2004

Los Angeles-based Particle will headline an unforgettable New Years Eve bash at Irving Plaza with a special appearance by Kaiju Big Battel plus
Buckethead, and Peelander Z. Particle’s unique “funktronic” sounds blend
elements of electronica, funk and rock and have been exciting live music
fans around the country for several years now. The instrumental quartet is
comprised of Eric Gould on bass, Charlie Hitchcock on guitar, Steve Molitz
on keyboards, and Darren Pujalet on drums.

The band’s adventurous spirit has inspired them to throw a one of a kind
Japanimation New Year’s Party. Japanese Comic Action Punks Peelander Z kick off the evening with their high energy music, kung fu kicks, and
otherworldly stage antics. The ubiquitous Buckethead is next on tap for the
New Year’s festivities bringing his lightening quick leads and unparalleled
presence. Not satisfied with one Japanese performance act, Particle has
also invited Kaiju Big Battel to join the madness for a special appearance
just after midnight. Kaiju Big Battel, described as monster mayhem, combine
elements of American pro wrestling, Japanese Monster Movie Mayhem, and pop culture. The group has recently appeared on Dennis Miller, Jimmy Kimmel, and CNN performing matches of epic proportions in front of TV audiences. The evening promises to feature special anime shorts and a champagne toast at midnight along with two sets from Particle.

When House of Blues Cleveland hosts its grand opening party November 28th, one of the many artists performing will be HoB co-founder Dan Aykroyd as his alter ego, Elwood Blues. And he couldn’t be more excited. “I basically got to pick who I wanted (to perform),” Aykroyd told Pollstar. “The Lamont Cranston Band from Minneapolis, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. I personally made a call to Ronnie Hawkins’ people to bring him in. Paul Shaffer’s coming in, [and] Skunk Baxter.”

HoB is currently on track to open three more clubs next year in San Diego, Atlantic City and Detroit. The Cleveland venue officially opens for business November 19th with a two-night stand by The Neville Brothers. A wide range of artists will perform throughout the week including the reunion of Raspberries original members Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley.

Source: pollstar

As predicted by Glide Magazine in last month’s Shortlist Prize preview story, TV On The Radio won this year’s award honoring the year’s top non commercial release.

As reported on billboard.com –
TV On The Radio won the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize last night (Nov. 15) in Los Angeles. The New York-based act was honored for its Touch & Go album “Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes” at the fourth annual concert/ceremony at the Avalon Theater, which featured performances by three of the 10 finalists.

“We are not the next Damien Rice,” TV On The Radio’s Kyp Malone told Billboard.com, referring to the singer/songwriter who won the award in 2003. “Seriously, this was a great honor. We didn’t even expect to be nominated, let alone win. None of us expected this to happen, and we’re really happy to be here.”

A soulful mix of rock, blues and dance, “Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes” peaked in March at No. 15 on Billboard’s Top Heatseakers chart.

In a 30-minute set to close the concert, TV On The Radio played a number of cuts from the album, including “Dreams” and “Staring at the Sun.” The latter best exemplified the act’s tuneful experimentation, with gospel-worthy call and response vocals and a wall of guitars that reached rave-like hysterics.

TV On The Radio received a $10,000 cash prize presented by XM Satellite Radio. The show was broadcast live on XM and will be televised Nov. 20 on MTV2. Other performing Shortlist finalists included Josh Homme’s Eagles Of Death Metal, hip-hopper Dizzee Rascal and lighthearted pianist Nelly McKay.

Styled as a U.S. equivalent to Britain’s Mercury Music Prize, the Shortlist honors cutting-edge performers whose latest albums, released between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004, had sold fewer than 500,000 copies at the time of their nomination. The nominees and winner are selected by a panel of “listmakers,” which this year included Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, Chris Carrabba, the Dixie Chicks, Jim Jarmusch, John Mayer, Norah Jones and System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian.

This year’s affair featured half as many performers as the 2003 event, which producers said was directly related to the fact that last year’s show ran almost five hours. In contrast, the 2004 edition was professional and sterile, with even the tension-filled songs of U.K. rapper Dizzee Rascal failing to energize the rather sparse crowd.

There were a number of notable no-shows, including finalists Wilco, Franz Ferdinand, Loretta Lynn and Air. Other than a star performer, this year’s show lacked the spontaneity of past Shortlist events. In 2002, Iggy Pop and the Hives treated concertgoers to a performance, while last year was marked by a rant against Clear Channel by Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst.

In addition to Rice, past winners of the Shortlist prize are N.E.R.D. (2002) and Sigur Ros (2001).

Chaos erupts at awards show taping, one man stabbed Fighting broke out at last night’s taping of the second annual Vibe Awards when an unidentified man approached Dr. Dre’s table and punched him.
The bodyguards of the rap impresario — who was being summoned to the stage by Snoop Dogg and Quincy Jones to receive a lifetime achievement award — pursued the attacker. Dozens of attendees near the stage then began brawling, taking swings and throwing chairs, and one twenty-six-year-old man was stabbed (he is currently in the hospital in stable condition).

T he taping, which took place at a Santa Monica, California, airport hangar, was interrupted for five minutes, but was allowed to continue. No arrests were made.

Vibe nominees for best artist include Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Twista and Usher. Keys and Usher are also tapped for best R&B artist, along with Brandy, Jill Scott and R. Kelly. And for best newcomer, it’s a battle between Ciara, Young Buck, Anthony Hamilton, Nina Sky and Christina Milian.

The show, hosted by LL Cool J and Tyra Banks, will air tonight on the UPN network, featuring performances by Nelly, Ashanti, Alicia Keys and Snoop Dogg with Pharrell.

Source rollingstone.com.

The Museum of Modern Art reopened its doors Monday after a 2 1/2-year, $425 million renovation, showing reporters a spacious, glassed-in home nearly double its old size.

With a 110-foot atrium, higher ceilings and more natural light, the new design has thousands of square feet of additional exhibition space and a larger sculpture garden.

“We are able to see the collection in a new light,” MoMA chairman Ronald Lauder said. “Art was not meant to be seen jam-packed in a room. When you see the collection now, it glows.”

Claude Monet’s 1920 impressionist masterpiece “Water Lilies” is presented on an entire wall. Most artworks are arranged in chronological order; pop artist Andy Warhol shares one space with American photorealist painter Chuck Close.

Hundreds of reporters and photographers from around the world crowded into MoMA for the press preview. The museum opens to the public Saturday, with a day of free admission.

The six-story building, designed by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, covers approximately 630,000 square feet and stretches over an entire block, with entrances on 53rd and 54th streets connected by a 12,400-square-foot lobby.

The renovation project is part of an $858 million capital campaign that also transformed the museum’s storage space in Queens into its temporary home during renovations. MoMA QNS closed in September.

After Saturday’s debut, general admission will be $20, with discounts for students, seniors and children under 16, as well as free admission on Friday afternoons.

Source yahoo.com.

The first vending machines to sell music downloads are to be introduced in London next month as Britons continue to turn their backs on traditional methods of buying singles.

Customers will be able to download a single for about one pound onto a mobile phone or personal music player and the company launching the project said on Monday they hoped to initially offer two million songs.

The move follows continuing poor sales for traditional, over-the-counter singles.

In October the chart compilers said they recorded the worst ever sales for a song reaching number one — just over 23,000 — compared to sales of hundreds of thousands in the 1980s and 90s.

Inspired Broadcast Networks will open two music kiosks in Waterloo and King’s Cross stations next month and plan to have up to 20,000 others in high-street shops, service stations and pubs by the end of 2005.

Between 200-250,000 singles are bought via music download services every week, rapidly approaching physical sales that regularly drop below 400,000, the Official UK Charts Company said.

In response, the Charts Company started to produce its own download chart to reflect the growth in the market and is now planning to merge the two.

The piracy-hit music industry is also desperate to promote legal digital music services to convert file-sharers into customers.

Source yahoo.com.

Rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who lived a life as wild as his lyrics, collapsed and died inside a recording studio today (Nov. 13). He was 35. The artist, whose real name was Russell Jones, had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, according to a statement from his label, Roc-A-Fella Records.

Jones, who was also known variously as Dirt McGirt or Big Baby Jesus, was a founding member of iconic hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s. With his offbeat, unorthodox delivery, he segued into a successful solo career and released several hit singles, including 1999’s “Got Your Money.”

But he was frequently in trouble with the law, mostly for drug possession. In February 1998, he crashed the stage at the Grammy Awards and hijacked a microphone from singer Shawn Colvin as she accepted an award, apparently upset over losing the best rap album Grammy to Puff Daddy. Later that year, he was wounded in a shooting during a robbery in his apartment.

In 2001 he was sentenced to two to four years in prison for drug possession plus two concurrent years for escaping from a rehab clinic. He was released in 2003 and immediately signed with Roc-A-Fella, for which he’d been at work on a new album.

ODB would have turned 36 on Monday. “To the public he was known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard but to me he was known as Rusty,” his mother, Cherry Jones, said in a statement. “The kindest most generous soul on earth. I appreciate all of the support and prayers that I have received. Russell was more then a rapper he was a loving father, brother, uncle and most of all son.”

“All of us in the Roc-A-Fella family are shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic death of our brother and friend, Russell Jones, Ol’ Dirty Bastard,” said Roc-A-Fella CEO Damon Dash. “Russell inspired all of us with his spirit, wit and tremendous heart. He will be missed dearly, and our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences go out to his wonderful family. The world has lost a great talent, but we mourn the loss of our friend.”

The Wu-Tang Clan reactivated this summer for its first show with all of its principal members in 10 years. Several of them, including ODB, appear on the soundtrack to “Blade: Trinity,” due Nov. 23 via New Line Records. The group is also the subject of the book “The Wu-Tang Manual,” which is in production via Riverhead.

Source billboard.com.