| CMU Daily - on the inside Tuesday 1st May |
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In today's CMU Daily:
- Boy George arrested over false imprisonment allegations
- Sony winners announced
- Donegan's widow calls for British MPs to extend the term
- Spector trial postponed
- Little Nan Jo Jo festival to be streamlined after booker deception
- Courtney Love to auction Kurt's stuff
- Snoop Dogg causes trouble in Canada
- Young Buck denies any involvement in hotel shooting
- McCartney on new album
- The Crimea give away second album
- Green Day release single
- New Orleans Jazz Festival secures sponsorship through to 2010
- Moves afoot to shift release day
- GCap launch label spin off for jazz station
- Warner sign up to MySpace downloads, but with DRM
- Microsoft chief disses iPhone
- Bebo appoint former MTV exec to head up music operations
- Ingenious backs new entertainment firm
- BBC Trust give go ahead for iPlayer
- The Source files for chapter 11 protection
- Jackson's kids polite and normal shocker
- Streisand tickets going for up to £500
- Britney cancels secret comeback gig
- Sony Award winners in full
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TOP BIT>>
Does someone want to explain to me exactly how it got to be May so flippin quickly? May. I mean last time I looked it was February, now it's May. Aaaaargh. Ah well, at least that means we've got two bank holidays upcoming plus, of course, two simply brilliant CMU Recommended all nighters.
The first said all nighter is the next edition of Breaking Ground, the feckin marvellous breaks fest, which takes place this coming weekend - Friday 4 May - at the seOne Club underneath London Bridge station. In the main arena will be Hybrid doing a DJ set and TC Evolution live, plus Elite Force, Precision Cuts (Live), Tayo, K-Swing and DJ Campus. In the next vault along, our old friend Eddy TM will be hosting the Bootie Breaks Arena with Freestyler Matt Cantor, DJ Deekline, Skool Of Thought and Coburn doing their stuff. On top of that you've got a Bassline Arena hosted by MC Rage and presenting Dillinja, Sub Focus, Chase & Status, Noisia and The Qemists. Oh, and a DJ Mag hosted VIP Arena featuring Helene Stokes, Heath Holmes and Ron Speed. Oh, and a Chill Out Arena with lots of sofas and movies and things. Tickets are £15, though I believe there are still some limited edition ten pound tickets available for you CMU readers, if you go to this link and click on guest list button...
http://www.leylinepromotions.com/breakingground
The next big all night affair is the first ever Xfm Remix All Nighter, which is spinning off from the always good Remix Night and which will take over the seOne club at London Bridge on 26 May (the other bank holiday weekend). Eddy TM is host again - obviously, it being the Remix - and the line up is filled with CMU favourites, like Pendulum, Breakfastaz, Sub Focus, Paul Epworth, South Central, Freelance Hellraiser and Does It Offend You Yeah? Tickets for this are £10/12 on the night, but just eight quid in advance. To take advantage of that get on over to http://www.ticketweb.co.uk where you can book your tickets right now.
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CLASSIFIEDS>>
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MYSPACE OF THE DAY: Candie Payne
Everywhere I turn these days I seem to be hearing about Candie Payne, so I think she must be entering the buzzing phase of her career. She's a singer-songwriter from Liverpool, and her music is rather reminiscent of sixties type pop. In fact, listening to her makes me feel as though I should be watching some black and white sixties film. There's not much here bar the songs, but the songs are really good, and really evocative of that aforementioned sixties sound, plus there is a list of the singer's upcoming tour dates, if you'd like to catch her live. FYI, fact fans, it says on Wikipedia that Candie is the sister of Howie Payne, formerly of the now defunct The Stands and Sean Payne out of The Zutons. I believe virtually everything I read on Wiki, which is probably a bad thing, but in this case, I don't think there's much need to worry that it's not true. Anyway, visit the MySpace, not the Wiki page. That's the point of this slot, isn't it?
http://www.myspace.com/candiepayne
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BOY GEORGE ARRESTED OVER FALSE IMPRISONMENT ALLEGATIONS
Well, this is all a bit odd. Boy George has been arrested over allegations of false imprisonment and assault following allegations made by a male escort called Auden Carlsen.
Carlsen claims Boy George, real name George O'Dowd of course, and another man hired him in the early hours of Saturday morning and took him to a flat in the Shoreditch bit of London in order to take photos of him. Carlson says O'Dowd started taking photos of him dressed in "kinky gear" but then the singer and the other man jumped on him and handcuffed him to a hook by the bed. It's not clear exactly what happened next, but it seems O'Dowd and friend left Carlson alone, and that he then managed to pull the hook out of the wall and escape the flat - presumably still dressed in the aforementioned "kinky gear - alerting police of the incident at a nearby newsagent.
O'Dowd was subsequently arrested but bailed pending further police inquiries. Media reports yesterday afternoon said that O'Dowd was laughing off the allegations made against him, seemingly questioning Carlsen's side of the story.
Explaining that the escort wasn't just a stranger hired on the night of the incident, O'Dowd's brother Kevin told reporters yesterday: "This bloke [Carlsen] has done a fair bit of modelling for our clothes shop, so how can what he said be true? George isn't at all annoyed at the allegations... in fact, he thinks it's hilarious. Yeah, he was arrested, but the police are always going to follow it up when someone makes a complaint like that".
O'Dowd, of course, served community service in New York last year after police were called to his apartment in the city following reports of a break in. Police found cocaine in the apartment when they answered the call, though he was prosecuted for wasting police time rather than for possession of the drug.
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SONY WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The winners of this year's big radio awards - the Sonys - have been announced. We'll do some analysis and gather together some quotes and stuff for tomorrow's Daily, but if you're eager to know who won there's a full list of winners at the bottom of today's Daily.
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DONEGAN'S WIDOW CALLS FOR BRITISH MPS TO EXTEND THE TERM
The widow of the late British "skiffle king" Lonnie Donegan has thrown her weight behind the campaign to extend the length of recorded music copyright in the UK, which currently stands at fifty years.
As previously reported, British record labels and artists have become increasingly proactive in their bid to have recording copyrights increased in the UK, and across Europe, as the fiftieth anniversary of many legendary rock n roll recordings, including the early Beatles catalogue, start to appear on the horizon. They argue it is unfair that there is such a big discrepancy between the recording copyright period and that allowed for songwriters (life plus seventy years), and also point out the inconsistency between Europe and the US, where recording copyrights are 95 years. Industry execs had hoped a recent government review of copyright laws led by Andrew Gowers would provide a framework for that copyright term extension, but instead Gowers advised government ministers against extending the term.
Donegan's music from the late fifties is in the process of coming out of copyright - one of his best known songs, 'Cumberland Gap', comes out of copyright next January, while his first hit, 'Rock Island Line', came out of copyright last year. With that in mind his widow, Sharon Donegan, has called on MPs to look into extending the recording copyright, despite Gowers' recommendation, warning that the families of dead music stars could face financial hardship when royalty payments end.
Writing in UK trade magazine MusicWeek, Donegan says: "'Rock Island Line' was a 1930s song, but Lonnie's recording was quite unlike the blues original. It was an up-tempo version, which just steamed along. I bet if you asked most people whose song it was, they would say Lonnie or Johnny Cash or one of the other singers who recorded it. It was their recording which brought the song to life and that's what people remember. His recordings of 'Rock Island Line' and 'Cumberland Gap' are effectively worthless once the copyright term ends. It's not even as though they made us rich. People say I must be a millionaire, but, no. The royalties were just enough to get by".
Donegan's comments coincide with the release of a CD by UK recording royalty collection society PPL called 'Copyright Gap' which is being sent to British MPs in a bid to persuade them to get behind the copyright extension campaign. Donegan concludes: "I just hope the politicians listen to all the tracks on that CD and then give us the same copyright term as the songwriters and photographers. Hard-working people like Lonnie, who gave so many so much fun, deserve at least this".
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SPECTOR TRIAL POSTPONED
Ah, and we were all just getting into it. The Phil Spector murder trial failed to resume yesterday because the legendary producer's chief lawyer, Bruce Cutler, is ill. The trial, which kicked off last week, was due to resume yesterday, but will now restart tomorrow. Court officials had planned to take a day off today anyway because protests by immigration reform groups are due to take place in LA, and that is expected to cause considerable traffic congestion around the court house.
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LITTLE NAN JO JO FESTIVAL TO BE STREAMLINED AFTER BOOKER DECEPTION
Organisers of the previously reported Little Nan Jo Jo festival, due to take place in venues in Deptford and New Cross this weekend, have announced the event is being rebranded and scaled down somewhat, because the man responsible for booking headline acts seemingly hadn't confirmed any of the acts he said he was booking.
Little Nan Jo Jo organisers yesterday said their festival had been "hi-jacked by a (now sacked) record label representative" who had promised them he was booking Chromeo, Soulwax, The Gossip and Justice as headliners for the South East London event, seemingly providing promoters with details of the deals and fees he was arranging with the headliners. But, they say, said booker finally admitted last week that no bookings had been made after the festival's organisers got suspicious as to his refusal to hand over production or marketing contacts.
In a statement on the festival's MySpace, the organisers say: "[When we started planning this festival] we were introduced to an individual who we understand worked for a high profile record label. In the course of our working relationship with this man he led us to believe that he had personal relationships with headline artists and had booked these artists for our bill. This individual admitted his deception on Wednesday 25th April 2007. This individual had no financial gain in this particular project - which is why it took us so long to come to terms with his games. Allegedly this has happened before".
Neither the MySpace statement nor the email correspondence we've received from the Little Nan Jo Jo people name the "record label representative" in question, but music website Frinkmusic alleges it was Kim St Martin, who they claim was recently sacked from his job at The Gossip's label, Backyard, but who has just secured a £60K a year job at Independiente.
That last claim does tally with the official statement on the matter, with the Little Nan Jo Jo team saying: "This disgraced (but smooth talking) con man has now charmed himself into a new, £60,000 a year job, at another record label!!! Note to record label - if he is sacked, three or four of the DIY promoters [staging Little Nan Jo Jo] could share that wage and do an honestly good job".
The official MySpace statement says the festival is being cancelled and technically it is, however many of those non-headline acts actually booked to perform are still keen to do so, and so a new event under the Rocklands banner (who already stage regular events in South East London) is being staged, with many of the bands due to play Little Nan Jo Jo set to appear. Organisers tell us: "this not-so-great rock'n'roll swindle has inadvertently raised additional support and rallying round from the industry, and the buzz around Saturday May 5th. Tickets continue to sell well. The streets of New Cross and Deptford will be paved with people [enjoying] over one hundred bands chosen by some of the alternative music circuit movers and shakers, next weekend".
The updated line up is due to be posted on the blog section at the MySpace of one of the promoters behind the festival - http://www.myspace.com/nxpromotions. Tickets for the scaled down event will be £10 for all venues or £5 for one venue. People who had bought a £15 ticket for Little Nan Jo Jo can get a full refund, or exchange their wristband for a Rocklands ticket and get a £5 or £10 refund.
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COURTNEY LOVE TO AUCTION KURT'S STUFF
Courtney Love has announced that she intends to auction off some of her late husband Kurt Cobain's possessions, with the intention to give the proceeds to charity. She told Spinner.com that she has no interest in hanging on to his stuff indefinitely, and doesn't think the pair's daughter, fourteen year old Frances Bean, will benefit from keeping it either.
The singer said: "I'm going to have a Christie's auction. [My house] is like a mausoleum. My daughter doesn't need to inherit a giant hefty bag full of flannel fucking shirts... A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to 'Teen Spirit' - that's what my daughter gets. And the rest of it we'll just fucking sell." She went on to say that she has plenty of support for the idea, explaining: "Everyone's been positive and behind me on it. We'll make a lot of money and give a bunch of it to charity".
Love also adds that she's never got over Cobain's death, saying: "I still wear his pyjamas to bed. How am I ever going to go form another relationship in my lifetime wearing Kurt's pyjamas?"
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SNOOP DOGG CAUSES TROUBLE IN CANADA
Snoop Dogg has been causing trouble in the city of Lethbridge in Canada by allegedly smoking pot on stage at a recent gig there, and encouraging his audience to do likewise. It's upset the city's officials so much, they're considering tightening the rules for concert performers at the city-owned Enmax centre where the gig took place, with the city council proposing recommendations that artists should pay a performance bond in order to play at the venue, a deposit which would not be returned if they were to behave inappropriately onstage.
Mayor Bob Tarleck says that it's Snoop's lack of respect, not just the claimed drug issues, that's the problem. He told CBC news: "We saw it as a real affront to our community. We saw that as a group of entertainers who thought that they could come in and just ignore - totally ignore - the rules of our community".
He added, however, that the rap star, real name Calvin Broadus, would be welcomed back to the city as long as he behaves according to the law.
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YOUNG BUCK DENIES ANY INVOLVEMENT IN HOTEL SHOOTING
Young Buck's people have denied any involvement in the previously reported shooting that took place outside an after show party being held by the G-unit rapper. Reports suggested that police were investigating claims that the fracas that led to the shooting was a fight between Young Buck's entourage and rival rappers, but the rapper has denied that he or his posse were involved.
Speaking to AllHipHop.com, he said: "I had no involvement in that situation. None of my entourage was involved. We stayed at the hotel where the situation happened, I had no argument with nobody, I had none of my entourage involved in no fights. There were no robbers, or no shooting between us or no other rappers or none of that shit".
An eye witness to the shooting told AllHipHop that the incident was related to an earlier fracas at the hotel, which had nothing to do with the rapper. They quote said witness thus: "This shoot out had to do with a fight that happened earlier between two people that knew each other from Seattle and then other people showing up to have his back. It also had to do with a chain trying to be snatched, and people having that persons back".
As previously reported, nine men were arrested in connection with the shooting. Police haven't commented on whether any of those men had any link with Young Buck, or whether they were at his after show party.
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MCCARTNEY ON NEW ALBUM
Paul McCartney has been talking about his forthcoming new album, 'Memory Almost Full', and says it very much draws on his past. The former Beatle said in a statement: "In places it's a very personal record and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone. The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can't really sum it up in one sentence".
Calling a medley of five songs on the album "purposely retrospective", he added: "I thought this might be because I'm at this point in my life, but then I think about the times I was writing with John [Lennon] and a lot of that was also looking back."
The new record, McCartney's twenty-first solo LP, is out in June. It's to be released, as previously reported, via Starbucks' new music venture, Hear Music.
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THE CRIMEA GIVE AWAY SECOND ALBUM
The Crimea have said that they are planning to release their second album 'Secrets Of The Witching Hour' as a free download on 13 May. The band hope that the move will increase their profile, even if it won't make them money, and that they'll make up the difference by increased touring and merchandise revenue. Frankly, their profile should be higher than it is, given the quality tunes they produce. See www.inaudible.co.uk/crimea/ for info. CD addicts needn't despair yet, however, a not-free physical release will follow on 4 Jun.
Here are the band's upcoming tour dates:
21 May: Bristol Thekla
25 May: Stoke Sugarmill
26 May: South Wales Narbeth Queens Hall
29 May: Surrey Boiler Room
30 May: Reading Fez
31 May: Wrexham Central Station
1 Jun: Nottingham Social
2 Jun: Birmingham Carling Bar Academy
3 Jun: Liverpool Carling Academy
5 Jun: Leeds Rios
6 Jun: Leicester Charlotte
7 Jun: Wolverhampton Civic
8 Jun: Sheffield Leadmill
9 Jun: Manchester Joshua Brookes
11 Jun: Northampton Soundhaus
13 Jun: Brighton The Barfly
14 Jun: Norwich Arts Centre
15 Jun: Southampton Joiners
16 Jun: Aldershot West End Centre
18 Jun: York Fibbers
19 Jun: Glasgow King Tuts
20 Jun: Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire
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GREEN DAY RELEASE SINGLE
Green Day have released a single. Today. Yes, you read that a-right. A single, today. The band have made their cover of John Lennon's 'Working Class Hero' available to download via iTunes as part of the promotion for Amnesty International's previously reported Lennon covers album 'Instant Karma: The Campaign To Save Darfur'. It's not the first promo, of course - REM's cover of '#9 Dream' was released back in March, whilst Corinne Bailey Rae's cover of 'I'm Losing You' was out in April. Other artists appearing on the record, out 25 May, include Aerosmith, Christina Aguilera, Jack Johnson and Black Eyed Peas.
Publishing royalties for the tracks have been donated to the campaign by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, who says: "It's wonderful that, through this campaign, music which is so familiar to many people of my era will now be embraced by a whole new generation. John's music set out to inspire change and, in standing up for human rights, we really can make the world a better place".
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NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FESTIVAL SECURES SPONSORSHIP THROUGH TO 2010
The New Orleans Jazz Festival has announced it has secured corporate sponsorship until 2010, which has allayed fears that the event may have to be scaled down.
The festival traditionally made most of its revenues through ticket sales, often attracting over 400,000 people to the festivities. However, following the devastation of the city by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 the festival has been unable to command such large audiences, and there were fears that, unable to bank on ticket sales income, the event would have to be considerably scaled back.
However, Shell, who supported the first post-hurricane festival last year, and who are supporting this year's festival, which began last weekend, have now confirmed they will continue their support as the festival's main sponsor through to 2010, providing financial security for the coming years, during which time the festival and its producer, Quint Davis, hope to restore their audience to pre-hurricane levels.
Confirming their sponsorship of the event for the coming years, Shell's Production VP Frank Glaviano told reporters: "We wanted to give a gift to the people of New Orleans after all that they have gone through".
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MOVES AFOOT TO SHIFT RELEASE DAY
Ah, this is interesting. MusicWeek reports that Universal is supporting moves to switch music release day from Monday to Friday, based on the idea that a release day at the end of the week would boost sales during the busy weekend shopping period. Personally I'm not convinced such a move would actually help stop flagging CD sales, but I think that's the reason behind the proposed move. Whether a shift in release day would mean the retail charts would be moved to Thursday I don't know. Imagine that - a new chart on Thursday nights. They could have some kind of TV show counting down the charts just before the Thursday edition of Eastenders. That would be good.
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GCAP LAUNCH LABEL SPIN OFF FOR JAZZ STATION
It's funny how, given how much doom and gloom there is in the world of recorded music these days, everyone wants to set up a record label. The latest company to set up a label is radio firm GCap, who are planning to launch a record label spin off from its recently launched digital jazz station theJazz. Well, I say they are launching a label, really it's just an imprint of Universal's jazz division UCJ which will release theJazz branded compilations, but given that the most doom and gloom is in the compilations sector, new compo labels are quite surprising too. The compilations are apparently just one of a number of spin offs being planned by the station's bosses. Station MD Darren Henley told reporters: "Like Classic FM, theJazz will be a truly multi-platform brand".
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WARNER SIGN UP TO MYSPACE DOWNLOADS, BUT WITH DRM
This looked like a big story at first sight, but isn't so big when you read the small print. Warner Music has announced it will be selling music via MySpace's soon to launch Snocap powered download platform. That could have been big news because word had it the MySpace download service would only be selling DRM free MP3s. But it turns out they've made an exception for DRM obsessed Warner - so it's not as big a news story as it could have been.
The new deal with Snocap means Warner artists will be able to sell their music directly from their MySpace pages, rather than having to link to other download stores. However, the music will be made available as Microsoft WMA files with the 'Plays For Sure' DRM embedded. Which means, of course, that Warner music bought via MySpace will not play on the market leader iPod nor, for that matter, Microsoft's rival music player Zune which, as previously reported, and in one of the dumbest moves in the history of digital music (and let's not forget, there's been a lot of dumb moves), doesn't use Microsoft's much established 'Plays For Sure' DRM despite being a Microsoft player.
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MICROSOFT CHIEF DISSES IPHONE
Talking of Microsoft, the IT conglom's CEO Steve Ballmer has been telling USA Today that Apple's iPhone won't have anything like the impact as all the media hype surrounding the new mobile iPod device might suggest. He told the paper: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidised item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get". Ballmer denied rumours that a Zune phone was in the pipeline, though did not rule out Microsoft launching a mobile with 'Zune-like capabilities'. Presumably that will use an entirely different DRM.
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BEBO APPOINT FORMER MTV EXEC TO HEAD UP MUSIC OPERATIONS
Talking of social networking type shenanigans (which we were but one story ago), MySpace rival Bebo has announced the appointment of former MTV executive Angel Gambino to the newly created role of VP Music. Working in the company's London office, Gambino will be charged with helping Bebo expand its music operations (while Bebo is actually the social networking site of choice of many teenagers, MySpace remains the flagship site for music types) with a statement describing her role as "helping artists and labels to harness the power of Bebo's base of 31 million users worldwide, enabling them to extend their reach and form one-to-one relationships with their audience".
Confirming her new job Gambino told reporters: "I'm passionate about music and so are Bebo's 31 million users and music fans. Content rich profiles offer a real opportunity to combine the interests of both artists and their fans. By working together with music labels to develop one to one relationships between bands and their audiences, and by helping new bands get discovered, we're creating a place where music can thrive".
I'm not sure I completely trust anyone who uses the phrase "content rich profiles", but it will be interesting to see what 360 degree UGC artist fan engagement tools Bebo come up with under Gambino's leadership.
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INGENIOUS BACKS NEW ENTERTAINMENT FIRM
Another Ingenious backed venture for you. Ingenious are, I'm sure you all remember, the investment fund providing funding to event, music and music media start ups. The latest new business backed by the fund will be called Crystal Entertainment, and will be run by a former 19 Entertainment COO and Bartle Bogle Hegarty MD Charles Garland. The new firm will "invest in the development, and possible acquisition, of entertainment based intellectual property".
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BBC TRUST GIVE GO AHEAD FOR IPLAYER
The BBC Trust has given the go ahead for the new BBC online programmes on demand service the iPlayer, which is just as well given how much money has been spent on developing it. The go ahead from the Beeb's regulator means the previously reported iPlayer, which will allow viewers to watch certain flagship shows online on demand for a month after they air on BBC TV, will now go live later this year. The Beeb's service is similar to the Channel 4 online on demand service launched earlier this year, though all programmes will be available for free to viewers within the UK.
Talking of TV on demand services - ITV announced theirs this morning - we'll have more on that in tomorrow's Daily.
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THE SOURCE FILES FOR CHAPTER 11 PROTECTION
Legendary US hiphop magazine The Source has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which will please founders David Mays and Raymond 'Benzino' Scott, who were ousted from the company last year when investors got pissed off with the pair using the mag to further their personal ongoing feuds with hip hop rivals like 50 Cent and Eminem. That said, the magazine's owners are trying their best to ensure it is Mays' and Benzino's reputations that are tarnished by the Chapter 11 application - blaming the slump in sales (subscriptions and advertising) during the latter part of the Mays/Benzino leadership, coupled with the dodgy systems the pair had put in place at the company, for the magazine's current financial woes. An attorney involved in the Chapter 11 process says he is confident the company will emerge successfully as a "reorganised" entity after the bankruptcy proceedings.
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JACKSON'S KIDS POLITE AND NORMAL SHOCKER
Journalist Jamie Foster Brown - the publisher of Sister2Sister, the US magazine devoted to the world of black entertainment - has met Michael Jackson's kids, and apparently they are all normal and well behaved. Foster Brown met Prince Michael, 10, Paris, 9, and Prince Michael II aka 'Blanket', 5, on a recent trip to Japan.
She says: "Michael is a devoted father... He's raising them to be very polite, humble, and, believe it or not, pretty ordinary. They are calm, relaxed kids who play jokes on their dad. At one point, Michael thought that his daughter had been rude to me and he got very upset. He's raising them to be less pretentious than many children I have met".
And there was us all thinking they'd grow up to be aliens
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STREISAND TICKETS GOING FOR UP TO £500
Barbra Streisand will charge up to £500 for the privilege of hearing her warbling when she tours the UK later this year. The cheapest tickets for her show at the new O2 arena in East London will be £100. A spokesman defended the extortionate ticket prices by telling reporters the show Streisand will perform will be "a momentous occasion that ranks up there with seeing Sinatra or Elvis". Personally I'd not spend £500 to see either Sinatra or Elvis, even if they'd come back from the dead just to perform, but there you go. Part of the proceeds of ticket sales will go to the Barbra Streisand Foundation, which supports causes including the environment, civil rights and disadvantaged youngsters, which, of course, makes ripping off your fans all OK. Still, if people are stupid enough to pay those kinds of prices, I won't lose too much sleep over them being ripped off. And people probably will pay - the last Streisand tour had similarly (though not quite as) extortionate ticket prices and despite reports tickets sales were slow, most shows went on to sell out.
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BRITNEY CANCELS SECRET COMEBACK GIG
Britney Spears has reportedly cancelled a comeback gig that was due to take place in LA this week. Though whether or not there was ever a comeback gig planned in the first place isn't entirely clear. Some media report that Britney was due to play either the LA House Of Blues or Forty Deuce tomorrow night using the moniker The M+M's. Some of those reports go on to quote the owner of the latter venue - which makes you think that that is where any gig was going to take place. Said owner reckons rehearsals had begun before the gig was pulled and everything was going well. He is quoted thus: "She came on stage during rehearsal, looking very hot, with four dancers and sang three songs. They ran through the set several times, the choreography was smokin' and she sounded great". Given those comments, quite why the gig is now cancelled I don't know.
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SONY AWARD WINNERS IN FULL
Special Awards
Gold Award: Paul Gambaccini
Broadcasters' Broadcaster Award: John Peel
The Lifetime Achievement Award: Tony Butler, BBC West Midlands
Personality Awards
Music Broadcaster: Colin Murray, BBC Radio 1
Music Radio Personality: Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2
News Journalist: John Humphrys, BBC Radio 4
Speech Broadcaster: Eddie Nestor, BBC London 94.9
Station Programmer: Francis Currie, Programme Director for The Heart Network
Programme Awards
Breakfast Show: The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4
Music Programme: The Mark Radcliffe Show, BBC Radio 2
Specialist Music Programme: Friction, BBC Asian Network
News And Current Affairs Programme: Five Live Breakfast, BBC Radio Five Live
Sports Programme: Sportsweek, BBC Radio Five Live
Speech Programme: The Reunion, BBC Radio 4
Interactive Programme: PM, BBC Radio 4
Entertainment Award: The Chris Evans Show, BBC Radio 2
The Internet Programme Award: Firin' Squad Unsigned Podcast - Wise Buddah Talent for firinsquad.co.uk
Production Awards
Feature Award: Radio Ballads 2006: The Song Of Steel, BBC Radio 2
Comedy Award: 1996 And All That, BBC Radio 4
Drama Award: Lorilei, BBC Radio 4
Music Special Award: Malcolm Mclaren's Musical Map Of London, BBC Radio 2
News Feature Award: Letters From Guantanamo Bay, BBC Radio 4
Live Event Coverage Award: The Alan Shearer Testimonial, Sport For Magic 1152
Breaking News Award: The London Tornado, BBC London 94.9
Community Award: The Plot, BBC Radio Berkshire
Promo Award: The Ashes, BBC Radio Five Live Sports Extra
Competition Award: Who's Calling Christian? Virgin Radio
Station Imaging Award: Planet Rock
Station Awards
UK Station Of The Year: Classic FM
Station Of The Year (Up To 300,000 Listeners): Isle Of Wight Radio
Station Of The Year (300,000 To 1 million): BBC Radio Derby
Station Of The Year (1 million Plus): Radio City 96.7
Digital Terrestrial Station Of The Year: Gaydar Radio