Разные интересные новости!

Предлагаю сбрасывать сюда разные любопытные известия про музыкантов, о которых нет специальных тем на форуме. Такие как, например, вот эта новость о сотрудничестве Фэт Бой Слима и Showaddywaddy.

SLIM CHANCE OF SHOWADDYWADDY REVIVAL?

FATBOY SLIM and ageing 70's teddyboy rockers SHOWADDYWADDY could be about to get together for the most unlikely collaboration in pop.

The superstar DJ recently confessed to being a fan of Showaddywaddy - who scored a string of hits in the 70s and 80s with harmony versions of 1950s standards - and now the band have let it be known they are open to working with Norman Cook.

"We've always said no to club DJs who wanted to do things like add a rap voice to 'Hey Rock And Roll'," frontman Dave Bartram told the Daily Mirror. "But Norman knows our end of the spectrum."

The band have invited Cook to see them when they play in his hometown of Brighton on June 12.

Cook could not be reached for further comment.

Buckley Debut Expanded With Rarities, DVD

The lone Jeff Buckley studio album released in his lifetime will be reissued in a remastered, expanded edition this summer, Billboard.com can reveal. Due Aug. 23 via Columbia, "Grace: Legacy Edition" features the original 1994 album, a 13-track disc of rarities and a DVD featuring four music videos, studio footage and live performances.

Although it peaked at No. 149 on The Billboard 200 and received most of its contemporary notoriety for the single "Last Goodbye," "Grace" has come to be viewed as one of the most compelling debut albums of the past decade. It has gone on to sell 584,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The album has been digitally remastered by George Marino, who has worked on projects by everyone from AC/DC to Led Zeppelin and Elvis Presley. The 10-track set is presented here in its original sequence of "Mojo Pin," "Grace," "Last Goodbye," "Lilac Wine," "So Real," "Hallelujah," "Lover, You Should've Come Over," "Corpus Christi Carol," "Eternal Life" and "Dream Brother."

At deadline, the second disc is slated to feature 13 tracks, including five solo numbers recorded during the "Grace" sessions at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, N.Y. Those cuts are covers of Hank Williams' "Lost Highway," Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Alligator Wine," Bob Dylan's "Mama, You Been on My Mind," a medley of the blues standards "Parchman Farm Blues" and "Preachin' Blues" and Nina Simone's "The Other Woman."

Rounding out the disc is the previously unreleased "Forget Her," which was intended for "Grace" but replaced on the album by "So Real"; the Nag Champa mix of "Dream Brother" and a cover of Big Star's "Kanga-Roo" from the promo-only "Peyote Radio Theatre" EP; a previously unreleased version of "Dream Brother" with alternate lyrics; unreleased live versions of "Eternal Life" and the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams"; the Shudder To Think collaboration "I Want Someone Badly" from the "First Love, Last Rights" soundtrack; and the unreleased "Strawberry Street," a 1993 rehearsal recording made with bassist Tom Goodkind and drummer John McNally.

Content for the DVD is still taking shape, but it is confimed to include videos for "Eternal Life," "So Real," "Last Goodbye" and "Grace," plus interviews with Buckley's bandmates and participants in the "Grace" sessions. Other footage expected to make the final cut finds Buckley scoring a string section and in-studio takes of "Hallelujah" and "Grace" that first appeared on the electronic press kit used to promte the album.

Since he drowned on May 29, 1997, in Memphis, Buckley has been the subject of a slew of posthumous releases, including last year's Legacy edition of "Live at Sin-e," 2002's five-disc boxed set "The Grace EPs" and 1998's "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk," which featured material intended for the follow-up to "Grace."

Интервью Боба Дейзли: http://www.live4metal.com/bobdaisley2.htm
О семейке Осборнов, о том, что Оззи избивал Рэнди Роудса, о причитающихся авторских, о Гэри Муре, и о проекте Living Loud.

Rush Covers The Classics

Just because many progressive rock bands such as Rush are considered ahead of their time, doesn't necessarily mean that they weren't influenced by their predecessors. The Canadian trio has announced that they will cover classics by such bands as The Who, Cream, Buffalo Springfield and the Yardbirds on their next album Feedback, which will hit stores on June 29th. Only eight songs in length, this is the first time the band has recorded material by other artists. Drummer Neil Pert writes in the album's liner notes: "We thought it would be a fitting symbol to commemorate our 30 years together if we returned to our roots and paid tribute to those we had learned from and were inspired by." The album includes renditions of such tunes as the Who's "The Seeker" and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads," popularized by Clapton's cover.

The Eagles Finish Up In Fresno

The last resort The Eagles ended up playing on their current US tour was the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California on Sunday night (May 30).

13 encore dates were added to The Eagles Farewell I Tour following the 56 shows the band performed in 2003.

The current line-up of The Eagles is Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh. Guitarist Don Felder was fired from the band in 2001. For the purpose of clarification, The Eagles posted an explanation at their official fan site stating "Don Felder is no longer a member of the Eagles. He was fired in February of 2001. Upon being fired he sued Henley/Frey for wrongful termination, breach of contract and a few other things. Don Felder signed a contract to publish a book. Henley and Frey counter-sued Felder for breach of contract. As it is right now the suit is in the settlement stages."

The next scheduled Eagles tour dates will be October in Asia with shows for Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Japan.

Fans waiting for a new album should not hold their breath. Don Henley told The Grand Rapids Press "we don't work to deadlines".

Here is the setlist for Eagles Farewell Tour I:

"Take It Easy" (from The Eagles, 1972)
"New Kid in Town" (from Hotel California, 1976)
"Wasted Time" (from Hotel California, 1976)
"Wasted Time Reprise" (from Hotel California, 1976)
"Peaceful Easy Feeling" (from The Eagles, 1972)
"I Can't Tell You Why" (from The Long Run, 1979)
"One of These Nights" (from One Of These Nights, 1975)
"Lyin' Eyes" (from One Of These Nights, 1975)
"Boys of Summer" (from Henley's Building The Perfect Beast, 1984)
"In the City" (from The Long Run, 1979)
"Already Gone" (from On The Border, 1974)

"Tequila Sunrise" (Acoustic) (from Desperado, 1973)
"Love Will Keep Us Alive" (Acoustic) (from Hell Freezes Over, 1994)
"Hole in the World" (Acoustic) (from The Very Best of The Eagles, 2003)
"Take it to the Limit" (Acoustic) (from One Of These Nights, 1975)
"You Belong to the City" (Frey solo from Miami Vice soundtrack, 1985)
"Walk Away" (from Joe Walsh's You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind, 1976)
"Sunset Grill" (from Henley's Building The Perfect Beast, 1984)
"Life's Been Good" (from Joe Walsh's But Seriously Folks, 1978)
"Dirty Laundry" (from Don Henley's I Can't Stand Still, 1982)
"Funk #49" (from James Gang Rides Again, 1970)
"Heartache Tonight" (from The Long Run, 1979)
"Life in the Fastlane" (from Hotel California, 1976)

First Encore: "Hotel California" (from Hotel California, 1976)

Second Encore:
"Rocky Mountain Way" (from Joe Walsh's The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get, 1973)
"All She Wants to Do is Dance" (from Henley's Building The Perfect Beast, 1984)

Third Encore:
"The Long Run" (from The Long Run, 1979)
"Desperado" (from Desperado, 1973)

China Places Conditions On Spears Shows

Britney Spears' first China tour has been approved by the country's Culture Ministry, but they want to know what she's wearing before she hits the stage, the official China News Service reported today (June 1). Spears, who is currently on a world tour to promote her latest Jive album, "In the Zone," will perform five concerts in Shanghai and Beijing sometime next year, CNS said.

Wang Enqiang, an agent for Spears' Chinese promoter, Beijing Poly Culture and Art Co. Ltd., said the star planned to come to the mainland in 2004, but he had no information about ministry concerns.

However, the star's sexy image has caused concern, as culture officials have asked the concert's Chinese organizers to guarantee she doesn't show too much skin on stage. "Relevant departments will carry out strict reviews of Britney Spears' performance clothing," the report said.

It wasn't clear what standards inspectors will use or how they would be enforced. A spokesperson for Spears could not be immediately reached. The head of the Culture Ministry's performance division, Pan Yan, said she hadn't received a performance application and couldn't comment on the report.

An unidentified spokesperson for the concert's Chinese organizers was quoted by CNS as saying the ministry's wishes would be respected. But he said Spears' outfits and stage show are the same on each stop of the tour and it would be "impossible to make up clothes specially for the China performances."

Hornsby Welcomes Guests On New Set

Bruce Hornsby's upcoming Columbia album "Halcyon Days" features a number of high-profile guest performers, including Eric Clapton, Sting and Elton John. Clapton contributes guitar to three songs on the album, due Aug. 10, and vocals to the track "Candy Mountain Run." Sting duets with Hornsby on opener "Gonna Be Some Changes Made," while John joins the artist on the song "Dreamland."

"Halcyon Days" finds Hornsby backed by his regular band, bassist J.V. Collier, drummer Sonny Emory, multi-instrumentalist Bobby Read, guitarist Doug Derryberry and organist John "JT" Thomas. Also guesting on the set is the artist's brother, guitarist RS "Bobby" Hornsby.

"Halcyon Days" is Hornsby's first album for Columbia, following a career spent on RCA. His last release, 2002's "Big Swing Face," debuted at No. 22 on Billboard's Top Internet Album Sales chart. Its electronic beats and looped samples marked a departure from the jazz-inflected adult contemporary music for which he's known.

A national U.S. viewing audience saw guitarist Pat Metheny join Hornsby Sunday night in Indianapolis for a performance of the National Anthem prior to game five of the National Basketball Association's Eastern Conference Finals. The game was broadcast live on cable sports channel ESPN.

Hornsby has a U.S. summer tour on the books that will kick off in advance of the new album. The run gets underway July 14 in Saratoga, Calif., and will close Aug. 27 in Memphis. A European tour is slated to kick off Sept. 10 in Dublin. For the full list of dates, visit Hornsby's official Web site.

Here is the "Halcyon Days" track list:

"Gonna Be Some Changes Made"
"Candy Mountain Run"
"Dreamland"
"Circus on the Moon"
"Halcyon Days"
"What the Hell Happened"
"Hooray for Tom"
"Heir Gordon"
"Mirror on the Wall"
"Song F"
"Lost in the Snow"

Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Les Paul, Aretha Franklin, Joe Bonamassa, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Phil Ramone, Arif Mardin, Mike Stoller, Al Schmitt, and more will appear alongside other legends on the August 24th DVD release of Tom Dowd and the Language of Music, profiling the life and work of a man whose personal history reflects the evolution of modern music and recording technology: legendary producer / recording engineer Tom Dowd. Interviews with icons of the recording industry tell the story of this unsung hero, while historical footage, photographs and classic music tracks expose the audience to the world of the recording studio. It’s here that the master of his craft, Tom Dowd, recounts the recording sessions and technical achievements which altered the course of contemporary music.

Morrissey's Bush deathwish sparks storm

Morrissey has caused controversy in the US after making on-stage comments that he wished President Bush was dead.

American fans launched a tirade against the former Smiths singer after the Manchester Evening News website reported his comments.

Morrissey announced the death of former President Ronald Reagan from the stage of a show in Dublin and allegedly added that he wished Bush had died instead.

Since putting the story up on its official website, the paper claims to have been deluged with messages, mostly from the US.

"More tastelessness and idiocy from across the Atlantic," said Jean Shaw in San Francisco. "If it were the other way around (Americans cheering the death of a foreign leader), we'd never hear the end of it."

"He has the right to say anything he wishes. It just sounds so much like Osama," wrote Lee Hempfling from Phoenix, Arizona.

But Evan Woods from Los Angeles, countered: "Morrissey obviously does not bow before the flag, like so many Americans, and religiously honour anyone who has ever held a position of power."

A spokesman for Morrissey's record company, Sanctuary Records, said: "Morrissey was just alerting the audience to the fact that Ronald Reagan had died.

"He then simply followed that up with his comment about about George Bush, which was his own opinion. He is no stranger to controversy."

ABKCO Revamps Animals, Hermits

ABKCO Records, which has released 28 hybrid Super Audio CDs by the Rolling Stones and Sam Cooke, will do the same with career-spanning compilations by the Animals and Herman's Hermits.

"The Animals Retrospective" and "Herman's Hermits Retrospective" feature 22 and 26 tracks, respectively. Both will be released July 20, marking the 40th anniversary of the groups' chart debuts.

Hybrid SACDs are both forward- and backward-compatible. The dual-layer, single-sided discs contain a 16-bit/44.1kHz red book CD layer for standard CD playback as well as a DSD (Direct Stream digital) layer for high-resolution playback on an SACD player.

The format is based on the Sony/Phillips-developed DSD recording system, a process that uses a sampling rate of 2.8224 megahertz to achieve a frequency response of 100 kHz and dynamic range of more than 120 decibels.

Midnight Oil singer entering politics

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Peter Garrett, former lead singer of the rock group Midnight Oil, has become a member of the Labour Party and will be a candidate in federal elections later this year in Australia.

"I look forward to doing the good work with that party in the run-up to this election, good work as a local member, good work hopefully as a member of Parliament and good work on the issues that are important to me," Garrett told reporters Friday.

His membership application was officially accepted at a meeting for Labour's national executive at Parliament House in Canberra.

Labour Party Leader Mark Latham touted Garrett as a possible minister, should Labour win elections expected later this year, something Garrett downplayed.

"Any decisions about my future involvement will be for the leader of the party and for the caucus of the party and I'll accept their decisions and do the job to the best of my ability," he said.

Garrett, 51, is a committed environmentalist and had long used Midnight Oil as a forum for his political views. The band broke up in 2002 after 25 years.

Garrett said he would move from his home in New South Wales' southern highlands to live in his new Sydney electorate of Kingsford Smith.

"I will move to that electorate, I will work in that electorate, I will surf in that ocean and I will drink in that pub," he said.

Dean Martin Hits The Charts Again in 2004

As expected, 'The Essential Dean Martin' was the highest debuting album in the USA last week outselling current releases from Britney, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Twista.

The Essential Dean Martin debuted at Number 28 this week on the Billboard Chart. Martin died in 1995. He would have been 87 this week.

Dean's daughter Gail spoke with Associated Press and said "The hits were the hits and he had so many we had forgotten about. He had so many hits starting in the 40s".

Dream Theater Plans New, Revamped DVDs

Despite being off the road, Dream Theater has another opportunity for fans to see the progressive metal act in a live setting. Two previously released video collections will be packaged as a double-DVD and arrive in stores July 13 via Rhino Home Video, while a DVD of new concert material is due in the fall.

Tentatively scheduled for an October release is a three-CD/two-DVD document of the band's April 26 show at Tokyo's Budokan Hall, according to drummer Mike Portnoy.

"Images and Words: Live in Tokyo" and "Five Years in a LIVEtime" comprise the double-DVD. Originally released in 1993 and 1998, respectively, as a set the DVDs contain more than three hours of footage that has been remastered in Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

"Our fans have been asking about it for years," drummer Mike Portnoy says of reissuing the longform "Tokyo" and "LIVEtime" videos. "I think anything that's been on home video in the past on VHS is slowly starting to be re-released on DVD. It's inevitable. We're glad it's finally happening, because we been wanting to get it done for many years."

"Tokyo" captured the band when it performed in the Japanese city during its 1993 Music in Progress world tour. It also boast three videos from the band's 1992 breakthrough album, "Images and Words," interviews and behind-the scenes footage.

"LIVEtime" boasts live performances captured during the 1994-95 Waking Up the World and 1997-98 Touring Into Infinity tours. The disc is rounded out by three more videos and studio films reflecting the making of the Dream Theater albums "Awake" and "Falling Into Infinity."

"It's kind of interesting hearing our take now on a lot of the stuff that was, in some cases, over a decade old," Portnoy says of new commentary the band recorded earlier this year for the reissues. "We did them right before we filmed the Budokan DVD. So we were in the same place with the same fans, but 11 years later."

"The thing that struck us the most was just [our] hair -- it was unbelievable that we looked the way we used to look and dress the way we dressed," he says with a laugh. "We've become completely different people in the past 11 years."

Despite a 20-year career, the six videos included in the "Tokyo/LIVEtime" set are all the band has made. "I think it makes sense for a band like ours [that] can't count on MTV play," Portnoy muses. It's kind of pointless to spend $100,000 to make a promotional video that nobody's gonna see."

"We would rather take a budget like that and put it towards a home video or a DVD," he adds, "something that the fans can actually own and have something to show for it."

Dream Theater is taking most of the summer off from its Train of Thought world tour, with plans to support Yes on the road beginning in September.

Here are track lists for the Dream Theater double-DVD:

"Images and Words: Live in Tokyo"
Live performances:
"Under a Glass Moon"
"Wait for Sleep"
"Surrounded"
"YTSE Jam"
"To Live Forever"
"Take the Time"
"Pull Me Under"
"The Silent Man"

Videos:
"Pull Me Under"
"Take the Time"
"Another Day"

"Five Years in a LIVEtime"
Live performances:
"Burning My Soul"
"Cover My Eyes"
"Lie"
"6:00"
"Voices"
"The Silent Man"
"Damage Inc."
"Easter"
"Starship Trooper"
"Hollow Years"
"Puppies on Acid"
"Just Let Me Breathe"
"Perfect Strangers"
"Speak to Me"
"Lifting Shadows off a Dream"
"Anna Lee"
"To Live Forever"
"Metropolis-Part I 'The Miracle and the Sleeper'"
"Peruvian Skies"
"Learning to Live"
"A Change of Seasons VII"
"The Crimson Sunset"
"Have a Cigar"
"Enter Sandman"
"SIberian Khatru"

Videos:
"Lie"
"The Silent Man"
"Hollow Years"

Songwriters Hall Inducts Don McLean

NEW YORK - The creators of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," "Private Eyes," "Let's Stay Together" and "American Pie" are all getting their due.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame inducts the Motown team of Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield; the blue-eyed soul duo Daryl Hall and John Oates; soulman turned preacher Al Green and folkie Don McLean (photo) on Thursday. The hall is also inducting Charles Fox, writer of Roberta Flack's hit "Killing Me Softly With His Song."

Stevie Wonder, Neil Sedaka and Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty also are getting special awards at the 35th annual ceremony.

"It's great to have songwriters who are in the tradition of the best songwriters that America ever had ask you to join them," McLean told The Associated Press Thursday.

"Vincent," "Dreidel" and "Crying" were also hits for McLean. But he'll forever be known for "American Pie," the sprawling ode to a more innocent era keyed to "the day that music died," when Buddy Holly died in a plane crash.

"It really was a phenomenon," he said. "I think it changed the world in a tiny way. I'm tremendously proud of it."

McLean, who now lives in Maine, spent much of the 1980s in litigation making sure he had control of his work. He even trademarked the phrase, "American Pie," meaning he profited when a movie of the same name was made.

Strong and Whitfield, who also wrote "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" for the Temptations, had their biggest moments when the Motown sound took a grittier turn in the late 1960s.

Green, one of the most seductive soul singers of the 1970s, renounced popular music for a long period but recently made a comeback disc.

Besides "Killing Me Softly With His Song," Fox wrote some of the best-known TV themes — for "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley" and "Love Boat."

Now that he's being immortalized for his songwriting, does McLean have any advice for aspiring songwriters?

"Do not learn how to read music," he said. "Do not bore yourself with learning how to be a technician. ... Learn things that make you feel good inside and learn to hear the language of music with your ears."

DIO ALBUM PUSHED BACK

The new DIO studio album, Master of the Moon, will not see a July released as initially planned. Instead, the latest opus from the legendary vocalist will be issued in September, following a European Summer tour (see date below). The touring lineup of the band will be RONNIE JAMES DIO, CRAIG GOLDY (guitar), SIMON WRIGHT (drums) and RUDY SARZO (bass). They are all considered permanent members at this point. However, former Dokken bassist JEFF PILSON has assisted in the recording of the album's bass parts. Sarzo joins the band for the tour onward. The album will likely be issued by Sanctuary Records.

(Some of) Dio European tour dates:

Fri 7/16 Moscow, Russia Luzhniki Hall
Sat 7/17 St. Petersburg, Russia Jubileny Arena

Guitarist loses battle with cancer

The guitarist for Scots rock legends Deacon Blue has died after a four-year long battle with cancer.

Graeme Kelling died on Thursday at the age of 47 at the Marie Curie Hospice in Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow.

His heartbroken wife Julie was at his bedside. The musician, who had cancer of the pancreas, also leaves children, Alexander, five, and two-year-old Grace.

The group, which had a string of hits including Dignity, Real Gone Kid and Chocolate Girl, issued a brief statement on the band's website.

Lead singer Ricky Ross, his wife and co-singer Lorraine McIntosh, Jim Prime, Dougie Vipond and Ewan Vernal said they were overwhelmed with grief.

They said: "We're all too sad to say too much just now, but we thought we would start a remembrance book on the website.

"Any great memories, photographs or thoughts about Graeme could be added over the next while and we'll make sure that Graeme's wife Julie gets to see them all."

The band were one of Scotland's biggest acts of the late 1980s and early 90s with best-selling albums such as Raintown, When the World Knows Your Name and Homesick.

They split in 1994 after a string of hits and reformed in 1999 for a series of gigs and an album of ballads called Walking Back Home.

70,000 enjoy music festival revival

More than 70,000 music lovers lapped up the sunshine as they listened to The Who and David Bowie at the revived Isle of Wight Festival.

As well as the music, the recreation ground site at Newport was crammed with people wearing England football shirts and waving the St George's Cross in support of the national team's match tonight against France in Euro 2004. The game was being screened from the main stage between acts.

The highlight for many at the festival was The Who, who thrilled the crowd with a selection of their greatest hits in a two-hour performance last night which was a throwback to the band's legendary performance in 1970 - the last of the original Isle of Wight Festivals.

Speaking in an interview with Virgin Radio, The Who frontman Roger Daltrey spoke of his nerves at being able to live up to the expectations of their many fans at the festival.

He said: "You always doubt your ability because you never really succeed in doing what you want to do and that's why I keep coming back."

Bowie was closing the event.

Other newer bands taking to the stage during the three-day event were Snow Patrol, Jet and 22-20s as well as established names such as Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers.

The Isle of Wight Festivals at the end of the 1960s were a series of legendary events featuring Bob Dylan, The Who, Free, The Doors, Joni Mitchell and Jefferson Airplane culminating in 1970 with 600,000 hippies descending on the island to see Jimi Hendrix perform his penultimate concert.

As documented in the film Message to Love and celebrated in songs such as Oasis's F***ing in the Bushes, the festival has entered music history and was heralded as the European answer to Woodstock.

http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/index.asp

Rolling Stone magazine is reporting that RAMONES guitarist Johnny Ramone is in a Los Angeles hospital battling prostate cancer. "Johnny's been a champ in confronting this, but at this point I think the chances are slim," drummer Marky Ramone told the magazine. "John never smoked cigarettes, he wasn't a heavy drinker and he was always into his health. It just proves when cancer seeks a body to penetrate, it doesn't matter how healthy you are or how unhealthy you are. It just seeps in and there's nothing you can do."

Johnny Ramone, 55, whose real name is John Cummings, was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago, and it has now spread throughout his body, Rollingstone.com quoted Marky Ramone as saying.

"I've been getting so much email from people and from papers and magazines wanting to know what was up I had to take it upon myself to say something, because eventually John won't be in any condition to say or do anything," Marky said. "He went through many chemotherapy treatments. Some of it worked better than others. At this point [the cancer] has started to go into other areas of the body."

RAMONES' singer, Joey Ramone (born Jeff Hyman), died in 2001 of lymphatic cancer, while bassist Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Colvin) died from a drug overdose the following year.

Annie Lennox wants to work with Dave Stewart again

Annie Lennox says she'd like to collaborate with former Eurythmics partner Dave Stewart.

She says she's past her 'prime' as a solo artist and is ready to team up again with Stewart.

She said: "I think it's time. The trouble with being solo is I'm so bloody anal that I tend to look up my own backside. I sit there in the same awful space."

The Eurythmics split in 1990, although the pair reunited in 1999 for Peace, their first studio album in nearly a decade, and a world tour.

Last year they performed together at Nelson Mandela's 46664 Aids fund raising concert in South Africa, says the Daily Record.

The Oscar-winning Scottish singer starts her US tour with Sting on June 27 and is working on re-issues of the Eurythmics back catalogue and her own Greatest Hits album.

She added: "Maybe my prime is over but I feel I've earned my stripes. I wasn't always convinced I was the real deal, because I'm a perfectionist, but rehearsing for the Bare tour, singing with the band, I know that I am."

An album of Lennox's Greatest Hits with new bonus tracks is due out later this year on BMG Records. The label is also planning to re-issue Eurythmics' back catalogue, and it's making her think of finally retiring from singing.

"I'd love to think that one day, I'll have done the body of work. I'll have taken care of it, and say 'Enough now,' and explore something else."

Doctor: RAMONES Guitarist Is Not Dying - June 16, 2004

Despite published reports to the contrary, RAMONES guitarist Johnny Ramone is not dying of cancer, his doctor has told MTV News.

Ramone, who has been living with prostate cancer for the past several years, was recently admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with what his physician, Dr. David Agus, told MTV News was a "complication from the cancer. But he got through it, and he's now on a new, experimental therapy. He's fighting courageously, and I think he will be going home in the near term."

Johnny's wife, Linda, added: "He's not dying. He was okay for years, and he's fine now. He's in the hospital, but he's not in ICU. And I think he may be leaving by tomorrow."

Parsons Lives in New Film

"Grand Theft" opens in theaters tomorrow

It's one of rock & roll's great mythologies: the day Phil Kaufman stole Gram Parsons' body, keeping a promise to give his friend a fiery desert funeral.
Thirty-one years later, the story hits the silver screen. Jackass' Johnny Knoxville makes a striking leading-man debut in Grand Theft Parsons, which also stars Michael Shannon, Christina Applegate and Robert Forster. The film, which had its American premiere at Sundance earlier this year opens Friday in New York City, Los Angeles, Irvine and Pasadena.

"It takes a jackass to play one," quips Kaufman, a longtime rock & roll road manager -- his autobiography was titled Road Mangler Deluxe -- who first met Parsons when both were hanging with the Rolling Stones.

Parsons, who died of a drug overdose in 1973 at the age of twenty-six, was a kindred spirit to Keith Richards. He was a short-lived member of the Byrds and -- via the Flying Burrito Brothers and two records with Emmylou Harris -- a founding father of alt-country. He and Kaufman made their pact at a traditional Catholic funeral for the Byrds' Clarence White. Both men agreed they wouldn't want to go like that.

Thus Kaufman and a hippie buddy set out on an odyssey that was part-Kerouac, part Weekend at Bernie's. Traveling in a borrowed hearse, the duo eluded police and Parsons' family all the way to a campfire cremation at Cap Rock, in what is now Joshua Tree National Park.

"It's one of those stories that you don't need to change, because it was such a fantastic journey," says screenwriter Jeremy Drysdale, an Englishman who has also adapted former Sex Pistol John Lydon's autobiography (Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs) for an upcoming biopic. "I'd like to be able to pretend that I sprinkled fairy dust on it, but all I did was pretty much tell it as it happened."

First Drysdale had to get permission. Over the years, Kaufman had deflected countless inquiries from Hollywood. But when this nice British fellow came all the way to Nashville and camped out on his lawn for three days, he agreed to let Drysdale have a shot.

"It took an English writer and two Irishman [director Jack Caffrey and producer Frank Mannion] to make the film, just like the old jazz guys had to go to Paris to be appreciated," Kaufman says.

Caffrey filmed the whole thing in three-plus weeks, making stops at the actual LAX hangar where Kaufman pulled the heist as well as the Joshua Tree Inn room where Parsons died. Kaufman, who served as an associate producer and also has a cameo, outfitted Knoxville in his very own "Sin City" denim jacket, and also lent the film his 1966 Harley trike. Four Parsons songs lend pathos to the soundtrack, which also includes "Blood Brothers" from the ordinarily cinema-shy Bruce Springsteen.

"It's a movie about friendship and loyalty and decency," says Drysdale. "Phil likes to be quite glib about these things, but I think his motivation, pure and simple, is he wanted to do the right thing, even though it would do him no good."

Glib? Kaufman?

"Gram is still dead, and we expect him to continue," notes the Road Mangler. "Finally, something he can stick to."