CARL BARAT MAKES OPERA DEBUT!

Rockstar Carl Barat is not just another 'Libertine' he is an extremely ambitious and talented musician who has decided to take a stab at the Opera! While Pete Doherty is, sadly, getting crushed by critics for his acting in film, Barat prepares to try his luck in Paris. The singer is currently in Paris as he prepares to take the stage as a cast member in the opera 'Pop’pea'. 

"I just wanted to take on a new challenge, it really is a challenge, so there you go," says Barat to NME reporter who chats briefly with him before his performance in Paris.

SHIRLEY MANSON STOPS CONCERT AND KICKS A FAN OUT FOR PUNCHING A GIRL!

Photo: PA

There's a reason why every girl wants to be Shirley Manson and every guy wants to be with her. She's sexy, ubber talented and she can kick some serious ass! Recently Miz Manson kicked out a from her concert for 'punching woman.'

 She halted a gig on the band's current US tour to throw out a male fan who'd allegedly punched a female member of the crowd!

The drama, which unfolded last Friday's (May 25) show at House Of Blues in Atlantic City, witnessed  Manson suddenly halt the band half-way through their 1995 hit 'Stupid Girl' to chastise the crowd-member. "Dude, never hit a fucking woman, what is wrong with you man," she said. She shoudl have punched him in the face, then kicked him out.

As the man was ejected by security and apparently gave the excuse that he was acting in self-defence, Manson continued:

She started it? Oh, Jesus Christ - OK.

Before the gig continued, Manson concluded: "You’re fighting baby, you gotta leave now. Youcan’t fucking fight, man. You can’t fight. I’m sorry, that’s the rules, man. We just need to all simmer down."
 

After a long hiatus and a lot of anticipation from us, their fans Garbage is finally back! The band rleased their new album 'Not Your Kind Of People', their first since 2005's 'Bleed Like Me', last month.

DAVID CRONENBERG, ROBERT PATTINSTON AND...THE BAND?!$&

This week has been quite eventful. And the news about amazing stuff just keeps breaking!  Robert Pattinson just revealed that he will reunite with the very the amazing, David Cronenberg.

The Twilight star is making headway with his adult career, working with the cult director on the forthcoming Cosmopolis, which has premiered at Cannes. Exciting news indeed! And now he has said that the pair already have plans to work together again. More please...

Speaking to French magazine Les InRockuptibles, Pattinson said: "I'm filming another movie with Cronenberg but I don't know when he wants to start filming. It's going to be his first one in the US [Cronenberg traditionally films in Canada] and he promises it’s going to be very strange."

He added that his favorite Cronenberg movies are "probably Videodrome or Scanners." So Pattinton isn't just a pretty face, he actually has good taste in films or, well, film directors. 

"I like Crash a lot too. It did well in France, right? In England, I remember how people went nuts because of it. They even banned it! Of course, that made everyone want to see it. When I watch it nowadays, it baffles me that it could have been banned. It's absurd."

Elsewhere in the interview, Pattinson revealed that he will star in a movie about..........

YES! The Band!

He said: "I'm going to do a movie about The Band, the one that played with Dylan: a beautiful script about the nature of songwriting."

Known for their track 'The Weight', The Band was founded by established musicians Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson. They frequently performed with Bob Dylan as well as Van Morrison. More details soon.

KLAXON'S JAMES RIGHTON ENGAGED TO KIERA NIGHTLEY

Photo: Tom Oxley/NME

Everyone knows hot actresses date hot musicians, and usually marry them. This is no exception, two more beautiful and talented stars are getting hitched! Klaxons multi-instrumentalist James Righton is engaged to actress Keira Knightley.

The couple, who were reportedly introduced by mutual pal Alexa Chung, began dating last march and have been a couple ever since then.

When the love bug bites there's no escaping it! Now, according to the Associated Press, they are set to tie the knot, with Knightley's publicist Sara Keene confirming the engagement. She added that she does not have further details about the wedding plans. So calm down, actually, just imagine what these beautiful freaks' wedding will be like!

The couple have kept a fairly low profile since they became an item, with the only tabloid reports coming out about the pair being that Knightley was being taught how to play the drums and guitar by Righton. And I'm sure that wasn't actually something she'll be taking up seriously. Nevertheless, its cute to see that she is attempting to understand his passion/job.

Klaxons pulled out of all their scheduled summer festivals appearances to focus on recording their new album earlier his year.

The band, who as been out of sight for a minute, revealed last month that they have begun recording the follow-up to 'Surfing The Void' and are rumored to be working with LCD Soundsystem mainman James Murphy and The Chemical Brothers on the album! YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!

 

You should watch the NFSW video for the band's previous single 'Twin Flames' its weird, creepy, amazing, and you can't take your eyes off it!

Here's the link:  http://bcove.me/vdumh1s3

BABYSHAMBLES' DREW MCCONNELL RUSHED TO THE HOSPITAL!

Babyshambles
Photo: PA

Babyshambles fans read it and weep. Drew McConnell has been rushed into hospital for emergency spinal surgery.

The musician was due to play a solo show at London's Seabright Arms yesteday (May 24), when a cancellation message posted on facebook, pulling the Horror Show night in Bethnal Green. The post read:

Hi guys, really late notice but we have so terrible news... Drew McConnell has just been rushed into hospital, He is having to have emergency spinal surgery. so I'm afraid that we have had to postpone HORROR SHOW. Im really sorry to let you down. We were all really excited about tonight but now we will just have to make the next one which is on June 23rd BIGGER and BETTER!

Last summer McConnell found himself in hospital after being injured in a road accident. The Babyshambles bassist broke his ribs and injured his spine, knee and shoulder when he was knocked off his bike in July 2011.

At the time, Pete Doherty's manager Adrian Hunter gave details of his condition in a posting on internet forum French Dog Writtles. Writing under the pseudonym 'Babybear', Hunter said that McConnell was "comfortable but if a little pained" and "Had a nasty couple of bumps. Sense of humor still intact though," he added.

Well, he is a lot more humorous than any of us would have been in that condition. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Aside from Babyshambles, McConnell has also played in Mongrel and Helsinki and had stints in Pete Doherty's solo backing band.

ELTON JOHN: I COUILD HAVE ENDED UP LIKE WHITNEY HOUSTON!

The amazing Elton John has pulled through! CAn  you feel the love, tonight?! We are so happy to report that he is out of the hospital and recuperating. He was hospitalized for a serious respiratory infection Wednesday and will have to cancel several tour dates, TMZ is reporting.

According to the site, John checked into Cedars-Sinai hospital in L.A., and his doctors recommended that he not perform for seven days, citing the need for "complete rest and antibiotic treatment to prevent damage."

Four concerts scheduled for this weekend in Las Vegas were canceled, but they will be rescheduled.

"It feels strange not to be able to perform these 'Million Dollar Piano' concerts at the Colosseum (at Caesars Palace)," John told TMZ. "I love performing the show and I will be thrilled when we return to the Colosseum in October to complete the 11 concerts."

Luckily he's going to be fine, and a visit to the hospital isn't going to kill you. But mixing drugs and a hot tub and having other ailments will. And since Elton is drug-free all he has to do is rest and get well. 

"I could have so easily ended up like Whitney Houston," he said  in a candid interview with E! News. (The official cause of Houston's Feb. 11 death was a combination of accidental drowning, cocaine use and heart disease.)

"It's a miracle I didn't," he continues. "Because I'm sure I did as much cocaine as she ever did." 

\\

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BLUR IS BACK TOGETHER! NO THEY ARE NOT. YES THEY ARE! DEFINITELY MAYBE

 

Blur
Photo: Dean Chalkley/NME

Damon Albarn is SUPER HOT and talented and he can do whatever he wants, but his band mates might not share that belief. The singer suddenly stoipped work on new Blur material. I know, that sucks!

William Orbit, who worked on the reunited Britpop band's awesome 1999 album '13', told NME that the four-piece had been recording new material, but that the sessions were stopped "suddenly" a few weeks ago.

"The new stuff sounded amazing," he says in this week's NME, "Then it all stopped suddenly. It was all over with Damon, and the rest of the band were like, 'Is this it?'".

Orbit had previously hinted that he was recording with the band in a series of tweets. In January, he wrote: "I just found out that she [Diawara] has done tracks with Damon A, who I’m in the studio with from Wednesday!" He also added to the band's guitarist Graham Coxon: ‘Loving the guitars you laid down! Vocal session March 3!’,  That sounds like Blur IS BACK to me! 

And just when we're about to get excited and do cartwheels another tweet comes in. Replying to a tweet from one fan who asked for Blur news in March, Orbit replied: "Blur could have been good. But Damon, brilliant and talented tho he is, is kinda a shit to the rest of Blur."

Last month, Albarn denied he was finished with Blur after earlier suggesting that their huge Hyde Park reunion gig to coincide with the close of this summer's Olympics in August would be their final show. 

The band are due to warm up for the show with a short tour taking in dates in Margate, Wolverhampton and Plymouth, along with headlining Sweden's Way Out West in the same month. 

So...they may get back together, they may not. We still don't know. 

Pete Doherty - Photo: Mathieu Zazzo

He might be adored by the music media but film critics are not buying Pete Doherty's acting. His debut in Confession of a Child of the Century was torn to shreds by critics at the famed Cannes film Festival which took place just last weekend.

When the film, which also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lily Cole, was shown to the world's press it sadly got a universal thumbs down.

In the film, Doherty plays Octave, a young man who falls into a deep depression and debauchery after discovering his mistress (Cole) is unfaithful. Hmmm depression and debauchery, how could he mess that up? He doesn't even have to act, he just needs to be himself. It is his first attempt at acting, and, according to the reviews, it should also be his last.

The Guardian labeled Doherty's acting as full of "shambling amateurisim", while Screen Daily said that Doherty delivers "a wooden performance" in "a turgid adaptation".

The Hollywood Reporter was a little bit nicer, but only in that they chose to blame the film's director Sylvie Verheyde rather than Doherty. They wrote of the former Libertines singer: "It's hard to recall an actor looking more uncomfortable on screen", but adds, "it was perhaps too much to expect a first-timer to shoulder a demanding lead".

The harshest of all were Cine Vue, they took no pity on the rockstar and called Doherty "a sixth former who hasn't learned his lines for drama class" and said he "joins a long line of successful musicians and pop stars who have become truly awful actors".

Check out the trailer and see for yourself here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqx882_confessions-of-a-child-of-the-century_shortfilms

KE$HA SAMPLES BLUR SONG! WHAT@?%#&?

Photo: PA Photos

Ke$ha's tard ass strikes again! I really don't want to care or even think about her, but now, I HATE HER MORE THAN EVER! Apparently she had the audacity to sample Blur's 'Song 2' on a new track. The track was leaked online but it has since been taken down.

The song, which on the leaked video is titled 'Woo Hoo', sounds just  like the chorus from the band's anthem. It is not yet known whether Blur have approved the use of a sample. I hope not.

Beastly (Kesha) has previously claimed that her new album will usher in the dawn of a new genre called "cock pop". Writing on her official Twitter account, the 'Tik Tok' singer – who is currently working on the follow-up to her 2010 LP 'Animal' – promised that the new record would introduce a completely new sound.

She wrote:

Wailing on an epic track with Doctor Luke & Benny Blanco. This is the dawn of a new genre of music: COCK POP!!!

Earlier this year (January 7), the singer claimed that she wanted to move away from her previous "brash" and "sassy" sound on her new LP so people could see her "vulnerability". That's easy, just catch her after a few drinks on any given day.

She also said that she had written over 200 songs for the record and cited the likes of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Iggy Pop as influences. If she really did write that many songs, in a sick, slightly demented way, I kind of like her.

FLAMING LIPS CHALLENGE JAY-Z'S RECORD!

Photo: David Ellis/NME

Leave it to Wayne Coyne and his amazing cohorts to rise up to the challenge! The Flaming Lips will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most live shows in 24 hours in multiple cities.

The record is currently held by Jay-Z, who in 2006 performed seven shows in seven cities in a day.

The Lips will attempt the record on June 27 with eight concerts, which will stream live for the O Music Awards.

In a press release, Flaming Lips singer said: "I don't remember if I was asked or if I volunteered… But, I've accepted the job of, not DRIVING, but commandeering the Magical Mystery Merry Prankster bus." He added:

I've accepted the attempt at breaking the world record of performing eight shows in 24 hours. And I've explained to the music freaks at MTV, VH1 and CMT that I am not a host… But, I always liked the way Jerry Lewis would get all sweaty toward the end of his yearly telethon… To play and sing Flaming Lips songs at eight in the morning… Well, I'm open to new experiences…"

I have no doubt in my mind they will do it, they have magic on their side! Go Lips!

POOL PARTY AT THE STANDARD DOWNTOWN THIS SATURDAY!!

Get your bikinis and swim trunks out, lather up the sunscreen and get ready one of the hottest summer events! Summer Tease // Pool Party // The Good Life will take place this Saturday May 19 the Standard Hotel downtown, 550 S Flower St., Los Angeles, from  1:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. What better way to bring in the summer than with a bitchin pool party at the top of skyscraper in the center of L.A. Sorry no kiddies, this event is twenty one and over only.

Experience a live performance by Sandy Pussy – don’t ask I don’t know who or what it is, but I know it will be outrageous. And no its not the slutty girls that flash their *&%$# at any guy with a camera. And yes, they will undoubtedly be there for your viewing pleasure. 

Aaron Shanahan of Miami Horror and other special guest deejays will keep the place popping with the sweetest summer beats. The crowd is usually pretty nice looking and once a few drinks go down everyone's your new BFF! Try not to fall down the stairs, or hit your head on the cement, or fall sloppily period. You wil get kicked out.

The series of events will take place once a month and will include a variety of live and deejay performances as well as roaming photography.  

The standard downtown is known for its amazing view, raging summer parties and constant entertainment in a swanky environment. Early arrival is suggested. Once it reaches capacity doors are closed and you’re either in or you’re out!  

This event’s partners include The Standard, Downtown LA, Transworld Surf (Media Partner), SurferxBlood & 501C Non-Profit SurfAid International. 

These events focus on the West Coast Surf/Skate So Cal and Rock & Roll Life Style. Bringing in like-minded people throughout Southern California to connect and celebrate The Good Life while consciously providing a platform where and skate brands and culture can co-exist and bring attention to the worthy causes. 

TO RSVP VISIT: http://www.surferxblood.com/ 

SOCIOPATH IN ELYSIAN PARK?!

Animal remains found near Elysian Park walking trail. It's frightening to think that there is a possible sociopath in our neighborhood! First of all, we've all seen Law & Order right?! It could be the cute young hipster guy next to you! I'm just saying! All kidding aside though. very upsetting to know that the decapitated body of a large pig and a raccoon were found this morning near the entrance of the Elysian Park walking trail. Apparently several other animal bodies have been dumped in recent years. Police who arrived on the scene  shortly after 8 a.m. said the pig was left under a large pile of shrubs. The body of a raccoon was  also found nearby enclosed in a plastic bag. Police and Recreation and Parks staff had blocked off the area, located off Academy Road and below Park Drive, with yellow tape and plastic barricades as they awaited the city’s Animal Services Department to arrive. That area happens to be too close to our homes. No additional information has been released.

Culture Collide 2012: Of Montreal, Clinic, Tribes and More!

Clinic - Liverpool 

Culture Collide Festival 2012: Bigger And Better!

Filter Magazine announces the line-up for the third annual Culture Collide Festival! We are in festival season, but if you’re on a tight budget and don’t want to experience music and art from across the globe then you don’t want to miss the arrival of Culture Collide 2012. Of Montreal (US), Junip (Sweden), Clinic (United Kingdom), School of Seven Bells (US), Penguin Prison (US), Class Actress (US) who are all set to rock the hell out of Echo Park on October 4-7.  The four day event, which will take place in various locations in that neighborhood is full of surprises!  

John Talabot (Spain), Dean Wareham Plays Galaxie 500 (US), Breakestra (US) Tribes (United Kingdom), American Royalty (US), Moss (Netherlands), The Standards (Thailand), The Kavanaghs (Argentina), and Marit Larsen (Norway), will also be performing with many more to be announced soon. 

What else can attendee expect this year? Aside from full-band live performances, the International Music and Art Festival Presented by S.O.Terik will offer a slew of fun activities such as intimate acoustic sets, film screenings, and happy hours featuring free food and drinks from around the world. Additionally, celebration will wrap up with an all-day block party on Sunday, October 7^th.  Not bad for only twenty dollars. 

This event is known for introducing people to a wide range of quality music, celebrating the cultural melting pot that this city embraces, and creating a unique experience to all who attend. 

“The Culture Collide festival has always been dedicated to bringing good music from all over the world to Los Angeles, and in our third year, we’re creating something bigger and better than ever, while still keeping it affordable to attend,” said Alan Miller, co-founder and co-publisher of FILTER Magazine. 

Additional details on participating countries, artist line up, and festival activities will be announced in the coming weeks.  A limited number of Culture Collide festival wristbands are now available, priced at just $20 at Ticket Web (Direct link to purchase: http://tktwb.tw/ItI05S).