The 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors have been
announced. George Jones and Barbra Streisand have been named
as recipients of lifetime achievement in the performing arts
honors. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of the Who will also
be honored during the all-star gala to take place on Dec. 7th.
Wynonna Judd performed in Washington D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial on
Sept. 4th to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the AARP.
Among the celebrities in attendance was singer Patti Austin.
The nominees for the 2008 CMA Awards have been announced.
George Strait is up for Entertainer of the Year. Strait and
Alan Jackson are up for Male Vocalist of the Year. The Eagles
are up for Vocal Group of the Year. Strait's "I Saw God
Today" is up for Single of the Year. Strait's Troubadour and
Jackson's Good Time are up for Album of the Year. Strait's "I
Saw God Today" and Jackson's "Good Time" are up for Song of the
Year. Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney's "Every Other
Weekend," Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' "Gone, Gone, Gone" and Kenny
Chesney and George Strait's "Shiftwork" are up for Musical Event of the
Year. Alan Jackson's "Good Time" is up for Music Video of the
Year. The awards event will take place on Nov. 12th and air
on ABC.
New Kids On The Block debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart on
sales of 95,000 copies. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack fell two
places to #7 on sales of 56,000 copies. Brian Wilson's That
Lucky Old Sun debuted at #21 on sales of 21,000 copies. Ice
Cube's Raw Footage dropped 12 spots to #26. New Kids On The
Block's Greatest Hits climbed 24 places to #30. Journey's
Revelation fell 9 places to #40 in its 14th week.
Artists Stand Up To Cancer's "Just Stand Up!" climbed 67 spots to
#11. The jump follows a multi-network cancer telethon last
week.
The Cure planned to release 4 singles from their upcoming album, 4:13
Dream, with a remix EP, Hypnagogic States, containing those 4 singles
on Sept. 16th. Hardly expected was all 4 of those singles
("Perfect Boy," "Sleep When I'm Dead," "Freakshow" and "The Only One")
landing in the top 20 (#8, #12, #16 and #18 respectively) of the
Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart.
Michael Jackson's King Of Pop climbed 2 places to #3 on the U.K. Albums
chart. ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits retained the #6
spot. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack climbed 4 places to
#12. Billy Joel's Piano Man: The Very Best Of Billy Joel fell
5 spots to #26. ABBA's 18 Hits dropped 4 places to
#28. Motorhead's Motorizer debuted at #32. Michael
Jackson & The Jackson Five's The Motown Years debuted at
#34. Madonna's Hard Candy fell 4 spots to #35.
Brian Wilson's That Lucky Old Sun debuted at #37. Lynyrd
Skynyrd's Greatest Hits dropped 17 places to #40.
Madonna's "Give It 2 Me" fell 6 places to #24 on the U.K. Singles
chart. New Kids On The Block's "Summertime" debuted at #34.
It seems that vocalist Jani Lane's reunion with his former Warrant
bandmates came to an unexpectedly quick end. The band
announced via a statement at their MySpace page that former Lynch Mob
singer Robert Mason has replaced Lane as of Sept. 5th.
Boz Boorer has scheduled the release of his new solo studio album, Miss
Pearl, via Vibrant Records on Sept. 26th.
REM guitarist Peter Buck is hoping for the return of his Rickenbacker
guitar which was taken from the stage after their performance in
Helsinki on Tuesday. Buck has used the guitar in the studio
and on stage since the release of their 1982 Chronic Town EP.
In a post on their Web site, "It is our sincere hope that whoever is
responsible for the loss, or whoever has information which can help
recover the guitar, will come forward to receive a generous reward, no
questions asked."
Anthrax bassist Frank Bello is asking for anyone with information about
his stolen 'one-of-a-kind' Fender bass to contact him via the group's
MySpace page.
Kris Kristofferson and Dwight Yoakam reportedly have roles in the
Tiller Russell-directed film The Last Rites Of Ransom Pride which is
currently in production in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
According to Frontiers Records, Tesla will release their new 13-track
studio album, Forever More, on Nov. 7th in Europe. The disc
is due out on Oct. 7th in the U.S. and features the new single, "I Want
To Live."
Europe are scheduled to release their new live album, Almost Unplugged,
to stores in Sweden on Sept. 17th.
According to a post by Bon Harris at his blog, Nitzer Ebb are no longer
signed to Mute Records. "We are still in negotiation with
various interested parties. Some very promising offers, and
more coming in daily. Contrary to several rumours we have not
signed with anyone as yet." Work on the new album by the duo
has been basically finished with Flood being brought in to do the final
mix at the end of the month.
UB40 are scheduled to release a new 21-track collection, UB40: Greatest
Hits, via Virgin/EMI on Sept. 30th. The band plan to release
their 25th studio album, TwentyFourSeven, on Oct. 28th.
Siouxsie Sioux is expected to film her upcoming September 29th
performance at the Koko Club in Camden, London for a future DVD release
marking the end of her Mantaray & More tour.
Exodus have finished work on their latest project -- a re-recording of
their 1985 debut album, Bonded By Blood -- to be released under the
title Let There Be Blood on Oct. 28th via Zaentz Records.
"Juliet Of The Spirits" has been released as the second single from the
B-52's Funplex. On Sept. 16th, the band will release a
4-track Juliet Of The Spirits remix EP.
According to a recent Spin interview with Aerosmith guitarist Joe
Perry, some of the new songs to be recorded for their new album may be
made available via Guitar Hero: Aerosmith as an additional download.
Bob Mould has reportedly finished work on his next solo album which
will be released in March. He has also signed a deal with
Little, Brown and Company to write his autobiography to be released in
fall of 2010.
Queen Latifah has been working with LL Cool J and Dr. Dre on her new
hip-hop studio album due out in December. The first single
from the disc is expected this month.
Former Survivor vocalist Jimi Jamison will release his new solo studio
album, Crossroads Moment, via Frontiers Records on Nov. 7th.
Marillion have announced that their new double-album, Happiness Is The
Road, will be released legally using peer-to-peer distribution partner
Music Glue for what will be their 15th studio album.
"U Want Me 2" has been released as the first single from Closer: The
Best Of Sarah McLachlan due out on Oct. 7th via Arista
Records. McLachlan has also announced that her 11-year
marriage to Ashwin Sood is over. The couple have two
daughters together.
George Clinton will release his new studio album, George Clinton And
His Gangsters Of Love, on Sept. 16th. The first single from
the album will be, "Ain't That Peculiar," featuring guests Sly Stone,
El DeBarge, RonKat Spearman and Vassal Benford.
VH1 have announced that they will premiere New Kids On The Block: A
Behind The Music Special Event on Sept. 28th. During the 90
minute live special, the cameras will break into the documentary to
follow the 5 members as they get ready to perform that night in their
home town of Boston. It is expected to contain the first 3
songs from the performance.
Rob Zombie has announced that he has finished work on the 5-disc White
Zombie box set which contains four and a half hours of
music. "All I can say is boy the early sh*t is
whacked. I haven't heard some of these songs in over twenty
years. I don't know what the hell we were
thinking." A release date hasn't been announced but it is
expected out later this year. Meanwhile, Zombie has also
announced that he will not direct the sequel to the successful 2007
remake of Halloween.
Reba McEntire will release a three CD retrospective collection, 50
Greatest Hits, on Oct. 28th via MCA Nashville/UMe.
Carlos Santana will release his new 28-track double-disc compilation,
Multi Dimensional Warrior, on Sept. 30th via Columbia/Legacy.
Kylie Minogue has accepted a £1 million offer for performing
during the 4-day launch party celebrating the opening of The Palm
resort, the Atlantis, in Dubai.
"Before The End" has been announced as the next single from the
Levellers new studio album, Letters From The Underground.
A new coffee table photo book, 21 Nights, chronicling Prince's run of
21 show at London's O2 Arena in 2007 is due out via Atria Books on
Sept. 30th. The book also includes a 15-track CD of
previously-unreleased after-hours jams entitled Indigo Nights.
Sammy Hagar has headed into the studio with Joe Satriani, Michael
Anthony and Chad Smith. The project will not ultimately be
called Chickenfoot but the band are very excited about the songs that
have been written for the project. Meanwhile, Hagar's new
solo album, Cosmic Universal Fashion, will be released in November.
Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes will start their In The
Present tour on Nov. 4th on which they will be joined by Rick Wakeman's
son Oliver and Canadian vocalist Benoit David. It seems that
Squire had a Neal Schon moment when discovering a YouTube clip of Yes
tribute band Close To The Edge which resulted in the group auditioning
David. Vocalist Jon Anderson has been side-lined from touring
for 6 months with acute respiratory failure.
Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson has said that they are already working on
new songs for their follow-up to 2004's Jupiter's Darling.
She has alluded to it possibly being a concept album.
Current INXS vocalist J.D. Fortune has been working on a solo album,
The Death Of A Motivational Speaker, but plans were to have it out by
now. He also has filmed a small role in the upcoming
independent film 62 Pickup.
Despite having his new album, Covers, on the way, James Taylor has
started work on his first album of original material since 2002's
October Road.
Sirius XM Radio has announced that they will celebrate the upcoming
release of AC/DC's Black Ice with the debut of AC/DC Radio on Sirius
channel 29 on Sept. 15th to run through Jan. 15th. Meanwhile,
their new single, "Rock 'N' Roll Train," went directly to #1 at Rock
Radio during the first week of release to stations.
Starbreaker's new studio album, Love's Dying Wish, will be released via
Blistering/Ryko on Nov. 18th.
According to a recent Associated Press interview with Pink Floyd's
David Gilmour, despite having a great time reuniting with the band for
the Live 8 charity concert, "The rehearsals were less
enjoyable. The rehearsals convinced me it wasn't something I
wanted to be doing a lot of."
Gary Moore plans to release his 31st album, Bad For You Baby, via Eagle
Records on Oct. 7th containing classics and original compositions.
Sonic Youth have signed a new recording contract with Matador Records
and plan to release their debut for the label next year. The
band has spent two decades with Universal Music Group.
Yngwie Malmsteen has plans to release his new studio album, Perpetual
Flame, on Oct. 14th via Rising Force Records. The album marks
the debut of former Judas Priest frontman Tim 'Ripper' Owens.
Voivod will see the re-release of their 1993 studio album, The Outer
Limits, in a limited-edition digipak edition on Oct. 28th via MVD.
German thrash metal act Sodom have announced that former drummer Chris
Witchhunter [born Christian Dudek] passed away on Sept. 7th.
He had been with the band from 1983 to 1992.