The Day in Rock 8/22: Nugent Sues City- Kittie Bites Label- Red Hot Tunes- Ripper Iced- Know Your Beatles, Or Else!-  Elton’s French Fish Made Kelly Sick- Iggy Pops For Charity- Nothingface Explain Ozzfest Exit- BuyMusic Not Laughing

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Nugent Sues City 
AP Reports: Michigan rocker Ted Nugent filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming organizers who canceled a June performance wrongly accused him of making racist comments. 

Nugent claims that accusations made by city officials and others, and the cancelation[sic] of the June 30 concert, damaged his reputation and career, according to a statement issued by his attorney. 

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, names the City of Muskegon; Mayor Stephen Warmington; City Manager Bryon Mazade; Meridian Entertainment, the concert's promoter, and others as defendants. 

"In a world of political correctness, there is no more reputation-destroying term than racist," Nugent said in the statement. "And the alleged statements falsely attributed to me could not have been more inaccurate or misleading, completely counter to what I stand for." 

Officials for the Muskegon Summer Celebration canceled Nugent's appearance after the Motor City Madman did an interview with two Denver disc jockeys in which the DJs say he used slurs when referring to Asians and blacks. 

- Click Here for the Full Story

Kittie Bites Label 
Metal Underground Reports: The band KITTIE and its producer Garth Richardson have added important new claims to its complaint against Artemis Records detailing additional ways that the label undermined and failed to fulfill its most basic obligations to the band and have requested from the court that the band be released from any further obligations under its recording contract.

The lawsuit, filed July 25 cites Sheridan Square Entertainment, the parent company of Artemis Records, for numerous breaches of contract and breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing. The suit now seeks the band’s release from its contract as well as restitution and compensation for interference with band management and inadequate support and promotion.

…“Settlement discussions have been fruitless,” said David Lander, K.M.A. Entertainment (Kittie’s management).. “We’ve made every effort to resolve this claim. We are seeking relief and Artemis’ outright release of Kittie from any further commitments to Artemis.” 

…Kittie has added claims of undermining the band’s management, interference with the band’s relationship with its agent, interference with its ability to develop new income streams, interference with its ability to tour internationally, and inadequate support and promotion. Artemis’ actions and failures to fulfill its obligations under its contract with Kittie resulted in a loss of at least $2 million for the band….- Click Here for the Full Story

Red Hot Tunes
Billboard reports: While in the studio to lay down some new tracks for a forthcoming hits collection, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have  written and recorded 15 new songs, according to a post by bassist Flea on the band's official Web site.  

The band had been working with producer Rick Rubin on the new tracks, and two or three songs were intended for "Greatest Hits," due Nov. 11 from Warner Bros. The album is expected to collect material from the group's Warner Bros. releases, beginning with 1991's "Blood Sugar Sex Magik." It is unknown what will become of the balance of the new recordings. 

"We played a wide variety of music arranged into song format that is among the most diverse and dynamic good feeling s--- we have ever done," Flea wrote in the post. "It is the fastest we have ever recorded so much material... I can't wait for y'all to hear it."
 - Click Here for more info

Know Your Beatles, Or Else!
AP Reports: A lack of knowledge about the Beatles proved costly for six Brazilians, immigration officials at Heathrow Airport sent them packing when   they failed a quiz about the Fab Four. 

The Brazilians were given the quick test on Thursday after they claimed to be traveling to Britain for Liverpool's Mathew Street Festival, which celebrates the lives of the northern English city's most famous sons. 

Festival organizer Bill Heckle was quoted as saying by the Liverpool Daily Post on Friday that the Brazilians did not know the answers to several questions posed by Portuguese-speaking immigration officials. 

They were stumped when asked who Yoko Ono (news) was and erroneously told officials that Ringo Starr (news) had died, according to the report. 

The six were among a group of 72 people on an organized tour from Rio de Janeiro. The rest of the party was allowed through immigration and continued their journey to Liverpool for the festival. - Click Here for the Full Story

Ripper Iced It’s official… 

Jon Schaffer on Iced Earth.com reports:  Well everyone, it is official. Tim Owens is the new frontman and lead vocalist of Iced Earth and I couldn't be happier! 

There is no doubt that fate has played a big part in our lives in these last few months and I truly believe that this is the way it was meant to be. Everything happens for a reason!!

Tim did an outstanding job on this record. In 5 very relaxed days he nailed the parts, and I mean NAILED them, and I don't think I've ever laughed as much and had as much fun in the studio before. He is definitely bringing new life into the band and the future looks very bright for us as a team. Tim knows who he is, what he stands for and is very dedicated; and he's funny as hell, all very important traits!  - Click Here for the Full Story

Elton’s French Fish Made Kelly Sick.  
Kelly Osbourne now explains the illness she used as an excuse to cancel her tour.   

VH1 Reports: Eating in France with Elton John made Kelly Osbourne violently sick to her stomach — but it wasn't Elton's fault.

Kelly suffered food poisoning from a dinner she had with the pop legend on August 11 and was forced to cancel a handful of scheduled concerts in England and return home, she wrote in her column for England's Heat magazine. She is still recovering from the illness.

Sharon, Kelly and Jack Osbourne had been invited by Elton to stay at his place in the South of France. 

"We had dinner and we had shellfish," Kelly wrote. "I spent the next two days with the sh--s and throwing up everywhere. I'm never eating another piece of f---ing fish again."

In the column, Kelly added that she has recorded a duet with her dad, Ozzy, and she will not give up singing even though she was dropped by her label. Click Here for Full Story

Iggy Pops For Charity
VH1 Reports: Having regained their lust for life — or at least for each other — the recently reunited Iggy Pop and the Stooges have lined up yet another appearance, this time with a charitable slant.

The godfather of punk and his bandmates  have lined up a New York performance to benefit LIFEbeat and its HIV/AIDS youth-oriented educational programs. The August 27 concert at the Roseland Ballroom will feature an unnamed special guest. Tickets can be purchased at the venue's box office or through Ticketmaster.. - Click Here Full Story

Nothingface Explain Ozzfest Exit
Blabbermouth reports: NOTHINGFACE have issued a statement confirming their withdrawal from this year's Ozzfest and addressing the rumors of the group's imminent split.

The band's statement reads as follows:

"We'd like to clear up all the rumors surrounding our recent departure from Ozzfest. First and foremost, WE HAVE NOT BROKEN UP! NOTHINGFACE is still very much a band! Due to an unforeseen tour budget cut-back, with great regret, we were unable to continue on Ozzfest. We would like to thank everyone associated with Ozzfest 2003 for giving us the opportunity to bring our music to the masses. We had the best summer of our music career playing in front of huge crowds, making friends and best of all seeing our old die hard fans as well as meeting new ones. - Click Here for Full Story

BuyMusic Not Laughing. 
Wired.com Reports: Nothing can deflate a joke faster than the threat of a lawsuit. 

In the case of parody website DontBuyMusic.com, a cease-and-desist notice forced the site to go offline last Friday. [Editor's note: DontBuyMusic came back up Wednesday morning. The site has been altered to comply with BuyMusic.com's legal demands.] 

The website, created by the online community Macteens, spoofed the BuyMusic.com website by using the same format as the original site but rewriting the text and redirecting all clicks to the Apple iTunes website. ITunes and BuyMusic.com are both online paid music services. 

DontBuyMusic.com last week brought attention to the marked similarities between TV commercials for iTunes and BuyMusic

The cease-and-desist order read, in part, "You are hereby notified of violations of the copyright act and trademark act on this website on your system ... and by virtue of this notice failure promptly to permanently remove will result in a willful violation." 

Robyn Crowther, an intellectual property lawyer at Caldwell, Leslie, Newcombe & Pettit who viewed the DontBuyMusic site before the original content was removed, said, "The creators of the DontBuyMusic.com site have a strong argument that their use of the BuyMusic.com material was a parody ... and is therefore protected by the fair use doctrine. 

…But that doesn't mean DontBuyMusic is ready to take on its Goliath. Macteens just doesn't have the money. - Click Here for Full Story
 
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