NEWS UPDATE 27-11-2001
Hello, and welcome to another fun-packed edition of the Rock Midgets news page!
So what do we have for you this week? Well, there's details of Visible Noise's new all ages metal club, more on the Big Day Out tragedy, Sigur Ros, Gorillaz, and Sophie Ellis Bextor finally sees the light... Intriguing, hmm?
Well, what are you waiting for?
* SMASHING ONLINE
* KYLIE MINOGUE FAVE TO WIN RECORD OF THE YEAR
* FREDDIE MERCURY JACKET UP FOR AUCTION
* SIGUR ROS WIN US SHORTLIST PRIZE
* GORILLAZ DOCUMENTARY TO BE SHOWN ON CHANNEL 4
* LIMP BIZKIT QUESTIONED IN FAN DEATH INQUEST
* NEW ROMANTIC TOUR SET FOR APRIL 2002
* SLIPKNOT TO DO INSTORE SIGNINGS NEXT YEAR
* BURNITBLUE START OWN CLUB NIGHT
* JAGGER FLOPS
* WITNESS ORGANISERS ANNOUNCE GIG
* BBC APOLOGISE FOR LANGUAGE ON ROBBIE SHOW
* CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST JAY KAY DROPPED
* 'LIKE A PRAYER' IS TOP MADONNA VIDEO
* VISIBLE NOISE OPENS NEW ALL AGES CLUB
and finally
* SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR TAKES SINGING LESSONS
* SMASHING ONLINE
The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits album is out now. 'Rotten Apples' is currenlty available as a limited two CD package, but you can find all tracks from the new CD and view the TV trailer by going to
http://the-raft.com/pumpkins.html
* KYLIE MINOGUE FAVE TO WIN RECORD OF THE YEAR
Kylie Minogue's number 1 hit, 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', is the
favourite to win the Record Of The Year award, after the nominations were
announced. Pop Idol judge and BMG exec Simon Cowell announced the
nominations at the Hard Rock Café in London; the TV show announcing the
winner is to be presented by Ant & Dec. The full list of nominees, with odds
courtesy of dotmusic, is as follows:
Blue - All Rise (16/1)
Samantha Mumba - Wild Card (16/1)
Afroman - Because I Got High (16/1)
Kylie Minogue - Cant Get You Out Of My Head (6/4)
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood (16/1)
S Club 7 - Don't Stop Movin (7/1)
DJ Pied Piper - Do You Really Like It? (25/1)
Robbie Williams - Eternity (5/2)
DJ Otzi - Hey Baby (25/1)
Geri Halliwell It's Raining Men (50/1)
Shaggy - It Wasn't Me (20/1)
Christina Aguilera/Lil Kim/Pink/Mya - Lady Marmalade (50/1)
Bob The Builder - Mambo No. 5 (16/1)
Wyclef Jean - Perfect Gentleman (50/1)
HearSay - Pure And Simple (12/1)
Destiny's Child - Survivor (25/1)
Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag (25/1)
So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds (15/1)
City High - What Would You Do (15/1)
Atomic Kitten - Whole Again (8/1)
* FREDDIE MERCURY JACKET UP FOR AUCTION
A leather jacket once worn by Queen singer Freddie Mercury is to be
auctioned to raise money for an AIDS charity. The jacket, designed by
Jean-Paul Gaultier, is being auctioned online from today to December 2. The
auction is being run by the AIDS Take Care Foundation, with all proceeds
going to the Little Angels Orphanage in Cape Town. Further details are
available from the Foundation's official website, http//:www.aidstakecare.com
* SIGUR ROS WIN US SHORTLIST PRIZE
Icelandic band Sigur Ros have won the first US Shortlist Music Prize, for
their album 'Agaetis Byrjun'. They beat nine other finalists, including Air,
Gorillaz and PJ Harvey, for the prize which is considered to be the
equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize. The panel of judges included Beck,
Macy Gray, Dave Grohl and Dan The Automator.
* GORILLAZ DOCUMENTARY TO BE SHOWN ON CHANNEL 4
Channel 4 will be showing a documentary next month about animated band
Gorillaz. The programme, featuring masterminds Damon Albarn and Jamie
Hewlett, will include a live performance from the virtual band. It will be
shown on Channel 4 on December 11.
* LIMP BIZKIT QUESTIONED IN FAN DEATH INQUEST
The inquiry into a Limp Bizkit fan's death at an Australian rock festival is
continuing, with the band now being questioned about the incident. So far,
Limp Bizkit's only response to inquiries has been a set of written answers
sent via their lawyer. The court has heard that fans in the moshpit at the
gig were spitting at, kicking and hitting security guards as they tried to
rescue 16-year-old Jessica Michalik. Jessica died five days after being crushed by the crowds at the festival.
At the inquest in Sydney, Inspector Gregory Bamford described the
teenager's death as "tragic", and said that his investigation had so far
failed to identify any criminal negligence on the part of anyone involved.
However, Peter Rozen of security firm Australian Event Protection, who
looked after security for the festival, told reporters that "the security
officer that entered the moshpit did so under volatile conditions, and
whilst being publicly mocked and most unfairly criticised by the band in a
manner that frustrated their efforts to save lives." It has been heard
in the inquest that the time taken to get to Jessica was a contributing
factor to her death, and that Limp Bizkit were in a position to see what was going on and do
something about it.
Lawyers for the girl's family have said that Limp
Bizkit's statements about what happened were "half baked", and that the
band's response "raises more questions than it answers." The coroner has
asked investigators to pursue the band for more information.
* NEW ROMANTIC TOUR SET FOR APRIL 2002
A host of New Romantic stars have joined together to stage an 80s revival.
The Here & Now Tour 2002 will feature performances from Adam Ant, Spandau
Ballet, Belinda Carlisle, Toyah Wilcox, China Crisis and Howard Jones. The
tour is scheduled for April next year, taking in Cardiff, Brighton,
Birmingham, Newcastle, London, Sheffield, Manchester and Glasgow.
* SLIPKNOT TO DO INSTORE SIGNINGS NEXT YEAR
Metal band Slipknot have rescheduled UK signing sessions to coincide with
their 2002 tour. The instore signings will be a celebration for the success
of their album, 'Iowa', which has recently gone gold. Slipknot are appearing
at the following Virgin Megastores:
February 14: Glasgow Buchanan Street
February 19: Cardiff Queen Street
February 20: Birmingham Corporation Street
* BURNITBLUE START OWN CLUB NIGHT
Music news website Burnitblue.com are launching their own club night this
weekend. The night, entitled 'BurnitBlue Presents...', begins this Friday
(23rd) at Bar Rhumba, London, and promises a music policy of quality house
music. Headlining the first night which incidentally is also the website's
first birthday is 16B. Future guests include Lottie, Jo Mills and Clive
Henry.
* JAGGER FLOPS
Mick Jagger's latest solo album has suffered from surprisingly low sales on
its first day, despite a massive publicity effort (wHERE? - eD). 'Goddess In The Doorway'
sold just 954 copies on Monday, compared to Robbie Williams 'Swing While
You're Winning', which was released on the same day and sold 73,000 copies.
Jagger's album is now lying at number 85 in the UK charts.
* WITNESS ORGANISERS ANNOUNCE GIG
The organisers of the Irish music festival Witness are planning a special
event in Dublin on December 7, to take place at the Ambassador Theatre. The
identity of the headline act is being kept secret for the moment; however
the organisers have revealed that the Witness gig will be the unknown band¹s
first in Ireland in 2 years.
* BBC APOLOGISE FOR LANGUAGE ON ROBBIE SHOW
The BBC has had to apologise for bad language in the TV programme One Night
With Robbie Williams after they received hundreds of complaints. The show,
which was watched by over 7 million people, led to 300 viewers phoning in to
complain. The complaints centred on the on-stage banter taking place between
the singer and actor Rupert Everett a BBC spokesperson has since commented
that the actor's comments were supposed to be "tongue in cheek".
* CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST JAY KAY DROPPED
Criminal charges held against Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay have been formally
dropped. Charges of common assault and criminal damage were filed against
Kay after an incident outside a London nightclub were Kay allegedly
assaulted photographer Dennis Gill and smashed his camera. The case is to
be officially discontinued after the Crown Prosecution Service decided there
was insufficient evidence against 31-year-old Kay. At an earlier hearing,
Kay pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
* 'LIKE A PRAYER' IS TOP MADONNA VIDEO
'Like A Prayer' has been voted top Madonna video by the viewers of QTV, the
Q magazine spin-off channel. The channel had been playing Madonna videos
non-stop for a week, to mark the launch of her new compilation album,
'GHV2'. The number 2 spot was taken by 'Dear Jessie', and 'Erotica' made it
to number 3.
* VISIBLE NOISE OPENS NEW ALL AGES CLUB
London-based metal label Visible Noise (home to Lostprophets, Number One Son and Kilkus) in partnership with Subterania (located right next to London's
Playstation Skate Park) will be opening new free entry club night SUBVERSE on 8th December. Subverse has purposely been created as an all ages club by Visible Noise, though alcohol will only be served in the upstairs bar with admission via a special wristband.
Each night will play host to 2 specialist Dj's (from Big Cheese magazine and a large London
Metal/Hardcore club), and 2 live bands - on 8th December London's emo
hardcore crew Kilkus will be playing a 30 minute set full of new material and Liverpudlian skate punk young guns Number One Son will be playing a 45 minute set from their debut album 'Majority of One' just released on Visible Noise. Visible Noise also promise freebies and giveaways from numerous labels and magazines....
Details are as follows.....
Subverse - 3-8pm on 8th December 2001
Venue: Subteranea (Acklam Road, next to Playstation Skate Park)
Nearest Tube Station - Ladbroke Grove
Running order:
3-4.45 - dj
4.45 - 5.15 - Kilkus
5.15 - 6.45 - dj
6.45 - 7.30 - Number One Son
7.30 - 8.00 - dj
* SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR TAKES SINGING LESSONS
After five years in the music business, Sophie Ellis Bextor has finally seen the light. She's going to get singing lessons. Talking to Radio 1, she said "It's the first time I've ever been and at first you've got a real sense of pride of not really wanting to go and quite liking the fact that you can say, 'Oh I've never had a singing lesson'." So what's made her change her mind? "Then I thought it's a bit stupid really 'cause singing is a... there's a craft to it, I don't want to burn my voice out too quickly and I'd like to be able to extend my range and that sort of thing."
Her new single 'Murder on the Dancefloor' is out next week. Presumably it was recorded before the singing lessons started.
PREVIOUS NEWS UPDATE
|
