2004

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.

Look for U2 to start its world tour on March 1 in Florida in support of its new Interscope album, “How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” the band’s manager Paul McGuinness tells Billboard.

“We’ll play approximately 35 shows in the arenas in the spring in the U.S., McGuinness says. U2 will then play 30 stadium shows across Europe, return to North America for another 35-date arena swing and the proceed to Japan and Australia.

Rumors have circulated that potential openers include Snow Patrol and the Scissor Sisters. McGuinness said no decision has been made, but added “We love Snow Patrol. Their producer, Jacknife Lee, also worked on U2’s album and they’re Irish. There’s a close connection.”

The upcoming trek will be promoted by Clear Channel Entertainment’s TNA International, which is spearheaded by president Arthur Fogel. U2’s 2001 tour, also promoted by Fogel, grossed $104 million from 106 shows worldwide, according to Billboard Boxscore.

Continuing the move toward a more rock-driven approach emphasized on 2000’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind,” the new set is front-loaded with a host of satisfyingly straightforward tracks that should thrill U2 fans. Highlights include the chiming, strident “City of Blinding Lights,” the powerful Edge showcase “All Because of You” and the emotive, atmospheric “Miracle Drug,” where Bono scales the heights of his vocal register.

First single “Vertigo” is in third week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Source billboard.com.

Michael Moore plans a follow-up to “Fahrenheit 9/11,” his hit documentary that assails President Bush over the handling of the Sept. 11 attacks and the war on terrorism, according to a Hollywood trade paper.

Moore told Daily Variety that he and Harvey Weinstein, the Miramax boss who produced the film, hope to have “Fahrenheit 9/11 1/2” ready in two to three years.

“Fifty-one percent of the American people lacked information (in this election) and we want to educate and enlighten them,” Moore was quoted in Thursday’s edition of Variety. “They weren’t told the truth. We’re communicators and it’s up to us to start doing it now.”

A spokesman for Fellowship Adventure Group, formed by Weinstein and brother Bob to help distribute “Fahrenheit 9/11,” did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

“Fahrenheit 9/11,” which won top honors at May’s Cannes Film Festival (news – web sites), became the first documentary to top $100 million at the domestic box office. Moore, who won the documentary Academy Award for “Bowling for Columbine,” is pushing “Fahrenheit 9/11″ in the best-picture category for the upcoming Oscars (news – web sites).

The issues for the follow-up film will remain the same, Iraq (news – web sites) and terrorism, Moore said.

The official mourning period is over today and there is a silver lining: George W. Bush is prohibited by law from running again,” Moore said.

Source yahoo.com.

As the Pixies’ reunion tour plows ahead, singer/guitarist Frank Black plans to release two albums’ worth of material recorded earlier this year in Nashville, with a solo trek to follow. As tipped here this summer, the first release will be titled “Honeycomb” but the second has yet to be named.

“In the spring maybe, but the labels take f*cking forever,” Black tells Billboard.com of a potential release date for the first set. “It’s not like the old days when everyone use to release a record every five months. Now, everything is so calculated and so precious and so careful.”

The Nashville sessions, which were literally finished days before Black joined his former Pixie bandmates on the road, feature an array of legendary players, including the Band’s Levon Helm, Bob Babbitt, Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn, Duane Jarvis and Steve Cropper.

While Black says “Honeycomb,” which is finished and contains such songs as “Lone Child” and “My Life Is in Storage,” is “magic,” the remaining album “has so many people playing on it, we have to kind of wade through it to find the magic.” As for the creative direction of the sessions, one word describes the entire project.

“Mellow,” says Black. “It’s just the way it came out. Maybe I wrote a little bit in anticipation with playing with those kinds of guys. But they are definitely pre-punk, these guys. So it’s not like they don’t get it, it’s just that they come from a different world, where it’s a little more groove-oriented. They don’t necessarily play loud.”

“It’s not necessarily not tough or not aggressive but it’s just… I think of Leonard Cohen as being mellow but I don’t think of him as being wimpy,” he continues.

As for the Pixies, the band is currently being followed around by a camera crew for an eventual DVD release. Black hints a possible summer 2005 street date for the set, documenting the reunion tour, as well as backstage interaction between band members.

Black remains elusive when asked if a new Pixies studio album could be in the offing. “I don’t even know,” he says. ” I think the next time we go out, if we go out next summer, there won’t even be the record out yet. Like I said, these record companies take forever.”

Source billboard.com.

On December 7th, the White Stripes will release Under Blackpool Lights, a live DVD filmed during the band’s January performance at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England. Select U.S. theaters will screen the film — along with bonus scenes not available on the DVD — on December 9th. The film was directed by Dick Carruthers, who has chronicled the live performances of the Rolling Stones, Oasis and Led Zeppelin.

“They’re quite unique, I can safely say,” Carruthers reports of frontman Jack White and drummer Meg White. “The way that they play, the sounds that they make and the relationship between them, which is both strong and ambiguous at the same time — it’s quite a powerful combination.”

The seventy-five-minute film includes staples like “Seven Nation Army” and “Hotel Yorba,” as well as the band’s cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Much of the footage was shot on Super 8, which deliberately gives the movie a dated, grainy look. “The texture and color of the film itself becomes an expression of the White Stripes’ sound, which is raw, retro and iconoclastic,” says Carruthers, who adds that many of the comedic moments and extras on the DVD were Jack White’s ideas.

This past spring, the White Stripes pulled the plug on another concert film, George Roca’s Nobody Knows How to Talk to Children. The group had the documentary, culled from of a string of 2002 gigs at New York’s Bowery Ballroom, banned from circulation after its premiere at the Seattle Film Festival, citing disappointment with the look and sound of the movie. “They rigorously adhere to their aesthetic,” says Carruthers.

As for Blackpool’s single night on the big screen, Carruthers is excited, announcing, “It’s a beast in the cinema.”

The White Stripes’ Under Blackpool Lights December 9th screenings

New York, Empire 25
Burbank, CA, Burbank 14
Chicago, River East 21
Springfield, PA, Marple 10
San Francisco, Van Ness 14
Boston, Fenway 13
Washington, DC, Mazza Gallerie 7
Atlanta, Phillips Plaza Mall
Livonia, MI, Laurel Park 10
Seattle, Pacific Place
Edina, MN, Southdale Center
Westminster, Co, Westminister Promedade 24
San Diego, Mission Valley 20

Source rollingstone.com.

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