According to his publicist, Bo Diddley, 78, is in stable condition at the North Florida Regional Medical Center's
cardiac care unit in Gainesville after suffering a heart attack. During a routine medical checkup Friday, Diddley
complained of dizziness and nausea. Diddley suffered a stroke as recently as May after performances in Council
Bluffs, Iowa.
El DeBarge was arrested recently on suspicion of domestic violence. He was being held without bail due to two previous
narcotics arrests.
Recently released legal papers filed last month have shown that Bobby Brown claims former spouse Whitney Houston
"has attempted to eliminate me from Bobbi Kris' life." "I did all I could to see my daughter...
I also paid approximately $10,000 for Whitney and Bobbi Kris to live in a nice hotel while Whitney was going through
rehab... I basically lived out of my car." Brown asserts that he has been unable to see or speak his 14 year-old
daughter since June while Houston insists that Brown has been "almost totally uninvolved" in taking care
of Bobbi Kristina and that "Bobby is going to try to get child or spousal support from me." Brown sued
Houston for spousal support, child support and shared custody in May.
Robert Langley, who was arrested with illegal CDs and DVDs (including $20,000 in fake Led Zeppelin products) at
a record fair in 2005, has been sentenced to 20 months in jail. Jimmy Page testified at the music-piracy trial
in Scotland last month.
Hank Williams Jr. is among the composers being considered for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of
Fame during a ceremony on Oct. 14th.
George Strait has collected 5 nominations for the upcoming Country Music Association Awards to be held on Nov.
7th in Nashville. Strait is nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year
(for "Wrapped"), Album of the Year (for It Comes Natural) and Musical Event of the Year (for his live
performance of "Hey Good Lookin'" with Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson.) Bill Anderson, Buddy Cannon and
Jamey Johnson are nominated for Song of the Year (as songwriters of Strait's "Give It Away.") Alison
Krauss is up for two awards for Musical Event of the Year for her duets with John Waite (on "Missing You")
and Vince Gill (on "The Reason Why.") Reba McEntire is nominated for Musical Event of the Year (for her
duet with Kelly Clarkson on "Because Of You") and Female Vocalist of the Year. Vince Gill's These Days
is nominated for Album of the Year.
Gloria Estefan has scored her 14th #1 single on the Hot Latin Songs Chart with "No Llores" which is the
first single from her new album, 90 Millas, due out Sept. 18th via Burgundy.
"She's Madonna" by Robbie Williams with Pet Shop Boys climbs 4 to #12 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club
Play Chart. Simply Red's "Stay" jumps 7 places to #14. Delerium's "Lost And Found" drops 6
places to #18. "Walk Away" by Tony Moran featuring Kristine W. soars 12 spots to #23. Taylor Dayne's
"I'm Not Featuring You" ascends 5 places to #25.
Gym Class Heroes have a #5 hit on the U.K. Singles chart with their song "Clothes Off!!!" which leans
heavily on the chorus from Jermaine Stewart's 1988 hit, "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off."
Ringo Starr has scored his first U.K. album chart appearance in more than 32 years with his new collection, Photograph:
The Very Best Of Ringo Starr, debuting at #26.
Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx will be a featured speaker at the 18th annual National Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Recovery Month luncheon on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Sept. 6th. Sixx releases his book, The Heroin Diaries: A Year
In The Life Of A Shattered Rock Star, on Sept. 18th. The lead single, "Life Is Beautiful," from the accompanying
soundtrack has become a top 20 hit on the Rock Radio charts. The soundtrack has debuted on the Billboard Top 200
album chart at #62.
According to an article published last week in The Sun newspaper, Big Country's album, The Crossing, has been voted
Best Scottish Album Of All-Time.
A new double-CD Chicago retrospective collection, The Very Best Of Chicago: 40th Anniversary Edition, will be released
on Oct. 2nd.
John Mellencamp will perform on Sept. 6th at 8 p.m. EST inside Indianapolis' RCA Dome to help celebrate the NFL
season kickoff game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints as part of NBC's pre-game special.
Meanwhile, he is expected to debut a few new songs from his recording sessions with T Bone Burnett during a 14-date
tour starting Oct. 26th.
According to Kevin Shields' manager, My Bloody Valentine reunion shows at Coachella are only a rumor. He does confirm
that Shields is currently busy remastering their albums as well as the rest of the Creation Records back catalog.
The Eagles first new studio album in 28 years, Long Road Out Of Eden, will be a 20-track double-disc set when released
on Oct. 30th exclusively via Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in North America costing $11.88 in the store (and $1
less digitally.)
Jackson Browne and Lyle Lovett both recorded vocals for the theme song to the upcoming 'music mockumentary', Walk
Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. The song was written by Marshall Crenshaw.
Billy Bragg has announced that his new single, "Old Clash Fan Fight Song," has been released on 7"
vinyl and can be heard at his MySpace page. The money raised from the single will benefit the Jail Guitar Doors
campaign.
Def Leppard's Phil Collen has a new band, Man Raze, which will release their debut album, Surreal, this fall. The
first single from their album will be "Turn It Up" and can be downloaded for free at the ManRaze.com
website.
Deborah Gibson has been working on some new studio recordings. She has also been in talks with a Las Vegas venue
about a residency and a possibly an autobiography.
James Taylor recently announced plans to release his new live CD/DVD, One Man Band, due out Nov. 7th. The DVD will
be released via Starbucks, which his new label.
Sepultura are expected to have already begun writing songs for their next studio album. They hope to start recording
at the end of the year or early next with an April or May release date.
Duran Duran have announced plans to release their new studio album, Red Carpet Massacre, on Nov. 13th in the U.S.
(and a day earlier in Europe.)
A new 4-disc Luther Vandross boxed set featuring rare and previously-unreleased material, Love, Luther, is due
out on Oct. 16th. A version of "There's Only You" will be released as a single to Urban AC and Smooth
Jazz radio stations shortly becoming his first new single since his death in 2005.
Queensryche will release their 11-track covers album, Take Cover, on Nov. 13th via Rhino. The disc includes songs
from Queen, U2, the Police, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Black Sabbath, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the O'Jays
and many more.
The Montreal World Film Festival will be the site of the Meat Loaf: In Search Of Paradise premiere on Aug. 30th.
The documentary follows his life on and off the stage up to the start of his Bat Out Of Hell III world tour.
Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Marty Stuart, Del McCoury and Brenda Lee are among the artists that have recorded duets
with Charlie Daniels for an album to be released on Oct. 9th.
Marillion reunited on stage with original frontman Fish for the first time in 19 years on Aug. 26th and performed
their 1982 debut single, "Market Square Heroes." The band and Fish have asserted that it was a one-off
performance and that there will not be a reunion tour.
Bassist Mike Watt and Kaori Tsuchida have formed a band called Funanori. The first 3 songs to be released will
be part of a split CD EP called A Tiny Twofer via Transduction Records on Sept. 3rd.
Former Great Buildings and current Rembrandts member Danny Wilde has made his 1986 solo debut album, The Boyfriend,
available online as a free download (http://dannywilde.therembrandts.net/boyfriend.html). The album was never released
on CD and includes the Top 20 rock radio hit single, "Isn't It Enough." Wilde intends to post MP3s of
his 2000 album Beesides and 2001's Scragglers on the site as well. A Great Buildings site is expected to launch
later this year.
"Kingdom," the first single from Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan's upcoming solo album has claimed the #1 spot
on the 7Digital download service. Meanwhile, the final two reissues of the group's albums (1997's Ultra and 2001's
Exciter) will be released on Oct. 1st in the U.K.
Helix have released their new studio album, Power Of Rock N Roll, via Perris Records. The album includes a new
version of their classic single, "Heavy Metal Love," as well as the new single, "Fill Your Head
With Rock."
David Bowie has denied that he will be portraying an evil alien in an upcoming episode arc of BBC television series
Dr. Who. An article claiming he had signed on for the show appeared in the Thursday (Aug. 30th) edition of The
Sun under the headline: "'Other-Worldly' Bowie Stars As Alien In Dr Who." The singer has admitted that
he was contacted by producers of the show as far back as the 1980s to appear on the show.
The Who plan to release two DVDs on Nov. 6th. Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who will give a band history through
new interviews and rare concert footage. Amazing Journey: Six Quick Ones (the optional companion DVD) contains
profiles of each band member individually and segments on Mod culture as well as the recording of 2003's Real Good
Looking Boy.
In August, Paul Robb's Think Tank project has released their second full length digital album, Vibraslap, via Hakatak.
Think Tank are featured on the song, "Step Off," on Cat Hall's new album, Come To Mama. Meanwhile, Robb's
Information Society release their new studio album, Synthesizer, in September via A Different Drum. The album includes
the song, "The Seeds Of Pain," which features former frontman Kurt Harland Larson on vocals.
Peter Murphy plans to perform a new song, "Edenbridge," in Paris on Oct. 12th. The song was specifically
written for that performance. A preview of the song can be heard at his MySpace page.
Sebastian Bach is one of the contestants on MTV's new weekly reality competition show, Celebrity Rap Superstar,
which debuted on Aug. 30th. Home viewers are instructed to call in or text their votes for their favorites and
find out the results on the following Thursday with a whole new round of performances.
The Love Hope Strength Foundation climb up to Mount Everest Base Camp to perform an acoustic concert will be undertaken
by Mike Peters (of the Alarm), Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats), Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze), Cy Curnin (the Fixx), Jamie
West-Oram (the Fixx) and many others on Oct. 13th. The progress of the 14-day trek with 40 cancer survivors, musicians
and mountaineers to put on a concert at 17,000 feet can be followed at www.lovehopestrength.com/corp/lhs_army/index.php
ThrowingMusic have created a new musical endeavor entitled CASH Music (the Coalition of Artists & Stake Holders)
as a new music business model. As part of the plan, brand-new studio recordings will be posted to the blog of Kristin
Hersh of the Throwing Music free of charge. They are only asking for donations which will keep them strictly independent
and self-sustaining. Hersh also has written a book for very young children and a semi-autobiographical novel entitled
Paradoxical Undressing with a live performance project of the same name in the works.
Dennis DeYoung's new studio album, 100 Years From Now, will be released in the U.S. early next year and include
a new song not on the recently released Canadian version.
Image Entertainment will release Megadeth's 22-track live double-CD set, That One Night: Live In Buenos Aires,
this week. The DVD version was released earlier this year and has been gold-certified.
Longtime drummer/vocalist for the Band, songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer/singer Levon Helm will release
his first solo studio album in 25 years, Dirt Farmer, on Oct. 30th. In 1998, Helm had surgery to remove throat
cancer (which required 28 radiation treatment sessions.) He reportedly regained his singing voice slowly while
performing late-night concert sessions at his Woodstock studio with friends and family.
Ice T's performance at Switzerland's Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1995 was recorded and will be released on a
special double-DVD and audio CD under the title Live In Montreux on Oct. 29th in the U.K.
Michael Stipe, Daniel Lanois and k.d. lang are among the artists featured in the new 1 Giant Leap installment,
What About Me. The multimedia project includes a 90-minute film, 8-part television series, 3-hour DVD and a 16-track
album all under the name What About Me. 1 Giant Leap were nominated for 2 Grammy awards for their 2002 project,
The Unity In Diversity.
Original/founding member of Firefall, Larry Burnett has released a limited edition 6-track solo acoustic album,
Confidence Game, via his Web site (www.larryburnett.com).
The Misfits have announced plans for their thirtieth Anniverscary tour. Original lead vocalist Glenn Danzig is
speculated to make a few guest appearances but there is no confirmation.
American Recordings will release the Unholy Alliance Tour DVD package on Oct. 30th. The DVD/CD was recorded at
Vancouver's General Motors Place on July 13, 2006, from the tour which featured Slayer as the headline act.
John Fogerty releases his new self-produced solo studio album, Revival, on Oct. 2nd with a special edition (with
a bonus DVD including an interview and two live performances) available exclusively at Wal-Mart stores. "Don't
You Wish It Was True" has been released as the first single from the disc and a video for the song is out.
The album is his first through Fantasy Records in 35 years.
A video for Josie Cotton's, "Maneaters," from her recent album, Invasion Of The B-Girls, has been posted
at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK3PPWrDk6o