Moby Horrified By Celine's Super Bowl Performance

Moby writes on his official website on Sunday, "So I actually did end up watching some of the Super Bowl... I know, I know, I'm a hypocrite. I ended up in an apartment with a bunch of people who were watching the Super Bowl, so I figured I'd give it a try. I only watched about 20 minutes of it, so I guess that I missed the exciting stuff. But the pre-show with Celine Dion made my skin crawl. Ugh. It was so creepy. I felt like I was livingin 'Starship Troopers' minus the giant bugs and cool uniforms. Not to be too much of a lefty loudmouth, but since when has patriotism come to only mean flags and songs and soldiers? Isn't that a bit worrisome and a bit redolent of the fascist regimes that we fought against 60 years ago? I like the U.S.A, but what I like about the U.S.A are the freedoms that are enshrined in the bill of rights." He added, "I guess I have this fantasy that at some big, corporate sporting event they'll have a reading of the Bill of Rights instead of Celine Dion butchering a song while zombified backing singers smile like poster children for Xanax with military jets flying overhead."

Ringo Album To Feature Guests & Harrison Tribute

Ringo Rama, the upcoming solo album from Ringo Starr, is due March 25 from Koch Records. The project features guest appearances from Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, Willie Nelson, Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit, Shawn Colvin, and others.

The album's first single will be "Never Without You," a tribute to Starr's late Beatles mate George Harrison that features a guitar solo by Clapton.

In a statement, Starr said the song is "my way...to say how much George meant to me and how much he will be remembered...I really wanted (Clapton) on this song because George loved Eric, and Eric loved George. I wanted Eric to come and play that solo because I only wanted people on the track who George knew and loved."

Written by Starr, Ringo Rama producer Mark Hudson, and Gary Nicholson, the song's chorus tells Harrison that "your song will play on/Without you/And this world/Won't forget/About you/Every part of you was in your song...'Here Comes The Sun' is about you."

Starr said he also tried to pay tribute to his other late bandmate, John Lennon, and good friend Harry Nilsson in the song, but that "it got too busy."

The song will be released to radio on February 17.

Ringo Rama was recorded mostly in England, although some work was done at Hudson's studio in Los Angeles. The first song, "Eye To Eye," makes a sonic reference to "It Don't Come Easy," Starr's first solo hit from 1971, while "Elizabeth Reigns" was inspired by Queen Elizabeth II's Jubilee celebrations, which took place last June while Starr was recording the album.

Other songs on Ringo Rama include: "I Think Therefore I Rock & Roll" (with Gilmour), "Missouri Loves Company" (with Gilmour), "English Garden," "Write One For Me" (with Nelson), "Memphis In Your Mind," and "I Really Love Her," a short bonus track included on the end of the album.

Starr will tour this summer with a new edition of his All-Starr Band that includes 2001 All-Starr drummer Sheila E., Men At Work frontman Colin Hay on guitar, ex-Babys/Bad English frontman and solo star John Waite on bass, and Squeeze/Mike + the Mechanics keyboardist-vocalist Paul Carrack. More members of the band and tour dates are expected to be announced soon.

Today's New Music Releases

I am so excited! The Smashing Pumpkins are no more, but Billy Corgan is back with a band that sounds as great as The Pumpkins ever did! Enjoy!

ZWAN- MARY STAR OF THE SEA: Billy Corgan, the wonder boy of mid-'90s alternative rock, sounded bitter and spent after the disintegration of Smashing Pumpkins three years ago. He sounds positively reborn on this lovesick and faith-based revival. Corgan recruited Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and players from fringe bands Tortoise, Chavez and Slint to construct Zwan, a phoenix with less plumage and a simpler flight plan than its ambitious predecessor. While Corgan applies the Smashing formula of tension and catharsis to Zwan songs, the material delivers more zip and optimism, less sludge and bombast, and the taut nasal whine has been replaced by robust, relaxed vocals. Wistful ballad Of a Broken Heart and the grand hook-filled Endless Summer are radio-friendly triumphs, but the album's coup is Jesus, I/Mary Star of the Sea, an amazing 14-minute epic that sways from hypnotic hymn to cascades of guitar sizzle and starch before easing into the pretty harmonica-laced Come With Me — an irresistible invitation.

ERASURE- OTHER PEOPLE'S SONGS: Can you get too much of a good thing? Yes, if the thing in question is this duo's bubbly, breezy electronic fare. Erasure is hardly the tinniest of techno-pop outfits, but this collection of cover tunes proves that, for all its imagination, its musical and emotional range is inherently limited. As on their previous Abba-esque EP, Andy Bell and Vince Clarke deliver some delightfully pop-savvy interpretations, especially of Peter Gabriel's wistful Solsbury Hill and Buddy Holly's pining True Love Ways. But after a while, all the carbonation begins to sound like too much cool air.

GROOVE ARMADA- LOVEBOX: The British duo's fourth full album is a heady tonic of dance-injected rock, hip-hop and funk. Zesty electronica and a beat-crazy undertow erase the iciness of Armada's sample fixation and machines. Neneh Cherry's warble adds warmth to piano ballad Think Twice. Elsewhere, uncorked energy takes charge in a stylistic free-for-all, yielding such winners as crackling thumper The Final Shakedown and retro-disco Easy.

So crank it up!

TOUCHDOWN!

ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXXVII drew some 138 million viewers--the second biggest audience ever for the NFL championship. About 17 million viewers stuck around for the post-game airing of Alias, the best numbers ever for the spy series.

Norah Jones Low-Key After Nominations

LOS ANGELES - Norah Jones' debut album picked up eight Grammy nominations, sold more than 6 million copies around the world and has been No. 1 in the U.S. for the last two weeks — but it's not thanks to self-promotion or publicity-seeking by the 23-year-old singer.

In an age of pop divas, Jones avoids flashy videos, doesn't pose for pinup photos to get better play in music magazines, prefers quiet neighborhood restaurants to celebrity hotspots and travels without an entourage.

"The record industry has gotten so into image that image becomes more important than the singer," she told the Los Angeles Times for an article published Sunday. "I don't know if there are any less good singers than ever, but most don't use their voices in ways that feel honest. Everyone just seems to go for the fast buck."

When her soulful, melancholy album, "Come Away With Me," reached the 1 million sales mark, Jones asked Bruce Lundvall, the head of jazz label Blue Note Records, if he could stop selling it.

"I know it was naive, but I was starting to panic," she said.

About the same time, Jones said, executives at Virgin Records took over radio promotion of the album and startled her with a remix of 'Don't Know Why.'

"I have no problem with techno music and remixes, but this one was horrible. They had drum machines on it and it was going, 'Don't know why ... why ... why.' It was the most absurd thing I've ever heard."

Lundvall supported Jones' decision to nix the remix.

Now her success is pushing record executives, always on the lookout for the next big thing, to search for singers again, not just hit formulas.

"One of my colleagues told me that Norah was so far from what his bosses were looking for last year that he would have been fired if he had signed her," said Arif Mardin, who was nominated for the producer of the year Grammy for his work on Jones' album. "Now, his bosses are saying, 'Go out and find me a Norah Jones.' "

Jude Law Is Film Fans' Pick for Next 007

LONDON (Reuters) - English actor Jude Law topped a poll of film fans Monday to find the next incarnation of suave secret agent James Bond.

The 30-year-old star took more than a quarter of votes in the Total Film magazine survey, finishing just ahead of Scottish "Star Wars" actor Ewan McGregor.

Total Film editor Matt Mueller felt Law had that "posh" edge over the competition.

"I think Jude Law has that upper class, debonair sophistication about him that people associate with James Bond," he said. "More so than Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale who came close."

But he said McGregor's close second place was interesting because, like Sean Connery, he is Scottish.

Current 007 actor Pierce Brosnan has committed himself to a fifth outing as Bond, but has said he may be too old for a sixth.

"It takes stamina to play this role. I would like to get off the stage with grace," he told a news conference last year.

The list of actors, and even pop stars, who have been linked with the role of Bond is a long one.

They range from Oscar winner Russell Crowe and English actor Clive Owen to cheeky British singer Robbie Williams.

Comedian Richard Blackwood is even reported to have offered his services as the first black Bond.

"American Psycho" star Christian Bale came in third in Monday's poll, followed by Owen. Hugh Grant, famous for playing a foppish Englishman in "Four Weddings and a Funeral," took just two percent of votes.

Supreme Court Rejects Mattel Appeal on Barbie Song

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday an appeal by Mattel Inc. over its lawsuit against MCA Records Inc. claiming the 1997 pop hit "Barbie Girl" had infringed on the toy maker's doll trademark.

Without comment, the justices let stand a federal appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit on the ground the song by the Danish band "Aqua" was parody and social commentary covered by the U.S. Constitution's free-speech protections.

Mattel, the world's largest toy maker which has made the doll since 1959, sued MCA Records, its parent and other units of Universal Music, a subsidiary of French media giant Vivendi Universal . MCA produced, marketed and sold "Barbie Girl."

The song featured a doll-like female voice impersonating Barbie, calling herself a "blonde bimbo girl" and saying "life in plastic, it's fantastic." A male singer, who called himself Ken, exhorted Barbie to "go party."

Mattel, based in El Segundo, California, argued the song, which sold more than 1.4 million copies in the United States, could confuse consumers and dilute the power of the Barbie brand.

MCA defended the song as "social commentary," saying the album "Aquarium" that included the song also featured a disclaimer noting the song was not sanctioned by the maker of Barbie dolls.

Mattel appealed to the Supreme Court. It said the appeals court cast aside the command of Congress in the Lanham Act to protect consumers against unauthorized use of trademarks in ways likely to cause confusion.

MCA replied that the appeal should be denied, saying it had "put out a classic form of parody in a light-hearted pop song that poked fun at one of the most famous and ubiquitous 'cultural icons' in the world."

The appeals court and a federal judge in California determined the song's title was not misleading and that consumers would not be confused, MCA told the justices.