New Order Answer the Call
After a four-year hiatus, veteran British rockers New Order will release their eighth studio album, Waiting for the Sirens' Call, on April 26th.
"From the days of Joy Division to the Republic album, we'd just been touring, and we got burnt out, really," says guitarist/vocalist Bernard Sumner of the band's slow pace of the past decade. "We needed to get off the road and dry off for a bit."
Produced by Tore Johansson (Franz Ferdinand, the Cardigans), Waiting favors guitars over the synth pop that made New Order famous. "It's pretty rock-y," Sumner says. "Reason being, we don't really go out to clubs anymore. We don't own a club anymore. And in order to be a part of that kind of music, you have to be involved in it."
They've also added another guitarist: Phil Cunningham has joined Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris, who have not had a steady fourth member since longtime keyboardist (and Morris' wife) Gillian Gilbert left to focus on her children. "It's good to have someone else," says Sumner, "because I used to have to do all the guitar, and the vocals, and the keyboards."
New Order have signed on to play the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival on May 1st, and they plan to tour the U.S. after the album's release.
Sammy Hagar to mount spring 'Cinco de Cabo' tour
Reinstated Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar returns to the solo circuit this spring during his Mexican-themed "Cinco de Cabo" tour.
The veteran rocker and his band, The Waboritas, launch the outing with a three-night stand at his Cabo Wabo club in Lake Tahoe, NV; the April 29-May 1 run marks the one-year anniversary of the venue, a spin-off of the Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, nightspot that Hagar and Van Halen opened in 1989.
A half-dozen subsequent dates are set through mid-May, and tickets for most shows will hit the box office Friday and Saturday (2/18-19), according to Hagar's website.
Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony--who often toured with Hagar in the years leading up to Hagar's 2004 return to Van Halen--will again join the singer during the upcoming roadtrip.
Last year, Hagar re-teamed with Anthony, guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen for a North American tour that kicked off in June and ran until November. The reunion also spawned a two-disc hits set titled "Best of Both Worlds," which featured three new cuts.
Last November, Alex Van Halen told a Kansas newspaper that the group planned to take a break after the tour, and would then head into the studio to record a new album with Hagar on vocals.
A late-December message that Anthony posted on his own website, however, raised some question marks about the state of Van Halen.
"I'm not sure what the future holds for Van Halen, but I can tell you Sammy and I will be out there rocking together with the Wabos in 2005," Anthony wrote.
April 2005
29, 30 - Lake Tahoe, NV - Cabo Wabo @ Harrahs (on sale 2/19)
May 2005
1 - Lake Tahoe, NV - Cabo Wabo @ Harrahs (on sale 2/19)
6 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Hotel/Casino (on sale 2/19)
7 - Mashantucket, CT - Foxwoods Casino (on sale 2/18)
10 - Green Bay, WI - Oneida Casino (on sale tba)
12 - Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre (on sale 2/19)
13 - Rosemont, IL - Rosemont Theatre (on sale 2/18)
14 - Maryland Heights, MO - UMB Bank Pavilion (on sale 2/19)
What a Doll: Lindsay Lohan Goes Barbie
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Lindsay Lohan, who was inducted into popular girl clique known as the Plastics in "Mean Girls," is going plastic in real life.
The 18-year-old redhead will get the Barbie treatment with a Mattel fashion doll made to look like her, reports the AP.
The doll is red-carpet ready in a beige dress with a sheer handkerchief skirt laid over a pink leopard print material. A coordinating faux fur-trimmed coat, tasteful jewelry and mauve heels complete the Hollywood glam look. Accessories include a pink director's chair bearing the starlet's name and a velvet rope strung between two posts.
The Lindsay Lohan doll is part of the "My Scene" line, which features fashion dolls with heads slightly larger than the typical Barbie doll and ensembles of hip and somewhat skimpy clothes. The doll will retail for about $30.
Barbie and Lindsay fans will be able to get their first glimpse of the doll at the annual American International Toy Fair, which begins Sunday, Feb. 20 in New York and runs through Wednesday.
Besides the 2004 teen comedy "Mean Girls," Lindsay Lohan's other film credits include "The Parent Trap," "Freaky Friday" and "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen." She recently released her debut album, "Speak," and is currently filming "Just My Luck" in New Orleans. Her latest Disney remake, "Herbie: Fully Loaded," will open nationwide in June.
CRYFEST LINEUP
ABC announcing Oscar nominee Jamie Foxx, actor Will Ferrell and Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher will be the guests on Barbara Walters' post-Oscar The Barbara Walters Special. No word from Vegas on the odds of WaWa getting Ferrell to cry.
NBC Says Unlikely to Offer Enough to Get NFL Rights
BOSTON (Reuters) - NBC probably will not offer enough to secure broadcast rights to National Football League games even though it would be interested in carrying the widely watched games, executives at corporate parent General Electric Co. said on Tuesday.
NBC gave up the right to televise NFL games in 1998, saying it had become too costly. NBC Universal Chief Executive Bob Wright said cost considerations would again be the main factor in a decision for the network.
"We would have an interest in something like football, but it's unlikely that on a broadcast side we would be able to put up enough money to interest football to do something with us," said Wright at an analyst meeting in Orlando, Florida.
NBC also stopped televising National Basketball Association games three years ago and the network's sports line-up now focuses on the summer and winter Olympics, auto racing and golf.
"We'd love to have football, (but) we will not make a stupid deal," NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker said in January.
Last November, rival networks CBS, a division of Viacom Inc. and Fox, owned by News Corp., paid a combined $8 billion to extend their broadcast agreements with the NFL until 2011.
Walt Disney Co. units ABC and ESPN are currently in negotiations with the league for the rights to broadcast Sunday and Monday night games.
Complicating those negotiations are what to do with the NFL's proposal to broadcast eight games on Thursday or Saturday nights later in the season.