CMU
Daily - on the inside Tuesday 13th December
In today's CMU Daily:
- It's The End Of The Year As We Know It
- Young Buck pleads no contest to Vibe fracas charge
- Tookie Williams execution goes ahead
- Moby attacks Prodigy and Eminem
- Snow Patrol album nearly finished
- Clor start work on second album
- Oasis Sheffield Arena dates
- Franz support Depeche Mode
- Hard-Fi, GLC, Bravery confirmed for ShockWaves
- Ian Brown leaves stage as Belfast fans get restless
- DVD review: Muse - Absolution Tour
- Kaiser Wilson to act like a prick
- Coachella 06 dates confirmed
- Famous Music sign up Shakira publishing
- New Wonder Stuff album soon
- Levellers new single
- Ocean Colour Scene tour
- Hard-Fi's multiple Cash Machine downloads
- O2 launch Killers phone
- Brits biggest downloaders in Europe
- Apple dominance forces smaller firms out of MP3 race
- Academy group entry level job opp
- Tindle get Ipswich licence
- BBC drop digital heads advert
- Walmart shift a million box sets
- Britney Spears fans demand divorce
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IT'S THE END OF THE YEAR AS WE KNOW IT>>
Now, here's something scary. There are just six more editions of the CMU Daily before Christmas. This is partly because we are all buggering off early (21 Dec), but also because the year that that's been known as 2005 is nearly at an end. With that in mind, CMU has been busy chatting to the artists behind ten of our favourite albums of the year. You can find out why we liked those albums here in the Daily, and then read the full interviews on our website. And then, of course, you guys have been busy voting for your favourite track of the year. You can still vote on that, meantime check out how people have been voting here in the Daily.
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FAVOURITE ALBUM OF 2005 #5: Soulwax - Nite Versions (Pias)
If the truth be told, one of my favourite albums of 2005 was Soulwax's 'Any Minute Now', which I completely rediscovered in June this year when Pias released my favourite track from the 2004 long player - 'NY Excuse' - as a single. So the arrival of the 'Nite Versions' album was good news for two reasons. Firstly, it allowed me to slip Soulwax into my 'favourite album of 2005' feature. Secondly, it proved once again why Soulwax are one of the most exciting bands on the planet today. Unfortunately it sounds kind of cliché these days to talk about the "dance-rock crossover" - rock music you can dance to, dance music that rocks, and all that malarkey. But you only have to listen to one edition of Eddy TM's The Remix show on Xfm (though I trust you've listened to a lot more than that) to realise just how good it sounds when you get dance music producers who know how to rock, or geetar bands with an ear for electronica. In Soulwax, and especially with those 2ManyDJs David and Stephen Dewaele, you have both. Which is why Soulwax are capable of producing something as awesome as the 'Nite Versions' album. Taking 2004's 'Any Minute Now' merely as a starting point, this album is filled to its seams with guitar-fuelled beats-heavy glorious noise that (and I'm stealing a remark from the aforementioned Eddy TM here) is, at times, so filthy, albeit in an entirely musical sense, you feel the need to shower after listening to it. In these days of ripping tracks to your iTunes, it's not often that I listen to albums in their entirety. But here is an album that really has to be listened to as God, or, rather, Soulwax intended. Though, if you wanted to focus in, the Nite reworkings of 'Miserable Girl' and 'E-Talking', plus the two new versions of 'NY Excuse' - 'NY Lipps' and 'Another Excuse' - are the stand outs. We know Soulwax are a great band. We know the Dewaele's are brilliant producers. But sometimes it's nice to have what you already know confirmed. 'Any Minute Now' was a wonderful album. 'Nite Versions' was even better.
Read our interview with Soulwax here: http://www.cmumusicnetwork.co.uk/interviews
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FAVOURITE TRACKS OF THE YEAR #5: Your votes
The Decemberists - The Mariner's Revenge Song (Rough Trade)
"How could you resist a demented nine-minute klezmeresque sea-shanty set inside the belly of whale, and including the lyrics "Tie him to a pole and break his fingers to splinters"?"
Voted for by: Hannah Vlcek, NMC Recordings
Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies - Ores (Fierce Panda)
Many DiS readers think I have some kind of fixation with this group from Oxford, and I can't lie: I hold them in the very highest regard. This song, though, went totally against the grain of their prog-infused post-rock of releases past; where their older songs began as a trickle before breaking down the dam before them with a torrent of thrashing guitars and bombastic drums, this was utterly frantic from the outset. Roughly 81 songs in one, across four head-spinning minutes, 'Ores' is easily the most revolutionary single of 2005, and warrants purchase by anyone lucky to still find it on a store shelf.
Voted for by: Mike Diver, DrownedinSound.com
Comanechi - Naked (White Heat Records)
"Just the most exhilarating sound of '05".
Voted for by: Peter Cleak, Events Manager, Central Saint Martins
Vote for your track of the year - send the name of your favourite track, a few words on why, and your name and company to [email protected].
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YOUNG BUCK PLEADS NO CONTEST TO VIBE FRACAS CHARGE
Rapper Young Buck (remember him?) has pleaded 'no contest' to the charges of 'assault likely to produce great bodily harm' relating to that fracas at the 2004 Vibe Awards. As you'll all vividly remember, this began when one Jimmy James Johnson went to pick a fight with Dr Dre, who was at the awards to pick up some lifetime achievement thing. In the fracas that followed Young Buck, real name David Darnell Brown and signed, of course, to Dre's Aftermath enterprise, unleashed a knife and stabbed Johnson.
Despite CCTV footage that showed Brown pulling a knife on Johnson, the rapper initially pleaded not guilty when charged with assault with a deadly weapon, possibly because that charge comes with an eight year jail sentence. Brown's defence said the CCTV footage was "deceiving". But after much legal shenanigans between prosecution and defence lawyers, the rapper altered his plea when faced with the lesser charge, which comes with three years probation and eighty hours community service.
Which seems a little unfair, because in the meantime Johnson got put away for a year for punching Dre. While I appreciate that, in playground vernacular, "he started it", you'd think stabbing someone would come with a higher penalty than landing a punch. Ah well, that's the American justice system I suppose. Talking of which...
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TOOKIE WILLIAMS EXECUTION GOES AHEAD
Despite those high profile pleas from the likes of Snoop Dogg, former gang leader Stanley 'Tookie' Williams was executed by lethal injection in California this morning. As previously reported, Stanley 'Tookie' Williams was sentenced to death back in 1981 for the murder of four people - charges he always denied. He has been in prison ever since his conviction, but has used much of that time working from behind bars on a number of projects urging young people in the US to stay out of gangs - work that has earned him a number of Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
With that in mind, Snoop Dogg and other high profile names called for Williams' sentence to be reduced to life imprisonment - the ultimate decision on which was down to Californian state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Despite increasing media coverage for the case, Williams' chances of reprieve never looked good because no previous governor has granted clemency since the death penalty was restored in California in 1978, and Schwarzenegger was unlikely to take the political gamble of altering that record (though it may as yet prove that, given the high profile support for Williams, actually Schwarzenegger has taken a political gamble in not altering that record).
Snoop Dogg et al are yet to comment on Williams' death, but Kate Allen, UK Director of Amnesty International UK, has just issued this statement: "This is yet another sad milestone in the history of the US justice system. Tookie Williams' violent past was well known but he had become a textbook version of rehabilitation and his execution was a travesty of justice".
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MOBY ATTACKS PRODIGY AND EMINEM
With words, obviously. Moby has written a bit of a polemic on his website that includes criticism of The Prodigy and Eminem because of their misogynistic lyrics. In a journal entry entitled 'I'd like to write about misogyny', the artist referred back to his criticism of The Prodigy's 1997 hit 'Smack My Bitch Up, saying "I spoke up and criticised the song for being overtly misogynistic and irresponsible. I was in turn criticised on radio for 'being too uptight' and not being relaxed enough to appreciate the 'humor' in misogyny." He continues: "Two months after 'Smack My Bitch Up' was released I went to visit a friend of mine who was in hospital after being beaten by her boyfriend. She had brain damage and multiple fractures due to his pushing her down a flight of concrete stairs. Misogyny is not funny. It is not a joke and it should not be treated lightly."
In relation to Eminem, the star writes: "And now we find out that a British man who is obsessed with Eminem killed a woman with a metal baseball bat and stuffed her body into a suitcase. Am I being 'too uptight' for not seeing the humour in this? Should I 'relax' and see the comedy in a misogynist beating a woman to death? Before this British man brutally killed this woman he was singing Eminem songs in a karaoke bar. Maybe there's no connection. Maybe there is. It's disgusting that we even have to ask that question."
Moby is, however, keen to stress that he holds both mentioned acts in an otherwise high regard: "I respect The Prodigy and I respect Eminem as talented and relevant musicians," he writes, "but I spoke up because I found the misogynistic content of their lyrics(among many others) to be deeply offensive. Even if they themselves are not misogynists."
He ends the rant with the following words: "I asked a rhetorical question a few years ago, which was: 'If a musician made a record wherein he talked about killing blacks and Jews would he get covered in the press and played on radio and MTV? If the answer is 'no'(as it should be), then why is radio and MTV filled with music that has lyrics about killing and brutalizing women and gays? Is it somehow less offensive when women and gays are brutalized and killed?' Any employee of a record company or journalist or radio programmer or MTV employee who has promoted and celebrated misogynistic or homophobic music should be ashamed. You have blood on your hands, and you should be deeply, deeply troubled at the culture that you've helped to create."
He has a point (of sorts) you know. On a related note, whilst reading Moby's blog, we noticed a comment in another entry which read: "is anyone else disturbed by the line "thank God it's them instead of you" in 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'?" Yes, yes, thrice yes ... that line has always disturbed me too.
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SNOW PATROL ALBUM NEARLY FINISHED
More news from websites. Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody has posted a message on his band's official website saying that the new album is almost finished, and has the working title 'Eyes Open'. He added that the group are travelling about a bit finishing the album, saying "We have a busy week next week doing some recording in Dublin, Glasgow and finally London." So watch out for Snow Patrol, as well as just snow, at recording studios near you.
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CLOR START WORK ON SECOND ALBUM
More bands-work-on-album-news. Clor's Luke Smith has apparently told Gigwise that his band are at work on a new long player, revealing that they were in the studio recording some tracks at the weekend, and hinting that a new album may appear in 2006.
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OASIS SHEFFIELD ARENA DATES
Oasis are to play two gigs at Sheffield Arena on 9 and 10 February. According to NME, the two dates precede a short tour of South East Asia. Special guests are to be announced shortly, and tickets go on sale on Friday at 9am.
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FRANZ SUPPORT DEPECHE MODE
Franz Ferdinand are to play support for Depeche Mode on two dates next year in Europe, appearing at Nuremberg and at Nurburgring in June alongside Placebo. It's all part of Depeche Mode's massive world tour, which starts in Dresden in January.
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HARD-FI, GLC, BRAVERY CONFIRMED FOR SHOCKWAVES
Hard-Fi, Goldie Lookin Chain and The Bravery are amongst those who have joined the line-up for the ShockWaves NME Awards Shows 2006. The gigs take place in a variety of London venues over the two weeks in February prior to the ShockWaves NME Awards 2006 on the 23 Feb, and already feature names such as The Magic Numbers, Editors and The Zutons.
The newly confirmed dates are as follows:
11 Feb, Koko: Dead '60s, The Kooks, Good Books
12 Feb, Koko: The Paddingtons, Dogs
13 Feb, Hammersmith Palais: Hard-Fi, Boy Kill Boy, The Duels
15 Feb, Astoria: Goldie Lookin Chain, The Infadels, The Rifles
18 Feb, Astoria: The Streets, The Mitchell Brothers, Prof Green, The Beats DJs
19 Feb, Astoria: The Cribs, The Automatic, Giant Drag, The Long Blondes
20 Feb, Astoria: The Bravery + Guests
21 Feb, Astoria: Elbow, The Duke Spirit, Forward Russia, Larrikin Love
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IAN BROWN LEAVES STAGE AS BELFAST FANS GET RESTLESS
Ian Brown walked off stage during a show in Belfast on Friday night after his audience threw plastic cups and bottles on stage. The show reportedly started well with the former Stone Roses frontman paying tribute to late footballing hero George Best. But the atmosphere changed as Brown got into his set, possibly because various sound problems affected the performance.
During a performance of 'Dolphins Were Monkeys' one fan threw a bottle at the singer, and a number of other audience members followed suit. Brown left the stage immediately, leaving crew to cover up the instruments as audience members continued to throw things on stage. However, Brown did return and continued with the show.
NME quote a spokesman for Brown's record label commenting on the incident: "On Friday night in Belfast, a number of people in the audience at the Ian Brown show acted disgracefully by throwing glasses and bottles at the stage following some technical problems which meant the band had to restart a song several times. No artist should have to put up with actions like this, and Ian and his band left the stage twice as a result. Despite the actions of a few threatening the fun and safety of many, Ian did continue the show, and played a full set. Ian Brown does not believe that these people represent his fans in Northern Ireland."
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DVD REVIEW: Muse - Absolution Tour (Warner Music)
Quite simply Muse are one of the most imaginative bands around and one of the best live acts of the last few years, so this DVD of the tour of their last album can only be a very good thing. Unlike their last DVD, 'Hullaballo', which had a nifty feature enabling the viewer to choose from a range of fancy camera angles, such as the view from Matt Bellamy's guitar, this is a straight forward run through mainly consisting of their 2004 Glasto appearance. The visuals are crisp and clear with plenty of close ups but with enough long shots of campfires twinkling, and crowd members waving flags to give it atmosphere whilst the fast cutting between shots gives it a certain immediacy. Things get off to a cracking start with 'Hysteria', a wonderful showcase for Bellamy's amazing guitar playing. He is a great showman, equal parts ridiculous and pretentious, as all great rock is. 'Newborn' sees him playing a huge illuminated chrome keyboard wearing a long white cloak, making him look more than ever like an impish Phantom of the Opera. A couple of more subdued numbers slow that pace somewhat, when what we want to see is Matt performing like a mad professor on 'Sunburn' or doing his own take on the moonwalk during 'Time Is Running Out'. One clear highlight of many for viewer and festival-goer is the demonic angst of 'Plug In Baby'. While one of the extras, a blistering performance of 'Stockholm Syndrome' at Earls Court, is another stand out. Muse are very much a Marmite band, but for those who witnessed this excellent tour or those who wish they had, this is compulsory viewing. JW
Release date: 12 Dec
Press contact: Ian Cheek [CP, RP] Warner IH [NP, CR, RR, NR]
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KAISER WILSON TO ACT LIKE A PRICK
Well, he said it. Amongst other things. Chief Kaiser Ricky Wilson has spoken to Xfm about what it's like on tour with Foo Fighters in Australia, in particular revealing that Dave Grohl is busy keeping everyone pissed. Well, he is the nicest guy in rock, etc, yada, etc.
Anyway, Wilson told XFM: "It's been so good, we went straight offstage and Dave gave us a load of Jägerbombs. You ever had a Jägerbomb before? It's great. It's a shot of Jägermeister and a shot of Red Bull. The poor man's speedball, that's what they call it."
He continued: "It's always good to play with the Foo Fighters, but it's hard work. Especially here where a big bunch of Australians have waited six months to see the Foo Fighters, and they have to put up with half an hour of Brit Pop revivalists. I'm only joking, they love it here."
Wilson also reflected on his band's success over the past year. And this is the bit where he talks about being a prick: "Everything past 1,000 records sold is a massive bonus to us. I'm not just being humble, seriously. Everything been amazing. From the first week of being in this band I'd done everything I'd wanted to do, which was be in a band. It has been amazing, I can't wait till I can have some time off so I can get all bloated and start walking around and acting like a prick. I want to walk round Leeds with a huge gold-plated hat on...I am joking, y'know."
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COACHELLA 06 DATES CONFIRMED
More upfront dates for your diary, cos if you're going to this one you'll have to do some planning presumably. The 2006 outing of the rather wonderful Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will take place on the weekend of 29 and 30 Apr, at Empire Polo Field in Indio, California. No line up news as yet, though a Roxy Music reunion including Brian Eno is one of the main rumours, as is a reunion of The Smiths (which I can't see happening myself, but who knows?). Meantime, a documentary film featuring footage of the festival's six year history called, simply, 'Coachella', will open in the US next month. Performances from Morrissey, Arcade Fire, Iggy & The Stooges, Oasis, Radiohead and White Stripes will all feature.
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FAMOUS MUSIC SIGN UP SHAKIRA PUBLISHING
Famous Music, the publishing company owned by Viacom, have signed a worldwide deal with Shakira, covering both her current and back catalogue. Shakira will release her new English language album, 'Fijacion Oral Vol 2' over here next Feb, via SonyBMG. It has already been released in the US, making her the first artist to release two original albums in different languages in the same year (Vol 1 of the same album, released back in June, was in Spanish).
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NEW WONDER STUFF ALBUM SOON
Hello. The Wonder Stuff are to release a new album, 'Suspended By Stars', on 20 Feb, to coincide with the band's twentieth anniversary. They will also release a single, 'Blah Blah Lah Di Dah' on 30 Jan, as well as re-releasing their rockumentary 'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' in the same month.
You can also catch some bonus Wonder Stuff if you're a fan of children's programming, as a new kiddie's cartoon, 'Underground Ernie', starring Gary Lineker and set to air on the BBC next year, features a Wonder Stuff soundtrack. No, I'm not kidding.
The band tour the UK in the spring, in support of that album release, dates as follows:
2 Mar: Norwich Waterfront
3 Mar: Dudley JB's
4 Mar: Brighton Concorde
5 Mar: Exeter Lemon Grove
7 Mar: Nottingham Rescue Rooms
8 Mar: Manchester Academy 2
9 Mar: Glasgow, ABC 2
10 Mar: Newcastle Academy 2
12 Mar: Leeds Cockpit
13 Mar: Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
14 Mar: Bristol Bierkeller
15 Mar: London Islington Academy
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LEVELLERS NEW SINGLE
Levellers new single, 'Last Man Alive' is out now. Why are we telling you this? Because we like them. They are playing Shepherd's Bush Empire this Friday, by the way.
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OCEAN COLOUR SCENE TOUR
Ocean Colour Scene have announced details of a pre-Christmas tour. I'll tell you what the dates are in a minute, but before that I'll mention that OCS have launched their own label, 'Mosley Shoals Records', this month. The move celebrates the ten years since the release of platinum album 'Mosley Shoals' and, according to a press release, "the new label will see Ocean Colour Scene adopt a less corporate, more creative approach to their music." They will release their forthcoming album, due in 2006, via the new label. So there you go. Press info from Frequency Media.
And here are those tour dates:
16 Dec: Dublin Olympia
17 Dec: Dublin Olympia
19 Dec: London Shepherds Bush Empire
20 Dec: Birmingham Carling Academy
21 Dec: Glasgow, ABC
22 Dec: Glasgow, ABC
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HARD-FI'S MULTIPLE CASH MACHINE DOWNLOADS
Hard-Fi are making loads of different live versions of their single 'Cash Machine' available for download. Basically they are recording their performance of that song at every date on their current UK tour. You can pre-order a copy of the performance of your choice by texting the word CASH and a city name to 81330. You will be charged £1.50 and will get a code which you will be able to use to download the live performance you request from the Hard Fi website on Boxing Day, when the recorded version of the track is re-released as a single. Different artwork is available for each download, which is handed out at the relevant gig. The idea is fans download the version of the song they see live, though if that track is a bit poor at the gig you see, you can always pick another date (not that I'm suggesting Hard-Fi would ever perform the track a bit poor - it's a hypothetical point I'm raising here). Anyway, here's the remaining dates and the code you'd need to text to download the track.
6 Dec: Manchester Ritz CASH MANCHESTER
7 Dec: Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall CASH WOLVES
8 Dec: Nottingham Rock City CASH NOTTS
9 Dec: London Astoria CASH LONDON1
10 Dec: London Astoria CASH LONDON2
11 Dec: London Brixton CASH BRIXTON
14 Dec: Belfast Spring & Airbrake CASH BELFAST
16 Dec: Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall CASH FOLKE
17 Dec: Southampton Guildhall CASH SOUTH
18 Dec: Oxford Brookes University CASH OXFORD
19 Dec: London Astoria CASH LONDON3
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O2 LAUNCH KILLERS PHONE
Talking of mobile related music things, O2 is offering a special Killers phone, but only to its Irish customers. The Killers phone will be a "retro-fitted" Sony Ericsson K700i that comes filled with Killers tracks, videos, wallpapers and ringtones. The package has been put together for O2 by an independent mobile aggregator called Pocket Group. The companies Business Development Director, Daryn Wober, told CMU: "We are pleased to be working with O2 and The Killers on this exciting project. Pocket Group always strives to find new ways of bringing music to mobile and this fits perfectly with our strategy of delivering value to the independent labels we represent."
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BRITS BIGGEST DOWNLOADERS IN EUROPE
More digital music stuff, and a new survey from Motorola reckons that music fans in the UK are downloading more music than in any other European country. The survey says that us Britons spends an average of 75p a month on digital downloads, which is three times more than Germans, Italians and the French. A quarter of those surveyed in the UK said they owned a digital music player, including a fifth of the over-50s who took part in the research.
Commenting on the survey, music technologist Gerd Leonhard (what exactly is a music technologist?) told reporters: "The UK market is extremely ahead of the curve, because it's situated in the middle of America and Europe. British people use digital radio a lot, and they've adapted to iPod very quickly. Britain is definitely an opinion leader in Europe."
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APPLE DOMINANCE FORCES SMALLER FIRMS OUT OF MP3 RACE
Another electronics firm has announced it intends to stop making MP3 players. French firm Thomson is the latest company to bow out of the battle for a share of the digital music player market, citing stiff competition from Far East manufacturers and, of course, Apple. Thomson's announcement follows a report in the China Daily News that says that "dozens" of smaller companies making MP3 players are leaving the market because they can't afford to compete as the prices of players fall as a result of Apple's dominance in the market.
Insiders in the sector say that it isn't only an increasingly competitive price point that is challenging smaller companies in the MP3 player space. Another problem is the shortage of flash memory, demand for which is at an all time high as portable media devices become increasingly popular. Apple recently announced a string of new deals with Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung and Toshiba guaranteeing it healthy supplies of flash memory through to 2010. Those deals further enhance the computer giant's competitive edge. While the consensus is that memory manufacturers are increasing production to meet demand, experts wonder if the short term shortage will take out some smaller companies before such increases come into effect.
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ACADEMY GROUP ENTRY LEVEL JOB OPP
Jobs news anyone? The Academy Music Group, who own all those Academy venues, are looking for an Office Assistant for their PR & Sponsorship department. Based at the Brixton Academy, they are looking for an enthusiastic person who has "good organisational and administration skills". It's an entry level position. Anyone interested should send an application, or ask for a full job description, from [email protected]. Deadline is 16 Dec.
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TINDLE GET IPSWICH LICENCE
OfCom have awarded the new commercial radio licence for Ipswich to Tindle Radio, who will launch Town FM, aimed at the over-45s with a mix of speech, news, information and "melodic hits", which is bad news for fans of "unmelodic hits". The new licence is in addition to the three others Tindle already have in that part of the world, and will bring the number of stations the group owns outright to nine.
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BBC DROP DIGITAL HEADS ADVERT
The BBC is dropping those freaky 'heads made of heads' ads that they have been using to promote digital telly, though they say they are removing the trailers from their schedules because they have "achieved their objective" and not because they generated 1300 complaints from viewers who described the ads as "horrific" and "disturbingly psychotic".
Confirming they wouldn't be screening the ads anymore, a BBC spokesman said: "The digital faces trail was one of a very long series designed to capture the attention of viewers and stimulate interest in the BBC's digital services. The latest, which was first transmitted on 5 November, has been very successful in this respect and early indications are that it has achieved its goal. We have been very conscious that some viewers disliked the nature of the trail, although clearly it was not our intention to offend. Given that we feel the trail has achieved its aims, we feel that we can now conclude the campaign and use the air-time to let viewers know about the fantastic Christmas in store for them on the BBC."
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WALMART SHIFT A MILLION BOX SETS
According to US supermarket giant Wal-Mart, they have shifted over a million copies of the Garth Brooks boxset that they are selling as part of their exclusivity deal with the country star. That follows claims the by the supermarket that they sold 500,000 copies on the first day of sale. Some are skeptical about these figures, because they aren't independently validated, but it does seem the Brooks partnership has created considerable sales for both Wal-Marts instore music departments and their digital music store.
Elsewhere in Garth Brooks news, he has married fellow country star Trisha Yearwood. They got hitched at a private ceremony at their home in Oklahoma, which contrasted with Garth's proposal - which came in front of 7000 fans at a concert in California back in May.
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BRITNEY SPEARS FANS DEMAND DIVORCE
Well, it's coming to something when 'pleasing the fans' could mean something as drastic as divorce (if divorce is still considered 'drastic' in celebrityville). Quite what it's coming to, or what exactly the phrase 'coming to something' really means, I don't know. But here's the news. A new website has been created that's mounting a campaign to get Britney Spears to divorce her hubby Kevin Federline. It's been set up by Little Rock DJ Jason Cage, who previously launched FeedLindsey.com, a website that urged then dangerously skinny teen starlet Lindsay Lohan to gain weight.
As you know, Britney and K-Fed, as he's known by the gossip-bloggers, have been going through a very rough patch in recent weeks. The site, http://www.divorcekevin.com, apparently uses pictures of Britney before and after her marriage to Federline to prove just how much she has deteriorated since the wedding (in fairness, she always was a bit spotty), although I'm not able to confirm this as I just tried to visit the site and got a page which said 'Service Unavailable'.
Anyway, according to reports, the site's mission statement is as follows: "Welcome to the home of the Anti-Kevin movement. Are you sick of seeing the train wreck that is Britney and Kevin? Sign the K-Fed Up Petition, grab your Divorce Kevin gear and help Britney remove the boil that is Kevin from herself and her payroll!"
It might work. Lindsay Lohan is, after all, looking a lot healthier these days.