Usher out

Usher's Broadway debut has proven to be an "oh, it's not so easy" moment, with him quitting the cast of Chicago early, claiming a bad throat. He's sorry, though:

Usher's manager, Jonnetta Patton, said he had enjoyed his time in the show.

"Usher has had an amazing time on Broadway and loved every minute of performing on stage with the entire cast of Chicago," she said.

"He expresses his sincere apologies to all of his fans who purchased tickets to see him in Chicago this final week and appreciates all of their love and support," added Ms Patton.

Luckily, most people go to see Chicago to see whoever's wearing the fishnets, so there's not that many people going to be disappointed. And a lot of the Broadway audience couldn't tell Usher from Understudy anyway.

music usher broadway chicago

Soon, it'll be like Gareth Gates never died

American lives never have second acts, they reckon; sadly, British lives too often have a brief interval, and continue to chunter on. So it is that Gareth Gates has decided to not let the brief pop career he won on a television game show fade with dignity, but, instead, is mounting a comeback, complete with an ITV documentary recording the return.

Gates said: "The past five years have been a rollercoaster. I hope this gives people a chance to see the real me."

As opposed, of course, to the fake him - although wasn't the reason he beat out Will Young was because of his open and honest account of himself and his stutter? What does Gareth have left to unpackage?

ITV, of course, knows something about once having been king of the garden and losing its edge.

An ITV1 spokesman said: "This prime-time footage will show the impacts and consequences that fame thrusts upon artists hoping to survive successfully within the pressures of the music industry, and will also showcase some of Gareth's new music as he prepares to re-launch back into the spotlight to do what he loves most."

Hmmm. To be worth showing at prime time, presumably there's going to be a fair level of stuff about how terrible Gareth's life has been. There might be some sort of ethical question about a TV channel suddenly thrusting fame on someone, leaving them to drown in it, and then making a programme about that drowning, but we'd imagine the bloke who does the ethics has gone the way of regional political programming on ITV.

music gareth gates

RIAA try to drop case without evidence

Last month, faced with a request for summary judgement in one of their cases, the RIAA suddenly announced they had no evidence and asked for longer.

Now, they've dropped the case altogether.

Which seems to be an admission they'd had nothing in the first place, and further reinforces the impression that these RIAA "lawsuits" are little more than speculative bids, sending out legal letters with threats of enormous damages in the hope people will settle for smaller amounts rather than calling their bluff. The crucial question, of course, is why they're being able to abuse process this way without anyone calling them to account?

music riaa

Borrell bother

Getting prizes doesn't suit some people well: Razorlight's response to winning a live music award was for Johnny Borrell and drummer Andy Burrows to have a fight.

An onlooker saw it all, or claimed to, or said he did:

"Everyone was on a high and were keen to get the party properly started at the local boozer," says an onlooker. "Andy was already quite merry by the time he got to the pub and Johnny quickly got into the spirit of things, too, by jumping behind the bar and pulling pints.

"But, all of a sudden, the pair came to blows in front of everyone.

"It wasn't clear why it kicked off but when it all died down, Johnny and Andy were no longer on speaking terms and the party quickly broke up."

Are we alone in getting the impression that Borrell views the band as more of a backing group to his solo project?

music razorlight johnny borrell

Madonna might have a problem

Of course, it's more than possible that the problems which are starting to multiply round Madonna's purchase of a Malawian not-quite-orphan will provide her with a handy backdoor to abandon the plan, getting the photo-op without having to deal with the downside of ripping a kid away from his extended family and plunging him into a gilded life of perpetually being prodded as 'Madonna's funtime African project kid'.

Or maybe it'll be a terrible blow to her as she tries to promote the new single and Christmas album sales.

British based adoption charities have questioned the speed of the "adoption", while Malwian charity Eye of the Child have announced they intend to take legal action to ensure that Madonna is made to complete the same adoption process as everyone else:

A spokesman said: "It's not like selling property. It is about safeguarding the future of a human being who, because of age, cannot express an opinion."

Officials in Malawi have indicated they'd normally expect someone to live in the country for up to two years before they'd consider them for adoption, but have made a special arrangement in Madonna's case. It's not clear if this special status is because she's rich, or because she's famous.

Madonna's mouth-person Liz Rosenberg seems convinced it's a done deal:

"Madonna and Guy have been granted custody of their son David. Final legal arrangements are being made to bring him home to his new family."

Mind you, it was only a week ago that Liz was denying any plans to adopt at all, so she's clearly being kept out the loop.

music madonna malawi

Global warming? What global warming?

Lovely that while we're all trying to avoid turning lights on in the hope it might somehow save Norfolk from being inundated, Beyonce and Jay-Z are so rubbish at packing for a fortnight's holiday, they wound up taking a spare plane full of suitcases to South Africa.

A source said: “The trip only lasts two weeks but it looked like they were emigrating.

“The airline were accommodating with their allowance but the check-in desk said that regardless of how much they could afford, there simply wasn’t enough room.

“Luckily, Jay-Z and Beyonce aren’t short of a bob and coughed up to charter a separate plane.”

That's lucky. If they're that bloody rich, couldn't they just have bought some new pants in Africa?

music beyonce jay z climate change

The market changes

The usual harrumphing as the record industry unveils its six month sales: £7.4bn. A casual observer might assume that a business that is supposedly in such poor health that it's become the tail wagging the World Trade Organisation dog shouldn't be complaining if its doing that sort of business, but when did you ever hear a man in a suit do anything other than bemoan their lot?

Of course, the argument about piracy is waved as an explanation for the slight fall in the value of the sales, but at least the IFPI has the good grace to admit that "competition" has played a part - CDs are getting more realistically priced, downloads tend to be cheaper than physical product (although not by enough, yet) - and, with the US industry having maintained prices through illegal activity in the price, the drop in costs of consumer sales has been quite marked.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said that while it did not have exact figures to compare, both album and single sales had shown a slight rise in 2006 from last year.

The global figures cover wide national variations with those countries seeing a rise, such as Japan (12%), South Korea (5%) and Australia (6%), balanced by many seeing a fall, including Germany (-4%), the US (-7%) and France (-9%).

The music industry is doing pretty well, in other words. Will they now stop pleading for special treatment?

(Clue: No.)

music business

Uhm... that's naughty

South Korea is having its own recreation of Janet Jackson's Superbowl storm, an outrage to those who wish to be outraged that still casts a shadow over the US today.

Uhm Jung-hwa performed a comeback gig to help launch a new TV network. Her track of choice was called Cum2Me; her outfit sent out a similar message, thundred the local press and bloggers:

On Monday, Uhm appeared at the gymnastics arena in Seoul Olympic Park in fishnet stockings and hotpants that were indistinguishable from a pair of knickers

“Some may say that ‘cum’ is just short for ‘come’, but the word ‘cum’ has long been slang for ‘ejaculate’ or ‘to have an orgasm,’” one earnest Netizen explained. “In the end it is clear that this is correctly to be seen as an attention-grabbing move.” Others called the performance “gross” and suggested it would be sexier if Uhm covered up.

Of course, if she took to the streets of a British city wearing her stage clothes, she'd be considered somewhat overdressed.

Meanwhile, the TV network reaches for an unfortunate moral exemplar:

“We see it as an artistic performance, not a lewd act. As the level of exposure is similar to a Madonna music video, there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Here's a hint: If you're trying to suggest it's harmless, you might do better than choose an artist whose habitual shockcore schtick is aimed straight at making the moral right's temple veins throb.

music uhm jung hwa

The all-you-can-e Buffet

We're not quite sure how we managed to miss last week's reports that Jimmy Buffet was detained at Toulon-Hyeres International Airport in France; it's claimed he had 100 ecstasy tablets in his luggage.

Buffett was happy to pay a $300 fine and leave. Mind you, with that much E, you'd be happy to do anything.

music jimmy buffet

Old man of Arran prepares to go around and around again

Nik Kershaw is brushing down his snoods and preparing to tramp along the comeback trail, according to, erm the bloke who's done his website:

Neil said working with Nik was a pleasure and that he could not be further from the preening, prima donna pop star stereotype.

"He's just a nice, down to earth guy who cuts the grass and cleans the pump in the pond like everyone else.

"He's definitely not a 'star'. He's just a normal person who happens to make music for a living."

We're not sure if "he cleans the pump in the pond" is a eup