Billy Joe Shaver, 69, has been indicted by a
McLennan
County grand jury on felony charges for his alleged role in an April
2007 shooting at a bar in Lorena, Texas. Shaver is charged
with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (a second-degree felony)
and unlawful carrying of a handgun by a licensed holder on a licensed
premises (a third-degree felony.) An attorney for Shaver
claims that the victim, Billy B. Coker, was drunk, aggressive and had a
knife when he followed the country artist out of Papa Joe's Texas
Saloon. Coker claims the shooting was unprovoked and a
witness said that she saw Shaver follow Coker out of the
saloon. As of Wednesday, Shaver had not turned himself in to
McLennan County Jail in Waco.
Prosecutor Bill Mason has ruled out criminal conduct, in the March
death of R&B vocalist Sean Levert, after his office reviewed an
internal investigation conducted by sheriff's department.
According to Dennis Newmann, who represents Levert's widow and Levert's
estate, he wasn't surprised. "It is a finding of no criminal
wrongdoing and the lawsuit we have filed focuses on civil
wrongdoings... one has absolutely nothing to do with another."
Drummer Slim Jim Phantom fell and broke his wrist in 3 places during a
Stray Cats show last week. He is now wearing a plaster
cast. Doctors have advised him against performing upcoming
shows with his side-project The Head Cat (with Lemmy and Danny B.
Harvey.)
According to her representative, Natalie Cole was hospitalized on Sept.
12th as a result of side effects from her hepatitis C medication and
heavy schedule promoting her new album, Still Unforgettable.
She is expected to remain there for at least a few days.
Iron Maiden vocalist/Astraeus charter pilot Bruce Dickinson was
recently "called out like a lot of other pilots to help" rescue 221
British tourists that were stranded in Egypt after the collapse of XL
airways. He immediately returned home for some sleep and
received a call 5 hours later to assist in picking up tourists that
were stuck on the Greek island of Kos.
Hank Williams Jr. has been named as this year's icon at the BMI awards
to be presented during its annual country awards on Nov. 11th in
Nashville.
The Village People have been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame. The group's original construction worker, Indian,
policeman and soldier were in attendance.
Metallica have set a new chart record becoming the first group to have
5 albums debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band's
new release, Death Magnetic, sold nearly 500,000 copies in only 3
days. LL Cool J's Exit 13 debuted at #9 on sales of 44,000
copies. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack fell 3 places to #10 on
sales of 41,000 copies. New Kids On The Block's The Block
dropped 14 spots to #16. Natalie Cole's Still Unforgettable
debuted at #19. Journey's Revelation climbed 5 places to #35.
On top of having the top album, Metallica have the #1 single on
Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart with "The Day That Never
Comes."
Metallica's Death Magnetic debuted at #1 on the U.K. Albums
chart. Michael Jackson's King Of Pop fell 5 places to
#8. ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits dropped 3 spots to
#9. The Mamma Mia! soundtrack dropped a spot to
#13. Stevie Wonder's The Definitive Collection debuted at
#14. New Kids On The Block's The Block debuted at
#16. ABBA's 18 Hits fell 2 places to #30. Madonna's
Hard Candy retained the #35 spot. Billy Joel's Piano Man: The
Very Best Of Billy Joel dropped 10 spots to #36.
Cliff Richard's "Thank You For A Lifetime" debuted at #3 on the U.K.
Singles chart. Artists Stand Up To Cancer's "Just Stand Up"
climbed 13 places to #26. Queen + Paul Rodgers' "C-lebrity"
debuted at #33. Madonna's "Give It 2 Me" fell 10 spots to #34.
The Revolting Cocks, Anne Clark, Buzz and The Neon Judgement are all
featured on a sampler CD accompanying issue #55 of Elegy
magazine. Buzz are interviewed in the issue and contributed
an unreleased song ("Maïakowski") to the compilation.
Hanoi Rocks frontman Michael Monroe has created a anthemic new single,
"Pirates Of The Baltic Sea," with members of the Finnish act The 69
Eyes for use on the new environmental television series Operaatio Maa
(translated to Operation Earth) debuting in Finland in November.
The Cure have been expressing their displeasure with the iTunes release
of their Hypnagogic States EP. It seems the online store is
selling a 5-track version for £7.99. 4 individual
remixes can be purchased for £0.79 -- meaning that a fan
would have to spend £4.83 for EP to get the one track not
sold individually. According to a post by the group at their
MySpace page, "...it's supposed to cost less if you buy it as a 5 track
EP than if you buy the 5 tracks individually... that is what was
agreed." The band are urging fans to wait until it is
available for around £4.00 or less.
Capitol/EMI will release a new 35-track double-disc Megadeth
collection, Anthology: Set The World Afire, on Sept. 30th.
Michael McDonald and Vince Gill have recorded vocal appearances for Amy
Holland's upcoming CD, The Journey To Miracle River, due out soon to
iTunes and various digital media outlets.
Ministry's Al Jourgensen has plans to release the Wicked Lake
soundtrack on Nov. 24th. The film heads to DVD on Oct. 7th.
Rush have announced that the delayed release of their Snakes And Arrows
Live DVD can be expected in late fall.
Die Warzau have released their greatest hits collection, Vinyl 88, to
stores and online (at iTunes and Amazon.com.) The 16-track
retrospective includes 6 previously-unreleased tracks.
Honeymoon Suite's first single from their upcoming album, Clifton Hill,
will be "Tired Of Waiting." The song is now available at
iTunes.
MVD Audio will re-release In Blind Embrace's 1996 album Songs From The
Shadows on Oct. 28th. In Blind Embrace was the new name taken
by former Controlled Bleeding members for a more stylistic change
toward more ambient music while retaining some of their darker
industrial leanings. Christian Death founder Rozz Williams is
featured on one of the album bonus tracks. For the release,
it is being called In Blind Embrace (Songs From The Shadows) and
attributed to Controlled Bleeding for the first time.
Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar has posted to his MySpace page that he
will not be joining Juan Courcier's Dirty Rats as had recently been
reported. He remains a member of Cinderella and recently
finished work on a project called Freakshow.
Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello will be part of A Colbert Christmas:
The Greatest Gift Of All which will air on Nov. 23rd on Comedy
Central. It will be released on DVD on Nov. 25th with
proceeds benefiting Feed America.
The critically acclaimed documentary, Get Thrashed: The Story Of Thrash
Metal, is now available on DVD in the U.S. and Japan with a European
release due on Sept. 26th and the U.K. on Oct. 20th.
Tom Jones plans to release a new studio album containing almost
entirely original material on Nov. 25th via S-Curve Records.
U2's Bono and the Edge make a guest appearance on the song "Sugar
Daddy."
Lucinda Williams will release her new studio album, Little Honey, on
Oct. 14th. She has also announced plans to release a
digital-only EP of protest songs, Lu in 08, two weeks later.
An all-star metal holiday album, We Wish You A Metal Xmas And A
Headbanging New Year, will be released on Oct. 14th.
Appearing on the disc are members of Alice Cooper's band, Anthrax,
Black Sabbath, Dio, Dokken, Judas Priest, King's X, Kiss, L.A. Guns,
Motorhead, Ratt, Styx, Toto and ZZ Top.
Canadian metal act Helix will release their 12th full-length studio
album, A Heavy Mental Christmas, next week. The disc will
contain a new original track with 9 covers.
Delerium plan to release a remix of their 1999 single, "Silence," on
Oct. 7th which features Sarah McLachlan. The original release
of the song topped the dance chart in several countries. The
group has been working on a full-length album made up of acoustic
versions of their hits and two new tracks.
A new 16-track Sad Cafe retrospective, The Anthology, will be released
on Sept. 1st via Renaissance Records. The label will also
reissue their 1978 and 1979 albums that same day.
Metal act Avian plan to release their new studio album, Ashes And
Madness, on Sept. 30th in North America via Nightmare Records and in
January worldwide.
Hue And Cry have released, Open Soul, their first new studio album in
16 years in the U.K.
Ry Cooder's career will be celebrated in a 34-track double-disc
collection, The UFO Has Landed: The Ry Cooder Anthology, due out on
Oct. 28th.
Sammy Hagar has reportedly signed a deal with the new Roadrunner
Records imprint Loud & Proud for the release of Cosmic
Universal Fashion on Nov. 18th. The label will focus on
established artists and Hagar is the first to sign with the
label. The disc will include a cover of the Beastie Boys'
"Fight For Your Right To Party."
Don't beat yourself up if you find yourself enjoying, "Breakout," the
title track of Miley Cyrus' recently released album. The song
was co-written by former Go-Go's drummer Gina Schock.
Z Records has signed a deal with Britton for the remastered re-release
of their 1988 debut album, Rock Hard. This will see the album
headed to CD for the first time bolstered with 10 bonus tracks.
Former Shalamar vocalist Howard Hewett has announced a tentative
release date of Oct. 14th for the release of his first-ever full-length
Christmas CD.
Pianist/keyboardist Richard Wright of Pink Floyd has lost his battle
with cancer on Sept. 15th. Wright was a founding member of
the band but ceased being a full-time member during the recording of
1979's The Wall. Wright continued to perform with the band
for the tour. In 1984 he formed a duo with Fashion's Dave
Harris called Zee and released their album, Identity. Wright
returned to Pink Floyd following 1983's The Final Cut (the band's only
studio album without him) for 1987's A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and
1994's The Division Bell.