Associated Press Nov 14, 08 11:36 AM CST
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Kanye West has declared himself “the voice of this generation,” comparing himself to basketball’s biggest star and running down Justin Timberlake in the process, the AP reports. “When Justin went on vacation I made albums,” said the Grammy-winning rapper-producer. “It's one thing to say you want to do it and it's another thing to really end up being like Michael Jordan.”
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Radio station mix available online
MTV Nov 14, 08 9:53 AM CST
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Eager fans needn’t wait until December 2—Britney Spears’ new club-friendly album can now be previewed online, MTV reports. The singer released a six-song mix from the upcoming Circus on New York radio station KTU’s Web site. Readers' comments are nearly universal in praise. The pop princess gets personal, with lyrics aimed at the constant attention she receives from paparazzi.
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NYC soiree may be sign they're going public
Daily Mirror (UK) Nov 11, 08 2:53 PM CST
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Though Madonna denies romance with Alex Rodriguez, she recently introduced the slugger to pals at a dinner party, reports the Daily Mirror . The intimate gathering in New York annoyed Guy Ritchie, since it included some of their mutual friends. The party “showed a great deal of disrespect to him so soon after the announcement of their break-up,” a source said.
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MIriam Makeba collapses as she exits stage in Italy
New York Times Nov 10, 08 5:54 AM CST
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The South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, known to many as “Mama Africa,” died today of an apparent heart attack, the New York Times reports. Makeba, who was 76, was exiled from South Africa in 1960. Her music was also banned from her home country in 1976 after she spoke out against apartheid at the UN. She collapsed early this morning as she left the stage following a concert in Italy.
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Slugger asks wife to hang on
New York Post Nov 9, 08 8:00 AM CST
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Sounds like Alex Rodriguez is caught between a rock star and a familiar place. The Yankees’ third baseman still loves ex-wife Cynthia, reports the New York Post’s Page Six, but he’s “in awe of Madonna,” says a baseball insider. He’s reportedly asking Cynthia, his “true love and best friend,” to wait out his “obsession.” She'll have to do so alone, though: Madge doesn’t want the Rodriguezes spending any time together.
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Christian Science Monitor Nov 8, 08 7:00 PM CST
(Newser)
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Chicago has bid adieu to old blues music and welcomed a new legion of players, many foreign-born, who are transforming the city's low-down tradition, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Largely abandoned by blacks, the blues has moved from Chicago's shuttered South- and West-Side clubs to the friendlier, gentrified North Side—where players from Japan and Israel can be seen jamming with white musicians.
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Former lovebirds to perform tonight with Madonna
Access Hollywood Nov 6, 08 11:48 AM CST
(Newser)
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It can be awkward bumping into an old flame, but Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears are banking on the Material Girl to run interference. Access Hollywood reports that the onetime lovebirds will reunite—onstage—at Madonna’s performance tonight in Los Angeles. “They’re going to be on stage, performing at some point with Madonna,” Ryan Seacrest confirms. Both have a presence on the tour already: Timberlake in Madonna’s “4 Minutes” single and Spears in a video segment.
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Pro-GOP Cincinnati suburb unfriendly to naturalized citizen's Dem tendencies
Cincinnati Enquirer Oct 30, 08 2:43 PM CDT
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Peter Frampton is ticked that vandals in his GOP-leaning Cincinnati suburb keep stealing his Barack Obama lawn signs, he tells the Enquirer . The British-born naturalized US citizen wore an Obama shirt at his last local concert in protest, and has installed security cameras. “They are frustrating my attempt to use my First Amendment right to speech and political speech is supposedly the most protected,” the singer says.
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When the band's record sales go up, the economy goes down
Guardian (UK) Oct 28, 08 6:56 PM CDT
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Forget complicated economic indicators—the surest sign that recession looms is that AC/DC is back on top of the charts after 28 years, writes Alexis Petridis in the Guardian . It seems that whenever the Aussie rockers have a best-selling album, at least in Britain, the economy's in the tank. See 1980’s Back in Black and 1990’s The Razor's Edge. Albums in rosier years did less well.
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OPINION
Singer rails against more aluminum smelters on island, pushes self-reliance
Times (UK) Oct 28, 08 4:25 PM CDT
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Given Iceland’s economic crisis, it would be madness to add to the country’s dependence on aluminum smelters, native singer Björk writes in the Times of London. In addition to environmental damage, lessons learned from the collapse of Iceland’s fishing industry should warn against putting “all our eggs in the same basket.” “If the price of aluminum falls—as it is doing—it would be catastrophic,” she writes.
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GLOSSIES
Corgan hopes to be seen as more than a 'reunion band'
Rolling Stone Oct 18, 08 9:24 AM CDT
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The re-formed Smashing Pumpkins start their 20th-anniversary tour next month, shrugging off the blasé reception that met their 2006 tour. Frontman Billy Corgan—who admits the group's breakup in 2000 was "a total mistake"—tells Rolling Stone that fans who attend multiple shows in some cities will be rewarded with a different set each night. "It's like putting on a spacesuit again," he said of playing some songs for the first time in years.
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Stubbs' baritone was featured on many Motown hits
Detroit News Oct 17, 08 2:50 PM CDT
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Baritone Levi Stubbs, the heart of the Four Tops, died today in Detroit at age 72, the Detroit News reports. With Abdul Fakir, Lawrence Payton and Renaldo Benson, Stubbs recorded many iconic hits of the Motown era, including Bernadette , Reach Out (I’ll Be There) , and Standing in the Shadows of Love . On his own, he was the voice of Audrey the carnivorous plant in the 1986 film version of Little Shop of Horrors.
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Wall Street Journal Oct 16, 08 5:54 PM CDT
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Disco may be dead, but it can still help others live. So say University of Illinois researchers, who found that med students performed CPR more effectively to the beat of the Bee Gees classic “Stayin’ Alive,” notes the Health Blog of the Wall Street Journal . Seems the song has 103 beats per minute, and CPR guidelines call for 100 compressions per minute.
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CMT Oct 14, 08 5:16 PM CDT
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Tim McGraw has a message for fans regarding his new greatest hits album: I'm sorry. McGraw issued a statement today ripping into his label, Curb Records, for releasing Greatest Hits 3 only 2 years after Greatest Hits 2 , CMT reports. The country star says he had nothing to do with it and would have preferred to release a new studio album. The move, he says, is part of a ploy by Curb to delay his plans of jumping ship.
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