Backstage Pass

For some reason, Amy Winehouse just can't let herself have a good week. After making history by landing two nominations in the top Ivor Novello category, she reportedly went out and headbutted a guy who helped her hail a cab and punched another guy. She was arrested on suspicion of assault today, but has not been charged.

Amy Winehouse arrested over assault claim [Telegraph]

Will the Ukraine girls really knock him out? (Ooh-woo-ooh-ooh)
Paul McCartney will play a free concert at Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on June 14 that will also be broadcasted live on Novy TV, which means plenty of coverage on YouTube for all of us.
"We're going to have to a great evening and we hope to see you there," McCartney said in a statement. "So come along, its going to be great evening hopefully for the Ukraine. Pull together, groove, rock and roll all together."
Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist saw it in broader terms.
"One could not imagine this 30 years agon" he said in a statement. "Nobody could even dare to hope for this 20 years ago. One could only dream about it 10 years ago. 5 years ago we could only envy our neighbours for whom this became a reality. And finally the day has come. For the first time we have the opportunity to hear the songs that changed the world and created a new culture. The songs that we grew up with and became who we are."

Amy Winehouse became the first artist ever to land two nominations in the best song, lyrically and musically, category of the Ivor Novello songwriting awards, for "Love Is a Losing Game" and "You Know I'm No Good."

She's up against "Let Me Out" by Ben's Brother in that category. Her song "Rehab" is  nominated in the best-selling British song category, against Mika's "Grace Kelly" and Beyonce and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar."

The awards will be announced in London on May 22.

Winehouse gets three Ivor Novello nominations [Reuters] 

For the first time in 17 years, the original Jane's Addiction lineup -- drummer Stephen Perkins, singer Perry Farrell, bassist Eric Avery and guitarist Dave Navarro (above) -- will play together again, celebrating receiving NME's "Godlike Genius Award" on April 23.

Avery, who released his latest solo album "Help Wanted" (Dangerbird) last week, has been the holdout for years, not participating in previous Jane's Addiction tours or the 2003 album "Strays." However, he thought the NME award, which has previously gone to the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, New Order and The Clash, was different.

"I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around," Avery said in a statement. "The reason I started to even consider this is because it's honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it."

PHOTO: Jane's Addiction for Warner Bros. 

Kellie Pickler picked up three "Buckles" at the CMT Music Awards last night, including breakthrough video and performance for "I Wonder." Her emotional performance of the song at last year's CMA Awards also won the Tearjerker Award.

Taylor Swift's "Our Song" won Video of the Year and Top Female, while Trace Adkins won Top Male. Sugarland won Top Group and Brad Paisley's "Online" was Best Comedy Video.

The entire show, hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus, is streaming here.

Kellie Pickler, "I Wonder" (Live at 2007 CMA)

Mariah Carey debuted her new single "Bye Bye" on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" today, ensuring a huge opening for it when it goes on sale at iTunes tomorrow along with the rest of her "E=MC2" album. (As Oprah repeated often "E=MC2" is Carey shorthand for "Emancipation equals Mariah Carey to a higher power.")

Carey also explained how the song is, in part, about the loss of her father, Alfred Roy Carey, though the song's theme is about dealing with any sort of loss.

Much of Carey's "Oprah" appearance was dedicated to her recent weight loss, though she did take time out to show off the lingerie closet in her Manhattan apartment, where her undergarments are organized by color.

And she also addressed her recent honor, becoming the solo artist with the most No. 1 singles in the modern music era, passing Elvis Presley when "Touch My Body" became her 18th chart-topper. "I didn't do this," she said of the honor. "This is not me. It’s the grace of God. I also have to thank the fans."

PHOTO: Island Def Jam

FULL REVIEW: On 'E=MC2," Mariah Carey has no equal [Newsday]
 

File this under: Wha?

So Jermaine Dupri, through Island Def Jam, has launched a new label with TAG. Yes, the body spray people. Why?

"To provide new artists with a chance of a lifetime" and "to make history in hip-hop," Dupri says in a statement, adding that artists on TAG Records will receive ten times the typical marketing support. Um, OK.

This partnership will help the Procter & Gamble subsidiary break into the urban market and it will give new artists a bigger marketing budget. But if this label was really for serious stars, wouldn't the label happily give them more marketing money knowing it would generate more sales and profits for them without giving the body-spray people a cut?

I guess we'll find out when the label announces its first signing next month.

Well, at least it's staying in the rock and roll family. The CBGB Gallery space on the Bowery, next to the legendary punk club, will soon be another Morrison Hotel Gallery space, in addition to the rock photography galleries already in SoHo, L.A. and La Jolla.

The first show is set to be "Rockers," an installation from rock photog Bob Gruen, including shots from the heyday of CBGB and Max's Kansas City. Part of the exhibit, which will open April 24, will transform the gallery's main space into a teenager's bedroom.

CBGB, which was the epicenter of the New York punk scene in the '70s, and its gallery next door, closed in 2006 after a lengthy lease dispute with its landlord.

ABOVE: Artist rendering of the new Morrison Hotel Gallery storefront. 

Release dates? Who needs 'em?

Gnarls Barkley announced yesterday that they would move up the release of their new album "The Odd Couple" from April 8 to, well, today. The album is already on sale at iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon for download and will be in stores this week.

Why the move? According to a band spokesman, "With the shifting seasons, furtive romantic entanglements and fierce college basketball rivalries, the latter half of March can be confusing. People need to be soothed and inspired now."

Hmm. Well at least Gnarls Barkley has the hot single "Run" to drive interest in the album.

Last night, the Raconteurs announced that they finished a new album, "Consolers of the Lonely," earlier this month and it is coming out in all formats on March 25. The first single is "Salute Your Solution" and the video for it comes out -- you guessed it -- on March 25.

What does it sound like? Good question, but no one knows. The band isn't doing any press or giving anyone an early listen to the album. "We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter," the band said in a statement. "The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by its first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it."

It's an interesting bit of logic there from Jack White and Brendan Benson because unless all the Raconteurs' fans all run out and buy it in the first week, which they say is not a priority, wouldn't reviews and promotion end up "defining" the album anyway? (I, for one, don't think critics "define" any album for anyone ever, since music fans are smart enough to make up their own minds. But maybe I should just graciously accept the Raconteurs' hype of my profession's power.)

In the movie world, when companies refuse to allow critics into a movie beforehand, it's usually a sure sign that it's terrible. But given White and Benson's track records, that isn't necessarily the case. We'll all just have to wait and see together.

PHOTO: Gnarls Barkley by Jeremy and Claire Weiss for Atlantic 

     In chaos, there is opportunity. And yes, cynics, that even applies to the free-fallin’-sales chaos of today’s music industry.
    Just ask Trent Reznor.
    The Nine Inch Nails mastermind racked up $1.6 million last week from his "Ghosts I-IV" project -- including $750,000 when he sold out 2,500 copies of his “Ghosts I-IV” project at $300 apiece through his website. All in all, more than 780,000 copies of "Ghosts" – four albums of instrumentals that range from rockish to experimental – were distributed or ordered. Depending on their interest, fans could get nine tracks for free, get them all for a $5 download, a $10 double CD and a $75 deluxe package that provides a Blu-ray disc high-quality version and all the songs in multi-track format to be remixed to their hearts’ content.
     Radiohead was smart to release its “In Rainbows” album in the groundbreaking, pay-what-you-will model as well as the high-priced super-deluxe versions. But “In Rainbows” was a commercially viable album from one of music’s top bands that would have been a hit no matter what way it came out.
    But Reznor’s project is nothing short of brilliant. Four albums of instrumentals, even from a known hitmaker like Nine Inch Nails, would never have found a big audience in the traditional music industry release system. What Reznor has done may end up being the turning point for artists who want to follow their muse wherever it takes them and still get compensated for the journey.
    And they don’t necessarily have to handle the whole thing themselves. Though Reznor did set up sales through his nin.com website, he also used the artist-friendly service TuneCore – which allows any artist to sell their music on iTunes, Rhapsody, or, in Nine Inch Nails’ case, Amazon.com, for a flat fee – to take the songs to a broader audience.

PHOTO: nin.com 

That L.A. Reid is a crafty guy. When Janet Jackson went down with the flu on Tuesday, forcing her to back out of this week's "Saturday Night Live," he replaced her quickly with Island Def Jam's other diva, Mariah Carey.

The switch keeps one of TV’s prime music performance spots in the Island Def Jam family, as the label gets ready to release “E=MC2,” the follow-up to Carey’s multi-platinum comeback “The Emancipation of Mimi,” on April 15. Carey is expected to perform the album’s first single “Touch My Body,” already rapidly climbing the charts, and another new track.

Jackson’s exit will unfortunately hurt sales of her “Discipline” album, which falls from No. 1 to No. 3 this week after a 68 percent sales decline, even as her single “Feedback” breaks into the Top 20 for the first time.

Public Enemy will headline the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago on July 18 at Chicago's Union Park, celebrating the 20th anniversary of "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" by playing it in its entirety.

Also set for the three-day festival, which runs through July 20: Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective and Dizzee Rascal on Day Two and M. Ward and Spiritualized on Day Three.

Tickets are $30 for each day and $65 for the whole festival. They go on sale at 1 p.m. Wednesday. 

From the too-crazy-to-be-made-up file:

Mick Jagger was the target of an assassination attempt on Long Island in 1969, as the Hells Angels launched an amphibious assault on Jagger’s Hamptons home, a former FBI agent tells the BBC in a new documentary airing today.

The motorcycle gang was apparently seeking revenge for Jagger’s stance banning them from doing security for the Rolling Stones after the death of a fan at the band’s infamous Altamont concert.

To avoid Jagger’s security detail, members of the gang planned to attack him by taking a boat and sneaking onto his property from the ocean. However, a storm threw them all overboard and they abandoned the plan, according to the documentary.

The would-be attackers survived, but no word on whether they received an emotional rescue. Haha ah haha ah haha ha.

Hells Angels plotted to kill Mick Jagger [Telegraph] 

PHOTO: Rollingstones.com 

Janet Jackson will be all over Times Square all day tomorrow, rolling out her new "Discipline" album. And all the events will be open to the public if you do some preparation tonight.

She will do a concert at the Nokia Theatre at Times Square, 1515 Broadway, with appearances starting around 7 a.m. To get tickets to that, you need to buy "Discipline" at the Virgn Megastore in Times Square at tonight's midnight sale.

Jackson will be on "TRL" at 3 p.m. and, as every MTV fan knows, you may be able to get a peek at her if you line up outside 1515 Broadway and scream a lot.

And she will wrap up her day with an appearance at Best Buy, 529 5th Ave., at 6 p.m. if you buy "Discipline" at that store's midnight sale tonight.

Nearly three years after their 2005 major-label debut "Plans" for Atlantic Records, Death Cab For Cutie will release "Narrow Stairs" on May 13. The first single will be "I Will Possess Your Heart," an eight-minute track with a lengthy instrumental prelude.

That may not sound like a recipe for success, but "Plans" sold an unexpected 90,000 copies in its first week to debut at No. 4 on the Billboard chart.

Produced by guitarist Chris Walla, who also produced "Plans," the new disc features a mix of upbeat rockers ("No Sunlight," "Long Division") and more pensive numbers like "3 Days" and the voice-and-guitar finale "The Ice is Getting Thinner," according to a report in Billboard.

Here's the full tracklist, announced on Death Cab's Website:

1.    Bixby Canyon Bridge
2.    I Will Possess Your Heart
3.    No Sunlight
4.    Cath…
5.    Talking Bird
6.    You Can Do Better Than Me
7.    Grapevine Fires
8.    Your New Twin Sized Bed
9.    Long Division
10.  Pity and Fear
11.  The Ice Is Getting Thinner

An eight-date West Coast tour, including a stop at Coachella on Apr. 26, begins in Bremerton, Wash. on Apr. 18. No other dates have yet been announced.

PHOTO: Ryan Russell, DeathCabForCutie.com. 

Mariah Carey's new single "Touch My Body" hits radio tonight and it's nice to have her doing what she does best. “Touch My Body” (Island Def Jam) is in that “We Belong Together” sweet spot, a midtempo R&B ballad that lets MC show off her vocal abilities, but not too much.

Crafted by Carey, with help from The-Dream and C. “Tricky” Stewart, “Body” has just enough streetwise touches to sound current and just enough balladry to make a bid for timelessness. It’s probably the best opening single she’s had since “Heartbreaker” introduced “Rainbow” in 1999, which is a good sign for her much-anticipated album, now titled "E=MC2" (which is slightly better than the previously rumored "That Chick," I guess) and due in April.

UPDATE: Hear it here

Eagle-eyed reader Paul Berger, a salesman from Nassau County, dropped a bit of knowledge on me, after reading today’s package on the “Thriller” 25th anniversary release. It turns out “P.Y.T.” has a Long Island link. It was inspired by producer Quincy Jones’ wife at the time, Peggy Lipton, the Lawrence native best known for her work in “The Mod Squad.” (Or for you "Office" fans, Rashida Jones' mom.)

James Ingram, who co-wrote “P.Y.T.” with Jones, told Ebony recently, "Quincy's wife Peggy [Lipton] brought home some lingerie called 'Pretty Young Things' and Quincy, being the genius that he is, said that would be a good title." Soon after that, the song was written and Jackson was singing and dancing to it in the studio.

PHOTO: Peggy Lipton in her "Mod Squad" says. 

(If you have your 3-D glasses, the 3-D version is here.)

Missy Elliott, "Ching-a-Ling/Shake It Like a Pom Pom" (2-D Version)

Feist's "The Reminder," featuring the surprise hit "1234," wins this year's Shortlist Prize, as the best album of 2007 that has not yet gone gold.

"It’s modern and classic all at once," said judge Gary Lightbody, of Snow Patrol. "There are so many kinds of beauty in this record."

Feist was chosen out of 10 finalists, over albums from Arcade Fire, Burial, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Spoon, Stars, Wilco and Working for a Nuclear Free City. 

 PHOTO: Feist for Interscope Records.

The death of UGK rapper Pimp C was ruled accidental, caused by a combination of his sleep apnea and the codeine in cough syrup he had taken, according to the Los Angeles County coroner. UGK is up for a best rap song Grammy on Sunday for the standout single "Int'l Players Anthem (I Choose You)."

Cough syrup cited in Pimp C's death [LAT] 

PHOTO: David J. Phillip for Associated Press

The New York Giants will certainly have the edge during the pre-Super Bowl performances, with "American Idol" Jordin Sparks, daughter of former Giants cornerback Phillippi Sparks, singing the National Anthem, and Hell's Kitchen native Alicia Keys playing a few of her hits.

The NFL didn't reveal what Keys would be singing on Sunday, but we can guess she'd be dedicating "Fallin'" to Tom Brady and that she'd be hoping the Giants are thinking of Super Bowl rings as she belts out, "No one can get in the way of what I feel for you."

PHOTO: Jordin Sparks for Jive Records. 

Though it's been in radio limbo for a few weeks, the "World famous" WLIR won't be coming back to 107.1 FM and its groundbreaking new wave/alternative format is, unfortunately, a goner too. Starting Monday, 1050 ESPN New York will take over the 107. 1 FM frequency.

Off-and-on for 26 years or so, WLIR developed a format that focused on new music, introducing countless bands to Long Island long before they made their way to other stations. Its cultural power grew so wide that it has even become part of memoirs and novels. The station also took great pride in supporting the Long Island music scene, playing local bands in regular rotation, alongside the biggest stars of the day to show that there was little if any drop off in quality in music produced here and produced elsewhere.

In recent years, though, WLIR, which moved from its powerful 92.7 FM frequency in 2004 to the new frequency that served only Suffolk County, has struggled to maintain a large enough forward-thinking audience. Like many younger-skewing rock stations around the country, its listeners have moved away from radio to iPods and the Internet to find new music. Though the switch was likely inevitable, it doesn't make WLIR's passing any less sad.

PHOTO: WLIR fave Depeche Mode. Did any other station in America play them as much for as long?

Hot on the heels of EMI's announcement that it was cutting up to a third of its workforce as wall as its promotion budgets, the Rolling Stones plan to take their next album from EMI to Universal.

It could also be a sign that the legendary act may have already recorded its final album for the company. "Shine a Light," the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese documentary filmed at the Beacon Theter in Manhattan in 2006, will be released on Universal in March. (The movie is set for release on April 4.)

The Rolling Stones' contract with EMI ends next month and will be able to negotiate with other companies (or go out on their own) after that. Now, the Stones really haven't been a big seller of recorded music in years and EMI could argue this album won't be a major shift of the company's fortunes in either direction. However, because the band owns its own back catalog, wherever it goes all its previous big hits go with it -- and that could be a big problem for EMI.

Stones sign one-album record deal [BBC] 

 PHOTO: Rollingstones.com

EMI, home to Norah Jones and Coldplay, plans to cut its workforce by more than one-third, consolidating support services and restructuring the company to eliminate up to 2,000 jobs, according to several British newspapers.

The Telegraph is reporting that Guy Hands, whose Terra Firma equity firm bought EMI last year, plans to invest in new talent scouts and supporting new acts, while reducing marketing. The Times is reporting that Hands plans to focus on the fact that half of the company's profits come from its back catalog -- from The Beatles, Rolling Stones, David Bowie and others -- even though that portion of the company employs 4 times fewer than the new music end of the company.

Hopefully, Hands recognizes that those back catalog hits required a great number of marketing and back office people to turn them into the hits that they were and that they have become. If he doesn't, the once-mighty EMI may become a past-obsessed shadow of its former self very quickly.

PHOTO: Norah Jones by Danny Clinch for EMI. 

    Live Nation rolled out its plans to launch its own ticketing business next year in a conference call today, but the most interesting part wasn’t how the company planned to compete with Ticketmaster but how it planned to compete with ticket reseller StubHub.
    Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and its president of ticketing Nathan Hubbard talked about how ticket prices would soon become more like hotel prices or airfares. By moving into the ticket resale market in 2009, Live Nation plans to use more “dynamic pricing” for its tickets, meaning higher prices for sought-after tickets, but also lower prices for less-popular tickets.
    The plan is to “sell through every ticket,” Rapino said, adding that ticket prices could change hourly or daily. The company will apparently look to fill seats at its venues – including Nikon at Jones Beach Theater and North Fork Theatre at Westbury – at lower prices rather than have them go empty and keep the original ticket prices intact.
    The Live Nation system, which will launch after its current agreement with Ticketmaster ends at the end of this year, would also have a leg up on ticket resellers like StubHub because it would be able to immediately reissue tickets to secondary buyers once the initial buyers confirmed that they were selling them. This would eliminate the worries about whether the tickets were counterfeit or not or how the exchange would take place. Through Live Nation, it would all be automatic. How come? Well, they would charge a fee for the sale, natch.
    According to the company, the new ticketing business will add about $25 million in revenues annually, even without the reselling business and sponsorships and other programs it can sell now that it controls ticketing in its venues. If all the new businesses work out, the revenue increases could total up to $50 million.

PHOTO: Madonna's new pals have a new business plan. 

    Aretha Franklin will be honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on Feb. 8 in the run-up to this year's Grammy awards. Among those set to pay tribute: R&B stars John Legend and Robin Thicke, her current duet partner Fantasia, best new artist nominee Ledisi, gospel greats Shirley Caesar and BeBe & CeCe Winans, Backstage Pass fave Lil Mama, as well as Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi as The Blues Brothers.

     Franklin will also perform at the event. When I talked to her in the fall, she told me how much she loved Thicke's hit "Lost Without You" and how she wanted to sing it with him, even though she was a little worried about him feeling like she was stepping on his signature song. Trust me, Miss Franklin, he'd be thrilled to sing it with you. And so would music fans everywhere.

    This year, the MusiCares auction goes online on auctionnetwork.com with items that include a replica of a pink Cadillac from Franklin's "Freeway of Love" video, a saxophone signed by Bill Clinton, a private painting lesson from Tony Bennett, "Stairway to Heaven" sheet music signed by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, and other items from John Lennon, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and others. Proceeds go to the MusiCares Foundation.

    Add R.E.M. to the growing list of veteran rockers turning to the South by Southwest Music Festival to help launch their latest album. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have signed on to play the Austin, Texas, festival, which runs from March 12-16 this year, to help set up the forthcoming “Accelerate” album, due April 1 on Warner Bros. Records.
    “Accelerate,” which features songs that the band hashed out during a concert stint in Dublin last spring, has a rockier edge, aided by production from Jacknife Lee. Singer Michael Stipe told Uncut magazine that the album marks a return to strong communication in the band. “We didn’t talk to each other for a couple of records – as friends or as bandmates,” he said. “And we reached a point before this LP where we sat down at a table and hashed it out.”

PHOTO: Warner Bros. Records 

Paradigm shifts can be so confusing. So Radiohead's "In Rainbows" album is now available in stores and online at iTunes and Amazon.com, after being available on the pay-what-you-want download system months ago and in super-cool boxset form last month. Excellent.

Now here's the weird thing. "In Rainbows" is now the No. 1 download at Amazon, where it sells for 89 cents a track, and is No. 51 on iTunes, where it sells for 99 cents a track. Why the big difference? Sure, iTunes has a far bigger market share than Amazon, but that really shouldn't change the relative percentages of purchases that much -- just the number of units sold.

Are iTunes users so much more tech-savvy than the Amazons that they already downloaded their Radiohead and don't need to buy it? Are Amazon's readers a better fit for Radiohead marketing? Are Radiohead fans flocking to Amazon to save the extra dime a song?

No one knows. Radiohead has been great at creating new questions with the release of "In Rainbows," but offers few answers. One thing is certain, though, Thom Yorke has no problem beefing with former label EMI, saying there was no request for $10 million to re-up with the label and saying on the band's blog that the label acts like "confused bulls in a china shop."

Regardless, "In Rainbows" seems a shoo-in to debut at No. 1 in England, according to Billboard.com.  

The space that currently holds the Virgin Megastore in Union Square will be put on the market by a real estate broker for 2009, according to Billboard.biz.

Winick Realty has already sent out packages highlighting the massive store's features, which include 28,000 square feet on one floor and 30,000 on another, Billboard reports. Virgin will vacate Feb. 1, 2009, according to The New York Sun.

Back in August, two real-estate firms, Vornado Realty Trust and The Related Companies, jointly purchased the Virgin chain, which owns 11 stores in 6 states, including the Union Square location and another in Times Square. Even then, observers predicted that Vornado-Related would shutter the New York locations in order to rent the spaces to business at higher rates.

Both stores have reportedly benefited from below-market rent thanks to long-term leases.

Mary J. is in a happier place these days as her new "Just Fine" video shows and it carries through the rest of the album. (Full review here.)

Mary J. Blige, "Just Fine"

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