In the long ongoing drama that is the battle over James Brown's estate, two former trustees of the Brown estate
have filed papers to retract their Nov. 20th resignations. They claim the judge handling the case forced them to
resign.
Kiss have filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Big Mountain Concert Company over
the promoter canceling their concert in Whistler, B.C., in September just 12 days before their show. The Group
are seeking $900,000 in unpaid performance fees and cite the cancellation resulted in "injury to their respective
reputations." Meanwhile, VH1 Classic plans to make Christmas day into a Kissmas by holding a 24-hour marathon
devoted to Kiss. Another reason for this is VH1 Classic Records releasing Kissology: Volume Three 1992-2000 on
Dec. 18th.
Clark County coroner spokeswoman Samantha Charles confirmed that Kevin DuBrow died of an accidental cocaine overdose
according to toxicology results released today (Dec. 10th.)
The first Radio Rock Finlandia award, A Rock Rooster, has been given to Hanoi Rocks to officially recognize a domestic
group or artist, which has been actual and active during the past year. The band released their new album Street
Poetry in September. The award was given to the band during the launch of the first Radio Rock Finlandia concert.
Mike Peters of the Alarm was recently honored at the Welsh Pop Factory Music Awards with the Outstanding Contribution
To Music award.
The holiday season has been good to the Eagles as their album, Long Road Out Of Eden, climbed 3 places to #2 on
the Billboard 200 chart selling 313,000 copies. Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits fell a spot to #5 on 112,000 sales.
Celine Dion's Taking Chances holds the #8 spot for a second week. Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas Song climbed
11 places to #10. Rising 3 spots, Led Zeppelin's Mothership grabbed #13.
On the U.K. Album charts, The Eagles climbed a place to #4 followed by Kylie Minogue's X (at #5), Whitney Houston's
The Ultimate Collection (#7), Led Zeppelin's Mothership (#8) and The Beautiful South/Housemartins' Soup - Cream
Of The Beautiful South and Housemartins (#17).
Kylie Minogue's "2 Hearts" is #11 on the U.K. Singles chart. Holiday favorite The Pogues featuring Kirsty
Maccoll's "Fairytale Of New York" returns to the chart at #12. Minogue is also set to receive the Outstanding
Contribution To Music award at next year's Brits Awards.
American Angel's new album, Vanity, has scored the #1 spot on Billboard's Heatseeker (Northwest) chart. The Top
Heatseekers chart is described by Billboard as: "The best-selling albums by new and developing acts, defined
as those who have never appeared in the top 100 of The Billboard 200. If a Heatseekers title reaches that level,
it and the act's subsequent albums are immediately ineligible to appear on the Heatseekers chart." Just a
week prior, Sebastian Bach's new album, Angel Down, took the top spot on the Top Heatseekers chart as well as #27
on the Billboard Hard Rock Chart.
Country music artists and songs will be honored in a new area called the Nashville Music Garden to be located near
the Hall of Fame Park. Special roses there will honor artists that include Dolly Parton, Elvis, Barbara Mandrell,
Reba McEntire, Lynn Anderson, Amy Grant and Pam Tillis.
The nominations for the 50th annual Grammy Awards have been named. Vince Gill's These Days and Herbie Hancock's
River: The Joni Letters are up for Album Of The Year. Paul McCartney's "Dance Tonight" is up for Best
Male Pop Vocal Performance. Bon Jovi's "(You Want To) Make A Memory" and U2's "Window In The Skies"
are up for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. Tony Bennett & Christina Aguilera's "Steppin'
Out" and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" are up for Best Pop
Collaboration With Vocals. The Beastie Boys' "Off The Grid," Dave Koz's "Over The Rainbow",
Joni Mitchell's "One Week Last Summer" and Spyro Gyra's "Simple Pleasures" are up for Best
Pop Instrumental Performance. The Beastie Boys' The Mix Up, Dave Koz's At The Movies, Spyro Gyra's Good To Go-Go
and Kirk Whalum's Roundtrip are up for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Bon Jovi's Lost Highway and Paul McCartney's
Memory Almost Full are up for Best Pop Vocal Album. Bette Midler's Cool Yule, Queen Latifah's Trav'lin' Light,
Barbra Streisand's Live In Concert 2006 and James Taylor's James Taylor At Christmas are up for Best Traditional
Pop Vocal Album. Paul McCartney's "Only Mama Knows," John Mellencamp's "Our Country," Bruce
Springsteen's "Radio Nowhere" and Lucinda Williams' "Come On" are up for Best Solo Rock Vocal
Performance. U2's "Instant Karma" is up for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. Ozzy
Osbourne's "I Don't Wanna Stop" is up for Best Hard Rock Performance. King Diamond's "Never Ending
Hill" and Slayer's "Final Six" are up for Best Metal Performance. Metallica's "The Ecstasy
Of Gold," Rush's "Malignant Narcissism," Joe Satriani's "Always With Me, Always With You,"
Bruce Springsteen's "Once Upon A Time In The West" and Steve Vai's "The Attitude Song" are
up for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Lucinda Williams' "Come On" and Bruce Springsteen's "Radio
Nowhere" are up for Best Rock Song. John Fogerty's Revival and Bruce Springsteen's Magic are up for Best Rock
Album. Bjork's Volta is up for Best Alternative Music Album. Prince's "Future Baby Mama" is up for Best
Male R&B Vocal Performance. Chaka Khan Featuring Mary J. Blige's "Disrespectful" is up for Best R&B
Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. Gerald Levert's "In My Songs" is up for Best Traditional R&B
Vocal Performance. Chaka Khan's Funk This is up for Best R&B Album. Alan Jackson's "A Woman's Love"
and George Strait's "Give It Away" are up for Best male Country Vocal Performance. The Eagles' "How
Long" is up for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. Steve Earle & Allison Moorer's
"Days Aren't Long Enough," Reba McEntire & Kelly Clarkson's "Because Of You" and Willie
Nelson & Ray Price's "Lost Highway" are up for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals. George Strait's
"Give It Away" is up for Best Country Song. Vince Gill's These Days and George Strait's It Just Comes
Natural are up for Best Country Album. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters and Jeff Lorber's He Had A Hat
are up for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Patti Austin's Avant Gershwin is up for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Michael
Brecker's "Anagram" and Herbie Hancock's "Both Sides Now" are up for Best Jazz Instrumental
Solo. Michael Brecker's Pilgrimage is up for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual Or Group. CeCe Winans' "He
Set My Life To Music" and Aretha Franklin & Mary J. Blige (Featuring The Harlem Boys Choir) "Never
Gonna Break My Faith" are up for Best Gospel Performance. Billy Joe Shaver's Everybody's Brother and Ricky
Skaggs & The Whites' Salt Of The Earth are up for Best Southern, Country, Or Bluegrass Gospel Album. Bebe Winans'
Cherch is up for Best Traditional Gospel Album. Luis Miguel's Navidades Luis Miguel is up for Best Latin Pop Album.
Koko Taylor's Old School is up for Best Traditional Blues Album. Joan Armatrading's Into The Blues and JJ Cale
& Eric Clapton's The Road To Escondido are up for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Peter Case's Let Us Now Praise
Sleepy John, Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer and Charlie Louvin's Charlie Louvin are up for Best Traditional Folk Album.
Mary Chapin Carpenter's The Calling, Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade, Tom Waits' Orphans and Ry Cooder's
My Name Is Buddy are up for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. Burning Spear's The Burning Spear Experience,
Lee "Scratch" Perry's The End Of An American Dream, Sly & Robbie And The Taxi Gang's Anniversary
and Toots & The Maytals' Light Your Light are up for Best Reggae Album. Peter Himmelman's My Green Kite and
The Muppets' A Green And Red Christmas are up for Best Musical Album For Children. Across The Universe, Dreamgirls
and Hairspray are up for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media.
Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Into The Wild, Prince's "The Song Of The Heart" from Happy
Feet, Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" from Casino Royale and Jennifer Hudson's "Love You I Do"
from Dreamgirls (co-written by Siedah Garrett) are up for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other
Visual Media. Harry Connick, Jr.'s "Ash Wednesday" and Bela Fleck's "Spectacle" are up for
Best Instrumental Composition. Harry Connick, Jr.'s "Ash Wednesday" is up for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
Queen Latifah's "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die," Patti Austin's "Overture/ Gershwin Medley and The Pete
McGuinness Jazz Orchestra's "Smile" are up for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).
Suzanne Vega's Beauty & Crime is up for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The Flaming Lips' At War With
The Mystics 5.1 is up for Best Surround Sound Album. The Brian Setzer Orchestra's Wolfgang's Big Night Out is up
for Best Classical Crossover Album. Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" is up for Best Short Form
Music Video. Madonna's The Confessions Tour is up for Best Long Form Video.
Vocalist Arnel Pineda of The Zoo has been hired by Journey as their new lead singer according to a recent press
release. Pineda hails from Quezon City in the Philippines. Guitarist Neal Schon found the singer while searching
YouTube for vocalists and stumbled upon a clip of The Zoo performing "Faithfully." Pineda has said, "It's
so exciting to sing with one of the best bands in the world. It'll be a lot of hard work on my part and I'm actually
looking forward to the scrutiny I'll get from the hardcore Journey fans. I know they'll expect me to sound exactly
like 'the voice' (Steve Perry), but that will never happen. I know there's only one Steve Perry in the world."
The band feel a lot of chemistry with the new singer and are hard at work on a new studio album due out in the
spring or summer. Feel like seeing the same video? Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HjcCzgCCX0
Bauhaus plan to release their first new studio album since 1983, Going Away White, on Mar. 4th. It will be released
digitally via iTunes and on disc via their own Bauhaus Music imprint through Redeye Distribution. The band expect
this to be their final album together and no tour is planned to support it. Drummer Kevin Haskins recently told
Billboard.com, "We were getting along really well, but there was an incident that occurred (and) some of us
just felt that we didn't want to carry on as a working unit."
Stevie B has announced plans to release his new single, "Running For Miles," as a digital download with
a ballad version, Rio mix and Mapstyle mix as well as a B-side entitled "Rhythm Radio."
Drummer Stewart Copeland of The Police has apologized to Chilean president Michelle Bachelet after he had insinuated
that she wasn't as attractive at Argentina's female president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
KMFDM have announced that they will release their first full-blown remix album ever, Brimborium, via KMFDM Records/Metropolis
Records on Feb. 19th. The disc contains 11 remixes of tracks from Tohuvabohu, one from Hau Ruck and a new track
created from fans' phone calls. A loose translation of "brimborium" could be "something with no
meaning or value."
Michael Bivins of New Edition and Bell Biv Devoe has been hired by broadband channel OverTime to team with TNT
for NBA coverage with a segment called Bivins In Boston. The singer is from Boston but plans to tour other NBA
cities to focus on other teams.
Eddie Van Halen is on tour right now with Van Halen but otherwise he might be swimming. A water main broke outside
the guitarist's Los Angeles home which led to thousands of gallons of water flowing into a nearby street, stopping
traffic for hours. Eddie's home was secured by firemen who surrounded the place with sandbags to keep the water
from getting into the house.
The Blind Boys Of Alabama will release their new studio album, Get Down In New Orleans, on Jan. 29th via the Time
Life Music label. The album was recorded in the 'Crescent City' with hometown musicians. A video has been filmed
for the song "Free At Last."
Spandau Ballet have reportedly been offered over $4 million to reunite for a one-off show in Las Vegas. The Independent
was told by a source, "It has always been quite complicated because the band has a different manager to the
Kemp brothers, because they fell out with them a while back." That 'falling out' couldn't have gotten better
during the legal battles they had in the last few years.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis plan to release the soundtrack to the film The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward
Robert Ford via Mute on Feb. 5th. The DVD of the film will be released the same day.
The final studio album in Madonna's deal with Warner Bros. will be titled Licorice when released in late April.
A few songs from the disc leaked online earlier this year.
Pantera's Phil Anselmo has a new hardcore side-project named Arson Anthem while will release their debut EP on
Feb. 19th.
Janet Jackson may not be among her kin during the planned Jackson Family world tour according to Page Six. According
to a source, her fiance Jermaine Dupri wants her back in the studio to record another album and doesn't believe
associating her with the press Michael has been getting is wise.
Kim and Kelley Deal plan to bring the Breeders back after a 6-year absence with a new album, Mountain Battles,
due out Apr. 8th via 4AD.
Reba McEntire has a deal with Hallmark Gold Crown stores that will see the chain exclusively releasing McEntire's
new album, Love Revival, in January and February. The disc collects love songs from her career as well as 4 new
recordings that includes a cover of Restless Heart's 1987 #1 country hit "I'll Still Be Loving You."
In a recent press release, HDNet announced that they will begin airing a series of short features entitled Mellencamp:
Thoughts Shared starting Dec. 10th on which the singer will discuss his views on topics of national interest and
feature brief original musical performances. The topics will range from the war in Iraq to the voting process.
Drawings, lyrics and recordings by late Clash frontman Joe Strummer have been discovered by his wife. She plans
to release a book/CD combo with the material in the future.
Kreator plan to re-release their Live In East Berlin and Hallucinative Comas videos (previously only available
on VHS) on DVD in March under the title At The Pilse Of Kapitulation: Live In East Berlin 1990. The band are resting
after their last tour and writing new songs. They expect to regroup in January to start arranging some of the new
material for their next album.
Jane's Addiction co-founder and seminal bassist Eric Avery has signed a deal with Dangerbird Records for the release
of his debut solo album, Help Wanted, due out Apr. 8th. Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea is among the guests
contributing to the album.
Steve Lukather plans to release his new studio album, Ever Changing Times, via Frontiers Records in Europe on Feb.
22nd.
ABC have plans to release their new studio album, Traffic, in February. The first single from the disc will be
"The Very First Time."
Steve Forbert's hit, "Romeo's Tune," has been covered by Keith Urban and is one of two new tracks that
could be released as singles on the country artist's recently released Greatest Hits album.
Ministry's Al Jourgensen has announced that Ministry & Co-Conspirators will release, their 12-track covers
album with special guests, Cover Up in late March or early April.
The title-track to the upcoming film, Walk Hard, was written by singer/songwriter Marshall Crenshaw. John C. Reilly
performs the song in the film which opens Dec. 21st. The soundtrack is already in stores.
Toyah has been busy recording and working on new projects. She has a new television project that has been picked
up but can't announce at this time. She also has been working with drummer Bill Rieflin (Revolting Cocks/R.E.M.)
and expects to record a new album with him as The Humans in January. Her next album, In The Court Of The Crimson
Queen, is nearing completion and she has filmed a new video for her song, "Lesser God."
A new television series is launching on Ovation TV starting Jan. 13th entitled Live From The Artists Den which
places bands in eclectic non-stage venues. Crowded House have recorded an episode for the show.
A new Michael Schenker Group album is in the works entitled In The Midst Of Beauty with a release in April. Schenker
is currently lining up a tour under the name Michael Schenker & Friends in the U.K.
According to Swedish organizers, the Stockholm ABBA museum is scheduled to open in June 2009.
Rock Of Love 2 with Bret Michaels is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, January 13th, on VH1.
Often considered one of the greatest living conguero, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, 81, died on Dec. 4th from
lung failure. Valdes had a more than 60 year career and during this year was still touring with The Conga Kings.
His album, Patato Model Congas, is one of the top-selling congas of all time.