| CMU Daily - on the inside 24 Feb 2003 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Over ninety die in latest club tragedy,
• Review: Various - Om Lounge 7,
• Norah's night at the Grammys,
• Korn on Sharon's criticism,
• JJ72s bassist quits,
• Juvenile pleads guilty to first of three charges,
• Live Review: Asian Dub Foundation @ Shepherds Bush Empire,
• Bono and Geldof launch new Africa relief campaign,
• Woman to play Bob Dylan in biopic,
• Search is on for Eminem lookalike robber
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OUT TODAY: RECOMMENDED RELEASES
Singles: Harry - Push It Real Good (Telstar); Clearlake - Almost The Same (Domino); The Revs - Loaded (Revs Records); Medium 21 - Daybreak vs Pride (Temptation); Massive attack - Special Cases (Virgin); Bent - Magic Love (Sport/Ministry); FC Kahuna - Hayliing (Skint); Fluke - Hang Tough (One Little Indian); Pete Heller & Tedd Patterson - Big Room Drama (Junion); Royksopp - Eple (Wall of Sound); The Minus 5 - Down With Wilco (Cooking Vinyl); Mel C - Here It Comes Again (Virgin)' Alternate 3 - The Light Years Ahead (Floating World).
Albums: Adaption OST (Virgin), Seba - Producer 06 (Good Looking Records); Appleton - Everything Eventual (Universal/Polydor); Tosca - Delhi (K7); Matchbox 20 - More Than You Think You Are (Warners/Atlantic); Longwave - The Strangest Thing (Hummer); Led Zepplin - Early Days & Latter Days (Warner)
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CHART REPORT
Can anything knock TaTu off the number one spot (the safe money is on Gareth Gates' Comic Relief rendition of 'Spirit In The Sky')? They are there for the fourth week, with Justin Timberlake and Fame Academy's Sinead Quinn swapping places to fill positions two and three respectively.
A few fine new entries this week. Two college radio favourites from Virgin - Turin Brakes' 'Pain Killer' at five and The Music's 'Truth Is No Words' at 18. Also welcome returns this week from Moloko with 'Familiar Feeling' at ten and Mull Historical Society with 'The Final Arrears' at 32.
Albums wise a bit of Brits exposure can be good for sales - Justin's arse grabbing performance pushes his debut album back to number one, with Tom Jones' cleverly timed best of (released the week he was awarded the Brit for lifetime achievement) going in at number three. 50 Cents, by far the biggest seller in the US, hasn't tapped into the Eminem fanbase in quite the same way over here. Although he goes straight in at number two with his debut album, he is beaten by the Timberlake album which has, of course, been in the shops, and the chart, for quite sometime.
Very few other album new entries this week though welcome arrivals from Ed Harcourt with 'From Every Sphere' at 39 and Counting Crows with 'Hard Candy' at 40.
Oh yes, and if anyone knows why Westlife's 'Unbreakable' single has reappeared at number 26 in the singles chart we'd like to know!
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OVER NINETY DIE IN LATEST CLUB TRAGEDY
If it hadn't been so tragic it would have been comical. The safety of US club venues are now seriously under the spotlight after a second tragedy in less than a week killed at least 96 people. The fire at the Rhode Island nightclub last Friday followed the deaths caused by a stampede at a Chicago club a few days earlier. The irony is a local TV crew were filming a feature on club safety post-Chicago inside the Rhode Island club when pyrotechnics set the wooden building on fire.
The club, called The Station, caught fire as a result of a pyrotechnic mishap during the first song by heavy metal band Great White. Reports suggest a spark or flame ignited foam soundproofing or insulation on the wall behind the stage and spread throughout the venue within minutes, leaving little more than one wall standing by the time firefighters extinguished the blaze a few hours later.
"It went up like a Christmas tree," Great White singer Jack Russell told local paper The Providence Journal. "I was trying to put it out with a bottle of water. I turned around and the building was engulfed. My soundman is injured. I'm on my way to the hospital."
Local fire officials reported that it took only three minutes for the blaze to sweep through the club, and that evacuation was delayed because many initially thought the wall of fire behind the band was some kind of pyro show. Thick black smoke had soon consumed the room and the lights went out, causing a chaotic rush toward the one exit most patrons used to enter. Although fire officials confirmed that all four of the venue's doors were working, many people attempted to climb through broken windows to escape. The band fled through the back door.
Russell went on to tell reporters the pyro show had been approved by the club's owners: "My tour manager deals with that. We always have permission because we never just go into a place. ... We only do it when it's safe. If he says, 'Yeah, it's safe,' then we'll use it. If he says, 'No, you can't use it here, the walls are flammable or the ceiling's flammable,' then we won't use it. It's not a big deal."
But the venue's owners and a stage technician subsequently claimed to have been unaware that any such special effects would be employed. "At no time did either owner have prior knowledge that pyrotechnics were going to be used by the band Great White," an attorney representing the Station owners said in a statement. "No permission was ever requested by the band or its agents to use pyrotechnics at the Station and no permission was ever given."
Local authorities will now decide who is to blame for the tragedy and if to press charges.
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REVIEW: Various - Om Lounge 7 (OM Records)
The fact that this series has reached volume 7 should be enough evidence of its quality, without someone saying "well done Om, another winner" etc etc. Lounge 7 is another great long-player rammed with downbeat upbeat, jazz, funk, soul and Latin influences. This is bar-beats par excellence. Well done Om, another winner. JG
Release date: 31 Mar
Press contact: Zzonked [all]
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NORAH'S NIGHT AT THE GRAMMYS
Well, it was Norah Jones' night at the Grammys last night - she picked up all eight of the awards she was nominated for, including album and record of the year. It was quite a win, the only female artists to have previously won so much in one night at the Grammy's being Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys. The other artists with impressive nomination line ups - Eminem, Coldplay, India Arie and Nelly - all took two awards each. On winning his second award Eminem simply read out a list of rappers - including Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG - adding "Thank you, because I learned from all of you," he said.
Elsewhere Kylie and Justin continued their double act by presenting an award together. Prior to the official proceedings Timberlake asked "Can I grab your arse again?". Kylie played along a little, looking as though she was about to accept, but then squealed "No".
There's bloody hundreds of Grammy Awards - full awards list at www.grammy.aol.com - and in the next issue of CMU The Update
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KORN ON SHARON'S CRITICISM
Heavy rockers Korn, on the line up for this year's Ozzfest, have been talking about Sharon Osbourne's criticism of the band in an interview with Rolling Stone last year, when she called them "has-beens" and "just too fucking gay from the word go".
Band frontman Jonathan Davies told reporters last week: "She started rumors about us, but that is just how she is. She is a shit talker and it doesn't bother me. I mean, with negative press, they are still talking about me, so I don't give a fuck. We are all in this thing together. We all want to do a good show, and I can look past that. Who cares?"
In her defense Sharon added: "I had cancer. I was sick and I didn't know what I was saying. Now that's a good sympathy card. Being a manager, it's not right to knock on the bands, and I did it because I am such a bitch and I did it because I don't like his manager."
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JJ72 BASSIST QUITS
According to a statement on JJ72's website, bass player Hilary Woods has quit the band. The statement simply says: Hilary has decided to pursue other interests at this point in her life." Hilary herself added: "I wish Mark and Fergal continued success in the band and thank JJ72 fans for their support."
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JUVENILE PLEADS GUILTY TO FIRST OF THREE CHARGES
Rapper Juvenile pleaded guilty on Friday after being accused of hitting a man on the head with a champagne bottle and grabbing a police officer.
Juvenile, real name Terius Gray, was sentenced to 75 hours of community service and will be put on unsupervised probation for one year. He was also ordered to donate $5,000 to a local children's charity and pay $782 in court costs. He only pleaded guilty of felony battery - in a pre-trial deal it was agreed that if he pleaded guilty on that charge the original charges of aggravated battery, battery on a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest (which could have come with a considerable prison sentence) would be dropped. The charges related to an incident outside a Miami comedy club last March.
This trial is the first of three for the rapper - he faces a robbery charge from last September and was arrested in New Orleans last month on cocaine possession.
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LIVE REVIEW: Asian Dub Foundation @ Shepherds Bush Empire on 21 Feb
Shepherds Bush Empire: the venue with the world's most unpleasant security staff. After an early-evening tussle with these cheese-headed gorillas, a loud gig feels like the worst thing in the world. Not just that, but the sound engineer appears to have tinnitus; heavy bass reverberates through CMU 's full bladder, and the treble's so sharp it literally hurts. Of course, none of this is ADF's fault, not really. But the sound is such a mess that instruments, samples and loops swim around a muddy soup, while the bass guitar rumbles like a stomach bereft of cornflakes. And while there's no faulting ADF's superb riddims; and while the hole left by rapper Deedar is filled ably enough by Spex and Aktarvata, who are now well settled into the Foundation; and while the entire balcony is shaking somewhat terrifyingly as every arse is vigorously shaken, there's something not quite right. See, ADF play like real pros; every leap, every rock star pose, every instrument has been so heavily rehearsed that it starts to sound and look a bit dull, like they're not allowing themselves to be carried away in the heat of the moment or what have you. And when Chandrasonic says something about last weekend's march against war, for example, it's not only entirely predictable, but it feels like little more than lip service. Maybe it's just down to those pesky security apes, or maybe it's the deaf engineer's fault, but ADF fail to make much of an impression tonight. DR
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BONO AND GELDOF LAUNCH NEW AFRICA RELEIF CAMPAIGN
Combining the three big campaigns with regards the future of Africa, Bono and Bob Geldof have launched a new initiative called DATA - Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa.
Talking about the new scheme to Hollywood Reporter Bono said: "They are three of the most pressing issues facing Africa. It's not just, let's help the poor people. At the heart of this is, do we really believe in equality and equal opportunity?"
While agreeing the world is right to be concerned about "what is going on in the Middle East and the swell of terrorism," he stresses that by furthering AIDS prevention work in Africa, "I think we can actually stymie the malaise of anti-American, anti-Western hatred if we actually get out and show what it is we are capable of."
The interview preceded the presentation of an Person of the Year award to Bono by the US National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences on Friday.
Talking about the award he said: "I turned it down last year just out of embarrassment. This year, I was told you just can't do that. MusiCares is an amazing thing, and you just have to roll with that. I just hope for the people who come that it's not a cringe-making affair. It seems like the sort of occasion that you should be dead to be there. It would be better if you were a ghost. I'm glad I'm not, by the way. That's one rock-star cliche too far."
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WOMAN TO PLAY BOB DYLAN IN BIOPIC
In a planned biopic of Bob Dylan the legendary singer will be played by a woman! Word is the new film will tell Dylan's story in seven sections - in each section a different actor will portray Dylan. An unidentified woman will portray the singer-songwriter at the height of his popularity in the mid-1960s. Apparently a 11 year old black boy will appear in one of the early segments.
The film's director Todd Haynes told reporters: "Bob Dylan is somebody who has continued to reject all of the various personas that he has embodied over the years. He continues to move forward by discarding himself, so my idea is to put together a film of multiple characters and tell their stories simultaneously."
No word yet on exact cast or schedule.
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SEARCH IS ON FOR EMINEM LOOK ALIKE ROBBER
Favourite pop story of the day. Police in the US have dubbed a criminal they are searching for the 'Eminem Bank Robber'. The robber, who is suspected to have pulled off eleven robberies, looks a lot like Slim Shady, though officials say the robber himself has never made any reference to the similarity, or pretended to be the rapper.
"He doesn't say he's Eminem, but one of the local detectives said he looks like him, ... and having an identifying marker like that sometimes helps the investigation," an FBI spokesman said.
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Answer to Friday's pop quiz:
Brits trivia: which band had the best single at the first Brits (or BPI Awards) in 1977, and then again in 1992? Queen - for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in 1977 and 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives' in 1992