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Tender gender under fire at VH1
It's no secret that
cable channel VH1 has had a lot of success with
their popular Divas specials featuring prominent
female artists. Now it looks as though the guys
are getting into the act. To help even things
out, VH1 is organizing a Men Strike Back concert
featuring top names, such as Sting, Backstreet
Boys and Tom Jones. The event, taped at New
York's Madison Square Garden, aired one week
after the their annual Divas show. Both projects
have been set up as fundraisers for VH1 Save
the Music, a non-profit organization dedicated
to restoring instrumental music programs in
our nation's schools. Maybe they should get
Muhammed Ali involved. After all, wasn't he
the one who discovered that, musically speaking,
if you don't C-sharp, you're going to B-flat?
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Houston...we
have a problem
Well,
maybe not, but it sort of looks that way to concert
promoters who have recently booked Whitney Houston
to perform. Earlier this year, the singer missed at
least two major performances, including a stint at
the Academy Awards. Depending on where you get your
news, Houston was either unprepared or suffering throat
ailments. On top of all this, Houston also canceled
concerts in six cities on her last tour and dodged
a commitment to sing at ceremonies inducting one of
her major mentors - Clive Davis - into the Rock &
Roll Hall of Fame. She did make a shaky but decent
appearance at Arista Record's 25th anniversary bash,
but something seems amiss. Will someone please get
that girl a throat Lozenge?
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Hip-Hop tour showing a little wear
around edges
Nobody ever said
rock & roll was pretty and organizers of the
Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Millionaires tour have
got to be plucking their eyebrows right about
now. Billed as the season's biggest concert
draw, the promoters recently canceled two big
shows in southern California, citing exhaustion
and fatigue. Rather than refund money to ticket
purchasers, they encouraged people to exchange
their tickets for ones to uncanceled shows at
the same venue, which seems to indicate that
ticket sales weren't as spectacular as everyone
once envisioned. The tour got off to a bad start
earlier in the year in Boston when six people
suffered stab wounds during a backstage brawl.
The tour features razor-sharp acts such as DMX,
Eve, the Lox and Hot Boy$.
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Rage
pays off in San Francisco
Anger
management may not be all that it is cracked up to
be, if you happen to be a member of the activist rock
group Rage Against the Machine. The socially conscious
band just picked up five trophies at the California
Music Awards, including artist of the year and best
hard rock/heavy metal album for "The Battle of
Los Angeles." Granny winner Carlos Santana also
nabbed a pair of awards, for outstanding album ("Supernatural")
and best single ("Smooth," featuring Rob
Thomas). The awards, given out in San Francisco, were
formerly known as the Bammies, or Bay Area Music Awards.
The name was changed so as to include acts from all
across the state.
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