Friday, November 21, 2003

My pledge to you: until there is a conviction or acquittal, there will be no Michael Jackson news on this blog. You can watch "Celebrity Justice" as well as I can, sukka. Note: I will make an exception to this rule if The Gloved One goes bankrupt, insane, missing or pops up dead. Otherwise, you can consider this blog your Self-Proclaimed King Of Pop Free Zone

• Producer Phil Spector Charged With Murder
  Phil Spector news is still fair game, though.
  
  
• Bertelsmann Veteran Quits Over Sony Bid (L.A. Times free registration required)
  Gerd Schulte-Hillen, he chairman of Bertelsmann's board, has announced plans to resign. He shares my thoughts that meging Sony Music and BMG is a terrible idea. (Full disclosure, I work for an engineering arm of Sony Broadband and have rare onteraction with the Music division.)
  
  
• Warner Pulls Away From EMI (N.Y. Times free registration required)
  Time Warner has embraced an offer from a group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. to sell its music division for $2.5 billion. Part of the reason EMI lost out was becuase TW was worried that the Sony/BMG merger would make it harder from them to merge with EMI in the eyes of anti-monopoly regulators. It is still up in the air and EMI could pull out a last minute victory.
  
  
• Rock Hall Inductees Announced
  George Harrison, Prince, ZZ Top, Jackson Browne, The Dells, Bob Seger and Traffic will be the next artists to be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Elligible this year but not inducted: John Mellencamp, Black Sabbath, The Sex Pistols, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gram Parsons, The Stooges and Patti Smith. How Traffic and my beloved Michigan homey Bog Seger get in before The Stooges, Black Sabbath and The Sex Pistols is really a mystery to me.
  
  
• Cobain 'Journals' Bolstered with New Material
  Kurt Cobain's Journals have just been issued in paperback and the new edition contains previoulsy unreleased material. Included in the new stuff: a story about a serial killer, lyrics, a cookie recipie and a list of Cobain's favorite albums.
  

posted by Randy on 12:15 PM | permanent link to this entry

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

• Warrant Issued For Michael Jackson's Arrest
  Will M.J. do a reprise of his infamous "I didn't do it" broadcast from Neverland valley, or will he re-broadcast the old one? At the time the warrant was issued, he was in Vegas shooting footage for his upcoming (though I bet soon cancelled) CBS special.
  
  
• The Source Digs Up Tape Of Eminem Using Racial Slurs
  Two songs recorded in 1993-- "All the girls I like to bone have big butts/ No they don't, 'cause I don't like that n----- sh--/ I'm just here to make a bigger hit." Oops. The second one is a diatribe against a black girl he broke up with, to wit: "Blacks and whites, they sometimes mix/ But black girls only want your money, 'cause they're dumb chicks."
  
  In reponse to these tracks coming to light, Eminem went the-"I-was-young-and-stupid"-route. A nice attempt a damage control, but he really should've got out ahead of this before The Source did-- releasing them himself, doing an acts of contrition all up and down the media by explaining how very wrong it is.
  
  
• Composer Who Worked With Metallica, Aerosmith Dead At 55
  Rock backed by symphonies and symphonies influenced by rock are not my cup of tea usually, but I still send a hearty R.I.P and thanks for the memories to Michael Kamen
  
  
• Wu-Tang Clan Regrouping For 2004 Tour, Book
  Not just a tour, but their final tour. And the book that's coming out at the end of the tour will be a combo of the group's history and a summary of the group's mythology. If either project actualy happens, it will be a minor miracle. If both come off, then I take it as a sign that there may indeed be a case for a kind and benevolent Lord above.
  
  
• Groups Prepares Bid for Time Warner Music
  EMI and an investment group led by media moguls Haim Saban and Edgar Bronfman Jr. are both sniffing around Time Warner's music arm. Route for the media moguls-- you don't wanna live in a wolrd where (thanks to the prposed Sony Music/BMG merger) there are only three major record labels. Or wait, maybe you do. The three huge dinosaurs can do their thing while the fast, cheap and out of control can nibble them to death.
  
  
• Fewer Songs May Improve Labels' Track Record (L.A. Times free registration required.)
  How many years have we been crying about bloated CDs with like 20 minutes of good material on 'em? It took long enough, but at last someone is listening. Of course, this screws with an artists royalties and what not, so theres a behind-the-scenes fight a-brewin'.
  
  
• Wilco Gets Busy On New Album
  Tenatively titled W*lco Happens with songs entitled "Hell is Chrome" and "We are Finished Waiting for You Now."
  
  
• Ginuwine, LL Steal A Page From R. Kelly And Jay-Z's Book
  How many times must I say this to rappers and R&B singers looking to make a whole album together (B2K & Bow Wow and Baby & R. Kelly, I'm looking your way)?: The Best of Both Worlds was a bunch of hot garbage. Do not cite that as your inspiration if you want me to get excited about the project.
  

posted by Randy on 12:13 PM | permanent link to this entry

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

This Week's New Releases Of Note):

• The Black Album - Jay-Z (technically, this came out on Friday, Nov. 14. I've heard nothing but good things about it.)
  
• Let It Be... Naked - The Beatles (Let It Be without Phil Spector's production)
  
• In The Zone - Britney Spears
  
• Tales of a Librarian: A Tori Amos Collection (Bonus DVD) - Tori Amos
  
• Blink 182 - Blink 182
  
• At Last Cyndi Lauper (Cyndi sings the standards -- "Walk On By," "Unchained Melody," and so on and so forth. Features a duet with Tony Bennett on "Makin' Whoopee" -- and if that isn't an unpleasant image, I don't know what is.)
  
• Room to Breathe - Reba Mcentire
  
• Greatest Hits and Videos (CD & DVD) - Red Hot Chili Peppers
  
• I Can't Stop - Al Green
  
• Greatest Hits - Leann Rimes
  
• I'm One of You - Hank Williams, Jr. (winner of the Rocktober.com Blog Best Song Title of The Week Award: "Why Don't We All Get A Long Neck?")
  
• Weekend Warrior - Biz Markie (Nobody beats the Biz!)
  
• Heavy - Swollen Members
  
• Under Construction Part II - Timbaland & Magoo
  
• Ashanti's Christmas - Ashanti (all traditional Xmas songs, nary a "Xmas Wit My Murder Inc. Niggaz" to be found)
  
• Floacism - Floetry (Live disc)
  
• Live at the Hollywood Bowl [EP] - Ben Harper
  
• Live in Texas [Bonus DVD] - Linkin Park
  
• The Central Park Concert - Dave Matthews
  
• Hot and Wet- 112
  

Get Your Pre-Order On (Next Week's New Releases Of Note):

• UnEarthed [BOX SET] - Johnny Cash (1 disc of his best stuff with producer Rick Rubin, 4 discs of previously unreleased stuff from the Rick Rubin-years, including a whole disc of gospel songs. Guests include Fiona Apple, Flea, Willie Nelson, Carl Perkins, Joe Strummer and Tom Petty)
  
• The Singles 1992-2003 - No Doubt (includes that crappy cover of "It's My Life," yet excludes their cover of "Love To Love You, Baby." There is no justice in the world.)
  
• Boom Box - No Doubt (Box set that includes b-sides, cover and live stuff-- yet still no "Love To Love You Baby." Very weird.)
  
• Derrty Versions: The Reinvention - Nelly (New versions of all the hits -- a.k.a. what P. Diddy calls a re-mix)
  
• This Is Not a Test - Missy Elliott (Did you see her doing "Riverdance" on "Saturday Night Live?" Go, Missy, Go!)
  
• Remixed & Revisited [EP] - Madonna (remixes galore and the "Like A Virgin"/"Hollywood" Medley from the 2003 MTV VMAs)
  
• Folklore [ENHANCED] - Nelly Furtado
  
• Take a Look in the Mirror - Korn
  
• Films About Ghosts [ENHANCED] - Counting Crows (best of compilation)
  
• Top of the World Tour - Dixie Chicks
  
• Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium- Rage Against the Machine
  

posted by Randy on 1:04 PM | permanent link to this entry