Jackson's Good Time held its place at #40 on the Billboard Hot 100
singles chart. The song also becomes his 23rd #1 on the
Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
The release of the film Mamma Mia has affected the U.K. Albums
chart. ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits climbed 7 places to #5
(becoming the 4th best-selling album in U.K. chart history) and the
Mamma Mia soundtrack jumped 16 spots to #19. Billy Joel's
Piano Man: The Very Best Of Billy Joel re-entered the chart at #9 after
the ITV broadcast of the South Bank Show about the artist.
Madonna's Hard Candy climbed 4 places to #10. Neil Diamond's
Home Before Dark fell 6 spots to #17. Eddy Grant's The Very
Best Of Eddy Grant: Road To Reparation dropped 2 places to
#18. Neil Diamond's The Best Of Neil Diamond fell 6 spots to
#24. Paul Weller's 22 Dreams dropped 9 places to
#26. Dolly Parton's The Very Best Of Dolly Parton fell 13
spots.
Madonna's "Give It 2 Me" climbed 10 places to #7 on the U.K. Singles
chart. Her "4 Minutes" featuring Justin Timberlake fell 2
spots to #22. Fall Out Boy's cover of "Beat It" featuring
John Mayer dropped a place to #29.
The Rolling Stones have announced they have left their longtime label
EMI and signed a new deal with Universal Music Group's Polydor label
that covers future studio albums and their back catalog from 1971
onward.
The Smithereen's 2007 cover album, Meet The Smithereens!, was such a
well received effort that it seems only appropriate that a follow-up
should come. On Sept. 2nd, Koch plan to release the group's
new album, B-sides The Beatles, on which they cover their favorite
B-sides from early Beatles singles.
U2's 1983 live album, Under A Blood Red Sky, will reissued on Sept.
23rd via Universal. The band's new studio album is expected
to drop in November.
Charlie Louvin will release a traditional gospel classics collection,
Steps To Heaven, on Sept. 16th and Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads
& Disaster Songs on Dec. 9th via the Tompkins Square label.
Dr. Dre recently told USA Today about his long-awaited studio album,
Detox, "In a perfect world, I'm shooting for a November or December
release."
John Wesley Harding has been busy working on his third novel.
His family is also expecting a child in September. The
physical release of his next studio album will be in March (when the
baby will be 6 months or so) with a digital release of the album is
expected a few months sooner.
The Cure will release their 4th new single, "The
Perfect Boy," on Aug. 13th. On September 13th, an EP
containing remixes of the first 4 singles heads to stores.
Each of
these songs come from the currently-untitled new studio album due out
Oct. 13th.
Todd Rundgren will release his new solo studio album, Arena, on Sept.
30th via Hi Fi Recordings.
A new play/concert, David Gest... My Life! A Musical Concert
Extravaganza, will begin touring the U.K. in October. Among
the nine legendary acts performing in the show are Shalamar, Peabo
Bryson and Ashford & Simpson.
Billboard's Boxscore numbers for mid-year touring charts have been
announced and Bon Jovi have taken the top spot grossing $112.4 million
from Nov. 14th to May 13th. Meanwhile, the band will release
a new live DVD, filmed during their Madison Square Garden shows on July
14th and 15th, at the end of the year.
Asia plan to release "An Extraordinary Life" as a single from their
latest album, Phoenix. The band are asking fans to create a
video for the track (by downloading live footage from their tour, using
band photos, CGI graphics and even family snapshots.) More
information is available at www.asiavideocontest.com. The
grand prize winner will receive a custom Apple MacBook Air with
laser-etched Roger Dean artwork from the Phoenix album.
Bootsy Collins has launched a new project with guitarist Buckethead
named Science Faxtion. Their debut album, Living On Another
Frequency, is due out in September via Mascot Records.
Mick Jones of Foreigner recently told the Associated Press that their
new single, "Too Late," is a sample of a "fuller" new album that will
be released next year.
Billy Joel performed his series of sold-out shows, Last Play At Shea,
at New York's Shea Stadium and brought some special guests on stage
with him including Tony Bennett, Don Henley, Steven Tyler, Garth
Brooks, Roger Daltrey and Sir Paul McCartney. Meanwhile,
McCartney performed his free concert as part of Quebec City's 400th
anniversary celebration on July 20th.
New AC/DC rumors are floating around. This new set claim
their new studio album will be titled Dirty Rhythm when released via
their exclusive Wal-Mart deal on Oct. 28th. The first single,
"Run Away From Black Ice," is due out Aug. 24th. The band are
also mentioned to be making an announcement on Aug. 1st in a special
video at ACDC.com. We have a few months, so remember... they
are still unconfirmed at this time. "Runaway Train" was
previously announced as the first single from the album, Black Ice.
U.K. metal act Praying Mantis have begun work on a new studio album
tentatively-titled Touch The Rainbow with plans to release it early
next year.
Motley Crue have announced their partnership with DeepRockDrive.com
which will show their Aug. 1st performance at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay
with fans at home being able to chat with each other and send messages
to the bands during their performances.
The Simple Minds' classic "Don't You (Forget About Me)" and the 1985
film it appeared in, The Breakfast Club, are being used in a new ad
campaign by JCPenney. The song appears in a new commercial
that re-creates a scene from the film and an EP containing five covers
of the song entitled JCPenney Presents: Don't You Forget About Me (The
Covers) for sale at online retailers for $5.94 (which includes the
Simple Minds version.)
Former Television guitarist Tom Verlaine will see his 1981 solo album,
Dreamtime, and 1982's Words From The Front will be reissued on Sept.
16th via Collectors' Choice Music.
More information about Paul Westerberg's 49-cent project has been
released. Dubbed 49, the 49-minute single MP3 file is
composed of over a dozen songs and is available at a link at
PaulWesterberg.com and Tunecore.
According to a recent interview with Billboard.com, Lindsey Buckingham
plans to head out on the road with Fleetwood Mac early next year to
inspire the band prior to heading into the studio to work on their next
album. Meanwhile, drummer Mick Fleetwood's 6 year-old
daughter was rushed to the hospital last week after hitting her head
while doing cartwheels near the pool. Paramedics were able to
fully revive her in the ambulance on the way to a nearby hospital.
Former Black Sheep vocalist/bassist Willie Basse has released his new
studio album, The Money Grind, as an online stream at
AltSounds.com. The album has been released through his own
New Empire Media label.
According to a post on their official Web site by Donnie Wahlberg,
"While I enjoy the hype for our album. And while I also
(sometimes) enjoy the audacity of people writing blatantly fabricated
'news' articles, we are NOT recording with Michael Jackson and/or
Madonna. We never claimed to be either." Oddly, a
new rumor has surfaced that they have recorded a song with New
Edition. Their new album, The Block, is due out Sept. 2nd.
Alice Cooper's new concept album, Along Came A Spider, heads to stores
next week. The album includes a guest appearance by Slash on
"Vengeance is Mine" and "Wake The Dead" which was co-written with Ozzy
Osbourne.
A new DVD filmed during Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's performance at the
1993 North Sea Jazz Festival will be released on Aug. 5th.
Also included in the disc are 7 bonus tracks from one of his last-ever
appearances at the 1996 Bluesfest in Levekusen, Germany.
Sammy Hagar announced during his July 22nd concert in Englewood, New
Jersey, that his new solo studio album will be titled Cosmic Universal
Fashion and is tentatively-scheduled for release in late summer or
early fall.
Ronnie McDowell has released a new single, "Hey Mr. Oilman," with Lee
Bogan. A new McDowell album is due out this summer via Curb
Records.
The Pretenders plan to release, Break Up The Concrete, their first new
studio album since 2002's Loose Screw on Sept. 23rd via Shangri-La
Music. Leading up to the release, the band will release one
MP3 each week via a different partner starting with "Boots Of Chinese
Plastic" as a free download at AOL's Spinner.com and ThePretenders.com.
B.B. King will release his new T Bone Burnett-produced album, One Kind
Of Favor, on Aug. 26th via Geffen. Dr. John plays piano on
the disc.
ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer has announced that Hank Williams Jr. will
return to sing the opening theme for Monday Night Football (that he's
been doing since 1989.) Williams is working in the studio in
Nashville and will shoot the video next month in L.A.
UFO have announced plans to start work on what will be their 20th
studio album. Plans are to release it next year.
A track list has been announced for Metallica's upcoming album, Death
Magnetic, due out in September. The album will include the
song "The Unforgiven III." ("The Unforgiven II" appeared on their 1997
ReLoad album and "The Unforgiven" debuted on 1991's self-titled effort.)
Randy Newman will release his new studio album, Harps And Angels, on
Aug. 5th
Fans of the song "Cry Little Sister (Theme From The Lost Boys)" by
Gerard McMann may want to pay attention to McMann's new project, G Tom
Mac, with producer Tony Silver. A video of the new version of
the classic song ("Cry Little Sister - Caveclub Mix") by G Tom Mac will
appear on upcoming DVD, Lost Boys: The Tribe, due out July
29th. Check out their MySpace page (www.myspace.com/gtommac)
to see the video. The song also appears on their debut album,
Thou Shalt Not Fall, which is available for download at
iTunes. Other G Tom Mac tracks will appear on the upcoming
films: I See You Dot Com (Sept. 16th) and Trick 'R Treat
(Oct. 23rd.)