Music Bender

• Killers announce Wembley dates. Of interest to UK readers only, really. While their latest LP is a bit… meh, I’d still like to see them, but not at Wembley Arena. Worst. Venue. Ever. [XFM]
• Mick Jagger’s illness forces cancellation of Stones show. [Music-News.com]
• EMI to license Dean Martin’s name, image. Good lord. [Newsday]
• Two arrested in Hank Willians book theft. They’d stolen one of Hank’s notebooks containing notes and unpublished song lyrics. [Mercury News]
• Sonic Youth unveils rarities tracklist. Oooh. [Pitchfork]
• U2 to release 3D concert film. This will either rock, or cause them regret a’la Rattle And Hum. Me? I likes me that Rattle And Hum. [Billboard]

R.E.M., Van Halen, The Stooges, Patti Smith and The Dave Clark Five are among nine acts on the final ballot for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, according to various reports.

Chic, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Joe Tex, and The Ronettes complete this year’s ballot. Five acts of the nine eligible acts will be inducted during a March 12 ceremony at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, though the inductees will be announced in December.

via LiveDaily.com

Man, the very idea that R.E.M, Van Halen and The Stooges are not yet in the hall of fame is… is sacrilege! What the heck has taken these guys so long?

• Phil Lesh, bassist for the Grateful Dead, says he has prostate cancer. [Yahoo]
• Kylie Minogue talks of her own cancer battle [BBC].
• Grocery store clerk alleges Green Day stole his idea for American Idiot and other songs. It has been thrown out of court. That’s funny. [Undercover]
• Jacko to make appearance at World Music Awards. Exciting.
• Breaking news: smoking weed turns you into an indie rock poseur. I KNEW IT! [Pitchfork]
• U2 goes to church. 150 US churches using the group’s songs in their services. [Much Music]
• Departed: Marijohn Wilkin. [Billboard]

This is brilliant news - hopefully other labels will follow suit to remain competitive, but of course it does depend on the online services following through:

Universal Music is slashing European download prices for some of its older albums, the first broad online cost-cutting move by any of the four major music companies reports Reuters.

The world’s largest seller of recorded music said on Monday that starting November 1 it would reduce the prices it charges online retailers for 1,500 albums ranging from The Who’s “Quadrophenia” to R.E.M.’s “Reckoning”.

The prices ultimately charged consumers will be determined by individual online services, Universal Music said, though a spokesman added that the response has been encouraging.

Broadly speaking, the albums in the programme, including ones from The Cure, Dusty Springfield and Buddy Holly, are expected to sell for about 6.99 euros ($8.89) and 5.49 pounds ($10.43), reduced from 9.99 euros and 7.99 pounds, respectively.

Download pricing of singles, which has been a sticky subject between music companies and Apple Computer Inc. and its market leading iTunes music store, will not be affected.

This shouldn’t be too surprising, considering Q’s love of the more… mesozoic among the rock fraternity. Oasis and U2 are hardly setting the world on fire of late.

However it is cool to see Da Monkeys are still getting their due rewards - their debut is a very fine piece of work indeed.

Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and U2 were the big winners at the 2006 Q Awards, with Oasis being crowned best act in the world today.

The band’s Noel Gallagher also collected the classic songwriter award at the London ceremony.

The Arctic Monkeys - who had four nominations - won the best album and the people’s choice awards, while U2 picked up the prize for innovation.

The Irish rockers also received the special one-off band of bands accolade.

It was awarded to U2 for polling most votes from Q readers in the lifetime of the Q Awards, and collected by U2 guitarist The Edge.

Just a quickie - if you’re a fan of Tenacious D (and who isn’t? WHO ISN’T?!), then check out the preview clip from their upcoming move on Amazon.com. In the words of Jack Black, it will blow… you mind!

This version of the song is the absolute classic; it even made people forget Dylan’s version.

The Dixie Chicks, best known outside the US for the furor that errupted when singer Natalie Maines criticised George W. Bush, are the subject of a documentary covering the period following her comments. That documentary, according to its distributors, has been refused advertising spots on both NBC and the CW network because (according to comments attributed to NBC) it is critical of GWB.

The distributor of the group’s new film, “Shut Up & Sing,” documenting the backlash against singer Natalie Maines after she made critical remarks about President George W. Bush, alleged on Thursday (10/26) that the NBC and CW networks had refused to air commercials for the movie.

The Weinstein Company released a statement Thursday alleging that NBC had told the firm that it “cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush,” and the CW network had rejected them as well, stating that it did “not have the appropriate programming in which to schedule this spot.”

“It’s a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America,” Harvey Weinstein said in the statement. Weinstein runs the company with his brother, Bob.

NBC declined to comment on the statement, according to the industry observer Hollywood Reporter, while CW deemed the accusation inaccurate, telling the publication that there had been discussions about taking the spot but those talks never went beyond where the commercial would run.

The Dixie Chicks themselves have not commented on the matter.

If true, the networks are nothing but shills to the Republicans. If false, then the distributor knows how to kick up a marketing storm

The estate of Jimi Hendrix’s manager, Michael Frank Jeffrey, auctioned off the entire song catalog of 60s legend Jimi Hendrix, however the rock star’s family, who own the Experience Hendrix company, state that it is they who own the songs. Regardless the catalog sold for $15 million (USD), causing a bit of conflict between the two parties.

The rights to the rock legend’s songs were auctioned off Thursday by the estate of former Hendrix manager Michael Frank Jeffrey, said Wendy Chou, spokeswoman for Ocean Tomo Auctions LLC. She declined to identify the winning bidder.

A Hendrix family spokesman said the term “winner” was relative.

“You may buy the right to become a defendant in a lawsuit,” said Bob Merlis, a spokesman for Experience Hendrix, a Seattle-based company owned by the family. “If someone infringes on our rights, we’ll deal with it.”

Hendrix, the Seattle artist whose brilliant career ended with his 1970 death from a drug overdose in London, created some of the 1960s most indelible music on such albums as “Electric Ladyland,” “Axis: Bold as Love” and “Are You Experienced?”

According to Merlis, the Hendrix family had warned before the auction that they believed the Jeffrey estate had no claim to the catalog. In a variety of previous court cases, the family’s ownership of the catalog was established and reaffirmed, Merlis said.

“We sounded many, many cautionary notes,” he said of the latest auction. “Basically, somebody bought the Michael Jeffrey estate claim, which was heretofore judged worthless. I’d file this one under ‘go figure.’ ”

Auction house spokeswoman Chou said Ocean Tomo would have no comment on the charges from the Hendrix estate. Jeffrey died three years after Hendrix.

All the news that’s fit to link to!

• 50 Cent not a song stealer. A judge has dismissed a copyright lawsuit against Mr Half-a-Buck, which claimed he stole an opening line from a 2 Live Crew song.
• Marilyn Manson to launch art gallery at 667 Melrose in LA. What, 666 already taken?
• Van Halen to reform? Why do these stories tease me every 4 years?
• Meat Loaf unleashes ‘Bat’ for third time. However, his 2007 trek will be his last.

Have you been workin’, so hard? Been punchin’ your card? Got that feelin’ that times just holdin’ you down? You gotta cut loose, footloose!

Black Sabbath’s early-eighties incarnation (and again in the 90s) featuring dwarven metal giant Ronnie James Dio on vocals, is to reform next year for a tour under the moniker of Heaven and Hell (a callback to the 1980 disc released by the lineup). However, Da Sabs will then reform with Ozzy Osbourne in late 2007 for an album and tour.

Personally, the idea of the Dio-led lineup excites me more.

An opera company in Germany is to go ahead with an opera depicting the severed head of Muhammad, despite previous cancellations due to security fears.

The Deutsche Oper Berlin said it hoped to stage two performances of the controversial Hans Neuenfels production of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” before the end of the year, after receiving a new security assessment from police.

The cancellation of four scheduled fall performances last month by opera chief Kirsten Harms followed a vague security warning from police and triggered a furious debate about free speech.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called the decision crazy and Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against “self-censorship out of fear.”

The opera includes a scene with the severed heads of Jesus, Muhammad, Neptune and Buddha. That was an addition to the 225-year-old opera by the director, who said it was to protest organized religion.

American rap artist Snoop Dogg has been arrested for drug and gun possession. He was arrested Thursday.

The rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was arrested at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at Bob Hope Airport, police said. Snoop Dogg posted $35,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in court Dec. 12.

Airport police officers stopped Snoop Dogg at a loading zone for a vehicle code violation. When officers searched the vehicle they found a gun and marijuana, police said.

“There was no basis for this arrest,” the rapper’s attorney, Donald Etra, said in a statement. “We believe that once this is cleared up, all charges will be dismissed.”

[Yahoo! News]