ManBand: *NSYNC For The Married Set
(06.30) Source - MTV: Joey Fatone Sr.'s Not So Boy Band isn't the only middle-aged manufactured singing group hoping to change the face of pop music.
�����On the other side of the pond, a London publicity company has followed through with their plans to form the ManBand, a variation of hugely popular "boy bands" like *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, with all five members 50 or older.
�����Reese Cannon, Al Hodge, Les Short, Tony Walthers and Gordon Kenny were chosen from more than 2,500 applicants who performed songs of their own choice, along with a Boyz II Men tune, for judges at 15 Minutes, the company behind the band.
�����Now that the group has been selected, they will head into a studio next week to record their first single, most likely a cover (though what song it will be is being kept under wraps). Soul singer Roy Hemmings and songwriter Cliff Nash, along with the producers behind the up-and-coming girl group the Sugarbabes, will work in the studio with the ManBand.
�����Although 15 Minutes' Kizzi Nkwocha promises it will be pop material, Cannon said a better term is "adult contemporary."
�����"That will cover basically everything," Cannon, a 50-year-old Akron, Ohio, native, said. "We're at that age where nobody is really catering to the 35 and overs. That's an entirely different market that nobody is hitting with anything new.
�����"A lot of pop songs now are selling sex, and we're kind of past that stage," he added. "We're all married now. We don't go out and advertise those things."
�����Unlike contrived bands like New Kids on the Block or the Spice Girls, each of the members in ManBand, who have sung in the past with artists ranging from Tina Turner to Sting, also play an instrument, Cannon said. They hope to record their own music on the album. "That's what will set us off from the young guys," he said. "None of them actually play instruments."
�����Cannon first heard about ManBand on the radio and decided to try out immediately. Like the other members, the retired military officer is a longtime performer.
�����"We don't have anything to lose," Cannon said. "Sure, somebody has gotten us together, but if we tried to do this on our own, we would have had a lot of problems."
�����Despite their generic name and erratic exposure, the ManBand is taking itself seriously. Orlando's Not So Boy Band began as a joke and are now touring with *NSYNC.
�����"We've been around awhile in England," Cannon said. "Some of us have followings already. People will know we're serious."
Joey Fatone's Pops Kicks It Old-School With NSB2
(06.28) Source - MTV: *NSYNC fans, prepare to see a 54-year-old, 250-pound Joey Fatone singing and dancing around the stage at some of the group's performances.
�����No, it's not a new skit. That's really Joey Fatone � well, Joseph, to be precise. He's Joey's father, and his new group, the Not So Boy Band, has been added to eight dates of *NSYNC's current tour.
�����If the Not So Boy Band, or "NSB2" for short (remember NKOTB?), sounds like a joke, it's probably because it once was.
�����More than a year ago, the Orlando, Florida, Top 40 radio station WXXL 106.7 set out to change the city's reputation as a garden of boy bands by holding auditions for a 35-and-over pop group.
�����"It was a publicity stunt," said Eddie Johnson, president of Millennium Broadcast Corp., who are producing a documentary on the group. "But the guys actually felt some chemistry and realized they should act on it."
�����After their first performance flopped, WXXL cut their ties to the group, which also features Kevin Armstrong, Alex Merida and Ray Harmdierks. The foursome refused to give up and hired vocal and choreography coaches. *NSYNC's Fatone even taught the group a few dance steps.
�����"They have a little ways to go, but they have some impressive moves," Johnson said.
�����The Not So Boy Band has since performed a few times in the Orlando area and will grace the stage at the Child Watch Benefit at Hard Rock Live at Universal Studios on Friday (June 29).
�����The group has also recorded three tracks, all of which sound similar to works from *NSYNC's oeuvre, shockingly. "With You by My Side" is a sappy ballad, "I Know" is a Latin-flavored dance number with the chorus "She tells me that my love is gone," and "Bad Girl" is pure radio pop.
�����"They're pretty darn hot," Johnson said of the songs. "They don't sound like middle-aged men, that's for sure."
�����Believe it or not, NSB2 is not the only adult "boy band" looking to crack the pop charts. A London publicity firm recently put together ManBand, who are going into the studio next week to record their debut album.
�����Here are the Not So Boy Band's confirmed dates with *NSYNC, according to Johnson:
�����7/06 - Houston, TX @ Reliant Astrodome
�����7/08 - Irving, TX @ Texas Stadium
�����7/21 - Oakland, CA @ Network Associates Coliseum
�����7/22 - Oakland, CA @ Network Associates Coliseum
�����7/24 - Pasadena, CA @ Rose Bowl
�����7/27 - Las Vegas, NV @ Sam Boyd Stadium
�����7/31 - Tampa, FL @ Raymond James Stadium
�����8/02 - Miami, FL @ Pro Player Stadium
98 Degrees Play For Keeps Game Leaves No Stone Unturned
(06.28) Source - Allstar: Know which 98 Degrees member likes black jelly beans the best? Or, whose favorite candy bar is a Kit Kat? Then, you're sure to score with Patch Products' latest pop music game, 98 Degrees Play For Keeps.
�����The game, which will be available in Target and Wal-Mart stores nationwide the second week of July, is your basic trivia game with every minute detail of the members' lives broken out into separate questions appropriate for kids ages 8 and up. The game comes complete with 25 prizes including a magnet, key chain, pencil, badges, posters, tattoo sets, and stickers.
�����Patch recently released similar Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC games titled Backstreet Boys Around the World and *NSYNC Backstage Pass.
*NSYNC, Weezer Invited To Join Bloodhound Gang
(06.27) Source - MTV: How do you follow up an album that features cameos by porn star Chasey Lain and a high-on-crack Pac-Man?
�����Well, if your adopted surname is Pop, then you recruit the hottest bands at the opposite ends of the pop music spectrum to guest star: say hooray for *NSYNC and Weezer.
�����Notoriously naughty rap-rockers the Bloodhound Gang are actually friends with the clean-cut *NSYNC, according to Gang leader Jimmy Pop, who recently attended one of their concerts and invited them to collaborate on his group's next album.
�����"Personally, I'd rather hang out with them than most bands," Pop said Tuesday from his home studio in Philadelphia. "They're really down-to-earth people. I thought it would be fun to mix it up and see what happens."
�����*NSYNC have yet to record with the Bloodhound Gang, but Pop is optimistic it will happen. "They're cool with it; we just need to make sure their people are cool with it," he said.
�����Pop's potential collaboration with Weezer singer Rivers Cuomo may be included on the follow-up to last year's Hooray for Boobies, or it may turn into a separate project.
�����Pop recently worked with Weezer on a trance remix of their hit single "Hash Pipe," spurring a discussion with Cuomo about starting a dance band. Pop described the proposed side project as "a Pet Shop Boys for 2001 that's not gay."
�����"That's probably a better outlet [for my dance music dabbling], because the rest of the guys in the Bloodhound Gang would beat me up if all my songs sounded like Eiffel 65 or Alice Deejay," he said.
�����Whether or not Pop gets the dance project going, he said to expect some Euro-house influences showing up on the Bloodhound Gang's as-yet-untitled next album.
�����"We spent so much time in Europe, now everything is beginning to sound like Linkin Park meets the Vengaboys," Pop said. "We've always done hip-hop and punk, and throwing trance into it makes it sound a little more like Refused, but not as angry. Instead of being about the corruption of capitalism, it's about poop."
�����The Bloodhound Gang, who formed in the early '90s and built a following with such releases as the Dingleberry Haze EP (1994) and Use Your Fingers (1995), recently returned to the studio to record five tracks they wrote last month in Orlando. They will return to Florida in August to write the remainder of the record, which should be out by January.
�����Famous for such tastelessly clever song titles as "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks," Pop and crew are borrowing a page from Van Halen (remember For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge?) on a new track titled "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo."
�����"If you're an airplane pilot or a fireman, that's how you would spell 'f---' over the CB," Pop said. "You know, like when cops read off license plates?"
�����The new album will differ from Boobies, which featured the hit single "The Bad Touch," in that Pop has finally moved on from his '80s music influences.
�����"When you're talking about music, the sounds you use are what make it sound '80s," Pop said. "[For this album] I got a bunch of German synthesizers, and the Germans build synthesizers like they build war machines. It'll probably end up sounding like 'Sprockets,' like a 1938 German cafe feel."
�����Fans also shouldn't expect cameos from any adult entertainers on the new record ("Strippers aren't very good at performing," Pop said), though Pop hopes porn specialists Vivid Video will release the band's two upcoming home movies.
�����After shooting more than 500 hours of tour footage since the release of 1996's One Fierce Beer Coaster, the Bloodhound Gang have finally put together a pair of two-hour videos. "One Fierce Beer Run," from their 1996-1997 tours, and "Hooray for Groupies," from 1999-2000 outings, will be released this year, Pop said.
�����"We tried to put everything in there, whether it be sex or us getting in fistfights on the bus," he said.
�����In other Bloodhound Gang movie news, a possibly cleaner movie, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," will feature the band's "Jackass" on its soundtrack (see "'Jay And Silent Bob' Lure PJ Harvey, Bloodhound Gang"). The tune was originally recorded for the "Jackass" television show's soundtrack, which was canned, and it was also at one time slated for the "American Pie 2" soundtrack.
Misc. *NSYNC News
(06.25) Source - Various: Here's some minor news tidbits for those of you who don't know:
�����~Twins Get Chance To See Pop Star Idols Top 40 phenom. *NSYNC will "pop" into Cleveland for two big shows this week. A pair of east-side twin sisters who didn't think they'd go to the show were surprised to learn that they'd see their idols up close after all. The 11-year-old Carter twins have more in common than the way they look. They both also like to sing *NSYNC tunes, although they may not be able to hear themselves sing over the screaming girls at the group's Thursday-night show. Anita and Chanita learned last Friday that they'd won tickets to the performance, thanks to the Big Brothers-Big Sisters program at Case Western Reserve University. "They get a chance to go to dinner first, then they get a limousine ride to the concert," Barbara Jean Carter-Pasco, the twins' mother, said. So they can say "Bye, Bye, Bye" to their jobs helping out in their mother's new soul food restaurant, Mama Jean's Soul Food, at least for the evening. "I was going to take them (to the concert), but when I found out the tickets were kind of expensive, I told them I couldn't afford them, so I really appreciate this," Carter-Pasco said. The twins also appreciate it. They figure that they deserve to go as much as anyone. After all, they are mature enough to appreciate the guys for more than just their looks. "My favorite is Justin Timberlake, because I like his personality." Anita said. "The way JC sings, he (has) one song he (has) one voice on, then on another he (has) another (voice)," Chanita said. The twins said that ideally, they will end up on stage with the group, WEWS reports.
�����~Justin Timberlake is featured in this week's People magazine. He didn't make America's Top 50 Bachelors, but he was on page 152 in Style Watch. 'Cross Michael Jackson with "Easy Rider" and you'll get Hollywood's latest obsession, Dolce and Babbana's slim-waisted motorcycle jacket. Madonna, Usher, Justin Timberlake and Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham all turned up in recent weeks in the tricolor leather looker, which sells for around $1,300. "It's comfortable but glamorous," says a D&G rep. Not to mention ultra-cool. "I liked it immediatly," says Usher. "When I wear it I feel like Speed Racer."' Justin is also pictured wearing the stylish jacket.
�����~Britney Spears has been banned from having a tattoo on her bottom. The pop princess and her *NSYNC singer boyfriend Justin Timberlake wanted matching pictures of red hearts bordered with their names tattooed on their backsides. They even made it as far as a Los Angeles tattoo parlour. But as the work was about to start, an adviser rang her on her mobile and talked her into postponing it till she could give it more thought.
�����~Just ask *NSYNC's Joey Fatone, who found himself stranded about 80 feet above the audience on Tuesday night at SkyDome during the group's PopOdyssey show. The incident occurred during Space Cowboy, when the bandmembers fly over the audience. They are strapped to pulleys that take them from the main stage to a smaller stage in the middle of the floor - except that Fatone remained stuck halfway between. "All of a sudden it's like, 'konk!' and it just stops, and I get jolted and I'm just stuck there," said Fatone yesterday during an interview with The Sun. "All the other guys are still going down and I'm just out there, holding on to the thing going, 'Okay, great.' The whole song is still going on. They all run down to go the main stage, and get up on these mechanical bulls that we have and start riding. And I'm still stuck up there. So they had to manually pull me." Fatone didn't even get to suffer in darkness. "No," he said. "The lights were on me. I was still up there hanging, and people were watching me. After I unhooked, I didn't bother to get on the bull, I just ran down the aisle, screaming and yelling, singing, 'Yippie Yi Yay!" Fatone's mishap was predated by other accidents that plagued rehearsals for *NSYNC's PopOdyssey tour in New Orleans earlier this year. Fatone injured his leg during rehearsals when a piece of the stage shot up into him. They had to use a double for some of the dance sequences in the video for *NSYNC's latest single, Pop. "Wade, our choreographer, looked similar to me, so they painted a goatee on him and did it," said Fatone.
�����~Justin Timberlake, and JC Chasez, racing out of a showing of Swordfish. Riverview Plaza movie theater. Philly. (In town for their tour, which I'm sure you've plotted on your Palm Pilots.) The *NSYNCers - in denim, natch (no sequins) - attracted attention, especially with that beefy thug bodyguard trailing the dreamy duo. Their pace was speedy, probably to avoid being swarmed by teenyboppers but possibly to escape the fishy flick. A side note: when the boys were on Bet they were asked who they have a crush on! Justin said Halle Berry because he just saw Swordfish (for those of you who don't know she appears topless in the flick). J.T., and Joey Fatone, breaking out those choreographed moves at Fluid. Philadelphia. Needless to say, a gaggle of swooning, yelping goils abandoned their homework on this Monday eve and staked out the entrance with their joycams. Exactly the same sitch when Joey & JC were hurriedly escorted out of the swank Rittenhouse Hotel, through a throng of squealing sweeties.
�����~Pouring rain forced *NSYNC to say "Bye Bye Bye" to their fans temporarily at the first of two highly choreographed concerts at Cleveland Browns Stadium. The five-member group drew about 25,000 fans, who were also drenched in Thursday night's summer storm. The second show at the stadium on Lake Erie's southern shore was expected to draw twice as many fans Friday night. *NSYNC appeared on stage by 9:30 PM EDT, a half-hour behind schedule, and made it through five songs when a cloudburst caused a 50-minute rain delay. Group member Chris Kirkpatrick, who grew up in Dalton, Ohio, about 50 miles south of Cleveland, thanked the crowd for enduring the storm. "We want to sincerely apologize," he said.
Justin Timberlake Reacts To Rumor
(06.25) Source - ABC News: Justin Timberlake says it "sucks" his family had to hear the recent rumor that he and Britney Spears were in a fatal car crash. Pop fans weren't the only folks shocked by a recent radio stunt in which two DJs claimed Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears had died in a car crash. The singers themselves were rather taken aback.
�����"The first thing I did was call Britney," said *NSYNC singer Timberlake.
�����"She was in L.A. and I was in, I believe, Philadelphia the day it happened so we were across the country from each other," said Timberlake. "The first thing she says to me was like, 'Hey, where are you?' You know, we both kind of heard about it at the same time."
�����The two Dallas disc jockeys who aired the news of the false collision have since been fired.
�����For the young pop stars, being the subject of a false rumor is not an entirely new experience.
�����"Since the beginning, people knew about our relationship there's always been things that have been said that were totally not true, but this just, like, took it to a whole 'nother planet," said Timberlake.
�����And while he says he and Spears routinely deal with the fans and attention their careers attract, he was still upset by how rumors like this one affect their families.
�����"It just sucks that my family was so worried about it and Britney's family, too, because they're part of my family...I seriously got, like, six phone calls from different people in my family � immediately."
*NSYNC's High Five
(06.22) Source - TeenHollywood: Their PopOdyssey tour is being dubbed one of the most spectacular shows ever and their soon to be released album "Celebrity" is on everyone's shopping list. Now the band are set to make history by being the first group granted the honour of each having individual covers produced for the prestigious Rolling Stone magazine.
�����During an interview for mediaweek.com, Rolling Stone publisher Robert Gregory reveals that he and his colleagues have decided to go all out for the promotion of *NSYNC's third album. "We're going to be doing five covers of *NSYNC with the August 16 issue," he states adding, "It's the first time ever that Rolling Stone has done a separate cover for each member of a band."
�����The issue featuring the teen heartthrobs, on sale on July 27th, marks a brave move for a magazine which mediaweek.com brands as having "a mostly male-skewing audience." However Gregory dismisses any fears that the heavy inclusion of *NSYNC would alienate their readership.
�����He dodged mediaweek.com's question, "Will your readers really care about buying Lance Bass covers?" by replying, "Anybody who went to an *NSYNC show, as I did and saw the frenzy can see that this is going to sell issues."
�����Meanwhile according to an *NSYNC fan site Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez of *NSYNC have been labelled 'bootylicious by Destiny's Child's Beyonce Knowles. The lead singer then told a Maryland, USA radio station that Justin is not only a 'cutie' but that he's a good kisser!
�����When questioned about her relationship with Britney Spears' boyfriend the embarrassed Beyonce quickly denied any romance between her and Justin. "No! It's not like that. Don't get the wrong idea. It was just once at a party! He's doing his own thing now with Britney." She then reitierated that her one kiss with Justin was enjoyable: "He's adorable and I am a big fan of his talent. He is a good kisser though."
*NSYNC On What It Takes To Make A 'Celebrity'
(06.22) Source - Launch: There's no such thing as an "overnight celebrity," at least not as far the members of *NSYNC are concerned. Writing and recording the 13-tracks that appear on its forthcoming album Celebrity, due July 24, has taken the better part of a year. The group started writing songs for the album last year while on tour in support of its multiplatinum album No Strings Attached, and by January the quintet had compiled enough songs to begin recording the album in Orlando in February.
�����By March, *NSYNC members Lance Bass and Joey Fatone had begun filming their roles in the feature film, On The L, on location in Toronto. The pair endured a long airplane ride every weekend from Toronto to Orlando in order to join their groupmates in the recording studio. *NSYNC eventually finished recording Celebrity in mid-April, but several of the members have returned to the studio since then to add some finishing touches.
�����*NSYNC singer Lance Bass told launch that as recently as three weeks ago, his bandmates Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez were still tweaking Celebrity. "Justin and JC went in there and reworked one of the songs to make it fit into the album better," Bass said. "We're continuously fine tuning everything. You know, like, 'Oh, we need to go back and do a little vocal on this,' and we're, like, 'Oh, yeah, we need to go back on this song and just listen to it again, and we need to do this...' so there's no set thing. It's basically just taken half a year, I guess, to do the whole thing."
�����In other *NSYNC news, the group is currently holding an auction at the website allstarcharity.com for two tickets to its July 21 PopOdyssey 2001 concert in Oakland, California. Along with the tickets, the winning bidder gets two invitations to *NSYNC's pre-show soundcheck party and a signed *NSYNC photo. The entire winning bid will go to the group's charity, Challenge For The Children, an organization that provides financial support to children's programs, and also funds school sports programs and music education. In addition, the charity helps fund several children's healthcare causes. *NSYNC fans are advised to act fast to get a bid in since the auction closes on June 25.
BT Earns 'King Of Dirty Pop' Title With *NSYNC, Britney Tracks
(06.22) Source - MTV: So far in BT's remarkable six-year career, he's spearheaded the popular genre known as trance, revolutionized film scores and brought Tori Amos into clubs. But he will probably forever be remembered as the inventor of "dirty pop."
�����Over the past few months, Maryland-bred Brian Transeau has brought gritty beats and broken vocals into the glossy worlds of *NSYNC and Britney Spears. BT produced the Orlando, Florida, fivesome's latest hit single, "Pop," and recorded two tracks for the pop princess' upcoming album � one of which he described as "insane."
�����How did this happen? Let's just say it wasn't an idea some record company executive had in a boardroom one day.
�����"Believe me, I thought about *NSYNC what a lot of people that aren't 14 years old and female think about *NSYNC," BT explained. "Not that I hated them, it was ambivalence. I just didn't care."
�����Then *NSYNC's JC Chasez started popping up at BT's shows last fall. Soon the two were talking and eventually hanging out with each other's friends and girlfriends, including Justin Timberlake and Spears.
�����"They're so cool and levelheaded," BT said. "I know people that are extras in films that have more attitude than them."
�����Then he heard his new friends sing.
�����"I thought, 'Hang on a second. These guys may be a groomed, commercialized thing, but they are really talented,'" BT explained.
�����Still, he was hesitant.
�����"JC was saying we should do a track. I said, 'I like you guys a lot, but it's probably not right for either one of us.' I thought it would freak out everybody. One night, Justin called me up and said, 'Dude, you've said no to this sh-- a bunch of times, but I want to do a track with you like 'Hip Hop Phenomenon,' which is on the U.K. version of my record. It's a crazy underground new-school breakbeat track. [He said,] 'You can do whatever the hell you want to our vocals. Anything.'"
�����So, BT took him up on the offer, and he did whatever the hell he wanted. He spent two weeks working on their vocals, trying 40 different treatments, using special equipment usually reserved for movie sound effects.
�����The result is the dirtiest pop this side of the Dirty South. BT took Timberlake's vocals to hell and back and still found a finished product the kids can groove to. "Pop" is "Beat It" on ecstasy, and that wasn't an accident.
�����"I was totally going for the Michael Jackson," BT said. "When Justin was singing in the studio, I kept shouting, 'Michael!' at him."
�����Timberlake's girlfriend was so moved by the 29-year-old classically trained producer's work, she had to have a taste for herself. She spent a few days in BT's home studio last week recording two tracks, an untitled dance number and the groundbreaking "Before the Goodbye."
�����"It goes back and forth from sounding like new-school R&B, Timbaland-style beats, to progressive house," BT said of the tune. "Everyone we've played it for is like, 'This is so crazy that it might just be amazing.'"
�����BT, who released his first single on Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto label in 1995, has ventured into the pop world in the past only as a remixer, taking on tracks by Madonna, Sarah McLachlan and Seal. His remix of Amos' "Blue Skies" in 1996 was a worldwide club smash.
�����He's also scored movies, first with "Go" in 1999, followed by "Under Suspicion," "Driven" and "The Fast and the Furious," which opens Friday (June 22).
�����Movement in Still Life, BT's third album, was released a year ago and melds together a smorgasbord of genres with appearances by former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty, Sasha, Paul van Dyk and DJ Rap.
*NSYNC, Backstreet Boys Represent For Full Force
(06.21) Source - MTV: *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys on the same album?
�����No, it's not a new edition of Now That's What I Call Music! Both boy bands can be found on Still Standing, the forthcoming album from Full Force, the rappers/producers who worked with both pop juggernauts early in their careers.
�����The follow-up to 1995's Sugar on Top, scheduled for July 31 release, features a revamped version of *NSYNC's "I Just Wanna Be With You" (with additional lyrics courtesy of Da Brat) and the Backstreet Boys' "All I Have to Give."
�����Still Standing also contains seven new songs and a number of classics Full Force either produced or performed during their career. The crew enjoyed its first hit 15 years ago with U.T.F.O.'s "Roxanne, Roxanne," which appears on the forthcoming album. The disc also includes Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's "I Wonder If I Take You Home" and James Brown's "Static," representing Full Force's rich musical legacy as they reach out to fans possibly unfamiliar with their chart-topping work.
�����"We wanted some things to evoke memories and other new things," said "Bowlegged" Lou, who is joined in Full Force by Paul Anthony, Junior "Shy Shy" Clark, "Baby" Gerry Charles, Curt "TT" Bedeau and Brian "B-Fine." "Groups from the old school will just do a bunch of new songs when they come out with an album. Only the true fans will get it. But we want some new fans, too, which is why we incorporated a lot of our young hip-hop friends and people in the business."
�����"Float On," the album's first single, appears twice on Still Standing. "The Girls That Live in the Club Mix" of the song features Silkk the Shocker, Funkmaster Flex, Method Man, Allure and Bambue, while Montell Jordan, Ginuwine, Kevon Edmonds and Gerald Levert appear on "The Classic Ballad Mix."
�����Several other versions of "Float On" appear on the song's maxi-single. One features U.T.F.O.; an all-woman mix includes Regina Belle, Miss Jones and others; the instrumental version features George Duke; and the final version highlights the Floaters (joined by Isaac Hayes), who first recorded the song in 1977.
�����Other guests on the album include The Product G&B and Sole, on "No Other Love Will Do," and Raekwon, Scarface, Bambue, Allure and DJ Ace on "The Good, the Bad & the Thugly."
�����"A lot of people who jumped on the record just happen to have a lot of respect and love for us," Lou said. "Take Montell Jordan. When it came time for us to pay him, he was like, 'Nah, nah, nah. I'm just doing it for the love, man.' When you get respect like that, it's all good."
�����Things not being all good led Brooklyn-based Full Force to work with the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC in the first place. Full Force faded from the spotlight after appearing in the "House Party" movies with Kid 'N Play during the early '90s. They were still producing, but many urban record execs felt they'd passed their prime. Hooking up with the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, however, helped return them to prominence in the industry.
�����Full Force will produce tracks for pop/R&B act Blaque's second album. They will also release Bambue's album on their Forceful Records imprint in hopes of signing her to a major-label deal.
�����No longer on the low, Full Force is geared for prime time again.
�����"Full Force are 'still standing' after all these years," Lou said. "We're still rising above all the wars and battles in the music industry. People sometimes wonder what happened to us. They probably think we're still making 'House Party' movies."
*NSYNC's Celebrity: More Songs About Young Love
(06.21) Source - MTV: Betting men and women would no doubt wager that the world's tens of millions of *NSYNC devotees wouldn't be fazed if the boys titled the songs on their upcoming Celebrity "Pork and Beans" or "Green Crayons." Judging from *NSYNC's sold-out stadium jaunt, PopOdyssey 2001, so long as fans can hear the fab five belt out sugary melodies over sweet sonic booms, they'll pick up the record regardless.
�����However, since the track list for the boy band's July 24 release includes such titles as "Girlfriend," "The Two of Us" and "Tell Me, Tell Me...Baby," betting men and women (even those who haven't got a sneak preview during the quintet's recent outings) could confidently wager that Celebrity will focus on young love.
�����The Celebrity track list, according to Jive Records:
�����01. Pop
�����02. Celebrity
�����03. The Game Is Over
�����04. Girlfriend
�����05. The Two of Us
�����06. Gone
�����07. Tell Me, Tell Me...Baby
�����08. Up Against the Wall
�����09. See Right Through You
�����10. Selfish
�����11. Just Don't Tell Me That
�����12. Something Like You
�����13. Do Your Thing
*NSYNC, Britney, Whitney & Bobby On Tap For Michael Jackson Celebration
(06.20) Source - Launch: R&B singer Deborah Cox revealed that *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, and Bobby Brown are among the artists who will perform at the tribute concert to Michael Jackson and the 30th anniversary of his solo career this September at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The two-day event will be taped for broadcast as a two-hour concert special later this year.
�����Cox told launch she is definitely looking forward to honoring the amazing career of the self-proclaimed "King Of Pop."
�����"September 7th and the 10th at Madison Square Garden, I'll be singing along with a bunch of other artists to pay tribute to his legacy, and I'm a huge Michael Jackson fan. I had his posters plastered all over my room when I was younger, so that's going to be an incredible honor," she said.
�����Cox added that Shaggy, Jill Scott, and more than 200 other stars from the worlds of music and film are expected to be on-hand to honor Jackson. "Who are some of the other artists? Myself, Mya, Pink, Marc Anthony, *NSYNC, Britney [Spears], Tamia, Whitney [Houston], Bobby [Brown's] gonna be there. Usher...damn near everybody's gonna be there because that's an event you cannot miss."
�����At the event, Jackson will reunite with the Jacksons, and a 300-member gospel choir is expected to back Jackson and friends on several songs. David Gest, the producer of the mega-concert, said in a statement last week that "the lineup and details regarding the event will be announced later this month."
Dallas Radio Station Fires DJs Behind Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake Death Hoax
(06.20) Source - Allstar: Dallas radio station KEGL-FM has fired Kramer and Twitch, the San Jose, Calif.-based DJ team behind the Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake death hoax that wreaked havoc on Los Angeles police and fire officials last week.
�����Tom Schurr, vice president and market manager for Clear Channel Communications (which owns KEGL), told the Dallas Morning News the firing was based on several incidents since the DJ team moved to San Jose, not only the Spears/Timberlake hoax. "There were some other things, that I only have a cursory knowledge of, that came up while they were out there," Schurr told the newspaper on Tuesday (June 19). "As you well know, sometimes you do something, but it doesn't become a problem for some time later."
�����Kramer & Twitch - real names Keith Kramer and Tony Longo - began working at KEGL in 1998 and moved to San Jose last December. Once there, several controversies followed, including an incident when the shock jocks told motorists they should run over cyclists or hit them with their car doors.
�����Last week's incident proved the final straw, when Kramer and Twitch reported Spears and Timberlake had been involved in a horrific car crash in Los Angeles, killing the former and leaving the latter in a coma. The report sparked off a deluge of calls to fire and police officials in Los Angeles and a worldwide panic among teen pop fans. Timberlake's mother reportedly even heard the news before she knew it was a hoax. At any rate, Kramer expressed remorse on Tuesday.
�����"The last thing we expected was us, self-proclaimed morons, to create such a worldwide panic within one hour," Kramer told the Dallas Morning News. "That's not what we set out to do."