Hotgamestation dotcom

megan fox vargas sexy bomb

2010-02-22T22:59:00.001-08:00

Megan Fox Tak Puas
Pose Dengan Underwear
Eny Kartikawati - detikhot
Los Angeles
Si seksi
Megan Fox
curhat soal
posenya
saat
memakai
underwear.
Bintang film
'Tranformers' itu merasa tak
puas dengan hasil foto-fotonya
saat ia hanya dibalut pakaian
dalam.
Aktris 23 tahun itu berharap,
posenya dengan underwear bisa
terlihat lebih klasik. Sayangnya
setiap ia difoto dengan
underwear, yang terjadi adalah
penampilannya bagaikan seks
simbol.
"Begitu aku pakai underwear,
aku seorang Vargas girl," begitu
kata Megan, seperti dilansir
Showbiz Spy, Selasa
(16/2/2010).
Sekadar informasi Vargas girl
merupakan gambar kartun
perempuan seksi ciptaan Alberto
Vargas. Setiap perempuan yang
menjadi Vargas girl biasanya
menjadi simbol seks.
"Makanya saat ini, aku menjadi
ragu-ragu untuk berpose seperti
itu," tutur bintang film 'Jennifer's
Body' itu.

How You Can Get A Nintendo Wii Absoutely Free!

2009-10-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

You have probably heard a lot of good things about the Nintendo Wii. It has been out for several years now, so if you don’t have one yet, it might be because you just don’t think that you can afford one. Well, I have good news for you! There are ways to get a cheap Nintendo Wiis without having to spend tons of money!
Learn How You Can Get A Nintendo Wii Absoutely Free!

One way you can get cheap Nintendo Wiis is through auctions online. While it is unusual, you get really get a steal of a deal online. For example, I just found a Wii with a retail value of $249 with a high bid of $18.72. Chances of it being sold at that price are practically nothing, but you can always give it a shot and you might get lucky.

But be careful if you attempt to purchase a Nintendo Wii through Craigslist, eBay, or a similar site. There are tons of people online who would love to get your money for little or nothing in return. So ask a bunch of questions and make sure that you know what you are getting into before you buy.

Even if that doesn’t work out, you can always find a Nintendo Wii cheaper online than in a traditional store. There is just too much competition out there and people know that about the only way they can compete by selling the exact same product is through price. Of course that is great for you because they are going to fight each other by dropping their price more and more.

You might also find a used Nintendo Wii that people don’t want anymore. Some people just get bored really easy after they played it for a while. Others might have to move or need to sell it for some extra money. Searching the classifieds online and in your local paper might point you in the right direction.

Seems like most people that have tried the Wii, Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360 really like the Wii better. While it graphics aren’t nearly as good as these other gaming consoles, people love the motion detection controller, the wireless abilities, and capability to get online.

michael jackson massive debt ??

2009-10-26T02:16:00.000-07:00

News media accounts that Michael Jackson was "debt-ridden", without providing further explanation, gave the impression that the King of Pop's financial situation was something the general public could identify with or readily understand.

But far from it. Jackson's so-called "massive debt" was something that hardly any of us will ever be fortunate enough to experience. I dare say most in the general public have never heard of Jackson's category of indebtedness, better known by some as "acquisition debt".

Acquisition debt involves multi-million dollar purchases of ventures where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through "leverage" borrowing. The assets of the acquired company are used as collateral for the borrowed capital.

When Northern Songs - a music catalog holding thousand of songs, including the Beatles' back catalog - was put up for sale, Jackson took immediate interest in the catalog. He was warned that he would face strong competition. "I don't care. I want those songs," Jackson said to his entertainment attorney John G Branca. "Get me those songs, Branca."

Jackson eventually beat the rest of the competition, including Paul McCartney, in negotiations for the Northern Songs catalog, which lasted 10 months. He evenually purchased the catalog for $47.5 million.

Jackson used equity in his own catalog, MIJAC, along with the acquired assets from Northern Songs for loan qualification, with the newly acquired assets structured for equity to flow towards servicing the debt.

In 1995, Jackson merged his Northern Songs catalog with Sony's publishing division creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. This deal gave Jackson half ownership in Northern Songs as well as half ownership in Sony/ATV. It also included distribution rights to thousands of more songs. With the merger, Sony/ATV became the third largest music publishing venture in the world. Both Jackson and the Sony people were equal partners and vowed to become the world's largest catalog.

Late in 2001, Jackson and Sony acquired Tony Martin's Baby Mae Music catalog of 600 songs.

In July 2002, they bought country music publisher Acuff-Rose for $157 million. The venture included publishing rights to 55,000 songs.

And in November 2007, Jackson and Sony bought Famous Music LLC from Viacom. This deal gave the King of Pop rights to songs by Eminem (a C-rated entertainer who once made light of him), Shakira and Beck, among others. The venture included the assumption of a $30 million debt. They purchased the business for $370 million.

Bottom line. If Jackson was debt ridden, it makes more sense to believe his indebtedness of "$500,000,000" resulted from acquiring multi-million dollar ventures, and not, as media myth makers would have it, "lavish spending."

by Larry Carter is an Old School scholar, life-long follower and avid fan of Michael Jackson.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_Carter

The Beatles Rock Band Video Game

2009-10-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Best Music Game Ever For Your Wii, XBox, Or PS3
The Beatles Rock Band comes out on September 9, 2009 (the same date that newly remastered Beatles CD box sets are coming out.) And for people that love both The Beatles and playing Rock Band this is a very big day indeed. In fact, I would say that Christmas is coming early this year!

The Music

The game includes 45 Beatles songs which is nearly 1/4th of the songs they released during their career. That's a pretty good sample! Among the songs included are these:

Early Classics: "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," & "I Feel Fine."

Psychedelic Era: "I Am The Walrus," "Paperback Writer," & "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

'68-'69 Era: "Get Back," "Revolution," & "Here Comes the Sun"

Along with the 45 songs that come with the game, players will also be able to download entire Beatles albums, starting with Abbey Road.
The Best Music Game Ever For Your Wii, XBox, Or PS3
The Gameplay

One of the really cool things about the game is that players will play "as The Beatles" and will actually get to play throughout their whole career starting at The Cavern in Liverpool in 1960 all the way through the recording of Abbey Road in 1969. The graphics look amazing. Not only do the characters look a lot like The Beatles but there are also many different stages and some really groovy psychedelic images for songs like "I Am The Walrus."

The Instruments

If you get the full version of the game it comes with "Ringo's drum set" and "Paul's bass guitar." You can also buy "John & George's guitars seprately." These are really good looking replicas of the instruments The Beatles actually used.

Harmony Singing

For the first time ever on Rock Band, harmony singing will be included. Up to three different voices will be able to sing at once. If you are familiar with The Beatles songs then you know that they used harmonies in many of their songs, now you and your friends will get to sing those harmonies on Rock Band

Up To Six Players At Once

Because of the fact that there can be three singers at once, there can now be a total of six players playing at one time! This really makes Beatles Rock Band the ultimate party game.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnny_Moon

grand theft auto series

2009-10-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular video game series of all-time is Grand Theft Auto. There are nine stand-alone games in the series, which began in 1997. The most recent release, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, was released in March of 2009. The series of games has created controversy with each game release because of the underlying themes of sex, drugs, and violence. The game is centered on driving, with most of the missions requiring the use of a car to complete the majority of missions in the game. The series was named after the term that refers to motor vehicle theft, since the main character has the ability to remove people from their vehicles and steal them for his own personal use.

Grand Theft Auto is such a popular series of video games that there have been more than a handful of movie stars who have loaned their voice to these games. Stars who have loaned their voice include Michael Madsen, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Gary Busey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia, Kyle MacLachlan, Peter Fonda and Ray Liotta. The publisher of this series of games is Rockstar Games. The premise of these games is for the gamer to take on the role of a criminal in a big city, usually someone who rises through the ranks of organized crime throughout the entirety of the game. The gamer must complete missions of assassination, taxi driving, firefighting, pimping, street racing, bus driving or flying fixed-wing aircraft.

The best feature of the Grand Theft Auto video games is that they give the gamer a ton of freedom when it comes to playing the game. The gamer can choose which missions they want to undertake, how they want to build their relationship with other characters in the game, or if they just want to bumble around the streets of the city they are visiting at the time. The main character can choose from multiple weapons and hundreds of different vehicles when playing the game. There are cheat codes available for the gamer to enter when playing one of the games that make different weapons packages available, that make the main character invincible, or that gives the main character an unlimited supply of money. There are other cheat codes that activate tanks, army helicopters, speedboats, choppers, fire trucks and many other vehicles not see often in the game.

The first Grand Theft Auto game was set in three fictional cities called Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City. Liberty City is loosely based on New York City and the third game in the series helped to make the series of games incredibly popular. The game featured, for the first time, a mini map to help the gamer navigate around the city and a third person view. The third person view allows the gamer to see more of what is going on around the city instead of the traditional top-down view where the gamer looks down onto what is happening.
TJ Michaels is a console technician, the experts for PSP repair.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=TJ_Michaels

Charlie watts Rolling Stones

2009-09-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has not quit the band, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday, denying a news report from Australia.

The report, from the normally credible online outlet Undercover Australia, stirred up a worldwide panic among fans, since Watts' departure would likely mean the end of the venerable group.

"Contrary to a fabricated story that ran this morning on a small music web site in Australia, drummer Charlie Watts has not left The Rolling Stones," spokeswoman Fran Curtis said in an emailed statement.

The Undercover report, attributed to "a source within the Stones inner-circle says," said Watts will never record or tour with the band again. It said the Stones were looking to replace him with New York session drummer Charlie Drayton, who has played on solo projects with Stones guitarist Keith Richards.

The Rolling Stones, which Watts joined in 1963 after a stint in the advertising world, have not released a new album since 2005's poor-selling "A Bigger Bang." Their last tour ended in London in August 2007. Future plans are unknown.

Watts, 68, does not contribute to the songwriting, but his spare, jazz-influenced drumming style is considered key to the band's success. He is closely involved in the design of the band's stage sets and merchandising, and gets the loudest cheers when the four members are introduced in concert.

He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2004, but it went into remission, and the band embarked on a three-year world tour the following year. During the 1980s, the famously clean-living drummer fought a drug addiction at a time when the band had essentially broken up.

Watts has traditionally been the most reluctant to tour, since he hates to leave his wife and Arabian horses at the couple's horse-breeding farm in Devonshire. The media-shy grandfather generally avoids the spotlight, and seems disdainful of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

"Worked five years, and 20 years hangin' around," he glumly told a TV reporter while on tour during the 1980s.

Watts' eccentricities are part of the band's legend, such as tales that he owns a huge vintage-car collection but not a driver license, and allows horses to wander through the house. He also has a darker side, once punching Mick Jagger almost unconscious after the singer referred to him as "my drummer."

Disney to buy Marvel

2009-09-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

By Paul Thomasch and Gina Keating

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co on Monday agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc for $4 billion in the year's biggest media deal, banking on Marvel's pantheon of superheroes to broaden its lineup of movie franchises that appeal to boys.

Disney adds Spider Man, Iron Man and Thor to its roster of classic characters like Mickey Mouse and Snow White, and will feature the super-heroes in movies before rolling out associated theme park rides, TV shows and merchandise.

But the deal comes at a tough time in the entertainment business, with advertisers avoiding spending on new campaigns and consumers cutting back on everything from DVDs to travel.

The deal is also expensive. It values Marvel at 37 times its estimated 2009 earnings, and offers shareholders a 29 percent premium to Friday's closing price. Standard & Poor's reacted by placing Disney's credit rating on its negative watchlist, saying it may need to issue new debt even as earnings stagnate or fall in the recession.

But the risk of overpaying did not deter Disney from seeking out a deal to address an area of concern among investors: How can it better reach more young males.

"This helps give Disney more important exposure to the young male demographic that they have sort of lost some ground with in recent years," said David Joyce at Miller Tabak & Co.

Disney has long been a blockbuster brand with girls thanks to characters such as "Hannah Montana," "Cinderella" and "Snow White," but has struggled to achieve the same kind of success with boys.

Movies including "Iron Man 2," the sequel to the smash hit about a billionaire playboy with a high-tech suit of armor due to hit theaters in 2010, or 2011's "Spider-Man 4" and "Avengers", should help resolve that issue.

Disney will also be able to use its marketing and entertainment clout -- stretching from ABC to cable television to theme parks -- to promote and build characters such as Thor in ways Marvel never could.

The deal to buy the 70-year-old studio -- which began life as an arm of a pulp fiction publisher in 1930 before bankruptcy, then rose to prominence in the past few years following Spider-Man -- is Disney's largest since the $7.6 billion purchase of Pixar in 2006, and it made waves.

Shares in DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc spiked 6.5 percent on speculation it too may become a takeover target.

But analysts raised questions about companies like Viacom Inc, Discovery Communications Inc, and Hasbro Inc that have existing business partnerships with Marvel. Hasbro stands to lose its chance to acquire valuable content for a new TV venture with Discovery, given that Disney is likely to hoard Marvel content for itself.

UNDER-PROMISING?

Disney agreed to pay a total of $30 per share in cash plus about 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share owned. The deal was approved by the boards of both companies.

The deal is expected to gain approval from antitrust regulators, said Evan Stewart, an antitrust expert with law firm Zuckerman Spaeder LLP.

The shares of Marvel, which was founded in 1939 and rolled out its first blockbuster character, Captain America, in 1941, shot up to a high of $49.29 before falling a bit to close at $48.37 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Disney approached Marvel a few months ago "to get to know them," Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs told Reuters. The overture began with a meeting between Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger and Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter and evolved into merger discussions over a series of meetings.

"We at Disney had admired them because of their position and asset base," Staggs said. "With conversations over time we came to believe in the value of a combination."

Shares of Disney, which will acquire ownership of more than 5,000 Marvel characters, fell 3 percent to $26.04. The deal is expected to close by year-end, but will not add to Disney earnings until fiscal 2012.

Though Disney stands to get a slice of some of Marvel's hottest, upcoming slate of movies -- including "Thor" and "Iron Man 2", it would not gain in the short term from lucrative theatrical distribution fees.

Paramount Pictures said in a statement its five-picture distribution deal with Marvel remains in force. And Sony Pictures, the division of Sony Co behind the "Spider-Man" movies, can continue to make movies in the franchise, under an existing agreement.

The acquisition came as a surprise, even though Iger had mentioned recently the company would consider acquisitions that bolstered Disney brands across international markets and on new technology platforms.

While it could kick-start more mid- to small-sized deals in the media sector -- where stocks have outperformed the broader Standard & Poor's 500 this year -- few analysts see another bidder making a play for Marvel.

A major reason is the presence of Marvel's Perlmutter, who owns 37 percent of the company and will oversee it within the Disney empire. Perlmutter will trade his stake in Marvel for a 1 percent stake in Disney, but will not receive a seat on its board of directors -- as did Pixar CEO Steve Jobs.

Disney was advised on the deal by Goldman Sachs, Allen & Company and Guggenheim Partners, while Marvel worked with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Disney executives drew a number of parallels between the Pixar and Marvel deals, and suggested it would keep the Marvel brand intact.

"The goal here is not to rebrand Marvel," Iger said on a conference call.

Caris & Co analyst David Miller said Disney was "sandbagging a little" by estimating the deal would not add to its earnings for another two years.

"They said the same thing with the Pixar deal," said Miller, who has "above average" ratings on both Disney and Marvel. "They will make it accretive a lot sooner. They are underpromising, as they always do."

And what do the fanboys -- the ones who scrutinize every comic-book adaptation for faithfulness to the original -- say?.

Stan Lee -- the co-creator of Spider-Man and Chairman Emeritus of Marvel -- says don't worry.

"To me, becoming 'Disneyfied' is not a bad thing. I mean look at (Disney) movies like 'Pirates of the Caribbean,'" Lee, who parted ways with Marvel years ago said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "Disney knows how to do movies."

rock and roll hall of fame concert

2009-07-23T05:36:00.000-07:00

Rock legends to perform Hall of Fame concerts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bruce Springsteen, U2, Paul Simon and other rock legends will come together for two concerts in October to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The concerts on October 29 and 30 at New York City's Madison Square Garden will trace the history of rock and roll, from soul to hard rock, and also feature Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Metallica, with guest stars and collaborations promised.

Simon and Garfunkel will grace the stage together, as will 1970s staples Crosby, Stills Nash & Friends.

Proceeds from the concerts will help raise money for a permanent endowment for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and Museum which was founded by Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun.

"Twenty-five years ago ... Ahmet Ertegun created this foundation to recognize and celebrate the music and careers of artists whose music helped shape and define our generation," said Jann Wenner, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. "These once-in-a-lifetime concerts are designed to celebrate the artists and their music."

Tickets go on sale to the general public on August 3.

King of Pop Michael Jackson dies, aged 50

2009-06-25T21:57:00.001-07:00

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson, the child star turned King of Pop who set the world dancing but whose musical genius was overshadowed by a bizarre lifestyle and sex scandals, died on Thursday. He was 50.

Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. PDT (9:26 p.m. EDT) after arriving at a Los Angeles hospital in full cardiac arrest, said Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner's office. The cause of death was not known and an autopsy would likely take place on Friday, he said.

Jackson was taken ill at home and his personal physician tried to resuscitate him but could not, his brother Jermaine told reporters. He was taken by paramedics to the hospital, where doctors worked for more than an hour to try to revive him before pronouncing him dead, the brother said.

Late Thursday, his body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner's office.

The self-styled "King of Pop," whose hits included "Thriller" and "Billie Jean," leaves behind a mountain of debt and an unfulfilled series of comeback concerts set for London in July. Many hoped the shows would rake in millions and erase his financial troubles.

Jackson's dramatic, one-gloved stage presence and innovative dance moves were imitated by legions of fans around the world who mourned his death.

His lifetime record sales tally was believed to be around 750 million. With his 13 Grammy Awards and boundary-breaking music videos he was one of the most successful entertainers of all time.

But Jackson's belief that "I am Peter Pan in my heart," his preference for the company of children, his friendship with a chimp, his high-pitched voice and numerous plastic surgeries also earned him critics and the nickname "Wacko Jacko."

Jackson led a reclusive life after his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation, the second time he had faced ultimately unproved allegations of abuse of young boys.

"I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news," said Quincy Jones, who helped arrange the music on the album "Thriller" and produced the "Off the Wall" album, said in a statement.

Celebrity tributes poured in for the singer who was one of the first black entertainers of the MTV generation to gain a big crossover following.

Pop star Madonna said: "I can't stop crying over the sad news ... I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats but his music will live on forever."

JACKSON'S HEALTH A QUESTION

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson's home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, saying they had been directed to do so by Chief William Bratton because of the media frenzy.

Police called the investigation an "every day" event and said they were assigned due to the high profile nature of it.

But Jackson was plagued by ill health throughout his adult years leading to speculation about his condition when he died.

As Jackson grew older he appeared to lighten his skin to a pale white -- which he said was caused by the skin pigmentation condition vitiligo. Last year he was photographed in Las Vegas in a wheelchair for reasons that were never explained.

Yet, even as he seemed to be sick, Jackson planned the series of comeback concerts in London starting July 13 to help erase debts that the Wall Street Journal reported ran to $500 million, citing people familiar with Jackson's finances.

He had been rehearsing for the past two months, including Wednesday night at Los Angeles' huge Staples Center arena.

Brian Oxman, a spokesman for the Jackson family, told CNN that the family had been concerned about the pop star's health and had tried in vain to take care of him for months.

"Michael appeared at rehearsals a couple of times, he was very seriously trying to be able to do those rehearsals. His use of medications had gotten in the way, his injuries which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebrae and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way," Oxman told CNN.

But the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

CHILD STAR TO MEGASTAR

Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael -- first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6. They walked off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson Five, and then The Jackson 5.

Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released "Thriller" in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide.

The next year, he unveiled his signature "moonwalk" dance move, gliding across the stage and setting off an instant trend, while performing "Billie Jean" during an NBC special.

But his personal life was troubled.

In 1993, Jackson was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy, but no charges were filed against him and the matter was settled out of court in 1994 with the boy's family.

The same year, Jackson announced he had become addicted to painkillers and abruptly canceled a world tour to promote his album, "Dangerous."

In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.

"I'm so very sad and confused with every emotion possible. ... This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me," Presley said in statement.

Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999, and he later had another child with an unidentified surrogate mother.

He is survived by three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism.

Dozens of fans gathered near Jackson's modest boyhood home in Gary, to pay their respects to the entertainer who left the city long ago. Some deposited flowers or toys and others blared his hit songs from their car stereos.

In Los Angeles, fans waited outside the hospital, the coroner's office, and in New York, people gathered at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, singing Jackson hits and dancing in celebratory tribute.

(Additional Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Dan Whitcomb, Alex Dobuzinskis and Laura Isensee in Los Angeles, Andrew Stern in Chicago and Michelle Nichols in New York; Writing by Frances Kerry, editing by Anthony Boadle)

Santana in las vegas

2009-06-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

carlos santana from woodstock to las vegas

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Guitarist Carlos Santana has an answer for anyone who questions what a self-proclaimed hippie is doing playing a months-long residency in Las Vegas: He doesn't buy into anyone's illusions of who he is.

Santana opened his new show last week at the Hard Rock Hotel -- 40 years after the guitarist thrilled the crowds at Woodstock -- becoming one of the biggest music-makers from the generation of peace and love to take up digs in Sin City.

The 61-year-old Mexican native told Reuters this week that he does not care about anyone who might criticize him for straying from his hippie roots by taking the gig in Las Vegas.

"I don't buy into other people's illusions about who I am," Santana said. "First of all, they don't even know about what I do with my money."

Santana, an 11-time Grammy winner, said he has a long history of supporting political causes, such as Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu's fight against apartheid in South Africa, and charities, such as earthquake relief in Nicaragua.

He noted that fellow 1960s superstar Bob Dylan, with whom Santana has toured in the past, will play at minor league baseball parks this summer. "What's the difference if I play at a parking lot, Woodstock or Las Vegas?" Santana said.

Santana, whose hit songs include "Smooth" and "Black Magic Woman," opened his show "Supernatural Santana" on May 27 at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, in the first of 72 shows he will play this year and next at the venue.

Music critic Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Santana's show opened with video images from Woodstock and it seemed an odd fit for Las Vegas' crowd of weekend revelers.

"The fact that Santana's show worked in this setting proves what an unusual rock icon he is," Powers wrote.

'IDOL' MOMENT

A week before opening in Las Vegas, Santana performed on the finale of top-rated talent show "American Idol" on the Fox network, and gave advice to the singing contestants.

"You have to make ugly faces to make pretty notes," Santana said. "The first thing I noticed at rehearsal is they looked really good, like models, and they were sucking their cheeks and looking like they belong in an agency for beauty."

"I couldn't feel the notes, so I said you need to start making ugly faces," he said.

Raised in Tijuana, Mexico, Santana learned his own musical lessons from his father, Jose, a mariachi violinist. As Santana tells it, he once saw his father on the violin play call-and-response with a bird in the backyard.

"And he goes, 'See if you can talk to birds, you can definitely talk to people's hearts,'" Santana said. "That was the biggest lesson that he taught me."

Even though he will tour Europe in July, Santana said the idea of staying in one place attracted him to Las Vegas because it allows him to avoid the hassle of flying to shows.

Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry news source Pollstar.com, said Santana's residency at the Hard Rock is a natural progression for a Las Vegas hotel industry increasingly attracting top acts.

"Part of it is the realization that the audience coming to Vegas is much more varied than it used to be, and it includes many of the Woodstock generation," he said.

Prior to Santana, one of the few rock stars to play Las Vegas as a resident was Elton John, who this year ended a five-year run that resulted in more than $120 million worth of ticket sales, according to figures from Pollstar.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Eric Walsh)

Carlos Santana is a Grammy Award -winning Mexican rock musician and guitarist . He became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which created a highly successful blend of rock, salsa, and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin percussion such as timbales and congas. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a sudden resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Carlos Santana has been known as "The Carlos". Rolling Stone also named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003.

Guitar Hero with Van Halen to be released

2009-05-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Guitar Hero: Van Halen to be released later this year.
Guitar Hero: Van Halen is being developed as we speak, according to gaming blog Joystiq. Game publisher Activision Blizzard has confirmed to them that Van Halen fans will have the game in their hands by the latter part of this year.

The site reports that Activision said the game will contain Van Halen's "greatest hits," as well as guest acts like Queen, Weezer, Blink-182, The Offspring, and Queens of the Stone Age.

The game will also feature Van Halen's original lineup with David Lee Roth. Activision's Senior Vice President of Global Brand Management told Joystiq, "Oh this is definitely Van Halen, not Van Hagar."

The Van Halen game will be the third version of Guitar Hero to be based around a single rock artist/band, following succesful Aerosmith and Metallica games.

Steven Tyler autobiography: "I can't retire"

2009-05-15T06:43:00.000-07:00

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler's long-awaited autobiography, titled Does The Noise In My Head Bother You?, will be published on October 27th, according to a press release. The book follows Tyler's childhood in the Bronx, his early musical career, his now-historic partnership with guitarist Joe Perry and the rise, fall and rebirth of Aerosmith. The book will also trace Tyler's romantic liaisons, his relationship with his four children, and his dealings with the sex-and-drug-filled life of a rock star. Tyler commented, "This is not just my take -- this is the unbridled truth, the in-your-face, up-close and prodigious tale of Steven Tyler straight from the horse's lips."

Publishing house Ecco, a division of Harper Collins, reportedly paid more than $2 million for Tyler's memoir, according to Blabbermouth.net.

A band memoir, called Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith, was published in 2003.

Tyler, who has been singing for more than 40 years, told us that even a recent string of injuries and illnesses wouldn't make him think of retiring: "No, I don't know if I know how to do that. I know that Joe and I, we questioned it a couple of times about whether, you know, whether we would go out again. We took a year off. I remember I had hep-C (hepatitis-C) and decided to take a year off, and I literally got rid of it. I mean, it's one of the few miracles known to man. I kicked its ass."

Tyler will promote the book at BookExpo America in New York City on May 28th, where he and E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons, who has also written a book, will be interviewed by author Chuck Klosterman.

Aerosmith will hit the road next month with ZZ Top for a two-month North American trek, before returning to the studio later in the year to continue work on a new album.
source the rockradio.com

donation to titanic last survivor

2009-05-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Titanic" stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and the film's director James Cameron have responded to a challenge and donated $30,000 to support the last survivor of the Titanic in her last years, a representative for DiCaprio said Monday.

The survivor, 97-year-old Millvina Dean, has reportedly resorted to selling her autograph to pay her nursing home bills in Southampton, the English city from which "Titanic" began its fateful maiden voyage in 1912.

Dean was only 9 weeks old when her family traveled on Titanic in hopes of beginning a new life in the United States. Her father was one of the 1,517 casualties after the supposedly unsinkable ship hit an iceberg in the Atlantic.

DiCaprio, Winslet and Cameron made their combined $30,000 donation after Irish author and photographer Don Mullan publicly challenged them to match his donation, said Ken Sunshine, a spokesman for DiCaprio. Mullan, who photographed Dean for an exhibition, made his appeal last month in the Irish Independent newspaper.

The 1997 drama "Titanic" made more than $1.8 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing film of all time in figures not adjusted for inflation. It went on to win 11 Oscars, including best picture.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Dean Goodman and Bill Trott)

michael jackson 50 million pay day

2009-05-13T07:20:00.001-07:00

Michael Jackson could take home more than $50 million from his much-anticipated 50-show stand at London's O2 Arena, his first shows in 12 years, according to Billboard calculations.

The concert series begins July 8, and the so-called "King of Pop" has been busy rehearsing at a soundstage in Burbank, Calif., for the past four weeks.

Tickets average about $115 and capacity will be about 15,000 per show, taking the gross for the run to about $90 million. Premium and VIP packages and secondary market sales will boost the gross to more than $100 million. Merchandise sales could bring in another $15 million.

The deal is set up where Jackson shares in net ticket revenue which, according to Billboard calculations, would make Jackson's take on ticket sales alone north of $50 million, though producer/promoter AEG Live would not confirm this.

The company has footed the bill for a $20 million production, and the show layout is coming together.

"Originally we tried to keep the show down to 90 minutes, but Michael has so many must-do songs in his repertoire that the shows now will be two-plus hours," AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips tells Billboard.

Britney Spears Circus european tour

2009-04-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

Singer Britney Spears has extended her "Circus" concert tour to include a dozen European shows taking her from London to Russia, the pop star's representatives said on her Web site on Wednesday.

Spears kicks off the European leg of her tour with a June 19 show in Dublin, Ireland, with later stops in France, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Poland and a final European stop July 26 in Berlin.

She began her "Circus" tour March 3 in her home state of Louisiana, and the tour features 39 North American dates.

youtube new deal

2009-04-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Google Inc's YouTube said on Thursday it has reached a deal to post Sony Corp films and TV shows and was talking with other big studios to ramp up content and attract more advertising dollars.

YouTube also announced deals with 11 other partners including the Anime Network, Shout Factory, Telenext Media, Documentary Channel and First Look Studios, bolstering its licensed content offerings from dozens of movies and hundreds of TV episodes to 700 movies and thousands of TV episodes.

YouTube also recently announced a partnership with Walt Disney Co to get shortform excerpts of content from ABC and ESPN, reflecting its aggressive efforts to thaw a chilly relationship with Hollywood, which had criticized it in the past for posting unauthorized content.

The partnerships also mark YouTube's efforts to compete with Hulu, a joint venture of General Electric Co's NBC and News Corp's Fox and a popular online hub for TV shows and films.

YouTube, purchased by Google for $1.65 billion in 2006, is under pressure to start yielding a return in line with its huge popularity. More than 100 million users watch videos on the site every month, but the site, best known for grainy videos uploaded by users, has been unable to attract major financial commitments from marketers reluctant to advertise their brands alongside unprofessional content.

"We are in active negotiations with premium content providers and are looking forward to announcing more content partnerships in the near future," YouTube spokesman Chris Dale said on Thursday.

As part of its latest efforts, YouTube said on Thursday it launched a new destination for TV shows and an improved page for movies to make it easier for viewers to discover content.

YouTube has a pending copyright infringement lawsuit from Viacom Inc, but Viacom's sister company CBS posts episodes of older shows like "Star Trek" and "Beverly Hills 90210" on the video sharing site.

Lions Gate Entertainment had previously reached a deal to feature film clips on YouTube, while MGM is one of the few studios to offer full-length movies via its own channel on YouTube.

A Sony spokeswoman said about 15 mostly older films like "St. Elmo's Fire," and "The Blue Lagoon," will be viewable via YouTube on Sony's Crackle site.

YouTube said it was also posting Sony TV shows like "Charlie's Angels" and "Married with Children."

Last week YouTube and Universal Music Group said they will launch a premium music video site called Vevo featuring mainly just professionally-made music videos.

(Reporting by Susan Zeidler; Additional reporting by Yinka Adegoke in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)

Osbourne family addiction to drugs and alcohol

2009-03-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sharon Osbourne lashed out on Thursday at suggestions that her family's history of drug and drink addiction made them unsuitable to host a TV variety show.

Osbourne, her Black Sabbath husband Ozzy and children Jack and Kelly -- who shocked and delighted audiences on their reality show "The Osbournes" -- make their return to U.S. television as a family next week as hosts of a show featuring, skits, audience pranks and a sprinkling of four-letter words.

Kelly, 24, recently completed a second stint of rehab for addiction to painkillers, while Jack, 23, has struggled with alcoholism and Ozzy has spoken frequently of earlier addiction to drugs and drink.

Asked in a telephone conference call if their past would prove controversial in their new roles on the "Osbournes Reloaded" show, Sharon said it was "most ridiculous question I have ever been asked in my entire career."

"I am really angry. Do you know how many people in this country alone suffer from addiction?

"All my family are examples of being truthful about their condition and working though it and trying to better themselves," she said.

"We are a real family and we don't pretend to be something we are not. I have taken real offense...probably half the people watching our show have someone in their family who has a problem with alcohol and drugs."

Osbourne said her son Jack had been sober for six years and that she viewed him as a "beacon of hope to every young person in this country who is struggling with addiction."

"We live in the real world, and this world is tough," she said.

"Osbournes Reloaded", which premieres on Fox on March 31 at 9.20 pm, features candid-camera style skits, occasional pie-throwing and a pair of "mini-Osbournes" played by British child actors who dress and behave as outrageously as Ozzy and Sharon themselves.

Sharon Osbourne acknowledged that some of the skits might prove controversial but said that none were mean-spirited.

"I don't care (about the reaction). As far as my barometer goes, we weren't being mean. It was all in good fun," she said.

The heavily-bleeped MTV reality show "The Osbournes" about the family's dysfunctional life in Beverly Hills ran for three years and won an Emmy award before ending in 2005. By Jill Serjeant

US video game sales increases

2009-03-23T09:07:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. video game sales rose 10 percent in February to $1.47 billion, led again by Nintendo's blockbuster Wii console, as gaming continued to show resilience despite an economic downturn that has sapped consumer spending.

Video game software sales climbed 9 percent in the month to $733.5 million while hardware sales rose 11 percent to $532.7 million, research group NPD said on Thursday.

The Wii console led the pack as the top-selling hardware device in the month, moving 753,000 units.

Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of Nintendo America, said Wii hardware and software each rose about 75 percent on a unit basis.

"The exciting thing is, despite a soft economy, Nintendo's business continues to grow really healthily."

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the No. 2 console in the month, followed by Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2.

Capcom's Street Fighter IV was the best-selling game, moving a combined 849,000 units for the Xbox and the PS3, while the Wii Fit was No. 2 at 644,000. That was followed by Wii Play and Sony's Killzone 2.

"What it tells you about this economy is that there are a couple of categories of consumer that are just going to get what they want," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

He said the success of Street Fighter and Wii Fit shows that the industry's strength lies at two seemingly opposite poles: the young, hardcore male consumer and families.

"I think that what this is telling you is that guys who buy video games have no clue that we're in a recession," he said.

Software unit sales rose 14 percent, but the average retail price for games fell 4 percent, NPD said.

One of the gaming industry's biggest events of the year, the Game Developer's Conference, will take place next week in San Francisco. An address on Wednesday from Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, will be a highlight.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Gary Hill)

Clash guitarist and his rock and roll library

2009-03-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

LONDON (Reuters) - As a young boy, Clash guitarist Mick Jones would chase his football idols all over London for autographs. Then he discovered music and dropped the autograph book but not his manic collecting.

Over the years, the 53 year-old co-founder of one of Punk's biggest bands has amassed a mammoth collection of books, magazines, records, posters alongside artwork, recording gear, stage clothes and song lyrics from his time with The Clash and his other bands Big Audio Dynamite and Carbon/Silicon.

Jones is finally showing this personal archive of popular culture at London's Chelsea Space gallery in an exhibit called the "Rock and Roll Public Library" that runs until April 18.

"I started collecting things when I was very young and I did not really know why. Then at the Millennium, the change of the century, it started to become clear. I realized I wanted to share it," Jones told Reuters.

"It's a fantastic collection people can take great pleasure from and also learn something," he added.

Jones, who went to Hammersmith art school before co-founding The Clash in 1976, says he thinks of the collection as "one big living artwork" that he is still working on.

Many of the items on display had been crammed into his west London recording studio for years and Jones would not guess how many pieces he owns.

"I have kept everything, if it exists it's probably there somewhere," he jokes.

FOOTBALL OR MUSIC?

An only child, whose parents divorced when he was 8, Jones says he started collecting odds and ends as a way to create his own world. Football and later music became escapes for a boy left "with little parental control."

"If you are like a young working class boy in London, you have to make a choice between sport or music. I made the choice for music," he says.

The installation, which seeks to recreate Jones' recording studio and adjoining store room, offers a rare insight into the life, times and influences of the musician.

Album covers dangling on threads from the ceiling like mobiles, books and films about Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash but also Frank Sinatra, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones testify of Jones's deep and obsessive love of music.

As a teenager Jones recalls "bunking" fares to follow his favorite bands like Mott the Hoople or Rod Stewart and the Faces around the country or standing outside Mick Jagger's house in London trying to get a glimpse of an idol.

"We used to stand outside like urchins. I was a stalker then. I never knew I would have my own stalkers one day."

The late Johnny Thunders was a key influence. The New York Dolls guitarist was the reason why a young Jones can be seen donning platform shoes on some pictures taken in his pre-punk English Glam days.

Many of the music magazines and fanzines on display have deep personal meaning. Jones recalls that his mother, who moved to America when he was a young boy, used to send him issues of "Creem" and "Rock Scene" magazines every month.

Creem's star writer Lester Bangs wrote about the early New York punk scene and artists such as Patti Smith or The Ramones.

"I was really up on that stuff while not many people here were. Bangs was one of their main writer. So it was such a joy to get to know him when he came to write about us," he recalls.

Bangs wrote a famous article about The Clash in a 1977 review for the New Musical Express (NME).

Also on display are Clash memorabilia such as the famous pink flight cases, plane tickets, access badges or a hastily scribbled note to Jones by Clash frontman, the late Joe Strummer.

True to his punk ideals, Jones hopes the collection can one day become a permanent and freely available resource.

"Ultimately I'd like to have a permanent place to exhibit the whole collection like a museum, like a library where you can come and see the stuff and maybe get a copy or sit there and read it. I also would like to bring artists there because it's history really," he says.

Jones would not pick a favorite item among the whole collection but admits that his old footballer's autograph book is now "one of my most treasured possessions."

"I have the whole England World Cup winning squad. The managers, the trainers, everything. That was 1966 when we won the World Cup. Biggest thing ever !"

"The Rock and Roll Public Library"

Chelsea Space
16 John Islip Street
London
SW1P 4JU

Iron Maiden documentary set for spring release

2009-01-22T04:28:00.001-08:00

Iron Maiden documentary set for spring release

Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009 2:25AM UTC

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - "Iron Maiden: Flight 666," the first feature documentary on the British heavy metal band, will receive a spring release on home turf via European digital cinema provider Arts Alliance Media.

The documentary details the story of the first leg of the band's 2008 tour and is billed as an "intimate and revealing portrait" of the rockers.

In 45 days the band played in Asia, Australia and North, Central and South America, with lead singer Bruce Dickinson piloting a customized jet.

AAM will distribute the documentary to selected U.K. cinemas beginning April 21 in association with the band itself, EMI Records and Universal in the U.S.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Army recruiting at the mall with video games

2009-01-12T05:38:00.001-08:00

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The U.S. Army, struggling to ensure it has enough manpower as it fights wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is wooing young Americans with video games, Google maps and simulated attacks on enemy positions from an Apache helicopter.

Departing from the recruiting environment of metal tables and uniformed soldiers in a drab military building, the Army has invested $12 million in a facility that looks like a cross between a hotel lobby and a video arcade.

The U.S. Army Experience Center at the Franklin Mills shopping mall in northeast Philadelphia has 60 personal computers loaded with military video games, 19 Xbox 360 video game controllers and a series of interactive screens describing military bases and career options in great detail.

Potential recruits can hang out on couches and listen to rock music that fills the space.

The center is the first of its kind and opened in August as part of a two-year experiment. So far, it has signed up 33 full-time soldiers and five reservists -- roughly matching the performance of five traditional recruiting centers it replaced.

The U.S. military says it has been meeting or exceeding its recruiting and retention goals, with 185,000 men and women entering active-duty military service in the fiscal year that ended on September 30 -- the highest number since 2003.

Defense officials say the recession and rising unemployment were likely to boost recruiting.

The Philadelphia center lures recruits with a separate room for prospective soldiers to "fire" from a real Humvee on enemy encampments projected on a 15-foot-high (4.5-meter-high) battleground scenario that also has deafening sound effects.

In another room, those inclined to attack from above can join helicopter raids in which enemy soldiers emerge from hide-outs to be felled by automatic gunfire rattling from a simulator modeled on an Apache or Blackhawk helicopter.

The Army is not simply looking for new recruits, said First Sgt. Randy Jennings, who runs the center. It also aims to dispel misperceptions about Army life.

"We want them to know that being in the Army isn't just about carrying weapons and busting down doors," said Jennings, who wears slacks and a polo shirt rather than a uniform. About 80 percent of soldiers are not involved in direct combat roles, he said.

GLAMORIZING WAR?

Jesse Hamilton, a former Army staff sergeant who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, said the use of video games glamorized war and misled potential recruits, calling it "very deceiving and very far from realistic."

"You can't simulate the loss when you see people getting killed," said Hamilton, who left the Army after his Iraq tour and is now a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

"It's not very likely you are going to get into a firefight," he said. "The only way to simulate the heat is holding a blow dryer to your face."

The center is an experiment in boosting urban recruitment, which has traditionally lagged behind that of rural areas.

Eddie Abuali, 20, who was waiting to take an Army aptitude test, said he felt more comfortable in the center than he would in a traditional recruiting office. "It's a more relaxed environment," said Abuali, who plans to join the Army when he graduates from college. "You don't feel like you are being pressured."

Project manager Maj. Larry Dillard said recruitment was more difficult about two years ago when the United States was struggling in Iraq and jobs at home were easier to get.

"Now the news coming out of Iraq is better and we are in an economic downturn. It will be easier," he said.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Daniel Trotta)

Daniel Craig takes break from Bond

2009-01-07T21:11:00.001-08:00

By Douglas MacLaurin

LONDON (Reuters) - British actor Daniel Craig has taken a break from playing James Bond with World War Two drama "Defiance," based on the true story of Jewish brothers who fled the Nazis and formed a partisan group.

Craig has said he wants to avoid being typecast as an action hero after being chosen for the high-profile role of James Bond, and to use his new-found fame to get smaller projects off the ground.

Before his first outing as the superspy in "Casino Royale" in 2006, the 40-year-old was seen as a respected character actor for appearances in TV drama "Our Friends of the North" and gangster movie "Layer Cake."

His latest on-screen outing is as Tuvia, the eldest of the real-life Bielski brothers who hid from the Nazis in a Belarussian forest where they ran a partisan resistance movement that protected hundreds of Jews from Nazi persecution.

"One of the reasons I think the story is important is because this is very recent history and a lot of the way we look at the world and live in the world is shaped because of that history," Craig told Reuters at the London premiere of the movie late on Tuesday.

"Stories like this need to be told because it's not that long ago," added the star, who attracted hundreds of fans to Leicester Square despite freezing temperatures.

U.S. actor Liev Schreiber, who plays another of the Bielski brothers, said the film, and the true story behind it, showed how protecting one another was a basic human instinct.

"I think, at the heart of this story, is the notion that we are, as a race, instinctively ... protective of each other and more so than ever it's important to remember that -- that we are a communal species."

Director Edward Zwick, who also made "The Last Samurai" and "Blood Diamond," said audiences may draw parallels between events of the 1940s and current conflicts.

"I think to see refugees displaced, going from one place to the other, is one of the salient images of our time," he said.

"To try and think about resistance and the nature of resistance by a people against an overwhelming force is also quite contemporary."

"Defiance" has had a limited release in the United States, where it opens nationally on January 16. It arrives in British cinemas on January 9.

(Writing by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Beyonce, Tyler Perry dominate NAACP Image nominations

2009-01-07T20:50:00.001-08:00

Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009 10:59PM UTC

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singers Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson, along with the cast of TV comedy "Tyler Perry's House of Payne", were among top nominees for the NAACP Image Awards, the oldest U.S. civil rights organization said on Wednesday.

Television mini-series "A Raisin in the Sun" also received multiple nominations, while "Cadillac Records" and "The Secret Life of Bees" dominated movie entries for the 40th NAACP Image Awards.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People also announced that hip-hop music producer and businessman Russell Simmons will receive its prestigious Vanguard award next month for helping to increase understanding of racial and social issues.

Simmons, 51, the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, was cited for using the power of hip-hop culture to inspire American youth. He joins past Vanguard recipients Aretha Franklin, Prince, Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kramer.

Beyonce led the music nominations with five nods including outstanding artist, album, song, and music video for "Single Ladies" and "If I Were a Boy."

Former "American Idol" contestant Hudson, and Keys were close behind in the music category, and along with Beyonce, they picked up more nominations in the film section for roles in dramas "The Secret Life of Bees" and "Cadillac Records."

In television, TBS sitcom "Tyler Perry's House of Payne", towered over the best comedy nominees, with cast members LaVan Davis, Cassi Davis, Lance Gross, Larramie 'Doc' Shaw, and Keshia Knight Pulliam all winning nods in the acting categories.

The ABC miniseries "A Raisin in the Sun", based on the 1950s play about life in a black neighborhood of Chicago, won nominations for outstanding drama and for its five leading actors and actresses.

The NAACP Image Awards in 53 categories spanning music, literature, television and music, will be handed out in Los Angeles on Feb 12.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Aerosmith gets back to work after '08 break

2009-01-07T20:48:00.001-08:00

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Aerosmith is ready to return to work on its next studio album, according to drummer Joey Kramer.

"Today is the first day (bassist) Tom (Hamilton) and I are getting back together," he wrote Monday on the group's Web site (http://www.aeroforceone.com). "We just rehearsed for two hours and it feels so good! We can't wait to get back into the studio and get back out on the road to do what we do best."

Work has already begun on the band's first album of original material since 2001's "Just Push Play." Aerosmith pressed pause on the project last year while band members recovered from a variety of medical issues, such as singer Steven Tyler's rehab stint and lead guitarist Joe Perry's knee surgery.

"Like a lot of other things in life, you don't get to call the shots on these things, do you?," guitarist Brad Whitford told Billboard.com last fall. "We're just ... getting older."

There's no date for the new album, but it's expected to be out sometime this year via Columbia. Aerosmith also has one live show lined up on February 1 at Estadio Olimpico in Caracas, Venezuela.

Reuters/Billboard

Digital albums now offer liner notes, lyrics

2008-11-10T09:48:00.001-08:00

Digital albums now offer liner notes, lyrics

Saturday, Nov 08, 2008 3:35AM UTC

By Antony Bruno

DENVER (Billboard) - CDs come with booklets filled with liner notes, lyrics, photos and more. But a digital album or single comes with bupkis -- an omission that started at the dawn of downloadable music.

Now technology has brought a solution: downloadable artist-branded applications for cell phones and handheld media players. And the first of these work on -- not surprisingly -- Apple's iPhone.

Before the December 16 release of Fall Out Boy's "Folie a Deux," the band will release an iPhone app that at first blush looks like its Web site.

It's actually more than that -- it's basically an interactive CD booklet, one that's far more advanced than the PDF files that some labels have included with albums from iTunes. The Fall Out Boy app will contain track listings, photos and lyrics from the band's entire discography that can be accessed directly from the iPhone, as well as links to buy its songs from iTunes.

Perhaps best of all, they can be updated automatically. Just like iTunes and Internet Explorer can receive updates that add functionality, Fall Out Boy will improve its app in the weeks to come. Eventually it will include a mobile social network integrated with the community on falloutboyrock.com, Twitter-like microblogging tools, photo uploading and the ability to find other nearby app users with the iPhone's GPS location technology.

Including such features in a standard music download has proved too difficult from both a licensing and a technology perspective. On the licensing side, embedding lyrics into each song downloaded from iTunes would raise prices. And such files wouldn't be compatible with all the devices meant to play them.

Making apps for the iPhone could be the first workaround to that problem. Pink, Snow Patrol and David Cook have already released iPhone apps like Fall Out Boy's with the same kinds of features: Pink has streaming video; Snow Patrol has a touch-screen "game" that lets users find lyrics and artwork; Cook has a flickering image of a cigarette lighter that's meant to replace an actual lighter at concerts.

If these programs find an audience, artist-branded iPhone apps may become as common as artist Web sites are today. But creating these programs -- particularly the more sophisticated ones -- requires an investment of time and money, so labels are being selective about creating them.

"We can't do for everybody what we're doing for Fall Out Boy," Island Def Jam senior VP of new media and commerce Christian Jorg says. "This is an artist we think has the right target demo, we know the iPhone is successful with that demo and has great capabilities, and we'd like to put a product out there that speaks to that demo."

Labels want to see other devices -- both mobile phones and MP3 players -- with Internet access and open-development platforms before creating such applications for their entire catalogs. The 7 million iPhones worldwide simply aren't enough of a market. But they could just be the beginning.

"This isn't just about the iPhone," says Sony Music Entertainment VP of mobile marketing, sales and business development Sean Rosenberg, who worked on the Pink app. "That's a very small part of the handset market. But, within the music environment and content usage, it's a great place to test out what people like, how they use these and whether there is a long-term play toward packaging not just our music but also our artist's properties and Web site assets in this new fashion so it's easier for fans to interact with on all mobile devices."

From the very beginning, the gatefold LPs and the booklets in CDs were meant to deepen fan interaction with artists. Artist Web sites, MySpace pages and YouTube videos have expanded that idea but at the expense of the portable device. Applications that deliver additional content to portable music devices could expand the audience for digital music and give fans a new way to connect with artists.

"The whole experience of being a fan of a band has completely turned upside down," says Dan Kruchkow of Crush Management, which handles Fall Out Boy.

"You used to listen to the radio, watch MTV or go to a show, and that's all you could do. Now, the possibilities are limitless. Anything you can think of, you can do."

Gene Simmons rushes to cash in on rock videogames

2008-11-10T09:25:00.001-08:00

Saturday, Nov 08, 2008

DENVER (Billboard) - Amid the flood of third-party instrument peripherals emerging for the new "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" music simulation games, God forbid if Gene Simmons would miss an opportunity to get his brand on.

The entrepreneurial Kiss bassist and reality TV star has created a replica of the bass he uses while touring, which is compatible with all PlayStation versions of both games. The Gene Simmons AXE Guitar is, yes, shaped like a battle axe, and includes Simmons' superimposed autograph as well as his betongued likeness in full makeup.

It has a wireless range of up to 30 feet, two sets of fret buttons, and whammy and strum bars. It should be available November 15 from Hip Street (http://www.hipstreetonline.com) for $80.

Reuters/Billboard

Pink Floyd founder Richard Wright dies

2008-09-17T04:38:00.001-07:00

Monday, Sep 15, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - Pink Floyd keyboard player and founding member Richard Wright died on Monday after a short battle with cancer, his spokesman said. He was 65.

Wright, singer, songwriter and guitarist Syd Barrett, guitarist Roger Waters and drummer Nick Mason founded the band that became Pink Floyd in the 1960s when they were students. Pink Floyd went on to become one of the biggest names in rock.

"The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness, that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer," his spokesman said in a statement.

"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."

Wright co-wrote five songs on "Dark Side of the Moon", which was released in 1973, spent 14 years on the Billboard 200 album chart and is one of the best selling albums ever.

Wright left Pink Floyd after falling out with Waters during sessions for "The Wall". He rejoined the band in 1987.

(Reporting by David Clarke; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Next U2 album pushed to early 2009

2008-09-05T19:11:00.001-07:00

Thursday, Sep 04, 2008

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Initially expected this fall as a fourth-quarter blockbuster, U2's next album has been pushed to early 2009 while the band continues to write and record material.

"I thought a while back we might have the album wrapped by now, but why come up above ground now if there's more priceless stuff to be found?," frontman Bono writes on U2.com (http://www.u2.com).

Of late, the group has been recording in the south of France, having already logged time in Fez and Dublin with longtime collaborators Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite.

'We know we have to emerge soon but we also know that people don't want another U2 album unless it is our best ever album," Bono says. "It has to be our most innovative, our most challenging ... or what's the point ?"

Bono says the band now was "50 or 60" new songs to consider for inclusion on the follow-up to 2004's Grammy-winning album of the year "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb."

"The last two records were very personal, with a kind of three piece at their heart, the primary colours of rock -- bass, guitars and drum," he says. "But what we're about now is of the same order as the transition that took us from 'The Joshua Tree' to 'Achtung Baby.'"

Among the songs in the mix are "Get on Your Boots," "For Your Love," "Breathe," "No Line on the Horizon" and the eight-minute "Moment of Surrender."

Reuters/Billboard

Dylan rolls out rocking show in rarely used venue

2008-09-05T19:08:00.001-07:00

Friday, Sep 05, 2008

By Darryl Morden

SANTA MONICA, California (Hollywood Reporter) - Leave it to an enigmatic-after-all-these-years rock legend to play a 50-year-old creaky venue that hasn't been a concert hotspot for quite some time. Back in the 1970s and '80s, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium played host to shows from the Kinks to Queen to the Clash. The sound was never very good.

These days, the sound remains dicey, though one got used to it as Bob Dylan rolled out a two-hour show Wednesday (September 3) of the old and the recent. At 67, he can rest on his laurels, but instead he keeps touring and recording.

As always, it all comes down to what he's going to play, how he's going to arrange it and how he'll phrase it. Anyone expecting album re-creations hasn't been following the man these many decades. He's never been an oldies act.

Dressed in a black suit and wide-brim hat and still sporting that pencil-thin moustache, Dylan looked like a Western saloon gambler (the Jack of Hearts, anyone?), his backing quintet in matching light brown suits. He stood behind his keyboard, drawing roars whenever he blew a bit of harmonica.

The carnival parading of "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" with its crowd-pleasing refrain of "everybody must get stoned" kicked off the show for the SRO crowd of about 3,500, followed by a raw "It Ain't Me, Babe" and the galloping "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again."

That's the way it went all night, Dylan mining his vast catalogue from the '60s, then mixing in songs from 2006's "Modern Times." He skipped a lot of eras, but that's the way the set list rolls.

Dylan's current band -- guitarists Stu Kimball and Denny Freeman, drummer George Recile, bassist Tony Garnier and multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron on viola, banjo, electric mandolin, pedal steel and lap steel -- have been with him for several years, adept at the changes that come with each performance. The boss lets them cut loose at times, though they never stray from the core of his songs, even in new guises.

The grooves were steady and jumping, too. There was the tale-spinning of "Mississippi," the Oscar-winning, caustic "Things Have Changed" from "The Wonder Boys" soundtrack and more classics, such as a ramshackle "I Don't Believe You" and the ever-biting "Ballad of a Thin Man."

A boogie-pumped "Highway 61 Revisited," channelling the spirit of John Lee Hooker, revved up the crowd, while the more recent "Thunder on the Mountain" closed out the main set. Dylan returned with the signature "Like a Rolling Stone" and a revamped yet still ominous "All Along the Watchtower."

The audience ranged from those old enough to collect Social Security to fans in their '20s, obviously thrilled to experience an American icon.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Musical taste "defines personality"

2008-09-05T19:00:00.001-07:00

Friday, Sep 05, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - Fans of classical music and jazz are creative, pop lovers are hardworking and, despite the stereotypes, heavy metal listeners are gentle, creative types who are at ease with themselves.

So says Professor Adrian North of Scotland's Heriot-Watt University who has been studying the links between people's personalities and their choice of music.

"People often define their sense of identity through their musical taste, wearing particular clothes, going to certain pubs, and using certain types of slang," North said.

"It's not surprising that personality should also be related to musical preference."

In what North said was the largest study ever conducted into individuals' musical preference and character, researchers asked 36,518 people from around the world to rate how much they liked 104 different musical styles before taking a personality test.

"Researchers have been showing for decades that fans of rock and rap are rebellious, and that fans of opera are wealthy and well-educated," North said.

"But this is the first time that research has shown that personality links to liking for a wide range of musical styles."

The study concluded that jazz and classical music fans are creative with good self-esteem, although the former are much more outgoing whereas the latter are shy.

Country and western fans were found to be hardworking and shy; rap fans are outgoing and indie lovers lack self-esteem and are not very gentle.

Those who like soul music can take heart as the research concluded they are creative, outgoing, gentle, at ease with themselves and have a high self-esteem.

And if you've ever wondered why people driving expensive sports cars often have music blaring from their vehicle, North could have an explanation.

Those who choose to listen to exciting, punchy music are more likely to be in a higher earning bracket, he says, while those who go for relaxing sounds tend to be lower down the pay scale.

North is still looking for volunteers to take part in the research. Details on http://www.peopleintomusic.com/

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Rock group Heart says "Barracuda" use is fishy

2008-09-05T18:57:00.001-07:00

Friday, Sep 05, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The rock group Heart, angry that its 70's hit "Barracuda" is being used as the unofficial theme song for Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, is biting back at the Alaska governor.

The song, a nod to the "Sarah Barracuda" nickname Palin earned on the basketball court in high school, was dusted off for her appearance at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Wednesday.

Heart singers Ann and Nancy Wilson said a "cease-and-desist" letter has been sent to the Republicans asking them not to use the song.

"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission," according to a statement issued late on Thursday on behalf of the sisters.

There was no immediate comment from the Republican camp.

Last month, rocker Jackson Browne sued Republican presidential candidate John McCain, the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party, accusing them of using his 1977 hit "Running on Empty" in a campaign ad without permission.

Copyright law may not be on the Wilsons' side as the song is licensed for public performance under a blanket fee paid by the venue to ASCAP, the firm that collects royalties on behalf of composers and copyright owners.

Despite the Wilson sisters' objections, one of the song's co-writers said he was "thrilled" that the song was used.

In an e-mail to Reuters, the band's former guitarist, Roger Fisher, said it was a win-win situation. Heart gets publicity and royalties, while the Republicans benefit from "the ingenious placement of a kick-ass song," Fisher said.

Fisher and the Wilsons wrote "Barracuda" with drummer Michael DeRosier. It appeared on the group's second album, "Little Queen" in 1977. The song was inspired by the band's anger over an obnoxious record label executive.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Jill Serjeant)

John Lennon movie

2008-08-31T19:40:00.001-07:00

John Lennon movie coming together

Friday, Aug 29, 2008

LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - The story of John Lennon is headed for the big screen with "Nowhere Boy," which will focus on the former Beatle's troubled adolescence.

Screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh's script details the story of Lennon as a lonely teenager abandoned by his mother and raised by his authoritarian aunt. His only escape is music, art and his fateful friendship with Paul McCartney.

The film will be directed by visual artist Sam Taylor-Wood, who will shoot on location in Lennon's hometown of Liverpool.

"The women in John's early life truly shaped who he became," Taylor-Wood said, "and the strengths and weaknesses of their relationships are central to this film."

Casting for the major roles "is under way," said producer Ecosse Films, which is developing the project with the Film Council.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Gwen Stefani gives birth to baby boy

2008-08-23T07:14:00.003-07:00

Gwen Stefani's baby boy

Friday, Aug 22, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani gave birth to a boy named Zuma on Thursday in Los Angeles, her second child with husband Gavin Rossdale, her spokesman said.

Stefani and her baby are "happy and healthy" following the birth at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, publicist Dave Tomberlin said in a statement. Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale weighs 8.5 pounds, Tomberlin said.

Stefani, 38, and Rossdale, 40, have one other child, a son named Kingston who was born in 2006.

The California-born Stefani rose to fame with the band No Doubt in the 1990s, scoring hit songs such as "Just a Girl" and "Don't Speak." Her 2004 album "Love. Angel. Music. Baby." became a breakout solo hit.

Stefani and Rossdale, who gained fame in the British rock band Bush, married in 2002.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

AC/DC to release "Black Ice" in October

2008-08-20T08:44:00.001-07:00

AC/DC to release "Black Ice" in October

Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Rock band AC/DC's first studio album in eight years, "Black Ice," will be sold exclusively in the U.S. via Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and the band's Web site, beginning October 20. First single "Rock 'n' Roll Train" will hit U.S. radio on August 28.

In an unusual move, the exclusive release comes with the full cooperation of AC/DC's label home, Columbia, which says it is planning "multiple activities for fans" leading up to release date.

The 15-track "Black Ice" is the follow-up to 2000's "Stiff Upper Lip." An extensive world tour in support of the set will begin in late October.

In addition, on September 9 Columbia will release "No Bull: The Director's Cut," a newly edited DVD of AC/DC's July 1996 show at Madrid's Plaza De Toros De Las Ventas.

Reuters/Billboard

U2 Bono pumps up the volume on new songs

2008-08-20T08:41:00.003-07:00

Tuesday, Aug 19, 2008

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Rock stars may have to rein in their taste for loud music after a fan overheard U2 frontman Bono listening to tracks from the group's forthcoming album and recorded them before posting the songs on the Internet.

The fan heard the music blaring out of the Irish rocker's holiday home in the south of France, recorded it on his mobile phone and posted four tracks on video-sharing website YouTube, newspapers and music websites reported on Tuesday.

The previously unheard songs had now been removed from the website for copyright reasons but continuned to circulate via email, the Irish Independent newspaper said.

Nobody at U2's record label could immediately be reached for comment on the reports.

The quality of the recording was said to be poor, with the noise of waves and seagulls audible in the background.

(Reporting by Paul Hoskins)

Batman dominates box office for a month

2008-08-20T08:29:00.001-07:00

Batman dominates box office for a month

Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - The latest Batman movie "The Dark Knight" was Britain's favourite film for a fourth week, just pipping "Mamma Mia!" for the top box office spot over the weekend.

Starring Christian Bale and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, and directed by Englishman Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight took 2.3 million pounds, according to Screen International, for a four-week total of 40 million.

Mamma Mia, the film of the show based on Swedish supergroup Abba, took 2.2 million pounds for a 45 million pound six-week total and edged back up to second spot from third.

Coming in at three was Adam Sandler's new comedy "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," the story of an Israeli assassin fleeing to New York to become a hairdresser.

The third film of the Mummy franchise, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon," was down two places at four with "Wild Child," featuring a spoilt Malibu brat at an English boarding school, coming in at five.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars," an animated version acting as a pilot for an upcoming Cartoon Network series, came in at six while animated robot "Wall-E" was down three places at seven.

The galactic rescue mission by "Space Chimps" was back up one place at eight, swapping places with "Kung Fu Panda."

At 10, down four places, was Hindi action comedy "Singh is Kinng."

Dave Matthews Band saxophonist Moore dies

2008-08-20T08:26:00.001-07:00

Dave Matthews Band saxophonist Moore dies

Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Saxophonist LeRoi Moore, a founding member of the Dave Matthews Band, died on Tuesday of complications from a vehicle accident in June.

A statement on the band's Web site said Moore, 46, died unexpectedly at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon.

Moore had been injured in June while riding an all-terrain vehicle near his farm in Charlottesville, Virginia, the statement said.

He recently had returned to his home in Los Angeles to begin rehabilitation.

Reuters/Nielsen

Lavigne asked to postpone concert

2008-08-20T08:17:00.001-07:00

Lavigne asked to postpone concert

Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's government has told promoters of a concert by Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne to postpone the show because it could mar the country's independence day celebrations, an official said on Wednesday.

The decision came after the opposition Islamic party, Parti se-Islam Malaysia, objected to the August 29 concert in Kuala Lumpur, saying that mainly Muslim Malaysia should not ape Western values and cultures.

Although Malaysia is a moderate Muslim country with sizeable non-Muslim minorities, conservative groups often frown upon departures from strict interpretations of the Koran.

A culture ministry official said the show's promoters now have to find another slot for Lavigne.

"We did not reject the concert. We asked them to find another date as the original date is so close to the independence day," the official said. "That's the only reason."

A spokesman for the organisers said more than half of the tickets had already been sold. "As far as we are concerned, the show is still on," he said. Malaysia marks its 51st year of independence from Britain on August 31.

Last October, U.S. R&B star Beyonce Knowles axed her debut concert in Malaysia in protest against the country's ultra-strict dress code and over fears of a Muslim outcry over her show.

But a year ago, U.S. singer Gwen Stefani performed in Malaysia despite calls from Muslim students to cancel the concert because they deemed it too obscene.

(Reporting by Jalil Hamid, editing by Miral Fahmy)

RedOctane execs on a roll with "Guitar Hero"

2008-07-14T23:37:00.001-07:00

RedOctane execs on a roll with "Guitar Hero"

Sunday, Jul 13,

By Antony Bruno

DENVER (Billboard) - There were a lot of questions surrounding the "Guitar Hero" videogame when it first came out. Would gamers agree to pony up extra money for the special guitar-shaped controller needed to play it? Would the music industry agree to license master tracks? Would the addition of downloadable content be successful?

The answer to all those questions has turned out to be a resounding yes. "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" has sold more than 8 million copies, and the franchise has sold more than 20 million songs through its downloadable content store.

During the past month, publisher Activision -- which purchased the rights to the franchise by acquiring original publisher RedOctane -- rolled out a portable version of the game for the Nintendo DS called "Guitar Hero: On Tour," introduced a special edition dedicated to classic rock act Aerosmith and unveiled plans for its next instalment, "Guitar Hero: World Tour," which for the first time adds drums and vocals to the mix in a bid to compete with rival "Rock Band." An added twist for the expected fourth-quarter release: The game's "music studio" feature enables users to compose and record tracks and share them online.

To be sure, the story of "Guitar Hero" seems to be just hitting its stride rather than slowing down. Billboard caught up with RedOctane founders and brothers Kai and Charles Huang -- president and VP of business development, respectively -- to hear their reflections on the past and what they've got planned for the future.

Q: Why a whole expansion of the game dedicated to Aerosmith rather than just featuring the band as a downloadable content special?

Kai Huang: Because we really wanted to showcase Aerosmith the band. Downloadable content will allow you to just get the music, but we've gone much, much further than that. We've actually brought them into the studio to do full-motion capture of them in performance, and we put all of that into the game. We had the band consult on the actual songs that they wanted, including about 20 of the songs that they had over their 30-year career. And then they provided input on songs that were from bands that they'd either toured with in the past or that have influenced them over the course of their career. So the game is a lot more than just about Aerosmith music, it really is about the history and the rise of Aerosmith.

Charles Huang: Even the venues have changed, so the venues are the actual places where they played. We actually have Nipmuc High School (in Massachusetts), where they did their first gig, (and) Max's Kansas City, and all of (those) are authentic through the history of Aerosmith, so it was a lot more than just making their music playable with "Guitar Hero III." That's why we had to put it on disc to get all of that into the game.

Q: Is this the template for how you would like to do other expansion-type discs with other artists for "Guitar Hero?"

Kai: Yeah, I think definitely. If "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" proves to be as successful as we think it will be, then we would love to continue doing this type of game with bands in the future because it's a lot of fun to work with the bands, No. 1, but again it's a great way to showcase the talents and the career and the histories of these bands.

Q: So you want to see how well this Aerosmith "band pack" works before doing the same with other artists?

Charles: We would love to work with a lot of other artists. Now to fill up a whole game, you have to have an artist that has some longevity and history, they have to have a body of work that can span 25, 30 great "Guitar Hero" tracks, and so there's a handful of bands that have that, and we'd love to work with them. But there's a lot of great songs out there that we would love to compile in a genre pack as well, so definitely the commercial success of this game will dictate some of our strategy. But some of it is just dictated by the music that's available from some artists.

Q: There's been some news about how Metallica might be the next on deck. Can you guys comment at all about that?

Kai: We're not ready to comment about Metallica yet, but what I will say is that we'd love to work with all of the top rock bands of all time, whether it's Aerosmith or Metallica or AC/DC or Led Zeppelin. If we get an opportunity to work with those bands, we would love to do that.

Q: In the space of just a few weeks there has been a lot of "Guitar Hero"-related news. How do you manage all this without the brand getting overexposed or diluted?

Charles: Even though they all have the "Guitar Hero" name, they are slightly different. "Guitar Hero: On Tour" is (for the Nintendo) DS and it's a portable experience. It's a little bit different (in) that we're targeting the game at perhaps a little bit younger audience that plays the DS, so this is kind of like the game for all the people that have to walk around all day with an iPod because they love their music everywhere they go. "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" is the same experience as "Guitar Hero III" -- it's in your living room, you're playing with friends at parties.

Q: "World Tour" is quite a major evolution of the game and the bands from the last version. How will it be sufficiently different from "Rock Band," other than just the songs included in the game?

Charles: First of all, we've got our instruments, which for the first time really in the history of the franchise has some significant innovations. So the guitar will have new features, the drums will have new features as well. (They) will play differently. The drums will have velocity censors that will sense how hard you're hitting the drum, and that plays a big role in the music studio, where you'll be able to go in and record ... guitars and drum tracks and upload it onto the Internet. Then people can go and download those songs and play them on their "Guitar Hero" game, so that's the big innovation both on the hardware and (the) software side.

Q: Can you say anything about the Beatles rumours we're hearing?

Kai: Unfortunately, those are rumours right now and we don't have any comments yet.

Charles: Well, I don't have to tell you how difficult it is. Everybody in the world has tried to get the Beatles to put their music on all kinds of different platforms, and it certainly would be exciting, but it's also a difficult challenge.

Reuters/Billboard

New Guns song heads to "Rock Band 2"

2008-07-14T23:10:00.001-07:00

New Guns N roses song heads to "Rock Band 2"

Monday, Jul 14, 2008 8:54PM UTC

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A new Guns N' Roses song, "Shackler's Revenge," apparently from the decade-in-the-works album "Chinese Democracy," will be included in the video game "Rock Band 2," according to a report in the New York Times.

The game will be released in September.

The news makes it seem increasingly likely that "Chinese Democracy" will finally see the light of day before year's end via Interscope. Nine seemingly complete tracks from the album, not including "Shackler's Revenge," leaked online earlier this summer.

"Rock Band 2," developed by MTV and Harmonix, will support all songs downloaded for the game to date and will also support the original game's instrument controllers. But it will also introduce new controllers for drums and guitar and boast a soundtrack of more than 100 master recordings.

In April, Motley Crue made its new single, "Saints of Los Angeles," available for download "Rock Band" well in advance of the release of the album of the same name. The only other place to obtain the track was iTunes.

According to data provided in late May by the band's management, Tenth Street Entertainment, the track was downloaded more than 47,000 times via the Xbox 360 version of the game alone in the first week after it became available. ("Rock Band" publisher MTV Networks was unable to independently verify these figures, and total downloads that include the PlayStation 3 version of the game were not available.)

By comparison, the same track received slightly more than 10,000 downloads via digital services like iTunes and Amazon, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The track has now sold more than 62,000 downloads.

Reuters/Billboard

Mick Jones back on track with revamped Foreigner

2008-06-23T02:07:00.001-07:00

This article was sent to you from Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters
http://uk.mobile.reuters.com

Mick Jones back on track with revamped Foreigner

Saturday, Jun 21, 2008 2:22PM UTC

By Gary Graff

DETROIT (Billboard) - In 1976, Mick Jones found himself out of a job. The Surrey native had a reputation as a guitar gunslinger dating back to his own band, Nero & the Gladiators; session credits for George Harrison, Peter Frampton and Johnny Halliday; and tenures with the Leslie West Band and Spooky Tooth. But after an angry departure from the Leslie West Band, Jones was at a crossroads and looking for his next move. He came up with a winner -- Foreigner.

Recruiting an old mate, Ian McDonald from King Crimson, and some unknown American players, Jones created a juggernaut that has sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and enough hits to fill a double-disc retrospective (No End in Sight: The Very Best of Foreigner," due July 15 on Rhino Records).

After a brief hiatus, Jone put together a new lineup in 2005 and has been touring steadily since.

Critics may not consider Foreigner the hippest band to ever tread the rock 'n' roll boards, but it's hard to argue with that kind of successful track record and the enduring appeal that Jones and his latest incarnation of the band (which includes late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's son Jason and former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson) continue to enjoy.

Q: In 1976, when you formed Foreigner, could you have imagined still leading the band in 2008?

Mick Jones: I guess I have to say no. (Laughs) The life expectation of bands was pretty low. I didn't even think I'd be playing after the age of 30, 35. I guess the (Rolling) Stones and (Led) Zeppelin were starting to become "classic" at that point, but I had no idea. I wasn't expecting anything like the reception we got for the first album, even. I thought it was going to be a labour of love for the next few years to establish ourselves. I certainly hadn't set my sights past that. So what's happened has been ... unbelievable, really.

Q: How did you assemble Foreigner's first lineup?

Jones: First of all it was with Ian Lloyd, the singer of a band called Stories, who really helped me a tremendous amount at the beginning to flesh out the songs vocally. And one by one I added players. I had recently met up with Ian McDonald, and he became involved. And then I believe it was Al Greenwood, the keyboard player. Then we finally settled, after quite a search for drummers, on Dennis Elliott, and then eventually Ed Gagliardi on bass. Then, after about 50 auditions of singers, we ended up with Lou (Gramm).

Q: Gramm was a crucial find. Was it love at first listen?

Jones: Yeah, it was. When I heard his voice on an album that I'd been given of his band, Black Sheep, I was actually in the midst of writing "Feels Like the First Time." I'd had a few demos from people who'd sent stuff in, and I was listening to them. The moment I heard Lou's voice, it clicked.

Q: What was your vision for Foreigner?

Jones: I wanted it to be a band that had the ability to choose its own direction. I needed it to have, like, a palette, to be able to choose from different colours and different sounds and different directions. I felt that we needed keyboards, from organ through synthesizers, which were still in the early stages at that point. Ian McDonald, who was a multi-instrumentalist, helped a lot, too. It had to have that ability to travel through different styles and create a different sort of style.

Q: At that time rock bands weren't really having pop hit singles. But Foreigner did from the get-go.

Jones: No, it was definitely more of an album-oriented world at the time. I knew that "Feels Like the First Time" was probably a bit more commercial than anything I'd written so far, and "Cold As Ice," I realized that had a bit of a pop edge to it. But to me the important thing was writing an album that you could listen to from the beginning to the end. The singles were sort of highlights, the songs that attracted people's attention more immediately. But my heart was more into making albums.

Q: Did you ever feel that Foreigner as an album band got short shrift because of the singles?

Jones: Not according to the sales of the albums and the amount of people who bought them. I think we were considerably more of an album-selling band. I think the thing really was we were fighting upstream a lot. We had to fight quite a lot with the different trends that came in -- the dawn of punk, the critics, the things flying around like "corporate rock," where the band had been put together in the boardroom of the record company; all this bulls--t. I was always confident in the music, and I put my heart and soul into everything that we did. That's all I could do, and it seemed to work. I always wanted this band to be regarded as an album band more than a singles band. I have a feeling at the end of the day we probably are.

Q: Lineup changes began with 1979's "Head Games." Were you disappointed that the original band didn't stay together?

Jones: I look back now and I think, "Was that the right thing to do?" I really don't know. It was just at the time I felt that the band needed to hone its direction. People may not have understood quite what was going on, but it was the normal process of a band growing and changing on its way.

Q: What's your perspective now on your relationship with Gramm?

Jones: That's a tough one. (Laughs) We had a great deal of respect for each other. We went through a tremendous amount together, highs and lows. We were never the closest of friends, but I think we both appreciated each other's gifts. At times it felt very close. I look back at a lot of great, happy times, a lot of very heady times, especially in the first few years. I don't think there's any malice between us now, but I think ... the chasm between us has deepened. But over time, I'd say it was a great relationship.

Q: Even when he was complaining about you being a control freak?

Jones: (Laughs) If I look back on it, I was probably a little too much that way. I felt I was the visionary of the band, if you like. I was sort of a little desperate at first to keep it that way. But from the very word go I really encouraged Lou's involvement. We wrote a number of great songs together.

Q: Some feel that "I Want to Know What Love Is" was the death knell for Foreigner, at least as a credible rock band. How do you see it?

Jones: I can't really say that. If you look at (our) whole history, each album had a couple of ballads on (it). I think that Lou aired his opinion about it at the time, and that's what led to people jumping on it as a reason for (our) differences. But I can never really think that having a worldwide No. 1 song would be detrimental to a band.

Q: You put Foreigner on ice earlier this decade, shortly after the band's 25th anniversary. What happened?

Jones: Lou and I had gotten back from a European engagement, and I think we both realized we didn't have much of a future; we were at odds about several different things. Lou sort of immediately put plans together to go out by himself, and I just took some steps back and took it easy. I spent a lot of time with my family, getting to know my kids again. It worked out very well for me.

Q: There's a new song, "Too Late," on "No End in Sight" that indicates you don't intend for this version of Foreigner to be an oldies act.

Jones: Yeah, it's not just pulling a band together for the sake of touring. There's a long-range plan now that we really do have with the lineup. It's just very exciting and I'm very much into that. I don't really have time to think about negative things from the past or dwell on things. I'm glad to say that I think I've found my way again.

Reuters/Billboard

Just a Minute With: Musician Peter Gabriel

2008-06-13T04:07:00.001-07:00

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com

Thursday, Jun 12, 2008 By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - Grammy-winning musician Peter Gabriel believes the Internet has drowned users with too much choice, failed to democratise the pop industry as much as was hoped and eroded the quality of what people listen to.

The 58-year-old producer, former Genesis frontman, world music champion and digital technology pioneer is involved in two new ventures he hopes will address his concerns.

The first is The Filter (www.thefilter.com), which aims to produce a blueprint of an individual's taste in music, movies, news and views by analyzing what the person buys online.

Users can recommend songs and films to each other, and, further down the line, may be able to customize their profiles by selecting particular directors, artists and critics.

The second is a venture with speaker makers Bowers & Wilkins that offers an exclusive album each month recorded at his Real World Studios and available online as an uncompressed file, which should ensure CD-standard quality.

Gabriel, who helps organize the WOMAD world music festival in Britain, this year from July 25 to 27, spoke to Reuters about his new projects.

Q: What is the main idea behind The Filter?

A: I think in a world in which we are drowning in choice and have access to everything, we are going to rely more and more on good filtering. I think one of the ways we are trying to do this a little differently is (to) integrate the best of expert systems -- best of machine and best of man. There are living, breathing people whose tastes and guidance we trust whether they be friends, experts, musicians, film directors, critics, journalists.

We're trying to integrate their parameters, if you like, with 'you bought this therefore you might like this'. That is part of the mixer idea and it's only in its first stage of implementation. Those people whose taste is available through The Filter, you can then allocate them to the mixer. That would be the aim ideally.

Q: Has the Internet been as much of a force for good in the music industry as you had hoped?

A: I think everyone thought that it was going to democratise the music business, but it's done less of that than we would have hoped. I think if you have good filtering then that is a tool to really level the playing field. If people are starting to really like what you do, and that enthusiasm and that sort of rating is getting in there, then that will make you more visible and accessible so it would then be based on passion and enthusiasm rather than just on dollars of merchandising and advertising.

Q: Are the kind of musicians you typically support, most of whom are not household names, benefiting from the digital revolution in music?

A: Not as much as I would like yet, and as a lot of the artists are losing one of the central sources of their income, i.e. record sales, they need to become smarter in building their own database as a means of accessing their own fans and learning and getting the feedback from their fans.

That's a channel through which they can sell other stuff. We do need to democratise the process of discovery.

Q: Another negative aspect of the Internet you identified is the poor quality of downloaded music many people listen to?

A: The iPod, for example, does have the capacity to hold ... what they call 'Apple Lossless' files, so it's built in and available, but very few people use it and an MP3 has become the sort of new standard and it's a giant step backwards. Whereas in television now most of us are getting used to wide screen or high definition, and that's gone forwards in terms of quality, music has certainly gone back.

To get as small a number of digits taken up as possible something has to be sacrificed and it's unfortunately the music.

... As good as CD, which I think should be the starting point. We're just trying that out with B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) and we have a small number of acts (to record the albums) but it would be great if a few more musicians would get involved and try and put stuff out in formats other than MP3.

Q: Will you be playing at the Nelson Mandela tribute concert in London on June 27?

A: I'm not going to play at this one. I've done four of the Mandela shows now and my wife is due a baby at this time so I didn't want to have a chance of missing that by being in rehearsal or playing. But I will be, I think, going to a private dinner for his birthday party.

Reuters/Nielsen

Tina Turner unveils first tour in 8 years

2008-05-11T17:46:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Soul legend Tina Turner on Friday unveiled plans to tour for the first time in eight years after her friend and film icon Sophia Loren told her it was time to hit the road again.

Turner, 68, came out of retirement when she sang her hit song "Proud Mary" with R&B singer Beyonce at February's Grammy Awards, and the pair brought the crowd to its feet. Turner, who has been living in Europe, said that after the duet fans begged her to go back on tour.

An eight-time Grammy winner, Turner will bring her show to 17 cities across the United States and Canada, starting with an October 1 performance in Kansas City, Missouri, and wrapping up in Montreal, Canada on December 8.

"My blessing is that most of my audiences are right there with me," Turner said in an interview on "The Early Show" on the U.S. television network CBS.

"They're so ready," Turner said. "It's just like -- even when they're in their chairs, they don't stay in their chairs very long!"

Turner said her friend Loren, the Italian-born actress and 1960s sex symbol, told Turner she had "rested" long enough since her last tour.

Reuters/Nielsen

the Beatles world records

2008-05-07T00:41:00.000-07:00

Achievements.
The Beatles world records

Throughout their relatively short time recording and performing together, The Beatles set a number of world records - most of which have yet to be broken. The following is a partial list.

The Beatles are the best selling musical group of all time, estimated by EMI to be over one billion discs and tapes sold worldwide.

The most multi-platinum selling albums for any artist or musical group (13 in the U.S. alone)

The Beatles have had more number one singles than any other artist or musical group (22 in the U.S. alone). Ironically, the Beatles could easily have had even more number ones, because they were often competing with their own singles. For example, The Beatles' "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were released as a "double A" sided single, which caused sales and airplay to be divided between the two songs instead of being counted collectively. Even so, they reached number two with the singles.

The most successful first week of sales for a double album (The Beatles Anthology Volume 1), which sold 855,473 copies in the U.S. from November 21 to November 28, 1995).

In terms of charting positions, Lennon and McCartney are the most successful songwriters in history, with 32 number one singles in the U.S. for McCartney, and 26 for Lennon (23 of which were written together). Lennon was responsible for 29 number one singles in the U.K., and McCartney was responsible for 28 (25 of which were written together).

During the week of April 4, 1964, The Beatles held the top 5 positions on the Billboard singles chart. No one had ever done anything like this before, and it is doubtful that the conditions will ever exist for anyone to do it again. The songs were "Can't Buy Me Love", "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Please Please Me".

The next week, April 11, 1964, the Beatles held 14 positions on the Billboard Hot 100. Before the Beatles, the highest number of concurrent singles by one artist on the Hot 100 was nine (by Elvis Presley, December 19, 1956).

The Beatles are the only artist to have back-to-back-to-back number one singles on Billboard's Hot 100. Boyz II Men and Elvis Presley have succeeded themselves on the chart, but the Beatles are the only artist to three-peat.

The Beatles' "Yesterday" is the most covered song in history, appearing in the Guinness Book of Records with over 3000 recorded versions.

The Beatles had the fastest selling single of all time with "I Want To Hold Your Hand". The song sold 250,000 units within 3 days in the U.S., one million in 2 weeks. (10,000 copies per hour in New York City alone for the first 20 days)

The largest number of advance orders for a single, at 2.1 million copies in the U.S. for "Can't Buy Me Love"

With their performance at Shea Stadium in 1965, The Beatles set new world records for concert attendance (55,600+) and revenue.

The Beatles broke television ratings records in the U.S. with their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.

On June 12, 1965, The Beatles were awarded the order of Member of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen.

On July 2, 1966, The Beatles became the first musical group to perform at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo.

Nine Inch Nails offers freebie of new album

2008-05-05T21:32:00.001-07:00

By Susan Visakowitz

NEW YORK - In a surprise move, Nine Inch Nails posted access to a free download of its new album, "The Slip," on its Web site on Monday morning (May 5).

The 10-track album is available in its entirety in several formats -- including MP3 and high-quality, "lossless" audio compression options like FLAC -- via a link on NIN.com. All of the formats come free of digital rights management.

A statement on the site from frontman Trent Reznor says simply, "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years -- this one's on me."

Nine Inch Nails plans to release "The Slip" on CD and vinyl in July and will use traditional brick-and-mortar distribution. Further details about the physical product have yet to be announced.

The band's manager, Jim Guerinot, told Billboard.com that the timing for the free digital download felt right because "we just put a record out (and) we're going on-sale with tickets."

He added that Reznor's "been in a prolific phase and we didn't want 'business' to get in the way of getting the art in the hands of the fans. We've looked at the climate and the many advantages of being able to do whatever we want without bureaucracy."

"The Slip" features Reznor on vocals and various instruments, as well as Josh Freese, Robin Finck and Alessandro Cortini. Guerinot also told Billboard.com that Reznor "worked again with his team of Alan Moulder and Atticus Ross out of his garage" on the recording and said that word of the album arrived late.

"(Trent) let me know there was some new music coming, and the next thing I knew there was a full-length record done," Guerinot said. "It's very exciting to be finishing mixing on Thursday, mastering Friday, finishing artwork on Saturday and having the world hear it (Monday morning)!"

To get the download of "The Slip," site users need to provide an email address, to which a link is sent that includes access to all format options. All downloads also include a PDF with lyrics and artwork.

This is the first time Nine Inch Nails has made a new album available completely and exclusively for free as a digital download.

Demand for the new music appeared to be immediate and heavy. Just after 2:30 p.m. British time, the site was slowed to a crawl because of traffic.

Like the band's previous album, "Ghosts I-IV," "The Slip" is being released under a Creative Common license, so it can be redistributed freely. Reuters/Billboard

Jimi Hendrix sex tape not genuine

2008-05-02T23:26:00.001-07:00

Jimi Hendrix company says sex tape not genuine

Friday, May 02, 2008 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The company that controls rights to rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix's music and likeness said on Thursday a purported sex tape of the musician being sold on the Internet was not authentic.

"We strongly dispute the claimed authenticity of the tape," Experience Hendrix said in a statement.

"We view the release as nothing more than a callous attempt to trade on the image and reputation of a deceased artist who is unable to defend himself against such an outrageous and baseless assertion," the Seattle-based company added.

Earlier this week, Los Angeles-based adult video company Vivid Entertainment released a 45-minute DVD that includes 11 minutes of roughly 40-year-old film footage showing a man resembling Hendrix cavorting with two unidentified brunettes in a dimly lit bedroom.

Vivid said it consulted several experts to authenticate Hendrix's likeness on the tape, including women who knew the guitarist. It said it acquired the tape from an individual who purchased it from a collector who found it.

Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid, said in his own statement on Thursday that Experience Hendrix's comments were "not in any way a refutation of the authenticity" of the tape.

"We are very comfortable this is the real thing," Hirsch said.

Others have also called the tape's authenticity into question, including Charles Cross, author of Hendrix biography "Room Full of Mirrors." He told the New York Times that "it doesn't add up to Jimi" and said he had previously encountered the film himself when he was researching his book.

The sex tape DVD was available for sale online and Vivid said it would be in stores starting next Tuesday.

Hendrix is considered one of the great rock guitarists of all time with hits such as "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady." He died in 1970 at age 27 in London.

Vivid, in addition to marketing adult videos, has also distributed the notorious sex tape of actress Pamela Anderson and rocker Tommy Lee.

(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Mary Milliken)

Aussie rockers Midnight Oil dusting off old albums

2008-05-02T23:22:00.001-07:00

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If there's a silver lining when a rock band breaks up, maybe it's that the members have more time to contemplate reissue projects.

This is the case with Midnight Oil, the politically inspired Australian rock band that enjoyed an unlikely international hit 20 years ago with a concept album about Aboriginal rights.

The band's 25-year run ended after imposing vocalist Peter Garrett announced in 2002 that he was quitting to pursue a career in politics. The surfing skinhead is now a member of Australia's new centre-left federal government.

His comrades kept busy with various musical endeavours, but now guitarist Jim Moginie is leading an ambitious reissue project, beginning with the aforementioned album, 1987's "Diesel and Dust." The disc, which features the hit single "Beds Are Burning," has been remastered, and a bonus track called "Gunbarrel Highway" appended.

The band also has included a DVD documentary of its 1986 tour of the harsh Australian outback. The trek, during which the musicians viewed first-hand the abysmal poverty of Australia's Aboriginal people, as well as their cultural achievements, inspired the tunes on "Diesel and Dust."

"When you think about us singing about dispossessed indigenous people, you wouldn't think that would be a record that anyone would want to hear," Moginie, 51, told Reuters in a recent interview. "But it turned out that they did. There's hope for the world yet."

The album, the band's sixth release, went to No. 1 in many countries, and peaked at No. 21 in the United States. "Beds Are Burning," which receives U.S. radio airplay to this day, hit No. 17 on the pop chart.

MUSICALLY PALATABLE

While the lyrics were decidedly forthright, "Musically, I think we managed to make it reasonably palatable and simple in a way that anyone could enjoy it," said Moginie, who wrote or co-wrote most of the band's songs. "It had a good beat, wasn't too messy or complicated or ragged. It's pretty focused."

He said plans are in the works for a follow-up documentary that will retrace the band's steps in such desert settlements as Kintore East and Yuendemu, which were both immortalized on "Beds Are Burning."

"The same problems are still there," he said. "The petrol sniffing's still pretty rampant, same poverty."

In the meantime, he is working on a reissue for iTunes of the band's 1982 breakthrough "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1," which featured tirades against their compatriots' political apathy, the American military and colonial arrogance.

Moginie and that album's producer, Nick Launay, also have shot a documentary about the making of the album.

"We did find a bunch of cassettes with some demos on it," Moginie said. "It's really interesting to listen to. It was quite surprising."

He hopes both projects will see the light of day within the next 12 months.

With Garrett rocking the halls of power, Moginie often gets together for writing sessions with drummer Rob Hirst and guitarist Martin Rotsey, and has "vague ideas about doing something in the future" with them.

But it would take a lot to bring one former Oils member back into the fold. Bass player Peter Gifford left after the band's extensive touring to promote "Diesel and Dust." He is now the Lamborghini-driving owner of a company that makes micro bikinis and lingerie, Wicked Weasel.

"He's quite the ex-rock star actually, much more than the rest of us," Moginie said. "We're still chipping away at the coal face, whereas Giffo's, 'Nah, nah. I'm finished with that. I'll just become a bikini millionaire.'"

Reuters/Nielsen

Grand Theft Auto IV is a video game "masterpiece"

2008-04-29T09:50:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, Apr 29, 2008 By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Video gamers geared up on Monday for the midnight launch of "Grand Theft Auto 4," as early reviews hailed the criminal action title as a brutal and satirical "masterpiece" equal to films like "The Godfather."

The near-universal accolades lavished on "Grand Theft Auto 4" also helped boost the shares of publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc as much as 3.4 percent, with analysts saying it could help the company's bargaining position as it faces a takeover offer from rival Electronic Arts Inc.

Judging from early reviews, "Grand Theft Auto 4" -- made by Take-Two's Rockstar studio -- appears on track to be the best- rated video game ever and one that could cement video games as a serious art form.

"'Grand Theft Auto IV' is a violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun," The New York Times said.

Based on more than a dozen reviews compiled by Metacritic, a widely tracked aggregator of gaming reviews, the version of GTA4 for Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 game console has scored a perfect 100, while the one for Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 has achieved a 99.

"Rockstar's magnum opus is a modern-day masterpiece that could change the way the world views video games," gaming news and reviews Web site GameSpy wrote, awarding the game a perfect five-star rating.

"You'll quickly come to realize that the nuanced story telling and presentation is on par with the finest films by directors like Martin Scorcese or Francis Ford Coppola."

The glowing reviews may bolster the position of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc Chairman Strauss Zelnick, who has rejected EA's offer as too low and has insisted on waiting until after the game's launch before entering discussions.

"These ratings are quite extraordinary. It's something special and helps us understand why Take-Two was so confident and adamant that they wanted to wait," said UBS analyst Ben Schachter.

The Tuesday launch of "Grand Theft Auto 4" is expected to be the biggest entertainment event of the year, with first-week sales forecast to be up to $400 million, beating those of last year's "Halo 3" from Microsoft Corp.

Many outlets of chains such as GameStop Corp and Best Buy Co Inc have taken advance orders for weeks and are throwing open their doors at midnight to accommodate gamers eager to be among the first to play.

"Our expectations are very high, higher than analysts give the game credit for," Take-Two Chief Executive Ben Feder told Reuters. "All the analysts had a (sales) number, give or take, and I think we will be on the upside of that."

"Grand Theft Auto 4" casts players as an Eastern European immigrant who delivers drugs, shoots cops and beats up prostitutes after falling in with a crime syndicate, stuff that has drawn fire from family groups and politicians.

Entertainment website IGN praised "Grand Theft Auto 4" for showing the effects of depravity on the main character.

"'GTA IV gives us characters and a world with a level of depth previously unseen in gaming and elevates its story from a mere shoot-em-up to an Oscar-calibre drama," IGN said.

Critics saved some of their most fulsome praise for the game's setting, a fictionalized New York called Liberty City, with distinct neighbourhoods and colourful inhabitants who react intelligently to the player and each other.

"The idea of a 'living, breathing city' has always been somewhat of a joke in gaming. Every city in the past has felt artificial in some way. But Liberty City feels like a real place," IGN said.

Some reviewers said the game was not without its faults, with many pointing out some graphical glitches and difficulty completing some of the nearly 150 missions on offer.

"Flawless? No. But it's about as close to a game can come to being perfect," popular gaming blog Kotaku.com said.

(Reporting by Scott Hillis, editing by Gerald E. McCormick/Andre Grenon)

Springsteen keyboardist Danny Federici dies at 58

2008-04-19T04:04:00.001-07:00

Friday, Apr 18, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Keyboardist Danny Federici, who for four decades played alongside rock star Bruce Springsteen as part of the E Street Band and helped define his rollicking sound, has died of melanoma. He was 58.

Federici's death at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on Thursday was announced on Springsteen's official Web site and the rocker postponed a pair of weekend concerts in Florida.

"Danny and I worked together for 40 years - he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much ... we grew up together," Springsteen said on the Web site.

Federici had suffered from melanoma for three years and last played with the E Street Band at a concert in Indianapolis on March 20, delivering an accordion solo on the song "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)."

Like Springsteen, Federici was born in New Jersey and played the accordion from an early age, performing at parties and clubs and developing an interest in jazz and blues music.

He first joined Springsteen in the late 1960s, when the singer songwriter who would become known as "The Boss" was still an unknown, and Federici's organ, accordion and keyboard work was considered a key part of the E Street Band's signature sound on such songs as "Hungry Heart."

Nicknamed "Phantom," he was often overshadowed onstage by the out-sized presence of saxophone player Clarence Clemons, but on leaving the band to seek treatment for his illness in November of last year, Federici was described by Springsteen as "one of the pillars of our sound."

When Springsteen put the E Street Band on hiatus during the 1990s to explore other projects, Federici recorded a solo jazz album titled "Flemington" after his New Jersey hometown. He released a second album, "Sweet," in 2004.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

David Bowie to release 1972 concert bootleg

2008-04-19T03:53:00.001-07:00

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ziggy Stardust is rising again.

David Bowie will release a widely bootlegged live recording taken from his first U.S. tour in 1972, when he transformed himself into his androgynous, alien-rocker alter ego.

"David Bowie: Live Santa Monica '72," set for release on July 8 via Virgin/EMI, is taken from a show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The October 20 concert was recorded by a now-defunct radio station KMET-FM, and underground copies have made the show a fan favourite.

Bowie is also fond of the recording, according to a statement released on Thursday by EMI Music Marketing.

"We trainwreck a couple of things, I miss some words and sometimes you wouldn't know that pianist Mike Garson was onstage with us, but overall I really treasure this bootleg. (Late guitarist) Mick Ronson is at his blistering best."

About half of the tracks from his 1972 studio album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" appear on the disc, including concert opener "Hang On To Yourself" and "Suffragette City."

Tunes from such earlier releases as "Hunky Dory" and "The Man Who Sold the World" also made the set list. Additionally, Bowie previewed "The Jean Genie," which would appear on his 1973 album "Aladdin Sane."

The CD and double-vinyl versions of the EMI release will include photos taken at the show and a reprint of Los Angeles Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn's review. It is also available as a digital download.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)

Wild boys Duran Duran

2008-04-17T23:49:00.001-07:00

from reuters.com

Duran Duran "cool" at last. Thursday, Apr 17, 2008

By Alastair Himmer

TOKYO (Reuters) - Duran Duran, who shot to fame for a string of smash hits and dodgy suits in the 1980s, are officially cool at last.

Once panned for being pretty boys who used enough hairspray to blow a hole in the ozone layer, the band have become a reference point for many of today's chart-topping acts, such as indie rockers Arctic Monkeys and American outfit The Killers.

"It's the greatest form of flattery," Duran Duran drummer Roger Taylor told Reuters in an interview before a sell-out Tokyo show earlier this week.

"Sometimes the music press try to write us out of music history a little bit, so it's been really cool that bands have actually said we were a good band, and they were good songs and they want to be a little bit like us and take something from Duran Duran."

While videos of them on yachts wearing silk suits might be painful to watch now, over 100,000 Internet pages are devoted to Duran Duran, who have sold more than 90 million albums.

The band counted the late Princess Diana among their legions of female fans during their 1980s heyday with hits such as "Girls on Film" and "Hungry Like the Wolf."

However, Duran Duran bristle at the notion they are 80s relics, pointing to a new album made in collaboration with Justin Timberlake and top American producer Timbaland.

"I think people who grew up in the 80s are often going to think of us," said keyboard player Nick Rhodes. "That was when we started out so it's inevitable to a degree. We did have quite an impact musically at that time.

"But we've always carried on working, throughout the 1990s. In fact (1993 comeback single) 'Ordinary World' was, world-wide, the biggest hit we ever had.

"It's good to think we've been around almost 30 years and we've put together a new album like 'Red Carpet Massacre' which feels very fresh and sharp."

MISSING TAYLORS

Rhodes and singer Simon Le Bon are the only two of the original five members to stick with Duran Duran through thick and thin, the band losing the last of its unrelated trio of Taylors with bassist John Taylor's departure in the late 1990s.

"All the Taylors went missing," smiled Rhodes. "It was very careless of us. That was a very difficult time without a doubt."

Although the original five members reformed in 2003, guitarist Andy Taylor has since left again.

"There was only one album we made completely Taylor-free," continued Rhodes. "It definitely didn't feel like the essence of Duran Duran anymore."

It has been a long and often painful catharsis for Duran Duran, with stories of bust-ups, spells in rehab and the occasional boating accident splashed across the tabloids.

"In the 80s our core audience were like 12, 13-year-old girls...very hormonally strung-out teenagers," said Roger Taylor, who quit the band in 1985 and bought a farm.

"We'd turn up at a hotel and we couldn't go anywhere because there would be thousands of them outside, glued to the window. We were just kept in our rooms.

"We would get torn apart if we went out. It was a very intense period of time. I just wanted to get away. I bought a farm. I wasn't really a farmer -- that was just a myth."

FRILLY-SHIRTED EXUBERANCE

A generation on from the frilly-shirted exuberance of 1981 debut "Planet Earth," the former heart-throbs have lost none of their flair for courting controversy.

The video for the single "Falling Down" -- a Britney Spears-inspired portrayal of anorexic-looking models in rehab -- was banned for being too raunchy.

Although the musicians are now in their late 40s, Duran Duran concerts regularly sell out in minutes, the crowd mania at this week's Tokyo show testament to their enduring popularity.

Lifetime achievement awards from the music industry further underline the impact the band have had on popular culture.

"I'm sure when people see us come into the room they see a history," said Taylor. "I think it's very important that we keep looking forward. We rarely talk about the early days or listen to the music. It's bad to get stuck in an era."

Reuters/Nielsen

Alice Cooper and Slash honoured for work with addicts

2008-04-12T04:12:00.001-07:00

Saturday, Apr 12, 2008
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - After 26 years of sobriety, Alice Cooper has some advice to pass along to the younger generation: "I don't think you need to die for your art."

The shock-rocker will be honoured for his work with fellow addicts during a May 9 benefit dinner and concert in Hollywood organized by the MusiCares MAP Fund, which provides members of the music community access to addiction recovery treatment.

"I've made myself very available to friends of mine," says Cooper, who will receive the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award. "They're people who would call me late at night and say, 'Between you and me, I've got a problem.'"

MusiCares will also honour Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash for his dedication to the organization's mission and goals.

Cooper and Slash will perform at the alcohol-free event, at the Music Box at the Fonda theatre, as will Cat Power, Blind Melon and all-star group Camp Freddy.

Reuters/Billboard

Elton John and Hillary Clinton

2008-04-10T21:16:00.001-07:00

Elton John laments U.S. misogyny

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Elton John, playing a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton in New York on Wednesday, said he was amazed at the misogyny of some in America and he hoped that wouldn't stop her being president.

At the fund-raiser which Clinton's campaign manager said raised $2.5 million (1.26 million pounds), John said there was no one more qualified to lead the United States into the next era.

"Having said that, I never cease to be amazed at the misogynistic attitude of some people in this country. And I say to hell with them," he said, drawing cheers from the crowd at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan.

"The reason I'm here tonight is to play music, but more importantly as someone who comes from abroad, and is in America quite a lot of the time (and) is extremely interested in the political process because it effects the whole world."

"I've always been a Hillary supporter," he said.

Introducing him, Clinton recalled that the entertainer had played at the White House at a state dinner when her husband Bill Clinton was president.

The New York senator, who is trailing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, vowed to take her battle for the Democratic nomination to the end of the primary process, saying all the states should have their say.

Clinton said she couldn't sing but "What I want you to know is 'I'm still standing,'" -- echoing the title of an Elton John song.

John opened his set with the track "Your Song," dwelling on the line "How wonderful life is when you're in the world." Other hits he sang included "Daniel" and "Rocket Man."

(Reporting by Claudia Parsons, editing by Todd Eastham)

Prince a late addition to California festival

2008-04-10T21:04:00.001-07:00

from http://reuters.com.

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Prince will make what is believed to be his first U.S. festival appearance ever at the Coachella festival in southern California later this month.

He will headline the Saturday (April 26) lineup, organizers confirmed said Wednesday, joining previously announced headliners Jack Johnson (April 25) and Roger Waters (April 27).

The addition is reminiscent of 2006, when Madonna joined the Coachella bill just a few weeks before the show. But she performed just five songs in the dance tent, whereas Prince will play a full show on the main stage.

Other Coachella acts include Kraftwerk, Portishead, the Verve, Aphex Twin, My Morning Jacket, Spiritualized, the Breeders and Serj Tankian.

Prince has just one other date on his upcoming schedule: a June 16 show at Dublin's Croke Park.

According to gossip columnist Perez Hilton (http://www.perezhilton.com), Prince was paid almost $4 million (2 million pounds) for the appearance. The report could not immediately be confirmed, but the figure comes close to the $5 million that rocker Morrissey said two years ago his former band the Smiths turned down to reunite at Coachella.

Reuters/Billboard

Lionel Richie and Steve Miller honoured at L.A. awards

2008-04-10T21:00:00.001-07:00

Lionel Richie and Steve Miller honoured at L.A. awards

Thursday, Apr 10, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lionel Richie didn't dance on the ceiling, and Steve Miller didn't fly like an eagle, but both veterans seemed pretty thrilled to pick up lifetime achievement honours at a music industry awards show in Hollywood on Wednesday.

Richie and Miller received Golden Note Awards during the 25th annual Pop Music Awards organized by ASCAP, an organization that collects public-performance royalties for its member songwriters and copyright owners.

The black-tie event, which took place at the Kodak Theatre, honours the writers and publishers of ASCAP's most-performed compositions during the past year. R&B producer Timbaland was named songwriter of the year, while Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" and Gwen Stefani featuring Akon's "The Great Escape" shared the award for song of the year.

Miller, 64, took to the stage to perform six songs, including such '70s hits as "The Joker" and "Fly Like An Eagle," accompanied by his eponymous band.

In accepting his award, the rock guitarist said, "I never saw myself receiving any awards or doing anything."

Richie, 58, who did not perform, paid tribute to his former bandmates in the Commodores, the Motown hitmaking machine from which he launched a hugely successful solo career in the 1980s. Pondering a video retrospective that preceded the presentation, Richie joked that the only thing he wished he could go back and change was his hairstyle.

Timbaland was unable to accept his award in person, sending a message that said he was busy mixing the new solo album by former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell.

Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie recalled that she came up with "Boys Don't Cry" five years ago while she was living at her mother's place and collecting unemployment benefits.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)

Disney previews 10 new animated movies

2008-04-09T03:35:00.001-07:00

from http://reuters.com

Disney previews 10 new animated movies

Tuesday, Apr 08, 2008

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Studios previewed 10 animated movies on Monday that it will release during the next four years, including further installments in the "Toy Story" and "Cars" series and two new fairy tales.

With the exception of "Wall.E," a robot love story opening on June 28, and "The Princess and the Frog," a hand-drawn animated fairy tale set in New Orleans and due to open Christmas 2009, the remaining eight movies will be made in digital 3-D.

"We're excited to be pushing the boundaries of 3-D and computer technology to tell our stories in the best possible way," said John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

Digital 3-D still requires moviegoers to wear geeky glasses, but the left- and right-eye images are calibrated so finely that most viewers experience no headache or eyestrain.

The first Disney digital 3-D movie for release is "Bolt," the story of a dog of the same name who thinks he has superhero powers. John Travolta gives voice to Bolt while hit teen singer/actress Miley Cyrus is voicing Bolt's owner Penny in the movie, due to open on November 26.

"Up," the story of an unlikely 78-year-old adventurer and his 8-year-old sidekick, is due to be released on May 29, 2009. "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" are due to be re-released in digital 3-D on October 2, 2009 and February 12, 2010 respectively, while "Toy Story 3" is due to hit screens on June 18, 2010.

All the original cast from the previous "Toy Story" films, including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack, are returning for the third film, which picks up with Andy grown up and about the head off to college.

The classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Rapunzel," about a girl trapped in a tower whose long golden hair is the only way for anyone to climb up to her, will be released at Christmas 2010.

Next comes "Newt," a story of the last two blue-footed newts on the planet that aims to show that love is not a science, which is due to hit screens in summer 2011.

Another new original fairy tale, "The Bear and the Bow" -- an action-adventure about a royal family in rugged and mythic Scotland -- is slated to open Christmas 2011 starring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson.

"Cars 2," in which Lightning McQueen and his best friend Mater bid to take on the world's fastest cars, is due for release in summer 2012. "King of Elves," based on a 1953 short story by Phillip K. Dick, will hit screens at Christmas 2012.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols)

"Smoke on the Water" still top riff

2008-04-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Smoke on the Water" still top riff

Friday, Apr 04, 2008

By Atholl Simpson

LONDON (Reuters) - Deep Purple's 1973 hit "Smoke on the Water" is the greatest guitar riff of all time, according to a poll by a London music school that has taught members of top bands like Radiohead, The Kinks and The Cure.

The majority of the 25 songs selected by current students of the London Tech Music School, were recorded in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Only seven were recorded in the last 20 years.

"It was the iconic era for the electric guitar." head of the school's Guitar and Bass section John Wheatcroft told Reuters.

"A lot of our students started listening to their parents records and discovered these bands through them."

The most recent song selected was "7 Nation Army" recorded by American rock duo The White Stripes in 2003.

But Wheatcroft does not believe this spells the end of modern music.

"The great riffs can simply be the ones that withstood the test of time." he said. "It might just be a question of waiting till the dust settles and in 10 years time it could be completely different."

Other songs include "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix (1967), "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith (1975) and "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits (1984).

A list of the top songs chosen follows:

1. Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple (1973)

2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana (1991)

3. Walk This Way - Aerosmith (1975)

4. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix (1967)

5. Sweet Child O Mine - Guns N' Roses (1987)

6. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses (1987)

7. Ace Of Spades - Motorhead (1980)

8. Enter Sandman - Metallica (1991)

9. Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1992)

10. Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N' Roses (1987)

11. Run To The Hills - Iron Maiden (1982)

12. Walk - Pantera (1992)

13. Johnny Be Goode - Chuck Berry (1958)

14. Back In Black - AC/DC (1980)

15. Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin (1970)

16. Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine (1992)

17. Highway to Hell - AC/DC (1979)

18. My Generation - The Who (1965)

19. 7 Nation Army - The White Stripes (2003)

20. Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf (1968)

21. Give It Away - Red Hot Chilli Peppers (1991)

22. Paranoid - Black Sabbath (1970)

23. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix (1967)

24. Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor (1982)

25. Money For Nothing - Dire Straits (1984)

Reuters/Nielsen

Stone Temple Pilots reunion

2008-04-01T19:14:00.001-07:00

Stone Temple Pilots plotting extensive tour

Tuesday, Apr 01, 2008

By Mitchell Peters

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The recently reunited Stone Temple Pilots will next week announce plans for a summer tour of more than 50 amphitheatres, sources said.

The L.A. rock group has already confirmed a handful of festival dates, beginning with the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio, on May 17-18.

Further details about STP's tour will be announced during an April 7 news conference at the Harry Houdini Estate in Los Angeles. It is still unclear whether the band will record new material.

Rock on the Range will be Stone Temple Pilots' first show since 2002, when it played 13 concerts to promote its final album, 2001's "Shangri-La Dee Da."

Singer Scott Weiland went on to co-found Velvet Revolver, which is about to conclude a European tour in support of its second album. But he and drummer Matt Sorum are engaged in a public feud, casting doubt on the outfit's future.

Reuters/Billboard

Reading Festival England

2008-04-01T19:07:00.001-07:00

Rage to headline Reading Festival

By Daniel Magnowski

LONDON (Reuters) - Political rock band Rage Against The Machine will headline the first day of this summer's Reading music festival, organisers said on Monday.

Festival goers can look forward to Rage's potent mix of heavy guitar-based rock and lyrics addressing human rights, capitalism and globalisation, with some of the band's hardest-hitting tracks such as "Killing in the Name" and "Bullet in the Head" expected to have fans on their feet.

Rage's debut album sold more than three million copies in the United States and band members have courted controversy since by attempting to gatecrash the New York Stock Exchange in 2000 and calling for the Bush administration to be tried for war crimes at an American music festival last year.

Rage Against The Machine will kick off the Reading Festival in the south of England on August 22, while indie rockers The Killers, who already boast a reputation as a blistering live act as well as a multimillion-selling band on both sides of the Atlantic with hit singles including "When You Were Young" and "Somebody Told Me," will headline the second day.

Californian heavy metal behemoths Metallica, widely credited with creating ultra-fast, ultra-loud "thrash" metal are scheduled to be the main event on the festival's third day.

Also on the bill are menacing Californian rock band Queens of the Stone Age, British hip-hop star Dizzee Rascal and Welsh polemicists Manic Street Preachers.

Pete Doherty, who is as notorious for his frequent arrests and non-appearances at gigs as he is feted for his musical output, is due to perform with his group Babyshambles on the first day, while his former Libertines band mate Carl Barat's current project Dirty Pretty Things play the following day.

As well as established acts, the three-day festival will feature performances from over 150 bands including newcomers Vampire Weekend, Foals and The Wombats.

(Reporting by Daniel Magnowski, editing by Paul Casciato)

Rolling Stones film set for U.S. release

2008-04-01T19:02:00.001-07:00

Rolling Stones film set for U.S. release

Monday, Mar 31, 2008

By Christian Wiessner

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Director Martin Scorsese won't say the Rolling Stones are like the underworld characters in many of his movies, but he admits the band's music evokes memories of the rough, mob-tinged street life he grew up around.

The Academy Award winner and the legendary band founded in London in 1962 have combined on "Shine A Light," a concert documentary shot at New York's intimate Beacon Theatre in October 2006.

Scorsese and band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts held a press conference on Sunday ahead of the film's U.S. release on April 4.

"I don't know if I can make any direct associations," Scorsese said with a laugh when asked what similarities he sees between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members and the brutal criminals he has depicted in films such as "Goodfellas," "Casino" and "The Departed."

But the native New Yorker says their music has always struck powerful chords with him, so much that he used the group's violence-laced song "Gimme Shelter" in three of his previous films.

"The music has been very important to me over the years. It dealt with aspects of the life that I was growing up around, that I was associated with or saw or was experiencing and trying to make sense of," Scorsese said.

"It was tougher, it had an edge. Beautiful, honest and brutal at times. And it's always stayed with me and become a well of inspiration to this day," he added.

The film offers 17 songs mainly comprised of concert warhorses like "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Start Me Up" and "Brown Sugar," and features guest appearances by blues legend Buddy Guy, White Stripes guitarist Jack White and singer Christina Aguilera.

The film's opening minutes show band front-man Jagger and Scorsese in a transatlantic teleconference tug-of-war over stage dimensions, camera placement and the song list.

Archival footage of the band and limited contemporary interviews also are included, but the film mainly is a straight depiction of the concert.

While Jagger initially wanted to film a larger concert -- possibly the band's February 2006 show at Brazil's Copacabana Beach that drew a crowd estimated at well over 1 million -- Scorsese pushed for the smaller venue.

Guitarist Richards said he was happy about the scaled-down show, especially because of his love of the Beacon Theatre.

"The Beacon Theatre is special for some reason ... The room sort of wraps its arms around you, and every night it gets warmer," Richards said. "And this band, you know, didn't start off in stadiums."

While filmed in a smaller venue, Jagger said the movie will have a larger-than-life look when it is shown in the huge-screen IMAX format. The film also will be released in theatres with regular screens.

"The funny thing is that Marty decided he wanted to make this small intimate movie and I said, 'Well the laugh is that, Marty, in the end, it's going to be blown up to this huge IMAX thing ...' But it looks good in IMAX," Jagger said.

The band was long on praise for Scorsese, who after five previous Best Director nominations finally won an Oscar for 2006's "The Departed."

"He's a fantastic director and ... very painstaking on the editing to produce the movie that you see," Jagger said.

"We didn't choose Marty, Marty chose us," said Richards.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

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2008-03-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

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Rare Stradivarius on auction in NY

2008-03-29T17:37:00.001-07:00

from uk.mobile.reuters.com

Rare Stradivarius on auction in NY

Friday, Mar 28, 2008

By Karen Brettell

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 300-year-old Antonio Stradivari violin said to be sweet and feminine in its sound is expected to fetch more than $1 million (500,000 pounds) when Christie's puts it up for auction next week.

Known as "The Penny," the violin dates from around 1700 and is named after its previous owner, the pianist and violinist Barbara Penny. It will be the lead item in Christie's spring Fine Musical Instruments auction on April 4.

The auction will also include a violin made by fellow Italian Giovanni Guadagnini in 1755, known as "The Ex-Wollgandt," which is expected to fetch between $300,000 and $400,000, Christie's said.

"The Penny" was praised as being among the being one of Stradivari's more feminine pieces.

"This one has an especially good balance between the brightness and the sweetness," said Jesus Reina, a violinist from the Manhattan School of Music who played the precious instrument at a press preview on Thursday.

Stradivari's instruments are praised for their sound, which projects clearly with rich tones, and are considered easy to play as they are highly responsive to a musician's touch.

He made around 1,100 instruments in his lifetime, most of them violins, and around 650 of his instruments survive today.

Christie's estimates "The Penny" will raise $1 million to $1.5 million, below the $3.54 million sale of "The Hammer" in 2006, which remains the most paid at auction for a Stradivarius.

"The Hammer" dates from 1707, during Stradivari's gold period between 1700 and 1720.

"The Penny" has "a sweeter sound, more bell-like," than "The Hammer," which is more masculine, said Kerry Keane, specialist head of musical instruments at Christie's.

Penny owned the Stradivarius from 1929 until her death last year. She was the first woman accepted to the strings section of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Doina Chiacu)

Musicians start social networking sites

2008-03-29T17:33:00.001-07:00

from http://uk.mobile.reuters.com"

Musicians start social networking sites

Saturday, Mar 29, 2008

By Jennifer Netherby

NEW YORK (Billboard) - 50 Cent has more than 1 million friends on MySpace, but if the rapper ever decides to leave the social network, he'll be leaving behind those friends, too. So like a growing number of artists, he's started his own social networking site.

On Thisis50.com, fans can create profiles and friend lists just like on MySpace, but 50 Cent has direct access to the site's users and their e-mail addresses.

More and more acts, from Kylie Minogue to Ludacris to the Pussycat Dolls, are launching their own social networks, which are becoming a sort of next-generation version of artist Web sites.

The social networking component gives fans a reason to hang out on a site and visit more often than they would a standard Web site. And artists can sell advertisements on their sites and offer downloads and merchandise for sale -- options they don't have on MySpace or Facebook. Plus, they own the content and data on how fans use their site, which they don't get on other social networks.

"The thing that separates Thisis50 from MySpace is we control the e-mail database," says Chris "Broadway" Romero, director for new media at G-Unit Records, which handles Thisis50. "We can e-mail members if we want to."

Thisis50 isn't meant to be a fan club, but rather a platform for 50 Cent to showcase his music and music he likes, and comment on news and user profile pages. Ludacris' WeMix.com, on the other hand, is more of a hub for aspiring artists to upload their music.

The artist networks aren't meant to replace MySpace or Facebook, which tend to attract a broader audience and more users.

"(Artists) think about MySpace and Facebook as funnels for their own social networks," says Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning, a company that provides social networking tools for Thisis50, Sara Bareilles and others. "They take and use services where they don't know the users, don't have access and don't have full control, and funnel those fans to something they do control."

TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION

The key to getting users coming back to the sites is artist involvement, either through blogs or comments on user pages or exclusive footage and other content.

"The biggest thing we push to artists is, 'Embrace the site,'" says Evan Rifkin, CEO of Flux.com, a social networking platform partly owned by MTV.

It's relatively inexpensive to create a social network if artists use one of the growing number of companies that provide the tools and hosting. For instance, Ning charges $34 (17 pounds) per month for a site and hosting. And Flux works with artists and labels on a revenue-sharing basis. Artists can set up their main site for free and pay a percentage of revenue from advertisements and sales on additional pages.

Artists also tend to pay for labour to run the sites. But if fans get involved and add things to the site to share with others, it can reduce the need for staff to constantly provide new content, Romero says.

In addition, many artists are simply turning their main Web site into a social network. Suretone Records director of new media Ashley Jex says the label is working with Flux to incorporate social networks into all its artists' sites to cater to the hardcore fans and keep them clicking around.

With Flux, which also has deals with Universal Music Group and Virgin, users create one profile and with one click they can join the network of any artist using it, rather than having to create new profiles for each.

Ice Cube and DJ Pooh added a twist earlier in March, launching UVNTV, a broadband TV and social networking site where artists and brands can create their own channel and subscribers can create profiles and chat with one another. Artists get detailed information on their users and can sell advertisements, merchandise, downloads or even subscriptions to their channel. They also own and control the content.

"You know the demographic of anybody watching your content," DJ Pooh says. "You know what they watched and clicked on." The service is in beta and free to artists and is expected to formally launch in January 2009. So far, Snoop Dogg has a channel there, as does Ice Cube and such brands as RockStar Games and Source.

Even more important: Fans seem to be buying directly from the sites. On Minogue's KylieKonnect, launched in fall 2007 through U.K.-based New Visions Mobile, nearly 25 percent of users have made a ringtone, download or merchandise purchase, company director Julia McNally says.

Reuters/Billboard

Nokia music store online

2008-03-29T17:27:00.001-07:00

Dave Stewart and Nokia envision new mobile world

Saturday, Mar 29, 2008

By Antony Bruno

DENVER (Billboard) - At first glance, Nokia's Tero Ojanpera and Dave Stewart might seem like an odd pair.

As executive vice president of entertainment and communities for Nokia, Ojanpera oversees all of the company's music, gaming, video and social networking initiatives, including the Nokia Music Store and Comes With Music.

Stewart is a musician/producer best known as one half of the Eurythmics. In February, Stewart was named founding member of Nokia's new Artist Advisory Council, an initiative created to foster an artist-friendly environment within the company.

But the two have more in common that meets the eye. Stewart has strong ideas on how technology and digital business models should benefit acts and their fans, and, in fact, was the driving force behind the council's creation. Ojanpera, meanwhile, aims to combine Nokia's entertainment content services with its social networking capabilities to help fans and artists better connect and communicate to promote and distribute new content.

For Nokia, the effort is central to its reinvention from a handset vendor with 40 percent of the global mobile phone market share to a Web services company. For Stewart, the technologies of today and tomorrow represent a new stage of creative and professional development he hopes to share not only with musicians but also with filmmakers and others in the creative community.

Q: Can you give us a better idea what the vision of the Artist Advisory Council is?

Dave Stewart: It's a vision of the future where people would want to dig deeper in the world of an artist and where artists would be willing to be more experimental because the payment systems would be more transparent and different than they are today. It's about artists linking together and being collaborative.

Tero Ojanpera: If you think about the artist's point of view, it's not about selling one track or selling a ringtone or wallpaper. It's about how you create a discovery mechanism (that) represents the artist in a way that gives justice to their work. It's not just putting something online in a digital format -- the technology will enable us to make a rich world where things come together in a really new fashion.

Q: How do you plan to achieve this?

Ojanpera: At this point it's about understanding the artist and understanding the consumer and making that connection. The rest will sort itself out. It may need some facilitation, but we should worry about those two things first. If you can bring value to the consumer and to the creative talent, I'm sure we will do well.

Stewart: Imagine a future where you have a little cloud above your head and in that is everything you think is groovy, and you can carry that along with you and pull it down to either watch or share ... and it's all controlled by this little device in your pocket. The other part of it is that there are artists all over the world who don't want to share much more than what they can control -- there are filmmakers who want to make 10-minute short films. So you can't put everything into one bag. What you can do is create a facility that can put all that work -- whatever it is -- into a context and in a way (that) consumers can access it.

Q: Dave, what is your perspective as an artist on the current digital/mobile business constructs?

Stewart: What I'm talking about is dropping a neutron bomb on the old paradigm of the entertainment industry and the way in which it functions. It's completely insane. In America, it's all gotten completely strangleholded by these providers. Nobody ever talked to artists about what they wanted to do. Steve Jobs didn't talk to me about selling music online -- it just went straight to the music labels.

Artists make their work, and people come along and treat it like something you can chop up into bits and sell into other bits. They say ringtones is a $3 billion business; I still haven't seen one cent on a "Sweet Dreams" download. There's always been a bit of foggy accounting. There's ways and means through technology and through common sense to create a way in which the consumer gets a fair deal and the creator gets a fair deal and business is good.

Q: So it sounds like the vision is to try to use mobile phones as a way of distributing content directly to fans without all the other layers.

Stewart: I'm not going to try to do that. I am going to do it. It's also about trying to get artists to understand that, in the new world, it's not about making an album or a film that has to fit the exact demographic and exact length. It's going to be a completely different world. I can send you clips of what I'm working on and you can pre-order it. There's a dialogue going on so you actually know who your fans are and where they are.

Q: Do phone manufacturers have more power in the mobile value chain now that entertainment services have made the phone more of a consumer electronics device and less a mere network access device?

Ojanpera: This is a great opportunity for the whole industry to grow: device manufacturers, carriers and the content companies. The fact that content is coming to mobile will enable us to continue to innovate for the industry. We have the strength to invest in this space, and that's valuable to the content industry. This is not about who has more power or less power -- this is about, Can we attract the consumer to really use these services?

Q: So on that note, how is the Nokia Music Store doing?

Ojanpera: We're not sharing any specific data. But the service is live in the U.K. and Germany, and we are launching (in) additional countries in Europe and Asia. So one could describe it as a store rollout phase for the next month or two and getting the catalogue in place. The feedback from the U.K. store is good; people are using it and seeing that there's an easy way to get music on your device, both side-loading and (over the air). We're currently seeing about 75 percent side-loading and 25 percent OTA. We think once the Comes With Music service is in place later this year, it will make the purchase decision easier, and we believe that can and will really scale the music market up.

Reuters/Billboard

Hugh Jackman teams with Virgin for new comic books

2008-03-25T19:49:00.001-07:00

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com"

Tuesday, Mar 25, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hugh Jackman, who plays the mutant Wolverine in the "X-Men" action movies, is pairing with Virgin Comics to create a comic book series called "Nowhere Man," Virgin said on Tuesday.

The series, a futuristic science-fiction odyssey set in an era when men have traded their privacy for safety and security, will be written by Jackman and Marc Guggenheim, who wrote Marvel comics' "Wolverine" series and "Amazing Spider-Man."

Australian actor Jackman said in a statement that the hope is "Nowhere Man" will be popular enough that it might later become a movie.

"X-Men" and other film series based on comic book characters such as "Spider-Man" and "Batman" have been among Hollywood's biggest hits for more than a decade.

Three films starting with "X-Men" in 2000 and including "X2: X-Men United" and "X-Men: The Last Stand" have sold more than $1.1 billion worth of tickets at worldwide box offices.

A fourth film, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," also featuring Jackman, is set to open in theatres next year.

(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Smashing Pumpkins sue Virgin Records over Pepsi ads

2008-03-25T19:44:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, Mar 25, 08

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The alternative-rock band Smashing Pumpkins have sued Virgin Records, saying their former record label damaged the Grammy-winning band's image and reputation for artistic integrity by using it in a worldwide promotional campaign.

The Pumpkins claim in their breach-of-contract lawsuit, filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, that Virgin used the band's name, music and image without its permission in a "Pepsi Stuff Promotion" to market the soft drink and Amazon.

"Its a frustrating situation honestly to be treated so poorly by a label where we had so much success," the band's singer, Billy Corgan, said in a written statement.

"Recently they have ignored our pleas to give our fans special editions of our old albums, telling us they weren't interested so there is a tremendous amount of hypocrisy involved with them turning around and using us like this," Corgan said

The lawsuit asserts that Smashing Pumpkins "worked hard for over two decades" to build goodwill with fans damaged by Virgin's use of its music and image in the campaign.

"Virgin has deceived and confused the public into believing that (the Pumpkins were) affiliated with the promotion," the lawsuit says.

A spokeswoman for Virgin, now a boutique label that forms part of closely held EMI Group's Capitol Music Group, has been at odds with the band over the years and no longer releases its material, declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy against discussing pending litigation.

The civil complaint seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against Virgin from using its name or material in future promotions.

The Pumpkins, which formed in Chicago in the late 1980s, achieved mainstream success with such albums as "Siamese Dream" and "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness." The band won Grammy awards for best hard rock performance in 1996 and 1997.

Pepsi, marketed by PepsiCo, is based in Purchase, New York. Amazon.com, an Internet-based business specializing in the sale of books, CDs, DVDs and video games, is based in Seattle. (Editing by Todd Eastham)

David Beckham's England career

2008-03-25T19:38:00.001-07:00

FACTBOX-Soccer-Beckham's England career highs and lows

Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008 (Reuters) - Factbox on David Beckham's England career with the midfielder expected to make his 100th appearance for his country in Wednesday's friendly against France in Paris:

* Beckham made his England debut on September 1, 1996 in a 3-0 away win over Moldova in a qualifier for the 1998 World Cup finals.

* He scored his first goal for England after 30 minutes of his 17th international, a trademark free kick against Colombia in the opening round of the World Cup in Lens, France, on June 26, 1998.

* In the next match, a second-round tie against Argentina in St Etienne four days later, he was sent off two minutes into the second half for kicking Diego Simeone. He was largely vilified at home for his dismissal as it was seen as a contributory factor to England's loss on penalties after the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

* Caretaker manager Peter Taylor named him as captain for the first time for the friendly against Italy in Rome in November 2000.

* Sven-Goran Eriksson appointed him the permanent captain when he took over as England boss in January 2001. In the next game, Beckham's 39th international, he scored his second goal for England, against Finland at Anfield. He went on to captain England 58 times.

* On October 6, 2001 at his home ground of Old Trafford, he scored one of the most famous goals of his career -- a free kick deep into stoppage time that gave England a 2-2 draw against Greece and effectively sealed their place at the 2002 World Cup finals.

* He won his 50th cap in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup finals on June 2 in Saitama but was replaced after 63 minutes of the 2-2 draw with Sweden.

* In what he describes as one of the highlights of his England career, Beckham scored with a penalty to give England a 1-0 win over Argentina in the enclosed dome of Sapporo in their second group match.

* The 2003-04 season brought him mixed luck from the penalty spot, scoring against Croatia and Macedonia and missing against Turkey and France -- the latter miss in England's opening Euro 2004 finals match in Lisbon. He also missed a penalty in the shoot-out against Portugal in the quarter-finals when England went out of the competition.

* Became the first England player to be sent off twice when he was dismissed against Austria in a 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory at Old Trafford on October 8, 2005.

* Scored to give England a 1-0 win over Ecuador in their final group match in Stuttgart on June 25, 2006 to become the first English player to score a goal in three World Cup finals tournaments.

* Missed the first nine matches of Steve McClaren's reign as England boss but returned for his 95th cap against Brazil in the first full international played at the re-built Wembley Stadium on June 1 last year.

* Won his 99th cap against Croatia at Wembley when he came on as a halftime substitute for Shaun Wright-Phillips but even though he provided a stunning cross for Peter Crouch to equalise, England eventually lost 3-2 and failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.

"Harry Potter" wins YouTube award

2008-03-23T18:59:00.001-07:00

Saturday, Mar 22, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A puppet show version of "Harry Potter" featuring a naked Dumbledore and an enigmatic song called "Chocolate Rain" by a Minnesota graduate student were among the winners of YouTube's second annual video awards, the Web site said on Friday.

Tay Zonday, a 25-year-old baritone PhD student in American Studies, won best music with his original song "Chocolate Rain," a rhythmic electric keyboard-backed number whose curious lyrics could be a political statement or humorous nonsense.

The song, one of about 30 videos Zonday has posted, has been covered by singer John Mayer and rockers Green Day, and he has performed it live on Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show.

"I would say basically (I started) just like millions of other people making videos in their living rooms," Zonday told Reuters. "That's become so much a part of our lives."

A homemade version of the special effects-laden Harry Potter movies, called "The Potter Puppet Pals in 'The Mysterious Ticking Noise' captured the comedy award.

The puppet show features an a capella song with an appearance by a naked, but not anatomically correct, Professor Dumbledore and an explosive ending.

Despite a huge number of views and worldwide media attention, "I Got a Crush on Obama" lost the politics award to "Stop the Clash of Civilizations", about mutual prejudices held in Islamic and Western worlds, by the "global web movement" Avaaz.org.

The short film winner, "My Name is Lisa" by Shelton Films, focuses on a teenager coping with a mentally ill mother, while commentary winner "LonelyGirl15 is Dead!" by "What the Buck Show" gave a gossipy, arch review of the demise of the popular Web character.

Winners were chosen from among six nominees in 12 categories, including "Adorable", commentary, eyewitness, instructional, politics, short film, comedy, creative, inspirational, music, series, and sports.

Nominees and winners were selected by a combination of ways including the number of people who viewed and selected the short, user-generated videos as their favourites, as well as "general buzz," YouTube spokesman Aaron Ferstman said.

The videos in this year's contest received a quarter-billion views, Ferstman said.

(Reporting by Gina Keating)

Gibson guitar sues MTV and EA over "Guitar Hero"

2008-03-23T18:52:00.001-07:00

This article was sent from http://uk.mobile.reuters.com

Friday, Mar 21, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gibson Guitar said on Friday that it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Viacom's MTV networks and Harmonix as well as Electronic Arts relating to the wildly popular "Guitar Hero" video games.

The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Tennessee, relates to the same patent involved in another suit Gibson filed earlier against various retailers, the Tennessee-based guitar maker said in a statement.

The "Guitar Hero" series has sold more than 14 million units in North America and raked in more than $1 billion since its 2005 debut.

Gibson said the games, in which players use a guitar-shaped controller in time with notes on a television screen, violate a 1999 patent for technology to simulate a musical performance.

Harmonix developed the first "Guitar Hero" game and was later bought by MTV. Electronic Arts and another company, Activision Inc, as well as several retailers, either develop, distribute or sell one or several of the games in the "Guitar Hero" series.

A spokesperson for MTV and Electronic Arts could not be immediately reached for comment.

Earlier this month, Activision filed a pre-emptive suit against Gibson, which had complained that the games infringe upon one of its patents.

Activision filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court for Central California to declare Gibson's patent invalid and to bar it from seeking damages.

Gibson, whose electric guitars are used by legendary blues and rock artists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Slash, has been a high-profile partner in the "Guitar Hero" games.

Activision licensed the rights to model its video controllers on Gibson guitar models and to use their likenesses in the game.

Activision has said that by waiting three years to raise its claim, Gibson had granted an implied license for any technology.

intimate lessons of making love

2008-03-23T18:27:00.001-07:00

Singapore students get intimate in lessons of love making

Thursday, Mar 20, 2008. SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Wanna know what love is? Ask a Singaporean lecturer.

In an effort to boost the city-state's low birth rate, Singapore's Ngee Ann Polytechnic has launched a government-backed course teaching students about flirting and relationships. Subjects include love song analysis, speed-dating and online chatting.

"My teacher said if a guy looks into my eyes for more than five seconds, it could mean that he is attracted to me and I stand a chance," 18-year-old student Isabel Seet was quoted as saying by the local Straits Times newspaper.

The course, "Understanding Relationships: Love and Sexuality", is taught by an official from the Social Development Unit, the government's match-making agency.

It has become so popular since its inception in October last year that the school has had to recruit another trainer, the polytechnic's spokeswoman told Reuters.

The course is intended to provide an "understanding of the fundamentals of human relationships" and is one of two offered by Singapore's polytechnics to encourage young Singaporeans to get married, the newspaper said.

Fearing that an ageing population will hurt economic growth, Singapore's government has been trying for years to encourage educated young people in particular to have children, with incentives ranging from tax breaks to "baby bonuses".

There has also been more hands-on encouragement for university students in the form of parties and trips organized by the Social Development Unit.

"By learning the dynamics and intricacies of diverse relations, they can effectively apply strategies and techniques to cultivate fulfilling lifelong relationships," the spokeswoman said.

The course is modeled along general elective classes that students from all faculties can take.

Student Kamal Prakash told the Straits Times that while his relationship with his parents has improved since taking the course, he is still single.

"I think most people who take the course would find it easier to get a girlfriend," Prakash was quoted as saying. "But I'm not really looking for a girlfriend now as I want to concentrate on my studies."

(Reporting by Melanie Lee, editing by Neil Chatterjee and Sophie Hardach)

WB turns last "Harry Potter" picture into two movies

2008-03-13T00:50:00.001-07:00

Thursday, Mar 13, 2008 By Borys Kit

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The final "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," will be adapted into two films, Warner Bros. said Wednesday.

Titled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," the movies are set to be released in November 2010 and May 2011.

They will be shot back-to-back by David Yates, who is directing the adaptation of the sixth novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," due in theatres November 21. Steve Kloves, who has written all but one of the "Potter" movies, also is returning to write the two-parter.

"Hallows," which sold more than 11 million copies in its first 24 hours of release, is J.K. Rowling's biggest book, weighing in at 784 pages. Adapting the novel would have resulted in truncating large swaths of it or making an extra-long feature in order to fit everything in.

The decision makes financial sense for Warners because the movies are surefire hits, and the "Potter" franchise has brought in billions of dollars for the studio.

The five "Harry Potter" films released to date make it among the most lucrative franchises, bringing in $4.8 billion at the box office worldwide.

It has been confirmed that the cast of the sixth movie, led by Daniel Radcliffe, will return for the final adaptation.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Britney Spears is animated superhero

2008-03-13T00:46:00.001-07:00

This article was sent from Reuters Mobile Site. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to: http://uk.mobile.reuters.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears releases a music video on Wednesday that features the troubled singer as an animated superhero in a futuristic world.

The music video will premiere on Wednesday on dedicated Web site (www.BlackoutBall.com) at 6:30 p.m. EDT and accompanies her latest single "Break The Ice" -- the third from her 2007 album "Blackout."

The release of the video, along with an upcoming acting role on U.S. television comedy "How I Met Your Mother," marks something of a comeback for Spears, 26, whose career has been sidelined by psychiatric problems and months of bitter child custody battles.

Spears' Jive record company said the video was made in South Korea in Japanese anime style. Spears last year released two singles from the "Blackout" album which has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide but whose commercial success pales in comparison to the singer's heyday six years ago.

In the past year, Spears has been in rehab, lost custody of her sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline and been hospitalized twice for psychiatric evaluation.

Management of her personal and business affairs have now been handed over by court order to her father.

Television executives said on Monday that Spears had been cast in an episode of "How I Met Your Mother." The episode is expected to air on March 24 and according to insiders Spears will play a receptionist in a doctor's office.

Spears got her first role in a prime-time U.S. television series in March 2006 when she played a Christian conservative talk show host in a guest appearance on "Will & Grace."

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and David Wiessler)

McCartney campaigns against kangaroo cull

2008-03-13T00:38:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008 By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A British animal protection group is using the face of Paul McCartney in an international campaign against a planned cull of hundreds of kangaroos on an Australian military base.

As demonstrators on Wednesday promised human shields to protect the animals, McCartney appeared on a website set up by the animal welfare group Viva! to condemn the cull of up to 500 animals using tranquilizer darts and lethal injection.

"There is an urgent need for action to protect kangaroos from a barbaric industry which slaughters them for meat and leather," McCartney said in an undated message.

"Please do all you can to help Viva! end this shameful massacre."

The eastern grey kangaroos, which feature on Australia's coat of arms, are living on a military communications base in the nation's capital Canberra.

Authorities say the animals, on death row since May last year, threaten other local species through overgrazing.

Wildlife Protection Association spokesman Pat O'Brien said the cull of animals synonymous with Australia could damage tourism and promised human shields to protect them, with barricades and demonstrations to be set up on Thursday.

"I'm sure there will be people standing in front of the dart guns," O'Brien told Australian radio.

Viva!, or Vegetarians International Voice for Animals, said it had launched a Europe-wide campaign against the cull and by Wednesday had gathered more than 1,300 protest signatures from 36 countries on an Australian-based web page.

The petition, which had photographs of kangaroos in rifle crosshairs, included supporters from Spain, England, the United States, Switzerland, France, Canada, South Africa and Germany.

In 2004 there was an international outcry over the shooting of 900 kangaroos at a dam supplying water to Canberra. The animals were causing erosion problems through grazing.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett, a former head of Australia's conservation movement, said he would not intervene.

"Programs like this, humanely and properly administered, are sometimes necessary," he told reporters.

The cull, Garrett said, would not damage Australia's anti-whaling campaign, which has angered Japan amid international efforts to close a loophole permitting scientific whaling.

But Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown said it would bring "further notoriety" for Australia's treatment of wildlife.

"(Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd could begin by saving those kangaroos and making sure they are transported to a safe haven ... rather than be given a deadly injection and left as a heap on the ground," he said.

Reuters

Eddie Van Halen in rehab??

2008-03-13T00:33:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Valerie Bertinelli has said her ex-husband Eddie Van Halen is not in rehab, but she declined to say exactly what is ailing the rock guitarist, People.com reported on Wednesday.

"The reports about him being in rehab are wrong. Eddie is sober," Bertinelli said at a New York luncheon hosted by cable TV's Hallmark Channel, according to the Web site of celebrity magazine People.

This month rock band Van Halen, which Eddie co-founded with his brother Alex, cancelled its tour dates until April 19 and said the 53 year-old guitarist is undergoing medical tests. But the band has not divulged details of his illness.

In the 1990s, Eddie Van Halen had hip replacement surgery and was treated for oral cancer. He also has battled alcohol abuse with a stint in rehab, which led to current speculation about a return to treatment.

Bertinelli on Wednesday said "he's being proactive about his illness" but declined to be more specific.

Van Halen had a string of hits including "Runnin' with the Devil" and "Panama" starting in the late 1970s. In August the group unveiled plans for its current 25-city North American tour that began in September 2007.

Reuters/Nielsen

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to induct Madonna, Cohen

2008-03-10T22:23:00.001-07:00

Monday, Mar 10, 2008

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pop star Madonna, folk singer Leonard Cohen, rocker John Mellencamp, British pop band The Dave Clark Five and instrumental group The Ventures will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday.

The five artists have been chosen by 600 music industry professionals, and beat out disco queen Donna Summer, New York-based funk group Chic, rap pioneer Afrika Bambaataa and hip-hop group The Beastie Boys for the 23rd annual induction.

Artists become eligible for the Hall of Fame 25 years after the release of their first single or album and are represented in an exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

"The 2008 inductees are trailblazers -- all unique and influential in their genres," said Joel Peresman, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation president. "From poetry to pop, these five acts demonstrate the rich diversity of rock and roll."

For '60s British band The Dave Clark Five -- Dave Clark, Lenny Davidson, Rick Huxley, Denis Payton and Mike Smith -- the induction will be bittersweet after lead singer Smith, 64, died late last month from pneumonia. He had been paralyzed from the waist down after suffering a spinal cord injury in 2003.

"He was extremely excited and honoured to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I am glad that he will be remembered as a Hall of Famer because he was in so many ways," Smith's agent, Margo Lewis, said when he died.

The Dave Clark Five topped the British charts in 1965 with "Glad All Over" and were described by the foundation as "an enormous pop phenomenon" before disbanding in 1970. The group has sold more than 50 million albums to date.

The band will be inducted by actor Tom Hanks and there will be a special performance in its honour.

MADONNA'S VERY FIRST TIME

While The Dave Clark Five and Mellencamp had been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before, this was the first year Madonna was eligible. She will be inducted by pop star Justin Timberlake and Iggy & The Stooges will perform on her behalf.

Madonna, 49, made her debut in 1982 and her first album "Madonna" included hits such as "Holiday," "Borderline" and "Lucky Star" which helped her become one of the best-selling pop artists, with more then 200 million albums sold worldwide.

Mellencamp released his first album in 1976 and has often sung about the flawed American dream, which led the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation to dub him a "symbol of the hopes, struggles and passions of America's heartland."

"I'm very honoured and pleased to be recognized this way, especially among people whom I greatly admire," Mellencamp said on his Web site, www.mellencamp.com. He will be inducted by entertainer Billy Joel and will perform at the ceremony.

Cohen, a gravel-voiced Canadian whose songs tell of love and sex, faith and betrayal, is among the most literary of songwriters. He published four books of poetry and two novels before trying music, partly to escape life as a starving artist.

The foundation described him as "folk rock icon of the singer songwriter movement." He will be inducted by Lou Reed and Irish folk singer Damien Rice will perform for him.

Hits by the Ventures -- Bob Bogle, Nokie Edwards, Gerry McGee, Mel Taylor, Don Wilson -- include "Walk Don't Run" and "Hawaii Five-O" and the foundation credits the band with defining instrumental guitar rock in the 1960s.

The group will be inducted by John Fogerty and will perform at the New York City ceremony.

Along with the five performers, the song writing and producing team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff will be inducted in the non-performer category and the late Little Walter in the "sideman" category for his "pioneering use of the microphone (that) helped establish the modern blues harmonica."

Britney Spears to return to prime-time TV

2008-03-10T22:19:00.001-07:00

This article was sent from Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://uk.mobile.reuters.com

Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Britney Spears, embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband and legal battle for control of her assets, plans to take time out from her personal troubles to return to prime-time television.

Spears, 26, will appear as a guest star on an upcoming episode of the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," a network spokeswoman said on Monday. No details of her role or an air date were immediately disclosed by CBS.

A source close to the show said the episode would be taped this week and likely air on March 24, adding that Spears took part in a "table read" rehearsal for the segment on Monday.

According to the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the production, Spears will share scenes with the show's lead character, Ted, played by Josh Radnor, as a somewhat ditsy woman who works in his doctor's office and becomes smitten with him.

The show would mark Spears' first role in a prime-time TV series since a March 2006 guest spot on the NBC comedy "Will & Grace," in which she played a Christian conservative talk show host opposite series regular Sean Hayes.

That appearance marked her first public performance after giving birth to the older of her two sons, now 2.

News of Spears' latest TV turn coincided with a hearing in Los Angeles family court where she was again denied a bid to regain custody of her children from her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, or an expansion of her visitation rights.

Spears' career as a performer has been mostly on the skids since her personal life plunged into turmoil following her breakup with Federline in November 2006.

She has been in and out of rehab, and her highly publicized comeback performance on the MTV Video Music Awards in September last year was widely panned as an embarrassing flop.

Spears was hospitalized twice for psychiatric evaluation in January, and a Los Angeles judge has since granted her father control over the singer's personal and business affairs.

On Monday, a judge in the conservatorship case granted Spears an allowance of $1,500 (750 pounds) a week for spending money.

"How I Met Your Mother," a comedy that tells the retrospective tale of how Ted found true love, has been in reruns since mid-December because of the recently settled Hollywood writers strike. It returns with fresh episodes starting next Monday.

Reuters/Nielsen

Nicolas Cage lookalike takes Real Madrid for a ride

2008-03-10T22:08:00.001-07:00

Sunday, Mar 09, 2008

MADRID (Reuters) - A prankster pretending to be
Oscar-winning American actor Nicolas Cage fooled Real Madrid
into thinking he was the real thing and enjoyed red carpet
treatment at this week's Champions League match against AS
Roma.

The lookalike, Italian television presenter Paolo
Calabresi, watched Wednesday's game from the directors' viewing
area at the Bernabeu and was taken into the team dressing room
afterwards, Spanish sports daily Marca reported on Saturday.

He was even photographed being presented with a
personalised Real shirt by club president Ramon Calderon.

Calabresi organised the stunt by using the name of an
agency in the United States that had recently arranged a
similar meeting at the Bernabeu for another actor, Sylvester
Stallone.

Roma won the last-16, second-leg tie 2-1 to progress to the
Champions League quarter-finals with a 4-2 aggregate victory.

(Reporting by Mark Elkington; Editing by Sonia Oxley)

"Jumper" stays top of box office

2008-02-26T06:16:00.001-08:00

'Jumper' stays top of box office

LONDON (Reuters) - Science fiction thriller "Jumper" held on to top spot at the box office for a second week, adding another 1.51 million pounds to its take, according to Screen International on Tuesday.

The story of Hayden Christensen as the man who can teleport himself anywhere at any time has now taken 5.89 million pounds in its UK run.

New at two was "Be Kind Rewind" with Jack Black and Mos Def trying to cover up their disastrous wiping of a video store's stock by re-filming the movies with themselves as stars.

Coming in at three was Sylvester Stallone as co-writer, director and star of "Rambo," the fourth sequel of the action hero series, with the ex-Green Beret this time on a rescue mission in Burma.

Down one place at four was "Juno" with Ellen Page as a teenager coping with pregnancy, while "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," with Nicolas Cage trying to clear his ancestor of murdering Abraham Lincoln, was down three at five.

At six, down from four was the story of a boy, a large pet and Loch Ness in "The Water Horse" while this week's big Oscar winner, the ultra-violent tale of a drugs deal gone wrong, "There Will be Blood," was unchanged at seven.

Down two places at eight was "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two terminal cancer patients discussing life and fate on a farewell world trip.

Monster movie "Cloverfield" was down four places at nine while "Alvin and the Chipmunks" was back up two places to 10.

(Reporting by Steve Addison)

80th annual Oscars head for record low TV ratings

2008-02-26T06:09:00.001-08:00

:
http://uk.mobile.reuters.com

80th annual Oscars head for record low TV ratings

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. telecast of the 80th annual Oscars, dominated by European stars and movies that played poorly at the box office, appears headed for record low viewership, according to early figures from Nielsen Media Research on Monday.

The three-hour-plus live broadcast hosted by Jon Stewart on ABC posted a combined household rating of 21.9 in the 56 largest "metered markets" monitored by Nielsen. Each rating point represents 1 percent of the 78.8 million households in those cities -- accounting for 70 percent of the country.

National figures were expected later in the day.

The "metered market" tally was down sharply from the corresponding figure in 2003, which entered the record books as the least watched Oscars telecast ever. That show, which was presented just after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq had begun, posted a "metered market" household rating of 25.5.

The 2003 program was hosted by Steve Martin and featured the musical "Chicago" as best picture. It ended up with a national household rating of 20.4, the lowest level going back to the very first televised Oscars in 1953.

In terms of actual people watching, the 2003 telecast averaged 33.05 million viewers, the smallest number since 1974, when average audience figures first became available.

The weak ratings for Sunday's broadcast were no surprise given that most movies showcased this year, while drawing critical raves, generated little enthusiasm among moviegoers.

The night's big winner, the grim, violent crime drama "No Country For Old Men," which claimed four awards including best picture and best drama, grossed a modest $64 million (33 million pounds) at the North American box office.

Only one movie among the five nominated for best picture, breakout comedy "Juno," crossed the $100 million box office market domestically. That film managed just one win, for best original screenplay.

The Oscar ratings likely also suffered from the fact that all four acting awards this year went to European performers whose names are relatively obscure for American audiences and who appeared in movies that relatively few moviegoers saw.

The Oscars generally have drawn a bigger U.S. television audience in years when the big crowd pleasers at the multiplex, like "Titanic" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," also figured prominently in the awards race.

Oscar producers already were bracing for low ratings due to an overall viewership slump in network TV this broadcast season, exacerbated by a glut of reruns and reality shows triggered by the recently settled Hollywood writers strike.

Still, the Academy Awards show ranks as the year's highest-rated entertainment special and a cash cow for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, which raked in an average of $1.8 million for each 30-second spot, up 7 percent from a year ago.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Girls underwear collector

2008-02-26T05:49:00.001-08:00

Professor caught stealing panties from dorm

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singaporean professor who nicked
bras and panties has pleaded guilty to stealing women's
underwear from a university dormitory, a local newspaper
reported on Saturday.

The 39-year old man -- an associate professor in a Chinese
university -- was charged for taking women's underwear from a
university hostel's clothes-line last December, the Straits
Times reported.

The Singaporean professor, who teaches in China, was in the
city-state for his leave when he committed the crime. He was
caught by a dormitory security guard who found female
undergarments in his haversack.

"I have heard stories before about underwear being stolen,
but I never thought it would happen to me," a victim, who was
not named, was quoted as saying.

A lawyer for the professor was reported as saying his
client suffers from a psychiatric disorder and has been taking
women's underwear since he was 14.

The lawyer also said that his client was an honourable and
kind person who had no intention of causing annoyance to the
underwear owners.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Jerry Norton)

bisnis pulsa, gratis bonus fantastis

2008-02-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

Setiap minggu kita pasti mengeluarkan uang utk belanja pulsa, ini sudah menjadi rutinitas kita dijaman sekarang, namun uang itu hilang tak akan kembali lagi.
Tapi kini ada cara untuk merubah pengeluaran pulsa itu menjadi peluang investasi emas penghasilan, sampai 5 juta rupiah perbulannya, kalau kita ikut gabung klubPulsa/dynasis dg sistim viral marketingnya.
Kesempatan bisnis gratis namun hasilnya fantastis, ini bukan scam ataupun moneygame, tidak perlu investasi jadi tidak ada resiko merugi.
Syaratnya gampang, mau komitment membeli pulsa (tersedia dari semua operator, indosat, xl, telkomsel, 3, esia, fren telkom) minimum 1x transaksi setiap bulannya.
Mau lebih detail? Silahkan klik http://KlubPulsa.com/?id=hannymtr7
ubah paradigma pengeluaran pulsa anda menjadi penghasilan sampai bertahun2 tanpa batas. mudah dipelajari. dapat dikerjakan secara santai sebagai sampingan dan dapat dilaksanakan diseluruh Indonesia

harley davidson dan cewek

2008-02-08T01:53:00.000-08:00

Apa ya motor paling keren di seluruh dunia? Tentu saja mayoritas biker atau pecinta motor akan menjawab: harley davidson. tentu saja ini adalah motor impian para biker ataupun motorist. Motor legenda sepanjang sejarah motor di dunia otomotif. Karena harganya yg selangit, belum lagi yg vintage atau custom made. Yang mampu memiliki juga hanya para "boss" aja. Awam cuman nonton aja dan mengagumi kalau melihat.

harley davidson diasosiasikan dg dunia macho yg maskulin, kesuksesan juga segi ke-sexy-an feminim dari model2 yg menyertai.
kalau dikasih pilihan mau pilih motornya atau ceweknya?
kalau mau motornya bisa untuk menggaet cewek yg lain. Kalau mau ceweknya belum tentu kamu bisa beli motornya :D pilih yg mana choy ?#

thinking of you

2008-02-04T17:59:00.001-08:00

i am thinking of you to day and this is just a note to say you are a wonderful friend, thank you for visiting this site. hugs and kisses

Sexy star Kylie Minogue come back

2008-02-01T01:32:00.001-08:00

http://mobile.reuters.co.uk

Just a minute with pop star Kylie Minogue

Thursday, Jan 31, 2008

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Australian pop star Kylie Minogue has made a full-scale comeback after a serious bout of breast cancer in 2005.

With a new studio album "X", riding the charts in Europe and Australia, a European tour starting in Paris in May, two Brit award music nominations and a new waxwork likeness at London's Madame Tussauds, Minogue, 39, says her career is far from over.

The soap actress turned pop star and sex symbol spoke to Reuters about her hopes for the future, and how she will always be a showgirl at heart.

Q: You have come back with a vengeance after breast cancer. A lot of people who have been through what you have, may have thought it was time to change their life.

A: "Quite simply, you are forced to evaluate your life and what you do with it. You do tend to hear more about stories where people have said 'That's it. I'm going to go in a completely different direction.' And I think I would have had a valid excuse. But no, not me. I'm not finished."

Q: You already have fame, wealth and success. What more do you want to do?

A: "I get joy out of what I do. I am completely unqualified to do anything else and this is part of my life. It's always hard for anyone in public life to have those who are not (in the public eye) comprehend it. Fame and celebrity can be challenging. So having found my methods to try and cope with that, I'm ready to go on."

Q: What are your coping methods?

A: "Simple things. A good meal, a good bottle of wine. I'm really close with all my family. I now have a young nephew and that's brought a whole new dimension to my life."

Q: You will be turning 40 in May. Are you someone who loves big birthday celebrations?

A: "I am notoriously noncommittal about birthdays, much to my girlfriends' chagrin. Then, of course, one or two days before I might decide I want to celebrate for three days. This time I will be on tour. I would like to pop some nice champagne and celebrate with one or two people."

Q: Which artists do you most admire?

A: "I love being a show girl so I have to go with all the good and proper gay divas - Cher, Judy, Marilyn, Ann Margret, Dolly -- all of them. I love Joni Mitchell, I love Bjork, I love all different kinds of performers. But those show girls are gutsy ladies. I am desperate to make it to see Bette Midler in concert. You've got to pay respect to those girls."

Q: You have been very private about your breast cancer and you still seem hesitant to talk about it. Is that a decision you made, that it was something you wanted to keep to yourself?

A: "Yes. I don't have a nice little phrase to summarize what that meant, or what it did, or how I've changed. I don't want to talk about it too much. There are so many people going through it at the moment, it deserves some respect. I don't think it's my place to talk about it.

"I am always at pains to say, this is just my story. I have some understanding of what other people might go through but I don't have the answers. I am sure the day will come when I will be more forward about it. If I was one-on-one with a patient, I would share everything. The general rule I was told is to give yourself a couple of years before you go out and become a spokesperson."

Reuters/Nielsen

Video games give actors second chance

2008-02-01T01:28:00.001-08:00

Friday, Feb 01, 2008

By Kemp Powers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - You may know actor Keith David for starring opposite Kurt Russell in the 1982 horror film "The Thing," or for his Tony Award-winning role in the 1992 production of "Jelly's Last Jam."

Video gamers, however, will more likely recognize David for his role as the Arbiter, the deep-voiced alien "co-star" in Microsoft's best-selling "Halo" video games.

"I'm not a big video game player," David said. "But once I was on the set of a film, and one of the grips came up to me and said, 'I know you're the voice of the Arbiter, can I have your autograph?'"

Video games have helped resuscitate the careers of many film and television actors, whose distinctive voices can make them a hot commodity in the game world even as their status in Hollywood fades.

The surge in games using big-screen voice talent could even rewrite industry pay scales as actors angle for a bigger piece of the $18 billion (9.04 billion pound) U.S. video-game market.

Many once-familiar actors have carved out second careers as video-game characters.

Terrence Carson, one of the stars of the 1990s sitcom "Living Single," now voices Kratos, the main character in Sony's hit PlayStation franchise "God of War."

Character actor Michael Ironside has lent his distinctive voice to the UbiSoft franchise "Splinter Cell," playing the ruthless secret agent Sam Fisher.

Marty O'Donnell, audio director at Bungie Studios, which created "Halo," said he stumbled across David's distinctive voice when listening to a documentary the actor was narrating, and knew he was perfect for the Arbiter.

"Keith is an A-list guy in my opinion," O'Donnell said. "Celebs are a boon for the industry, because there are a lot of great actors out there not currently working on the latest triple-A film."

Roughly 1,200 to 1,500 lines of dialogue per character are recorded for story-driven games. "Halo 3" had more than 35,000 total lines of dialogue, according to O'Donnell.

Voice actors are paid according to Screen Actors Guild rules, about $760 for a single four-hour recording session, and top talent can book two or three sessions per day, providing a steadier paycheque than on-screen work.

Celebrity talent can rake in even more, with deals often starting at double the scale rate and going up from there.

And then there's the recognition.

Take Reuben Langdon who did the voice and motion-capture modelling for the character of Dante in the Capcom's "Devil May Cry 3" and the upcoming "Devil May Cry 4".

Prior to his video game work, Langdon, 32, had done several TV shows in Japan, but never would have been recognized on American streets. But now the fan mail floods in and he signs autographs at conventions.

"Before the game came out, nobody knew who I was," Langdon said. "I get way more attention than I ever got as a (screen) actor."

The surging popularity of video games -- U.S. sales jumped 43 percent last year -- is causing some actors to think it's time they earned a larger piece of the pie.

"In some ways, these games are even surpassing the DVD market," said David. "That's why I believe our residuals in games will be a major bargaining issue in upcoming SAG negotiations."

Residuals are payments to actors for subsequent showings of their work, such as when a movie is shown on TV. Actors don't get residuals for games, and it's an issue that echoes the complaints of Hollywood's striking writers that they should be paid more for digital distribution of their works.

Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of production company Blindlight, which contracts screen actors to do videogame work, disagrees with the actors' contentions.

"It has been a problem lately," Chapelsky said. "Agents are under the misconception that there's a ton of money to be had for their clients. In a game, the entertainment is about the game play. The actor's contribution isn't as important as the game play."

Chapelsky recalls a demand by one top talent for $750,000 to do an hour's worth of voice work. He said it is common for star talent to receive in the high five figures for a single session. One star got more than $500,000 for a single session.

"It wasn't us," he said. "That sets a bad precedent."

Reuters/Nielsen

Fly naked on Germany's first nudist holiday flight

2008-02-01T00:52:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.

Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings from Friday for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing 499 euros (370 pounds).

"It's expensive, I know," managing director Enrico Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's because the plane's very small. There's no real reason why a flight in which one flies naked should be more expensive than any other."

The 55 passengers will have to remain clothed until they board, and dress before disembarking, said Hess. The crew will remain clothed throughout the flight for safety reasons.

"I wish I could say we thought of it ourselves but the idea came from a customer," Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's an unusual gap in the market."

Naturism, or "free body culture" (FKK) as it is known in Germany, was banned by the Nazis but blossomed again after the Second World War, particularly in eastern Germany.

"There are FKK hotels where you can go into the restaurants and shops naked, for example," Hess said. "For FKK fans -- not that I'm one of them -- it's nothing unusual."

"I don't want people to get the wrong idea. It's not that we're starting a swinger club in mid-air or something like that," he added. "We're a perfectly normal holiday company."

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, editing by Paul Casciato)

Singapore stops foreigners from singing

2008-01-26T21:27:00.001-08:00

Singapore stops foreigners from singing complaints

Saturday, Jan 26, 2008 6:20PM UTC

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A choir that planned to sing a list of complaints about life in Singapore cancelled its performances after the city-state banned its foreign members from singing, organizers said on Saturday.

The 60-member "complaints choir", a concept that originated from two Finnish artists, was scheduled to perform at a weekend festival but authorities granted a performance license on the condition that the foreigners would not participate.

"Our conductor is Malaysian, so how could the choir go ahead without him?" said Melissa Lim, the festival organizer.

Singapore's Media Development Authority said the license was conditional because the lyrics touched on "domestic affairs" and it preferred only Singaporeans take part.

Some of the complaints that would have been sung included, "when a pregnant lady gets on the train, everyone pretends to sleep" and "when I'm hungry at the food court, I see people (reserve) seats with tissue paper".

Singapore, which faces a low birth rate and a graying population, has turned increasingly to immigrants to boost its work force. It aims to add another 2 million people to the island's 4.7 million people over the next 40 to 50 years.

The city-state is frequently criticized by human rights groups for its restrictions on expression and the media.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Michael Winfrey)

my tribute to LED ZEPPELIN

2008-01-23T23:09:00.000-08:00

Formed from the ashes of British blues-rockers the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin shot to the stratosphere in the early 1970s. With Dionysian frenzy and a blast of blues-drenched riffs, they became one of the biggest bands of the era. Their intense musical excursions helped define the sound of hard rock, while their penchant for folk balladry added to their mystique as rock gods. The group called it quits after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, and remaining members Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones pursued (mostly) separate musical ventures.
Biography

This pivotal heavy rock quartet was formed in October 1968 by British guitarist Jimmy Page (b. James Patrick Page, 9 January 1944, Heston, Middlesex, England) following the demise of his former band, the Yardbirds. John Paul Jones (b. John Baldwin, 3 June 1946, Sidcup, Kent, England; bass, keyboards), a respected arranger and session musician, replaced original member Chris Dreja, but hopes to incorporate vocalist Terry Reid floundered on a contractual impasse. The singer unselfishly recommended Robert Plant (b. 20 August 1948, West Bromwich, West Midlands, England), then frontman of struggling Midlands act Hobbstweedle, who in turn introduced drummer John Bonham (b. 31 May 1948, Birmingham, England, d. 25 September 1980), when first choice B.J. Wilson opted to remain with Procol Harum. The quartet gelled immediately and having completed outstanding commitments under the name "New Yardbirds", became Led Zeppelin following a quip by the Who's Keith Moon, who, when assessing their prospects, remarked that they would probably "go down like a lead Zeppelin".
They were guided and managed by Peter Grant (b. 5 April 1935, London, England, d. 21 November 1995). He was best known as the heavyweight manager of all UK rock groups, both in size and stature. Armed with a prestigious contract with Atlantic Records, the group toured the USA supporting Vanilla Fudge prior to the release of their explosive debut, Led Zeppelin, which included several exceptional original songs, including "Good Times, Bad Times", "Communication Breakdown", "Dazed And Confused' - a hangover from the Yardbirds" era - and skilled interpretations of R&B standards "How Many More Times?" and "You Shook Me". The set vied with Jeff Beck's Truth as the definitive statement of English heavy blues/rock, but Page's meticulous production showed a greater grasp of basic pop dynamics, resulting in a clarity redolent of 50s rock 'n' roll. His staggering dexterity was matched by Plant's expressive, beseeching voice, a combination that flourished on Led Zeppelin II.
The group was already a headline act, drawing sell-out crowds across the USA, when this propulsive collection confirmed an almost peerless position. The introductory track, "Whole Lotta Love", a thinly veiled rewrite of Willie Dixon's "You Need Love", has since become a classic, while "Livin' Lovin' Maid (She's Just A Woman)" and "Moby Dick", Bonham's exhibition piece, were a staple part of the quartet's early repertoire. Elsewhere, "Thank You" and "What Is And What Should Never Be" revealed a greater subtlety, a factor emphasized more fully on Led Zeppelin III. Preparation for this set had been undertaken at Bron-Y-Aur cottage in Snowdonia (immortalized in "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp"), and a resultant pastoral atmosphere permeated the acoustic-based selections "That's The Way" and "Tangerine". "The Immigrant Song" and "Gallows Pole" reasserted the group's traditional fire and the album's release confirmed Led Zeppelin's position as one of the world's leading attractions. In concert, Plant's sexuality and Adonis-like persona provided the perfect foil to Page's more mercurial character, yet both individuals took full command of the stage, the guitarist's versatility matched by his singer's unfettered roar.
Confirmation of the group's ever-burgeoning strengths appeared on Led Zeppelin IV, also known as "Four Symbols", the "Runes Album" or "Zoso", in deference to the fact that the set bore no official title. It included "Stairway To Heaven", a group tour de force. Arguably the definitive heavy-rock song, it continues to win polls, and the memorable introduction remains every guitar novice's first hurdle. The approbation granted this ambitious piece initially obscured other tracks, but the energetic "When The Levee Breaks" is now also lauded as a masterpiece, particularly for Bonham's drumming. "Black Dog" and "Rock 'N' Roll" saw Zeppelin at their immediate best, while "The Battle Of Evermore" was marked by a vocal contribution from Sandy Denny. IV was certified as having sold 16 million copies in the USA by March 1996. However, the effusive praise this album generated was notably more muted for Houses Of The Holy. Critics queried its musically diverse selection - the set embraced folk ballads, reggae and soul - yet when the accustomed power was unleashed, notably on "No Quarter", the effect was inspiring. A concurrent US tour broke all previous attendance records, the proceeds from which helped to finance an in-concert film, issued in 1976 as The Song Remains The Same, and the formation of the group's own record label, Swan Song.
Bad Company, the Pretty Things and Maggie Bell were also signed to the company, which served to provide Led Zeppelin with total creative freedom. Physical Graffiti, a double set, gave full rein to the quartet's diverse interests, with material ranging from compulsive hard rock ("Custard Pie" and "Sick Again") to pseudo-mystical experimentation ("Kashmir"). The irrepressible "Trampled Under Foot" joined an ever-growing lexicon of peerless performances, while "In My Time Of Dying" showed an undiminished grasp of progressive blues. Sell-out appearances in the UK followed the release, but rehearsals for a projected world tour were abandoned in August 1975 when Plant sustained multiple injuries in a car crash. A new album was prepared during his period of convalescence, although problems over artwork delayed its release. Advance orders alone assured Presence platinum status, yet the set was regarded as a disappointment and UK sales were noticeably weaker. The 10-minute maelstrom "Achilles Last Stand" was indeed a remarkable performance, but the remaining tracks were competent rather than fiery and lacked the accustomed sense of grandeur. In 1977 Led Zeppelin began its rescheduled US tour, but on 26 July news reached Robert Plant that his six-year-old son, Karac, had died of a viral infection. The remaining dates were cancelled amid speculation that the group would break up.
They remained largely inactive for over a year, but late in 1978 they flew to Abba's Polar recording complex in Stockholm. Although lacking the definition of earlier work, In Through The Out Door was a strong collection on which John Paul Jones emerged as the unifying factor. Two concerts at Britain's Knebworth Festival were the prelude to a short European tour on which the group unveiled a stripped-down act, inspired, in part, by the punk explosion. Rehearsals were then undertaken for another US tour, but in September 1980, Bonham was found dead following a lengthy drinking bout. On 4 December, Swan Song announced that the group had officially retired, although a collection of archive material, Coda, was subsequently issued.
Jones went on to become a successful producer, notably with the Mission, while Plant embarked on a highly successful solo career, launched with Pictures At Eleven. Page scored the movie Death Wish 2 and, after a brief reunion with Plant and the Honeydrippers project in 1984, he inaugurated the short-lived Firm with Paul Rodgers. He then formed the Jimmy Page Band with John Bonham's son, Jason, who in turn drummed with Led Zeppelin on their appearance at Atlantic Records' 25th Anniversary Concert in 1988. Despite renewed interest in the band's career, particularly in the wake of the retrospective Remasters, entreaties to make this a permanent reunion were resisted. However, in 1994 Page and Plant went two-thirds of the way to a re-formation with their ironically titled Unledded project, though John Paul Jones was conspicuous by his absence (for want of an invitation).
The duo cemented the relationship with an album of new Page And Plant material in 1998.
The discovery and release of live tapes and video footage in 2002 carried the Led Zeppelin phenomenon over into the new millennium. Decades after their demise, the triple-live CD How The West Was Won entered the Billboard chart at No 1 in June 2003. Although their commercial success is unquestionable, Led Zeppelin are now rightly recognized as one of the most influential bands of the rock era and their catalogue continues to provide inspiration to successive generations of musicians.

DISCOGRAPHY: Led Zeppelin (Atlantic 1969)****, Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic 1969)****, Led Zeppelin III (Atlantic 1970)****, Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic 1971)*****, Houses Of The Holy (Atlantic 1973)****, Physical Graffiti (Swan Song 1975)****, Presence (Swan Song 1976)***, The Song Remains The Same film soundtrack (Swan Song 1976)**, In Through The Out Door (Swan Song 1979)***, Coda (Swan Song 1982)**, BBC Sessions (Atlantic 1997)****, How The West Was Won 3-CD live set (WEA 2003)****.

COMPILATIONS: Led Zeppelin 4-CD box set (Swan Song 1991)****, Remasters (Swan Song 1991)****, Remasters II (Swan Song 1993)***, Early Days: The Best Of Led Zeppelin Volume One (Atlantic 1999)****, Latter Days: The Best Of Led Zeppelin Volume II (Atlantic 2000)****, The Very Best Of Led Zeppelin: Early Days & Latter Days (Warners 2003)****
.
VIDEOGRAPHY: The Song Remains The Same (Warner Home Video 1986), Led Zeppelin (Warner Music Vision 2003), Inside Led Zeppelin: 1968-1972 (Classic Rock Legends 2004).
taken from mystrands.com/artist

Premier League clubs break transfer record

2008-01-22T04:30:00.001-08:00

This article was sent from:
http://mobile.reuters.co.uk

Premier League clubs break transfer record

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008

By Alastair Sharp

LONDON (Reuters) - Premier League clubs have spent a record amount on January transfer deals this year, despite the threat of global recession and chaos in credit markets around the world.

With nine days remaining before the transfer window closes for the season, around 93 million pounds has been spent by English clubs on new signings, already eclipsing the 81 million pounds spent two years ago and the 63 million last year.

Earlier this month, Chelsea, protected from the real economy by billionaire owner Roman Abramovich's cheque book, paid Bolton 15 million pounds for French striker Nicolas Anelka and spent nine million on Lokomotiv Moscow defender Branislav Ivanovic.

Moving from Bolton to Stamford Bridge also made Anelka the most expensive player ever, with a total of 86 million pounds spent by various clubs wanting his services since he moved from Paris St Germain to Arsenal as a 17-year-old for 500,000 pounds in 1997.

Rivals Liverpool spent six million pounds on 23-year-old defender Martin Skrtel from Zenit St Petersburg, making the Slovakian the most expensive defender in Liverpool history.

Liverpool themselves are the target of a buyout, with sovereign investment fund Dubai International Capital widely reported in the English media as offering their American owners 300 million pounds for the club.

RISING REVENUE

John Williams, director of the Centre for the Sociology of Sport at the University of Leicester, told Reuters the continually rising revenue from television coverage was the main factor affecting the record spending.

"Consistently since 1992, pundits have speculated that the next television deal must be lower," Williams said. "And every year since 1992 the television deal has actually been higher."

The most recent three-year television rights sale, covering seasons until 2010, brought in 1.7 billion pounds for the Premier League, two-thirds more than the previous agreement.

Rights for television highlights packages and overseas broadcasting rights are negotiated separately.

"The clubs are happy to pay these sums of money because they presumably feel that on the basis of the evidence they have, the television income for the game will remain as solid and as buoyant as it is now," Williams said.

Another factor encouraging investment is the financial reward available for teams staying in the top tier and qualifying for the Champions League.

Williams estimates that relegation from the Premier League costs a club up to 50 million pounds, while the immediate benefit of Champions League qualification to a group-stage level could be worth up to 20 million pounds.

"The other returns are potentially much larger than that," Williams said. "If a club can stay in the Champions League for a while they can recruit better players, it means you get better sponsors, it means you can raise your ticket prices, it means you can get people buying shirts from around the world."

STRUGGLING CLUBS

At least one million pounds has been spent on 22 other transfers so far, with some of the Premier League's struggling clubs spending heavily in an attempt to avoid relegation.

Derby, almost certain to go straight back to the Championship (second division) after winning just one of their 23 league games to date, paid 1.1 million pounds to Blackburn Rovers for Welsh international midfielder Robbie Savage and spent two million on 25-year-old Argentine striker Emanuel Villa.

Among other clubs looking over their shoulders at the drop, 16th-placed Birmingham paid Everton five million pounds for Scottish international James McFadden and bought David Murphy from Hibernian for 1.5 million.

Fulham, who have also plummeted down the table after a poor run of form, appointed Roy Hodgson to turn around fortunes at the club.

He promptly signed Brede Hangeland from FC Copenhagen and a five-million-pound bid for Watford striker Marlon King is still being negotiated.

For now, Premier League clubs can be sure of a strong balance sheet due to television fees and healthy sponsorship deals.

However, the next auction of Premier League coverage is due in 2009 and, with a global slowdown looming, may not bring in as much money.

"They (clubs) may look at the wider economic picture and maybe begin to question their assumptions," Williams said.

(Editing by Mike Collett)

Sundance film festival

2008-01-22T04:25:00.001-08:00

Docs are hot at Sundance

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008

By Bob Tourtellotte

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) -
The Sundance Film Festival entered its second week on Monday amid a cooling market for buying films, while documentaries stole the spotlight and Hollywood insiders defended the indie spirit of star-filled movies like "What Just Happened?"

Sundance is the top U.S. festival for movies made outside Hollywood and 2008's first stop for distributors of independent films looking to snap up titles they hope will be among the hottest movies in art houses for this year and 2009.

Coming into the festival, buzzed-about films included "Sunshine Cleaning," about sisters who clean murder scenes, "The Wackness," telling of the friendship between a pot-smoking psychiatrist and his dope-dealing teenage client, and "The Great Buck Howard," a tale of movie star eccentricity.

But in the marketplace for movies that takes place on the Sundance sidelines, none of those titles had found a buyer, most were receiving so-so reactions from audiences, and many of the formal reviews were mixed at best.

"The story so far is good movies but not commercial movies," said David Poland, founder of Web site Movie City News and a veteran Sundance watcher.

Before the festival began, some in the industry expected sellers would find a hot marketplace because distributors would be looking to fill their pipelines in case the Hollywood writers strike continued indefinitely and left them without movies to make.

But late last week, film and television directors settled a contract with major studios, and insiders think the striking Writers Guild of America will agree to a similar deal quickly.

"It seems to me the writers don't have much choice," said Art Linson, producer of "What Just Happened?", an insider's look at making Hollywood movies and one major producer's life.

BIG NAMES, INDIE SPIRIT

Like other films including Linson's comedy "Sunshine Cleaning," directed by Barry Levinson, raised eyebrows of some low-budget filmmakers at Sundance who questioned how they could compete with films starring the likes of Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. "Sunshine Cleaning" has Amy Adams and Emily Blunt.

Linson and Levinson defended the independent spirit of their movie, saying it was without studio funds to retain storytelling freedom, and the stars worked for less than their normal salaries.

"Why should high-powered actors be penalized and have people say they can't make a smart, cool movie," Linson said. "If 'independent' means coming together to do something that is a labour of love, then this is a truly independent movie."

With the cooling market for fictional films, attention shifted to documentaries, or "docs." One title that sold this past weekend was "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," about the Oscar-winning director convicted of unlawful sex with a minor.

"Polanski" was bought by Weinstein Co. for international distribution and by HBO's documentary unit for North America.

Music-themed nonfiction films also drew much attention, including "Young @ Heart," about a chorus of senior citizens who sing their own versions of rock songs, and "Patti Smith: Dream of Life," about the former punk rocker.

"Young @ Heart" is wowing audiences, and director Stephen Walker reckoned one reason was because it didn't have any stars. "Sundance isn't about glamour, and that works for this film," he told Reuters.

Irish band U2 drew a huge media crush when they arrived at Sundance to show "U2 3D," which is a digital, three-dimensional film of their 2006 "Vertigo" tour through South America.

Sundance still has six days to go, and many more movies to be seen among the some 120 feature films that are playing here. The event ends on January 27 following an awards ceremony.

(Editing by Jane Clark and Philip Barbara)

Sexy Thai airline stewardess

2008-01-22T04:16:00.003-08:00

To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.co.uk

Longer skirts and fewer fights for Thai airline soap

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The producer of a sexy Thai soap opera about young air hostesses promised longer skirts and fewer catfights on Tuesday after real flight attendants complained the show was sexist and should be yanked from the airwaves.

The makers of "The War of Angels", which portrays stewardesses fighting for the attention of male pilots at a fictional airline, apologised to staff at national carrier Thai Airways who said the show was demeaning.

"There won't be any more catfight scenes between flight attendants while they are on duty or in uniform in public," Takonkiet Viravan, managing director of production house Exact, told a packed news conference.

"The skirts our actresses wear are not shorter than those worn by hostesses at other international airlines. But we will make our skirts longer," he said.

Airline staffers had complained that the fictional flight attendants wore a too-revealing skirt cut above the knee with a front slit.

The airline's union complained to the Culture Ministry on Tuesday that the prime time show, which has a PG-13 rating, insulted its members and demanded the show be dropped from an army-run television channel.

"Such distortions could mislead society, especially youths, to misunderstand or hate people in this profession in every airline, including Thai Airways," acting union president Somsak Srinual said in a statement.

Ministry officials said they had no authority to force the producer or the television channel to scrap the show, but would bring all sides to a Friday meeting to resolve the dispute.

Exact said it was willing to talk to the union, but pulling the show would violate "the rights of television producers".

"This soap opera does not encourage people to have an affair. Our message is -- faithfulness to your partner will help the family survive," director Nipon Pewnane told reporters.

(Reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Katie Nguyen)

joke gadis desa yg lugu

2008-01-16T21:57:00.004-08:00

Seorang gadis desa sedang merantau ke ibukota, sebelum berangkat ia diberi 3 syarat oleh ibunya dalam mencari jodoh di ibukota.
Ibunya berpesan 1. Carilah calon yg setia
2. Carilah calon yg mampu mengelola keuangan dgn baik
3. Carilah calon yg memang betul-betul perjaka ting ting.

Dua bulan di Ibukota sang gadis desa pun kembali dan mengatakan ingin segera menikah. Sang ibu lantas heran dan menanyakan ketiga syarat yg ia minta.
A : bu, waktu aku jalan sama mas Joni calonku dia membelai rambutku dgn mesra dan memegang tanganku erat2, bukankah itu tanda dia sayang dan setia bu?
Sang ibu langsung mengangguk setuju.

A : Lalu waktu kami jalan berdua tiba-tiba hujan deras sekali dan baju kami basah sehingga kami memutuskan untuk nginap dihotel. Supaya irit ia bilang bagaimana kalo nginap di 1 kamar aja. Bukankah ia pandai mengelola keuangan bu ?
Sang ibu pun mengangguk setengah mendelik.
Lalu, bagaimana kamu tahu kalo dia msh perjaka ting ting? Sang ibu mendelik tajam.
Anak : Ibu nggak usah kuatir, dia masih perjaka ting ting loh bu. Anu-nya masih baru, masih dibungkus plastik !!

*diambil dari blognya yayank, http://my.opera.com/yayankcakep

joke kakek dan nenek

2008-01-16T21:57:00.003-08:00

Suatu hari, seorang kakek masuk ke toko bra.

SPG : Selamat siang. Ada yang bisa saya bantu?

Kakek : Gini mbak...Saya disuruh istri saya buat beliin dia bra.

SPG : Boleh tahu ukurannya pak?

Kakek : Waduh mbak, ga tau saya yang begituan.

SPG : Kalo gitu besarnya aja degh. Sebesar semangka ya pak?

Kakek : Kegedean mbak. Kecilan dikit.

SPG : Jeruk bali?

Kakek : Masih kegedean mbak

SPG : Ehmmmmm sebesar telur bebek mungkin pak?

Kakek : Nah bener itu mbak. Kayak telur bebek...tapi yang didadar!!!

NENEK VS KAKEK

Di sebuah panti jompo....

Ada seorang kakek dan seorang nenek yg sedang pacaran. Setelah beberapa bulan, mereka sepakat untuk ML.

Singkat cerita, pada hari H, mereka melakukannya. Setelah bergumul beberapa saat dan selesai. Kedua berbaring kelelahan.

Si kakek berpikir: "Gile, ternyata nenek itu masih perawan. Seharusnya gw bersikap lebih lembut tadi"

Si nenek berpikir: "Gile, gak nyangka kakek itu masih perkasa. Tahu gitu, tadi gw lepas stoking dulu"
diambil dari blognya yayank http://my.opera.com/yayankcakep

joke 3 dracula

2008-01-16T21:57:00.002-08:00

Ada 3 drakula, mereka bikin kompetisi siapa yang paling kejam dan sadis. Drakula yang paling muda dapet kesempatan duluan. Tiba-tiba dia lari secepat kilat, terus 2 menit udah balik lagi. Mukanya penuh lumuran darah, seringainya sereem. Terus dia ngomong, "Lu pade liat desa di seberang bukit itu ?" Yang dua ngangguk, "Iya, liat." "Desa itu... habiissss !"

Yang paling tua panas juga. Dia juga pergi sekelebat, terus 1 menit udah balik, mukanya juga penuh dgn cucuran darah. "Lu liat kota yang itu?", katanya sambil mukanya nunjukin kalo dia bangga bener. "Iye, liat", yang dua ngangguk juga. Kota itu juga habiiissssss !", kata yang paling tua sambil ketawa serem, "Hua ha ha hah !".

Drakula yang satunya lagi tambah panas, dia juga pengen show off.
Akhirnya dia juga lari sekelebat. Temennya yang dua terperanjat, soalnya belum sampe setengah menit dianya udah balik, penuh dengan cucuran darah di mukanya dan matanya. Temennya yang dua membatin, "Gila ni drakula,.... sangar amat, ternyata dia yang paling jago".
Sambil ngos-ngosan dia teriak, "Lu pade liat nggak tiang listrik di pas belokan sana ?" "Liat! Liat!", kata yang laen.
"Sialan, gua kagak liat!!". kata si drakula.

*diambil dari blognya nadya, http://my.opera.com/pingky

Ciri ciri seorang netter sejati,

2008-01-16T21:57:00.001-08:00

Dari hasil survey mengenai tanda-tanda terjadinya KECANDUAN INTERNET adalah:

1.Mas kawin yg anda minta di hari pernikahan adalah: Seperangkat Komputer, Modem, WebCam. laptop mutakhir Tunai !!!!

2.Bel Rumah anda bertuliskan: Click Here To Continue

3.Pintu kamar mandi anda bertuliskan "This Site Contains Adult Material, Please verify your age!" (I'm Over 18 Years) (I'm Under 18 Years)

4.Anda menanyakan apakah ada email baru utk anda kepada pak pos yg mengantar kartu lebaran

5.Mimpi anda selalu mulai dari http://www.xxx atau http wap.xxx

6.Anda menggunakan search engine untuk mencari anak anda yang sudah 3 hari tidak pulang kerumah

7."UNABLE TO LOCATE YOUR SERVER !" kata anda ketika menerima telpon salah sambung

8.Anak" anda di beri nama joko.gov agar kelak menjadi pegawai sipil, Bolot.edu agar kelak menjadi mahasiswa abadi

9.Suara dengkuran anda sudah persis mirip suara kipas komputer

10. Anda susah menggerakan jari anda karena sudah online 36 jam

11. Anda menonton film "The Net" 65 kali

12. Ketika mobil anda jatuh kejurang, yang anda cari pertama kali adalah tombol UNDO

13. Anda diperkenal diri sebagai: youremail@yourdomain.com

14. Anda membuat tatoo di badan anda yg bertuliskan "This Body Best Viewed with Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher" hehehe enakan opera 9 dong

15. Anda akan mengakses http://www.xxx.com bila sedang bosen dengan pasangan anda

16. Ketika hidup anda mengalami depresi, anda menyesal sekali karena tubuh anda tidak dilengkapi dng tombol CTRL-ALT-DEL

*diambil dari blognya nadya, http://my.opera.com/pingky

Sydney in my mind

2008-01-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

Travel, sydney, new south wales, australia
I am not really much of a world traveller to make trips around the world but thank God i have been lucky enough to be able to made some trips overseas.
My first trip abroad was to Australia in december 1989. It was a pleasant trip. My uncles accompany me to bali, after spent 3 days of sight seeing in kuta beach area we waved goodbye at the airport as i would be gone for 2 years to continue my study.
It was my first flight on boeing big top jumbo jet, originally i made reservation to fly with Qantas but actually it was caledonia air that took me to Sydney.
Sydney was a beautiful cosmopolitan harbor city surrounded by beautiful beaches. It did not take long for me to fall in love with this city. Manly beach, bondi, coogee to maroubra beach are so beautiful and very close to central busines district.
I was enchanted by the life style of this coastal beach suburbs, though i never live close or next to the ocean, but never to far either.
At that time i was moving around sharing flat with my mates in eastlakes, marrickville, dulwich hill and kensington.
I enjoy hang out with my fellow mates in kingsford and randwick, that is where most of indonesian student live. What good friends i had, those memorable days of dine out or having yum cha in china town or just driving around sydney larger area. I missed those friends. Thank you for being my friends, guys n gals, and thank you for the times we spent together.
Being a cosmopolitan city it also easy to interact with other people from other parts of the world, such as malaysian, vietnamese, mainland chinese, japanese, thai, iranian, native of pacific islander, lebanese, turkish, greek, italian and lots more, these are blend with the native aussie, wow what a colourful beautiful world .

I believe this should be the future of the world.
These people speak english with their own dialect so it is not easy to pick up or to improve our own dialect to standard australian english. There was a tv series that depicting these ethnic diversity called "wogs out of work" very funny and not degrading other ethnics bewdiful.
It was also good opportunity to try out the cuisine of the world, so many to try, but so far i guess my favourite was thai food or chinese. The local Fish and chips or burger are fine while on the run or fishing trip.
Sydney waters also fine for fishing. Me and my buddies always carry fishing tools in the car trunk, so it seem where ever we went we always caught some fishes.
My favourite fishing spot are pier one in the harbour front just below the famous sydney harbour bridge and by the cliff of north bondi.
During long week end we even ventured to gosford and newcastle to port macquarie along the pacific highway, the view was so marvellous. The most common fish we caught are silver n red bream, leather jacket, tuna, flat head.
It was not just fishing but the place, the people, the time, the trip that make it so wonderful. IT WAS THE HAPPY TIMES OF MY LIFE.

On long week end, we manage to drive to canberra via goulburn,only a short distance from sydney. Or went up to the katoomba blue mountains. Every winter i manage to go to thredbo, mount perisher and other spot in snowy mountains.
Other time we drove along the hume highway through wagga wagga, albury, seymour down to melbourne. The country side was so spacious, beautiful, the farm or ranch look so tranquil.
Melbourne itself also a beautiful city by the yarra river. A bit difference than sydney, but also nice. We visited a few friends and stayed in hawthorne for a couple of days before head back to sydney. to make the long stories short.
Times fly so fast when we having fun. Until i realized it's time to go home. My friends bid me farewell at sydney airport as we hug and say goodbye. So long brother and sister. Life went on to a new chapter back in indonesia.
I will remember australia as it was in my memory. I will remember sydney, i will remember my friends, those are the good old days i will cherished it in my heart

Pencurian Pulsa konsumen

2008-01-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

Kalau kita lihat tabloid atau majalah yg beredar saat ini, marak bertebaran dengan iklan konten untuk handphone seperti ringtones, wallpaper, lagu mp3, Video, tips sms, games dll. Dimana seorang dapat mendownload konten tsb dgn mengetik sms: REG MALING atau REG PENCURI atau suatu kode 1234567890 dlsb.
Namun berapa banyak yg kecewa dgn layanan itu, karena mereka belum mendapatkannya Pulsa mereka sudah TERPOTONG. Umumnya orang kurang teliti dengan syarat2 download konten tsb.
Untuk berhasil ada beberapa faktor yg harus diperhatikan, misalnya tipe merk HP, Operator selluler, layanan gprs, konten providernya.
Salah satu link ini tidak beres/cocok jelas akan GAGAL proses downloadnya. Pulsa sudah terpotong konsumen gigit jari. Apalagi memang ada penyedia konten (content provider) yg NAKAL. Dengan menyembunyikan info2 tertentu. Dengan leluasa 'memanfaatkan' konsumennya untuk mengeduk uang.
Terjadilah pemotongan pulsa yg terus terjadi sampai konsumen membatalkan pendaftarannya (UNREG).
Operator sendiri nampaknya menutup mata dan happy2 saja dg modus operandi ambil pulsa ini. Karena mereka tentunya dpt keuntungan juga dari para content provider. Seharusnya operator menjaga keamanan para pelanggannya.
Siapa yg mengawasi para content provider ini?
Operator selluler sendiri sering 'memaksa' pelanggannya untuk berlangganan fitur tertentu tanpa persetujuan dari pelanggannya, tapi kemudian memotong biaya perbulannya, promonya tarip bulan pertama gratis. Namun sering tidak disadari pelanggan.
Sampai kapan pelanggan selluler 'dicuri' pulsanya secara legal seperti ini, siapa yg melindungi hak para konsumen?
Apakah pemerintah lewat Badan Regulasi Telekomunikasi Indonesia juga mengawasi dan mengatur masalah ini.
Betapa besarnya pendapatan uang 'haram' dari 'pencurian' ini?
Para operator di Indonesia (telkomsel, indosat, XL, mobile8, dll) hendaknya melindungi konsumennya. Please dong ah. kita orang bodoh tapi jangan dibodohin terus ah.

extra money for netter

2008-01-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

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Edy Susanto >> HASIL LAWATAN KERJA SBY DI MALAYSIA

2008-01-11T21:37:00.001-08:00

'MALAYSIA, INDONESIA MATERAI MoU MENUMBUHKAN JAWATANKUASA TANGANI ISU PERDAGANGAN, PELABURAN'

MALAYSIA dan Indonesia Menumbuhkah jawatankuasa Perdagangan dan Pelaburan Bersama yang akan Mengenal Pasti dan Melaksanakan langkah-langkah bagi Meningkatkan Hubungan Perdagangan Serta Pelaburan Dua Hala.
Memorandum perjanjian mendirikan Jawatankuasa itu di tandatangani Menteri Perdagangan Antarbangsa Dan Industri, Datuk Seri RAFIDAH AZIZ dan Menteri Perdagangan Indonesia Dr MARI ELKA PANGESTU. Yang disaksikan Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dan Presiden Republik Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, di pejabat perdana Menteri di Putrajaya bersama Jemaah menteri dan Pegawai Kerajaan lain.
JAWATANKUASA DUA HALA yang akan di Pimpin Rafidah dan Dr Mari tersebut turut menangani isu-isu perdagangan dan pelaburan yang antara kedua negara serta membantu sektor swasta kedua-dua negara.
Jawatankuasa tersebut juga akan bertukar maklumat mengenai isu-isu berkaitam perdagangan dan pelaburan juga mengembang, mencari, dan menambah, mempelbagaikan perdagangan kedua-dua negara.
Januari sampai November 2007 jumlah perdagangan Malaysia-Indonesia mencecah RM35 bilion dibanding RM33.1 bilion pada tahun 2006. Indonesia adalah Rakan dagang ke-10 terbesar Malaysia pada 2006 dan menyumbamg 3.1% dagangan global Malaysia.
SUSILO berharap untuk melihat lebih banyak Pelaburan Langsung Asing (FDI) dari malaysia.
Produk eksport utama malaysia ke Indonesia meliputi:
petrolium dan produk petrolium, hidro karbon, transistor dan peralatan Telekomunikasi.
Import utama terdiri dari: minyak masak, Koko, arang batu, dan petrolium.
Jumlah pelaburan Indonesia yang di luluskan di Malaysia antara Januari-Oktober 2007 berjumlah RM39.1 Juta dalam empat Projek dan RM214.9 Juta dengan 11 projek pada 2006.
Pelaburan Malaysia di Indonesia Berjumlah RM975.1 Juta pada Januri-Oktober 2007 dan RM1 Bilion bagi keseluruhan 2006.

NASIHAT SBY KEPADA PEKERJA INDONESIA DI MALAYSIA

Malaysia tidak pernah amal diskriminasi.
" Kepada para pekerja Indonesia di Malaysia patuhilah Undang-undang negara Malaysia, dan Kepada Pihak Berkuasa Malaysia Berlakulah Adil Kepada Anak-anaku Yang bekerja Di sini"
Susilo berharap supaya mekanisme sedia ada berhubung isu pekerja republik Indonesia diperkemaskan. SBY menginginkam ada satu dasar atau mekanisme yang lebih bagus lima tahun kehadapan.
KONSERT ARTIS SERUMPUN
selain duta Ekonomi Susilo Banbang Yudhoyono Turut membawa rombongan kebudayaan dan Artis indonesia seperti: DIDI KEMPOT dengan Campur Sari dan Lagu Solo Balapanya. ROSSA dan Lain-lain. Konsert Bagi memperingati 50 tahun hubungan diplomatik kedua negara yang di siarkan secara Langsung RTM1 dan TVRI di bukak Dengan Pembacaan Teks PROKLAMASI oleh Presiden Pertama Republik Indonesia SOEKARNO.
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getting paid for reading emails

2008-01-07T04:05:00.000-08:00

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