Randy Bachman and Fred Turner of Bachman-Turner
Overdrive are in a British Columbia court over the band name.
Bachman's brother Robin and Blair Thornton filed the lawsuit claiming
that their former bandmates Randy and Fred signed away the rights to
the band's name (as well as the BTO moniker) in 3 separate
contracts. Bachman recently registered several names (which
included B.T.U., Bachman Turner Union and Bachman-Turner) with the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property
Office. Bachman and Thornton are seeking financial damages
for loss of market share, income and profit as well as a permanent
injunction stopping the duo from using BTO or Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Split Enz founding member Phil Judd, 57, was recently arraigned on
charges of stalking young girls pretending to be a 17 year-old boy on
Facebook. Heidelberg Magistrates Court heard the case, giving
him a 12-month suspended sentence and a $2,500 fine.
Echo & The Bunnymen have announced their cancellation of their
upcoming U.S. tour in support of their new album, The Fountain, (to be
released Nov. 10th) "due to the rejection of the band's Central
Withholding Agreement (CWA) by the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS)." According to the band, they followed the same process
previously, were offered no reason for the rejection and have received
no response to their inquiries. The CWA allows foreign
entertainers to be paid in full for their performances instead of
promoters being legally obliged to withhold a minimum of 30% in lieu of
tax. The tour will be rescheduled for those canceled dates.
Former Stone Roses vocalist Ian Brown was arrested in London on Monday
on suspicion of domestic assault alleged by his wife model/actress
Fabiola Quiroz. Brown was released on bail until December
pending further investigation. Brown and Quiroz married in
1999 and have a 9 year-old son together.
It seems those flu symptoms that Elton John, 62, was suffering from --
forcing concert cancellations -- were a bit more complicated.
His "bad case of the flu" was further complicated with a minor case of
E. coli bacterial infection for which doctors have advised him to
postpone dates in Seattle and Portland. John was released
from the hospital early Thursday and is feeling fine according to his
spokesman Gary Farrow.
Slayer's Tom Araya is currently under the care of a back specialist due
to an injury thought to have happened on stage. An immediate
surgical procedure was ordered and took place on Tuesday in
Texas. This has forced the band to postpone their tour with
Megadeth that was to begin this weekend.
The Marshall Classic Rock Roll of Honor 2009 ceremony was held on
Monday. Chickenfoot were named Best New Band.
AC/DC's Black Ice was named Album Of The Year. Iron Maiden
were named Band Of The Year. Black Sabbath's reissues were
honored for Best Reissue. Anvil! The Story Of Anvil! was
named DVD/Film Of The Year. The Outstanding Contribution
award went to Ronnie Wood. The Tommy Vance Inspiration Award
went to John Bonham. The Innovator award went to Ginger
Baker. The Metal Guru award went to Biff Byford.
The Spirit Of Prog award went to Dream Theater. The Marshall
11 Award went to Billy Gibbons. The Childline Rocks Award
went to Steve Harley. The Classic Songwriter award went to
Paul Rodgers. The Comeback Of The Year award went to Mott The
Hoople. Iggy Pop was honored with the Living Legend award.
U2 set a new record for top attendance at a U.S. concert by a single
headliner on Oct. 25th at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, with
97,014 attending. The band also won the Best Live Act award
at the 16th MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) at Berlin's O2 World Arena
on Thursday night. U2 were presented with the award after
their free live performance in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
David Hasselhoff was an award presenter marking the 20th anniversary of
his hit there, "Looking For Freedom."
Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour won Top Tour, the singer won Top
Draw and her manager Guy Oseary won Top Manager at the 6th annual
Billboard Touring Awards. U2 earned Top Boxscore for their
performance at Croke Park in Dublin. Ozzy Osbourne was
honored with the Legend Of Live award.
Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack debuted at #1 on the Billboard
200 albums chart on sales of 373,000 copies. Rod Stewart's
Soulbook debuted at #4 on sales of 84,000 copies. Sting's If
On A Winter's Night... debuted at #6 on sales of 80,000
copies. BeBe & CeCe Winans' Still fell 12 places to
#24. Barbra Streisand's Love Is The Answer dropped 16 spots
to #25. Whitney Houston's I Look To You fell 10 places to
#30. Alice In Chains' Black Gives Way To Blue dropped 16
spots to #40.
Michael Franti & Spearhead featuring Cherine Anderson's "Say
Hey (I Love You)" fell 11 places to #38 on the Billboard Hot 100
singles chart.
Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack debuted at #3 on the U.K.
Albums chart. Whitney Houston's I Look To You dropped 4 spots
to #7. Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac fell 4
places to #10. Vera Lynn's We'll Meet Again: The Very Best Of
Vera Lynn dropped 3 spots to #13. Spandau Ballet's Once More
fell 9 places to #16. Whitney Houston's The Ultimate
Collection held onto #22. Alison Moyet's The Best Of Alison
Moyet dropped 7 spots to #24. Madonna's Celebration fell 11
places to #25. Cliff Richard & The Shadows' Reunited
dropped 13 spots to #26. Harry Connick, Jr.'s Your Songs
debuted at #28. Andy Williams' The Very Best Of Andy Williams
fell 3 places to #30. Barbra Streisand's Love Is The Answer
dropped 8 spots to #34. Madness' Total Madness fell 3 places
to #39.
Whitney Houston's "Million Dollar Bill" dropped 3 spots to #8 on the
U.K. Singles chart. The Foo Fighters' "Wheels" fell 16 places
to #38.
Michael Jackson's This Is It soundtrack also topped the Pan-European
chart. The film pulled in $101 million worldwide in its first
5 days.
Ministry's Al Jourgensen and Mark Thwaite have recorded a collaborative
carol, "It's Always Christmas Time," that exclusively debuted today on
The Mancow Show. A special limited edition hand-numbered and
autographed CD of the single will be released through the 13th Planet
Web Store with a digital download due out this month. The
song is a tribute to the life and work of friend and bandmate Paul
Raven.
Post Mortem have released their new studio album, Message From The
Dead, via Taboo Productions. The album contains their first
new songs since 1995 which pay tribute to late singer John McCarthy and
can be purchased at www.Relapse.com.
ABC has announced that Robin Roberts will interview Janet Jackson for
an hour-long special scheduled to air on Nov. 18th. This will
be her first lengthy television interview since her brother's death and
she will be promoting her new greatest hits CD due out during the
holidays.
Motorhead plan to enter the recording studio in February to start work
on their follow-up to 2008's Motorizer. Meanwhile, Lemmy has
recorded a cover of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" with Slayer drummer
Dave Lombardo for the Extremely Sorry film soundtrack.
Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Julian Lennon have a new digital single,
"Give Peace A Chance (40th Anniversary Version)," they have released
via iTunes with proceeds to be donated to the United Nations'
Peacebuilding Fund.
Neil Peart recently posted to his Web site that the band will reconvene
in Los Angeles this month to discuss the follow-up to 2007's Snakes
& Arrows. He mentioned that "there is currently a
reversion to a musical climate rather like the 1950s, when only 'the
song' matters. Radio, downloads and 'shuffle' settings are
inimical to collected works. Because of that reality, record
company advances that used to pay for album projects are a thing of the
past, so if that was what we wanted to do, we'd be on our own."
John Fogerty recently told Billboard.com that he is already working on
new solo material more similar to his other releases than his recent
The Blue Rangers Rides Again.
The Alarm have been forced to reschedule their year-end U.K. tour to
start in April. Mike Peters wife Jules was diagnosed with
deep vein thrombosis two weeks ago which has been complicated by a
mystery viral illness she contracted in Africa during their Love Hope
Strength Foundation charity climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Jules
is heavily involved in the band management and touring logistics which
makes it that much harder for the band to do without her skills in the
interim.
The Best Of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings has been released via Repertoire
Records. The band released their debut album in 1997, 5 years
after the bassist left the Rolling Stones.
Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliot formed a one-off band called the
Down'N'Outz for a performance at London's Hammersmith Apollo opening
for the final night of Mott The Hoople's reunion tour. Well,
it was going to be a short-lived grouping but Joe Elliott's Down'N'Outz
are in the process of recording their 10-track debut album.
Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin will release, The TLG Collection,
a 66-minute, 14-track CD collection of rarities (containing TV
soundtrack songs, alternative mixes, bonus tracks and demos) recorded
from 1983 to 2001. The disc can be purchased at
www.burningshed.com/store/davebarb/ and was previously only available
as a limited edition release in 2001 to the audience at Tokyo's TLG
club.
Carol Decker of T'Pau, Robin Gibb, Paul Rodgers and Mica Paris are
among the artists that have recorded a charity song, "We Will Remember
Them," to benefit the wounded troops. The song will be
available as a free download via iTunes on Sunday with a commercial CD
to be released the following week.
Eagle Rock Entertainment will release the new DVD and Blu-ray DVD In
Super Overdrive Live on Nov. 17th. The performance by Billy
Idol was recorded for PBS' Soundstage and aired in July. Also
on the way that day are Earth, Wind & Fire's Live At Montreux
1997 and Santana Presents Blues At Montreux 2004.
A new DVD/CD combo by Dolly Parton is on the way. Dolly! Live
From London heads to stores on Nov. 10th.
Stryper have started shooting a video for their new single, "Alive," in
English and Spanish (a first for the band.)
Mass have entered the studio to work on 12 new songs for their next
album with mixing and mastering to start early next year and a release
to follow shortly after.
Neil Young will release Dreamin' Man Live '92 as part of his ongoing
Archives Performance Series on Dec. 8th via Reprise Records.
Metallica are reportedly planning to release a DVD of their Oct. 31st
and Nov. 1st performances in Quebec City and Ottawa. The
band's Francais Por Une Nuit DVD will be released on Nov. 23rd.
Lenny Kravitz has been working on a new studio album he expects to
release in the spring. Meanwhile, he co-stars in a new film,
Precious, heading to theaters this weekend.
Slash has recorded a guest appearance on the song "Rockstar 101" which
will be included on Rihanna's forthcoming album, Rated R.
Shirley Bassey will release her first all-new studio album in over 20
years, The Performance, on Nov. 9th in the U.K. via
Geffen/Universal. Legendary James Bond soundtrack producer
David Arnold worked on the album and it includes a new song, "The
Performance Of My Life," written by the Pet Shop Boys.
Meanwhile, the Pet Shop Boys plan to release a new 5-track EP,
Christmas, via Parlophone Records next month.
Eagle Rock Entertainment plan to release DVDs of performances by Thin
Lizzy and UB40 filmed in 1981 for the German television series
Rockpalast on Nov. 10th.
Kip Winger's side project with his brother Nate on drums and childhood
friend Peter Fletcher on guitar named Blackwood Creek will release
their self-titled debut album on Jan. 12th in the U.S. (and Dec. 4th in
Europe.)
Landscape will see their 1979 self-titled album and 1982's Manhattan
Boogie Woogie reissued as a package on Nov. 23rd in the U.K.
An unfinished George Harrison song has surfaced unknowingly in the
possession of Beatles biographer Hunter Davies. Davies
expects he has had it for over 4 decades before stumbling upon it at
his home. Singer-songwriter Dean Johnson has been brought in
to finish the song.
Producer Nile Rogers has been busy in the studio with Bryan
Ferry. Ferry released his new single with DJ Hell, "U Can
Dance," in January.
Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics will be teaming up with A.R. Rahman (who
won an Oscar for his work on Slumdog Millionaire) to compose the score
for the upcoming film Street Dancing.
According to a recent interview with Classic Rock magazine, Steven
Tyler is looking at some time off from Aerosmith. "I don't
know what I'm doing yet, but it's definitely going to be something
Steven Tyler: working on the brand of myself -- Brand Tyler."
The other 3 band members are expected to reconvene soon to either
announce a long hiatus for the band or to move forward with a new
vocalist. Brad Whitford told the magazine, "I'm not sure how
good that would look, it would largely depend on who we could get and
who would want to do it. That's big shoes to fill.
Nobody could replace Steven or imitate him -- he's one of a
kind. But if somebody was willing to do it and the chemistry
was right, why not?"
Filmed during the final two shows of his 2008 25 Live tour at London's
Earl Court, George Michael's first-ever live DVD, Live In London, will
be released via Epic Records and Sony Music Entertainment on Dec.
7th. The performance includes his cover of the Police classic
"Roxanne."
Bette Midler's 2-year residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace
comes to an end on Jan. 31st. Midler has also been working on
a new studio album.
Erasure have been writing material for their new studio album in New
York City. Plans are to start recording early next
year. Meanwhile, the U.S. release of the 21st anniversary
edition of The Innocents will surface on Dec. 8th.
A new 10-disc box set, The Epic Masters, comprised of remastered
editions of Shakin' Stevens albums will be released on Nov. 16th in the
U.K.
Dead Can Dance's Brendan Perry has finally completed and mastered his
new album, Ark, which is expected to surface early next year.
A short promotional film about the making of the album can be seen at
http://ark.brendanperry.com. Perry is also planning a
100-date co-headlining tour with Peter Murphy to start in March that
will start in South America, head into North America and then go to
Europe.
Original Boys Don't Cry bassist Mark Smith, 49, was found dead on Nov.
2nd in his Battersea home. A cause of death has yet to be
determined. Smith has played with many acts including Joe
Cocker, George Michael, the Waterboys, Roxy Music and the recent
reformation of Boys Don't Cry.