Articles

Celebrities have it all when it comes to living in this material world: beauty, fame and money. However, there are those who choose to use success for a greater good, and those who live their lives solely to lavish themselves in extravagance.   Although celebrities don’t have the authority to do anything about poverty or social injustice, they have ways of reaching people, like myself, who would normally be unaware.   It all began when a friend asked me if I wanted to sign up to go to the Coldp

Debs Wild, who does work for Coldplay, and punk band Rancid, will be speaking at the Carlisle seminar   A top lawyer and band manager is to speak at a two-day seminar in Carlisle offering advice on working in the music industry. Can You Manage? – Music Management, Records and Publishing covers management and record company deals, publishing, legal issues and A&R.   Speakers over the two days include Robert White, the first music business affairs lawyer in the UK, who worked for Island Record

Not content with travelling the world with an internationally popular rock band, nor with funding a village cricket team in rural Gloucestershire, Coldplay's bass player Guy Berryman's latest venture sees him trying to break into the antiques business. You can discuss this story at the Coldplay forum here onwards [thanks iriden]   The Sun reports that Guy has launched a company with his brother Mark, a former chef, called Berryman's Antiques. Mark Berryman lives in Sweden and his role is to loca

There is no denying Coldplay's hugeness.   The band's footprint on pop culture already rivals that of U2's and, while Chris Martin hasn't yet shown the leggy pop-songwriting-prowess of super-frontman Bono, his band is arguably beating down the path to dethroning the Irish rockers as The Biggest Band In The World.   So just how big is Coldplay? Consider 2005, when the release of their hugely-anticipated third album, X&Y, was pushed back two months. In response, shares in their record label,

Chief executive of English Apples & Pears Ltd, Adrian Barlow, is delighted that Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow have named their baby daughter Apple "after such a popular fruit".   He says, "We decided to name our next variety 'The Paltrow' in honour of the birth."   The Oscar-winning actress gave birth to her first child a week ago and named the baby girl Apple Blythe Alison Martin.   Source: ContactMusic

Better Than: You’d Expect   Say what you will about Coldplay (and most folks do), but unlike a lot of so-called arena acts – nevermind their smaller setting counterparts – they’ve at least got sense enough to make a spectacle of themselves when they come to town, report Miami New Times.   Case in point: last night’s BankAtlantic sellout, which was perhaps the single most spectacular rock show to hit our stretch of the peninsula since the invention of the verilight.   Okay, so I hyperbolize. But

First came U2 to argue that profundity is not a cardinal sin or character flaw in rock music-making: It's cool to be grandiose if you write good hooks, reports the Sun Sentinel.   Enter Coldplay, who have worked even harder than U2 at building up a musical language to express ambition of design and largeness of feeling. To that end, frontman Chris Martin and his three band mates have absorbed many of the acoustic and melodic strategies for communicating rock majesty. Sunday's sold-out Coldplay c

Expanding its content library to include the largest catalog of recording artists, FunMail, Inc., a leading provider of mobile entertainment applications and services, has announced a mobile content licensing agreement with EMI Music, the world's largest independent record company. As part of the agreement, EMI artists, such as Coldplay, Norah Jones, Dem Franchize Boyz and Keith Urban, will be featured in FunMail's TrueTones Universe™ application, which is available through major wireless carrie

Coldplay performed to an arena packed with enthused fans Nov. 13 at Kansas City's Sprint Center in the Power and Light District.   The globe-trotting, British soft-rock group took the stage a little after 9 p.m., following two opening acts - a country-tinged alt-rock group from Texas, and a DJ who laid down beats in sync with an acid-trip-esque cartoon video.   Fans rose from their seats and cheered as the first chords of "Life in Technicolor," the opening track on the band's most recent release

Chris Martin and Gary Barlow have been fighting over who writes the best songs, according to online reports today. The Coldplay frontman has struck up a friendship with the Take That singer since they performed together at a charity concert in London last week, and the duo have been debating which of them is most talented.   A source said: "It was all on jest as they've developed a surprisingly strong friendship despite being from very different pop and rock worlds. Each has racked up plenty of

Saw Gwyneth Paltrow coming out of FAO Schwartz with her mama (Blythe Danner) and Apple in stroller. Looks heavily pregnant now. Had a Burberry umbrella, and was very gracious to the guy who held the door open for her. Almost no makeup, but seemed in a great mood.   Was walking south along the Hudson Park path on Friday when I saw a gorgeous man jogging & pushing a stroller. I thought, “Of course all the hot guys are married,” when I realized it was Ed Burns. He wasn’t dressed to run (jeans,

Saw Gwyneth Paltrow coming out of FAO Schwartz with her mama (Blythe Danner) and Apple in stroller. Looks heavily pregnant now. Had a Burberry umbrella, and was very gracious to the guy who held the door open for her. Almost no makeup, but seemed in a great mood.   Was walking south along the Hudson Park path on Friday when I saw a gorgeous man jogging & pushing a stroller. I thought, “Of course all the hot guys are married,” when I realized it was Ed Burns. He wasn’t dressed to run (jeans,

Nicole Kidman 1391 MADISON AVE Apr 12th, 2006 @ 3pm   Nicole Kidman, carrying a medium sized stuffed giraffe from FAO Schwarz in a bow and a baby basket at Mount Sinai Hospital.   Was with a female friend, wearing dark slacks and sweater, obviously there to visit Gwyneth Paltrow’s baby.   Source: gawker.com

Excellent review from Blogcritics has emerged online of Coldplay's most recent show at the Gorge Amphitheater in Grant County, and its a big thumbs up for Coldplay and thumbs down for the boo boys. Here's the review...   Say whatever you will about Coldplay. Plenty of folks already have, both here on Blogcritics and elsewhere. But rarely have I ever seen a band who works so hard to please an audience, and who obviously has such a great time doing it. At one point during Coldplay's stop at the be

THE GORGE, Grant County — Most bands wouldn't show much enthusiasm 130 shows into a worldwide tour that started over a year ago. They wouldn't be pleased to sweat through long-sleeved shirts and jackets while playing an evening show in desert-like temperatures. And they wouldn't make it seem novel and fun. But most bands aren't Coldplay, writes The Seattle Times.   Martin is a treat to watch, not only because he is a gifted musician, but also because he appears genuinely fresh-faced and awed by

Bertelsmann, the German media group, is trying to renegotiate its shareholder agreement with Sony, its music joint-venture partner, in a move that will make it easier to sell its way out of recorded music.   The two sides are understood to have had discussions about shortening the length of the five-year agreement governing the SonyBMG joint venture, which runs until 2009 and prevents either side from selling or transferring its half-interest.   Although Bertelsmann said last week that it was k

Bertelsmann, the German media group, is trying to renegotiate its shareholder agreement with Sony, its music joint-venture partner, in a move that will make it easier to sell its way out of recorded music.   The two sides are understood to have had discussions about shortening the length of the five-year agreement governing the SonyBMG joint venture, which runs until 2009 and prevents either side from selling or transferring its half-interest.   Although Bertelsmann said last week that it was k

With British fans of The Sopranos waiting on tenterhooks after the star character, Tony, was gunned down in the most recent episode, Ricky Gervais has said that making a British drama that stands comparison to the mob-based show appeals to him.   Gervais might not be an obvious successor to the lead actor James Gandolfini, but he is interested in at least creating something which breaks what he perceives as a cycle of mediocrity in British television drama.   Speaking in London at the launch of

Comedy superstar Ricky Gervais is on his way to Ipswich with his new stand-up show. Gervais, who shot to fame with his multi-award winning comedy drama The Office, will be touring with his third live show, called Fame. Despite its glamorous title, Fame will see the star return to his stand-up roots more than he has on previous shows and is set to include more anecdotal and autobiographical stories of Gervais' life. Reading-born Gervais created the now-famous character of office manager David Bre

Coming from the makers of desktop-based widget app Goowy, is Yourminis, which is set to launch on November 6th. Yourminis is the latest entry to the web-based widget desktop space currently lead by Netvibes, Pageflakes, and Protopage. Unlike its competitors which are all AJAX-based, yourminis is built on Flash and has its own share of advantages all together.   Yourminis allows, like its every other competitor, for you to essentially have your own desktop on the web with all sorts of funky thing

Watching the World Cup on television in Germany is, despite the pictures being the same, subtly different from watching back home. No Gabriel Clarke for a start.   The tournament, albeit in its infancy, is already bearing comparison to that held in 1950, but it is too early to discern whether this will have lasting significance. Not too early, however, to thank the thousands upon thousands of you who have, a colleague informs me, 'downloaded' my World Cup ditty 'England England Uber Alles'. It i

Watching the World Cup on television in Germany is, despite the pictures being the same, subtly different from watching back home. No Gabriel Clarke for a start.   The tournament, albeit in its infancy, is already bearing comparison to that held in 1950, but it is too early to discern whether this will have lasting significance. Not too early, however, to thank the thousands upon thousands of you who have, a colleague informs me, 'downloaded' my World Cup ditty 'England England Uber Alles'. It i

In Manhattan's trendy Soho district, rock star Lenny Kravitz peers down from an 18-m-wide billboard for Absolut vodka, holding in his outstretched arms what appears to be a digital cable with bottle-shaped plugs. This isn't just the physical manifestation of the vodkamaker's latest hip ad campaign; it's also a display of advanced technology.   At the bottom of the sign, Absolut invites passersby to send a text message or enable their Bluetooth cell phones to download a free 4-min. MP3 track wher

In Manhattan's trendy Soho district, rock star Lenny Kravitz peers down from an 18-m-wide billboard for Absolut vodka, holding in his outstretched arms what appears to be a digital cable with bottle-shaped plugs. This isn't just the physical manifestation of the vodkamaker's latest hip ad campaign; it's also a display of advanced technology.   At the bottom of the sign, Absolut invites passersby to send a text message or enable their Bluetooth cell phones to download a free 4-min. MP3 track wher

So revered are Coldplay that they practically simply have to turn up at gigs to stoke their fans. Indeed, at times here it felt as if Chris Martin could have just knocked off early, in such good voice was his audience, to the point of almost drowning the singer out.   Yet this was a performance with surprising heart, soul, energy and even intimacy from a band often knocked for being expertly bland. We did get all the predictable arena rock tricks – giant balloons bouncing around during Yellow; a