The Phil Spector Trial, Smashing Pumpkins, Spinal Tap
Legal News
Opening statements by the defense and prosecution began this week in the Phil Spector trial a jury of nine men and four women will decide if Spector had a hand in the death of Lana Clarkson who died four years ago at his mansion. Originally, It took authorities eight months to charge Spector after the incident he had previously been charged with "implied malice" alleging he did not intend to kill Clarkson but caused her death by reckless behavior and taking an extreme risk. Spector appeared tense as the opening statements were read against him.
Alan Jackson the chief prosecutor portrayed Spector as a man "who when he's confronted with the right circumstances, when he's confronted with the right situations, turns sinister and deadly." Jackson said "The evidence is going to paint a picture of a man who on Feb 3, 2003 put a loaded pistol in Lana Clarkson's mouth and shot her to death." The defense maintains that Clarkson's death was a suicide and that Spector had only known her for a few hours after meeting her at the House of Blues where she worked as a hostess in Los Angeles that evening. If found guilty Spector will be charged with second degree murder and spend fifteen years in prison.
Music Notes
The newly reunited Smashing Pumpkins are set to release a disc titled "Zeitgeist" on July 7th a new single hasn't been selected and information on if the original members James Iha, and D'Arcy Wretzy will join the other two original members Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin. The Smashing Pumpkins first show will be May 22nd at the Grand Rex Theatre in Paris, France they will continue the tour through Europe into mid June and play the first U.S. show at the Live Earth Concert on July 7th at East Rutherford NJ.
A track list for the disc has been released the first song being
"Doomsday Clock" which is a big loud rock and roll song similar to "Geek USA" featured on their earlier disc 'Siamese Dream.' The first songs on the disc are similar to this and harken back to the days of the grunge era. Songs such as "Never Lost" and "For God and Country" is a bass driven tune similar to Depeche Mode in their synth-rock days.
The rest of the songs on the disc are as follows.
"Doomsday Clock"
"7 Shades of Black"
"Orchid"
"That's the Way"
"Tarantula"
"Starz"
"United States"
"Never Lost"
"Bring the Light"
"Come On (Let's Go)"
"For God and Country"
"Pomp and Circumstance"
Spinal Tap will reunite for the Live Earth Concert on July 7th in London. The original member of the mock heavy metal group will reunite they are guitarist Nigel Tufnel(Christopher Guest) singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and bass player Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer). Rob Reiner the director who created the 1984 mockumentry "This is Spinal Tap" will also be in attendance.
A new fifteen minute film directed by Reiner will be featured when the band reunites and will be later shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The short film explains what the members of the band have been doing since their last reunion on the disc 'Break Like the Wind' released in 1992.
Nigel has been raising miniature horses but has been unable to find jockeys small enough to ride them. David is a hip-hop producer who runs a colonic clinic and Derek is in rehab for being addicted to the internet.
The Cranberries broke onto the music scene in 1994 with the song "Linger", and "Zombie" from the disc 'Everybody else is doing it, why can't we.' Their last disc was 2001's 'Wake up and Smell the Coffee' which barely showed up on the charts.
However, the lead singer Delores O'Riordan mentioned recently that a reunion is possible but currently she is working on her solo project. O'Riordan said that she completed her solo disc ' Are you listening? ' in a relaxed atmosphere while spending time with her children and family. Alot of the songs came from day to day living said O'Riordan it was a very natural and organic process where experimented with different beats, instruments.
My Chemical Romance has announced that Mikey Way lead singer Gerard Way's brother is to leave the band temporarily to spend time with his new wife. The couple were married on March 8th and the band has been touring behind their new disc ' The Black Parade.' On the bands official website Gerard said "The band has decided to give (mike) and his wife a much needed break from the road to start a life and have a proper honeymoon and do all the things a newlywed couple should do." It isn't known how long Mikey will be away and a replacement hasn't been named.
The White Strips celebrate ten years as a band this year and with their new release "Icky Thump" due out June 19th they will embark on a North American tour this summer where they will play a variety of unconventional venues. Jack White says that "We're going to play the 16 states we've never played before, that way we will have played in all 50 states and we're going to play every province and territory in Canada." Before coming to North America they will play six shows in Europe and play the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
The first of the U.S. dates begin on July 22 at Portland, Maine and a show two days later at New York's Madison Square Garden. The rest of the dates are as follows
June 24: Burnaby, B.C. (Deer Lake Park)
June 25: Whitehorse, Y.T. (Yukon Arts Centre)
June 26: Yellowknife, N.W. (Yellowknife Multiplex)
June 27: Iqaluit, N.U.N. (Arctic Winter Games Arena)
June 29: Calgary, A.B. (Pengrowth Saddledome)
June 30: Edmonton, A.B. (Shaw Conference Centre)
July 1: Saskatoon, S.K. (TCU Place)
July 2: Winnipeg, M.B. (MTS Centre)
July 3: Thunder Bay, Ont. (Community Auditorium)
July 5: Toronto (Molson Amphitheatre)
July 6: Montreal (Bell Centre)
July 7: London, Ont. (Labatt Centre)
July 8: Ottawa, Ont. (Cisco Systems Bluesfest)
July 10: Moncton, N.N. (Moncton Coliseum)
July 11: Charlottetown, P.E. (Civic Centre)
July 13: Halifax, N.S. (Cunard Event Centre)
July 14: Glace Bay, N.S. (Savoy Theatre)
July 16: Saint John's, N.F. (Mile One Centre)
July 22: Portland, Maine (Civic Center)
July 23: Boston (Agganis Arena)
July 24: New York (Madison Square Garden)
July 25: Wallingford, Conn. (Chevrolet Theatre)
July 27: Wilmington, Del. (Grand Opera House)
July 28: Fairfax, Va. (Patriot Center)
July 29: Myrtle Beach, S.C. (House of Blues)
July 30: Birmingham, Ala. (Sloss Furnace)
July 31: Southaven, Miss. (Snowden Grove Park)
The Raconteurs a side project of Jack White of the White Stripes are working on a follow up to their 2006 debut 'Broken Boy Soldiers.' They are working at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, TN and have twelve songs written and hope to have a new disc out next year. They are trying to get as much done before Jack White's first band The White Stripes goes on tour behind their new disc.
The Arctic Monkey's new release 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' has only sold 85,000 units during its first day of release which was Monday. Their first disc ' Whatever, people say I am, That's What I'm Not' which debut in January of 2006 sold 363,735 copies in a week in the UK and 108,000 on the first day it was released. Perhaps, their antics off stage and outside the studio are more interesting than their musical talent.
Marilyn Manson new disc titled 'Eat Me, Drink Me' which debuts June 5th will have 11 tracks and was recorded with guitarist/bassist Tim Skold. The recent divorce of Manson from Dita Von Teese seems to have been influenced his choice of titles and his anger about the breakup. On the track "The Red Carpet Grave" he sings "I can't turn my back on you when you walk away," and he seems reflective on "They said Hell's not Hot" which features the lyric "I kill myself in small amount/in each relationship it's not about love/just another funeral and just another girl left in tears."
Manson and his band will be on the road and perform at the Pink Pop festival in Landgraaf, Holland on May 26. A tour of North America will begin in early July but the dates where he will perform are not set at this time. Manson continues to work and direct his film "Phantasmagoria; The Visions of Lewis Carroll" in which he stars as the Alice in Wonderland author.
The Beastie Boys will release a new disc 'The Mix Up' in June it will be a return to the band's original sound. They will be playing instruments on the entire disc instead of sampling as they had done previously. According to Mike D "There's more rock on there,it might make you flip your wig right off, or your hairpiece, if your a casual listener." Hopefully, this release will be better than the 2004 release "To the 5 Burroughs" which I actually bought thinking it would be an interesting disc well it turned out to be really dull.
The band Interpol is set to release their third album " Our Love To Admire" on July 10th and the first single will be "The Heinrich Maneuver" which sounds like an upbeat kiss off to an ex love. The rest of the disc visits familiar territory with the tracks "No I in Threesome" and "Mammoth" which use simple repeated guitar riffs and powerful bass. Some experimentation takes place on the other tracks the first one being "Pioneer to The Falls" which is a six minute funeral like dirge that features a vocal style similar to Jim Morrison. Another track "The Lighthouse" is an ambient piece which is somewhat of a departure from the bands usual sound,. "Rest My Chemistry" is soulful and spaced out the lyrics "I've slept for two days/ I've bathed in nothing but sweat."
Some of the new material Interpol was played during their just finished Canadian tour. However, they will debut the new material in front of a larger audience on April 27th at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California. There are only three other shows in the U.S. this summer the rest of their schedule being dominated by international festivals to be held in Europe through late August.
The Police have announced that they will perform private fan club shows during their reunion tour this summer.
The first show will take place at GM Place in Vancouver, B.C. on May 27th tickets will not be available to the public they will only be made available to fan club members. The Police's 30th anniversary tour officially begins at the same venue on May 28th and the public will be able to attend.
The recent outcry of Don Imus calling the Rutgers women's basketball team a " bunch of nappy headed hos" and the eventually firing of Imus by CBS Radio has highlighted the hip hop industries use of those words without being responsible for them.
Russell SImmons of the Def Jam label held a private conference with influential music industry executives on Monday April 23rd to address the "growing public outrage" and discuss the racial and sexual epithets used in the industry. Simmons said that the three words "bitch","ho", and "nigga" should be considered extreme. Clean versions of hip hop discs don't use these words, however there isn't an industry standard as to what words can or cannot be used. The issue of freedom of speech cannot be ignored but those who produce the offensive material should be responsible for it.
In a statement from Simmons "Our discussions are about the corporate social responsibility of the industry to voluntarily show respect to African-American and other people of color, African-American women and to all women in lyrics and images."
Aretha Franklin is to hold auditions from May 1-3 in her hometown of Detroit, MI for a musical about the 65 year old queen of soul's life. The autobiographical musical will portray her at various ages of her life along with her friends, background singers, and musical colleagues.
Roles that are up for grabs are LaRue Mann her wardrobe mistress, a suitor Ken Cunnigham , and others such as Dinah Washington, Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson, and pianist Art Tatum.
Franklin is best known for her hits "Respect", "Chain of Fools", and "Freeway of Love. "The musical is based on the 1999 best seller" Aretha; From these Roots" and will possibly premiere in March 2008 in Detroit Michigan
On Saturday April 21st a seven hour auction benefit was held for musicians who lost everything in hurricane Katrina at New York's Hard Rock Cafe by Julien's Auction and raised $2,436,900 plus a 20% buyers fee.
Some of the 200 items auctioned were a Gibson Les Paul guitar owned by U2's The Edge which brought $240,000 and his 1958 Gibson archtop which he has used on every tour since 1985 sold for only $ 105,000. Bono's sunglasses pulled in $20,000, Jimi Hendrix's 1966 Red Fender Mustang guitar sold for $400,000 a saxophone from former President Bill Clinton sold for $54,000. A pair of John Lennon's round blue tinted glasses sold for $30,000. There was an assortment of other accessories used or worn onstage by members of U2 were also sold.
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