Entertainment Promotions and Marketing: Music, Bands – REP Hot

August 11, 2006

Carmen Divorcing Dave

Filed under: Music News — rephot @ 11:42 am

The following was taken from the Internet. It was not written by REP or anyone affiliated with REP.

By Sarah Hall Thu Aug 10, 4:49 PM ET

Carmen and Dave: ‘Til divorce do them part. Less than one month after she and her former MTV reality costar, Dave Navarro, announced they were “amicably separating,” Carmen Electra is looking to make the split official.

The former Baywatch babe (real name: Tara Patrick) filed for divorce Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing the ever-popular “irreconcilable differences.”

In her documents, she requested that all her own assets be confirmed as separate property and that the couple’s premarital agreement be upheld.

Electra’s move comes one day after rumors began circulating that Navarro was dating porn star Jenna Jameson, who, according to TMZ.com, also recently broke things off with her husband.

Neither Navarro nor Jameson’s reps had any comment on their clients’ reported involvement, nor was there any indication that the speculations were behind Electra’s decision to file.

The former Jane’s Addiction guitarist and Electra wed on camera in 2003 as part of their reality series, Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen and Dave.

It was the second marriage for Electra, who was previously hitched to Dennis Rodman, and the third for Navarro.

They have since joined a growing list of MTV couples who went bust after the cameras were turned off. (See: Nick and Jessica; Travis and Shanna.)

Last month, Navarro wrote on his blog that he and his estranged wife “love each other, we are and always will be best friends. In fact, we are supporting each other through this time. What better way to get through a tough spot than with your best friend?”

Some might argue that hooking up with an adult film star could also do the trick.

MTV Ponders Fate of `Where My Dogs At?’

Filed under: Music News — rephot @ 11:36 am

The following was taken from the Internet. It was not written by REP or anyone affiliated with REP.

Thu Aug 10, 11:43 PM ET

NEW YORK – The MTV2 network said it had not decided whether it will ever again air a cartoon criticized as offensive for depicting women being led around on leashes.

It’s also not certain whether the series, “Where My Dogs At?” will come back for a second season, spokesman Jeff Castaneda said Wednesday. Its first season ended during the last week of July.

One episode, aired in the early afternoon, featured an appearance by a cartoon Snoop Dogg accompanied by two women in neck collars and chains. MTV2 said the episode was a satire of an actual Snoop appearance where women were in collars and chains.

“We certainly do not condone Snoop’s actions and the goal was to take aim at that incident for its insensitivity and outrageousness,” Castaneda said. “Even one of the dogs, a main character on the show, states, `I find that degrading and I am a dog.’”

The watchdog group that complained about the episode, Industry Ears, said in a statement late Thursday that the network was “hiding behind words like satire and parody.”

“It is not art, it is an assault,” Industry Ears said of the episode.

August 9, 2006

Punk band accuses label of “illegal schemes”

Filed under: Music News — rephot @ 1:12 am

This was taken from the internet and is not part of REP.

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Pop-punk band Hawthorne Heights, whose latest album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 earlier this year, has sued its label, alleging that its “overly-aggressive, unethical and illegal schemes and tactics” have severely damaged the group’s reputation and its relationship with fans. In the suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the Dayton, Ohio-based quintet also claims that Victory Records did not pay it for sales of albums, digital downloads, ringtones and foreign sales or for the use of its music in film soundtracks and video games.

The group accuses Chicago-based Victory and owner Tony Brummel of applying a low royalty rate for its payments, and failing to account for merchandise sales.

The suit also excoriates Brummel’s “outrageous” business schemes, and alleges that he physically threatened the band’s manager and radio station personnel who refused to increase airplay for the group’s songs.

In February, Hawthorne Heights and rapper Ne-Yo were vying for the top of The Billboard 200. On February 28, an email from someone at Victory appeared to urge its street promotions team to tamper with Ne-Yo’s sales potential. “If you were to pick up (a) handful of Ne-Yo CDs, as if you were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn’t bother to put them back in the same place,” the message read, “That would work … just relocating a handful creates issues.”

Within hours of the email’s appearance on an industry message board on March 1, a second email appeared calling the first message “a joke.” The Hawthorne Heights record, “If Only You Were Lonely,” wound up debuting at No. 3 on sales of 114,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while Ne-Yo’s “In My Own Words” bowed at No. 1 on sales of 301,000 units.

Band members Eron Bucciarelli-Tieger, Casey Calvert, Micah Carli, Matt Ridenour and JT Woodruff claim that Brummel then signed the band’s name without their knowledge or approval to a so-called manifesto, which falsely stated that the band believed it was in some type of war with artists in the hip-hop and R&B music genres, leading many to brand the band as racist.

In the suit, the band also charges Victory and Brummel with “egregiously fraudulent accounting practices.” Despite sales of nearly 1.5 million units of the band’s recordings and videos, Victory and Brummel claim that the band owes the label in excess of $1 million, the suit says, even though Victory has received in excess of $10 million in revenues from its sale of Hawthorne Heights’ CDs, DVDs and merchandise.

The suit, filed in the federal District Court in Chicago, follows the band’s posting of its own “manifesto” on its Web site (http://www.hawthorneheights.com), in which it describes the way it claims Brummel has treated them.

Hawthorne Heights wants the court to stop Victory from distributing its recordings, to order that the recording agreement be rescinded and to order the company and Brummel to pay unspecified monetary damages.

The complaint alleges a slew of claims, including copyright and trademark infringement, invasion of privacy for placing the band in a “false light,” fraud and interference with business relations.

Said Robert Meloni, Victory’s litigation attorney: “Victory believes there’s no merit to the lawsuit, and Victory maintains the group is obligated to deliver two more albums to the label, and we’ll hold them to it.”

Reuters/Billboard

Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood releasing hits CD

Filed under: Music News — rephot @ 1:10 am

This article was taken from the net and not a part of REP.

Tue Aug 8, 1:31 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood will release a two-disc retrospective in September, collecting tracks from his solo outings and his work with the Stones, the Faces, the Jeff Beck Group, and the Creation. “Ronnie Wood Anthology: The Essential Crossexion,” due September 26 via Virgin/EMI, boasts 37 tracks, including a previously unreleased duet with longtime pal Rod Stewart, the 2005 tune “You Strum and I’ll Sing.”

The first disc draws from Wood’s solo albums, 1974’s “I’ve Got My Own Album To Do,” 1975’s “Now Look,” 1979’s “Gimme Some Neck,” 1981’s “1234,” 1992’s “Slide On This,” and 2002’s “Not For Beginners.”

The second disc offers a sample of Wood’s group outings, from his first late ’60s recordings with the Creation (“Midway Down.” “The Girls Are Naked”), to his subsequent work with the Birds (“You’re On My Mind,” “You Don’t Love Me”), the Jeff Beck Group (“All Shook Up,” “Plynth”), the Faces (“Stay With Me,” “Ooh La La”), and the Rolling Stones (“Everything Is Turning To Gold,” “Black Limousine”).

Collaborations with Beck (“I Ain’t Superstitious”) and Stewart (“Maggie May”) are also featured. Not included are tracks from Wood’s 1988 concert recording with Bo Diddley, “Live at the Ritz.”

The Stones, which Wood joined in 1975 for a $100,000 salary, are currently touring Europe. They return to North America in September. In his early years with the Stones, Wood usually co-wrote one or two tracks on each album, but principals Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have not sought his input since 1986’s “Dirty Work.”

August 7, 2006

Madonna’s Rome Concert Outrages Vatican

Filed under: Music News — rephot @ 5:33 pm

The following was taken from the Internet. It was not written by REP or anyone affiliated with REP.

ReutersNews

Monday Aug 07, 2006 8:00am EST

Madonna's Rome Concert Outrages Vatican | Madonna
Madonna in concert in California on May 21
CREDIT: KEVIN MAZUR / WIREIMAGE

 

Madonna staged a mock-crucifixion in the Italian capital on Sunday, ignoring a storm of protest and accusations of blasphemy from the Roman Catholic Church.

In a sold-out stadium just a mile from Vatican City, the lapsed-Catholic diva wore a fake crown of thorns as she was raised on a glittery cross during the Rome stop of her worldwide “Confessions Tour.”

The Vatican had accused her of blasphemy and provocation for even considering staging the sham crucifixion on its doorstep, anger Madonna further enflamed prior to the show by inviting Pope Benedict to come and watch.

The self-styled “Queen of Pop” went on to pepper her two-and-a-half hour show with more controversial imagery, at one point showing photographs of the pope after those of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

“Did you know two miracles have taken place in Rome?” the star, dressed in skin-skimming black, later joked with the crowd. “Italy won the World Cup and the rain stopped before my show.”

The 70,000 fans, crammed into the Olympic Stadium, shrugged off the scandal by dancing, singing and jumping as she performed songs from her latest album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, and classics such as “Like a Virgin.”

Yet the cheering lulled when she was raised on the cross and some fans from predominantly Roman Catholic Italy confessed their disappointment.

“The crucifixion was unnecessary and provocative. Because this is Rome, I wish she’d cut it out. But it’s Madonna, she’s an icon, and that balances out her need to provoke,” said 39-year old Roman Tonia Valerio.

It is not the first time Madonna, whose father is a Catholic Italian American, has caused religious anger for her controversial religious and sexual imagery.

Catholic leaders condemned as blasphemous her 1989 video for the hit song “Like a Prayer,” featuring burning crosses, statues crying blood and Madonna seducing a black Jesus.

In 2004, a Vatican group warned that her latest religious belief, Kabbalah, a mystical from of Judaism, was a potential threat to the Roman Catholic faithful.

And she looks likely to face another storm when the tour reaches Moscow in September, where the Russian Orthodox Church has advised its followers to boycott the show because of the crucifixion stunt, agency Interfax reported on Saturday.

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