Hot Music Beat

Rapper Eve has been told she must wear an alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet for 45 days after she pleaded no contest to drink driving in a Los Angeles court.
Eve – real name Eve Jihan Jeffers – was arrested in April after she crashed her car on Hollywood Boulevard.
The star had faced a maximum sentence of six months in jail. She has now been fined $390 (£194), faces 36 months of probation and must pay for repairs.
If she drinks during her punishment she could still face imprisonment.

The star, who is a protege of rapper Dr Dre, must also attend 10 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, a three-month alcohol education programme and appear in court to verify that she is using the alcohol detection monitor.

“This was handled like any other of our driving under the influence cases,” said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

“This was an appropriate sentence, we believe for the facts of this case,” he added.

She has released several solo albums and won a Grammy in 2001 for the single Let Me Blow Ya Mind which she recorded with Gwen Stefani.

American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis was a guest on the Johnjay and Rich radio show in Arizona on Wednesday.

On the morning radio show, Blake was asked about a pressing subject of speculation – his sexuality. ‘I’m definitely not gay,’ he told the hosts. ‘I’m straight. I’ll scream it out loud.’

Jeez. If it’s not a rumored relationship with Idol winner Jordin Sparks, it’s gay rumors. Apparently, if you don’t fess up to a relationship, people start to think that something has to be ‘wrong’ with you and that something ‘wrong’ is that you’re gay. Doi.

Just leave the poor, cute guy alone.

In a sea of faces, how do you get the attention of the great Gwen Stefani? Stand up and say you’re her mini-me!

A few lucky girls got a very special treat at her concert in Santa Barbara on Tuesday night. One of the kids’ mothers’ wrote to fellow blogger Perez Hilton and gave an account of what happened.

She praised Gwen for being gorgeous, an amazing talent and loving mom. The kids were brought up on stage because Gwen apparently got a kick out of their get up of sculpted hair that was temporarily sprayed platinum blonde to match the singer’s own do. The kids even sported Bindis and red lip stick!

Gwen called out to the crowd and said ‘I just want to show you what I’ve been staring out all night long’ and then brought he kids on stage. Cool!

Jay-Z’s got more than 99 problems. The 40/40 Club, which is co-owned by the rapper and 2 other partners, was sued yesterday by Broadcast Music Inc., who filed in Manhattan District Court. The suit was on behalf of Michael Jackson and Kanye West, 2 of the 12 artists who are claiming that their songs are being played at the club without paying royalties.

Jay-Z isn’t named as a defendant and a rep for the 40/40 Club says that they haven’t been served with legal papers. The rep even goes on to say that under no circumstance would they play R. Kelly’s ‘Thoia Thoing’, which is one of the songs mentioned in the suit.

Rapper Busta Rhymes flipped out when a camerawoman for TMZ ended up focusing on him when he was spotted outside a big star-studded party at the Republic nightclub in Hollywood.

As soon as he noticed the photographer, Busta called her over and practically demanded that she erase whatever shot of him in the midst of a scene in the club’s back parking lot. The camerawoman instead kept rolling as Busta kept laying a verbal tirade on her.

Busta was spotted gripping a huge wad of cash. It’ll be good to note that he’s still waiting to face a judge due to allegations that he beat the crap out of someone over some money last year.

Two words Busta… anger management.

Feast your eyes on the recent queen of parody Alanis Morissette. Yes, that’s really her. Paparazzi caught her hanging out in Malibu with perennially shirtless Matthew McConaughey.

You just have to wonder what these two have in common. Apart from suspicions of being high due to several of their actions (like Alanis remaking the Black Eyed Peas’ ‘My Humps’), really… what?

If this turns out to be a new Hollywood hookup, I am seriously going to be baffled beyond belief that I might act like a fish with the open and close motion of the mouth.

It’s completely bizarre for anyone to see.

Arctic Monkeys covered none other than Dame Shirley Bassey during their headline performance on The Pyramid Stage last night.

The band was three songs from the end of their set when Alex Turner introduced ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ in honor of the legend that is playing Glastonbury on Sunday afternoon.

In a set full of surprises, earlier on the fervently received set, the Sheffield lads were joined by non other than Dizzee Rascal onstage with them for the ‘Brianstorm’ flipside ‘Temptation Greets You Like A Naughty Friend.’

Unfortunately, Dizzee’s performance was blighted with sound problems, meaning the audience could not hear the rapper until he was leaving the stage.

In buoyant mood all evening, the band kick started the set with ‘The Sun Goes Down’ before launching into ‘Brianstorm’ and ‘Still Take You Home’.

The band closed the evening with a crowd sing-along ‘A Certain Romance.’

Ten years after the general public stopped listening to , the boys who are really more like men now are trying desperately to get back into our lives. How? With a super-fun Internet contest. Can you tell how excited I am? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Isaac, Taylor and Zach will write a personalized song about you if you take Hanson.net banners and post them all over your personal site. Fan sites that get the most click-throughs to the Hanson site will be entered to win a song written by the group.

For those that wouldn’t get the grand prize, you get to keep the banners. Fair trade right?

A DNA test has confirmed that Hollywood actor is the father of new born daughter of the former spice girl’s singer Melanie Brown. Brown gave birth to Angel Iris Murphy Brown in April of this year and then stated that Murphy as the father of the daughter on the birth certificate, the actor-comedian never accepted the same publically due to which the DNA test ultimately had to be administered. Hey, Mr. Eddie you should have used the trick when DNA testing did not exist. Thanks to DNA you are now officially the father of a three month daughter. Eddie had previously said that the time period in which he was involved with Brown did make it possible for the two to go this far, they were going along for about 7 months only. Now Eddie we do not need to tell what it takes to be a father since it’s the seventh time you’ve been crowned a father.

Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake’s mom Lynn Harless were spotted greeting each other on the streets of Stockholm. We all know that Jess is hanging out with JT during his European tour. Apart from getting some TrouserSnake love, she apparently also got some bonding time in with momma.

Things seem to be going from hot and heavy to steady and serious for the new couple. Apart from being openly affectionate in public, Jess seems to have gotten the mom’s seal of approval too. They’ve been seen shopping around Oslo if you want proof of that.

Momma Harless reportedly hated Cameron Diaz. Ouch.

If you spend an entire day in a Hollywood salon like Paves Salon in West Hollywood, you would think that you’d come out looking hotter than some of the stars you idolize. But in the case of lip-synching phenomenon Ashlee Simpson, she proves to be the exception.

A swarm of paparazzi grew in number throughout the day anxiously awaiting the 22-year old Simpson sister to come out of the beauty shop. She spent eight hours getting her weave done and dyed.

Ashlee exited through the back door and gave photogs a glimpse of the staff’s work. She looks like a drowned rat. With her music career in the dumps, she may want to spend more time in a studio than a salon.

Bootylicious Beyonce and longtime boyfriend Jay-Z took a stroll on a beach fully clothed. It doesn’t sound like a big deal when a lot of people walk down the beach with clothes on but when it’s a nude beach, you stick out like a sore thumb.

Beyonce seemed a little uncomfortable and just looked straight ahead or elsewhere. From the look of the people sunbathing, anyone would choose to look elsewhere.

The couple was spotted while on vacation in the French Riviera. They docked their yacht in Saint-Tropez on the southern coast and went sightseeing on the famous nude beach.

This is vacation time for Beyonce who is resting up before the start of her hot summer tour.

The pop group is considering their comeback with the launch of a song called “Woman”.
The song was written when Gerri Halliwel left the group in 1999 but has been updated in time for a Christmas release.
A source told Britain’s The People newspaper: “It is a very catchy pop tune so they thought it would be great to use it now. But they have updated it, with Geri adding her vocals.”
Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, and Melanie Brown originally wrote the song with Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe.
Gerri and Emma were recently spotted going to Stannard’s home to talk with him how to “revamp” the song.
The updated lyrics are said to reflect how the girls have matured since the band split in 2000.
Another thing the girls are considering to do is the release of greatest hits album on November 5.
An interesting rumor that is spreading is that the girls have been banned to get pregnant during their reunion. Since their 90s Spice Girls heyday, Victoria, Mel B, and Geri have all become mothers.
The five-piece band have been issued a strict set of rules by their manager Simon Fuller to ensure their lucrative comeback goes as smoothly as possible.
The news will come as a blow to Victoria – who has three sons with soccer star husband David – who has spoken of her desire to have a daughter.
Another rule prohibits “talking about money that you will potentially earn from the reunion”, or “confirming or denying any rumors until everything is in place.”
The music mogul writes at the end of his list published in Britain’s The Sun newspaper: “I will make this work for you all, none of you realize how amazing you were and still are. It’s good to be back… Simon.”

In a TV broadcast Thursday as the Rolling Stones prepared a new tour of Spain, Jagger told fans, “We are very sorry we canceled our concert last year, but now we are ready.”
The apology lasted a few seconds and was prolonged by laughter and clowning from drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Keith Richards. Mick Jagger used the Catalan language to apologize to fans for last year’s cancellation of several shows in Barcelona and three other Spanish cities.

The language is indigenous to the semiautonomous Catalonia region in northeastern Spain. Canal 3, the television station that broadcast the apology, described Jagger’s Catalan diction as “better than average.”
The apology preceded a concert Thursday night at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium as part of the Stones “A Bigger Bang Tour.”

The canceled dates last year were due to Jagger coming down with a case of laryngitis.

Ticket prices for the Barcelona show range from $87 to $249. Organizers said that, as of Wednesday, 8,000 tickets remained unsold.

Griffin is nominated for album of the year for “Children Running Through,” song of the year for “Heavenly Day” and artist of the year. Nominations were announced Tuesday. Ex-Nashvillian Lucinda Williams, Texan Patty Griffin and North Carolina-based rustic pop trio the Avett Brothers lead the nominees for the sixth annual Americana Honors and Awards. Williams, Griffin, Avett Brothers all nominated for three awards.

Other artists receiving nominations include Bob Dylan, easily the most influential Americana artist, for his album “Modern Times”, Sam Bush and Buddy Miller for instrumentalist of the year, and Son Volt and Old Crow Medicine Show for duo group of the year.

The awards will be presented Nov. 1 at the Ryman Auditorium. “The nominations reflect the diversity and ever-growing popularity of Americana music,” said Jed Hilly, executive director of the Americana Music Association.

Britney Spears is threatening legal action against Clear Channel’s WFLZ/Tampa over billboards for the MJ Morning Show that features a picture of Spears with a shaved head. The MJ Morning Show airs on several stations across Florida, and the billboards, which first appeared in May, advertised the program in Tampa, Jacksonville and Clearwater.

Spears’ lawyers demanded on Monday that Clear Channel remove billboard ads for WFLZ, which use an image of irate and bald Spears alongside the show’s host Todd Schnitt with bold phrases.

In a letter obtained by website TheSmokingGun.com and sent to the legal department of Clear Channel, which owns WFLZ, Spears’ attorney protests the decision to link the singer’s image with mental illness and for allegedly failing to remove the billboards nearly two weeks ago.

The letter reads: “It was outrageous in the extreme that Clear Channel created and displayed the billboards in the first place. That Clear Channel then had the unabashed temerity to lie about their removal shocks the conscience.

The billboards utilize a rather unflattering paparazzi photo of the bald singer along with a picture of the morning show host, and they are headlined, “Total Nut Jobs,” “Shock Therapy” and “Certifiable.”

Old school is getting into new school. Ringo Starr joined Paul McCartney in embracing digital downloads. He announced on Monday that his early solo albums released under Capitol/EMI can be downloaded online by this summer.

By August 28, his post-Beatles albums will be available via iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, Zune Marketplace and other major music services. EMI will also release a greatest hits compilation entitled ‘Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr’ spanning his career as well as ring tones.

The rest of Starr’s albums after 1975 are already available online. The rest of McCartney’s post-Beatles work is also available. It was last fall that John Lennon and George Harrison’s solo works were cleared for release as well.

In addition to that, McCartney and EMI confirmed that the entire Beatles catalog is getting remastered for a digital launch by the end of the year to early 2008. It just goes to show that these guys aren’t too big for the web world.

Rock legends Motley Crue recently filed a $20 million lawsuit against one of their managers, citing ‘greed’, ‘extortionist tactics’ and terrible career advice caused the band to lose millions of dollars in profits and tainted the band’s stellar reputation.

The four founding members of the band (Sixx, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee) through Motley Crue Inc., are claiming that manager Carl Stubner and Sanctuary Management Group gave bad business advice citing Tommy Lee’s reality show stints which lead to schedule and tour conflicts that ultimately forced the band to cancel dates and lose money as well as tarnish the band’s abilities. The band claims a loss of $8 million in ticket and merchandise sales and that the conflicts in scheduling were concocted by Stubner to ‘leverage his control over Lee to his financial advantage and to Motley Crue and Lee’s detriment’.

A call to the management company was not immediately returned. Guilty conscience maybe?

A coalition of singers, music companies and industry groups stated that they will want from radios compensation of performers, whose music is played on the radio.
The music FIRST coalition that includes artists such as Christina Aguilera, Wyclef Jean, Don Henley and Celine Dion intends to lobby Congress to create new laws organizing payments by broadcasters.
The coalition representatives said that every singer from superstar vocalists to background singers deserve to be paid for their work and the right to air their songs on the radio.
“The artists and the musicians and the community in general has come together to say now is really time to make sure that when music is played on the radio, that people who perform that music are paid fairly to do it”, Mark Kadish, the coalition’s executive director, said during a conference call with reporters.
Previous attempts to change the law met with a failure. The coalition told that it’s too early to say what the payment should be.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which represents more than 8,000 radio and television stations, is vowing to fight the campaign, saying royalties for performers amount to a tax on U.S. radio stations.
“Congress has long recognized that radio airplay of music generates millions of dollars in revenue for record labels and artists”, Dennis Wharton, the broadcasters group’s executive vice president, said in a statement.
“Were it not for radio’s free promotional airplay of music on stations all over America, most successful recording artists would still be playing in a garage”, he said.
Martha Reeves of the 1960s group Martha & the Vandellas said that the success of singers doesn’t necessarily depends on playing the songs on radio.
“I might have music that’s as old as 25 years now being played daily, and that doesn’t mean someone is going to go out and buy my CD or my record”, Reeves said.
Radio broadcasters, however, are required to pay performers only if their songs are played on the Internet during simulcasts or streaming.
Now it’s up to the Congress to decide whether to change the law or leave the things as before.

After opposing the reunion of the band Mel C has finally changed her mind and she would join the group.
“For the first time ever, there is some truth in the rumors. We’ve been discussing it and it could possibly happen”, the 33-year-old singer, known as Sporty Spice, told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. “I’ve always said, ’I don’t want to do it, the past is the past. It was amazing, it was magical. We could never recreate it’”, she said. “But this year people have been talking about it and some of the girls have expressed an interest in doing it. There is just so much great feeling out there and I just thought, ‘You know what, I don’t want to be the person that stops it happening or stops it being a five-piece.’”
However the singer added:” If the Spice Girls were to get back together it would be for a very short space of time. It would be a final goodbye and a ‘thank you’ to all the fans all over the world.”
Mel C now bills herself as MelanieC.
The world-famous group also includes Scary Spice (Melanie Brown), Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham), Baby Spice (Emma Bunton) and Ginger Spice (Geri Halliwel).
The group’s last album was released in 2000. It was called “Forever” but it had weak and the Spice Girls began concentrating on their solo careers or their families. Some of them succeeded in releasing a solo album but none of them had the success they had when they were together. That’s one of the reason fans are waiting this reunion so anxiously