Thursday 26 June 2008

Christina Aguilera: 'I'm Allowed To Party Once In A While'

Christina Aguilera has defended herself against claims that she is a bad mother after being spotted numerous times in recent weeks stumbling out of nightclubs looking worse for wear.

The large-breasted one gave birth to son Max Liron in January and has since been snapped partying hard with her husband Jordan Bratman, prompting some to ask who exactly is looking after her child?

Christina explained to Access Hollywood: “I spend all day with my son and once in a while if I want to go out and have a mommy-daddy night with my husband, I am more than allowed to do that.”

“They never air [footage] of the paparazzi actually pulling up beside my husband and being like, ‘When is she going to leave the house? I have been trying to get a picture of her for weeks,’” she added.

“Everybody has an opinion and everybody sometimes wants to cause drama and be mean spirited, but it’s something that comes with what you do and I learned that very early on.”

Check out our collection of Christina’s hard-partying, and often drunk lifestyle here.

Williams Backs New Bill For U.S. Soldiers' Right To Free College Education

Comedian Robin Williams is demanding U.S. soldiers be given rights to a free college education. The 56-year-old star has enlisted his support for new legislation, which will ensure U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have their university tuition paid in full because the sacrifices they've made for their country have not been compensated fairly. The proposed bill would cost the U.S. government $4 billion (?2 billion) annually - a total that pales in comparison to the weekly cost of the American occupation in Iraq. Williams says, "It's a payback for them. It's all-access to the American Dream. We in no way have given the vets their due. These guys and gals have sacrificed so much. It's the least we can do."


See Also

Capitollium

Capitollium   
Artist: Capitollium

   Genre(s): 
Metal: Sympho
   Other
   



Discography:


Engraved Fear   
 Engraved Fear

   Year: 2006   
Tracks: 12


Seraphim's Lair   
 Seraphim's Lair

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 8




 






Britt Daniel

Britt Daniel   
Artist: Britt Daniel

   Genre(s): 
Rock
   



Discography:


Home Vol.4   
 Home Vol.4

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 4




 






The Music, Strength In Numbers

It's an age old rock 'n' roll story but one that's set to be repeated again and again. Tired and exhausted from yet another gruelling U.S. tour that topped a seven-year campaign of recording and extensive gigging, Kippax quartet, The Music, found themselves burnt out, and utterly despondent. Worse still, here was a band that couldn't stand the sight of each other. Studio sessions ground to halt while their label - no longer returning their calls - quietly dropped them. Under normal circumstances, the stock response of most bands would be to split up, but clearly, The Music are made of sterner stuff. Despite a four-year gap since the release of Welcome To The North and the domination of neighbours Kaiser Chiefs and The Pigeon Detectives - not to mention the appearance of any number of dance-based outfits - The Music's third album finds the band fighting back by venturing deep into electronic territory.

Aided and abetted by former Orbital mainstay Paul Hartnoll along with P.J.Harvey and Depeche Mode knob twiddler Flood, Strength In Numbers is The Music's strongest set yet. From the opening pulses of the title track, the band's move to new pastures is abundantly apparent. Drugs encapsulates their new found direction thanks largely to the production team's guiding hand but it's really on the pumping guitar-dance fusion of The Spike And The Left Side where The Music's huge slabs of six-string wig out coalesce with the mammoth beats beneath them.

Wisely, the band have reined in their more meandering tendencies. Here they offer concise blasts of bass-heavy grooves and widescreen fret worrying, while Robert Harvey's nasal call-to-arms remains firmly and reassuringly in place. Having conquered their own internal battles, the remaining challenge is how The Music will now set about re-establishing themselves after such a lengthy absence. They may be taking the long road, but with Strength In Numbers they've started walking it.


See Also

Gus Gus

Gus Gus   
Artist: Gus Gus

   Genre(s): 
Pop
   Electronic
   Rock
   Trip-Hop
   Other
   Dance
   



Discography:


Forever   
 Forever

   Year: 2007   
Tracks: 20


The Best   
 The Best

   Year: 2005   
Tracks: 13


Psychobitchmix   
 Psychobitchmix

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 20


Mixed Live   
 Mixed Live

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 15


Attention   
 Attention

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 12


Gus Gus Vs. T-World   
 Gus Gus Vs. T-World

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 11


This Is Normal + Bonus Track   
 This Is Normal + Bonus Track

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 12


This Is Normal   
 This Is Normal

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 12


Polydistortion   
 Polydistortion

   Year: 1997   
Tracks: 11




Being a offbeat coed nine-piece from Reykjavik, Iceland, Gus Gus was about bound to inspire comparisons to the Sugarcubes, though the onset of ten-spot long time caused the grouping to inherit the influences of electronic fuzz and trip-hop rhythms rather than the tear of post-punk insaneness that divine the Sugarcubes during the late '80s. Begun as a movie theatre headache in early 1995 by filmmakers Stefán Árni and Siggi Kjartansson, the group was gradually expanded to include musicians such as DJ Herb Legowitz and programmer Biggi Thórarinsson as well as singer/songwriters Daníel Ágúst, Hafdís Huld, and Magnús Jónsson (former actors all), a cameraman (Steph), and a producer (Baldur Stefánsson). The band's decidedly indie sensibilities light-emitting diode to their signing by 4AD after a four-part series of terpsichore mix in EPs during 1996. Among a handful of groups in the late '90s with access to both closely knit dance circles as well as the notoriously highly strung indie community, the group gained support from LFO (with Mark Bell's remix of "Believe") and i of London's about far-famed DJ stores, Fat Cat Records, while playacting their first day of the month in England. Given a combined U.S./U.K. loss due to 4AD's agreement with Warner Bros., their debut album, Polydistortion, hit the stores in April 1997. This Is Normal followed in 1999, and one year by and by the anthology release Gus Gus vs. T-World appeared. 2002 power saw the release of Care; Motley Live appeared a year later. The group returned with new material in 2007 with Forever and a day.





Woolworths scrap CD singles

Vampire Weekend Frontman Ezra Koenig's Students Recall Playing Pranks On The Future Rock Star




BROOKLYN, New York — What does Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig have in common with Sting and Gene Simmons? It's definitely not a shared sense of style. But like Sting and Simmons, the cardigan-and-Top-Sider-sporting 23-year-old spent a year as the antithesis of the flashy, rule-breaking rock star: a teacher.

Before belting out tunes like "Oxford Comma" and "A Punk" in front of sold-out crowds and landing on the cover of Spin — along with bassist Chris Baio, keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and drummer Chris Tomson — Koenig was juggling band practice and performances with a day job as an eighth-grade teacher at Junior High School 258 in Brooklyn, New York.


"It was a pretty hectic lifestyle," Koenig said. "I mean, [being a full-time musician] is a hectic lifestyle too, but to teach all day, then go record or try to, you know, play a show, and then wake up and go to work again was pretty difficult."

Koenig's students didn't make life any easier for the recent Columbia University grad, who landed the job in the rough school through Teach for America. Upon first glance at Koenig's boat shoes, members of his English class knew their new teacher would be the butt of jokes and the victim of pranks, recalls Koenig's former student, 15-year-old Quraan Jones.

"We would call him Peter Pan, Spider-Man, Ashton Kutcher, every name in the book," Jones laughed. The students were surprised that the man standing before them not only ditched the quintessential teacher wardrobe, but also looked young enough to be in a class with them.

"I couldn't believe he was my teacher, because it looked like he just got out of high school," said Isaiah White, 15, another former student.

Despite the students' countless attempts to push Koenig's buttons, Jones says that for the most part, he was a "laid-back" teacher who formed bonds with students and managed to win the class over by the end of the year. He even shared some well-guarded secrets with a chosen few.

"Towards the end of the year, I would stay after class with him, and we spoke and he told me, 'Oh, I'm like 23. Don't tell anybody!' " said Jones.

Along with concealing his age, Koenig also tried his best to prevent the class from finding out that he was a member of a band that was already beginning to generate buzz online.

"I guess there were a few times where I had to bring a guitar to school, so even just the fact that I played guitar impressed some of the kids," Koenig said. "And then from there, I guess, you know with Googling and stuff, some of the kids found [the band's MySpace page]."

But Jones doesn't remember the class' reaction to Koenig's guitar-strumming in quite the same way.

"He would bring [his guitar] from time to time and practice in class, and then we would be like, 'You're wack!' and then play jokes on him," Jones recalled.

During one of their hangout sessions after school, Koenig finally came clean to Jones about his rock-and-roll dreams.

The few students who knew about Koenig's other life couldn't picture him anywhere else but in a classroom and doubted that the same teacher they played tricks on would ever find fame.

"When I first saw him on MTV, I was really shocked and surprised," said White. "I couldn't believe it was him."

But maybe all of the paper-ball fights, gum on his chair and objects thrown at his hair prepared Koenig for equally unforgiving rock-club audiences. Eventually, Koenig's students also became his fans, posting comments of support and encouragement on the band's MySpace page. Thanks to a special invite by their onetime teacher, Jones and White even attended a Vampire Weekend concert.

"One day, he called me and told me, 'Oh, I'm going to have a show. Come here,' " Jones said. "So when I came, I listened to his music, and I thought it was good."

In the fall of 2007, a deal with XL Records cut short Koenig's teaching career. But despite the fact that Vampire Weekend were a featured artist on MTV, made the Billboard top 20 and appeared on "Saturday Night Live," Koenig's students refuse to see their former teacher as Ezra, the rock star.

"I still see him as the same Mr. Koenig," Jones said. "I still have that thing in my mind that this is the same man we threw paper at, wrote on his shirt and put gum on his chair."






See Also

First ever Facebook gig played

A young British band has scored a world first - by performing a live gig on
Facebook before anyone else.
REDBOXBLUE - an unsigned band from south west London - made history
last Wednesday.

The six piece - who cite OASIS, KINGS OF LEON and LED ZEPPELIN
as influences - played the gig live from a London studio and streamed it on
Facebook.

They went on to play another four consecutive nights of gigs, with a total of
10,000 people logging on to watch the action over the five nights.

Incredibly, no-one has streamed a live gig on the popular social networking
site before.

All that could be about to change.
Click here to view the band's performance

Toby Keith’s Movie Will Disappoint No One

Photo: Getty Images
"Ted has just shot a guy with a bow and arrow. And he's leaving the set to go back to his trailer, and all of Hollywood is standing around and a cotton tail jumps up — rabbit — and crosses the set. POW! And he guts him a rabbit right in front of everybody." —Toby Keith on Ted Nugent's cameo in the upcoming film Beer for My Horses [Spinner]

"Arrested Development played late at night in England, so I got a lot of
coke addicts and meth freaks. Great. So you've seen me but you just don't remember me." —Jason Bateman on international fame [Times UK]

"You know when you're drinking those smoothies you've got in America, and you're like, 'I think I can taste papaya.' That's what we're trying to do: make musical smoothies. We'll have a Kanye West influence here, a Beatles influence there." —Chris Martin on Coldplay's new album [Maxim]

"I'm not sure when I'll come back with another record. I feel like I've done everything I can do with this set of tools." —Maybe John Mayer should start making smoothies, too [USAT]

"I just wanna say that we are so incredible, we are such an incredible people. We are so beautiful and fly, and everybody wants to be like us." —Alicia Keys, giving a modest acceptance speech at the BET awards [E!]