Chrisette Michele cranked her way to her first #1 album on the Billboard 200 with Epiphany, debuting at 83,000 sold. She edges out the seventh week of the Hannah Montana: the Movie soundtrack by less than 1,000 copies, followed on hot heels by the arrival of Ciara's third album Fantasy Ride at #3 with just under 81,000.
All three albums will be batted aside like the forgettable pop culture nuggets that they are, however, when this week's Nielsen SoundScans are added up, being that both Eminem's Relapse and Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown, easily two of the most anticipated albums of the year, have been released since the last tally.
All signs point to a new #1 album at the top of the Billboard 200 chart this week for Green Day, whose 21st Century Breakdown we reviewed here.
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke cares about the planet. He thinks you should care about the planet too. He wants you to show it by signing this stop global warming petition, if you believe in all that red-hot mumbo jumbo.
Personally, the thought of permanent summertime is just about as awesome as a thought can get. I won’t be talked out of my weekly aerosol parties. Besides, polar bears eat people. Do you want a polar bear to eat you? I don’t, so I’m not signing shit. But Thom thinks you should. In a post on Radiohead’s official site, he explains:
an online petition with over a million names.. including President Obama.
currently there is talk of a climate change bill in the US similair to the one we have passed in the UK.
thats a BIG deal.
but i have been reading how the oil industry is investing millions of dollars in a PR campaign against it!
how utterly dumbass is that? how do these people look their children in the eye?
i have now stepped down from todays soapbox. byebye
Thom
In between missions to save the world, Radiohead has also begun work on a new album.
Marilyn Manson had some choice words for former touring guitarist Wes Borland’s decision to return to Limp Bizkit in a new Kerrang! interview, saying, “If the reason is money, then I’d rather roll up a $5 note and shove it up my urethra.” According to Blabbermouth, Borland responded that he wrote songs for Manson that were rejected, and didn’t want to be a hired gun: “It’s the Marilyn Manson show over there — Limp Bizkit is more of a band.”
Fair enough, but it aint as if only those two bands exist. The simple fact is that dude's got bills to pay, and the art isn't worth the struggle for him. End of story.
Blink-182 is back together. If you care, the aging idiot jock clowns will be on Leno both Monday and Tuesday. Tour dates have also been announced with Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, All-American Rejects, Taking Back Sunday, Asher Roth, and Chester French. Sounds like a real winning lineup there, kids. Make sure to get your tickets early.
A woman named Alison McDaniel filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin Timberlake and three of his business partners last week, claiming that during her time as a manager in Timberlakes New York City restaurant, she was locked in a room with two male managers as they watched porn and laughed at her when she started to cry. Strange, what some call a day at the office (we're not pointing fingers, of course), some call a litigation goldmine.
McDaniel claims Timberlake business partners Eytan Sugarman and Ronnie Kaplan are guilty of “vile and discriminatory conduct.” McDaniel, 29, said her job as general manager became an X-rated nightmare in which she was spit on, sworn and subjected to - >gasp!< pornography.
“In at least one instance, defendants Sugarman and Kaplan viewed … pornography while in a locked room with McDaniel and made fun of her when she began crying,” the suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court claims.
McDaniel, who worked at the Second Ave. restaurant for a year, was fired after she wrote a memo complaining of the harassment, the suit claims.
Do you like Fall Out Boy? I'm not judging, but if you're looking for singer Patrick Stump's in-studio renditions of a Prince jam and songs from the bands new album, you'll have to head over to RollingStone. The rest of us can read on in peace.
We don’t make a habit of covering late-night talk shows, but the hugely-anticipated June 1st premiere of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien just got a whole lot cooler: Pearl Jam will be the show’s very first musical guest.
Pearl Jam is expected to play material from their yet-untitled ninth studio album, which is currently getting the finishing touches and is expected later this year. The band has held a near-exclusive loyalty to David Letterman for several years when playing the late-night talk show circuit, partially due to Dave’s authority-bucking tendencies and genuine love of the band.
Tom Waits has donated one of his rare photos — signed, framed and truly one-of-a-kind — from his “Oil Stain” series to a charity auction that will go to benefit the tuition assistance program at Summerfield School. And "Oil Stain" is a particularly fitting title for the piece, which I think my car actually made in the parking lot yesterday.
More about the school: “Summerfield stands behind its deeply-rooted commitment to the children of the school, and we celebrate our economically diverse student population. Now, more than ever, Summerfield needs your support to continue this essential program.”
Jack White will join country music stars Emmylou Harris and Kix Brooks as advisors to Nashville's mayor. The three have joined the 46-member Music Business Council, which the mayor says will help protect Nashville's brand name as "Music City."
"There are a lot of good people in this community, with lots of good ideas," Harris said in the Sunday edition of The Tennessean. "I'm just saying to the mayor, 'Put me in, coach.'"
The panel is expected to advise on initiatives including the construction of a downtown amphitheater, the expansion of the CMA Music Festival, the creation of a new, non-country festival and the enhancement of music education.
The council is further acknowledgment of the extent to which Nashville's cultural and fiscal health is inextricably tied to the music that is made here. A 2006 study commissioned by Belmont University and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce showed the music industry has a $6.38 billion impact on Nashville's economy, roughly 20,000 jobs are directly tied to music production and 15,000 jobs are linked to music-related tourism.
