Mike + the Mechanics |
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Mon. July 17.2000 12:00 AM EDT |
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WIRE: FROM MIKE + THE MECHANICS TO BRITNEY TO GOOGOOSH |
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$149 billion for cigarette smokers? Wait until we find out what the radio waves from our computer monitors do to us... • The lead singer and founding member of '80s hit-makers Mike + the Mechanics has died from
Young - not to be confused with the "Everytime You Go Away" white soul singer of the same name - scored his first American hit with "Run Home Girl" as a member of Sad Cafe. Since forming Mike + the Mechanics with Genesis' Mike Rutherford in 1985, he appeared in the American top 10 with smashes like "Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)," "All I Need Is a Miracle," and "The Living Years." "We are all shocked and devastated by Paul's death," Rutherford said. "He had a fantastic voice, one of the best rock voices of his generation, and aside from his musical talent, he had such an infectious enthusiasm for the business. Paul loved performing; we all thought he would be singing in 50 years' time. This is a terrible loss." • You haven't seen music fanatics until you've been to Iran, where the performance of a diva at a July 29 concert in Toronto is being awaited with bated breath. It's the first show by Googoosh since the Ayatollah Khomeni outlawed solo female singing in 1979. Her music is still heard in her homeland, albeit surreptitiously. Iranian bootleggers anticipate heavy demand for a video of the show. "That will be the No. 1 best seller this summer," one told Reuters. "I've already got customers lining up." • Britney Spears has cancelled a show next week in Denver because her stage rig is too big to fit in the venue. Well, it beats saying you have throat problems. Promoter Chuck Morris said of the Denver show, "We did everything we could to prevent the show from being cancelled. Telling my 7-year-old daughter that Britney wasn't coming was the hardest thing I have had to do all year." Also, her July 31 concert in Los Angeles has been moved to the Great Western Forum. • The Academy Award-winning Buena Vista Social Club documentary is coming to PBS on Wednesday, July 19, and nobody could be happier than Ry Cooder. He told Wall of Sound, "It's great for people to get to see real musicians who aren't all painted up and dolled up and duded up and processed and produced and manufactured. This is an experience that, especially in this country, you just can't have so easily anymore, real musicians who play from inside of what their inner selves are telling them to do." • Fatboy Slim says he's sampling Doors Lizard guy Jim Morrison on his new album, but don't expect to find the follow-up to You've Come a Long Way Baby under the Christmas tree. "There was a delivery date for completion of mid-August, which would have meant a release sometime in October or November," he told NME.com. "But that's just not going to happen. Don't hold your breath. It'll be sometime early next year." • What with their Rhyme & Reason tour and a live album to be recorded at San Francisco's Fillmore, it would seem that Rage Against the Machine just don't know how to get off stage. Now the politically minded band says it is going to play Los Angeles' Roxy on Sunday, July 23 to benefit the Regional Food Bank and groups planning to protest at this summer's Democratic National Convention. • Eminem on criticism of his controversial lyrics from gays' and women's groups: "Whatever. Let them say it. I'm not even trying to defend it. I've answered this gay-bashing thing many a time. If people would listen to the lyrics, I say, 'Half the sh*t I say/ I just make it up to make you mad.' And you know what? I shouldn't even have to f*cking explain myself." • R. Kelly's new album is only a single disc, but that doesn't mean he's cutting back on the ambition of his 1998 double offering, R., which boasted the hit "I Believe I Can Fly." His new album, T-P2.com, is described as a "continuation" of his 1993 R&B classic, 12 Play. The first single, "I Wish," will be released on August 14, with the album to follow on October 24. • Napster shill Fred Durst on Metallica's lawsuit: "If Metallica doesn't like Napster, then they shouldn't like them and if they want to sue Napster they should, because everybody should do what they want ... more power to them ... I can't be mad at anybody for what they want to do, I support anything anyone wants to do as long as they're doing what they want to do." • Ted Nugent sets the world to rights, speaking to a rally in Winnipeg, Manitoba: "Stop buying tobacco, booze, and those damn stupid videos. Get your family away from the video games and back into nature. Why not start a youth archery range? The reality is, the other side doesn't give a rat's butt about the facts." He added, "Animals have rights, animals have rights to garlic, butter, and cooking on both sides." |
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