Fuse

« April 2009  | Main  | June 2009 »

---

U2 Make Surprise Club Appearance In London Last Night

Posted on May 29, 2009 at 10:11 AM

Since 1987, U2 have known nothing but arenas and stadiums. Of course, this is fine; their soaring, anthemic sound is meant for large spaces. But can you imagine what it'd be like to see them in smaller place? A 1500 cap place, for example?

It's happened before—the band played New York's relatively tiny Irving Plaza before the release of How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, and have done similar "secret" shows elsewhere. But when it's a surprise, as it was last night, it's certainly special.

As it was last night, when U2 took to the stage of London's Shepherd's Bush Empire during the encore of Island Records artist Baaba Maal, who was performing as part of Island 50, a weeklong celebration of Island Records. U2, of course, were for years Island's best known, and best selling, artist. Maal and U2 performed an acoustic version of "One" before the show ended with "Vertigo."

And in other U2 news, their manager Paul McGuinness was interviewed in CNET this week, where he continued his campaign against internet piracy. What does he think of paradigm shifters like Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead?

"I admire what Radiohead have done tremendously in seeking a new model. They would take the view, and I would share it, that perhaps price has been a big problem for the music business. The music business has tried to hold onto a price that was unrealistic for a long time now. I think wider distribution of lower priced things is probably the future."

- Conrad Doucette

Tagged as: Music

Read Comments (0)  | Add Comment  | Permalink

Add to:

---

Rihanna To Testify Against Chris Brown

Posted on May 29, 2009 at 08:38 AM

It's the alleged crime of the century of the year: Chris Brown, charged with assault and making criminal threats, both felonies. The alleged victim, Rihanna, has kept a low profile since the Grammy's eve attack, but according to her lawyer, Donald Etro, she plans to cooperate with the district attorney, and will take the stand against her former boyfriend at Brown's preliminary hearing.

It's certainly not good news for Brown, and neither was the other pertinent news from the day: the judge rejected a motion from Brown's lawyers to release police records regarding the leaked photos of a beaten Rihanna, an episode that Brown's team is hoping exposes police misconduct.

It all goes down on June 22nd - mark your legal pads! And of course, if you'd like to see more—a lot more—of Rihanna, look no further than Kanye West's new video.

- Conrad Doucette

Read Comments (0)  | Add Comment  | Permalink

Add to:

---

Today's Bonnaroo Password Is...

Posted on May 28, 2009 at 12:00 PM

Superfly. Today's Bonnaroo password is superfly. Go here and enter for a chance to win tickets to Bonnaroo. And remember to text bonn to 38736 for alerts, news, offers and more!

Read Comments (0)  | Add Comment  | Permalink

Add to:

---

Cadence Weapon, Your New Poet Laureate (If You're From Edmonton)

Posted on May 28, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Edmonton, Alberta may be far away, it may suffer brutal prairie winters, and it may be looked down upon by its more upscale, down-province neighbo(u)r Calgary, but the city's got cred, dude, and for proof of that, look no further than its newly named poet laureate: Rollie Pemberton, better known as Cadence Weapon.

Putting aside the fact that any city that recognizes a poet laureate is likely a sight more cool than wherever you happen to be, it's a stunningly progressive move, given that Pemberton is a 23 year-old rapper. He's also a poet (in addition to being a lyricist) and writer; in fact, Pemberton is a former contributor to Pitchfork. And did you know that his grandfather Rollie Miles played for the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos? Not entirely relevant, but completely cool.

Pemberton takes over from previous poet laureate E.D. Blodgett, a 74 year-old poet with over nineteen published collections to his name. How does he feel about a rapper taking over the (admittedly limited) duties of poet laureate? According to The Globe and Mail, Blodgett "didn't think that this was how a poet laureate was to be defined." Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel, however, is ecstatic:

“This guy will bring poetry to a whole new audience, and challenge the rest of us on our conventional perception of what it means to be a poet. I sometimes hear that young people aren't ‘into' poetry, but Roland, as a musician or hip hop artist, will show them they really are into the art form – they just didn't know it.”

- Conrad Doucette

Tagged as: Music

Read Comments (0)  | Add Comment  | Permalink

Add to:

---

Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan Enjoying Recovery, The Silence

Posted on May 28, 2009 at 10:50 AM

Depeche Mode, and their fans, have lately had a rough go of it; concert cancellations have led to disappointed concertgoers and have fueled rumors that singer and recovering addict David Gahan may have had a relapse.

Not so, according to a post on DM's official site, which reveals that not only did Gahan have a severe case of gastroenteritus, as the band originally stated, but also that Gahan had a low-grade malignant tumor in his bladder, which has since been successfully removed. Gahan is currently, on doctor's orders, taking a break to rest and recover. The band plan to continue their "Tour Of The Universe" in Leipzig, Germany on June 8th. The tour will take them across Europe through July 12, after which their they'll fly their synths across the Atlantic for a six week North American trek beginning July 24 in Toronto, and then it's off to South America, and then back to Europe. Phew. [via Billboard]

- Conrad Doucette

Tagged as: Music

Read Comments (0)  | Add Comment  | Permalink

Add to:

---

« April 2009  | Main  | June 2009 »