pimblr.com

London, England - Refusing to acknowledge, much less apologize for her drug use, racist and homophobic comments, or even bothering to defend her offensive comments, citing artistic license, no, no, no, Amy Winehouse instead denies the incident ever occurred, even though her husband recorded it using his video camera.
"Amy Winehouse emphatically denies that, that is her making those offensive comments on that tape," said a spokesman for Winehouse. "She has no memory of the incident therefore it never happen."
However, as the video footage reveals, Amy Winehouse can clearly be seen and heard talking trash about a segment of her fan base: Blacks, Asians and Gays. All to the tune of that children's classic song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," while having sex and doing drugs with her husband in a crack den.
Meanwhile, Winehouse's mother came to her daughter's defense, claiming that she is to blame for the incident.
"It's all my fault," said Winehouse's mother. "When she was a little girl in rehab I'd cheer her up by changing the lyrics of popular children's songs to make them funny. It was all pretty harmless really. Like we'd change the lyrics to 'Puff the Magic Dragon' to 'Puff on the Magic then Drag on It' or 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' to 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'. Well, we didn't have to change the lyrics on that last one, just used suggestive voice inflections. But I assure you if you were offended by what she did with 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' then you haven't been offended until you've heard Amy's version of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' even the clean and sober one."
Winehouse's mother went on to claim that her daughter also suffers from short term memory loss and that she has to remind Winehouse that she is a Grammy Award winner, among other things, on a daily bases.

thespoof.com

Custom Made: Mass Appeal
Custom Made, originally comprised of emcees Sinister Six, Bluff, Element, Skandalous Scoobs and Aneek, are a West Coast based Hip-Hop collective first formed back in 2003. Due to unforeseen circumstances, and following the release of their ‘official’ debut, L.A. State of Mind, group member Six found himself facing serious incarceration. Not letting that obstacle be a major deterrence, Custom Made instead persevered and soon went on to put out their popular Street Cinema mix-tape series. After aligning themselves with indie powerhouse, Babygrande Records, the rap entity eventually dropped their critically praised Sidewalk Mindtalk: The Best of the Custom Made Mixtapes offering in late ‘06. With Aneek deflecting to the East Coast, and Six’s current lock down status, the, now down to a, musical trio are finally readying the launch of their highly anticipated sophomore opus, Original Dynasty.
Scoobs: This is the Original Dynasty. We kept this album all crew. Everyone was on the album, from the founding members to the extended fam, so it was only right that we titled the record Original Dynasty. The only person that couldn’t make the record was Six, due to his incarceration.
Element: I think this differs from past releases because we have been growing and developing our style, and redefining our techniques. We’ve been going through a lot of situations that have been giving us more confidence. This is a more updated and complete project.
Scoobs: I would have to say that Original Dynasty is our best release yet. This release shows a more mature side of the group. People are going to be able to see how much we’ve grown from our first release up to Original Dynasty. We’ve always been real personal with our music, but this is our most personal project to date. We put our lives on these tracks and it shows. We basically combined a lot of elements from our previous projects and worked them into this one. The production on this release is more soulful as well. We’re still bringing you that hardcore Hip-Hop we’re known for, but this album has more concepts and more storytelling. Overall, it’s a very well rounded album from the entire group.

soundslam.com

Salvador Perez strummed the guitar chords to “Cielito Lindo” the other night and sang the lilting Mexican love song with a handful of other Latino immigrants sitting in the second-floor foyer of the Centro del Pueblo on Valencia Street. The sound swelled with feeling.
“Music is a form of release,” said Perez, 27, a San Francisco day laborer from Chiapas, Mexico, who stands on Cesar Chavez Street, or in front of Home Depot, hoping someone will hire him to dig ditches or pour concrete or do other manual labor.
Every Thursday evening, he and other laborers and domestic workers show up at Centro del Pueblo to rehearse with El Coro Jornalero, or the Day Laborer’s Choir. It was put together by the immigrant advocacy organization La Raza Centro Legal with a $32,000 grant from the San Francisco Art Commission’s Community Arts and Education Program, which funds arts activities and street festivals throughout the city’s ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
Originally called the Neighborhood Arts Program, the community arts program - a national trailblazer in nurturing art in places outside the circles of high culture - is celebrating its 40th anniversary with performances and gabfests around town during the next two weeks. The events feature everyone from lesbian comedienne Marga Gomez to poet Diane Di Prima, Danza Azteca Xitlalli and the Brown Bombers Cheer and Dance Team.
El Coro Jornalero began as an informal group that sang at labor events. The city grant has allowed it to formally organize under the tutelage of Ricardo Torres, a sharp local choral director and rock ‘n’ roller who leads the 10-member Coro Obrero (Worker’s Choir) and plays clubs and on the street with his band Amnesia.
“People like to sing and play to express their feelings,” said Torres, 29, a Mexico City native with a long black ponytail and braided goatee. “It’s almost like therapy.”

sfgate.com

“I SEE a little silhouetto of a man, scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?”
Well done if you recognised that as a lyric from Queen’s perennial hit Bohemian Rhapsody, but what’s the next line?
If you’re now singing, “Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening, me,” maybe you should have a go at new gameshowDon’t Forget The Lyrics (Sky One, Sunday, 7pm).
The premise is pretty simple, each contestant on the show has to sing a string of well-known songs - but it’s probably best we let the show’s host Shane Richie explain.
“I’ve had to learn this parrot fashion,” he says with a beaming smile. “The punter comes on to sing with the live band, and the words come up on screen for them.
“Then when the band stops, the lyrics disappear.
“The first song’s worth £500, the second £1,000 and it goes up like that to £250,000. It gets harder; you start having to know maybe three words, then you have to know nine or 10 in the later rounds.
“You get nine categories on the board, rock, pop, divas, 60s, 70s, and so on, and behind each category is a choice of two songs.
“So you choose a category, then a song, then you get to sing along with the live band.
“The musos in the band are amazing too.
“Some of them play for Amy Winehouse, others are in David Jordan’s band, so there are some great musicians on the show, absolutely first class.”
As a former holiday camp Blue Coat, and the star of various stage musicals, you might expect Shane to be a dab hand at the game himself, but he admits to being as clueless as some of the contestants, mainly due to the pressure of being in front of a live studio audience.

manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter
Before the widespread return to ‘cultural’ lyrics in the 1990s, Admiral Tibet was the most consistently conscious singer of his age and widely regarded as the first cultural singer of the deejay-dominated period.
Born Kennel Allen in the parish of St Mary, as a young child growing up, he always had a keen interest in music. He started performing on sound systems in and around his vicinity at a tender age.
In 1985, Tibet did his first recording for producer Sherman Clacher, entitled Babylon War, giving him recognition locally and internationally. Another single, Leave People Business, was an instant hit, followed by Serious Time, which was later remixed with two-time Grammy winner Shabba Ranks and the Don Gorgon Ninjaman.
The track featured then rivals Ninjaman and Shabba Ranks and was employed to signal reconciliation between the two deejays in the early ’90s.
Tibet’s lyrics, delivered with a convincing, vulnerable quality, are as true today as they were when first delivered. Admiral Tibet has toured extensively in the United States, Europe, Japan and the Caribbean.
The Sunday Gleaner caught up with the artiste recently.
Sunday Gleaner: How did you get the name?
Admiral Tibet: I was going primary school and my cousin, both of us were sitting together looking into an atlas, and saw the name ‘Tibet’. My cousin took it as a mockery and seh ‘Tibet! Tibet!’ and it stuck - that was in the 1970s.
Admiral came on in the 1980s when a friend of mine asked me ’bout my stage name. Him seh Tibet kinda lonely and others have long names, so I’m the ‘Admiral’.
Did you always want to do music?
Well, definitely, from I realise miself and start have sense, mi realise that mi love music.
Did you ever get any formal training?

jamaica-gleaner.com

With access to songs from the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame inductees, there was plenty to choose from, but the Top 4's ranged from the predictable to downright catastrophic. The opening montage about the Hall of Fame and the suggestion that one of the Top 4 might wind up there one day was pushing it jusssst a little bit. On with the show…
David Cook: Out of all the songs, he picks Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf ? Say which? Don't get me wrong, I love the song, but this was one of the most bizarre choices ever. And, sorry all you Cookloonies, it was just okay. The thing that makes Hungry Like the Wolf one of the best 80s songs is that driving synth line, which David substituted for bombastic rock. The vocal was growly and one note. Luckily, his cover of The Who's Baba O'Riley was a good recovery. He's sailing to the Top 2 with Tickle Me Archuleta.
Syesha Mercado: Proud Mary ? Really? I've seen drag queens do better performances. Creedence Clearwater Revival might have written it, but Tina Turner owns the song, and Syesha's copycat version — right down to the choreography — was pathetic. Randy said she was "in the zone," but he's totally out to lunch. Only TT should be allowed to do this song…EVER. Her second song, Sam Cook's classic A Change Is Gonna Come , was turned into a big, belty Whitney-esque number. Randy didn't like it, but Paula was crying and Simon thought it was great. Syesha comparing the Civil Rights-era touchstone to her journey on American Idol and then sobbing uncontrollably about it made me vomit in my mouth a little. Luckily, Jason Castro was so bad, she should be safe another week.

tvfan.ew.com

Skeletonwitch, Athens’ well-known black metal band, will soon be packing up its gear and leaving for its first European excursion to showcase face-melting guitars and thrashing vocals.
The band started five years ago, stemming from a love of metal that started with bands like Iron Maiden and Slayer.“I got the albums Metal Health by Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister’s Stay Hungry and from then on out, I figured that’s what I wanted to do for a living,” said lead singer Chance Garnette.
Skeletonwitch was formed when Garnette’s brother, Nate Garnette, met Scott Hedrick in 2003. Both are now guitarists for the band and share a love of metal.
“Nate played in a band that broke up and he had a demo tape of songs, and I ended up meeting him,” Hedrick said. “We both loved metal and hanging out, and he couldn’t find anyone else to play, and I showed up with my guitar and a case of beer and we started playing.”
Once Hedrick and Nate started to play together, the rest of the band fell into place with Chance as singer, Derrick Nau on drums and Eric Harris on bass.
After honing their talent in Athens, the band’s members released their first EP, Worship The Witch, in 2005. The band sent this release to many record labels and went on its first small tour before being picked up by Prosthetic Records, a metal label that has also signed Lamb Of God, All That Remains and Through the Eyes of the Dead.
“The label puts our stuff out all over Europe and the U.S. and in stores like Best Buy — major distributors,” Hedrick said.Once signed to Prosthetic in early 2007, the band wrote and recorded its first full-length album, Beyond The Permafrost, which was released in October and sold out after one day at Haffa’s record store in Athens. After gaining experience playing and writing, the band said its album benefited from their EP experience.

thepost.ohiou.edu

The palindrome is dead; all hail the palindrome. Yes, PopWatchers, just when I was starting to like her, Kristy Lee "KLK" Cook — wide stance, Evita hands, MechaZilla survival skills and all — was asked to leave American Idol’s dwindling island tonight, during an episode most remarkable for its complete mindfrak of an elimination construct. This was a night which will also forever live in infamy as the first and hopefully only time I’ll be hypnotized into downloading an American Idol iTune. Damn you, David Cook, and your infernal talent. You’re making me go all soft! Between your bizarrely appealing emo versions of cheesy songs I love and the persistent, itchy crush I’ve developed on Seacrest, I don’t even know who I am anymore. What’s next? I start watching Dancing with the Stars? I buy a Clay Aiken CD? I stop being totally creeped out by all these group numbers in which the Idol contestants sing about God and praying?
Okay, that last thing will never happen. But rather than launch into one of those rants you folks love so much — this time featuring my strongly held belief that if I want to hear evangelical music, there are channels other than Fox for my doomed soul to surf, thank you very much, and hey, I wonder what God thinks of all the families that network tried to destroy with Moment of Truth? — I’ll just go ahead and start the rundown of what happened during today’s taping, featuring none other than Ms. Mariah Carey herself. Join me after the jump, won’t you? The Baby Jesus would want you to!
We were called to arrive at CBS Television City no later than 5 p.m. today lest we miss the Carey festivities, so I hustled my way to the studio, forgetting to leave my iPod and cell phone in the car. Of course, this was the one day they decided to clamp down on security, and next thing I knew, the iPod was confiscated. (Not the useful, show-stealing piece of technology, mind you — just the lump of third-generation ancientness that plays host to my wide variety of angry music.) Once I took my seat, the long arm of the law came for me again: The CBS pages were out in force with their gum cups, trying to collect our minty freshness. Well. You can take my iPod, Idol, but you can’t take my gum. As I sat there trying desperately not to move my jaw, I took a quick glance around the studio. Here is my tally of employees chewing gum:

popwatch.ew.com

This is it. The moment you (may) have been waiting for. We finally get to learn who made the group on “The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious.” Booyahkah.
The awkwardly artistic PCD video message congratulates the girls for making it this far but didn’t give any specific challenge. The remaining five go to see Robin et al and Nichole gives a teary thanks on behalf of everyone for seeing something in them which in turn gets Robin all misty.
The challenge this week is to take everything they’ve learned and put it to the stage while showcasing their own personalities. As a group they’ll be singing Kool & the Gang’s “Ladies Night.” For solos, Charlye will sing “Before He Cheats” by Carrie Underwood, Tiffanie was assigned “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin, Natalie gets “Say It Right” by Nelly Furtado (not her most vocally challenging single), Nichole will perform EnVogue’s “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” and Chrystina got “What About Love” by Heart. Chrystina isn’t very happy with the choice because she doesn’t know the song. How does she not know that song? Oh, that’s right. Because all the contestants are, like, 12.
Before they get started on their solos, Robin lets them know that Geffen Records CEO Ron Fair will have one-on-ones with each of them to get to know them better. When asked how “compatible” she is with everyone else in the house, Natalie, in true PR fashion, says she feels she’s the most “compatible” out of the other girls. Which to a certain extent is true because she’ll act however she needs to act to get by. Nichole tells Ron that she has no commitment issues whatsoever to the group. When Ron asks how the personalities will blend, Chrystina says that it’ll definitely work with her because she wants to be in the group regardless of the other members. Tiffanie says how excited she is about doing the work that goes into making the “band” a success (late nights, early mornings, etc.). Charlye, when asked if she’d really be able to get along with everybody, admits that she has times where she clashes with Natalie and Chrystina. When Ron inquires what she’d do if she didn’t make the group, Charlye replies, “I’m not going to lie, I’ll probably go back to school.” They end her segment with Ron stating that, no matter what happens, they’re looking for someone who’s going to “hold [our] hands and jump off the cliff with us.” While I appreciate her honesty, I’m pretty sure she just submarined herself. Dive! Dive!

zap2it.com

This cross between a compilation show and a bio-musical, telling the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, has been packing them in on Broadway. But this Jersey may not turn out to be the same cash cow it was in the States. Its appeal entirely depends on a well-developed affection for the state of New Jersey and old hits such as Big Girls Don’t Cry, My Eyes Adored You and Bye, Bye, Baby.
If you are happy to pay to see an ace tribute act with a few biographical facts and a slick design, then go. If you are looking for satisfying theatre, try elsewhere. If it works at all, it is because Ryan Molloy carries all before him as the pint-sized Italian-American with the extraordinary falsetto that makes it sound as if a really tuneful Minnie Mouse has taken up residence in his throat. He is matched by Stephen Ashfield as songwriter Bob Gaudio, the band’s other genuine talent.
But if the music is terrific, the story is as bland as the lyrics of the songs. It follows the familiar trajectory of rags to riches, a few personal hiccups before petering out with induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The problem is that the writing prefers wisecracks to characterisation. When it tries to ping our heartstrings, it fails because the characters are musical identikits, not real people, and though reference is made to the group’s appeal to “ordinary” people, it is never explored. A pleasant, forgettable night out; no more, no less.

arts.guardian.co.uk