courtney love sells 25% of nirvana

courtney love, widow of nirvana frontman kurt cobain (1967-1994), has sold 25% nirvana's publishing catalogue to larry mestel of primary wave music publishing. there also were rumours that bono's company elevation partners would buy part of the rights, but meetings between bono and love wouldn't have turned out well. mestel reportedly payed $ 50,000,000 for the rights. what will happen with the nirvana songs now, is unknow.

junkie xl refuses to remix beatles

junkie xl (also know as jxl) refused an offer from the beatles to remix their song strawberry fields forever, because he didn't think it was interesting. in 2002, junkie xl remixed elvis' a little less conversation, which was picked up by nike for a tv commercial. the dutch producer refused an offer to remix a whole album of elvis songs for a large amount of money, because the project would be about the money and not the music.
junkie xl also remixed britney spears' outrageous, which appeared on the limited edition version of her greatest hits, my prerogative album.

small faces: the musical

kenny jones, original member of 60's rock 'n roll band the small faces, is preparing a musical featuring their greatest hits, together with actress carol harrison. the musical is entitled all too beautiful, which is a line from their hit single itchycoo park. all too beautiful should hit the stage at london's west end.

tom vek and dev hynez form naked babes

garage rocker tom vek and dev hynez (of test icicles, who will split after their april uk tour) are forming a new band naked babes, together with two members of semifinalists. their first gig will be soon: on april 4th at white heat in london.

director robert luketic quits dallas film

director robert luketic has decided to withdraw from the dallas film remake. he wasn't very happy with some of the casted actors. the cast includes john travolta as jr, jennifer lopez as sue ellen, luke wilson as bobby and shirley maclaine as miss ellie.
betty thomas is being considered as luketic's replacement.

james ellroy adapts nicci french into screenplay

crime writer james ellroy will adapt nicci french's novel land of the living into a film. it will be the first time ellroy adapts somebody else's work. currently director brian de palma is working on ellroy's the black dahlia, starring josh hartnett and scarlett johansson. and the film version of la confidential just keeps sticking in our heads.

harry potter wins book of the year award

yesterday, harry potter and the half-blood prince, book number six in jk rowling's harry potter series, won the british book awards' most important prize: the book of the year award.

the other award winners:
jamie oliver: outstanding achievement
kate mosse's labyrinth: read of the year
sharon osbourne's sharon osbourne extreme - my autobiography: biography of the year
anthony horowitz's ark angel: children's book of the year
audrey niffenegger's the time traveler’s wife: popular fiction award
alan bennett: author of the year
martina cole's the take: crime thriller of the year
diana evans' 26a: writer of the year
marina lewycka's a short history of tractors in ukranian: newcomer of the year
laurence rees' auschwitz: history book of the year
john le carré's the constant gardener: tv & film book of the year
andrew flintoff's being freddie: sports book of the year

buy johnny cash's cadillac

a 1975 black (what color did you expect?) cadillac, once owned by country legend johnny cash will be auctioned on march 31st at barrett-jackson in florida. see details here.

new flaming lips video

check out the new and totally amazing new video of the flaming lips. the song is called the yeah yeah yeah song. here!

dutch punkrockers heideroosjes hit america

dutch punkrock band heideroosjes are ready to conquer the states. from their website:

"Great news! Heideroosjes have inked a recorddeal for North America with I SCREAM RECORDS . A compilation CD with the best songs will be released on June 6th 2006. I Scream Records, founded in Belgium in 1994, recently opened a branch of their European office in Los Angeles and have signed an exclusive distribution deal with The NAVARRE COOPERATION (www.navarre.com).

"This compilation will be entitled "ROYAL TO THE BONE" and should be a perfect introduction of the band in the US" says singer Marco. "I Scream Records is a new player in the American music industry and there for on top of what they need to do. It's such a label we as a band need since we are and have been very persistent and possessed as well"

Later this year Heideroosjes will head out to the US (again) to back up this release with live shows. (In the mean time the band is working on new songs).

Needless to say this deal is exclusively for the USA since Heideroosjes have been signed to EPITAPH in Europe for years."

tom jones gets knighted

from now on, call him sir tom jones. the welsh pop veteran got knighted yesterday by the british queen elizabeth for his services to music. sir tom performed his hit single sex bomb at the ceremony. the queen was delighted.

nicole kidman in female bourne identity

nicole kidman will play an action woman in an espionnage thriller in the the bourne identity genre. simon kinberg is writing the script. he previously wrote scripts for mr. and mrs. smith, x-men 3 and xxx 2.

buy yourself a breakfast with chris ware, seth and ivan brunetti

from the center for cartoon studies website:

"BRUNETTI, WARE, SETH BREAKFAST FUNDRAISER
E-Bay Auction to Benefit The Center for Cartoon Studies

The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is auctioning a breakfast with three of the world's most celebrated cartoonists. The lucky winner will share an uncomfortably small booth with Ivan Brunetti, Seth, and Chris Ware in White River Junction's storied Polka Dot Diner. Cartoonists will also draw in the winner's sketchbook during breakfast. Winner will also receive a tour of The Center for Cartoon Studies located in White River Junction, Vermont.

The auction is a fundraiser for the CCS student scholarship fund. The three cartoonists will be visiting CCS for several days to work with students, lecture, and discuss the making of comics."

buy your breakfast here.
bidding ends on april 1st, 10:00pst
highest bid for the moment: $ 1,025.00

the beatles sue apple

apple corps, the beatles' record label, is suing apple computer at london's high court over the use of the apple logo and name. apple corps, founded in 1968 by the beatles and now owned by paul mccartney, ringo starr and the widows of john lennon and george harrison, already sued apple in 1989, resulting in the 1991 agreement that apple would not enter the music business. however apple launched the ipod, its famous portable music player, in 2001. itunes, apple's online music store, opened two years later and today sells about 3,000,000 songs every day. apple corps now says apple is violating their 1991 agreement.
guess the fab four have a point here.

the da vinci code: the paperback release

today the paperback version of dan brown's the da vinci code is released in america. the book already sold 40,000,000 copies worldwide, and now there's the first paperback print of only 5,000,000 copies. keep selling boy!

calexico: new album, tour, instore shows

calexico has a new record: garden ruin. it will be out on april 11th (april 3rd in europe). this is the track listing:

1. cruel
2. yours and mine
3. bisbee blue
4. panic open string
5. letter to bowie knife
6. roka
7. lucky dime
8. smash
9. deep down
10. nom de plume
11. all systems red

listen to three songs here.

calexico also hits the road. there will be five american instore gigs. then the band will start their european tour, supported by iron & wine. the dates:

2006-04-08 Fabrik Hamburg Germany
2006-04-09 Palladium Köln Germany
2006-04-11 Amoeba Music (Haight St.) San Francisco 6pm
2006-04-12 Amoeba Music (Sunset Blvd.) Hollywood 7pm
2006-04-13 Easy Street (Queen Anne) Seattle 9pm
2006-04-17 Toward Records (Clark St.) Chicago 7pm
2006-04-18 Virgin Megastore (Union Square) New York 6pm
2006-04-21 Academy Manchester UK with Iron & Wine
2006-04-22 Academy Bristol UK with Iron & Wine
2006-04-23 Forum London UK with Iron & Winee
2006-04-25 Mousonturm Frankfurt Germany with Iron & Wine
2006-04-26 Le Printemps de Bourges Bourges France with Iron & Wine
2006-04-27 Tivoli Utrecht NL with Iron & Wine
2006-04-28 Cirque Royal Les Nuits de Botanique Brussels with Iron & Wine
2006-04-29 Amager Bio Copenhagen Denmark with Iron & Wine
2006-04-30 Berns Stockholm Sweden with Iron & Wine
2006-05-01 Rockefeller Oslo Norway with Iron & Wine
2006-05-02 Tradgarn Gothenburg Sweden with Iron & Wine
2006-05-04 Columbiahalle Berlin Germany with Iron & Wine
2006-05-05 Tonhalle München Germany with Iron & Wine
2006-05-06 Orpheum Graz Austria with Iron & Wine
2006-05-07 Arena Wien Austria with Iron & Wine
2006-05-09 Pauk Zagreb Croatia with Iron & Wine
2006-05-10 New Age Treviso Italy with Iron & Wine
2006-05-11 Rolling Stone Milan Italy with Iron & Wine
2006-05-12 BOA Luzern CH with Iron & Wine
2006-05-13 Volkshaus Zürich CH with Iron & Wine
2006-05-14 Patronaat Haarlem NL with Iron & Wine
2006-05-15 Kulturfabrik Krefeld Germany with Iron & Wine
2006-05-16 Effenaar Eindhoven NL with Iron & Wine
2006-08-05 Lollapalooza 2006 Chicago IL

go see eels for free

eels is playing a free show. the band plays the world financial plaza in new york on june 13th. if you think it'll be too crowded, check out the no strings attached 2006 tour dates:

May 25- Los Angeles, CA, Roxy Theatre, warm-up show
May 26- Los Angeles, CA, Roxy Theatre, warm-up show
May 27- San Diego, CA, House of Blues
May 28- Santa Ana, CA, The Galaxy Theater
May 31- San Francisco, CA, The Fillmore
June 1- Sacramento, CA, Harlows
June 3- Portland, OR, Roseland
June 4- Seattle, WA, Showbox Theater
June 6- Salt Lake City, UT, The Depot
June 7- Boulder, CO, Fox Theater
June 9- Indianapolis, IN, The Vogue Theater
June 10- Pittsburgh, PA, Three River Arts Festival
June 11- Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
June 12- Philadelphia, PA, Theater of the Living Arts
June 13- New York, NY, World Financial Plaza, FREE SHOW
June 15- Boston, MA, Sommerville Theater
June 16- Montreal, QUE, Le Nacional
June 17- Toronto, ONT, Mod Club Theater
June 24- London, England, Hyde Park Wireless Festival
June 25- Leeds, England, Wireless Festival
June 26- Glasgow, Scotland, ABC
June 28- Rouen, France, Exo 7
June 29- Paris, France, La Cigale
July 1- Rotterdam, Holland, Ahoy Open Air Festival
July 2- Werchter, Belgium, Werchter Festival
July 3- Frankfurt, Germany, Batschkapp
July 4- Vienna, Austria, Flex
July 8- Kildare, Ireland, Oxegen Festival
July 9- Balado, Scotland, T in the Park Festival
August 5- Chicago, Illinois, Lollapalooza

embrace records england world cup theme

british indie rockers embrace will record england's official 2006 world cup theme. the song is entitled world at your feet, and will be recorded shortly.
so here it ends, months of speculation, rumours about kaiser chiefs playing the anthem. up next: the world cup, starting on june 9th in germany. be there.

ocean's 13 without julia roberts

no julia roberts in ocean's 13. no catherine zeta-jones. but george clooney, brad pitt, matt damon, andy garcia and don cheadle are still in. steven soderbergh of course sits in the director's chair. and ellen barkin is new in the cast.
the sequel of ocean's 11 and ocean's 12 returns to las vegas where danny ocean (george clooney) and his 12 team members are planning a new robbery. ocean's 13 should be in theaters next year.

solaris writer stanislaw lem dies at 84

polish sci-fi writer stanislaw lem died today in a hospital in krakow. his best know work solaris got filmed twice, in 1972 by andrei tarkovsky and in 2002 by steven soderbergh (starring george clooney). his first important novel was hospital of the transfiguration.

justin timberlake plays first leading role in war film

singer justin timberlake got his first leading role in his pocket. he will play an action hero in the war film stop the loss, as some sort of rambo character.

buy some beatles stuff

beatles fans beware! on auction at cooper owen's (april 19th):
1) a 10-page exercise school book, entitled my anthology. first owner: john lennon, 12-years old. bound in red paper, filled with doodles, drawings, poems and scribbles. supposed to have inspired some of the beatles' songs. one of the poems is the walrus and the carpenter by lewis carroll, and there's also a sketch of a walrus. of course this has led to their song i am the walrus!
2) john lennon's engraved silver christening bracelet.
3) the beatles' split letter! a letter from lennon, harrison and starr to mccartney about who should become their manager. experts say this letter led to the end of the beatles. tear it apart!

kylie sells fragrance

kylie minogue is planning to sell you some fragrance. the australian singer, who currently is recovering from breast cancer, wants to add a nice smell to her love kylie lingerie range. should be launched before christmas.
other popstars with their own smell: beyonce, britney and j-lo.

gorillaz want their own tv series

gorillaz, the animated outfit fronted by blur singer damon albarn, want to start their own animated tv series. when and where? we don't know.
on the other hand, there are the rumours of a gorillaz split by the end of this year. to be continued...

denzel washington is drug smuggler in ridley scott film

denzel washington is back. american gangster will get filmed. the actor has been pushing the film, and now russell crowe has joined the cast, and ridley scott will direct the film.
american gangster is set in the 70's and tells the story of a drug boss, smuggling heroin into harlem by hiding the drugs inside the body bags of american soldiers returning from vietnam.
originally, the film would be made in 2004, starring washington and benicio del toro, and directed by antoine fuqua. but universal pictures halted the film over budget problems.

desperate housewives: the game

tv series desperate housewives will be turned into a computer game by liquid entertainment. you'll become the latest wisteria lane resident, but you have one small problem: amnesia. your task is to discover the mysteries of your own past, but you'll also be able to create new scandals, or discover old ones. there are also gardening and poker challenges.
brenda strong, who is the voice of the late mary alice, already agreed to narrate the game. the other housewives are in negotiation. the game is set to be released in september 2006.

arab strap: tour dates

from the arab strap website:

"U.S. & Canada Tour
Mar 23 Knitting Factory Los Angeles, CA
Mar 24 Café Du Nord San Francisco, CA
Mar 25 Café Du Nord San Francisco, CA
Mar 27 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR
Mar 28 Neumo's Seattle, WA
Mar 29 The Media Club Vancouver, BC
Mar 31 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MN
Apr 01 Empty Bottle Chicago, IL
Apr 02 Kraftbrau Brewery Kalamazoo, MI
Apr 03 St. Andrew's Hall Detroit, MI
Apr 04 Lee's Palace Toronto, ON
Apr 05 Le Tulipe Montreal, QC
Apr 06 Great Scott Boston, MA
Apr 07 South Paw Brooklyn, NY
Apr 08 Knitting Factory NY, NY
Apr 09 The Khyber Philadelphia, PA
Apr 10 Iota Washington, DC
Apr 11 Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC
Apr 12 The Earl Atlanta, GA

Arab Strap will be headlining their own day at this year's Triptych Festival. The Arab Strap day will be at The Lemon Tree in Aberdeen on Sunday the 30th of April and includes My Latest Novel, Keiran Hebden (Four Tet) & Steve Reid, Bill Wells & Tape (playing together) and Aidan's first ever spoken word performance! No, seriously."

daniel edwards and the nude britney spears sculpture

a recent piece by artist daniel edwards, entitled monument to pro-life: the birth of sean preston. go take a look at capla kesting fine art in brooklyn, april 7-23.
and no, we don't have a rear view picture.

marcus wills wins archibald prize

melbourne artist marcus wills has won the 2006 archibald prize, austalia's premier portraiture award. wills won the art prize for his portrait the paul juraszek monolith (after marcus gheeraerts), inspired by allegory of iconoclasm, an etching by flemish engraver, illustrator and painter marcus gheeraerts the elder (1516–1604). the prize is worth $ 35,000.

sonic youth: new album details

sonic youth will release rather ripped on june 12th. frontman thurston moore recently said the album is influenced by 70's rock, especially by blue oyster cult. this is the track listing:

1. reena
2. incinerate
3. do you believe in rapture?
4. sleepin around
5. what a waste
6. jams run free
7. rats
8. turquoise boy
9. lights out
10. the neutral
11. pink steam
12. or

oasis wants zak starkey

oasis has offered zak "son of ringo starr" starkey to join the band permanently. starkey joined britpop band after drummer alan white left during the recording of the 2005 album don't believe the truth. starkey is also touring as the who's sticksman.

r.i.p. pio leyva

buena vista social club singer pio leyva died yesterday at the age of 88 in havana. that makes him the fourth social club star that leaves us, after ibrahim ferrer, compay segundo and ruben gonzalez. leyva wrote some of the best known cuban standards.

r.i.p. chef

south park character chef is killed by a grizzly bear (and accused of being a child molester, struck by lightning, impaled, mauled by a lion and shot) in this season's first episode. not really a coincidence if you remember isaac hayes' sudden departure about a week ago.
read this and this.

pixies: 7 european gigs

rock icons the pixies come to europe for a 7-gig tour. here are the july dates:

14 pohoda festival, slovakia
15 nuke festival, austria
16 salata, croatia
19 voix de gaou, france
20 lisbon atlantico, portugal
21 benicassim, spain
23 les vieilles charrues, france

lost stradivarius violin surfaces

a 1725 stradivarius violin, which disappeared from the dallas symphony orchestra in 1985, will be returned after auctioneers bonhams found the violin. the current owner received the violin from someone who wanted to pay his debts. now the owner knows the violin has been missing for 21 years, he wants it to return to the orchestra. the rare violin is estimated € 825,000.

this is a 1689 stradivarius:

bruce lee: the musical

martial artist/actor bruce lee (1940-1973) will get his own musical. david bowie joined the production team and has already met matthew warchus, who's currently finishing the lord of the rings musical in toronto. bruce lee: the musical is set for 2008.

snoop dogg sells pet accessories

rap icon snoop dogg starts his own line of pet accessories, together with manufacturer jakks pacific. the collection will be released later this year.

picasso's dora maar with cat in london

dora maar with cat, one of pablo picasso (1881-1973)'s last portraits, will be displayed at london's sotheby's from march 22nd till 26th. then the 1941 painting will go to new york were it will be auctioned on may 3rd. the painting is estimated $ 50,000,000 and will become one of the most expensive paintings in the world.
if you're looking for a birthday present for steven tyler...

update (may 4th 2006): sold for $ 95,200,000.

sharon osbourne is mum of the year

sharon osbourne is celebrity mum of the year. the princess of darkness beat kate moss, penny lancaster and camilla. osbourne was praised for her battle with her kids' addictions and for her personal struggle with cancer.

jude law and rachel weisz in new wong kar wai film

director wong kar wai (chungking express, 2046, in the mood for love) has added jude law and rachel weisz to the cast of his upcoming film the lady from shanghai. it will be kar wai's first english spoken film, a 30's lovestory about a dangerous spy and a mysterious woman from shangai. nicole kidman and norah jones (her debut!) already joined the cast a while ago.
kar wai had postponed the film to 2007 because he couldn't find someone for the male role, but now he plans to start filming in june of this year.

steven tyler: throat surgery, tour cancelled

aerosmith frontman steven tyler needs throat surgery this week, so the rock icons are obliged to cancel the 12 remaining shows of their rockin' the joint north american tour. next sunday is tyler's birthday, he turns 58. send him a card.

sting opens strip club

sting will open his own strip club in hollywood. it will be a satellite of the forty deuce bar. sting's got the support of another strip club owner: david bowie.

busta rhymes: the comeback

he's been away for three years, but now he's ready for a major comeback. busta rhymes asked a little help for his new album the big bang: dr dre, the neptunes and timbaland helped him produce, and busta's also got some guest appearances by eminem, stevie wonder, mariah carey and the late rick james.

built to spill tour postponed

indie rockers built to spill have postponed their upcoming american tour, due to lead singer doug martsch's detached retina, from which he's now recovering. all april and may dates will be rescheduled, west coast june dates won't change.
built to spill recently released their sixth album you in reverse.

damien hirst makes new shark

british artist damien hirst will make a new version of his the physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living, the work with the shark in formaldehyde, which he finished in 1991. art collector/gallery owner charles saatchi sold the work in 2004 to american collector steve cohen for $ 12,000,000.
the new work, entitled wrath of god, is already sold to the samsung corporate museum in seoul for $ 4,000,000. it will also contain an australian shark, but the shark will be half the size of the the physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living shark.

this is the 1991 original:

keane releases new album in june

keane will release their second album under the iron sea on june 12th. the video download atlantic will be released mid-april as a preview for the fans.

barbra streisand: new tour

we all were very happy and reliefed after barbra streisand's farewell concert in september 2000. but how unfortunate we are. the singer/actress is returning with another tour consisting of 20 extravagant shows. the best places will cost $ 1,500, which means streisand will find $ 2,000,000 in her purse every evening.

cannes film festival: first names

nothing's official yet, but some films will sure be screened at this year's cannes film festival (may 17-28) in france: sofia coppola's period film marie-antoinette (starring kirsten dunst and jason schwartzman), pedro almodóvar's volver (starring penélope cruz), 2002 cannes grand prize of the jury winner aki kaurismaki's the lights in the dusk, and paris, je t'aime directed by 20 directors among which the coen brothers, tom tykwer, wes craven, gérard depardieu, gus van sant, and starring steve buscemi, nick nolte, bob hoskins, natalie portman, willem dafoe, and juliette binoche.
ron howard's the da vinci code (starring tom hanks and audrey tautou) will open the 59th cannes film festival.

paris and nicky hilton: the animated series

another television show we will not watch.
paris and nicky hilton will get their own animated series about their lives. we're just warning you.