CMU
Daily - on the inside Friday 15th July
In today's CMU Daily:
- Australia courts rule against pirated music links site
- ITC unsigned deadline approaching
- EMI boss optimistic in AGM report
- Apple fortunes up and up
- Orange launch latest music phone
- Album review: Tuco - The Shrinking Process
- Weiland drugs charge dismissed
- New York Dolls sign new deal
- Oasis in Sky Sports promo
- Sheryl Crow new face of Dell
- Eminem's tour bus involved in dramatic crash
- Kapranos talks about new album
- Bloc Party recording second album
- Single review: Husky Rescue - City Lights
- US radio firm interested in UK stations
- The Strokes announce South American tour
- Babyshambles tour postponed
- Waters completes opera
- Ozzy and Sharon may open house to the public
- kd lang sells self on eBay
- Oxegen sell next year's tickets
- Paddingtons instore today
- Mel C says reunion will not happen
- Aguilera injured in Paris nightclub? No, apparently
- Foo Fighters collaborate with Stone?
- Tommy Lee has pash for Tweedy
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PRESS ROOM>>
*** KILL ALL HIPPIES JULY - London's greatest rock night is once again taking over the Scala, Kings Cross. Live sets come from sublime industrial punkmeister T.Raumschmiere plus Broken Dolls and Kiosk. There are DJ sets from resident curator Eddy Temple Morris (Xfm), Jeff Automatic (Transmission) and DJ Syrinx, plus don't forget the Fun House, KAH's second room, hosted by legendary Primal Scream producer Jagz kooner and cohort Richard Clouston. All takes place Saturday 16 Jul, 8.30pm til 4am. Tickets £8, but £3 discount admission if you guest list yourself at http://www.leylinepromotions.com/killallhippies. And don't forget you can download exclusive live sets from Kill All Hippies right now at http://www.tunetribe.com - new sets from this month's event will be available for download from Sunday.
Full press release: http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/pressroom/killallhippies/
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CMU FRIDAY TIPS
VIGSY'S FESTIVAL TIP: London United / Rise Festival at Burgess Park, London
This used to be called the Respect Festival - but was presumably relabeled Rise to distance itself from Mr Galloway, and was certainly re-relabeled London United to show the capital's defiance in light of last week bomb blasts. It has also been relocated from past years, to South London's Burgess Park just off the Old Kent Road - not the most scenic of parks but an open space nonetheless. But whatever it's called, wherever it might happen, and despite Ken's last minute post-bomb blast repositioning, the ethos remains the same, a huge line up of mainly 'urban' artists all committed to promoting the anti-racism cause at a big free gig, the grand finale to Rise week. 70,000 people flowed through the gates at last year's event, and even more are likely this year. And given the quality of line up for a free event, you can see why. The main stage is the Rise Stage which, as well as last minute additions Billy Bragg and Suggs (not that urban, admittedly), will host Lemar, Goldie Lookin Chain, Eska, Kano, Mike Skinner's mates the Mitchell Brothers, legendary reggaeman Horace Andy and the sweet tones of the wonderful Terri Walker. Then there's a Mela Stage for some Asian beatz, the Crescent stage showcasing acts from the Middle East, the PRS Urban music stage which is all about new urban talent, the Big Cuba Fiesta area that does everything you'd expect it to, and a DJ Bus where the Trojan Sound System, Dave VJ, Soul Jazz Soundsystem and Ross Allen will be on the decks. Oh yes, and the African Village offering lots of eats and music treats. Let's hope the sun shines and let London be United.
Saturday 16 Jul, Burgess Park, Albany Road junction of Old Kent Road SE5, South London, 12pm - 8.30pm, free, press info from [email protected], [email protected] and
[email protected].
CHRIS' CLUB TIP: Remix Night & Kill All Hippies
Yep, it's one of those weekends - two rounds of CMU endorsed clubbing. First up Xfm's Remix Night which tonight features a performance from one of UK hip hop's most exciting new(ish) talents, Mr Akira The Don. If you are not yet familiar with this Wales based rapper, who has reportedly been exciting the folks at Interscope and Shady Records with his online releases, then you should check out his website at http://www.akirathedon.com. Then get down to Cargo tonight to check him live. Buzz bands The Young Knives and The Modern will also be playing, with Remix main man Eddy TM on the decks. He's also DJing at the Dour Festival in Belgium this afternoon, so might be a little tired by the time Remix Night finishes at 3am! And presumably he'll be even tired-er by 4am on Sunday morning when Kill All Hippies completes its July outing, because he will be DJing there too, alongside Jeff Automatic, DJ Syrinx and the legend that is Jagz Kooner. Oh yes, and T.Raumschmiere, Broken Dolls and Kiosk will be playing live. Sorted.
Remix Night, Fri 15 Jul, Cargo, Rivington Street, EC2, 8pm-3am, £6 before 10pm, £10 (£8) after, info from Leyline.
Kill All Hippies, Sat 16 Jul, Scala, Kings Cross, 8.30pm-4am, £8 (£3 if you guest list in advance at http://www.leylinepromotions.com/killallhippies), info from Leyline.
CHRIS' FESTIVAL TIP: Glade Festival
Oh yes, and a quick mention for The Glade Festival. One of the best bits of Glastonbury got its own weekend last year, and demand for the sold-out event this year has been so high that organisers have been encouraging journalists to NOT give it to much coverage ahead of the event itself! So, please don't tell anyone that Sasha, Richie Hawtin, Sharam Jay, Dreadzone, Hexstatic, Atomic Hooligan, Rennie Pilgrem, Future Funk Squad, Koma & Bones, Soul Of Man, Tayo, Breakfastaz, Backstage Sluts, Loose Cannons, Layo & Bushwacka and, of course, Eddy TM will be DJing over the weekend in various tents pitched around a country park just outside Newbury. It's a secret.
Glade Festival, 15-17 Jul, completely sold out!, info from http://www.gladefestival.com, press info from Leyline
Put your club night up for the tip - [email protected]
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AUSTRALIA COURTS RULE AGAINST PIRATED MUSIC LINKS SITE
While the litigation brought by the Australian music industry against Kazaa continues to works its way through court, the country's record labels have scored a legal victory in an unrelated case. A judge at Australia's Federal Court in Sydney has ruled that the owner of a website that provided links to pirated music was guilty of copyright violation, even though he himself did not host any of the pirated music. The internet service provider that hosted the site was also found guilty.
The site in question was MP3s4free.net, which provided links to websites that provided pirated music. The ISP hosting the site was Sydney-based Com-Cen. Announcing his ruling, Justice Brian Tamberlin said MP3s4free.net's owner, Stephen Cooper, had broken the law by "permitting or sanctioning and facilitating" copyright infringement through his website, while the ISP were liable because they could have done something to stop that infringement and chose not to.
The ruling is important, in Australia at least, because it confirms that people can be guilty of copyright violation just by promoting the location of pirated music and, crucially, it extends that liability to the ISPs who host sites promoting pirated music. While people who run similar sites might be willing to risk litigation, the ISPs they rent webspace from are likely to be more cautious about the possibility of facing new litigation based on the precedent set in this case.
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ITC UNSIGNED DEADLINE APPROACHING
The deadline is approaching for the unsigned strand of music industry convention In The City. As previously reported, this year's ITC will take place from 30 Sep to 3 Oct, as always, in Manchester. ITC's unsigned showcase is the world's premiere new music showcase and during its history has included gigs from then unsigned bands like Oasis, Coldplay, The Darkness, Muse, Maximo Park and Funeral For A Friend - so quite a good record then. Last year's highlights included Tom Vek, Towers Of London, Paddingtons, Subways and New Rhodes. Unsigned artists or bands interested in putting themselves forward for consideration to appear at this year's ITC Unsigned need to send a three track demo, biog and image to: Phil Saxe, ITC Unsigned, 8 Brewery Yard, Deva Centre, Trinity Way, Salford, M3 7BB by next Friday at 5pm - so get ye to a Post Office. More info on In The City from http://www.inthecity.co.uk
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EMI BOSS OPTIMISTIC IN AGM REPORT
Coldplay may not care about EMI shareholders, but surely EMI shareholders care quite a lot about Coldplay - because Chris Martin et al have certainly been helping reverse the downwards trend in the London based major's financial performance. But it seems things are looking rosier across the board at the major, or at least that was the conclusion of the company's Chairman, Eric Nicoli, at the group's annual general meeting in London yesterday. Among the reasons to be cheerful cited by Nicoli were an increase in marketshare, a significant increase in profitability in North America, and the continued success of EMI Music Publishing. Wonderful.
Comparing EMI's performance with that of their competitors, Nicoli told his shareholders: "While the global music market declined in value during the year by 5.6%, EMI compared favorably with a revenue decline, on a similar constant currency basis, of just 1.4% ... while our superior level of profitability, as compared to our competitors, has strengthened further during this financial year just ended".
Looking forward Nicoli said he was optimistic for the future, especially given the firm growth of the major's digital music credentials: "We continue to see very rapid growth in digital revenues in both our business divisions. In the first quarter, group digital revenues were more than double those in the same period last year and represented 4.8% of total revenues, up from 3.5% in the fourth quarter of the prior financial year. We expect consumer uptake of legitimate digital music to be the key industry growth driver in the coming years. We remain positive on the long-term prospects for the music industry and confident that EMI Group will deliver an improved performance in the current financial year".
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APPLE FORTUNES UP AND UP
Talking of companies feeling rather smug about their current performance, the rise and rise and rise of Apple Computers in the iPod age continues. The IT giant has reported its highest quarterly revenue and earnings in its history. In the third quarter of its current financial year, which ended on 25 Jun, the company posted a net quarterly profit of $320 million on revenues of $3.52 billion, which is quite a lot, and considerably more than the $2.01 billion revenues and $61 million profits they made in the same quarter last year. The boom in Apple's fortunes isn't entirely down to the iPod, though arguably sales of the company's non-music based hardware have been boosted by the popularity of the music player. And iPod sales themselves remain healthy, despite some predictions that sales would fall off once the early-adopter market reached saturation. Apple sold 900,000 more iPods in quarter 3 than quarter 2, taking the total number of iPods sold well over the 20 million mark. Meanwhile Apple's market share in America's online music sector reached 80% during the quarter. Phew - good time to be an Apple shareholder then.
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ORANGE LAUNCH LATEST MUSIC PHONE
Orange has launched a new version of its rather clever Windows Mobile-based SPV phone - and music is the theme of the day. The new phone comes with a 128MB card which will apparently hold 170 tracks if they are bought in the aacPlus format flogged by Orange's own download platform, which currently offers 300,000 tracks. That said, the Orange player installed on the phone will also play Wav, MP3, MP4 and WMA files, should you want it to.
The mobile firms (networks and handset makers) see music as a big earner in the future - hence the aggressive music sponsorship being pursued by some of the major players. That said, their offer surely still falls short of their non-mobile competitors. Orange point to the fact you don't need to shell out for an MP3 player as well as a phone if you buy the SPV, and billing is very easy when you buy your music from them, because it just gets charged to your phone bill (and mobile customers are already used to having the cost of exorbitantly priced ringtones charged to their phone bill). But tracks bought from Orange's own platform cost £1.50 a time and, while they can be backed up on your PC, can only be played on your phone, which doesn't sound a particularly attractive offer. And while few probably really need to store anywhere near the thousands of tracks that can be squeezed on some MP3 players, most people would probably want more that 170 songs at their disposal.
Still, the phone companies are investing too much in all this to fail. So either those mad consumers will comply and accept a more expensive, lower capacity music download service because its slightly more convenient - or the tel cos will quickly adopt iTunes/iPod style pricing, delivery and capacity as soon as technical developments allow.
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ALBUM REVIEW: Tuco - The Shrinking Process (Robot Records)
Quirky indie acts with an eclectic sound and a smorgasbord of influences often struggle to sell records, sadly. Tuco are one of those maverick, wide-eyed bands who, like Super Furry Animals, Dawn Of The Replicants and The Coral before them, believe in both off-kilter rock music and a general 'anything goes' mentality that sees a variety of styles employed on this six track debut album. Opener 'Mekanikal Dialing' is earthy and rugged, but chilled with it...kind of like a very stoned The Open. 'Can't Tell (The Good From The Bad)' is just lovely (and the best thing here) - a shuffling exercise in morose balladry of the sort Doves or Elbow do at their best. As you could almost predict, Tuco are also from North West England, though a place (Warrington) with not quite the cachet of Manchester or Liverpool. (But perhaps this explains the absence of concessions to current trends or one particular style. Many of the best bands are the isolated ones with huge record collections who, by default or design, create their own universe.) Elsewhere, 'All Transition' is kind of like Supergrass gone 60s sci-fi, whilst the album is full of ghostly ambiences, moody zithers and an understated intensity. Can I use the phrase 'cinematic ambition' again? Intriguing, but the next album will be even more interesting. MS
Release date: 18 Jul
Press contact: Media Storm [all]
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WEILAND DRUGS CHARGE DISMISSED
Velvet Revolver's Scott Weiland has had drug charges against him dismissed because he completed a rehab programme of counseling, random drugs tests and forced AA membership. The dismissal related to his arrest back in May 2003 in California when he was a passenger in a car which was pulled over by the police and discovered to contain cocaine and heroin. Just months after that arrest, Weiland was pulled in on a DUI charge and ordered to a live-in rehab centre. It's not the first time the former Stone Temple Pilot has faced drugs charges, of course. He was charged twice before in California, in 1996 and 1997, and in New York in 1998.
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NEW YORK DOLLS SIGN NEW DEAL
Following their reunion at last year's Meltdown, the New York Dolls have signed a new deal. As previously reported, Morrissey persuaded the band to regroup to appear at the Festival Hall as part of Meltdown 2004, and a CD/DVD 'The Return of the New York Dolls: Live From Royal Festival Hall 2004' was subsequently released. Sadly, original bassist Arthur 'Killer' Kane died suddenly of leukemia following that appearance - he is now the subject of a new film, 'New York Doll', incidentally.
Anyway, the band have signed the new deal with Roadrunner and are at work on their first new studio album since the release of 'Too Much Too Soon' back in 1974, and it is expected to be out in the spring of next year. Roadrunner A&R man David Bason told Billboard.com: "Since word has spread of the band getting back into the studio to record new material, I've been inundated with calls from various high-profile producers and artists wanting to get involved. I can't reveal any names yet but it's nice to have such a vote of confidence from the artistic community out of the gate. The sound of this record will be true to form New York Dolls down and dirty rock'n'roll. I've heard sketches of the material and if it's any indication, the record will blow you away."
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OASIS IN SKY SPORTS PROMO
Oasis are to appear in a Sky Sports promo for the forthcoming football season. According to NME.com, the adverts will feature snippets of live performances of track 'The Meaning Of Soul' mixed with soccer footage.
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SHERYL CROW NEW FACE OF DELL
Sheryl Crow is to be the new face of Dell Computers and will front TV ads selling the company's home entertainment computer, which stores and manages images, music and video with a built-in TV tuner card, allowing it to function like the Sky plus-esque TiVo system. Crow said: "Technology has helped me with the writing and recording processes, and it's a great way to reach out to fans of my music. Dell's combining all these different technologies and making it really easy to enjoy them."
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EMINEM'S TOUR BUS INVOLVED IN DRAMATIC CRASH
One of the tour buses being used on Eminem's US Anger Management Tour was involved in a crash on Wednesday night, injuring twelve people. The incident happened 25 miles East of Kansas City, Missouri and sounds pretty damn dramatic. Reports say the bus, which was possibly speeding, swerved off the road, then back on to the highway where it hit a tractor-trailer, then another vehicle, before overturning.
Neither Eminem or co-headliner 50 Cent were on the bus at the time of the crash, although up-and-coming Shady Records rapper Stat Quo and DJ Alchemist were among those injured. They, like the other injured passengers, were taken to Kansas City hospital. The former was quickly discharged, though Alchemist was still recovering in hospital yesterday.
Despite the crash tour promoters said yesterday that last night's Denver date would go ahead as planned.
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KAPRANOS TALKS ABOUT NEW ALBUM
Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos has been talking about that new album and says that Bob Dylan has been an influence on it. As previously reported (yawn) the band are releasing a second eponymous album, with the same artwork as their debut album, the two only distinguished by colour scheme.
Kapranos told Rolling Stone: "I was reading (Dylan's memoir) 'Chronicles', and he was talking about when he first came to the Bleecker Street scene in the early 60s, and how they would go through newspapers and pick a character and base a song upon that character and represent him as a hero. 'The Ballad Of Billy the Kid' is very much like that - In reality, Billy The Kid just stole, but in the song, he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. That's fantastic." Kapranos went on to say that he'd copied the tactic in new song 'The Fallen' which is about a friend of the singer: "He did a few things that caused him to be almost a social outcast - he'd fallen from grace. He's a very enigmatic character."
Kapranos also talked about going back to Scotland to record the album: "When I went back to Glasgow, it was almost like I hadn't been away. I was going out to parties with pretty much the same set of people I was hanging out with before we went on tour, before the album came out, and they talked to me exactly the same way. It's not as if we decided to abandon our whole lives for some facile celebrity lifestyle."
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BLOC PARTY RECORDING SECOND ALBUM
Bloc Party say they are already in the throes of recording their second album. Band member Russell Lissack told Xfm: "We've recorded two [possible] songs but we still need to mix them and finish them, so we're not sure which one's going to be the single just yet. One's called 'Hero' and one's called 'Two More Years'. I like all the new songs better than any of the old ones because I think they're all better. We've been playing a couple live like 'Into The Blue', one called 'Kids' and one called 'The Present' but I don't know when they'll see the light of day. I can't say too much though because they're still in the tentative early stages. It's strange for us because the album's very old in our eyes. I mean even before it was out we were writing a lot of new stuff, so it helps us to get new things out."
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SINGLE REVIEW: Husky Rescue - City Lights (Catskills)
Yet another sublime single from the best thing to come out of Finland since....well, I'll get back to you on that one. Halfway between the summery pop of 'Summertime Cowboy' and the fragile arctictronica of 'New Light of Tomorrow', 'City Lights' is an effortlessly stylish piece of beguiling downtempo, recalling Air circa 'Moon Safari' and the likes of Bent and Zero 7 at their most warm and affecting. Remix number one comes courtesy of Product.01, who twist the song into a piece of crunching, robotic techno-funk. Cut from similar cloth are the wonderful Vector Lovers who, having already turned in one of the remixes of the year on Diefenbach's 'Make Your Mind Up', add their familiar icy synths, futuristic glitches and vocodered vocals to proceedings, not deviating widely from the original in the process. At first it feels like an opportunity missed, but you soon realise that they've just deftly tweaked the track, subtly adding their own personality but not overcooking it too much out of respect for the original. Like 'Country Falls', the accompanying album from 2004 (which still rarely strays from my CD player) this is captivating stuff from a band to fall in love with. MS
Release date: 25 Jul
Press Contact: Darling [CP, RP, NP] Rocket [CR, RR, NR]
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US RADIO FIRM INTERESTED IN UK STATIONS
US radio giant Emmis International has revealed it is looking to take over some UK radio stations. If it does, it will be the first global player to take advantage of a legislation change two years ago, which gave the green light to foreign ownership of British radio companies.
According to the Guardian, at a seminar earlier this week Emmis boss Paul Fiddick said of UK expansion: "It is possible...We have built our radio company internationally and domestically through winning licences awards and acquiring businesses and stations. I see no reason why we'd depart from that strategy."
Stressing no deal was on the table at the moment, Fiddick spoke highly of the UK radio industry, but cautioned about the recent consolidation that has been taking place (the Capital/GWR merger, the EMAP Radio/SRH merger, the purchase of TalkSport by Ulster TV). He said that while consolidation was not in itself a bad thing, it could be damaging if, at the same time, no new independent players arrive on the scene. That opinion, he said, comes from watching what happened to the US radio industry following years of consolidation.
Fiddick: "The US experience shows that media consolidation without the counter-balance of new entrants is not a positive force for the industry or consumers. Consolidation has not been good for pluralism or 'localness'. Using consolidation as a means to reduce competition is not pro-consumer. Buyers paid too much for the economic benefit they could never realise. As a result the US radio industry has fewer participants, more debt, lower growth rates and lower stockmarket values than before consolidation. The winners were those who sold their radio stations. The main benefactors of the policies were those that left the industry."
Of course, Emmis is not completely unbiased in talking up the need for new independent players in the UK radio sector. His company's only attempt to enter the UK radio space so far came when he partnered with a new UK based radio player in an unsuccessful bid for the new Manchester licence. That same partnership is now bidding for the new licence in the Solent area, and is likely to bid for other FM licences as they become available.
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THE STROKES ANNOUNCE SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR
The Strokes have announced that they will play a South American tour in the autumn, signifying their first live dates in more than a year. There are no specific dates as yet, but gigs will take place in Chile, Brazil and Argentina. Their new as-yet-untitled third album is expected to be released in Jan of next year.
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BABYSHAMBLES TOUR POSTPONED
So, no surprises here then, Babyshambles are postponing that previously reported summer tour - the one designed to promote new single 'Fuck Forever'. The promoter of the tour alerted agents of the postponement yesterday - no word on why the move has been made as yet. Of course one of those 'sources' told the Sun early this week that the recording of Babyshambles first album had hit a few problems, so that might be one reason for delaying the launch of the tour.
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WATERS COMPLETES OPERA
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters is to release an opera - and it's only took him 16 years to get to this point. The new work, 'Ca Ira', is described as an "operatic history of the French Revolution" and will feature Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel when it's released on CD in Sep, and performed in concert in Rome later in the year. Waters began work on the project back in 1989 when songwriter Etienne Roda-Gil approached the Floyd guitarist with his libretto. Waters said "He wanted to know if he could use my old songs. I looked at it and sort of fell in love with it... after six weeks I had a demo that was over two hours long." Things were put on hold when Roda-Gil's wife died of leukaemia, but eventually work continued.
Waters continued: "I'm in some state of trepidation because I feel that I'm putting my head on the chopping block. It's actually very melodic and it's unashamedly emotional. So, if the intellectuals of the modern opera world are catty about it, so be it. I fully expect some resistance. There will be a lot of, 'Who does he think he is?"
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OZZY AND SHARON MAY OPEN HOUSE TO THE PUBLIC
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are having trouble selling their £6million LA mansion, made famous by their reality TV stint on MTV, and in their desperation to leave it behind, are considering opening it up to the public, according to The Sun.
A 'source' told the paper: "Sharon and Ozzy are becoming very frustrated that they cannot sell their house. Fans are always turning up outside to have a nosey around and the place has become a regular stop on Los Angeles tourist trips. Sharon is now desperate to vacate as soon as possible. She reckons that if the house doesn't sell in the next month she and Ozzy will open it as an Osbourne attraction. It could be a moneyspinner given the number of people who already show up for a gawp and knock at the door."
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KD LANG SELLS SELF ON EBAY
Well, a bit misleading, that headline - kd lang is in fact selling the chance to record with her, and the proceeds of the eBay.com auction will go towards supporting the Ari Bhod foundation, an organisation dedicated to preserving ancient Tibetan cultural artifacts.
Lang is to cover Glen Campbell's 'Dreams of the Everyday Housewife' for a TV soundtrack. If the winning bidder is a great vocalist, the singer will duet with that person; and according to the auction info, if the winner has "a less-than-great voice, k.d. will work with you to get it to sound as good as it can and you'll probably wind up in the background-but your name will still be in the credits even if no one but people you personally point it out to will be able to hear where you're doing the singing."
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OXEGEN SELL NEXT YEAR'S TICKETS
The organisers of Oxegen are putting a limited amount of two day camping tickets for next year's festival on sale today. Purchasers are limited to buying six tickets each at 145 euros each.
Denis Desmond of MCD said: "For this year's Oxegen to sell out so far in advance in its short history, it is an incredible achievement and goes to show that the event has already established itself as one of the most important events in the Irish music calendar and were already looking forward to next year."
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PADDINGTONS INSTORE TODAY
Yes'm, that's right. The Paddingtons are to play an acoustic instore today at 4pm at Rough Trade, 16 Neal's Yard, Covent Garden.
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MEL C SAYS REUNION WILL NOT HAPPEN
CMU's favourite former Spice Girl, Melanie Chisholm has apparently said that it's highly unlikely that she and the rest of the band will ever get back together, saying "I'm sure some people are quite keen for that to happen but I am not one of them."
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AGUILERA INJURED IN PARIS NIGHTCLUB? NO, APPARENTLY
Well, reports have been suggesting that Christina Aguilera was injured after ending up in a tussle with an aggressive female fan who managed to get past security. Aguilera's publicist has now said that the singer's injuries were in fact sustained at home - where she sliced two tendons in her hand with a piece of glass. The publicist told People Magazine: "It is uncomfortable and she has it in a sling to rest it. It had nothing to do with a fan."
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FOO FIGHTERS COLLABORATE WITH STONE?
Following their perhaps unlikely collaboration with easy-queen Norah Jones, the Foo Fighters are apparently all set to work with teen popper Joss Stone. The rumour has emanated from backstage at last weekend's T In The Park, where Foo Fighters and Stone both performed.
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TOMMY LEE HAS PASH FOR TWEEDY
Well, there's no accounting for tastes, I suppose. Motley Crue's Tommy Lee would apparently like to spend some quality time with Girl Aloud Cheryl Tweedy. The drummer was so taken with the singer that he invited her and her crew to a party, but Tweedy, who, as you probably know, is engaged to footie star Ashley Cole, turned down the request.
Motley Crue's manager said: "We tried to invite them to the party. Vince [Neil] said, "Dude you've got to invite a band called Girls Aloud." Tommy Lee apparently added "We've got to, dude. Fuck she's hot! Cheryl Tweedy. Fuck. She's amazing looking. Cheryl Tweedy... she is fucking amazing. She just got engaged? Damn it."