11.30.09
NEW YORK – "Michael Jackson's This Is It," a film about the King of Pop's final rehearsals before his death, will be released on DVD on Jan. 26, 2010.
The DVD release was announced Monday by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
"This Is It" captures Jackson's final performances as he rehearsed for his concerts in London. He died June 25, just weeks before his marathon of 50 concerts was to begin.
11.30.09
By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang, Ap Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES – Allison Iraheta has come a long way since her awkward first interview with Ryan Seacrest.
The spunky 17-year-old singer, who stuttered and stammered when the "American Idol" host prodded her about school at the beginning of the eighth season, went on to win rave reviews from the judges throughout the competition, standing out early on with a rendition of Heart's "Alone" and leaving a lasting impression with her take on Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby."
11.30.09
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby, will host music stars including Bon Jovi and Kenny Chesney during a three-day festival that officials hope can boost the track's income.
Officials said Monday that the festival will feature more than 65 bands playing everything from classic rock to country to bluegrass.
Officials with Churchill Downs Inc., the race track's parent company, says the festival is called "HullabaLOU" and is set for July 23-25. Five stages will be set up throughout the sprawling 147-acre facility. If it's successful, it could become an annual event.
11.30.09
By NATALIE ROTMAN, Associated Press Writer Natalie Rotman, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES – Tom Petty has grown up, but not too much.
The 59-year-old spent a year going through thousands of hours of live concert recordings covering Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' tours across three decades.
The result is "The Live Anthology" — not a greatest hits album, but a multiple-disc set. There are no overdubs, and the notorious perfectionist can now see why his hard-driven mates were "a good little rock 'n' roll band."
11.30.09
FRANKFURT – York Hoeller, a German composer who spent five years composing his orchestral work "Sphaeren," received the 2010 Grawemeyer Award for music composition.
Hoeller composed the piece — "Spheres" in English — from 2001-2006.
Marc Satterwhite, a University of Louisville music professor who directs the award, called it "magnificently scored, using a large orchestra to generate colors ranging from the most delicate to the most overwhelming. (It) grips you viscerally from the first bars and never lets up."
11.30.09
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria will investigate musicians for possible tax evasion as part of a drive to curb rampant fraud and raise budget revenues at a time of recession, the national revenue agency said on Monday.
The Balkan country's new center-right government, which won July elections on promises to tame corruption and crime, has launched similar checks on owners of luxury Bentley cars and football club owners.
11.30.09
By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer Jennifer Quinn, Associated Press Writer
LONDON – In the contest, she finished second. But on the charts, she's number one.
Susan Boyle's debut record, "I Dreamed A Dream," entered the British album chart in the top spot Sunday. The 48-year-old Scottish songstress famously finished second on "Britain's Got Talent," but the variety show launched a career that has seen her win success on both sides of the Atlantic.
According to the Official Charts Company, which tracks music sales in Britain, the more than 410,000 copies of "I Dreamed a Dream" sold since its release Nov. 23 make it the fastest selling album so far this year, and are the largest first-week sales for a debut album in U.K. chart history.
11.28.09
by Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA – Al Alberts, a founding member of the singing group, The Four Aces, and a longtime TV talent show host in Philadelphia, has died. He was 87.
Chris Alberts says his father died Friday at home in Arcadia, Fla. He says the apparent cause of death was complications from kidney failure.
11.28.09
By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer Frazier Moore, Ap Television Writer
NEW YORK – ABC says Chris Brown will appear on its "20/20" newsmagazine Dec. 11.
In what's billed as an in-depth interview, the singer will discuss his assault of ex-girlfriend and recording superstar Rihanna in February. He is on probation for the beating.
Robin Roberts, anchor of ABC's "Good Morning America," conducts the interview. It was taped last weekend.
11.28.09
By Craig McLean Craig Mclean
REUTERS
LONDON (Billboard) – Violence and theft. Not words one would normally associate with Leona Lewis, the squeaky-clean winner of "The X Factor," who went on to stunning worldwide success with her debut album, "Spirit."
Nor, one imagines, exactly how Clive Davis, Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment envisaged the comeback push for the British singer.