Articles

LAFAYETTE - A sermon at Flatirons Community Church might dissect a song from Coldplay or Foo Fighters. Or it might trace Anakin's journey to the dark side in Star Wars.   The nondenominational Lafayette church and others like it are turning to pop culture, hip-hop and Hollywood to draw in teens and one of the most difficult-to-reach population segments - college students.   In a national study by the University of California at Los Angeles last year, large numbers of college freshmen - four in

Long before the sizzle and scent of fried bacon entered the act, Bacon Shoe was a one-man enterprise: a rapper with a keyboard, a crock of beats and an errant sense of locale.   “The first live show I ever did was at a (restaurant) in Lee’s Summit,” says Lethal D, the sole founder of the rap/farce troupe he calls Bacon Shoe. “I got kicked out because of the lyrics. There were kids eating with their moms and dads, and about five songs in, the owner got all (ticked) off and kicked me out. “I was g

8. Coldplay - X&Y 4/5: Probably the most hyped and talked about album of 2005. While the band strives for that big anthem U2 like sound, Chris Martin's lyrics just seem really pale in comparison to their previous work. It's still a good album but not quite as good as 2002's A Rush Of Blood To The Head.   So with 2005 complete sights are now set on for 2006 with many new albums to look forward to. This includes rumoured releases from The Flaming Lips, Yellowcard, Richard Ashcroft (former lead

COZUMEL, Mexico -- The mum of Croydon-born singer Kirsty MacColl has vowed she will "never give up" the fight for justice for her daughter.   Following the fifth anniversary of Kirsty's death Jean MacColl believes the goal is in sight as she battles for the authorities to re-open the investigation into her daughter's final hours. The 41-year-old was killed by a speedboat off the coast of Mexico as she was scuba diving in December 2000.   Kirsty was born at Mayday Hospital and attended Monks Hil

Michael Stipe checks in from the Powerbook about Coldplay, Austin, New York, Mr. Denton's website and his hair   Last month bert and I went on a whirlwind visit of austin texas to work with coldplay, appearing on austin city limits. I sang 2 songs with the band including the joseph arthur track ‘in the sun’. You may have caught it on your local PBS station; if not, its already in repeat.   Ive seen coldplay many times over the past few years, including the atlanta show of a few months ago. They

When it comes to promotional material, the good old BBC beats everyone hands down. Some PR people attempt to bribe journalists with T shirts (too big, invariably) or miserly quantities of alcohol.   But back in February 2006, bright sparks in the Doctor Who marketing team sent out time machines! It's caused chaos, frankly, with critics using the technology to zip forward in time, returning to file reviews of Coldplay's fourth album before the band have started making it, or reveal what Lost is a

Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow says moving to the UK has made her swap faddy diets for a double helping of our favourites   She's a Hollywood star who commands £10million a movie, has won an Oscar and is best friends with Madonna.   But something strange has happened to Gwyneth Paltrow since she set up home in Britain with her husband Chris Martin and their daughter Apple - and she can't quite believe it herself.   The actress, who is famous for red carpet glamour and her faddy diets, has deve

A '60s spirit is afloat as diverse music makers pop up in every corner of Britain. Will America catch the drift?   Down the five decades of rock 'n' roll, musical Brits have had the cheeky habit of periodically bestriding the world as if we owned it.   In 2005, it was Live 8 that commanded global attention (admittedly fronted by Irishmen Bob Geldof and Bono); a huge gig in Hyde Park, London, it formed the centerpiece of a multinational, all-day show seen on TV and online by a potential audience

LAS VEGAS -- 2006 International CES Show -- The Orchard, the world's leading distributor and marketer of independent music, yesterday announced a landmark relationship with Verizon Wireless, the leading U.S. wireless provider. Verizon Wireless' new V CAST Music service, launching January 16, will draw from The Orchard's industry-leading catalogue of independent music and leverage The Orchard's music programming expertise in independent music. The Orchard and the four major labels constitute the

One music fan’s anger over digital rights management on the British band’s CD sparks a tempest in the blogosphere.   A music fan’s online posting of the usage restrictions enclosed with a Coldplay CD he bought in India has sparked criticism of the band in the tech blogosphere, signaling a growing need for better information about copyright limitations. The pamphlet appears to be specific to record label EMI’s releases in India. It says the CD cannot be burned onto hard disk or another CD, conver

More on the issue of Coldplay's latest album "X&Y" has DRM that prohibits among other things, burning the CD to CD-R or hard disk, or converting to MP3.   An interesting article from Murmurs.com who have not only published their own view, they have included a link to Coldplay's latest Skype competition link in order for visitors to tell Coldplay exactly how musicgoers feel about copy protection. Coldplay had earlier promised to listen to every single voicemail message that is left for them!

"Another Ode, Ode to Deodorant. It's my favourite hygiene, it keeps me through the day".   These are the lyrics of "Ode To Deodorant", the first song performed by Coldplay as an ensemble, in 1998. It was released as a double A-side demo cassette tape for local concert promoters by Phil Harvey, the band's original manager. The second A-side, "Brothers & Sisters" went on to become one of Coldplay's early staples.   Ode was recorded in the same sessions as the Safety EP. In total they had 8 s

More on the CD insert instruction that was reported earlier today on Coldplaying.com.   Coldplay's latest CD provides what may be one of the best tools to use against the onslaught of anti-consumer digital rights management technology. Their most recent album, X&Y, now comes in some regions with an insert that warns users not to expect the CD they just purchased to work with just any old CD player (the following exemplar is from India).   Stating that "This CD cannot be burnt onto a CD-R or

After about a year and a half of waiting around for Team Love to finally get this record out, on January 24th, all of the Jenny Lewis followers will finally get their wish. I don't think that you really need an introduction to Jenny, you should know her from the wonderful band Rilo Kiley who have grown immensely (deservedly so) in the past year with numerous headlining tours, and even an opening spot on part of the US leg of the Coldplay tour.   With the growing popularity, more opportunities ha

Being hailed as saviors of a pop style has been a heavy load for the Strokes [pictured]. Singer Julian Casablancas says they'd rather focus on their music instead of their 'mission.'   Julian Casablancas is getting tired of people asking him where he's going. And he doesn't mean Madrid, his destination this day as he navigates the Milan airport, in the middle of a hectic European jaunt of press sessions and club shows to advance Tuesday's release of the Strokes' third album, "First Impressions o

Thirteen liveDaily critics were asked to list their 10 favorite albums of 2005, and six placed “Z” on their list, as close to a consensus as we got this year. Coldplay's “X&Y” appears on five lists, making it a clean sweep for the last three letters of the alphabet.   Overall rankings were determined by first grouping albums by the number of ballots on which they appeared. Ties were then broken by weighting votes based on where albums ranked on individual lists.   Critics Picks: liveDaily’s

3. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival   The two-day event that spawned a multitude of regional music fests was never more powerful. Coldplay also elevated the festival to new levels of commercial esteem by using the festival to preview its “X&Y” CD, ranked the best album of 2005 by Amazon.com customers. The closing night set by angst-ridden Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails also ensured that this Coachella was one of the most musically powerful.   Read the other entries here

"Chris martin from coldplay. Got a few questions for you." "Can i wear your sunglasses?" "Ok, now you like to buy clothes made in third world sweat-shops because they’re cheaper. Do you prefer Chinese or Indian made stuff?" "Indian. Chinese don’t know what they’re doing."   Read the full article here   [Thanks Gonzo21]

Green Day, U2, Franz Ferdinand, Coldplay, The White Stripes and Foo Fighters enjoyed a strong 2005, riding a wave of popularity for their latest releases. Collectively, these groups scooped up an impressive 16 nominations in various rock and pop categories for the upcoming Grammy Awards.   But they also hardly represent the broad spectrum of rock music to land on record store shelves and iPod menus in the past year.   Below is a selection of rock bands that, while they may not show up as nominee

Powerhouse tours by the Rolling Stones, U2 and Paul McCartney helped drive concert ticket revenues in North America to a record $3.1 billion in 2005, even as the number of tickets sold declined for the third year in row.   Fans purchased 36.1 million tickets to the top 100 concert tours, compared with 37.6 million in 2004 and 38.7 million in 2003, according to Pollstar, the industry trade magazine.   Green Day, Rascal Flatts, Dave Matthews Band, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Coldplay [pictured], Gw

Live music events are the life blood of Austin's entertainment scene. This year's Austin City Limits music festival was the hottest ticket in more ways than one.   Superstar rockers Coldplay capped a marathon weekend of live music overload.   ACL organizers limited the crowd to 65,000 people per day, which was 10,000 fewer than the previous year. The goal was to give people more breathing room to enjoy the event, and that part of the plan worked.   "I think we're right where we need to be,” f

It would be an understatement to say that 2005 was a hot year for live music in the Bay Area.   Thanks to a plethora of huge shows delivered by the likes of Green Day, the Rolling Stones, the Dave Matthews Band, Gwen Stefani, Kanye West, Paul McCartney, U2 and Eminem, the local concert scene has simply been on fire over the past 12 months. That was especially true in November, when the Stones, McCartney and U2 performed six concerts in one scorching eight-day stretch in Oakland, San Jose and San

After becoming Internet moguls, Google Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are dipping their toes into Hollywood.   The pair are executive producers of a low-budget, independent film to be released next year, "Broken Arrows," written and directed by a friend of theirs, Reid Gershbein.   Though Google's founders routinely hobnob with Hollywood stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow (she visited Google's headquarters with husband Chris Martin, Coldplay) and Robin Williams (he visited too), none a

The year 2005 will go down musically as yet another year in which album sales continued to decrease and Internet downloading skyrocketed, Canadian band the Arcade Fire boomed internationally, Mariah Carey made an unbelievable comeback, controversial rapper 50 Cent dominated sales charts while diversifying into movies, books, and video games, and U2 had the biggest tour of the year.   Robert Plant, Oasis, the Rolling Stones, Paul Weller and Depeche Mode all produced some of their best-reviewed al

As the bass player for Coldplay, one of the world's current most famous bands, Berryman makes his debut as one of rocksnobing.com's first entries for many reason.   Commonly referred to as the "dark horse" of the band, Berryman admits that he has used much of his time on tour iwth the band scouring record shops from coast to coast to fill his assumingly large collection of vintage vinyls.   Read the full article here