illy Memoirs.
Paul McCartney and his wife have traveled to Canada to protest that nation's annual seal hunt. Appalled at the fact that most seals killed in the hunt are less than three months old, McCartney justified his protest by claiming that a majority of Candians support a ban of the activity. 
Scott Stapp is back in the news and, once again, it’s not for any musical accomplishments. The former Creed singer believes that the reason behind his recently released sex tape was for sabotage."Obviously someone wants to hurt me and doesn't want me to be successful in my solo career."
"You don't want to say it's laughable, but it's just like, my God, there's so much stuff. Somebody does not like you and somebody wants you to fail."
“It’s good to be the king.”
Apparently Busta Rhymes pulled a Joe Pesci and is now getting sued for it. According to litigant Melvin Smith, the rapper and his bodyguard assaulted him after he requested an autograph. Smith is taking Busta to court as a result of the injuries he incurred in the scuffle.
Lou Reed has been chosen to headline the June 11 show of the Nokia Isle of Wight Festival. The former Velvet Underground frontman will be in good company as he joins Placebo and The Prodigy as the event’s confirmed headliners.
The 2006 music festivals keep pumping up their line-ups to give concertgoers much to look forward to for the year.
In other festival news, the 2006 Festival Internacional de Benicassim will be no slouch in its band offerings. The event, which takes place in Spain’s Valencia region, will play host to the likes of Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, Depeche Mode, and the Strokes. Apparently, the festival is expecting to feature over a hundred acts from July 20 to July 24.
The Dresden Dolls are set to release their new album on April 18, courtesy of Roadrunner Records. The Cabaret/Punk Revival duo has been hard at work to release the follow-up to their 2004 eponymous debut. The album, entitled Yes, Virginia, will contain 13 new tracks and artwork from fan submissions.“I wanted to showcase all the sides of the band. We can play a jazz tune and a hard-rock tune and a torch tune, and they all sound like us.”
Even though his friends are doing everything they can to encourage him to quit, reports say George Michael is addicted to weed. Some associates of the singer claim his cannabus habit is so great, it is leading him to ruin, citing his recent arrest for possesion:Michael was arrested in the early hours of Sunday after being found slumped over the wheel of his car, possessing class C drugs, and with a boot full of sex toys and gay porn.
It’s always unfortunate to see a well-established rock band call it quits, but, as the saying goes, no good thing ever lasts."When you put a song out on the radio, it is what it is. It's a gamble on your life and your career and your hope. People just didn't react the way we had hoped they would."
"Instead of being upset and bitter about this, we reflect on what we did do. We got to touch people's lives for the better part of a decade. We got to experience things we only dreamed about all our lives and for that we are grateful. God, I love you guys so much! And I'm more worried about y'all than I am myself."
"I know that some of you need our music like we do too. And I'll never quit writing songs for y'all. Sam [McCandless, drums] and I are going to start a new project. If God allows us to do this (which I have confidence that he will), you will hear songs again from us some day."
"Thank you guys for being our family for the last 10 years. We love you all and please try to understand our decision."
Golden Smog has broken their eight-year hiatus to release Another Fine Day. The new album is a follow-up to 1998’s Weird Tales. According to Billboard, this latest musical effort was put together in two separate sessions last year. These recording sessions yielded the 15 tracks on the album.
Tool has wiped the dust off their amps and are preparing for a series of European tour dates this summer. The tour will kick-off on May 26 at the Superrock festival in Lisbon, Portugal.
Guitarist Duncan Lloyd of Maximo Park has broken his arm, the press says. Consequently, the band announced on their website that they will be unable to play Royal Albert Hall March 30:“Dunc broke his right arm. We hope he gets better soon, obviously, but it looks like we won’t be playing at the Albert Hall, since he is the guitar player! More news will follow, but at least we won’t have to cancel a whole tour. Small Mercies.”
Radiohead has a number of tribute albums on the market, so how about one more? The latest tribute, Exit Music: Songs for Radio Heads, is loaded with Radiohead’s pre-Hail to the Thief hits and performed by some unlikely groups. The disc features artists like ?uestlove (of the Roots), Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet), and Meshell Ndegeocello.
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong hasn’t been resting on his laurels, despite picking up a Grammy for record of the year (Boulevard of Broken Dreams). His latest project has been lending his voice to the Charles Manson puppet in the upcoming "Live Freaky! Die Freaky!" movie.
Pearl Jam's newest single, 'World Wide Suicide,' will debut to global audiences March 13. Some of those who've gotten a sneak listen of the tune claim it sounds similar to PJ's late-90s track 'Do The Evolution.'
It has just been confirmed that Radiohead and Morrissey will be headliners for the 2006 V Festival."We're very proud to be presenting Radiohead, one of the most important bands in live music today, as headliners for this year's V. To secure Morrissey- a man that has influenced so many great artists - as the other main stage headliner ensures yet another excellent V line-up. It's acts like these that give our festival its unique eclectic feel and keeps our audience coming back for more."
In a continuing trend that Ted first posted about, another government agency has nabbed another musician for questions regarding international terrorism. This time it was the FBI pulling aside former Smiths singer Morrissey."They were trying to determine if I was a threat to the government, and similarly in England. But it didn't take them very long to realise that I'm not."
Despite pressure to tap the more lucrative music market of the US, Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson has confided that his band has no current desire to launch a stateside tour. Recently taking home three Brits and experiencing overwhelming popularity in Britain, Wilson elaborated on his band's unexpected reason for not taking its show to the New World:"We're really happy with what we've got over here," Wilson said. "You have to give up years of your life if you want to break America."
Remember Ted's post on backmasking? Yesterday there was an article in the Seattle Times profiling Jeff Milner, creator of the famous site that reveals those secret musical messages. News of his website has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and averages roughly 5000 visitors a day. Not too shabby for a Canadian college student.
