Cecilia Paluch's blog

Wu-Tang Clan has signed a record deal with Steve Rifkind of SRC records, who was responsible for bringing the group to the masses.

“We are back, it’s official,” Rifkind said this week in a video on his blog, thelabel.blog.com.

He may just be the one to revive the group’s popularity in 2007. With nothing but solo releases from the group since their last project together in 2001, this announcement comes at the perfect time. Since the group’s recognition at this year’s VH1 Hip-Hop Honors and the success of records from Ghostface Killah (“Fishscale” and “More Fish”) and Method Man (“4:21 … The Day After”) the timing may be ideal.
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The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, died Christmas morning at the age of 73. After seeing a top 10 single every year from 1959 to 1976 except for 1967, Brown set records and standards for many genres of music to follow.

The New York Times wrote in his obituary that “If Brown's claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator.”

After a routine dental appointment showed sever pneumonia, Brown was hospitalized and died two days later of heart failure, said his agent Frank Copsidas. He had been treated successfully in 2004 for prostate cancer and had diabetes, but was spending his time performing.
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Miss USA, Britney Spears, Miss Nevada and Paris Hilton — all of these girls have one thing in common. They all have photos (or video) to prove that they’re harlots, and the proof is out there for the whole world to see.

Allegations of sexual misconduct with Miss USA Tara Connor were nothing next to the photographic proof of Miss Nevada Katie Rees’ debauchery. The risqué photos on tmz.com and other sites of Rees and a few special girlfriends were peppered with image-editing porn blockers. She was stripped of more than just her title.

Sharing and baring, showing all to prove you’re hot does work. Sex sells. It’s empowering to take charge of ones’ sexuality, to scream “hate it or love it” and flash that mess for the world to see. But today’s youth stars are taking it to much dirtier levels, at much younger ages than ever before; and way more publicly.
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Today marked the opening of Part Two of “The Coast of Utopia” trilogy. “Shipwreck” opened on Broadway today at the Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater. The trilogy covers the story of 19th-century intellectuals who debate political issues and philosophy over a 30-year time period as they strive to make changes in their political system.

The first section, “Voyage,” was released Nov. 27th and is where the story begins, in 1833. Reviews were mostly positive. This second installment starts outside Moscow 13 years later, following the characters through Dresden, Paris and Nice.
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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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