| CMU Daily - on the inside 27 Aug 2003 |
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In today's CMU Daily:
• Only two bids remain in Vivendi sell-off
• Investigations continue in death of festival-goer
• Celine plans French release
• Extra Electric 6 date
• Simmons to sell fashion company
• Ex-S Club girl hopes to work with ex-Carpenter
• Jacko opens up Neverland for five grand guests
• BRMC on their changing sound
• Blink 182 play for the troops
• Paper announce last release
• Natalie’s sister hopes to make it big with some indie rock
• Kiss to screen symphony gig
• Waterman was Cowell’s pop idol
• Michael set for return to Sony?
• Live Review: Reading Festival 2003
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ONLY TWO BIDS REMAIN IN VIVENDI SELL OFF
Vivendi chiefs will meet today to discuss the sale of their entertainments companies – with only two bidders still in the running. American media company Liberty pulled out of the race yesterday claiming, like MGM and Comcast who pulled out of the running before them, that Vivendi has hiked up the asking price too high.
The two remaining bidders are General Electric, who are proposing a merger in which Vivendi would keep 20-25% of the new company, and a consortium led by Vivendi vice-chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr who is offering an all out cash sale.
Insiders are rubbishing rumours that Vivendi might turn down all offers and float its entertainment businesses saying that continuing investigations into accounting practices by French authorities, coupled with the current performance of the wider entertainments industry, would make a flotation unlikely. Whether this means the group will decide to go with one of the final two bidders at today’s board meeting remains to be seen.
As previously reported, the sale does not include Vivendi’s record labels – Mercury, Island, Polydor, Interscope and Def Jam – which the conglom decided to keep out of the equation when they announced the sale earlier this year.
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INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE IN DEATH OF FESTIVAL-GOER
The coroner is awaiting the results of toxicology and histology tests before ruling on the cause of the death of a young festival-goer at the Reading Festival last weekend. 18 year old Kieran Griffin, from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, collapsed at 5.13am on Monday and died despite his friends' efforts to save him. Police say they are not treating the death as suspicious.
Meanwhile emergency services have confirmed they attended another incident on the festival site on Monday morning when a man got trapped under a water tanker. He was later freed.
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CELINE PLANS FRENCH RELEASE
Ms Celine Dion has announced she will release her first French language album in five years via Sony label Epic in October. According to Billboard the album, called ‘Une Fille Et 4 Types’ will feature the music of prominent French composers Erick Benzi, Jacques Veneruso and guitarist Gildas Arzel. Dion is, of course, half way through the first year of her mega three-year, 600-show engagement at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace.
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EXTRA ELECTRIC 6 DATE
Fresh from a UK tour and Reading/Leeds dates the Electric 6 have announced they will be playing a gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 10 Dec.
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SIMMONS TO SELL FASHION COMPANY
According to allhiphop.com Russell Simmons is selling the clothing division of his Phat Farm company and the asking price is $150-200 million dollars. Word is Simmons wants to stay in charge but would like the resources of a bigger player to expand the operation. He told the website: "I want to build a billion dollar clothing line and I am seeking greater access and infrastructure.” Simmons’ other companies are not up for sale.
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EX-S CLUB GIRL HOPES TO WORK WITH EX-CARPENTER
Ex-S Club member Jo O’Meara is hoping to crack America having signing a solo deal with S Club / Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller. Word is she is hoping to collaborate with singer-songwriter Richard Carpenter (of The Carpenters fame) on some material.
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JACKO OPENS UP NEVERLAND FOR FIVE GRAND GUESTS
If you’re lucky enough to have an exclusive invite and $5000 you could be getting an insight into the world of Michael Jackson – because he is staging an open day at Neverland Ranch next month – invited guests will have access to his amusement park, zoo, gardens, arcade and movie theatre.
The invite for the day out reads: "From the moment you enter the gates ... you will wish that this day could last forever. Be one of the privileged few who have ever personally experienced this extraordinary and magical oasis."
Taking up the invite requires a $5000 investment – though $1000 of that does go to charity (not quite sure where the other $4000 goes, but still…)
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BRMC ON THEIR CHANGING SOUND
The Black Rebel Motorcycle club have been taking to Xfm about their new albu, 'Take Them On, On Their Own'. The band’s Peter Hayes says: "We've had all these new songs stewing for a while that are really different than what we come out with normally. Very rootsy back porch, country, gospel, blues kinda stuff. I can't explain it more than that really.
"It's definitely really strong though. We haven't been very confident of that side of our songwriting cos we just always played it down, but in the past year, the stuff we've been coming out with is just as good as anything we've ever done. It's strange, taking a second look at it and seeing how it could actually work as a real record."
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BLINK 182 PLAY FOR THE TROOPS
Blink 182 have taken time out of the studio to play two gigs for US troops based in the Middle East. Explaining the motivation behind the shows the band have told fans via their website: "We don't really get involved in the whole political side of things, whether or not we should have gone to war. We're going over there because these guys are putting their lives on the line."
Elsewhere in Blink news – the band are planning to get the b-sides from up coming single releases remixed by DJ Shadow – which should be interesting.
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PAPER ANNOUNCE LAST RELEASE
Deep House label Paper Recordings is closing down, so make sure you make the most of ‘Pap 100: The Best Of Paper Recordings’, a finale compilation which will hit stores on 9 Oct. The best of will feature tracks from the likes of Crazy Penis, Eddie ‘Flashin’ Fowlkes, and Kenny Hawkes.
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NATALIE’S SISTER HOPES TO MAKE IT BIG WITH SOME INDIE ROCK
While Natalie Imbrulia tried to move her music away from the cheesy pop we’d come to expect from former Neighbours stars, word is that the debut EP from Natalie’s sister Laura Imbruglia will be even less pop.
Describing her sounds as "quirky electro-clash punk folk rock/pop on an acoustic guitar, without the electro-clash part" her debut EP will be released in Australia next month. Though not going the pop route she presumably won’t mind if having a famous sibling increases record sales.
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KISS TO SCREEN SYMPHONY GIG
Kiss have announced that a recording of a concert performed at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne earlier this year will receive a cinema screening in movie theatres across the US. The Kiss Symphony will be screened simultaneously in 21 cinemas and thousands of Kiss fans are expected to snap up tickets, which won’t be sold until the day of the screening, to experience this unique concert for themselves.
The concert, recorded last February, saw Kiss performing with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Original members Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss all performed – though Ace Frehley refused to participate saying to do so questions the insincerity of the band's previous “farewell tour”. He was replaced by Kiss guitar tech Tommy Thayer.
The screening is part of a growing tendency to screen concerts at cinemas. Earlier this month David Bowie allowed fans to experience an intimate London gig staged to launch his new album by screening it in cinemas around the world.
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WATERMAN WAS COWELL’S POP IDOL
Talking to the Daily Mirror Simon Cowell has revealed how fellow Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman was a real inspiration to him at the start of his career. Cowell says: “He was my biggest influence in my early years. He has the best ear I have ever come across for a brilliant pop record. I used to hang around his London studio, just watching him work. I'd tell him: 'I just want to learn from you.' Week after week, when I was trying to make it and bringing in songs which I wanted Pete to produce for me, he would shout at me: 'Simon, you have no credibility! Your ideas are crap!' I had to accept that he knew more than me. I didn't sulk."
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MICHAEL SET FOR RETURN TO SONY?
Rumours about in the US that George Michael may return to Sony label Columbia – which would be a strange turn of events given just how acrimonious their original split was. Since leaving the Sony fold Michael has worked with Virgin, then Universal label DreamWorks, then Virgin again. But the rumour mongers say he is now considering a return to the Sony fold.
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LIVE REVIEW: Reading Festival 2003
This year’s Reading festival shouldn’t be so much fun. With more people than ever making their way to Richfield Avenue Park, the campsite is cramped, the little stages rammed and the toilets put to not-so-good use. Add to this a bill dominated by grumpy American bands and over-hyped commercial offerings - a stark contrast to the exciting line-ups of recent years - and the ingredients don’t make for a particularly fun day out. But somehow the event turns out a real success, with a more relaxed vibe than usual and a smattering of excellent bands.
Friday: FRANZ FERDINAND provide the first set of entertainment, not as cheery as Hot Hot Heat can be on record but good and pretty enough to keep a few fringe fashionistas happy. BUCK 65 is embarrassed by the heavy Smirnoff branding behind him, but plays a blinder, cracking jokes and warning us that his new songs will “knock us flat on our asses”. They do. JACKSON, a determinedly average emo side-project from Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett, are the first disappointment of the weekend. And to this disappointment we can add THE DATSUNS, whose one trick pony is quickly losing its appeal. They’re not quite The Hives, nor in fact any good. LADYTRON go some way to correcting this, their deliciously arrogant Krautrock wafting through the late-afternoon crowd. PLACEBO are, well, Placebo; Brian Molko enters stage left and promptly falls on his elfin little arse then proceeds to prance around like a nonce and clap his hands excitedly in the hope that it will catch on. MCLUSKY’s short, catchy Pixies songs are perfect for the festival attention span, although their new drummer’s not quite there yet. INTERPOL offer some quiet distraction; like, really quiet, with not one crowd member doing anything more than nodding their “I left my thrift store blazer at home” head to the moodiness and coloured lighting before them. BLINK 182 banter about boobies like Beavis and Butthead, in the same brainless fashion as ever. SPARTA are miles better than their recent UK appearances, with a new urgency to their melodic post-hardcore. Last minute Carling stage headliner EVAN DANDO is, quite simply, the Lord of All. He sings plaintively, smiles happily and rocks us gently, with a whole bunch of Lemonheads songs accompanying his new material. THE POLYPHONIC SPREE are much the same as ever, which is probably a good thing. Their full-on showmanship and purity of sound get the crowd singing along in true festi-fashion.
Saturday: THE SLEEPY JACKSON are on too bloody early but, from the campsite, sound quite good. WHIRLWIND HEAT’s frantic rhythms and dirty basslines are ace, but too sparse to cut through the festival noise. THE SUN aren’t bad, but need to decide whether they’re the Blues Explosion, The Hives or The Crocketts. JET start out with turgid, wishy-washy acoustic moaning, which gives way to bad imitations of both Big Star and AC/DC. Yuk. THE (semi-naked) LIBERTINES are okay, depending on your point of view. Their new vocalist does a fair job of droning in ‘his’ mockney drawl and looking like he’s addicted to crack. THE RAPTURE really do only have one great song, and with ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ saved till last, the crowd are amused by some other (supposedly) dance/(allegedly) punk cross over. BECK reminds us of why he needs no surname, with a mixed set of funked-up classics and newer acoustic drear. Although visually lacking, it’s an aural feast, and the band romp through a pop medley that takes in Beyonce, Nelly, Justin Timberlake and TaTu. THE MARS VOLTA are deathly boring, dragging out just three prog-noodling songs in 45 minutes. BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB are surprisingly less painful than ever. With few songs feeling like an utter waste of time, and more feeling like the gorgeous ‘Love Burns’ and fantastic ‘Whatever Happened to My Rockín’Roll’, they have really become what the critics want them to be: good. BLUR are on fine form, playing two hours of hits from all eras. They’ve brought a bunch of session musicians, but then Blur often sound like session musicians live anyway, so it works well for a polished headline set. SOULWAX the DJs alleviate some of the pain that is left by the absence of Soulwax the band. A very crowd-pleasing set, with yet more Beyonce alongside The Prodigy, Benni Benassi, Dolly Parton and The White Stripes.
Sunday: Sexy young tearaways KINESIS have their chaotic charm dampened by the early hour, but their Sonic Youth riffage and Pumpkins hooks are polished up to date with an emo gloss. Playing three singles in a row is perhaps not the best move, but the frantic ‘One Way Mirror’ works the crowd up a treat. There’s even a circle pit at 1 o’clock. London band SERAFIN suck royally. They too are faced with an identity crisis and need to decide if they want to be a second rate Muse or second rate Placebo. THE RAVEONETTES are like The Kills with a full band and a blonde, but it still doesn’t make them any good. THE USED tell the crowd to do some serious damage to one another, and unsurprisingly the crowd takes little persuading. THE RADIO 4 are not a band comprising the cast of The Archers, but in fact a slightly irritating New York indie group with some catchy rhythms and bugger all else. MARK THOMAS achieves the feat of providing festival-friendly political comedy that is actually funny, urging us to say very nasty things about Bush and Blair. HELL IS FOR HEROES bash out some very English (and also very good) emo. LONGVIEW provide characterless, northern schimdie, predictability. HAR MAR SUPERSTAR is as awesome as he tells us he is. His dancers are a bit minging mind, and trying to see over the pit of professional liggers and photographers is hard work at the best of times. But boy can that boy dance. HOT HOT HEAT’s mistake is to save ‘Bandages’ for last, so their whole set flaps past the anticipative crowd’s ears wastefully. Terribly disappointing. SYSTEM OF A DOWN are like some sort of evil Bar-Mitzvah band, and as such are pretty good. GRANDADDY are superb, their wistful alt-country and withdrawn manner a real treat after all the day’s noisiness. YEAH YEAH YEAHS know exactly how to work a crowd; opening with two moody (and very slow) new numbers and following up with most of the favourites. ‘Bang’ is sorely missed, but the band pack out the Radio One tent, the crowd stretching into the field beyond. METALLICA have taken a break from suing their fans and simply *play* to them instead, with an onslaught of pyrotechnics and OTT amp stacks for visual joy. They may be old men, but they still have a certain charm.
And that’s it for another year. The music, the weather and even the security staff have all been great, but the open road is a-calling.