The popular frontman of Culture Club, Boy George, appeared yesterday in a London court after he had been charged with the false imprisonment of a male escort.
Dressed in a black jacket and shirt, the singer had to fight through a huge media scrum after a minute-long hearing during which he had spoken only for confirming his name and date of birth.
The 46-years-old singer was released on bail and had also to promise that he wouldn’t contact the alleged victim.
The alleged offence was said to have taken place at the singer’s home in east London in April 2007 and the prosecutor Nicholas Paul told the court that the case centered on an “allegation of false imprisonment”, but he did not provide other details about the incident.
Boy George did not enter a plea and he was scheduled to appear again at Snarebrook Crown Court on February 25, 2008. When he left the court, he was surrounded by reporters and photographers, because of whom it took six burly policemen to force a way through the crowd to the singer’s car.
However, Boy George did not make any comment outside the court.

The eldest child of Johnny Cash’s five children, Rosanne Cash, will undergo a brain surgery for a “rare but benign condition”. The country music singer and songwriter is 52 years old and she is a Grammy-winning musician.
The surgery will take place at a New York hospital, as the singer herself has announced through a post on her web site today. The singer expects to recover fully from the ailment, which’s name she has also revealed. She will also resume touring next spring after she records a new music album.
However, this condition has forced the singer to cancel four November concert dates when she was to promote her album titled “Black Cadillac”, which’s tracks are mainly inspired by her father’s death four years ago.
Rosanne Cash lives in New York City and she has topped the country single charts 11 times and has won a Grammy Award in 1985. Her career is spanning almost 30 years now.

The rapper singer and also actress Queen Latifah will star in a new romantic comedy titled “What Happens in Vegas…”, alongside popular comedy actors such as Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz. The actress will have a cameo appearance in this project from Fox, although what that cameo will be, is still being kept under wraps. So, what Queen Latifah does in Vegas stays in Vegas after all till the moment when every one of us will find out!
Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz’ roles are however less of a secret; the two popular actors will play two people who discover after a long night of debauchery in Vegas that they have in fact gotten married, with one of them hitting a jackpot after having played the other’s quarter.
Queen Latifah, who has been nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role from “Chicago”, is also on tour for promoting her latest album titled “Trav’lin’ Light”, which has debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 last month. At the beginning of the current year, Queen Latifah has also starred opposite Katie Holmes and Diane Keaton in Overture Films’ “Mad Money”, which was a movie about three cleaning women at the Treasury who skim old money from the incinerator and use it for charity.

The popular and, recently, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese has been announced on Thursday by “Daily Variety” to plan to direct the authorized documentary about the late former Beatle George Harrison, who died in 2001 of lung cancer. The report from “Daily Variety” has also said that the interviews, as well as the early production, are to begin at the end of this year, while the entire film is expected to take several years to compete.
The fact that Martin Scorsese will be directing the documentary represents, obviously, an important thing. “It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story.” – George Harrison’s widow, Olivia, has been reported to have said by the trade paper.
Olivia will also be the producer of the yet untitled documentary about her late husband. She will as well supply archival materials, while the surviving Beatle members Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney have been reported to participate as well in this project. The band’s Apple Records label will also be involved in the making of this movie about George Harrison.
This project won’t be however Martin Scorsese’s first encounter with the musical world, as popular director is currently preparing for the April 2008 release of a concert documentary about another famous music band, the Rolling Stones. “Shine a Light” is the title of this documentary. Scorsese has also directed in 2005 the documentary about Bob Dylan, titled “No Direction Home”, as well as the 1976 documentary titled “The Last Waltz” about the Band’s farewell concert. Scorsese, who has eventually won an Oscar in 2007 for his directing the crime saga “The Departed”, seems to be quite the right choice for such a documentary.
The yet untitled project has been said to cover George Harrison time in the Fab Four, when he created such memorable tunes as “Here Comes the Sun” or “Something”, his inconsistent solo career, as well as his foray into movie production that involved such projects as “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, and his enthusiastic embrace of the Eastern mysticism.
“George Harrison’s music and his search for spiritual meaning is a story that still resonates today and I’m looking forward to delving deeper.” – Martin Scorsese has reportedly said about the late former Beatle.

The new acquisition of a majority stake that Live Nation has made in the annual multiday music festival from New Jersey’s metropolitan area Bamboozle seems to represent a meaningful U.S. property for the company.
It remains to be seen however whether the festivals will continue to be priority for the Live Nation company. But the move is also significant as a bigger stage for the self-called “kids of Jersey”, who founded the Bamboozle festival five years ago, led by the festival creator John D’Esposito.
So John D’Esposite started The Bamboozle back in 2003 at the Stone Pony from Asbury Park, New Jersey, which is the club that represented the launching pad for such popular artists as Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi.
“The first year we weren’t very successful at the Stone Pony, so we decided to change the philosophy and move it to Convention Hall and basically incorporate the town of Asbury with multiple venues. […] We outgrew Asbury and had to move to a new venue. We looked at a bunch of options and chose the Meadowlands.” – has said the famous festival creator.
And in 2007, The Bamboozle festival that has taken place in May at the Meadowlands Sports Complex has featured 187 bands on no less than eight stages. It has drawn more than 85,000 fans and has grossed in excess of $2.6 million. My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, the controversial Finnish band Lordi, Muse, MC Hammer, Taking Back Sunday and even “Weird Al” Yankovic have performed at the festival.
“We don’t usually go out and get a big headliner. […] We usually try to develop within as they grow. Fall Out Boy started on the small stage and eventually headlined to over 30,000 people. Same thing with My Chem. Hopefully this year we’ll have another one like Paramore or the Jonas Brothers.” – has said D’Esposito.
And as success has started to quite hit the music festival Live Nation has probably question why sell such a successful property and not become its major owner The company has backed The Bamboozle since it has moved out from Asbury Park; so why even thinking to sell it?
“They do this every day, and we’re just some kids from Point Pleasant, N.J. […] We got over our heads. There was a point where as an entrepreneur you have to look at something and say, ‘I can do it myself and fail, or I can go and get somebody with the experience and the resources.’” – D’Esposito has replied.
However, thanks to Live Nation’s growth plans the festival will represent also the beginning of the Bamboozle West in Lost Angeles in April. “From there we will tour across the country with a property called the Bamboozle Road Show.” - D’Esposito said. “We’ll take the best young (acts), put them on a package and tour them from L.A. to New Jersey. We’re also looking at a Bamboozle in London next October.”
Live Nation represents already a producer for many successful festivals in the United Kingdom and Europe, such the prestigious multiday events as Reading, Leeds and Download in the United Kingdom, Werchter in Belgium and Lowlands in Holland. And given the boom market for festivals from the United States too, it’s not very surprising that the company would like to strengthen its position as a festival producer also in the United States.

Pete Doherty has once again failed to attend the court appearance from Tuesday because he has checked himself in to a rehab center. On Tuesday he has been due to be sentenced for a string of drug offences and not only, but now the case has been adjourned till the 2nd of October.
Sentencing has been postponed also previously, when four weeks ago the district Judge Davinder Lachlar had to take this decision for showing Pete Doherty’s commitment to detoxification treatment. The Judge granted then a bail on the condition that Doherty would live and sleep at an address in Somerset.
But Doherty has been arrested once again in Tower Hamlets from east London less than two weeks later on suspicion of possessing drugs, after he performed with his band Babyshambles at the V Festival from Staffordshire.
However, the prosecutors have had then to eventually abandon the new case against the singer for breaching bail terms because they have exceeded a 24-hour limit for bringing the case.
Pete Doherty, who is 28 years old and also the on/off boyfriend of the supermodel Kate Moss, has pleaded guilty in July to charges including possessing crack cocaine, ketamine, heroin and cannabis. The British singer has also admitted two driving offences.

A recent study of more than 1,000 mainly North American and British artists has showed that the rock stars are really more likely than “common” people to die before reaching old age. It seems that the common belief that these people’s lifestyles lead them to quick deaths is right.
The study spans from Elvis Presley’s case to the modern days and has found that the artists are two to three times more likely to die prematurely than the general “common” population.
Between 1956 and 2005 there were 100 deaths among the 1,064 music artists that have been examined by the researchers from the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University.
The most famous such artists that died prematurely included Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, T Rex’ star Marc Bolan, Kurt Cobain and others. It is obvious that more than a quarter of the deaths were related to alcohol or drugs abuse or the both of the troubling substances.
“The paper clearly describes a population of rock and pop stars who are at a disproportionate risk of alcohol and drug related deaths.” – has said Mark Bellis, who is the lead author of the recent study.
The researcher has also said that after these findings people should question about the suitability of using rock stars for transmitting public health messages during anti-alcohol or anti-drug campaigns. It is in fact quite ironical that they are currently used for such campaigns, although their own lifestyles are so dangerous.
“In the music industry, factors such as stress, changes from popularity to obscurity, and exposure to environments where alcohol and drugs are easily available, can all contribute to substance use as well as other self-destructive behaviors.” – has also added Mark Bellis.

The actor Jamie Foxx is to return to the genre that has won him an Oscar. The former “Ray” star has just joined the cast for “The Soloist”, which is a musical biopic that “Pride and Prejudice” Joe Wright is to direct from DreamWorks.
The movie will focus on the real story of Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who is a homeless musician with schizophrenia but who dreams of playing at Walt Disney Concert Hall and it has been inspired by a 12-part series of articles written by the Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez.
Jamie Foxx is a classically trained musician and actor who has won an Oscar at the Best Actor category for his playing Ray Charles in “Ray”. He has also recently teamed with DreamWorks for “Dreamgirls”.
His recent credits include the upcoming Middle East-set thriller “The Kingdom”.

At the moment of his death the one that has been called The King of Rock and Roll, famous singer and actor and America’s sex symbol Elvis Presley, was only a shadow of the performer who had been electrifying his audiences and had revolutionized the popular music.
However, after his sudden death at only 42 years old at his Graceland mansion, Elvis Presley was a fat, disillusioned, drug-addicted person. Since the 16th of August 1977, however, the artist had recorded dozens of popular hits, had starred in more than 30 movies and had also reinvented himself in Las Vegas for over and over. But than he much or less unexpectedly died.
However, what Elvis Presley left behind him was no only the cultural heritage, that is the songs, music revolution the brought, the movies and everything else; The King of Rock and Roll also left behind him the weeds for the “Elvis Presley industry”. The King has still remained unforgettable for his old or much younger fans, but also a gold mine for the businessmen that survived him.
This way, the post-mortem phase of the 42-year-old artist’s career has been even bigger and run even longer. The business engine behind Elvis Presley’s name, fame and mystery, has started to remix lesser-known songs such as “Rubberneckin” or “A Little Less Conversation”, which have become No. 1 hits in the last five years.
The armies of fans are even preparing even these days for gathering in Memphis, Tennessee, for marking the 30th anniversary of Presley’s death. Absurdly or just ironically, the so called fans are “celebrating” an “anniversary”, although on the 16th of August 2007, normal people would mark just a commemoration of the sudden death that took the star among the living ones.
Todd Morgan, the spokesman for Elvis Presley Enterprises, which the Memphis-based company that manages his lucrative estate and has organized a packed calendar of events, has even said: “We’re gearing up for the best Elvis Week we’ve ever had.” “Isn’t that ironic, don’t you think? […] A little too ironic…” – as another still living pop-rock popular singer was singing in the 90s.
But, ironically or too ironically or not, business is business, and although Presley is not longer living he is still a money machine. No more a rock ‘n’ roll machine, but a money machine!
The Elvis Expo, the Elvis Cruise, the Elvis Radio channel and the Elvis everything are just business. The King is dead, but long live the King! – seems to be the most appropriate phrase for the phenomenon.
Hopefully, Elvis Presley is in a better place now, without being obliged to see how his “friends” and “fans” adore him!
Sometimes a legend should be let to remain a legend.

A new rock band is trying to heal through music the Kashmir wounds, as the troubled region has been blighted by years of violence.
The new band’s sound will be definitely different from the daily booms of guns and bombs that the people from Kashmir are hearing from about 20 years.
“Immersion” is a five-member rock band that also includes a woman and they are trying through their music to erase the scars and trauma the war has marked on the young Kashmiris.
“They have suffered a lot and they are hungry for entertainment.” - has said for Reuters Amit Wanchoo, the band’s 28-year-old lyricist, adding that “We are trying to heal their wounds.” For every word of suffering and pain from his lyrics, Amit Wanchoo got inspired by his own family. His grandfather, a prominent social worker, was shot by the separatist militants in 1992 and died.
The revolt from Kashmir has also killed tens of thousands other people since 1989. Rape, violence and torture have become a way of life for the region’s people.
The separatist ban has also banned any way of distraction from the daily violence, such as cinema, concerts or just listening to the music.
Kashmir was once providing the romantic natural settings for Bollywood movies, because of its great natural beauty. But not it represents just one of the many hot regions of the world, where war, violence and suffering have become normal, usual events. People are dieing every day.
However, in Kashmir with time a single cinema has been reopened and the tradition theatre and music seem to be revived. Alcohol has also started to be available in few stores.
“There was no source of entertainment, so we decided to form a music group which will entertain youth who grew up with violence.” – has said the band’s keyboard player Bilal Matta.
Maybe Immersion will be a source of inspired for other young people also and maybe with time passing by, Kashmir will eventually become a normal, peaceful region as it had once been.