Blogs

Sports players run off adrenaline. Sometimes, tempers flare. Physical manifestations of the frustrations players feel are not uncommon in such sports as hockey, rugby or even baseball. In hockey, there’s the few minutes of humiliation in the penalty box, equivalent to being sent to your room.

But when these problems happen in the basketball arena, public reaction is quite different. Take Saturday night’s game between the Denver Nuggets and the New York Knicks, a number of key players were suspended. Carmelo Anthony threw a punch, and he was ousted for 15 games.
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Van Halen just hasn’t been the same without David Lee Roth. And now Eddie Van Halen is going to do something about it. He’s invited the former vocalist to head out to tour for the summer of 2007.

In a recent Guitar World interview Van Halen said, “I'm telling Dave. ‘Dude get your ass up here and sing, b*tch! Come On!’” he said. "As it stands right now, the ball is in Dave's court. Whether he wants to rise to the occasion is entirely up to him, but we're ready to go.”

Other interesting news is that Eddie’s 15-year-old son will be accompanying Van Halen on their upcoming tour -- on bass. Eddie did a September Howard Stern interview, during which he claimed his son had only been playing bass for three months but that he was blowing them away. He also said that his son brings a “youthfulness to the band.”
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Guns ‘n’ Roses has tentatively announced a release date for “Chinese Democracy,” in a lengthy, somewhat unclear statement from Axl. The long, drawn out rambling covers the fact that the band has cancelled their January concerts, in an effort to get the album out in March 6; on time, sort of.

Axl covers a number of reasons why the album might not come out on the projected date, which all together just sound like one big excuse.

Axl said in his statement, “It takes approximately eight weeks for an album to hit the shelves once it has been turned in to the record company. For whatever reasons, it appears that it may have been mistakenly inferred by management that this time period could be condensed to three weeks. With that being said, this is not a promise, a lie or a guarantee, but we do wish to announce a tentative release date of March 6.”
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Prince is taking over Las Vegas. As the pop-star has trouble with commiting to things, like his own name for one, he has set up shop with a “multi-month, limited engagement” at the former Club Rio.

And New Year’s Eve just got better, to the tune of $1,000. Prince is offering a package for the festivities at his Club 3121 in the Rio Resort and Casino. For a cool G one can have dinner at the aptly named 3121 Jazz Cuisine restaurant, get admission to Prince’s performace, sit at a reserved table and drink commemorative champagne from a set of commemorative champagne flutes.
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With the resurgence of all things 80s, George Michael is returning to the US, according to People Magazine. His current tour “25 Live” is the English version of what is heading to the states this Spring, commemorating George’s 25 years in the biz.

"25 Live" started Sept. 23 in Barcelona, and its sold out success prompted the US leg. It’s been 15 years since he’s hopped the pond to perform, so this Spring marks quite the exciting event for fans who have been waiting a good part of their adult lives to see him.
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Guns N’ Roses fans are finally at the end of the line. For over a decade Axl has been holding the carrot of “Chinese Democracy” in efforts to get his fans salivating. Unfortunately, over the past few months, talk has increased saying the album would arrive before Christmas. Well, it’s 12 days to the big day, and rebellion is here.

Hype has been had, and since record company standards dictate a Tuesday release more often than not, that leaves one possibly day before Christmas to set the world afire with the new album.
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The Wicked witch is dead! This weekend’s Broadway grosses have been released, and according to Playbill.com, for the first time in many months Wicked has been supplanted by another musical. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas raked in over $1.5 million for its weekly gross from Dec. 4 to 10th, while Wicked only brought in $1.45.

The long-time number one selling theatre ticket, Wicked, the adapted Gregory Maguire novel gives us the back-story of the witches of Oz. Its themes of friendship, courage against oppression and living with marginalization strike a chord with theater-goers of all ages.
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Clapton is back. Not only on the road, as tour dates starting in February were recently announced, but Slowhand has regained some of this youthful energy along with the appreciation of audiences across the U.K.

Lucky for the US, Clapton is headed this way and his blues power is stronger than ever. Reviews of his current tour have been stellar, despite the lukewarm reception his most recent album, “Back Home.”

The London Times wrote of his Glasgow show that “he still sang in his sleepy, soulful drawl, but played guitar with a rediscovered energy and urgency. … Clapton remains a supremely gifted performer…. there was some of the old fire here as well.”
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Mary J. Blige has seen her share of accolades lately, as she is dominating awards ceremonies across the globe.

This week Billboard was the first to fill her arms with nine awards for “The Breakthrough.” And then on Tuesday, her eight Grammy nods almost matched her winning Billboard total. She is leading with plenty more than any other artist for 2007.

Mary's already secured three Grammys over her career since her first which she received with Method Man for their compilation on “I’ll Be There For You/You’re All I Need to Get By.”

“The Breakthrough” debuted at number one, selling 727,000 copies in its first week. That was the biggest first week of sales for an R&B solo female artist in Sound Scan history. And the fifth largest for a female artist overall.
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Christmas and New Year’s Day are one time of year that everyone wants time off. This applies to Broadway performers as well, whose grueling daily schedules leave little time for breaks. Tourists are commonly in the city to see shows during the same time that entertainers are relaxing.

To accommodate the needs of both sides of the Broadway equation, the Christmas and New Year’s week schedule is adjusted by a shifting of performances. Evening shows or extra matinees are commonly added to make up for cancelled events on Christmas and New Year’s days.

This year’s schedule shouldn’t change too drastically as both holidays are on Mondays. The Drowsy Chaperone is the only show with an 8 p.m. showing Christmas night. There have only been 8 added shows, which can all be found on the Playbill Website: http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/103324.html.
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