Phil Spector - Spector Loses Judge Appeal

Legendary music producer PHIL SPECTOR has lost a legal bid to have the judge on his murder trial disqualified from handling his second trial.

Earlier this year (08), Spector launched a legal bid to disqualify Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler from the music producer's murder retrial over allegations of bias.

In March (08), Spector's newly appointed lawyer Doron Weinberg filed a 44-page document to the court claiming Fidler withdrew a jury instruction and crafted a new one after jurors first announced they were deadlocked in September 2007 - causing the case to be declared a mistrial.

But on Wednesday (25Jun08), a notice on the court's website read: "Petition for review denied."

Spector will now appear for a pre-trial hearing on 29 July (08) before his trial starts on 29 September (08).

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The Streets - Skinner Uses Vintage Microphone On New Album

STREETS singer MIKE SKINNER has used an old vintage microphone to record his forthcoming album - because he wants his songs to sound like a war-time news announcement.

The British rapper is currently recording his forthcoming LP - the follow-up to his 2006 hit album The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living - using an RCA 77 microphone.

The star has opted for this old fashioned addition to his modern day recording studio because he wants to make his lyrics sound like a news bulletin or weather report.

He says, "I found the deepest shop in the world and picked up a RCA 77 vintage ribbon microphone. Amazing sound but with a story. A news story. For this microphone was previously owned by CBS.

"When I touch it, I can almost hear the Cuban missile crisis being announced to the American nation, or maybe the assassination of Kennedy, or even perhaps a sponsored announcement for tinned meat.

"My music is basically news. The album is almost done. I just need to get through the weather report and it's yours."

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Posh tops US worst-dressed list

Victoria Beckham has failed to impress the fashion moguls in the States.
Posh Spice planned to make it big in the fashion stakes in America, but on Tuesday she suffered her first Hollywood snub when style guru Mr Blackwell named her the worst-dressed celebrity of 2007.
Former fashion designer Richard Blackwell annually announces his list of fashion disasters among music, movie and television personalities.
In reference to the British pop star's sense of style he said: "In one skinny-mini monstrosity after another, pouty 'Posh' can really wreck-em."
Other stars to feature on Blackwell's list were singer, Amy Winehouse who came in at second place and American actress Mary-Kate Olsen who was branded third worst dressed celebrity.
Britney Spears usually makes it into his Ten Worst Dressed Women but was missed off the latest compilation.
"I felt that it was inappropriate at this time to make comment,' he explains, 'her personal life is in such upheaval."

Cut Copy

   
Artist: Cut Copy

   Genre(s): 
Other
   

---

Discography:


   
 Bright Like Neon Love

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 12

---

Australian indie electronic trio Cut Copy take many of their cues from generation like Air, Daft Punk, and LCD Soundsystem, but with a distinctly pop sensibility that draws on classic AM radio pop singles from the seventies and '80s, with elements of vintage disco and synth pop that appeal to song-based listeners as advantageously as the clubhouse kidz. Cut Copy started in 2001 as a solo project by songster, producer, and DJ Dan Whitford, world Health Organization released the single 1981 and the EP I Thought of Numbers earlier drawing in other members to fill out his synth and sample-based profound. Bassist and guitarist Tim Hoey and drummer Mitchell Scott debuted on Cut Copy's first uncut album, Bright Like Neon Love, released in the summer of 2004. After several successful singles were spun off the record album (including Saturdays, Future, and Loss Nowhere), Universal's Island Records imprint picked up the trio's external distribution in 2006. Following an imaginative Whitford live DJ unify that was released in 2006 as Fabriclive.29 (including such unexpected delights as Ciccone Youth's noisy deconstructionism "Into the Groovey" and Roxy Music's debonnaire "Angel Falls Eyes" aboard the usual Goldfrapp and Soulwax), the band right returned in early 2007 with the new single Hearts on Fire.





Michael Stears And Ron Sunsinger

WB taps rookie for 'Army'

Matthijs van Heijningen to make directorial debut

Commercial filmmaker and visual artist Matthijs van Heijningen is set to make his directorial debut on the Zack Snyder-produced "Army of the Dead" for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow.


Snyder, who originated the story, is producing with his wife-partner Deborah Snyder via their Warners-based Cruel & Unusual Films.


"Dead" is an action thriller centering on a father's mission to save his daughter from imminent death in a zombie-infested world. Filmmaker Joby Harold ("Awake") wrote the screenplay.


Van Heijningen, repped by CAA, is a winner of more than a half-dozen Cannes advertising Lions.


"We were looking for an inventive talent with a unique voice and we found it in Matthijs," said Snyder, a commercial director-turned-feature filmmaker. "His ability to infuse humor with irony allows him to create compelling stories in 30 seconds. Cruel & Unusual's Wesley Coller is exec producing. Greg Silverman and Elishia Holmes are overseeing for Warners.

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Chris Martin - Martin Still Not Convinced Of Coldplay Success

Rocker CHRIS MARTIN is amazed his band COLDPLAY have achieved international success - because he is convinced they've never produced anything "that good".

The Speed of Sound hitmakers have released three albums to date - Parachutes in 2000, A Rush of Blood to the Head in 2002, and their last LP X+Y, which went to number one in countries including the U.K., U.S., Australia, France and Norway in 2005.

But despite the worldwide chart success, Martin still feels like an imposter in the music industry.

He says, "After the last record, I felt like, 'God, I can't believe we've got away with becoming this huge band.'

"We still haven't done anything that good yet. So it was like, 'We've got the job, now we've got to prove why we got it.'"

And he insists he is only reminded of his fame by his Hollywood star wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

He adds, "The only thing that makes me remember that we're in a big band is when I remember that I'm married to someone famous.

"Everything else in the day is exactly the same as it was 11 years ago."

Martin and Paltrow have two children together, daughter Apple, four, and two-year-old son Moses.

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Lindsay Lohan - Lohans Battle Over Kids

LINDSAY LOHAN's father MICHAEL has re-opened his divorce from DINA because she is "refusing" to allow him to see his children.

Michael claims his former wife has reneged on the deal they made when they split to allow him to see his two youngest children, Ali, 14, and Cody, 11.

In papers filed in Nassau County, New York, Michael accuses Dina of breaching a contract.

He tells New York Daily News, "I gave her the house, the furniture, the dogs, the bank accounts, the $200,000 (GBP100,000) she owed me, just to see my kids.

"She doesn't bring them to see me. I haven't seen my kids in two months. She brought them to Vegas for her reality show, then to California. Before that, she missed 15 out of 29 appointments. She breached the contract."

Michael took action after Dina failed to show at an arranged meeting on Tuesday (20May08).

He adds, "She went to (the) David Letterman (show) She brought Ali. She never showed up or sent the kids. The taping finished before our appointment.

She doesn't care. She does what she wants.

"If I was a maniac, I could understand it. I don't drink, I don't smoke. I work, I go to the gym, I go home. I just want to see my kids."

A spokesman for Dina was unavailable.

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Mariah Carey wants a famous partner

Singer Mariah Carey has revealed that she prefers to date famous men, because they are more likely to "fully understand" her.
The singer told Allure magazine that she wants to find a partner who understands the world of celebrity.
Carey said: "That's a big deal for me - feeling like somebody else can't fully understand me because they're not in showbusiness."
"It shouldn't matter, but it does, because the energy it takes to be 'on' is a lot."
The singer also revealed that she is looking for "someone who I would know is going to take care of me emotionally, they're going to understand who I am".
Speaking about her fans, she said: "What's weird about that is being onstage, and the love that you get, and the adoration that you feel from your real fans. It's hard for a partner to compete - just imagine."

Eddie Murphy - Edmonds Thinks Diddy Is Funnier Than Murphy

EDDIE MURPHY's ex-wife TRACEY EDMONDS claims her new partner SEAN COMBS is wittier than the comedian.

Edmonds wed The Nutty Professor star Murphy on the Pacific island of Bora Bora on New Year's Day (01Jan08) after a year-long romance, but split just a fortnight later - before they could make the nuptials legal in their native U.S.

But despite only having been on a few dates with the hip-hop star, Edmonds has already rated him higher than her ex-husband.

She says, "Diddy is the funniest man I've ever met. I'm so lucky to find someone so soon after Eddie.

"It's early days - we've only been on three or four dates - but he's whisked me off my feet. I don't know about wedding bells but he's definitely the man for me."

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Credit crunch hits US reality shows

Days from the launch of Big Brother 9, it has emerged that reality TV budgets have become the latest victim of economic turbulence in the United States.
Amid talk of a downturn, and with advertising revenue on the slide, many shows are under pressure to shoot to tighter deadlines and less expensively than before.
Mark Cronin, producer of VH1 hit shows 'Rock of Love' and 'I Love New York' told the Hollywood Reporter: "Every year there's more and more budgetary pressure.
"Every network is having its budgetary problems, and that's being pushed back toward all content. So there's a constant pressure to produce more for less."
Comedies and dramas have already suffered budget cuts due to general ratings drops, but reality TV had been considered protected from the trend due the cheap cost base from which it operates.
However, many shows are now using less well known presenters, shooting on cheap studio sets rather than on location, and offering only moderate prize-money. 

Tim Blake

   
Artist: Tim Blake

   Genre(s): 
New Age
   Ambient
   Electronic: Progressive
   

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Discography:


   
 Caldea Music II

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 7


   
 Blake's New Jerusalem

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 5


   
 The Tide Of The Century

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 7


   
 Crystal Machine

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 5


   
 Magick

   Year: 1991   
Tracks: 8


   
 Live In Orsay

   Year: 1978   
Tracks: 3


   
 Waterfalls In Space

   Year:    
Tracks: 5

---

A member of both Gong and Hawkwind, Tim Blake's slow-moving keyboard style has too featured conspicuously in his possess work. His Crystal Machine throw of the mid to late '70s was among the first term of enlistment acts to feature major optical maser light shows. Often compared to Tangerine Dream, Blake has continued to record into the 2000s, with his up-to-the-minute act upon, Tide of the Century, continuing to build on his experimental keyboard style.


Tim Blake was natural on February 6, 1952, in Hammersmith, West London. At dramatic event school day, he became interested in perusing sound. He became mired with the experimental psychedelic mathematical group Gong in 1971. At first he was supposed to be the group's sound valet de chambre, only the job was interpreted from him. He and then briefly served as keyboardist for the mathematical group, only his make for did not please Gong drummer Pip Pyle, and Blake was get go. Far from discouraged, Blake founded the Crystal Machine studio in the south of France. There, he made a demonstration cassette of his act upon on the EMS synthesiser. He and then rejoined Gong in 1972 as the band's keyboardist under the name Hi T. Moonweed. He remained with the band until they bust up in 1976. Meanwhile, with Patrice Warrener, he formed Crystal Machine, which toured behind prima light shows throughout the late '70s. Crystal Machine (1977) is an compartmentalization of tracks from assorted live shows. 1978's Blake's New Jerusalem was the keyboardist's first studio solo phonograph recording.


After a quislingism with Hawkwind's Nik Turner, Blake coupled Hawkwind in 1979. However, he was dropped unceremoniously by the group in 1980 and Blake would perform very minuscule throughout the succeeding decade. He returned with Magick (1991), simply outside of diverse reunification concerts with Gong, remained smooth until 2000's Tide of the Century.





Roman Yakub

The Italian Job - Gray Vs Gandolfini Over Gaye Biopics

THE ITALIAN JOB director is taking on TONY SOPRANO in a battle to portray tragic soul man MARVIN GAYE on the big screen.

F. Gary Gray has just signed on to direct the biopic Marvin, which will go head to head with actor James Gandolfini's Sexual Healing, which will star Rent's Jesse L. Martin as the smooth singer.

Music mogul David Foster will co-produce the Gray film, which will feature a soundtrack of Gaye originals, which a yet-to-be-cast star will lip sync to.

Gaye was shot to death by his father in 1984.

Both Sexual Healing and Marvin have been projects in work for some time and both have been held up by music rights.

Foster has reportedly secured a package of Gaye's biggest hits, while Gandolfini and his co-producers have secured the rights to Gaye's post-Motown tunes for Sexual Healing.

Gray tells Daily Variety he can't wait to get started on his labour of love: "This is my passion project, the one that I wake up every day thinking about."

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