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Given that, working on their own, Ticketmaster and LiveNation hardly work in the consumer's interest, it's perhaps unsurprising that the Competition Commission has come out against them uniting into one near-Monopoly.
I think I can spot a problem here, 3AM Girls:
Jackson 5 reunion as easy as ABC
Somewhat surprisingly, the FT takes us on a musical trip through Athens and Macon:
Macon does not seem, today, a likely setting for such seismic upheaval. It’s one of those small (population 100,000 or so) American cities whose downtown has been gutted by economic misfortune, leaving blocks of empty storefronts. But whether there is something in Macon’s air, or in the water of the Ocmulgee River, Richard wasn’t the last eruption from this source. Otis Redding was a native of Macon – his widow Zelma and daughter Karla ran a shoe shop on Cherry Street until last year. (Karla, who now runs the charitable foundation established in her father’s name, remembers a steady trickle of pilgrims visiting the shop: “They’d usually just stand there. Until mama asked ’em if they were gonna buy something.”)
There is good news for the economy - at least in the West Midlands - and delivering it is Gennaro Castaldo:
Other big name retailers including HMV also announced recruitment drives in the West Midlands today. HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said all stores, including branches in Walsall, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Birmingham, would be almost doubling their staffing levels until January.
“We’re looking at up to 150 fixed-term seasonal colleagues in the area,” he said.
Flicking through American Airline's SkyMall I came across SanDisk's bemusing SlotRadio being pushed. I can kind-of see the brainstorm which led to idea - how do we sell the idea of mp3 players to people who don't really want to spend time working out how to download music onto the device - but is that even a market segment worth aiming at?
The product is small player into which you stick the SlotRadio cards - each has 1,000 songs on, and are - of necessity - the equivalents of those TimeLife themed box sets, so come in flavours like 'rock', 'country'. And, erm, that's it. You can swap the cards out, but that's it.
Sure, there might be enough people who don't want to piss about making digital mix collections and uploading them to a fiddly little iPod - but how many of those are going to be persuaded to spend a hundred bucks on a fiddly little player instead?
As a curtain-raiser to Au Revoir Simone's new single, Another Likely Story, the band are pumping free remixes out into the internet. There's one from Aeroplane and another from Neon Indian. Enjoy, but buy the single proper.
Three new dates slapped on the end of the Little Boots tour a couple of hours ago - rush, rush, the tickets won't last long*:
10 December Manchester Academy 2
11 December London, Shepherd's Bush Empire
12 December Leeds, University Stylus
* - although, given the way sales have been in larger towns in the North, the Leeds and Manchester ones might a bit.
I yield to nobody in my admiration for Ian McCulloch - god alive, I even bought the Electrafixion album - but if he comes round here having a pop at Lauren Laverne, there's going to be trouble:
Do you like the Culture Show? "It's about time they had us on it. The Bunnymen are culture. Can they not see it? But where the fuck does that Lauren Laverne get off? Where does she get off presenting a programme about 'culture' when she was in that fucking abysmal band Kenickie! And there is another Northern imbecile too ... can't remember her name but she's starting to resemble a pterodactyl."
"Don't give a damn. I hate that Melvyn Bragg! What a divvy. He's just one of those Northern imbeciles, isn't he? Did you see that South Bank Show about Morrissey? It was just rubbish. And when he referred to the Velvet Underground as the Velvets. Fuck off, they're called the Velvet Underground not the Velvets, how dare he! And besides, they never had the Bunnymen on the South Bank Show."
You don't have to be Prince if you want to dance/ you just have to get down with the Age Of Chance...
Exciting to hear that avant-avant-mashers Age Of Chance are having their back catalogue brought to the internet; even more exciting is that they've done an interview with The Guardian about it:
It was while recording a session for Peel that the band decided to tackle Kiss, which was still in the charts. "We changed the lyrics, which was against the law," Taylor says. "We basically removed the sex and replaced it with lump hammers." Released as a single by Sheffield's FON label, the rapped, feedback-drenched cover was their biggest hit: but their moment of cut'n'paste glory – a remix called Kisspower which included chunky samples of Prince's original and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA – brought the first inklings that their brand of innovation might not be an easy sell.
"When we went to Virgin from FON, they wanted to try to release it," Elvidge recalls. "But we played it to the head of Virgin America, and when it went into the Bruce Springsteen bit, he visibly blanched. And that was pretty much that." Only 500 white label 12in copies of the track were ever pressed: Taylor bought one in the 90s from an eBay seller in New York.
Having - through no fault of their own - let down fans while Steve Tyler's broken bones healed, it's wonderful to see that Aerosmith are pulling themselves back on stage for the people who really matter: a corporate for Oracle:
The group will perform a private concert next week at a San Francisco convention sponsored by Oracle Corp, the software giant run by billionaire Larry Ellison.
"Aerosmith is a go," Oracle spokeswoman Karen Tillman said.
Oh, lord help us. Zoe Griffin has gone all political on us:
I don’t write that much about politcs, but I am shocked by the Mirror’s front page ’scandal’ of David Cameron holding a glass of Champagne at the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
Ok, the photo was taken on the day that Tory chancellor George Osborne announced economic policy, but was there nothing else happening in the world that merited front page news?
Firstly, Cameron was photographed at The Spectator magazine party. That is a magazine whose tagline is ‘Champagne for the brain’. The magazine publishers bought the Champagne and handed it to Cameron - he didn’t pay for it himself. And is he drinking it? No! He’s holding it!
Secondly, the alleged scandal comes from the fact that George Osborne announced plans to bring in a one year pay freeze for public sector workers. However, what they also need to point out is people earning under £18K will be exempt from the ban. Plus there will be direct cuts to ministers’ pay.
Thirdly, when you really look at Osborne’s speech he didn’t actually spell out HOW he would get the economic deficit under control. If The Mirror wanted to have a go at anyone, they should have directly challenged Osborne.
FINALLY, I like a leader who enjoys the finer things in life like Champagne. Why drink beer when you can have Champagne?
Tip Of The Day: Don’t criticise unless you have all the facts!
You have twenty-four hours - minus, erm, some - to enjoy the gift of Mountain Goats new album streaming out the front of Stephen Colbert in full.
If I've followed Gordon's coverage of Paris fashion week correctly, he's reporting Lily Allen and Katy Perry not meeting in Paris as the result of some sort of superhuman effort:
But organisers had been forced to work diplomatic magic behind the scenes to ensure that I Kissed A Girl singer Katy was not there.
Apparently, a lot of the kit is still missing, but Greater Manchester Police have made arrests following the theft of Noah And The Whale's stuff.
The bassist with Evile, Michael Alexander, has died.
It's believed he died from the effects of a blood clot.
Alexander had joined the Huddersfield-based metal act in 2000, shortly after they formed. At that time, they were trading as Metal Militia and performing covers, but after four years they decided to knock that on the head. Evile was the new shape of the band, making their own music - and with enough success to land a deal with Earache records.
Having spent most of 2008 promoting debut album Enter The Grave, the band went back into the studio this February to work on a new collection, Infected Nations. It was while promoting this record in Sweden that Alexander fell ill.
Michael Alexander was 32.
I've scratched my head, and tried and tried to work out what this 3AM Girls sentence means:
Well it's only fitting... Goldfrapp have written the score for the forthcoming film Nowhere Boy, about the early life of John Lennon.
We're told: "The soundtrack was recorded at Abbey Road studios, which the guys loved."
I can just about see the thinking behind an X Factor perfume - the sweet smell of quickly fading success in a bottle.
What seems odd is producing a range themed around the judges. Yes, splashing Cheryl Cole and Minogue about might be attractive; maybe even Cowell might attract a certain sort of man.
But who would want to put themselves into this scenario:
- Darling?
- Yes, darling?
- Is there a funny smell in here?
- I don't... think...
- Like a desperate pantomime dame waving the wrong end of a shitty stick about in a bucket of sweat?
- Oh! I'm wearing Louis Walsh toilet water
The trouble with the long line of stories promoting Robbie Williams' new record is that they're now starting to contradict each other.
So the idea that Robbie Williams only checks into rehab when he's staring death in the eyes? Today, it turns out that he actually went to rehab because he couldn't cope with the job he's paid for:
He added: "I felt great when I started to promote a record but it soon began to kill me.
"I felt worse when on tour. I suffered a nervous breakdown and checked into rehab."
DIZZEE RASCAL was filming the video for single Dirty Cash in London yesterday while dressed in a top hat and morning coat.
He shares scenes with a woman dressed as MARGARET THATCHER and suffragettes with huge boobs.
Further to the earlier piece about Muse asking Glenn Beck to disendorse them, it now seems that Beck was only joking when he said he'd been asked to stop praising them:
Christopher Balfe, the president and COO of Beck's company, Mercury Radio Arts, released a statement clarifying the situation. "After raving about Muse for four minutes, Glenn made a joke about their representatives e-mailing him to stop," Balfe wrote. "While it is entirely possible that Muse does not like having Glenn as a fan, he was making a joke and their representatives never reached out to him."
When asked for a response to the retraction of the fake retraction, a spokesperson for the band said there would be no comment from the Muse camp.
Reuters is reporting the launch of a lawsuit by two indie labels against Guns N Roses:
Two independent record labels sued U.S. rock band Guns N' Roses for $1 million, claiming the group used portions of two songs by a German musician on their last album "Chinese Democracy."
Guns N' Roses and Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen A&M label were sued by British label Independiente and the U.S. arm of Domino Recording Company, who own the licensing rights to songs by German electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss.
If you've got a name like Method Man, you'd hope you'd back it up with a decent filing system at the very least. But it looks like Mr. Man's filing is all awry, as it turns out he's forgotten to pay taxes for four years. He now has to find thirty thousand dollars and faces up to four years inside.
Hook and The Twin get their, um, hooks - and twins - into the forthcoming My Tiger My Timing single I Am The Sound. It's on YouSendIt, and official and allowed.
Chris TT has updated his list of coming dates with the addition of some sets in support of Broken Family Band. This is the diary, then:
10 October London Flowerpot Lexapalooza Lite (raising money for Breast Cancer Campaign)
SUPPORTING BROKEN FAMILY BAND
21 London The Garage
22 Sheffield Academy 2
23 Liverpool Academy 2
SOLO SHOWS
24 Cardiff Swn Festival 2009
25 Oxford Jericho Tavern
26 Aberdeen The Tunnels
27 Glasgow Nice N Sleazy
28 London Flowerpot
30 Cheltenham Walk The Line 09
14 November London Brixton Academy Jamm – with Carter USM (full band show)
21 Brighton West Hill Hall
I'm not sure what is more puzzling: that anyone still bothers to issue press releases saying they've got swine flu...
The Backstreet Boys are sad to announce they have cancelled today's NYC PINKTOBER Hard Rock Café signing due to member, Brian Litrell having been diagnosed with the Swine Flu. The other 3 members, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and AJ McLean have seen a doctor and are not showing any symptoms.
Yes, that's what it looks like. Click bigger if you don't believe me. Dean & Britta - yes, Luna D&B, Galaxie 500 D&B - are doing a special one-off London show. At St Giles In The Fields Church. November 18th.
Well, how would you feel if you were the unwilling third party in a publicity stunt that misfired like a '78 Ford Escort struggling with two-stroke petrol in slow-moving traffic?
Of course Beyonce felt she had to say something, but what, but what?
In the end, inspiration strikes. Just make some noises. It's what Whitney would do, isn't it?
"Well, I knew his intentions, and I knew he was standing up for art; and he told me before, when they said the nominees, he's like, 'You have this award,'" Beyoncé told O: The Oprah Magazine editor Gayle King after accepting her award. "And when they didn't call my name he was, like, completely shocked. And when he walked on the stage, I was like, 'No, no, no!' and then he spoke, and I was like, 'Oh, no, no, no!'
"But in the end, it ended up being a great night, and Taylor Swift did get her moment," she continued. "And I didn't have to make an acceptance speech."
It's something of a forlorn hope on the part of Promowest that they can turn back the tide of technology.
People going to see Them Crooked Vultures (John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, Josh Homme and a desperate hope that people don't see the words 'supergroup' as a dire warning) are being told to leave their cameras at home:
NO CAMERA’S ALLOWED DURING THIS PERFORMANCE, INCLUDING CELL PHONES. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT TAKING PICTURES YOU WILL BE ASKED TO DELETE THEM. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT A SECOND TIME, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO DELETE THEM AND ESCORTED OUT OF THE BUILDING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
As if it wasn't bad enough that he's just led to Waitrose dumping advertising on Fox in the UK, Glenn Beck has now had to withdraw his endorsement of Muse:
He described the album as "absolutely fantastic" and interpreted the album's political lyrics as an attack on the Obama institution and the dangers of "one world government".
He said: "These guys are brilliant, they know the time that we live in. They are libertarians from England.
"All of the lyrics are... dead on, on what's coming our way."
They would like me to retract my endorsement," said Beck. "My apologies to Muse for saying that I like them. I didn't mean to destroy all their credibility and all their coolness.
"It's an awful album and you should never go out and buy it."
It's not, strictly speaking, a complete return (they were doing stuff a couple of years ago) but it is a return to playing live: The Woodentops will be playing the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank on October 30th
Pete Wentz is now, officially, no longer emo because he's knocking thirty, worth squillions of dollars and a mainstream entertainerhe's cut off his hair.
You will, naturally, have heard the tales of Simon Cowell's fiftieth birthday party, a glittering, star-studded event. How do you sum up such a historical event? How to grasp the cultural significance of the celebration of a man, without whom, it's likely Piers Morgan would have vanished into the relatively obscurity his talent would suggest? How would a writer manage to sketch the idea of the corona this day offers to our culture?
the 3AM Girls have a crack:
It's the sign of a proper knees-up... Myleene Klass staggered into her waiting car, bare-footed, with her shoes goodness knows where.
Hard to believe - mainly because of where it's being reported - but the new-look Sugababes might already be cracking:
The barney kicked off last Friday at a photoshoot in North London when AMELLE BERRABAH's mobile kept going off. It disrupted the session and upset HEIDI RANGE and new girl to the trio JADE EWEN.
Eminem's publishing team, Eight Mile Style, and Apple, have come to an agreement over the Em's complaints that Apple had no right to be selling his music, Variety is reporting.
No word on what the deal is, but the smart money is that the millions of dollars demanded won't be turning up anywhere.
In a straight tracks-for-email swap, Catherine AD is offering a-track-a-day from her bedroom sessions. They're what she was doing in her room when she was meant to be revising for her literature finals. And, happily, that's what they sound like.
Mercedes Sosa, Argentinian folk singer, has died at the age of 74.
Using a pseudonym - Gladys Osorio - Sosa accidentally embarked on her career when she won a radio talent show in 1950 (making her the Will Young of her time and place, only good.) Quickly finding an audience, she would become one of the nuevo cancionero movement which offered a 1970s Latin American home-grown counterpoint to the influences coming from the North. Her committed, left- and communist-supporting music made her unpopular as Argentina slumped into its era of political repression and, following an incident when she and her entire audience were detained, she left her homeland.
"I knew I had to leave," Sosa told the AP. "I was being threatened by the Triple A (a right-wing death squad that terrorized suspected dissidents during the 1976-83 military junta). The people from the navy, the secret services were following me."
According to Emily Eavis and her stream of tweets, there's still Glastonbury tickets available - 0844 412 4635 on the telephone, or you could try the website. Although, as is now tradition, that's fallen over.
It's not even surprising that Twitter is full of stuff like this:
i have no idea if ive Glastonbury tkts, im 90% sure, but as the booked crashed, im just waiting for email confirmation now!
Still no Glastonbury email. Might be time to go back to bed and stop worrying for a while
September's most-popular things were:
1. Los Campesinos - mp3 download
2. RIP: Jake Brockman
3. Lily Allen withdraws from copyright battles
4. Kings Of Leon issue needy press release
5. James Blunt loves Lily Allen
6. Wogan quits Radio 2 breakfast
7. Madonna uses kids to shift product
8. RIP: Wycliffe Johnson
9. Phil Collins quits the drums
10. Courtney Love takes to Twitter to deny involvement in computer-game Cobain
This bunch came out this week:
Fanfarlo - Reservoir
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Through The Devil Softly
download Through The Devil Softly
Sharon Shannon - Saints And Scoundrels
download Saints And Scoundrels
Stephen 'Where's The TinTin' Duffy - Memory & Desire
download The Ups And Downs
Ian Brown - My Way
download My Way
Maps - Turning The Mind
download Turning The Mind
Kill Hannah - Wake Up The Sleepers
KRS One & Buckshot - Survival Skills
Chromeo - DJ Kicks
