Friends puzzle over death of Quiet Riot's Kevin DuBrow
"He did not sound agitated or paranoid or anything at all -- he was just normal Kevin," said former Deep Purple bassist and singer Glenn Hughes.
The life of Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow, who died at age 52 over the weekend in Las Vegas, had not been on a completely even keel after he'd broken up this month with his girlfriend of more than seven years, Las Vegas television personality and KXPT-FM radio DJ Lark Williams, according to friends saddened Monday by the news of his death.
Nevertheless, "his mood the last couple of months was stable," said former Deep Purple bassist and singer Glenn Hughes, who said he had communicated with DuBrow several times a week since they had become reacquainted after a 2001 performance by Hughes in Las Vegas. "He did not sound agitated or paranoid or anything at all -- he was just normal Kevin," Hughes said. He added that Quiet Riot's recent tour had gone well.
Williams said she didn't think DuBrow had any health problems. "He was as strong as an ox, that boy. He ate well, took a lot of vitamins. He worked out, and of course when he performed it was quite a workout," she said Tuesday from Las Vegas. "He never looked better." She said she had last communicated with him about a week ago by text message, with no indications that anything was awry.
As of Tuesday, the Las Vegas police were not investigating the death as a suspicious one. Samantha Charles, the communications officer with the Clark County coroner's office, said that an autopsy was performed Monday on DuBrow and that official determination of the cause of death would depend on results of toxicology tests, which could take six to 12 weeks.
"With everything that's happening," Williams said, "I'm just trying to take care of Kevin's cats."
He had two of them. Said Hughes: "He was crazy about those cats," and Williams agreed -- she said she and DuBrow had picked them out together.
DuBrow was a regular guest at Hughes' ocean-adjacent Los Angeles home. "He was truly like a little brother to me," Hughes said by phone Tuesday. "He was a very, very sweet, generous, kind, sensitive man. Loud and proud, yes, we all know about that, but there was a very personal side to Kevin that I will miss very, very dearly." Hughes helped write the songs on Quiet Riot's 2006 album, "Rehab," and was working on material for DuBrow's next project.
"There's a myth, I guess, if you're a rock 'n' roller, and you're of an age, you're a partyer," said Hughes, his proper English upbringing sounding in his voice. "But I can report that I never saw Kevin out of control, ever."
Hughes said that the residence in which DuBrow's body was discovered Sunday belongs to DuBrow's mother. The Quiet Riot singer lived alone, Hughes noted, and enjoyed the bachelor life, a predilection that contributed to his split with Williams, a tall blond with a photo-op figure who had helped DuBrow try to adopt a healthier lifestyle in recent years.
DuBrow was expected to fly in Friday night for a party at Hughes' house but uncharacteristically had not been in contact for a week. When he didn't show up or respond to messages, Hughes called Williams on Sunday to ask that authorities investigate.
DuBrow led Quiet Riot to the top of the charts in 1983 with the group's hit "Cum on Feel the Noize," which propelled the group's third album, "Metal Health," to sales of more than 6 million copies.
"He was one of the best singers rock has ever seen," said Blackie Lawless, singer-bassist of the L.A. extreme-metal band WASP, contacted Tuesday while on tour in Germany. "He had a voice like a razor blade that just cut right through you. And that voice is now silent."
"He was one of the first people I ever met when I came to L.A.," said Lawless, adding that he'd kept up the acquaintance for 32 years. "Kevin and I had a unique kinship, because our styles were similar, and we were both the same age. The third gig I ever played in L.A. was with him and Quiet Riot, when [guitarist Randy Rhoads] was still in the band."
"Quiet Riot [was] the first real MTV rock band," Lawless observed. "I always used to tell everybody that when people write rock 'n' roll encyclopedias, you'll see your '64 British invasion, the '56 Elvis chapter and the '69 Haight-Ashbury chapter -- well, L.A. will have its own '82-'83 chapter, and Quiet Riot would really be the beginning of that chapter."
CBC says goodbye to Grey Cup
The Grey Cup went out with a bang on CBC, with the network noting a 4% increase over last year's average viewership for Sunday's CFL championship game, which saw the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19.
The game, which got underway at 6 p.m. ET, scored a strong 3.3 million viewers (2+), peaking at 3.7 million between 9 and 9:30 p.m., making it CBC's sixth most-watched Grey Cup since the process of tracking game-only audiences began in 1996.
It marked the pubcaster's final Grey Cup game for at least five years, as rival TSN takes over broadcasting duties of CFL regular season and playoff games next year. CBC had been televising the CFL and Grey Cup for 55 years.
Meanwhile, audiences were down for the East Final last week, as one million viewers tuned in for the Winnipeg-Montreal match-up, while an average 1.5 million viewers watched Saskatchewan take on Calgary in the West Final, for an audience increase of 12%.
The Grey Cup was broadcast in countries including the U.K., Belarus, Denmark and Portugal through NASN (North American Sports Network), and also in Mexico through cable sports channel TVC Deportes. The game aired in Quebec on Réseau des Sports, attracting a reportedly small 202,000.
Meanwhile, CTV continues to grow its viewership for its Sunday afternoon 1-4 p.m. NFL block, which is up 38% since the beginning of the season.
CTV's national average audience was 353,000 for Sunday's broadcast, in which it aired four simultaneous games, including Buffalo vs. Jacksonville in southwestern Ontario, Montreal and Atlantic Canada, while B.C. viewers got to watch neighboring Seattle take on St. Louis.
A spokesperson at the net says the reason the numbers are growing is because it's now airing specific games of interest to specific regions. In week one, when CTV televised one game nationally, it averaged 255,000 viewers for the Denver-Buffalo match-up.
Reitman's Juno among top contenders for Indie Spirit film awards
Jason Reitman's warm and quirky film Juno, which stars rising Canadian stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera, is among the top nominees for the Film Independent Spirit Awards, announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Juno, which was one of the buzz-worthy films at the Toronto International Film Festival and also won the top prize at the Rome Film Festival, netted four nominations, including a best director nod for Montreal-born Reitman, an acting nod for Page and another in the best first screenplay category for debut writer Diablo Cody.
The movie, starring Page as a whip-smart pregnant teen who must find parents for her unborn child, also faces stiff competition in the best feature category.
Other best feature contenders include two other top nominees, French drama The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — which also received four nods — and the Bob Dylan-inspired ensemble film I'm Not There, which won nominations in four categories and will also receive the Robert Altman Award (a new honour paying tribute to the ensemble cast, director and casting director in single film).
Rounding out the best feature nominees are A Mighty Heart and Paranoid Park.
Reitman's rivals for best director include Todd Haynes (I'm Not There), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) and Tamara Jenkins (The Savages).
Actress Tara Podemski, recognized in the best supporting female category for her performance in Four Sheets to the Wind, is also among the Canadian contenders, along with documentarian Jennifer Baichwal for her film Manufactured Landscapes.
Selected nominees include:
Screenplay: Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Tarmara Jenkins, The Savages; Fred Parnes and Andrew Wagner, Starting Out in the Evening; Adrienne Shelly, Waitress; Mike White, Year of the Dog.
Female lead: Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart; Sienna Miller, Interview; Ellen Page, Juno; Parker Posey, Broken English; Tang Wei, Lust, Caution.
Male lead: Pedro Castaneda, August Evening; Don Cheadle, Talk to Me; Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages; Frank Langella, Starting Out in the Evening; Tony Leung, Lust, Caution.
Documentary: Crazy Love; Lake of Fire; Manufactured Landscapes; The Monastery; The Prisoner or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair.
Foreign film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; The Band's Visit; Lady Chatterley; Once; Persepolis.
Handed out each year by the Los Angeles-based group Film Independent, the awards pay tribute to low-budget and arthouse filmmakers working outside of the traditional major studio structure or those creating works for smaller, specialty divisions.
The awards have in the past few years been one of several prominent barometers for the Academy Awards, with films such as Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Sideways and Monster taking trophies before going on to Oscar glory.
The Film Independent Spirit Awards are typically presented the day before the Academy Awards telecast at a casual, but still star-studded beachside ceremony in Santa Monica, Calif.
Halifax Doesn’t Want Celine Dion
Celine Dion's scheduled performance in Halifax has been called off due to negative comments about the singer that flooded local media, according to The Canadian Press. Dion's husband and manager, Rene Angelil, said he has been deeply affected by the harsh comments that emerged after it was announced Dion would bring her extravagant show to Halifax's outdoor park, known as the Common.
Apparently some Halifax residents were expecting rock'n'roll shows at the Common and were less-than-pleased to hear they would be seeing Dion rather than U2, for example.
Angelil singled out columnist David Rodenhiser of the Daily News for sparking the Celine-bashing. But Rodenhiser said the media has only reported the expressed opinions of local citizens. He reportedly argued that a successful Dion performance would help build Halifax's reputation as a place for A-list artists.
Angelil said he has kept the brouhaha from reaching Dion in an effort to protect her feelings.
Halifax was among six Canadian cities booked on the “Taking Chances World Tour,” which kicks off next August.
Voyage Of The Damned
The BBC Press Office has released information about the Doctor Who Christmas Special 2007:
Kylie Minogue steps back in time this festive season, as she joins Time Lord David Tennant for a spectacular Doctor Who Christmas Special set on board The Titanic.
At the end of the last series, viewers witnessed the The Titanic crash through the Tardis walls in spectacular style, and the action continues from that moment.
Kylie, who plays Astrid, a waitress on The Titanic, says: "It is an incredible thrill to be joining David and the entire Dr Who production for this year's Christmas special. Dr Who enjoys a unique history and it is going to be very exciting to be a part of that."
Two of Britain's best-loved sitcom actors, Geoffrey Palmer and Clive Swift, also feature in this Christmas episode.
Palmer, perhaps most famous for his roles in the long-running BBC series Butterflies and As Time Goes By, plays the role of Captain of The Titanic.
Kylie Minogue stars as Astrid, alongside David Tennant as The Doctor.
Voyage Of The Damned also features Gray O'Brien, who recently appeared in the Oscar-winning film The Queen; Debbie Chazen, star of the BBC comedy series The Smoking Room; Olivier Award-winner Clive Rowe; Russell Tovey, from the smash-hit film The History Boys; Jimmy Vee, who previously appeared in Doctor Who as the Moxx of Balhoon; and George Costigan, who starred in The Long Firm and the acclaimed film Rita, Sue And Bob Too.
Voyage of the Damned can be seen on BBC1 this Christmas.
'Grandma ... Reindeer' singer is sued
LOS ANGELES - A feud involving the man who sang "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" could wind up in court, just in time for Christmas.
Elmo Shropshire was sued for breach of contract Monday by a company that claims he interfered in a $1 million-plus deal to sell musical trucks, bobblehead dolls, snow globes and cookie jars featuring characters from an animated show based on the novelty song.
The tale about Santa mowing down a tipsy grandma with his sleigh was first heard in 1979 and has become a holiday favorite. It inspired a 2000 animated TV program that continues to run seasonally around the world.
The Fred Rappoport Co. of California contends it has the rights to use the song for products featuring characters from that program. Rappoport claims it got those specific rights under a 2004 settlement of a lawsuit filed by Shropshire.
The new lawsuit, which seeks at least $2 million in damages, was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It contends that Shropshire this month improperly sent cease-and-desist letters to two companies that made a deal with Rappoport to market products featuring characters from the animated show.
Shropshire, who lives north of San Francisco in Novato, contended Tuesday that he was legally enforcing his rights to the song.
Rappoport "can sell any characters he wants from the movie," Shropshire said. "But I own the copyright from the song. He can't use the song without my permission."
Shropshire continued: "The song preceded the (animated) show by 20 years. There are a number of companies that license that song from us to make toys and to make CDs and to make a number of things. They're not going to feel so good if we allow someone else to use it for free."
Mann Is All 'Smiles' On Spring Album
Aimee Mann has just put the finishing touches on her seventh solo album, which she hopes to release in the spring of 2008 on her own Superego label. Mann tells Billboard.com that the new set, titled "Smilers," is "not a concept album" like 2005's "The Forgotten Arm."
It was produced by Paul Bryan, who also helmed her 2006 holiday album "One More Drifter in the Snow," and Mann says that "the sound is a little bit different for me. It's got a lot of Moog (synthesizer) on it (and) sometimes almost sounds like the Cars a little bit. From song to song, everything gets a different treatment."
Mann also notes that "there's no electric guitar at all, which you weirdly don't miss. It's kind of this all-keyboard situation, which is great. It's an interesting amalgamation of sounds."
Bryan plays bass on the album, with Jay Bellerose on drums and Jamie Edwards on keyboards. "I formed a band that was perfect for this project and stuck with it," Mann says. She also incorporates strings and horns on some songs and duets on one track with San Francisco singer/songwriter Sean Hayes.
Mann plans to preview a couple "Smilers" songs on her upcoming holiday tour, which kicks off Thursday (Nov. 29) in Solana Beach, Calif. She'll also be premiering a short comedy film she made with director Michael Blieden which features appearances by Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo.
"There were a lot of people who were interested in being part of the live show," Mann says, "but they were all either out of town or doing a movie. So there's this kind of cast of stars that for some reason agreed to be in my little, jokey film. I'm excited about that."
New Janet Jackson Album Due In February
Janet Jackson's as-yet-untitled debut album for Island Def Jam will be released in February. The artist is also prepping a worldwide tour to promote the follow-up to 2006's "20 Y.O." In addition, Jackson has signed with the William Morris Agency for representation in all areas.
Jackson comes to the company after a starring role in Tyler Perry's hit "Why Did I Get Married?" She will be repped by a team of agents led by Dave Wirtschafter and Charles King that will run across multiple divisions of the agency, including film, touring, licensing and merchandising, television, theater, publishing and new technology.
Jackson said she was attracted to the agency because of its long history. She continues to be repped by managers Johnny Wright and Kenneth Crear as well as attorney Don Passman.
As for Jackson's new album, it is being executive produced by Def Jam CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid rather than Jackson's boyfriend, Island Urban president Jermaine Dupri.
Dupri is working on Mariah Carey's new album, which should be out next spring. "We're going to make it seem like we're in competition to see who's going to have the biggest album of the year," he told Billboard in July.
Q&A: McCartney channels inspiration into "Full" slate
DETROIT (Billboard) - As far as Paul McCartney is concerned, words like "take it easy" are reserved for the Eagles.
During the past three years alone the ex-Beatle has released a pair of pop albums -- the Grammy-nominated "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" in 2005 and this year's "Memory Almost Full" -- as well as the 2006 classical piece "Ecce Cor Meum." Sir Paul also collaborated on albums by Tony Bennett, George Benson and Al Jarreau, and George Michael.
This fall McCartney released an expanded edition of "Memory Almost Full," adding three bonus tracks and a second disc of videos and live footage, along with a three-DVD retrospective of his solo career, "The McCartney Years," that's loaded with rare and unreleased material. And he had a piece in the DVD rollout of the Beatles' "Help."
There are musicians a third his age (65) who aren't working at nearly the same level, and we can rest assured that the days of "doing the garden, digging the weeds" are still a long way off for this knighted former mop top.
Q: What accounts for the creative spurt you seem to be on the past few years?
Paul McCartney: "It's simple: I really enjoy what I do. And every so often I just get sort of inspired. I never know why or how, but I think one of the great things is that music is a great healer and it's a great sort of therapy. Often if you're going through something difficult -- as you can imagine without me laying too much of a point on it, this last year's been pretty difficult -- to get into your music is a great thing. So I think the last couple years I've been very glad to have my music and I've been putting stuff into it that seems to have added up to something."
Q: Do you feel like you're getting inspiration as well as healing from these hard times?
McCartney: "I think that's true. You look at the lives of the great composers and they were not a lot of fun, some of them. Great painters, too; I was looking at a fantastic painting by Rembrandt the other day in a museum, and I was reminded by the blurb next to it that he died penniless and had a terribly bloody time, but he was one hell of a painter. So that's why I say therapy; you're feeling bad, you skulk off to a corner with your guitar and you write something, and somehow you seem to take yourself through it and you work through it with your music. I thank heaven for that. I feel very, very blessed. People always used to call it a gift, the gift of music, and I think that's very much, more and more, how I see it."
Q: That being said, "Memory Almost Full" isn't exactly "Blood on the Tracks," is it?
McCartney: "That's funny, isn't it? I still seem to come out positive and optimistic. I think that's my character. But (the divorce from Heather Mills) is something I don't want to talk about, and really for one reason. I have a baby daughter ... a 4-year-old, and I do not want to excite the envelope in any direction whatsoever. I'm just sort of keeping the dignified silence."
Q: So, how did "The McCartney Years" come about?
McCartney: "For a long time people have been saying to me, 'When can we get a hold of that video?' or 'Is that video available? Is that released?' And I just sort of thought, 'No ...' I was always a little bit like, 'One day, yeah, I'll do it. Don't worry.' But then a couple of guys got in touch with me and said, 'Look, we think it's time. We want to work on it. Let us put forward a proposal of what we would do for you to look at.'
"It took a long time to put together. They started cleaning it all up, and then they cleaned the sound mixes up and then they started showing me, and that was like, 'Jeez, I've never heard it like this. I've never seen it like this.' So I started to get excited and I fell for the whole idea. I just said, 'Go to it boys, let's do it."'
Q: What did you encounter in doing the project that really blew you away?
McCartney: "I think the short answer is, 'everything.' Obviously, everything with Linda in it was particularly heartwarming, realizing her major contribution to everything once you see it all en masse. I hadn't seen 'Tug of War' in a while, which was lovely. It was good to see things like 'Say Say Say' with Michael Jackson, and of course Linda and our daughter Heather make an appearance in that, so that was really cool."
Q: You used Ringo (Starr) pretty liberally as a guest star in your videos.
McCartney: "Yeah, that was very good. 'Take It Away' and 'Beautiful Night,' he kindly agreed to be the drummer in those, especially as he'd (played on) 'Take It Away.' It was just fabulous. (Beatles producer) George Martin even appears in one of them."
Q: You must have had an interesting perspective on videos in the '80s and beyond because it was no stranger to you. You did videos -- you even did movies -- with the Beatles, so it wasn't quite as revolutionary of a concept as it was in the U.S.
McCartney: "The difference was you suddenly had to be a short filmmaker as well, and not all of us liked it. The process was quite wearing. You'd sort of farm it out to three or four directors who you thought were hot and (one) would come back with -- it was a bit like a comedy sketch -- 'I see you on a mountaintop in Tibet wearing nothing but a loincloth. The Sun God shines down ...' and you're going 'Oh no.' Then the next one was, 'I see you in a scene from the Keystone Cops. You're hanging off the back of a wagon, it's all shot in fast-motion black-and-white.' Or it was, 'I see you as a scene from "Casablanca" ... I see you as the Terminator.' You're just desperate to get something where you can go, 'This looks alright.' Occasionally there would be a good idea ... and the rest of the time there was an element of embarrassment 'cause you thought of yourself as a singer, not a film star."
Q: Was it different when you were doing it in the '60s?
McCartney: "Yeah, it wasn't quite so important, so we would say, 'Oh, look, just get a camera and we'll get girls with grass skirts and we'll just stand there in our Sgt. Pepper's costumes and sing "Hello Goodbye."' There wasn't that much thought that went into it, which made it a little bit more innocent and less precious."
Q: Of the live material on "The McCartney Years," it's kind of brave to include your Live Aid performance in the set.
McCartney: "Oh my God, the Live Aid was just one of those things I'd sooner forget. I came in from the country and sort of drove in and every window in Britain was open with televisions on and Live Aid blaring out. It was a national event and I knew I was gonna be on it, but I didn't take anyone with me. I didn't have a roadie. I didn't even have anyone to make sure my mic or speakers were working. And Bob Geldof just said, 'Well, your piano's behind that curtain. You're on.' There I was in front of the world ... and I heard in my monitor very ominous sounds of roadies talking: 'Is this the plug?' I figured, 'I'll just keep plugging on,' but I couldn't hear myself. I couldn't hear anything. And then it suddenly became clear my mic wasn't on, but the dear old audience helped me out, God bless 'em. They all sang it. So I escaped by the skin of my teeth. It was sort of a nightmare. If you asked me for three nervous moments, I think that'd be top."
Q: Is there any news about the Beatles' catalog going online?
McCartney: "I think it's all happening soon. There are contractual things, and you'll find that someone in the loop maybe doesn't want to give what they should give, so it's negotiating. But I think we're kinda set. I think that Apple is set to do their bit. The whole thing is primed, ready to go. There's just maybe sort of one little sticking point left, and I think that's being cleared up as we speak, so it shouldn't be too long. But, you know, you've got to get these things right. ... So it's down to the fine-tuning, but I'm pretty sure it'll be happening next year, 2008."
Q: What's next for you, musically?
McCartney: "I'm actually doing some recording with my son (James). We're just looking at the idea of him making an album. He's doing it all. He's writing it all ... It's sensational. But there's nothing set yet. ... The plan is for me to just do some recording with him, and it's really exciting. I'm really loving it."
Led Zeppelin 2008 tour confirmed?
Led Zeppelin will tour in 2008, the band that has been booked as their tour support has revealed.
Ian Astbury, lead singer of the Cult, has confirmed that they have been roped in to support the recently-reformed band on a jaunt next year.
According to Billboard, during a gig in Cincinnati on November 17, Astbury said: "We'll be back next year, because we're opening for a band you may have heard of. The name starts with an 'L' and has a 'Z' in it."
Hearing the announcement, a fan in the audience shouted, "Led Zeppelin!" Astbury nodded an affirmative response, and raised an arm into the air.
Led Zeppelin has yet to announce official details of any new tours.
However, speaking about their reunion on December 10, guitarist Jimmy Page has revealed the band will play one of their songs live for the first time ever.
Four folded into "Chain Letter"
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Nikki Reed, Noah Segan, Keith David and "Saw III" and "Saw IV" lead Betsy Russell will star in "Chain Letter," the tale of a maniac who targets teens when they fail to forward chain mail.
"Saw" producer Mark Burg and Roxanne Avent are executive producing the horror feature, which introduces the chain-wielding killer Chain Man (Michael Bailey Smith). Matthew Cohen, Cody Kasch, Michael J. Pagan, Cherilyn Wilson, Reed and Segan play his targets. Clifton Powell will play their high school coach, and Russell and David will play the police officers on the killer's tail.
Director Deon Taylor is writing and producing the film with co-star Pagan.
Since writing and starring in "thirteen," Reed has appeared in "Lords of Dogtown" and "Mini's First Time." Segan had a breakout turn in "Brick" and will be seen in "The Brothers Bloom," a crime drama starring Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. David has appeared in dozens of films, including "Crash" and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."