DMX, Stevie Wonder, Faith Evans and Naughty by Nature will kick off a concert series for the Artist Empowerment Coalition in New York City at the Beacon Theatre on October 28. The concerts aim to raise awareness about artistic issues such as piracy and ownership in music publishing. ... Slipknot singer Corey Taylor's band Stone Sour, have announced another string of U.S. dates in support of their debut album. The 23 shows, with support from Chevelle and Sinch, will launch on October 29 in Salt Lake City at the X-Scape and continue through December 21 with a date at the Beaumont Club in Kansas City, Missouri. ... Britney Spears will be hitting pay-per-view on November 23 at 8 p.m. ET with a 90-minute London concert performance filmed two years ago at Wembley Arena, according to PPV provider InDemand. ...
For the first time, a platinum plaque will be awarded to a video game when the RIAA recognizes the more than one million copies shipped of NBA Live 2003, a basketball game accompanied by an audio CD featuring remixes of tracks by Fabolous, Busta Rhymes, DJ Clue and others. Fab and New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd, who appears on the game's cover, are expected at the ceremony to be held Tuesday at the NBA Store in New York. ... Saliva will kick off a headlining tour in support of their second album, Back Into Your System (due November 12), with an October 24 date in Lubbock, Texas, at the Pavilion. With support from Audiovent and Theory of a Deadman on most of the dates, the 33-date tour is currently scheduled to run through a December 8 date at the Back Room in Austin, Texas. ...
Big pimpin' video auteur Hype Williams has signed a development deal with NBC Studios to conceive, direct and produce potential TV series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Simply put, Hype is magic," swooned NBC Studios prez Ted Harbert, who was perhaps inspired by the success of McG's primetime opus "Fastlane" and a similar pact made between Fox TV and Dave Meyers. ... The Juliana Theory have pushed back the release date for Love, their major-label debut, from this month until sometime next year. The outfit is reportedly considering adding B-sides and a DVD of live concert footage to the completed package. ...
Coldplay singer Chris Martin will be featured on two songs on the upcoming solo album by his hero, former Echo & the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch, according to London's XFM Radio. With the exception of a Neil Diamond gig a few years ago, the ex-Bunnyman told XFM that a Coldplay show last week marked the first time he had been nearly brought to tears by a concert for as long as he could remember. ... Steve MacDonald, drummer for Canadian death metal band Gorguts, committed suicide last week. MacDonald hanged himself after battling depression for several years. ...
10.22.02
Monday night in New York was all about "Paid in Full" with the emphasis on "full," as Spike Lee, Melvin Van Peebles, Macy Gray, Wood Harris and Cam'ron were among those in the filled-to-capacity Loews Theater in downtown Manhattan for the premiere of Roc-A-Fella Film's "Paid in Full." Afterward, the movie's producer Dame Dash held a party at NYC nightspot Spa. ... Incubus will play a show in the house where Morning View was recorded in November as part of a contest organized by Los Angeles' KROQ-FM. The station is currently spinning Incubus' "Are You In?," which was an official single and video overseas. ...
C-Murder's second degree murder trial, which was set to start November 12, has been pushed back, pending an appeal of a motion about allowing previous bad acts into evidence. At issue is a previous incident caught on a security camera videotape, which depicts the rapper, whose real name is Corey Miller, allegedly firing a gun -- which malfunctioned -- at a a doorman who refused to let him enter a club without being searched. A new trial date is scheduled to be set on October 31. ...Oasis have joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in canceling shows in Southeast Asia in light of the recent fatal nightclub bombing in Bali. The British rockers nixed shows slated for Wednesday (October 23) in Manila and October 26 in Singapore. ... U2 are pictured on a new series of Irish stamps titled "Irish Rock Legends. Also honored are Van Morrison, bluesman Rory Gallagher and late Thin Lizzy leader Phil Lynott. ...
Celine Dion has titled her three-year Las Vegas engagement "A New Day...," she announced this week at rehearsals in La Louviere, Belgium. The show will kick off March 25 at Las Vegas' Colosseum at Caesars Palace. ... Beck with the Flaming Lips and Sasha & John Digweed will headline the ACA World Sound Festival in Acapulco, Mexico, from November 1 - 3. Ozomatli and DJs Junkie XL, Jimmy Van M., Christopher Lawrence and Liquid Todd are also on the bill. ... Safe, the new seven-song EP by Canadian rocker girls Kittie, is due November 19. It will feature the remix of the title track by KMFDM's Sascha Konietzko, plus five live tracks and bonus concert footage of "Wolves," "Mouthful of Poison" and "Charlotte." ...
Superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold, riding high on his hit collaboration with Crazy Town's Seth "Shifty" Binzer on "Starry Eyed Surprise," will launch his first U.S. tour on November 25 with a date at the Opium Garden Nightclub in Miami, according to a spokesperson for his label. The 14-date jaunt is currently scheduled to wind up at the Warfield in San Francisco on December 18, with more dates to be announced soon. ... Eels frontman E has composed songs for the Kirsten Dunst and Billy Bob Thornton film "Levity," due next spring. In other E news, the quirky singer has launched an advice column called Dear Uncle E on the Eels' Web site (eels.artistdirect.com).