Richard Reinhardt has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, Apple, RealNetworks, the Ramones management and the
estate of their late guitarist Johnny Ramone claiming he had never fully signed over the rights to 6 songs ("Smash
You," "Somebody Put Something In My Drink," "Human Kind," "I'm Not Jesus," "I
Know Better Now" and "(You) Can't Say Something Nice") he wrote for the group. Reinhardt was a member
of the Ramones (under the name Richie Ramone) from 1983 to 1987. He also claims he is owed more than $900,000 in
royalties and has asked the court for an injunction preventing further use of his compositions without permission.
Singer/songwriter Paul Rodgers (of Free, Bad Company and The Firm) married former Miss Canada Cynthia Kereluk in
a surprise outdoor ceremony in front of 70 of their closest friends and family during the weekend. Rodgers has
plans to head into the studio with Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor to work on new songs for a possible Queen
+ Paul Rodgers album. Meanwhile, a new Queen CD and DVD, Queen Rock Montreal, will be released on Oct. 30th via
Hollywood. The double-CD includes 28 tracks (if you include the intro and a guitar solo.) There will be a standard
and a double-DVD set (with additional footage of their set from 1985's Live Aid.) The performances were filmed
in Montreal in November of 1981 and formed the basis for the film, We Will Rock You, which premiered at Cannes
Film Festival in 1983 (was also released on video that year.)
Unconfirmed reports of hypertension have been used to explain former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler falling
ill onstage during his performance in Mexico City last week. Adler had been touring with his group Adler's Appetite
to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Appetite For Destruction.
Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora reportedly returned to rehab last week, entering Cirque Lodge in Utah for treatment.
Sambora spent a week at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles in June.
The Rhode Island state parole board has voted unanimously to grant an early leave (March 2008) to Great White's
former manager Daniel Biechele who lit the pyrotechnics causing the 2003 Station nightclub fire.
Kenny Rogers will be honored with the Golden Note Award on Oct. 15th at the 45th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards
ceremony in Nashville. The award is presented to songwriters, composers and artists who have achieved extraordinary
career milestones.
Ian Brown's latest single, "Illegal Attacks," featuring Sinead O'Connor has taken the #16 spot on the
U.K. Singles chart. Phil Collins has re-entered the chart with his classic hit, "In The Air Tonight,"
at #17. The song resurfaced in the ad campaign (featuring an ape on drums) for Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate bars
earlier this month. The song's resurgence has also pushed his Hits album into the #10 spot behind Luciano Pavarotti's
The Ultimate Collection (at #8) and Mark Knopfler's Kill To Get Crimson (#9.) Status Quo's In Search Of The Fourth
Chord claimed the #15 spot. Early reports expect Reba McEntire's Reba Duets to claim the top spot on the album
chart next week.
On Billboard's Top 200 album chart, the Hairspray soundtrack dropped from #6 to #14 in its 10th week.
Dr. Dre has announced Detox will be his last album in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, "I think it's
time to move on." He also called rhyming "a young man's game."
Michael Sweet of Stryper has announced that he will release his new studio album, Touched, on Dec. 3rd. According
to Sweet, the album is a compilation of 'love letters' to his wife Kyle (who earlier this year underwent surgery
and treatment for stage 4 ovarian cancer.)
Barry Manilow recently posted an explanation on why he wouldn't appear on ABC's The View to his Web site, "I
had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi, but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Unfortunately,
the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out. It's really too bad because I've always
been a big supporter of the show, but cannot compromise my beliefs." Manilow gave an exclusive statement to
TMZ.com saying, "I strongly disagree with her views. I think she's dangerous and offensive. I will not be
on the same stage as her." A source close to The View told Reuters "we canceled him," because producers
refused to comply with his "completely disrespectful" demands. Manilow and Hasselbeck have been on the
same show twice in the past year and he had booked the appearance back in July.
The Beastie Boys have plans to make a vocal version of their latest all-instrumental album, The Mix-Up. Some of
the ideas they have talked about are bringing in different artists to remix and put vocals on the tracks with many
guest appearances (including Pulp's Jarvis Cocker.) They also expect to return to the studio to work on their next
album.
Kylie Minogue will release, X, her first album since battling breast cancer on Nov. 26th. The album is her 10th
and lead by the new single, "2 Hearts." Minogue's return to performing after her 2005 cancer surgery
is chronicled in an upcoming documentary, White Diamond.
Former Johnny Hates Jazz vocalist Clark Datchler has released his new studio album, Tomorrow, via InterAction Music
Group. The disc includes 11 new songs as well as a brand new contemporary recording of "Shattered Dreams."
Tomorrow can be purchased at ClarkDatchler.com, iTunes and Amazon.com.
Carlos Santana will see the release of the new collection, Ultimate Santana, on Oct. 16th via Arista. The album
includes hits, unreleased tracks and "The Game Of Love" featuring Tina Turner and "Just Feel Better"
featuring Aerosmith's Steven Tyler.
Former Little River Band vocalist Glenn Shorrock has signed on to play Vincenzo Russo in the Perth musical, Cruising,
starting in October. When that finishes, he starts the Let It Be musical tour featuring the music of the Beatles.
By December, he will be part of the 14-week production of Shout: The Story Of Johnny O'Keefe, going until April.
Keep your eyes open when going to see the Beatles-inspired musical Across The Universe. Bono makes an appearance
as Dr. Robert during the film. Joe Cocker also makes an appearance.
Billy Joe Shaver releases his new studio album, Everybody's Brother, this week. The album features guest appearances
by Marty Stuart, John Anderson, Kris Kristofferson, Tanya Tucker, Randy Scruggs and Shaver's late son Eddy Shaver.
Brothers Johnny and Donnie Van Zant release their sophomore effort as Van Zant, My Kind Of Country, via Sony on
Oct. 9th. The first single from the album is "Goes Down Easy."
Pearl Jam release their new DVD, Immagine In Cornice "Picture In A Frame", which chronicles their 5 performances
in Italy during their 2006 European tour.
David Byrne will see the release of the music he wrote for Robert Wilson's Civil Wars (which premiered in 1984
and reworked in 1985) on CD for the first time under the title The Knee Plays on Oct. 30th via Nonesuch. The disc
will include 8 instrumental tracks that were previously not included on the 12-track LP and cassette version.
"Falling Down" will be the first single from Duran Duran's new studio album, Red Carpet Massacre, due
out Nov. 13th. The band have even filmed a risque' video for the song which shows beautiful naked women in rehab
with the bandmembers portraying doctors.
Paul McCartney is reportedly in talks about contributing to the soundtrack to Shrek 4 as well as providing a small
speaking role in the film. McCartney's "Live And Let Die" appeared in Shrek 3.
The Hooters have released their new studio album, Time Stands Still, in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. They
are currently working out U.S. distribution to make it available as soon as possible.
Eric Clapton plans to release a comprehensive double-CD compilation, Complete Clapton, on Oct. 9th via Reprise
Records. The 36-track collection comes out the same day as Clapton: An Autobiography.
Ratt have moved their upcoming European tour from this fall to a later date as they believe it will allow them
to stay on schedule to finish writing their new album early next year.
The Lime Spiders have plans to release, Live At The Esplanade, their first album since 1990's Beethoven's First.
The disc was recorded during a reunion show in 1998 and contains the debut of two new songs. 8 tour dates have
been scheduled for later this year.
Big Country's Tony Butler, Mark Brzezicki and Bruce Watson recorded their performance at the Bristol Thekla on
Aug. 18th celebrating 25 years since the band was formed. A CD of the performance entitled Twenty Five Live can
be ordered at their Web site, at gigs and at eBay (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Track-Record-Store).
Perry Farrell plans to launch his new label Bells Are Ringing in an effort to keep more of the profits as well
as own his master recordings. The first release by the label will be a re-release of Satellite Party's Ultra Payloaded.
"Better Get To Livin'," the first single from Dolly Parton's upcoming album, Backwoods Barbie, has been
released exclusively for download at iTunes and heads to radio stations this week. The song entered the Billboard
Hot Country Songs chart at #57 becoming her 110th appearance on the chart.
World-wide rights to Heart: In The Studio by biographer Jake Brown has been acquired by Toronto-based publishing
house ECW Press. The book was authorized a features interviews with Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart (as well as producers
and band members) and is due out in the summer.
It seems one-off performance reunions are pretty popular now as the original members of the Sex Pistols (John Lydon,
Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock) will play a show on Nov. 8th at London's Brixton Academy to celebrate
the 30th anniversary of their Never Mind The Bollocks album.
A DVD version of Fantasia: Asia Live In Tokyo will be released on Oct. 2nd via Eagle Vision. The disc contains
18 songs as well as a 40-minute interview with all four band members.
Metallica's unplugged performances at this year's Bridge School benefit concerts next month will be sold at their
official bootleg site (www.livemetallica.com) with all proceeds from sales going to the Bridge School.
Bette Midler has signed on to star in the upcoming comedy film The Women. The film is based on a 1939 play of the
same name and Mick Jagger is listed as one of the producers. Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones have been named as the
top act on Forbes' Musicians Rich List for the last financial year topping Madonna (#3), Bon Jovi (#4), Elton John
(#5), Celine Dion (#6) and U2 (#9).
Maybe there is a joy to not being tied to a major label. Paul Westerberg recently told a Minneapolis audience that
he has been writing songs again since injuring his hand in December. He also told them that he turned down recording
deals from Universal and Sony.
Kiss frontman Gene Simmons will release his debut science fiction novel, Zipper, in November. A preview of the
book (about 6 pages) is available for download at GeneSimmons.com.
The Dead Kennedys plan to release a compilation of their 10 best-known (and 2 previously-unreleased live) tracks,
Milking The Sacred Cow, on Oct. 9th via Manifesto Records.
Chaka Khan releases, Funk This, her first new solo album in nearly a decade (she released Come 2 My House in 1998)
this week. She has recently explained that her bad experiences with record labels left her less than anxious to
sign to another label. That was until she signed up with Burgundy Records (distributed by Sony) and teamed up with
producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for the new album, a mix of original tracks as well as covers.
Winger will release, Winger Live, a chronicle of their 2007 U.S. reunion tour on Nov. 9th in DVD and 2CD versions.
Rapper Akon has recently said of Michael Jackson after working with him in a studio session, "He's incredible.
He's a genius." He also claimed Jackson "thinks planets. It's on another level." No word on if the
session was for an album by Akon or Jackson. Word has been surfacing about Jackson's 'comeback' album drawing comparisons
to Thriller -- yet taking the music in a new direction to appeal to younger fans.
Lenny Kravitz has been finishing work on his eighth studio album, It's Time For A Love Revolution, due out Feb.
8th. Kravitz is also expected to perform two songs during NBC's New Years Eve with Carson Daly.
Rapper KRS-One plans to release his third self-published book, The Gospel Of Hiphop, a teacher's manual and study-guide
for students and apprentices of hip-hop culture around January of 2008.
Rik Emmett of Triumph and Michael Shotton have signed a recording deal with Escape Music Ltd. for their project
Airtime. Their new album will be titled Liberty Manifesto when released on Nov. 19th.
Lee Greenwood plans to re-release his 11-track album, Inspirational Songs, which includes "God Bless The U.S.A."
and "Amazing Grace." Greenwood last released his Tennessee Christmas album in July.
Mellow Man Ace a.k.a. Willie Malo will release his new compilation album, Mellow Man Ace Presents Mi Familia. Earlier
this year, the rapper started recording his next solo album, Fresh 2 Def.
Agnostic Front will release their new studio album, Warriors, on Nov. 6th via Nuclear Blast. Until then, a new
EP, For My Family, has been released which includes two new songs as well as the song "Break The Chains"
which is only available on this limited edition pressing. They also have debuted a new song and interview on their
Bridge Nine Podcast which can be downloaded at iTunes.