Um...

Three men are facing charges in connection with an alleged plot to kill pop star Justin Bieber.
Published reports say Mark Staake and his nephew Tanner Ruane planned to castrate and kill Bieber when he was in New York to perform at the end of November.

Reports say 45-year-old Dana Martin -- who is serving life in prison in New Mexico -- was the mastermind behind the plot.

Martin reportedly is obsessed with Bieber and has a tatoo of the pop star on his leg.

Staake was arrested in Vermont and Ruane was picked up by police in New York.

A spokesman says Bieber's security team takes every precaution. [NY1]

Lil JoJo RIP

To quote The Smoking Section:

A little over a month ago, we saw Lupe Fiasco overcome with emotion as he watched video of friends whose young lives were snuffed out by violence. A week ago, the Chicagoan stated that the culture Chief Keef represented scared him. Today, we see more hard evidence as to why Lupe fears for the direction of his hometown, and the young people who populate it.

[An 18]-year-old rapper named Joseph Coleman, otherwise known as Lil JoJo, died from gunshot wounds late last night. Coleman had been embroiled in a rivalry withChief Keef associate and fellow rapper Lil Reese, even having an angry exchange with him in a video was posted on YouTube only a few days ago. In the clip, someone yells the words "I'mma kill you."

In a seemingly related set of tweets following Coleman's death last night, Keef seemed to be laughing at the tragedy that befell his teenaged rival.

UPDATE: The police are investigating Chief Keef (and much more too)

Charles Manson - "Just Fucking Around"

Manuel Vasquez defends the unusual product he's selling. But not everyone's buying it.

Vasquez is the 26-year-old co-owner of [LA's Beauty Is Pain Boutique] who produces records in his spare time. His latest release features music written and performed by convicted mass murderer Charles Manson.

"I've gotten some hate mail from it. There are people not appreciating the release of music by him," he said. "People say they don't understand why I'd want to associate myself with this or why I would be interested in releasing it."

Even his parents tried to talk him out of pressing and selling the 40-minute vinyl album.

"They're in their mid-50s and they grew up with a fear of Charles Manson," Vasquez acknowledged. "They don't want to have anything to do with him. They asked why I was doing it and did I know what I was getting into -- did I fully understand the extent of what it means?"....

...."I usually tell people that the perspective they have of Manson is what he was convicted for in 1969, not for what he became in prison," Vasquez said. "He is somebody who is obsessed with ecology and saving the earth, the environment and animals. Life is his obsession, not death."

The album's title, a vulgarity that means wasting time, reflects Manson's own description of his guitar playing that was recorded in the 1980s in a room above the prison chapel at California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Manson later gave the tape recording to a friend who eventually passed it on to a third person. After years of "badgering" that person for it, Vasquez obtained the tape last year.

With Manson's encouragement, he said, he set about creating an album. [LA Times]

I'm not sure if Beauty Is Pain is selling their new record online, though you can buy a Che Guevara t-shirt from them on Etsy.

The Hollywood store also hosts in-store shows. Not surprisingly, one of those in-stores featured another controversial figure with a fondness for swastikas - Boyd Rice, as you can see in the video below...

Continue reading "new Charles Manson record released by LA boutique"

Wade Michael Page with a rather suspect tattoo, playing in front of what looks like a rather unsavory flag

The man who allegedly murdered six people at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee yesterday, identified in media reports as Wade Michael Page, was a member of two racist skinhead bands -- End Apathy and Definite Hate, a band whose album "Violent Victory" featured a gruesome drawing of a disembodied white arm punching a black man in the face. In the drawing, the fist is tattooed with the letters "HFFH," the acronym for the phrase "Hammerskins Forever, Forever Hammerskins."

The Hammerskins is a nationwide skinhead organization with regional factions and chapters that once dominated the racist skinhead movement in the United States.

Both of Page's bands played with a revolving lineup of musicians, and their music was at one time featured on the Hammerskin Nation record label. In 2010, Page and his band mates -- including Brent Rackley, a member of a Confederate Hammerskins chapter in North Carolina -- played at a racist music festival called Independent Artist Uprise in Baltimore. Other bands featured at the show were Blue Eyed Devils and Max Resist, both influential mainstays on the hate music scene. -[SPLC]

UPDATE: The jerk's idiot record label has issued a "statement"

First of all, thanks to everyone who has reached out in support of Randy and each of us in this terrible situation. It's noted and very much appreciated.

We have been keeping our heads down and not speaking out due to the fluid nature of the situation and the constantly changing information that even we receive daily.
Within an hour things can do endless 180's. It's maddening to try and make heads or tails.

We're taking the time to speak to you as it has been a significant period of time since this situation began and while nothing is immediately clear to any of us, we are not trying to keep anyone in the dark.

We have reached out and are making use of the resources we have acquired to help our brother who is still detained in Czech jail.

In the two years since, we were never notified of anything related to this incident.

Randy is our brother and we assure you, we are all staying very positive for him, working endlessly behind the scenes to provide any and all assistance possible.

The best we can do is to stay positive and continue to support our friend that we know is innocent.

We know that justice will prevail and we will continue to do our part to support our friend.

- LAMB OF GOD

Continue reading "Lamb of God issue statement regarding Randy Blythe's detention in Czech jail"

Randy of Lamb of God at Roseland (more by Justina Villanueva)

The singer for Lamb of God, the world-famous, Richmond-based heavy metal band, was arrested this week in Prague in the Czech Republic and charged in connection with the death of a fan two years ago.

Randy Blythe, 41, was arrested when Lamb of God went to Prague for their show Thursday night at the Rock Café. He's charged with manslaughter for the fatal injury that occurred at their show May 24, 2010 at another venue in Prague, according to Czech news report.
Reportedly, Blythe struck or fought with the fan who had come on stage, and that person later died.

The four-time Grammy-nominated band cancelled Thursday's show in Prague. There's no mention on the band's social sites about the status of Friday's show in Leipzig, Germany.
Lamb Of God's publicist, Adrenaline PR, stated to a music publication that Randy was "wrongly accused, lawyers are dealing with it, and we expect him to be fully exonerated."

Randy's brother, Mark Blythe, told CBS-6 that he's awaiting further details and said the charge is "bogus and outrageous and will be dropped immediately."

LAMB OF GOD management will be issuing an official statement on Monday regarding the charges made against singer Randy Blythe. As no formal charges have yet been made and the case is only in the investigation stages, it would be premature to make an official statement filled with false truths or innuendos.

Having said that, management wished to address today one false piece of information that has been included in many of the news stories released so far. Under no circumstances was there a fight of any kind involved. This incident deals with a fan that three times during the concert jumped the barricade and rushed Randy during the performance. It is alleged that the third time, security was not able to reach him and that Randy pushed him back into the audience where supposedly he fell and hit his head.

Again, until the investigation is concluded this weekend, nothing more will be released, but clarity and the facts needed to be addressed on this one reported point which is totally inaccurate.

Continue reading "Lamb of God's Randy Blythe charged with manslaughter in connection with a fan's death in Prague"

Metallica, who will be performing the Black Album and Ride the Lightning (but not Master of Puppies) at their own Orion Festival in Atlantic City which is coming up soon (tickets are still on sale), recorded a PSA for the Virginia State Police, that you can watch below...

Continue reading "Metallica issue public service announcement"

Esme Barrera, well known the Austin music scene, was tragically murdered on New Year's Eve/Day in her Austin home. Tributes and benefit announcements are quickly increasing in number online including tweets by the likes of Ted Leo, Okkervil River, Ringo Deathstarr, YACHT, and Centro-Matic. Even Matador's Gerard Cosloy wrote a blog post about her...

"There's not a shred of hyperbole in my voice when I tell you such a party would've been sorely lacking without Esme's presence. As will all future parties, because in the early hours of Sunday morning, she was killed just blocks away from the venue where she and so many others who loved her to bits were ringing the new year."

Rest in Peace Esme.

News video below...

Continue reading "Slim Dunkin killed over a piece of candy?"

Police are still looking for answers in the shooting of a Brooklyn drummer who was found dead in his apartment Friday.

Troy Young, 29, was found in his basement apartment on Fourth Street in Carroll Gardens Friday with a gunshot wound to his head.

By Saturday, police said that Troy was shot in the left shoulder and that the bullet passed through his heart.

The door to the apartment was unlocked and nothing appeared to have been stolen, police said.

Young was the drummer in the Brooklyn band "Curious Mishap."

"Troy was very hard working, he went to New York to 'go where the big time is,' " said his grieving father Ed told the New York Post. [NBC]

"After about 30 hours of deliberation, a jury on Monday convicted music producer Phil Spector of second-degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson more than six years ago.

Wearing a black suit with a red tie and pocket square, Spector showed no reaction as the verdict was announced. Now 69, he faces a sentence of 18 years to life in prison when he is sentenced May 29.

Asked if he agreed to the sentencing date, Spector quietly answered, "Yes."

Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler declined to allow Spector to remain free on bail pending sentencing, citing Spector's years-long "pattern of violence" involving firearms." [CNN]