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192 items by Steve Appleford Steve Appleford’s Profile on
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"The Beatles: Rock Band" Announces 15 New Tracks | ARTICLE
The debut of The Beatles: Rock Band is still well over a month away, but early glimpses of the video game suggest another wave of Fab Four hysteria can't be far off. On his current tour (and...
July 21, 2009 9:38 AM ET -
Inside the Michael Jackson Memorial: Tears and Tributes as Stars, Fans Say Farewell | ARTICLE
At 7:55 a.m., an usher at the glass doors outside Staples Center in Los Angeles had a message for the thousands already gathering for the day's public memorial for Michael Jackson. "We are aware of your...
July 7, 2009 7:47 PM ET -
Guitar Gods Crank It Up for New Doc "It Might Get Loud" | ARTICLE
Jack White is one of the stars of a new film about guitar gods, but six-strings are fundamentally unimportant, he surprisingly tells Rolling Stone after a screening of It Might Get Loud. "It doesn't matter if it's...
June 22, 2009 11:32 AM ET -
Yusuf Returns to U.S. Stage After Three Decades at L.A. Show | ARTICLE
Yusuf, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, performed his first American concert in three decades Monday night at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, mingling early hits with emotional new songs recorded from his just-released...
May 12, 2009 9:24 AM ET -
Coachella '09 Shows Off Its Eclectic Roots With My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, Public Enemy | ARTICLE
The man in the front row wearing a Trojans condoms T-shirt had just one thing to yell over and over again as My Bloody Valentine unleashed ear-shattering noise and melody on the final night of this year's...
April 20, 2009 10:57 AM ET -
The Killers, M.I.A. and Mastodon Deliver Big Sounds on a Big Scale at Coachella | ARTICLE
Brandon Flowers of the Killers wasn't addressing the entire globe as he paused onstage Saturday at the Coachella Music and Arts festival, but as he watched over a desert landscape of thousands of bouncing, singing, happy fans,...
April 19, 2009 10:26 AM ET -
Paul McCartney Pays Tribute to Lost Beatles, Plus Cohen and Morrissey Impress at Coachella | ARTICLE
Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos was the first to point them out, as he overlooked the many thousands gathered Friday for the opening of this year's Coachella Music and Arts Festival. There in the crush was a...
April 18, 2009 10:23 AM ET -
Slayer in the Studio: Loud, Fast and Ready to Thrash | ARTICLE
Some things can be counted on at a Slayer recording session. "Can I interest you in something fast and aggressive?" asks producer Greg Fidelman. He's sitting beside guitarist Kerry King at the Pass Studios in Los...
April 16, 2009 12:31 PM ET -
Brody Dalle on Spinnerette, the Breakup of the Distillers and Hubby Josh Homme | ARTICLE
On her first album since the Distillers broke up in 2005, singer Brody Dalle returns with a new band, Spinnerette, and a new sound that's less straight-ahead punk than bruising, eccentric rock. Set for release this spring,...
March 20, 2009 11:44 AM ET -
Spinal Tap Rockers Announce "Unwigged & Unplugged" Tour, New Album | ARTICLE
They've put the wigs in a closet and kept the mini-Stonehenge in storage, but the members of Spinal Tap are back onstage. Not in character as the comical and perpetually washed up metal act, but as themselves:...
March 3, 2009 10:21 AM ET -
Behind the Wigs: The Return of Spinal Tap | ARTICLE
After announcing plans for an "Unwigged & Unplugged Tour" where the members of Spinal Tap — Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer — will take the stage as themselves, the unruly trio of rockers...
March 3, 2009 9:23 AM ET -
Prince Unveils Plan to Release Three LPs Via Lotusflow3r Website at Private Gig | ARTICLE
The e-mail invitation was vague but intriguing: spend Saturday night at Prince's mansion in Beverly Hills for "a journey through the galaxy" and a live performance by the man himself. As the first to arrive, I'm greeted by...
February 2, 2009 1:12 PM ET -
Ben Harper Introduces New Blues-Rock Band Relentless7 | ARTICLE
Ben Harper is introducing his fiery new band, Relentless7, with a short tour of small clubs this month, and their second stop was Thursday at Spaceland in Los Angeles, where the four-piece unleashed 90 minutes of thundering...
December 8, 2008 8:30 AM ET -
Vince Neil: "I Cut a Nun's Head Off With a Chainsaw - Bands Don't Do That Anymore" | ARTICLE
Mötley Crüe released their first album of new material in nearly a decade this past summer, but that's business as usual for singer Vince Neil. "We stop touring and don't put a record out and everybody says...
November 18, 2008 2:00 PM ET -
The Who's Roger Daltrey: "Keith Moon at His Worst Was Amazing" | ARTICLE
Roger Daltrey doesn't obsess much about the past, he says. The Who frontman won't even look at recently unearthed 35mm movie footage of the band's epic performance at Kilburn in 1977, now set for DVD release on...
November 12, 2008 12:39 PM ET -
Christina Aguilera Looks Forward to "Futuristic" New Album | ARTICLE
Christina Aguilera is closing the year looking forward and looking back. As she prepares to release her first greatest hits package, the singer is planning a new album she describes as "futuristic," with collaborations with the forward-looking...
November 10, 2008 12:14 PM ET -
Linkin Park Hit the Studio in L.A.: "We Have a Ton of Material" | ARTICLE
Mike Shinoda will always make time for important business. Linkin Park's rapper-songwriter-producer has already been sketching out new songs with the band, and last week they began recording the follow-up to the multiplatinum Minutes to...
November 7, 2008 12:45 PM ET -
Kanye West's Listening Party: Lights, Heartbreak, Nudity | ARTICLE
Kanye West knows one way to make guests pay attention at an album listening party: a room full of live nude women, standing and posing in silhouette against a wall of bright colored light in a performance...
October 15, 2008 4:41 PM ET -
Backstage With Panic at the Disco: "Give the Jonas Brothers a Beer" | ARTICLE
The visitor's locker room is like home to Panic at the Disco. It's their dressing room at the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles, and there is the usual spread of chips, salsa and a big jug...
October 15, 2008 3:52 PM ET -
The Roots' ?uestlove: "Philly Is In Dire Need of a Healing" | ARTICLE
Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson isn't new to presidential politics. In 2004, he joined MTV and Rock the Vote in promoting voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, but this year he's transformed himself into an active "surrogate" for...
October 10, 2008 12:54 PM ET
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