Dec/072
have a safe and happy new year!
have a safe and happy new year!
Looking for a little background music while you wait to ring in the new year? Here’s a few shows that will help you usher in 2008…
New York
Patti Smith @ Bowery Ballroom
Velvet Revolver @ Hammerstein Ballroom
Slick Rick, Kudu, Moby (DJ set), Holy Ghost (DJ set) @ Studio B
Los Angeles
Chris Brown @ Crash Mansion
Nas, Salt-N-Pepa @ House of Blues
Bloc Party (DJ set), The Rapture (DJ set), Talib Kweli @ Roosevelt Hotel
Atlanta
Band of Horses @ The Earl
Cleveland
Rusted Root @ House of Blues
Las Vegas
Kanye West @ The Pearl
Backstreet Boys @ Body English
The Bangles, The Doobie Brothers @ The Fremont Street Experience
Goo Goo Dolls @ House of Blues
3 Doors Down @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Miami
R. Kelly, Keyshia Cole, J. Holiday @ American Airlines Arena
Pittsburgh
Bon-Journey @ Royal Place
Gin Blossoms @ Station Square
Lotus @ Mr. Smalls Theater
Dec/070
concerts experience 2007 decline
concerts experience 2007 decline
Happy new year, record industry! Oh, bad news: according to Rollingstone, that lucrative concert market is no longer living up to its billing, despite blockbuster reunion tours from the Police and Van Halen.
Some industry insiders blame so-called underpriced tickets for the decline. Perhaps they haven’t, you know, purchased a ticket lately.
Dec/070
brandy beats the clink
brandy beats the clink
The Los Angeles city attorney’s office said it will not charge R&B star Brandy in a deadly December 2006 freeway crash.
Spokesman Nick Velasquez said there is “insufficient evidence” for a jury to find the 28-year-old artist guilty of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt.
The decision runs counter to a recommendation from the California Highway Patrol that Brandy, whose real name is Brandy Norwood, be charged in the Dec. 30, 2006, crash.
Brandy was driving on a Los Angeles freeway when traffic slowed and her Land Rover smashed into the back of a Honda. That car was involved in several other collisions. The driver, 38-year-old Awatef Aboudihaj, died in the accident.
Dec/072
the best of what’s around: 2007
the best of what’s around: 2007It’s Dec. 28, which means that soon, very soon, we’ll be saying adios to 2007 and bonjour to 2008. It also means that the media has been flooded with 2007 retrospectives–everyone who’s anyone is chiming in on what made this year a triumph or a flop.
And now, Shlog-fan, your time has come! We’ve posted our opinions on what was hot and hideous this year—now we want to know what readers of the Shlog think were the biggest hits and misses of 2007! Post your thoughts and comments on the following:
Favorite Album
Kam: Kanye West: Graduation
Joshua: Angels & Airwaves: I-Empire
Lynsie: Band of Horses: Cease To Begin
Amira: Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity
Favorite Song
Kam: The White Stripes: Icky Thump
Joshua: Bloc Party: Where is Home?
Lynsie: Modest Mouse: Dashboard
Amira: Menomena: Air Aid
Worst Album
Kam: Has Lindsay Lohan’s album dropped yet? Cuz that’s my pick for worst album…
Joshua: Avril Lavigne: The Best Damn Thing
Lynsie: Since Nickelback hasn’t released anything since 2005 I’m stumped on this one
Amira: Foo Fighters: Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Worst Song
Kam: Rihanna: Umbrella
Joshua: Nickelback: Rockstar
Lynsie: Fergie: Big Girls Don’t Cry
Amira: Hurricane Chris: A Bay Bay
Best Movie
Kam: Sweeney Todd–and I haven’t even seen it yet!
Joshua: I Am Legend & Saw IV
Lynsie: The Bourne Ultimatum – a trilogy done right!
Amira: Superbad
Worst Movie
Kam: Anything Nicholas Cage was in this year.
Joshua: Lion For Lambs, it was like a long movie trailer that suddenly ended and left you hanging.
Lynsie: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – a trilogy gone terribly wrong!
Amira: Georgia Rule
Best Gossip Moment
Kam: I think Jamie Lynn Spears won this race late in the game as a dark horse contender and stole away all her sister’s thunder this year with an unplanned pregnancy. Who saw that coming?!?! Combine this with the drama of who the real daddy is and you’ve got gossip fodder for years to come!
Joshua: Anything Britney Spears. She publicly shaved her head and then beat a car with an umbrella. AWESOME. I especially love it when she whips out the pink wig and cowboy boots.
Lynsie: I’m with Joshua on this one – Britney was just a trainwreck in 2007. The best Brit Brit moment for me had to be that horrificly fantastic VMA performance. The bad extensions, the ill-fitting costume, the lip syncing (and at one point lackthereof), and her crazy eyes put that performance on top for me.
Amira: Lindsay Lohan’s 84 minute stay in jail, and of course, that priceless mugshot.
Most Annoying Celebrity
Kam: Angelina Jolie
Joshua: Those characters from The Hills and Star Jones.
Lynsie: The entire Hogan family
Amira: Amy Winehouse
Dec/071
ha. ha. ha. HA.
ha. ha. ha. HA.
Is the life-long spree coming to an end? Never!
Maybe it’s just that I’ve still got a Christmas hangover, but does anyone else think that this is hilarious?
Paris Hilton’s grandfather, Barron Hilton, announced Wednesday that he’s giving away almost all his fortune to charity!
The hotel tycoon is donating 97% of his 2.3 billion worth to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, named after the initial Hilton that founded the global hotel chain in 1919 with a small hotel in Cisco, Texas.
That means that Barron’s kids and grandkids are gonna be left with just $69 million to split amongst them. AND they have to pay taxes on that!
I know that by now, this is relatively old news, but I can’t help myself–I’ve been giggling about it all day!
Dec/070
john mayer waxes philosophical
john mayer waxes philosophical
Total hottie…with a sense of humor!
…and in one fail swoop, totally changes my perspective of him!
His spoof, “Two Guys, One Cup” did get a few chuckles, but you must click HERE to check out John Mayer’s blog post about one of my favorite words.
I’ve always protested that John Mayer was a himbo in pseudo-intellectual sheeps’ clothing and that he’s bamboozled the world into thinking that he’s a sensitive singer/song-writer. But I won’t deny the fact that Mayer is pretty freaking funny, and maybe he’s got a few brains underneath those perfectly mussed curls…
Dec/070
ozzy look-a-like holds up convenience store
ozzy look-a-like holds up convenience store
This year can’t end soon enough for Ozzy Osbourne. Black Rain slumped (thanks to illegal downloaders), he auctioned off the majority of his heirlooms and some of his felonious fans were the subject of one of the most elaborate sting operations in rock history. After the sting operation netted forty warrant-dodging fans, Ozzy pondered why his audience was targeted.
Well, now we know. At an AM/PM convenience store in Vancouver, Washington, on Christmas Eve, a man who called himself “Ozzy Osbourne” pulled out a handgun and threatened to shoot the clerk (the faux-Ozzy also spent a few hours harassing customers and other nearby businesses). Thankfully, the doppelganger Prince of Darkness didn’t fire the weapon, and kept his insanity in check until paramedics gave him a free ambulance ride to the nearest hospital.
Dec/070
the police are a lock
the police are a lock
Concert tours by The Police, Kenny Chesney, Justin Timberlake, Celine Dion and Van Halen lead the list of the 20 top-grossing tours in North America in 2007, according to Pollstar’s official year-end data.
The long-awaited reunion of Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland earned the trio $131.9 million over 54 shows with an average ticket price of $114.32.
The Police were one of only two acts to move over 1 million tickets this year, compared to four last year, while Kenny Chesney was the only artist on the list who achieved that feat in both 2006 and 2007.
Chesney’s gross of $71.1 million netted him the No. 2 spot, followed by Timberlake with $70.6 million, Dion with $65.3 million and the year’s other “OMG they finally did it” reunion, Van Halen, at $56.7 million.