Three Doors Down - two thumbs up

There's not many occasions Three Doors Down deserve a standing ovation, but this time they do:

Three Doors Down singer Brad Arnold kicked a fan out of a show in Colorado on Tuesday after he spotted him pushing a woman in the audience.

The frontman halted the gig in Broomfield and urged security to escort the rowdy fan out of the venue.

He raged, “Hang on, hang on, hang on. Hey, hey homie. You don’t hit a woman. You just pushed a woman out of the way to get in a fight, you d—!

“Get him the hell out of here.”

It's not cool to hit anyone making your way through a crowd, of course.

Up until today, I'd have argued that being ejected from a Three Doors Down gig would be a badge of honour. Not any more.

Tim McGraw slaps woman, sorrynotsorry

This weekend, Tim McGraw was playing a gig in Atlanta this weekend. His fans got a little bit boisterous, ripping at his jeans...

Wait a moment. Tim McGraw? People ripping at his clothing? Really?

Apparently so. Carry on.

So his jeans were tattered. One woman tried to grab the already rent garment, and McGraw slapped her.

Since then, he's had time to think about slapping a woman in the face for behaving like a fan at a Tim McGraw gig, and you know what? He thinks he did the right thing:

“Sometimes things can lose context and perspective. I reacted in an instinctive, defensive way from my perspective of what was going on,” he told [TMZ]. “I think it was an unfortunate situation I think all the way around. But it happened, it happened in a split second, it was pure instinctive reaction, I think you just got to move on.

Now, it's a while since anyone hit me (hard to believe, I guess, but it's true) but isn't the "let's move on" generally in the gift of the person whose face bears the imprint of the other's hand?

“It is one of those things that happen, nobody feels good about it, but there’s nothing that could be done about it,” the Grammy winner added. “You are in that position, you are out there, you are vulnerable, things happen and sometimes you react. There’s nothing to be said about it.”

Except you weren't really vulnerable, were you, Tim. Leaving aside the fact you were surrounded by security, generally the vulnerable end of a slapping is the one not attached to the hand.

It's good to see that McGraw doesn't feel good about it - although not as badly as the woman whose face he slapped, you'd imagine. But strange he can't think of anything that can be done about it.

Or, more precisely, given that any sort of apology might be taken as a weakness opening a door to a potential lawsuit, he can't think of anything that could be done.

Mind you, the woman's probably lucky. Given this was in Georgia, and they have a stand your ground law, she's lucky that McGraw didn't have a gun.

Shoved: Woman takes violent dislike to dedication to victim of killing

On Saturday night, Lester Chambers dedicated a cover of People Get Ready to Trayvon Martin.

Someone in the audience took exception to this, and jumped on the Hayward-Russell City Blues Festival to attack Chambers.

It's an odd gesture - regardless of whether you accept the process against Zimmerman as being just or not, the fact that Martin was shot to death is surely inarguable, and so dedicating a song to a person whose life was cut short hardly seems an act calling for immediate intervention.

Gordon in the morning: Stones v Peppers

I suppose it's not unheard of for Rolling Stones "security" to get out of hand, but even so: throwing Alexis Kiedis to the ground because they confused him with a fan seems a bit extreme.

Kiedis is fifty, which makes him about a decade too young to be a Stones fan, surely?

More seriously, even if he had been a fan rather than a Red Hot Chili Pepper, what had he done that justified being bundled to the floor? Does anyone who comes within twenty paces of Jagger get beaten up pre-emptively?

Protecting subcultures

I'm listening to Today reporting on Greater Manchester Police's plans to record attacks on people for being part of subculture as hate crimes.

John Humphrys, talking to Sophie Lancaster's mother, pointed out that it's not a measure which would have saved her daughter from the horrible, hateful attack that killed her.

Perhaps. But it was a hateful attack, and should be recognised as that.

And yet...

I'm just not sure how practical the measure is. When I used to have bottles and stones bounce off me on County Road in Liverpool, the hurlers were assuming that I was some sort of hippy. They weren't attacking me because I was an indie kid; they were attacking me because I wasn't one of them. I would still have been dodging bottles if I had been a hippy, or a banker, or indeed anyone who wasn't wearing sportswear with their socks rolled down.

The violence wasn't motivated by any subculture to which I belonged, but the subculture to which I wasn't.

How do you account for that?

And those times when Merseyside Police pulled me over and searched me, cheerfully admitting it was because I wasn't dressed like the other people round those parts and that made me look suspicious: If attacking people because they're dressed in black is worth recording, should the police also be looking at why they use 'wearing other clothes' as a basis for a stop and search?

At the moment, the proposal seems to be more about gathering data than making a difference, so it's a first step. But it's been half a decade since Sophie Lancaster was murdered; you'd have hoped five years would have been time for something a bit more thought-through to have be proposed.

Madonna upsets Denver

Going to Denver so soon after the mass shootings in neighbouring Aurora and having some on-stage violent gun-related fun probably isn't the smartest of Madonna's ideas.

Even so, 9News does have a slight air of entrappy desperation in its Facebook post:

Did you go to the Madonna show last night? We not only heard she came on stage really late, but we've also gotten calls that some of the show was pretty violent. One person sent us an email saying she simulated shooting a dancer and the audience. If you went, what did you think? We're you offended?

I'm sure there will be plenty enough people offended without the need to nudge the crowd and say 'you, you must have been offended, right?'

Seriously, though: mock shooting an audience in Denver. That's some crassness right there.

No winners, I think.

Dave Mustaine fingers Obama for mass shootings

Dave Mustaine might seem like a gun-cocked nutcase, but, hey, you wouldn't be accusing Obama of the Aurora shootings without evidence, would you?

“Back in my country, my president is trying to pass a gun ban, so he's staging all of these murders,” Mustaine told the crowd [at a Megadeath gig in Singapore]. “Like the 'Fast And Furious' thing down at the border and Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there and now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple."

"I don't know where I'm going to live if America keeps going the way it's going because it looks like it's turning into Nazi America."

See? He's got the evidence of, um, some sort of vague feeling, right, that's there's a Nazi-style conspiracy.

Before we even start, let's not forget that Dave Mustaine is, like Donald Trump and many other people who would object strongly to be called racists, is a birther. Although Mustaine claims that despite pushing the line that Obama isn't American, he isn't a birther any more than he's a racist:

Megadeth guitarist Dave Mustaine said in an interview with a Canadian television show “The Hour” that he “has a lot of questions about him [President Obama], but certainly not where he was born. I know he was born somewhere else than America.”

“Well, then you’re a birther,” said host George Stroumboulopoulos, who had asked Mustaine directly whether he was one.

“No I’m not calling a question to it, I just, you know, what’s the point?” Mustaine said, who then proceeded to say that Obama had been “invisible” until he became President.

Mustaine has such a lose grip on reality, it's possible when he says Obama was invisible before he became president, he might mean that literally. It's not known if Mustaine believes that Obama has magikal powers to make himself vanish, or is in possession of some sort advanced technology cloaking device.

Seriously, if Obama had been invisible, how would people have spotted him at Jeremiah Wright's church?

So, Mustaine is in Singapore telling his fans about how America is going all Nazi-like. Singapore. A country which, according to Amnesty, "continue[s] to threaten and punish government critics, using sweeping criminal and civil defamation laws." It's a bit like going to Wisconsin and trying to tell them that your home makes a lot of cheese.

But, despite the fact Mustaine's political worldview seems to be drawn entirely from Astons shown on Fox News, let's do him the honour of taking his central challenge seriously.

[M]y president is trying to pass a gun ban, so he's staging all of these murders

The logical conclusion of this claim would be that the NRA is a front for the Democratic party - pushing for lax gun law to create a climate in which it's easy for even people like Dave Mustaine to buy guns, making these staged murders seem plausible.

If Obama wanted to bring in draconian gun laws, why would he need to stage anything? In 2010, there were 8,775 firearm murders in the US. That'd be all you really need to stand up and say 'maybe we should take some guns out the equation', right?

Maybe Mustaine thinks that Obama spent the first year of his administration setting up all those killings, right, Dave?

Still, maybe these were staged murders. So in the wake of Aurora, Obama was sweeping around calling for the Nazi-style ripping of guns from the cold, dead hearts of NRA members, was he?

Here he is using Aurora as a pretext for a house-to-house search of every building in America, removing all firearms and disarming the US populace forever:

"I, like most Americans, believe that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms," Obama told the National Urban League convention in New Orleans. "I think we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation. That hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage."

Obama continued: "But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities. I believe the majority of gun owners would agree we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons, and we should check someone's criminal record before they can check out a gun seller."

Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound especially Nazi-like.

In effect, then, Dave Mustaine believes that Obama has staged at least three mass-killings in order to enforce a draconian vague sense that perhaps background checks could be a little tighter and, you know, that perhaps it's not a good idea to let criminals own guns.

That would be on a par with staging a car crash outside a Tony Carvery so that you can surreptitiously take an extra Yorkshire Pudding from the buffet without anyone noticing.

It's not even as if you need to make shit up about Obama being involved in extrajudicial killings - he's got a list he uses for that.

Perhaps the last word, though, belongs to Carli Richards. She was in the cinema the night of the shooting, and has the wounds to prove it. What does she make of Mustaine's views?

“Everybody is emotional at this time and needs to blame somebody, I guess,” Richards told the gossip website. “I don't think they realize the consequences of not being responsible for your own actions and James Holmes needs to be held accountable for his, to whatever way the justice system deems fit."

Garbage: Don't go breaking up the girl

Suspicions that Shirley Manson might be some sort of pop star superhero are growing, with the news that she had a bloke thrown out of a Garbage gig for hitting a woman in the audience.

Because this is 2012, the incident is on YouTube:

"You’re fighting baby, you gotta leave now. You can’t fucking fight, man. You can’t fight. I’m sorry, that’s the rules, man. We just need to all simmer down."

Theresa May wants us to choose who runs our police forces. Bagsy Shirley Manson for Thames Valley.

Man stabbed at Blackberry phone party

ContactMusic are describing last night's stabbing in London as having taken place at a "Jessie J party", but it actually sounds more like 'man stabbed at Blackberry promotional event'.

Perhaps there's two PR teams fighting over who gets the credit - "we're on prime time now, we don't need that level of edgy" "no, no, we're dropping our consumer product lines, we don't need to be connected with men getting stabbed in the neck..."

[Update: This piece was originally published with a weak pun headline; the subsequent death of the victim made this feel inappropriate and so the headline has been revised 22/04/12.]

Odd Future not fond of photographers

Odd "they were the future once" Future have added actual misogynistic behaviour to the let's pretend misogyny of their lyrics, hitting a female photographer. Venues Today reports:

A Venues Today freelance photographer covering the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans said she was slapped in the head by a rapper from the group Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All while taking photographs during the group’s daytime set.
[...]
[It was when] Tyler, The Creator came out that things apparently started to get ugly.

“He told the crowd that he hated photographers because the fans paid good money to see the band, and they should be up front,” she said.

His words seemed to rile a couple of rappers on stage, who walked over to the group of 30 to 40 photographers shooting the set. The rappers apparently started to try to pour water on the shooters' cameras and equipment. Photographers started leaving the pit, but [Amy] Harris stayed and kept snapping photos. That’s when rapper Left Brain, real name Vyron Turner, approached the photo pit and while standing on a stack of monitors, began hitting and kicking the photographers' equipment. Turner then turned his attention on Harris, slapping her in the head as she tried to take his picture, knocking the camera out of her hands.

"It literally knocked the lens out of the body of the camera," said Harris, who didn’t press criminal charges against the group, she said. “I had a mark on my face for a couple hours afterwards."

Other photographers in the pit have corroborated Harris' account, and the promoter of the event has issued a statement:

Marcee Rondan from the Mitch Schneider Organization has issued the following statement: "The Voodoo Experience does not in any way condone the behavior of Odd Future towards the approved media assembled in the photo pit during the band’s set yesterday. Festival organizers would like to apologize to their media guests who experienced and/or witnessed this abusive behavior."

Oddly, Tyler wasn't so anti-photographer when be snapped for the fawning NME cover story last year. Funny, that.

Ofcom thinks of the children; issues new pop video guidance

Ofcom has chucked out some fresh guidance to broadcasters about pop videos, having done a bit of research amongst parents:

regarding music videos, of all the parents surveyed, the main concerns were:
sexually explicit content (6 per cent)
and overtly sexual performances (6 per cent),
followed by offensive language (5 per cent),
nakedness/naked body parts (5 per cent)
and generally unsuitable content of a sexual nature (4 per cent).

Ofcom had surveyed 1,024 parents - it's worth noting that only 11% had actually said they were worried about music videos in the first place, fewer than had worries about soaps, films or reality programmes; and more were worried by violence than sex (20% against 17%).

They'd also asked a smaller selection of teenagers (768):

just under a quarter (23 per cent) said they had seen something on TV before the watershed in the previous 12 months that had made them uncomfortable or they had found offensive;

• the top five concerns measured as a percentage of all teens questioned were:
sexually explicit content (7 per cent), offensive language (4 per cent), violence (4 per cent), nakedness/naked body parts (2 per cent), news (1 per cent) and
animals being killed/mistreated (1 per cent); and

• the genres of programme causing most concern measured as a percentage of all teens surveyed were: film (7 per cent), followed by soaps (6 per cent) and reality
TV (5 per cent). Music videos came fifth (4 per cent) after dramas (4 per cent). This was followed by documentaries (3 per cent) and news (2 per cent)

After reminding broadcasters about observing the watershed for all programming, Ofcom turns to music videos:

Ofcom recognises that music videos in the Urban and R&B genres in particular are well known for including mild sexual content and innuendo, and there will be a certain level of audience expectation for this type of content. However, having taken into account factors such as the strength of the images, the genre of music and the time of broadcast (looking particularly at whether the video was broadcast at a time when children were likely to be watching), broadcasters must consider whether potential audiences (including both adults and children) would expect to see such content.

Did Ofcom just say 'well, you expect it with black music, don't you?'

But what about bondage, I hear you ask? Okay, maybe you're not asking, but apparently lots of people do:

Ofcom has been asked whether the Code restricts images of sexual bondage, dominance and sadomasochism in music videos before the watershed. The Code does not prohibit such images before the watershed.

However we advise broadcasters to take into account the nature and length of shots used and the overriding theme of the music video. Before the watershed broadcasters should take care to avoid any explicit images of sexual bondage, dominance and sadomasochism in music videos, or any inappropriate cumulative effect resulting from the repetition of these types of images that are unsuitable for children and likely to cause concern to parents.

Seriously, Ofcom? There are broadcasters ringing you up saying "look, I've got a video here with a lass tied up, ball-gag in mouth, and a naked bloke spreadeagled getting whipped - is that okay for teatime?" They need extra guidance on that sort of question?

And, let's make it clear, your video is not going out dressed like that:

It is important to note that in pre-watershed content, Ofcom would not expect to see singers and dancers wearing clothing that does not adequately cover their bodies (in particular their breasts, genital area and buttocks). As above, broadcasters should consider the length of shots used and the overriding theme of the music video

Not entirely sure if Ofcom's use of "breasts" is because they don't realise men have them too, or if it's just trying to spare us yet another R&B singerbloke taking his shirt off.

Ofcom adds a warning that lyrics which might be double entendres when heard lose at least 50% of their entendre when slapped on screen with a simple-minded 'show what they say' video:

For example, the lyric “You want some more baby? I love the way you do it cos you do it so crazy” does not contain an explicit sexual reference,
is ambiguous in its meaning, and is unlikely to be understood by children as specifically referring to sex. However, when combined with clear, sexualised images (for example, women in sexual positions) the strength of the material is raised in terms of its potential to cause offence and concern to parents.

There are also some reminders about dancing. You'd have thought that the rules about sex would have been the same whether someone was jiggying in tune to the music or not, but Ofcom thinks there's a category of dancing that is lewd of itself. Perhaps it saw Dirty Dancing, but left during the interval.

And, to wrap up, there's a reiteration that showing violence isn't all that cool.

It's all fairly sensible stuff, but has a massive "of course, they can go and see it on YouTube any time" hanging over it. It's not Ofcom's place to ask why we should just assume R&B videos will be fairly degrading to women, but perhaps they should prompt us all to ask the question.

Society in meltdown, part one: Beyonce and the egg thrower

These are the signs of the end of the days: An uninvited eggthrower at a Beyonce video shoot. TMZ reports:

Some loudmouthed dumbass was arrested near the set of Beyonce's new music video in NJ this week -- after screaming at the crew and allegedly THROWING AN EGG at a police officer.

According to law enforcement, police had already booted the rowdy 23-year-old male TWICE for sneaking onto the set -- after he shouted, "I can be a better dancer!" But all bets were off when the kid came back a third time ... and allegedly hurled an egg at an officer.

You've got to love the capping up of THROWING AN EGG, as if this is a new level of devilry heretoforward unknown.

The more important question - related to how it sounds like New Jersey cops were providing security at a music video shoot - has floated by TMZ.

Chris Brown has violent outburst when asked about his violent outbursts

To be fair to Chris Brown, nobody going on Good Morning America expects any questioning stronger than "muffin or french toast", so he was probably wrong-footed by this:



While on camera, Brown just about kept his temper under control. But only just. TMZ reports:

We're told after the interview, Brown freaked out, storming into his dressing room and screaming so loud, the people in hair and makeup became alarmed and called security.

We're told Brown was out of control, and one source present tells us he smashed a window in his dressing room, and the glass shattered and some shards fell onto 43rd and Broadway. ABC security tells TMZ ... the window was shattered with a chair.

We're told by the time security rushed the area, Brown had ripped off his shirt and left the building, blowing off another performance he was supposed to do for the ABC website.

And sources say ... on his way out of the building, Brown confronted a segment producer, got in his face and stared him down. People from the show got in between Chris and the producer to diffuse the situation.

Clearly, Brown is so tired about his beating up of women being brought up he's trying his best to create some more up-to-date douchery for people to focus on.

Dave McCabe hands over the cash

As part of the sentence for headbutting a bloke in the street, The Zuton's Dave McCabe has been ordered to pay his victim £1,500.

The Independent had clearly been scanning album sleeves for appropriate songs:

The star - whose songs include Calm Me Down and Havana Gang Brawl - had attended his mother's 60th birthday party earlier in the evening.

I bet they were disappointed that he'd never done a song called Drunken Mistake. Perhaps for the next album, eh?

[Thanks to Michael M]

Who said The Zutons can't get a hit any more?

Dave McCabe, him out The Zutons, has been convicted of assault after headbutting a guy who said that his girlfriend's fur coat made it look like she had a beard.

Sentencing will take place on October 29th; McCabe is out on bail until then but the judge warned him not to assume that means he won't be going inside later.

Fan hit by A. Glass at Latitude

Violence is never the answer. But if someone in the audience had been groping Alice Glass during last night's Crystal Castles set at Latitude, her reaction is understandable:

Glass responded by appearing to aim repeated downward blows at the culprit, telling the crowd: "You touch my tits, I kick you in the fucking head." She then spat in their direction, and yelled "Bitch".

Violence is never the answer. But if it stops arseholes from ruining everyone's fun by treating moshpits as a way to cop a feel, it might be a wrong answer you can support. It's not just the band who have to put up with that sort of shit. But nobody should have to just take it.

Gordon in the morning: Mel B's fists of fury

Poor Amado Aguirre. He's an estate agent and was - he claims - invited to go and value Mel B's house; while he was prepping by taking photos of the properties, deciding what bits he'd talk up and what bits he'd try to avoid purchasers looking at, when Mel B and her husband, Mel B's husband mistook him for a paparazzo and - again, he says - beat him up.

You'd have to be impressed if this story is true - so many celebrities would send their hired goons to beat up strangers rather than rolling up their sleeves and doing it themselves. Although perhaps Mel B can't afford to hire goons any more, and that might be why she's flogging off the house.

She might find it even harder to afford hirings if Aguirre has his way - being an estate agent, he's sized up his injuries, considered their location and put a value of a million pounds on them. Hence the size of his launched lawsuit.

Stuart Pink has handled this story, leaving Gordon to try and squeeze another Cheryl Cole story out of her malaria. I suppose Smart is worried if he doesn't run something, anything, every day, readers might assume she's died in the night.

[Doctors] have also suggested she takes up relaxing yoga and Pilates to reduce her stress levels.

Yes, apparently yoga cures malaria. Given that she was supposedly at death's door according to yesterday's non-story, it seems a little odd the doctors are bellowing over the sound of medical equipment that she might think about buying a yoga mat.

Yesterday, you might recall, Smart informed readers that Tweedy would be out for most of the X Factor:

MALARIA-stricken CHERYL TWEEDY will not return to X Factor until live finals in October, it was revealed last night.

That was pretty definitive, then. At least X Factor fans know where they... hang about, what's this today?

Cheryl has said she won't perform at all for the rest of the year - but she will be back as a judge on X Factor in time for boot camp.

Meanwhile, The Sun's advertisers have got a suggestion for Cheryl if she's looking for a plan B:

Madina Lake bassist badly beaten

Horrible news from Madina Swan. Bassist Matthew Leone has been hospitalised with serious injuries after trying to help a woman being attacked in the street:

A few nights ago, Matthew walked from my apt. a block and a half down the street to meet a friend for a drink. half way there he saw a man severely beating his wife. Being the most amazing, strong, heroic and incredible person I know.. even though the guy was twice his size, Matthew intervened. He managed to subdue this guy for a second and since his wife was beat up pretty good called the cops.. as he did so the guy jumped him from behind and beat him. This guy did things I can’t even type. After words, he and his beaten wife left Matthew unconcious on the street. Matthew is in the hospital with a third of his skull removed as we wait for the swelling in his brain to go down. I’d rather not share any additional information at this time besides the fact that he acted as a hero (as he always would in any of these situations) and is paying a horrific price. Pease send all your love and good energy and vibrations to him.

It's a horrible, horrible story. Wishing Matthew all the best for his recovery.

Noel's attacker: Paying again and again

Alice P writes again from Toronto, where the National Post has run a piece which, while not condoning people shoving Noel Gallagher over, suggests a degree of sympathy for the attacker:

Before he attacked Oasis leader Noel Gallagher in 2008, Pickering contractor Daniel Sullivan was a family man who did community theatre and coached kids’ soccer. Since his drunken rampage on a Toronto stage, Sullivan spent months apart from his family, developed mental issues that prompted him to seek counselling, and was today sentenced to one year’s house arrest.

Sullivan did bad - but it sounds like he's had his life wrecked pretty solidly as a result of the sort of beery laddishness that Gallagher celebrates.

And - as Alice reminds us - Noel still has a civil action pending against Sullivan. What the hell for? He's not rich; he's already had his life ruined. What good would suing a bloke who has nothing and extending the cycle of misery. The courts have punished him. He's apologised. What's the point of a vindictive lawsuit?

Noel Gallagher's shover sentenced

The bloke who shoved Noel Gallagher over, and sent Liam into Bin Laden like hiding, has finally been sentenced:

Danny Sullivan, the man who attacked guitarist Noel Gallagher on a Toronto stage 18 months ago, has been sentenced to twelve months of house arrest.

The sentence, handed down by Mr. Justice Richard Schneider in a Toronto court Wednesday, will allow Mr. Sullivan to leave his home to run his contracting business. He will have an additional four hours a week to conduct personal matters outside the house.

But - and let's be very clear here - "personal matters" does not involve trying to make Gem Archer get so dizzy he falls over.

In his ruling, Judge Schneider noted that Mr. Sullivan had no prior run-ins with the law, and he will not be a threat to the community while he is serving the conditional sentence. His behaviour at the concert “was not consistent with anything we know about Mr. Sullivan,” the judge said. He declined the Crown’s request to put Mr. Sullivan on probation after his sentence is complete.

To be honest, Sullivan wasn't much of a threat to the community even while he was pushing Noel Gallagher over. It's not like he was then going to start pushing people over wildly, before turning the push on himself.

[Thanks again to Alice P, our Toronto/rockstar shoving correspondent]