Music News Blog

The years of drug abuse, alcoholism and bat-chewing - not to mention the 2003 quad-bike accident that almost cost him his life - have clearly taken their toll on Ozzy Osbourne: the figure on stage in his home town, the heartland of heavy metal, was a pale and rather pathetic shadow of the man who used to be the charismatic frontman of the world's most awesome heavy metal band, Black Sabbath.

Once upon a time, Osbourne used to channel the ferocity of his band's dark riffery like a maestro of malevolence; here, he had about as much charisma as Timmy Mallett, and walked the stage with the shuffling gait, familiar to viewers of The Osbournes, of someone who has lost a great many neurons.

"Are you ready to go crazy? Come on then, let's go crazy," he yelled at the crowd at the start of the Birmingham leg of his world tour. The crowd went a little bit wild for a while, but although Osbourne kept shouting at us, with increasing desperation, to "go f***ing crazy", there wasn't a lot to go crazy about.

Eve was arrested back in April after she was apprehended after her gold Maserati hit a road center divider which caused damage to her car.

In a court room last Thursday, the singer/actress pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of drunk driving where her alcohol blood level was recorded at an amount above 0.08 percent.

As her punishment she was ordered to wear a SCRAM alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet for 45 days.

She was also order to enroll and attend a three month first offender alcohol education program, attend at least ten Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Her probation will last for about 36 month where she will have a set of laws she must follow but does not have to report to a parole officer.

Not that she has enough as a punishment as a first time offender but of course she had to be fine as well at an amount of $1,400.

The performer, whose full name is Eve Jihan Jeffers, was not injured during the April accident, in which she drove her car into a center divider on Hollywood Boulevard at 2:40 a.m.

At the scene police officers administered a Breathalyzer test and then took her into custody and booked her on suspicion of driving under the influence.

A hearing has been set for later this month as a followup, at which time Eve's lawyer must prove that the rapper has enrolled in an alcohol-education program and is still wearing the monitor anklet.

If she fails to complete any of the tasks she was ordered she may face jail time.

Our Thoughts
Seemingly this may seem too much of a punishment for a celebrity, but the judge treated the case like another other normal DUI case and dealt with it accordingly.

VETERAN music group The Bats will present a lively show at the Vodacom Amphitheatre at The Boardwalk on Sunday.

The Bats' brand new two-hour "loudly South African" show promises to take audiences on a taxi ride from the Cape to the Townships, from the 1950s to the present and guarantees laughter and hair-raising moments. Originally formed in 1964, The Bats became South Africa's answer to The Beatles.

Some of the members of this legendary group are still well-known in South Africa's entertainment circles.

Popular South African comedian and actor Eddie Eckstein is the band's drummer and provides vocals, while guitarist, vocalist, keyboard and bass player Paul Ditchfield, recently acted in the remake of The Flight of the Phoenix. The other two band members are guitarist Pete Clifford and newcomer Derek Gordon. In the early 1970s, the band won a Sarie Award for their single, Who's that Girl.

In the 1980s, The Bats released a number of hit singles such as In a Shabby Little Hut and Vat hom Dawie.

Duran Duran have parted ways with guitarist Andy Taylor.

The band are currently touring the US, and a session guitarist is set to replace Taylor on remaining dates.

A statement from the remaining four reads: "We know that there has been a tremendous amount of speculation over the past few weeks regarding Andy Taylor's continued involvement with the band and we are sorry that we've been unable to provide you with more information until now. The past five years have been an incredible journey for us all - and having the original five back together was something that we had wanted to see happen for some time.

"As of last weekend, however, the four of us have dissolved our partnership and will be continuing as Duran Duran without Andy, as we have reached a point in our relationship with him where there is an unworkable gulf between us and we can no longer effectively function together.

"Although obviously disappointed and saddened about this, we are excited about the next chapter of the Duran Duran story and look forward to seeing you all soon."

Evanescence starts a second week at the helm of European Top 100 Albums with "The Open Door" (Wind-Up). Although it loses its chart-topping berths in Germany and Switzerland, falling to No. 2 in those markets, the album adds a No. 1 debut in Greece and a No. 2 entry in Sweden, holds at No. 2 in Italy and Holland and climbs 4-2 in Portugal. The single “Call Me When You’re Sober” dips 10-16 on Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.

Scissor Sisters’ former pan-European No. 1 album “Ta-Dah” (Polydor) moves back 3-2 overall after making that same move in the United Kingdom, where it’s already double platinum for 600,000 shipments. The set also rises 11-5 in Greece. The band completes its American dates on Sunday in Boston before beginning a new U.K. tour Oct. 30 in Manchester. The single “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” tops the Eurochart for a third week, holding at No. 1 in Norway and Austria. The track also climbs 6-3 in Sweden and 12-5 in Italy.

Pop star Michael Jackson and his former wife Debbie Rowe have reached a settlement in their long-running child custody dispute, her lawyer said on Friday.

Attorney Marta Almli, who represents Rowe, did not disclose the terms of the agreement, which she said must be signed by a judge in the coming weeks. The judge's approval was expected to be a formality.

Almli said the agreement also settles a lawsuit Jackson filed against Rowe in 2004 claiming that she violated a confidentiality agreement.

"There is a settlement of all of the disputes between the parties," Almli said. "It's a done deal."

Jackson's attorney, Michael Abrams, confirmed that the agreement had been reached. He said Jackson was not in Los Angeles but had approved the deal.

"He wasn't in L.A. when we resolved it but that didn't prevent us from talking about it with him and having him sign it," Abrams said.

Jackson and Rowe, who met while she was working for his dermatologist, were married in 1996 and had two children, Michael Jr. and Paris, before splitting in 1999. The couple never lived together.

Jackson has since had another son but has not disclosed the name of the boy's mother.

In 2001, Rowe gave up her parental rights but filed for custody after Jackson's 2003 arrest on child molestation charges, citing in part his association with the Nation of Islam.

Prosecutors called Rowe as a witness in Jackson's trial last year, but she testified about Jackson in glowing terms. Jackson was acquitted of all charges in June of 2005.

Notorious UK guerrilla artist Banksy has sabotaged 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s debut CD.

The graffiti/stencil artist and agitator Banksy has replaced five hundred copies of Paris Hilton’s debut album with a “remixed” version in stores across the UK. The album looks virtually identical but track titles have been replaced with ‘Why am I Famous?’, ‘What Have I Done?’ and ‘What Am I For?’ and inner sleeve art has been doctored. The music was also remixed by “DM”, some suggesting it’s Gnarls Barkley beatmaster Danger Mouse.

The barcode was retained, so the new versions have sold as normal. Many retailers have been hunting for the doctored copies but copies are currently attracted bids up to US$700 on eBay.

Banksy has a long history of stunts, recalling a Situationist ethic of detournement. He surreptitiously included his own artwork on the walls of the Tate Britain gallery, MoMA, the British Museum and more. He’s scrawled slogans inside animal enclosures in two British zoos. He also painted trompe l’oeil style images representing holes and ladders on the Palestinian side of the Israeli West Bank wall.

He has previous musical connections; he painted the cover of Blur’s ‘Thinktank’ album and Green Day’s Tres Cool reportedly has two tattoos of Banksy’s designs.

The identity of the dentist who first introduced THE BEATLES to LSD has finally been revealed in a new book about the band. THE FAB FOUR: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE BEATLES by STEVE TURNER claims the man referred to by the late GEORGE HARRISON as "the wicked dentist", was JOHN RILEY, a distinguished professional with a practice in London's Harley Street. Riley's identity has been shrouded since that fateful occurrence in 1965, but now, 20 years after his death, Turner has decided to life the lid on the sneaky dentist, who spiked the stars' coffees with the drug when they went to dinner with him. JOHN LENNON's first wife CYNTHIA reportedly has still not forgiven him. An insider says, "The book is significant as drugs went on to have a big effect on the band. "When you go for dinner with your dentist, you don't imagine a professional man would do something like that."

'I got a mean idea, so look for it,' JD says about planned duet on Jackson's 20 Years Old.
Earlier this month, Jermaine Dupri demonstrated he's a true showman by bringing out Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson during his set at the Summer Jam radio festival in New Jersey. Now, Dupri is thinking about how to pull the ultimate trump card and get the two legends on the same song.

In April, Carey hinted that she was very open to the collaboration (see "Mariah Down To Work With Janet; Eve's Loss Is Busta's Gain"). "He never talked to me about that, but if Jermaine has a concept, we should go and write something," she told MTV Radio. "I love Janet. I've been a big fan of Janet since 'Con-tro-ol!' "

On Friday, JD said he is, in fact, developing an idea for Carey and his longtime girlfriend to do it up right on a song.

"It's gonna happen on this record," he said about the collaboration. "Please believe that. I got a mean idea, so look for it. We definitely gonna do a repackage on [Janet's 20 Years Old] once it comes out. Hopefully it's successful and people buy into it, then I'm going back in the studio.

it's been a long wait since the last show in February, but the African hip hop radio deejays are back to broadcast their all-new tunes, news and interviews straight to your pc. This month's show features a number of very special guests including Professor Jay (Tanzania) live in the studio with Drew & J4 and an interview with Somali-Canadian emcee K'naan. Then we have the full recording of our African hip hop discussion at Black Soil film festival (Amsterdam) last year with Das Primeiro (Angola), Don Klemente & Guderian (Congo) and Liberian-American filmmaker Dante Kaba. Our Egyptian cornerstone Karim is back with a new co-host, dj Sphinx, and Mustafa Maluka mixes tracks from Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Joburg. The next show is already finished and will be up in the next few weeks and will feature interviews with Saian Supa Crew (France/west Africa), Emmanuel Jal (Sudan/Kenya), Nameless (Kenya), Writers Block and Jitsvinger (South Africa)...