George Michael LP Hits Double Platinum
Overseas
Pop singer George Michael's new cover album, Songs From
the Last Century, has achieved double-platinum status overseas before
its release date, Reuters reports. More than 750,000 copies of the
album reportedly have been sold in Britain alone through advance orders.
The album, which features Michael's versions of some of his favorite songs
written during the past 100 years, will be released in Britain on Monday
(Dec. 6) and in the U.S. on Dec. 14. Michael recorded the album during the
summer with producer Phil Ramone in New York. The first U.S. single
will be "Miss Sarajevo," which U2's Bono and tenor
Luciano Pavarotti recorded for the 1995 "Passengers" soundtrack.
[Sat.,
Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM EST]
McCartney To
Return To Cavern Club
Former Beatles member Paul
McCartney plans to return to the Cavern Club, the tiny Liverpool,
England, venue where the Beatles built their reputation. McCartney, with
Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and Deep Purple
drummer Ian Paice, will perform at the club Dec. 14, McCartney's
publicists said Friday (Dec. 3). The show will be broadcast
internationally on television and radio, they said. Gilmour and Paice
played on McCartney's latest album, Run Devil Run, a collection of
rock 'n' roll covers. The original Cavern Club was torn down in the '70s
but was later rebuilt.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
Jazz Guitarist
Charlie Byrd Dies
Jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd,
best known for bringing Brazilian and classical elements to his music,
died Thursday (Dec. 2), according to wire service reports. Byrd, 74,
reportedly succumbed to lung cancer. Jazz Samba, Byrd's 1962 album
with saxophonist Stan Getz, was a pop hit and helped introduce
bossa nova to the U.S. As a teenager in France during World War II, Byrd
played alongside the legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.
[Sat.,
Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM EST]
Farrell Helps
Celebrate Hanukkah
Former Jane's Addiction and
Porno for Pyros leader Perry Farrell will perform under the
name DJ Peretz on Sunday (Dec. 5) in San Francisco's Union Square
as part of an annual outdoor Hanukkah celebration. Also performing will be
a jam band featuring guitarist Henry Kaiser and keyboardist Merl
Saunders, a former Grateful Dead collaborator. The festival
begins at noon and will culminate with the lighting of the menorah at 5
p.m. Farrell (born Perry Bernstein) has appeared at the event for the past
several years.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM EST]
Steely Dan To
Release New Album
Jazzy rock duo Steely Dan
will release Two Against Nature, their first new studio album in 20
years, on Feb. 29, according to a spokesperson for their label. The album
will feature nine new songs, including "Gaslighting Abbie," "What a Shame
About Me," "Two Against Nature," "Janie Runaway," "Almost Gothic," "Jack
of Speed," "Cousin Dupree," "Negative Girl" and "West of Hollywood." The
duo — Donald Fagen and Walter Becker — haven't released a
studio album since 1980's Gaucho, although they reunited in the
early '90s and released a live album, Alive in America, in 1995.
[Sat.,
Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM EST]
Beck To Play
Radio Dates
After a scheduled appearance on "Saturday Night Live" this weekend,
Beck is scheduled to play a trio of radio shows beginning Monday
(Dec. 6) with a gig at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. The singer, who
was slated to perform at a radio show Friday (Dec. 3) at the First Union
Center in Philadelphia is also expected for alternative radio-station gigs
on Dec. 9 in Seattle at the Key Arena and Dec. 11 in Anaheim, Calif., at
The Pond. Beck's latest album, Midnite Vultures, debuted at #34 on
the Billboard 200 albums chart this week. A full list of U.S. tour
dates has not been announced.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
Public Enemy
Webcasting Concert
Cyber-savvy hip-hop group Public
Enemy will webcast a concert live from Zurich, Switzerland, on Sunday
(Dec. 5). Fans can catch the show at www.rapstation.com, beginning at 3
p.m. EST. Public Enemy leader Chuck D launched Rapstation earlier
this year as a site for hip-hop news and MP3 downloads by artists such as
Poor RighteousTeachers, Hyenas in the Desert and Chuck D's
own Confrontation Camp. Public Enemy's most recent album,
There's a Poison Goin' On, was put on sale as a downloadable MP3
file in May.
[Fri., Dec 3, 1999 7:55 PM EST]
Pete Townshend's
'Lifehouse' Finally Premieres
Who guitarist/songwriter
Pete Townshend's "Lifehouse," originally written as a film in the
period between his band's classic rock operas, "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia,"
will finally get its premiere this weekend, as an experimental radio play.
The play, to air Sunday (Dec. 5) on BBC Radio 3 in the UK, includes new
music Townshend wrote for the production, with a number of Who songs
originally intended for the movie, including "Won't Get Fooled Again,"
"Pure and Easy," "Baba O'Riley" and "Behind Blue Eyes." The cast will
include Kelly McDonald ("Trainspotting") and veteran British actor David
Threlfall. Townshend's 1971 script, set on the last day of the millennium,
is an apocalyptic vision of an information-overloaded future. The heroes
are pirate-radio programmers and musicians who slowly make their way to a
huge concert. A Lifehouse CD will be released Monday (Dec. 6) in
the UK.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM EST]
Fox Develops
Russell Simmons Biopic
Rap mogul Russell Simmons
will work with the Fox network to develop a biopic about himself that will
serve as a hip-hop history project, according to Reuters. The
program about the Def Jam Records co-founder, which likely will be a
four-hour miniseries, reportedly is one of several projects in development
at Fox focused on minority themes or talent. Reuters reported that
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has
threatened a boycott, placing Fox and other networks under pressure to add
diversity to their primetime hours. Def Jam is home label to such rappers
as DMX, Foxy Brown, LL Cool J and Jay-Z, and
Simmons has produced such films as "How to Be a Player" and "Krush
Groove." Seagram, which owns Universal Records, bought Def Jam earlier
this year; Simmons remains the label's chairman.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
Kid Rock, Britney
Spears Nominated For People's Choice
Pop star Ricky Martin, rapper
Will Smith and hip-hop/metal singer Kid Rock will vie for
the honor of "Favorite Male Musical Performer" in the 26th annual People's
Choice Awards to be held Jan. 9, organizers said Wednesday (Dec. 1).
Teen-pop queen Britney Spears will take on adult-contemporary star
Celine Dion and country singer Shania Twain in the female
performance category, while country's Dixie Chicks and
Alabama will go up against Backstreet Boys in the band
division. The People's Choice Awards for music, movies and television are
voted on by a nationwide poll of Americans, with no nominees provided.
[Sat.,
Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM EST]
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George Michael (pictured) recorded his new covers album
during the summer with producer Phil Ramone in New
York.
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| MP3.com Pays Cash To Site's Popular
Artists
Swedish electronica group Trance Control were the top
money-winners in MP3.com's first "Payback for Playback" promotion. The
program offers a chance to win cash to the 35,000 artists who have posted
downloadable music to the site, based on the artists' popularity. Trance
Control garnered $4,556 of the $200,000 purse. Easy-listening singer
Eresto Cortazar and the Killer Spam's Comedy Stuff humor act
were the second-highest earners. The website is running the contest again
this month.
[Fri., Dec 3, 1999 9:42 PM EST]
Drummers For
Go-Go's, Marilyn Manson Judging Contest
Drummers including Marilyn
Manson's Ginger Fish, Poison's Rikki Rockett and
the Go-Go's Gina Schock will be among the judges of an
amateur drummer contest at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, Calif.,
on Saturday (Dec. 4), according to a knowledgeable source who requested
anonymity. Seven drummers from across the country, each of whom has won a
regional competition, will compete for the title "Best Amateur Drummer in
the Nation." The daylong event, celebrating the 10th Annual "Drum Day
L.A.," will include a performance by former Jane's
Addiction/Porno for Pyros drummer Stephen Perkins,
featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and former
Jane's Addiction/Chili Peppers guitarist Dave
Navarro, the source said. Current drummers for Mötley Crüe, the
Brian Setzer Orchestra, Meredith Brooks, the eels and
the Young Dubliners also will judge the contest. The winner of the
"Drum Off" will receive a new Yamaha motorcycle, be featured in
Drum! magazine and get to perform on KLOS-FM radio's "Local Licks"
show.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM EST]
Los Lobos
Singer's Wife Believed Murdered
The missing wife of Los Lobos
singer/guitarist Cesar Rosas is believed to have been kidnapped and
murdered, and prosecutors on Thursday (Dec. 2) charged her half-brother
with the crime, the Associated Press reported. Sandra Rosas'
half-brother, Gabriel Gomez, could face the death penalty if convicted,
according to the AP report. Rosas, 47, disappeared from her Los
Angeles home on Oct. 23. Gomez has been in jail for a parole violation
since the day after the kidnapping.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
New Rollins Band
To Debut
Hard-rocker Henry Rollins is scheduled to release an album
with a new version of his Rollins Band on Feb. 15. Rollins co-wrote
the songs on Get Some Go Again with guitarist Jim Wilson,
bassist Marcus Blake and drummer Jason Mackenroth, all
previously of the Los Angeles trio Mother Superior, according to a
Rollins publicist. It will be the first Rollins Band album produced by
Rollins, who released a two-disc spoken-word set, Think Tank, and a
book, "Solipsist," last year.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
Free Music:
Hole
"Be a Man," the new single from rockers Hole, is available
for free download in MP3 and RealAudio formats
(http://www.brookelyn.com/beaman/index.html). It could not be confirmed at
press time whether the MP3 has been authorized by the band. The website
also includes lyrics to the song, as well as a place for listeners to
provide their feedback on the number. "Be a Man" will be part of the
soundtrack of the upcoming Oliver Stone film "Any Given Sunday"; the
soundtrack album hits stores Jan. 4. Hole will hold auditions in Los
Angeles this weekend to replace bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, who
left the band in October, according to a source who asked not to be
named.
[Fri., Dec 3, 1999 12:57 AM EST]
The Judds To Tour
In 2000
Mother-daughter country duo the Judds announced Wednesday
(Dec. 1) that they will tour in 2000. The pair, comprising mother
Naomi and daughter Wynonna, who previously announced a New
Year's Eve show in Phoenix, have not toured since 1991, partly because
Naomi was suffering from hepatitis C. Her doctors now say she is cured of
the virus, according to a statement from the duo's publicist. The tour,
whose theme is "Power to Change," is scheduled to kick off on Feb. 4 in
Denver and run through March 31 in Atlanta. The Judds have sold more than
20 million albums and won six Grammys.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
Beach Boys'
Corporation Reportedly Sues Al Jardine
The Beach Boys' trademark
holder, Brother Records, is suing singer/guitarist Al Jardine over
the use of the band's name, the Los Angeles Times reported. Jardine
and lead singer Mike Love, who no longer perform together, are
using the Beach Boys name for their respective concerts, but only Love's
act has been licensed by Brother Records. The suit, filed in U.S. District
Court in Los Angeles, reportedly alleges Jardine is not meeting standards
designed to maintain the Beach Boys' image. His tour, dubbed "Beach Boys
Family and Friends," features three female lead singers, whereas the Beach
Boys are known for their four-part male harmonies. The former bandmates
have been at odds since Carl Wilson, who served as a mediator
between the members, died last year, the Times said, citing court
papers. A hearing for an injunction against Jardine reportedly is
scheduled for Dec. 13.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
Joe Ely,
Mavericks Set For Sahm Tribute
Roots-rockers Joe Ely and the
Mavericks are among the performers scheduled to pay tribute to the
late Tex-Mex guitarist/songwriter Doug Sahm in shows Friday and
Saturday (Dec. 3–4) at the Austin, Texas, club Antone's. Singer/songwriter
Lucinda Williams was scheduled to perform as well, but she's
suffering from a head cold, which may prevent her appearance, according to
Elizabeth Sweton, who manages Antone's. Guitarists Charlie Sexton
and Kim Wilson also are expected to perform. Sahm, who led the
Texas Tornados and the Sir Douglas Quintet, died in November
at 58, reportedly of heart disease.
[Sat., Dec 4, 1999 3:04 AM
EST]
--A
SonicNet Music News Staff Report
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Oasis Debut
New Members
AUDIO
NEWS
Artist Info
