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For The Record: Nate Dogg, Noel Gallagher, Shudder To Think & More

Posted 7/8/08 4:16 pm EST by in For The Record


Nate Dogg· Nate Dogg has been hit with three felony counts of making criminal threats and stalking, plus a misdemeanor charge of driving on a suspended license for a June 20 incident in which he allegedly menaced his ex-wife on a Los Angeles highway.

· We already knew Oasis' Noel Gallagher wasn't too keen on shaking things up at Glastonbury with a headlining spot for Jay-Z, but now he's proven to be resistant to change in other ways. He's said you shouldn't expect a Radiohead-esque album giveaway for the band's upcoming Dig Out Your Soul. In fact, he expects to make his money back, because that thing was hella expensive to record!

· You've probably heard that while CD sales have taken a nosedive, vinyl record sales have been on the upswing since 2004. Now major retailer Best Buy is following Circuit City's lead by launching a program to stock some vinyl in its stores. Read More...

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For The Record: Nickelback, Kanye West, Onyx & More

Posted 7/8/08 10:42 am EST by in For The Record


· Powerhouse Canadian rockers Nickelback are the latest act to sign a mega-deal with promotions giant Live Nation for their recording, touring and merchandising rights. Though the deal was not as rich as recent ones inked by Madonna, U2 and Jay-Z, it was reportedly worth $50-$70 million. 

· Kanye West's management team is reportedly trying to get the keyboard-thrashing, blog-bashing rapper to attend anger-management classes for his own good — and to help him score some lucrative endorsement deals.
  
· New York rapper William Troy McCune is suing the producers of the 2007 documentary "Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life" for $5 million, alleging that they included footage of him battling Biggie without his permission.

· Rap trio Onyx are prepping a comeback with a pair of albums. The first disc, Cold Case Files: Unsolved Murders, due August 19, features lost studio sessions from the group's most recent albums and cameos from Method Man and late group member X-1. It will be followed in 2009 by the group's new studio album Black Rock.
 
· Bruce Springsteen will release a live digital EP, Magic Tour Highlights, on July 15 that will feature four songs and four videos, including late E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici's final performance with the group. Guests on the tracks include Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Byrds legend Roger McGuinn.

· It's no secret that Spike Lee loves the rock musical "Passing Strange." He even wrote a glowing open letter a few months back, urging folks to "go see 'Passing Strange' and tell them Spike sent you." Now, the director has scheduled a press conference on Wednesday, in which he'll unveil plans to shoot the stage production, concert-film style, for a movie that will most likely air on cable.

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For The Record: Steve-O, Vanessa Hudgens, Beyonce & More

Posted 7/7/08 6:23 pm EST by in For The Record


Steve-O, Credit: MTV News

· Steve-O is back in the "looney bin," according to his MySpace blog. In March, the "Jackass" star checked into rehab and has been sober for 115 days. But being clean hasn't completely cured him of his mood swings and severe depression, which he said led him to back to a mental institution. Steve-O posted the entry after watching himself on "Dr. Drew's Celebrity Addiction Special" on VH1. "Everyone's going to make their own decisions in life, but nobody needs to make the same mistakes I made," he said.

· Now that filming has wrapped on High School Musical 3, Vanessa Hudgens can concentrate on promoting her new album, Identified, with her sneakers on. But, she doesn't forget about boyfriend, Zac Efron. Hudgens told USA Today that their chemistry is just as good offscreen as it is on. "I'm such a hopeless romantic." she said, adding that the couple are so comfortable in front of each other they can do anything. Let's just hope they don't take any pictures.

· Fourth of July weekend is barely over, but Beyoncé's already got her next one all booked up. She's going to headline next year's Essence Music Festival, the magazine announced Monday. This year's festival, which featured Kanye West and Mary J. Blige, drew a crowd of 270,000 over the weekend. The 2009 festival will coincide with the magazine's 15th anniversary and will take place in New Orleans on July 3-5.

· Virginia Senator Jim Webb, Vietnam vet and sponsor of the new GI Bill, has announced that he won't consider becoming Barack Obama's running mate, because he feels "best equipped to serve the people of Virginia and this country" in the Senate. Well, that's a bit firmer than the answer he gave us back in April.

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For The Record: Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Ryan Adams & More

Posted 7/3/08 11:11 am EST by in For The Record


· Sadly, there will be no Emmy night out for Britney Spears. Though she got good notices for her two-episode arc on "How I Met Your Mother," the singer didn't make it onto the semifinal list in the Guest Actress on a Comedy Series category.

· Jessica Simpson is taking this whole goin' country thing seriously. The pop singer will showcase material from her upcoming roots album at fairs and festivals this summer.

· Classic rock roundup: ZZ Top are hoping Rick Rubin has some of that same magic left in his bag that helped revive the careers of Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. ... Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers are auctioning premium seats to the rest of their summer tour dates to help raise money for people affected by Midwest flooding. ... New Jersey fortune-teller Marie Castello, immortalized in the Bruce Springsteen song "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," died on Friday at age 93. ... The three original living members of Bad Company will reunite for a one-off show in Hollywood, Florida, on August 8, mostly to block knockoff bands from touring under that name.

· Singer Natasha Shneider, a member of the band Eleven who collaborated with Chris Cornell and Queens of the Stone Age, died on Tuesday of cancer.

· Apparently the romance has ended between actress Mandy Moore and rocker Ryan Adams. We know this because Adams issued a statement to a tabloid explaining, "I am grateful for our friendship and how it allowed us both to grow and learn more. ... Unfortunately I am allergic to paparazzi and have found the best antidote to that sort of nonsense is staying behind the guitar and typewriter, staying close to my support group of friends and bandmates and not engaging in activities that prevent me from taking care of myself or others."

· Someone has stolen the grave marker for Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. At some point earlier this week the marker — which reads "Ian Curtis 18-5-80" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" — was removed from the Macclesfield Cemetery in Curtis' hometown of Macclesfield, England, and authorities currently have no leads.

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For The Record: Shakira, David Cook, Heidi Montag & More

Posted 7/2/08 10:56 am EST by in For The Record


Shakira· Despite the recent departure of the man who started the whole mega-deal trend at Live Nation, it looks like Shakira may be the next artist to sign a multimillion-dollar pact with the touring giant. Reports say a deal worth a potential $70 million for the Latin star's touring, merchandising and recording could be wrapped before the end of the month.

· "American Idol" winner David Cook loves Hinder and, apparently, the boozy hard rockers love him right back. Singer Austin Winkler said he's a fan and would like to write some songs for Cook's debut album.

· Heidi Montag has done it again. "The Hills" star, who recently talked about wanting to record a Christian album, has followed up her ode to "Fashion" with an homage to ... drinking. The Britney-esque Euro club banger "One More Drink" features lines like "Sipping on that happy juice," "I'm drinking on that Goose" and "I'm getting lost in this liquid high."

Read More...

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For The Record: Panic At The Disco, Girl Talk, Dave Matthews Band & More

Posted 7/1/08 11:01 am EST by in For The Record


· After sharing the stage with Snoop Dogg for a run through of "Gin and Juice" at the debut of "FNMTV" three weeks ago, Panic at the Disco are reportedly planning to team up with Snoop again to record a song.

· Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, is hitting the road in support of his Feed the Animals album. His latest round of U.S. dates kicks off at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, Colorado, on July 11 with opening acts Hearts of Darknesses, Grand Buffet, Cx Kidtronik and the Death Set.

· Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore is in fair condition after being seriously injured in an ATV accident on his Charlottesville, Virginia, farm.

· First the good news: You will soon hear some new music from Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. The bad news for hard-core Rage fans? It's not from the band but from Morello's side project, the Nightwatchman. The guitarist is prepping his second solo album, The Fabled City, for a September 30 release.

· In other Rage news, singer Zack de la Rocha is about to break his silence by releasing his first album in eight years under the name One Day as a Lion. The five-song EP with drummer Jon Theodore will be released July 22 and is described as a "sonic reflection of the visceral tension between a picturesque fabricated cultural landscape and the brutal socioeconomic realities it attempts to mask." Exactly. Read More...

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For The Record: Britney Spears, Ruben Studdard, Kristy Lee Cook, Ticketmaster And More

Posted 6/30/08 11:36 am EST by in For The Record


· Britney Spears quickly took advantage of her new custody arrangement with ex-Kevin Federline by having a 12-hour sleepover with her two sons on Saturday night.

· Former "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard, 29, married fiancee Surata Zuri McCants in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday. The singer — who was recently dropped from his major label contract — did not perform at his own 30-minute ceremony, but he is reportedly working on a new album.

· Speaking of "Idol," horse whisperer Kristy Lee Cook, one of this year's finalists, has signed a deal with 19 Recordings/ Arista Nashville and will be releasing her first single, "15 Minutes of Shame," on August 11. An album is due in the fall.

·Rhapsody (a joint venture with MTV Networks) has announced that it is opening an MP3 store with no digital rights management.

· Ticketmaster was awarded an $18 million judgment in its case against ticketbot company RMG Technologies, which a judge in Los Angeles ruled had worked around the ticketing giant's software with an automated program in order to help scalpers buy tickets at speeds and volumes that virtually shut out regular customers. Some of the alleged biggest victims of the technology were "Hannah Montana" fans who were unable to get tickets to the Miley Cyrus' 2007 gigs.

· The non-profit (RED) organization has raised money to fight AIDS in Africa by selling everything from shoes and clothing to special-edition iPods. Now, it's starting a digital-music subscription service slated to launch in September that will deliver three new pieces of exclusive content a week for a $5 a month. Among the acts that have signed up so far are: U2, Death Cab for Cutie, Bob Dylan and Elton John.

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For The Record: Dr. Dre, Phish, Lindsay Lohan & More

Posted 6/27/08 10:56 am EST by in For The Record



· It looks like Dr. Dre might beat Axl Rose in the race to release the most frequently delayed album of the decade. After 10 years of work, one-time protégé Snoop Dogg revealed that Dre's Detox is "on and poppin' " and that the tracks he recently heard "knocked my head off." Oh, and Dre's producing Snoop's next album too.

· Fire up your Hacky Sacks, y'all. It sounds like Phish might be planning a reunion! Keyboardist Page McConnell has hinted at a get-together after four years away from fronting the jam-nation juggernaut and said the boys are getting along better than they ever have.

· Lindsay Lohan has reportedly wrapped work on her third album, Spirit in the Dark, and it will feature tracks produced by Pharrell, Akon, StarGate and Bloodshy & Avant.

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For The Record: Madonna, Kanye West, 'American Idol,' Coldplay & More

Posted 6/26/08 2:18 pm EST by in For The Record


· U.K. newspaper The Times reported on Thursday that Madonna has hired Fiona Shackleton, the same lawyer who handled the Paul McCartney divorce case, and that she is seeking legal advice for a possible divorce from Guy Ritchie, her filmmaking husband of seven years. When asked about the report, a spokesperson for Madonna told MTV News: "No comment at this time."

Dr. Jan Adams — who operated on Kanye West's late mother, Donda — has lost his license to practice medicine after failing to pay child support, according to TMZ. The doctor was also arrested for DUI early Thursday (June 26).

· Here we go again ... already? Fox has announced the eight audition cities for the upcoming eighth season of "American Idol." Hopefuls can start lining up for their shot at instant fame, with auditions hitting San Francisco, Phoenix and the first-ever location outside the contiguous 48 states — San Juan, Puerto Rico.

· Slash reportedly dialed up Sebastian Bach "out of the blue" for some kind of "mind-blowing" top-secret rock project that doesn't involve fronting Velvet Revolver. Bach says taking that gig would be awkward, given his BFF status with Guns N' Roses leader Axl Rose. Please, please tell us it's a new line of hard-rockin’ hair-care products!

Read More...

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For The Record: Blake Lewis, Radiohead, Shaquille O'Neal & More

Posted 6/25/08 11:13 am EST by in For The Record


Blake Lewis

· That was quick. Season-six "American Idol" runner-up, beat-boxing '80s-lover Blake Lewis, has been dropped by his label, Arista Records, after only one album. Audio Day Dream only moved 300,000 copies. The "Idol" boys curse strikes again.

· So, it turns out the California blogger who posted those nine Chinese Democracy tracks over the weekend didn't just get shut down by Guns N' Roses' label, he also got a visit from the FBI.

· Radiohead are offering 10 live recordings of In Rainbows tracks on the iTunes store. The songs are from a recent show at the Hospital in London and were recorded by frequent collaborator Nigel Godrich. Read More...

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