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November 30, 2009
News of Rolling Stones World Tour Leaked
Reports from the U.K. indicate that the Rolling Stones have plans to embark on a world tour sometime next year. Perhaps it is not surprising to learn that the source of the leaked information was Ron Wood’s 20-year-old girlfriend, Ekaterina Ivanova.
The U.K. tabloids have kept the couple in their crosshairs since the Rolling Stones guitarist left his wife of two decades to shack up with the Russian beauty during the summer of 2008. The couple has reportedly endured a somewhat rocky relationship, with reports of knock-down-drag-out domestic disputes, and disagreements on the subject of children.
Although Ivanova is said to be keen on the idea of becoming a mom, Wood is reportedly dead set against the notion, and at the age of 62, it’s hard to blame the guy.
Now it seems that Ivanova has landed herself in hot water with Ron again, and it’s quite likely that the rest of the Stones are not too thrilled with her either. Although she was instructed not to tell anyone about the plans for the 2010 world tour, she seemed unable to prevent herself from sharing the news with a few friends. From there, the news made its way to the pages of The Sun.
With recent word that Rod Stewart has decided to sit out an upcoming 2010 Faces tour, the Stones alleged plans for a tour next year make one wonder if the Faces might be minus yet another member as they work out the details of their road trip.
With the Stones last tour, A Bigger Bang, netting them nearly $500 million between 2005 and 2007, another tour may be well worth Wood’s time, in light of the hefty divorce settlement that resulted from his split with ex-wife Jo. The settlement is one that is likely to make a significant dent in his savings account.
Whether his new squeeze will be an integral and influential force on tour as his former wife Jo was is doubtful, given the history of their relationship thus far.
Although no specific dates or venues are yet known, perhaps that information will be revealed soon, since the secret is now out regarding the tour. Stones fans the world over are probably anxious to hear if the legendary rockers will be featured at a venue in their vicinity.
July 6, 2009
Brian May Not Happy About Mercury-Jackson Recording Leaks
My earlier report regarding the whereabouts of the recordings made by Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury during the 1980’s may have been a bit premature. It has become apparent that whomever it was that was in possession of them has somehow allowed them to be leaked to the internet. Something that does not sit well with Queen guitarist Brian May.
What’s a little strange is that it appears as if the two songs May makes reference two have been on YouTube for quite some time. I was quickly able to locate both “State of Shock” as well as “There Must Be More To Life Than This” on YouTube, and they have apparently been posted there for three years.
Whether or not May realized that the material was posted that long ago on YouTube or was just venting his frustration during this time when there is so much attention focused on Jackson’s death is not clear. The Queen guitarist was quoted as saying, “The music thieves at work as usual.”
Brian May is also in the news for reasons other than his comments about the Mercury-Jackson material. May was injured during a performance in the U.K. on July 2nd.
May and drummer Roger Taylor were on stage at the Birmingham Hippodrome when the accident occurred. A platform that was used to support Taylor reportedly malfunctioned as it was moving forward and failed to stop before hitting May, resulting in a nasty bruise.
Although May laughed off the incident, it was reported by someone who had seen May’s injury that it was worse than May had admitted. Roger Taylor reports that the accident was no fault of his, but just demonstrates that the show was live and that May is all right.
May and Taylor were on stage as part of a production known as “We Will Rock You,” – a musical that is based on Queen’s greatest hits.
For more on the mishap, visit the Sunday Mercury.
October 14, 2008
AC/DC’s Black Ice Slid Out The Door To The Delight of 400,000 Fans
I always wonder how these things come about when I hear about a major movie or album showing up on the internet well before its official release date. I guess it’s obvious that some insider is up to no good and has little or no dedication to whomever it is they are working for, but for heavens sake, how many people actually have access to media on which the movies or albums are recorded on? One would assume these kinds of things would be closely guarded, and only certain key individuals would be able to get their hands on them.
It’s obvious from the title of this article that it has happened again. Someone got access to AC/DC’s highly-anticipated new album, Black Ice and released it on the internet. We all know what happens after that – is spreads like wild fire, and once the genie is out of the bottle it’s pretty much impossible to put it back in there.
The album was leaked on October 7, and showed up on YouTube and BitTorrent sites. It was said to have been downloaded approximately 400,000 times, despite being yanked from YouTube. The nature of BitTorrent, as well as some of the other illegal 
distribution methods out there pretty much means that the album has found it’s freedom on the internet and is not likely to be returned to reside solely within the confines of the Sony Music vault.
Just yesterday I briefly mentioned how AC/DC continues to be hugely successful despite their reluctance to allow their music to be distributed via digital outlets like iTunes. I hate to break it to the boys, but their official denials to go digital have little effect on the availability of their music on the internet.
For the heck of it, I decided to check around some of the historically reliable sources on the internet for all things digital, and saw that the following AC/DC albums where listed as being available: Black Ice (as we know), Jailbreak, Hell’s Bells, Flick of The Switch, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Back In Black, Stiff Upper Lip, etc. And by “etc.,” I mean just about any other AC/DC album you can think of – I just got tired of typing them in!
Supposedly Sony Music flooded BitTorrent with bogus copies of Black Ice in an effort to gum up the works a bit, and make it harder for downloaders to get a real copy, but I suspect that was not all that successful. The location I was able to see all those AC/DC albums available had nothing to do with BitTorrent. The internet is simply too large for one entity, in this case, Sony Music, to have any measure of control over. Even if it is their legal right to do so.
The good news for AC/DC, Sony Music as well as the music industry as a whole, is that some studies have shown that fans who illegally download music are more likely to buy a legitimate copy of the album when compared to those who have not sampled it. I rather hope that is true since it’s a sort of win-win situation for the fans and the artists alike.
You can read more at Music Radar.
