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Monday, January 17, 2011

VAN HALEN COMMENCE WORK WITH PRODUCER JOHN SHANKS:
Van Halen will formally start work on a new studio album with Grammy Award winning producer John Shanks Monday January 17. The news of the band's plans was confirmed by myself this weekend.
Rumours of Shanks' involvement with the band surfaced a couple of months ago at the Van Halen Newsdesk. It can now be confirmed.
The band will record their first all-new studio album since 1998's Van Halen III and their first with original singer David Lee Roth since 1983's 1984.
There are no further details available about this latest stint in the studio, nor any suggestion of when the band will be finished and anything subsequently released. Manager Irving Azoff is said to be pushing the band to tour, but I'm told Eddie Van Halen is reluctant to do so without any new material to release.
So while a 2011 tour has been publicly mentioned previously by Azoff, it remains up in the air as to when, or even if a tour will happen this year. A record needs to be completed and I doubt anyone will want to start speculating as to when that will happen.

Questions remain about what happened to the much discussed 2010 recording sessions with producer Ross Hogarth. Officially denied, and not likely to ever be addressed, the fact remains the band were in the studio writing and working for much of 2010. Several famous names commented positively about hearing new material during 2010, including Dweezil Zappa & John 5.
Additionally Warner Publishing issued a press release mid-year stating that the band had re-signed to the company, adding that they were (at that stage) in the studio recording.

Additional rumors remain about Warner's desire to release remastered versions of the band's Sammy Hagar fronted albums and I'm hearing talk of a career spanning Box Set at some stage ...

Originally Posted by Blaze

– Mon Jan 10, 10:15 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a ruling that reinstated an antitrust lawsuit alleging major record labels conspired to fix prices and terms under which music would be sold over the Internet.

The justices rejected without comment an appeal by a number of companies that included Sony Corp, a unit of Vivendi SA, Warner Music Group Corp and EMI Group of the ruling by a U.S. appeals Court in New York.

The appeals court ruled that a federal judge had erred in 2008 in dismissing the lawsuit filed on behalf of people who downloaded music over the Internet. They had sued record labels that control more than 80 percent of U.S. digital music sales.

The lawsuit accused the record companies of agreeing to the wholesale price floor of about 70 cents a song when rivals began offering music on the Internet at a much cheaper rate.

The appeals court ruled the plaintiffs had described enough facts to suggest an antitrust price-fixing conspiracy and sent the case back for further proceedings before the judge.

Attorneys for the companies appealed and said the case raised important, recurring issues that required the Supreme Court's resolution.
They said the appeals court erred in ruling that a lawsuit can state a claim without alleging sufficient facts under the legal standard that will apply in considering the claim at the summary judgment stage or at trial.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs opposed the appeal and said the appeals court correctly applied the legal standard from recent Supreme Court decisions in considering the facts alleged in the lawsuit.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sonia Sotomayor recused themselves and did not consider the case.

The Supreme Court case

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Originally Posted by Blaze

Brenna Ehrlich

The music industry continued suffering its hardcore identity crisis in 2010, buffeted by the languishing major labels, continued leaks/file-sharing and that most confusing of conundrums: How to get music to fans in a way that makes sense — without losing money.

Still, despite the industry’s continuing difficulty to adapt to the digital age in a truly profitable way, we have seen some stirrings of change: the expansion of the online music video oeuvre, more creative and diverse methods of releasing albums (via Ping, Facebook and even mobile apps), and more mainstream, established publications and institutions embracing social media all the more.

There’s a lot of noise out there in the music world — and we’re not just talking about the genre — and we’re all hoping that out of that tangle of ideas and sounds comes the antidote that will fix a system that is so obviously in flux. Although I don’t quite see that antidote being concocted this coming year, I do see more trial and error and creativity brewing that could, in the end, lead to the music industry’s eventual rebirth. Either that or it will all implode and we’ll live in eternal silence, but somehow I doubt it.

And with that I bring you my predictions for 2011.


1. Subscription Services Will Be Popular, But Not Profitable

If Spotify’s $26.7 million loss in 2009 is any indication, subscription services still have a ways to go before they’ll actually become profitable. Hell, Last.fm isn’t even turning a profit yet — although it could be getting close.

Still, this year and the end of last year saw services gaining even more steam — MOG launched its all-you-can-eat service in December, followed by Android and iPhone apps, and, most recently, an app in the Chrome Web Store. Rdio also launched to much excitement, and Slacker Radio announced that it would be launching an on-demand offering as well

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To love the rain
I will sleep well tonight
With the tumble of raindrops.
My lost soul is still not found
But the raindrops comfort me.
The rhythm of chaos reminds me
My human form is real
My lost anger and fear of the death brigade
Tumbles with each discordant rhythm



I would add music, but I have not figured out how to to do that yet.
Neither with sound nor written cord.

Originally Posted by Blaze

Twenty-six years ago today, DLR and I hung out on W 4th street in Greenwich Village.

December 30, 1984 - 'twas a Sunday morning and I'd spent the week crashing with Hoboken friends in advance of a big New Year's Eve party, but Saturday afternoon had relocated to Manhattan to join my visiting family who had rooms booked at Morgan's, the new Steve "Studio" Rubell / Ian "54" Schrager hotel on Madison near 38th. Following Sunday breakfast I called the Hobokeners and we agreed on a noon meet-up at McBell's tavern, a great old Irish place on Sixth just south of Washington Place where a decent steak and cold beer could be had cheaply.

As I'd cabbed down to the neighborhood around 11:30, I was prowling "Geoffe's Trail" of neighborhood record shops and turned west off Sixth Avenue onto West 4th, where it bent northward to cross Cornelia and then Jones streets. Mid-block, I spotted a small bric-a-brac place - really no bigger than a large walk-in closet, and the wallspace chock-full of cheap sunglasses. Stepping in, I saw a large mane of blond hair over the back of a jean jacket that had a gorgeous, WWII Memphis Belle warplane 'nose art' style, hand-painted Pin-up-Girl-in-Champagne-Glass image. 'Round turns David Lee Roth - at the time, my absolute #1 idol in the world - and says to me "Hey buddy!"

[Ulp] "Hi, Dave! What are you doing here?"

"We're just picking up some fine glasses for tomorrow night! You're gonna watch me hostin' the MTV New Year's Eve party, ain'tcha?"

"Big party in Hoboken - we'll be watching on TV" was my 'cool' response.

I'd been such a huge Van Halen fan and recalled how, a year earlier, VH had released their mammoth "1984" on New Year's Eve, and MTV had then beaten that drum for months. Dave was one of the most recognized mascots and dependable faces on MTV - a total showman

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