September 28, 2004

Record producer Phil Spector was charged in an indictment unsealed today (Sept. 27) with murder in the shooting death of a B-movie actress at his mansion last year.

Spector, 64, leaned on the arm of his attorney as the indictment in the slaying of 40-year-old Lana Clarkson was read, but showed no emotion. Outside the Los Angeles court, he railed at prosecutors, comparing District Attorney Steve Cooley to Adolf Hitler.

“The actions of the Hitler-like DA and his storm trooper henchmen are reprehensible, unconscionable and despicable,” said Spector, who remains free on $1 million bail.

He spoke only briefly in court, answering, “Yes, your honor,” to Judge David S. Wesley’s questions. Lesley set Dec. 16 as the earliest possible trial date.

Spector, creator of rock music’s “Wall of Sound” recording technique in the 1960s, suggested in an interview with Esquire magazine that Clarkson shot herself.

If he had been allowed a preliminary hearing, Spector said, his attorneys would have called to the witness stand three of the foremost forensic scientists and coroners in the world and each would have testified that Clarkson shot herself. Prosecutors avoided a preliminary hearing by taking the case directly to a grand jury, which returned the indictments.

District attorney spokesperson Sandi Gibbons said that was done in part to avoid any further delay in bringing Spector to trial for the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting. “It’s been almost two years since Ms. Clarkson was killed in Mr. Spector’s home and it’s time for a trial,” she said. “We believe there is a crime. We charged a crime. And that crime is murder. Nothing is politically motivated in this case.”

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. Spector could receive a life sentence with the possibility of parole if convicted.

The judge agreed to keep the trial in Los Angeles rather than move it to Pasadena, closer to Spector’s home in Alhambra. Attorneys for both sides expressed concern about the crush of reporters expected to attend it, and the courtrooms in Los Angeles are bigger.

Clarkson starred in Roger Corman’s cult film classic “Barbarian Queen.” She was working as a hostess at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip and went home from there with Spector the night she was killed.

Source billboard.com.

Following a brief European tour, Tom Waits has scheduled a lone U.S. concert date this year. The Oct. 18 show at Seattle’s Paramount Theater will be one of only two North American shows the artist has planned in 2004, the other coming Oct. 15 in Vancouver.

Because Waits has rarely toured in recent years, word of his performances has been met with overwhelming response from fans. The Vancouver show sold out in just nine minutes, according to a representative for the artist, while requests for tickets greatly outpaced availability for European theater stops in London, Antwerp and Berlin. Tickets for a Nov. 19-21 stand in Amsterdam will to on sale Saturday (Oct. 2).

Along with Waits’ new Anti- studio album, “Real Gone,” tickets for the Seattle show will go on sale as the clock strikes midnight on Oct. 5 at the city’s two Tower Records locations. Remaining tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. that day via Ticketmaster and the 2,800-capacity venue’s box office.

Waits, who will make a rare television appearance tomorrow (Sept. 28) on CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman,” will be backed on the road by bassist Larry Taylor, guitarist Marc Ribot and percussionist Brain. All three appear on “Real Gone,” Waits’ 20th album and fourth for Epitaph Records imprint Anti-.

As previously reported, the album was recorded in an old Mississippi schoolhouse and boasts appearances by Primus founder Les Claypool, Shotgun Messiah’s Harry Cody (guitar, banjo), as well as Waits’ son, Casey. It was written and produced by Waits and his wife/longtime collaborator Kathleen Brennan.

A larger U.S. tour in support of the set is possible in 2005, although nothing is yet confirmed. Waits last toured the country in 1999 in support of his Anti- debut, “Mule Variations.”

Source billboard.com.

U2 has confirmed the full track list for its upcoming album, “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” due Nov. 23 via Interscope. The set does not include the tracks “Tough” or “Full Metal Jacket,” which band members had previously mentioned as possible selections. Among the newly announced titles are “Miracle Drug,” “One Step Closer” and “Love and Peace or Else.”

The album’s first single, “Vertigo,” is already making a bomb-size impact at U.S. radio outlets. After just three days of airplay, the cut is expected to debut this week in the top 20 of Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and the top 30 of the Mainstream Rock Tracks tally.

At present, “Vertigo” is exclusively available for download via Apple’s iTunes Music Store. According to a spokesperson, the track ascended into the service’s top 10 within 24 hours and is now No. 1 on the list of most downloaded selections.

U2’s official Web site is hosting clips of the band performing “Vertigo” in its Dublin recording studio plus other exclusive footage of a recent photo shoot.

And while the band is not expected to begin touring until next spring, tidbits have begun leaking out about specific stops. According to Ireland’s Sunday Business Report, U2 will play Dublin’s Croke Park on June 26-27, with the possibility of a third show depending on demand.

Here is the track list for “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”:

“Vertigo”
“Miracle Drug”
“Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own”
“Love and Peace or Else”
“City of Blinding Lights”
“All Because of You”
“A Man and a Woman”
“Crumbs From Your Table”
“One Step Closer”
“Original of the Species”
“Yahweh”

Source billboard.com.