2/27/09 - Chicago, IL:
Nachtmystium has sad news today with a once-again recurring issue surfacing from the wake of our past. We've been forced, at the request of the promoters and the folks at Scion / Toyota, to pull out of the Scion Rock Festival, scheduled for Saturday, February 28th. This news came to us just this past Tuesday and was very disheartening to say the least. A troubling, and unjustly-applied notion that we are, or ever have been, in any way, a "Nazi" band or a political band on any level, is completely absurd and we are disgusted that there is someone out there who really believes we are of this ilk. It made it as far as the sponsors of this events desks, and now we are forced to pull out of it after some political threatening on the part of these ridiculously uneducated person/people who have caused this ruckus.

Nachtmystium's statement continued below...

Continue reading "Nachtmystium deny racism charge. Regardless, Toyota kicked them off this weekend's Scion Rock Fest"

alternate headline: Bruce Springsteen fans more mad at Ticketmaster than Phish fans were at Live Nation...

You may have noticed that sometimes when you try to buy a ticket at Ticketmaster, you are instead redirected to TicketsNow which is a scalper site owned by Ticketmaster. In turn, TicketsNow will offer to sell you the same exact tickets for a higher price. Ticketmaster describes it like this...

TicketsNow provides consumers access to live entertainment event tickets, no longer available via primary distribution channels, through its leading online marketplace where buyers and sellers meet in open exchange.

Tickets listed on TicketsNow come from licensed brokers, as well as from individual sellers. All tickets listed on TicketsNow are 100% authentic or your money back.

The potential shadiness involved there is pretty obvious, as a NJ politician pointed out in a letter he wrote to the federal government this week...

A New Jersey congressman has asked the federal government to investigate allegations that tickets to two Bruce Springsteen concerts were diverted to a ticket resale agency moments after they went on sale Monday morning.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.) said his constituents complained that Ticketmaster, the primary ticket seller for the concerts, said tickets were sold out and directed consumers to its subsidiary, TicketsNow, a secondary marketplace where tickets were being offered for resale at three and four times the cover price.

Pascrell wrote a letter yesterday to the Federal Trade Commission and the antitrust division of the Justice Department asking them to "investigate the relationship between Ticketmaster and TicketsNow to ensure that the procedure for purchasing tickets remains fair to the average consumer."

"There is a significant potential for abuse when one company is able to monopolize the primary market for a product and also directly manipulate and profit from the secondary market," he wrote. "The speed with which tickets were made available on Ticketmaster's official resale site raises questions about whether TicketsNow brokers were given preferential treatment." [NJ.COM]

The Superbowl (halftime show) was Sunday, Bruce tickets went on sale Monday, and the above letter was in the papers on Wednesday (yesterday). In no time, both Ticketmaster and Bruce Springsteen personally responded with letters of their own...

Continue reading "Bruce Springsteen Ticketmaster controversy! letters from the Boss, a congressman & CEO + Live Nation, TicketsNow"

"I felt like a dagger went right through my heart. It hurt so much," Satriani says. "The second I heard it, I knew it was [my own] If I Could Fly."

As it turned out, Satriani wasn't the only one who noticed the similarity between If I Could Fly and Viva La Vida.

"Almost immediately, from the minute their song came out, my e-mail box flooded with people going, 'Have you heard this song by Coldplay? They ripped you off man.' I mean, I couldn't tell you how many e-mails I received.

"Everybody noticed the similarities between the songs. It's pretty obvious. It's as simple as that - when you listen to a song and you say, 'Wow, that's a real rip-off.'"

What makes the situation especially painful for Satriani is that If I Could Fly isn't just any song. It's a composition he'd been laboring over for well over 10 years before he recorded it.

"I started writing it on the Flying In A Blue Dream tour back in 1990. But because of the way I write, sometimes songs take a while, as this one did. In 2003 I started demoing it in earnest. I played it on the acoustic guitar on a demo so I could sing the melody, then I demoed it on electric to get the sound. And the performance turned out to be so spontaneous, so right and so emotional, that it wound up being a keeper."

..."That was the intent all along," he says. "It was a love letter to my wife, Rubina - a simple, direct expression of feeling.

"That's what really hurts about this whole thing. That I spent so long writing the song, thinking about it, loving it, nursing it, and then finally recording it and standing on stages the world over playing it - and then somebody comes along and plays the exact same song and calls it their own."

"Coldplay didn't want to talk about it. They just wanted this whole thing to go away." Joe Satriani... [the interview continues @ Music Radar]

So now Joe is suing. Watch a video comparison of the songs in question HERE. Watch a video comparing Satriani's guitar solos to Kirk Hammett's below...

Continue reading "Joe Satriani on Coldplay: 'felt like a dagger.through my heart'"

DOWNLOAD: White Lies - Death (Crystal Castles remix) (MP3)

Trevor Brown writes....

Continue reading ""the crystal castles fiasco: CASE OVER!""

MIA @ MoMA (more by Ryan Muir)

without belittling the heinous acts propagated by the LTTE, DeLon's diss track and video feel much less like a thoughtful critique of a debatable move on M.I.A.'s part, and much more like an empty ploy for publicity.

M.I.A. seems to agree. "I don't support terrorism and never have," she wrote in a statement. "As a Sri Lankan that fled war and bombings, my music is the voice of the civilian refugee. Frankly, I am not trying to start dialogue with someone who is really just seeking self-promotion." [Pitchfork]

Neon Neon have backed up Kele from Bloc Party's statement on John Lydon's alleged racist attack, after witnessing the event.

Speaking exclusively to MTV News Gruff Rhys from the group said: "It was horrific. Kele is a very brave man and what he said is exactly what happened."

The band were backstage at the Summercase Festival in Barcelona with other British groups when the alleged assault took place and confirmed they saw everything.

Neon Neon and Super Furry Animals singer Gruff added: "The statements Kele has said are absolutely true. It did happen."

John Lydon denies it. John Lydon played in the fourth best punk band ever. John Lydon has sexy dance moves.

Neon Neon are up for this year's Mercury Prize, a prize that Gruff (Super Furry Animals 'Rings Around the World;') lost to PJ Harvey in 2001.

Sex Pistols @ Summercase, Barcelona - July 19, 2008 (lalitaporfavor)

John Lydon has responded to allegations of his involvement in a racist assault by saying his accuser is a liar and in need of the publicity. In a carefully worded statement, Lydon said: "I feel very sorry for a man that needs to lie about what was a perfect evening." In Lydon's version of events, the Sex Pistols singer claims that, "trouble was brought us, resulting in those causing the trouble being physically removed by festival security". He added: "If they need publicity so badly this is the allegation universe they run into." [Guardian]

In related news, Bloc Party bassist Gordon Moakes will not be with the band when they arrive in North America next week. The reason: "in order to prepare for the imminent arrival of his first child."

Moldy Peaches @ Central Park Summerstage, 2002 (m. norr)

Tickets are STILL on sale for tonight's Kimya Dawson show at Music Hall of Williamsburg (July 2, 2008). It's a benefit with a bunch of bands on the bill that only costs $20, and for what it's worth, it's in a smaller venue than her last and next NYC shows *.

Has the Juno buzz worn off a little? It should be strong now that there's all this pregnancy talk that has "the Most Successful Indie Film in Six Years" back in the news. Maybe parents are afraid to let their kids near Kimya....

With a lot of attention on teen pregnancy these days, parents can use the news to talk about sex and pregnancy with their children. Here are some tips from experts.

- Have age-appropriate discussions about sex. Answer their questions openly and honestly.

- Talk about teen pregnancy. Ask your kids what they thinks about "Juno" and Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy, says Bill Albert, spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy....

- Throw away your kids' Moldy Peaches albums...
[Associated Press]

Juno is the new Judas Priest. Okay, I made the last tip up (not the one before it though), but young girls across the world are apparently watching Juno and getting Knocked Up like crazy... or are they?

Juno" actor Jason Bateman has defended the Oscar-winning movie against claims it has encouraged teenage girls to get pregnant.

He tells "Access Hollywood," "I don't know the specifics, but I can speak about what sort of responsibility entertainment should hold for social behavior.

"Unfortunately, we've had these instances where guys kill people because of what they hear in rock 'n roll lyrics or some garbage like that. Look, if you're going to blame a movie or song for your actions, whether they be good or bad, I think you're looking at the wrong things to influence your life.

"What we're doing is providing entertainment in different flavors for your consumption. I think people should look to other areas of their life for lessons and guidance, mainly parents, or teachers, or friends, or whomever. That should probably be where you should point your eyes and ears." [SFGate]

Adam Green and Ozzy Osbourne could not be reached for comment...

Continue reading "Juno too busy causing pregnancies to sell concert tickets"

Thousands of fans converge on the Pyramid stage to witness the fabulous Amy Winehouse perform live and to find out if, as the gossip magazines say, she is indeed truly out of control. [BBC]

I can't believe they really had her play the festival this weekend. Check out some songs, including one where she descends into the huge crowd (and "punches fan"), in the videos below...

Continue reading "Amy Winehouse @ Glastonbury 2008 - she sings, fans go crazy (and get 'punched') (VIDEO)"

"Kanye Sux" - Bonnaroo 2008 (cred)

The Grammy winner walked onto the festival stage nearly two hours past his scheduled 2:45 a.m. performance time Sunday morning and was greated by bleary-eyed fans' chorus of boos and chants of "Kanye sucks." [E Online]

"Kanye Hates Hippies" - Bonnaroo 2008 (cred)

Ken Weinstein, a spokesman for the annual festival held on a 700-acre site south of Nashville, said the delay was simply a matter of unloading the Pearl Jam stage (the band went an hour past its scheduled end time, playing until about 1:15 a.m.) and loading the West stage. [AP]

"Fuck Kanye" - Bonnaroo 2008 (cred)

People were mad about the set time. Now Kanye West has reacted to the controversy with an angry blog posting. More pictures, and his ENTIRE ANGRY MESSAGE, BELOW....

Continue reading "Kanye West offended over "Bonnaroo thing", says sorry (pics)"

I'm running a little behind again today...

Bigmouth has struck again and, heaven knows, he’s miserable now.

Morrissey is suing the NME and its editor for defamation after the music magazine quoted him on its cover this week as saying: “The Gates of England are flooded. The country’s been thrown away.”

The magazine lambasts the former Smiths frontman for taking a “naive and inflammatory” stance on immigration by employing language that “dangerously echoes” the British National Party’s current manifesto.

Morrissey’s reported comments come 15 years after the NME accused him of experimenting with racist imagery in some of his solo songs and by draping himself in a Union Jack at a gig in Finsbury Park, North London. The singer, 48, says that his words have been taken out of context and now, after one of the most intense relationships in British music, Morrissey and the NME could be heading for the High Court. [TimesOnline]